Headline News 05/04/2019

Headlines:

• Brunei Introduces Death by Stoning for Gay Sex and Adultery, Despite International Outcry

• America Approves Anti-Submarine Helicopter Sale to India

 U.S. Lawmakers Urge Sanctions over China's Treatment of Muslim Minority

Details:

Brunei Introduces Death by Stoning for Gay Sex and Adultery, Despite International Outcry

A harsh new criminal law in Brunei - which includes death by stoning for sex between men or for adultery, and amputation of limbs for theft — went into effect on Wednesday, despite an international outcry from other countries, rights groups, celebrities and students. Brunei, a tiny monarchy on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, based its new penal code on Shariah, Islamic law based on the Quran and other writings, though interpretations of Shariah can vary widely. Brunei has a population of just 430,000 but tremendous oil wealth, which has made the sultan, ruler since 1967, one of the wealthiest people on earth, said to own the world’s largest home and the biggest collection of rare cars. The sultan, 72, is also the prime minister and holds several other titles. He first introduced the version of Shariah in 2013, as part of a long-term project to impose a restrictive form of Islam on his country, which is majority Muslim. International protest delayed its implementation at the time, but in deciding recently to put the law into effect, with some revisions, Brunei has stood defiant. Brunei “is a sovereign Islamic and fully independent country and, like all other independent countries, enforces its own rule of laws,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Saturday. [Source: New York Times]

The sultan of Brunei should not selectively apply Sharia laws. He must implement Islamic law in its entirety, which includes rules pertaining to economics, social, rulings and foreign affairs. Allah (swt) says,

[أَفَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ فَمَا جَزَاء مَن يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنكُمْ إِلاَّ خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ وَمَا اللّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ]

“So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.” [TMQ: 2:85].

America Approves Anti-Submarine Helicopter Sale to India

The United States said on Tuesday it had approved the sale of 24 MH-60R helicopters to India, significantly boosting its emerging ally’s firepower to target submarines as China expands in the Indian Ocean. In a quick reply to an Indian request submitted late last year, the State Department said it was informing the U.S. Congress as legally required that it was giving the green light for India to buy the 24 helicopters worth a total of $2.6 billion.

Nicknamed the Romeo, the MH-60R helicopters manufactured by Lockheed Martin are designed for hunting submarines as well as knocking out ships and conducting search-and-rescue operations at sea. “This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to strengthen the U.S.-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defensive partner,” the State Department said in a statement. It called India “a major defensive partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia region.” India, which had estranged relations with the United States since the Cold War, has emerged as one of its leading defense partner with the interests of the world’s two largest democracies largely overlapping amid their concerns over a rising China and Islamist extremism. India has been alarmed by China’s growing interest in the Indian Ocean as it becomes a global naval power. In a strategy dubbed by Indian and U.S. observers as the “string of pearls,” China has made use of a growing number of naval bases in the Indian Ocean, most notably the Gwadar port it is developing in India’s historic rival Pakistan. Indian naval planners have responded with a doctrine to ensure freedom of movement throughout the Indian Ocean, stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the Strait of Malacca. The Romeos would replenish India’s aging fleet of British-made Sea King helicopters. [Source: Newsweek].

America has clearly ditched Pakistan for India, as its principal agent in the region. America is strengthening India to counter China and undertake punitive actions in Pakistan’s sphere of control. Yet despite this, the Pakistani elite clings onto the hope that somehow U.S. will reverse it policy and embrace Pakistan. This will never happen, and the time has come for the elites to support the re-establishment of Khilafah, which will return might and glory to Pakistan.

U.S. Lawmakers Urge Sanctions over China's Treatment of Muslim Minority

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday faulted the Trump administration for failing so far to impose sanctions over China’s alleged human rights abuses against its Muslim minority and called for punitive measures against a senior Communist Party official and Chinese companies. A letter to President Donald Trump’s top advisers signed by more than 40 lawmakers said China’s actions in its western region of Xinjiang “may constitute crimes against humanity” and urged tighter U.S. export controls to ensure that U.S. companies are not assisting the Chinese government’s crackdown there, either directly or indirectly. It also asked the United States to strengthen financial disclosure requirements to alert American investors about the presence in U.S. capital markets of Chinese companies that are “complicit in human rights abuses.” The letter specifically cited Hikvision and Dahua Technology, which produce audio-visual equipment that can be used for surveillance. China faces growing condemnation from Western capitals and rights groups for setting up facilities that U.N. experts describe as mass detention centers holding more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims. Beijing has said its measures in Xinjiang, which are also reported to include widespread surveillance of the population, are aimed at stemming the threat of Islamist militancy. The facilities or camps that have opened are vocational training centers, the government has said. [Source: Reuters]

Muslims should not be fooled by American legislators that are using the Uighur issue to gain further concessions from China over trade talks. Instead,  Muslims must work for the re-establishment of the Khilafah state, which will punish both America and China for their evil crimes  against the Ummah.