It’s still mostly 50-something white guys in the N.J. Legislature, but there is more diversity

Published by
NJ.com

Forty years ago, Shama Haider didn’t expect to have the job she does now. An immigrant of Pakistan, Haider recalls how hers was one of the few non-white families in town as she raised her kids in Tenafly in the early 1980s. She remembers joining the local parent-teachers association to make sure her children “didn’t feel like outsiders.” Becoming a state lawmaker, however, wasn’t a thought at the time. “Not in my wildest dreams,” Haider said. “When you’re young, you’re more focused on them, getting the best for them.” But flash forward four decades, Haider is a former Tenafly councilwoman who …

One killed in Karachi bombing by separatist militants

Published by
Al-Araby

One person was killed and 13 injured in a bomb blast late Thursday in Karachi, police said, in the second attack by separatist militants to hit Pakistan’s most populous city in recent weeks. The explosion in the Saddar neighbourhood was claimed by the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) — a dissident faction fighting for independence in the province of Sindh. In a statement released on Telegram the SRA said it planted a “remote control bomb” targeting a coastguard vehicle and vowed to “continue its resistance struggle till complete freedom”. The bomb detonated at around 11:00 pm (1800 GMT) bu…

India’s top court suspends British-era sedition law

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Al-Araby

India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended a colonial-era sedition law that activists say is often used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to target free speech and dissent. Modi’s critics say that the law, which was once used by Britain to target independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, has been abused by his government against many journalists, activists and students. Editors Guild Of India Welcomes Supreme Court’s Historic Order on #SEDITION @IndEditorsGuild pic.twitter.com/jSEmvpgGPk — Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) Section 124A of the Indian penal code gives wide-ranging powers to the poli…

British elites made a killing off Afghanistan’s destruction

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Al-Araby

As Afghanistan’s proud people now struggle to emerge from the crater that NATO allies bombed them into, glazed and jaded eyes in Britain gaze past them. The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by the United States and its NATO allies produced 5.3 million refugees (a quarter of the entire population), left 72% of Afghans in poverty and rendered Afghans the saddest people in the world. Following the US government’s decision to freeze $9.5 billion of assets in the Afghan Central Bank, it is predicted that the poverty rate could reach 97% in 2022. It is estimated that 95% of the population do n…

Nazir Afzal and his fight against gender-based violence

Published by
Al-Araby

Hear the town Rochdale mentioned and many will relate it to one of themost notorious child grooming cases in the UK, involving mostly British Pakistani men as the perpetrators. As difficult as it is to stomach the details that emerged of the abuse of the 47 underage victims in the case, it is also difficult to overlook how the authorities ignored them with fears of racism – causing hesitancy and dismissals that the main accuser was unbelievable.Nazir Afzal OBE believed her, though. When he overturned the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) previous decision not to prosecute the accused men as th…

Extreme heat kills at least 25 in India’s Maharashtra state

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Al-Araby

India’s western state of Maharashtra has registered 25 deaths from heat stroke since late March, the highest toll in the past five years, with more fatalities likely elsewhere in a country sweltering in temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. Scientists have linked the early onset of an intense summer to climate change, and say more than a billion people in India and neighbouring Pakistan were in some way vulnerable to the extreme heat. The deadly heat this week in India and Pakistan should dominate the news everywhere. It’s a horrifying event in its own right – and a glimpse of what is likely t…

India rules out Pakistan talks until ‘terror’ stops

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Al-Araby

India on Thursday ruled out any formal talks with Pakistan unless New Delhi’s neighbour stops supporting “cross-border terrorism”, as a new government comes to power in Islamabad. The recent appointment of Shehbaz Sharif as Pakistan’s new prime minister has raised hopes of an easing of tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought a series of wars since independence from Britain in 1947. But India said there would be no negotiations unless Islamabad ensures an atmosphere of peace and diplomacy. “Our stand is clear. We want an environment free of terror,” Arindam Bagchi, India’s fo…

Four killed by female suicide bomber in Pakistan

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Al-Araby

A woman suicide bomber from a Pakistan separatist group killed four people, including three Chinese nationals, in an attack on a minibus carrying staff from the Confucius Institute at Karachi University on Tuesday. TheBaloch Liberation Army — one of several groups fighting for independence in Pakistan’s biggest province — claimed responsibility, saying it was the first suicide attack by a woman assailant. Chinese targets have regularly been attacked by separatists from Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in huge infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Separatists…