Evening NEWS
DIGEST
INDIA: EDUCATION & COMMUNALISM
New saffron schoolbook gets rid of Gandhi, Nehru, 331 yrs of Mughal rule
but finds space for many right-wing heroes...claims Indian astronauts have been
to moon!
A quiz book prepared by the ruling BJP to be used as the basic textbook
to judge the general awareness of nearly 15 lakh schoolchildren in UP has
removed Mahatma Gandhi from the list of India's great personalities.A chapter
titled 'India's First' covers everything except the country's first PM, Jawaharlal
Nehru. Revisionist exercise is part of a sweeping saffronisation project
falling under the banner of the Pandit Deendayal Birth Centenary Celebration
Committee. The group has organised a state-wide mega general knowledge quiz on
August 20 for all school students from across the state, based on this new
book. The contest will see participation of 100 schools from each district of
UP. Mail Today reported on the party's plans on June 7. The state has 75
districts while BJP's internal geographical organisation of UP makes this tally
83. The book will be handed down along with the participation or registration
form for the quiz.The book also claims that Indian astronauts have gone and
come back from the moon.Nehru finds practically no mention in the 70-page
booklet that is primarily woven around the life of right-wing ideologue
Deendayal Upadhyay and his ideology of Integral Humanism.Gandhi is mentioned
only in passing reference but not in relation to his contribution to the
Independence movement. However, Sardar Patel's Bardoli Satyagraha is mentioned
but only in opposition to Babasaheb Ambedkar.While Gandhi and Nehru have been
kept out, those included in the great personalities list are VD Savarkar, RSS
founder KB Hedgewar as well as Jan Sangh leader and ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh.
It also includes tribal leader Birsa Munda, Sikh Guru Govind Singh and Madan
Mohan Malviya from Varanasi, which is represented by PM Narendra Modi in
Parliament.The life history of Ambedkar, incidentally, does not mention his
role as Dalit redeemer or his conversion to Buddhism in his quest against
Brahmanism.'Having said that, these personalities - Gandhi and Nehru - are not
in need of some book to declare them heroes. Their contribution is well known,'
said Congress leader RPN Singh.The book and the quiz, said member of the
celebration committee and party spokesperson Chandra Mohan, would serve for a
wide dissemination of the ideology of the BJP.Moreover, no Muslim - from the
modern or the medieval times - finds mention in the list.However, the book
quotes poet Muhammad Iqbal in reference to Indian nationalism, a person the
right-wing has so far deprecated for having moved to Pakistan after Independence.
While the medieval part of Indian history too is conspicuous by its absence,
the ancient period has been characterised as one in which 'Varnashram Dharma,
Purusharth and 16 Samsakaras were the ideal for all'. There are several
references to 'foreign invaders' who 'corrupted' Indian culture and also fixes
some of the blame on state broadcaster DD.'Afflictions of other cultures have
crept into Indian culture owing to DD, cable TV…Corruption and inequality in
India are diseases that came with foreign invaders in the past few centuries,
otherwise they were absent in the days of Ashoka and Vikramaditya…'Only such
instances of Muslim history have been mentioned in which either a Hindu king
vanquished a Muslim king or had been the victim of torture and excess of some
Muslim king. For instance, a question in the book says: 'Which Muslim invader
was cut like carrot and radish by Maharaja Suheldev? Chapter on Indian economy
starts only with 2014, when the BJP came to power at the Centre. Though it
doesn't deal with much of Indian economy, it does point out that RSS wing
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is the biggest workers' union in India.The chapter on
current affairs is just a list of all the schemes and flagship programmes
launched by PM Modi. DailyMail
Saffronisation project: No mention of Nehru, Mahatma in UP quiz book
CBSE UGC NET 2017: Students oppose suspension of entrance test for
college teachers
Mumbai: Students have opposed the CBSE’s decision to skip UGC-NET for
the first half of the year. The Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO)
has filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) asking CBSE to take back its
decision to suspend the tests. It also wants the Govt to conduct one more session in 2017 for
students who are crossing the age limit.Those who aspire to be assistant
professor or work as junior research fellow (JRF) in colleges and universities
across the country are required to clear UGC-NET. The test is usually held
twice every year - around months of June and Dec.In a July 11 notification,
CBSE announced that the next UGC-NET exam will be held on Nov.5. The
announcement came as a shock to teaching and research aspirants across the
country who were anxiously waiting for the summer session of the test.SIO said
that suspension will further accentuate shortage of qualified teachers in
degree colleges. “Shortage of faculty has been a big hurdle in ensuring quality
education. Thousands of teaching positions are vacant in the universities
across the country. In such a circumstance, suspending UGC NET may lead to
annoyance among student community, and a loss to the intellectual community of
India,” said Syed Azharuddin, national secretary, SIO.CBSE had approached the
ministry of HRD,expressing its inability to conduct the UGC NET exam due to
capacity crunch as it was overburdened with other tests such as the JEE (for
admission to undergraduate engineering courses) and the NEET (for admission to
under-graduate medical courses).The student body also argued that suspension of
UGC-NET stands in contrast to UGC’s intention to make NET or SET mandatory for
pursuing PhD. It also said that the decision undermines union HRD minister
Prakash Javadekar, who in a recently concluded parliamentary session, had
announced that majority of vacancies in Universities would be filled up this
year. hindustantimes
AMU Professor Discovers Molecules To Be Used As Drug For
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
New Delhi: In 2014, AMU academic
and scientist, Professor Asad U Khan found highly resistant 'New Delhi
metallo-beta-lactamase-4 (NDM-4)' Superbug in an Aligarh sewage. According to a
statement from the university, with hard work and consistent efforts, Prof Khan
has now discovered new molecules effective against multi-drug resistant
bacterial infections which will be used as an antibiotic drug.Prof Khan's new
discovery will now leave physicians and scientists with a great sigh of relief,
said the statement from the AMU."No molecules have yet been launched to
control Metallo-betalactamases producing bacterial infections, these newly
discovered molecules have shown good activity against the Superbug and its
variants," said Prof Khan.Meanwhile his study on the discovery has been
published in the leading International journal, 'Scientific Report of Nature
Publishing Group'. Prof Khan has also developed a Gene editing technology to
control biofilm mediated infections and a report on this technology was
published in internationally known, 'Frontiers in Cellular and Infection
Microbiology'. ndtv
Mewat villagers debunk claims of Hindu students forced to offer namaz,conversion,
call it attempt to defame village
Rubbishing allegations that the Hindu students were forced to offer
namaz and convert to Islam, residents of the Madhi village called it was an
attempt to defame Mewat.Mewat district administration had on Friday suspended
two teachers and transferred a third one following complaints of forced conversions.“Our
kids study here and we too visit the school. Praying or not praying is solely
one’s own wish. Neither the students nor any of the teachers have ever forced
anybody to qubool (embrace) Islam,” 50-year-old Yaddin, Madhi village sarpanch,
said.Yaddin said that though the area is Muslim-dominated, nobody has ever
forced or even asked a Hindu to pray with them.Asar Khan, an ex-panchayat
member, said that all the news reports stating that beef biryani was being made
at the hostel and the Hindus were forced to offer namaz are false. “This is a
school where students come to study. It doesn’t matter whether a student is a
Hindu or a Muslim. All this is baseless and are only meant to give a bad name
to Mewat,” Khan said.Siddique, the head of a committee who looks into the Madhi
school and the one who represents the school in meetings of Mewat Development
Agency (under which the school is run), said the suspension of teachers and
these baseless rumours was a conspiracy by the school in-charge Navin Shakti and
one of the teachers, Santram.“I have often noticed during my rounds that
Santram was never in his classroom and always used to roam around. He used to
sit with the new school in-charge. I personally saw him consuming alcohol in
one of the empty classrooms around 8-10 days ago,” Siddique said.He said that
since Muslim teachers used to tell Santram to focus on his work and villagers
often scolded him, Santram decided to take revenge (by making up the forced
conversion story).Mohd Arif, the hostel warden and the social science teacher,
who has been transferred ,had a similar tale to tell.“We have been targeted by
Santram and Shakti madam. Santram was earlier in Punhana and was suspended for
allegedly harassing a girl,” Arif said.Arif said no forced conversion ever
happened in the school or the hostel.“Letter of transfer doesn’t even mention
the reason for the transfer. How can then one blame us for forcing our religion
on the others?” he said. 3-member committee, headed by director of education,
was formed to look into the issue on Friday.HT
INDIA,
CHINA PAK & J&K
India created 'Chinese threat' to cover up internal failings, claims
Beijing daily
India is making up an imaginary "China threat" because of
growing threats to its own national unity, a leading Chinese newspaper said on
Tuesday. "It is hard to understand India's groundless 'China threat'
theory," said a report in the state-run Global Times by Long Xingchun,
research fellow at The Charhar Institute and director of the Centre for Indian
Studies at China West Normal University. "India probably just needs an
enemy, even an imagined one.With multiple nationalities, religions and
languages, plus intense internal conflicts and a strong centrifugal force
pushing against national unity, India needs an external enemy as distraction.
"The previous arch-enemy Pakistan will no longer suffice as India grows
into a big power. China, with large border areas in dispute and the memory of
1962 war,naturally fills that place,"report said. IANS
'Western media favours India', says Chinese media
New Delhi:Miffed at international opinion seemingly tilted in favour of
New Delhi in the Doklam standoff, China's aggressive state-backed media has
accused Western media of being biased in favour of India simply because it is a
democracy. What's more, India "arouses sympathy" because is "in
a weaker position compared with China", said an opinion piece in China's
Global Times on Tuesday."India in the Western media is a victim which has
been bullied by China, even though India illegally entered Chinese territory
and violated international law to unilaterally intervene in the 'territorial
dispute' between China and Bhutan," said Global Times article.Western
media reports "mainly cited India's rhetoric and what happened from the
Indian media's point of view, depicting a mild India which called for a troop
withdrawal and bilateral negotiations", said the opinion piece in the
Chinese publication. timesofindia
Indo-Russia ties strong despite India’s growing ties with US, Israel,
France: Russian military firms’ Chief
Russia will always be India’s strategic partner despite New Delhi’s
growing ties with countries like US, France and Israel as there are certain
defence products and technology that “no one else will give” except Moscow, a
top Russian official has said. Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Rostec State
Corporation, said cooperation with India will certainly continue, regardless of
whether India cooperates only with Russia or also with Israel, France, US or
other countries.“We have our own niche, these countries have their own
directions for cooperation. Therefore, this does not mean that if India will
work with some other countries, cooperation with Russia will cease. No,”
Chemezov told a select group of reporters on the sidelines of Russia’s premier
air show MAKS 2017 here.“There are defence products and technology that no one
else will give except Russia. Therefore, Russia has always been and will be a
strategic partner of India,” he asserted when asked about the prospects of
Indo-Russia cooperation given India’s growing defence collaboration with other
countries.PTI
NSAs in touch… hope this helps both countries come to table: Pakistan
envoy Abdul Basit
NSAs of India and Pakistan have been in touch and have met, at least
once in recent weeks, to explore ways to resume the dialogue process. Outgoing
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, in an interview with Indian Express,
confirmed that NSAs Ajit Doval and Nasser Khan Janjua have been in touch. “I
believe they are in touch with each other. I don’t know if they met. Let us
hope this will help both countries to come to the negotiating table,” he
said.Asked if the meeting took place in Moscow on May 24 on the margins of an
international security conference, Basit said, “You may like to ask your NSA to
confirm.” In the interview, his last before he leaves India after
three-and-half years during which the roller-coaster relationship touched
several highs and lows, Basit said the SAARC summit will be postponed to next
year.Indian Express
NIA may use ‘pro-freedom’ speeches, meetings against Jammu lawyer
Devinder Singh
New Delhi: A day after raiding the residence of Jammu-based advocate
Devinder Singh Behl, the NIA on Monday raided his ancestral home at Nowshera in
the border district of Rajouri. The raids are part of NIA’s crackdown on
separatists on the basis of an FIR accusing them of fomenting unrest in Kashmir
with funds received from Pakistan-based terror outfits.Behl projects himself as
a human rights activist and is chairman of an outfit called Jammu Kashmir
Social Peace Forum, a constituent of All Parties Hurriyat Conference. He is
known to be a close aide of Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and NIA
suspects that he acted as a courier for money flowing into the coffers of
separatists from Pakistan.While NIA is building a case against Behl based on
his financial transactions over the years, it is also likely to use against him
some “pro-freedom” speeches he has made in Kashmir and some meetings he has
attended in Pakistan in favour of the “freedom movement”. Evidence regarding
this, NIA officials claim, is available online and some were also recovered
during the raids on Behl’s premises.NIA is closely looking at a poster inviting
people in Islamabad for a free discussion with Behl on “India-occupied
Kashmir”. The poster carries Behl’s picture and asks “What’s Happening in
Kashmir?”. It then says “Meet & Talk With Advocate Divender Singh,
Chairman, JKSPF, a constituent of APHC. indianexpress
Bar Association of Jammu expels Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s
aide Devinder Singh Behal
Bar Association of Jammu on Tuesday expelled lawyer Devinder Singh Behal,
a close aide of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, over allegations of
“anti-national activity”, reported The Times of India. Behal’s expulsion comes
a day after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection
with a terror funding case.Behal is suspected to be involved in channeling
funds to separatist leaders from Pakistan. He is also suspected of having
passed national secrets, including the details of the movement of the Indian
Army, to the Inter-Services Intelligence. Behal was allegedly in touch with
officials at the Pakistan High Commission as well.“As soon as we came to know
about his [Behal’s] activities, we verified our records and immediately decided
to expel him without any notice from the primary membership of the association,”
BAJ president BS Salathia said. scroll
Geelani's Statements Are Written by One of Mehbooba Mufti's Ministers:
Farooq Abdullah
Ex-J&K CM Farooq Abdullah talks to CNN-News18’s Marya Shakil about
Hurriyat leaders, his statements on the need to ask the US for help on Kashmir
crisis and why he feels the incumbent J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti is a separatist
sympathizer.Replying to the question that the Hurriyat was funded by the Centre
and that Kashmir paid the price, Farooq said,"Yes, all were funded. If you
read former RAW chief AS Dulat’s book, he was attached to the PM ’s office.
That clearly shows that the money was being paid to these people."
Answering to the question, 'Sir, on one hand, you are saying that the Mehbooba
Mufti Govt is hand in glove with the Hurriyat and on the other hand you are
saying it is the Centre that is funding the separatists?' he replied,
"They did fund Hurriyat, I didn’t say that. I have said that they fund the
separatists but Mehbooba if you remember called Geelani as her father and the PDP,
won in south Kashmir, which has quite a lot of support for Geelani. Even today,
the statements by Geelani, are written by a minister of her
govt."CNN-News18
Human shield row:BJP leader asks Rights Commission to review decision to
compensate Kashmiri man
Srinagar;A BJP leader from Chhattisgarh on Tuesday filed a petition
before the State Human Rights Commission, asking it to “review” its direction
to the State Govt to pay Rs 10 lakh
compensation to the Kashmiri man used as a human shield by the Army on the day
of the Lok Sabha bypoll in Budgam in April earlier.J&K govt’s rights
watchdog had earlier this month said that “protection of life and liberty of a
citizen is the basic responsibility of the state Govt ”, and directed PDP-BJP
coalition Govt to pay Rs 10 lakh as
compensation to Farooq Ahmad Dar — civilian who was tied to the bonnet of an
Army jeep and paraded through villages to thwart stone pelting. SHRC, however,
didn’t rule on the role and culpability of the Army officer, citing “limited
applicability of the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 to the state of J&K
”. indianexpress
PoK or CoK? 30 jihadi outfits unite against India encouraged by Chinese
influence and infrastructure funding in PoK: India Today
An India Today investigation has revealed how PoK is benefiting from the
recent torrent of Chinese investment in more ways than merely infrastructure
improvements.The terrorism framework in PoK is also benefiting from the fresh
flow of funds as opposition to India hardens.Over 30 religious and jihadi
groups have come together to form Daifa-e-Pakistan that has demonstrated and
carried out rallies across Pakistan to step up terrorism in Kashmir.According
to sources, the aim of the movement is to create a new force of terrorism and
channel it against India.One such rally was organised by Daifa-e-Pakistan at
Mall road in Lahore. Participants included
the leaders of the banned terror groups LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hijbul Mujahideen,
Jamiat-ul- Mujahideen. They demonstrated against India and defined a new wave
of negative propaganda. China's 'development' projects' in PoK and neighbouring
Gilgit-Baltistan that involve several thousand Chinese personnel belonging to
the construction corps of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) point towards
Beijing's expansionist geo-strategic agenda in the region.Gilgit-Baltistan is
part of the disputed territory of J&K occupied by Pakistan and is known as
Northern Areas of Pakistan. Some part of the Aksai Chin region was also gifted
to China by Pakistan. Many people living in Gilgit and Baltistan are unnerved
by increasing Chinese presence in the area and feel that their resources and
land are being sold to China by Pakistan without compensating the actual
stakeholders, India Today TV found. dailymail
LeT commander Abu Dujana killed, street protests return to Kashmir
Govt forces killed a top
commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir on Tuesday, triggering street
protests that left one person dead and prompted the authorities to shut down
mobile internet and schools.Police said Abu Dujana’s killing was a “huge
achievement” for the Govt that has
hardened its stand against militants after a recent spurt in violent street
protests and attacks on security forces.Following the protests on Tuesday, the
authorities shut down schools and colleges for the day and cut mobile internet,
frequently targeted by authorities to stop the spread of what they claim to be
rumours and fake messages that provoke civilian anger.HT
OTHERS
Sohrabuddin encounter: Police officers DG Vanzara, MN Dinesh discharged
by CBI court
New Delhi: A CBI court on Tuesday discharged retired police officer DG
Vanzara and MN Dinesh in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Vanzara, now
retired, was the then Gujarat ATS chief. Dinesh, an IPS officer, was with the
Rajasthan Police. The total number of accused discharged by the court now
stands at 15.On Monday, the court rejected the discharge application of two
Rajasthan police officers Himanshu Singh and Shyam Singh Charan. The 2 police
sub-inspectors are accused in the case and were then part of the Rajasthan
police. CBI had opposed their discharge, submitting before the court that they
were among the main accused and that they were accused of firing shots at
Sheikh.A special court in Mumbai is hearing the case after the Supreme Court
ordered for the trial to be transferred out of Gujarat. The discharge plea of
some of the accused is still pending, after which the trial will begin in the
case. A total of 38 persons were named as accused in the case initially. indian
express
Sohrabuddin case: Court rejects discharge plea of Rajasthan cops
Jama Masjid blast: Delhi Court discharges 3 suspects
New Delhi: A Delhi court today
ordered framing of charges against Yasin Bhatkal and 10 others in the 2010 Jama
Masjid blast case. Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma, however,
discharged 3 alleged members of the outfit, saying there was not enough
evidence against them. The court discharged Syed Ismail Affaque, Abdus Saboor
and Riyaz Ahmad Sayeedi, who were named in the charge sheet by the police.The
case pertains to an explosion near the historic Jama Masjid here on Sept.19,
2010 soon after 2 suspected IM operatives had fired at a bus from which foreign
tourists were descending near a gate of the mosque. Today's order came on the
blast incident.The police had charge sheeted these suspected IM members,
including Yasin Bhatkal, in connection with the blast case and said these
operatives had carried out the strike to dissuade foreign nations from
participating in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.PTI
Malegaon blast: Spl court rejects accused’s plea on mistaken identity
Mumbai:A special court has rejected an application filed by a Malegaon
2008 blast accused, claiming his name was not Dayanand Pandey. Accused, Swamy
Amrutanand, had told the court that his was a case of mistaken identity. He
said that before renouncing the world he was known by the name Sudhakar Dhar
Dwivedi. He submitted before the court that he had no idea who Pandey was.
Maharashtra ATS, which had arrested him in 2008, had alleged that Pandey was
his alias.He told the court that there was no material to show that he was
Pandey and the prosecution had relied on the name only to falsely implicate
him.He further said that 2 documents prepared by ATS showed that 2 different
persons were arrested in 2008. indianexpress
Mohsin Shaikh murder: Prosecution lawyer Ujjwala Pawar opposes Desai’s
provisional bail plea
Pune: District Govt pleader Ujjwala Pawar started arguments in the
Mohsin Shaikh murder case in the sessions court on Monday and opposed the
provisional bail plea filed by accused Dhananjay Jayram Desai, alias Bhai (35),
who is the founder of the radical outfit Hindu Rasthra Sena (HRS). A native of
Solapur who worked as an engineer at a private firm in Pune, Mohsin was
allegedly killed during the communal clashes that broke out in 2014, after the
circulation of objectionable pictures of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Bal Thackeray.
His brother Mobin Shaikh (26) filed a complaint of murder in this regard at the
Hadapsar police station. As many as 21 HRS activists, including Desai, resident
of Parmar Bungalow in Paud, were arrested in connection with the case. Of these
21, 18 accused, including a minor, are currently out on bail. 3 others,
including Desai, are still lodged in prison.Desai’s lawyer Milind Pawar had
filed an application for provisional bail on medical grounds about two months
ago. But the hearing on this application did not take place because advocate
Ujjawal Nikam, who was then SPP, had suddenly quit. indianexpress
Hate speech case: HC allows challenge to govt ‘no’ on sanction to
prosecute Adityanath
Allahabad: Allahabad High Court on Monday permitted the petitioners to
challenge the UP govt’s refusal to grant sanction to prosecute CM Yogi Adityanath — the prime accused in the
2007 Gorakhpur hate speech case.A 2-member bench dismissed UP govt’s objections
to the petitioners’ contention that the prime accused had become the CM of the
state and is thus, influencing the case in his favour. It also pulled up the
state advocate general for being absent during hearings in the “important and
serious case”.While hearing final arguments in the case, the bench had last
week observed that people “cannot be left remedy-less” while asking the state
counsel to substantiate what legal remedies were the petitioners left with when
the state, in its May 3 order, had refused to grant the mandatory sanction for
the prosecution of CM . State Advocate General Raghvendra Singh, appointed in
April by the new govt, on Monday “contradict(ed)” his fellow counsel,
Additional Advocate General Manish Goel, when he said a magistrate did not have
the power to take cognisance of a case and begin trial despite a refusal by the
Centre or state in granting sanction to prosecute.Last week, additional advocates
general Manish Goel and AK Mishra had argued that the petitioners did not need
to challenge the UP Govt ’s order in court because they had an “alternate
remedy” of filing a protest petition before a magistrate if they were not
satisfied with the investigation. Dismissing both Singh and Goel’s arguments as
“meaningless”, bench told Singh:“There will be absolutely no alternate remedy
for the petitioner…Decide amongst yourselves what argument you want to put
forward…There is lack of conferencing amongst yourselves.”“We are passing a
restraint order on the advocate general to remain here in Allahabad. You must
have come down today and that is why you are not on the same page (with fellow
counsels)… Stay here at least for this case… For most of the time, you are away
in Lucknow when the principal seat of the advocate general is Allahabad…This is
such a serious matter,” it added.Eventually noting that the state counsel could
not “substantiate” its primary objections to the petitioners’ request for an
amendment to the original writ petition, the bench dismissed the UP Govt ’s
plea for a rejection of the amendment.The bench gave the petitioners’ counsel,
Farman Naqvi, a day to submit an amended writ petition, which will be heard on
Aug.9. The amended writ petition will challenge Adityanath’s May 3 order
refusing to grant sanction to prosecute himself in the case.The original writ
petition filed by Parvez Parwaz and Asad Hayat — through Naqvi — had asked for
the probe of the case to be transferred to an independent agency because “UP
Police was deliberately delaying investigation”. Indian Express
UP Police lathi-charge Muslims protesting to open Hajj house in
Ghaziabad
On early Tuesday morning, UP police resorted to lathi-charge on nearly
600 protesters who were demonstrating for the opening of Hajj house for public
use.The lathi-charge did not go down well with the protesters and stone pelting
and violence started from the other side which only made the situation worse.
This issue gained weight on Monday when district Congress committee started
protesting with a large group of Muslim people to open the newly-constructed
Ala Hazrat Hajj house situated in Ghaziabad. Hajj house was built during
Samajwadi Party regime in UP and was inaugurated by Akhilesh Yadav last
Sept.Naseem Khan from Congress attacked the state Govt and termed it as “playing with the faith of
country’s Muslims.”Moreover, the Muslim community members also performed Namaz
outside the locked Hajj house and demanded a proper use of the facility. The
problem becomes more grave if looked in the context of currently ongoing Hajj
pilgrimage. Keeping the same in mind, Muslim Maha Sabha has written to state’s CM
Yogi Adityanath requesting him to open the Hajj house as Hajj pilgrims from
western UP are facing a lot of problems.Mahasabha president Imran Khan also met
the city magistrate last week to hand out a memorandum to the CM in the same regard. Imran Khan said that if UP
Govt does not want it (Hajj house) to be
used by pilgrims, any institute or school must be started in the premises.The
protest at the Hajj house on Monday was also accompanied by the Peace
Party.TwoCircles
Ala Hazrat Haj House: Locals, police clash over opening building to
public
No beef for animals in 2 UP zoos, Rajya Sabha told
New Delhi: Two zoological parks in UP faced difficulty in supply of beef
meant for feeding carnivorous animals, following a ban imposed by the state Govt
on illegal slaughter houses, the Rajya
Sabha was informed on Monday.Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan, in a
written reply to the Upper House, said apart from these two zoos situated in
Lucknow and Kanpur, no other zoo in the country faced any difficulty in feeding
the carnivorous inmates.“As per information received from the Central Zoo
Authority, only Nawab Wazid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Lucknow, and Kanpur
Zoological Park of UP faced difficulty in the supply of beef for carnivorous
animals due to a ban on illegal slaughter houses,” he said.PTI
No information on 39 missing Indians: Syrian envoy
New Delhi: Syria has no information about 39 Indians who went missing in
Iraq in 2014. Syria's Ambassador to India Riad Kamel Abbas, however, said that
his country is "keen" to send them home if they are found in its
territory.Abbas yesterday said an Indian delegation has made several trips to
Syria and Iraq in the past to seek information about them and the chief of the
Intelligence Department of Syria has also visited New Delhi in this
regard."Indian delegation went to Syria many times and the chief of Syrian
intelligence agency came to Delhi for it," the envoy said. "We are
very keen to bring them (missing Indians) home if they are in our territory,
but there is no official confirmation about it," he added.Early this
month, Iraqi forces freed Mosul from ISIS, a development that gave a ray of
hope to the families of 39 Indians.However, there was no information of the
missing Indian nationals from the liberated city.PTI
Minority leader, Bodoland Student Union chief shot dead in Assam
Guwahati: Unidentified assailants on Tuesday gunned down Lafikul Islam,
president of the All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU) and a popular
minority leader in Kokrajhar in western Assam, with the police saying the
culprits could be persons known to him. Islam was shot from point blank range
inside a hardware store at Titaguri, about three km from Kokrajhar town at
around 4:30 PM on Tuesday, where he had stopped after attending a meeting of
the ABMSU in a nearby town.“2assailants had come on a motorcycle and fled
immediately after gunning him down. Eyewitnesses said both assailants had
helmets covering their face so that they could not be immediately identified.
We have launched a manhunt for the assailants,” Kokrajhar SP Rajen Singh
said.Islam, who had founded the ABMSU after the govt created Bodoland
Territorial Council (BTC) in 2003, was instrumental in building up a movement
to protect the rights of migrants Muslims in the four Bodoland districts.
General secretary of ABMSU for the past few years, he had taken over as its
president in 2016.
Zee News Anchor Rubika Liyaquat Shuts Down Mufti Aijaz Qasmi with ‘I
Will Proudly Say Vande Mataram’
New Delhi: Zee News anchor Rubika Liyaquat on Sunday shut down a member
of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, who blew harsh comments on her during
a TV chat show. During a debate, AIMIM spokesman Syed Aasim Waqar used foul
remarks against a female panelist on the show, following which Rubika
interrupted and said this was not a Madrasa. On hearing this, Mufti Aijaz Ahmed
Qasmi of the AIMPLB said she should be ashamed as she was a Muslim.To this,
Rubika shut him down saying she was proud to be a Muslim and added that she
would proudly say Vande Mataram. india.com
WORLD
Trump considers withdrawal from Afghanistan
Washington:Pentagon is finding proposed troop increases for Afghanistan
to be a much harder sell than expected for President Donald Trump.Instead of an
additional 4,000 forces to add to America’s longest war, Pentagon is having to
prove to the White House why US forces should remain there at all, US and
defense officials said.“They [Afghans] are really scared to death that we are
going to pull the plug on this [continued US military presence],” a US official
told Military Times on the condition of anonymity.For weeks, Pentagon officials
talked about adding 3,900 to 4,000 additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan to
prevent further gains by Taliban and Islamic State forces. Additional forces
would join the approximately 8,500 US troops currently conducting
counterterrorism missions and training Afghan security forces.But Wall Street Journal
reported on Sunday that the White House is now instead considering the option
of withdrawing US forces completely and potentially supplanting that presence
with private contractors.Officials confirmed the Journal’s story and said the
consideration of a withdrawal is part of the reason why the administration’s
plan for Afghanistan, known as the South Asia plan, has been delayed.Military
Times
US hides in Afghan as Trump mulls strategy: Watchdog
US questions millions spent in Afghanistan
A new quarterly report published by the Special Inspector General for
Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) shows the US has failed to account for
hundreds of millions of dollars it spent on propping up the Afghan Govt , while
the value of opium production in the country has doubled in a year.aljazeera
Afghan Taliban: Qatar plays major role in peace talks
Qatar played a major role in facilitating peace talks between Afghan
officials and the Taliban by opening an office for the group in Doha, a senior
Taliban offical told Al Jazeera.The Taliban official's comments on Tuesday come
as a series of leaked emails from UAE diplomats suggest the Emirati foreign
minister was disappointed that US officials had chosen Doha over Abu Dhabi to
host the office.June 2013 opening of the unofficial embassy allowed for talks
to develop, said the Taliban official, who is based in the Qatari capital."We
got a chance to discuss with Afghan diplomats, journalists and analysts
face-to-face on how peace can be achieved in Afghanistan," he told Al
Jazeera, speaking on the condition of anonymity.He also noted a separate
meeting was held between the Taliban and Afghan journalists where both sides
were able to discuss their ideas for peace.The official went on to say that
demands on Doha by a Saudi-led bloc currently boycotting the peninsula are
"unfair", and that the quartet should not "accuse Qatar of
supporting terrorism".As part of its attempt to isolate the peninsula, the
kingdom, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have derided Qatar for hosting an office for
the Afghan armed group.But a series of leaked emails show UAE diplomats lobbied
US officials so Abu Dhabi could host the office.Reported by New York Times on
Monday, emails from UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba apparently
contradict a mounted campaign against Qatar for its alleged support of
"terrorist groups".Otaiba said he received an "angry call"
from UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, complaining that the
Taliban had ended up in Qatar and not the UAE, according to messages in the
ambassador's Hotmail account."I got an angry call from [Zayed] saying how
come we weren't told," Otaiba wrote to an American official. Al Jazeera
UAE ambassador's leaked emails:
UAE lobbied US to host Taliban office
Qatar files WTO complaint against trade boycott
Qatar has filed a complaint with the WTO to challenge a trade boycott by
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE.By formally "requesting consultations"
with the three countries, the first step in a trade dispute, Qatar triggered a
60-day deadline for them to settle the complaint or face litigation at the WTO
and potential retaliatory trade sanctions."We've given sufficient time to
hear the legal explanations on how these measures are in compliance with their
commitments, to no satisfactory result," Ali Alwaleed Al Thani, the
director of Qatar's WTO office, told Reuters on Monday."We have always
called for dialogue, for negotiations, and this is part of our strategy to talk
to the members concerned and to gain more information on these measures, the
legality of these measures, and to find a solution to resolve the
dispute." aljazeera
533 Israelis break into Aqsa Mosque over past 2 days
O.Jerusalem, (PIC)192 Israeli settlers broke into al-Aqsa Mosque. At the
same time, heavily-armed police troops cordoned off the plazas of the site. A
Palestinian young man was arrested by Israeli police near al-Majlis Gate while
a Muslim guard was banned from entering the site.On Sunday, 341 settlers
stormed al-Aqsa Mosque during the morning and afternoon break-in shifts
bringing number of Israelis breaking into the the holy Islamic site to 533 over
the past 24 hours.
'The worst it's been': children continue to swim as raw sewage floods
Gaza beach: theguardian
t is high summer on Gaza City’s beach. A horse and cart patrols the
shore selling brightly coloured swimming rings. A small boat is giving joy
rides out to sea. Families sit on chairs while a few children play in the
water.Normally, in the midst of the school holidays, the beach would be
crowded. Particularly this year, as an electricity crisis makes many homes
unbearable during the heat. But these days many parents are keeping their
children away.The first hint is the smell: the sulphurous odour of raw
sewage.Where children are swimming the water is a murky brown, with a fine
suspension of faecal matter visible to the naked eye. Small fish at the water’s
edge, scooped out by the giggling children, are dead.While pollution of Gaza’s
25 miles of beaches is not new, what is different is the degree. These days,
according to the last environmental survey, 73% of Gaza’s coastline is
dangerously polluted with sewage amid an energy crisis that is now also
affecting Israel across the border wall, sharply up from 40-50% a year ago.
Ex-Iranian president Ahmadinejad facing sentencing over misuse of funds:
Reuters
Iran's ex-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, faces sentences on 7 verdicts
of misusing billions of dollars in Govt funds while in office, the public prosecutor
at Iran’s Supreme Audit Court said in a newspaper interview published on
Sunday.In one case, dating back to Ahmadinejad’s second term in office between
2009 and 2013, the misused funds amounted to more than two billion dollars, the
prosecutor, Fayaz Shojaie, said in his interview with the paper Etemaad. Verdicts
have been announced to the parliament, Shojaie said. The Supreme Audit Court
operates under the supervision of the Iranian parliament. It is not clear
whether Ahmadinejad was formally tried by the court and is facing sentencing,
or whether the Iranian parliament must now follow up on the court's verdicts. Ahmadinejad
gained support among poor and working class Iranians by promising to share the
country’s oil wealth with them. Subsidy reforms implemented in his second term
were aimed at delivering subsidies to the most needy while cutting their
overall cost to Govt.Shojaie said that he did not believe funds Ahmadinejad
allegedly misused could be recovered.
32 Muslim Brotherhood supporters jailed for 10 years
Cairo: An Egyptian court has sentenced 32 people related to the outlawed
Muslim Brotherhood group to 10 years in prison over riot and vandalism charges,
the media reported.Citing MENA Xinhua reported on Monday that the defendants
were accused of attempting to storm building of Qena governorate, south of
Cairo, and setting fire to a nearby parking lot of two courts in August last
year.Qena criminal court acquitted eight other defendants of the same
charges.In Aug.2016, the prosecution charged suspects with murdering two
individuals, assaulting security forces, inciting violence, as well as setting
fire to the court complex and a number of vehicles in Upper Egypt’s Qena
province.Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and leaders, including
ousted president Mohammed Morsi, have received verdicts varied from death
sentences to prison terms over violence and murder charges.IANS
Egypt launches new population-control strategy
Egypt’s Govt announced yesterday
the launch of a national “family planning” strategy to control the growth of
the country’s high population growth rates, Al-Ahram reported, quoating Egyoptian
Health Minister, Ahmed Emad Al-Din.Emad Al-Din added that the country’s
“alarming” population growth had prompted the ministry to launch a new national
strategy for family planning, which aims at reducing the population growth from
128 million to 112 million people by 2030. This will mark a decrease of 16
million people. Middleeastmonitor
Hundreds face judges in Turkey's biggest coup trial
Turkey is holding its largest trial over July 2016 coup attempt, with
nearly 500 people appearing in court.The suspects, who are standing trial on
Tuesday, are accused of conspiring to overthrow the Govt from an airbase seen as the plotters' hub.A
total of 486 suspects are going on trial in a purpose-built courtroom outside
the capital Ankara, charged with crimes ranging from murder, violating the
constitution and attempting to kill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Anadolu
reported.They are accused of running the coup bid from the Akinci airbase
northwest of the capital, which the authorities regard as plotters'
headquarters.A total of 461 suspects are held in custody, while seven are still
on the run. aljazeera
South Sudan: Govt attacks on
civilians reported as humanitarian crisis grows
South Sudan's refugee crisis is the fastest growing in the world and
humanitarian organisations are warning it is worsening because more people are
fleeing conflict.It has spread to the Equatoria region where attacks against
civilians by Govt forces have been
reported. Sudan People's Liberation Army is blaming a few undisciplined
soldiers for the attacks. aljazeera
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi elected interim PM of Pakistan until Shehbaz Sharif wins by-election
Senior PML-N leader and former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
will run the PML-N Govt as interim PM of Pakistan until Nawaz Sharif's brother
Shehbaz is elected as member of parliament, according to Pakistan media
reports. Abbasi got elected after getting 221 votes in the House of 342. Naveed
Qamar of PPP got 47 votes, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf got
33 while Jamaat-e-Islami's Sahibzada Tariqullah managed just 4 votes.After
announcing the results amid sloganeering, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq
asked Abbasi to take the seat of the PM and address the House.Former petroleum
minister Abbasi will be appointed as interim PM to run the country until Shehbaz is elected as
member of parliament, it added. firstpost
FLASH: NEWS & VIEWS
Let’s Talk About Hate | Lynching could become a national epidemic: Harsh
Mander: Harsh Mander
Supreme Court agrees to hear plea seeking cancellation of Nitish Kumar’s
Legislative Council membership
Niti Aayog vice-chairman resigns, will return to academics
Won’t let anyone split Chinese territory, will defeat all invasions:
President Xi Jinping
Amit Shah is ‘earning’ well, News Editors are ‘learning’ well: curious
case of missing stories on Shah’s income
Israeli spyware found on Google Play
Compiled and edited by Anwarulhaq (Released at: 8:32 PM)
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