Headlines

• East Turkestan: Shop Owners Forced to Sell Alcohol to Weaken Islam

• "Israeli" Soldiers Call ‘Breaking the Silence' Report on Gaza War a ‘Total Lie'

• Yemen's Five-day Ceasefire Backed

Details

East Turkestan: Shop Owners Forced to Sell Alcohol to Weaken Islam

Authorities in northwestern China's Xinjiang region have ordered shop owners and restaurateurs in a mainly Muslim Uyghur village to sell alcohol and cigarettes or face closure of their establishments, despite a public backlash against the products discouraged by followers of Islam, an official source said.

Last week, authorities in Laskuy township, in Hotan (in Chinese, Hetian) prefecture's Hotan county, issued an announcement in the town seat of Aktash village that "all restaurants and supermarkets in our village should place five different brands of alcohol and cigarettes in their shops before [May 1, 2015]."

In addition to directing owners to create "eye-catching displays" to promote the products, the April 29 announcement stated that "anybody who neglects this notice and fails to act will see their shops sealed off, their business suspended, and legal action pursued against them."
Perhat Rozi, chairman of the Political Law Committee of Laskuy township's party leadership, refused to comment on the announcement, but Aktash village party committee secretary Adil Sulayman told RFA's Uyghur Service that the new policy was part of an effort to undermine Islam in the area.

"We have a campaign to weaken religion here and this is part of that campaign," he said.
Sulayman said that abstention from alcohol and cigarettes had become common in Aktash and other parts of Laskuy, with some 70-80 percent of people between the ages of 16 and 45 refraining from drinking and smoking, and while there is no official rule within the Muslim Uyghur community against selling the products, doing so was considered "taboo" for religious reasons.

‘Weaken Religion' campaign: Sulayman said authorities in Xinjiang-where China has launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in the name of fighting separatism and terrorism-viewed non-smoking Muslim Uyghurs as adhering to "a form of religious extremism."

He said that as the seat of Laskuy, Aktash was meant to serve as an example to all residents of the township, and his village party committee did not raise the issue of a potential public backlash against the decree when it was first proposed by party leadership.
"We have more than 60 restaurants and stores in our township and I was told that all of them began stocking alcohol and cigarettes within three days of the announcement, but I didn't inspect the businesses myself," Sulayman said.

"Our village is the key village-we have to implement the ‘Weaken Religion' campaign effectively ... Religious sentiment is increasing and this is affecting stability."

As the targets of "strike hard" campaigns, Uyghurs complain of pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression by China's communist government. [Source: Radio Free Asia]

Those who think they can weaken the rise of Islam are blind. Despite the severe crackdown on the Uyghur Muslims, these measures will not diminish their love for Islam and their perseverance in adhering to the Shariah rulings.

"Israeli" Soldiers Call ‘Breaking the Silence' Report on Gaza War a ‘Total Lie'

IDF soldiers from various units who fought in last summer's war between the Jewish entity and Hamas in the Gaza Strip called a recent report by NGO Breaking the Silence a "total lie."

The soldiers spoke to the Jewish entity's Channel 2 to tell their side of the story, and to counter the testimonies compiled by Breaking the Silence.

Another soldier, Lt. Oren (a pseudonym), was a platoon commander in the 7th Brigade during the previous Operation Cast Lead, which began in late 2008. The Breaking the Silence report claimed that one of the tank commanders in Oren's platoon carried out a "revenge attack" by targeting civilian houses in Gaza.

Oren refuted the claim, saying "this nonsense about ‘fire on the house that you want for revenge' is simply a total lie." He said that any "revenge" incident might have occurred after Armored Core Capt. Dmitri Levitas (26) was killed in battle, but that the Breaking the Silence testimony "simply is not true."

"While it's true there was heavy [IDF] fire, this fire was directed at positions from which we were being fired upon, or suspicious locations," he recalled.

Oren said, "They knew where the majority of the tunnels were located and where there were no civilians ... Every shell was fired only after going through the proper procedure in which we had been trained long before the Operation."

Channel 2 said many more soldiers and high ranking officers stepped forward to present a very different story from the one conveyed in the Breaking the Silence report, emphasizing the IDF's strict adherence to international law - which sometimes goes beyond the requirements of the Law of Armed Conflict - and the caution the army exercised to prevent Palestinian civilian deaths.

Breaking the Silence offered a response to the interviews, saying, "In the book that was published this week, testimonies of dozens of soldiers and officers who served in Protective Edge are presented... Among all of the testimonies that have been published in the last few days by those other than us, not a single one of them disproved the central point related to the policy of indiscriminate fire which led to the harm of innocent civilians," the statement read, even though the Channel 2 testimonies seemed to indicate otherwise. [Source: The Algemeiner]

The Jewish entity recognizes no rule against Muslims. The usurper enemy takes advantage of their media to spin their narrative without being held to account by an international court.

Yemen's Five-day Ceasefire Backed

Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies in the country's armed forces have said they would accept a five-day humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid to reach civilians after more than a month of daily Saudi-led airstrikes. The ceasefire, scheduled to begin Tuesday, would help ease the suffering of civilians who increasingly lack food, fuel and medicine since the bombing campaign began on March 26.

However, all sides in a conflict that has seen the exile of president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi have warned they will retaliate if the ceasefire is broken.

Col Sharaf Ghalib Luqman was quoted as saying rebels in the armed forces agreed with the ceasefire, warning against any violation of the truce. The Houthis earlier issued their own statement saying they will cooperate with the ceasefire.

On Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition's spokesman, Ahmed Ali Asiri, also warned that the ceasefire will be cancelled if the rebels violated it.

The conflict in Yemen has killed more than 1,400 people since March 19, according to the United Nations. [Source: Irish Independent]

They are trying to start a war between Sunnis and Shiites, but the consciousness of the Ummah will break the game soon.

News

On 5th May 2015, Utusan Malaysia reported the suspension of Chief of Police for Satun Region due to being associated with a police investigation regarding active human trafficking activities near the border in southern Thailand. This is the result from the discovery of 32 large tombs believed to belong to migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh which were found in the area of human trafficking syndicate route. All bodies found had decayed and a Bangladeshi person found still alive was in a state of bones. The graves, located in the District of Sadao, Songkhla province were found in an old camp that is often used in the human migration process from Thailand to Malaysia. Tens of thousands of immigrants mainly Rohingya and Bangladesh Muslims use the sea route to reach the south of the country, to enable them to enter Malaysia and nearby countries.

Thailand's Chief of Police, General Somyot Poompanmoung stated he will convert five of the most senior Police Officers at the Padang Besar Police Station in Songkhla from their jurisdiction, in addition to the seven policemen in Padang Besar who were believed to have received bribes from members of the syndicate. Thailand authorities so far detained four of the eight suspects connected with extortion and murder in a camp in the southern Thailand border province, Songkhla.

Comment

The discovery of 32 large graves in southern Thailand which is often used in the human migration process from Thailand to Malaysia have exposed the crime of human trafficking between Thailand and Malaysia. The case masterminded by the Chief Police of the Satun province proved fraud and betrayal committed by the person holding important posts and structure in the country. Cases of human trafficking that has never resolved in Malaysia and Thailand apparently is the result of betrayal of ‘significant people ' in the country.

The Rohingya and Bangladesh ethnique who ran away from their home country aim to find aid and protection due to cruelty from the regime rulers in their country. However, the assistance rendered is certainly not as they expected. Their plight has been manipulated by certain parties to obtain personal benefit. Indeed, it is they who should have given full protection to these refugees but what happened is otherwise. This is the poison of the capitalist democracy system which promotes inhuman attributes. Greedy human beings have manipulated the suffering and distress of others to gain profit.

What is most devastating is that their fate has never been guaranteed or defended by any party despite the fact that they attain protection in Muslim community countries such as Malaysia. Do you not realise that we (Muslims) are all brothers and sisters? When a brother or sister suffers, we will definitely feel and empathize their sufferings. The affliction felt by Muslims in all corners of the world are our affliction also. Since the destruction of the Khilafah "Caliphate" Islamiyyah, the agony of the Muslim Ummah has never ended. The nationalistic barriers have gripped the Muslims and caused them to separate and weaken. When a Muslim brother or sister is oppressed and asks for help, the rest of the Muslim Ummah are incapable of doing anything except watching and hearing in despair.

Where are the helpers and protectors of this Ummah? Hasn't Allah (swt) mentioned in the Quran,

((وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ))

"And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help" [Surah Al-Anfal: 72].

O Muslims, let us rise again! Our Ummah needs justice and protection. We have suffered too long due to the brutality of the regime from this capitalist democracy system which has separated us. Let us fight again for Islam which will definitely shade us from all types of oppression.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Sumayyah Ammar
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut tahrir

News:

In a two-day meeting set for Al-Khor Doha on May 2nd and 3rd, representatives from Afghanistan's High Peace Council, Taliban, Hizb-e-Islami and mediators from international peace initiators Pugwash, discussed about their perspective on political matters, especially that related to peace in Afghanistan and the cease fire. However at the end, Taliban did not accept the stay of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. According to Reuter News Agency, one of the Taliban's representative said that the negotiation ended without any result but one thing that we agreed on is that both the parties will be meeting at UAE in the coming month.

Comment:

Though according to the officials of the Qatar government, this gathering was to bring together different parties of the dispute and to reduce the differences they have with regards to peace in Afghanistan and how to achieve it, but the Mujahid nation of Afghanistan should understand that a country that has foreign colonialist invaders on its land and are in charge of almost all the affairs of that land, talking about peace is nothing but a lie, as peace and stability could only be achieved when the colonialist invasion is reversed and eradicated completely.

The Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah's "National Unity" government orchestrated by John Kerry, from its very first day on the dictates of U.S. is doing all its efforts for the so called regional peace. Ghani visited KSA, China, Pakistan and India for the same purpose. Likewise, the head of Taliban, Mulah Omar also gave a tacit permission for peace talks as well and as a response the US omitted Taliban from the terrorist list. However, when it comes to the violence, both the camps, government and Taliban, have amplified its attacks and committed inhuman acts against each other.

If we analyze the propagation of the so-called peace talks and the ruthless and unprecedented killings on both sides, we can safely say that this peace process is just to betray the people of Afghanistan as this whole peace process is designed by the colonialists to basically Afghanize the process and convince them that this is indeed an honest effort to bring peace to the country. What the enemy has achieved from all this is that they have turned the security forces of the government against the Taliban, both killing each other without any damage to the real enemy of the Muslims of Afghanistan. Peace for them would mean the surrender of the armed resistance against the U.S. and NATO forces and shifting the entire conflict to Afghans on both sides. Hence the fighting will continue with full swing, the only change that will come is that both sides would be the Muslims of Afghanistan.

According to Reuters, the representative of Taliban, on the condition of anonymity, said that President Ghani and his uncle Qayum Kochi asked us to stop fighting and announce ceasefire. He also added that they called us brothers and asked us to return to the mainstream and accept the constitution of Afghanistan. This is exactly what the US wants. But the Taliban's representative said that they did not agree to it and said that they will continue fighting till the last foreign Army man is here. According to him, the government's argument was that once you stop fighting, the remaining Army that is here for training purposes will also leave as the U.S. combat forces have already left. The National Peace Council also asked Taliban to negotiate directly with the Afghan government to end the crises in Afghanistan.

America, to achieve its regional objectives, has signed a strategic security pact with Afghanistan and therefore, will stay here for a long time using its bases in Afghanistan to spread its influence over the region. US proved to the government created by John Kerry that if they don't want the Afghan government may not continue for long. That's why Taliban too don't regard Afghan government worthy to talk directly to and are trying to negotiate straight with the U.S. about ending the invasion and establishing peace. Therefore, even in these peace talks, the Taliban said it is only an open discussion and rejected that these meetings have anything to do with peace talks.

In addition to this, the US and its puppet regime in Afghanistan are trying to break the influence of Taliban by introducing ISIS in Afghanistan using its propaganda of TV channels to show it big. We see that after every incident, before Taliban or ISIS accept or reject it, government put their blame on ISIS, so far so that Mr. Ghani even in all his visits and speeches is making ISIS a great threat to Afghanistan and confirms its presence in Afghanistan. Also the government is trying to create a scenario through constant propaganda in order to turn ISIS against Taliban, even by using bogus Fatawas for this.

Lastly, all sides that are involved in the infighting should concentrate on their real enemies and the invader. They should join their hands to fight against the foreign forces rather than killing each other. In addition that they should work for the fundamental change in the Islamic world, which is the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" on the method of Prophethood. This will not only liberate Afghanistan from the shackles of tyranny and oppression but for the entire Ummah.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Saifullah Mustanir
Kabul- Wilayah Afghanistan