e_Paper, Sunday, May 21, 2017

10
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2017
DT
News
Maduro to Trump: Get your dirty hands off Venezuela
• Reuters, Caracas
WORLD
Venezuela’s leftist government let
rip against US President Donald
Trump on Friday, blasting a fresh
round of US sanctions and his
strong condemnation of the South
American country as relations again
sour between the ideological foes.
“Enough meddling ... Go home,
Donald Trump. Get out of Venezuela,”
Venezuela President Maduro
thundered in a speech carried on
live TV. “Get your dirty hands out
of here.”
The Trump administration imposed
sanctions on the chief judge
and seven other members of Venezuela’s
Supreme Court on Thursday
as punishment for annulling
the opposition-led Congress in a
series of rulings this year.
The new sanctions package was
aimed at stepping up pressure on
Maduro and his loyalists following
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks, during a meeting with supporters
at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela May 19, 2017
REUTERS
a crackdown on street protests and
efforts to consolidate his rule of
the South American oil-producing
country.
At the White House on Thursday,
Trump expressed dismay at
how once-booming Venezuela was
now mired in poverty, saying “it’s
been unbelievably poorly run” and
calling the humanitarian situation
“a disgrace to humanity.”
Maduro had initially urged the
world to give Trump a chance after
he was elected in November but his
government unleashed its strongest
condemnation to date of the
President Trump’s
aggressions against
the Venezuelan
people, its
government and
its institutions have
surpassed all limits
Don’t use the word
raped, says Hefazat
Tells women to stop free-mixing and
men to lower their gaze
• FM Mizanur Rahaman,
Chittagong
NATION
Hefazat-e-Islam, the radical
Islamist group, on Saturday
urged the media not to use
the word “raped” to describe a
raped woman and instead call
them “victim” or “tortured”.
Reacting to the recent incident
of the rape of two university
students at Hotel Raintree
in the capital, the radical organisation’s
secretary general
Allama Junayed Babunagri
and organising secretary Azizul
Haque Islamabadi jointly
issued the statement.
Signed by Mowlana Azizul
Haque Islamabadi, the press
statement said they demanded
exemplary punishment
of the accused in the Banani
rape case and urged the government
to ensure justice for
the two raped university girls
while the leaders also expressed
their sympathy with,
and condolence to the victims.
In the statement, they
also urged the journalists and
media not to use the word
“raped” to describe the victim
and instead call them “victim”
Republican president.
“President Trump’s aggressions
against the Venezuelan people, its
government and its institutions
have surpassed all limits,” said a
government statement that accused
Washington of seeking to
destabilize Venezuela and foment
foreign intervention.
The statement also accused
Washington of financing the Venezuelan
opposition while ignoring
problems at home like income inequality
and rights violations.
“The extreme positions of a government
just starting off only confirmed
the discriminatory, racist,
xenophobic, and genocidal nature
of US elites against humanity and
its own people, which has now been
heightened by this new administration
which asserts white Anglo-Saxon
supremacy,” the statement said.
Among those hit with sanctions
was Maikel Moreno, a Maduro
ally who became president of the
32-judge Supreme Court in February.
All of those targeted will have US assets
frozen and be denied travel to
the United States, while American
citizens will be barred from doing
business with them, officials said.
A senior US official warned of
further action against “bad actors”
if there are no changes in Venezuela.
But sanctions so far have
stopped short of hitting the country’s
oil sector, which is a major US
oil supplier. •
or “tortured”. The Hefazat
leader also said rapists must
be punished, while it will be
an injustice to a woman if she
is termed as “raped”.
Both the words “rapist”
and “raped” carry a negative
connation in society and the
leaders opposed the use of
“raped” in a bid to protect the
“woman’s future and honour”,
said the statement.
The statement further added
that the heinous incident
of rape in a posh area like Gulshan
and Banani is a symptom
of the moral degradation of
society. Rape, torture and repression
of woman has been
increasing day by day due to
the culture of impunity in the
country.
The two leaders also asked
the male youth to keep their
gaze lowered and to fear the
Almighty, while they asked
the woman to stop “free-mixing”
and to wear hijab while
staying outside. The Hefazat
leaders said this will help
woman to stay safe and secure.
The Hefazat leader also said
rape, homosexual relations
and unlawful sexual relations
have increased, which indicates
that the observance of
Quran and Sunna is falling. •