#Pakistani Solidarity with Palestine

[vyorei]

Based Pakistan ✊🇵🇸

[metamatar]

check this bullshit out lmao

You guys are bringing me like rotten food, like im a baby vulture or something.

I love how India is not forcibly occupying Kashmir bc its perfectly normal to switch off the internet for years and arrest all democratically elected leaders and dissolve parliament when you're not an ovcupying force. I've never seen anyone claim Hinduism is responsible for the rise of Nazism, only point to how much Savarkar admired Hitler and Mussolini and its a pity that Jewish folk are seeing solidarity with a Hindutva movement that is fundamentally unconcerned about that. Do they know the RSS apes Nazi salutes and aesthetics?

I do love the Brahmins don't have any institutional power line and the upper caste/lower caste division is made up by white people stuff, bc it is the most blatant way to be sure this person has no real familiarity with Indian culture or history outside of like propaganda, because like, all Hindu texts enshrine the moral, legal and cultural superiority of Brahminism. Why does Eklavya the archer have this thumb cut off for daring to study archery in the Mahabharata? What does it mean that lower caste children cannot drink or eat at the same tables as upper caste children even in India's best universities exactly? Anti semitism has real roots in the history of Western civilization, from ghettos to the holocaust, permitting its association with the made up logic of Hinduphobia – which doesn't exist in India and outside of India is just plain racism is terrible. Upper caste supremacy is the bread and butter and organizing principle of Indian society for centuries, Hindutva politics dominates every single cultural sphere in India.

I also like that the Israel/Palestine is cast into India/Pakistan despite the fact Pakistan is a soverign nuclear armed state that is rapidly destabilizing at the moment due to US influence that India has very little to do with it. Most Pakistanis are also unaffected by India, in that India does not actually occupy Pakistan and enforce apartheid on its citizens despite right wing fantasies. Pakistan and India gets in standoffs with each other! The most significant amount of Kashmiri organising is for Azad Kashmir. Pakistan occupied Kashmir deserves to be free too.

[spelllingandthemysteryschool]

legitimately feel that my entire world has crumbled to pieces over the course of the ongoing genocide in palestine. i’ve spoken about this to my family and friends and gf in various capacities but no matter how much i talk about it there’s no way for me to get over the fact that i don’t know where to go from here at all. to have witnessed the countless ways in which the western institutions and systems of thought not only fail innocents over and over but actively facilitate and encourage and fund their violent annihilation... to have witnessed so much pain and so much pain and so much pain... like obviously it’s not like i was blissfully ignorant before and it’s not like i believed the world was a just place and it’s not like i’m just now realizing how evil everything is and it’s not like my own family doesn’t also come from a background of western oppression—we are punjabi- and kashmiri-pakistani—but. i really have no idea what to do with myself. like i know i’m so massively privileged to be sitting in my house surrounded by my loved ones and wringing my hands over what my future will look like when so many have been robbed of their homes and all their loved ones in addition to the luxury of thinking about a long-term future but really. where do we go from here. how am i supposed to live with myself. i don’t even want to apply to grad school anymore because so many of these universities have behaved in appalling ways and it’s no surprise because academia is another institution defined by and sustained by histories of colonialism and capitalism. i don’t feel excited by the publishing industry anymore... so many editors and writers have been ousted from their publications for speaking out against israel or left of their own accord out of a sense of solidarity with palestine and many of the ones that remain in the field are only there because they turned a blind eye to all this devastation. i hear about museums canceling exhibits about palestinian art and islamic art in general and i am repulsed by the idea of entering a field that, again, serves western colonial interests and is so rife with a history of exploitation and racism. it’s not that i’ve given up hope for palestine or any of the other subjugated peoples of this world but i am ashamed of myself and i am ashamed of the country i live in and i am ashamed of the fact that it’s so easy to cause tangible and profound harm. i know there are ways to do good by others and to try and live as ethically as possible but right now i feel totally paralyzed by my own complicity and helplessness and i am disgusted with the world we live in and i want nothing to do with it at all. i have to figure out a way to channel these feelings into something productive and beneficial as soon as possible but all i feel is this sense of sick grief and horror

[hindulivesmatter]

I absolutely agree about hindu jewish solidarity(and proudly India is one of the few countries who welcome jews with open arms - Bene Israeli, for example) and condemn Hamas. However, I feel that you should see about nakba and how Israel, along with Britain and the USA, expelled Palestinians from their own homes.

the government of Israel (along with hamas) and zionists are absolutely wrong. India absolutely has a right to complete Kashmir and China occupied territories, so why Palestinians shouldn't- when they were forcefully expelled from their own lands and homes? There are documented accounts as well. Hope you dig in further.

Love and peace.

I condemn both Hamas and the Israeli government. The Israeli government is handling the situation poorly, and the loss of life on both sides is heartbreaking. The issue is that Hamas actively calls for killing of all jews and an end to Israel. Zionism literally just means believing in a state of Israel. It could be a 2 state with Palestine. It doesn't matter. But just that Israel should exist. @freegazafromhamas Could you explain this a little better, please? You have the most knowledge on this subject, I think.

Edit (copied from @freegazafromhamas's reply): Zionism is the belief in a Jewish state in our homeland, in the land once called Judea before Roman colonizers changed the name 2000 years ago. What form that state takes or what borders that state has or how to treat Palestinians is an issue separate to Zionism on which Zionists hold a great diversity of opinions.

Edit (copied from @lettersfromthelevant's reply): If you read about the Nakba you will very quickly realize that the “expulsion” was not an expulsion. The Arabs *willingly* left after being told by the surrounding Arab nations that the Jews would all be killed in a few days. They were complicit in a genocide attempt against Jews literally three years after the Holocaust. Sucks that they didn’t get to return to their homes, but that is just what happens when you start a war and lose out of your extreme hatred for Jews.

Now, onto your next point. The king of Kashmir voluntarily gave the land to India. Until Pakistan decided they wanted it, and forcefully took over. There are countless terrorist attacks at the border, and in PoK, our soldiers are dying from bombs planted by terrorists, and civilians are caught in gunfire. The even more insane thing is that Pakistan just GAVE part of Kashmir to China, when it wasn't even theirs to begin with. Not to mention, Kashmir had a ton of Hindus, and all of them were murdered/driven out/converted in the 1990s. Pakistani terrorists are not the same as innocent Palestinian civilians.

[readingsquotes]

"In a strategy termed “pinkwashing,” Israel promotes itself as a gay utopia and tourist destination and attempts to co-opt queerness as a propaganda tool. Queer people themselves have long organized against being used by Israel as props in a marketing war. Queer Palestinian groups like Aswat and alQaws have been working at a grassroots level to bring visibility and acceptance of LGBTQIA+ identities within Palestinian society and offer “an alternative to Israel’s Pinkwashing practices and Palestinian taboos regarding sexual freedoms and rights.” They say that their main concern isn’t homophobia and transphobia in Palestinian society—systems that exist in every society, including Israeli and American—it’s the Israeli occupation, a system that oppresses and kills LGBTQIA+ people the same as all Palestinian people.

Yaffa, speaking with Prism after the Northampton event, says that solidarity with Palestinians from LGBTQIA+ people in the U.S. and Europe should be framed as accountability instead of white saviorism.

“It’s so important for those groups to be engaged and to actually be doing this because it is those countries that are fueling [the genocide]. They’re the ones who are supplying all the weapons, they’re paying for all of it, so in a sense they’re literally the reason for the genocide,” said Yaffa, who is also the executive director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity. “It’s really really, really important for groups not to internalize that, ‘Oh, we as Americans are doing this good thing in the world,’ and more so of, ‘We as Americans, this is our job because it is our country that is doing this,’ which are two very different things.”"

...

“We are here to say there is no pride in genocide,” Rafa Kidvai, a queer Pakistani parent from Brooklyn and one of the organizers of the event said in a statement. “That we demand an end to pinkwashing and using our trans/queer bodies, stories, and struggles to fuel Islamophobia and settler colonialism.”

[nando161mando]

▶️ Pakistani Christians dedicate Christmas celebrations to Palestine

Nasir Kazmi reports from Islamabad.

@PressTV - #WeAreAllGaza

#GazaGenocide

[aeolianblues]

If you’re ’just looking out for your own interests’ by being a Zionist, ‘we zionists have to look out for each other or who will?’ (<- said about decimating a country’s population btw) ‘it’s just self defence, no hard feelings,’ then sure. Fuck you. I’m also ‘looking out for myself.’ And my ‘looking out’ concerns the fact that you lot (mostly American christofascist cunts claiming Judaism, for some reason) don’t know the difference between one brown person and the next.

When has an American ever looked at the rest of us and gone ‘ah no, but you see, this fella’s eyes are almond, they’re Pakistani not Afghani’ or whatever the fuck. They harass everyone their paranoid eyes can see with even a hint of colour in their skin. Anyone darker getting harassed is just a bonus, isn’t it?

They murdered Sikhs, who wear turbans, after 9/11. You ignorant fools don’t know the difference between a Latin American person and and a Palestinian one.

So that’s the whole of the global south then, really. ‘Looking out for our own interests’. Not being murdered is our interest too. Every 10 years this shit starts anew, you know that right? In just the last 20 years, it’s been (renewed) bombing of Palestine, it was Syria, it was Afghanistan. Call solidarity by any name. It doesn’t matter. There are more people thinking about Palestine than the American government and its shadow in Israel can dream of brainwashing, so. You know. ‘Looking out’. For each other. Ethnocleaning never ends well for those doing it.

[ga0news]

Sania Mirza 'heartbroken' over Israeli bombardment in Gaza

Tennis sensation Sania Mirza is "heartbroken" over the ongoing situation in the Gaza Strip which has seen indiscriminate Israeli bombing targeting innocent Palestinians since the beginning of October.

"And we are still silent and this still continues", Mirza, wife of Pakistan's former star cricketer Shoaib Malik, wrote on her Instagram story while reacting to a social media post highlighting the world's silence over the death of Palestinian children due to Israeli bombing.

More than 8,000 Palestinians — including 3,342 children — have been martyred and more than 20,000 have been injured due to indiscriminate Israeli bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The tennis star is not the first celebrity to react to the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza as earlier Pakistani actor Ushna Shah also reprimanded Western media over their biased coverage of the conflict.

She had also slammed celebrities for playing "both sides" and hesitating to raise their voice for Palestinians amid the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Celebrities have been voicing their concerns on the ongoing conflict with Singer Atif Aslam expressing solidarity with Palestine earlier this month.

However, it is not only Pakistani celebrities who have lambasted Israeli aggression. Renowned TV personality Piers Morgan has also voiced his support for Palestinians in Gaza calling out Israel for its indiscriminate bombardment of the beleaguered territory.

"Where are these Palestinians going to live when the war is over? So many of their homes are being destroyed. Does Israel have an answer? Does it care?" the "Piers Morgan Uncensored" host wrote on his X account.

[generouscroissantziallhoran]

sidebmagazine:

When I heard the news about Zayn Malik leaving One Direction, I had to pause but not for the reason that you may think. I had to remind myself who One Direction was because any boy group that’s not named The Backstreet Boys or ‘NSync flies right over my head. I suffer from chronic 90s nostalgia and I honestly don’t want a remedy for it just yet. But 1D is a throwback to that golden era. At the moment, they are the biggest boy band in the world. Furthermore, the group is the first band to have all four albums chart at #1 on the U.S Billboard 200. Therefore, I have to begrudgingly give credit where credit’s due. And, therefore, it is only natural that there would be an outcry when one of their members has left the group. As a band whose international success can be heavily attributed to social media, their fans took to these networks to express their sadness and anger. There are YouTube videos of fans hysterically crying when they heard the news of Zayn’s departure. This kind of pandemonium is over a century and a half old (Lisztomania, anyone?) but the person at the center of this massive attention is relatively new.  In the past, we have seen other minorities reach unimaginable heights of fame, such as Menudo, Selena, Michael Jackson, Prince, so on and so far. However, given that Zayn is of British Pakistani heritage, and that too in a post 9/11 age where anyone from a vaguely Muslim background is discriminated against, he is in a class on his own.

Zayn’s astounding popularity is rather important in a time when islamophobia and racism are widespread throughout the world. Never before have we seen someone of British-Pakistani and Muslim heritage thrive at the scale that Zayn has in the music industry, even if his fame is rather whitewashed. Most of One Direction’s fanbase is teenage white girls of surburbia but I saw girls of all backgrounds who were visibly shaken at this rupture in this idealized image they cultivated of their favorite boy band group. It made me wonder if Zayn is the anchor point for their devotion. Although, 1D’s music is rather light, Zayn has been political off-camera even in the most subtle ways. Last year, he tweeted #FreePalestine to which he was a victim of death threats, reminding us all that people of color, no matter how rich and famous they are, can be subjected to belittlement over stating our beliefs and opinions towards issues that affect us. Despite the fact that he has not incorporated his politics with his art like M.I.A. has done, he still has room left to grow. Reports state that he is actually going to move on as a solo artist. This isn’t to say that Zayn’s music will have to be political but it is worth thinking how his identity as an artist will stand on itself without his white former bandmates beside him. None of us know what will happen to Zayn as a result of him leaving One Direction, but it may be worthwhile to pay attention to what is happening. There may be a shift occurring in who is at the center of twenty-first century fanaticism and what that might mean for the future.

I hope that Zayn’s wide fanbase will continue to grow or, at the very least, sustain itself as is. Because he is now trying to be successful as a solo artist, I wonder what type of image he is going to portray to the world.  Comparatively speaking, his political tweets and bubblegum music are stark juxtapositions of one another. Mind you, unlike other celebrities, such as Rihanna, who showed their support for Palestine, Zayn did not delete his tweet. He maintained his solidarity even though he was bombarded with outrage with showing support for other Muslims. As an artist of color, is it necessary to dichotomize the political versus public sides of one’s identity so that one can be easily digestible to a certain audience? Being a writer myself, I oscillate between the two but ultimately believe that the political is inextricably linked to who I am. Will Zayn go on to be a representative for his community as he emerges from One Direction and its collective image that, evidently, was not conducive to his personal development?

One can only hope. After all, Zayn has the looks, voice, popularity, and the background to color—no pun intended—our idea of what it means to be a male heartthrob. From Franz Liszt in 1941, the Beatles in the 1960s, and NSync and The Backstreet Boys in 1990s, most of the male musicians who had gripped the attention of teenage girls around the globe were white. Let’s see what Zayn does on his own with his identity so that he can take advantage of him being different from a sea of white pop stars.

What Zayn Means To Pop Culture Fandom by Morgan Jerkins

[timespakistan]

Sindh Assembly unanimously condemns Israeli aggression in Gaza The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously passed a joint resolution to condemn the recent Israeli aggression resulting in the killings of innocent Palestinians. At the request of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the House suspended its agenda for the day to discuss and pass the resolution to express solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians. All the parliamentary groups in the legislature jointly presented the resolution. The treasury and opposition legislators who took part in the discussion on the resolution unanimously condemned the Israeli atrocities and urged the government to play its due role to rattle the conscience of the international community regarding the freedom struggle of the Palestinians. Speaking on the resolution, the CM said that had there been leaders like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Yasser Arafat, and Shah Faisal in the Muslim Ummah at present, the oppressed Palestinians would not have to see the situation they had been witnessing. He expressed gratitude to both the treasury and opposition lawmakers for the joint resolution in the Sindh Assembly in support for the Palestinians. Israel was a proven terrorist state in the world, Shah said, adding that Israel had been committing aggression with impunity as it felt no need to issue any explanation after attacking Palestinians. The CM lamented that the Muslim World had been bereft of bold leaders who had the courage to vocally raise their voice against such naked aggression. He said that after the demise of leaders like Bhutto, Faisal and Arafat, the case of the Ummah on the Palestinian issue had been weakened. He recalled that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had refused to take permission from Israel to visit Gaza. “The Ummah would not have to face such a situation had such leadership been alive today,” he said. He also mentioned that some Arab countries had established ties with Israel. The CM emphasised that Pakistan needed to do more efforts on the diplomatic front to help the people of Palestine. He also appreciated the ceasefire announced between Israel and Palestine. He said that the Sindh government had brought forward the resolution to press the Pakistani government to do more to highlight the issues of the oppressed people of Kashmir and Palestine waging struggle for freedom of the native land. Opposition legislator of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Mangla Sharma, who also read out the resolution in the assembly, condemned the aggression committed by Israel against the Palestinians. She bemoaned the fact that the Israeli acts of violence against innocent civilians of Palestine even continued during the holy month of Ramazan and Eidul Fitr. She remarked that Israel was in a habit of attacking the people of Palestine after every few years. She added that Israel also attacked offices of media houses during the latest instance of aggression. Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Sharmila Farooqui said the Israeli brazen attacks had killed scores of innocent Palestinians and rendered thousands others homeless. She said Pakistan should come to the support of the innocent residents of Gaza facing sheer aggression by Israel. The MQM-P parliamentary party leader, Kanwar Naveed Jameel, said the lives of innocent people of Palestine became miserable the day Israel came into existence. He said the Palestinians had to live their lives in the shadow of fear and guns. He recalled that Pakistan had come into existence in the name of Islam and so the country were under a solemn obligation to actively help the innocent people of Palestine. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Firdous Shamim Naqvi said that an influential lobby had created the issue of Palestine as Muslims and Jews used to live peacefully in the same land before 1948. He added that Muslims had to face aggression as they had not been following their religion. He said the Muslim Ummah should increase its strength to compete against Israel. He said Muslims were in majority in both Kashmir and Palestine but even then they had to face oppression. https://timespakistan.com/sindh-assembly-unanimously-condemns-israeli-aggression-in-gaza/19300/

[indianarrative1]

Last year, the issue of granting a passport to Ghalib Guru, son of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, was politicized by many leaders in Kashmir. The youngster, who hates being called a ‘proud Indian’, wanted to go abroad and study medicine. Not to the United States, not the United Kingdom, not even China, but to Turkey which had offered him a medical scholarship. The Turkish government led by Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan had for long been luring young Indian muslim students – from Kashmir to Kerala – and Guru was meant to be a high profile catch who could easily be converted into a posterboy instantly. Their brainwashing however doesn’t happen upon landing in Istanbul or Ankara, it begins much before the flight takes off. It’s just that once in Turkey, the nationality of handlers changes to Pakistanis.

The Indian security agencies are aware of the massive efforts being made by the Erdogan regime to radicalize Indian muslims by funding Kashmiri separatist leaders, non-government organizations, student exchange programmes and also agitations against Article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act. The youngsters are also being lured by Turkish drama series like Dirilis Ertugrul which promotes incidents of radicalism from the past and are said to be a part of Erdogan’s wider plan to revive the Ottoman Empire.

The International Humanitarian Relief Foundation, operating from one of the most conservative districts of Istanbul; the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDF) which brings in hundreds of youngsters from several countries to Turkey every year by providing them scholarships; the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) which is quite active in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and is being run by Serdar Cam, a minister in Erdogan government and Turkey-Pakistan Cultural Association, headed by Lahore-educated Burhan Kayaturk, an influential leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party, have all been on the radar of the Indian intelligence agencies for nefarious activities.

“It is the duty of every Pakistani citizen, student, in Turkey to explain to everyone about Kashmir,” said Kayaturk while addressing several youngsters in Ankara on February 5, earlier this year at a function organized to mark ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’. The gathering obviously had many Kashmiris too who had arrived in Turkey after receiving scholarships. Yes, the same kind of scholarship which had been offered to Ghalib Guru as well.

Turkey’s ‘scholarship’ in radicalization and religious fundamentalism is up for grabs for everyone, of course. There’s this interesting case of Ruwa Shah, who had worked with a few major Indian publications before becoming “a student of cinema and TV” in Turkey. Ruwa is daughter of Kashmiri separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah and grand-daughter of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the master of hardline ideology. Altaf Ahmad Shah was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in May 2017 in the alleged terror funding case and is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

Now, besides studying ‘cinema and TV’ in Turkey, Ruwa writes about the ‘plight’ of the Kashmiris in Turkish and Middle East media, participates in Zoom talks with the pro-Palestine activists, telling them about the ‘reality’ of Kashmir and also delivers talks on freedom of speech in the Valley at Islamabad’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

A recent report has revealed how the Turkish agencies, besides expanding their tentacles in India, are also hiring Pakistani radicals to fuel anti-India agenda from their bases in Ankara and Turkey. This includes hiring fundamentalist Pakistani journalists in state-run media and other organizations.

This isn’t the Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had dreamed of while founding the republic, almost 100 years ago after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Those who stand up against dictator Erdogan either end up in prisons or have to leave Turkey, just like Islamic scholar and religious leader Fethullah Gulen, a Sufi theologian known reverentially as Hocaefendi (respected teacher) to his millions of followers, who continues to live in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. The shift from Sufi to Salafi ideology, from madrasas of the past which taught sacred laws and other Islamic subjects to the madrasas of today which produce extremists, Turkey has undergone a significant sea change under Erdogan’s rule.

Turkey’s agenda is no longer hidden, it never was. Just before the Covid-19 lockdown, Erdogan, a regular at the Pakistani Parliament, had addressed a joint session for a record fourth time and likened the “struggle” of the Kashmiris with that of his country in World War I against the foreign domination. “There is no difference between Gallipoli and Kashmir,” he had said while drawing comparison with the battle of Gallipoli between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire.

The Turks also continue to, though always unsuccessfully, raise the ‘K’ word at the UN. They did it again Tuesday – at the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva – by asking India to ease the restrictions in Kashmir and were, like always, given a befitting reply by India.

“We call upon the Turkish leadership to not interfere in India’s internal affairs and develop proper understanding of the democratic practices,” replied Pawan Badhe, First secretary, Permanent mission of India in Geneva.

Expecting ‘proper understanding’ from Erdogan would be the height of optimism though. As former Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos had questioned Turkish President’s intelligence a few years ago by saying, “you cannot answer to a madman.”

[xtruss]

Bernie Sanders Is the Strongest Presidential Candidate for Muslims at Home and Abroad

Muslims are working on Bernie Sanders’s campaign at the highest levels, they’re canvassing for him, and they’re even praying for him. And for good reason: Bernie is the strongest candidate for Muslims at home and abroad.

— By Aqsa Ahmad

Bernie Sanders

Last week, President Donald Trump extended his travel ban to include six new countries — Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, and Kyrgyzstan. Unsurprisingly, like the seven countries affected by the original 2017 ban, all six have significant Muslim populations. Two years ago, Foreign Policy obtained a copy of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) draft report that recommended increasing surveillance not only of Muslims attempting to enter the United States, but also of Muslim immigrants who are already legal residents, identifying risk factors such as “having national origins in the Middle East, South Asia, or Africa.”

It’s no secret that the Trump administration is openly hostile to immigrants, minorities, and Muslims in America and abroad. But while the Democratic Party has been quick to speak out against Trump’s most egregious acts of xenophobia and racism, the party’s leaders have gone along with Trump on key “national security” legislation that has come under fire from Muslim Americans. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, for example, have continued to speak platitudes in defense of Muslims while approving Trump’s sanctions on Iran, which have proven devastating to average Iranians, and extending the PATRIOT Act, infamously used to surveil mass numbers of Muslim Americans.

According to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll, most Muslim Americans lean toward the Democratic Party, but they’re also twice as likely as other Americans to lean toward neither political party. Significant shares of Muslim Democrats, like their Republican counterparts, are critical of the way both parties treat Muslims. While Muslims are under attack by the Trump administration and face deepening bigotry, discrimination, and racial profiling, the Democratic Party has taken Muslim voters for granted or not even considered them at all.

But this is not true of one candidate in the Democratic presidential primary campaign: Bernie Sanders, who has consistently stood on the side of Muslims and immigrants.

Bernie’s record and policies not only show respect and solidarity with Muslims in America — from his criticism of the “Orwellian” surveillance of Muslim citizens to his visiting of mosques for conversations with interfaith leaders — but also those abroad, as he has voted consistently against wars and economic sanctions in the Middle East, and spoken out against the “cultural genocide” of the Uighur Muslim minority in China who are suffering in mass concentration camps. A few days before the news broke of the Trump administration adding six more countries to the travel ban, Sanders tweeted that his “first executive orders will be to reverse every single thing President Trump has done to demonize and harm immigrants, including his racist and disgusting Muslim ban.”

Bernie has long condemned Donald Trump’s bigotry and attacks on Muslims; opposed “war on terror” policies that have affected the safety, well-being, and civil rights of Muslims, people of color, and activists; and stood up to defend the two Muslim women in Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (who have in turn endorsed his campaign).

While some Democratic candidates like Joe Biden prefer to disingenuously use Muslims in campaign ads to try to show diversity among his supporters — a big step forward, though, from when Barack Obama’s campaign barred two Muslim women from sitting behind a podium at a 2008 rally in Detroit, lest their hijabs show on TV or in photographs with the candidate — Muslim Americans aren’t buying it. According to a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) report published on Monday ahead of the Iowa caucus, Muslim-American voters support Bernie Sanders over Joe Biden by 13 percent. At this year’s Iowa caucus, mosques served as caucus sites for the first time in the state’s history; at one of the five mosques on Monday night, nearly all of the votes went for Bernie.

And just last week, Bernie received endorsements from the Muslim Caucus of America and Iowa’s sole Muslim state representative, Ako Abdul-Samad. Following the endorsement from the Muslim Caucus, which was founded in 2017 to amplify the voices of Muslims in the Democratic Party, Bernie responded:

Muslim Americans for generations have been part of the fabric of our American family. While Donald Trump has attempted to demonize the Muslim community, our movement is working to bring Muslims and people of all backgrounds together to create an economy, justice system, and political system that are rooted in human rights for all.

In addition, Bernie hired former ThinkProgress editor in chief Faiz Shakir as his campaign manager, making him the both the first Muslim and first Pakistani American to hold such a position for a major presidential campaign. He has also been actively campaigning to win Muslim votes as part of his larger campaign for solidarity between people of all races, religions, sexual and gender identities, and nationalities.

Bernie was one of the only two presidential candidates last September to attend the annual Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Convention, one of the largest gatherings of Muslim Americans in the country. Despite The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah also headlining as a speaker, it was the Jewish senator from Vermont who drew the biggest crowd, drawing applause as he spoke of the need to “stand together in the struggle for justice and human rights.”

Unlike other Democratic presidential candidates, who tailor their message to pander to whichever constituency group they’re speaking to on the campaign trail, Bernie, from the very opening of his speech, spoke to the Muslim crowd on the same issues that he always talks about, the ones that affect everyone regardless of religion or race: health care, the climate crisis, and widespread income inequality.

When talking about Muslim Americans, the mainstream media typically frames their political concerns in terms of foreign policy, Palestine, and civil rights. And while Bernie has voted against the Iraq War and US involvement in the Yemen war, gone further than any other presidential candidate in stating his support for the rights of Palestinians, and has a long history of fighting for civil rights, these aren’t the only issues of concern for Muslim Americans.

A significant number of Muslims in the United States experience economic insecurity, particularly under- and unemployment. Muslims are “three times as likely as other Americans to be without a job and looking for work” and more likely than other Americans to make less than $30,000 a year.

Not only do many Muslims have economic struggles, but a significant number of them also consider working for justice and equality and protecting the environment a core part of their religious identity. Bernie’s federal jobs program and Green New Deal would guarantee stable jobs so that no one in this country is unable to provide for themselves or their family, while also working toward building a more sustainable infrastructure and energy system to mitigate the disasters of the climate crisis — a platform that directly addresses the everyday concerns of many Muslim Americans.

According to that same demographic study, most Muslim Americans also prefer an expansion of government social services. This is especially true among those who are also immigrants, people who often face additional barriers and discrimination. Bernie’s platform is notable for its universal programs, from his Workplace Democracy Plan to his Housing for All platform to Medicare for All, that aren’t means-tested and would provide better living and working conditions for all.

Muslims, though overall constituting a small portion of the US population, have long been neglected by those in office or seeking it. But now we have two Muslim women in Congress — leftists, at that — and a Jewish presidential candidate energizing Muslims with his policies of tuition-free public college, Medicare for All, and a Green New Deal. Muslims are working on Bernie’s campaign at the highest levels, they’re canvassing for him, and they’re praying for him. And for good reason: Bernie is the strongest candidate for Muslims at home and abroad.

— Aqsa Ahmad is an assistant editor at Jacobin.

[laberintos-espinas]

Muslim Dynamics ISI - Osama-bin-Laden (OBL) Nexus

On 09 November 2001, Islamic fear mongers had assaulted the World Trade Center (WTC) towers in the USA and the whole structure, which was developed utilizing a large number of huge amounts of steels and cements, had dispersed in dainty air with in no time flat before whole world individuals' eyes. The assault had shaken the Americans as well as constrained the Western Nations to see rising Islamic Fundamentalist and Terrorists Threat (IFTT) to the world Peace at the transnational levels. Why Islamic fear mongers had simmered 3037 guiltless regular citizens alive could never be known to the friends and relatives of dead individuals? Is Pakistan a Terrorist State?

At any rate, I feel that the assault on USA soil was with the twin point of one, exhibiting Muslim psychological oppressors resolve to oppose USA authority; and the second to pass on a message toward the Western Nations that fear based oppressor can strike at each spot on the earth freely. President Bush's endeavors in post WTC assault had fashioned a solidarity among the Western countries to battle the danger of International Islamic Terrorism (IIT). I would state that till 9/11/01, all the past US Government's were resistant to the agonies, sufferings and tragedies of casualties of ISI planned and executed regular fear monger's assaults in India. However, US international strategy producers were faintly recognizing Indians cries against Pakistani supported psychological oppression; yet they had constantly kept up twofold standard arrangement towards controling Pakistan. I am still certain that WTC assault couldn't have be done without unpredictable information and arranging of infamous ISI Agency of Pakistan. The earnestness with which President Bush Junior had explained USA's expectation to bring culprits of WTC 9/11/01 assault to equity, had still stayed a remote long for US even today. In spite of the fact that the Bush organization had the option to accumulate world pioneers' sentiment against psychological oppression, however USA had pitiably herself flopped in all field of diminishing fear based oppression at universal level and to bring Osama-canister Laden (OBL) to equity. What to discuss catching and rebuffing, the US whole war hardware couldn't come to know where about of OBL till date. OBL is accepted to be especially alive under ISI protégé in the sheltered sky of NWFPA regions in Pakistan Omar Suleiman

Pakistan's Cantankerous Game unfortunate casualties: India and USA

Why has USA so far neglected to catch Osama-canister Laden?

Answer to my inquiry is covered up in the Government of India's (GOI) rehashed endeavors of uncovering Pakistan's infamous ISI-OBL-Dawood trio global fear based oppressors connections and ISI job in sending out worldwide psychological militants from Pakistan psychological militants creating industrial facilities running from different Madarssas. ISI realizes that US can do nothing without their assistance; in this way, the Pakistan government is playing twofold game both with India and US. While Pakistan had persuaded, the US initiatives that she is preparing remote psychological militants to battle Jihad in Kashmir; however ISI is stealthy carrying out outside fear based oppressors prepared in those camps to Afghanistan and Iraq to battle against US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization country's powers. Why ISI had picked Afghan-Pakistan outskirt territories as protected paradise for OBL is clear from ISI scandalous plan of playing twofold standard game with USA. ISI is exceptionally certain that USA will always be unable to capture outlaw OBL without Pakistan help, in this manner, the whole Pakistani government hardware is attempting full scale endeavors to drain billions and trillions of US dollars before either OBL passes on his common demise or is going to kick the bucket. ISI birds of prey realize that if USA can find OBL by any possibility, the Pakistan Government would constrain him to hybrid to Afghanistan to clean Pakistan ridiculous materials. I am as yet distrustful that ISI would handover mortal survives from Osama to urgent USA authority to increase home face reserve funds triumph. US arrangement creators realize that Islamic Terrorism can't be battled without Pakistani help; along these lines, all their international strategies in South East Asia are Pakistan driven. While Pakistan is attempting to drain US greatest on one side, she is organizing battle against remote psychological oppressors settled for all time in NWFP slope zones on the other. These outside psychological oppressors are really those Jihadies who were enlisted to battle Jihad on the planet anyplace.

While Pakistan is attempting to contain psychological warfare on her dirt utilizing Army; she needs Indian government to determine through exchange and tranquil methods in Kashmir. ISI is preparing, bolstering, furnishing and giving all strategic help to Indian fear based oppressors stowing away in Pakistan. ISI doesn't enable any US military spectator to visit Terrorists Training Camps (TTC) in Pakistan Occupied Poonch and Kashmir (POPK) to keep the quantity of remote psychological militants being prepared suspicious with the goal that Pakistan could stealthily pirate out a large portion of the outside prepared fear mongers to Afghanistan and Iraq to battle Jihad against US as it were.

IIT Training Factories in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sudan

USA and Western Nations ought to comprehend that until except if global psychological oppressors assembling and sending out manufacturing plants set up in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Ethiopia are not totally disassembled and devastated, the world can't be liberated from IIT. Indian knowledge organizations have recorded almost 34 TTC in POPK to battle secret war in Kashmir. Infact, it is the ISI configuration to keep preparing fear based oppressors in the attire of Kashmir issue unmistakably and train and supply IIT to other piece of the world carefully. The ongoing introduction of Multinational ethnic Muslim Terrorists preparing camp in Muzzaffrabad region of POPK has still not opened US eyes of deceive. I can hardly imagine how US government is uninformed of different TTC arrangement in Pakistan. I am extremely certain that all the global fear mongers from Kashmir, Bangladesh, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and other Muslim nations are prepared to battle Jihad, in this manner, psychological militants prepared in POPK camps are to battle against USA, Britain, Australia, Canada and other non-Islamic countries. ISI is straightforwardly directing these IIT to battle Jihad not against India and Israel yet against USA and the West. On the off chance that I comprehend Pakistani pioneer's paycheque well, at that point I will guarantee the World that it is ISI just which is really providing prepared fear mongers to Taliban in Afghanistan and Al-Qaida in Iraq. It is the distress of actuality that ISI is preparing IIT with reserves got from USA to battle against USA and Western nations as it were.

Fears of President Mohammad Hafiz Karzai of Afghanistan are not unmerited. Pakistan is exclusively liable for proceeded with distress in Afghanistan. Karzai had on numerous occasions cried ISI joins with Taliban and other psychological oppressor's outfits in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Muslim Fundamentalist Organizations working from Pakistan are financing Taliban. They are additionally organizing strategic help for rest and recovering for harmed psychological militants and safe paradise for traveling fear based oppressors and their pioneers needed by US. In spite of the fact that the world heads had recognizing the job of Pakistan in supporting Taliban in Afghanistan and Al-Qaida in Iraq; however the US authorities keep their eyes shut. Notwithstanding Pakistan, an enormous number of outside fear mongers are entering in Afghanistan which are prepared in Bangladesh, Taliban controlled zones in Afghanistan and Sudan. The US claim knowledge organizations had uncovered that an enormous quantities of Al-Qaida psychological militants, who are battling in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being prepared in Sudan too.

Why USA is shutting her eyes towards the future rising Islamic Terrorists and Fundamentalists danger to the world harmony isn't known; however the assault on US residents' reality over would positively increment in the coming a very long time ahead.

Is Pakistan a Rogue State?

Pakistan was conceived as a maverick state, she is a rebel State and she would stay as a maverick state said Sri Jagannath BA in 1965 after first Indo-Pak war while tending to a little younger students get together in Village Piplia on 26 January 1966 AD. I feel that until except if ISI is administering and Pakistan kept on finding out his predominant job in Islamic world, there are remote odds of world harmony. Pakistan can't contend with Saudi Arabia in any case because of hardliner fan and fundamentalist's control of Mosques and Madarssas.

World Peace: Prerequisites

The Prophet had established Islam to bring solidarity, widespread fellowship, balance and harmony among his devotees lecturing take arms just to safeguard and not to take up arms different religions. Be that as it may, Muslim supporters had assumed on the liability of spreading Islam on themselves utilizing Sword and world had become the front line of recently established Islam and old customary Christianity. While Islam had spread utilizing sword quickly, the Christianity took almost fifteen centuries to arrive at different corners of the World. In spite of the fact that Prophet had never proliferated spreading Islam utilizing sword however his devotee with personal stake had become friend in need of Islam. The Muslim fundamentalists and self declared Islamic pioneers had pursued viciousness to stifle supporters which is as yet proceeding with unabated. On the off chance that Islamic strict pioneers don't envision and understand the future needs of Muslim individuals, at that point there could never be enduring tranquility on the planet Earth.

I feel that world can never observe harmony until except if:-

One; Islamic church surveys, rethink or expel the world Kaffir or Infidel or Non-Muslims from their strict sacred text from 'The Holy Quran'

Two; Muslims bring fairness among both genders human life that is male and female or man and lady. In what capacity can there be harmony; where four ladies confirmations are compared with one man proof.

Three; there is an essential certainty for Islamic researchers, pastorate and intellectuals to sit and audit the method for Muslims existence with changing advances and progression of science in human life. I feel that until except if:-

• Islamic researchers audit their method for driving public activity inside the altered extent of Hadit (Rule of Prophet Life) and Shriyaya (Way of le

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Q&A: Hizbul Mujahideen leader: ‘We will never surrender’ | News

Riyaz Naikoo is without doubt one of the most needed armed Kashmiri fighters with a bounty of 12 lakh (roughly $170,00) on his head.

The 31-year-old former arithmetic instructor is the commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), a pro-Pakistan armed separatist group that opposes Indian rule in Kashmir.

The HM group, based in 1989, is thought to be a terrorist organisation by India in addition to the USA and the European Union.

The Himalayan area is house to seven a long time of battle, with greater than half 1,000,000 Indian forces deployed to struggle insurgent teams demanding both independence or merger with Pakistan.

For the reason that armed insurrection erupted in 1989, greater than 70,00zero folks have been killed, in response to estimates by an area human rights federation, Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).

In 2010, mass protests erupted once more, throughout which greater than 100 civilians have been killed – the worst violence in a decade that noticed stone-throwing Kashmiri youths hitting the streets in opposition to Indian rule.

The killing of widespread HM commander Burhan Wani in 2016 sparked the present section of lethal protests that has pushed a rising variety of youths in the direction of armed insurrection.

Al Jazeera spoke to Naikoo over the cellphone to debate whether or not he would think about negotiating with India, the technique behind armed wrestle and his imaginative and prescient for Kashmir’s future.

Al Jazeera reached out to the Indian authorities for remark however was but to obtain a response on the time of publication.

Al Jazeera: Why did you resolve to take up arms, what satisfied you to affix HM?

Riyaz Naikoo: In 2003, a cousin of my mom was martyred. This was when the fact of Kashmir touched me personally for the primary time. I used to be at school 11 (eleventh grade).

My mother and father needed me to go outdoors Kashmir to finish greater training, however I used to be drawn to the thought of resistance and knew that I won’t be able to serve on the bottom if I went away.

I labored as a instructor for greater than three years and was additionally concerned in social work in Pulwama district. Throughout this time, I got here in contact with a senior fighter, Parvaiz Musharraf.

I used to speak to him so much and would ask him questions on why he had joined and the way they might succeed despite the fact that they have been outnumbered. He would clarify my queries, and he additionally gave me his private diary, which I’d usually learn, [it] remains to be with me.

On March 21, 2010, he was martyred. I lastly grew to become an energetic fighter on 1 June 2012 underneath my code identify, Zubair. These days, it was not straightforward to outlive, as our numbers have been low. From the threats to our lives to pangs of starvation, we noticed all of it. Since then I’ve met and misplaced many fellow fighters and associates.

My household has suffered so much and are routinely harassed since I joined the armed insurrection. Our home has been attacked so many occasions, and my brother, uncles, and father have been arrested many occasions.

Al Jazeera: Do you continue to imagine within the technique of armed resistance?

Naikoo: Permit me to cite the good Nelson Mandela, who wrote the next phrases in his autobiography, Lengthy Stroll to Freedom: “A freedom fighter learns the exhausting approach that it’s the oppressor who defines the character of the wrestle, and the oppressed is usually left no recourse however to make use of strategies that mirror these of the oppressor. At a degree, one can solely struggle fireplace with fireplace.”

The Indian navy occupation of Jammu and Kashmir which we’re combating in opposition to is the longest-running and essentially the most brutal occupation within the up to date period, which compares with the occupation of Palestine in its scope and depth, but the fact of abuses right here is far much less identified.

Sure, we’ve got chosen the trail of armed wrestle, however primarily, we’re for peace, not struggle.

It’s the nature of the occupying Indian state that has compelled us to resort to violent strategies of resistance. Kashmiri folks didn’t decide up arms for greater than 40 years since occupation started in 1947. It was solely after steady repression and scuttling of all peaceable technique of resistance that we have been compelled to take action.

There are various United Nations resolutions that decision for a plebiscite to find out the desire of the folks of Jammu and Kashmir.

However the Indian state has repeatedly refused to recognise or implement them, they usually hold labelling Kashmir as their inner matter, which works in opposition to the legality and historical past of the dispute.

Armed wrestle just isn’t precisely our first selection, however it’s a troublesome selection that a few of us have made, and we are going to stay steadfast on our chosen path.

You should know that this state of affairs just isn’t distinctive in historical past. Such has been the case with all freedom struggles in opposition to colonial rule, be it the Indian freedom wrestle in opposition to the British, or the Algerian motion in opposition to the French, or the wrestle of the Libyan folks in opposition to Italian rule. The folks of Kashmir are the life-blood of our resistance.

Al Jazeera: Provided that many younger males are being killed, what makes you proceed to take up arms?

Naikoo: By elevating our weapons in opposition to Indian rule in Kashmir, we need to allow them to know that we’ll not settle for the occupation of our land underneath any circumstance. We are going to reply to their power with power since that appears to be the one language they perceive.

We are going to proceed to face up for our proper to self-determination and we’re able to struggle till our final breath. Most of all, we need to allow them to know that we’d die within the wrestle, however we are going to by no means give up.

No colonial occupation has continued eternally, and it’s our agency perception that the Indian rule in Kashmir may even collapse eventually, till then, we are going to struggle.

Clearly, such resistance comes at a value, and Indian forces proceed to kill Kashmiri folks with impunity.

The willpower, resistance and sacrifices of our folks – women and men, young and old, widows and orphans, half-mothers [mothers whose children have disappeared] and disappeared sons, these in prisons and in torture centres, encourage us to hold on.

Al Jazeera: What are your calls for? Do you see Pakistan as a part of what you need?

Naikoo: Our demand may be very easy – freedom. Freedom, for us, means the entire dismantling of India’s unlawful occupation of Kashmir and all of the constructions that help it, be they navy or financial.

We need to do away with the constructions which have enslaved not simply the territory of Kashmir but in addition the free expression and social and financial well-being of our folks. We wish our freedom with justice and dignity.

We think about Pakistan as our ideological and ethical buddy. Pakistan is the one nation which has constantly supported our trigger and raised the considerations of Kashmiri freedom wrestle at worldwide boards.

Pakistan’s creation because the homeland for Muslims of the Indian subcontinent hyperlinks us to it traditionally as we have been a Muslim majority area whose geography was contiguous with Pakistan. Most significantly, even when the Pakistani state’s help for Kashmir trigger has, at occasions, wavered circumstantially, the folks of Pakistan have at all times stood by us and our trigger.

Al Jazeera: Would you ever interact in negotiations or back-channel talks with India?

Naikoo: We aren’t in opposition to negotiations with India. However negotiations can solely result in a fruitful end result after they happen between events that recognise one another as equals.

Negotiations can not occur between a grasp and a slave or, as the good thinker of Palestinian armed wrestle, Ghassan Kanafani, very aptly put it, as “the dialog between the sword and the neck”.

Some Indian leaders insist that we should discuss throughout the ambit of the Indian structure; what they actually imply is capitulation. They aren’t excited by honouring our legit political calls for. They’re solely excited by pushing for insurance policies and mechanisms that additional entrench the occupational equipment.

Al Jazeera: What’s the ideology behind your wrestle? Are you curious about connecting with different armed teams combating occupation in numerous international locations?

Naikoo: Our ideology is of peace with justice. However our wrestle is for each citizen of occupied Jammu and Kashmir who lives and suffers underneath the shadow of occupation.

As followers of Islam, we’re taught by our faith to struggle all types of oppression until oppression is decimated. Islam motivates us to sacrifice for the reason for common justice.

To the folks everywhere in the world who is perhaps studying this, let me guarantee them that we’re in solidarity with all these folks, no matter their faith and their geography, who’re dwelling underneath occupations and are combating struggles for his or her freedom.

We perceive their plight, their challenges, their hopes and their needs as solely an oppressed can perceive the ache of different oppressed.

Having stated that, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is an indigenous Kashmiri organisation which derives its cadres and logistics regionally and, in that, we’re self-sufficient. Thus, we don’t want help of any armed group in navy phrases, however we do encourage diplomatic, ethical, and activist solidarity from those that would recognise the legitimacy of our wrestle for liberation.

Al Jazeera: What sort of Kashmir would you like? Would you like a non secular state?

Naikoo: Freedom wrestle is an extended drawn out course of and it evolves over a time frame. Our speedy aim is to finish the Indian occupation and drive its navy and political equipment out of our land.

As for our future, we envision the creation of a free area whereby the character of the state will be deliberated upon freely. The paradigms of this debate can, and can change with time.

Having stated that, as you understand, Kashmir is a Muslim majority area and subsequently the folks have a particular affinity with the legal guidelines, rules and ethos of Islam.

I have to point out right here that we, very a lot based mostly on our faith, envision a system that encompasses the safety of minorities, which appreciates dialogue and tolerance, which has an incredible custom of free pondering, which doesn’t tolerate slavery, and which strives for equality.

We search steerage from Allah, to whom sovereignty belongs, to attempt for peace and justice, and in contrast to the forces of oppression, we’re not guided by the egos of the ability hungry.

Al Jazeera: When civilians come out on the streets to guard the fighters from Indian forces, they find yourself being killed, arrested or damage. Do you’re feeling this can find yourself fermenting bitterness and have your individual supporters flip their backs on you?

Naikoo: Kashmiri persons are not new to the streets of Kashmir. They’ve been protesting the Indian occupation since 1947, and the oppressive Dogra rule [in the 20th century] earlier than that.

Whereas earlier, folks used to run away from complete villages the military was about to cordon, now occasions have modified and we’re seeing that individuals particularly our youth are repeatedly placing their lives in danger.

We’re extraordinarily grateful to all these individuals who in a method or different are combating this unlawful occupation. We should additionally perceive that we as armed fighters are usually not totally different from folks. We’re totally different organs of the identical physique.

There isn’t a important binary of distinction between armed fighters and customary folks. Occupation’s bullets don’t make a distinction between civilians and fighters, nor do its prisons. We’re united with our folks in life and dying.

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