UN lifts sanctions against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

February 5, 2017

Feb 5: The United Nations has lifted sanctions against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hezb-i-Islami group in Afghanistan and one of the most infamous figures in the country's civil war in the 1990s.

gulbuddinThe decision by the UN Security Council late on Friday follows a peace deal signed by the Afghan government and Hekmatyar's largely dormant group in September.

The accord gave Hekmatyar amnesty for past offences and granted him full political rights. It also allowed for the release of certain Hezb-i-Islami prisoners.

In a statement, the Security Council said it had dropped a freeze that had been put on Hekmatyar's assets, as well as a travel ban and an arms embargo against him.

Hekmatyar was one of the most influential leaders in the fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s. He briefly accepted the position of prime minister in an administration following the collapse of a Soviet-backed government in 1992.

Once branded as "the butcher of Kabul", Hekmatyar was accused of killing thousands of people when his fighters fired on civilian areas of the capital, Kabul, during the country's 1992-1996 civil war.

Hekmatyar's whereabouts are unknown, but Ghairat Baheer, Hezb-i-Islami's chief negotiator, told Al Jazeera that, with the sanctions now removed, he would eventually return to the Afghan capital.

"Hekmatyar is in hiding in Afghanistan, but after the UN move he will soon make an appearance in one of the provinces and will later come to Kabul," Baheer said.

The UN's decision could pave the way for other armed groups, such as the Taliban, to enter peace negotiations, according to Baheer.

He also urged the Afghan government to implement September's peace accord "completely and honestly" and called against the interference of foreign powers in Afghan affairs.

"Peace is [more] difficult to achieve than war, and we have done that, we have taken steps to achieve peace in Afghanistan," he said.

NATO forces officially ended their combat mission in December 2014. Yet, in July last year, US troops were granted greater powers to launch strikes against Taliban fighters as former President Barack Obama vowed a more aggressive campaign.

The US still has about 8,400 troops in the country.

Habiburrahman Hekmatyar, son of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, hailed the lifting of the sanctions as "a very big decision that will change the entire situation of Afghanistan".

"Every Afghan has suffered through decades of war and conflict, and everyone has sacrificed a lot in this war, including us, so I urge every Afghan to look forward and believe that we are working towards peace," he told Al Jazeera.

But others, including human rights groups and ordinary Afghans, criticised the peace accord and the subsequent lifting of the sanctions against Hekmatyar.

"He just wants to have a political position for his family and for his party members in Afghanistan. He is the killer of the people of Afghanistan, it will be difficult to change this point of view of people about him," Sami Darayi, a Kabul resident who lost his uncle in the civil war, told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

"He did not even apologise to us Afghans, he never said he committed a mistake by killing innocent people."

Others, like Kabul-based Khalid Amini, who lost his father by one of the Hekmatyar's fighters, told Al Jazeera that "as long as it brings peace in the country, I have no problem with him making a return".

"I remember my father's death, but I want to look forward, I want to look after my family and live in a peaceful environment. So, I want peace and he should bring that to the country now," he said.

Many foreign governments, including the US, praised the accord at the time as a step towards wider peace in Afghanistan.

But Human Right Watch, a New York-based watchdog, had branded Hekmatyar "one of Afghanistan's most notorious war crimes suspects" and said his return would "compound a culture of impunity" that has denied justice to the many victims of his forces.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Washington, Jun 24: An Indian restaurant in the Sante Fe City of New Mexico, owned by a Sikh, was broken into and vandalised with hate messages scrawled on its walls, a media report said Tuesday.

The damage caused to India Palace restaurant is estimated to be worth USD 100,000, local Santa Fe Reporter said adding that the vandalisation is being investigated by local police and the FBI.

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) has condemned the incident.

"This kind of hate and violence is unacceptable and swift action must be taken to ensure the safety and security of all Americans," said Kiran Kaur Gill SALDEF executive director.

According to the local daily, tables were overturned, glassware was smashed into piles on the floor, wine racks were emptied, a statue of a goddess was beheaded and computers were stolen.

The vandals also turned over and destroyed food warmers while the front desk area was devastated, plates smashed and the kitchen rendered completely unusable, it said.

"I walked into the kitchen, I saw everything and I was like, hold on, what? What is going on here?" owner Baljit Singh told Santa Fe Reporter. "White power," "Trump 2020," "go home," and far worse were spray-painted on walls, doors, counters and any other available surface.

"Some phrases contained threats of violence and derogatory racial slurs," the daily said.

"Santa Fe is a peaceful town, and the Sikh community has lived here, beautifully integrated, since the 60s," said SALDEF board member Simran Singh, who lives minutes away from the restaurant.

"Tensions have flared recently with the reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of statues associated with Spanish colonisers of this area, who committed a number of atrocities," he said.

"Nevertheless, we are seeing an outpouring of love and support around the city and in my experience, our neighbors love and appreciate us, as we love and appreciate them," he added.

SALDEF said that it has seen an unprecedented rise in hate crimes including the April 29 incident wherein a Sikh American Lakhwant Singh was brutally attacked by a man identified as Eric Breeman in Lakewood, Colorado.

Lakhwant Singh was told to "go back to your country," while being attacked. No formal hate crime charges have been brought against the attacker.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Tehran, Mar 15: Two hundred and thirty-four Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Iran have arrived in India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.

The batch comprises 131 students and 103 pilgrims, he said.

“234 Indians stranded in Iran have arrived in India; including 131 students and 103 pilgrims. Thank you Ambassador Dhamu Gaddam and @India_in_Iran team for your efforts. Thank Iranian authorities,” Jaishankar tweeted.

The third batch of Indians from Iran arrived early Sunday. A second batch of 44 Indian pilgrims had arrived from Iran on Friday.

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working on plans to bring back Indians stranded there.

The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran on Tuesday.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Geneva, Mar 12: For the global economy, virus repercussions were profound, with increasing concerns of wealth- and job-wrecking recessions. U.S. stocks wiped out more than all the gains from a huge rally a day earlier as Wall Street continued to reel.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,464 points, bringing it 20% below its record set last month and putting it in what Wall Street calls a “bear market.” The broader S&P 500 is just 1 percentage point away from falling into bear territory and bringing to an end one of the greatest runs in Wall Street’s history.

WHO officials said they thought long and hard about labeling the crisis a pandemic — defined as sustained outbreaks in multiple regions of the world.

The risk of employing the term, Ryan said, is “if people use it as an excuse to give up.” But the benefit is “potentially of galvanizing the world to fight.”

Underscoring the mounting challenge: soaring numbers in the U.S. and Europe’s status as the new epicenter of the pandemic. While Italy exceeds 12,000 cases and the United States has topped 1,300, China reported a record low of just 15 new cases Thursday and three-fourths of its infected patients have recovered.

China’s totals of 80,793 cases and 3,169 deaths are a shrinking portion of the world’s more than 126,000 infections and 4,600 deaths.

“If you want to be blunt, Europe is the new China,” said Robert Redfield, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

With 12,462 cases and 827 deaths, Italy said all shops and businesses except pharmacies and grocery stores would be closed beginning Thursday and designated billions in financial relief to cushion economic shocks in its latest efforts to adjust to the fast-evolving crisis that silenced the usually bustling heart of the Catholic faith, St. Peter’s Square.

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