Evening NEWS
DIGEST
16 March. 2017: 16 Jamadiul Akhir 1438:Vol:8, No:143
Delhi HC dismisses plea against ban on Zakir Naik’s IRF, says Centre’s decision
in interest of India
New Delhi:Delhi High Court on Thursday held that the Centre’s decision
to ban Zakir Naik’s IRF was taken to safeguard national security as it
dismissed its plea challenging the ban.Holding that Naik’s foundation’s plea
challenging the Centre’s decision has “no merit”, the court said the order of the
govt was “not arbitrary and illegal”.“The decision by the Union of India was
taken in the interest to safeguard the sovereignty, integrity and national
security of India,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said.The court also agreed with
the govt contention that the order was made after “application of mind” as
there was apprehension that youths could be “radicalised” to join terror
groups.It said that the govt has produced material before it to back its
decision to immediately impose the ban on the organisation.IRF, in its plea,
had challenged the Nov.17, 2016, notification of the MHA which had imposed an
immediate ban on the organisation under the UAPA.Upholding the Centre’s
notification, Justice Sachdeva said the govt has given reasons for their step
and it is wrong to say that no detail reasons were communicated to them before
banning.Meanwhile, the High Court made clear that the tribunal, set up under
the UAPA, shall not get influence by the findings of this judgement and decide
the issue pending before them on merit.PTI
Delhi HC dismisses plea against ban on Naik’s IRF, says Centre’in
interest of India
Delhi HC upholds govt ban on Zakir Naik's IRF, says decision taken to
safeguard India's sovereignty
Naik says ‘I am a messenger of peace, not a Terrorist’
Kuala Lumpur,: Indian Islamic preacher Dr. Zakir Naik, the founder of
Peace TV channel, who is under the eye of the investigation agencies over
alleged terrorrelated activities, has denied all such allegations and claimed
that he is instead a messenger of peace. After a long time, breaking his
silence on a wide range of allegations made against IRF and the Peace TV owned
by him, Naik said on Thursday that he is not a terrorist but one person who
spreads the message of peace. Naik was reacting to the Central Govt’s 5year
ban against his institution – the Islamic Research Foundation – and freezing of
its bank accounts. In an interview with Malay daily, ‘Sinar Harian’ at its
Karangkraf office in Shah Alam, the 50yearold founder of the Islamic Research
Foundation supremo said, “I have never done a mutiny or conducted any terrorist
activities against humans in all my life. I only preach a message of peace to
people.” “In certain quarters who do not want peace in this world. So, they
make groundless allegations against me,” Naik added. Speaking on a 5year ban
on his institution Islamic Research Foundation and prosecution on terrorism
charges, Naik said, “I ask the Indian govt to prosecute me in an international
court in anywhere the World or in Malaysia.” The response from Naik came after
the Delhi high Court’s decision to dismiss his plea and ruling that the Central
Govt’s decision to ban Islamic Research Foundation was taken to safeguard the
sovereignty of the Country. Indialivetoday
2007 Ajmer dargah blast case: Sentence pronouncement deferred to March
18
NIA special court in Jaipur on Thursday postponed till March 18 the
pronouncement on quantum of sentence to be awarded to the two convicts in the 2007
Ajmer dargah blast case. The convicts got a reprieve for 2 days following an
objection raised by their counsel.On March 8, special court convicted Bhavesh
Patel, Devendra Gupta and Sunil Joshi and fixed March 16 for the sentencing.
The sentence is to be handed down to Bhavesh and Devendra, as Sunil Joshi, ex-RSS
pracharak, was murdered in Dec.2007.Devendra, who worked for RSS in Jharkhand
and MP, was the first person arrested by the sleuths of the Rajasthan ATS in
2010. hehindu
Court defers Ajmer blast sentencing till Saturday
In a first, Law ministry to launch TV channel, discuss issues like
triple talaq, uniform civil code
New Delhi: Union law ministry is all set to become the first ministry to
have its own TV channel. The channel will beam discussions and constitutional
interpretations on key issues like triple talaq and the uniform civil code,
apart from debates on important judgments, to spread legal awareness.The
ministry has sought a separate channel for this purpose from a bouquet of 32
direct-to-home channels launched by the ministry of HRD called Swayam Prabha to
broadcast programmes for school and university students.The law ministry has
already written to HRD ministry seeking the operational rights for one channel.
The ministry is considering hiring leading Bollywood directors like Prakash Jha
to produce quality programmes on legal education for the marginalised.Jha was
recently commissioned by the govt to make 15 five-minute short films for the
National Legal Services Authority aimed at creating legal awareness. CJI J S
Khehar is the patron-in-chief of NALSA, which is engaged in providing free
legal aid to the poor.The ministry has launched an open competition for
freelance film-makers and students of various law schools with a cash prize of
Rs 20,000-Rs 50,000 for five- to 30-minute films on relevant issues."The
idea is to create a bank of enriched material on legal issues that can be best
used by the common man," said a senior officer associated with the
project.Documentaries, short films and clips are what the ministry is looking
for to create its bank and it is open to commissioning various production
houses and law universities for content based on research and ground studies. The
govt will start the project by first broadcasting programmes for a few hours
every day. Once it gathers enough content, the channel will run 24/7. timesofindia
Law ministry to have own channel to discuss triple talaq, uniform civil
code
Centre’s legal debates set to air on TV as Law Ministry seeks rights to
launch its own channel
NRI says followed due legal
process, send WhatsApp talaq message, only after papers of divorce were sent
Hyderabad: Osman Qureshi, one of NRI brothers who reportedly divorced
his wife on WhatsApp,requested authorities to probe the case in a fair manner.
He also asked city police commissioner and home minister to consider his side
of story. Qureshi, who resides in US, posted an hour-long video message on
YouTube in which he claimed he and his family had not broken Muslim personal
laws or any other law. "There are two sides of every story. Those
investigating should listen to our side.We have not broken any laws,"
Qureshi said. NRI claimed that due legal process had been followed and that his
wife was divorced and that there was documentation to prove it. He said the
qazi, who had solemnised the marriage was approached and that divorce
proceedings were done according to laid down procedures. The documents, he
claimed are with his lawyer, who had `submitted' them before the authorities.
He also claimed that a divorce notice was sent which Noor had refused to
accept. "It is not my problem if they refuse to accept the notice,"
Qureshi said. He also claimed that the mahar (dower) was paid back. India
should fix the "Haq Meher" for all Muslim marriages at Rs.10,00,000/-
minimum which should be deposited in a national bank in the girl's name. This
will minimize talaq issue for filthy reasons.Claiming that he did not want to
lie, Qureshi said that he did send the WhatsApp message, but only after the
papers of divorce were sent."I first called them and said that i'm
divorcing you for what you've done," he claimed in his video.Qureshi also
claimed that his parents, who are senior citizens, are innocent and are being
framed even as he claimed that his former in-laws had kept them hostage in
their own house. He said that he was verbally abused by his former in-laws.
Sachar Committee recommendations: Equal Opportunity Commission draft
Bill recirculated to seek consensus
New Delhi:Based on Expert Group Report and
examination, the central govt on Thursday re-circulated the draft Equal
Opportunity Commission (EOC) Bill for inter-ministerial consultations. In
pursuance of one of the recommendations made by Sachar Committee, Govt had set
up an Expert Group to examine and determine, inter alia, structure and
functions of an EOC to address the grievances of deprived groups. To enable the
minorities to avail opportunities in the development process of the country,
Ministry of Minority Affairs is already implementing various welfare and
development schemes/ programmes. It has taken initiatives for educational
empowerment, infrastructure development, skill development, economic
empowerment, women empowerment and also to meet the special needs of the
Minorities.Moreover, under PM’s 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of
Minorities (PM’s New 15-PP), 24 schemes/programmes of 11 Ministries/Departments
including 7 exclusive schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs are covered.
Details of the schemes / programmes / initiatives taken up by the Ministry of
Minority Affairs exclusively for minorities, and various schemes of other
Central Ministries / Deps under PM’s New 15-PP. Sachar Committee recommend
policy measures for upliftment of linguistic and religious minorities.Among
several recommendations, the committee opined for an Equal Opportunity
Commission to ensure the upliftment of deprived Muslims in the country. India.com
JNU missing student Najeeb Ahmed case: Delhi HC again slams Capital's
cops
New Delhi: Delhi high court today again slammed the Capital's police
saying they are "focusing on paper work, wasting public money" and
not making all efforts to find missing JNU student+ Najeeb Ahmed."You are
just focusing on paper work, wasting public money. We want results in the case.
Find him (Najeeb) somehow," the Delhi high court said, adjourning the
case, which came for hearing today, to April 10.The 27-year-old JNU student has
been missing since Oct.14-15 last year after a scuffle at his JNU hostel
allegedly with ABVP activists the previous night. In December too, the Delhi
high court severely chastised the Delhi police for remaining clueless about the
missing JNU student.Separately yesterday, another Delhi court - a lower court -
said it will decide on March 20 whether nine JNU students - suspects in
Najeeb's disappearance - can be asked by Delhi Police to give their consent to
undergo a lie detector test in a case relating to the missing student. TOI
JNU Dalit scholar body brought home, slipper hurled at Union minister
Chennai:An unidentified man hurled a slipper at Union minister of state
for road transport and highways Pon Radhakrishnan on Thursday while he was at
the house of J Muthukrishnan, the Dalit research scholar at JNU who allegedly
committed suicide, in Salem.Muthukrishnan’s parents have both dismissed claims
that their son committed suicide, and also asked for CBI to formally
investigate his death.Family and friends of Muthukrishnan expressed their anger
against the Centre when Radhakrishnan arrived at his residence to express his
condolence to his family members. Slogans were shouted against central govt
after minister came out of Muthukrishnan’s house.A man threw a slipper at
Radhakrishnan while he was briefing reporters outside the house. hindustantimes
POLLS,
POLITICS
With Maurya out of CM race, spotlight shifts to Manoj Sinha, Rajnath;
Adityanath not ruled out:zee news
New Delhi: With state BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya ruling himself out
as the frontrunner for the post of UP CM
, the spotlight has now shifted to Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, Lucknow
mayor Dinesh Sharma as other top contenders for the top job. While the name
still being discussed mostly is that of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh,
BJP's firebrand leader and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath's name is also in the
reckoning.BJP, at the moment, is still undecided over its top choice for the CM's
post, 5 days after its resounding triumph in the most populous state, where the
party won 325 seats out of 403 with its allies.Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh, a former UP CM, is said to be among the frontrunners for the coveted job
because of his stature and administrative experience. However, he had himself
dismissed the possibility.Interestingly, Maurya, who was till today considered
one of the frontrunners for the post of CM, ruled himself out, saying he had
been entrusted with the job of “selecting the next CM”.When asked who would be
the next UP CM, Amit Shah today said, “We will give our stamp of approval to
Keshav’s pick”.Speaking to reporters later, Maurya himself ruled out his
chances of becoming CM. “My responsibility is to zero in on the next name. How can
anyone pick their own name?”With Maurya not in the race now, the spotlight has
now shifted to other contenders with Manoj Sinha, Kalraj Mishra, Uma Bharti,
Yogi Adityanath and Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma being the top ones. Among them,
Manoj Sinha, is an upper caste Bhumihar from the Poorvanchal belt where PM Modi's
constituency Varanasi is also located. While Rajnath Singh and Sinha are upper
caste Thakur and Bhumihar respectively, Maurya has emerged as OBC face of the
party.
Rajnath to be the new CM of UP, Piyush Goyal to get Finance Ministry:
Sources
BJP sets tone for 2019 Lok Sabha polls at its parliamentary party
meet:PTI
Oath-taking ceremony of Uttarakhand CM on March 18, but no clarity on
name
BJP UP chief Maurya admitted to ICU: Report
New Delhi:Keshav Prasad Maurya,UP unit chief of the BJP and a CM ial
contender, was admitted to the ICU of RML Hospital in New Delhi, news agency
ANI reported. It said the leader has problems related to blood pressure and
will remain under observation today. Maurya may be discharged from hospital on
Friday.Maurya is being considered as one of the front-runners for CM’s post after
the BJP and its allies rallied to a landslide win in 325 out of the state’s 403
constituencies. indianexpress
Amarinder Singh sworn in as Punjab CM
Capt. Amarinder Singh on Thursday was sworn in as the 26th CM of Punjab
in the presence of Congress leaders, including ex-PM Manmohan Singh and Rahul
Gandhi. Thehindu
Parrikar wins floor test with 22 votes in Goa Assembly
Manohar Parrikar won the vote of confidence in the Goa Assembly with 22
votes in his favour. Congress won 16 votes in its favour. However, Congress MLA
Vishwajit Rane remained absent during the Assembly session.As of now, Protem
Speaker Siddarth Kuncoliekar included, Parrikar's strength is 23 in the
40-member House.Later Kuncoliekar said that the vote count though declared by
him on the Floor of House was 22/16, his support will be counted while sending
report to Supreme Court.Thus it will be 23/16.thehindu
BJP's strong showing in state polls means India will not compromise in
international spats: Chinese media
New Delhi: BJP's emphatic win in the state polls+ in India is not very
good news for Beijing, a state-run Chinese news outlet wrote today.Global
Times, the Chinese Communist Party's news outlet that focuses on foreign
affairs, said today in an article that a resurgent BJP very likely means
"more difficulties in making compromises" with New Delhi in
international spats. See BJP's performance in assembly electionsPM Narendra
Modi's "hard-line attitude" domestically and internationally will
only harden, said Global Times. The article also cited other news sources as
concluding that the 2019 national polls will be won by BJP."In the
international arena, he (PM Modi) changed India's previous attitude of trying
never to offend anyone and started to take a clear stance in controversies
among other nations to maximize its own interests... If Modi wins the next
election, India's current firm and tough manner is bound to continue..., it
will likely mean more difficulties in making compromises in rows with other
countries," the Global Times article today said. timesofindia
BJP tampered EVM, I will move court, says Mayawati
Lucknow: After a humiliating defeat in UP assembly polls, BSP chief
Mayawati announced on Wednesday that her party would go to court and hold
agitation against the BJP, which, she said tampered with the electronic voting
machines. Addressing media at the party headquarters in Lucknow, after paying
tributes to her party founder Kanshi Ram on his birth anniversary, Mayawati
said her party will organise demonstration on the 11th of every month in all
district HQRS of UP and state headquarters of other states."We are not
going to sit quiet," said Mayawati, adding that the BJP's victory was fake
and achieved through unfair means. "The faces and language of BJP leaders
show that their victory is unfair," she said. Daring the BJP to get
repolling done through ballot papers to "prove its honesty", she
said, "But I know BJP will never do so.They are afraid that their fraud
would be exposed." Mayawati said it seemed that the tampering with EVMs
was done strategically only in UP and Uttarakhand. "Had it been in other
states, the BJP would have been exposed," she said, even as party workers
raised a slogan: " Loktantra ki hatya band karo...(stop murdering
democracy)".She added that BJP was spreading rumour that Muslim women
voted in its favour on the issue of triple talaq. "There cannot be a
bigger lie than that. Muslims will follow their religion, not BJP," she
said.TOI
BSP cites Hapur seat results to raise questions over EVMs
EVM tampering row: Azam Khan now backs Mayawati
Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati’s claim of EVM tampering in the UP Assembly
elections, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Thursday said what more proof
can one want when all opposition parties have come up with the same opinion. “Somebody
had to come to power. The opposition would have said something. But why the
BSP, Congress is also saying the same thing? The BJP’s party workers are also
shocked by the result. What more proof do you want?” Khan told ANI.Quoting the
examples of other countries adopting ballot system of voting, Khan said the
country, which first manufactured EVMs is itself in favour of the former
electoral system. “What is the reason that the country, which manufactured this
machine, does not use it? Japan made it but ballots are used there. Europe,
America all resort to ballot system,” he said. “Developed countries like
Germany have set up commissions, inquiry set-ups and they have also opined that
some tampering can be done and that is why they have adopted ballot system,” he
added.He further said if various parties have expressed doubts then this should
be resolved.ANI
Posters in UP's Bareilly village ask Muslims to leave
Bareilly: Jianagla, a village 70 km from Bareilly, is in the grip of
tension ever since posters sprang up at more than 2 dozen places in the area
ordering its Muslim residents to "leave immediately". The message, in
Hindi, said that "with BJP in power in UP Hindus of the village would do
what US president Trump was doing to Muslims in that country".The posters
have turned up days after the BJP won a massive majority in the state.
"What Trump is doing in America, we will do in this village because the
BJP is now in power," the posters said, giving Muslims of Jianagla time
till the end of the year to leave. The posters are signed by "Hindus of
the village", under "guardian" is the name of a BJP MP.Most of
the posters have been removed by police and the administration but a few still
dot the walls, adding to the palpable panic. Text in all posters is the same
and threatens the Muslims of "dire consequences" if they do not leave
at the latest by the end of the year.The posters appeared overnight, and could
be seen everywhere by Monday morning. Residents of Jianagla said they had no
idea how this happened, even though most of them celebrated Holi till late on
Sunday night."We slept a little past midnight, and it was only in the
morning that we noticed all these posters around the village. We informed police
after some residents objected to it," gram pradhan Rewa Ram told TOI. An
FIR against unidentified persons has been lodged and five youths from the
village have been picked up for questioning so far, said officials. A police
force has also been deployed. Of Jianagla's nearly 2,500 residents, around 200
are Muslims.TOI
In UP Village, Posters Appeared Asking Muslims To Leave
OTHERS
This image of grieving 9-year-old boy becomes a symbol of Kashmir’s
suffering
Begumbagh:A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words and a
photograph of an anguished Kashmiri boy with tears rolling down his cheeks said
volumes last week about the human suffering sweeping the region.The snapshot,
taken at the funeral of a teenager killed during an encounter in Padgampora of
Pulwama in south Kashmir, is already being described by some as the defining
image of the tragedy: Something as powerful as that of a young man seeking to
block the advance of tanks in China’s Tiananmen Square or that of the lifeless
body of Aylan Kurdi who perished while trying to escape the Syrian war.Kashmiri
boy catapulted to public gaze, however, considers himself no celebrity.For
9-year-old Burhan Fayaz, picture just captured his angst and despair at losing
his best friend, Amir. “I am still sad,” the student of Class 3 in Begumbagh’s govt
primary school said.His friend Amir was among the hundreds of locals who had
run towards the encounter site with a view to disrupt the security operation
and let the militants escape. Villagers physically attempting to help cornered
militants by hurling stones at security forces are a new phenomenon in Kashmir,
despite stern warnings from army chief Bipin Rawat. Amir, a student of Class 9,
died after being hit by a bullet in the neck. His family says he was ‘targeted’
while the police say the villain was a ‘stray bullet’. Thousands, including
Burhan, attended the funeral in his Begumbagh village, some four kilometres
from the site of the gun battle where he was felled.“Amir was like my brother. Who
will I play with now,” an inconsolable Burhan asks now. HT
Withdraw AFSPA from some areas, says Mehbooba Mufti
&K CM Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday called for the revocation of the
AFSPA from some areas of her state. “We should not shy away from revocation of
the AFSPA. When things improve, why not?” she asked at an Indian Foundation
counter-terrorism conference in New Delhi. “We do not shy away when the
situation goes bad. We do not shy away from calling more forces….But when the
situation improves, we should not shy away from the fact that we need to start
revocation of AFSPA from some places and see what is the impact,” she said. Indianexpress
J&K: Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz, Yasin Malik arrested
Srinagar:Police on Thursday arrested separatist leaders Syed Ali
Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik in Srinagar after they tried to
stage a protest. The three were scheduled to hold a joint press conference at
Geelani’s residence for which the authorities denied them permission. Separatist
leaders were taken into preventive custody and shifted to the Humhama police
station in Badgam district.IANS
How Rohingya Muslim Refugees In Delhi Are Fighting Prejudice Through
Football: scoopwhoop.com
CR Park Mela Ground in south Delhi is no Maracana, the sprawling mecca
of world football. It will probably take you less than a few minutes to walk
across the breadth of it. It has steel poles instead goalposts and the outfield
is deceptively patchy. A slab of concrete, which doubles up as a stage for
local functions, rests bang in the middle of the field. But Mohammad Salim's
eyes light up as he surveys the field. "I feel free every time I am on a
football field," says the 23-year-old. In 2012, when Salim, a Rohingya
Muslim refugee from Myanmar, walked all night from Maungdaw township to the
Bangladesh border town of Teknaf, he had forgotten how to play football.
"For years we were being persecuted in Myanmar. I had secured top grades
in my high school but I was barred from attending college because I am a Rohingya
Muslim. I was always good in sports, but my parents would ask me not to show
off because they feared persecution," says Salim, who now runs a laptop
repairing shop in New Delhi's Uttam Nagar. Salim is among thousands of Rohingya
Muslim migrants from Myanmar who have taken shelter in India. Rohingyas are a
stateless ethnic group loathed by many of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority. Rohingya
people lack legal protection fromGovt of Myanmar and are regarded as refugees
from Bangladesh. They are often described as one of the most persecuted people
on earth. In 2012, many Rohingya Muslims, like Salim, were forced to give up
everything to seek better fortunes elsewhere after ethnic violence erupted in
Arakan or Rakhine state in Myanmar. Many, like Salim, came to India, with
nothing but the shirts on their back - and horrifying stories of rape, torture
and murder.Today, Rohingya Muslims of Capital have formed the Rohingya Human
Rights Initiative to help Rohingya asylum-seekers in India rehabilitate
themselves. "And we think football is a great way to make Rohingya
youngsters bond with people of city. Sports brings people together," says
Riyaz, another Rohingya Muslim youth who works as an interpreter in a Social
Legal Information Centre.
‘Fatwa’ against Assam singer Nahid
Afrin that never was
Nahid Afrin is an over-achiever by all standards. At 16, she has been a
playback singer in a mainstream Bollywood film, finished second in the
country’s most high-profile musical reality show and has won so many awards in
singing competitions across the country that she doesn’t even bother to count
them. So, when news broke that a fatwa had been issued against her by some 46
Muslim clerics, warning her to stop singing as it was “against the Sharia”,
there was, understandably, an outrage. Enough outrage for even national news
channels to take notice and Assam’s CM to tweet condemning the “fatwa” and
assuring the young woman of his govt’s commitment to protect her freedom of
speech and safety. Even Taslima Nasreen tweeted out, expressing support and
solidarity for Afrin.According to a report in the TOI, Assam Police was also
looking to investigate an Islamic State angle to the episode.All extremely
heartening, expect for that fact there may not have been a fatwa at all. The
primary evidence of the supposed fatwa is a leaflet signed by 46 Muslim men,
which was distributed in the districts of Hojai and Nagaon.While the leaflet
does categorically mention that March 25 programme at Udali Sonai Bibi College
in Lanka in Hojai district, where Afrin was scheduled to perform was “against
the Sharia”, it does not as much as even mention Afrin’s name. The leaflet,
which is headlined Guhari (translates into request/appeal), asks people not to
attend March 25 event. “If anti-Sharia acts like musical nights are held on
grounds surrounded by masjids, idgahs, madrassas and graveyards, our future
generations will attract the wrath of Allah,” it reads.The secretary of the
Assam State Jamiat Ulama, Maulvi Fazlul Karim Qasimi, stressed that no fatwa
has been issued in this case and blamed the media for spreading misinformation.
“Is this how a fatwa is issued? On a piece of paper?”The venue in question,
Qasimi said, was in close proximity to religious and educational institutes and
there have been instances of people creating a ruckus during similar shows in
the past. “The appeal simply states that people might as well avoid the event
since there have been instances of people getting drunk and vitiating the
atmosphere in the past,” he claimed. Maulvi insisted that the community was
proud of Afrin – and the notice had nothing to do with her in particular. “It
is just that she was performing in that particular venue.”scroll
No Fatwa issued against anyone, Assam Jamiat Ulema says on row over
Nahid Afrin event
Maharashtra to survey Waqf properties soon
Pune: With several complaints coming in regarding encroachments on Waqf
properties, the state govt has sanctioned Rs 1.7 crore for a pilot project
under which as many as 438 properties spread on nearly 903 hectares in the
district will be surveyed and checked for encroachments and title on the record
of rights. The survey will be carried out initially in Pune and Parbhani from
March to May.TOI
Council approves all 5 draft bills for GST
GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising
representatives of all States, on Thursday endorsed supplementary legislations
needed for implementation of the GST regime.For the purpose of empowerment, cap
of cess on demerit goods on top of peak rate of GST has been kept at 15%,
Jaitley said after the Council meeting. Supporting GST laws would now be taken
to the Cabinet and then to the Parliament for approval, he added. GST Council
would meet on March 31 for framing of rules for Goods and Service Tax regime,
Jaitley said, adding that tax rates for various goods and services would be
taken up after framing of rules.PTI
Will move heaven and earth to implement Muslim quota: Chandrasekhar Rao
Hyderabad: Telangana Govt would not hesitate to "fight" with
the Centre, if necessary, for the implementation of its proposed Muslims quota
act, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao said today.PTI
Ishrat encounter case: Amin, Barot killed terrorists, their
reappointments ‘not arbitrary’, govt tells Gujarat HC
Ahmedabad:Defending its decision to reappoint 2 police officials,
accused in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, after their superannuation, the
Gujarat govt on Wednesday told the High Court that “the case against the
officers are that of killing terrorists and the state never granted sanction of
prosecution”, and “their reappointment is not so shocking or arbitrary”. Responding
to a PIL challenging the appointment of SP NK Amin and DySP Tarun Barot,
additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta argued before a division bench that
the “performance of these two officers were always outstanding. One of the
officers (Amin) was discharged from one criminal case (Sohrabuddin encounter). The
reviewing officers of the two officers termed them outstanding. It’s not so
shocking or arbitrary as claimed in the PIL. indian express
Bhopal: Maha ATS detains engineer in terror case
Khargone: Team of Maharashtra ATS detained one 26-year-old engineer from
Khargone district in connection with Shajapur train blast on Tuesday, officials
said. According to local police, a team of 8 officers of ATS Maharashtra picked
up Avesh Shaikh, son of Zakir Sheikh, resident of Talai Marg, Khargone from his
residence on Tuesday late evening with the help of MP Police.“Shaikh has not
been placed under arrest so far. We are examining his role in the case,” the
official said without elaborating further. Freepressjournal
With India at 148th in number of women MPs, UN official moots quotas
UN: Releasing a world ranking of the number of women parliamentarians
that that placed India at number 148, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive
Director of UN Women — the international organisation’s arm for empowering
women — has called for reservations for women.The rankings of all 193 UN member
countries released here on Wednesday by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and
UN Women showed that women made up 11.8 % of the Lok Sabha where 64 were elected to the
542-member house and 11 % of the Rajya
Sabha with 27 of 245 members.India ranked 88 in the number of women Ministers
with 5 or 18.5 % in the cabinet. IANS
WORLD
UN body proposes extension of Istanbul-Teheran-Islamabad train corridor
to Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka
New Delhi:A UN body has proposed extension of the
Istanbul-Teheran-Islamabad (ITI) train corridor to Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka (DKD) to
promote regional cooperation. It maintained that the train corridor has the
potential to become an important transport artery for intra-regional trade and
an important conduit of Asia’s connectivity with Europe.“Operationalisation of
a cohesive international transport network faces gaps and challenges in South
and South-West Asia, compared to other subregions of Asia and the Pacific,”
Matthew Hammill, officer-in-charge of UN Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific, said here.ESCAP, as the regional development arm of the
UN for the Asia-Pacific region, is mandated with the promotion of regional
cooperation for sustainable development. Transport connectivity is a
cornerstone of regional cooperation, shaping regional production networks and
trade patterns through its impact on competitiveness. indianexpress
Ignoring Pak warning, India fast-tracks Kashmir hydro projects: Reuters
India has fast-tracked hydropower projects worth $15 billion in Kashmir
in recent months, 3 federal and state officials said, ignoring warnings from
Islamabad that power stations on rivers flowing into Pakistan will disrupt
water supplies. The swift approval of projects that had languished for years
came after PM Modi suggested last year that sharing the waterways could be
conditional on Pakistan clamping down on anti-India militants that New Delhi
says it shelters. Pakistan opposed some of these projects before, saying they
violate a World Bank-mediated treaty on sharing of Indus river and its
tributaries upon which 80% of its irrigated agriculture depends.
Pak Jamaat-i-Islami for protecting minorities’ rights
Peshawar: Jamaat-i-Islami Pak has urged the federal govt to take
pragmatic steps for protection to the rights of minorities by providing them
with all basic facilities like other citizens in the country. These views were
expressed by JI provincial emir Mushtaq Ahmed Khan. Tariq Sadiq Gill, a member
of Christian community, and an independent member of Risalpur Cantonment Board,
joined the JI.Ahmad welcomed the joining of JI by the member of minority
community and promised his party would take all possible steps to resolve the
problems of non-Muslims.He demanded of the govt to ensure protection of
constitutional rights of the minorities and provide them facilities of
education and health without any discrimination. dawn
Pakistan asks Facebook to block 'blasphemous content', seeks Interpol
help to curb it online
After a Pakistani court last week threatened to ban social media
networks if they failed to censor content considered insulting to Islam, the
country's main investigation agency said it's asked Facebook to block
"blasphemous" content. It added that the agency is also in talks with
Interpol to identify "blasphemous" content, reported Dawn. timesofindia
Experts say war crimes case against Assad govt growing
Geneva;Criminal investigators say they have built a case documenting the
widespread torture and murder of Syrian detainees by Assad govt, relying on
official photos and meticulous documents.Over 700,000 pages from Syrian
intelligence and security archives have been smuggled out by Commission for
International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), an independent group of legal
experts, through a secret network."The documentation is, in the main,
generated by the security-intelligence, military and political structures of
the regime," William Wiley, who has worked for UN war crimes tribunals on former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, said. Reuters
Dutch PM easily defeats far-right rival anti-Islam Wilders
Mark Rutte, the Dutch PM, has easily defeated his far-right rival Geert
Wilders, partial vote counts show, in elections seen as a measure of populist
support in Europe.With more than 93% of votes counted, Rutte's liberal VVD
party was set to win 33 seats, making it the largest in the new 150-seat
parliament, with Wilders and his Freedom Party beaten into second place with 20
seats, Dutch national broadcaster NOS said.Millions of Dutch flocked to the
polls in a near-record turnout, with the stakes high in an election pitting the
pro-European Rutte against his anti-immigration and anti-EU rival. aljazeera
Compiled and edited by Anwarulhaq (Released at: 9:30 PM)
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