ISLAMABAD: Pakistan vowed to eliminate terrorism and extremism in the region by working with Shanghai Cooperation Organization as the three-day meeting got under way in Islamabad.
“Pakistan fully supports and welcomes the efforts of SCO-RATS in the fight against three evils of terrorism, extremism and separatism,” Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) meeting.
Legal experts from the eight member states — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan — as well as representatives of the SCO-RATS executive committee, were taking part in the meeting.
It is the first SCO meeting to be held in Pakistan since it joined the organization in June 2017. The main purpose of the meeting is to discuss terrorist threats facing the region and how to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation between the member states.
“We support the SCO consensus that as we engage in the fight against terrorism, we must respect the norms and principles of international law, UN Charter and shun double standards,” the Foreign Secretary said.
She also emphasized that terrorism cannot and should not be identified with any religion, individual countries or nationalities.
She said: “We have lost thousands of our citizens and law enforcement personnel, with many more injured. We have also suffered economic losses of more than $120 billion.”
But human and financial losses have not dented Pakistan’s determination to fight this menace, she said, adding that comprehensive efforts over the past several years, supported by a firm domestic political consensus, have helped Pakistan to turn the tide against terrorism.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization, which was founded on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, China.
Former ambassadors, political and security analysts view the first-ever SCO meeting in Islamabad as an opportunity for the government to present its case against terrorism and extremism effectively to the international community.
Former ambassador Mohammed Ayaz Wazir said it was good for Pakistan to be hosting the hold the meeting at a time when some hostile countries have been trying to isolate it in the international community.
“Pakistan should also enhance bilateral relationship with the SCO members as Euro-Asia is going to be an economic hub and peace center of the world,” he told Arab News.
Wazir pointed out that immediate benefit of the SCO platform is that Pakistan and India have been talking to each other despite being reluctant to revive the bilateral talks on several important issues.
“For peace and development in the region, all member states of the SCO should shun their petty differences and devise cogent mechanisms of cooperation and collaboration,” he said.
Tahir Malik, professor at a public-sector university and political analyst, said it has become a global challenge to overcome the menaces of terrorism and extremism, that no country could deal with effectively acting alone.
“All SCO member states should cooperate in the fields of research and technology to promote knowledge-based economy and peace in the region,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan vows to fight extremism under the banner of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Pakistan vows to fight extremism under the banner of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- Pakistan hosts meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) to discuss enhancing counter-terrorism cooperation among the member states.
- Pakistan should also enhance bilateral relationship with the SCO members as Euro-Asia is going to be an economic hub.
Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
MADISON, US: Kamala Harris on Friday attacked Republican rival Donald Trump and his party as “hypocrites” over abortion, as the first voters cast their ballots for November’s knife-edge US election.
The Democrat unleashed one of the most forceful speeches of her campaign so far as she blamed Trump for an abortion ban in the battleground state of Georgia that she said had caused the deaths of two women.
“And these hypocrites want to start talking about how this is in the best interest of women and children,” the vice president told a rally in Atlanta, Georgia to cheers from a mainly female audience.
“Well, where have you been? Where have you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of America, where have you been? How dare they.”
Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket two months ago, Harris has repeatedly focused on what she calls “Trump abortion bans.”
Trump has frequently bragged on the campaign trail that his three Supreme Court picks paved the way for the 2022 overturning of the national right to abortion.
At least 20 states have since brought in full or partial restrictions, with Georgia banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Harris doubled down on the issue later Friday at a raucous rally in Madison, a liberal-leaning city in swing state Wisconsin where she slammed the bans as “immoral.”
“This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect.”
In both speeches Harris mentioned Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year-old mother-of-one from Georgia who developed a rare complication from abortion pills and died during emergency surgery in 2022.
An official Georgia state committee blamed the fatal outcome on a “preventable” lag in performing a critical procedure.
“We will make sure Amber is not just remembered as a statistic,” Harris said in Atlanta, a day after meeting Thurman’s family during a campaign event hosted by talkshow icon Oprah Winfrey.
Harris’s campaign speeches came as three states — Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota — began early voting 46 days before election day in what is an agonizingly close race.
“The election is basically here,” she told Madison rallygoers. “It’s basically here and we have work to do, to energize, to organize and to mobilize.”
Former president Trump has previously cast doubt on early voting and mail voting to back his false claims that he won the 2020 election against Biden.
Most US states permit in-person voting or mail-in voting to allow people to deal with scheduling conflicts or an inability to cast their ballots on election day itself, November 5.
Dozens of people waited at a polling station in the center of Arlington, Virginia, just outside the capital Washington.
“I’m excited,” said Michelle Kilkenny, 55, adding that voting early, “especially on day one, helps the campaign and raises the enthusiasm level.”
Ann Spiker, 71, told AFP she usually cast her ballot by mail “but I’m going to vote today because it’s so exciting.”
The Democratic supporter added: “I can’t believe we can pick Donald Trump, when I think about it I become very worried. That’s why we’re out and doing what we can.”
Trump, 78, faces criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 result, after which his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Every vote will count in the race, whose result Trump has once again refused to say he will accept.
Harris, 59, has erased Trump’s lead since sensationally replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate in July, pulling neck-and-neck with the Republican.
The result is expected to hinge on just seven crucial swing states, including Georgia and Wisconsin.
Trump however sought to lay the blame for any potential loss at the door of Jewish American voters, sparking outrage on Friday.
“If I don’t win this election... in my opinion the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump told an anti-Semitism event on Thursday, repeating his grievance that Jewish voters have historically leaned toward the Democrats.
The White House slammed his comments.
“It is abhorrent to traffic in dangerous tropes or engage in scapegoating at any time — let alone now, when all leaders have an obligation to fight back against the tragic worldwide rise in anti-Semitism,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.
US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib condemns cartoon showing her with exploding pager
- Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave, and created a humanitarian crisis
WASHINGTON: Palestinian American US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib on Friday condemned as racist a cartoon published in the conservative magazine National Review showing her with an exploding pager — a reference to an attack this week against members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It’s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism,” Tlaib wrote on the social media platform X.
Tlaib, a Democrat who represents a district from Michigan in the US House of Representatives, is the lone Palestinian American lawmaker in the US Congress. The Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, Democratic US House members Cory Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, some local officials in Michigan and human rights groups also criticized the cartoon.
National Review did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The cartoon, published on Thursday, showed a woman sitting next to an exploding pager. The woman’s desk in the cartoon had a name card saying “Rep. Tlaib” while the woman herself is shown saying: “ODD. MY PAGER JUST EXPLODED.”
The cartoon was created by Henry Payne, a Detroit News auto critic. Payne’s X account titled the cartoon as “Tlaib Pager Hamas.” The Detroit News said it was not involved in its creation and distribution, and chose not to run it.
Thousands of pagers used by members of Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded on Tuesday. That was followed a day later by the explosion of hand-held radios in Lebanon, with dozens killed and thousands wounded in the incidents. Security sources have said Israel was responsible. Israel did not take responsibility.
Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave, and created a humanitarian crisis. Israel’s assault followed an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Tlaib has been a fierce critic of Israel’s actions in the war and American support for the longtime US ally.
Human rights advocates have cited rising dehumanization of Arabs, Muslims and Jews amid the war.
Hezbollah ‘financier’ pleads guilty to evading US sanctions
- The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has said Bazzi “has provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah over the years, generated from his business activities in Belgium, Lebanon, Iraq and throughout West Africa”
NEW YORK: A former Lebanese diplomat accused of being a financier for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement pleaded guilty Friday to evading US financial sanctions against him and his organization, branded as “terrorist” by the US government.
Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, 60, who holds Lebanese, British and Belgian citizenship, pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York to conspiracy to conduct unlawful transactions with an international terrorist, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.
Bazzi had “accepted responsibility for his role in conspiring to secretly move hundreds of thousands of dollars from the United States to Lebanon in violation of sanctions placed on him for assisting the terrorist group Hezbollah,” US prosecutor Breon Peace said.
Bazzi faces up to 20 years imprisonment, as well as deportation and forfeiture of the $828,528 involved in illegal transactions.
No sentencing date has been set.
The State Department in May 2018 had declared Bazzi to be a “specially designated global terrorist” and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has said Bazzi “has provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah over the years, generated from his business activities in Belgium, Lebanon, Iraq and throughout West Africa.”
In February 2023, he was arrested in Romania and extradited to the US.
The US attorney’s statement said Bazzi had worked with an accomplice, Talal Chahine, who remains on the loose in Lebanon.
It said the two men attempted to launder their transactions through purchases and fictitious loans of equipment for a restaurant in China, a property in Lebanon and a family loan to Kuwait.
According to investigative journalism outlet ProPublica, Bazzi was appointed honorary consul in Lebanon by the government of Gambia in 2005. The volunteer diplomat role helped him access unique connections and benefits, which can be ripe for abuse.
The United States has declared Hezbollah as a terrorist organization over its attacks on American military members, government employees and civilians abroad.
The militant group has been in Israel’s crosshairs amid the war in Gaza, with the commander of an elite Hezbollah unit killed in a Beirut strike on Friday.
It also followed two waves of explosions, on Tuesday and Wednesday, of communication devices used by Hezbollah members, which Hezbollah blamed on Israel.
Biden opens home to ‘Quad’ leaders for farewell summit
WILMINGTON, US: US President Joe Biden hosted Australia’s prime minister at his Delaware home Friday, at the start of a weekend summit with the so-called “Quad” group he has pushed as a counterweight to China.
Biden chose his hometown of Wilmington for a summit of leaders from Australia, India and Japan — the last of his presidency after he dropped out of the 2024 election against Donald Trump and handed the Democratic campaign reins to Kamala Harris.
After a one-on-one meeting at his property with Australia’s Anthony Albanese on Friday night, he will welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at his beloved house on Saturday.
Biden will then host an “intimate” dinner and full four-way summit that day at his former high school in the city.
“This will be President Biden’s first time hosting foreign leaders in Wilmington as president — a reflection of his deep personal relationships with each of the Quad Leaders,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Vice President Harris will not be attending, the White House said.
The Quad grouping dates back to 2007, but Biden has strongly pushed it as part of an emphasis on international alliances after the isolationist Trump years.
China was expected to feature heavily in their discussions amid tensions with Beijing, particularly a series of recent confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea.
“It will certainly be high on the agenda,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, adding that the four leaders had a “common understanding about the challenges that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is posing.”
The White House, however, faced criticism for giving only limited access to the press throughout the weekend, with reporters questioning whether it was at the request of the notoriously media-shy Modi.
The Hindu nationalist was coaxed to take two questions during a state visit to the White House in 2023, but had not held an open press conference at home in his previous nine years in power.
The White House insisted Biden would not shy away from addressing rights issues with Modi, who has faced accusations of growing authoritarianism.
“There’s not a conversation that he has with foreign leaders where he doesn’t talk about the importance of respecting human and civil rights, and that includes with Prime Minister Modi,” Kirby said.
India is due to host the next Quad summit in 2025.
Biden is famously proud of his home in Wilmington, around 110 miles (176 kilometers) from Washington, and he frequently spends weekends there away from the confines of the White House.
It hit the headlines when classified documents were found in its garage, next to his Corvette sports car, in 2022. Biden was not charged.
Russia detains two dozen over deadly Moscow shootout
- The shootout involved the camps of Russia's richest woman Tatyana Bakalchuk and her estranged husband over control of retail giant Wildberries
- The chaotic shooting just a few streets from the Kremlin evoked memories of the 1990s in Russia, where corporate disputes were sometimes settled through violence
MOSCOW: Russia authorities ordered the detention of two dozen people including a Chechen mixed martial arts fighter on Friday over a shootout in central Moscow that left two people dead.
A group of men turned up at the offices of Russian retail giant Wildberries on Wednesday, in what CEO Tatyana Bakalchuk described as an armed takeover attempt by her estranged husband and two disgruntled former executives.
Bakalchuk — Russia’s richest woman — and her husband had for months been locked in a bitter dispute over a company merger deal that President Vladimir Putin had personally approved but which Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov denounced as an illegal seizure.
Among the men remanded into custody on Friday was Umar Chichaev, a mixed martial arts fighter and deputy commander of a national guard unit linked to Kadyrov, according to Russian news agencies.
“The court granted the petition of law enforcement agencies and remanded Chichaev in custody for one month and 30 days,” Moscow’s Basmanny court ruled, according to the state-owned TASS news agency.
The shootout came just over six weeks after Wildberries finalized its merger deal with Russ, a Russian advertising firm that is several times smaller than the corporate giant.
Bakalchuk’s husband Vladislav denounced the merger as a huge mistake, and enlisted the help of Kadyrov in July to stop the deal.
Two security guards were killed in the shootout, which injured seven others.
Tatyana released a tearful video message on Wednesday accusing her husband of organizing the attack.
Bakalchuk founded Wildberries in 2004 while on maternity leave, selling clothes out of her Moscow apartment with her then-IT technician husband Vladislav.
The business has since become an industry leader and made Bakalchuk a billionaire, although her fortune took a hit from the recent merger, according to Forbes.
In July, she announced she had separated from Vladislav and was getting a divorce.
In total, 30 people have been detained over two days in connection with Wednesday’s shooting, state media reported.
Vladislav’s lawyers said on Thursday he had been arrested on suspicion of murder and other crimes.
But late Friday, he released a cryptic video on Telegram saying that he was at home and would continue to fight for his “family business.”
“The truth is on my side. May justice prevail,” he said in a message accompanying the video.
The chaotic shooting just a few streets from the Kremlin evoked memories of the 1990s in Russia, where corporate disputes were sometimes settled through violent turf wars and criminal means.
