by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bihar BJP chief Nityanand Rai
Patna : Bihar BJP chief Nityanand Rai’s remarks linking a Muslim Lok Sabha candidate for Sunday’s by-election with the Islamic State has “exposed the communal mindset” of the ruling party, the RJD said on Saturday.
Rai on Friday sparked a major row when he told an election rally that if RJD’s Sarfaraz Alam won the by-poll in Bihar’s Araria district, it would become the global terror group’s safe hub.
The Araria Lok Sabha constituency, where some 41 per cent of electors are Muslim, goes to polls along with two assembly seats on Sunday.
Senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary said that in the past also BJP leaders had made such kind of statements to polarise voters in the state, recalling BJP President Amit Shah’s 2015 statement that if his party lost the Bihar assembly polls, firecrackers would burst in celebration in Pakistan.
“To palarise voters in favour of the BJP, Amit Shah stated during campaign then that if the BJP is defeated and does not form a government, firecrackers will be burst in Pakistan,” said Tiwary.
Rai in his campaign speech said nationalism would be strengthened if BJP’s Pradeep Kumar Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha.
Interestingly, Sarfaraz Alam was BJP ally JD-U’s legislator till last month when he quit and joined the RJD to contest the by-election. The Araria Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after his father Mohammad Taslimuddin, RJD MP, died last year.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Canberra : The Syrian city of Raqqa is no longer under the control of Islamic State (IS) forces, the Australian Foreign Minister confirmed on Wednesday, paving the way for his countrymen to travel there.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said while the travel ban had been lifted after coalition forces retook the city, both Syria and Iraq retained their “do not travel” warnings, Xinhua news agency reported.
Australia’s Attorney-General George Brandis said that it was still illegal for Australians to travel to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Bishop admitted the liberation of Raqqa was a “major step forward” in the fight against IS, but added that it was still an incredibly dangerous place to visit.
Australians will no longer face criminal charges for travelling to the former “de-facto capital city” of the terrorist organisation.
Travel to the city was made a crime by the Australian government in December 2014 to discourage possible extremists from joining the fight in the Middle East.
Laws were also passed stripping dual citizens of their Australian passports should they be found to be in the war-affected nations.
“This is an important milestone in the fight against Islamic State, because the retaking of Raqqa deprives this terrorist organisation of an operating base in Syria.”
Bishop said while IS had been driven out of the city, the terror group “remains a dangerous threat”, hinting that factions would continue to emerge in other parts of the world, as it has in the Philippines.
“IS is likely to emerge elsewhere, with its violent insurgency activities, and we will continue to be committed to the fight against (the group),” the Minister said.
The government added that those who traveled to Raqqa between December 5, 2014 and November 28, would still face prosecution.
“Any Australian who travels to Mosul should know that they will be detected and they will be prosecuted, as five Australians are currently subject to prosecution,” Brandis said.
According to the government, it “remains illegal for Australian citizens to… fight with any armed group in Syria or any terrorist organisation listed under Australian law”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Baghdad : The Iraqi security forces on Saturday seized two oil fields in second phase of offensive to dislodge the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants from Hawijah and surrounding areas, the Iraqi military said.
The security forces managed to free the oil fields of Allas and Ajil in the eastern part of Iraq’s northern central province of Salahudin, after two days of clashes with IS militants, a source from Salahudin Operations Command, told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
By Saturday evening, the troops recaptured all the oil wells of the two oil fields and seized the nearby Himreen mountain range in south of the IS-held city of Hawijah, which itself located some 230 km north of Baghdad, the source said.
Before the offensive, the IS militants seized roughly 100 oil wells of the 200 wells of the two oil fields, and they used to extract crude oil and refine it in primitive ways, leaving many nearby valleys filled with leaked oil, he said.
The militants set fires in some 34 oil wells, some of them were on fire for about three years since the extremist group captured the area in 2014, the source added.
In the past, Ajil oil field used to give some 35,000 barrels per day (bpd). The two oil fields, Allas and Ajil, were seized by IS militants following the June 10 blitzkrieg when the group seized large swathes of territories in predominantly Sunni provinces.
The oil fields became an important source of funding for the IS group, which extracted about 10,000 bpd and transported to others areas under its control.
The battles in the oil fields were part of an offensive began on Friday when the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launch of the second phase of offensive to dislodge the extremist IS militants from their stronghold in the city of Hawijah and surrounding areas.
“We announce the start of the second phase of the liberation of Hawijah and all the surrounding areas to the west of Kirkuk, and as promised the sons of our country are continuing to liberate every inch of the land of Iraq and crush the gangs of terrorist Daesh group,” said Abadi in a statement.
The first phase of the operation was launched on Sept. 21 to liberate Hawijah in the western part of Iraq’s oil-rich Kirkuk province.
The operation to free Hawijah came as tensions are running high between Baghdad government and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan after the Kurdish region held a controversial referendum on independence of Kurdistan and disputed areas, including Kirkuk.
The independence referendum was opposed by many countries because it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and it could undermine fight against Islamic State militants.
In addition, neighboring countries such as Turkey, Iran and Syria see that such a step would threaten their territorial integrity, as larger populations of Kurds live in those countries.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
London : The UK terror threat was increased from severe to critical as police continue the hunt for the person who attempted to bring carnage to a London rush-hour tube train packed with school children and commuters, officials said on Saturday.
Twenty-nine people including a young boy were injured on Friday when the bomb partially detonated and sent a ball of fire along a carriage of the eastbound District Line train from Wimbledon at the Parsons Green station, south-west London, reports the Guardian.
The police ahave found CCTV images that captured the perpetrator as he boarded the train with the bomb packed in a white plastic bucket inside a Lidl supermarket bag.
The train is believed to have had onboard CCTV, and there are a large number of cameras covering the network.
The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the blast, the militant group’s Amaq news agency said on Friday evening.
There were no reports of life-threatening injuries in the incident which is the fifth terrorist attack in Britain in less than six months.
In a televised statement on Friday night, Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK terror threat level was being raised to its highest rating and that armed police and members of the military would be seen on the streets in the coming days.
“For this period, military personnel will replace police officers on guard duties at certain protected sites that are not accessible to the public.
“The public will see more armed police on the transport network and on our streets, providing extra protection. This is a proportionate and sensible step which will provide extra reassurance and protection while the investigation progresses,” the Guardian quoted May as saying.
The Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said early Saturday that the police were “chasing down suspects” and some 1,000 armed officers would be seen across the country after military assistance was requested.
Investigators believe the device was remotely detonated and the bomber may have left the train before the explosion.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Sending a strong message to Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Monday pledged their commitment to jointly fight to end terrorism as the visiting Afghan Foreign Minister minced no words in equating Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad terror groups with Taliban, Al Qaeda and Islamic State in Afghanistan.
The two countries called for an end to all forms of support and state sponsorship of terrorism after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani held the second Strategic Partnership Council meeting here.
“Both sides expressed grave concern at the incidents of terror and violence in Afghanistan resulting in loss of innocent lives,” a joint statement said.
Noting that terrorism presented the greatest threat to peace, stability and progress of the region and beyond, the two sides called for dismantling safe havens and sanctuaries to terrorists against Afghanistan.
After the talks with Rabbani, Sushma Swaraj addressed a joint media conference and said India and Afghanistan remained “united in overcoming the challenges posed by cross-border terrorism and safe havens and sanctuaries to both our countries”.
Rabbani emphasised that India and Afghanistan had suffered from terrorism and violent extremism that has threatened the region’s stability.
“Together they are killing our people on Afghanistan and destroying infrastructure,” Rabbani said.
The visiting Minister said “Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have been launching attacks against India and indiscriminately killing civilians of this country”.
The Pakistan-based groups active in Jammu and Kashmir were “engaged in similar activities along with Taliban, Al Qaeda and Daesh in Afghanistan”, he said.
The two countries also agreed to strengthen security cooperation with New Delhi extending further assistance for the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces in fighting “the scourge of terrorism, organised crime, trafficking of narcotics and money laundering”, according to the joint statement.
“The Indian side reiterated its support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. It was agreed that concrete, meaningful and verifiable steps for immediate cessation of violence were essential for the success of regional and international efforts to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
The joint statement and Rabbani’s assertion assume significance as US President Donald Trump’s insistence of upholding the importance of India’s role in war-torn Afghanistan’s reconstruction and leaders of the BRICS nations naming the Lashkar and Jaish as terror threats in their summit-level meeting in China earlier this month.
The two countries also signed a host of agreements in development sectors, including in health, agriculture and education.
Sushma Swaraj said India honoured the supreme sacrifices by Afghan Defence and Security Forces for the cause of entire humanity.
“We are indebted to them for ensuring safety of Indians working in Afghanistan,” she said.
She said India would begin implementation of the new 500 scholarships programme for next of kin of the martyrs of Afghan National Defence and Security Forces from the academic year 2018.
“Today, building upon our economic and development cooperation, we jointly agreed to embark on a New Development Partnership in keeping with the priorities of Afghanistan..
“One hundred sixteen new High Impact Development Projects would be jointly implemented that would bring socio-economic and infrastructure development, especially in the suburban and rural communities in 31 provinces of Afghanistan.”
Sushma Swaraj said India would assist in building the Shahtoot dam in the Kabul river basin and drinking water supply project for Kabul, low cost housing for returning refugees, water supply network for Charikar city, and a polyclinic in Mazar-e-Sharif among others.
“Focus will continue on building governance and democratic institutions; human resource capacity and skill development, including in the areas of education, health, agriculture, energy, administration, application of remote sensing in resource management and space technology in governance,” she stated.
Stating that both sides discussed measures for enhancing trade and investment cooperation, Sushma Swaraj said that India has liberalised its visa regime, especially for Afghan businessmen.
She also referred to the Afghanistan-India air freight corridor launched in June this year and said that this would provide direct access for Afghan farmers to the Indian markets.
“We are expediting the development of Chabahar Port in trilateral cooperation with Iran.
“We will begin supply of wheat to Afghanistan in coming weeks through Chabahar port,” she said.
India and Afghanistan also signed a Motors Vehicle Agreement with Sushma Swaraj hoping “that it would pave the way for overland transit”.
—IANS
