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LYNCHING: Cow Vigilantes attack Two Gujarat men with knives and batons

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LYNCHING: Cow Vigilantes attack Two Gujarat men with knives and batons

Ahmedabad – Two men were severely attacked with knives and batons by the illegal cow vigilantes when they were carrying buffalo calves in their van on Sunday.

Zaheer Qureshi, 23, was stabbed with sharp knives which resulted in the heavy blood loss, he was immediately transported to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, while his friend Mustafa – who was driving van – hid behind the police van parked nearby.

The men were transporting 30 bufallo calves from Deesha (North Gujarat), but during the journey, a group of six goons stopped Qureshi and stabbed him with knives and bantons.

Ahmedabad Deputy Commissioner, Himkar Singh said, “The six people, including two motorcycle-borne youths, attacked them around 12.30 am,”

In the meanwhile, Yogirajsinh Gohil, a member of an outfit called Lok Rashak Dal, filed a complaint against the two men alleging that they were carrying buffalo calves without essential documents.

“We have questioned some persons and finding out more details. We will soon arrest the attackers,” Mr Singh said.

 

Crown Prince didn’t order Khashoggi’s murder: US Experts deny unnamed CIA conclusions

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Crown Prince didn’t order Khashoggi’s murder: US Experts deny unnamed CIA conclusions

By Dalia Aqidi

When the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir announced that the kingdom was holding to account those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s death, the US State Department announced that the first charges made in the Saudi investigation were a “good first step” in the “right way.”

Also, the State Department on Saturday said the United States government has not made a final conclusion on who was involved in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“Recent reports indicating that the US government has made a final conclusion are inaccurate,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

And US President Donald Trump said Saturday, that United States will make final conclusions by early next week over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

“The Saudi point of view was very clear that its legal system would take care of the prosecution and punishment of Khashoggi’s killers,” Dr. Theodore Karasik, a senior advisor to the Gulf State Analytics in Washington told Al Arabiya English, emphasizing that the US Treasury’s sanctions against key individuals related to the Khashoggi case had been seen as a necessary and positive development to move this issue forward and stop both, the speculation and to stop what he described as “the info war.”

Karasik noted that the US decision was taken according to the Magnitsky Act, to address human rights abuses on a global scale. “Clearly, the treasury’s actions are a forward step in healing some of the political damage as a result of the Khashoggi’s case,” he reiterated.

Political Game

Would the international community be satisfied by Saudi Arabia’s action? American Media Institute CEO Richard Miniter had his doubts, “I am delighted that the killers will face justice and I doubt that even the terrible swift swords of the executioners will be dramatic enough to satisfy the American and European critics of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” Miniter told Al Arabiya English.

Riyadh was not the only party that accused the Qatari media of launching, and exploiting the case of Khashoggi, and continuing to run an organized campaign against Saudi Arabia, Hudson Institute Senior Follow Lee Smith had the same views.

The Saudi “first step” was positively received by several Washingtonian political circles that were saying, from the beginning of the case, it was politicized by several regional players including the previous US administrations, “Former Obama aides and other echo chamber associates went into action. To punish Saudi, they named specific policies. In particular, they argued that the administration should withdraw support for Riyadh’s war against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen,” Smith wrote in an op-ed published by the Tablet Magazine last month.

The Gulf State Analytics senior advisor noted that those who wished to continue using Khashoggi’s affair, would resume their attacks against Saudi Arabia as a whole and the Crown Prince in particular. Jubeir’s reassurances that the Saudi government was committed to hold those involved in Khashoggi’s death accountable for their actions, sent a clear message, Karasik said, adding: “The decision said that the Saudi legal system was trying to transform and mature under the 2030 Vision. All aspects of society are in transformation, sometimes it would be good and sometimes it would be bad. The kingdom’s forward progress and the lessons that had been learned were the most important points in this case.”

On Friday night, the Washington Post published new accusations against the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stating that a CIA anonymous source claimed that the Crown Prince had ordered the killing of Khashoggi, based on intercepted phone calls.

Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Khalid bin Salman who denied these allegations described the Washington Post’s claim as “a serious accusation that should not be left to anonymous sources.”

Karasik commented on this statement by saying: “Now in the wake of the CIA findings, the Saudi Ambassador immediately made it clear that there was another version of events by taking the WP to task for such sharp accusations by relying on anonymous sources.”

“Anonymous sources are the fool’s gold of journalism. No one believes that unnamed sources of reporters any more–even when those sources are real,” American Media Institute CEO Richard Minister told Al Arabiya English.

As soon as the allegations were published, a debate had resurfaced in Washington, questioning the legality of leaking classified information and its effect on the US national security.

This came as prominent DC attorney Mark S. Zaid stressed, in a tweet, that in all cases, leaking “classified information is a very serious issue.

“Khashoggi’s killers must be brought to justice and hopefully truth publicly disclosed but I have serious issues with classified leaks of signals intercepts, especially if by senior officials,” that could lead “to jail” according to him.

Article first published on Al Arabiya English.

Dalia Aqidi is a news analyst and TV anchor based in the United States and a contributor to Al Arabiya English. Her twitter handle is @Dalia30

Indian Government to demolish the ‘rape-house’ where 34 girls were gang-raped

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Indian Government to demolish the ‘rape-house’ where 34 girls were gang-raped

by Manoj Chaurasia

Authorities in eastern India have ordered for complete demolition of a three-storey building where at least 34 girls were gang-raped during their stay there.

The building which functions as the Child care home is located in Muzaffarpur district town of Bihar, some 80 km north of capital city of Patna. As many 70 girls were lodged in the child care home and their medical examination has now found that at least 34 of them were gang-raped by the care home officials or outsiders. The state-funded care home was being run by a non-governmental organization.

Officials say the entire building has been constructed in complete disregard of the building by-laws by its owner Brajesh Thakur, now shifted to a high-security jail outside Bihar for his alleged political connections on the directive of the Supreme Court now monitoring the sex abuse case. According to them, the state government had approved the map for construction of G+1 building but he constructed the G+3 building.

Main accused – Brajesh Thakur

“We have asked the care home owner to pull down the entire G+3 structure within a month failing which we will raze the building to the ground,” Muzaffarpur municipal commissioner Sanjay Dubey said. He added the department would also realize the expenditures incurred on pulling the structure down if the owner failed to comply with the corporation order.

‘Worse than prison’

The action comes after India’s top court during the recent hearing of the sex abuse case termed the care home as “worse than prison”. The 50-feet high building has no ventilation facility and it was especially designed to ensure no cry for help by victim girls is noticed by neighbours, reports said.

The alleged sexual abuse of girls was first highlighted in the audit report of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) submitted to the state government earlier this year. The TISS in its 100-page report had reportedly mentioned that “Institutions of all categories were found to be indulging in some form of abuse. Incidents of harassments, sexual abuse, corporal punishment, neglect and humiliation were reported rampantly”. Acting on the report, the police later rescued all the girls and sent them to hospital for medical examination. It was only then that the entire incident of their gang-rape came to light.

The TISS had been hired by the state government to conduct social audit of 110-odd shelter homes, child care homes and short stay homes in the state.

The TISS, a multi-campus public funded research university in Mumbai reported gross sexual abuse of inmates in at least 15 shelter homes running across the state. It especially raised questions over the prevailing state of affairs at short stay homes for both girls and boys running at Muzaffarpur, Patna, Munger, Gaya, Araria and Kaimur districts, reports said. “All of them were found to be running in violation of the respective schemes and the essence of the Juvenile Justice Act. The inmates’ right to life was in question in certain institutions,” the TISS said in its report.

Reports said the sexual abuse of innocent girls went unabated as its owned Thakur enjoyed political connections. Added to that, Thakur was also running as many as three newspapers in three different languages—Hindi, English and Urdu. It is said the newspapers were being used as a cover to hide “horror tales” of the care home. Media reports have said the papers were getting government advertisements to the tune of over Rs3 million per year by manipulating the circulation figures of his newspapers.

The case is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the observation of the Supreme Court which has taken the suo motu cognizance of the case. Incidentally, one of the accused in the case happens to be the husband of a former social welfare minister Manju Verma who herself is absconding since August.

During a police investigation it was found that the minister’s husband had frequently visited the care home located in Muzaffarpur and also talked to the main accused Thakur as many as 17th times between January and May this year. The sensational revelation came to light after the CBI analysed the call detail records of the main accused Thakur.

It was only after her husband’s name figured in the sex abuse controversy that the social welfare minister resigned from her post in August. Right now, she has gone into hiding after a local court issued non-bailable arrest warrant against her in an Arms Act case. Her husband is already in jail.

Article first published on Al Arabiya English.

Manoj Chaurasia is a senior journalist based at Patna, India.

City of Nizams to be India’s future Silicon Valley: BBC Claims

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City of Nizams to be India’s future Silicon Valley: BBC Claims

Hyderabad – A recent video documentary by BBC claimed that the city of Nizams – Hyderabad – has outdone Bangalore to become Silicon Valley of India.

BBC’s 2.13-minutes video documentary ‘A tale of two Indian tech cities‘, produced by Pamela Parker and Medhavi Arora, showed that startup companies have started choosing Hyderabad over Bangalore for variety of conducive reasons though Bangalore is popular for being the heart of India’s tech industry.

The documentary began with the narration, “Growing problems with congestion and infrastructure have pushed startups to look for new alternatives. Hyderabad is increasingly being named as the new city of choice, so how well does it rate against Bengaluru?”

It showed why StanPlus, a startup company running ambulances, chose Hyderabad over Bangalore, and the reason cited was ‘Bangalore has cumbersome transportation issue.’

Co-founder of StanPlus, Antoine Poirson said, “transportation is a big issue in Bengaluru, which removes some of the agile benefits of being a small competitor.”

“The ecosystem in Hyderabad is very vibrant and dynamic, while gridlocked traffic and inadequate infrastructure are affecting quality of life in Bangalore,” Poirson added.

Further, the documentary expounded about a global study that ranks Hyderabad three places over Bangalore in the list of world’s most influential cities in the future. In the meanwhile, Hyderabad has topped the list of best Indian cities three years in a row on the Quality of Living index, while Bengaluru was only third.

OPINION: The crafty media reports about “CIA conclusions” to drag MBS in Khashoggi’s murder

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OPINION: The crafty media reports about “CIA conclusions” to drag MBS in Khashoggi’s murder

by Zahack Tanvir

How can media accuse a stable government responsible for hosting millions of pilgrims across the globe based on the statements of “anonymous people” whose identity, truthfulness, integrity, and credibility is ambiguous?

America’s infamous WashingtonPost and other media units have published a brazenly dubious report on Friday stating “CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination” while the Saudi Public Prosecution on Thursday called for death penalty against the five Khashoggi killers – which slammed all the open doors against the conspiracy theorists.

However, media do not seem to end the smearing campaign against the Saudi Arabia’s dynamic Crown Prince who is stuck in the throat of the Iranian expansionism project and the ISIS war-lords.

If you keenly read the crafty report, it deliberately tries to push the narrative that Crown Prince himself ordered the murder of WashingtonPost’s Op-ed columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

They claimed that, Saudi Ambassador to US – Khalid bin Salman – called Khashoggi from US to Turkey to inform him to visit Saudi consulate to collect his marriage related documents.

Is it plausible to believe that an “Ambassador” calls all the way from US to Turkey to tell “your documents are ready sir, you can go and collect.” Isn’t it a hilarious claim?

However, if you check the source of this claim, the article mentions “according to people familiar with the matter”, “who spoke on the condition of anonymity”, these claims baffle any rational reader. Why does free press have to narrate reports based on conditional anonymity? Had any state-controlled media made such claims, it would be a justifiable case.

Later the article speculates, why would Khalid call without being instructed by the Crown Prince, hence Crown Prince was involved, “according to the people familiar with the call”.

How can media accuse a stable government responsible for hosting millions of pilgrims across the globe based on the statements of “anonymous people” whose identity, truthfulness, integrity, and credibility is ambiguous? Or is it a well-planned and enough-funded smearing campaign against Saudi Arabia to create chaos, the way chaos was created in other Arab lands?

The article also adds the refutation made by spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington – Fatimah Baeshan – “the ambassador and Khashoggi never discussed anything related to going to Turkey. The purported assessment is false. We have and continue to hear various theories without seeing the primary basis for these speculations.”

But the article outrightly ignored Khalid bin Salman’s clarification that he never persuaded Khashoggi to visit Saudi consulate in Turkey, and he spoke to him on 26 October 2017 last time.

On one hand Saudi Crown Prince is accused based on statements of ambiguous entities – “people familiar with the matter”, while the known and apparent entities have rejected the claims. Aren’t we supposed to accept apparent claims over the hidden and ambiguous claims?

It’s as clear as a day, the matter is being politicized in order to strain Saudi and American relations in order to create an international anti-Saudi opinion to hamper the ongoing liberation of Yemen by Saudi-led coalition forces to restore the legitimate Yemeni sovereignty.

Have we forgotten that the same media-trials caused Iraq’s destruction by claiming Weapons of Mass Destruction, but it turned out to be a century’s hoax.

Are we repeating the same pattern?

Zahack Tanvir is a regular blogger and holds diploma in Journalism from London School of Journalism. He tweets under @zahacktanvir.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect The Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.

Khashoggi’s funeral prayers to be held in grand mosques of Makkah and Madinah on Friday

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Khashoggi’s funeral prayers to be held in grand mosques of Makkah and Madinah on Friday

Jeddah – Saudi slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s absentia funeral prayers will be held in Prophet’s Mosque in Madina and Grand mosque of Makkah after Friday prayers.

Salah Khashoggi, son of Jamal Khashoggi, tweeted on Thursday about the absentia funeral prayers to be held, after Saudi public prosecution called for death penalty for five Saudis involved in his murder.

In an interview to CNN, the Khashoggi sons expressed their desire to bury their father’s body in Baqi cemetery in Madinah where majority of their deceased family members are buried, however his body could not be found.

Jamal Khashoggi went missing from Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018. Official investigations were started both by Turkish and Saudi authorities, while a full-blown media campaign was directed towards maligning Saudi Arabia.

However, Saudi Arabia’s swift and prompt investigations, revealed on Thursday, have done justice to the bereaved Khashoggi family.

JUSTICE: Saudi Arabia declares death penalty against five Khashoggi killers

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JUSTICE: Saudi Arabia declares death penalty against five Khashoggi killers

Riyadh – The autonomous Saudi Public Prosecution committee on Thursday called for death penalty against the five of the 11 people involved in the murder of the slain Saudi-journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Prosecution’s spokesperson fairly explained that a team of negotiators under General Intelligence Presidency (GIP) were sent to Turkey to coax Khashoggi to return home, as they feared Khashoggi would fall into variety of enemy intelligence networks operating in Turkey.

However, the team unofficially decided to kill Khashoggi if he declined to travel along. Later, they mutilated the body and handed it over to a Turkish contractor, and later sent concocted reports to GIP that Khashoggi walked out of the consulate due to failure of negotiations.

Total 21 people were arrested, out of which heavy charges are slapped against 11 of them, while five of them were the main culprits who initiated and plotted the crime.

The Saudi Public Prosecution also pointed out that after the coaxing failed due to a brawl between Khashoggi and the negotiation team, he was injected with a large amount of drugs leading to his death.

The statement of Saudi Public Prosecution won the national and international applause for  fairly and unequivocally providing the investigation details and passing verdicts against the accused who even hold top key positions.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Mahmoud, the Saudi Legal Advisor said, “after the statement of the Public Prosecution, Saudi Arabia has proved to the whole world that it is a state based on the law in all its procedures.”

The elaborated statements from the official Saudi sources have turned down all the media campaigns directed to malign the Saudi leadership. Media campaigns attempted hard to push the narrative of Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the murder, however fair and unbiased investigations have kept Saudi Arabia’s global image intact, hence ending the game forever.

FACTS: Who ordered and killed Khashoggi?

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FACTS: Who ordered and killed Khashoggi?

Through the investigation carried out up to date with the 21 suspects in the case of the murder of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi, the investigation has resulted in the following findings:

1. The incident began on 29/9/2018 upon the issuance of an order to bring back the victim by means of persuasion, and if persuasion fails, to do so by force. The former Deputy President of the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP) issued this order to the leader of the mission.

2. The leader of the mission formed a 15-member team that consisted of three groups (negotiations/ intelligence/ logistics) to persuade and return the victim. The leader of the mission suggested to the former Deputy President of the GIP to assign a former colleague to head the negotiation group in the team because of his previous relationship with the victim. This former colleague was assigned at the time to work with a former Advisor.

3. The former Deputy President of the GIP contacted the former advisor to request assignment of the individual with whom the victim had a previous relationship. The former advisor agreed to this request and asked to meet the leader of the mission.

4. The former advisor met with the leader of the mission and the negotiation team; to share with them information relevant to the mission based on his specialization in media. The former advisor expressed his belief that the victim was coopted by organizations and states hostile to the Kingdom and that the victim’s presence outside of Saudi Arabia represents a threat to national security and he encouraged the team to persuade the victim to return, noting that his return represents a significant achievement of the mission.

5. The leader of the mission contacted a forensics expert to join the team for the purpose of removing evidence from the scene in the case force had to be used to return the victim. The forensics expert joined the team without the knowledge of his superiors.

6. The leader of the mission contacted a collaborator in Turkey to secure a safe location in case force had to be used to return the victim.

7. After surveying the Consulate, the head of the negotiation team concluded that it would not be possible to transfer the victim by force to the safe location, in case the negotiations with him to return failed. The head of the negotiation team decided to murder the victim if the negotiations failed. The investigation concluded that the incident resulted in murder.

8. The investigation concluded that the crime was carried out after a physical altercation with the victim where he was forcibly restrained and injected with a large amount of a drug resulting in an overdose that led to his death, May Allah bless his soul.

9. The investigation has identified those that ordered and carried out the murder, totaling (5) individuals that have confessed to the murder.

10. After the murder the victim’s body was dismembered by the individuals that have committed the murder and was transferred outside the consulate building.

11. The investigation concluded that the body was removed from the Consulate building by (5) individuals.

12. The individual who delivered the body to the collaborator has been identified.

13. Based upon the description provided by the individual who delivered the body to the collaborator, a composite sketch of the collaborator has been produced.

14. The investigation identified the individual who wore the victim’s clothesafter the murder and disposed of the victim’s belongings in a trash receptacle, including his watch and glasses, after leaving the Consulate building. In addition, the investigation identified the individual that accompanied him.

15. The investigation established that the surveillance cameras in the Consulate were disabled, and the investigation identified the individual responsible for doing so.

16. The investigation found that (4) suspects provided the logistical support to those who carried out the crime.

17. The investigation concluded that the leader of the mission agreed with the negotiation group and their head (that made the decision to murder the victim and carried out the crime) to write a false report to the former Deputy President of GIP that stated that the victim had left the Consulate building after the failure of negotiating or forcing his return.

Article first published on Al Arabiya English.

DIABETES: Rice is worst than Sugary drinks

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DIABETES: Rice is worst than Sugary drinks

by Salma Khalik

The health authorities have identified one of their top concerns as they wage war on diabetes: white rice. It is even more potent than sweet soda drinks in causing the disease.

Sharing his battle plan to reduce the risk of diabetes, Health Promotion Board chief executive Zee Yoong Kang said that obesity and sugary drinks are the major causes of the condition in the West.

But Asians are more predisposed to diabetes than Caucasians, so people do not have to be obese to be at risk. Starchy white rice can overload their bodies with blood sugar and heighten their risk of diabetes.

Mr Zee is armed with data. A meta- analysis of four major studies, involving more than 350,000 people followed for four to 20 years, by the Harvard School of Public Health – published in the British Medical Journal – threw up some sobering findings.

One, it showed each plate of white rice eaten in a day – on a regular basis – raises the risk of diabetes by 11 per cent in the overall population.

 

Two, it showed that while Asians, like the Chinese, had four servings a day of cooked rice, Americans and Australians ate just five a week.

But Mr Zee does not plan to ask Singaporeans to stop eating rice, a popular feature of meals here. What he would like is to see more people turn to healthier varieties.

Long grain white rice is also better than short grain when it comes to how it spikes blood sugar – a rise in sugar levels causes the pancreas to produce more insulin, and frequent spikes can lead to diabetes.

He would also like people to try adding 20 per cent of brown rice to their white rice. This amount is enough to reduce their risk of diabetes by 16 per cent.”There is no need to fully replace what they now eat. Just increase the quantity of whole grain and brown rice.”

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said last month that this disease is already costing the country more than $1 billion a year. Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputations in Singapore.

Dr Stanley Liew, a diabetes expert at Raffles Hospital, advised people to eat less rice. He added that most junk food and sodas are just as bad and should be discouraged.

Article first published on Singapore-based Straitstimes.

Salma Khalik is senior health correspondent for Straitstimes with three decades of jounalism experience.

Complete Christian village converts to Islam in Philippines after discussing Jesus’ status in Koran

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Complete Christian village converts to Islam in Philippines after discussing Jesus’ status in Koran

Cebu – All the inhabitants of Bantayan island of Cebu – Philippines converted to Islam on Sunday after a UK-based Islamic organization approached them and explained the status of Jesus in the Koran.

Abu Bakr, a local Muslim convert who runs a mosque called ‘Medina Masjid’ in Christian-dominated Bantayan Island in the central Philippines province of Cebu, invited the UK-based Islamic Educational organization to conduct orientation lectures and social welfare activities in the area.

The team prepared dry food packs at the mosque to distribute among the poor that day. After they approached the village, they conducted a dialog with the locals about the status of Jesus in the Islamic scriptures.

They also explained how Prophet of Islam – Mohammed – made it an incumbent article of faith to believe in Jesus and his mother Mary, but Islam condemns worshipping of idols, crosses, stones, trees, humans, spirits, angels, and the Prophets.

According to the locals, the call appealed the rationality of the villagers, eventually they decided to adopt Islam.

“It was an emotional charged moment as the whole village accepted Islam together as one united community,” one of the volunteers said.

According to International Religious Freedom Report for 2014, Islam is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the Philippines. Muslim traders from Persian Gulf, Southern India, and from several sultanates of Malay Archipelago arrived in Philippines in 13th century, around 200 years before Christian forces arrived to evangelize.

Muslims make up to eight per cent of Filipino population, which makes Islam second largest religion in the country.

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