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Aung Suu Kyi to skip UN General Assembly
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Rohingya issue forced her to escape embarrassment
To escape the mounting criticism by international community, Myanmar’s de facto leader, Noble Laureate State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi has cancelled her participation in the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly session to be held between 19-25 September. She is facing stiff criticism for spiralling Rohingya crisis inside the country’s Rakhine state.
Instead of her, Myanmar’s Vice President is expected to attend the General Assembly who will address the world leaders on behalf of the Noble Laureate Suu Kyi.
Myanmar government spokesman for Suu Kyi, Zaw Htay, on Wednesday said “the State Councillor will not attend” the General Assembly, where she spoke last year.
The spokesperson for her party National League for Democracy (NLD) Aung Shin was quoted saying that “perhaps” Ms Suu Kyi has “more pressing matters to deal with.”
She further added, “She’s never afraid of facing criticism or confronting problems.” However she said that she was not aware of the reason for the Aung San Suu Kyi’s withdrawal from this year’s General Assembly.
During her first address at UN General Assembly, last year, Aung San Suu Kyi defended her government’s efforts to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
Myanmar’s envoy at UN has recently blamed Rohingya “insurgents” for the violence in Rakhine state and said that his government would never tolerate such atrocities.
The present Rohingya crisis began on august 25 when a ragtag militia attacked about 30 police posts and an army camp. This prompted a sweeping military counter offensive that refugees say it aimed at pushing Rohingyas out of the country.
There are reports from refugees and rights groups of widespread attacks on Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine by the security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, who have reportedly set several Muslim villages on fire.
Meanwhile Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while speaking in Tehran on Tuesday, said that Myanmar’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims marks the “death of the Noble Peace Prize”.
He was quoted saying, “A cruel government, at the top of which sits a cruel woman who was awarded a Nobel Prize, kills innocent people, sets fire to them, destroys their houses and displaces them and no tangible reaction is seen.”
Earlier on Monday, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while speaking at the sidelines of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit on science and technology in Astana, Kazakhstan, had called for cooperation in offering aid to Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar.
The two leaders stressed for taking action to put an end to the violence against Rohingya. Rouhani said that the plight of Rohingya, along with other situations in the Muslim world, including Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Palestine, showed the need for unity. Iranian President said, “Iran’s humanitarian aid for the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar will soon be shipped.”
On his arrival in Tehran, President Rouhani was quoted saying, “Although there was not much time for discussions, all the countries in attendance at the meeting agreed on the necessity of helping the displaced and applying pressure on Myanmar’s government to suspend the genocide.”
More than 370,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence since August 25. United Nations says that an average of almost 20,000 have been fleeing every day.
Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, the Chief of UN Human Rights organization has termed the actions of Myanmar’s armed forces as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” However, Myanmar has denounced Hussein’s suggestion.
Some of Aung Saan Suu Kyi’s critics have called for stripping her of Noble peace prize for failing to do more to address the crisis.
Donald Trump administration has called for protection of civilians while Bangladesh says that all refugees will have to go home in the proposed safe zones to be created in Myanmar. However China has supported Myanmar’s efforts to safeguard “development and stability”.
Myanmar’s military has ruled for almost 50 years until it began a transition to democracy in 2011. However army still holds important political powers and fully controls security of the country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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Suicide bombing near Turkey Parliament building in Ankara, 2 cops injured
Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has slammed the attack in Ankara and stated that terrorism is a crime against humanity.
Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya on Sunday asserted that two terrorists carried out a bomb attack in front of the ministry buildings in Ankara. He added that one of them died in the explosion and the other was “neutralised” by authorities there.
Earlier, Turkish media reported that an explosion was heard near the parliament and ministerial buildings, and broadcasters showed footage of debris scattered on a street near the Interior Ministry. A footage from Reuters showed soldiers, ambulances, fire trucks and an armoured vehicle gathered near the centre of Turkey’s capital, where the police have blocked multiple key roads.
Taking to social media X, formerly Twitter, Ali Yerlikaya, the interior minister, said that two police officers were slightly injured in the incident at 9:30 a.m. He added that two terrorists came with a light commercial vehicle in front of the entrance gate of the General Directorate of Security of their Ministry of Internal Affairs and carried out a bomb attack.
The interior minister further mentioned that one of the terrorists blew himself up and the other was neutralised, which usually means was killed. He noted that their struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralised.
Reports said that Ankara’s chief prosecutor initiated an investigation into what it also called a terrorist attack. Authorities did not identify any specific militant group, as yet.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has slammed the attack in Ankara and stated that terrorism is a crime against humanity. The leader of the Republican People’s Party mentioned that no matter from whom and where it came from, they will fight it together as a country and will never give treacherous ambitions a chance.
The concerned authorities in Ankara have cautioned the citizens over suspicious packages and bags that are being detonated in a controlled manner. Ankara Security Directorate asked citizens not to panic.
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Balochistan blast: Pakistan alleges India’s involvement in suicide attack, toll rises to 60
Sarfaraz Bugti told media that civil, military and all other institution will jointly strike against the elements involved in the Mastung suicide bombing.
Pakistan interior minister Sarfaraz Bugti in a shocking claim alleged India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency for the suicide blast in Balochistan. The blast that took place on Friday claimed the lives of nearly 60 people, leaving 60 others injured. The Indian government, on the other hand, is yet to make an official statement on Sarfaraz Bugti’s allegations.
The suicide bomb attack targeted a procession which gathered to celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday near the Madina Masjid at a place called Mastung. The blast tore through the mosque in the southern province of Balochistan after the bomber denoted his explosive near a police vehicle where the people gathered for the procession.
Sarfaraz Bugti told media at Quetta that civil, military and all other institution will jointly strike against the elements involved in the Mastung suicide bombing. Without providing much details or evidence, the Pakistan minister claimed that RAW is involved in the suicide attack.
Wasim Baig, the spokesman for Balochistan’s health department, asserted that seven more people had died in hospital since Friday, which had caused the rise in the death toll. He added that more patients remained in critical condition.
In addition, a second attack on Friday at a mosque in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had killed nearly five people. Police on Saturday lodged a report to initiate an investigation, mentioning that they had sent DNA from the suicide bomb attacker to be analysed.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for either attack. A surge in terror attacks in Pakistan’s western provinces has cast a shadow on preparations and public campaigning in the run-up to January’s general elections, but until now the attacks had mostly targeted security forces.
The Pakistani Taliban (TTP), which is responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan since the group’s formation in 2007, denied responsibility for Friday’s blasts. On Saturday, a statement from the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said that an FIR with murder charges and terrorism offences has been registered against an unidentified attacker.
The caretaker government of Balochistan announced three days of mourning in the wake of the attack.
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Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Mahmood Qureshi held guilty in cipher case
The PTI leaders’ trial has been requested by the FIA, and it is expected that they would be sentenced in accordance with the law.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were found guilty on Saturday by Pakistan’s top investigating agency in the cypher case, a case involving the alleged exposure of state secrets.
The charge sheet against Khan, the Tehreek-e-Insaf party chairman, and Qureshi, who are both presently being held in custody on judicial remand, was submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to a special court set up under the Official Secrets Act, according to the Pakistan Observer website.
Imran Khan, 70, was detained last month following the filing of a complaint against him for allegedly breaking the Official Secrets Act by revealing a covert diplomatic cable (cypher) issued by the nation’s embassy in Washington last year in March.
The PTI leaders’ trial has been requested by the FIA, and it is expected that they would be sentenced in accordance with the law.
The vice chairman of PTI is 75-year-old Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Asad Umar, the former general secretary of the PTI, is not on the FIA’s list of suspects, but former principal secretary Azam Khan has been portrayed as a key witness in the FIA’s case against Imran Khan, according to GeoTV, a well-known news outlet. The challan also contains Azam Khan’s statement recorded under sections 161 and 164.
The speeches by Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Imran Khan from March 27 are also included in the FIA’s attachment.
The Pakistan Observer further noted that the FIA had provided the court with a list of 28 witnesses in addition to the charge sheet. According to the report, the list of witnesses includes names such as current foreign secretary Asad Majid, previous foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood, and additional foreign secretary Faisal Niaz Tirmizi.
Imran Khan had been imprisoned on remand three times earlier on September 26. Along with Qureshi, his judicial remand was initially extended until September 13 and then again until September 26.
The former PM was transferred from Attock prison to the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on the same day, one day after the Islamabad High Court instructed authorities to do so.
