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tv   Inside Story  Al Jazeera  March 15, 2021 8:30pm-9:01pm +03

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the streaming service has received $35.00 oscar nominations across 16 of its productions previously a film had to have been screened at the center in los angeles for at least 7 days to be eligible for an oscar consideration last year organizers allowed streaming services to be part of this year's awards after theaters across the world shut down due to the crowd of our spend them like. result is there and these are the top stories france italy and germany are the latest countries to suspend the use of the astra zeneca vaccine more than a dozen nations have stopped using it as a precaution due to blood clot concerns the world health organization insists it is sex this does not necessarily mean this is linked to a vaccination but it's routine to investigate. and it sure the surveillance system works effective controls in place w.
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2 advisory committee on vaccine safety has been reviewing vailable data is in close contact with the european medicines agency and will meet to morrow topic a has more now from berlin to many other european countries now have been saying no that the french government the italian government and others have all in different words have also the same sort of thing that they're concerned about a specific number of cases involving blood clots happening in patients who've received the astra zeneca vaccine that is so concerning that it needs to be referred to the a the european medicines agency which is based in amsterdam. thousands of people have turned out across rebel held city is in syria to mark 10 years since the start of the war the u.n. security council is mess and heard calls for a renewed effort for a cease fire and political settlement. libya's new unity government has been sworn
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into office in a ceremony into broke it's part of a u.n. back to effort to bring stability ahead of elections in december. security forces and meanwhile have killed 6 protesters the day after the worst violence since the military coup 39 people were shot dead on sunday. you can an opposition leader boldly one has been arrested while leading a protest in kampala one called all of our cities to free hundreds of supporters of his supporters who were arrested around january's presidential election which he lost to longtime leader you know when he was 70. kenya is boycotting the start of an international court of justice hearing to decide its maritime border with somalia neighbors both lay claim to energy resources off the coast. was the headline more news here on al-jazeera ran off the inside story which is coming up next.
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the sri lankan government calls it the radicalization it's detaining those with what it says extreme religious views and banning the burqa but muslims say it's discrimination so will the new rules stop so-called islamic extremism in this asian country this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program today with me many from sri lanka's minority muslim communities say they are being targeted and in the latest decision affecting
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them the government is reintroducing about burkas it says the full face covering for women is a sign of what it calls religious extremism and is barring them on national security grounds more than $1000.00 muslim schools accused of flouting national education policy will also be shot the move comes nearly 2 years after a series of attacks on hotels and churches on easter sunday more than 250 people were killed in the assaults by armed groups in 2019 now let's have a listen to what the minister had to say. get a fix. on national security directly in our early days muslim women and girls never wore the burka it is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently we are definitely going to ban it also there are more than 2000 madrassas schools in the country and nobody can open a school and teach whatever you want to the children from ages 5 to 6 all children
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must study in accordance with the national education policy. well the decision to ban the burka follows an order last year mandating that victims of couvade 19 should only be cremated the practice is prohibited by muslims who bury that the ban on burials was lifted in february after months of protests by muslim and human rights groups separately the government said it would use a controversial anti terror law to deal with religious violence in elfin and has been following the story here's a report from colombo. the government's latest move is being sort of reacted to with concern among the muslim community now obviously this doesn't affect all muslim women in sri lanka not all of them where the book but the community in itself feel that this is a novel sort of a with way of discrimination by the government against the muslim minority now the government for its part says that this is to ensure national security and that this
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sort of new rule is needed but obviously from what we have seen in the recent past in terms of policies and in general sort of treatment of the muslim community there is concern particularly when you look at a new rule brought in under the prevention of terrorism act that essentially allows a person to be held for up to 2 years of for the purposes of what the government calls rehab elite ation and this would be for people holding sort of extreme violent religious ideologies and now these are reasons that people are beginning to question sort of the timing of this we've just come at the end of one controversy where the government for a long period of time with the covert 19 pandemic did not allow the burial of covert 19 victims and this directly affected the muslim and catholic communities obviously the muslim community had
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a lot of issues with this had been struggling for. all this right and finally coincidentally as the u.n. human rights council sessions in geneva took place at the government conceded and allowed the burial of over 1000 victims so while on the one hand giving the muslims back their burial rights on this hand seems to be taking away the right of muslim women to wear the burka. ok there we are here we go let's get going and before we talk to our guests all of whom are in colombo today for inside story just a quick word of i guess housekeeping more than anything else we have tried all day to get representation from the sri lankan government as of now nobody was available to talk to us here on al-jazeera so let's get to those guests they are of hakim leader of the strength of muslim congress a member of parliament and formerly a minister of justice shereen also wrote a peace activist and co-founder of the women's action network also jan pereira
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executive director of the national peace council of sri lanka welcome to you all or of hakim as a former minister of justice coming to you 1st this is being done we're told on national security grounds what does that mean. no this is certainly an already action the only sure we share i'm necessarily have been. brought in to. stigmatize the muslim community. or on the been done by a small again which unfortunately been the perpetrators of the easter sunday attacks but this agenda has been there for a long time ever since conclusion of the war the conclusion of the rock rock and roll. sense of trance and ism among the single majority and
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government of the time. felt it necessary to create an additive. to make the muslim stand next to any means so that they can. keep the. mobilization of the state of the majority in their favor and this is nothing but an effect afoot to try and demand nice and stigmatize. hapless community which is now will. getting my dinner ladies bit by bit but all of that is just. policy decisions and this is one such a good thing. part of the narrative here seems to come down to a stance on the part of the government and they say look muslim women never used to wear wear the burka anyway so what's the problem if we insist but it's to be
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banned. to begin with there is no clear cut definition of what they are trying to ban because some people are saying it's niqab some people are saying it's the burqa arsal it's various forms of face covering body covered in social issue always the community here is that in my estimation one percent of the muslim be men but still be army come after the easter sunday attack lots of women on their own and removed it because then also on the margins you regulation they brought in not only fear spirit and there was circulation by public administration 2nd actually to even remove the he judge so all our fear 'd is what they are trying to ban and i did time there everybody is that interferes mosque and cutting deficits if it is national security is for everybody to identify i mean there is no identification whatsoever the right now and what is it all about
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we men oh muslim be men's attire being connected to it stream is amen them being demonized as uncivil the hakim's that. pereiro from the national peace council also in colombo. raises a very valid point that doesn't she because it is the government and it would be nice if somebody from the government was here they are not they've declined our invitation are they cynically going into a gray area because seems to me that most people outside of the muslim world indeed most people perhaps even in the broader muslim world world they don't know the difference between the the the niqab and the burka anyway. yes. you can't say that this child has to not eat cake and i think that's the reason why the government representatives do not want to come because. what is
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there on the table now is a proposal signed by upon my minister the minister of national security and but it has not been yet accepted by that time yet and it also will be still. i think the government is aware that this is a very controversial matter and and they have not come to a conclusion at all and the decision is not too bad and that they were caught and also to close down 1000. just on this lord's on the grounds that they are not very good natured they have not registered with the ministry split they can austin to register and support like them but i don't think there should be chosen that but as. a man cherie trainset. doesn't that the issue of nationalism. this government is a government that was elected on the basis so it's
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a majority of national and single use nationalism as well as that that is not to protect national security any game and government was elected in the aftermath of easter bunnies which won't buy muslims though as was pointed out by mr hakim this group of muslims who are trying this action many of them but very educated young people who are educated abroad in certain countries and who had no real or any links. you cannot blame the muslim community for that but that is what is happening that is in fact and that's the injustice of what has happened because traditionally the sri lankan muslim sect you know an extremely peaceful community and they have never. and there will be tense in the 30 year war between the sheer nonsense did it and and let some of the rebels so and even try to that there is no real history of
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the muslims being terrorists are meanwhile and and it has needed yes even after that ok i asked it is east. noise muslim a russian so it is really unfair that government should be targeting the muslims in this. rafa came again coming back to a former minister of justice i guess if we could ask the government and we're heading towards the 2 year anniversary of the easter attacks in the run up to that time which presumably there will be more tension almost palpably in the air as people remember what happened 2 years ago i guess the government might admit we had to make the entire country feel safer that was why we brought the ban in almost 2 years ago but how does it make the country even the majority buddhist population feel safer now if they introduce this ban going forward.
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but the government attempts to carry on continents relentless propaganda through their captive media organizations both government media has been left by the media to create one full big fear psychosis this being the. man drawing through all and now with the us to fund their acts. presidential commission report out we can see they all were reached by the commission also going into such controversial controversial topics banning this that the other in order to appease. the majority a sentiment that has been created by a very little planning the media strategy of the government and this is what the 1000000 fortunate one who did it but they don't realize who has the on said. the.
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so called. group of people who asked me to list minutes crime. appears to me as college which has been the making all. of certain intelligence operations to demonize the muslims in fact the muslim the again the catholics we had little plea loin misty with any religious communities so much so the catholics themselves then these other 2 communities which watered all reliving the against this legitimacy in the regime change their lives by years ago ok and that was perhaps the reason why such a. broad was designed and executed ok i'd like to get into the political maneuverings surrounding this in a couple of minutes if we make sure enough to also to the columbia because that today on its website is. this as being
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a racist agenda however if we look around the world france belgium austria and italy just 4 countries that have either in acted this kind of legislation or i think the italian government about 4 or 5 years ago had it drafted didn't carry through on it in europe it seems as if it's a much more nuanced debate that everyone gets a chance to engage with and the governments of the day react accordingly if that supposition on my part is right what does it tell us about the sri lankan government that they are not prepared to do the same thing. so. as a point in a previous dose of the muslim community of days to attack we have been looking in what and we have been trying to look at what went wrong within the community so she learned the government should have had consulted with muslim women because oftentimes it's men who would defy not dress or even for women to wear any job or.
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you know only car mido and more now muslim men to tell us what we should now be to decide what we have to wear it's about our dignity and our body and i'm just bored so in that context the sri lankan government should have had consolidation with women who did let me. be a man and they are content and also to tell them because it is psychological feeling of all of a sudden removing something you have been batting since your teenage. age for you do remoulade like you believe you men feel that never make that so easy that that's that's the concept of the knowledge as modesty and piety and all those so that conversation never happened and also the way she loved us should not borrow or burden examples from other countries i mean our logistic country our constitution talks about my deep diversity of multi community and we have our 10
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talks about it he just freedom i go to and talks about inequality before a lot so with all those things she learned that government is of the belief they are conserving this community and and it's continuously diluting the muslim community because this is but the rights they gave us a few weeks ago our back yard right that unfairly they had to get away from us you will sink or win and that the justice minister who is also muslim join need god will be taken over it what what what is the government going i mean by but doing the right seat in the country and that also they will they have to get the muslim women's greatness. as are those many more milligrams and i've never been there they're more any cardboard job or will call whatever there are men so in that context and why i have everything i think he meant this is the question that young men can pair up from the national peace council the sri lankan government is also reportedly closing up to 1000 muslim schools presumably that
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decision making process came after a period of scrutiny where government inspectors education inspectors were going into the schools and saying no you are in breach of national education policy do we know if similar christian schools were subjected to not dissimilar scrutiny on the part of the authorities and no we have not heard that and of course the justification for that would be that christians are currently not a security threat letters the most sense. because of what's happened in an easter sunday. but i think that that is not that is not fair at all they should come out and see it what actually doubt finding is if they're finding something that is being taught at the moment starts it must come out and so that and also that most of the money that's a lot worse that it is said by the government i think the ones that let it go down
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now and that have not yet reduced it to be honest. ruffo keim is mr rajapakse to go back to the political dynamic that you were talking to us about a little earlier is mr rajapaksa here kind of riding a wave if you will of identifying a minority implicitly pointing a finger of suspicion at that minority even though that minority have done nothing wrong and that's a that's a journal of record that's a matter of of journalistic fact that the muslim minority have done nothing wrong in the country because the president 2 years ago talked about the burka as being quote the flag of fundamentalism didn't describe it as an item of clothing talked about it in very loaded terminology. indeed the list has been in the not in but they have said all through all you know order to mobilize the
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single majority in favor and you know playing such politics has been. the butt end and that. is class effort and but what we have been sent to dig is that when you talk about the. schools i mean the skills to produce. strong evidence of said yes they are only talking about the lobby ideology and then busy as. the creams. the. the. play much the. coexistence in the countries they are yet to produce strong evidence from the chinese to life says that's being fought in the mother i mean i've been effective or to be nice.
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knowles touch devious and. then get us. on pins in the kind of mother taught me that. you know a teacher you really just because with all my the system is alienated your system that i've been practicing or look at in the past but that is the disproportionate attention being paid to muslim schools on the prefixed also trying to be. true in group c. lucas has got a clock but me the community it says is quite capable of sales significant i'll own . section of schools which me have been doing and be used to fund as fast as they can afford us as the need ok was seated in front fiction within the community and me of you know doing that so that the money does matter for a fantasy relation. i'm not going to interrupt you there but we are we are very quickly heading towards the end the program and there are a final couple of points i want to get in. when it comes to the court of public
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opinion how do your buddhist friends in the 708090 percent of the population across the country react to this because it feels as if we're talking about a government that wants to shunt a country towards being suspicious of the different to be intimidated by a minority instead of saying look we're basically a secular society and we can and we should all live in peace particularly given what srinagar also are always telling us just 2 minutes ago about how people's minority rights are actually in shrine in the paperwork that constitutes sri lanka as a sovereign state. this shit the sri lankan ones aren't seeing any speaker yet he sent in security in the same province coming sunday that is the ancient history of 2000000 the asians 2000 years ago can you know colonialism 500 years and then what happened in more recent us where india supported the tamil militants against
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the sri lankan state internationalization of the un state so it is seemingly very easy to make the tsunamis so insecure us and east really did that it made them very insecure and so it so up to present the idea of the scene in. thinking that the muslims are a real threat but i've noticed that that is the most recent but come back and a mother daughter is concerned what i'm seeing on social media is a different story yes amy what i'm reading is that people are saying this is today much attention some of the problems that not only very serious problems economic problems be up close to the solid thing you have very desperately asking china for lawrence to tell you about foreign exchange prices there is a call it is also very bad like it is bad in rest of the word but the economy
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really back then there is a huge cheroots corruption scam relating to the imports i think that's what people are saying this is to distract attention and also directions i mean that's not true show elections in your home i don't love it here is a lot minute of the program jihad i'm going to stop you there as well last 30 seconds of the program to you shereen abdul so true or if there is to be a push for a positive dialogue a constructive dialogue either surrounding this specific issue that we're talking about today the burka because that seems to be symbolic for so many people or just minority rights in the country who's going to drive that where is that going to come from is there anyone in the political world of sri lanka who is prepared to send out a message of look we're all the same let's just get on with each other. i'll be i now very tough try this particular. g.m.
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has openly said that he did the state himself as he has said it's a seeing the low country and he's a residence hall a buddhist. i mean on a new benon day so he has clearly nice all around the minorities in this country as you chase we danes national 'd policies because if you can find a good sri lankan government even reacted to all our outcry inside going to supreme court to various human rights mechanism with regard to cremation they only listen to international community so international pressure the pressure is the only way for blood and she now guys there's a new mission against sri lankan state is coming on geneva human rights council on 26th and there are lots of muslim countries as members and then we look forward to that the solution to be passed because that resolution may not ration of paragraph 7 and 8 talks about minority communities and their rights because if she let him go
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really need 3 guns here son and peace they want an end to the nice minorities like that life and this and this but big this particular government i don't think days we have forward we have very long dialogue i'm ok serene thank you so much thank you to our guest here on inside story the clock has beaten us i guess we're rough like eem showing up also though and she had her and just to reiterate what i said at the top of the show we did our somebody from the government to join us for this contentious debate out of sri lanka nobody was available to talk to al jazeera today you can see this program again of course via the website al jazeera dot com you can talk to us via facebook facebook dot com forward slash edge inside story or talk to us on twitter our handle at a.j. the inside story for me peter dhabi and the team here in doha thanks for watching we will see you very soon for the moment of.
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dysphagia said that it's time for a different approach so let's leave them closely to the headlines to join me as i take all the lies to dismantle the misconceptions and debate the contradictions are marc lamont hill and it's time to get out from. time to i've been covering all of latin america for most of my career but no country is alike and it's my job to shed light on how and why. since its inception in 1961 the kuwait fund has been supporting people's livelihoods in over 100 countries by funding projects in an array of sectors. ranging from infrastructure
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to health and education. these initiatives ultimately help to eradicate poverty. and promote sustainable development. this is 0. other games that elvis is the news all live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes germany italy and france have a basis to countries to temporarily suspend the use of the astra zeneca vaccine because of concern over it side effects and. protests in rebel held cities across syria as it mounts 10 years of civil war.

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