The 2024 Indonesian elections are fast approaching. Prospective presidential candidates are already on the campaign trail and holding ‘horse-trading’ negotiations to select their vice-presidential nominees. It is a good time to re-examine the potential role of a powerful interest group that increasingly has sway in the largest Muslim-majority nation — conservative Islamists. ‘New’ Islamists movements — including the Tarbiyah (religious […]

The foreign ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) announced on Saturday that the distribution of passports for newborn babies born to Afghan parents in Turkey has started. The ministry’s deputy spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad said in a series of tweets that the consular department of the ministry of foreign affairs of the Islamic Emirate, in cooperation with Turkish […]

Acting Minister of Defense Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has fulfilled the conditions for recognition, but even so, most countries do not recognize it due to pressure by the United States. In an interview with Saudi Arabia-based Al-Arabiya TV, Mujahid said that if countries have concerns, the Islamic Emirate is ready to talk to solve […]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has rejected Iran’s claim that Daesh leaders have moved to Afghanistan from Iraq, Syria and Libya. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian recently told ISNA news agency: “It is not a secret to anyone that the leaders of Daesh and the trained forces of Daesh have moved from Iraq, […]

The NIA has busted a Kerala-based Islamic State module that was allegedly planning terror attacks at different places of worship as well as on leaders of certain communities in the state. The module had been conducting reconnaissance missions at potential targets, it said. In another operation, the NIA also arrested an Aligarh Muslim University student hailing from Lohardagga, Jharkhand for […]

Faizan Ansari, the 19-year-old from Jharkhand arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday for his alleged links to the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), is highly radicalised and had formed a group of 10 individuals to carry out a major attack in India, according to sources in the agency. Ansari was in touch with the ISIS operatives in […]

Pakistan and Iran have had historical, political, economic, and cultural ties that have spanned several decades. These ties have been characterized by cooperation in various areas and mutual interests. Iran was the first country to officially recognize Pakistan as an independent sovereign state after its creation in 1947. The formal recognition came just two days after Pakistan’s independence on August […]

The first month of Pakistan’s monsoon season is not even over yet and unusually heavy rainfall has already wreaked havoc across the country. One hundred deaths are attributed to monsoon-related incidents and overflow of rivers in Punjab have displaced 15,000 villagers. Most recently, a strong downpour in the capital Islamabad caused a wall to fall on construction workers sleeping in […]

From their response, it appears that political parties and separatists are either completely baffled or fixated by the recent spate of murderous attacks targeting members of minority communities and migrant workers in J&K. For example, National Conference [NC] MP Hasnain Masoodi seems to be unable to fathom as to “why do you have three to four incidents within such a […]

The Narendra Modi government’s policy of letting Manipur burn without taking political steps to douse the fires, is going hand in hand with its policy of strengthening military relations with the junta ruling Myanmar. Indian arms supplies to Myanmar are being used to suppress rebel tribal communities that live on the Myanmar-Manipur border, according to the pressure group “Justice for […]