The incident that left 17 People killed and 66 injured in Northern Kenya is indeed a sad one and must be condemned/ opposed by every peace loving person. While investigations have not yet been concluded, accusations have already been directed to Terrorists. Politicians as usual came forward to oppose and condemn
Having lost a seven-month long public opinion war against Pakistan's armed forces to re-open the NATO supply line, which was closed after America slaughtered 24 Muslim soldiers in Salala military check post, America was forced to intervene to save the face of its agents.
Re-opening of the NATO supply line and a new military operation in North Waziristan both represent more treachery from the rulers, who already have a long list of treasonous crimes. Even during the blockade of the land supply route, these dishonorable rulers continued to allow the supply of arms and ammunition to America through an air corridor. Within the last week alone, US General John Allen visited Pakistan twice.
Muslims are the target in the so called war on terror because they possess a real ideological solution capable of liberating humanity in the whole world. Hizb-ut Tahrir / East Africa held a demonstration in Mombasa old town outside Taqwa mosque on 290612 after jum'ah prayers to protest the passage of terrorism prevention bill in Kenya..
Living in a democratic state is truly costly for women, and Indonesia is no exception - a country that has been claimed by various Western politicians as one of the leading models of a Muslim democratic state. The reality shows that Indonesian Women are still shackled by poverty. The Minister for Women and Child Protection in Indonesia, Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, stated this May that there are currently about 7 million women in Indonesia who have become the breadwinner of their household, and the majority of them live below the poverty line with incomes under U.S. $ 1 dollar a day. This figure represents more than 14% of the total number of households in Indonesia. However, the NGO Empowerment of Women Heads Of Households (PEKKA), estimates the number of female-headed households is much greater than the government's figure, the number being nearer to 10 million Indonesian women.
The poverty that shackles Indonesian women is also indicated by the huge numbers of low skilled-female migrant workers working outside of the country that has reached 7 million people. Poverty is the main factor which has forced them to work thousands of miles away from their country and families without even the assurance of protection from the Indonesian government. This situation is associated with another problem - the violence, torture and even homicide against women migrant workers in the countries to which they have migrated. According to Anis Hidayah, Executive Director of Indonesian Association for Migrant Workers Sovereignity, violence and murder of women migrant workers is increasing each year. In 2009, the number of female Indonesian migrant workers who became victims of violence reached 5,314.
These undeniable realities show the failure of a secular democratic state to fulfill the basic economic needs of women, forcing them to migrate for the sake of earning a living in order to sustain a basic standard of life. Democracy has had a costly and cruel consequence upon women's lives. Moreover, these problems are plaguing Indonesia, a country that is considered by the United States' government as a success story in democratization, amongst the countries of the Muslim world. A number of Western leaders have praised Indonesia as the world's largest Muslim democratic state and an example of how Islam and democracy can be combined in a successful manner. For example, in December 2010, President Obama delivered a speech to an audience of about 6,000 people at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta, where he described Indonesia's "extraordinary democratic transformation" and its religious tolerance standing as an example to other emerging economies. He also commented that the U.S. has a stake in Indonesia's continued growth as a market for American goods and as an ally in spreading democracy. The same tone was displayed by UK Prime minister David Cameron when he visited Jakarta in April 2012. He specifically stated that Indonesia's respect for democracy and minority religious groups should serve as an example for other Muslim nations. The US and other Western powers indeed have a mission to spread the democratic system around the world, claiming that it is the supreme system by which to govern societies effectively and secure people's needs and rights.
The lie of Western governments regarding democracy must be distinguished from the true reality. Their praise of the democratization of Indonesia is clearly just the ambitious propaganda of their Capitalistic-secular agenda. The democratic mask that covers Indonesia could not eradicate nor hide the shackle of poverty afflicting Indonesian women for the true face of democracy is of a failed system unable to look after the affairs of mankind effectively.
In addition, attempts by feminists in Indonesia to establish women's rights in the political, economic, educational, health and legal spheres of the society through gender equality-based legislation are almost always ineffective in improving the lives of ordinary women. Indonesia has implemented various gender equality-based laws, and its government is now discussing the Draft of a new Gender Equality and Justice Law, but such laws will assuredly have no influence on the nature of the secular democratic political system in the country that only favours the interests of political elites. Such laws will prove totally redundant in improving the welfare of Indonesia's women for they lie under the shadow of a capitalist economic system that concentrates the state's wealth in the hands of the few while impoverishing the majority of the people.
Systemically, democracy empowers the corporation state that is based upon the symbiotic relationship of securing the mutual interests of the political elites and the capitalists who would never side with the people, including women. This system makes money or capital as the commander-in-chief of governing. For example, large proportions of Indonesia's natural wealth and resources are owned and controlled by foreign companies, including more than 80% of the nation's oil. This is against a background of ever-rising poverty which has also increased levels of corruption, and social conflict between the people.
Indonesian women will face an entirely different story when the state implements the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" system, for the Khilafah "Caliphate" has a credible, time-tested approach to tackling poverty while simultaneously maintaining the dignity of women. It is a system that will implement comprehensively the sound economic laws of Islam defined by Allah(swt), the One Who has all-knowledge of how best to secure the needs of mankind and organise the affairs of a society. It is a system that has a historical legacy of creating economic prosperity and eradicating poverty in the lands over which it governed.
The Khilafah "Caliphate" system is obliged to guarantee the provision of basic needs to women in addition to a good standard of education, healthcare, security and protection. Islam prescribes that women be financially maintained by their male relatives always. For those men who lack employment, the state must endeavour to strive to its utmost to create employment opportunities which may include providing interest free-grants to those who lack capital to start a business or giving land to others so that they can farm it and make a livelihood to maintain themselves and their families. For those men who are physically unable to earn a living or for those women who have no male relatives to maintain them, the state has the obligation to bear their livelihood. This is according to the sayings of the Prophet(saw), "The Imam is in charge (ra'i) and he is responsible for his citizens" and, "If somebody dies (among the Muslims) leaving some property, the property will go to his heirs; and if he leaves a debt or dependents, we will take care of them." The draft constitution of Hizb ut-Tahrir for the Khilafah "Caliphate" states, "The State is to guarantee the adequate support for those who have no funds, no employment and no provider. The state is responsible for housing and maintaining the disabled and handicapped."
Consequently in the Khilafah "Caliphate", women will not have to migrate thousands of miles just to meet their basic needs. So, it is time for Indonesian women to leave democracy. Khilafah "Caliphate" is the only system that provides credible practical solutions for a wide range of political, economic and social issues and crises that affect women throughout the Muslim lands and across the world, including women in Indonesia.
Fika Monika
Member of Women's Section, South East Asia
Central Media Office, Hizb ut-Tahrir
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Collapse of Euro a very likely scenario:
According to Speigel investment experts at Deutsche Bank now feel that a collapse of the common currency is "a very likely scenario." German companies are preparing themselves for the possibility that their business contacts in Madrid and Barcelona could soon be paying with pesetas again. And in Italy, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is thinking of running a new election campaign, possibly this year, on a return-to-the-lira platform. Nothing seems impossible anymore, not even a scenario in which all members of the currency zone dust off their old coins and bills -- bidding farewell to the euro, and instead welcoming back the guilder, deutsche mark and drachma. It would be a dream for nationalist politicians, and a nightmare for the economy. Everything that has grown together in two decades of euro history would have to be painstakingly torn apart. Millions of contracts, business relationships and partnerships would have to be reassessed, while thousands of companies would need protection from bankruptcy. All of Europe would plunge into a deep recession. Governments, which would be forced to borrow additional billions to meet their needs, would face the choice between two unattractive options: either to drastically increase taxes or to impose significant financial burdens on their citizens in the form of higher inflation. Indeed, the European leaders seeking to save the euro are in a race against the clock. The question is whether the economy in Southern Europe will recover before the euro rescuers' tools are exhausted, or whether it will be too late by the time the recovery arrives. It's a question of growth and the economy, but also of character. How willing are the Spaniards and Italians to accept reforms and hardship, and how willing, on the other hand, are the donor countries of the north to provide assistance and make sacrifices?
Turkey sends anti-aircraft guns to Syria border:
Turkey has begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along its border with Syria after last week's shooting down of a Turkish plane. Columns of military vehicles have been seen moving from military bases to the border, close to where the jet crashed. The F-4 Phantom jet went down in the sea after straying into Syrian airspace. The pilots are still missing. Turkey's decision to reinforce its border with Syria comes two days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a change in terms of its military engagement. He told parliament that Syria was a "clear and present threat" and any "military element" that approached the Turkish border from Syria would be treated as a threat and a military target. Extra troops have been sent to the area and Turkish TV has shown pictures of a small convoy of lorries carrying anti-aircraft guns into a military base near the border town of Yayladagi. Other military vehicles have travelled to the border town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, reports say. More than 33,000 refugees have fled Syria and have crossed the border into the province.
Egypt to get Coptic Christian, female Vice President:
Mohammed Morsi's first appointments as president-elect of Egypt will be a woman and a Coptic Christian, his spokesman has said, allaying fears about the Muslim Brotherhood. Sameh el-Essawy said that although the names of the two choices had not been finalised, they would be Morsi's two vice-presidents. When the appointments go through, they will constitute the first time in Egypt's history that either a woman or a Copt has occupied such an elevated position. The Muslim Brotherhood is at pains to calm fears of what an Islamist president might mean for Egypt and the region at large. Appointing a woman and a Copt is an attempt at a show of unity, and a rule by consensus.
Our intention is to invest and endure in Afghanistan: India
India has every intention of expanding its economic presence in Afghanistan as a NATO deadline to withdraw all its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 draws near, indicated Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to Washington. "Our intention is to invest and endure, and that's the approach we are taking. We already have committed about $2 billion of investment in Afghanistan and we are prepared to do more," Ambassador Nirupama Rao said at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington. India is hosting the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan today which will draw over 65 foreign companies from around the world, including 12 companies from the US and a handful of companies from even China and Pakistan. At a meeting last week between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, the two countries agreed to hold three-way talks with Afghanistan. At the cost of making Pakistan hyperventilate the US has become very vocal in its appreciation of Indian efforts in Afghanistan. It now wants India to fill up the post-US vacuum in Afghanistan and play a bigger role in training Afghan security forces.
Pakistani public opinion ever more critical of US and India:
Following a year of tensions between their country and the United States, Pakistanis continue to hold highly unfavorable views of the U.S. and offer bleak assessments of the relationship between the two nations. Roughly three-in-four Pakistanis (74%) consider the U.S. an enemy, up from 69% last year and 64% three years ago. And President Obama is held in exceedingly low regard. Indeed, among the 15 nations surveyed in both 2008 and 2012 by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, Pakistan is the only country where ratings for Obama are no better than the ratings President George W. Bush received during his final year in office (for more, see "Global Opinion of Obama Slips, International Policies Faulted," released June 13, 2012). Moreover, roughly four-in-ten believe that American economic and military aid is actually having a negative impact on their country, while only about one-in-ten think the impact is positive. Since 2009, the Pakistani public has also become less willing to use its own military to combat extremist groups. Three years ago, 53% favored using the army to fight extremists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but today just 32% hold this view. Only 22% of Pakistanis have a favorable view of traditional rival India, although this is actually a slight improvement from 14% last year. Moreover, when asked which is the biggest threat to their country, India, the Taliban, or al Qaeda, 59% name India. Pakistanis have consistently identified India as the top threat since the question was first asked in 2009. The percentage fearing India has increased by 11 points since then, while the percentage naming the Taliban has decreased by nine points.
On Friday 24 June 2012, the Egyptian presidential election committee announced the victory of the candidate Mohamed Morsi over Ahmed Shafik. The committee announced that, "Mohammad Morsi...
Hizb ut-Tahrir Wilayah Pakistan demonstrated countrywide against the visit of General John Allen, the butcher of Salala. Demonstrators were carrying banners and placards declaring "Meeting the Salala butcher is a sign of treachery" and "Traitor rulers are sacrificing Pak army for America."
