On Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had a sidelined meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The meeting took place in New York entailing the ongoing situations of the region.

In the meeting, Shah urged upon avoiding the disengagement with Taliban, the new government of Afghanistan. He also reiterated Pakistan’s role in establishing a peaceful political environment in Afghanistan. Pakistan is interested in pursuing endeavours related to energy, trade and regional connectivity with the USA, he added.

Moreover, the Minister suggested that the world community should come forward to bring Afghans out of the recent humanitarian crisis provided that the Taliban Government should stick to its commitment.

In his first meeting with the State Secretary, he highlighted the fact that the establishment of an independent and stable government is the need of the hour for Afghanistan, which should aim at preserving the gains of the nation so far and keep the diversity intact so that the soil of Afghanistan can never be used for terror purpose again.

He also raised the Kashmir issue in the very meeting. He had back to back meetings with his counterparts from all over the world where he remain focused on engaging the world community with Afghanistan.

Considering the ongoing situations of the region, Washington is not ready to engage with the Afghan Taliban. However, the Afghan Taliban’s newly established foreign ministry desires to attend the UNGA 76th session for which Ghulam Isaczai, an ambassador of Afghanistan wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to express his willingness to attend the session along with his other group members to represent Afghanistan in the international arena.

Gerald Darmanin, France’s right-wing interior Minister, stated on Twitter that he is taking legal action against a Muslim publishing business for allegedly selling books promoting Islamic history on major Muslim individuals who struggled for their faith.

The minister claims that the publishing house “Nawa Editions” has an editorial line that is “anti-universalist and in direct conflict with Western ideals” and that it has “distributed multiple volumes legitimising jihad”.

A biography of the Muslim military commander Khalid Bin Al-Walid from the seventh century is one of these works.

France has been quick to honour and protect colonial-era personalities who have sparked debate over the country’s violent imperial past. Muslims on the other hand may today be considered fanatics for publishing and honouring historical personalities significant to their history and identity.

Nawa Edition “issued a statement condemning the state’s “purely political” move. The publishing houses expressed concern over the “drift of the French political paradigm” towards executive dissolutions of Muslim groups without due process.

France’s new steps against a Muslim organisation are part of a pattern in which the government has shut down Muslim-related organisations.

Last year, the country’s largest Muslim charity, Baraka City, was shut down, followed by the anti-Islamophobia advocacy group CCIF, which was the country’s only organisation collecting statistics on escalating anti-Muslim violence.

On both occasions, the group’s alleged ties to “Islamism” were noted, a broad termed that the French government is increasingly using to describe groups that criticise state-led racism and Islamophobia.

According to its website, the Nawa publishing house wants to “advance the human and political sciences of Islamic heritage” and “contribute to the revitalisation of these disciplines by researching the western world and science, modern political philosophy and doctrines”.

The bank accounts of the publishing house as well as those of its primary writers, Assam Ait Yahya and Abu Souleiman Al Kaabi, were frozen as a result of the judgment.

Many organisations have come out in support of the publishing house’s unusual moves.

A commenter mentioned both the increased pressure Muslims are suffering in the country and the French government’s hypocrisy in protecting freedom of expression while also cracking down on Muslims.
“It’s time for the Muslims to stand up and be counted. We cannot accept the dissolution of a publishing firm. It is an effort to the republic’s fundamental right to freedom of expression”.

With Macron’s disapproval ratings hovering around 60% and the French presidential elections less than eight months away, the flurry of anti-Muslim ideas is a ploy to win votes from the far-right

Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right leader, is leading polls for the presidential elections in 2022. She is known for her anti-Islam and anti-Muslim stances.

Federal Minister on Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhary while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, breifed media about Indian involvement in threatening New Zealand cricket team.

Recently, New Zealand Cricket Board called off their team minutes before the first One Day International match in Rawalpindi. Following this, England Cricket Board also called off their tour to Pakistan on security concerns.

While addressing the media with Interior minister, Sheikh Rasheed, Fawad Chaudhary said that in August a post was created under the name of Ehsan Ullah Ehsan, threatening New Zealand cricket team to cancel their tour to Pakistan. This threat was posted on facebook on 19 August this year.

Moreover, Abhinandan Mishra, the bureau cheif of Sunday Guardian wrote an article. Abhinandan, a propagandist and mouthpiece of Indian government, said that New Zealand will face a terrorist attack, if they visit Pakistan.

After these social media campaigns to sabotage the New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan, another card was played. On August 24, star New Zealand cricketer, Martin Guptil’s wife received an email from an id named “Tehreek-i-Labbaik.” The user threatend her husband. However, New Zealand Cricket Team visited Pakistan despite these events.

Moving forward, New Zealand cricket officials received another threatening email on 17 September, with ID name, Hamza Afridi. After receiving the threat via email New Zealand board announced to call off their tour immediately.

Federal minister said that, after investigation we found that this email was not linked to social media. The email was sent using “Proton Mail.”

He added that after detailed investigations we discovered that the email was sent using Virtual Private Network (VPN). The location was changed to Singapore instead of it’s original location. After investigating, it was revealed that the device that sent the email was associated with India. The device had 13 other accounts with the names of Indian celebrities. However, this one account was using the name “Hamza.”

He also said that this whole drama was scripted and generated in India. He also told that the same threats have been sent to West Indies cricket team as well. West Indies cricket team is likely to visit Pakistan in December.

He also urged the government of New Zealand to share the details of the threats with government officials of Pakistan. The government of Pakistan will request interpol for it’s assistance in this case, he added.

A video went viral on the Internet in which the Afghan Taliban were removing the Pakistani flag from a truck carrying aid, food supplies and other essentials for the war-torn country. Since the Afghan Taliban took over, Pakistan has been helping Afghanistan with food and other basic things. But an unusual incident took place at the Torkham border when a Taliban security personal removed a Pakistani flag from a vehicle carrying aid for Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban Deputy Information Minister Zabihullah Mujahid ordered to arrest and disarm the people involved in it immediately. He further said, “Entire Islamic Emirate has expressed regret over the incident.”After the orders of the Deputy Minister, the culprits were arrested and disarmed. Taliban officials expressed deep regression and said that “No one has the right to insult someone’s flag. This behavior will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken.”

The incident was smoothly covered by the Afghan Taliban, but it left the Pakistanis with a deep concern about the anti-Pakistan sentiments in the neighborhood. The reason behind this is the presence of TTP alongside the border and their past operations against the Pakistan army and security agencies.