Pakistan Sufi shrine: 20 murdered in Punjab
Source: BBC Twenty people have been murdered and others wounded at a Sufi shrine near the city of Sargodha, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, police say. Deputy police commissioner Liaquat Ali […]
Jordan: How to end ’honour’ killings in Jordan
Apr 01,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – EDITORIAL “We want to send a strong message to the people that killing women in the name of family honour will no longer be […]
China Uighurs: Xinjiang ban on long beards and veils
Source: BBC China has introduced new restrictions in the far western region of Xinjiang in what it describes as a campaign against Islamist extremism. The measures include prohibiting “abnormally” long […]
Israel is world’s leading practitioner of water apartheid
Adri Nieuwhof Rights and Accountability 29 March 2017 Palestinian children fill containers with water at a public tap in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, July 2014.Ashraf AmraAPA images Israel markets its water […]
23rd March special: The resolutions after the Resolution
NADEEM F. PARACHA UPDATED MAR 24, 2017 Picture: Archive 150 The first resolve: Head of the All India Muslim League (AIML), Muhammad Ali Jinnah, speaking to party members in Lahore on March 23, 1940. Jinnah was presiding a party session in which the AIML passed a resolution that demanded the creation […]
China is banning beards and veils in Xinjiang
Source: CNN No long beards. No veils in public places. No home-schooling. China is intensifying its crackdown against what it deems religious extremism in the far-west province of Xinjiang, which is home to 10 million Muslims. The latest measures — outlined in a sweeping new anti-extremism legislation — take effect […]
The Asian poor are left behind
Mar 30,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – Jonathan Power The Asian economies are picking up speed again. After the big hit from Wall Street when the bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in a heap in 2008, sending shock waves everywhere, a recovery is now in the works. How many child deaths in the […]
Terror threats transform China’s Uighur heartland into security state
Reuters International MAR 31, 2017 The locked door of a neighbourhood mosque is seen in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, March 23, 2017. Many smaller neighbourhood mosques have been closed by the authorities in favour of larger more centralised places of worship, locals and an analyst said. REUTERS/Thomas Peter […]
Afghans deported from Europe arrive home, to war and unemployment
Reuters International MAR 31, 2017 Afghans, whose asylum applications have been rejected, arrive from Germany in Kabul airport, Afghanistan March 28, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani(reuters_tickers) By Tommy Wilkes KABUL (Reuters) – […]
Air strikes are the only way to defeat Isis? Then tell the truth about the loss of civilian life
More can be done for residents of Mosul not to become victims of bombs targeting Isis – and more should be done to report with candour Patrick Cockburn Irbil, Iraq @indyworld Standing high […]
Revealed: How Isis turns normal towns and villages into theatres and factories of death
Endgames: inside Syria On the front line in the fight against Isis, Robert Fisk reports from a town that was, only hours earlier, a stronghold of the ‘Caliphate’ Robert Fisk Deir Hafer, northern Syria @indyvoices The Syrian soldiers in this dust-covered, rubbelised town don’t smile very much and their battle fatigue is obvious. […]
Religion, state, and the Jewish identity crisis in Israel
REPORT Religion, state, and the Jewish identity crisis in Israel Yedidia Stern March 2017 Download full report Editor’s Note:This three-part paper series is part of the Center for Middle East Policy’s ongoing research on “Imagining Israel’s Future,” which is designed to help Washington audiences engage with voices from today’s dynamic Israeli […]
When Marx Meets Islam
A Chinese regulation would prohibit online insults based on religion. Some decry it as antithetical to Communist values. BY MA TIANJIE MARCH 31, 2017 Almost every Chinese person with even a middle school education must, at some point, run into the famous statement about religion by Karl Marx: “Religion is the […]
Pakistan Ambassador Refuses to Acknowledge State-sponsored Persecution of Ahmadi Muslims
Kashif N Chaudhry, ContributorPhysician, Writer, Human Rights Activist 03/30/2017 During a forum in Washington D.C. yesterday, a Pakistani American journalist questioned Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Aizaz Chaudhry, on Pakistan’s state-sponsored persecution of Ahmadi Muslims. Mr. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States. The diplomat, who […]
Gujarat: India state approves life term for killing cows
Source: BBC The western Indian state of Gujarat has passed a law making the slaughter of cows punishable with life imprisonment. Under an amendment to the state’s Animal Preservation Act, […]
Muslim protesters march against Jakarta’s Christian governor
Source: Associated Press By NINIEK KARMINI JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Undeterred by the arrest of hard-line protest leaders, thousands of Muslims marched in Indonesia’s capital on Friday, calling for the […]
Syrian refugee numbers pass 5 million mark in region — UN
By Reuters – Mar 30,2017 – JORDAN TIMES United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres (right) talks with Syrian girls during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp on Tuesday (AFP […]
Pundits commend ‘key successes’ brought by Arab summit
Gathering was ‘the best since the start of Arab Spring’ By Mohammad Ghazal – Mar 30,2017 -JORDAN TIMES His Majesty King Abdullah presides over the 28th Arab League summit at the Dead Sea (Anadolu Agency photo) AMMAN — The clear and unified Arab message regarding the Mideast peace process, […]
Some scary numbers to ponder
Mar 30,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – Rami G. Khouri Few people in the Arab world or abroad will take seriously the regular Arab summit of heads of state in Jordan this week, which is a tragedy for all concerned. Pan-Arab action could have generated worldwide respect for the views and policies […]
Can reconciliation ever heal a country with conflict wounds as deep as Syria?
The Syrian army’s local base in Aleppo is now a joint Syrian-Russian military headquarters, festooned with Syrian and Russian flags, its soldiery mixing together, Russian personnel sharing their own intelligence […]