Headlines:
- I Will Carry the Army with Me: Imran Khan
- Mahathir says His Govt will Safeguard Islam as He Pushes Back Against Critics
- Muslims Forced to Drink Alcohol and Eat Pork in China’s ‘Re-education’ Camps
I will Carry the Army with Me: Imran Khan
Imran Khan, the charismatic cricket star-turned-opposition-leader, is brimming with newfound confidence. With general elections expected in July, Khan made a spirited claim to lead the next government when he addressed thousands of his supporters who had gathered in the politically important city of Lahore a week ago. The rally kicked off the election season, and other political parties have begun campaigning around the country. Khan — a populist whose nationalist appeal rests in part on an anti-American platform — is the main challenger to the political party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted last year by the Supreme Court after a corruption inquiry. Sharif was barred from holding public office, and he faces a verdict next month on corruption charges. With Sharif looking at possible jail time, and several leaders of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, ensnared in corruption investigations, Khan says his time has arrived. He presents himself as an alternative to what he calls a corrupt political elite, and says he will work to improve education, health and the environment. His prospects have brightened in light of his warming ties with the military, which controls the main levers of power in Pakistan and has dominated foreign and security policies for decades. Sharif’s efforts to assert civilian control over the military during his last term failed, turning him into an intensely hated figure among the military establishment. Khan, on the other hand, has no qualms about working with the military. “I think a democratic government rules from moral authority,” Khan said in an interview at a party office in Lahore. “And if you don’t have moral authority, then those who have the physical authority assert themselves. In my opinion, it is the Pakistan army and not an enemy army. I will carry the army with me.” In recent months, the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, has increased his clout, while dissenting voices in the country have come under greater pressure and restrictions on the media have increased. Sharif has accused the army and judiciary of working together to have him removed from office, depriving his party of a level playing field in the general elections. Both the military and the judiciary deny the allegations, which Sharif repeated last week at a rally. [Source: Gulf News].
The army is the one that is carrying Imran Khan, and predictably, the army’s invisible hand is busy at work in reconfiguring the political landscape for Khan’s victory. Pakistan is use to change in faces but the system remains the same!
Mahathir says His Govt will Safeguard Islam as He Pushes Back Against Critics
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said that Islam will continue to be safeguarded in the country, as he pushed back against critics who have questioned whether the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is sensitive to Islamic interests. His critics have raised their concern following his government’s push in the last two weeks to have a non-Malay-Muslim as the new Attorney-General (A-G). The new government has also said it is reviewing the functions of the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim), a powerful Islamic agency. “There are people who say this government will not protect the religion of Islam, which is the official religion of our country,” Tun Dr Mahathir told the audience attending a breaking of fast event on Monday in Putrajaya. “This is incorrect as we are also responsible for governing the country without contradicting the teachings of Islam.” Mr Tommy Thomas was on Tuesday (June 5) named the new A-G by the Malaysian King, following debate on why a Malay-Muslim was not named to replace outgoing A-G Mohamed Apandi Ali. Mr Thomas is the first non-Malay-Muslim A-G since Mr Athi Nahappan in 1974 – that was 44 years ago. Malay and Islamic non-governmental organisations, and several political leaders in Umno and Parti Islam SeMalaysia have voiced their worries that a non-Malay-Muslim wouldn’t be sensitive to legal matters involving Islam and Muslims. The issues raised over the new A-G followed another move by the PH government that set tongues wagging among its critics. This was its appointment of an ethnic Chinese finance minister, Mr Lim Guan Eng, the first time after a 44-year hiatus. Malaysia’s first two finance ministers after independence in 1957 were Chinese, but the post had been held by ethnic Malays from 1974.Dr Mahathir in his speech on Monday said: “We know there are many who claim to be supposedly protecting Islam, they claim to want to set up an Islamic government but we find that their actions are in fact contrary to the teachings of Islam.” He added: “We will establish a government that upholds the laws and the Constitution of the country and we will not do anything contrary to Islam.” [Source: The Straits Times]
Mahathir has never been a defender of Islam. His main aim has always been to uphold Malaysia’s secular system, so that the West can continue to plunder the country.
Muslims Forced to Drink Alcohol and Eat Pork in China’s ‘Re-education’ Camps
Muslims were detained for re-education by China‘s government and made to eat pork and drink alcohol, according to a former internment camp inmate. Omir Bekali, one among perhaps a million people reportedly arrested and held in mass re-education camps, said he was detained without trial or access to a lawyer and forced to disavow his beliefs while praising the Communist Party. Mr Bekali, a Kazakh citizen, said he contemplated suicide after 20 days in the facility – which itself followed seven months in a prison. Since spring last year authorities in Xinjiang region have confined tens or even hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the camps, including some foreign nationals. One estimate put the figure at a million or more. A US commission called it the “the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today” while a leading historian called it “cultural cleansing”. The Independent has contacted the Chinese foreign ministry for comment.Asked to comment on the camps by the Associated Press, the ministry said it “had not heard” of the situation. When asked why non-Chinese had been detained, it said the Chinese government protected the rights of foreigners in China and that they should also be law abiding. Chinese officials in Xinjiang did not respond to requests for comment. When Mr Bekali refused to follow orders each day in the camp, he was forced to stand at a wall for five hours at a time. A week later, he was sent to solitary confinement, where he was deprived of food for 24 hours, he claimed. After 20 days in the heavily guarded camp, he wanted to kill himself. “The psychological pressure is enormous, when you have to criticise yourself, denounce your thinking – your own ethnic group,” said Mr Bekali, who broke down in tears as he described the camp. “I still think about it every night, until the sun rises. I can’t sleep. The thoughts are with me all the time.” The detention campaign has swept across Xinjiang, a territory half the area of India.Chinese officials have largely avoided comment on the camps, but some are quoted in state media as saying that ideological changes are needed to fight separatism and Islamic extremism. Radical Muslim Uighurs have killed hundreds in recent years, and China considers the region a threat to peace in a country where the majority is Han Chinese. [Source: The Independent]
The open season against Muslims continues unabated globally, and not a single leader of an Islamic country is willing to stand up and take action against the perpetrators. Where will the next Salahuddin come from?