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India Gazette
25-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Will show real face of Pakistan to everyone": All party delegation member Ghulam Ali Khatana
New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI): Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Ali Khatana, who is part of the multi-party delegation to European countries on Sunday, said that the delegation will reveal the 'real face' of Pakistan and present India's stance of zero tolerance against terrorism. Emphasising on the unity of political parties, Ghulam Ali Khatana said, 'When we go outside India, we are all Indians. When we are inside the country, we are separate political parties. We will talk about zero tolerance against terrorism and will show the real face of Pakistan to everyone.' Ghulam Ali Khatana is part of the delegation led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, which will visit the UK, France, Germany, the EU, Italy and Denmark. Other members of the delegation include Daggubati Purandeswari (BJP), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT), Amar Singh (Congress), Samik Bhattacharya (BJP), MJ Akbar, and Ambassador Pankaj Saran. Earlier in the day, Priyanka Chaturvedi called for global accountability and a global alliance against terrorism while highlighting Pakistan's involvement in terror activities. Speaking with ANI, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, 'There should be a zero tolerance against terrorism and there should also be global accountability and a global alliance against terrorism.' Slamming Pakistan for being involved in the terror attack, she highlighted that terrorist groups like Al Qaida and Jaish-e-Mohammad originated from the country. 'All roots of terrorism are coming from Pakistan. Pakistan has become a global terror hub. It exports terrorists not just in our country but also in other countries. America or Europe should not forget that Al Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other terror groups are found there (Pakistan),' she said. The seven multi-party delegations to various countries are tasked with projecting India's national consensus and firm stance on combating terrorism in all its forms. They are carrying India's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism to the global community during their outreach. (ANI)
India Gazette
25-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Will show real face of Pakistan to everyone": All party delegation member Ghulam Nabi Khatana
New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI): Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Khatana, who is part of the multi-party delegation to European countries on Sunday, said that the delegation will reveal the 'real face' of Pakistan and present India's stance of zero tolerance against terrorism. Emphasising on the unity of political parties, Ghulam Nabi Khatana said, 'When we go outside India, we are all Indians. When we are inside the country, we are separate political parties. We will talk about zero tolerance against terrorism and will show the real face of Pakistan to everyone.' Ghulam Ali Khatana is part of the delegation led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, which will visit the UK, France, Germany, the EU, Italy and Denmark. Other members of the delegation include Daggubati Purandeswari (BJP), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT), Amar Singh (Congress), Samik Bhattacharya (BJP), MJ Akbar, and Ambassador Pankaj Saran. Earlier in the day, Priyanka Chaturvedi called for global accountability and a global alliance against terrorism while highlighting Pakistan's involvement in terror activities. Speaking with ANI, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, 'There should be a zero tolerance against terrorism and there should also be global accountability and a global alliance against terrorism.' Slamming Pakistan for being involved in the terror attack, she highlighted that terrorist groups like Al Qaida and Jaish-e-Mohammad originated from the country. 'All roots of terrorism are coming from Pakistan. Pakistan has become a global terror hub. It exports terrorists not just in our country but also in other countries. America or Europe should not forget that Al Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other terror groups are found there (Pakistan),' she said. The seven multi-party delegations to various countries are tasked with projecting India's national consensus and firm stance on combating terrorism in all its forms. They are carrying India's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism to the global community during their outreach. (ANI)
India Gazette
25-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Should be global accountability, alliance against terrorism", says all party delegation member Priyanka Chaturvedi
New Delhi [India], May 25 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, who is a part of a multi-party delegation to European countries, on Sunday called for global accountability and a global alliance against terrorism while highlighting Pakistan's involvement in terror activities. Speaking with ANI, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, 'There should be a zero tolerance against terrorism and there should also be global accountability and a global alliance against terrorism.' Slamming Pakistan for being involved in the terror attack, she highlighted that terrorist groups like Al Qaida and Jaish-e-Mohammad originated from the country. 'All roots of terrorism are coming from Pakistan. Pakistan has become a global terror hub. It exports terrorists not just in our country but also in other countries. America or Europe should not forget that Al Qaida, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other terror groups are found there (Pakistan),' she said. 'Those who are empowering Pakistan financially should see where the money is being used... It is time for the entire world to be aware and call Pakistan out for what it is,' she said. Chaturvedi is part of the delegation led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, which will visit the UK, France, Germany, the EU, Italy and Denmark. Other members of the delegation include Daggubati Purandeswari (BJP), Ghulam Ali Khatana, Amar Singh (Congress), Samik Bhattacharya (BJP), M J Akbar, and Ambassador Pankaj Saran. Earlier, Shashi Tharoor, who is leading a delegation to US, emphasised that Operation Sindoor marks a new normal in India's approach to combating terrorism. The operation was a response to Pakistan's continued hostilities and terrorist activities. Tharoor stated that no one in Pakistan can take India for granted and kill Indians without facing consequences. 'There has now got to be a new normal. No one sitting in Pakistan is going to be allowed to believe that they can just walk across the border and kill our citizens with impunity. There will be a price to pay, and that price has been going up systematically,' he said. The seven multi-party delegations to various countries are tasked with projecting India's national consensus and firm stance on combating terrorism in all its forms. They are carrying India's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism to the global community during their outreach. (ANI)
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Now my kids have a future': Syrians dare to dream again after years as a pariah state
In 2006, Ahmed al-Sharaa was sitting in a US prison in Iraq, then an al-Qaida fighter waging jihad against what he viewed as an American occupation of the Middle East. Nearly two decades later, on Wednesday, he posed for a photo with the US president Donald Trump in Riyadh after discussing normalising ties with Israel and granting US access to Syrian oil. The transformation of Sharaa over the last 20 years from al-Qaida fighter to the president of Syria, sharing the world's stage with foreign leaders like Trump, is staggering. For Syrians, the pace of change has been whiplash-inducing. In just six months after the toppling of former president Bashar al-Assad, Syria has gone from a global pariah under some of the world's most intense sanctions regimes to a country of promise. On Tuesday, Trump announced he would end all US sanctions on Syria, a move he said 'gives them a chance at greatness'. In Syria, a weary country is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Eyes were glued to television screens which replayed video of Sharaa meeting Trump and hands gesticulated fervently as debates over the sanctions ending raged throughout the country. 'You need to wait a bit, there are steps that need to be taken by the experts,' an elderly man cautioned his peer, pausing for breath as they struggled to cycle up the narrow streets of old Damascus. Their slow ascent on rickety-framed bicycles is a common sight in Damascus, where cars and fuel have become increasingly out of reach for much of the country's war-battered, sanctions-laden population. Trump's sudden announcement exceeded even the most optimistic of Syrians' expectations. The US state department had been engaged in months of diplomacy with the new government, haggling over a set of conditions which would lead towards sanctions relief. In typical Trump style, conditions were thrown aside in favour of a sudden, bold announcement that 'all sanctions' would stop. The image of Trump shaking hands with Sharaa cemented what seemed inconceivable just days before: Syria was turning a page in its history. But experts have stressed that removing sanctions is complicated and that it will be a while before ordinary Syrians feel the effects of sanctions relief. 'The immediate impact is a good one. A lot of the regional investors that were eyeing the Syrian economy will be encouraged to move in. But big investors will take a bit more time,' said Sinan Hatahet, the vice-president for investment and social impact at the Syrian Forum. He estimated that it could take from six months to up to a year for Syrians to feel a difference in their standard of living. Syria has been under some form of US sanctions since 1979, but it was after the former Syrian president al-Assad started violently suppressing peaceful protests in 2011 that the US created a virtual economic embargo against the country. Starting with Obama, the US built a multi-layered web of sanctions on Syria through a mixture of executive orders and congressional legislation. Among the harshest of the sanctions was the 2019 Caesar Act, renewed in late December, which imposed sanctions on not only the Syrian government but also anyone who did business with it. Trump can wave away sanctions imposed via executive order, but would need a congressional vote to repeal the Caesar Act, which is set to expire in 2029. Here, there could be a stumbling block. There are deep reservations about Sharaa – who had a $10m bounty on his head until December – in Washington. Even among certain members of the Trump administration, particularly those in the evangelical wing, there are concerns over the Islamist government in Damascus. These fears were only redoubled in late March after an attack by pro-Assad fighters led to a wave of retaliatory killings of nearly 900 civilians, mostly Alawite, on Syria's coast. Rights groups said that pro-government fighters were responsible for many of those civilian deaths. Nonetheless, the image of Trump standing side by side with Sharaa marked a milestone for the new Syrian government, which viewed a meeting with the US president as a gateway to international legitimacy. The 37-minute meeting was the culmination of months of diplomacy by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which have emerged as key pillars of support for the nascent government in Damascus. The nod from the US also came despite Israel's strong rejection of Sharaa and his government in Damascus. Israel has refused to allow the new Syrian government to deploy its army in south Syria and has conducted hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian territory since the fall of Assad in December. Sharaa, by contrast, has said he does not want conflict with Israel. 'I think Trump was having his doubts about the Israeli policy to put a freeze on Sharaa and keep Syria disunited and weak, which is what the Israelis were pitching to everyone in Washington,' said James Jeffrey, who was the Syria envoy in Trump's first administration. Jeffrey pointed to a lack of Israeli airstrikes in Syria in the last 10 days as evidence that even within the Israeli establishment concerns were beginning to emerge about Israel's aggressive posture towards Syria. The apparent easing of hostilities, even if brief, has helped feed a cautious but growing optimism in Syria, as the country's economic and international isolation seemed to be coming to an end after nearly 14 years of war. 'Finally, we are taking a step forward. Now my kids have a future, maybe they will have some chance to succeed,' said Maher Nahas, a 42-year-old jeweller and father of two who lives in Damascus.
BreakingNews.ie
14-05-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Trump meets Syria's former-insurgent-turned-leader in Saudi Arabia
US President Donald Trump has met Syria's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, the first such encounter between the two nations' leaders in 25 years. The meeting, on the sidelines of Mr Trump sitting with the leaders of the Gulf Co-operation Council, marks a major turn of events for a Syria still adjusting to life after the more than 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family. Advertisement It is also remarkable given that Mr al-Sharaa, under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has ties to al Qaida and joined insurgents battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. Syrians in Homs celebrate after US President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalise relations with its new government (Omar Albam/AP) It comes after Mr Trump, long a critic of America's once-called 'forever wars' in the Middle East after the September 11 2001 attacks, offered an anti-interventionist speech before the Saudi public as well. Mr Trump on Tuesday announced the meeting, saying the US would also move to lift economic sanctions on Syria. Even before its ruinous civil war that began in 2011, Syria struggled under a tightly controlled socialist economy and under sanctions by the US as being a state sponsor of terror since 1979. Advertisement The meeting took place behind closed doors and reporters were not permitted to witness the engagement. The White House did not immediately say who else was in the meeting or provide any other details on the conversation. Mr Trump said he was looking to give Syria, which is emerging from more than a decade of brutal civil war, 'a chance at peace' under Mr al-Sharaa. Mr al-Sharaa was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by Mr al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family. Advertisement The United States has been weighing how to handle Mr al-Sharaa since he took power in December. President Donald Trump looks on as he leaves the Royal Palace after a signing ceremony with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Alex Brandon/AP) Many Gulf Arab leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Mr Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran's return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Bashar Assad's government during a decade-long civil war. But longtime US ally Israel has been deeply sceptical of Mr al-Sharaa's extremist past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government. However, Mr Trump cited the intervention of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as key to his decision. Advertisement The White House earlier signalled that the Trump and al-Sharaa engagement, on the sidelines of a Gulf Co-operation Council meeting in Riyadh convened as part of Mr Trump's four-day visit to the region, would be brief, with the administration saying the US president had 'agreed to say hello' to the Syrian president on Wednesday. Mr al-Sharaa is the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000. Syrians cheered the announcement by Mr Trump that the US will move to lift sanctions on the beleaguered Middle Eastern nation. The state-run SANA news agency published video and photographs of Syrians cheering in Umayyad Square, the largest in the country's capital Damascus. Advertisement Others honked their car horns or waved the new Syrian flag in celebration. Syrians in Homs celebrate after US President Donald Trump announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria and normalise relations with its new government (Omar Albam/AP) People whistled and cheered the news as fireworks lit the night sky. A statement from Syria's Foreign Ministry issued on Tuesday night called the announcement 'a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war'. The statement was also careful to describe the sanctions as coming 'in response to the war crimes committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people', rather than the war-torn nation's new interim government. 'The removal of these sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,' the statement added.
