بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Headline News 21/12/2019
Headlines:
US Impeachment is Political Manoeuvre and Not a Legal Response to his Crimes
Pakistan PM Imran Khan Defends FDictator Musharraf against CJudgement
Saudi Opposition to Malaysian Summit Exposes Disunity in the Muslim Ummah
Details:
US Impeachment is Political Manoeuvre and Not a Legal Response to his Crimes
Despite being impeached this week, it is unlikely that US President Donald Trump will be removed from office. Impeachment was carried out by the lower house of America’s Congress, which is presently dominated by the Democratic Party; but only the US Senate can remove Trump, and that is controlled by Trump’s Republican Party. However, the real reason that the Democrats moved for impeachment can be seen in its timing, coming at the beginning of the 2020 presidential elections. According to an opinion piece in the New York Times:
President Trump’s almost inevitable acquittal doesn’t mean impeachment wasn’t worthwhile.
Trump, and Trump alone, will be the central issue of the coming election — the core concern for most voters. He’s the reason pollsters are predicting high turnout; he’s the reason voters on both sides are deeply engaged and ready to take action. In that environment, impeachment is the loudest, clearest message Democrats could send to the electorate. They don’t just oppose him because he is a Republican and a conservative; they oppose him because he is unfit. They oppose him because he is a threat to the values and aspirations of the Republic.
Yes, this has been a partisan impeachment. But that’s the norm. Democrats weren’t eager to impeach Andrew Johnson; Republicans drove the case against Bill Clinton. By making this case now — by sanctioning Trump in the strongest, most consequential manner available to them — congressional Democrats have set the terms for the next election…
Western systems of government, despite their loud claims of ‘checks and balances’ actually give immunity to their rulers from criminal prosecution by the courts. In fact the idea of checks and balances is designed to enforce elite capture of the ruling apparatus, which is what democracy is really all about. No one within the system is able to act unilaterally. This is in contrast to Islam, where the Khalifah is entrusted with complete authority but is subject to a court of law just as with any other citizen of the state.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan Defends Former Dictator Musharraf against Court Judgement
This week, a specially constituted Pakistani court sentenced to death former General Pervez Musharraf for acting against the constitution in imposing martial law but the judgement is being opposed by the government of Imran Khan, who is commonly seen as a stooge for Musharraf and of the army. According to Aljazeera:
The government of Pakistan will be filing a complaint against a senior judge who, heading the bench that convicted former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for high treason, called for the former president's corpse to be displayed outside Parliament.
Judge Waqar Ahmed Seth, in personal observations recorded in a detailed verdict that was released on Thursday, said the former president should be apprehended and hanged by authorities as soon as possible.
"And if [Musharraf is] found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk [in front of Pakistan's parliament building], Islamabad, Pakistan, and be hanged for three days," read the observation.
A special court convicted and sentenced Musharraf to death on Tuesday, an unprecedented verdict in a country that has been ruled by its powerful military for roughly half of its 72-year history.
Musharraf has lived in self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2016 and says he will appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court.
In a video message released from a hospital bed in Dubai on Thursday, Musharraf said he "respects the judiciary greatly", but repeated his accusations that the court did not give him a fair trial.
"This case is only being pursued because some people have a personal vendetta against me, to target an individual," he said.
Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the capital Islamabad after the verdict, a military spokesperson said.
Following that meeting, the government announced it would be filing a reference against the judge, who is also the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, for his observations. Federal Minister of Law and Justice Farogh Naseem termed the verdict "unprecedented and despicable".
"This is an attempt to take Pakistan into dark ages," he said.
Earlier, military spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor addressed a news conference at army headquarters in Rawalpindi, alleging that the verdict was part of a conspiracy to destabilise Pakistan.
"Today's verdict, and especially the use of [certain] words in it are against humanity, religion, culture and values," he said.
In fact, overturning Pakistan’s constitution is the least of Musharraf’s crimes, a constitution that is in any case built on British law and not acceptable from the Islamic viewpoint. It was General Musharraf that opened Afghanistan to American invasion, which initiated a new age of Western imperialism with the return of their militaries to Muslim lands. His true crime was treachery against the Muslim Ummah in the service of the disbelieving foreigner. Allah (swt) says in the Noble Qur’an:
[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى أَوْلِيَاء بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاء بَعْضٍ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ]
“O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.” [al-Maida: 51].
Saudi Opposition to Malaysian Summit Exposes Disunity in the Muslim Ummah
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly accused the Saudis of preventing Pakistan’s attendance at a summit of select Muslim countries hosted by Malaysia due to a Saudi perception that the Malaysian move is an attempt to find an alternate to the Saudi-dominated OIC. According to Middle East Eye:
Turkey's president has said he is unsurprised about reports that Saudi Arabia pressured Pakistan not to attend a summit for Muslim leaders in Malaysia this week, adding it was not the first time that Riyadh had threatened Islamabad.
Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had cancelled the visit after being summoned to Saudi Arabia for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Leaders and senior representatives from some 20 Muslim nations have gathered in Kuala Lumpur this week to discuss issues agitating Muslims globally.
Explaining its decision to stay away, Saudi Arabia said the summit was the wrong forum for matters of importance to the world's 1.75 billion Muslims.
However, some analysts suspect the kingdom feared being diplomatically isolated by regional rivals Iran, Qatar and Turkey, who are attending.
Speaking to reporters in the Malaysian capital on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "This isn't the first time that the Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi administrations have taken such an attitude.
"Unfortunately, we observe that Saudi Arabia is putting pressure on Pakistan. See, there are [Saudi] promises to Pakistan regarding its central bank."
As MEE reported last year, the Pakistani government was in a dire financial position before securing a $6bn bailout from Saudi Arabia.
“We were facing really hard times,” Khan admitted at that time.
"Beyond everything else, there are four million Pakistan workers in Saudi Arabia," said Erdogan.
"They [Saudi Arabia] tell them that 'we can send them back, and instead take Bangladeshis'.
"On the other hand, regarding the central bank, they tell [Pakistan] that they could withdraw their money. And following similar threats, Pakistan, which is facing harsh economic conditions, found itself in a position to take such [a decision not to attend the summit]."
Khan is thought to have been among the original leaders who suggested that the Kuala Lumpur summit take place, during talks with Erdogan and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The Pakistani prime minister is reported to have telephoned Mahathir to inform him of his decision not to attend.
The Kuala Lumpur summit describes itself as "an international platform for Muslim leaders, intellectuals and scholars from around the world to discuss and exchange ideas about the issues revolving in the Muslim world".
Saudi Arabia is understood to have been concerned that moves might have begun at the Malaysia summit to form a new body to replace the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which is headquartered in Jeddah.
Mahathir, at 94 the world's oldest prime minister, has denied those accusations.
"But thank God that [Saudi Arabia and the UAE] can't knock on our door much. It is all about your posture," said Erdogan.
In fact Muslim governments are deeply infiltrated and controlled by Western powers, and it is their divisions that are causing divisions between Muslim countries. With the consolidation of American control over Saudi through Salman ibn Abdul Aziz, it seems that their European rivals, in particular Britain, are keen to reduce Saudi influence within the Muslim world by building an alternate axis. Countries such as Malaysia, Qatar and Turkey have historic frictions with the Saudi state.
The disunity in the Ummah cannot be solved until Muslims re-establish the righteous Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State on the method of the Prophet (saw) that will unite all Muslim lands under a single general leadership for the Ummah. According to a hadeeth of the Noble Prophet (saw) reported by Muslim:
«وَمَنْ بَايَعَ إِمَامًا فَأَعْطَاهُ صَفْقَةَ يَدِهِ وَثَمَرَةَ قَلْبِهِ فَلْيُطِعْهُ إِنْ اسْتَطَاعَ فَإِنْ جَاءَ آخَرُ يُنَازِعُهُ فَاضْرِبُوا عُنُقَ الْآخَرِ»
“He who pledged allegiance to an Imam giving him the clasp of his hand and the fruit of his heart shall obey him as long as he can, and if another comes to dispute with him you have to strike the neck of that man.”