Gaza war a priority issue for 1 in 5 UK Asian voters

Gaza war a priority issue for 1 in 5 UK Asian voters
A woman exits a polling station at St. George’s Cathedral in London, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Updated 04 July 2024
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Gaza war a priority issue for 1 in 5 UK Asian voters

Gaza war a priority issue for 1 in 5 UK Asian voters
  • Study reveals loss of trust in Labour Party as Britain heads to polls
  • Many Muslims ‘pained by what is happening in Gaza’: Muslim Council of Britain chief

LONDON: The Gaza war is a top issue for one in five Asian voters in the UK, The Independent reported on Thursday.

As the British public heads to the polls for the July 4 general election, a new study conducted by the newspaper revealed that some Muslim voters have “lost their trust” in Labour over the party’s stance on the war.

But Labour still “looks set to match their strong national performance” with a high vote share among ethnic minorities in Britain, said Ed Hodgson, research manager at More in Common.

Asian voters are six times more likely to view the war as a “major issue” compared to white voters (20 percent versus 3 percent), it found.

Though Labour may have harmed its reputation with Muslim voters, the issue may only become relevant after the election, Hodgson said.

Party leader Keir Starmer has faced criticism over his decision to avoid calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in favor of “humanitarian pauses.”

The poll “highlights significant concerns across Muslim communities and wider British society,” said Zara Mohammed, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain.

“Many are pained by what is happening in Gaza and are dissatisfied with the political response from the major parties and the current leadership,” she added.

“There is also a strong desire to ensure that Britain is not complicit in the ongoing genocide case against Israel.

“For the upcoming election, it will be crucial for the next prime minister and government to effectively achieve a long-term peaceful solution in the Middle East.”

According to the poll, 19 percent of Asian voters say a Labour victory would make their life worse.


Ukraine MPs vote to ban Russia-linked Orthodox Church

A view of Ukrainian capital of Kyiv taken from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery on August 20, 2024. (AFP)
A view of Ukrainian capital of Kyiv taken from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery on August 20, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 20 August 2024
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Ukraine MPs vote to ban Russia-linked Orthodox Church

A view of Ukrainian capital of Kyiv taken from Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery on August 20, 2024. (AFP)
  • Kyiv has been trying to curb spiritual links with Russia for years — a process accelerated by Moscow’s 2022 invasion, which Russian Orthodox Church endorsed

KYIV: Ukraine’s parliament voted Tuesday to ban the Russian-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a move Kyiv says strengthens its independence as the country cuts ties with institutions it considers aligned with Moscow.
Kyiv has been trying to curb spiritual links with Russia for years — a process accelerated by Moscow’s 2022 invasion, which the powerful Russian Orthodox Church endorsed.
A majority of Ukrainian lawmakers approved the bill outlawing religious organizations linked with Russia, which will mostly affect the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).
Zelensky said the ban would boost his country’s “spiritual independence” and MPs hailed the bill as historic.
Russia condemned the move that its church called “illegal.”
The Russian church has been furious over a 2019 schism that resulted in the creation of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, spiritually loyal to Moscow’s Istanbul-based rival Patriarch Bartholomew.
Zelensky, who still needs to sign the bill for it to come into force, said he will be talking to Bartholomew’s representatives in the coming days.
It may take years to implement the ban, causing some dismay among followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Moscow-backed church in Ukraine officially broke ties with its Russian counterpart in 2022, but some lawmakers have accused its clerics of collaborating with Russia.
Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida condemned the vote as “an unlawful act that is the grossest violation of the basic principles of freedom of conscience and human rights.”
In Kyiv, believers were praying outside the Russian-affiliated part of the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a regular practice since that area was closed to the public last year.
“There’s no politics here. We just come and pray for our children and our loved ones... I’ve never seen any KGB agents,” said 56-year-old Svetlana, who declined to give her name due to the sensitivity of the question.
In a lilac dress and matching headscarf, Svetlana said she had been baptised and married in the church and worried about its potential full closure.
“If they close, people will still pray in the streets, maybe we’ll put up tents, there will be prayers anyway,” Svetlana said.
The schism between Ukrainian and Russian-linked Churches was triggered by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war between Kyiv and Moscow-backed separatists in the east.
The Istanbul-based head of the Eastern Orthodox Church granted a breakaway wing, called the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), autocephaly — religious independence — from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2019.
The split has impacted church going in Ukraine.
In the Ukrainian-affiliated part of the Lavra monastery, which remains open, 21-year-old Igor said:
“Everything is political. There can be no such thing as art, sports, or even religion outside politics.”
“I actually totally support this ban,” he said, accusing the Russian Orthodox Church of being a Kremlin agent that “has metastasized so much that we will be fighting it for decades.”
The bill was hailed by many Ukrainian politicians.
“There will be no Moscow Church in Ukraine,” Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on Telegram.


Philippines agrees to host Afghan refugees in transit to US

Philippines agrees to host Afghan refugees in transit to US
Updated 20 August 2024
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Philippines agrees to host Afghan refugees in transit to US

Philippines agrees to host Afghan refugees in transit to US
  • US government to take care of Afghans undergoing visa processing in the Philippines
  • In 2022, the US requested the Philippines to allow up to 1,000 Afghans to stay in its territory

MANILA: The Philippines has agreed to temporarily host a US visa-processing center for Afghan nationals who had worked for American forces in Afghanistan and were left behind during their chaotic withdrawal from the country in 2021.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken requested the Philippines in 2022 to allow up to 1,000 Afghan nationals to stay in its territory while their special immigrant visas were being processed.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said at the time that there were some legal and “many security issues” to be addressed first.

Early on Tuesday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs announced that Manila would allow a “limited number” of Afghan nationals to transit in the Philippines to complete their visa processing for Special Immigrant Visas and resettlement in the US.

DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza told reporters that they would be “confined to their billet facility for the duration of the processing of their SIV applications by the US embassy in Manila.”

She added that “the US government, together with the International Organization for Migration as facility manager, will ensure that the applicants, especially the children, will have adequate social, educational, religious and emotional support during their stay in the billet facility.”

Daza said the refugees would be subject to “full security vetting by Philippine authorities and should secure appropriate entry visa prior to arrival (and that) the Bureau of Immigration retains full authority to exclude any applicant from entry into the Philippines.”

More than 160,000 Afghans sought resettlement when the Taliban took over Afghanistan as international forces withdrew from the country in 2021 — two decades after the US invaded it.

Thousands of others are in third countries awaiting visa processing. Many of them had worked for the US government.

In a statement, the US State Department thanked the Philippines “for supporting Afghan allies of the United States” and that it “appreciates its long and positive history of bilateral cooperation with the Philippines.”

Dr. Rikard Jalkebro, international relations expert and associate professor at Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, told Arab News that the US is “trying to keep the promise” it had given to the Afghans who had helped its forces.

“These are the type of Afghans that have collaborated or helped the Americans somehow during the war. They would be interpreters, they could be politicians, or they could be from influential families. They can be soldiers that fought either side by side or something similar to that,” he said.

“The American immigration system is so incredibly strained at the moment, and they operate very slowly when it comes to processing green cards, etc. They need some kind of safe place for the people, for the Afghans ... the Philippines is a close ally and they would be relatively safe there.”


India’s top film development body cancels Israeli cinema festival after protests

India’s top film development body cancels Israeli cinema festival after protests
Updated 20 August 2024
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India’s top film development body cancels Israeli cinema festival after protests

India’s top film development body cancels Israeli cinema festival after protests
  • Petition to stop the event in Mumbai said screening Israeli films is ‘totally immoral, unethical, unconscionable’
  • Petitioners include Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah and Tushar Arun Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi

NEW DELHI: India’s top film-industry development institution canceled on Tuesday an Israeli movie festival after protests by actors and academics in Mumbai.

The event, organized by the National Film Development Corporation was scheduled to be held at the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai on Wednesday and Thursday.

A petition calling for the NFDC screenings to be canceled at the NMIC said the festival was “shamefully being held at a time, when the entire world is witness to Israeli war crimes, the ongoing Holocaust and the genocide in Gaza, and across all of Palestine.”

Over 1,000 people signed the letter, including Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah, documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, and author Tushar Arun Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

Other signees included Achin Vanaik, a retired professor of international relations and former head of political science at Delhi University, and Prof. Ram Puniyani, author and former professor of biomedical engineering affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

They called on the NFDC to stop the event in the wake of the atrocities committed by the Israeli regime, which since the beginning of its onslaught on Gaza has “murdered more than 8% of the Gazan population ... which clearly constitutes a Holocaust, no less,” the petition read.

“The management of the NFDC & the NMIC should be aware of the fact that the Government of India has consistently voted for a ceasefire, as well has recognised the Palestinian state, as have the overwhelming majority of the nations.

“Thus, at this moment in our collective human history, for the NFDC and the NMIC to be screening Israeli films is totally immoral, unethical, unconscionable, and a travesty of justice to say the least.”

An official from the NMIC confirmed to Arab News on condition of anonymity that the festival “has been pulled down,” but declined to provide more details.

“It’s a relief,” Feroze Mithiborwala, a Mumbai-based activist and member of the India-Palestine Solidarity Front who organized the petition, told Arab News.

“I can’t understand that when the entire world is condemning Israel for its war crimes, when it’s also clear how the government department and NFDC in Mumbai actually go with Israel is beyond us.”

The petition letter was written on Monday and went viral within hours of being sent out.

“Three-four of us got together and created a campaign and it became viral in India, it became viral in Palestine (and) it was picked up by the Palestinian ambassador in Delhi.

“It was picked up by Hindus for Human Rights in the US, and has gone to various parts of the world,” Mithiborwala said.

“Last count, it was at least 1,000 people signed. The people who are leaders of social movements, writers, artists, intellectuals.”

The film director Patwardhan said: “We were horrified that India should be hosting an Israel festival at a time when Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza as well as committing atrocities in the West Bank.

“We circulated a protest letter yesterday that was immediately endorsed and signed by over 100 eminent Indian citizens. We then contacted the individual offices of the NFDC both yesterday and today by phone,” he told Arab News.

“We were told over the phone today that the festival has been canceled. This is welcome news and shows that the NFDC is sensitive to public opinion.

“We call upon Indian citizens everywhere to protest any attempt by Israel or pro-Israeli elements to carry out business as usual while a genocide is in progress.”


Pakistan security forces say they killed 3 insurgents involved in the death of a local administrator

Pakistan security forces say they killed 3 insurgents involved in the death of a local administrator
Updated 20 August 2024
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Pakistan security forces say they killed 3 insurgents involved in the death of a local administrator

Pakistan security forces say they killed 3 insurgents involved in the death of a local administrator
  • The military said the slain men were members of the Baluch Liberation Army

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces shot and killed three insurgents who were involved in the recent killing of a senior government administrator in the country’s restive southwest, the military said Tuesday.
It said security forces conducted a raid in Mastung, a district in Baluchistan province where members of an outlawed separatist group ambushed a vehicle carrying regional Deputy Commissioner Zakir Baloch and killed him on Aug. 12.
The military said the slain men were members of the Baluch Liberation Army, which claimed responsibility for the attack on Baloch ahead of the country’s Independence Day. The men were also involved in other previous attacks, it said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the security forces for avenging the killing of Baloch. He said the war against terrorism would continue until all insurgents are eliminated from the country.
There was no immediate comment from the Baluch Liberation Army, which was expected to respond with more attacks.
Authorities say the insurgents have formed an alliance with the Pakistani Taliban, which also has a presence in Baluchistan, the scene of frequent militant attacks in a long-running insurgency by groups seeking independence for the mineral- and gas-rich province bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
Other Islamic militant groups also have a presence in the province.


Taliban morality police dismiss over 280 men without beards from security forces

Taliban morality police dismiss over 280 men without beards from security forces
Updated 20 August 2024
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Taliban morality police dismiss over 280 men without beards from security forces

Taliban morality police dismiss over 280 men without beards from security forces
  • The morality ministry has been criticized for restrictions on women and inhibiting freedom of expression
  • Ministry did not provide figures in relation to policing of women’s attire or their travel without a male guardian

KABUL: The Taliban’s morality ministry has dismissed more than 280 members of the security force for failure to grow a beard and have detained more than 13,000 people in Afghanistan for “immoral acts” in the past year, officials said on Tuesday.
The Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue said in its annual operations update that around half of those detained had been let go after 24 hours. It did not break down the type of the alleged offenses or gender of the detainees.
Mohibullah Mokhlis, Director of Planning and Legislation at the ministry, told a press conference officials had destroyed 21,328 musical instruments in the past year and prevented thousands of computer operators from selling “immoral and unethical” films in markets.
It had identified 281 security force members for not having a beard and they had been dismissed, he said, in line with their interpretation of Islamic law.
The morality ministry, which took over the disbanded women’s ministry premises in Kabul after the Taliban took over in 2021, has been criticized by human rights organizations and the United Nations for restrictions on women and inhibiting freedom of expression.
The United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan has reported cases of morality ministry officials stopping and detaining women, at times for a few hours, for not meeting their interpretation of Islamic dress.
The Taliban has called the allegations of detentions “baseless” and say the rules apply their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs.
The morality ministry did not provide figures in relation to policing of women’s attire or their travel without a male guardian, which authorities have also barred for longer distances. It said that a new plan was being worked on to ensure its Islamic dress rules were followed, overseen by the supreme spiritual leader who is based in the southern city of Kandahar.
“Based on the guidance of the Supreme Leader, the draft plan for observing women’s hijab (Islamic dress) has been formulated and approved,” Mokhlis said.
The morality ministry has previously said that women should cover their faces or wear an all-enveloping burqa and that enforcement would involve “encouragement” with women’s male family members being targeted rather than women directly.
Most Afghan women covered their hair in public in the conservative country even before the Taliban takeover, but some, especially Kabul, did not usually cover their faces or wear a burqa.
Mokhlis said they had prevented just over 200 cases of the sale of women and over 2,600 cases of violence against women.