Headline News 24/02/2018

Headlines:

British Muslim Teacher Taken off US-bound Flight: I was Treated like a Criminal

Egypt's Sisi, Jordan's Abdullah Reaffirm Support for Two-State Solution

Pakistan to Receive US Attack Helicopters in 2017

Details:

British Muslim Teacher Taken off US-bound Flight: I was Treated like a Criminal

A young British Muslim teacher escorted off a New York-bound flight by US officials in front of the school party he was helping lead has spoken of his concerns that he was targeted simply because of his religion. Maths teacher Juhel Miah, 25, who was born in Birmingham and brought up in Swansea, said his treatment left him feeling humiliated. Both he and his school are demanding an explanation from the US authorities. Miah told the Guardian: “I’m not an angry type of person. I don’t get easily worked up, otherwise I wouldn’t be a teacher. But I was definitely angry. It hit me the hardest was when I was being escorted off the plane. Everyone was looking at me. “Not just members of the public but my school, my kids, fellow teachers. It made me feel so small, as if I had done something wrong, as if I am a criminal. Everyone must have been thinking that – even the kids from my school. I hope not but that’s what was going through my head. I didn’t know where to look. “This shouldn’t happen to anyone. I’ve followed all the procedures. I’ve ticked all the right boxes yet they made me feel like a criminal. I’ve got no criminal record, I’ve never been in trouble. I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it was happening. I felt powerless, as if I was being targeted and there was nothing I could do. “No one could give me an explanation. The only thing I can put it down to unfortunately – I hope I’m wrong – is because I’m a Muslim. That’s all I can put it down to. I hope that’s not true.” Miah’s ordeal came a week after a US court upheld a decision to suspend President Donald Trump’s executive order that temporarily banned entry to the country from seven Muslim-majority countries. The Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, has written to the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, asking for “urgent clarification”. The US has not commented. He has not been to any of the seven countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya – whose citizens were the subject of Trump’s travel ban. His parents are of Bangladeshi origin. “None of my family has been to those countries. My brother flew to Florida last year. I still can’t pinpoint why me.  “I hope this isn’t true, I really don’t want this to be true but it all started with the first American official I met and the moment she read Mohammed. “I just hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else. That’s my number one goal now. I want a reason, an explanation. If it was a mistake someone should just put their hands up and say it was a mistake and it won’t happen again. I would still like to go to America one day. I just hope it boils down to human error and someone says sorry.” [Source: The Guardian]

Despite public reassurances that the Muslim ban has been rescinded, the exact opposite is happening on the ground. Anyone with a Muslim name is a target for American custom officials.

Egypt's Sisi, Jordan's Abdullah Reaffirm Support for Two-state Solution

The leaders of Egypt and Jordan reaffirmed their continued support on Tuesday for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested abandoning it. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah discussed the issue and coordination of their positions on the Middle East peace process at a meeting in Cairo, a statement from Sisi's office said. Trump suggested at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that he was open to new ways to achieve peace that did not necessarily entail the creation of a Palestinian state, a benchmark of U.S. policy for decades.  Most Arab countries call for a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders before Israel seized the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Netanyahu has described the 1967 lines as indefensible and has said Israel would never return to them. "The two sides discussed future movements to break gridlock within the Middle East peace process, especially with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration taking power," Sisi's office said in a statement after the Sisi-Abdullah meeting. "They also discussed mutual coordination to reach a two-state solution and establish a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as a capital, which is a national constant that cannot be given up." The meeting took place two days after media reports that the two men secretly met with Netanyahu last year in a failed attempt by the Obama administration to convene a wider regional summit on Israeli-Palestinian peace. A Netanyahu spokesman declined to comment on the report in Israel's Haaretz daily. Sisi's office issued a statement referring to it as having "incorrect information" but did not deny that a meeting took place. No immediate comment was available from Jordan. [Source: Reuters]

The Jewish entity and America have shifted their position on the viability of a two state solution. However, the rulers of the Muslim world adhere to it like gospel. There is only one solution to Palestine and that is liberation via the Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah.

Pakistan to Receive US Attack Helicopters in 2017

The United States will deliver three Bell AH-1Z Viper twin-engine attack helicopters to Pakistan in 2017, according to U.S. media reports, part of a total shipment of 12. The first batch of three helicopters will be delivered in 2017, whereas the remaining nine will arrive in 2018, based on information obtained from Bell Helicopters by aviation journalist Alan Warnes. the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 15 AH-1Z Vipers, missiles, and communications equipment at an estimated cost of $952 million in April 2015. Pakistan ordered the first three helicopters in August 2015, and placed an additional order for nine helicopters in April 2016. A U.S. Department of Defense contract notification published in April 2016 only refers to a total of nine AH-1Z Viper helicopters to be purchased by Pakistan for an estimated $170.2 million contract. So far, Islamabad has not placed an order for the remaining attack helicopters. The original request by Pakistan also included the sale of 1,000 AGM-114 R Hellfire II missiles. Pakistan Army Aviation is slated to deploy the helicopters in counterinsurgency operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas. By acquiring the helicopters, “Pakistan will enhance its ability to conduct operations in North Waziristan Agency [NWA], the Federally Administered Tribal Areas [FATAs], and other remote and mountainous areas in all-weather, day and night environment,” according to an April 2015 Defense Security Cooperation Agency press release. Pakistan’s military will also receive four Russian-made Mi-35M attack helicopters in 2017. The Mi-35M is the export version of the Mi-24 gunship and is particularly suited for operations in mountainous terrain. Pakistan Army Aviation could acquire up to 20 Mi-35Ms in the years ahead.  “Given the cost of building the necessary Mi-35M logistics and maintenance infrastructure, expanding the fleet beyond four aircraft would financially be a sound decision for the Pakistani military,”. Islamabad is also considering the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) T-129 attack helicopter or the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) Z-10 helicopter gunship as an alternative to the Mi-35M. The new gunships will slowly phase out Pakistan Army Aviation’s obsolete fleet of U.S.-made AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. [Source: Diplomat]

What is the purpose of accumulating so much firepower and then targeting Muslims? Surely, the real culprits behind Pakistan’s insecurity are India and America.