Posts

Showing posts from October 11, 2020

Countries must see the face of Islamic radicalism for the evil it is!

I grew up in the Middle East. Dubai to be precise. I have seen believers of Islam closely. I have some close Islamic friends from different countries. They are possessive of their religious beliefs and dogmatic practices. We disagree on several issues on religious appropriation and we agree on several issues on humanity and global concerns. But most of all, those whom I call friends from the Islamic world are not radicals. The father of one of my closest friends in Saudi Arabia, whom I treat as an elder sister, is one of the political advisors to Mohammad Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and another is a cousin of the ruling family in UAE. These people are not radicals. They have their own self-pride and it has nothing to do with Islam. I have always known them to be personal about their religious beliefs, just as I am about my religious beliefs. Unfortunately for the world and with deliberate design, there is a radical strain of Islam spreading across the world. I am ce

European Union agrees to help Mozambique tackle insurgency: statement

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The European Union has granted Mozambique’s request for assistance in tackling a wave of attacks in the country’s north by rebels with links to Islamic State, the EU delegation in the southern African country said. Militant attacks in Cabo Delgado province date to 2017 but the violence has gathered pace this year, with insurgents seizing important towns for brief periods and hitting military and other key targets. Mozambique wrote to the EU in September to ask for help in training its armed forces to battle the insurgency. The EU delegation statement said the bloc would grant Mozambique’s request for help with “logistics for training and technical training in several and specific areas, as well as assistance in addressing humanitarian challenges, including medical services” dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. The U.N. World Food Programme says more than 300,000 people have fled the violence in Cabo Delgado. Zenaida Machado, a researcher at global

Suspect in teacher's beheading in France was Chechen teen

  PARIS: A suspect shot dead by police after the gruesome beheading of a history teacher in an attack near Paris on Friday was an 18-year-old Chechen, police said. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office said that authorities investigating the horrific killing of the man in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine have also arrested nine suspects, including the grandparents, parents and 17-year-old brother of the attacker. The teacher had discussed caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad with his class, authorities said. Chechnya is a predominantly Muslim Russian republic in the North Caucasus . Two wars in the 1990s triggered a wave of emigration, with many Chechens heading for western Europe. France has seen occasional violence involving its Chechen community in recent months, believed linked to local criminal activity and score-settling. A police official said the suspect in Friday's attack armed was shot dead about 600 meters (yards) from where the teacher was ki

Pope Francis removes Polish bishop accused of sex abuse cover-up

Pope Francis on Saturday permanently removed a Polish bishop who was kicked out of his diocese a few months ago pending a Vatican investigation into allegations he covered up cases of sexual abuse by his priests. The resignation of Edward Janiak as bishop of Kalisz suggests the Vatican was able to substantiate at least some elements of the accusations made in a documentary about sex abuse in Poland that has undermined the country’s influential Catholic hierarchy. Francis on Saturday accepted Janiak’s resignation and confirmed the archbishop of Lodz, Grzegorz Rys, as the diocese’s temporary administrator. At 68, Janiak is well below the normal retirement age of 75 for bishops. Francis in June had ordered Janiak to leave Kalisz and forbade him from having any influence on how the diocese is run pending the investigation. In May, the online documentary “Playing Hide and Seek” exposed two cases of pedophile priests that Janiak handled, first as an auxiliary bish

Nine Arrested Over France Teacher Beheading

Two of the suspect's brothers and his grandparents were initially detained by police for questioning. Conflans-Sainte-Honorine , France: French police have arrested nine people over the beheading of a teacher near his school in a Paris suburb, a judicial source said on Saturday, in what President Emmanuel Macron labelled an Islamist terror attack. The source said the killing was carried out by an 18-year-old Chechen, who was then shot and killed by police near the scene in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris. Police said the victim was 47-year-old history teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown his pupils some cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as part of a class discussion on freedom of expression -- a lesson that had prompted complaints from parents. Two of the suspect's brothers and his grandparents were initially detained by police for questioning. The judicial source told AFP Saturday that five more people had been detained, including the parents of a child a

Police Officer Shot, Another Man Injured In Kansas Shooting

  A police officer and another man were injured by gunfire in Kansas, authorities said. A police officer and another man were injured by gunfire in Kansas, authorities said. The Lyons police officer was shot after responding to a 911 call Friday afternoon from a man who said he had been threatened with a gun, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation reported. The officer when to a Lyons residence and was shot by a man who lived there, 40-year-old Adam Hrabik, the bureau said. Two bystanders who saw the shooting drove the officer to a hospital in their vehicle. Additional officers then found a 56-year-old Lyons man outside who had also been shot. The officer was later transferred from a local hospital to a Wichita hospital in critical condition. The 56-year-old man was in serious condition at a Wichita hospital. An hourslong standoff ensued after Hrabik retreated into the residence, according to investigators. Negotiators with the Kansas Highway Patrol’s special response team got h

‘Something close’ to genocide in China’s Xinjiang, says US security adviser

The US national security adviser said on Friday that China was perpetrating “something close to” a genocide with its treatment of Muslims in its Xinjiang region. “If not a genocide, something close to it going on in Xinjiang,” Robert O’Brien told an online event hosted by the Aspen Institute, while highlighting other Chinese crackdowns including one on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The United States has denounced China’s treatment of Uighur and other minority Muslims in Xinjiang and imposed sanctions on officials it blames for abuses. It has not, though, so far termed Beijing’s actions genocide, a designation that would have significant legal implications and require stronger action against China. The United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang and activists say crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place there. China has denied any abuses and says its camps in the region provide vocational train

Gambia’s Sharia-Friendly Constitution Fails. But Christians Still Concerned.

 Instead, the English-speaking, sliver-shaped West African river nation—known for Muslim-Christian coexistence—will return to the 1997 constitution instituted by former dictator Yahya Jammeh and amended by him more than 50 times to entrench his power. One year before being deposed in 2016 by popular protests, Jammeh declared Gambia to be an Islamic state. The new draft constitution would have imposed term limits on the president, guaranteed religious freedom, and forbidden any future declaration of a state religion. Muslims comprise more than 9 in 10 Gambians, totaling 2 million. Lamin Sanneh, the Muslim-born Gambian theologian who died last year, praised his nation’s participation in a tradition of “ pacifist Islam .” Yet many of the nation’s Christians, who comprise only about 5 percent of the population, still feel like they dodged a bullet. “Truly important positive changes were made in this [draft] constitution,” said Begay Jabang, a member of the Gambia Christian

Beheading in France and the rise of radical Islam in Europe

It is a paradox as to how a person can loathe and hate the same society which he or she desires to be part of. Europe is battling with this paradox where the first and second generation immigrants from Muslim countries have led to rise in Islamic terrorism. Rise of radical Islam in Europe has come in many colours and shades, but France remains an exception where Islamic terror attacks continue unabated. The latest being beheading of a teacher who apparently showed caricature of Prophet Mohammad to his students. The irony is that he would ask Muslim students in his class to leave lest he hurt their religious feelings. What he practised was quintessentially French like secularism which separates the state from the church, other values also define what it means to be a French. On a lighter note, it can be sweet breakfast in the morning and on a serious side it can be French commitment towards the ideal of freedom of speech and expression which does not entertain the idea

French Teacher Beheaded Over Prophet Mohammed Cartoon; President Macron Calls it ‘Terror Attack’

The assailant, whose identity has not been established, was shot by police as they tried to arrest him and later died of his injuries, police said. A French teacher who had recently shown students cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed was beheaded outside his school on Friday, in what President Emmanuel Macron called an "Islamist terrorist attack". The assailant, whose identity has not been established, was shot by police as they tried to arrest him and later died of his injuries, police said. The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") as police confronted him, a cry often heard in jihadist attacks, a police source said. France has seen a wave of Islamist violence since the 2015 terror attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in the capital. French anti-terror prosecutors said they were treating the assault as "a murder linked to a terrorist organisation". The attack happened on the outskirts o

Myanmar says most Rakhine voting stations will not operate in November election

(Reuters) - More than half the polling stations initially planned in conflict-torn Rakhine for Myanmar’s Nov. 8 election will no longer operate, as parts of the state are too unstable for voting, the country’s election committee said. The region, where most parliamentary seats are held by Rakhine nationalist opponents of Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been beset by an ethnic insurgency that has intensified this year. The ruling National League for Democracy said three of its candidates were abducted in Rakhine while campaigning on Wednesday. Police did not respond to requests for comment, and Arakan Army insurgents made no statement. Some areas “are not in a position to hold a free and fair election,” the committee said in a statement late on Friday. There will be no voting in nine of 17 townships in Rakhine, according to the statement, while another four will have minimal voting. “This has a huge impact on us. We have only a few spots for voting left,” sai

A Real Opportunity for Religion Law Reform in Uzbekistan

Image
Uzbekistan has a real opportunity to cement its significant gains, turn away from its authoritarian past, and reclaim its place as a Central Asian leader.  Credit: Catherine Putz Uzbekistan is undertaking a significant reform effort with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s leadership. Very soon, Uzbekistan will have a unique opportunity to make lasting legal reforms on freedom of religion or belief. Hopefully, the country will not miss this opportunity to chart a new course and break conclusively from its authoritarian past.  While serving in a special envoy role at the U.S. State Department on religious minorities in the Middle East and South and Central Asia, I made several trips to the region to encourage reforms to open more space for freedom of religion or belief. Uzbekistan, the linchpin to Central Asia, was central to those efforts. The country has come a long way since the death of Islam Karimov. Working at a breakneck pace, the Mir

‘Won’t be Cowed on Human Rights’: Trudeau Hits Back at China After Threat to Canadians in Hong Kong

Image
  FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau China's ambassador to Ottawa, Cong Peiwu, warned Canada on Thursday against granting asylum to Hong Kong activists Canada will continue to defend human rights in China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Friday, after a top Chinese diplomat warned Ottawa against welcoming Hong Kong pro-democracy activists. China's ambassador to Ottawa, Cong Peiwu, warned Canada on Thursday against granting asylum to Hong Kong activists, which he said could have consequences for the "health and security" for the 300,000 Canadians living in the theoretically autonomous Chinese territory. The Canadian daily The Globe and Mail said Ottawa had recently granted asylum to a Hong Kong couple, which the Canadian government has neither confirmed nor denied. "We will stand up loudly and clearly for human rights, all around the world, whether it's talking about the situation faced by the Uighurs, whether it's tal

Ex-NPA rebel lauds anti-insurgency program: Left wing Extremism

COTABATO CITY – A former communist rebel in North Cotabato who surrendered last month said he had no regrets yielding to the government to live a peaceful life with his family. “I was duped in the past. I was told being with the communist movement was fruitful and fulfilling,” said Ka Menard, 40, a former member of Guerilla Front 53 of the New People’s Army (NPA) and is now a beneficiary of a government livelihood program in Tulunan, North Cotabato. Menard said life as a civilian is vastly different from his life hiding in the mountains, as he is free to go wherever he wishes and is no longer afraid of seeing or getting close with the authorities. “The government program is real, fruitful,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and Ilonggo dialects. Menard was one of the 20 beneficiaries of an animal dispersal program of the North Cotabato provincial government on Friday after community development workers (CDWs) assessed and qualified him to be a recipient of the carabao dispersa

Taliban to suspend assault after US pledges to halt strikes

  ISLAMABAD — The Taliban said on Friday they have agreed to suspend attacks in southern Afghanistan that have displaced thousands this week — but only after the Americans promised to halt all strikes and night raids in keeping with the peace agreement the U.S. signed with the insurgents in February. The U.S. has been conducting air strikes in support of Afghan forces trying to repel week-long Taliban assaults in southern Helmand province that threatened to derail efforts to end Afghanistan's 19-year war.

First lesson in Pakistan schools: Hindus are kafirs, Jews enemies of Islam

  NEW DELHI: As a political analyst, researcher and president of the Paris-based NGO Baloch Voice Association, Munir Mengal has been lobbying for the rights of Baloch people for several years now. The activist in him never misses an opportunity to speak his heart out at a world forum to expose the gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Pakistani government and military in Balochistan. Yesterday, at United Nations Geneva-in the meeting of the 18th Session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action-the Baloch representative told the Working Group about how schools in Pakistan are feeding anti-Hindu hatred and also hostility against the Jews. "Mr. Chairperson , I used to go to school in a very high-standard, state-run Army school called the Cadet College . The first lesson taught to us was that Hindus are kafirs (a pejorative and derogatory term usually used for non-Muslims), Jews are