Islamophobia creating divisions, hijab becoming a 'weapon': Pak PM Imran at UNGA

Agencies
September 28, 2019

New York, Sept 28: Islamophobia has grown at an alarming pace after the 9/11 attacks and is creating divisions, with wearing of hijab becoming a "weapon" against the community in some countries, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said here on Friday.

Khan, who is currently on a week-long visit to the US, delivered his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly and touched upon several issues, including climate change, money laundering and Islamophobia.

Khan said billions of Muslims were living as minorities in the western countries and since 9/11 attacks Islamophobia had grown at an "alarming" pace.

"Islamophobia is creating divisions, hijab is becoming a weapon; a woman can take off clothes but she can't put on more clothes. It started after 9/11 and it started because certain western leaders equated Islam with terrorism," he said.

Khan questioned the use of the term 'radical Islamic terrorism', saying there is only one Islam.

"There is no such thing as radical Islam," he said, pointing out that all religions have individuals carrying out radical acts.

"The basis of all religions is compassion and justice which differentiates us from the animal kingdom," he said.

The prime minister told the UN that there should be an understanding for other faiths, but they are seen as creating division among global population.

Khan said the radical Islamic terrorism used by leaders has caused Islamophobia and pain for Muslims.

"What message does this (the term) send? How is a person in New York going to distinguish between moderate Muslims and radical Muslims?" he asked.

"In European countries it is marginalising Muslims, and this leads to radicalisation. Some of the terrorists were from marginalised Muslim communities. We Muslim leaders have not addressed this issue. The Muslim leaders all became moderates and our government coined a phrase 'enlightened moderation'," he said.

Khan's remarks came a day after he announced that Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia have decided to jointly launch an English language Islamic television channel to correct misperceptions and confront the challenges posed by Islamophobia.

"President Erdogan, PM Mahatir and myself had a meeting today in which we decided our 3 countries would jointly start an English language channel dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion - Islam," Khan said in a tweet.

"Misperceptions which bring people together against Muslims would be corrected; issue of blasphemy would be properly contextualized; series and films would be produced on Muslim history to educate/inform our own people and the world; Muslims would be given a dedicated media presence," he said.

Speaking about the climate change, Khan said so many leaders talked about the issue, but there was a lack of seriousness.

"We don't realise the urgency of the situation. We have so many ideas but ideas without funding are mere hallucinations," he said.

"Our country is one of the top 10 countries that are most affected by the climate change. Eighty per cent of our water comes from the glaciers. These glaciers are melting at a rapid pace. The glaciers are also in India in the Himalayas, Karakorum and the Hindu Kush.If nothing is done, I fear the people are going to be facing a huge catastrophe," he said. Khan said his government planted one billion trees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it came to power and plans to plant 10 billion to counter global warming effects. "One country cannot do anything, it has to be a combined effort of the world, he said, urging the UN to push countries which contribute to green house gas emissions.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Celebrations broke out at the AAP headquarters here as early vote-counting trends for the Delhi Assembly polls on Tuesday showed a comfortable victory for the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The headquarters were decorated with blue and white balloons and big cut-outs of Kejriwal were placed in different parts of the party office.

"We knew it. We have changed the politics of this country. Now it is Delhi, next is India," said Sanjeev Singh, a party volunteer from Hari Nagar.

Another volunteer Fareen Khan said, "We hope we get such a clear majority that a message goes out that doing Hindu-Muslim politics will not work anymore."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading in 26 seats while the BJP is leading in 14 seats, according to early trends by the Election Commission.

According to the EC's website, AAP convenor Kejriwal is leading in his New Delhi constituency.

Kejriwal reached the party office as the counting of votes got underway.

Counting centres are spread across 21 locations, spanning 70 constituencies.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly was held on Saturday.

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News Network
June 25,2020

New Delhi, Jun 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at Congress for "unceremoniously sacking" its spokesperson and said that leaders in the opposition party are "feeling suffocated".

To substantiate his point, Shah referred to the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet in which senior members and younger members raised a few issues, however, they were "shut down".

Taking to Twitter, Shah posted two English dailies' articles titled -- "Not scared of PM Modi, but many in the party dodge him: Rahul at Congress Working Committee meet" and "Congress removes Sanjay Jha as party spokesperson after critical article".

Last week, Jha was dropped as AICC spokesperson and Abhishek Dutt and Sadhna Bharti appointed as National Media Panelist of Congress party.

"During the recent CWC meet, senior members and younger members raised a few issues. But, they were shouted down. A party spokesperson was unceremoniously sacked. The sad truth is - leaders are feeling suffocated in Congress," the Union Minister tweeted.

Meanwhile, Shah also targetted Congress on the completion of 45 years of emergency, which was imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975 and asked the party to self introspect.

"As one of India's opposition parties, Congress needs to ask itself: Why does the Emergency mindset remain? Why are leaders who do not belong to 1 dynasty unable to speak up? Why are leaders getting frustrated in Congress? Else, their disconnect with people will keep widening," he wrote.

Comments

Fairman
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jun 2020

Jha the spokesperson, tried to be under the payroll of BJP, so disciplinary action was imminent.

 

Discipline has no compromise.

Mohammed
 - 
Thursday, 25 Jun 2020

If i am not wrong you have already purchased suffocated leaders from congress.

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: With an increase of 14,821 new cases and 445 deaths, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,25,282 on Monday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 13,699 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The rise in confirmed cases today is lower than the highest spike of 15 thousand plus cases registered on Sunday.

The count includes 1,74,387 active cases, and 2,37,196 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,32,075 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 60,161 active, 65,744 cured, discharged patients while 6,170 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital today became the second-worst affected region in the country with the number of confirmed cases in Delhi reaching 59,746 as opposed to Tamil Nadu's 59,377 cases.

While 2,175 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far, the toll in Tamil Nadu stands at 757.

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