UAE’s Amal Spacecraft Rockets Toward Mars in Arab World First
New Age Islam News Bureau
20
Jul 2020
• Hagia Sophia
Mosaics Will Be Covered with Curtains During Prayers — Turkish Presidential
Spokesman
• 'Nations
with Islamophobia Can't Protest Hagia Sofia Move': Malaysian Politician
• Shamima
Begum Betrayed Britain And She Should Face Charges of High Treason
• This Bakrid
Many Muslims Will Take Just One Share in A Cattle, Donate Rest of The Money to
The Poor and Deserving
• 'Don't
Redeem the Taliban', Afghan Social Media Users Ask World Before Peace Talks
• Anti-Pakistan
Protest Held Outside 10 Downing Street to Demand Justice for Baloch Victims
Arab world
• UAE’s Amal
Spacecraft Rockets Toward Mars in Arab World First
• Syria’s
Parliamentary Elections A ‘Farce’ Say Exiled Opposition Figures
• Egypt’s
lawmakers to vote on deploying troops to Libya
• Jurisprudence
conference highlights role of scholars in times of crisis
• Five dead,
85 wounded in car bomb attack in Syria’s Azaz: Reports
• Turkey
detains niece of Syrian Kurdish politician Saleh Muslim: Family
--------
Mideast
• Hagia Sophia
Mosaics Will Be Covered with Curtains During Prayers — Turkish Presidential
Spokesman
• 'Hagia
Sophia Move Shows Will of Muslim Country'
• Iran
suspends execution of three men convicted over deadly protests
• Turkish
police detain dozens of suspected Daesh members in Istanbul
• Iran
sentences three Kurdish citizens to prison for burning Soleimani banner
--------
Southeast Asia
• 'Nations
with Islamophobia Can't Protest Hagia Sofia Move': Malaysian Politician
• Chinese
Ambassador to UK Dismisses 'False' Concentration Camp Claims and Insists Uighur
Muslims Live In 'Peace and Harmony'
• Abim
Welcomes Efforts To Uphold Malay Language, Calls To Discontinue Teaching Of
Science And Math In English
• PM denies
Putrajaya will recognise UEC, says cert partially accepted since 2012
--------
Europe
• Shamima
Begum Betrayed Britain And She Should Face Charges of High Treason
• UK Accuses
China Of 'Gross' Human Rights Abuses Against Uighurs
• France,
Italy, Germany threaten foreign countries with sanctions over Libya arms
• Russia holds
military drills in southwest amid clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia
--------
India
• This Bakrid
Many Muslims Will Take Just One Share in A Cattle, Donate Rest of The Money to
The Poor and Deserving
• MEA Cites
Afghanistan Sikh’s Case to Switch Gears On CAA
• Delhi: 19th
Century Mosque, Mubarak Begum, Damaged by Lightning
• Gujarat: Godhra
Mosque A Covid Centre Now
• Pak shells
forward areas along LoC in J&K's Rajouri
• Ahead of
Eid, J&K L-G appeals to people to follow social distancing
• 3 militants
killed in J&K encounter
--------
South Asia
• 'Don't
Redeem the Taliban', Afghan Social Media Users Ask World Before Peace Talks
• Kidnapped
Sikh community leader in Afghanistan released: MEA
• Afghan
forces destroy 20 underground tunnels of Taliban in Helmand
• Karzai met
with Abdullah to discuss ongoing efforts aimed at bolstering peace process
--------
Pakistan
• Anti-Pakistan
Protest Held Outside 10 Downing Street to Demand Justice for Baloch Victims
• Surging
attacks by Baloch separatists increase risks, costs of BRI projects in
Pakistan: Report
• Pakistan
reaffirms support to Kashmiris’ struggle
• Testing not
the only way to gauge decline in cases: Zafar
• Population
in Pakistan continues to grow rapidly: report
• Six
‘militants’ of banned Baloch outfit held
--------
Africa
• Sudanese Forces
Arrest 160 ‘Mercenaries’ En-Route ToLibya
• Over 100-Armed
Cars Head Towards Libya’s Bani Walid Town: Reports
• Libyan
vehicles attempting to infiltrate Tunisia, says Tunisian defense minister
• Iran linking
with Somalia’s al-Shabab to funnel weapons to Houthis: Foreign Policy
• Mali
opposition rejects mediation offer, demands President Keita must resign
• 'Bandits'
kill 23 Nigerian troops in northwest: Security sources
• Nigerian
troops kill 8 senior Boko Haram members
--------
North America
• US Set to
Start Another Middle East War At Behest Of Israel, Biden Won’t Change That:
Analyst
• US, Saudi
Arabia doing utmost to 'split Iraq away from Iran': Analyst
• Pentagon:
3,800 Syrian rebels in Libya sent by Turkey
Compiled by
New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/uaes-amal-spacecraft-rockets-toward/d/122421
--------
UAE’s Amal
spacecraft rockets toward Mars in Arab world first
July 19, 2020
TOKYO: A
United Arab Emirates spacecraft rocketed away Monday on a seven-month journey
to Mars, kicking off the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
The liftoff of
the Mars orbiter named Amal, or Hope, from Japan marked the start of a rush to
fly to Earth’s neighbor that includes attempts by China and the United States.
The UAE said
its Amal was functioning after launch as it heads toward Mars.
Omran Sharaf,
the project director of Emirates Mars Mission, told journalists in Dubai about
an hour and a half after the liftoff that the probe was sending signals. Sharaf
said his team now would examine the data, but everything appeared good for now.
People cheered
and clapped, with one woman offering a celebratory cry common for weddings.
Hope is set to
reach Mars in February 2021, the year the UAE celebrates 50 years since the
country’s formation.
It blasted off
from the Tanegashima Space Center on a small southern Japanese island aboard a
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H-IIA rocket, on time at 6:58 a.m. (2158 GMT
Sunday) into the blue sky. Mitsubishi said the probe has been successfully
separated from the rocket and is now on its solo journey. The launch had been
delayed for five days because of stormy weather.
At Mohammed
bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai, Emirati men in their traditional white
kandora robes and women in their black abayas watched transfixed as the rocket
lifted off. As its stages separated, a cheer went out from a group of Emirati
men seated on the floor. They began clapping, one using his face mask due to
the coronavirus pandemic to wipe away a tear.
“It was great
to see everything going according to schedule today. It looks like things are
all on track. It’s a huge step in terms of space exploration to have a nation
like the UAE taking that giant leap to send a spacecraft to Mars,” Astronomer
Fred Watson said.
“Being on
route to a planet like Mars is an exceptional achievement.”
A newcomer in
space development, the UAE has successfully put three Earth observation
satellites into orbit. Two were developed by South Korea and launched by
Russia, and a third — its own — was launched by Japan.
A successful
Hope mission to Mars would be a major step for the oil-dependent economy
seeking a future in space, coming less than a year after the launch of the
first UAE astronaut, Hazzaa Ali Almansoori. He spent over a week at the
International Space Station last fall.
The UAE has
set a goal to build a human colony on Mars by 2117.
“It sends a
very strong message to the Arab youth that if the UAE is able to reach Mars in
less than 50 years, they could do much more,” Omran Sharaf, the project
director of Emirates Mars Mission, told The Associated Press on Sunday as his
colleagues prepared for the launch.
The Emiratis
involved in the program also acknowledged it represented a step forward for the
Arab world, the home of mathematicians and scientists for centuries before the
wars and chaos that have gripped wide swathes of it in recent times.
“So the region
has been going through tough times in the past decades, if not centuries,”
Sharaf said. “Now we have the case of the UAE, a country that’s moving forward
with its plans, looking at the future and the future of region also.”
For its first
Mars mission, the UAE chose partners instead of doing it all on its own.
“Developing a
spacecraft is not easy even if there is ample funding,” said JunyaTerazono, an
astronomer at Aizu University.
Emirati
scientists worked with researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder,
University of California, Berkeley and Arizona State University. The spacecraft
was assembled at Boulder and transported to Japan as the two countries looked
to expand their ties with the rich and politically stable Middle Eastern
nation.
The Hope Probe
is ready to launch into space in a few hours..
The Amal
spacecraft, along with its launch, cost $200 million, according to Omran
Sharaf, the UAE project manager. Operation costs at Mars have yet to be
divulged.
Amal, about
the size of a small car, carries three instruments to study the upper
atmosphere and monitor climate change while circling the red planet for at
least two years. It is set to follow up on NASA’s Maven orbiter sent to Mars in
2014 to study how it went from a warm, wet world that may have harbored
microbial life during its first billion years, to the cold, barren place of
today.
Hope also
plans to send back images of weather changes.
Japan, a US
ally, has already long collaborated in defense and space technology.
Resource-poor
Japan has traditionally kept friendly ties with Middle Eastern countries. In
recent years, Japan has increasingly stepped up trade and defense ties with the
UAE, and now seeks to expand its space business.
Two other Mars
missions are planned in the coming days by the US and China. The US plans to
send a rover named Perseverance to search for signs of ancient life and collect
rock and soil samples for return to Earth. Liftoff is targeted for July 30.
China aims to explore Mars with an orbiter and rover to study the planet’s
surface, and search for water and ice. This launch is set for around July 23.
Japan has its
own Mars mission planned in 2024.
Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, plans to send a spacecraft to the
Martian moon Phobos to collect samples to bring back to Earth in 2029.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1706991/middle-east
--------
Hagia Sophia
mosaics will be covered with curtains during prayers — Turkish presidential
spokesman
July 19, 2020
Outside
prayers, Hagia Sophia will be open to all visitors and tourists and all mosaics
will be uncovered, authorities have said.
----
ISTANBUL:
Mosaics depicting Christian figures in Istanbul’s ancient Hagia Sophia will be
covered with curtains during Muslim prayers, Turkish presidential spokesman
Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday, as work to prepare the building for use as a
mosque continues.
Authorities
had said last week that the mosaics would be concealed with either curtains or
lasers when the first prayers are held next Friday.
In a move that
sparked sparked international criticism and concern, President Tayyip Erdogan
declared Hagia Sophia open to Muslim worship earlier this month following a
court ruling that said the building’s conversion to a museum in 1934 was
unlawful.
Hagia Sophia
dates back to the sixth century and has a history as both a church and a mosque
before it was turned into a museum.
In an
interview with broadcaster NTV, Kalin said some mosaics of Mary and Gabriel
that are positioned in the direction of Qiblah, where Muslims face during
prayer, would be covered with curtains.
He said other
mosaics of Jesus and other Christian figures did not pose an obstacle for
Muslim prayers because they are not located in the direction of Qiblah. But he
did not say whether they would remain uncovered at all times.
Outside
prayers, Hagia Sophia will be open to all visitors and tourists and all mosaics
will be uncovered, authorities have said.
Erdogan
visited the mosque earlier on Sunday to inspect the progress in preparing the
building.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1707086/middle-east
--------
'Nations With
Islamophobia Can't Protest Hagia Sofia Move': Malaysian Politician
Omer Faruk
Yildiz
19.07.2020
Hagia Sophia
-----
Western
countries still plagued by Islamophobia have no place protesting Turkey
restoring Hagia Sophia to its historic status as a mosque, said a leading Malaysian
politician on Sunday.
“These
countries remained silent while Israel was planning to demolish al-Aqsa Mosque
in Jerusalem. Now they are protesting Hagia Sophia functioning as a church,”
said Abdul Hadi Awang, Malaysia’s special envoy to the Middle East and leader
of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).
Palestinian
have long said Israeli excavation work around the flashpoint site points to
their plans to demolish the mosque and rebuild the Third Temple there.
In a written
statement, Hadi said that after the conquest of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served
as the city’s main mosque for nearly 500 years
Abdul Hadi
said that other distinguished Istanbul mosques such as the Blue Mosque,
Sehzade, Suleymaniye, and Rustem Pasha were also inspired by Hagia Sophia.
On July 10, a
top Turkish court annulled a 1934 Cabinet decree which turned Hagia Sophia into
a museum, restoring its status as a mosque after an 85-year hiatus.
The
architectural marvel in the heart of Istanbul was a church in the Byzantine era
but was converted into a mosque in 1453 after the Ottoman conquest of the city.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/nations-with-islamophobia-cant-protest-hsofia-move/1915178
--------
Shamima Begum
betrayed Britain and she should face charges of high treason
DANIEL HANNAN
19 July 2020
Shamima Begum
-----
Shamima Begum
is an unlovely creature: dim, cruel and self-pitying. We should be sparing in
our use of the word “evil”, but it is hard to think of how else to describe
someone who, watching videos of Islamic State militants beheading civilians,
felt a tug of attraction. The jihadists’ atrocities were well-documented when
the then 15-year-old Begum left Bethnal Green to join them. She must have known
that they raped and enslaved non-Muslim women, that they executed aid workers,
that they tortured children....
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/19/shamima-begum-betrayed-britain-should-face-charges-high-treason/
--------
This Bakrid
Many Muslims Will Take Just One Share in A Cattle, Donate Rest of The Money to
The Poor and Deserving
Jul 19, 2020
MUMBAI: In
view of the new guidelines which make giving animal sacrifice on EidulAdha or
Bakrid festival very difficult amid Covid-19 pandemic, many Muslims in the
state will not sacrifice goats or sheep but will take share in a cattle (bull
or buffalo) preferably out of the state. Bakrid falls on August 1.
The guidelines
Released on Friday said that no mandis or livestock markets will be allowed and
people can buy cattle or goats online. “It will be very difficult to buy cattle
or goats as there are no mandis and cattle are not reaching the Deonar
abattoir. If it is not possible to give Qurbani of goats and sheep here, people
should do it outside the state where no such strict rules are enforced. By
taking share in a cattle-bulls or buffaloes-they can save money which can be
used to help poor relatives or others facing financial crisis,” said Maulana
Burhanuddin Qasmi, director, MarkazulMaarif, a think tank at Jogeshwari.
According to
the rules, meat of a sacrificed cattle (bull, buffalo) can be equally shared by
seven people while Qurbani of a goat or a sheep is valid for just one person.
Meanwhile,
Hyderabad-based Jamia Nizamia, one of the oldest Islamic institutions in the
country, has issued a fatwa saying that, in case giving Qurbani is extremely
difficult, the equivalent amount of the animal, can be donated to the poor and
deserving people in the community. This fatwa is being hailed widely.
“The fatwa
clears the confusion that Muslims can utilize the money meant to buy cattle for
Qurbani for charity if giving Qurbani is not possible or very difficult,” said
Mazher Hussein, executive director, Confederation of Voluntary Association
(COVA). Hussein has issued an appeal saying that, instead of buying a goat or
sheep in these hard times, Muslims should take one hissa (share) in bulls or
buffaloes. While a sheep will cost Rs 9000, one hissa in a bull will cost just
Rs 3000. “They can prepare ration kits worth Rs 3000 and distribute them among
teachers who have not been paid for months. This ration can take care of these
teachers for at least two months,” said Hussein.
Maulana
Mahmood Daryabadi of All India Ulema Council maintained that donating money to
the needy cannot be alternative to qurbani. However, he too maintained that, in
case of sacrificing cattle becoming extremely difficult at one place, people
should try to arrange Qurbani at another place where restrictions are not so
tough.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/this-bakrid-many-muslims-will-take-just-one-share-in-a-cattle-donate-rest-of-the-money-to-the-poor-and-deserving/articleshow/77051696.cms
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'Don't redeem
the Taliban', Afghan social media users ask world before peace talks
Jul 20, 2020
KABUL: Afghans
shared accounts of violence linked to the Taliban on social media with the
hashtag phrase 'don't redeem the Taliban' as anxiety grows as the United States
withdraws troops and attempts to usher peace talks with the militant group.
The accounts
of alleged violence and human rights abuses with the hashtag phrase in Dari
meaning 'don't redeem the Taliban' have been shared more than 100,000 times on
Twitter.
Kabul-based
Twitter user Ejaz Malikzada, 26, said the message had gained traction as Afghan
social media users sought to remind foreign powers not to sacrifice
achievements on human rights made in the last few decades.
"By
participating in this hashtag I want to tell those foreigners who insist on
starting peace talks in Afghanistan, they have ignored or forgotten the crimes
and violence committed by the Taliban against Afghan people," he said.
Though
millions of Afghans have no access to Twitter, for many, social media movements
allow people to voice their concerns and share their grief from remote parts of
the country.
The Taliban
has carried out attacks that have killed thousands of civilians around the
country as they waged an insurgency since their ouster from power.
The Taliban
claimed responsibility for a number of attacks this month, the most recent last
week when a car bomb exploded at a government compound.
During their
1996-2001 rule they enforced their strict interpretation of Islamic law under
which women were barred from education or leaving the house without a male
relative.
The group say
they have changed their approach to women's rights and operations by government
and foreign forces have also killed many civilians.
But many
Afghans and human rights activists remain sceptical, saying they are concerned
that impending U.S.-brokered peace talks, aimed at ending more than 18 years of
war, will not include adequate protection of human rights if the insurgent
group returns to a role in formal power.
Taliban
spokesman Suhail Shaheen said he suspected the social media campaign was due to
'anti-peace elements' and that "no legitimate rights will be lost"
during peace talks.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/dont-redeem-the-taliban-afghan-social-media-users-ask-world-before-peace-talks/articleshow/77058944.cms
--------
Anti-Pakistan
protest held outside 10 Downing Street to demand justice for Baloch victims
Jul 20, 2020
LONDON : A
massive protest was organised by Bramsh solidarity committee against the
killings of Baloch women in Balochistan at the hands of death squads and
Pakistani paramilitary forces in Balochistan province of Pakistan on Sunday.
The protesters
raised slogans against the ever-increasing human rights violations in
Balochistan and against the Harnai incident where Pakistan army killed the
family of Qaisar Chalgarri including, his 9 years old daughter Naz Bibi.
Hakeem Baloch,
President of Baloch National Movement UK Zone, said, "Baloch community in
the United Kingdom strongly condemn Pakistan military action in Balochistan and
it's death squads."
Abdullah
Baloch Leader of Balochistan Raji Zrumbesh Said, "Pakistan unleashed its
death squads to create havoc and terror in Balochistan. They want to frighten
the whole Baloch community by killing innocent Baloch women and attacking
houses so people feel insecure."
A large number
of political activists, intellectuals, women and children in Balochistan
province are victims of enforced disappearances by the security agencies. Many
of them are languishing in detention centres whereas mutilated bodies of some
of these abducted Baloch are found in isolated places.
A large number
of Baloch, who have taken asylum in Europe and other parts of the world,
continue to hold protests to raise the support of the international community
and pressurize Pakistan and its security agencies to stop human rights
violations in Balochistan.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/anti-pakistan-protest-held-outside-10-downing-street-to-demand-justice-for-baloch-victims/articleshow/77058994.cms
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Arab world
Syria’s
parliamentary elections a ‘farce’ say exiled opposition figures
19 July 2020
Syria’s exiled
opposition has called parliamentary polls Sunday in government-held areas of
the war-torn country a “farce” as millions abroad and in opposition-held
territory are not taking part.
President
Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party and its allies are expected to take most of
parliament’s 250 seats in the third such polls to be held since the civil war
started nine years ago.
“The regime
has not known (real) elections since it seized power 50 years ago,” said senior
opposition figure Nasr al-Hariri, referring to the date Assad’s father Hafez
al-Assad became president.
“Everything
called an election has been a farce under security and military grip... to form
a sham parliament for the regime to use to pass legislation to serve the gang
in power,” he said.
“All that has
changed today is that half the Syrian people have been forced to flee,” he told
AFP.
The conflict
has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions more from their
homes since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government
protests.
Sunday’s vote
comes as most of Syria’s political opposition is in exile, and millions of
Syrians living abroad after fleeing the violence are ineligible to vote.
Endless rounds
of UN-sponsored peace talks between the government and the opposition in exile
have failed to stop the conflict, and have been overtaken in recent years by a
parallel negotiations track led by regime ally Russia and opposition-backer
Turkey.
Opposition
figure ObeidaNahhas said on Saturday that the elections were a “blatant
charade” that had been ongoing for 50 years.
“The length of
the era of dictatorship and tyranny has produced a situation -- that does not
reflect the opinion of the popular majority...that has emptied elections of
their true democratic meaning,” he said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/19/Syria-s-parliamentary-elections-a-farce-say-exiled-opposition-figures.html
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Egypt’s
lawmakers to vote on deploying troops to Libya
July 20, 2020
CAIRO: Egypt’s
parliament is to vote Monday to authorize the president to deploy troops to
neighboring Libya if Turkey-backed forces there, allied with the UN-supported
government in Tripoli, move to retake the strategic coastal city of Sirte.
An Egyptian
intervention would further destabilize oil-rich Libya, and put two US allies —
Turkey and Egypt — in possible direct confrontation.
The vote was
initially scheduled for Sunday but was moved to Monday in a closed session,
according to lawmaker Mustafa Bakry. The House of Representative, packed with
supporters of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, is highly likely to vote in favor
of sending troops to Libya.
Libya was
plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime
dictator Muammar Qaddafi who was later killed. The country is now split between
a government in the east, allied with military commander Khalifa Haftar, and
one in Tripoli, in the west, supported by the United Nations.
The conflict
has escalated into a regional proxy war fueled by foreign powers pouring
weapons and mercenaries into the country.
The US has
grown increasingly concerned about Moscow’s growing influence in Libya, where
hundreds of Russian mercenaries have backed an attempt by Haftar’s forces to
capture Tripoli.
Egypt’s
state-run Al-Ahram daily reported on Sunday that the vote in Parliament was
intended to mandate El-Sisi to “intervene militarily in Libya to help defend
the western neighbor against Turkish aggression.”
Last week,
El-Sisi hosted dozens of tribal leaders loyal to Haftar in Cairo, where he
repeated that Egypt will “not stand idly by in the face of moves that pose a
direct threat to security.”
Libya’s
east-based parliament also urged El-Sisi to send troops.
Haftar’s
forces launched an offensive to take Tripoli from the UN-supported government
in April last year but their campaign — which had stalemated after reaching the
outskirts of the Libyan capital — suffered a blow last month when the
Tripoli-allied forces, with Turkish support, pushed them back and gained the
upper hand in the fighting.
The Tripoli
forces retook the capital’s airport, all main entrance and exit points to the
city and a string of key towns in the region. They pushed on eastward, vowing
to also retake Sirte, which Haftar took earlier this year.
Capturing the
city, Qaddafi’s birthplace, would open the door for the Turkish-backed forces
to advance even farther eastward and potentially take vital oil installations,
terminals and fields now under Haftar’s control.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1707321/middle-east
--------
Jurisprudence
conference highlights role of scholars in times of crisis
July 20, 2020
JEDDAH:
Leading Muslim scholars, muftis and academics have discussed the urgency of
addressing legal religious issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic days
before the Hajj pilgrimage is set to begin.
An
international conference organized by the Muslim World League and the Fatwa
Council of the UAE gathered Muslim scholars and academics from across the
Islamic world to discuss their role in mobilizing community efforts in
emergencies and crises.
The
conference, “Emergency Jurisprudence: Parameters for Post-COVID-19 Pandemic,”
held with the participation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
included jurisprudents, jurisprudence institutions, academics and thinkers from
around the world.
Sheikh Nahyan
bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, minister of tolerance in the UAE, said that the role of
Shariah (Islamic religious law) was a guide to public social order, a bastion
of social safety and security.
It guided the
lives of Muslims and served to protect individual and community interests as
the COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented affect on all spheres of life
including relations between nations and peoples, man and God, and individuals
as well.
“Bearing
responsibility, determination, perseverance and joint action all go hand in
hand on the right path toward achieving success,” Al-Nahyan said.
“We are also
emphasizing the role of the Ummah (Muslim community) scholars in mobilizing the
community’s efforts to face emergencies and crises, and you focus specifically
on the fact that scientific method and human progress are essential bases to
confront this pandemic.”
He added that
their role was an important call for regional and international cooperation to
overcome problems and preserve public health.
Sheikh
Al-Nahyan said that the conference was expected to lead to a number of sound
fatwas, and to set out mentoring programs that would allow Muslim societies to
be able to deal with the effects of the pandemic.
It would guide
Muslims toward better managing their lives in accordance with a rational
Islamic approach and to come up with suitable proposals in the areas of
worship, beliefs and dealings, as well as finding means to achieve success in
managing this crisis at the economic, health and social levels.
Sheikh
Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League
and chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said that the aim of the
conference was to provide answers to urgent questions and outstanding issues in
the context of a scientific inconsistency that affected the general public and
the jurisprudence affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that
scholars of the Muslim Nation addressing the developments post COVID-19 through
the forum would be able to produce clear legal rulings on various issues based
on evidence, while carrying out their legal responsibility.
Commenting on
Saudi Arabia’s limiting of pilgrims to perform this year’s Hajj, Chairman of
the UAE Fatwa Council Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah said that “the decision to
give priority to local pilgrims and limit the number of foreign pilgrims is in
the best interest of Muslims who might risk contracting the virus which could
spread of the continuous spread of the pandemic.”
He commended
the Kingdom’s efforts in protecting Muslims’ lives and placing their safety and
welfare first.
Sheikh
Noor-Ul-HaqQadri, the Pakistani Minister of Religious Affairs, said that
Muslims acted on the basis of the fatwa of scholars and jurists, even more so
since the outbreak of the pandemic. He praised the manner in which Muslims and
institutions alike took it on themselves to issue and follow fatwas that added
great value to the development of Islamic jurisprudence in the wake of such a
pandemic.
The pandemic
has provided many scholars with insight and knowledge to better educate and
issue fatwas.
“The pandemic
has showed the urgent need to get out of the narrow interpretation of the
religious discourse with disregard to the jurisprudence of purposes and
outcomes, while taking into consideration the diversity of time and place, the
various conditions of people and the latest developments,” said Prof. Mohamed
Mokhtar Gomaa, Egypt’s Minister of Awqaf.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1707146/saudi-arabia
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Five dead, 85
wounded in car bomb attack in Syria’s Azaz: Reports
19 July 2020
A car bomb
attack in northwestern Syria’s Azaz region killed five people and wounded 85
others, Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu agency said on Sunday.
The incident
took place in the village of Siccu, across the border from Turkey’s southern
province of Kilis, Anadolu said.
It said 15 of
the wounded had been brought to a hospital in Turkey and that some were in
critical condition.
Azaz has been
under the control of rebels backed by Turkey since Ankara’s first incursion
into Syria in 2016, in an operation that aimed to drive away ISIS militants and
the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia from its border with Syria.
Ankara regards
the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization. The operation ended in 2017.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
In another
development, Syria held a parliamentary election on Sunday, gripped by a
collapsing economy and new US sanctions after President Bashar al-Assad clawed
back control of most of the country.
People voted
across government territory at more than 7,000 polling stations, including for
the first time in former opposition bastions that the army has recaptured over
the last two years.
Assad’s
opponents denounced the vote as a farce, nearly a decade into a war that has
killed hundreds of thousands of people and made millions refugees.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/19/Five-dead-85-wounded-in-car-bomb-attack-in-Syria-s-Azaz-Reports.html
--------
Turkey detains
niece of Syrian Kurdish politician Saleh Muslim: Family
20 July 2020
Turkey has detained
the niece of an influential Syrian Kurdish politician, himself wanted by
Ankara, the family said Sunday.
Dalia Mahmoud
Muslim is a niece of Saleh Muslim, who is close to Syria’s semi-autonomous
Kurdish administration.
She was
“handed over to the Turkish authorities and their intelligence services” after
travelling to neighboring Iraq’s Kurdish region six months ago for medical
treatment, her father Mahmoud Muslim said.
Writing on
Facebook, he said his daughter had been preparing to return to Syria and that
her apparent transfer to Turkish custody had “surprised” the family.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The Iraqi
Kurdish authorities shoulder “responsibility for her kidnapping or handing her
over to Turkish intelligence,” he said, adding that any words attributed to her
were “false” and obtained “under pressure.”
Official
Turkish Anadolu had on Saturday reported a different version of her detention.
Citing security sources, it said that she had “handed herself in” to Turkish
security forces on July 15 in a southern province of Turkey.
Saleh Muslim
was himself briefly detained in Prague in 2018 and Turkey demanded he be
extradited, on the basis of an arrest warrant Ankara issued two years earlier
in connection with an attack in Ankara that killed 29 people in February 2016.
He denied any
link to the attack, and was released.
The Kurds
established their semi-autonomous administration in the vast stretches of
northeastern Syria that border Turkey during the ongoing civil war.
The
administration is viewed with hostility by Turkey, which sees the main Syrian
Kurdish militia, the YPG, as “terrorists” and an offshoot of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK has
waged a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey.
Dalia Muslim’s
father says she belongs to the YPG’s female contingent.
Saleh Muslim
was long co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the YPG’s political arm.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/20/Turkey-detains-niece-of-Syrian-Kurdish-politician-Saleh-Muslim-Family-.html
--------
Mideast
'Hagia Sophia
move shows will of Muslim country'
Riyaz ul
Khaliq
18.07.2020
ANKARA
Turkey's
decision to re-open Hagia Sophia as a mosque shows its ability "to assert
its sovereignty and will”, said speakers at a virtual seminar on Saturday.
"Turkey
has been siding with legitimate voices of the people and governments in the
region," said Sami Al-Arian, an expert on global affairs.
Last week, a
top Turkish court annulled the 1934 Cabinet decree, which turned Hagia Sophia
to a museum, restoring its status as a mosque.
The
architectural marvel in the heart of Istanbul was a church in the Byzantine
era. It was converted into a mosque in 1453 after the Ottoman conquest of the
city.
The
discussion, The Hagia Sofia Decision and its Geo-political Implications, was
hosted by Istanbul-based Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA).
Al-Arian,
director of the center, said: “Conversion of Hagia Sophia into a museum was
about the evolution of a strong secular Turkish state and partly appeasement of
the West.”
He noted 400
churches and synagogues have been restored in Turkey with support of the state.
“When the
Spanish Inquisition happened towards the end of the 15th century, this is the hypocrisy
we see today, that hundreds and hundreds of mosques and religious buildings
[were converted] into Catholic churches and buildings and no one is talking
about it,” said Al-Arian.
“Greece did
not have a single mosque even though there were Muslims all through its history
-- they [Greek Muslims] would be denied a single house of worship until
recently.”
'Unanimous
support'
Yasin Aktay, a
senior advisor to the Turkish government, said there was unanimous support to
re-opening of Hagia Sophia for Muslim prayer.
“This shows
how Hagia Sophia [had] a common value for people in Turkey,” said Aktay.
“We are now in
a new Turkey… this decision is not against any religion and transforming Hagia
Sophia [in 1934] was an exceptional one,” he said. “A museum is no way closer
to a religious place but there are many common features between a church and a
mosque.”
“There is no
reason to worry about Hagia Sophia; all its historic and cultural aspects will
be protected,” said Aktay, who is also a political scientist.
Aktay said
during their conquests “Ottomans did not destroy any religious place… they
could have converted all [non-Muslim] religious places into mosques, but they
did not.”
'Turkey
helping Palestinians'
Addressing his
nation last week, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan termed the move on
Hagia Sophia as a "harbinger of the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque" in
Jerusalem.
Referring to
that, Al-Arian said Erdogan has been “at the forefront for the fight on
Jerusalem and Palestine”.
"It has
not just been supporting in words but all through its actions,” he said.
Al-Arian, who
lived in the US for over four decades before moving to Turkey in 2015, said:
“Hundreds of Catholic churches were closed in West; many were sold because
nobody maintained them and [in many circumstances] it were Muslims who bought
churches just to maintain them as houses of worship.”
Responding to
criticism from some quarters in Muslim community in the West, Al-Arian said:
“Post 9/11, many so-called Muslim leaders have turned their back on interests
of Muslims in the West. They have been appealing to the most Islamophobic and
anti-Muslim sentiments."
Ruling out any
comparison with the Babri Mosque in India, Al-Arian said “the situations are
completely different.”
“We are not
talking about a group of people who have been persecuted, who have been
targeted, kicked out and burnt like what happened in India,” he said, referring
to the 16th century mosque in India which was demolished to build a Hindu
temple in its place.
“Hagia Sophia
was a mosque in 1934 and no question was asked when it was converted into a
museum; there was no party that asked that they wanted to make it a church,” he
said.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/hagia-sophia-move-shows-will-of-muslim-country/1915074
--------
Iran suspends
execution of three men convicted over deadly protests
20 Jul, 2020
TEHRAN: Iran
has halted the execution of three people linked to deadly November protests
sparked by a hike in petrol prices, one of the accused men’s lawyers said on
Sunday.
“We conveyed a
request (for a retrial) to the supreme court and they have accepted it. We hope
the verdict will be overturned,” Babak Paknia said over the phone.
Iran’s
judiciary said last week that a court had upheld the death sentence for the
three.
It said evidence
had been found on their phones of the three setting alight banks, buses and
public buildings in November.
The three are
Amirhossein Moradi, 26 and working at a mobile phone retailer, Said Tamjidi, a
28-year-old student, and Mohammad Rajabi, also 26.
“We are very
hopeful that the verdicts will be overturned... considering that one of the
judges at the supreme court had opposed the verdicts before,” the four lawyers
representing the accused said in a statement published by state news agency
IRNA.
Numerous calls
had spread online since the verdict was announced using the hashtag
“Don’tExecute” for a halt to executions in the country.
Judiciary
spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said at the time that the verdict could still
change over “extraordinary proceedings”, pointing to a legal clause that could
trigger a retrial if deemed necessary by the chief justice.
The
demonstrations erupted on November 15 after authorities more than doubled fuel
prices overnight, exacerbating economic hardship in the sanctions-hit country.
They rocked a
handful of cities before spreading to at least 100 urban centres across the
Islamic republic.
Petrol pumps
were torched, police stations attacked and shops looted, before security forces
stepped in amid a near-total internet blackout.
A senior
Iranian lawmaker said in June that 230 were killed and thousands injured during
the protests.
Authorities
had for months refused to provide casualty figures, rejecting tolls given by
foreign media and human rights groups as “lies”.
London-based rights
group Amnesty International has put the number of deaths at 304, and a group
of independent UN rights experts said in December that 400 including at least
12 children could have been killed, based on unconfirmed reports.
Rights
activists claimed the death sentences were aimed at intimidating future
protesters.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570069/iran-suspends-execution-of-three-men-convicted-over-deadly-protests
--------
Turkish police
detain dozens of suspected Daesh members in Istanbul
July 20, 2020
AhlulBayt News
Agency (ABNA): Turkish police have arrested at least 27 suspected members of
the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in a counter-terrorism operation in Istanbul.
Media reports
cited Turkish police sources as saying on Sunday that the operation targeted
addresses in 15 districts of Istanbul after police learned that those arrested
were ordered to carry out an attack in retaliation for social media posts with
"blasphemous content."
In recent
years, the Daesh terrorists have carried out a series of gun and bomb attacks
in Turkey.
On January 1,
2017, the terrorists attacked a nightclub in Istanbul and killed 39 people.
Back in
October 2015, twin bombings targeted a pro-Kurdish peace rally in the capital,
Ankara, killing 103 people and injuring more than 500. The government blamed
Daesh. In another attack, the terrorist group launched a bomb attack that
killed a dozen people in the city’s historic heart in 2016.
Turkey has
stepped up anti-terror operations against Daesh terrorist network inside the country
in recent years, arresting many suspected terrorists and busting several terror
cells across the country.
Turkey has
said that it would surely send captured Western members of Daesh back to their
countries of origin even if those countries have stripped them of citizenship.
Extremists
from across Europe joined Daesh in droves in 2014, when the Takfiri terror
group launched its campaign of death and destruction in Iraq and Syria.
Back then,
many European leaders ignored repeated warnings that the terrorists could
return home one day and that they would be a serious security challenge across
the continent.
They instead
allowed their nationals to join the Takfiri terror outfit in the hope that they
would help topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The terror
group, which once held large swaths of land in Syria and Iraq, has lost all of
the urban areas it had overrun in both Arab countries, thanks to counter-terror
operations carried out by the Syrian and Iraqi armies.
The Daesh
remnants have conducted sporadic attacks against government troops and
civilians alike in the war-torn countries.
https://en.abna24.com/news//turkish-police-detain-dozens-of-suspected-daesh-members-in-istanbul_1056332.html
--------
Iran sentences
three Kurdish citizens to prison for burning Soleimani banner
19 July 2020
Iran has
sentenced three Kurdish citizens to a total of 16 years in prison for burning a
banner of slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qassem
Soleimani in January, according to an Iranian Kurdish rights group.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
Twenty-year-old
Arman Hosseinzadeh and 19-year-olds Milad Hosseini and Bahman Rahimi have been
sentenced to a total of 16 years and seven months in prison on charges of
“propaganda against the regime by burning Soleimani banners” and membership in
an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, rights group Hengaw, which reports on
human rights violations in Iran’s Kurdish-populated areas, said on Saturday.
A 17-year-old
was also arrested alongside the other three but his sentence has not yet been
announced.
The four were
arrested days after Soleimani – the overseas arms of the Islamic IRGC – was
killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on January 3.
On January 22,
Iranian police said it arrested a minor for ripping up a poster of Soleimani.
Several videos
emerged online in January showing Iranians ripping up and setting fire to
images and posters of Soleimani amid the anti-government protests that followed
Iran’s belated admission to downing a Ukrainian passenger plane.
Iran admitted
to downing the plane after vehemently denying responsibility for several days
triggering angry protests in several cities.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/19/Iran-sentences-three-Kurdish-citizens-to-prison-for-burning-Soleimani-banner.html
--------
Southeast Asia
Chinese
Ambassador To UK Dismisses 'False' Concentration Camp Claims And Insists Uighur
Muslims Live In 'Peace And Harmony'
19 July 2020
China's
ambassador to the UK today insisted Uighur Muslims live in 'peace and harmony'
despite being confronted with video appearing to show shackled prisoners being
herded onto trains.
Appearing on
the Andrew Marr Show, Liu Xiaoming denied reports that China is carrying out a
programme of sterilisation of Uighur women in the western Xinjiang region.
Reports have
accused China of attempting to reduce the Uighur population through forced
sterilisation, but Mr Liu insisted this is not 'Government policy.'
Experts
estimate that more than one million Uighurs and other minorities have been
rounded up into a network of internment camps in total.
But Mr Liu
suggested video footage, believed to be from Xinjiang, showing men, kneeling
and blindfolded waiting to be led onto trains was 'fake'.
He added the
images could be 'transfers of prisoners,' as he insisted 'I don't know where
you got this video tape from.'
'There is no
so-called massive forced sterilisation among Uighur people in China,' he said.
'It is totally against the truth.'
However, Mr
Liu admitted he couldn't 'rule out single cases for any country,' adding:
'There is no such concentration camp in Xinjiang.'
He went on to
insist the Uighur population, which has reportedly increased in numbers in the
last 40 years, enjoy a 'peaceful, harmonious coexistence with other ethnic
groups' in Xinjiang.
Confronted by
Marr about the footage, Mr Liu said: 'Let me tell you this, the so-called
Western intelligence making these false accusations against China, they say one
million Uighur has been persecuted, you know how much population Xinjiang has?
'Forty years
ago it was five million, now it is 11 million people and people say we have
ethnic cleansing, but the population has doubled in 40 years.'
Marr questioned
his data, adding: 'According to your own local Government statistics, the
population in Uighur jurisdictions in that area has fallen by 84 per cent
between 2015 and 2018.'
Mr Liu
replied: 'That's not right. I gave you this figure as the Chinese ambassador.
In the past 40 years, the Uighur population increased, the population in
Xinjiang increased to double. The population doubled.
'So there is
no so-called restriction of the population, no so-called forced abortions and
so on.'
The ambassador
went on to claim he can 'easily refute' accusations of forced sterilisation,
insisting these are made by a 'small group of anti-Chinese people working
against the interests of China.'
'People can
enjoy a harmonious life, Uighur people enjoy a harmonious life, peaceful,
harmonious coexistence with other ethnic groups,' he said.
Mr Liu also
rejected claims China was pursuing a policy of aggressive nationalisation,
saying it was Western powers which were trying to foment a new cold war.
'It's Western
countries, headed by United States, they started this so called new cold war on
China,' he said.
'They have the
sanctions, they have these smearing, name calling, take what happened with the
coronavirus.
'They still
keep calling China virus, Wuhan virus. Totally wrong.
'But we have
to make a response. We do not provoke but once we were provoked we have to make
response.'
It comes as
Britain accused Beijing of 'gross, egregious human rights abuses' over its
'deeply troubling' treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang.
Dominic Raab
said the reports of forced sterilisations and mass detentions in the
predominantly Muslim region required international attention.
'It is clear
that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on... it is deeply,
deeply troubling,' he told the BBC.
'The reports
and the human aspects of it... are reminiscent of something we have not seen
for a long, long time, and this is from a leading member of the international
community that wants to be taken seriously.
'We want a
positive relationship [with China], but we cannot see behaviour like that and
not call it out,' Raab added.
His comments
come as tensions between London and China are rising over a host of issues.
Britain on
Tuesday bowed to sustained pressure from Washington and ordered the phased
removal of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from its 5G network despite warnings
of retaliation from Beijing.
The two sides
have also clashed over Beijing's imposition of a controversial national
security law in Hong Kong.
The US earlier
this month slapped sanctions on senior Chinese officials, as it demanded an end
to the 'horrific' abuses against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang.
Beijing
swiftly responded with counter measures in one of the latest episodes in deteriorating
US-China relations.
Raab said he
will update British lawmakers on Monday on the UK government's next steps
regarding Beijing's draconian new law in Hong Kong.
That will
include announcing the outcome of a review of extradition arrangements with the
former colonial territory.
However,
China's ambassador to London warned it will make a 'resolute response' if
Britain follows the US in sanctioning Chinese officials for the alleged abuses.
'We never
believe in unilateral sanctions, we believe the UN has the authority to impose
sanctions,' Liu Xiaoming told the BBC.
'If the UK
government goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China
will certainly make resolute response to it.'
Liu said he
did not want to see 'tit-for-tat' diplomatic skirmishes between Britain and
Beijing, as was happening with the US.
'I think [the]
UK should have its own independent foreign policy rather than dance to the tune
of the Americans like what happened to Huawei,' he added.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8538355/Chinese-ambassador-insists-Uighur-Muslims-live-peace-harmony.html
------
Abim welcomes
efforts to uphold Malay language, calls to discontinue teaching of science and
math in English
19 Jul 2020
KUALA LUMPUR,
July 19 — The Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim) welcomes efforts to
amend the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) Act 1959 (Revised 1978, Amendment and
Extension 1995) to empower the use of the Malay language in the country.
Its president
Muhammad Faizal Abdul Aziz said Abim supports any effort to consolidate laws on
the use of the national language, to ensure the correct use of the language.
“As we already
know, language is an important medium to strengthen the role of institutions
and be able to uphold the language, literature and knowledge among the people,”
he said in a statement here, today.
Muhammad
Faisal was referring to the draft amendment of Section 2 of the National
Language Act 1963/67 (Act 32), which will give DBP the authority to enforce
laws relating to the use of the Malay language, which has been prepared since
early 2019.
Meanwhile, in
another statement, he said Abim fully supports the government’s decision not to
proceed with the Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English
(PPSMI), and at the same time called for the Dual Language Programme (DLP) to
be abolished.
The government
should revert to the national language policy in national education, which has
been sidelined due to the implementation of DLP, he said.
“The
implementation of the DLP will not only continue the failure of PPSMI which has
been proven through academic studies but is also a form of victimisation of
students, parents and teachers.
“Giving the
autonomy to schools, parents and teachers to choose between DLP/ PPSMI and the
Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening Command of English Language
(MBMMBI) policy does not make any sense and at the same time is against the
mission to uphold the Malay language,” he added.
Abim urges the
Education Ministry to return back to focus on efforts to strengthen the English
language by upgrading and revising the learning modules in schools.
On July 15,
Senior Education Minister Dr RadziJidin said the ministry has no plans to
reintroduce PPSMI in schools. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/07/19/abim-welcomes-efforts-to-uphold-malay-language-calls-to-discontinue-teachin/1885986
--------
PM denies
Putrajaya will recognise UEC, says cert partially accepted since 2012
19 Jul 2020
BY DANIAL
DZULKIFLY
KUALA LUMPUR,
July 19 — Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has denied today saying
Putrajaya will recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) following a
meeting with Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong) recently.
A statement by
the Prime Minister’s Office said the UEC must follow the National Education
Policy if it wishes for an end towards the conflict in the future.
“The prime
minister said the UEC has received partial recognition after the government in
the past accepted UEC graduates into the bachelor's degree teacher training
programme (PISMP),” it said.
Muhyiddin said
in 2012, the government had accepted UEC graduates to enrol in the PISMP for
Chinese Language, provided they pass the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM)
certificate and scored with honours in Malay Language.
In 2012,
Muhyiddin himself was then education minister under the Barisan Nasional
administration.
Last week, Hua
Zong had claimed that Muhyiddin said he hopes the UEC will be recognised in the
future and was willing to negotiate with the Chinese civil society groups on
the issue.
Under the Pakatan
Harapan administration, a UEC Policy Task Force (PPDUEC) was established to
gauge major stakeholders and look into issues of recognising the certificate.
The task force
consisted of Eddin Khoo, United Chinese School Committees' Association of
Malaysia (Dong Zong) deputy president Datuk Tan Yew Sing who is also
Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce president, and Muslim Islamic Youth Movement
of Malaysia president Mohamad Raimi Abdul Rahim.
It was
reported that the taskforce’s final report was ready to be submitted early this
year but was put on hold following SimpangRenggam MP Maszlee Malik’s
resignation as education minister.
Now under the
Perikatan Nasional administration, many quarters are also asking for the
government to recognise the UEC.
UEC is a standardised
test for Chinese independent high school students, which is not regulated by
the Ministry of Education, that was introduced in 1975.
In Malaysia,
the issue has been politicised by certain quarters that claim UEC is an
obstacle to achieving national unity, especially in education.
UEC is
accepted in certain private colleges in Malaysia and countries such as
Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Currently,
five states — Penang, Melaka, Sabah, Sarawak and Selangor — have announced that
they recognise UEC though the students also need to take the Malaysia Education
Certificate (SPM) examinations as well.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/07/19/pm-denies-putrajaya-will-recognise-uec-says-cert-partially-accepted-since-2/1885859
--------
Europe
UK accuses
China of 'gross' human rights abuses against Uighurs
19 July 2020
UK Foreign
Secretary Dominic Raab has accused China of "gross and egregious"
human rights abuses against its Uighur population and said sanctions against
those responsible cannot be ruled out.
Reports of
forced sterilisation and wider persecution of the Muslim group were
"reminiscent of something not seen for a long time", he told the BBC.
The UK would
work with its allies to take appropriate action, he insisted.
China's UK
ambassador said talk of concentration camps was "fake".
Liu Xiaoming
told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the Uighurs received the same treatment under
the law as other ethnic groups in his country.
Shown drone
footage that appears to show Uighurs being blindfolded and led to trains, and
which has been authenticated by Australian security services, he said he
"did not know" what the video was showing and "sometimes you
have a transfer of prisoners, in any country".
"There is
no such concentration camps in Xinjiang," he added. "There's a lot of
fake accusations against China."
It is believed
that up to a million Uighur people have been detained over the past few years
in what the Chinese state defines as "re-education camps".
China
previously denied the existence of the camps, before defending them as a
necessary measure against terrorism, following separatist violence in the
Xinjiang region.
The
authorities have recently been accused of forcing women to be sterilised or
fitted with contraceptive devices in an apparent attempt to limit the
population, prompting calls for the UN to investigate.
'Deeply
troubling'
Asked whether
the treatment of the Uighurs met the legal definition of genocide, Mr Raab said
the international community had to be "careful" before making such
claims.
But he said:
"Whatever the legal label, it is clear that gross, egregious human rights
abuses are going on.
According to
recent research by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the rate of
population growth in the two largest Uighur prefectures in Xinjiang fell by
more than 80% between 2013 and 2018.
China does not
accept the findings and pressed on the figures, China's ambassador to the UK
Liu Xiaoming said that the Uighur population in Xinjiang stood at four to five
million 40 years ago and had now grown to 11 million.
''People say
we have ethnic cleansing, but the population has doubled,'' he added.
Demographic
research, which draws on Chinese official data and media reports, doesn't go
back as far as 40 years.
But it
suggests there was a rapid rise in the growth rate of the population in
Xinjiang between 2005 and 2015, followed by a sharp fall over subsequent years.
"It is
deeply, deeply troubling and the reports on the human aspect of this - from
forced sterilisation to the education camps - are reminiscent of something we
have not seen for a very long time.
"We want
a positive relationship with China but we can't see behaviour like that and not
call it out."
There are
growing calls for the UK to impose sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel
bans, on Chinese officials responsible for the persecution of the Uighurs.
A petition
backing the move has amassed more than 100,000 signatures, meaning it will be
considered for debate in Parliament.
The UK
recently took action against senior generals in Myanmar who orchestrated the
campaign of violence against the Rohingya and against North Korean bodies
behind forced labour camps.
Mr Raab said
this showed that the UK was prepared to take action unilaterally, as well as
through bodies like the UN, but it was "not as simple as deciding you can
willy nilly sanction X or Y".
"You have
to, as we have done with the Rohingya and North Korea, build up an evidence
base and that takes a long time to do because you have got to identify
accurately and responsibly those involved," he said.
BBC News
diplomatic correspondent James Landale said: "The risk for Britain is that
it gets caught in the crossfire between Washington and Beijing.
"The
price for defending human rights could be less trade with China - and that
could prove costly in a post-Covid economic downturn."
Conservative
MPs are also pressing for action against senior officials in the Hong Kong
government following the imposition of a new security law which the UK says
violates international agreements protecting freedoms.
The foreign
secretary is due to update Parliament on Monday on the UK's response, amid
speculation it will scrap the UK's existing extradition treaty with the former
British colony.
'Tit-for-tat'
Speaking on
The Andrew Marr Show, the Chinese ambassador said if the UK - which has also
offered residency rights to three million Hong Kongers eligible for British
passports - targeted its officials, his country could retaliate.
"If the
UK goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China will
certainly make a resolute response to it," he said.
He dismissed
claims of "ethnic cleansing" of the Uighurs as baseless, saying they
"enjoy peaceful, harmonious coexistence with other ethnic groups of
people".
He said
figures suggesting population growth in Uighur areas had fallen by 84% between
2015 and 2018 were "not correct", claiming the number of Uighurs in
the whole of Xinjiang had "doubled" over the past four decades.
"There is
no so-called pervasive, massive forced sterilisation among Uighur people in
China," he added. "Government policy is strongly opposed to this kind
of practice."
While he
"cannot rule out single cases" of sterilisation, he insisted "we
treat every ethnic group as equal".
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53463403
--------
France, Italy,
Germany threaten foreign countries with sanctions over Libya arms
18 July 2020
France, Italy
and Germany are "ready to consider" imposing sanctions on foreign
powers that violate an arms embargo in Libya, a joint statement by the EU
countries' leaders said Saturday.
"We ...
urge all foreign actors to end their increasing interference and to fully
respect the arms embargo established by the United Nations Security
Council," the statement said.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
"We are
ready to consider the possible use of sanctions should breaches to the embargo
at sea, on land or in the air continue and look forward to the proposals the EU
High Representative/Vice President will make to this end," it added.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/07/18/France-Italy-Germany-threaten-foreign-countries-with-sanctions-over-Libya-arms.html
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Russia holds
military drills in southwest amid clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia
18 July 2020
Russia is
holding military exercises to test its combat readiness amid clashes between
its ally Azerbaijan and Armenian forces, Russia’s defense minister told his
Azeri counterpart on Saturday.
The Defense
Ministry described the exercises as a routine check of the army’s capacity to
ensure security in Russia’s southwestern region and denied any links between
the training and the fighting taking place in the Caucasus region, south of
Russia.
More than a
dozen Armenian and Azeri soldiers have been killed in recent days in clashes
between the two former Soviet republics which have long been at odds over
Azerbaijan’s breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Russia, which
has a military base in Armenia, has urged the two sides to cease fire and show
restraint. The Kremlin has said Moscow is ready to act as a mediator.
Russian
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Azerbaijan’s Sakir Hasanov discussed the
clashes in a phone call on Saturday.
The drills
involve around 150,000 troops and 400 aircraft, according to the defense
ministry.
The two sides
accuse each other of shelling military targets and villages, and Azerbaijan has
warned Armenia it could strike the Metzamor nuclear power station if its
Mingechavir reservoir or other strategic outlets were hit.
Armenian Prime
Minister NikolPashinyan said on Saturday Azerbaijan posed a threat to his
country and global security, saying the threat to attack one of its nuclear
power stations amounted to “a threat to commit terrorism.”
Russia
considers Armenia to be a strategic partner in the South Caucasus region and
supplies it with weapons.
“I
categorically deny any link between the activities held by the armed forces of
the Russian Federation and the escalation on the Armenian-Azeri border,” deputy
defense minister Alexander Fomin said in a separate statement, quoted by Russian
news agencies.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/07/18/Russia-holds-military-drills-in-southwest-amid-clashes-between-Azerbaijan-and-Armenia.html
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India
MEA cites
Afghanistan Sikh’s case to switch gears on CAA
Jul 20, 2020
NEW DELHI:
Until a few months ago, the MEA was trying to calm tempers and apprehensions
among neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Afghanistan ab- out the
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). On Friday, the foreign office indicated that
persecuted Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan could use the CAA to take Indian
citizenship and move to India for their safety.
This came as
India conveyed its gratitude to the Afghan government for securing the release
of Sikh leader Nidan Singh Sachdeva, who had been kidnapped in Chamkani
district of Paktia province on 22 June. In a statement, the MEA spokesperson
said, “In a recent decision, India has decided to facilitate the return of
Afghan Hindu and Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan
to India.” This is the first time the Indian government has openly pointed to
the CAA as a route to citizenship for minorities in neighbouring countries.
After
Parliament passed an amendment to the Citizenship Act in December 2019, India
faced a barrage of protests from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, along
with many Indians who felt the amendment was discriminatory, and linked to the
National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi
actually gave out special identity cards to Afghan Sikhs residing in India who,
they said, could use the cards for passports etc. According to some estimates,
there are over 1,000 Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan who have been targeted by
Taliban and other Islamist groups — the March 25 attack on a Kabul gurdwara which
killed 25 was one example.
In recent
months, the government has highlighted ill-treatment of Hindu minorities in
Pakistan as well, in a reminder to those that are opposed to it that this was
why the CAA had been passed in the first place.
While groups
as diverse as Taliban and ISKP are seen to be targeting Hindu and Sikh
minorities, the Indian government believes they are being instigated by
Pakistan. The MEA said, “The targeting and persecution of minority community
members by terrorists at the behest of their external supporters remains a
matter of grave concern.” These events in India’s neighbourhood will not cease,
but they will provide greater justification for the passage of the CAA by the
Modi government.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mea-cites-afghanistan-sikhs-case-to-switch-gears-on-caa/articleshow/77057257.cms
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Delhi: 19th
Century Mosque, Mubarak Begum, Damaged by Lightning
by Somya
Lakhani
July 20, 2020
Masjid Mubarak
Begum, a striking structure in Old Delhi built in the early 19th Century by a
courtesan, suffered considerable damage early Sunday morning due to torrential
rain and lightning.
Of the three
domes on the red sandstone mosque, the one in the centre broke and turned to rubble.
The naib muezzin of the mosque, Zahid, told The Indian Express, “Around 6.45
am, I was standing outside the mosque and it was pouring heavily. Suddenly
lightning struck, and the dome in the centre just broke. There were two-three
devotees inside too. No one was hurt. We have locked it up and will submit an
application for restoration to the Delhi Waqf Board on Monday.”
Himal Akhtar,
member, Delhi Waqf Board, said that “an architect and junior engineer will be
deployed Monday for inspection. We will conserve the mosque on a priority
basis.”
The Delhi
chapter of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said that the mosque doesn’t
come under their jurisdiction.
It was in 1822
that Mubarak Begum, the senior-most partner of Sir David Ochterlony — the
British resident of the Mughal Court — built the mosque in Hauz Qazi chowk,
said author Rana Safvi.
“It was built
by Mubarak Begum, who was a courtesan, and the senior-most wife of Sir David
Ochterlony. It was built on the first floor and there were shops underneath it.
This was usually the case with mosques built in busy bazaars as the ground
floor was for shops. There are more such mosques in Delhi,” said city
chronicler and author Sohail Hashmi.
Hashmi said
that “living monuments” such as old mosques and temples where prayers happen
are “not protected by the ASI”. He said, “This needs to change as these are
heritage structures which are being neglected. Proper maintenance is needed
which bodies like ASI can do.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-19th-century-mosque-damaged-by-lightning-6514109/
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Gujarat:
Godhra mosque a Covid centre now
Jul 20, 2020
VADODARA: For
so long, since the time of the pandemic outbreak, the second biggest mosque in
Godhra had been offering prayers for Covid-19 patients. However, it has now
taken its services a step ahead and turned one of its floor into a care centre
for Covid patients.
Opened last
week, this facility is already facilitating treatment to nine positive patients
from different communities.
The ground
floor of Aadam mosque, which was designed to accommodate female haj pilgrims,
has now been converted into a designated Covid-19 care centre. The decision by
the mosque’s managing trust was inspired by the rise in the number of cases in
the region.
“Godhra Muslim
Samaj, our maulvis and a group of Muslim doctors had sought permission from the
district collector and chief district health officer for a 50-bed facility. We
got approval for a 32 beds and started the facility on July 11. Of these 32
beds, 16 are for patients to be kept in isolation while the other 16 are for
positive patients,” said a doctor.
“We had bought
hospital furniture from a hospital in Ahmedabad which was closing down,” said
Abdul Kadir Hayaat, mosque’s managing trustee.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/godhra-mosque-turns-one-floor-into-covid-care-unit/articleshow/77057301.cms
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Pak shells
forward areas along LoC in J&K's Rajouri
Jul 19, 2020
JAMMU:
Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling on forward areas along
the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir Sunday
evening, a defence spokesman said.
Indian Army
retaliated befittingly and the cross-border shelling between the two sides in
Sunderbani sector was continuing when the last reporters were received, he
said.
"At about
7.15 pm, Pakistan initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with
small arms and intense shelling with mortars in Sunderbani sector
(Rajouri)," the spokesman said.
However, he
said there was no immediate report of any casualty on the Indian side.
The latest
ceasefire violation comes close on the heels of the killing of three civilians
-- a couple and their son -- in Pakistani shelling along the LoC in Poonch
district Friday night.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pak-shells-forward-areas-along-loc-in-jks-rajouri/articleshow/77054380.cms
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Ahead of Eid,
J&K L-G appeals to people to follow social distancing
by Bashaarat
Masood
July 20, 2020
Ahead of Eid,
Jammu and Kashmir’s Lt Governor G C Murmu on Sunday appealed to people to
maintain distance during the “upcoming festival”.
“Only you can
save yourself from this infection. As such it is necessary that when you go to
public places, please use masks and follow the guidelines of social distancing.
In this situation, if we don’t follow it, the possibility of the fast spread of
infection would increase,” he said in a video statement issued by the
government. “As such I would like to appeal to all of you, support the
administration and follow all the rules and maintain distance in the upcoming
festival”.
The Kashmir
Valley would celebrate Eid on August 1.
The Lt
Governor said the Covid-19 cases in Kashmir have seen a surge after the
government relaxed lockdown restrictions. “To a large extent, we had been
keeping corona pandemic under control in J&K but after the un-locking
started, from the last 15 days, positive cases have started to increase,” he
said. “In this situation, I would like to appeal to you all that with economic
development, it is also the responsibility of all to safeguard life as well…
There is the important role of the citizens (in it)”.
He said the
government has “opened some areas” as economic activity is important.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ahead-of-eid-jk-l-g-appeals-to-people-to-follow-social-distancing-6513938/
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3 militants
killed in J&K encounter
July 19, 2020
Three
militants were killed in a gunbattle in South Kashmir’s Shopian district on
Saturday, according to J&K Police.
Army launched
an operation in Amshipora village of Shopian based on a specific input about
the presence of militants in the area, police said.
“During
search, terrorists fired upon Army personnel and the encounter started. Later
on, police and CRPF also joined (the operation). During the encounter, three
unidentified terrorists were killed,” police said in a statement on Saturday.
According to
police, three bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter. “The
identification and affiliation of the killed terrorists is being ascertained,”
police said.
Police said
the bodies have been sent to Baramulla for last rites after conducting
medico-legal formalities, including collection of DNA.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/3-militants-killed-in-jk-encounter-6512706/
--------
South Asia
Kidnapped Sikh
community leader in Afghanistan released: MEA
Jul 18, 2020
NEW DELHI:
Nidan Singh Sachdeva, a Sikh community leader of Afghanistan who was kidnapped
in Paktia province last month, was released from captivity on Saturday, the
Ministry of External Affairs said.
"We
convey our appreciation to the government of Afghanistan and tribal elders from
the area, whose efforts secured the return of Nidan Singh," it said.
In a
statement, the MEA said the "targeting and persecution" of minority
community members by terrorists at the behest of their external supporters
remains a matter of grave concern.
"In a
recent decision, India has decided to facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and
Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India,"
it said.
Sachdeva, a
leader of the Hindu and Sikh Community of Afghanistan, was kidnapped in
Chamkani district of Paktia province on June 22.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/kidnapped-sikh-community-leader-in-afghanistan-released-mea/articleshow/77043469.cms
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Afghan forces
destroy 20 underground tunnels of Taliban in Helmand
20 Jul 2020
The Afghan
National and Security Forces destroyed at least 20 underground tunnels of the
Taliban group during an operation in southern Helmand province.
The Special
Operations Corps in a statement said the Taliban militants were looking to
launch attacks in Sarband and Deh Adam Khan areas of Greshk district on Sunday.
The statement
further added that the Special Forces defused Taliban’s plan to launch attacks
and wounded at least 4 militants during the operations.
The statement
further added that the Special Forces also discovered defused at least 12
improvised explosive devices during the operations.
The Special
Forces also discovered 20 underground tunnels dug by Taliban militants and
detonated them, the Special Operations Corps added.
The Taliban
group has not commented in this regard so far.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-forces-destroy-20-underground-tunnels-of-taliban-in-helmand-08969/
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Karzai met
with Abdullah to discuss ongoing efforts aimed at bolstering peace process
20 Jul 2020
The former
Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with Abdullah Abdullah, the Chairman of the
High Peace Council, to discuss ongoing efforts aimed at bolstering the peace
process.
The Office of
the Former President in a statement said Karzai met with Abdullah on Sunday.
The statement
further added that the two side discussed ongoing efforts aimed at supporting
the process, including the further implementation of prisoners exchange,
immediate launch of peace talks and implementation of peace agreement.
The U.S. and
Taliban representatives signed a peace deal late in February this year with the
release of prisoners being one of the key points for the launch of intra-Afghan
talks.
Both the
Afghan government and Taliban have so far released hundreds of prisoners to
help the peace process.
However, there
are concerns that the recent wave of violence led by Taliban could derail the
ongoing peace efforts.
https://www.khaama.com/karzai-met-with-abdullah-to-discuss-ongoing-efforts-aimed-at-bolstering-peace-process-08968/
--------
Pakistan
Surging
attacks by Baloch separatists increase risks, costs of BRI projects in
Pakistan: Report
Jul 19, 2020
BEIJING: A
surge in the deadly attacks by Baloch separatists in Pakistan has sent the
risks and costs of China's ambitious Belt and Road projects soaring while
Beijing's interests at the strategic Gwadar port on the Arabia Sea were caught
up in the proxy war between Islamabad and Tehran, according to a media report.
Security risks
and costs of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are rising
amid a resurgence of the deadly attacks by separatists in the troubled
Balochistan province, home to the Chinese-operated port of Gwadar, a report in
Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said.
The Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI) aims to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf
region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea route. The CPEC is the
flagship project of President Xi Jinping's ambitious BRI.
In the third
such attack since May, militants opened fire on a patrolling paramilitary
convoy in Panjgur district on Tuesday, killing three soldiers and wounding
eight others, including an army colonel. Militant ethnic Baloch factions have
also recently expanded their range of operations to adjoining Sindh province
and its provincial capital Karachi, according to the report.
Beijing's
stakes in Sindh are as high as they are in Balochistan, it said.
China's
state-owned enterprises run container terminals at Karachi port and have
invested in nuclear and coal power projects established both under the umbrella
of the CPEC and in partnership with local corporations, it said.
On June 29,
four militants were killed by police commandos when they tried to shoot their
way into the Karachi Stock Exchange, which is 40 per cent owned by a consortium
of three Chinese bourses.
“Baloch groups
have not only intensified their attacks but also expanded the outreach of their
terrorist violence beyond Balochistan, but it is hard to predict whether this
trend will persist,” Mohammad Amir Rana, director of the Pakistan Institute for
Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, told the Post.
He said Baloch
insurgent factions had historically preferred to conduct low-intensity attacks,
while their high-intensity attacks had tended to come in waves lasting “only
for a few weeks”.
Rana said the
CPEC projects and Chinese personnel remained well protected by the dedicated
13,700-strong Special Security Division, led by a two-star Pakistani army
general, established in 2017.
“Only
low-intensity attacks have been reported around the CPEC project sites, but the
financial cost of the security [to Pakistan] is high,” he said.
Beijing's
political risks are also escalating because of a renewed wave of public anger
in many parts of Balochistan against human rights abuses by Pakistani troops
deployed to crush the low-intensity insurgency in the province, the report
said.
In June,
Akhtar Mengal, leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, parted ways
with the ruling coalition led by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party,
citing the government's failure to bring a halt to state-enforced
disappearances.
In a
subsequent interview with the BBC's Urdu-language service, Mengal said more
than 1,500 Baloch had “disappeared” since Prime Minister Khan took office in
2018 and claimed that he had personally secured the release of nearly 500
people from the custody of the security forces.
Because of the
political and security situation in Balochistan, China's CPEC investments in
the province have hitherto been limited to the development of the Gwadar Port
and a road linking it to the coastal highway to Karachi.
The port is
not yet fully operational and only recently handled its Afghan transhipment
cargo. The city continues to suffer severe power and water shortages, the
report said.
Also, Chinese
geopolitical interests at Gwadar, the Arabian Sea outlet of the corridor
running overland from Xinjiang, have become caught up in a web of espionage and
proxy warfare involving Pakistan and Iran, it said.
Both have
accused each other of allying with each other's nemeses, India and Saudi Arabia
respectively, to support cross-border attacks, it said.
Iran is highly
suspicious of Pakistan and its relationship with arch-rival Saudi Arabia,
especially since Riyadh was invited in late 2018 to establish a $10 billion oil
refinery and storage facility at Gwadar.
“The Iranians
feel that Pakistan is not doing enough to secure the border on its side,” said
Seyed Mohammed Marandi, a professor of English literature and oriental studies
at the University of Tehran and renowned political commentator.
“A lot of
Saudi money has gone to extremist groups in this region and the Saudis have
funded these [Jaish ul-Adl] terrorists,” he told the Post.
Similarly,
Pakistan is deeply concerned about India's involvement at Iran's Chabahar Port,
which is competing with Gwadar for transit cargoes heading to landlocked
Afghanistan.
Politicians
have warned that popular resentment towards federal government policies in
Balochistan is dangerously close to igniting a wider uprising, it said.
Pakistan's
former president Asif Ali Zardari last month said the state needed “to be more
careful in Balochistan”.
Journalist
Kiyya Baloch said Chinese security concerns would continue to drag on the pace
at which CPEC projects in Gwadar have been developed.
“Despite
increasing diplomatic engagement, it is highly unlikely Beijing will make any
significant further investment in Gwadar until security is improved,” Baloch
said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/surging-attacks-by-baloch-separatists-increase-risks-costs-of-bri-projects-in-pakistan-report/articleshow/77051071.cms
--------
Pakistan
reaffirms support to Kashmiris’ struggle
Syed Irfan
Raza
20 Jul, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday reaffirmed Pakistan’s support to the
people of Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) in their struggle for
self-determination.
On the
occasion of the Accession to Pakistan Day, not only the government but
opposition leaders also expressed solidarity and support to the people of
occupied Kashmir.
“Kashmiris’
right of self-determination is recognised by the United Nations Security
Council as well as international laws. We will continue to fight for justice
for Kashmiris as they struggle against the brutal & illegal actions of the
Hindutva Supremacist Indian government in IOJK,” the prime minister said in a
tweet.
“Today we
commemorate the historic occasion of Youm-i-Ilhaq-i-Pakistan, when Kashmiris
passed a resolution for accession to Pakistan,” he said. “We reaffirm our
commitment to the Kashmiri people and stand with them in their struggle for
self-determination.”
President Dr
ArifAlvi said, in a message, the time was not far away when the sacrifices of
the people of the IOJK would come to fruition and they would accede to
Pakistan.
In his message
to the nation on Kashmir’s Accession to Pakistan Day, observed on July 19 every
year, the president said the day was meant to reiterate the resolve of the
Kashmiri people to get deliverance from the Indian oppression and accede to
Pakistan.
The day is
observed to commemorate the unanimous adoption of a resolution by the Kashmiri
leaders for Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan during a meeting of the All Jammu
and Kashmir Muslim Conference in the AabiGuzar area of Srinagar on July 19,
1947.
The president
said India had been illegally occupying the IOJK and making Kashmir people
subject to inhuman torture.
He said
Pakistan had been highlighting Indian cruelties in held Kashmir at every
international forum and even voices were being raised globally against human
rights abuses in IOJK.
The president
said India had been violating the UN Security Council’s resolutions recognising
the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. Indian government’s actions to
change the demography of the territory were also the violations of these
resolutions, he added.
The president
urged the international community to play its role for implementation of the UN
resolutions.
Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said July 19 marked the day when “true
representatives of Jammu and Kashmir adopted a historic resolution for
accession to Pakistan”.
“Despite
decades of Indian occupation, resolve of the Kashmiris and their immutable bond
[with Pakistan] stands strong,” he said in a statement, adding that the country
“reaffirms unwavering support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for
freedom”.
Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz chief and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly
Shahbaz Sharif said the world “must know that no other people have suffered as
much as the Kashmiris have for demanding their UN-sanctioned right to
self-determination”. “Every Pakistani was, is and will continue standing with
the Kashmiris during their legal, democratic and democratic struggle,” he said
in a message.
“Kashmiri
belongs to the Kashmiris just as Palestine belongs to the Palestinians and
England belongs to the English,” he said, adding that the freedom of Kashmir
and India’s failure to suppress the Kashmiris was an undeniable writing on the
wall.
Mr Sharif said
the Kashmiris and Pakistanis shared the same destiny and that was why Quaid-i-Azam
had declared Kashmir jugular vein of Pakistan. “Indian oppression and brutality
cannot force the Kashmiris to surrender their right to their motherland as the
Kashmiris have been guarding their commitment to the accession to Pakistan
resolution with unimaginable sacrifices till this day,” he added.
Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari hoped in his message that
Indian illegal occupation of Kashmir would end soon. “Indian government has
broken all previous records of tyranny and barbarity to suppress freedom
movement of the Kashmiris,” he said.
He said Indian
barbarity would further strengthen the struggle and commitment of the Kashmiris
and India was destined to destruction and humiliation.
Talking about
the response of international world, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said the world community
was not fulfilling its duty and demanded that Kashmir issue should be resolved
in the light of UN resolutions.
PPP vice
president Senator Sherry Rehman said neither the Kashmiris wanted to become a part
of India in 1947, when Pakistan came into being, nor now. “Observance of
Accession to Pakistan Day in Kashmir even after 73 years is an open proof of
that,” she added.
Minister for
Human Rights Shireen Mazari paid tribute to the Kashmiri people’s courage,
saying “generation after generation of the Kashmiri men, women and children
have confronted and resisted Indian occupation, brutality and incarceration”.
Addressing a
seminar at National Press Club in Islamabad, Special Parliamentary Committee on
Kashmir Chairman Shehryar Khan Afridi said Pakistan continued to provide
political and diplomatic support to the people of the occupied valley.
He said India
was violating international laws in the valley, adding that the world must take
notice of it and warn Delhi about the implications of its actions in the
region. He urged the United Nations to take notice of Indian atrocities in the
occupied valley.
Mr Afridi said
he would visit the Line of Control on EidulAzha as he had done on EidulFitr.
On August 5
last year, the Indian government repealed Article 370 of its constitution,
stripping occupied Kashmir of its special status. It also divided occupied
Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; one Jammu and Kashmir and the
other the Buddhist-dominated high altitude region of Ladakh. The bifurcation of
the territory came into effect on October 31 last year.
A strict
lockdown and communication blackout has been in place in occupied Kashmir since
then, with only partial relief.
In April, amid
the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, the Indian government notified new domicile
laws for occupied Kashmir, making an unspecified number of outsiders eligible
for residency and jobs.
As many as
25,000 non-locals have been granted domicile certificates in Muslim-majority
Jammu and Kashmir since May 18, which local politicians believe is the
beginning of a move to change the demographic profile of the region.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570073/pakistan-reaffirms-support-to-kashmiris-struggle
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Testing not
the only way to gauge decline in cases: Zafar
Ikram Junaidi
20 Jul, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Zafar Mirza has said that when all
the trends regarding the novel coronavirus in Pakistan are showing improvement,
one must not assess everything through less number of tests being conducted
across the country.
“I believe we
should not put everything on number of tests. We have passed from spike in
mid-June. The testing is a factor, but it should be considered that the number
of suspects has been reduced. We have collected data from hospitals and majority
of them, apart from a few in Sindh, have told us that less number of people
have been visiting hospitals,” said the PM’s aide on health affairs while
talking to Dawn.
Of the 264,593
cases reported since the outbreak of the highly contagious virus in the country,
204,276 patients have fully recovered, indicating that active cases have
dropped to 60,317. The country reported 1,777 cases and 47 deaths during the
past 24 hours, taking the national tally of cases to 264,593 and death toll to
5,591.
However, the
government has been facing criticism from opposition parties for a significant
drop in number of daily tests, despite the death of more than 2,200 patients
since June 20. The government had increased the number of daily tests to 34,000
last month, but the number of tests per day suddenly fell in the last week of
June and on July 18 around 18,000 tests were conducted across the country,
triggering scepticism about the actual tally of cases.
Talking to
Dawn, the PM’s aide said there was no reason to doubt that the spread of the
virus had slowed down when all indicators such as number of admitted patients
in hospitals and those on oxygenated beds and ventilators had declined. He said
even number of deaths had declined.
However, he
added, it was correct that a discussion was under way to ascertain whether it
was “premature optimism” or “permanent decline” in cases.
“Last week we
considered that why the number of tests was reduced as there was no issue
regarding capacity of tests. The reply was that the number of suspects has
reduced at hospitals and private labs. Though we had a consensus that the
number of tests should be increased it was also observed that around 40 to 50
per cent tests are being done through contact tracing policy which is called
tracing, testing and quarantine (TTQ). The number of tests would have been
further reduced if we lacked TTQ policy [under which all the contacts of
patients are tested],” he said.
The PM’s aide
said that a combination of nine factors turned around the situation in Pakistan.
“We started lockdown much earlier on 13th March and it is still going on as
restaurants, wedding halls, educational institutions, etc are still closed. The
sectors that have been opened are being monitored and fines are imposed for
violations. Moreover, contact tracing was improved through TTQ policy which was
introduced on April 24. Wearing of mask has been declared mandatory and we are
focusing on hygiene,” he said.
Dr Mirza said
the immunity level, change in nature of virus as well as temperature could be
some of the reasons behind the reduction in cases, but there was no doubt that
patients’ management had also improved. “Initially healthcare workers were not
aware that how they should deal with the patients and avoid chances of spread
of virus, as the disease was new for everyone, but now patient management has
been improved and they have learnt that what works and what does not,” the PM’s
aide said.
“I believe
that the NCOC has performed marvellously due to which coordination among the
federal and provincial governments has improved. Moreover, we gathered data on
a daily bases and tried to devise strategies as per situation due to which the
situation improved. I also believe that an X-factor arises in pandemics due to
which diseases are controlled,” he said.
Asked why
cases were increasing in India where the situation has become out of control
with around 30,000 cases being confirmed daily, Dr Mirza said India was much
more complex, bigger and more diverse country as compared to Pakistan. “India
started lockdown bit late and then suddenly withdrew it due to which their
situation worsened. However, we had strategy and we successful implemented
it,” he said.
While talking
to Dawn, federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad
Umar said that Covid-19 cases had been on the decline, the disease could spread
again over EidulAzha as people might not follow the health guideline for
shopping.
“I am not
worried about Eid prayers as people follow the SOPs during prayers. I fear that
the people may not follow the SOPs at cattle markets and in others markets
during Eid shopping as they did the same on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr,” he
said.
Mr Umar said
he would suggest the masses to opt for ‘collective sacrifice’.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570074/testing-not-the-only-way-to-gauge-decline-in-cases-zafar
--------
Population in
Pakistan continues to grow rapidly: report
Anwar Iqbal
20 Jul, 2020
WASHINGTON:
Pakistan’s total population is estimated at 220.9 million and it is growing
rapidly with an annual fertility rate of 3.6 children per couple, says a world
population report.
The 2020 World
Population Data Sheet — released by the US Population Reference Bureau,
Washington — also estimates that the world today has a total of 7.8 billion inhabitants.
Referring to
the Covid-19 crisis, the report warns that “population density in urban areas,
household size, and population aging contribute to our vulnerability to
pandemics”.
Also read: Why
the Covid-19 crisis is an urban crisis
The report
places South Asia among the fastest growing regions in the world and within the
region, it marks Afghanistan and Pakistan as the fastest growing populations.
Afghan-istan has a faster growth rate than Pakistan, 4.5 per couple. But
because of high death rates and low life expectancy, the country’s total
population is still 38.9m.
At Pakistan’s
growth rate — 3.6 — a population doubles in 19.4 years. A country needs to
bring its growth rate down to 2 per cent a year to reduce its population. The
replacement fertility rate is 2.1, the average number of children a couple
needs to have to replace themselves.
Bangladesh’s
total population in 2020 is estimated at 169.8m, with an annual growth rate of
2.3.
With a total
of 1.424bn people, China still has the largest population in the world but has
been able to reduce its fertility rate to 1.5. China’s population is projected
to decrease by 2050.
With 1.4bn
people, India has the second largest population in the world but has reduced
its fertility rate to 2.2.
The United States
has a total of 329.9m inhabitants and between 2020 and 2050 its population is
projected to increase, but at a much slower pace than recent decades. The US
has an annual fertility rate of 1.7, which forces it to allow immigrants to
strengthen its work force.
In 91
countries and territories — nearly 45 per cent of the world’s population —
total fertility rates are below replacement level.
Middle Africa
is the youngest region where 46 per cent of the population is under the age of
15 years. Southern Europe is the world’s oldest region with 23 per cent of the
population aged 65 or above.
Asia is the
world’s most populous region and its overall population is projected to
increase by 15 per cent — from 4.6bn in 2020 to 5.3bn in 2050.
However, the
pattern of future population change varies within the region from a 3 per cent
decline in East Asia to a 38 per cent increase in Western Asia. Asia’s total
fertility rate is below replacement level at 2.0.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570070/population-in-pakistan-continues-to-grow-rapidly-report
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Six
‘militants’ of banned Baloch outfit held
20 Jul, 2020
KARACHI:
Police claimed to have arrested six members of a little known Baloch insurgent
group, which they said was operating from Afghan soil and being supported by
Indian intelligence agency RAW.
Speaking at a
press conference, SSP-West Fida Husain Janwari said that the held suspects were
planning a terror attack in Karachi.
Acting on a
tip-off, the police held six suspects, identified as Sher Khan, Karim Bux,
alias Bagal, Dilshad, Mooran Khan alias Molu, Dur Khan and Amir Bux.
The held
suspects were affiliated with a banned outfit, the Baloch RaagiAajoiSangar.
“The [group]
is being operated from Afghanistan and funded by Indian RAW,” said the
official.
The police
claimed to have recovered six bombs, five grenades, three Kalashnikovs and a
large quantity of ammunition from their custody.
During initial
investigations, the held suspects disclosed that they were planning a ‘major
terror act’ in the metropolis.
“They were
involved in deadly attacks on the army, Frontier Corps and Levies personnel’s
caravans in Balochistan,” said the officer.
The group is
being supported by RAW which has been training and funding it, he added. “A
strong network of the suspects is being run from Afghanistan,” he said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1570053/six-militants-of-banned-baloch-outfit-held
--------
Africa
Sudanese
forces arrest 160 ‘mercenaries’ en-route to Libya
19 July 2020
Sudanese
forces arrested around 160 people on the border with Libya who were en-route to
the war-torn neighboring country to work as “mercenaries”, a state-linked
paramilitary group said Sunday.
“The joint
security forces stationed at the Sudanese-Libyan border arrested 160 people who
were going to work as mercenaries to fight in Libya, including two foreigners,”
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said in a statement.
The RSF is led
by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, a leading member of Sudan’s transitional ruling council.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“Sending
Sudanese to fight in Libya as mercenaries is unacceptable,” said General Jaddo
Hamdan, the RSF’s commander in North Darfur state.
“We have been
monitoring and securing the border with Libya to combat illegal migration,
human trafficking and all cross-border criminal enterprises,” he added.
Sudan is
currently undergoing a fragile democratic transition after massive protests
last year prompted the military to topple long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
In January, a
United Nations panel of experts said many Arabs from Sudan’s conflict-wracked
region of Darfur and neighboring Chad were fighting as “individual mercenaries”
in Libya.
The panel said
they belonged to the same tribes that made up a majority of RSF personnel, but
said there was no “credible evidence” that the RSF itself had deployed in
Libya.
The UN
experts’ report also said several Darfuri armed groups operating in Libya “have
participated in various clashes and military operations alongside Libyan
warring parties.”
Sudan’s Darfur
region itself remains scarred by war after a rebellion in the early 2000s
against al-Bashir was brutally suppressed.
Libya has
turned into a regional proxy-war in recent years, amid chaos following the 2011
uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Gaddafi.
Since 2015, a
power struggle has pitted Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA)
against the Libyan National Army (LNA) headed by General Khalifa Haftar, based
in the east of the country.
Last month,
Khartoum arrested 122 people including eight children in western Darfur who
were allegedly intending to serve as mercenaries in Libya’s civil war.
In an
interview with AFP in June, Sudan’s then foreign minister Asma Abdalla denied
that Sudanese forces were involved in the conflict in Libya.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/19/Sudan-forces-arrest-160-mercenaries-en-route-to-Libya.html
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Over 100-Armed
Cars Head Towards Libya’s Bani Walid Town: Reports
18 July 2020
More than 100
armed cars passed through the Libyan town of Tarhunah towards the town of Bani
Walid, southwest of Tripoli, an Al Arabiya correspondent said on Saturday.
No further
details have been provided yet.
For all the latest
headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The latest
development comes after it the US Defense Department’s inspector general
concluded in a new report that Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian
fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year. The new report is
the first to detail Turkish deployments that helped change the course of
Libya’s war.
The report
comes as the conflict in oil-rich Libya has escalated into a regional proxy war
fueled by foreign powers pouring weapons and mercenaries into the country. The
US military has grown increasingly concerned about Russia’s growing influence
in Libya, where hundreds of Russian mercenaries backed a campaign to capture
the capital, Tripoli, in the country’s west.
France, Italy
and Germany also said on Saturday that they are "ready to consider"
imposing sanctions on foreign powers that violate an arms embargo in Libya, a
joint statement by the EU countries' leaders said Saturday.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/07/18/Over-100-armed-cars-head-towards-Libya-s-Bani-Walid-town.html
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Libyan
vehicles attempting to infiltrate Tunisia, says Tunisian defense minister
18 July 2020
Tunisia has
intercepted four vehicles trying to infiltrate the country from the Libyan
border, said the Tunisian defense minister according to reports on Saturday.
The Tunisian
government would not allow the country to be infiltrated by militants from
Libya, which is currently mired in civil war, Al Arabiya sources reported.
Tunisia faces
a political crisis of its own after Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh retired
abruptly on Wednesday.
The country
now faces a there a new round of government formation talks followed by an
election if they fail.
Tunisia has been
hit by an economic crisis and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/07/18/Libyan-militants-attempting-to-infiltrate-Tunisia-says-Tunisian-defense-minister.html
--------
Iran linking
with Somalia’s al-Shabab to funnel weapons to Houthis: Foreign Policy
19 July 2020
Iran has
established relations with and is using al-Shabab militant group in Somalia to
attack US and other foreign forces in the country and in the region, a Foreign
Policy article said on Friday citing Somali government and security officials.
Iran has a
proxy network in Somalia and uses facilitators to provide support to “violent
extremist organizations” to counter the influence of the US and the Gulf
states, the article said.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Iran, which
has established its proxy network in Somalia using financial incentives, uses
the country to funnel weapons to the Houthi militia in Yemen and to transit
weapons to other countries in Africa such as Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan,
Mozambique, and Central African Republic, the article said.
Iran is
present in Somalia through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the
article said, adding that the IRGC’s overseas arm, the Quds Force, has
established ties with “extremist groups and criminal networks.”
The Quds Force
uses these networks to smuggle Iranian oil into Somalia and later sell it at
cheap prices across Africa to subvert US sanctions, the article said citing Somali
police and finance ministry officials.
Some of the
earnings are used to support militants in Yemen and Somalia, the article added.
Iran has
provided al-Shabab with financial and material support and “may have paid
bounties to militants to attack US forces in Somalia and the region,” the
article said citing a military official involved in operations against
al-Shabab in south-central Somalia.
Iranian money
and weapons may have been used in 2019 and 2020 al-Shabab attacks on US
military bases in Somalia and northern Kenya, as well as the European Union
military convoy in Mogadishu, the article said citing Somali defense ministry
and security officials.
Security
forces involved in operations against al-Shabab in south-central Somalia
discovered weapons as well as bomb-making materials and chemicals from Iran,
the article said. These officials claim that al-Shabab attacks since 2017 have
become more lethal and attribute the group’s increased capabilities to
foreign-sourced weapons, with the majority coming from Iran and Yemen, added
the article.
On January 5,
two days after the former head of the Quds Force Qassem Soleimani was killed in
a US airstrike in Baghdad, al-Shabab launched an attack on a military base used
by US and Kenyan forces in coastal Lamu that killed one American soldier and
two contractors.
Al-Shabab did
not say its attack was linked to Soleimani’s killing, but the timing of the
attack and al-Shabab’s “history of opportunistic strikes suggests that the two
events may have been linked,” the article said.
Iran and
Russia have been cooperating over the past two years to push the US out of
Somalia, the article said citing a Somali military official.
The article
suggested the US government uses sanctions to target individuals or groups in
Somalia and the region facilitating Iranian proxy activities in Somalia in
order to reduce al-Shabab’s access to financial and material support from
countries like Iran.
The US can
also use sanctions to go after individuals and groups engaging with sanctioned
elements of the Iranian regime, the article added.
The US should
also increase military, security, and economic assistance to Somalia in order
to counter the Iranian and Russian presence in the country, the article said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/19/Iran-linking-with-Somalia-s-al-Shabab-to-funnel-weapons-to-Houthis-Foreign-Policy.html
--------
Mali
opposition rejects mediation offer, demands President Keita must resign
18 July 2020
Mali’s
opposition alliance has rejected a plan proposed by international mediators to
defuse tensions, sticking to its demand that President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
must resign.
The rejection
was the latest setback in efforts to end Mali’s political standoff that has
spiraled into violent clashes which have left 11 people dead.
In a statement
late Friday after several meetings with a delegation from the 15-nation ECOWAS
bloc, the June 5 Movement said the president’s departure had been a “red line”
for the mediators.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
It said this
ignored the risk Keita “poses to the very existence of Mali as a nation,
republic and democracy.”
The June 5
Movement has triggered a show-down with the government over its unflinching
demands that Keita resign for perceived failures in tackling the dire economy
and Mali’s eight-year extremist conflict.
After several
anti-Keita protests last month, the latest rally on July 10 turned violent and
deepened the political impasse.
Three days of
clashes between protesters and security forces left 11 dead and 158 injured,
according to an official tally – in the bloodiest bout of political unrest in
years.
The ECOWAS
mediation team led by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has been in
Mali since Wednesday, meeting the parties in a bid to defuse the crisis.
On the agenda
were discussions about the March-April parliamentary election, the disputed
outcome of which many analysts say is the root of the crisis.
Mali’s
constitutional court in April tossed out about 30 results from the elections in
a decision that handed seats to members of Keita’s party, triggering protests.
But the
mediators’ compromise offer is substantially similar to an earlier offer made
by Keita, which the opposition has already rejected.
The mediating
team proposed that Keita remain president, for example, but that new judges be
appointed to the constitutional court so that it could revisit its decision on
the parliamentary election.
A “new
government of national unity” should also be formed, mediators said.
Jonathan, from
the ECOWAS team, told reporters Saturday that negotiations had not failed and
that meetings would continue.
He added that
the ECOWAS team would issue a statement on Saturday or Sunday.
One of the
June 5 Movement’s leaders, ChoguelMaiga, said late Friday that the mediators’
proposals had “reduced our entire struggle to electoral issues.”
In the
statement issued Friday, the opposition movement said it was insisting the
president quit based on his “proven inability to turn Mali around” and the loss
of territory, among other issues.
Swathes of
Mali lie outside of government control because of an extremist insurgency that
began in the north in 2012, before spreading to the center, as well as into
Burkina Faso and Niger.
The conflict
has claimed thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands from their
homes.
With the
latest political crisis, Mali’s allies and neighbors are keen to avoid the
fragile Sahel nation of some 20 million people sliding into chaos.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/07/18/Mali-opposition-rejects-mediation-offer-demands-President-Keita-must-resign.html
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'Bandits' kill
23 Nigerian troops in northwest: Security sources
19 July 2020
At least 23
Nigerian troops were killed when they were ambushed by a gang of so-called
"bandits" in a remote village in the northwest of the country,
security sources said Sunday.
The gang
opened fire Saturday on the soldiers who were on foot in a forested part of the
Jibia district in Katsina state, the sources said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
"The
bodies of 23 soldiers have been accounted for while some are still
missing," a military source said.
In the past,
the armed gangs, known locally as "bandits", have been involved in
cattle rustling and kidnappings, but a number of experts have recently warned
that they could be forging ties with extremist groups in the region.
One militia
member said the toll could be "higher than 23", as the search for
missing soldiers was underway.
Also on
Saturday in the same area, five children were killed and six others injured
when a bomb accidentally exploded, a spokesman for Katsina State police said.
It was not
clear whether the explosive had been left by the bandits, the statement said.
Katsina State,
where President Muhammadu Buhari originates from and where the vast majority of
the population lives in extreme poverty, has become increasingly volatile in
recent years.
The Nigerian
army regularly raids the forests where the armed groups hide, but the number of
soldiers is insufficient and villagers organize themselves into civilian
militia.
In May, the
International Crisis Group, an NGO, warned that the armed gangs could be
developing links with extremist groups such as Islamic State in West Africa
Province (ISWAP), which is already very powerful in northwest Nigeria.
The
"bandits" have killed around 8,000 people since 2011 and forced more
than 200,000 to flee their homes, according to an estimate by Brussels-based
ICG.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/19/629989/Nigeria-bandits-kill-troops-katsina
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Nigerian
troops kill 8 senior Boko Haram members
Adam
Abu-bashal
20.07.2020
Nigerian
troops killed at least eight senior members of Boko Haram in country’s
northeast, an official said on Sunday.
John Enenche,
spokesman for the Nigerian Defense Ministry, told reporters an airstrike
targeted Boko Haram in the Goski village of Borno province.
Enenche said
the shelters used by Boko Haram and logistic materials were also destroyed
during the operation.
Boko Haram
launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread
its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military
response.
More than
30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of
Boko Haram's violence in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Violence
committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad
region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/nigerian-troops-kill-8-senior-boko-haram-members/1915888
--------
North America
US set to
start another Middle East war at behest of Israel, Biden won’t change that:
Analyst
19 July 2020
The United
States is on course to initiate another war in the Middle East at the behest of
Israel, and the outcome of the November presidential election is unlikely to
lessen that risk, says political analyst Mark Dankof.
“It's very
apparent that the Trump administration is itching for a war with Iran, chiefly
at the behest of Israel. This is not simply me saying this but even Business
Insider admits that Israel has been behind these recent explosions in Iran and
these recent activities on Iranian borders that have involved terrorism,”
Dankof, a former Senate candidate, said in an interview.
“And all of
this is a prelude to what they believe will be a successful attempt to provoke
a war with Iran, while Trump is still in office,” he added.
Dankof said he
believed the risk of war will not be reduced if Joe Biden, the presumptive
Democratic nominee, wins the election.
“Ron Kampeas
of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency underscores the fact that despite the attempts
of some so-called progressive Democrats to lessen American support for Zionism
and for these wars in the Middle East, that the Democratic platform remains
unchanged in regard to a total commitment to Israel,” he said.
The analyst
said the administration of President Donald Trump has been paving the way for conflict
with Iran, citing such contentious moves as the unilateral withdrawal from the
2015 nuclear deal, tightening of economic sanctions, engagement in cyber
warfare and the assassination of top Iranian military commander General Qassem
Soleimani.
“And it's very
clear that this snowball headed down the hill toward war is unlikely to be
stopped by anyone at this juncture,” he noted.
“Despite the
best attempts by some of these so-called progressives to pull the United States
back from some of this interventionist militarism, nonetheless this
neo-globalist, neo-Zionist, neo-interventionist faction in the Democratic Party
seems to be as strong as ever, chiefly because of all of the Jewish money,” he
pointed out.
“Well over 50%
of the money going into the Democratic Party is coming from Jewish sources,”
the analyst added.
“So when you
look at this whole situation of the neoconservative Zionist hijacking of most
of the American right that is typified by what has happened with Donald Trump
certainly in the Republican Party, or you're looking at the Biden-Clinton-Obama
wing of the Democratic Party, with its commitment to Zionism and to ongoing
American militarism and interventionism abroad I see no hope that any of this
can be stopped at this particular juncture,” Dankof said.
“This is all a
part of a plan that involves the igniting of a wider war in the Middle East for
Zionist interests and secondarily for multinational corporations who of course
are trying to steal other people's natural resources,” he further noted.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/19/629953/US-war-middle-east-behest-Israel
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US, Saudi
Arabia doing utmost to 'split Iraq away from Iran': Analyst
19 July 2020
The United
States and Saudi Arabia are doing their utmost to drive a wedge between Iraq
and Iran, turning the former into an “American vassal state,” according to a
former US diplomat in the Arab kingdom.
Iraqi Prime
Minister Mustafa al-KadhimiKadhimi plans to travel to Iran, Saudi Arabia and
the US next week with the declared aim of discussing cooperation in various
fields.
This will be
Kadhimi’s first foreign tour since becoming prime minister on May 7, after the
Iraqi parliament approved a new government following nearly six months of
political wrangling and protests demanding economic reforms.
“In my view,
the trip of the new Iraqi prime minister to meet with Iranian officials and
then going to Saudi Arabia and then later on to the United States on the
surface looks good. It looks like good diplomacy. But on the other hand, I don't
think you can read too much into this beyond the fact that the United States
and Saudi Arabia are doing their best to split Iraq away from Iran,” Michael
Springmann, a Washington-based author and former US diplomat in Saudi Arabia,
told Press TV in a phone interview on Saturday.
“I think the
whole operation is designed to weaken Iraq, to turn Iraq into more of an
American vassal state than it's been in the past, at least in the last few
months, there's been evidence of Iraq being sick and tired of being occupied by
the American armed forces and wanting to maintain the sovereignty of their
country.... So I think the whole thing is going to be counterproductive and
will not produce any effects whatsoever, if it comes to that,” he underlined.
Kadhimi after
‘balance’ in ties
Kevin Barrett,
an author, journalist and radio host with a Ph.D. in Islamic and Arabic
Studies, also told Press TV that the Iraqi premier intended to create a
“balance” in political and economic relations between Baghdad, Washington and
Riyadh.
“I assume that
what he's trying to do is to achieve a kind of balance and try to get the
Americans and the Saudis to back off a bit from their bad behavior, and in
return, giving them a little bit of an entry in economic projects and so on like
that. At least that's probably what he's trying to do with the Saudis but
whether that will work is an open question,” Barrett said.
“In the US
case, they're trying to maintain the hold of this completely illegal occupation
that was created not to stabilize Iraq, but rather to destabilize Iraq to take
down the achievements of the very dubious dictator Saddam Hussein who at least
had largely eliminated corruption except for within his own family, and he had
succeeded in building a modern infrastructure for Iraq,” he added.
Washington and
Riyadh have long been the main beneficiaries of mayhem in Iraq, where they have
sought to bolster remnants of Daesh alongside other terrorist outfits.
Unrest and
insecurity serves the US goal to extend and justify its protracted military
stay in Iraq, which is staunchly opposed by the Iraqi people. Saudi Arabia, on
the other hand, sees Takfiri groups as its best hope to wield influence in Iraq
and prevent the empowerment of real stakeholders in the country.
Iraqi lawmakers
unanimously approved a bill on January 5, demanding the withdrawal of all
foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.
The vote
followed the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the
commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with
the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,
and their companions in a US airstrike authorized by President Donald Trump
near Baghdad International Airport two days earlier.
Later on
January 9, former Iraqi prime minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, called on the United
States to dispatch a delegation to Baghdad tasked with formulating a withdrawal
plan.
Iraqi
resistance groups have vowed to take up arms against US forces if Washington
fails to comply with the parliamentary order calling for the expulsion of US
troops.
The US has so
far refused to withdraw its troops, with Trump threatening to seize Iraq's oil
money held in bank accounts in the United States.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/07/19/629970/Mustafa-al-Kadhimi-visit-US-Saudi-Arabia-Iran-American-vassal-state
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Pentagon:
3,800 Syrian rebels in Libya sent by Turkey
July 20, 2020
AhlulBayt News
Agency (ABNA): A new Pentagon report
said that Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 Syrian mercenaries to Libya
during the first three months of this year.
The report on
anti-terrorism operations in Africa told the Pentagon, from which the
Associated Press quoted excerpts, that Turkey provided funds and offered
citizenship to thousands of rebels in exchange for participating in the
conflict in Libya alongside forces loyal to the Government of National Accord
(GNA) in Tripoli.
The report
pointed out that the Syrian mercenaries were not found to have links with
terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, and that financial rewards
are most likely the main motives behind heading to Libya, not ideological or
political considerations.
The report
includes the period up to the end of last March, but it is likely that the reinforcements
coming from Turkey have played a role in the progress of the GNA forces last
May near the capital Tripoli.
According to
the report, 300 Syrian rebels arrived in Libya at the end of last April, and
Turkey published an “unknown number” of Turkish soldiers in Libya during the
first months of the year.
The report
also claimed that hundreds of mercenaries, including Syrians, were sent to
Libya by Russia, whose numbers are estimated at between 800 and 2,500.
According to
the Pentagon, Russia and the Syrian government have agreed to send between 300
and 400 former combatants in the Syrian opposition from Quneitra to Libya,
according to unnamed sources.
In May, the
Pentagon accused Russia of sending 14 aircraft to Libya to support the Libyan
National Army (LNA) and its leader, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
It should be
noted that the Kremlin denied sending Russian soldiers to Libya, as well as the
authenticity of reports about the presence of Russians in Libya, where the
press spokesman for the Russian presidency said that “there are no Russian
soldiers in Russia or any organized groups of citizens of Russia.”
https://en.abna24.com/news//pentagon-3800-syrian-rebels-in-libya-sent-by-turkey_1056329.html
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/uaes-amal-spacecraft-rockets-toward/d/122421