[Nasheman news] Washington US President Donald Trump’s administration said that it intends to implement a ban on transgender people serving in the military after a federal court struck down the last injunction against the policy.

Friday’s announcement comes a day after US District Judge George Russell III said he was striking down the last of four injunctions against the transgender service member ban, reports The Hill magazine.

Russell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who serves on the US District Court for the District of Maryland, cited in his ruling the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in January to stay two of the injunctions.

Obama declared in 2016 that transgender service members would be allowed to serve openly, but Trump announced a reversal to that policy in 2017, saying that transgender troops would be prohibited from serving “in any capacity” .

Four lawsuits were filed against the policy, and lower courts in all four cases issued injunctions to the rule as the cases made their way through various courts. 

Former Defence Secretary James Mattis laid out a policy in March 2018 that would allow transgender people to serve if they do so “in their biological sex”.

Advocacy groups have repeatedly slammed the policy as discriminatory against transgender people who simply seek to serve their country. 

Pakistan on Thursday claimed that it has taken control of 182 seminaries and detained more than 100 people in a crackdown on banned terrorist organisations.

“Law enforcement agencies have taken 121 people under preventive detention as of today,” the ministry said in a statement,” the interior ministry said in a statement. 

The religious schools, hospitals and ambulances of the terror outfits were also placed under the control of the Pakistan government.

Islamabad’s move comes amid growing international pressure in the wake of a bombing in Pulwama by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group based in Pakistan.

New Delhi on Tuesday expressed skepticism over reports that Pakistan was cracking down on terrorist outfits and that Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s brother Mufti Abdul Rauf was among 44 members of banned outfits who were taken into ‘preventive detention.’

A day after promulgating a law which apparently allowed the government to take over all assets of banned outfits operating in the country, the Pakistan government said, “It was decided to speed up action against all proscribed organisations, and in compliance, 44 under-observation members of proscribed organisations, including Mufti Abdul Rauf and Hammad Azhar, have been taken in preventive detention for investigation.”

Minister of State for the Interior Sheryar Khan Afridi was quoted as saying that the names of Mufti Abdul Rauf and Hammad Azhar were mentioned in a dossier shared by India last week.

However, describing Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s repeated claims that Pakistan would not allow terrorists to operate from its soil as “old wine in a new bottle,” Indian sources said, “These are words we have heard several times. We have exactly the same statement by President Pervez Musharraf in January 2004. Our effort now will be to see demonstrable action. Pakistan is trying to divert attention from our concern over terrorism to their concern over a so-called threat from India.”

A source further warned that “all options were on the table” in case of another terrorist attack.

“If there is a naya Pakistan with a naya soch, we expect to see action on the ground. There is still a discrepancy between what they are saying and doing. Mere statements from various sources saying that the Pakistan army has done its bit and that the civilian government has not is not enough,” the source added.

For instance, “there was the strange phenomenon yesterday of the Pakistan ambassador to the US, while talking at the Institute for Peace,  claiming that there is no organized terror group in Pakistan. This is at variance with their own listings, starting with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and going down, of terror groups in Pakistan.”

“While we are being told that hard action is being taken against the JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, all that has been done is that they are only on the watchlist. The objective of the Pakistan government is to pretend to the international community that it is taking steps,” the source said.

The source contended that “Pakistan is trying to deflect attention by issuing various statements suggesting that India still continues to threaten Pakistan militarily.” 

Agencies

[Nasheman news] New Delhi The UKs National Security Advisor (NSA) Mark Sedwill spoke to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Thursday and expressed solidarity with India in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

Sources said Sedwill conveyed that all assistance will be extended to India bilaterally in dealing with any form of terrorism through counter-terrorism cooperation, intelligence sharing and by bringing the perpetrators of terrorist attacks to justice.

Earlier in the week, US NSA John Bolton had spoken to Doval over the prevailing situation between India and Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama attack and the retaliatory Indian air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan.

Nasheman News : Downplaying the likely effects of the US withdrawal of benefits for Indian exports under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan has said the decision will not have any major impact on overall Indian exports to the US as the concessions availed under the scheme were “minimal”.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Wadhawan said: “Total GSP benefits availed by India under the GSP programme were to the tune of $190 million on a trade $5.6 billion. So, the benefits both in an absolute sense, and as a percentage of the trade involved, are very minimal and moderate.”

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he was ending India’s trade concessions under the GSP programme accusing New Delhi of not providing Washington “equitable and reasonable access” to its markets.

Trump, who is on a mission to expand market access abroad and end US trade deficits, made the announcement in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence in his capacity as the Senate President.

The US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) said that the preferences will end in 60 days after the notification to the Congress and the Indian government.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sources said the government will continue to talk to the US during the 60-day period. They said that efforts were being made to find a reasonable package and said the problem was not systemic.

Noting that there were a number of areas where India was willing to show flexibility, they said that it did not meet the US requirement.

There were genuine cultural concerns such as in case of dairy products, they said, adding that it was second year when US imports have grown.

The Commerce Secretary also said the US went ahead with the withdrawal of benefits despite the Indian government working out on an “extensive, reasonable, meaningful package which covered almost all the US concerns”.

“Of course there were some additional requests beyond that, which could not be accepted at this time,” he said.

The body of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was likely burned in a large oven at the Saudi consulate general’s residence in Istanbul, an Al Jazeera investigation revealed.

New details of the writer’s murder by a Saudi assassination team were reported in a documentary by media that aired on Sunday night.

Turkish authorities monitored the burning of the outdoor furnace as bags believed to be carrying Khashoggi’s body parts were transferred to the Saudi consul’s house after he was killed inside the consulate a few hundred metres away.

Media interviewed a worker who constructed the furnace who stated it was built according to specifications from the Saudi consul. It had to be deep and withstand temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius – hot enough to melt metal.

Bags of meat were also cooked in the oven after the killing in order to cover up the cremation of the Saudi writer’s body, authorities reported. 

Turkish investigators also found traces of Khashoggi’s blood on the walls of the Saudi consul’s office after removing paint that the assassination team applied after killing the Washington Post columnist on October 2, 2018.

The documentary was based on interviews with security officials, politicians, and some of Khashoggi’s Turkish friends.

‘Rogue elements’

A critic of Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Khashoggi entered the consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork so he could marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.

Riyadh initially insisted Khashoggi had left the consulate alive before changing its account and admitting the journalist was killed in an operation it said was undertaken by “rogue elements”.

A CIA report said MBS likely ordered Khashoggi’s killing – an allegation Saudi Arabia denies.

Eleven suspects have been indicted for Khashoggi’s murder in Saudi Arabia, which has insisted it would handle the case and refused their extradition to Turkey.

United Nation’s special rapporteur Agnes Callamard, who is leading an international inquiry into the murder, called it “a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia”.

The international investigation started in late January and an official report is due in June.

Aljazeera

Foreign minister accuses Myanmar of ‘hollow promises’ over 700,000 Rohingya living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.7 hours ago

Bangladesh has told the United Nations Security Council it cannot take any more refugees from Myanmar, some 18 months after more than 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border amid a brutal military crackdown.

Attacks on security posts by Rohingya fighters in Myanmar’s Rakhine state triggered the violence that the UN, the United States, Britain and others describe as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusations.

“I regret to inform the council that Bangladeshwould no longer be in a position to accommodate more people from Myanmar,” Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told the UN on Thursday.

Haque accused Myanmar of “hollow promises and various obstructionist approaches” during negotiations on returns.

“Not a single Rohingya has volunteered to return to Rakhine due to the absence of [a] conducive environment there,” Haque said.

Myanmar says it has been ready to accept returning refugees since January, but the Rohingya say they want guarantees over their safety and to be recognised as citizens before they go back to Rakhine.

The UN says conditions are not yet right for their return. The Western powers on the council on Thursday lamented the lack of action from Myanmar’s government.

‘Very disappointed’

“We’re very disappointed … that there hasn’t been more progress on getting the refugees back and that obviously includes creating the conditions where the refugees feel able to go back,” Karen Pierce, Britain’s UN Ambassador, told the council.

Several council members stressed the return of refugees needed to be safe, voluntary, dignified and secure, and pushed for the Myanmar government to allow the UN widespread and unconditional access to Rakhine.

UN envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner-Burgener told the council that the UN access was currently “insufficient”.

“The scale of what has been done to the Rohingya Muslims and the allegations of crimes against humanity really mark this out as one of the most terrible events of this century so far,” she said.

The 15-member UNSC has been split over how to deal with the crisis, with Western powers pitted against Russia and China, an ally of Myanmar.

China’s Deputy UN Ambassador Wu Haitao said it was mainly an issue between Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh “and as such it is up to the two countries to work out a solution”.

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy agreed.

In December, Britain circulated a draft resolution to council members that diplomats said aims to put a timeline on Myanmar allowing the return of refugees and addressing accountability, but China and Russia have boycotted talks on the draft.

Deputy US Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said: “The international community cannot ignore the world’s largest refugee camp.”

Aljazeera

Nasheman News :  Pakistan former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday petitioned the Supreme Court against a decision by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejecting him bail in a corruption case.

Sharif was on December 24 sentenced to seven years in prison by an anti-corruption court in Al-Azizia Steel Mills case for owning a steel factory abroad without disclosing its ownership. 

On February 25, the IHC dismissed the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader’s plea seeking bail and suspension of his sentence on medical grounds. 

A petition filed by Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris on Friday sought that the IHC decision be declared null and void.

The anti-corruption court judge had last year imposed hefty fines on Sharif after ruling that Al-Azizia Steel Mills — a Saudi Arabian firm carrying the name of his son — belonged to the three-time Premier and that he was unable to demonstrate how the project was funded.

Nasheman News : The US is offering a $1 million reward for information on the whereabouts of Hamza bin Laden, the son of slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who is emerging as a leader in the terror group’s network, the State Department has announced.

The reward was announced by Sales and State Department Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Michael T. Evanoff on Thursday.

“He has released audio and video messages on the Internet, calling on his followers to launch attacks against the US and its Western allies, and he has threatened attacks against the US in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by US military forces,” CNN quoted the Department as saying on Thursday.

It said that when Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011, items seized from his hiding place indicated that he was grooming Hamza bin Laden to replace him as the leader of Al Qaeda.

Hamza bin Laden is married to the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker in the September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the State Department said.

As American officials hunt him down, UN member states are required to freeze Hamza bin Laden’s assets and comply with a travel ban and arms embargo, according to the State Department bureau of counter-terrorism.

US officials estimate Hamza bin Laden is aged between 30 and 33 years.

NashemanNews : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has postponed his trip to Japan due to the “sensitive situation in the region” following the February 14 attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF troopers, his office announced on Monday.

According to a Foreign Office statement, Qureshi in a telephone call with his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on Saturday explained that it was “imperative” that he remains in Pakistan due to the “extremely grave” situation which emerged in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, reports Dawn news.

The Pulwama attack has been claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit.

The Minister told Kono that he wrote to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to help stabilise the security situation.

He also requested his Japanese counterpart to brief Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the situation due to which the tour had to be postponed, the statement said.

Meanwhile, both foreign ministers have agreed to set a new date for Qureshi’s tour, it added.

Nasheman News : India and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday strongly condemned the terror attack on Indian forces in Pulwama, called upon countries to renounce use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy and underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the United Nations.

The remarks on the UN sanctions regime during discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman comes two days after the joint statement issued during visit of the Saudi Arabian leader to Pakistan which had “underlined the need for avoiding politicisation of UN listing regime”.

Briefing the media following delegation-level talks between Modi and Salman here, Secretary (Economic Relations) T.S. Tirumurti said they expressed strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

India is keen to get Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations. JeM has cliamed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel. 

Asked how the remarks of the two leaders squared up with Saudi-Pakistan joint statement, Tirumurti said he did now want to comment on it, but “if you are really looking at politicisation, you know who is politicising it”. 

Tirumurti said the two leaders called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries, dismantle terrorist infrastructure, cut off any kind of support and financing to terrorists from all territories against other states and bring the perpetrators of terrorism to justice.

“The two leaders condemned in the strongest terms the recent terrorist attack on Indian forces in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. Both leaders called upon all countries to renounce use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. They called on states to deny access to weapons to commit terrorist acts against other countries. 

“Both leaders underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the United Nations. They called for concerted action by the international community against terrorism and early adoption of the UN comprehensive convention on international terrorism,” he said. 

Answering a query, he said the complicity of Pakistan in Pulwama attack was very much underlined. 

The official also said both sides agreed to set up a Strategic Partnership Council and Saudi Arabia will invest $ 100 billion in India in a range of areas. He said the two leaders agreed to constitute a comprehensive security dialogue at the level of NSAs. 

He said that Prince Mohammed appreciated “consistent efforts” by Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister’s personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan”. 

“In this context both sides agreed on the creation of conditions necessary for resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan,” he said.

He also said that no mediation was offered by the Saudi authorities.

Tirumurti said that the Crown Prince highlighted extremism and terrorism as matters of common concern and expressed his determination to cooperate with India to fight this menace particularly through strong intelligence partnership.

“To enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism efforts and benefit mutually in real-time intelligence sharing, the two leaders agreed to constitute a comprehensive security dialogue at the level of National Security Advisors and set up a joint working group on counter-terrorism.

On the defence front, they agreed to hold the first naval exercises at the earliest and expand defence relations in other areas like defence exercises, joint production, supply chain development,” he said. 

Tirumurti said the meeting was held in “an atmosphere of great warmth and friendship testifying to the close rapport between the two leaders”. 

He said the visiting leader conveyed his appreciation of the Indian model which signifies the ethos of inclusiveness, pluralism and tolerance. 

“Both sides agreed to set up a Strategic Partnership Council which will be guided by Prime Minister and the Crown Prince and will have ministerial representation covering all aspects of bilateral relations. This is an extremely important development in line with desire of Saudi Arabia to deepen partnership with eight strategic partners one of which is India.”

He said Modi welcomed the announcement of Crown Prince to invest $ 100 billion in India in a range of areas like energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing. 

“This is a clear reflection of confidence of Saudi Arabia in the vibrancy of Indian economy,” he said adding there was talk of realising untapped potential in trade particularly non-oil trade.

He said they expressed satisfaction at first joint venture in energy of a refinery and petrochemical project estimated at $ 44 billion and the prime minister welcomed Saudi Arabia’s participation in India’s strategic petroleum reserves.

Tirumurti said the two leaders agreed to increase the frequency of of direct flights of carriers India and Saudi Arabia by 3,84,000 seats per annum which will give a huge boost to tourism as well as large Indian community.

He said at India’s request, Saudi Arabia decided to increase haj quota from India to two lakhs. India, he said, has also decided to extend e-visa facilities to Saudi nationals. 

Tirumurti said Saudi Arabia also agreed to resolve issues related to Indian workers who are currently stranded in SA due to closure of one foreign country. 

The two leaders agreed to enhance maritime security in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean Region and agreed to cooperate along with other Indian Ocean rim countries in serving as the net security provider for IOR.

In a veiled reference to China’s ‘One Belt, One Road project’ which also includes China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Triumurti said both sides agreed that regional connectivity projects should be based on univsersally recognised international norms including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. 

The two leaders expressed serious concern over cyber terrorism and misuse of cyber space and said they will also work together to address the problems and issues of fugitive economic offenders. 

Answering queries, Tirumurti said Afghan situation was not discussed, but there was a discussion on areas relating to Middle East, Syria, Palestine.

Answering a query, he said the two sides agreed for comprehensive sanctioning of not only terrorists but terrorist organisations by the UN.