Headline News 14/07/2017

Headlines

• UK: Muslim Man Stopped and Searched on Way to Mosque for Wearing too many Clothes

• Trump’s Son-in-Law tried to Get $500m Loan from Qatar

• Once a US Ally, Pakistan Now Looks to China, Russia

Details

UK: Muslim Man Stopped and Searched on Way to Mosque for ‘wearing too many Clothes’

A Muslim man was subjected to a stop and search by police officers because they thought he was wearing too many clothes as he walked to Friday prayers. Muhammad Chamoune was heading to London's Regent’s Park Mosque when he was pulled over by officers from the capital's Metropolitan Police. Video footage of the incident shows Mr Chamoune standing handcuffed as officer question and search him. A woman, reportedly an off-duty officer, can also be seen.

She is thought to have alerted the force because she was concerned at the number of layers the man was wearing. The officers put on plastic gloves before they start to search him, going through his pockets and taking out his belongings. The man filming the incident can be heard saying: “He’s going to the mosque. He’s got nothing on him I can vouch for him.”

Two other officers arrive and take Mr Chamoune’s name and he remains quiet and patient as he continues to be searched. Six minutes later, he is released. The film of the incident, which has been shared more than 18,000 times and had more than five million views, has been branded “unlawful” and “unreasonable” by members of the public. It is said to have “caused major concern for Muslims across the UK”. One Twitter wrote: “Walking while being Muslim — that was what the issue was”. Another wrote: “So just because he is Muslim, has a beard and wears a few layers is reasonable grounds to stop and search?” The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), which governs police powers to stop and search, outlines that the police must have “reasonable grounds for suspicion” prior to being able to use stop and search powers (PACE Code A 2.2). It states that a person’s physical appearance cannot be used to support "reasonable suspicion" unless “the police have information or intelligence which provides a description of a person suspected of carrying an article for which there is a power to stop and search.” But the Metropolitan Police said the officers responded “quickly and appropriately” to the situation, saying the man was “deemed to be acting suspiciously in the vicinity of a mosque”. Charity the Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) said in a statement the footage had been a "major" cause for concern for Muslims across Britain, but urged caution in formulating premature judgements regarding the police action. [Source: The Independent].

All the civil liberties that the UK takes pride in no longer apply to the Muslim community. The blood, dignity, honour, money, property and the Islamic Deen is under attack by UK society.

Trump’s Son-in-Law tried to Get $500mn Loan from Qatar

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has “tried and failed” to get a $500 million loan from a key member of the Qatari royal family before pushing the president to toe hard line against the Persian Gulf nation, reports say. Kushner – a real-estate developer like his father-in-law – purchased a tower at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York for $1.8 billion some years ago, but the building failed to generate enough money to cover its debts, according to The New York Times. More than a quarter of the office space in the building has remained vacant for several years, causing huge losses to Kushner Companies. In 2015, when Trump was launching his presidential campaign, Kushner and his father targeted Qatari billionaire Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani (HBJ) as a potential investor to save the property. Al-Thani, who was the prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, finally agreed to invest $500 million in the property, according to The Intercept, on the condition that Kushner Companies generate the rest of the money for the project on its own. In March this year, Kushner Companies reached out to Chinese insurance company Anbang for help.

The company agreed to provide a $4 billion loan to develop the property. But weeks later, the company pulled out. Al-Thani killed the deal as Kushner Companies could not secure the rest of the money.

Shortly after that, America’s regional allies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt, severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Trump, who earlier visited Saudi Arabia, suggested he was behind the punishing moves against Qatar. Kushner also negotiated a massive weapons deal between Saudi Arabia and American weapons manufacture Lockheed Martin, which was signed during Trump’s visit to the kingdom in May. [Source: Press TV].

It is interesting to see the British media coming out in defence of Qatar and exposing Trump’s policy towards the sheikhdom. It is impossible to imagine Qatar with an indigenous population of 200,000 standing tough without a strong power behind it. The Al Thani family has been in bed with the British for more than 150 years, and this explains why Britain is keen to protect the Al Thani family.

Once a US Ally, Pakistan Now Looks to China, Russia

Once a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, Pakistan finds itself increasingly isolated from Washington amid allegations that it harbors more than a dozen terrorist groups. Instead, it has been steadily cozying up to China and Russia. Both of America’s primary rivals have been taking advantage of Pakistan’s paranoia about India, and gaps in Washington’s global influence as President Donald Trump continues to form his foreign policy in the strategic region. Pakistan’s relations with three of its four neighbors — Afghanistan, India and Iran — are at a low point. And instead of trying to rein in extremism, the government appears to be feeding the growing conservative movement with no sign of backing off a controversial blasphemy law that has led to repeated mob violence. Experts say 13 of the approximately 60 U.S.-designated global terrorist organizations are based in Pakistan, mostly in the tribal region that borders Afghanistan.

Major militant groups include the Pakistani Taliban and the Haqqani Network, along with Laskar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Jundullah. And despite denials that Islamic State has a presence in the country, the terror group has claimed responsibility for recent attacks there. Two U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation last September to designate Pakistan a terror state over its inability to curb homegrown militancy and the threat it poses to its neighbors. Republicans Ted Poe and Dana Rohrabacher accused Pakistan of harboring global terrorist leaders and supporting terror groups, including the Haqqani Network, which targets Afghan and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. ated as a state that is sponsoring terrorism. "The Haqqani Network, which is an ally of al-Qaida and Taliban extremists, has operated as Pakistan's proxy," Khalilzad told VOA recently. "If Pakistan refuses to move against the Haqqani Network sanctuaries, the U.S. should consider actions against the sanctuaries, including striking them." Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States in 2008-11 and now director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington, has advice for Trump. "... for Pakistan, the alliance has been more about securing weapons, economic aid and diplomatic support in its confrontation with India,” Haqqani wrote recently in an op-ed column in The New York Times. “The Bush administration gave Pakistan $12.4 billion in aid, and the Obama administration forked over $21 billion.

These incentives did not make Pakistan more amenable to cutting off support for the Afghan Taliban. ... Mr. Trump must now consider alternatives,” Haqqani wrote. While President Trump has yet to come up with a policy to deal with Pakistan’s worsening quagmire, China has stepped in as part of what appears to be a concerted effort to expand its sphere of influence. It currently is involved in a major mutually beneficial project to build a network of roads and other infrastructure from its territory to Pakistan’s Gwadar port in order to provide a shorter route to the Persian Gulf. Russia, too, has been making diplomatic overtures and recently participated in joint naval exercises off Pakistan. [Source: VOA]

Every few years the US government reviews its policy towards Pakistan, and negative articles in the US media criticizing Pakistan usually accompany this. At the heart of the issue for the US is its occupation of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s role in protecting militants. The US has never ever been serious about supporting Kabul whole-heartedly or eradicating militants. It needs both groups to justify US intervention in the region. Hence, it is unlikely that the Trump administration will change this strategy, and Pakistan will move into the orbit of Russia and China.