All efforts to stop the flow of CoronaVirus
which are effective should be respected.
Please see Sis. Aisha's article below.
My concern is about suffering which is much greater than
that of Coronavirus which has been ignored.
Chinese Communists put millions of Muslims in
concentration camps, abused and humiliated them and
desecrated their religion.
The Assad regime with the help of Iran and Russia has
killed more than half a million Syrian Muslims. More than
65000 of them, including women and children, were tortured
to death, often raped, in Assad's prisons.
The US, Iran and the Baghdad regime destroyed the entire
city of Mosul in Iraq, killing more than 40,000 Muslims and
expelling more than a million from their homes.
Similarly the entire city of Raqqa in Syria was destroyed.
Till now the death toll has not been fully computed.
India turned all of Kashmir into a concentration
camp.
Serious human rights violations have been committed but till
now no investigation has been allowed.
Every weekend there have been shootings and killings in
America's Black communities. No major effort was made to
stop the ongoing massacre.
Situations in Somalia and northern Nigeria are not very
different.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have been terrorized
into leaving their homes, tortured, often dismembered,
entire villages set on fire.
MOST IMPORTANT is the ONGOING OCCUPATION of PALESTINE and
the horrific suffering of Gaza and the West Bank.
As of right now the global death count for coronavirus is about 14611.
When are we going to focus on these huge crimes against
Muslims.
Who are these imams who claim that they can shut down
masjids in America. It is haram. Those who want to pray juma
should not be stopped.No one is being forced to pray.
PAKISTAN
Jamaat e Islami has
suspended all political agitation critical of the Imran
Khan regime.
Al-Khidmat, the charitable branch of the Jamaat, is
carrying out activities all over the country to help those
suffering from coronavirus.
The border with Iran has been sealed.
War News
Afghanistan
Unit wiped out
On March 20, at 3 AM, in Zabul province, Taliban killed 24
Kabul regime troops. They were helped by 5 police who burned
down the army post and fled with the Taliban along with all
the arms and ammo in the post.
Taliban are insisting that the regime release all ts
prisoners before talks can proceed.
Pakistan
New Clash.
March 20.
4 Pakstani troops including an officer were killed in a
clash with mujahideen in the Datta Khel area of North
Waziristan.
The army occupied this area several years back under orders
from the US, expelled the entire population and does not
allow journalists to come in. So it's difficult to say how
many troops were killed.
IRAQ
Series of IS attacks. Regime Air Strikes Reported.
Heavy fighting is reported in the mountains north east of
Kirkuk where Islamic State fighters have emerged. The
Baghdad regime is reporting air strikes against the
IS\fighters but giving no details [which is often a sign of
failure].
IS attacks are also reported from Rutba in Anbar province. A
regime officer says 2 troops were killed and 4 wounded.
Shia groups supporting Iran fired at US bases near Baghdad
[Taji] and at the US embassy in the Green zone. No
casualties reported.
Syria
Turkey reinforcing its Forces. Assad regime Stalled.
March 22. An Assad forces tank advancing into an area of
Jaba al-Zawiya controlled by mujahideen was destroyed by
Islamic fighters. It appears from the SOHR report that
all the troops with the tank were killed.
In several areas around Irbid province and Lattackia,
Iranian troops tried to advance with artillery fire but
retreated when mujahideen fired back.
In all the areas controlled by Assad, in particular
Damascus, Corona virus has spread. There is complete
end to gatherings. Regime is not giving details.
Columns of armored troops are steadily arriving from Turkey
in anticipation of attacks by Assad.
Russian bombing uprooted 900,000 and more civilians but
Turkish intervention stopped the bombing,
Three regime aircraft were shot down by Turkey.
In southern Deir ez Zor province, IS raiders and sleeper
cells are attacking SDF which is supported by the US,
In the Al-Hool refugee camp hundreds of women who supported
ISIS are held. Conditions are bad.
A few days back , some women killed an Iraqi supporter of
SDF with a hammer. The killer has not been found.
News Within the U.S.
March 19, 2020
"Zionist" Biden in His Own Words: "My Name is Joe Biden, and
Everybody Knows I Love Israel"
by: Ramzy Baroud
dissidentvoice.org
"I am a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a
Zionist," current Democratic Presidential candidate, Joe
Biden, said in April 2007, soon before he was chosen to be
Barack Obama's running mate in the 2008 elections.
Biden is, of course, correct, because Zionism is a political
movement that is rooted in 20th century nationalism and
fascism. Its use of religious dogmas is prompted by
political expediency, not spirituality or faith.
Unlike US President, Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders,
Biden's only serious opponent in the Democratic primaries,
Biden's stand on Israel is rarely examined.
Trump has made his support for Israel the cornerstone of his
foreign policy agenda since his inauguration into the White
House in January 2017. The American President has basically
transformed into Israel's political genie, granting Tel Aviv
all of its wishes in complete defiance of international
law.
Sanders, on the other hand, came to represent the antithesis
of Trump's blind and reckless support for Israel. Himself
Jewish, Sanders has promised to restore to the Palestinian
people their rights and dignity, and to play a more
even-handed role, thus ending decades of US unconditional
support and bias in favor of Israel.
But where does Biden factor into all of this?
Below is a brief examination of Biden's record on Palestine
and Israel in recent years, with the hope that it gives the
reader a glimpse of a man that many Democrats feel is the
rational alternative to the political imbalances and
extremism of the Trump administration.
August 1984: Palestinians and Arabs are to Blame
Biden's pro-Israel legacy began much earlier than his stint
as a vice-President or presidential candidate. When Biden
was only a Senator from Delaware, he spoke at the 1984
annual conference of 'Herut Zionists of America'. Herut is
the forerunner of Israel's right-wing Likud party.
In his speech before the jubilant right-wing pro-Israel
Zionist crowd, Biden derided the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) and Arab governments, for supposedly
derailing peace in the Middle East.
Biden spoke of "three myths (that) propel U.S. policy in the
Middle East" which, according to the American Senator, are,
"the belief that Saudi Arabia can be a broker for peace, the
belief that King Hussein (of Jordan) is ready to negotiate
peace, and the belief that the Palestine Liberation
Organization can deliver a consensus for peace."
April 2007: 'I am a Zionist'
Time only cemented Biden's pro-Israel's convictions, leading
to his declaration in April 2007 that he is not a mere
supporter of Israel - as has become the standard among US
politicians - but is a Zionist himself.
In an interview with Shalom TV, and despite his insistence
that he does not need to be Jewish to be a Zionist, Biden
labored to make connections with the 'Jewish State',
revealing that his son is married to a Jewish woman and that
"he had participated in a Passover Seder at their house,"
according to the Israeli Ynet News.
March 2013: 'Qualitative Edge'
This commitment to Israel became better articulated when
Biden took on greater political responsibilities as the US
vice-president under Obama's administration.
At a packed AIPAC conference in March 2013, Biden elaborated
on his ideological Zionist beliefs and his president's
commitment to 'the Jewish state of Israel'. He said: "It
was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure
that it could never happen again was the establishment and
the existence of a secure, Jewish state of Israel. I
remember my father, a Christian, being baffled at the debate
taking place at the end of World War II .." that any country
could object to the founding of Israel on the ruins of the
Palestinian homeland.
"That's why we've worked so hard to make sure Israel keeps
its qualitative edge in the midst of the Great Recession.
I've served with eight Presidents of the United States of
America, and I can assure you, unequivocally, no President
has done as much to physically secure the State of Israel as
President Barack Obama."
December 2014: 'Moral Obligation'
In one of the most fiercely pro-Israel speeches ever given
by a top US official, Biden told the annual Saban Forum at
the Brookings Institution in Washington on December 6, 2014,
that, "If there weren't an Israel, we would have to invent
one".
In his speech, Biden added a new component to the American
understanding of its relationship with Israel, one that goes
beyond political expediency or ideological connections; a
commitment that is founded on "moral obligation".
Biden said, "We always talk about Israel from this
perspective, as if we're doing (them) some favor. We are
meeting a moral obligation. But it is so much more than a
moral obligation. It is overwhelmingly in the self-interest
of the United States of America to have a secure and
democratic friend, a strategic partner like Israel. It is no
favor. It is an obligation, but also a strategic
necessity."
April 2015: 'I Love Israel'
"My name is Joe Biden, and everybody knows I love Israel,"
Biden began his speech at the 67th Annual Israeli
Independence Day Celebration held in Jerusalem in April
2015.
"Sometimes we drive each other crazy," the US vice-president
said in reference to disagreements between Israel and the US
over Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to
halt construction of illegal Jewish settlements.
"But we love each other," he added. "And we protect each
other. As many of you heard me say before, were there no
Israel, America would have to invent one. We'd have to
invent one because ... you protect our interests like we
protect yours."
July 2019: US Embassy Stays in Jerusalem
In response to a question by the news website, AXIOS, which
was presented to the various Democratic party candidates, on
whether a Democratic President would relocate the American
embassy back to Tel Aviv, the Biden campaign answered:
"Vice President Biden would not move the American embassy
back to Tel Aviv. But he would re-open our consulate in East
Jerusalem to engage the Palestinians."
October 2019: Support for Israel Unconditional
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on October 31,
2019, Biden was asked whether he agrees with the position
taken by his more progressive opponent, Bernie Sanders,
regarding US financial support to Israel and Jewish
settlement.
Sanders had said that, "if elected president he would
leverage billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Israel
to push Jerusalem to change its policies toward the
Palestinians," The Hill news website reported.
Biden's response was that, " .. the idea that we would draw
military assistance from Israel, on the condition that they
change a specific policy, I find to be absolutely
outrageous. No, I would not condition it, and I think it's a
gigantic mistake. And I hope some of my candidates who are
running with me for the nomination - I hope they misspoke or
they were taken out of context."
March 2020: 'Above Politics, Beyond Politics'
Biden's fiery speech before the pro-Israel lobby group,
AIPAC, at their annual conference in March 2020, was a mere
continuation of a long legacy that is predicated on his
country's blind support for Israel.
Biden's discourse on Israel - a mixture of confused
ideological notions, religious ideas and political interests
- culminated in a call for American support for Israel that
is "above politics and beyond politics".
"Israelis wake up every morning facing an existential threat
from their neighbors' rockets from Gaza, just like this past
week .. That's why I've always been adamant that Israel must
be able to defend itself. It's not just critical for Israeli
security. I believe it's critical for America's
security."
Palestinians "need to end the rocket attacks from Gaza,"
Biden also said. "They need to accept once and for all the
reality and the right of a secure democratic and Jewish
state of Israel in the Middle East."
Invitation to Think
These are the Real Issues related to CoronaVirus,
Don't be Scared.
by Sis. Aisha. [Jamaat al-Muslimeen]
New York City
New Trend Editor, Dr. Siddique, coined the term coronavirus
scare. The Coronavirus Scare is the best term to describe
these events. On the one hand web public health sites are
stating that the coronavirus produces mild symptoms in most
people except people with weakened immune systems, suffering
from respiratory illnesses, and who are elderly need to be
cautious. Well, isn't that the same list of susceptible
people for every illness, including the flu?
To protect ourselves from this new coronavirus, health
experts recommend keeping clean beginning with hand washing.
Avoid touching
your face with unclean hands and distance yourself from sick
people
of all kinds. Most important: If you are sick, stay home. In
other words, use commonsense.
Then on the other hand, you have these news conferences
spearheaded
by politicians and ONLY them. With the exception of
President Trump and
Surgeon General Dr. Fauci contradicting each other in the
same news
conference, I have not seen any New York political leaders
with any health
experts. These politicians and the media are the root of
this Coronavirus Scare.
Dr. Fauci stopped short of recommending government shut
downs yet,
this is what New York and California did. Look for a domino
effect with
other states since New York and California always set
precedence for the
rest of the country from drug laws to gay marriage.
Hearing from politicos rather than health experts have some
people
questioning the government's motives. It has already been
revealed that
some politicians sold their stocks at a huge profit after
being briefed
about the coronavirus before it was the perceived threat to
the world it is
now. After the media shifted focus to coronavirus the stock
market plummeted.
Listen to the health experts!
Many Christians say cleanliness is next to Godliness and
Muslims wash 5
times a day or more for salat.
In the 1840s, to combat the high mortality rate of maternity
ward patients,
physicians Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, and Ignaz
Semmelweis
recommended the cleaning medical instruments and washing
hands in
antiseptic solution, respectively, after performing
autopsies!
They are credited with associating unclean hands with the
spread of
disease but Allah already expressed this in the Scriptures
and the Qur'an.
It is surprising how simple hygienic measures have stopped
epidemics in
their tracks. From cholera, even the Bubonic Plague, which
may have
wiped out up to 200 million people, all ended when people
started practicing simple hygienic measures.
Outbreaks like the coronavirus is a harsh reminder of what
happens when society deviates from Allah's Will.
Insha'allah, this virus will be contained. Out of the 98,000
people infected
world-wide, 80,000 are in China. But, China seems to be
rebounding from
it while the rest of the world is still in the midst of
it.
"But those who believe and work deeds of righteousness and
believe in
revelation sent down to Muhammad - for t is the Truth from
their Lord - He
(Allah) will remove their ills and improve their condition
." (47:2)
Keep praying to Allah and employ the cleanliness regimens
according to
the Sunnah. Also, take black seed oil, which cures
everything except
death, according the The Prophet (pbuh).
If you need to buy items then, go when these stores first
open very early
in the morning. There may still be a line but at least
you'll be out earlier.
Capitalists are already at work hoarding Scott toilet tissue
and then selling
it on Amazon for over $100. A Tennessee capitalist was
shutdown after
trying to sell hand sanitizer for up to $70 per bottle on
Amazon!
He had no choice but to "donate" the other 17,700 bottles he
purchased
for resell after Amazon intervened. Al-humdulillah, LOL!
"This is our version of the coronavirus, we are sick"
- Arundhati Roy [Famous Indian Dissident]
[With thanks to Dr. Firoz Kamal]
Beloved friends, comrades and my fellow writers, this place
where we are gathered today is only a short bus ride away
from where four days ago a fascist mob, fired up by speeches
made by members of the Ruling Party, backed up and actively
assisted by the police, assured of round the clock support
by a vast section of the electronic mass media, and
comforted by the belief that the courts would do nothing to
come in their way - mounted an armed, murderous attack on
Muslims in the working class colonies of North East
Delhi.
The attack had been in the air for a while, so people were
somewhat prepared, and so defended themselves. Markets,
shops, homes, mosques and vehicles have been burnt down. The
streets are full of stones and debris. The hospitals are
full of the wounded and dying. The morgues are full of the
dead. Both Muslim and Hindu, including a policeman and a
young staffer of the Intelligence Bureau. Yes. People on
both sides have shown themselves capable of horrifying
brutality as well as unbelievable courage and kindness.
However, there can be no equivalence here. None of this
alters the fact that the attack was begun by lumpen mobs
chanting "Jai Shri Ram" backed by the apparatus of this now
nakedly fascist state. Notwithstanding these slogans, this
is not what people like to label a Hindu-Muslim "riot". It
is a manifestation of the ongoing battle between fascists
and anti-fascists - in which Muslims are the first among the
Fascists' "enemies". To call it a riot or a "danga", or
"Left" versus "Right" or even "Right" versus "Wrong" as many
are doing, is dangerous and obfuscatory.
We have all seen the videos of the police standing by and
sometimes participating in the arson. We have seen them
smashing CCTV cameras, just as they did when they vandalised
the Jamia Millia Islamia University library on December 15.
We have seen them beat wounded Muslim men as they lay piled
up against each other and force them to sing the national
anthem. We know that one of those young men is dead. All the
dead, wounded and devastated, Muslim as well as Hindu are
victims of this regime headed by Narendra Modi, our nakedly
fascist Prime Minister who himself is no stranger to being
at the helm of affairs in a state when 18 years ago a
massacre on a much larger scale went on for weeks.
The anatomy of this particular conflagration will be studied
for years to come. But the local detail will only be a
matter of historical record because the ripples based on
hateful rumours fuelled on the social media have begun to
eddy outwards and we can already smell more blood on the
breeze. Although there have been no more killings in North
Delhi, yesterday (February 29) saw mobs of people in Central
Delhi chanting the slogan that built up to the attacks:
"Desh ke Gaddaron ko, Goli maaron saalon ko."
Only a few days ago. the Delhi High Court Judge, Justice
Muralidharan was furious with the Delhi Police for having
taken no action against Kapil Mishra, former BJP MLA
candidate who had earlier too used it as an election slogan.
On the night of February 26, the judge was given midnight
orders to take up his new assignment in the Punjab High
Court. Kapil Mishra is back on the streets chanting the same
slogan. It can now be used until further notice. Fun and
games with judges isn't new. We know the story about Justice
Loya. We may have forgotten the story of Babu Bajrangi,
convicted of participating in the killing 96 Muslims in
Naroda Patiya, in Gujarat in 2002. Listen to him on YouTube:
He'll tell you how "Narendra bhai" got him out of jail
because of "setting" the judges.
We have learned to expect massacres such as this one before
elections - they have become a sort of barbaric election
campaign to polarise votes and build constituencies. But the
Delhi massacre happened just days after an election, after
the BJP-RSS suffered a humiliating defeat. It is a
punishment for Delhi and an announcement for the coming
elections in Bihar.
Everything is on record. Everything is available for
everyone to see and hear - the provocative speeches of Kapil
Mishra, Parvesh Verma, Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Chief
Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath, the Home Minister Amit Shah
and even the Prime Minister himself. And yet everything has
been turned upside down - it's being made to appear as
though all of India is a victim of the absolutely peaceful,
mostly female, mostly - but not only - Muslim protestors who
have been out on the streets for almost 75 days, in their
tens of thousands, to protest against the Citizenship
Amendment Act.
The CAA, which offers a fast-track route to citizenship for
non-Muslim minorities, is blatantly unconstitutional and
blatantly anti-Muslim. Coupled with the National Population
Register and the National Register of Citizens, it is meant
to delegitimise, destabilise and criminalise not just
Muslims but hundreds of millions of Indians who do not have
the requisite documents - including those who are chanting
"Goli Maaro Saalon Ko" today.
Once citizenship comes into question, everything comes into
question - your children's rights, your voting rights, your
land rights. As Hannah Arendt said, "citizenship gives you
the right to have rights." Anybody who thinks this is not
the case, please turn your attention to Assam and see what
has happened to twenty lakh people - Hindus, Muslims,
Dalits, Adivasis. Now trouble has started between local
tribes and the non-tribal population in the state of
Meghalaya. There is curfew in Shillong. The state borders
are closed to non-locals.
The sole purpose of the NPR-NRC-CAA is to destabilise and
divide people not just in India but across the whole
subcontinent. If they do indeed exist, these phantom
millions of human beings who India's current Home Minister
calls Bangladeshi "termites", cannot be kept in detention
centres and cannot be deported. By using such terminology
and by thinking up such a ridiculous, diabolic scheme, this
government is actually endangering the tens of millions of
Hindus who live in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who
they pretend to be concerned about, but who could suffer the
backlash of this bigotry emanating from New Delhi.
Look where we have ended up.
In 1947, we won independence from colonial rule that was
fought for by almost everybody with the exception of our
current rulers. Since then all manner of social movements,
anti-caste struggles, anti-capitalist struggles, feminist
struggles have marked our journey up to now.
In the 1960s, the call to revolution was a demand for
justice, for the redistribution of wealth and the overthrow
of the ruling class.
By the 1990s, we were reduced to fighting against the
displacement of millions of people from their own lands and
villages, people who became the collateral damage for the
building of a new India in which 63 of India's richest
people have more wealth than the annual budget outlay for
1,200 million people.
Now we are reduced to pleading for our rights as citizens
from people who have had nothing to do with building this
country. And as we plead, we watch the state withdraw its
protection, we watch the police get communalised, we watch
the judiciary gradually abdicate its duty, we watch the
media that is meant to afflict the comfortable and comfort
the afflicted do the very opposite.
Today is the 210th day since Jammu and Kashmir was
unconstitutionally stripped of its special status. Thousands
of Kashmiris including three former chief ministers continue
to be in jail. Seven million people are living under a
virtual information siege, a novel exercise in the mass
violation of human rights. On February 26, the streets of
Delhi looked like the streets of Srinagar. That was the day
that Kashmiri children went to school for the first time in
seven months. But what does it mean to go to school, while
everything around you is slowly throttled?
A democracy that is not governed by a Constitution and one
whose institutions have all been hollowed out can only ever
become a majoritarian state. You can agree or disagree with
a Constitution as a whole or in part - but to act as though
it does not exist as this government is doing is to
completely dismantle democracy. Perhaps this is the aim.
This is our version of the coronavirus. We are sick.
There's no help on the horizon. No well-meaning foreign
country. No UN.
And no political party that intends to win elections will or
can afford to take a moral position. Because there is fire
in the ducts. The system is failing.
What we need are people who are prepared to be unpopular.
Who are prepared to put themselves in danger. Who are
prepared to tell the truth. Brave journalists can do that,
and they have. Brave lawyers can do that, and they have. And
artists - beautiful, brilliant, brave writers, poets,
musicians, painters and filmmakers can do that. That beauty
is on our side. All of it.
We have work to do. And a world to win.
Guidance by Sis. Yasmin.
*Bismillahir- Rahmanir- Rahim*
{ In the name of Allah most Gracious Most Merciful }
**********************************************
'Assalam Alaikum Wa Rehmath Ullahi Wa Barkatahu'
*Every Breath is a Precious Jewel*[!]
Life is nothing but an accumulation of many breaths...so
...
every breath is just a precious Diamond...{!} which cannot
be purchased
with anything in the world...!
It is a priceless jewel which has got no substitute in
value...!
So in movements and talks, and in sorrows and happiness
such a priceless breath should not be spent in vain...
to destroy it is to court destruction.
An intelligent man cannot lose it...{!} When a man gets up
at dawn,
he should enter into an agreement with himself just as a
tradesman
contracts with his partner.
At that time, he should address his mind thus... 'O
mind...
you have been given no other property as precious as life
{!}
when it will end... the principal will end, and despondency
will come in
seeking profit in business.
Today is a new day... {!} ALLAH has given you time...that
is...
HE has delayed your Death...{!} HE has bestowed upon you
innumerable
gifts. Think that you are already dead. So don't waste
time...!
Every breath is a precious jewel. Man has got for each day
and night
twenty four treasure houses in twenty four hours !
Fill up these then find them filled up with divine sights in
the world
If they are not filled up with good work... {?}
they will be filled up with intense darkness...
where from a bad stench will come out and envelop them all
around.
Another treasure house will neither give him happiness nor
sorrow...
That is an hour in which he slept, or was careless,
or was engaged in any lawful work of this world.
he will feel grieved for its remaining vacant.
...My 'Salaams' to All...
Y a s m i n.
Hadith of the Week
Narrated Abu Huraira,r.a.:
Allah's Apostle said, "The example of a believer is that of
a fresh tender plant; from whatever direction the wind
comes, it bends it, but when the wind becomes quiet, it
becomes straight again. Similarly, a believer is afflicted
with calamities (but he remains patient till Allah removes
his difficulties.) And an impious wicked person is like a
pine tree which keeps hard and straight till Allah cuts
(breaks) it down when He wishes."
Bukhari Volume 7,
Book 70 #547
[With thanks to Sis. Kristi]
Our website
newtrendmag.org
received
20,039
visits in
February 2020.
That's an average of
691 daily visits.
Thank you Br. Rich.
[Please scroll way down for pur statistics on facebook for
the
March 15 issue
of New Trend
thru facebook.]
New Trend of March 15 reached
82,257 people
thru facebook.
of these 10,000 are in Pakistan.
The main articles in it were:
Toilet paper crisis in the U.S. [because of the Coronavirus]
Red Mosque women.
Imran Khan & IMF
Turkey advancing in Syria.
Guidance on suffering.
and others.
CHINA
Xinjiang County Sends Uyghur Camp Detainees to Prison,
Interior of China
All internment camp detainees in one county in northwest
China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have been
relocated to prisons or to parts of the country's interior,
according to a local police officer, following reports of
similar policies in other parts of the region.
Images circulating on social media platforms in recent
months purportedly show that Uyghurs and other Muslim
minorities are being transferred between various forms of
detention, incarceration, and possibly forced labor schemes
both inside and outside of the XUAR, where authorities are
believed to have held some 1.8 million people in a vast
network of internment camps since April 2017.
One widely shared image appears to show rows of people
dressed in similar blue jumpsuits, wearing masks, and
holding bags of personal belongings as they stand in a
public square.
Experts and members of the Uyghur activist community in
exile believe images such as these show detainees who have
been transferred from a camp to either prisons or factories,
where they are required to perform forced labor.
RFA's Uyghur Service recently spoke with a police officer
from Bayin'gholin's Chakilik (Ruoqiang) county who said that
the area's internment camps had been closed down and that
all detainees had been sent to jail or to other parts of
China.
"There are no internment camps in Chakilik—[the
authorities] aren't putting anyone from the county into
camps now," said the officer, who spoke to RFA on condition
of anonymity, fearing reprisal.
When asked if he had seen official documents confirming that
the camps had closed, the officer said, "All I have to do is
look around me in Chakilik and I can see that there are no
internment camps," adding, "I don't need any documents to
know this."
According to the officer, many of the camp detainees were
sentenced to prison terms and sent to Ulughkol (Kunqu)
Prison, "roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside Korla
(Kuerle) city on the way to Bugur (Luntai) county."
"We send some of the people who have been sentenced to
jails, but where they transfer them after that, I don't
know," he said.
When asked where those who haven't been sentenced to prison
were sent when the camps in Chakilik closed, the officer
said he did not know.
But he said that some detainees had been sent to parts of
China's interior "at the end of 2018," as well as in April
and July of 2019.
"Where did they transfer them? It's not worth asking me,
because they haven't told us directly," he said.
The officer said he was "unable to answer" questions about
how many camps were previously in operation in the county,
how long they were operating, or when they had been shut
down.
Ulughkol Prison
In November, the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists (ICIJ), a collaboration with 17 media partners
in 14 countries, published a set of classified documents
that included the first known "manual" for operating
internment camps amid a policy of mass extrajudicial
incarceration in the XUAR.
Collectively known as the "China Cables," the documents also
provided local authorities with guidelines on how to prevent
escapes, keep the program a secret, and use "points" to
grade detainees of the camps.
Full Story: RFAonline
Quarantine has been the reality in Gaza
Help UNRWA
While being in quarantine may be new to most of the world,
this has been the devastating reality for Palestine refugees
in the Gaza Strip living under a crippling land, sea, and
air blockade for over a decade.
The feeling of isolation from family, friends, and the
world, facing empty shelves or limited access to basic
resources, and an overwhelming fear of what the future
holds. This is our new reality, but just a fact of life for
refugees. Now, on top of this, they face COVID-19 with fewer
resources and greater vulnerabilities than the rest of
us.
We cannot forget them during this global emergency: you have
the ability to act now to protect Palestine refugees from
the deadly spread of coronavirus.
Cases have been reported among Palestine refugees in
Lebanon, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and
Jordan. Fortunately, thus far there have been no reports of
coronavirus in Gaza or Syria, but this could change in mere
moments.
This is especially the case in Gaza, where two million
residents are crammed in one of the most densely populated
places in the world and there is no option for social
distancing. With 97% of the water unfit for human
consumption and a collapsing health system, thousands of
lives are currently at risk.
In the face of this overwhelming crisis, UNRWA is the
primary and in many places the only organization serving as
a bulwark against the spread of the disease across the
Middle East.
Your emergency gift can protect refugees from coronavirus
by:
continuing to have access to basic healthcare services
receiving education on proactive measures to prevent the spread of the disease
having access to clean water and critical hygiene and protective supplies
As we're seeing right now, what happens across the world has
direct effects on what we experience here at home in the
United States. It's essential to remember the health and
safety of all people, including refugees, beyond being a
moral imperative, directly affects our own and that of our
global community.
Please rush us an urgent gift to combat coronavirus and save
lives before it's too late.
In solidarity,
Mara Kronenfeld
Executive Director
UNRWA USA
1875 Connecticut Ave NW
Tenth Floor
Washington, DC 20009 · USA
202-223-3767
SANUSI LAMIDO
SANUSI: JOY OF DETHRONEMENT
By Abdulkabir Oyemomi
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS) was the governor of Central Bank
of Nigeria until around 2014 when he raised the alarm of
fraud amounting to over 20billion dollars under the
government of Good luck Ebele Jonathan. He was thereafter
sacked and several attempts were made by the then government
to arrest him. But the smart SLS was in tune with the then
governor of Kano State (Gov. Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso) , who
hurriedly turbaned him as the Emir of Kano. That got him
immune from persecution from Federal Government under
Jonathan.
Traditionally, a traditional ruler (Emir or Oba) is deemed
to be father of all , who is expected to say less and be
practically apolitical to be able to adjudicate on matters
amongst his subjects without fear or favor. He could,
however, lend advice to the government of the day within his
jurisdiction as well as federal government. But for SLS, the
position of Emir makes no difference as to what he says and
how he analyses government policies. He is a liberal Muslim
whose comments, despite his vast knowledge in Islamic
jurisprudence, reflects that there are many contours to be
levelled from the way Islam is practiced in the North:
He had campaigned vehemently against bearing more children
when the means of livelihood does not commiserate with the
demand of the household ; he had talked passionately around
girls' education and taking positions of leadership. He
believes the northern people can progress only if they
invest massively in education.
For many of his positions and propositions, he earned many
adversaries in the North, including the present governor of
Kano State, Dr Ganduje, who happened to be the deputy
governor to Kwankwaso when SLS was made the Emir.
Bickering between SLS and Ganduje could be arguably said to
have emanated from tussle between Kwankwaso and Ganduje .
But this degenerated overtime as the first drastic step at
curtailing SLS is the division of Kano Emirate into four (4)
distinct district of which council SLS was made the
Chairman. This development is shocking to many when the Emir
was given 24hrs to accept or decline. SLS accepted
reluctantly but thereafter accused of not present in
meetings among other things.
On Monday 9th of March,2020, the Emir (SLS) was dethroned by
the government of Dr Ganduje!
This development brought about divisions, confusions,
solidarities and malice to people of Nigeria as a whole.
Some loyalists to Jonathan believe that that serves him
right while others claim they are with the dethroned Emir. A
lot of Muslim faithful remained indifferent as neither
Ganduje nor SLS is seen as ambassador of pristine Islam. But
in all, many people feel the dethronement is legally and
morally inappropriate.
The dethronement has brought SLS more to limelight as
solidarities are coming more heavily from southern Nigeria,
even within the political terrain. Many supporters of the
Emir's have been tipping him as the most resourceful
presidential candidate for 2023.
