US Secret Service Blocked New Jersey Muslim Mayor from White House Eid Celebration
New
Age Islam News Bureau
02
May 2023
President
Joe Biden speaks during a reception in the East Room of the White House in
Washington, Monday, May 1, 2023, to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. (AP Photo/Susan
Walsh)
-----
North
America
• US Engaged In Counterterror Whack-A-Mole 12 Years
after Bin Laden Raid
• Federal charges, commitment orders detail mosque arson
suspect's troubled past
• CAIR-NJ Condemns Secret Service for Baselessly Banning
NJ’s Longest Serving Muslim Mayor from White House Eid Event
• US does not confirm Turkey’s claim of killing Islamic
State leader in Syria
• Sen. Juan Mendez, Arizona Muslim Alliance propose
Arizona Office for New Americans
• NJ Will Celebrate Its First 'Muslim Heritage Month' In
2024
--------
Europe
• German chancellor speaks out on Ukrainian strikes
inside Russia
• EU’s largest economy can’t do without China – leading
carmaker
---------
Southeast
Asia
• Sultan of Selangor receives RM56m allocation for
allowances of imams, religious staff
• Mohd Fauzi appointed new Subang Jaya mayor
• Anwar proclaimed president of Malaysian Scouts
Association
• Tok Mat says hard to topple ‘unity govt’ now with
anti-party hopping law in place
• With little will to fight it, corruption is major risk
for Indonesian palm oil
--------
India
• Burqa-Clad Women Helped Atiq's Wife Flee After
Announcement from Mosque: Sources
• 'Targeting Terrorists, Not Muslims': Filmmakers Defend
the Kerala Story amid Row
• Mathura District Judge to Hear Requests Of All Parties
Afresh In Shahi Idgah Mosque Case
• Hyderabad: Congress moves to woo back Muslims, offset
MIM slant
--------
Africa
• Senegalese Opposition Leader Calls For Civil
Disobedience Against Judiciary
• Ugandan minister shot and killed by bodyguard
• Japan and Ghana Aligned In the Pursuit of Reforms at
the UN Security Council
• Imam Haron’s family edges closer to truth and justice
in reopened inquest
--------
Mideast
• Rockets Fired from Gaza after Islamic Jihad Member
Dies from Hunger Strike inIsraeli Prison
• Radical Israeli Settlers Invade Courtyards of Al-Aqsa
Mosque
• Riyadh seeking flights between Saudi, Iranian Shia
cities
• Global Islamic finance industry to grow 10% in
2023-2024 despite economic slowdown
• Senior member of Islamic Jihad dies in Israeli prison
after 86-day hunger strike
• Islamic bloc to hold emergency meeting over
conflict-torn Sudan
• Jihad: No matter how much enemy escalates its criminal
practices, our people's revolution will not be extinguished
--------
Pakistan
• Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Interfaith
Harmony Underscores Need for Unity of Muslim Ummah
• Negotiations not possible with terrorists: Javed
• Muqam thanks friendly countries for safe evacuation of
Pakistanis from Sudan
• Independent judiciary main component of Constitution,
observes CJP
• Khar in Doha as UN-led moot kicks off sans Taliban
• Justice Isa seeks JCP meeting to fill SC vacancies
• All Pakistanis will be evacuated from Sudan in next 48
hours: FO
--------
Arab World
• Ministry of Islamic Affairs Gives Copies of the Holy
Quran to Tunis International Book Fair Visitors
• Makkah digital artist’s unique blend delivers an
enthralling view of Saudi Arabia
• US thanks Saudi Arabia for enabling safe evacuation of
American citizens from Sudan
• Value and rights of employees in spotlight at event in
Riyadh marking International Workers’ Day
• Over 200 people evacuated by Saudi Arabia from Sudan
arrive in Jeddah
• 41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and
Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan
--------
South Asia
• Islamic Emirate Officials Deny the Accusations ofan
Intelligence Officer at Limits of Freedom and Independence
• Over 200 Afghan Refugees Return Home From Pakistan
• Taliban FM to meet Pakistan, China foreign ministers:
Media
• No Magic Solution to the Afghan Crisis, Says Swiss UN
Envoy
--------
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/us-secret-jersey-muslim-mayor-eid/d/129685
------
US Secret
Service Blocked New Jersey Muslim Mayor from White House Eid Celebration
President
Joe Biden speaks during a reception in the East Room of the White House in
Washington, Monday, May 1, 2023, to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. (AP Photo/Susan
Walsh)
-----
May 02, 2023
US President
Joe Biden hosted a reception to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, at the White House, in
Washington. (Reuters)
Shortly before
Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was set to arrive at the White House for the
Eid-al-Fitr celebration, he received a call from the White House stating that
he had not been cleared for entry by the Secret Service and could not attend
the celebration where Biden delivered remarks to hundreds of guests, according
to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
US Secret
Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that Khairullah was not allowed
into the White House complex, but declined to detail why. Khairullah was
elected to a fifth term as the borough's mayor in January.
“While we
regret any inconvenience this may have caused, the mayor was not allowed to
enter the White House complex this evening,” Guglielmi said in a statement.
“Unfortunately,
we are not able to comment further on the specific protective means and methods
used to conduct our security operations at the White House.”
Selaedin
Maksut, CAIR-NJ executive director, called the move “wholly unacceptable and
insulting.”
"If these
such incidents are happening to high-profile and well-respected American-Muslim
figures like Mayor Khairullah, this then begs the question: what is happening
to Muslims who do not have the access and visibility that the mayor has?”
Maksut said.
Khairullah, who
has previously done humanitarian work in Syria and Bangladesh, was previously
stopped by authorities and interrogated at John F. Kennedy International
Airport in New York for three hours and questioned about whether he knew any
terrorists, according to Dina Sayedahmed, a spokesman for CAIR-NJ.
The group said
Khairullah helped the New Jersey Democratic Party compile names of local Muslim
leaders to invite to the White House Eid celebration and over the weekend was a
guest at an event at the New Jersey governor's mansion.
The White House
declined to comment.
Source: hindustantimes.com
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https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/new-jersey-muslim-mayor-blocked-from-white-house-eid-celebration-101682994267187.html
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Iranians, In a
Rally in London, Urge Britain to Declare Revolutionary Guard a Terrorist
Organization
FILE -
British-Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti sits in London, April 10, 2023.
Behishti been on a hunger strike for 66 days, calling on the U.K. to recognize
the IRGC as a terrorist group. Thousands of Iranians rallied in London on
Saturday to make the same case.
-----
April 29, 2023
Thousands of
Iranians participated in a rally in London on Saturday and asked Britain to
declare the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.
According to
the videos received by Voice of America, the protesters chanted against Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranians who
oppose the Islamic Republic of Iran had called for the protest rally weeks ago.
Alireza
Akhondi, an Iranian-born member of the Swedish Parliament, said on Friday that
he would participate in "the big demonstration in London to convince
Britain and the countries of the European Union to take the final steps toward
weakening the Islamist regime in Iran, including the classification of IRGC as
a terrorist organization."
The Association
of Families of Flight PS752 victims has also asked the international community
to hold the IRGC "accountable for its crimes."
The association
was formed after the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane on January 8, 2020,
minutes after it took off from Tehran's international airport, by two IRGC
missiles. All 176 crew members and passengers, most of whom were Iranians with
dual citizenship in Canada, were killed.
In January,
when the European Parliament called for the IRGC to be put on the EU's
terrorist list, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the vote was "against
international law and the charter of the United Nations" and a
"desperate move," the official IRNA news agency said. Raisi said the
IRGC is an official body and part of Iran's military.
Hunger strike
Vahid Beheshti,
a human rights activist born and raised in Iran, has been on a hunger strike
for 66 days in front of the British government's Foreign Office calling on the
U.K. to recognize the IRGC as a terrorist group.
Beheshti was
arrested twice by the IRGC before he fled Iran 24 years ago.
He met earlier
this week with Tariq Ahmad, minister of state for the Middle East, and
afterward announced Ahmad's support for adding the name of the IRGC to the
terrorist list.
In an interview
Tuesday with Panah Farhadbahman, an independent journalist reporting for Voice
of America in London, Beheshti said that Ahmad promised to raise his request
with the senior officials of the country.
125 lawmakers
back plea
On Wednesday,
125 members of the British Parliament signed a letter to the prime minister
backing an Iranian activist's plea for the IRGC to be proscribed as a terror
organization.
The United
States, which previously declared the IRGC a terrorist organization, on
Thursday announced sanctions against the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary
Guards and its senior officials for their role in the wrongful detention and
hostage-taking of Americans.
Source: voanews.com
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https://www.voanews.com/a/iranians-rally-in-london-urging-britain-to-declare-islamic-revolutionary-guard-a-terrorist-organization/7071916.html
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Man Claiming To
Be Prophet Opens Fire at Indonesian Ulema Council HQ, Dies Following Arrest
Shattered
glass at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) HQ in Jakarta from a shooting in
the morning of May 2, 2023. Photo: Handout
-----
May 2, 2023
A man has died
after he attacked the headquarters of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in
Central Jakarta this morning, police confirmed.
According to
MUI Deputy Chairman Anwar Abbas, the assailant arrived at the HQ this morning
claiming to be a prophet and demanding to speak with MUI Chairman Miftachul Akhyar.
Anwar said the man had visited the HQ demanding to see Miftachul on one other
occasion before.
“[Staff] told
him to wait on the fourth floor as the executives were in a meeting. Maybe he
got impatient and began shooting,” Anwar said.
At least two employees
were injured in the shooting – one was shot in the back while another was hurt
by shards after the assailant shot at a window.
Police said the
suspect used an airsoft gun to carry out the attack.
Central Jakarta
Police Chief Grand Commissioner Komarudin said the suspect is deceased.
Police have not
disclosed the suspect’s identity nor his cause of death.
A video that
has been circulating online shows security personnel apprehending the suspect,
who appeared to have been badly beaten and lost consciousness at the time of
capture
This is a
developing story and may be updated without prior notice.
Source: coconuts.co
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/man-claiming-to-be-prophet-opens-fire-at-mui-hq-dies-following-arrest/
--------
Family Court
Can Consider Muslim Unmarried Daughter's Claim for Maintenance under Personal
Law If Found Ineligible U/S 125 CrPC: Kerala HC
MAY 01, 2023
The Kerala High
Court recently ruled that to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, if an unmarried
major Muslim daughter is found not entitled to maintenance from her father
under section 125 of CrPC, the family court can entertain her claim under
Muslim Personal Law without forcing her to file a fresh claim.
The bench of
Justice Alexander Thomas and Justice Ziyad Rahman AA referred to a three-judge
bench decision of the Supreme Court in Jagdish Jugtawat’s case (2002) as well
as the decision in Abhilasha’s case (2020) where the top court held that even
if a claim under section 125 of the CrPC is liable to be repelled and if the
claim is otherwise maintainable under the Personal Law, as enunciated in the
Hindu Adoption & Maintenance Act, etc, then to avoid multiplicity of
proceedings, the family court can consider the latter claim, even if it is
bound to dismiss the former claim.
The HC opined
that the approach taken by the apex court was clearly to the effect that a
hyper-technical approach need not be resorted to in matters related to
maintenance claims. “And if the claim is otherwise maintainable, then the
Family Court, which has jurisdiction in that regard, can entertain such claims,
without having to drive the litigant to file a fresh claim," the court
said.
The judges,
however, said, “Of course, this option is available only where the claim is
made before the Family Court, since the Family Court will have jurisdiction to
consider claims not only under Sec.125 of the CrPC, but also claims as in the
Hindu Adoption & Maintenance Act as well as Muslim Personal Law, etc."
The division
bench was dealing with a plea filed by a Muslim father to quash the order
passed by the family court directing him to pay interim maintenance at the rate
of Rs 4,000 per month to his 20-year-old unmarried daughter. The man and his
wife had separated.
The matter had
been referred to the division bench by a single-judge bench of the high court,
who had found a conflict of views in two HC division bench decisions.
As per the
reference order, in the decision in Cholamarakkar & Anr. v. Pathummamma @
Pathumma & Anr. [2008], it was held by a division bench that a major Muslim
unmarried daughter can claim maintenance from her father in terms of section
125 of the CrPC only if her inability to maintain herself is attributable to
physical or mental abnormality or injury.
However, as per
another division bench decision in Yousaf v. Rubeena [2010], a Muslim father,
who has sufficient means to pay maintenance, has the liability under Muslim
Personal Law to pay maintenance to his major unmarried daughter when she is not
able to maintain herself. In that decision, it was also held that the statutory
provisions in section 25 of the CrPC, which is a piece of secular law,
applicable to all communities, would not, in any manner, extinguish, alter,
modify, or obliterate the liability under the Muslim Personal Law.
The present
division bench opined that technically, there was no conflict of views in the
decisions of the two division benches as Cholamarakkar’s case was in relation
to a claim under section 125 of the CrPC, and Yousaf’s case was a claim in
relation to Muslim Personal Law.
The court held
that the crucial aspect that needed to be considered here was relating to the
avoidance of multiplicity of proceedings.
Therefore, in
answer to the reference issue in the present matter, the HC held that for a
major unmarried Muslim daughter, who is not suffering from any physical or
mental abnormality or injury, as envisaged in clause (c) of sub-section 1 of
section 125 of the CrPC, a claim made before the family court under section
125, CrPC, will not be maintainable. However, in case, she appears to be
otherwise eligible for maintenance, in terms of Muslim Personal Law, then the
family court need not drive her to file a fresh claim.
Further,
regarding the case at hand, the court reduced the amount of the interim
maintenance to be given to the daughter to Rs 2,000 per month.
Source: news18.com
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https://www.news18.com/india/family-court-can-consider-muslim-unmarried-daughters-claim-for-maintenance-under-personal-law-if-found-ineligible-us-125-crpc-kerala-hc-7691113.html
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Al Jama-Ah
Proposes Bill for the Constitutional Recognition on Muslim Marriages
Al Jama-ah
president Ganief Hendricks. Picture: Facebook/ganief.hendricks
------
02 May 2023
CAPE TOWN - Al
Jama-Ah leader and Member of Parliament Ganief Hendricks says he hopes
Parliament will accept the proposed registration of Muslim marriages bill
drafted by his party.
Hendricks also
wants the Home Affairs Department to implement a constitutional ruling and
amend a circular that will enable the department to recognise Muslim marriages.
Hendricks is
expected to table the proposed bill in front of the home affairs portfolio
committee on Tuesday.
The government
earlier appealed a 2018 order by the Western Cape High Court to pass
legislation recognising Muslim marriages.
Also read:
Party won't rest until registration of Muslim marriages Bill passed - Al
Jama-Ah
In June last
year, the Constitutional Court handed a judgement recognising the validity of
Muslim marriages.
The court gave
Parliament a June 2024 deadline to adjust the legislation however, it has
dragged its feet.
Hendricks said
his party won't rest until Parliament passes the bill into law.
"And we
hope that the wisdom of Solomon will prevail and that they will support both
options and that the department of home affairs that their position will be
rejected by parliament."
Source: ewn.co.za
Please
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https://ewn.co.za/2023/05/02/al-jama-ah-proposes-bill-for-the-constitutional-recognition-on-muslim-marriages
--------
North America
US engaged in counterterror whack-a-mole 12 years after bin Laden raid
Michael
Hernandez
01.05.2023
The helicopters
moved swiftly, flying low and fast as they crossed the Afghan border on their
way to Abbottabad, Pakistan, the home of the country’s premier military
academy.
The target that
night was one that had eluded the US for a decade: Osama bin Laden. The
al-Qaeda leader and mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was
holed up in a compound less than a mile (kilometer) from the Pakistan Military
Academy.
The pair of US
helicopters that covertly flew into Pakistani airspace 12 years ago were
carrying a team of elite Navy SEALs who entered the complex where bin Laden had
been hiding for years, killed him, and departed the scene, his body in tow.
News of bin
Laden’s death spread rapidly that night, sending throngs of jubilant Americans
down Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue as they gathered at the White House to
celebrate the death of the man who had orchestrated the worst attack on America
since Pearl Harbor.
The victory was
nothing short of monumental. It was, however, short-lived.
Rise of Daesh/ISIS
changed counterterror landscape
Just two years
later, a new threat would emerge out of al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch that would
eclipse its progenitor in scope and brutality. Daesh/ISIS grew out of al-Qaeda
in Iraq, adopting the moniker that would eventually gain global notoriety in
2014 when leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the formation of his
“caliphate” in Iraq and Syria.
Daesh/ISIS
would claim victories only dreamt of by al-Qaeda, seizing vast stretches of
territory that spanned the heart of the Middle East. At its height, the terror
group controlled roughly one-third of Syria and 40% of Iraq amid widespread
instability, claiming major cities including Mosul and Raqqa and bringing with
it an iron-fisted fundamentalist rule that attracted people from around the
world.
Its gruesome
violence was spread around the world with videos of human immolation and
beheadings circulating on the internet. It later directed and inspired vicious
terror attacks that killed innocents in London, Paris, Istanbul, New York City,
and Orlando, Florida.
The US-led
coalition would claim victory in erasing the terror group’s territorial
holdings in 2019, the same year the US killed Baghdadi, the man whose name was
synonymous with the terror group’s heinous violence, slavery, and mass rape.
That operation
had no shortage of parallels with the one that killed bin Laden, including US
special forces being covertly flown into hostile territory. Their target was
yet another complex, this time nearly 5,000 miles (8,046 kilometers) from
Abbottabad in northwestern Syria's Idlib province.
As US forces
closed in, Baghdadi fled into tunnels where, rather than risk capture, he
detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and two children.
His death and
the rollback of Daesh/ISIS’ territorial holdings were yet more major milestones
in the US’ global countertenor operations, but the terror group continues to
plot attacks in the region and beyond with local branches and sleeper cells
operating in the Middle East, Africa, and South and Central Asia.
Afghanistan
withdrawal further complicates efforts
If bin Laden’s
2011 death and Baghdadi’s eight years later marked significant victories for
the global counterterrorism effort, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021
has posed the most glaring open question.
The US quickly
left Afghanistan in August 2021, ending America’s longest war as the Taliban
closed in on the capital Kabul, eventually ousting the internationally
recognized government and establishing a fundamentalist regime of its own that
rolled back rights enjoyed for decades, particularly for women.
While it
promised to ensure Afghanistan never again becomes the safe haven that allowed
bin Laden to plot the 2001 terror attacks, doubts persist over whether the
Taliban will or can fulfill that pledge. Daesh/ISIS’ regional branch, known as
IS Khorasan Province (ISKP, or ISIS-K), remains active there, as does al-Qaeda.
US Central
Command Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla told lawmakers in March that the ISKP is
rapidly increasing its capabilities in Afghanistan and will be capable of
striking Western targets in less than six months “with little to no warning.”
“Extremist
groups see opportunity and ISIS-Khorasan grows emboldened, seeking to expand
its ranks and inspire, enable, and direct attacks in the region and beyond,
with the ultimate goal to strike on the American homeland,” he told the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
When the US
hastily departed Afghanistan, it banked on much of its counterterror
capabilities taking on what it called an “over the horizon” approach focused on
intelligence collection, and military action without a physical presence in the
war-torn country.
To date,
however, only one major operation has occurred – the July 2022 airstrike that
killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul.
Kurilla
acknowledged that following the withdrawal, the US’ ability to collect
intelligence in Afghanistan took a hit, as terror groups that intend to attack
the US grow in capability.
“Currently, our
intelligence is degraded, since we are no longer in Afghanistan. I believe we
can see the broad contours of an attack,” he said. “Sometimes we lack the
granularity to see the full picture, and we're working to close that gap with
our alternative airborne ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance)
and some of our other intelligence that we're working to penetrate into those
networks.”
Part of a
tranche of classified US intelligence documents recently leaked on the internet
offers a similarly dire assessment.
Last December,
the Pentagon was aware of nine terror attacks being plotted by Daesh/ISIS’
regional affiliate. In the next two months, that number rose to 15, The
Washington Post reported, citing information contained in a classified Defense
Department analysis that was disseminated on the video game-centric Discord
messaging app.
“ISIS has been
developing a cost-effective model for external operations that relies on
resources from outside Afghanistan, operatives in target countries, and
extensive facilitation networks,” the assessment said. “The model will likely
enable ISIS to overcome obstacles — such as competent security services — and
reduce some plot timelines, minimizing disruption opportunities.”
At the hearing
where Kurilla testified, senators were quick to jump on the security threats.
Many warned of the lasting implications from terror groups “emboldened” by the
withdrawal.
“The disastrous
withdrawal of US troops nearly two years ago left a security vacuum the
Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS have filled,” said Sen. Roger Wicker. “The withdrawal
from Afghanistan emboldened ISIS and al-Qaeda’s affiliates around the world,
not just in Afghanistan. The terrorist threat is real and growing."
But Mark Katz,
a professor of government and politics at George Mason University’s Schar
School of Policy and Government, said Daesh/ISIS' practice of "having the
maximum number of enemies” at any given time – exhibited equally now as when it
held wide swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria – will likely continue to
curtail the threat it can pose to the US and its Western allies.
“They’re
anti-Western, but they're also anti-Russian, anti-Iranian. They’re even
anti-Taliban,” increasing the number of enemies they have at any given time, he
said.
The Taliban, he
said, have a vested interested in maintaining their rule of Afghanistan and are
wary of the blowback they would get if an international terror attack again
emanates from the country.
Katz
acknowledged the cozier relationship Afghanistan’s hardline rulers have with
al-Qaeda but said the terror group is “a much weaker organization than it used
to be.”
The Taliban
meanwhile have been locked in a conflict with the ISKP since it wrested control
from the former government, most recently eliminating the mastermind of the
deadly 2021 suicide bombing on Kabul’s international airport that killed 13 US
troops and some 150 civilians.
The death of
the hitherto unnamed leader marked a major blow to the Daesh/ISIS affiliate,
which the US has said "is another in a series of high-profile leadership
losses ISIS-K has suffered this year."
“Will (the
ISKP) be able to launch attacks further afield successfully when they're
fighting the Taliban? I personally don't think so. I think it would be very
hard,” said Katz. “The circumstances in which al-Qaeda was able to launch the
9/11 attacks were ones in which it did not have a hostile relationship with the
Taliban.”
Asked
specifically about Kurilla’s assessment, Katz said it likely has more to do
with making the case before lawmakers of Central Command’s importance at a time
when the US focus is increasingly shifting towards great power competition with
China and Russia.
The threat
posed by subnational terror groups, he said, “seems to be way down on the list
of threats.”
“In other
words, whatever they do, it can't be nearly as bad as what the Russians or the
Chinese could do. And so those are the threats that seem to be getting
attention. And I guess he's just, you know, trying to get a bit of his own
share of the bureaucratic turf war that’s taking place,” he said.
Source: aa.com.tr
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-engaged-in-counterterror-whack-a-mole-12-years-after-bin-laden-raid/2885766#
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Federal
charges, commitment orders detail mosque arson suspect's troubled past
MAY 1, 2023
Minnesota
Muslim leaders made their way to view the damage to Masjid Al Rahma mosque last
week before a news conference related to the recent arson in the Bloomington
Avenue mosque.
A man charged
with setting fires in two Minneapolis mosques last week has a track record of
violent behavior as a result of his untreated mental illness, court records
show.
Jackie Rahm
Little made his first appearance Monday in federal court, where he faces one
count of arson in connection with the fires at the Masjid Omar Islamic Center
and Masjid Al Rahma mosque. He was arrested in Mankato late Saturday.
Little also
faces a state arson charge in the Masjid Al Rahma fire.
The federal
criminal complaint filed Monday does not discuss a suspected motive. But the
complaint and documents for Little's recent commitments to hospitals describe
him as often being a threat to others.
"As a
consequence of his mental illness, [Little] engages in grossly disturbed
behavior or experiences faulty perceptions, and due to this impairment, he
poses a substantial likelihood of causing physical harm," court officials
wrote in an April 2021 civil commitment order.
Little's mother
told investigators last week that her son had a fascination with fire from a
young age, the federal complaint says. She "strongly suspects" Little
was responsible for several unreported arson cases in which he requested rides
to and from locations.
Little suffers
from a bipolar disorder that "grossly" impairs his judgment, behavior
and ability to recognize reality, according to the 2021 order. While
hospitalized at Mayo Clinic, he allegedly threw a remote control at another
patient and said he could have killed him "if I wanted to."
One of his
doctors reported Little rarely followed through with obtaining treatment, and
that his violent behavior has required seclusion to ensure others' safety.
Little's
attorney did not return a call seeking comment Monday.
The two arson
attacks are not the first time he has been accused of targeting Muslims.
While in a
transitional housing program, Little "extensively harassed" a Muslim
woman, his mother told investigators. The woman alleges Little sent her a photo
of the Qur'an in a toilet.
In late
December, a similar photo was emailed to U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, allegedly by
Little, federal investigators wrote.
On Jan. 5,
Little allegedly went to Omar's Minneapolis office and spray-painted
"500" outside the office door, and did the same on a Minneapolis
police car driven by a Somali officer and on a door to the 24 Somali Mall on E.
24th Street a few hours later. "The meaning of the '500' text is
unclear," investigators wrote in the complaint.
In a statement,
Omar thanked the various agencies for arresting Little and voiced confidence
that the Minnesota Muslim community would "continue to stand united
against bigotry."
"We are
witnessing an epidemic of hate against the Muslim community and other religious
minorities in Minnesota and globally right now," Omar said.
Aside from the
two arsons, Little is accused of burning a former neighbor's car in 2021.
Little was released on cash bail paid by the Minnesota Freedom Fund, according
to court records.
The
organization is a Minneapolis nonprofit that pays bail for people who can't
afford it and seeks to end cash bail. The organization came under fire by many
on social media, saying it was irresponsible to assist Little with bail and
that the group should be held responsible.
In response to
questions, the organization did not directly discuss posting bail or Little's
charges, but said it had reached out to the Muslim community in solidarity. The
group condemned harm against "all people in our community, especially harm
that is based on identity," and defended its work.
"Our
evaluation process is holistic and prioritizes support for people who lack
other avenues to vindicate their legal rights — including people experiencing
mental health challenges, for whom pre-trial release is often the only way to
access needed treatment."
Plymouth police
told federal investigators that Little was suspected in at least two arsons,
one in May 2022 and one in December 2021, and had a history of domestic
assault.
Little's next
federal court appearance is set for Thursday.
Source: startribune.com
Please
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https://www.startribune.com/federal-charges-commitment-orders-detail-mosque-arson-suspects-troubled-past/600271616/
--------
CAIR-NJ
Condemns Secret Service for Baselessly Banning NJ’s Longest Serving Muslim
Mayor from White House Eid Event
May 1, 2023
Ismail Allison
(SOUTH
PLAINFIELD, NJ, 5/1/2023) — The New Jersey chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) today condemned the United
States Secret Service’s perceived profiling of New Jersey’s longest-serving Muslim mayor, Mohamed T.
Khairullah of Prospect Park, and the revocation of his invitation to the White
House Eid celebration.
Khairullah, who
was sworn into his fifth consecutive mayoral term in January, had helped the
New Jersey Democratic Party compile names of local Muslim leadership to invite
to the White House’s annual Eid celebration.
Moments before
he was set to arrive at the White House for the annual Eid celebration, he
received a call stating that because he had not been cleared for entry, his invitation
to the White House Eid celebration was effectively revoked.
SEE: ‘Biases
can be melted.’ Muslim mayor to be sworn in for unprecedented 5th term.
SEE: CAIR-NJ to
Join Community Members at Swearing-In Ceremony of New Jersey’s Longest-Serving
Muslim Mayor
In a statement,
CAIR-NJ Executive Director Selaedin Maksut, said:
“That a
well-respected Muslim leader would effectively be disinvited from the White
House Eid celebration, just hours ahead of time, is wholly unacceptable and
insulting.
“Only months
ago, Khairullah was praised by elected officials across the state as one of the
longest serving Muslim mayors in the country, and the longest in New Jersey.
Today, in an affront to the Muslim community and the American public at large,
and in what could be perceived as a continued use of the secret watchlist, the
Secret Service denied Mayor Khairullah entry, on the basis that he was not
cleared by security.
“This incident
lacks transparency and reeks of government overreach. We call on the White
House to override the Secret Service and reinstate the mayor’s invitation,
disband the secret watchlist, and issue an apology to the Mayor. If these such
incidents are happening to high-profile and well-respected American-Muslim
figures like Mayor Khairullah, this then begs the question: what is happening
to Muslims who do not have the access and visibility that the mayor has?”
Maksut also
noted that Mayor Khairullah was previously stopped and interrogated at John F.
Kennedy International Airport in New York for three hours and questioned about
whether he knew any terrorists. He was also forced to hand over his phone.
This past
weekend, Mayor Khairullah was among New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s
distinguished guests at the governor’s mansion in Princeton, New Jersey.
SEE: ‘Did you
meet with terrorists?’ NJ mayor says officers questioned him at airport, took
his phone
CAIR has
previously today called on the Biden administration to suspend the FBI’s
dissemination of two of their secret lists, which leaked copies show to be
“almost entirely lists of Arabic and Muslim names.”
SEE: CAIR Urges
FBI to Stop Distributing Secret Terror Watchlists After Leaks Show ‘Almost
Entirely Lists of Arabic and Muslim Names’
CAIR’s mission
is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice,
and empower American Muslims.
La misión de
CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam,
promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
END
Source: cair.com
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https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-nj-condemns-secret-service-for-baselessly-banning-njs-longest-serving-muslim-mayor-from-white-house-eid-event/
--------
US does not
confirm Turkey’s claim of killing Islamic State leader in Syria
ANKARA —
Washington said on Monday it could not confirm Turkey's claim to have launched
a military operation that killed leader of the Islamic State in Syria.
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that his country killed the leader
of the Islamist militant group in Syria, identifying him as Abu al-Hussein
al-Husseini al-Qurashi. “This individual was neutralized in Syria yesterday by
an operation carried out by our intelligence agency,” he said during a live
interview, adding that the militant leader had been under surveillance by
Turkish intelligence for a long time.
The United
States, which is leading an international military coalition against the Islamic
State in Syria and Iraq, has not confirmed Erdogan’s claim that the IS leader
had been killed. “We are unable to confirm this. Furthermore, we have no
information that would support this claim," a US official told Al-Monitor
via email.
There was no
confirmation from the militant group either.
Yet, citing
unidentified security sources, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency reported
on Monday that Qurashi was killed after a four-hour-long raid carried out at
his hideout in the northern Syrian town of Jindires near Afrin countryside on
April 29. The region, which remains under the control of the Turkish-backed
armed Syrian opposition groups, is less than 15 kilometers (nine miles) from
the Turkish border.
Turkish special
operations units first blasted the walls of the compound surrounding Qurashi’s
hideout, Anadolu reported. Qurashi blew himself up by detonating a suicide vest
after the unit broached the hideout’s entrance and rear walls, according to the
report, which read that there were no Turkish casualties.
Farhad Shami,
spokesperson for the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces,
claimed that the radical jihadi group’s leader had been under the protection of
the armed Syrian opposition group Ahrar al-Sharqiya. The group operates under the
Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
Turkey
considers SDF a terror group and equates it with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK), the armed outfit designated as a terrorist group over its
decades-long separatist campaign in Turkey. Washington also considers the PKK a
terrorist organization, but it has allied with the Kurdish-led SDF as part of
the international campaign to defeat the IS in Syria and Iraq.
Turkey, which
backs Sunni Syrian rebels fighting to oust Assad, controls a large chunk of territory
in northern Syria and has carried out three ground incursions in Syria against
the SDF.
The Turkish
military operations drew strong criticism from the US-led international
coalition that the incursions risk unleashing a jihadist resurgence by the
Islamic State group.
Speaking late
Sunday, Erdogan said his country would continue its fight against terrorist
organizations “without discriminating against any of them.”
The timing of
the killing coincided with Erdogan's election campaign, with Turkey’s fateful
parliamentary and presidential polls merely two weeks away.
Source: al-monitor.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/05/us-does-not-confirm-turkeys-claim-killing-islamic-state-leader-syria
--------
Sen. Juan
Mendez, Arizona Muslim Alliance propose Arizona Office for New Americans
May 1, 2023
Jeremy Yurow
PHOENIX –
Arizona state Sen. Juan Mendez and the Arizona Muslim Alliance have joined
forces to propose an Office for New Americans in Arizona, similar to ones in 13
other states that help immigrants assimilate into the U.S. The initiative is
meant to improve immigrant rights and services by providing a centralized
location for resources such as language classes and resettlement assistance.
“I’ve moved all
across America and I understand what it’s like to start your life over again,”
said Mendez, a Tempe Democrat. “I know what it feels like to be alone to have
to navigate all different kinds of services that are already provided to
people.”
Mendez and his
wife, Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, come from families of immigrants. Mendez’s
parents immigrated from Mexico while Salman’s mother is from Mexico and her
father is from Palestine.
Mendez said he
has been working on the bill for years and is collaborating with the Muslim
community, which he said is well-organized and has experience establishing
similar offices in other states.
“It was through
the Muslim community that I met the first person who’s actually worked in this
area, who’s helped establish these similar offices in other states,” he said.
“So once we got connected through the Muslim community, then it felt like, ‘Oh,
I can actually do something real.’”
The senator
noted that he is not trying to create anything new, but is seeking to
centralize services that already exist and make them more accessible.
Susan Bassal,
the secretary of the Arizona Muslim Alliance, said the Office for New Americans
could be particularly helpful for Afghan refugees who fled to the United States
after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in 2021. Bassal, an attorney, explained
that the alliance had previously established a refugee task force to coordinate
relief efforts and provide assistance to refugees, which could serve as a model
for the proposed office’s work.
“(The task
force allowed) these relief organizations that were already existing to work
together,” Bassal said. “They’ve been able to provide everything from job
training to English lessons.”
Bassal
suggested that an Office for New Americans in Arizona could provide one-stop
shopping for programs such as the International Rescue Committee and Arizona
Immigrant and Refugee Services. The IRC provides job training, language
instruction and assistance with basic needs like housing, while also helping
refugees and immigrants navigate the U.S. immigration system and advocating for
their rights. AIRS offers a wide range of services to immigrants and refugees,
including legal assistance, language instruction, job training, health care
navigation, case management and community integration support.
Mendez said he
would like to propose the bill at the beginning of the next legislative
session. However, he is unsure how the Republican majority will respond.
“Statewide,
Arizona has a pretty good record or reputation of taking in immigrants compared
to other states,” Mendez said. “This is the kind of issue where it could be
bipartisan. This doesn’t necessarily have to be like a progressive issue. We
want everybody to have a chance at success in Arizona.”
If Arizonans
want an example of how an Office for New Americans could operate in their
state, they don’t need to look far: Nevada lawmakers established one in 2019.
Charina de Asis, the executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office for New
Americans, said it has enhanced “the success, integration and inclusion of
immigrant and refugee families in the state.”
The office
helps immigrants navigate the complexities of state government by offering
programs that cater to the specific needs of immigrants and refugees in Nevada.
For instance, the Nevada Initiative for Language Access ensures that state
government is accessible to those with limited English, and its Skilled
Immigrant Integration Program helps communities find ways to include immigrants
and refugees in the workforce.
The office
provides support to independent refugee resettlement agencies during crises
such as the Afghan humanitarian crisis, when it worked with a county and a
state college to find temporary housing for refugees coming to the state. It
also connects immigrants and refugees to community resources, including
affordable housing and small-business assistance.
De Asis said
immigrants and refugees face similar challenges, no matter which state they live
in.
“(This
includes) language barriers, lack of social network and employment
opportunities, access to health care and education, and experiences of
prejudice and differences in culture,” she said. “Having an office like ONA
helps make tackling these challenges a little bit easier.”
Mendez said his
office is investigating whether Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs can establish and
administer such an office without legislative approval. Cronkite News reached
out to the governor’s office for comment but has not received a reply.
In Michigan,
then-Gov.Rick Snyder, a Republican, used his executive power to establish an
Office for New Americans in 2014. At the time, the GOP controlled the Michigan
State House and Senate.
Azza Abuseif,
executive director for Arizona’s branch of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said she met with Hobbs on Jan. 31 and they discussed ways to work
together to support the Muslim and immigrant communities. She said she believes
that Hobbs might be open to establishing an Office for New Americans in the
state.
“It’s something
very important to establish that office, ” Abuseif said. “I’m a refugee myself,
so having something like that would have been so helpful for both my parents
when they came here to have that sort of support from community members and
community organizations.”
Source: cronkitenews.azpbs.org
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https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2023/05/01/arizona-muslim-alliance-juan-mendez-partner-improve-immigrant-services/
--------
NJ Will
Celebrate Its First 'Muslim Heritage Month' In 2024
May 1, 2023
NEW JERSEY —
There is now a “Muslim Heritage Month” in the Garden State.
Last weekend,
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a joint resolution, SJR105/AJR194, which names the
month of January as “Muslim Heritage Month” in New Jersey. The designation aims
to “promote awareness and appreciation of the many contributions of the state’s
Muslim community.”
New Jersey has
the highest percentage of Muslim residents in the nation.
The bipartisan
legislation passed a vote in the New Jersey Assembly in April after clearing
the Senate in February. Democratic and Republican lawmakers on both sides of
the aisle unanimously supported the bill in both chambers. Read More: NJ Bill
That Would Create 'Muslim Heritage Month' Leaps Forward
Murphy signed
the legislation at an Eid celebration at the governor’s mansion on Saturday,
marking the end of Ramadan, one of Islam’s most important holidays.
“New Jersey
takes great pride in its diversity and we will continue to recognize and
celebrate the positive impact Muslims have made, and continue to make, to the
advancement of this state,” Murphy said.
Primary
sponsors of SJR105/AJR194 include Senators Joe Pennacchio and Brian Stack, and
Assemblymembers Angela McKnight, Shanique Speight and Annette Chaparro.
Pennacchio, a
Republican from the state’s 26th District, pointed out that there are nearly
300,000 Muslim Americans in New Jersey.
“It is long
past time to recognize our Muslim brothers and sisters for their contributions
to the diverse fabric of New Jersey,” Pennacchio said.
Zainab Syed,
president of American Muslims for Democracy – one of the organizations that
pushed for the creation of New Jersey’s Muslim Heritage Month – said the state
will be the fourth in the U.S. to recognize the American Muslim legacy.
“As a state
that has the highest percentage of Muslims in the nation, we are overjoyed to
have a month that celebrates and recognizes our community in a positive light
and hope that this recognition further pushes the engagement of the Muslim
community in society,” Syed said.
Other praise
for the designation came from:
S. Nadia
Hussain, co-founder of BAWDI – “The Muslim American community is a diverse and
vibrant part of the multicultural tapestry that is New Jersey. The designation
of January in celebration of Muslim heritage is wonderful way to educate and
enrich the cultural knowledge of all New Jersey residents while celebrating the
contributions Muslim Americans have made and continue to make to our great
state.”
CAIR-NJ
Executive Director Selaedin Maksut – “This is a historic moment. For too long,
we’ve seen damaging and irresponsible depictions of Muslims. These narratives
have tangible consequences, but now, we will be seeing the counter and,
hopefully soon, prevailing narrative: One that highlights, celebrates, and
acknowledges the American Muslim community in New Jersey. We are happy to take
this small step towards pushing back against anti-Muslim bigotry, and we are
excited for what’s to come. We also want to thank the governor and his
administration for their support of this resolution."
Jessica
Berrocal, president and founder of NJ Sisterhood – “This is a significant step
towards promoting tolerance and acceptance among communities, and it serves as
a reminder that discrimination and hate have no place in New Jersey … It is
crucial that we acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of the Muslim
community to our state's diverse heritage. Muslim Heritage Month not only
recognizes the rich cultural contributions of Muslims but also creates an
opportunity for us to deepen our understanding of the religion, customs, and
traditions. Additionally, it is crucial that we protect the rights of Muslim
children and ensure that they can express their religious identity without fear
of discrimination or bullying. By advocating for inclusivity and raising
awareness around Muslim Heritage Month, we can foster a more welcoming and
accepting environment for all children … We hope that other states will follow
and implement similar initiatives to promote mutual respect and understanding
among all people.”
There have been
some major victories for the Muslim community in New Jersey in the recent past,
according to CAIR-NJ:
Despite these
gains, anti-Muslim incidents are on the rise, the group added.
“CAIR-NJ
received over 150 calls for help in 2022 alone,” spokespeople said. “This
resolution seeks to push back against anti-Muslim bigotry by celebrating
American Muslims and shedding a positive light on the community.”
Shaheen
Khateeb, a member of the Indian American Muslim Council, echoed this concern in
December after the bills were introduced in the Legislature.
“After Muslim
communities across New Jersey – from Edison to Teaneck, to Woodridge – became
the target of hateful displays and intimidation, we see the designation of
Muslim Heritage Month as a major step towards combatting hate and making a
marginalized group feel seen and heard,” Khateeb said.
Source: patch.com
Please
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--------
Europe
German
chancellor speaks out on Ukrainian strikes inside Russia
2 May, 2023
Germany is not
allowing Ukraine to target Russian territory with weapons that Berlin has
supplied to Kiev amid the conflict with Moscow, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
has said.
The German
government is refraining from any unilateral steps when it comes to arming the
government of Vladimir Zelensky, and is only acting in coordination with
allies, Scholz stressed during a meeting with citizens in the western state of
Rhineland-Palatinate on Monday. Berlin intends to stick to that policy in the
future, he added.
“It’s important
for us that weapons that we supply for Ukraine to defend itself aren’t used in
attacks on the Russian territory,” the chancellor said.
While assisting
Kiev with arms, including Leopard 2 main battle tanks, Berlin is also doing
everything to avoid an escalation that could lead to a direct clash between
NATO and Moscow, Scholz stressed.
Last month,
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius argued that it was “fully normal” for
Ukraine to carry out strikes inside Russia to “cut supply routes” and for other
military reasons. He stressed that civilians should not be targeted in those
attacks. Pistorius also said nothing about the origins of weapons that can be
used by Kiev in such operations.
Since the start
of the conflict in February 2022, the Russian regions of Bryansk, Belgorod and
Kursk, all of which border Ukraine, have been the targets of numerous drone and
missile attacks by Kiev’s forces. The strikes have been directed against energy
infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in several civilian deaths and
many injuries, and the destruction of property.
One of the
deadliest cross-border attacks took place in Bryansk Region on Sunday, with the
shelling of the village of Suzemka from a multiple rocket launch system leaving
four civilians dead and two others wounded.
Moscow has long
been warning that it considers the use of Western-supplied weapons by Ukraine
for attacks inside Russian territory “a red line.” Russia also argued that the
crisis in Ukraine is actually a “proxy war” waged against it by NATO. According
to Moscow, the assistance provided to Kiev by the US, UK, Germany and their
allies, including the supply of arms and ammunition, training for Ukrainian
troops, and intelligence sharing, has de facto made those nations parties to
the conflict.
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/russia/575631-germany-ukraine-weapons-scholz/
--------
EU’s largest
economy can’t do without China – leading carmaker
1 May, 2023
Cutting ties
with China would put most of Germany’s industry at risk, the CEO of luxury
carmaker Mercedes-Benz warned on Sunday.
Ola Kaellenius
was interviewed by newspaper Bild am Sonntag after returning from a business
trip to China, the German manufacturer’s largest and the most important market.
There have been
growing concerns in Germany and the EU as a whole about the region’s economic
dependence on China, which is one of its leading trading partners and the top
supplier of raw materials critical for green transition.
“The major
players in the global economy – Europe, the USA and China – are so closely
intertwined that disengaging from China makes no sense,” Kaellenius said.
“Decoupling from China is an illusion, and also not desirable,” he added.
China has the
largest car market in the world, and German carmakers are heavily dependent on
it. Mercedes-Benz’s main shareholders are the Chinese BAIC Group and Geely
Chairman Li Shufu. In 2022, China accounted for 18% of revenues and 37% of car
sales at Mercedes-Benz, according to Reuters.
When asked
whether it would be conceivable for Mercedes-Benz to discontinue its business
in China, should political tensions around Taiwan escalate as occurred with
Russia after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the Mercedes-Benz boss
replied: “That would be unthinkable for almost the entire German industry.”
Europe depends
on China for 98% of its rare-earth elements, which are used in wind-power
generation, hydrogen storage, and batteries. It also gets 97% of its lithium
for batteries from the country. China has a dominant position in processing
rare earths, with roughly 60% of the world’s lithium refined in the east Asian
country. The EU also gets 80% of its solar panels from China.
German industry
has to become “more resilient” and “more independent of individual countries,”
for example when it comes to lithium batteries, Kaellenius said.
European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last month that it was not
viable for the bloc to decouple from China, but it needed to reduce risk and
“rebalance” its economic ties.
Source: rt.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.rt.com/business/575604-mercedes-benz-china-decoupling-unthinkable/
---------
Southeast
Asia
Sultan of
Selangor receives RM56m allocation for allowances of imams, religious staff
02-05- 2023
KLANG: Sultan
of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today graced the ceremony for the
handing over of an RM56 million allocation from the Federal Government for the
allowances for imams and other religious staff including Al-Quran And Fardhu
Ain (KAFA) teachers in Selangor for this year.
A mock cheque
was presented by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious
Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar to the Sultan of Selangor at the ceremony
held at Istana Alam Shah, here.
The sultan’s
private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani in a statement said His Royal
Highness thanked the Federal government for providing the allocation.
Mohamad Munir
said previously, the allowance payments for imams, ‘bilal’, ‘siak’, takmir and
KAFA teachers for states were sent to the Menteri Besar.
“However, when
the chairmanship of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI)
(which was previously held by the prime minister) was taken over by the Ruler,
the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) coordinated the delivery
of allowances for imams, bilal, siak, takmir teachers and KAFA teachers to the
states through the respective Rulers as the Head of Islamic Religion, to be
channelled to the state’s Islamic Religious Department,“ he said.
He said it was
hoped that the latest method of handing over the funds for allowances would
smoothen the process and avoid it from being politicised.
Earlier, Mohd
Na’im in his speech at the ceremony said the Federal government had allocated a
total of RM56,412,369.60 to Selangor for this year, and the funds would be
channelled to the Selangor Islamic Religious Department through Jakim.
He said the
allocation covered the remuneration for 752 imams at the rate of RM850 per
month and the allowance of takmir teachers at the rate of RM900 per month
involving 242 teachers.
The allocation
also includes a special one-off payment of RM600 and a Social Security
Organisation (Socso) contribution of RM232.80 per year for a total of 2,482
individuals comprising imams, bilal, siak and takmir teachers.
The provision
also involves an allowance payment of RM1,261.35 per month as well as a special
one-off payment of RM600 to 2,800 KAFA teachers. – Bernama
Source: thesundaily.my
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thesundaily.my/local/sultan-of-selangor-receives-rm56m-allocation-for-allowances-of-imams-religious-staff-GK10924345
--------
Mohd Fauzi
appointed new Subang Jaya mayor
Tuesday, 02 May
2023
SUBANG Jaya
City Council (MBSJ) has appointed Mohd Fauzi Mohd Yatim (pic) as its new mayor,
effective Tuesday (May 2).
The position
had been left vacant for three months.
Prior to his
appointment as MBSJ’s mayor, the 56-year-old, who hails from Terengganu, was the
former Ampang Jaya Municipal Council’s (MPAJ) president and Sepang Municipal
Council’s (MPSepang) president.
Previously,
Mohd Fauzi also served as Hulu Selangor district officer (2015-2019) and Gombak
district chief assistant officer from 2011 to 2016.
Mohd Fauzi also
holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) from Universiti Sains Malaysia and
a Diploma in Public Management from the National Institute of Public
Administration (Intan).
He also served
as the chief assistant secretary of the corporate division of the Housing and
Local Government Ministry (KPKT).
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Source: thestar.com.my
Please
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https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2023/05/02/mohd-fauzi-appointed-new-subang-jaya-mayor
--------
Anwar
proclaimed president of Malaysian Scouts Association
Tuesday, 02 May
2023
PUTRAJAYA:
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was proclaimed "Presiden
Agung" (president) of the Malaysian Scouts Association on Tuesday (May 2).
Acting National
Chief Scout cum National Chief Scout Commissioner Maj Gen (R) Prof Datuk Dr
Mohd Zin Bidin made the proclamation at the Prime Minister’s Office here.
At the same
event, Anwar was also conferred the association’s highest award, the Anugerah
Bintang Semangat Padi Emas, which is an exclusive award bestowed only on
national and state leaders.
Also present
were National Scout Council deputy president Datuk Ahmad Shazily Ismail Bakti
and treasurer Tan Sri Abdullah Taib.
Mohd Zin said
the proclamation can take the association’s image to greater heights and
strengthen its role as the largest informal educational organisation in the
country.
"It is
also hoped that the proclamation will lure more youths at university and school
levels to join the scout association as we already have a solid training
system,” he said. – Bernama
Source: thestar.com.my
Please
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https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/05/02/anwar-proclaimed-president-of-malaysian-scouts-association
--------
Tok Mat says
hard to topple ‘unity govt’ now with anti-party hopping law in place
By Muhammad
Yusry
Tuesday, 02 May
2023
KUALA LUMPUR,
May 2 — Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan today said he does not know
if anyone in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is involved in any ouster plot
against the Anwar administration.
Popularly
called Tok Mat, he added that even if they were, it would be difficult to do
because there is now an anti-party hopping law in place that requires the
affected MP to resign, which would trigger fresh elections that might not work
in favour of the ouster plotters.
“It is against
the anti-party hopping law. If they are involved, please resign but so far,
there is no one that I know of who is going against us,” he told reporters at
the Defence Ministry’s Aidilfitri celebration here this afternoon.
Mohamad, who is
also BN deputy chairman, said that as far as he knows, his coalition MPs are
focused on public service and have no desire to topple the government.
He said BN MPs
had pledged a stable government and wanted to fulfil its election manifesto.
“The reason we
joined this unity government was because we put the country first. We promised
the rakyat to give them a stable government.
“Since GE14, we
have been left behind as a country for five years. The country was in shambles.
I urge everyone to stop politicking now that we have a functioning government.
Do it for the rakyat,” he said.
The Rembau MP
was asked to comment on Bersatu supreme council member Dr Faiz Na’aman’s
Facebook statement yesterday claiming the Opposition coalition had 126 MPs,
more than the simple majority in the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, needed to topple
the federal government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Mohamad said
the Anwar administration will be holding a national convention on May 14.
“The convention
is not to show that the government is one big party but to show the rakyat that
we are serving them,” he said.
Source: malaymail.com
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https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/05/02/tok-mat-says-hard-to-topple-unity-govt-now-with-anti-party-hopping-law-in-place/67337
-------
With little
will to fight it, corruption is major risk for Indonesian palm oil
1 May 2023
JAKARTA — The
combination of weak antigraft policies, lack of transparency, revolving-door
politics, and the prevalence of politically exposed persons within companies
makes Indonesia’s palm oil industry highly prone to corruption, a new report
says.
Published by
anticorruption NGO Transparency International Indonesia (TII), the report
evaluates the top 50 palm oil companies in Indonesia, the world’s biggest
producer of palm oil. It focuses in particular on their disclosure practices
with respect to their anticorruption programs, lobbying activities, company
holdings, and key financial information.
The report then
scores these companies on six criteria on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being
extremely not transparent and 10 being very transparent.
The report
found that, on average, the 50 companies only scored 3.5 out of 10.
This means
there’s a general lack of transparency in palm oil companies’ political
activities and how they can interfere with government policies, according to
TII program officer Bellicia Angelica. In short, any government lobbying they
carry out is done without much scrutiny and monitoring, leading to policies and
regulations that are favorable to them, she said.
“This should
serve as a warning for the government, the private sector and civil society to
regulate the management of the palm oil industry more seriously,” Bellicia
said.
The
highest-scoring company in the report, at 7.2, is PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources
and Technology (SMART), one of the palm oil arms of Indonesia’s billionaire
Widjaja family, presiding over dozens of plantations and oil-processing mills
across Indonesia.
Yet even
SMART’s score doesn’t necessarily reflect strong anti-corruption measures,
Bellicia said: Of the 50 companies, SMART has the highest number of politically
exposed persons working for it, she noted.
Akhmad
Kamaluddin, a plantation researcher at environmental NGO Auriga, noted that a
former vice president of SMART was caught bribing a pair of provincial
legislators from Central Kalimantan in 2018. The bribes were meant to head off
an investigation into the alleged pollution of a lake by palm oil processing
waste and pesticides.
“So it’s very
ironic,” Akhmad said. “From this one case, we can see the face of the palm oil
industry in Indonesia.”
Agus Purnomo, a
director at SMART, said the problem of corporate corruption plagues all
industries across in Indonesia, with local officials often seeing companies
operating in their jurisdictions as prime targets for extortion.
“If we become
an honest actor” — that is, refuse to pay bribes — “we will become an enemy of
all stakeholders, from public officials to local communities,” he told
Mongabay. “If there’s a rich person, it’s obligatory to pay for various things
like sports and religious events, and that’s deemed normal.”
Agus said it’s
this culture of permissiveness that needs to be changed, because it nurtures
corruption. He added that the government, community leaders and organization
leaders should lead the change.
Before that
change comes, however, companies will continue to feel like they have no option
other than to comply with demands for money from stakeholders.
“People always
assume that companies are evil [because] they bribe [officials] to get permits.
While such cases may exist, most [companies] are afraid to say no [to
extortion] because the risks are high,” Agus said. “Will you dare to say no if
it’s locals who demand [money]? No, because if you do, then the road [to your
company] will be blocked. If that’s the case, will you dare to clear the
blockade?”
Anticorruption
policies and programs
n compiling
their report, researchers from TII first looked at the 50 companies’
anticorruption policies.
They found that
24 of the companies, nearly half, don’t have an anticorruption commitment that
applies to all staff members, including high-level board members.
The second
aspect they analyzed was whether the companies offered anticorruption training
to staff. On this measure, they fared even worse: 46 of the companies don’t
provide anticorruption training to all of their employees, including executives
and directors.
Twenty-six
companies don’t have whistleblower systems in place for employees to flag
illegal or fraudulent activities anonymously without fear of retaliation. And
even when a whistleblower channel was present, it didn’t necessarily protect
whistleblowers from retaliation.
The report
cited the case of PT Inti Indosawit Subur, a subsidiary of the Asian Agri
group, controlled by the billionaire Tanoto family. In 2006, Asian Agri’s
then-comptroller, Vincentius Amin Sutanto, was reported by the company to the
police for allegedly embezzling $3.1 million. Vincentius then revealed to the
media and the country’s anticorruption agency, the KPK, that Asian Agri, had
committed tax evasion from 2002 to 2005.
Despite Inti
Indosawit Subur having a whistleblower system in place that should have
followed up on Vincentius’s allegation, Asian Agri pressed ahead with its
criminal charges against him. Vincentius was eventually convicted in court and
sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2008. And in 2013, Asian Agri threatened
Vincentius with a defamation lawsuit.
Asian Agri
itself was in 2012 convicted of tax evasion and ordered by a court to pay $205
million in fines.
Lobbying
he TII report
also assessed the extent of the 50 palm oil companies’ lobbying practices. It
found 41 of them lacked responsible lobbying policies or procedures. In
particular, these companies don’t forbid donating to political figures.
The report also
found that 49 firms, nearly all of them, don’t publish the details of their
political donations.
Irresponsible
lobbying practices increase the risk of corruption as there’s no transparency
in the relationship between companies and policymakers, according to TII. This
could result in corrupt practices like bribing policymakers in exchange for
favorable policies for the companies.
The report
cited the case of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, a subsidiary of Singapore-listed
agribusiness giant Wilmar International. Master Parulian Tumanggor a member of
its board, claimed he often attended government meetings that determined the
allocation of money from the state palm oil fund.
The state fund,
which is collected from export tariffs levied on palm oil producers for every
shipment of crude palm oil that they sell abroad, is meant to be reinvested in
the industry for farmer training, research and development, replanting aging
trees with newer and more productive ones, building infrastructure, and
promoting palm oil.
But most of the
money collected has instead gone toward palm oil-derived biodiesel, both to
subsidize producers and to artificially lower the price of biodiesel at the
pump, to make it more competitive with conventional diesel. Between 2015 and
2021, the fund collected 139.17 trillion rupiah ($9.64 billion) in revenue, and
handed 80% of it to biodiesel producers — and less than 5% to small farmers for
a replanting program.
Wilmar is the
biggest recipient of Indonesian government subsidies to biodiesel producers. In
2017, it received 55% of the total $530 million distributed by the government
to five palm oil companies, or triple the amount it had paid into the fund.
“What PT Wilmar
Nabati Indonesia did can be perceived as irresponsible lobbying practices,” TII
said in its report.
TII’s Bellicia
said there should be an investigation into the company’s role and influence in
the fund’s meetings.
“This is what
we have to investigate,” she said. “With Master attending those meetings, did
it result in more beneficial policies to big companies, resulting in the
government siding with corporations instead of people in need?”
However,
Indonesia doesn’t have rules banning irresponsible lobbying practices or
requiring companies to be transparent about their lobbying activities, Bellicia
said.
“In our
opinion, lobbying has to be regulated because it’s a doorway to corruption,”
she said.
In January,
Master was convicted and sentenced to one and a half years in prison for
conspiring with a trade ministry official to ensure that four palm oil
companies, including Wilmar, could skirt their obligations to allocate a quota
for the domestic market.
“This is a
concrete example of how corruption will be a never-ending problem [in
Indonesia] if things like lobbying are not regulated,” Bellicia said.
Revolving door
nother aspect
assessed in the TII report is the revolving-door phenomenon that sees officials
in charge of regulating the industry going on to take jobs in it, and vice
versa.
Government
agencies typically hire industry professionals to take advantage of their
private sector experience and influence within corporations. Their presence can
also help governments gain political support such as donations and endorsements
from private firms.
“These
individuals [hired by the government] also tend to have biased view in
formulating policies and they tend to be in favour of policies that benefit
companies but harm people,” the TII report said.
In the other
direction, companies also gain an advantage when they hire the very officials
previously responsible for overseeing their industry. This allows them to seek
favorable legislation and government contracts in exchange for high-paying
employment offers, and also to gain inside information on policy discussions.
Unlike some
other countries that have issued laws regulating the revolving-door issue,
Indonesia has no such restrictions. And in the palm oil industry, the practice
is very common: according to the TII report, only two out of the 50 companies
assessed are aware of this practice, and none has regulations addressing it.
One example of
a regulation used elsewhere to prevent conflicts of interest is the
“cooling-off period,” in which former public officials are prohibited from
accepting employment in the private sector for a given time period after
leaving office.
The report also
looked at the presence of politically exposed persons within the 50 companies.
Known as PEPs,
these are individuals who hold a prominent public position or function, such as
a political party official, industry regulator, law enforcer, or a family
member of such a person. PEPs are widely seen as being more prone to bribery,
corruption or other potential financial irregularities.
The TII report
identified 80 PEPs in 33 companies, including six each at SMART and PT Multi
Agro Gemilang. Agus from SMART is one of these. He served as a special
assistant to former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from 2010 to 2014, just
before joining SMART in 2014. He was also a special adviser to the environment
minister from 2004 to 2009.
The report
characterizes Agus as an example of both a politically exposed person and a
revolving-door player.
“Am I a
politically exposed person? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like it,” Agus told
Mongabay. “But if I didn’t go to the company I currently work in, there are
many other companies that want my assistance.”
He added it’s
not fair if a politically exposed person is automatically perceived as
something of a liability.
“If [the
report] gives a score, then it looks like the report is judging [politically
exposed persons]. Don’t judge, just prove” that PEPs bring risk to a company,
Agus said. “Because people can become a bad actor without them having served in
the government before.”
The report
noted that the presence of politically exposed persons within a company doesn’t
necessarily translate into a bad thing.
“But there
really needs to be extra monitoring because politically exposed persons are
closely tied to conflicts of interests and trading in influence,” Bellicia
said.
Certification
he report also
looked at how many of the palm oil companies were certified, either under
Indonesia’s mandatory palm oil certification scheme, the ISPO, or under the
voluntary Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the world’s largest
association for ethical palm oil production.
It found that
only seven of the 50 companies have RSPO and/or ISPO certification that covers
not only the parent companies, but also all their subsidiaries.
Yet even
RSPO/ISPO certification can’t guarantee that a certified company is free from
illegal and unsustainable practices, the report said. An assessment by
Greenpeace of 100 RSPO members found that each had more than 100 hectares (250
acres) of illegal plantations inside forest areas in Indonesia, with eight of
them having more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres).
Greenpeace also
identified 252,000 hectares (623,000 acres) of ISPO-certified oil palm
plantations inside forest areas, which aren’t permitted under Indonesian zoning
laws.
Transparency
he final aspect
assessed in the TII report was data disclosure — whether the companies revealed
information on corporate structure, plantation ownership, tax and income, and
beneficial owners.
Data
transparency can be an effective tool in preventing illicit financial flows and
tax evasion, according to the report. But palm oil companies in Indonesia are
still largely opaque in this regard, the report said.
For instance,
only 34 out of the 50 assessed companies reported who their beneficial owners
were to the government, despite this being a mandatory disclosure under a 2018
presidential regulation.
Lack of clarity
on corporate ownership makes it difficult for the government and people
affected by corporate activities such as deforestation or tax evasion to demand
accountability from the company.
The report also
found only five companies that disclosed detailed data on their tax payments.
“This opens up
room for tax evasion,” Bellicia said.
The Tanah Merah
project in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua is an example of how obscure
corporate structures and beneficial ownership can increase the risk of
corruption, according to the report.
Spanning
280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) in the heart of the largest tract of primary
rainforest remaining in Asia, nearly twice the size of Greater London, the
project is set to become the world’s largest oil palm plantation.
A 2018
investigation by Mongabay and The Gecko Project revealed that the investors
behind the project have employed all the tools of corporate secrecy to hide
their identities: shell companies with front addresses, fake and proxy
shareholders, and offshore secrecy jurisdictions.
The
investigation also revealed that key documents relating to the project were
signed by a politician while he was in jail on the island of Java, and that key
permits have been hidden from public scrutiny.
Government
response
esponding to
the TII report, Roro Wide Sulistyowati from the corruption prevention
department at the country’s antigraft agency, the KPK, said her office has been
pushing for palm oil companies to commit to anticorruption practices.
She added that
the KPK has also issued a corruption prevention guideline for companies.
“This year, we
want to push [the guideline] to palm oil companies so that they have an
anticorruption commitment and antibribery system,” Roro said.
In 2016, the
KPK carried out an analysis of the palm oil industry and found a raft of
problems, such as tax evasion and the lack of an accountable system to prevent
corruption in the issuance of permits.
In 2019 and
2022, the country’s financial audit agency, the BPK, carried out its own
assessment of the industry. The 2019 audit found that 81% of oil palm
plantations in Indonesia are operating in violation of numerous regulations,
including excess size, noncompliance with the ISPO standard, failure to
allocate sufficient land for smallholder farmers, and lack of relevant
operating permits.
The BPK has
already finished the 2022 audit, but refused to disclose the findings.
Following this latest BPK audit, the government recently announced that it had
formed a task force to improve governance in the palm oil industry, including
on permits and taxes.
Despite the
series of findings from the KPK and the BPK, there’s been little to no
improvement in the management of the palm oil industry, Bellicia said.
“If there have
been changes [since the 2019 audit], there’s no way the score would be 3.5,”
she said. “This score should be a wake-up call for the government.”
Banner image:
Rainbow over the rainforest and oil palm plantations in the midst of a tropical
downpour in Jambi on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Photo credit: Rhett A.
Butler
Source: news.mongabay.com
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https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/with-little-will-to-fight-it-corruption-is-major-risk-for-indonesian-palm-oil/
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India
Burqa-Clad
Women Helped Atiq's Wife Flee After Announcement from Mosque: Sources
May 1, 2023
By Simer
Chawla: Slain gangster Atiq Ahmed's wife Shaista Parveen, an accused in the
Umesh Pal murder case, is still on the run. According to sources, the Uttar
Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF) had reached very close to nabbing
Shaista Parveen four days ago in Prayagraj but the 'lady don' escaped the
police's clutches with the help of locals.
The police had
received concrete information that Shaista Parveen was in the Hatua area in
Prayagraj. She was spotted near the house of Ashraf Ahmed's (Atiq's brother who
was killed along with him) in-laws, sources said.
According to
police sources, when the STF team reached there to raid, women wearing Burqas
surrounded the team. The police could not go ahead and taking advantage of
this, Shaista Parveen ran away.
Announcement
from Mosque
According to
sources, when people got information that the STF team was coming to raid, an
announcement was made from the local mosque, asking women to leave the house
and congregate on the streets. Taking advantage of this crowd, Shaista ran
away.
Who Are Helping
Shaista Parveen?
Earlier, the UP
Police went to Naini jail and questioned Atiq's lawyer Khan Soulat Hanif, who
is a big confidant of the gangster and is serving a life sentence in Umesh
Pal's kidnapping case. Based on Hanif's input, the police got to know that
Shaista Parveen had met 'lady don' Mundi Pasi before the murder of Umesh Pal.
Police sources
say that Mundi Pasi, who is out on bail in several criminal cases herself, has
been helping Shaista Parveen in her escape and is providing her intel.
Police are
looking for Mundi Pasi and Atiq's gunner Ehtesham near the Kaushambi border.
Ehtesham, who was once in the police force, is believed to have played an
important role in the hiding of Shaista Parveen.
Along with
Shaista Parveen, Ashraf's wife Zainab and sister Ayesha Noori are also
absconding. The police have also come to know the names of some other helpers
of Shaista Parveen. One of them is Asif alias Malli, an aide of Guddu Muslim,
the bomber who was involved in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Why Is Shaista
Parveen Absconding?
Shaista Parveen
is on the run since she was named an accused in the murder case of Umesh Pal, a
prime witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, who, along with his two
police guards, was shot dead in the Dhoomanganj police station area in
Prayagraj on February 24.
On March 28, a
court in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj convicted gangster-turned-politician Atiq
Ahmed and two other accused in the 2006 kidnapping of Umesh Pal, the prime
witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case. However, Atiq Ahmed and his
brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as
journalists in Prayagraj on April 15 in the presence of police.
Other accused
in the Umesh Pal murder case, including Shaista Parveen and Guddu Muslim, are
on the run.
Police have
announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on Shaista Parveen.
Source: indiatoday.in
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/shaista-parveen-up-police-prayagraj-umesh-pal-murder-atiq-ahmed-mosque-announcement-burqa-2367041-2023-05-01
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'Targeting
terrorists, not Muslims': Filmmakers defend The Kerala Story amid row
May 1, 2023
By India Today
News Desk: The Kerala Story, starring Adah Sharma, is at the centre of a storm
after the trailer of the movie claimed that 32,000 girls from the state went
missing and later joined the terrorist group, ISIS.
"We are
targetting terrorists who are destroying the lives of girls" Vipul
Amrutlal Shah
"As long
as IUML's offer is concerned, it is their job. It is a political party. Our job
was to make the film..." @sudiptoSENtlm #ITVideo #Kerala #TheKeralaStory |
@Akshita_N @gauravcsawant pic.twitter.com/dBXU0egJ3n — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday)
May 1, 2023
The movie, set
to be released in cinemas on May 5, faced a lot of backlash from the Kerala
government and the Congress, with leaders calling for a ban on screening of the
film in the state.
Amid the row,
the director, producer and the actor have backed the movie, saying The Kerala
Story targets terrorists, not Muslims and there is nothing against the state in
the entire film.
In an exclusive
interview with India Today, director Sudipto Sen said, "I made the movie
after months of research. No producer wanted to back the movie. My perspective
changed, I was deeply moved after speaking to the victims."
Vipul Shah, the
producer of the movie, said, "Nothing against the state of Kerala. Nothing
deregotary said in the film. The film targets terrorists and not Muslims. Want
Kerala CM to watch the movie."
A day earlier,
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the movie takes up the Sangh
Parivar propaganda of projecting the state as a centre of religious extremism
by raising the issue of love jihad, a concept rejected by the courts, probe
agencies and even the Union home ministry.
The movie,
written and directed by Sudipto Sen, is portrayed as "unearthing" the
events behind "approximately 32,000 women" allegedly going missing in
the southern state. The film claims they converted, got radicalised and were
deployed in terror missions in India and the world.
The director
claimed that the film crew were attacked while shooting in Kannur, CM Vijayan's
home turf, and pointed out that Adah Sharma received a lot of threat messages
for starring in the movie.
A couple of
days ago, both the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and the opposition Congress hit out
at the upcoming movie, saying freedom of expression was not a licence to spew
venom in society, and the film was an attempt to destroy the communal harmony
of the state.
To this, Sen
said, "I urge people to watch the film before drawing conclusions."
Source: indiatoday.in
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/the-kerala-story-controversy-filmmakers-defend-movie-targets-terrorists-not-muslims-2367043-2023-05-01
--------
Mathura
District Judge To Hear Requests Of All Parties Afresh In Shahi Idgah Mosque
Case
May 01, 2023
Prayagraj: The
Allahabad High Court on Monday disposed of the petitions of Shahi Idgah Trust
and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board.
While giving
its verdict, the High Court has asked the District Judge of Mathura to pass an
order after hearing afresh against the decision of the Civil Judge.
"All the
parties will have to present their arguments afresh before the District Judge
of Mathura," the court said.
The dispute
dates back to September 24 in 2020 when advocate Ranjana Agnihotri and six
others originally filed a plea in the lower court to remove the 17th-century
Shahi Idgah mosque from the complex it shares with the Katra Keshav Dev Temple,
close to the spot known as 'Krishna Janmabhoomi'.
The petitioners
had claimed in the plea that Shahi Idgah Masjid is constructed on a part of
13.37-acre land belonging to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.
They had
demanded the mosque be removed and the land returned to the Trust.
However, the
civil judge senior division rejected the suit on September 30, 2020, as
non-admissible.
Source: ndtv.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mathura-land-dispute-allahabad-hc-disposes-pleas-of-shahi-idgah-trust-waqf-board-3994819
--------
Hyderabad:
Congress moves to woo back Muslims, offset MIM slant
May 1, 2023
HYDERABAD:
Though Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi led-AIMIM does not contest from many
constituencies outside Greater Hyderabad, Owaisi enjoys a lot of clout among
Muslims in almost every constituency in the state. There are about 40 assembly
constituencies having a sizable Muslim population, where electoral prospects of
a party gets propelled with minority community votes.
These
constituencies are located in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda,
Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Sangareddy to name a few.
Assembly
Muslims were a
traditional vote bank of Congress, but in the 2018 assembly elections, the
grand old party failed to win even a seat of the 40 assembly segments. While
AIMIM won seven of them, the remaining were won by its friendly party BRS.
A majority of
the Muslims voted for chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS (now BRS) as
AIMIM extended support to its friendly party. The welfare schemes and
secular-nature of KCR-led government since 2014 was one of the main reasons for
Muslims rallying behind BRS.
Based on
reports submitted by the party’s election strategist Sunil Kanugolu, AICC has
realised that it would not be easy for Congress to come to power in Telangana
without Muslims voting for it. Muslims might not vote for BJP and will have to
choose between BRS and Congress in the assembly elections to be held later this
year. Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy discussed these details and
the role being played by Owaisi-led AIMIM in weaning away minority community
voters from the grand old party with AICC leader Rahul Gandhi recently.
Muslim leaders
from Congress would hold meetings with ulema, masjid committees, doctors,
advocates and teachers, who enjoy the confidence of the community. They would
be told how Owaisi-led AIMIM, despite polling only 2% votes in other states,
was ending up polarising Hindu votes in favour of BJP.
BRS’ Dasoju
Sravan said Congress has always used Muslims as a vote bank. “Muslims feel
secure under BRS government as there are no communal riots. The KCR-led
government has set up minority residential schools, extending overseas
education schemes, shaadi mubarak to name a few,” he said.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/cong-moves-to-woo-back-muslims-offset-mim-slant/articleshow/99898365.cms
--------
Africa
Senegalese
opposition leader calls for civil disobedience against judiciary
By Rédaction
Africanews
02-05-23
Senegalese main
opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has called for national civil disobedience
against the judiciary and further rejected any dialogue against President Macky
Sall.
Sonko on the
other hand denounced claims that he was undermining the justice system.
Sonko last
month had claimed his life was in danger and that he had evidence showing he
was to be assassinated on March 16th on his way to court to face charges of
rape allegations.
Another court
court on 30th March gave opposition politician Ousmane Sonko a two-month
suspended prison sentence for defaming a minister.
The opponent,
who came third in the presidential election in 2019, and his supporters claim
that the judiciary is being used by the government to eliminate him politically
and clear the way for the incumbent Macky Sall.
Sonkko and his
supporters accuse the government of using the justice system to prevent him
from running for president in February 2024.
The
presidential party accuses Mr. Sonko of wanting to paralyze the country and of
using the street to escape justice
Several human
rights organizations have expressed concern about the climate of tension in the
country, restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression, and have called on
President Sall to abandon his bid for a third term, as he has left it unclear
whether he will run in 2024.
Source: africanews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/02/senegalese-opposition-leader-calls-for-civil-disobedience-against-judiciary/
--------
Ugandan
minister shot and killed by bodyguard
02-05-23
A bodyguard
shot and killed a government minister in Uganda early Tuesday in an apparent
private dispute, according to the army and local media.
The attacker,
who has not been publicly identified, then turned the gun on himself, according
to state broadcaster UBC and others.
The victim,
Charles Engola, served in the government of President Yoweri Museveni as the
junior minister in charge of labor. He was a retired army colonel.
Army spokesman
Brig. Felix Kulayigye said in a short statement that an "unfortunate
incident" led to the killing of Engola. "We shall inform the public
the details as we jointly investigate the matter," Kulayigye said on
Twitter.
The shooting
took place inside Engola's home in a suburb of the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Police detectives are now at the scene.
The motive was
not immediately clear, but the local press said there had been an apparent
dispute over the guard's wages.
"Witnesses
claim that the soldier was yelling that he had not been paid for a long time
despite working for a minister," the online newspaper NilePost reported.
The incident is
likely to create shockwaves in a country where other high-profile officials
have been killed in gun attacks over the years.
In 2021, a
former army chief in Uganda was wounded and his daughter killed when gunmen
shot at their vehicle in Kampala.
Source: africanews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/02/ugandan-minister-shot-and-killed-by-bodyguard/
--------
Japan and Ghana
aligned in the pursuit of reforms at the UN Security Council
02-05-23
The Japanese
Prime-Minister, Kishida Fumio, arrived in Ghana on Monday on the second leg of
an African tour.
Fumio met
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and both vowed to continue to pursue reforms
at the UN Security Council.
Japan and Ghana
are serving as non-permanent members of the Security Council.
The Ghanaian
President added that the current Security Council permanent members does not
reflect the current reality adding that reform must be promoted.
Both heads of
state also agreed to closely coordinate on the issue of Sudan, where military
clashes continue for a third week.
The Japanese
Prime Minister said he hopes his latest visit will boost cooperation between
the two countries across a range of fields, such as the economy, development
and human resources.
Source: africanews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/02/japan-and-ghana-aligned-in-the-pursuit-of-reforms-at-the-un-security-council/
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Imam Haron’s
family edges closer to truth and justice in reopened inquest
Storm Simpson
02-05-2023
More than 50
years after the 1970 inquest found that no one could be blamed for Imam
Abdullah Haron’s death in police custody, his family edges closer to justice
and having the truth of what happened during the 123 days he spent in detention
stand as the official record.
BOTH PARTIES
SING FROM SAME HYMN BOOK IN HARON INQUEST CLOSING ARGUMENTS: STATE
The reopened
inquest was held over eight days before Judge Daniel Thulare in the Cape Town
High Court in November 2022, and closing arguments were heard in the same court
on 24 and 25 April 2023.
State
Prosecutor Advocate Lifa Matyobeni summed it up best on Tuesday afternoon when
he said the State and family –represented by Webber Wentzel’s pro-bono unit –
were singing from the same hymn book.
Advocate Howard
Varney, for the family, spent the bulk of the two days weaving together the
many testimonies from medical experts and political detainees. Matyobeni, in
contrast, presented his closing argument in about 45 minutes.
Like the
family’s legal representatives, the State asked Judge Thulare to set aside the
1970 inquest overseen by Additional Magistrate JSP Kuhn.
The Security
Branch claimed that Haron had sustained his many injuries in a single fall down
a flight of stone stairs – evidence suggests this story was concocted to cover
up the torture he was subjected to during his detention.
After Haron was
found dead in his Maitland Police Station cell on 27 September 1969, everything
that followed – from the autopsy to the inquest and its findings – was
manipulated to hide the truth.
Last year,
medical experts testified that the Imam’s injuries could not have been
sustained in a fall and that his death was linked to the assault he suffered,
and an engineering expert also said the tale of the fall had no basis in
reality.
“If the
security branch lied about the torture, then they lied about everything,” said
Matyobeni.
The State said
Haron died at the hands of the security police and recommended that the matter
be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
According to
the State, the suspects are Haron’s chief interrogators – Major Dirk Kotze
Genis and Sergeant Johannes Petrus Francois “Spyker” van Wyk. Genis was the
commander of the Haron investigation, while van Wyk, an infamous torturer of
political detainees, was in charge of the interrogation. Both are dead.
Other suspects
include Lieutenant Carel Johannes Frazier Pienaar, the overall commander of the
Security Branch in Cape Town and Captain Ebanis Geldenhuys, a branch officer.
FAMILY SEEKS
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN THE DEATH
The family had
a much longer list of suspects who should be punished for their role in Haron’s
death and the subsequent cover-up, stretching from the Security Branch to the
uniformed police, including then-Constable Johannes Hendrik Burger, who
testified last year, medical and legal professionals.
Varney said all
police officers who testified in the first inquest perjured themselves to some
degree and said to Judge Thulare that Burger – the last living policeman from
the time of Haron’s detention – did the same by making false claims during the
reopened inquest.
Among the false
claims was his denial of any knowledge that the Security Branch tortured and
abused political detainees and that he was unaware Haron had been abused until
he saw sketches of his body 50 years later.
Burger also
said the Imam seemed healthy and had no complaints about an hour before he was
found dead in his Maitland Police Station cell.
Varney said the
family does not want Burger to be prosecuted for perjury as he was among the
youngest and lowest-ranking officers at the police station in 1969. “He was a
bit player with no real decision-making authority.”
The Haron
family do not want to see him prosecuted because the people who should be
facing justice are dead, and prosecuting Burger will not bring them any peace.
“During the
month of Ramadan, adherents ask for and preach forgiveness. Burger has his own
conscience to live with in his advanced age,” said the family.
The family’s
legal representatives also recommended that Doctors Viviviers and Gosling and
the Chief State Pathologist for Cape Town, Dr Schwar disregarded the
Hippocratic Oath in dealing with Haron and asked the court to refer the
relevant parts of the inquest record to the medical council for consideration
as to whether their names should be posthumously struck from the roll of
medical professionals.
The family
seeks the same punishment for Additional Magistrate JSP Kuhn, who oversaw the
1970 inquest, and State Prosecutor JS van Graan.
“We have
demonstrated in these proceedings that the Imam was subjected to vicious and
unrelenting torture during his 123 days in detention.
“After the most brutal period of abuse
inflicted during the three-day extraction, he was specifically denied medical
treatment, to avoid the obvious signs of his torture from being detected.
“Those involved
in the torture, and who decided to deny him medical attention, murdered the
Imam. We have asked this Honourable Court to make that finding,” said Varney in
part of his conclusion.
Judge Thulare
reserved judgement.
Source: thesouthafrican.com
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https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/imam-abdullah-haron-inquest-state-responsibility-death-ruling-closing-arguments-2-may/
--------
Mideast
Rockets fired
from Gaza after Islamic Jihad member dies from hunger strike in Israeli prison
“The occupation
will pay the price for (Khader Adnan’s) death,” Islamic Jihad warned.
By JOTAM
CONFINO IN ISRAEL
May 2, 2023
Three rockets
were fired from Gaza at southern Israel on Tuesday morning, the military
confirmed.
The rockets
were fired after a senior member of Islamic Jihad, Khader Adnan, died from an
86-day-long hunger strike in an Israeli prison.
Adnan, 45, was
arrested in the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank in February on terror
charges and had been on a hunger strike in Nitzan Prison in central Israel
since.
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He was found
unconscious in his cell early Tuesday and was declared dead at Shamir Medical
Center near Tel Aviv. Adnan had been on hunger strike several times before,
including a 55-day-long strike in 2015.
Not long after,
rocket sires blasted in Kibbutz Sa’ad where three rockets fell in open areas.
Islamic Jihad issued a statement after the rocket fire, saying that Adnan’s
death will be a “lesson for generations, we will not leave this path as long as
Palestine remains under occupation.”
“The occupation
will pay the price for (Adnan’s) death,” Islamic Jihad said. Hamas echoed
Islamic Jihad’s threat, saying: “The Palestinian people will not let this crime
pass by in silence, and will respond accordingly.”
The IDF has
cracked down on Islamic Jihad in the West Bank in the past years, arresting and
killing several of its members in army raids, saying they were either
responsible for or planning terror attacks against Israel.
In August last
year, similar army raids triggered a three-day conflict between Israel and Islamic
Jihad in Gaza.
Source: jewishnews.co.uk
Please
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https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/rockets-fired-from-gaza-after-islamic-jihad-member-dies-from-hunger-strike-in-israeli-prison/
--------
Radical Israeli
Settlers Invade Courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque
2 May, 2023
Dozens of
colonial settlers backed by Israeli forces invaded Tuesday, 2 May 2023, the
courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed provocative rituals.
Local media
sources reported that Israeli settlers broke into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa and
performed provocative Talmudic rituals in some of its yards under the Israeli
occupation forces’ protection.
Meanwhile,
Israeli occupation forces are widely spread across the compound of the Al-Aqsa
Mosque to protect the colonial settlers, prohibiting the presence of
Palestinians.
Colonial
settlers’ backed by the Israeli occupation forces repeatedly invade Muslims and
holy places in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in a flagrant violation of
all international conventions and laws, guaranteeing Palestinian people’s right
to worship in their sacred sites.
Illegal
settlers repeated violations of Muslim, as well as Christian, symbols as a
deliberate attempt to Judaise the occupied Jerusalem, with the progressive
expulsion of the local population; the Palestinians.
In 2022, 56670
Israeli settlers invaded Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards and performed Talmudic
provocative rituals in its squares, according to Palestinian figures.
Source: daysofpalestine.ps
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https://daysofpalestine.ps/radical-israeli-settlers-invade-courtyards-of-al-aqsa-mosque/
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Riyadh seeking
flights between Saudi, Iranian shia cities
May 2, 2023
TEHRAN, May 02
(MNA) – Saudi Arabia is seeking direct flights between its Shia-majority city
of Dammam and Iran’s Mashhad as part of efforts to improve relations between
the two countries, according to an aviation industry official in Iran.
Maghsud As’adi,
who leads the Association of Iranian Airlines, said on Monday that launching
flights to Iran’s second-largest city of Mashhad, located in the northeast of
the country and home to a major Shia shrine, is a priority for Saudi Arabia.
Press TV quoted
As’adi as saying that the flight route could serve Saudi Arabia’s Shia
community which is based in the eastern city of Dammam.
He said the
route could also lead to increased tourism visits by Saudis to other Iranian
cities, especially to natural resorts in northern Iran.
The remarks
come weeks after Iran’s transportation ministry said it had received an
official request from Saudi Arabian authorities for three regular flights
between the two countries.
The ministry
said last month that the flights will be launched regardless of arrangements existing
between Tehran and Riyadh about flights carrying Iranian pilgrims to hajj
ceremony in Saudi Arabia.
The
announcement came amid a joint plan by Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore their
diplomatic relations some seven years after the two countries cut their
official ties.
The plan is
based on an agreement brokered by China in early March which stipulated that
the two Muslim countries should reopen their embassies by May 9.
Source: en.mehrnews.com
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https://en.mehrnews.com/news/200166/Riyadh-seeking-flights-between-Saudi-Iranian-shia-cities
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Global Islamic
finance industry to grow 10% in 2023-2024 despite economic slowdown
Aarti Nagraj
May 02, 2023
The global
Islamic finance industry is expected to grow by around 10 per cent in 2023-2024
despite the economic slowdown, after posting a similar expansion in 2022 mainly
led by the GCC countries, according to S&P Global Ratings.
The sector
continued to expand in 2022, with assets up by 9.4 per cent compared with 12.2
per cent in 2021, supported by growth in banking assets and the sukuk industry,
S&P said in a report on Monday.
GCC countries,
mainly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, spurred 92 per cent of the growth in Islamic
banking assets last year.
In Kuwait, this
was mainly due to Kuwait Finance House's acquisition of Ahli United Bank. “Over
the next couple of years, we expect the latter to convert its conventional
activities to Sharia compliance in line with its acquisition plans,” S&P said.
In Saudi
Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, the implementation of its ambitious
diversification strategy, Vision 2030, and continued growth in mortgage lending
supported the industry's growth.
However, in
other parts of the world, the Islamic finance industry's growth was either
muted or held back by local currency depreciation.
“Structural
weaknesses still curb the industry's broader geographical and market appeal,”
S&P said.
“We believe
that progress toward greater standardisation — in part supported by the
digitalisation of sukuk issuance for example — could enhance the industry's
structural growth potential.
“At the same
time, the increasing focus on sustainability-related themes by core Islamic
finance players will create new opportunities for the industry. We expect the
contribution of sustainability-linked sukuk to continue increasing in the next
12-24 months, albeit from a low base.”
Sukuk issuance
continued to spur the industry's expansion despite slowing issuance volumes
overall, the report said.
While sukuk
volumes are anticipated to fall again in 2023, it will be at a slower pace than
in 2022, with new issuance expected to exceed maturing sukuk.
Global sukuk
issuance is forecast to “level off” in the range of $170 billion to $175
billion in 2023, after a 10 per cent fall in 2022 to $178 billion, Moody’s
Investors Service said in a research report in March.
Demand for
Sharia-compliant financing is set to outpace conventional funding in 2023,
driven by strong economic growth and development agendas in key markets, it
said.
S&P also
said that corporates are likely to contribute to issuance volumes, particularly
in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where governments have announced
transformation plans.
Issuers with
high financing needs, such as those in Egypt and Turkey, are also likely to tap
the sukuk market as part of their strategy to mobilise all available resources.
Egypt has
established a $5 billion sukuk programme and issued its first sukuk in early
2023 for $1.5 billion.
“We understand
that this attracted significant investor interest, with more than $6 billion
demand and a 59 per cent allocation to investors from the Middle East and North
Africa,” the report said.
However, “lower
and more expensive global liquidity, greater complexity related to structuring
sukuk and reduced financing needs for issuers (due to fiscal surpluses from
higher oil prices) in some core Islamic finance countries” will deter the
market, it added.
Meanwhile, the
takaful sector will also expand at an annual rate of around 10 per cent,
supported by continued nominal gross domestic product growth, the expansion of
infrastructure investment and medical insurance covers, and some
inflation-related tariff adjustments.
“Fund growth
will hinge on the performance of the capital markets, given its structure —
around one-quarter equity funds and another 60 per cent money market or sukuk
funds,” S&P said.
Looking ahead,
the GCC will play a key role in supporting the industry's growth.
“We think that
Saudi Arabia's banking system performance will continue to underpin a large
portion of the expanding Islamic finance industry. In other GCC countries,
growth of about 5 per cent appears plausible in the absence of new major
government investment cycles.”
In South-East
Asia, the Islamic banking industry is likely to grow at around 8 per cent over
the next couple of years, despite an economic slowdown in the major markets of
Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Robust demand for
Islamic products and services and low penetration, particularly in Indonesia,
support this trend. In both markets, we expect Islamic banking to continue to
gain market share as growth outpaces conventional banking,” S&P said.
It also
stressed that while sustainability-linked sukuk issuance remains limited, this
trend will change as issuers try to meet investor demand and core Islamic
finance countries seek to reduce their carbon footprint and support the global
energy transition.
“Many Islamic
finance countries are pursuing strategies to help them transition to greener
economies. We believe this indicates growth potential for green sukuk issuance
and expect to see greater activity in this space as issuers tap global investor
interest,” the report said.
In the past
three years, many banks in core Islamic finance countries have also issued
sustainability plans, which will further support the sector.
“We therefore
expect green products and services for corporate and retail customers will
contribute to the growth of Islamic banking assets,” it added.
Source: thenationalnews.com
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https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/markets/2023/05/02/global-islamic-finance-industry-to-grow-10-in-2023-2024-despite-economic-slowdown/
--------
Senior member
of Islamic Jihad dies in Israeli prison after 86-day hunger strike
02-05-23
A senior leader
of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group died in Israeli custody on
Tuesday after an 86-day hunger strike.
Khader Adnan
was found unresponsive in his cell in Nitzan jail in the central city of Ramle
during the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning.
He was brought
to the Shamir Medical Center outside Tel Aviv and underwent resuscitation
efforts, but was declared dead at the hospital, the Prisons Service said.
Adnan, 45, was
arrested in February in his hometown of Arrabeh, in the northern West Bank near
Jenin, for suspected membership in a terror group, support for a terrorist
organization and incitement.
He had been indicted
and was being held in custody until the end of the legal proceedings against
him.
He launched his
hunger strike immediately after his arrest on February 5 and had refused to
undergo medical checks or receive treatment while incarcerated.
Shortly after
his death was announced, rocket sirens sounded in southern Israel near Kibbutz
Sa’ad.
The Israel
Defense Forces said it identified three launches from Gaza at Israel that
landed in open areas. No interceptor rockets were fired and there were no
reports of injuries or damage.
The treatment
and condition of terror inmates, often referred to as security prisoners, is
often a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There was no immediate
statement from Palestinian Islamic Jihad after Adnan’s death.
The Palestinian
Authority demanded an investigation into Adnan’s death.
Adnan’s latest
detention was his 10th stint in the Israeli prison system.
Adnan had long
been accused of being a spokesperson for the terror group, and had been
arrested several times in recent years and served several prison sentences in
connection with his work for Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
He had also
previously gone on hunger strike several times over his detention, including
over an arrest in 2018. In that case, he was convicted of having been an active
member of the banned Iran-backed terror group after he pleaded guilty in a plea
bargain.
In 2012 he went
on hunger strike for 66 days in protest against a term of internment without
trial, what Israel calls “administrative detention.”
In 2015 he went
without food for over 50 days after another arrest.
He was also
arrested for suspected terrorist activity in 2019.
Far-right
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir assumed control of Israel’s prisons
when he came into office in December and has pushed for more strict handling of
security prisoners. His ministry also oversees the police and border police.
Source: timesofisrael.com
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https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-member-of-islamic-jihad-dies-in-israeli-prison-after-86-day-hunger-strike/
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Islamic bloc to
hold emergency meeting over conflict-torn Sudan
May 1, 2023
The
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
on Wednesday to discuss the latest situation in conflict-torn Sudan.
In a written
statement, the Muslim group said: “The OIC Executive Committee will hold an
emergency meeting, on Wednesday, 3 May 2023, at the headquarters of the General
Secretariat in Jeddah, to discuss the situation in the Republic of Sudan.”
Meanwhile, OIC
Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said the meeting “reflects the interest
of member states in the current events in Sudan and their keenness to restore
security and stability in the country.”
He urged the
sides in Sudan for a permanent cease-fire, stressing the need to turn to
dialogue to preserve the security and safety of the Sudanese people, and the
state and to resume the political process.
Separately, the
permanent members of the Arab League on Monday gathered in Egypt’s capital
Cairo for an emergency meeting to discuss the latest situation in Sudan.
The league’s
first meeting in Cairo on April 16 also called for “an immediate cessation of
armed clashes in Sudan and a quick return to the peaceful path to resolve the
crisis.”
Armed clashes
erupted in mid-April between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid
Support Forces (RSF) in the capital Khartoum.
At least 528
people have been killed and more than 4,500 injured in the fighting between two
rival generals in Sudan – army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander
Mohammed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo – since April 15, according to Sudan’s Health
Ministry.
A disagreement
had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the paramilitary force
regarding the RSF’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of
Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.
Sudan has been
without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military
dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared
a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup.”
Sudan’s
transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President
Omar al-Bashir, is scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.
Source: aa.com.tr
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/islamic-bloc-to-hold-emergency-meeting-over-conflict-torn-sudan/2886364
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Jihad: No
matter how much enemy escalates its criminal practices, our people's revolution
will not be extinguished
[01/May/2023]
RAMALLAH May
01. 2023 (Saba) - Media spokesman for the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
Tariq Ezz El-Din has announced arresting leader Mahdi al-Sharqawi by the enemy
forces at dawn on Monday will not undermine the determination of our people and
our free fighters."
Palestine Today
news agency quoted Ezz al-Din as saying "No matter how much the occupation
escalates its criminal practices against our people, leaders and cadres, our
people's revolution and valiant resistance will not subside."
He affirmed
that the Zionist occupation knows very well that a leader who is arrested or
martyred will be succeeded by a thousand leaders, and our blessed uprising will
not stop until the occupation is defeated from our entire land, whatever the
price.
Ezz El-Din
continued "All salutes to Sheikh Mujahid leader Mahdi al-Sharqawi and to
all the leaders and mujahideen of our people, and we will continue the journey,
God willing, and we will not back down from our right to freedom."
Source: saba.ye
Please
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https://www.saba.ye/en/news3237443.htm
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Pakistan
Prime
Minister’s Special Representative on Interfaith Harmony Underscores Need for
Unity of Muslim Ummah
02-05-23
ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Interfaith Harmony and Middle East
Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi on Monday emphasized the need for unity
among the Muslim Ummah to solve their problems.
Speaking to the
media, he said the fundamental issues faced by the Muslim Ummah were Kashmir
and Palestine, and practical steps should be taken to resolve them.
Ashrafi, who is
also the Chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council and Secretary-General of the
International Tazim-e-Haramain Sharifain Council, applauded the efforts of
Islamic scholars in combating extremism and terrorism and urged for dialogue
between leaders of all religions to end Islamophobia.
He also praised
Saudi Arabia’s commendable role in addressing the Sudan crisis and called on
all countries to support it for a permanent ceasefire in Sudan.
He further
emphasized that the true interpretation of Islamic teachings could be found in
the Muslim World League’s ‘Charter of Makkah’ and Pakistan’s religious
scholars’ ‘Message of Pakistan’. Regarding the recent cases of blasphemy in the
country, Ashrafi stressed that no one should be accused of blasphemy without
proper research and evidence. He added that if any individual or group used
blasphemy laws for their own personal or political interests, the government
should take action against them.
He also expressed
his concern over the oppression of minorities, including Muslims, in India and
Occupied Kashmir, and called on the political and religious leaders of the G20
countries to boycott their upcoming meeting in India. He said India’s desire to
hold the R20 meeting in Occupied Kashmir on the occasion of the G20 meeting
would not be fulfilled.
In conclusion,
Ashrafi emphasized that Islam was a religion of peace and did not tolerate
extremism and terrorism in any form. He further termed the restoration of Iran-Saudi
Arabia and Arab-Syria relations a good omen as it would help resolve the issues
faced by the Muslim Ummah.
Source: brecorder.com
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https://www.brecorder.com/news/40239820/ashrafi-underscores-need-for-unity-of-muslim-ummah
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Negotiations
not possible with terrorists: Javed
May 2, 2023
Pakistan Muslim
League-N’s senior leader Javed Latif objected on Monday to the ongoing
negotiations between the govt and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and said that talks
were not possible with “terrorists” and “those who weaken institutions”.
Talking to the media, the minister added that the government never ran away
from elections even though our leadership was disqualified and kept out.
“Talks are
never held with those who throw petrol bombs nor with those who are instruments
of world powers. Negotiations are not held with those who talk about Mir
Jaffer, Mir Sadiq,” Latif said.
Latif further
said that it is better if the people sitting in the institutions confess their
mistakes, adding that “negotiations outside of the Constitution cannot be done
at anyone’s will”. The PML-N leader also said that the party will not accept
elections without the participation of party supremo Nawaz Sharif in any way.
The federal
minister said that today the situation has come to a point that now people
sitting in the institutions will have to speak the complete truth.
Source: pakobserver.net
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https://pakobserver.net/negotiations-not-possible-with-terrorists-javed/
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Muqam thanks
friendly countries for safe evacuation of Pakistanis from Sudan
May 2, 2023
Adviser to
Prime Minister for Political, Public Affairs, National Heritage and Culture,
Engr Amir Muqam Monday expressed gratitude to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, Egypt and Turkey for helping its stranded citizens evacuated from Sudan
port safely. “Safe evacuation of every Pakistani and bringing them home safely
remains our top priority,” the Advisor to Prime Minister said while talking to
media at Islamabad International Airport, says a press release here.
He said a team
of our mission is working day and night to facilitate the stay of Pakistanis
who are still in Sudan until their evacuation to Pakistan, adding that another
special PIA flight carrying 93 Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan reached in
Islamabad today (Monday). Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public
Affairs, Mr. Amir Muqam, and Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis &
Human Resource Development, Sajid Hussain Turi were present at the airport to
greet and welcome the passengers.
The government
has also made arrangements for their accommodation, and meal and paid them to
travel from one city to another, Engr Amir Muqam mentioned. He said that Prime
Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself had been supervising the safe process of
Pakistanis, adding, overseas Pakistanis have always proved themselves as an
asset to Pakistan and their welfare is the top priority of the incumbent
government.
Talking to the
media on the occasion, Sajid Hussain Turi said that out of twelve hundred
Pakistanis living in Sudan, about 700 hundred have returned to Pakistan. On the
direction of Prime Minister of Pakistan and under supervision of Foreign
Minister of Pakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination of relevant
stakeholders including Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & HRD/OPF has started
evacuation of Pakistanis stranded in Sudan.
Earlier today,
a PIA flight transported 93 Pakistanis who had been stranded in Sudan from
Riyadh to Islamabad. The officials of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation and Civil
Aviation Authority were present to receive the passengers and provide
hospitality. The emerging situation in Sudan necessitated repatriation of
around 1500 Pakistanis who were stranded in Sudan for their safe evacuated amid
growing security concerns.
Pakistan
Mission, Khartoum has started evacuation of stranded Pakistanis from Khartoum
to Port Sudan through Saudi naval vessels.
Source: pakobserver.net
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https://pakobserver.net/muqam-thanks-friendly-countries-for-safe-evacuation-of-pakistanis-from-sudan/
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Independent
judiciary main component of Constitution, observes CJP
May 2, 2023
Chief Justice
of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial observed on Tuesday that an independent
judiciary was a main component of the Constitution.
He made the
remarks as an eight-member larger bench of the Supreme Court heard a set of
plea challenging a bill, which has since become an act of Parliament, seeking
to curtail the powers of the CJP.
The bench
comprised CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar,
Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha
Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed.
The three
petitions were filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution by Advocate
Muhammad Shafay Munir, Raja Amer Khan, Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain and others.
The bill
proposes taking away the individual authority of the chief justice to initiate
suo motu proceedings and unilaterally form benches and vests them in a panel
comprising the CJP and two senior-most SC judges. It also calls for the right
to appeal suo motu decisions.
Action on the
bill was preemptively frozen by the court even before it became law last month.
Barrister
Salahuddin appeared on behalf of the PML-N while Farooq Naek appeared on behalf
of the PPP. Meanwhile, Hassan Raza Pasha represented the Pakistan bar Council
(PBC).
At the outset
of the hearing, the CJP said that the previous order issued by the court was of
an interim nature. He said that democracy was a key component of the country’s
Constitution.
“A free
judiciary and Centre are also important features of the Constitution,” he said,
adding that the case at hand concerned the independence of the judiciary.
CJP Bandial
said that the court expected “serious arguments” from the parties in the case,
adding that the large bench would have to provide “excellent assistance”.
CJP Bandial
also remarked that the law in question was the first of its kind in Pakistan.
“This law concerns the third pillar of the state,” he said.
He said that
there was no changing the fact that an independent judiciary was a main feature
of the Constitution. “It is being alleged that for the first time, a
fundamental component of the Constitution has been violated through a [piece
of] legislation.”
The court then
sought detailed answers from all parties in the case on May 8. The court also
sought the parliamentary record of the law as well as the arguments in the
relevant standing committee.
During the
hearing, the PBC’s lawyer contended that the council had always fought for the
rule of law and the judiciary. “It would be appropriate if a full court is
constituted to hear the case,” he said, adding that no one would object to a
bench which included seven senior-most judges.
He also
highlighted that several references had been filed against one of the members
of the current SC bench in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and called for
Justice Naqvi to be excluded from the bench.
Justice Bandial
remarked that constituting a full court was the CJP’s prerogative. He went on
to say that a reference could not bar a judge from working.
“A judge can’t
be stopped from working until the SJC gives its opinion,” the CJP said, adding
that the court had made the same decision during the proceedings against
Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
“Complaints
against judges, including me, come from time to time,” the CJP said, adding
that political matters had “polluted” the top court’s environment.
“Political
people want favourable decisions, not justice,” he said. He noted that a demand
for constituting a full court had also been put forth during the hearing of the
case concerning holding elections in the country.
He observed
that all the country’s institutions were bound to implement the directives
issued by the top court. The PBC’s request for a full court was subsequently
rejected.
The court also
rejected the attorney general’s request for vacating the anticipatory
injunction on the law.
“First, explain
to us what the law is and why it was made,” the CJP said. The hearing was then
adjourned for May 8 (Monday).
Bill becomes
law
Article 184(3)
of the Constitution sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction, and enables it to
assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with
reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s
citizens.
The bill,
titled the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, was aimed at
depriving the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an
individual capacity.
The draft law
was initially passed by both houses of Parliament in March and sent to the
president for his assent. However, the president had sent it back, saying that
the proposed law travelled “beyond the competence of parliament”. The bill was
subsequently adopted by a joint session of parliament on April 10 — albeit with
some amendments.
Meanwhile, the
top court — while hearing the three petitions challenging the then-bill — in an
“anticipatory injunction” on April 13, barred the government from enforcing the
draft law, saying the move would “prevent imminent apprehended danger that is
irreparable” as soon as it became an act of parliament.
“The moment
that the bill receives the assent of the president or it is deemed that such
assent has been given, then from that very moment onwards and till further
orders, the act that comes into being shall not have, take or be given any
effect nor be acted upon in any manner,” said the interim order issued by the
eight-member bench.
The ruling
coalition government was swift to reject the apex court’s ruling and on April
19 the president again refused to give his assent and sent the draft law back
to Parliament.
Despite this,
the bill technically became an act of parliament on April 21 under Article
75(2) of the Constitution, and despite the court’s order halting the law’s
implementation, the National Assembly Secretariat formally asked the Printing
Corporation of Pakistan (PCP) to publish it in the official gazette.
Article 75(2)
of the Constitution says that when the president has returned a bill to the
parliament, it shall be reconsidered in a joint sitting. If it is again passed,
with or without amendment, by the votes of most members of both houses, it is
again referred to the president for their assent. If the bill was not signed by
the president within 10 days, their assent would have been deemed granted.
According to
the legislation, a three-member bench consisting of the CJP and the two
senior-most judges of the apex court will decide whether to take up a matter
suo motu. Previously, this was solely the prerogative of the chief justice.
The law also
states that every cause, matter or appeal before the apex court would be heard
and disposed of by a bench, which will be formed by a committee comprising the
chief justice and the two senior-most judges.
The legislation
also includes the right to file an appeal within 30 days of the judgement in a
suo motu case and that any case involving constitutional interpretation will
not have a bench of fewer than five judges.
The bill would
allow former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other parliamentarians
disqualified by the Supreme Court under suo motu powers (such as Jahangir
Tareen) to appeal their disqualification within 30 days of the law’s enactment.
‘First time act
suspended even before it became law’
Speaking to
reporters outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, PPP leader and lawyer Farooq
H. Naek stated that this was the “first time that an act has been suspended
before it was implemented”.
“The
Constitution allows parliament to make laws regarding the Supreme Court’s
procedure,” continued Naek. He added that the bill is “not affecting the public
at large then it doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of Article 184 (3)”.
Source: dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1750485/independent-judiciary-main-component-of-constitution-observes-cjp
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Khar in Doha as
UN-led moot kicks off sans Taliban
May 2, 2023
DOHA: Hina
Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, arrived in Doha on Monday
to represent Pakistan in the UN-led talks on Afghanistan, which are being held
in the absence of Taliban authorities.
Envoys from the
United States, China and Russia — as well as major European aid donors and key
neighbours — are among representatives from about 25 countries and groups
called for two days of talks by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The incumbent
Taliban rulers of the country, however, have not been invited to the meeting,
which would focus on how to deal with them and press them to ease a ban on
women working and girls going to school.
The minister
will present Pakistan’s perspective vis-à-vis Afghanistan and work on building
a consensus regarding the way forward with international and regional partners.
Pakistan will continue to support all efforts to advance the shared objectives
of a peaceful, stable, sovereign, prosperous and connected Afghanistan, a
statement issued by the Foreign Office in Islamabad said.
Kabul spox says
seeking ‘positive engagement’ with world; diplomats say talk of recognition
impossible until women ban reversed
Ms Khar will
also hold bilateral talks with leaders of other participating countries on the
sidelines of the huddle.
UN dilemma
Ahead of his
arrival in Doha, Mr Guterres’ office said the meeting “is intended to achieve a
common understanding within the international community on how to engage with
the Taliban” on women’s and girls’ rights, inclusive governance, countering
terrorism and drug trafficking.
Despite not
being invited to the talks, the head of the Taliban representative office in
Doha, Sohail Shaheen, said he has met with members of the British and Chinese
delegations. He said the UN meeting and “the importance of engagement” was
among the topics raised.
Though divided
on many disputes, the UN Security Council united on Thursday to condemn the
curbs on Afghan women and girls and urge all countries to seek “an urgent
reversal” of the policies.
Diplomats and
observers say, however, that the Doha meeting highlights the quandary faced by the
international community in handling Afghanistan, which the UN considers its
biggest humanitarian crisis with millions depending on food aid.
The Taliban
government’s deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, said on Monday Kabul “wants
positive engagement with the world”.
But “internal
issues” — such as curbs on women’s rights — should not factor into decisions
about diplomatic engagement and formal recognition, he said.
“These should
not be used as political tools,” he said. “Countries should have the moral courage
to independently come forward for positive engagement.”
In an open
letter to the Doha meeting released on Sunday, a coalition of Afghan women’s
groups said they were “outraged” that any country would consider formal ties
with the government that the UN calls the “de facto authorities”.
The United
Nations and Washington have insisted that recognition is not on the agenda.
Rights groups’
fears have been fuelled by remarks made last month by UN Deputy
Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who said the Doha meeting could find “baby
steps” that lead to a “principled recognition” of the Taliban government.
The UN said the
comments were misinterpreted.
No country has
established formal ties with the Afghan administration and UN membership can
only be decided by the UN General Assembly.
A UN official
said it was “clear” the Taliban authorities want recognition. Formal UN ties
would help the government reclaim billions of dollars of desperately needed
funds seized abroad after it took power.
But diplomats
from several countries involved in the talks said this would not be possible
until there is a change on women’s rights.
Source: dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1750457/khar-in-doha-as-un-led-moot-kicks-off-sans-taliban
---------
Justice Isa
seeks JCP meeting to fill SC vacancies
May 2, 2023
ISLAMABAD:
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, has asked
for an immediate meeting of Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), which is
long overdue, and suggested the names of chief justices of Sindh and Peshawar
high courts to fill two vacancies of SC judges.
Against the
sanctioned strength of 17 judges, the top court is currently functioning with
15 judges including Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial.
In a letter
sent to all JCP members, Justice Isa has suggested that the vacancies should be
filled immediately, and the names of the judges to be nominated should be
recommended before time while considering the principle of seniority.
Justice Isa
suggested the names of SHC CJ Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh and PHC CJ Musarrat Hilali
for the appointment.
The JCP — a
constitutional body that recommends elevation of judges to the superior courts
— last time met in October 2022 when three judges were elevated to the apex
court that too after a deadlock over ignoring seniority principle in picking
the names of judges for their elevation to the apex court.
According to
bar councils, elevating junior judges to top court demoralises senior judges
and adversely affect judicial work, asserting that the very fact is
predominantly against the principle of seniority as laid down in the Al-Jehad
case or judges’ case.
In August 2022,
the JCP invited Justice Shaikh by a majority decision of five to four to become
an ad hoc SC judge for one year if he accorded his consent. But the SHC CJ
twice declined to attend the SC sitting as an ad hoc judge and rather expressed
willingness to be appointed or elevated to the position of a permanent judge.
The Pakistan
Bar Council (PBC) then condemned the majority decision to appoint SHC chief
justice as an ad hoc judge of the SC, arguing that such appointment was in
breach of Article 182 of the Constitution, as only a retired judge could be
appointed as an ad hoc judge.
Justice Hilali
took oath as PHC chief justice on April 2. She took several measures to
introduce judicial reforms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by constituting special
benches for commercial and tax disputes, criminal matters, service matters,
civil and family cases, with the direction to complete trials within a
stipulated period.
Senior counsel
Akhtar Hussain, who represents the PBC on the JCP, told Dawn that he would
write to CJP Bandial to invite his attention towards calling a meeting of the
JCP rules-making committee for carrying out appropriate amendments in the
relevant rules for laying down the criteria for appointments of judges in the
superior courts.
He was of the
opinion that a JCP meeting could not be called before amending the JCP Rules,
2010.
The last rules
committee meeting, held in March 2022, remained inconclusive but decided to
meet again after going through the proposals being agitated by the lawyers’
representatives.
Source: dawn.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.dawn.com/news/1750459/justice-isa-seeks-jcp-meeting-to-fill-sc-vacancies
--------
All Pakistanis
will be evacuated from Sudan in next 48 hours: FO
May 2, 2023
The Foreign
Office said on Monday that nearly all 1,000 Pakistanis would be evacuated from
the conflict-hit Sudan within the next 24 to 48 hours.
A brief
statement issued by the FO stated that 93 more Pakistanis stranded in Sudan had
reached the country in the fourth batch of evacuees. It said that the latest
batch arrived at Islamabad airport on Monday via flight no PK754.
As per the
statement, a total of 636 stranded Pakistanis had returned home as they landed
in Karachi via Jeddah separately on five special PAF flights to date.
With the latest
batch of evacuees, as many as 729 Pakistanis have been repatriated to the
country so far.
Earlier Monday,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took to Twitter to thank Saudi Arabia for their
support and assistance to distressed Pakistanis in a difficult time.
“We are
grateful to the brotherly country of Saudi Arabia for their support and
assistance to Pakistanis in distress in this difficult time,” the tweet read.
The Saudi
foreign ministry had shared an update on the arrival of Pakistani in Jeddah a
day earlier.
Source: pakobserver.net
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https://pakobserver.net/all-pakistanis-will-be-evacuated-from-sudan-in-next-48-hours-fo/
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Arab World
Ministry of
Islamic Affairs Gives Copies of the Holy Quran to Tunis International Book Fair
Visitors
01 May, 2023
The pavilion of
the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance at the 37th edition of the
Tunis International Book Fair has distributed more than 3,000 copies of the
available 10,000 copies of the Quran as a gift to visitors to the pavilion
since the opening of the fair on April 28th.
The Ministry's
corner includes a special space at King Fahd Glorious Quran Printing Complex in
Madinah, which contains a large variety of versions of the Quran and translation
of its words' meanings in more than 76 languages. The corner includes the
stages of printing the Holy Quran and highlights the sublime message of the
Kingdom in its care and service of the Holy Quran through printing and
distributing it to reach all Muslims in the world.
The pavilion
also showcases modern applications, display screens for virtual education for
Hajj and Umrah, the application of the correct citation, as well as the Makkah
Manuscripts Exhibition.
Visitors to the
pavilion praised the role played by the Kingdom under its wise leadership in
serving Muslims in the world and taking care of the Holy Quran.
Source: menafn.com
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https://menafn.com/1106149630/Ministry-Of-Islamic-Affairs-Gives-Copies-Of-The-Holy-Quran-To-Tunis-International-Book-Fair-Visitors
--------
Makkah digital
artist’s unique blend delivers an enthralling view of Saudi Arabia
RAHAF JAMBI
May 01, 2023
RIYADH: Saudi
digital media artist Rayan Mal had a gut feeling that this would be his career
when he took his first picture with a camera given to him by his father.
“I felt strange
inside as I held this expensive camera. This means a lot to me because the
first image I ever took was for my mother, who passed away a few years later,”
he said.
Gradually, Mal
expanded beyond photography and entered the field of filmmaking, incorporating
digital work into the videos.
“I use digital
art in my images and videos to convey what’s happening in my head. Adding
motion graphics and creative designs gives the content a lovely taste and lets
the viewer see what's happening in my head. It's kind of like a visual message
I offer to others,” Mal said.
He has received
short video prizes, including one from Turki Al-Sheikh, the chairman of the
General Authority for Entertainment.
“I was awarded
by Turki Al-Sheikh, which was something that I did not expect, but it feels so
good that the officials are focusing on the youth’s talent and supporting them,
and this makes me want to do more for my country,” Mal said.
The young
artist also made a video in Boulevard Riyadh City on the occasion of Saudi
Arabia’s 92nd National Day, which was also retweeted by Al-Sheikh.
During the
pandemic, Mal recorded a short video on how Makkah dealt with COVID-19 and the
efforts made by the authorities.
It earned him
the Waai Award 2021 in the short film category from the Ministry of Health.
To showcase one
of the season’s festivals of cosplay talent in the Boulevard world, he shot an
incredible movie, edited it, and added his designs and effects to make it
nostalgic. This was part of his ongoing creative projects for the Riyadh
Season.
His “Hajj
Feelings” short video, which highlighted pilgrims’ experience and organization
of Saudi officials during Hajj, also won him an award in a competition from the
Ministry of Interior in 2019.
“I’m from
Makkah, the home of Islam and people of all colors and ethnicities. In my
videos, I like to demonstrate how my hometown treats visitors with grace and
humanity,” he said.
In future, Mal
wants to make his own production house to collaborate and connect talents with
other people and businesses to expand the digital art community in the
Kingdom.
“I have seen
tremendous potential in people younger than me. I also feel that the Kingdom
focuses on talents and the art scene and produces art events everywhere. If we
only believe, we can outperform international shows,” he said.
Source: arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2296016/saudi-arabia
--------
US thanks Saudi
Arabia for enabling safe evacuation of American citizens from Sudan
May 01, 2023
RIYADH: The
commander of US Central Command General Michael “Erik” Kurilla thanked Saudi
Arabia for its support in evacuating US citizens from Sudan on Monday.
During a phone
call with the Royal Saudi Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Fayyadh bin
Hamed Al-Ruwaili, Kurilla said the Kingdom had provided access, basing, and
overflights as well as resources to evacuate hundreds of American citizens.
“This support
allowed the movement of these Americans from Sudan to safety in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia,” Kurilla said.
He added that the
rapid coordination between the two countries was “allowed due to the firm
US-Saudi partnership, which dates back more than seven decades.”
“We will
continue to build on that partnership into the future,” he said.
Saudi Arabia
evacuated over 200 people from Sudan on Monday and those on board HMS Abha
included American citizens.
Source: arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2296036/saudi-arabia
--------
Value and
rights of employees in spotlight at event in Riyadh marking International
Workers’ Day
May 01, 2023
RIYADH: The
Saudi National Committee of Workers Committees hosted a forum on Monday to mark
International Workers’ Day and help boost communication and cooperation between
labor organizations to benefit the workforce.
“We confirm our
commitment to protecting workers and their rights in our country by presenting
proposals and initiatives that help address their situation,” said the organization’s
chairman, Nasser Al-Jarid.
“We stress the
importance of fostering social dialogue among the concerned parties involved in
production to achieve optimal solutions and results that balance the interests
of all parties and prioritize the national interest. This approach contributes
to the development and prosperity of the economy.”
The aims of the
forum, which took place in Riyadh under the patronage of Minister of Human
Resources and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi, included strengthening
communication among members of labor organizations, promoting a labor culture,
and showcasing success stories, organizers said.
It also set out
to provide leaders of labor-related organizations with opportunities to meet,
share their experiences, build partnerships, discuss challenges, and encourage
the development of positive initiatives designed to benefit all workers.
The event
highlighted best practices for labor committees in efforts to achieve their
goals, along with topics related to boosting productivity, balancing the
interests of workers and their employers, and stable labor relations.
The
participants took part in dialogue sessions and workshops that addressed
effective ways in which emerging technologies can be leveraged to overcome
challenges and realize aspirations; the challenges facing workers in business
environments; and ways to raise awareness about the rights of women in the
workplace in accordance with Saudi labor laws.
The forum
concluded by honoring the trailblazers of the labor movement in Saudi Arabia.
International
Workers’ Day, known as Labor Day in some countries and often referred to as May
Day, is a celebration of workers that is promoted by the international labor
movement and observed every year on May 1 or the first Monday of the month.
Source: arabnews.com
Please
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2295941/saudi-arabia
--------
Over 200 people
evacuated by Saudi Arabia from Sudan arrive in Jeddah
May 01, 2023
RIYADH: Over
200 people evacuated by Saudi Arabia from Sudan arrived in Jeddah on HMS Abha
on Monday, the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said.
The evacuees
included 41 Saudi citizens and 171 people from countries including Afghanistan,
Philippines, Comoros, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Madagascar, the UK, Syria, and the
US.
The Kingdom is
keen to provide all the basic needs for nationals of friendly countries in
preparation for facilitating their departure to their homelands, the ministry
said.
The latest
Saudi evacuation brings the total number of those evacuated from Sudan to 5,409
people (225 Saudi citizens, and 5,184 people belonging to 102 nationalities).
Source: arabnews.com
Please
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2295916/saudi-arabia
--------
41 Saudi
Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi
Arabia from Sudan
01 May, 2023
The Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, under the directives of its leadership, continues to make efforts
to evacuate its citizens and nationals of brotherly and friendly countries from
the Republic of Sudan to the Kingdom. This evening, 41 Saudi citizens and 171
individuals of various nationalities arrived at the H M S "Abha"
ship, including citizens from Afghanistan, the Philippines, Comoros, Sri Lanka,
Ukraine, Madagascar, the UK, Syria, and the USA.
The Kingdom has
been providing all necessary assistance to nationals of brotherly and friendly
countries in preparation for facilitating their departure to their respective
countries. With this latest arrival, the total number of evacuees has reached
approximately 5,409 individuals, comprising 225 Saudi citizens and around 5,184
foreign nationals from 102 different countries.
Source: alriyadhdaily.com
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http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/80303aac67b946b3affc1e6db5283a92
--------
South Asia
Islamic Emirate
Officials Deny the Accusations ofan Intelligence Officer at Limits of Freedom
and Independence
2023-05-02
KABUL (BNA) The
Islamic Emirate denied the accusations of Hassan Abbas, an intelligence
officer, against the Islamic Emirate’s leaders and called it baseless.
In response to
the publication of a book, said: “An intelligence agent named Hassan Abbas, in
his book entitled (Return of the Taliban), made baseless and far-fetched
accusations against the Islamic Emirate’s leaders”.
The book
claimed that the Islamic Emirate does not have independence and its functions
are under the supervision of the intelligence and military authorities of other
countries.
“This
intelligence agent has not aware of the fact that the Islamic Emirate has a
proud history of winning, maintainting and nurturing its independence, any
rational person who wants to research the independence and freedom of the
leader of the Islamic Emirate, easly come to the conclusion that this line and
officials are not limits of freedom and independence”. the statment added
Hassan Abbas is
a mercenary hired by an intelligence agency to defile sea with his own failed
efforts, said the statement.
Just as the
Islamic Emirate has sacrificed a lot to gain its independence and freedom, in
the same way it is ready to make sacrifices to maintain its freedom and
independence and will not let its independence fall into the clutches of any
country or intelligence organization at any cost.
Our countrymen
are well aware of the officials of the Islamic Emirate and have full faith in
them, such intelligence conspiracies cannot disturb the mentality of our system
and officials and fillfull their evil ambitious, added to the end of the
statement.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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https://bakhtarnews.af/en/islamic-emirate-officials-are-not-at-limits-of-freedom-and-independence/
--------
Over 200 Afghan
Refugees Return Home From Pakistan
May 2, 2023
According to
reports by the head of Spin Boldak refugee department, some 24 families,
including 55 people have been released from Karachi prisons, which includes 24
children.
Furthermore,
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation had announced earlier in
the week that 120 Afghan migrants had been extradited to the country through
Spin Boldak border town in southern Kandahar provinces.
Previously, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had announced that the
continuous return of Afghan refugees from neighboring countries is closely
linked to the rising inflation and lack of employment opportunities in the host
countries.
This comes as
the influx of Afghan refugees increased to the neighboring countries of Iran
and Pakistan after the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021.
In the recent
past, the Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation has repeatedly
reported on the return of Afghan citizens from Pakistan and Iran. Some of these
refugees have been forcefully deported, and others willingly left the host
countries, according to a statement by Taliban officials.
As per the
existing reports, currently, more than six million Afghan nationals reside in
Iran and Pakistan, respectively, making the highest number of refugees the two
countries have been hosting for decades.
Despite all the
odds, Pakistan and Iran have generously hosted millions of Afghan refugees for
decades to live a peaceful life, work, educate and thrive respectively.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/over-200-afghan-refugees-return-home-from-pakistan/
--------
Taliban FM to
meet Pakistan, China foreign ministers: Media
2 May 2023
A United Nations Security Council committee
has agreed to allow the Taliban’s interim foreign minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan
Muttaqi, to travel to Pakistan from Afghanistan to meet with Pakistani and
Chinese counterparts, according to news reports.
The Reuters
news agency reported on Monday that Pakistan’s UN mission requested an
exemption for Muttaqi to travel between May 6 and 9 “for a meeting with the
foreign ministers of Pakistan and China”.
Muttaqi has
long been subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under UN
Security Council sanctions. The UN Security Council committee agreed to allow
Muttaqi to travel to Uzbekistan last month for a meeting of the foreign
ministers of neighbouring countries of Afghanistan to discuss urgent peace,
security, and stability matters.
Afghanistan’s TOLOnews
outlet said earlier on Monday that media in Pakistan were reporting on the
upcoming visit and that Muttaqi would meet with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Afghanistan’s foreign ministry had not yet commented on
the reported trip, according to TOLOnews.
News of the
Taliban official’s trip comes as representatives of nearly two dozen countries
and international institutions met on Monday in Qatar with UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres for talks on Afghanistan, focusing particularly on the plight
of women and girls under the Taliban administration.
Taliban
authorities were not invited to attend the closed-door two-day meeting in Doha,
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The meeting
aims “to achieve a common understanding within the international community on
how to engage with the Taliban”, said Dujarric, who noted that recognition of
Taliban rule “is not up for discussion”. Key discussion topics include women’s
and girls’ rights, inclusive governance, countering terrorism and drug
trafficking, he said.
Since seizing
power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed rules that the UN has
labelled “gender-based apartheid”.
“Any meeting
about Afghanistan without the participation of the Afghan government is
ineffective and counterproductive,” Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Taliban foreign
ministry spokesperson, told Al Jazeera.
Women have been
barred from almost all secondary education and universities, and prevented from
working in most government jobs. Last month, Taliban authorities extended the
ban to working with UN agencies.
The Taliban
administration says the ban is an “internal issue” that should not influence
foreign dealings.
But, in
response, the UN has ordered a review of its critical relief operation in
Afghanistan, where many in the 38-million-strong population rely on food aid.
The review is due to be completed on Friday. The UN has said it faces an
“appalling choice” over whether to maintain its relief efforts in Afghanistan.
Guterres said
on social media before leaving for Doha that “reversing all measures that
restrict women’s rights to work is key to reaching the millions of people in
Afghanistan that require humanitarian assistance”.
Though not
invited to the talks, the head of the Taliban representative office in Doha,
Sohail Shaheen, said he had met with delegation members from the United Kingdom
and China. He said the UN meeting and “the importance of engagement” were among
topics raised.
Source: aljazeera.com
Please
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/2/taliban-fm-to-meet-pakistan-china-foreign-ministers-media
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No Magic
Solution to the Afghan Crisis, Says Swiss UN Envoy
May 2, 2023
Switzerland
took the presidency of the UN Security Council for the first time on Monday,
May 1, 2023.
Baeriswyl told
to reporters at the UN Headquarter that Afghanis is currently faced with an
extremely complicated challenge, and said “We do not have a magic solution to
the Afghan crisis”.
Ms. Baeriswyl
expressed her optimism about the ongoing Doha Meeting, and said, “I am hopeful
that Doha Meeting would conclude to finding ways to manage the Afghan crisis,”
which has affected women and girls the most than other segments of society.
This comes as
Doha Meeting chaired by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and
participants from 25 countries and international institutions is going on in
Qatar.
The meeting is
aimed at achieving a general consensus to interact with the Taliban and adopt a
single approach towards the policies of the de facto authorities of
Afghanistan.
Participants
from the US, China, Russia, and Afghanistan’s neighboring countries including
Pakistan and European partners have been invited to the two-day-closed door
meeting the discuss Afghanistan.
Stéphane
Dujarric, the UN Spokesperson on Friday said the Taliban representatives have
not been invited to the meeting. Also, it is believed that recognizing
Afghanistan’s de facto regime is not part of the agenda.
The UN has
announced that major issues including women’s rights, forming an inclusive
government, countering terrorism, drug trafficking, and finding a common
approach to engage with the Taliban administration would be discussed
thoroughly.
Source: khaama.com
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/us-secret-jersey-muslim-mayor-eid/d/129685