Author: Priya Saha

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) United Nations General Assembly – File Pic United Nations: Pakistan, where terrorists enjoy free pass, is an “arsonist” disguising itself as a “fire-fighter”, and the entire world has suffered as it nurtures“dreaded terrorists” like Osama bin Laden in its backyard, India has said in a blistering retort after Prime Minister Imran Khan raised the issue of Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly. “We exercise our Right of Reply to one more attempt by the leader of Pakistan to tarnish the image of this august Forum by bringing in matters internal to my country, and…

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI): A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to declare that the fundamental rights granted to minorities like Muslims and Christians to run educational institutions be made available to the majority community also under the Constitution. Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution deal with the rights of the minorities to protect their “distinct language, script or culture” and provide them, whether based on religion or language, the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Also Read | Telangana Shocker: 18-Year-Old Dead in Clash Between…

India has rubbished Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s criticism of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir at the UN General Assembly and said the neighbouring country has misused global forums to spread false propaganda while openly using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. As in recent years, India fielded a young woman diplomat – Sneha Dubey, the first secretary at the mission to the UN in New York – to exercise the right of reply to respond to allegations made by the Pakistani premier at the General Assembly. Dubey described Pakistan as “an arsonist disguising itself as a fire-fighter”.…

 People are either brothers in faith or equals in humanity. This is the teaching of Islam. This was the vision of Jinnah- an egalitarian, tranquil and just society. Nonetheless, Jinnah’s vision for a peaceful inclusive Pakistan was elbowed away right after his demise. According to his ADC Shareef Pirzada, some far-right radicals had put all effort into getting his 11th September speech broadcasted. They wished to nip it in the bud. Jinnah had proclaimed in his famous address to the first Constituent Assembly that the state would be impartial and free for people of all religions, races and genders. Jinnah…

An alliance of minority rights groups is to launch a movement in Pakistan to oppose forced religious conversion of minor minority girls and to promote an anti-conversion bill.Lala Robin Daniel, chairman of the National Minorities Alliance of Pakistan, condemned the government’s decision to forward the bill to the Religious Affairs Ministry for review.“The state of minorities in Pakistan is dismal. The promises made by the constitution to every citizen of Pakistan are being negated by the state itself,” Daniel told a news conference in Islamabad on Sept. 22. “The constitution guarantees equality of status. One particular group has rights but…

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has demanded intensified global actions with “real urgency” to repatriate Rohingyas, saying major international powers inaction over the crisis shocked Bangladesh as it extended them makeshift refuge on humanitarian grounds, straining the country’s resources.    “As I repeatedly said they (Rohingyas) are Myanmar nationals and hence, they must go back to their homeland, Myanmar, in safety and dignity,” she told a high-level interaction of global stakeholders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York on Tuesday afternoon (Bangladesh Time early today).   Sheikh Hasina insisted that the issue was a matter…

According to Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, since its power grab and overthrow of the democratically-elected Government, the junta and its forces have murdered more than 1,100 people, arbitrarily detained more than 8,000, and forcibly displaced more than 230,000 civilians, bringing the total number of internally placed persons in Myanmar to well over half a million. Mr. Andrews described how junta-controlled military forces have killed protesters in the streets, murdered civilians in their homes, beaten individuals to death and tortured people to death while in detention. This has been carried out through bombings, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, he said.  Entire…

(September 22, 2021 / JNS) The following are remarks that the author delivered to the European Organizations Union for Peace in Yemen and the Yemeni Coalition of Independent Women, at the conference, “Houthi Anti-Semitism and the Ethnic Cleansing of Yemen’s Jews,” on the sidelines of the 48th Session of the UNHCR, Geneva, Switzerland on Sept. 20. In addressing the Houthi militias’ violation of the rights of the Jewish religious minority of Yemen, one of the most ancient indigenous peoples in world history, I think it is important for us to start at the beginning, with the founder of this militia…

Outlook September 21, 2021 21:14 IST India, Bangladesh must keep close watch on Afghan situation: ex- Bangladesh foreign secretary outlookindia.com 1970-01-01T05:30:00+0530 Guwahati, Sep 21 (PTI) Former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shamsher M Chowdhury on Tuesday said India and Bangladesh should together keep a close watch on the situation unfolding in Afghanistan as it could have repurcussions in the sub-continent. Chowdhury who has served as his country”s Ambassador to both the superpowers Russia and United States pointed out the new Taliban regime in Afghanistan is driven by a ‘communal’ rather a political ideology. Speaking through…

09/13/2021 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – News about the increased kidnapping and forced conversion of young female brides to Islam has caused international pressure on the Pakistani government. In response, Pakistan recently released a draft of the Prohibition of Forced Conversion Bill 2021, which some Christians and Hindus have praised. It has already received push back from many Muslim clerics. The Prohibition of Forced Conversion Bill 2021 contains language prohibiting the forced conversion of any minor under 18 years old. In addition, the bill imputes a five-to-ten-year jail sentence and fines of between Rs 100,000 and Rs 200,000 to anyone…

Indian Hindu devotees offer prayers on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati, India, on Nov. 13, 2018. (Biju Boro/AFP/Getty Images) Religious pluralism has long been a core value in India, which has a large majority of Hindus and smaller shares of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and other groups. In recent years, the size of these communities and their future growth have been topics of great interest to the Indian public. A new Pew Research Center report shows that India’s religious composition has been fairly stable since the 1947 partition that divided the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India…

(September 20, 2021 / JNS) Try painting a swastika on the wall of a synagogue, and you’ll be arrested and charged with vandalism and probably serve jail time for a hate crime. But a federal appellate court has just gone out of its way to grant constitutional protection to signs bellowing “Resist Jewish Power” and “Jewish Power Corrupts” at Jews attending synagogue services every Sabbath morning for the past 18 years in Ann Arbor, Mich. The judges didn’t bother to explain why menacing Jewish Americans coming together to worship is less intimidating than cross-burnings were to church attendees in African-American…