Evening NEWS
DIGEST
26 Feb.2018:09
Jamadiul-2 1439:Vol:9, No:129
INDIA
Bring Madarsas and missionary schools under
RTE: NCPCR
New Delhi:National Commission for Protection
of Child Rights has recommended that religious minority schools such as Madarsas
and missionary schools be brought under the ambit of Right to Education act.The
child rights’ body has also put a question mark on the quality of education
being imparted in Madaras and has said that about 2 crore children attending
these institutes across India are “as good as out-of-school kids”.The views
were presented by the NCPCR in a meeting of the monitoring committee on
minority education that was constituted by HRD ministry last year.Several NGOs,
education experts and representatives from centre and the states took part in
it on Monday.“The irony is that while missionary schools follow fundamental
syllabi like normal schools and have become elitist, Madaras are just imparting
religious education and are meant for marginalised and deprived sections—but
they both enjoy some exemptions from RTE provisions,” NCPCR member (education)
Priyank Kanoongo told The New Indian Express after the meeting.“We feel that
changes should be made in the law to ensure that missionary schools start
giving 25 per cent reservations to students belonging to economic weaker
sections and syllabi followed in Madarsas should progress towards universal
curriculum so that children attending them don’t miss out on their fundamental
rights of education,” he added.“There should be a bridge between Article 21 (A)
which provides the right to education to children between 6-14 years and
Article 30 of the Constitution which deals with minority education.”NCPCR team
over last one month has been reviewing Madarsa and missionary school education
in 18 cities across India including in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and has found that the quality of education in most
Madarsas is not up to mark.These recommendations by NCPCR, which have large
policy implications, have come at a time when several BJP-RSS leaders have also
suggested that changes in the existing provisions should be made to bring
exemptions offered to minority institution to an end. newindianexpress
Prez gives nod to Rajasthan Animals Act amendments,
asks state to exclude buffalo from bovine list
New Delhi:President Ram Nath Kovind has
approved amendments to the Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter
and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act 1995, which gives the
authorities the right to seize vehicles used in the illegal transportation of
cows, besides making such an act punishable with arrest. However, Kovind has
asked the Vasundhara-led government to make a clarification in the Act and
asked them not to include buffaloes in the list of bovine animals, ANI quoted
state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore as saying.“ State govt
has made a significant amendment in Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of
Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act 1995, providing
rights to seize vehicles used in the illegal transportation of cow and arrest
those responsible. When we sent this to the President for concurrence of the
amendment, he asked to make a clarification that buffaloes are not included in
the bovine list,” Rathore said. The development comes at a time when Rajasthan
has a rise in cow-related violence and smuggling cases. On Sunday, a suspected
cow smuggler was killed during a chase by police in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.
Last year, dairy farm owner Pehlu Khan was beaten to death by suspected gau
rakshaks in Alwar. The incident had led to an outrage in the
state.indianexpress
Whatever Decision SC Takes on Ayodhya, BJP,
RSS Will Tear People Apart: Arundhati Roy
NEW DELHI: It is the sad demise of love and
gentleness — at the behest of skewed patriotism and extreme nationalism — that
comes across as the most troubling feature of current times for writer-activist
Arundhati Roy.The very fundamentals of the country, she contended in an
interview to IANS, are being broken down even as a “parallel state” has come to
function alongside the ruling regime.The motive? “An ideological preparation to
change the constitution”.“There’s an aahat which I think many people are not
hearing and something that is being very seriously silenced is that we are
living in a situation in which your entire attention has to go on criminal
emergencies — who is being lynched, who is being killed and so on — you don’t
realise that behind each of those things, there’s a huge amount of fear and
terror and huge communities are being pushed into these. I don’t think people
in Urban India are aware of the agrarian crisis and the extent of it,” Roy
said.She also said that “the IQ level has dropped a lot in this government” and
there is “a chilling effect on people” when they read about Justice Loya or
Sohrabuddin cases. “You see what is
going on in the Supreme Court and at once you sense the fear in the media. What
happens is that even bureaucrats are frightened, ministers are frightened. You
are taking away the initiative of everybody, every decision cannot be taken by
two people. But people are scared to take decisions, they are scared even to
say anything. So what you are seeing is not something being ripped out,
actually every knot is being untied. So you will only get a handful of threads
in the end. That is very terrifying,” she contended.“What I truly fear is that
there is a sense this year that the tide is changing and there is a panic among
the BJP and RSS, so they will do everything they can to re-polarise. We are
waiting for the Ayodhya judgement from the SC. Whatever happens, it will be
used to tear people apart. No matter what the court says, the verdict is going
to be used to tear people apart. And the timing of the judgement is so vital to
the elections that it terrifies me,” she added. She also said that “there could
be limited war” to suit the election mood.“They are going to try and cover the
noise of communal polarisation this year. I don’t know whether they will succeed
but that bugle has already been sounded,” Roy added. IANS
Salman Nadwi to Float Inter-religious 'Manav
Kalyan Manch' to Solve Babri Dispute
Lucknow: Maulana Salman Nadwi, who was earlier
ousted from the AIMPLB, is all set to float an inter-religious platform with an
aim to resolve the Babri Masjid dispute. The platform that would be known as
‘Manav Kalyan Manch’, is expected to be supported by Art of Living founder, Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar. Nadwi plans to address a formal press conference on March 1,
which will be attended by Sri Sri.According to Nadwi, one of the three key
agendas of the ‘Manav Kalyan Manch’ will be to punish the people who had
demolished the Babri Masjid. Secondly, the board will work to get a piece of
land bigger than the disputed land for Masjid-e-Islam and an Islamic University
and lastly, ensure that no such claims are made again on any other mosque,
madarsa, mazar or kabristan.Nadwi has said in a statement that all those who
agree with the agenda are welcome to join him “as this is the only way to
settle the Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya”. Also, he has welcomed people from
all walks of life, irrespective of their caste or religion, to form the ‘Manav
Kalyan Manch’. Nadwi said, “The Board is acting in a dictatorial fashion. I was
only putting out my view. How is it wrong to pray for unity and harmony in the
country? After the Board expressed its views on Friday, I myself said that I
wouldn’t want to be part of such a platform. I will continue my efforts and
will go to Ayodhya.”News18
Sacked AIMPLB member Salman Nadvi to form new
board on Ayodhya
Najeeb's mother holds protest outside CBI HQRS
New Delhi:Ahead of the hearing of the missing
JNU student Najeeb Ahmed's case in the Delhi High Court, his mother Fatima
Nafees along with a group of supporters today staged a protest near the CBI
headquarters here. Police pushed back the protesters who tried to remove
barricades and lay seige at the two gates of the CBI building. "I'm not
alone, the entire Hindustan is watching this and is supporting me. People of
all religions and brothers and sisters all are with me. You cannot continue
this attitude anymore," Nafees told the people who had gathered for the
demonstration on the eve of the court hearing. The protesters and the Delhi
Police personnel were involved in scuffles for over two hours after the
demonstration began at around 3 pm.At around 6pm, some of the protesters
squatted near the main entrance and stopped officials from exiting. They were
later removed by the police."No one was detained. Most protesters
dispersed by evening and only a few were left at the site," a senior
police official said. Addressing the protesters, Nafees accused the Delhi
Police personnel of harassing protesters and calling them
"Bangladeshis".Two of the protesters were taken to a nearby hospital
- one due to breathing issues and other for bleeding.A cousin of Najeeb, Sadaf
Musharraf said they would not disperse until they get a concrete response from
the CBI."We do not have any option other than doing this," Musharaff
said.outlookindia
My son will come back: Najeeb's mother
JNU’s Najeeb Falsely Linked to ISIS Using Fake
News Reports, Again
Following a protest call by former JNU
Students’ Union vice president Shehla Rashid at CBI headquarters in New Delhi
on Monday, 26 February, to highlight the police inaction in the Najeeb Ahmed
case, a discredited news story from 2017 linking Najeeb to ISIS is going viral,
again.In an attempt to mar the protests, some people are sharing a discredited
2017 report of The Times of India which said Najeeb could be an ISIS
sympathiser.The story, published on TOI’s front page on 21 March 2017, claimed
that Najeeb’s internet browsing history allegedly showed that he searched for
ISIS’ “ideology, execution and network” and also for “ways to join ISIS” and
similar queries.After a few journalists tried to verify the information, the
Delhi Police denied the allegations, and a petition demanding an unconditional
apology from the national daily had been brought up. The article was not
retracted and has now resurfaced again.Amid uproar, The Times of India was
compelled to publish a 75-word comment from the Delhi Police, denying access to
information on Najeeb’s search history.Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav retweeted
Jaswant Singh, a BJP member, who shared the link to the fake news report. He
later deleted the tweet and apologised for sharing the same.Senior journalist
Swapan Dasguptaa too retweeted Jaswant Singh’s tweet, but has now removed the
post.
Hounding of Islamic scholars’: PFI condemns
arrest of Peace International School head
Following the arrest of Peace International
School’s MM Akbar by Kochi police on Sunday, members of the PFI and it’s
political wing, the SDPI are airing their objections.In late 2017, a lookout
notice was issued by the police for Akbar, who headed the chain of 13 schools
which used textbooks with objectionable and communally sensitive
content.Defending Akbar, PFI Kerala President Naseerudin Elamaram alleged in
his Facebook post that there is a pattern of hounding Islamic preachers, who
make an effort to speak out against Hindu extremism.“The police have detained
MM Akbar, Islamic scholar and preacher in the Hyderabad airport. Akbar was on
his way to Doha from Australia and had a stopover in Hyderabad when the police
detained him. Police had registered a case with a non-bailable offence on the
Peace School issue and this is why Akbar’s passport was seized during
immigration.Just like how Zakir Naik was hounded, the agenda of hounding
Islamic scholars and preachers is clearly visible in this incident as well. It
is important for our society to be aware of hidden agenda to obliterate persons
and organizations who speak out against Hindu extremism.We hear that swift
legal intervention is happening in his case. However, we hope that Kerala
government will revoke the case against Akbar, who is truly innocent, stop his
arrest from happening. However, if the attempt is to continue anti-Islamic
campaign and hounding of Muslims, society we will come together as one and
protest,” the post read.Following the arrest, SDPI staged a protest in
Parappanangadi, Malappuram.thenewsminute
Nirav deposited Rs 900 mn in PNB hours before
note ban: NCP's Adv. Majeed Memon
Mumbai: NCP MP Majeed Memon has quoted a
report alleging that the accused celebrity jeweller, Nirav Modi had deposited
cash worth Rs 900 million at one of the branches of the scam-hit PNB, hours
before the announcement of demonetisation. "When Nirav Modi left India, at
that time it was reported that some hours prior to Prime Minister's
announcement of demonetisation in 2016, Nirav Modi deposited Rs 900 million of
cash in one branch of PNB, and he probably exchanged it for bullion or
something," Memon told ANI, and added, " I think that there should be
proper investigation to see if there is any element of truth to it."Memon
also took to Twitter to convey the same, and hinted on suspicion of connivance
between the accused and BJP-led government at the Centre, by adding, "What
does it suggest?"For the unversed, PNB detected a Rs 1.77 billion dollar
(Rs 11,400 crore) scam earlier this month, in which Nirav Modi acquired
fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit
from other Indian lenders.Mehul Choksi, Modi's uncle, is also being probed for
his involvement in the fraud. PNB lodged two financial fraud complaints of Rs
114 billion and Rs 2.8 billion against Nirav Modi, his family members and the
owner of Gitanjali Gems.ANI
Security concerns for India as China plans
military observatory in Maldives
New Delhi:In another security challenge for
Indian government, China is planning to establish a Joint Ocean Observation
Station in the Maldives. The Opposition in the Maldives is claiming that the
observatory will also have a military application.According to a report in the
Times of India, political sources state that the observatory will be located in
Makunudhoo and will allow the Chinese a vantage point of an important Indian
Ocean shipping route through which many merchant and ships pass. The
observatory will be alarmingly close to Indian waters.The report adds that
China and the Maldives finalized an official agreement called the Protocol on
Establishment of Joint Ocean Observation Station last year, around the time
they also signed the controversial Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Officials are
yet to check the specifics of the agreement before offering a comment.A leader
of the main opposition in the Maldives told TOI that the challenge for India
will be to ensure that this observatory does not turn out to be another
significant addition to Beijing’s alleged 'String of Pearls' encirclement of
India.Another concern for India is that this observatory is turning out to be
like the one China announced in the South China Sea, which is meant to send a
message out to the world of China’s control of the SCS waters. India, the US
and several other nations have been pressing for freedom of navigation in the
disputed South China Sea.TOI
China's ocean observatory in Maldives sparks
fresh security concerns
India extends diplomatic hand to Pakistan,
invites its commerce minister for key WTO talks in March
In a significant diplomatic development, India
has invited Pakistan's commerce minister Pervaiz Malik to participate in the
informal WTO ministerial meeting in New Delhi on 19-20 March. Malik has
reportedly confirmed his attendance for the event.According to a report in
the Indian Express, while Malik's
meeting with Union commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu is confirmed,
it is still not clear if he will also meet external affairs minister Sushma
Swaraj or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The invitation to Malik comes after last
December's secret back-channel negotiations between the two national security
advisors, Ajit Doval and Nasser Janjua, the report said.The meeting also holds
significance as the decision to participate in the SAARC summit, to be held in
Pakistan, comes up again for consideration by the Centre.firstpost
India reaches out, invites Pakistan Minister
for WTO talks in Delhi
UP Police Got Furquan Released From Jail, Shot
Him Dead In ‘Encounter’ Two Weeks Later
Lucknow: Ignoring snubs from the National
Human Rights Commission, the Uttar Pradesh government of Yogi Adityanath
continued allowing police encounters since BJP came to power in the state in
March 2017. In 10 months of its regime, the state police conducted 1038
encounters killing 32 alleged criminals, and the Yogi government has official
boasted of these killings. But families of many of the victims have come out
alleging that their dear ones were killed in staged shootouts.Eminent
investigative journalist Neha Dixit visited families of 14 of the people killed
in the alleged encounters. Furquan was one of them. In her long piece published
in The Wire, she penned chilling details about how Furquan and 13 others were
separately gunned down.Furquan, 40, showed up unexpectedly at his home in
Shamli on October 8, 2017, full seven years after he was arrested and put in
the Muzaffarnagar jail for his involvement in a village brawl. His sons, aged
12 and 10, could not recognise him because they were just 5 and 3 respectively
when he was sent to jail.“We did not have the money or a guarantor to get him
released so we were surprised that he was out,” says Nasreen, his wife. The
villagers informed her that a week back, the police came to the village to
negotiate a settlement with the complainants in Furquan’s case. That is how he
was released. Two weeks later, on
October 23, 2017, he was shot dead by the police in an ‘encounter’. caravandaily
I quit: Kashmiri student, who went missing
from AIIMS Bhubaneswar, left this note in hostel room
Bhubaneswar: A second-year student from Jammu
and Kashmir, studying at AIIMS in Bhubaneswar, has been missing for over a
fortnight.Suhail Aijaz, a resident of Kupwara district in the northern state
and pursuing MBBS at the institute since 2016, left his hostel on February 9
and has been missing since then.His father Aijaz Ahmad Kataria told Kashmiri
news agency that he last spoke to Suhail on February 6, when he had called to
ask for some money to be deposited in his account. He deposited the money and
didn’t hear from his son after that. He stated that the institute authorities
were the first ones to tell him that his son had gone missing.Local Kashmiri
media stated that the police recovered a note from his hostel room in AIIMS,
which contained the words: “I quit and please forgive me.” The note also said,
“I was happy with my friends.”The second-year student had informed the
authorities of the institute that he was going to Chandigarh with his friends
to attend a wedding ceremony there and would be back on February 17,
Commissioner of Police Y B Khurania said."He had been telling us since a
month he is going for his cousin's wedding and left on 9th February. He had
said he'll be back by 16th or 17th Feb. When he didn't come back, I called up
his home and got to know there's no wedding. He had three to four numbers but
all of those are switched off," his friend told ANI.Times Now
Kashmiri AIIMS Student Said He Was Off To A
Wedding, Missing For 2 Weeks
Bhagwat Urges Whole of India to Join RSS, Says
Hindus Responsible for Progress of Country
New Delhi: Just two weeks after Mohan Bhagwat
claimed that the RSS could assemble its cadres to fight much faster than the
Indian army could in a situation of war, the Sangh parivar chief offered more
gems on Sunday. He has now urged the whole of India to join his organisation.“Just
one organisation is not enough to complete the entire task. The whole of
(Indian) society should join the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There’s no other
option,” he said.Bhagwat further stated that Hindus need to unite since India
is their responsibility and if the country did not do well, Hindus would be
questioned. According to RSS leader, doing so is necessary for bringing a
collective change to the society, Telegraph reported.Speaking at the 25th
Rashtroday Samagam (Nation-Awakening Conclave) in Meerut in western Uttar
Pradesh, Bhagwat said: “All Hindus are one, say with pride we’re one. Hindus
must unite, this is our duty.” Further stressing that if the country remains
united, “we can cut through a lot of barriers,” the RSS chief added, “If we
don’t remain united, the whole world can take advantage of that.”The gathering
on Sunday was apparently the 93-year-old RSS’s biggest ever congregation.This,
however, is not the first time that Bhagwat has urged India’s Hindus to come
together. In mid-December, he asserted that the meaning of Hindutva is to unite
all communities, adding that anyone living in the country is automatically a
Hindu. “Muslims in India are also Hindus,” RSS chief had stated. Reiterating
this on Sunday, Bhagwat stated: “Whoever believes that ‘Bharat Mata’ is his
mother is an Indian and a Hindu.But some people don’t realise this.” According
to an Indian Express report, Sangh chief also claimed that hardline Hindutva
stands for commitment to truth and commitment to ahimsa (non-violence). “When
we become hardliners we will celebrate diversity more,” he said before
cautioning: “But the world has a rule that it listens to good things only when
there is a power standing behind them.”TheWire
'Even Hanuman Had to be Reminded of His Strength':
Bhagwat Makes 'Hindu Unity' Pitch
If BJP wins Meghalaya, Muslim houses will be
checked for 'meat': Ghulam Nabi Azad
Guwahati:Ruling Congress party is leaving no
stone unturned to defeat the anti-incumbency in the frontier state of Meghalaya
by launching a direct attack on PM Narendra Modi and accusing him of pursuing
the agenda of “Hindutva”.A day after releasing the manifesto of the party
committing at least one job to each family, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha
Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special
interest in North Eastern Region was aimed at strengthening RSS base in the
Christian dominated area.Azad, while addressing a public rally in the state,
said, “BJP is following same strategy in both----Kashmir and Northeastern
states. They want to propagate Hindutva in Meghalaya as well.”Pointing out that
BJP is anti-Christian, Azad said that they follow the dictate of their mentor
RSS which has the agenda of controlling the Christian states.Deccan Chronicle
Delhi chief secy ‘assault’: Delhi Police say
reports of CCTV footage tampering are incorrect
New Delhi:The Delhi Police on Monday denied as
“factually wrong and irresponsible” a report that the department told a local
court the CCTV footage from chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence
collected in connection with the alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu
Prakashwas tampered with.News agency ANI earlier reported additional deputy
commissioner of police (north) Harendra K Singh told the court that the time
stamp on the clip did not match the sequence of events during the meeting
between Prakash, Kejriwal and a few Aam Aadmi Party MLAs that took place in the
living room of the chief minister.“Today, the defence counsel while arguing for
the bail of the accused stated that police must prove that tampering has been
done. It was informed to the court that the site visit reveals discrepancies in
the timing. Only FSL will be able to tell if any tampering has been done,”
Singh said.HT
After Chief Secretary Assault Case, Kejriwal
Govt Mulls Live Streaming of Meetings With Babus
New Delhi: A week after Delhi Chief Secretary
Anshu Prakash alleged assault by 2 AAPMLAs at the Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal’s residence, the Delhi government is mulling a plan to broadcast live
stream all meetings with bureaucrats.According to a Delhi government source,
the move is aimed at creating greater transparency in the inner workings of the
government and a way for the Kejriwal-led outfit to avoid any further
allegations from bureaucrats. The meetings are likely to be live streamed on
the Delhi government site.A source added, “We are also considering a move to
put all files online so that people can know who has signed on the file, who
has not, who is the next person who has to sign the file etc. They will know
who has raised what objections to which move of their government.”The Delhi
state budget is expected in the month of March. If the Kejriwal cabinet
approves the decision to live stream meetings and live track the movement of
internal files, the budget is likely to provide a separate allocation for this
move. News 18
Centre’s failure to honour promises causing
unrest among people: Andhra Pradesh CM
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu
Naidu on Monday used the global investors’ summit platform to once again
express his displeasure over the Centre’s failure to fulfil its commitments
towards the southern state.Speaking at a special plenary session of the CII
Partnership Summit on the concluding day, Naidu said there was growing unrest
and impatience among the people with the Centre not honouring its commitments
made at the time of bifurcation of the state.“Ever since the combined state was
divided (to carve out Telangana), the residuary Andhra Pradesh had been facing
a lot of neglect from the Centre. Injustice was done to the state in all
aspects,” he said. “What they committed, they are not giving, causing unrest
among people.”HT
People who don’t say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ are
Pakistanis: BJP MLA
Days after declaring that India would become a
Hindu nation by 2024, UP BJP MLA Surendra Singh on Monday said those who desist
from saying “Bharat Mata ki Jai” are Pakistanis. At a function in Ratsad here
on Sunday evening, the legislator last evening also said that such people
should not be given the permission to enter politics.“Those who have
reservation in saying Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Matram are Pakistanis and
they have no right to live in the country,” the MLA from Bairia said.“People
who do not give the status of mother to their motherland, their patriotism is
doubtful... Those who have a problem in saying Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande
Mataram should not have the permission to do politics,” he said.PTI
In Delhi lecture, Jordan King to highlight
India's success in averting ISIS, al-Qaeda threats
NEW DELHI:India’s religious plurality and
success in fighting off the influence of Islamist terror groups such as
al-Qaeda and ISIS will be highlighted as Jordanian King Abdullah II delivers a
special address at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday. King Abdullah will land
in Delhi on Tuesday for a three-day visit, officials confirmed.Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who met with King Abdullah in Amman earlier this month, will
also attend the function on March 1, where the Jordanian King will speak on
“Islamic Heritage: promoting understanding and moderation,” to an audience that
includes academics and Islamic scholars, as well as representatives of all
denominations of the Muslim community.“[The King] has personally chosen to give
this address in Delhi, as Jordan has studied how India has been able to avoid
the threats from ISIS and other groups,” an official involved in the planning
of the visit said on Monday.King Abdullah, who is himself the 41st generation
descendent of Prophet Muhammad and the Custodian of the Holy Sites in
Jerusalem, has taken a leadership role in countering extremism and radicalisation
in the Arab world through what is known as the “Aqaba Process” initiative,
officials said.Although Jordan is home to about 2 million Palestinian refugees
and more than 660,000 refugees from Syria, it has remained peaceful compared to
the rest of the region and is seen as an “oasis of stability”, the officials
added.During the event, which officials said would be the “first of its kind”
for New Delhi, King Abdullah will also release an Urdu translation of his
cousin Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad’s book A thinking person’s guide to Islam,
which includes a chapter on jihad and the “Crisis of ISIS”, detailing how
countries like India have escaped jihadist influences due to the moderate, “or
Hanafi, non-Takfiri” form of Islam followed in the country.The Jordanian King
will be in New Delhi from February 27 to March 1, and will hold bilateral talks
with Mr. Modi on March 1, before the address. The hindu
Hyderabad: Historic Osman Shahi mosque fights
apathy, committee members fume
CHARMINAR: The historic Osman Shahi mosque,
located in the heart of bustling Afzalgunj area is crying for immediate
attention and restoration.The Masjid-e-Osman Shahi' committee members have
brought the issue to the notice of officials time and again, but no initiatives
were taken to begin renovation of the masjid.Taking strong exception against
the TSWB officials' apathy, committee members said that abutment by trees, and
the pathetic condition of the roofing and walls pose a serious threat to the
devotees."It is a Qutub Shahi era's mosque built almost 300 years ago. The
existing condition of structure poses a serious threat to devotees. Prior to
this, some portion of the masjid has collapsed, and in the same place a big
tree has grown up over time. It's roots have gone deep into the basement and
all along the walls causing further damage to the mosque. The dilapidated and
weak entrance of the masjid may fall anytime," said Masjid Committee
President Mohammed Abdul Raheem. Committee members said they approached the
Waqf board as well, but the board failed to heed their advice."Telangana
Waqf Board Chairman Mohammed Saleem appears to be active, but the oldest Masjid
is being neglected unfortunately," criticized the mosque committee
president.timesofindia
UP: Religious structures on metro, PWD land
likely to be shifted
Noida: The district administration has said it
would shift a decades-old Shani temple in Sector 63 within a month after the
NHAI sought its relocation for widening NH-24.According to officials, the land
on which the temple was built belongs to the PWD. In an order on Friday, the
Allahabad high court had directed immediate shifting of all religious
structures that were constructed on public land after Jan. 1, 2011, and
encroached on roads, pathways, lanes and side roads. On encroachments before
January 2011, the court directed that they be shifted from their present place
within six months.DM, district police chief and circle officers of police would
be held accountable for the encroachments on road after June 10, 2016, the
court had said.The administration has now asked the mahant handling the
temple’s administration to vacate the plot and identify another piece of land
for relocation.While district administration claimed it doesn’t know of any
religious structures coming up on public land after 2011, a mosque in Sector
76, which was built in 2011, has come under its radar. The Markaz Masjid was
built on a plot given to Barola village in the sector for a graveyard. The land
has now been allocated as parking space for upcoming Sector 78 metro
station.“Authority gave us this land in lieu of a plot in Sector 49 which was
acquired for a road. It was intended for a graveyard, but a masjid was built
because there was no one here,” said Azad, the caretaker.The mosque will have
to be shifted elsewhere as the metro parking has to come up on the area now.
“This matter has been going on for quite some time. Since the Noida Authority
owns the land in question, we will write to them asking them where the mosque
could be shifted,”Vineet said.TOI
Sridevi died due to accidental drowning, case
transferred to Dubai Public Prosecution
Bollywood’s actress Sridevi, died in a Dubai hotel on February
24. She suffered a cardiac arrest while she was taking a bath on Saturday
night, getting ready for a dinner with her husband Boney Kapoor. Sridevi was in
Dubai for her nephew Mohit Marwah’s wedding. She was joined by her younger
daughter Khushi and Boney. Her husband flew back to India after the wedding on
Wednesday and came back on Saturday to surprise his wife at the Emirates Towers
Hotel, where she was staying. According to a report in TOI, the two chatted for
15 minutes before she went into the bathroom. Boney knocked on the door after 15
minutes but broke it down upon not getting a response.Boney found Sridevi lying
unconscious in the bathtub. He called a friend for help and reported the death
to the police at 9pm. The report also said that while several media outlets are
reporting cardiac arrest as the cause of her death, there has been no
confirmation yet. However, Sanjay Kapoor, Sridevi’s actor brother-in-law, told
Dubai’s Khaleej Times, “We are completely shocked. She had no history of a
heart attack.” An autopsy was conducted on late Sunday night and a chartered
flight has flown to Dubai to bring her body back to India.Forensic reports
reveal Sridevi died due to accidental drowning, as per a report in Gulf News.HT
WORLD
Report: Is Russia preparing Assad’s successor
in Syria?
Germany’s Spiegel magazine recently published
a lengthy report in which it speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin
might be preparing Syrian regime General Suheil Al-Hassan to replace current
President Bashar Al-Assad in a future compromise.Published last week, the
report said Al-Hassan is well known among regime supporters and is feared among
his opponents.According to the magazine, the Russian army, which began its
military operations in Syria in September 2015, worked side by side with Al-Hassan
while Russia has awarded him several medals most recently in August 2017 in
recognition of his combat achievements.Spiegel said Al-Assad, who is willing
assassinate anyone that might jeopardise him or his leadership, would not
hesitate to assassinate Al-Hassan if he threatens his rule. middleeastmonitor
'Hell on Earth' in Eastern Ghouta must stop:
UN chief
Ongoing attacks by Syrian government forces
and their allies has created "hell on Earth" for civilians stuck in a
rebel-held Damascus suburb, the UN's chief said on Monday, as air strikes and
ground operations continued despite a days-old ceasefire.Russia's President
Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, ordered a "humanitarian pause" from
9am-2pm local time on Tuesday to allow civilians to evacuate Eastern
Ghouta. The bombardment of rebel-held
enclave over the past week has been one of the heaviest of Syria’s seven-year
war, killing more than 550 people in 8 days, according to a toll compiled by
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.Rebel shelling
has caused 36 deaths and a number of injuries in Damascus and nearby rural
areas in the last four days, Zaher Hajjo, a government health official, told
Reuters news agency.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called
for an immediate implementation of Saturday's Security Council resolution for a
30-day ceasefire in Syria.Syria's Civil Defence rescue team, also known as the
White Helmets, said on Sunday at least one child died as a result of
suffocation.According to the Syrian opposition's health officials, victims were
showing symptoms "consistent with exposure to toxic chlorine gas".
Observatory: US-led coalition kills 25 in
Syria, mostly women and children
A US airstrike in the Syria has killed 25
civilians, over half of whom were women and children, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights revealed today.The attack took place on Friday, south of the
country’s eastern province of Deir Ez-Zor, in the settlement of Dahra Alouni
close to Al-Shaafa region. The strike allegedly hit a school in the town which
was housing displaced civilians. Dozens were injured as the four houses next to
the school were also destroyed by the impact.When asked about the report,
coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said: “We take all allegations
seriously and as we always do, we will put it into our civilian casualty
assessment and we will publish the results of those on a monthly basis.”This
was the second attack committed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in a
week, after at least 15 people were injured last Monday in the town of
Al-Bahrah. Last month, three women were also killed after a hospital in Hajin
city was struck.The SDF, made primarily of Kurdish forces, has been battling
Daesh forces in Deir Ez-Zor since late 2014 when the group had held most of the
province, except for one large pocket where Syrian regime troops and 93,000
civilians had been fighting for three years.Despite being driven out of large
parts of the province, Daesh militants still control pockets of the area with
many of its fighters being deployed on the eastern side.
Iraq sentences 15 Turkish women to death for
joining IS
The Iraqi Criminal Court yesterday sentenced
15 Turkish women to death for belonging to Daesh.“The verdict came after the
defendants confessed to belonging to the Islamic State [Daesh],” AFP quoted a
judicial source as saying.The source added that another Turkish woman was
sentenced to life imprisonment.Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Criminal Court in
Baghdad said in a statement last week that the court had sentenced a Turkish
woman to death by hanging on charges of joining Daesh, noting that ten other
women of different nationalities were sentenced to life imprisonment.Earlier
this month, the Iraqi authorities announced the extradition of one of Daesh’s
most prominent leaders after he was arrested in Turkey in a joint operation
between Iraqi, Turkish and American intelligence services.middleeastmonitor
Yemen: 3 days of air strikes on
Houthi-controlled Hudaydah
The Saudi-led coalition has carried out a
three-day intensive air strike campaign in Hudaydah which came to an end
yesterday, Al Jazeera reported.Dozens of Houthi fighters have been killed in
the strikes, while thousands of civilians have been displaced.The Houthis have
claimed on open source networks that the Saudi-led coalition is either bombing
Hudaydah or continuing its blockade. But Saudi Arabia reportedly lifted the
air, land and sea blockade on Yemen back in November last year.The former UN
Envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh, successfully prevented Saudi Arabia from
executing a deadly assault on Hudaydah, which is the only life-line left for
civilians in Yemen. Despite this momentum by the UN, it appears Saudi Arabia is
continuing its strikes on the port at a steady pace.
Over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza died from
Israeli blockade
The Gaza Strip's collective of charitable
organisations said more than 1,000 Palestinians have died as a result of the
ongoing Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave. The coordinator of the
organisations, Ahmad al-Kurd, also said on Sunday that five premature babies
born in the past few days died because of a lack of available medical
treatment."Out of the 1,000 or so victims of the blockade, 450 died as a
result of the collapse of the health situation in Gaza, such as the lack of
medical supplies and the crisis of medical referrals for outside
treatment."aljazeera
Jordan and Palestine support Israeli
Christians’ Church closure
Israeli Christian leaders have received
expression of support from Jordanian and Palestinian governments for shutting
the doors of a historical Holy Sepulchre church in East Jerusalem in protest of
“discriminatory” Israeli policies.Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox
leaders in Jerusalem had suddenly closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
indefinitely on Sunday. The Christians claim that there is a “systematic
campaign of abuse” directed at the community.The Church leaders said in a
statement that “These actions breach existing agreements and international
obligations, which guarantee the rights and privileges of the Churches, in what
seems as an attempt to weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem.”Holy
Sepulchre Church, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, is believed to be the
site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial attracts millions of pilgrims every
year.Jordan and Palestine support Israeli Christians’ Church closureJordanian
government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani expressed his country’s “full
solidarity” with the churches in Jerusalem. Under a 2013 agreement signed
between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, King Abdullah II is the custodian
of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.apnlive
'Wake up' and stop Rohingya abuses: Nobel
laureates to Suu Kyi
Cox's Bazar: 3 Nobel Peace Prize winners on
Monday urged fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to speak out about violence
against the Rohingya minority, warning she otherwise risks prosecution for
"genocide". The trio - Tawakkol Karman, Shirin Ebadi and Mairead
Maguire - implored the embattled Myanmar leader to "wake up" to the
atrocities after visiting squalid camps in Bangladesh home to nearly one
million Rohingya refugees."This is clearly, clearly, clearly genocide that
is going on by the Burmese government and military against the Rohingya people,"
Maguire said Monday, using another name for Myanmar. "We refuse this
genocide policy of the Burmese government. They will be taken to ICC
(International Criminal Court) and those who are committing genocide will be
held responsible." The UN has described the systematic violence by Myanmar
against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state as possible genocide and ethnic
cleansing, but has stopped short of outright accusing the army of war
crimes.AFP
Bangladesh court extends bail for Khaleda Zia
until March 13 in corruption case
Dhaka: A court in Bangladesh on Monday
extended the bail of imprisoned ex-prime minister and main opposition BNP chief
Khaleda Zia until March 13 in a graft case, a day after the High Court deferred
the judgement on a separate bail plea in a corruption case, media reports
said.The 72-year-old three-time former prime minister was jailed for five years
on February 8 in connection with the embezzlement of 21 million taka (about USD
250,000) in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, named after
her late husband Ziaur Rahman, a military ruler-turned-politician.PTI
FLASH: VIEWS & NEWS
Banking mess just got worse under NDA:SUBIR
ROY
How an Indian bank’s $1.8 billion fraud went
unnoticed:Reuters
Year One of Adityanath Rule: Joblessness,
Communal Violence and Dying Children:RAJAN PANDEY
Shocking: RSS book claims that Christianity is
a sect of Hinduism and Christ was a Vishwakarma Brahmin by birth
Who is Tariq Ramadan and why is he denied
basic human rights by the most enlightened European nation?Tazeen Hasan,
Freelance Journalist, human rights Activist
What Explains Mob Lynchings Becoming the New
Normal in India:ABDUL KALAM AZAD
Market Cap of India’s Public Banks Have
Plunged Since 2014, Raising Questions About Reform Measures:Noor Mohammad
Farmers Protest in Gujarat as Govt Starts
Taking Possession of Land Acquired in 1997:Damayantee Dhar
To Malign Missing JNU Student Najeeb, BJP and
Fellow Travellers Try, Try Again:ARJUN SIDHARTH
Lawmakers with perks: The long list of
exemptions has made the office of profit a farce:S Y Quraishi
Ghar Wapsi for Prashant Kishor?SEEMA MUSTAFA
and VENKATESH KESARI
Gauri Lankesh, Najeeb Ahmed, Kalburgi,
Pansare…….THE CITIZEN EDITORIAL
Amnesty attacks Modi govt for doing ‘little’ to
stem rising Islamophobia in India Amnesty attacks Modi govt for doing ‘little’
to stem rising Islamophobia in India:Ashutosh Sharma
BJP a square peg of sectarianism in the round
hole of India’s pluralism: IANS/AMULYA GANGULI
Assam influx: General Bipin Rawat's
'ill-timed' remarks inappropriate, could compound NRC process further:India
Ranjit Borthakur
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Anwarulhaq (Released at: 8:56 PM)
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