NEWS
DIGEST, MID-DAY
23 June 2018:08 Shawwal 1439: Vol:10, No:49
INDIA
Assam’s National Register of Citizens may discriminate against Bengali
Muslims: warn UN officials
In a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, four US
special rapporteurs have taken note of the “increased anxieties and concerns
among the Bengali Muslim minority of Assam” generated by National Register of
Citizens, currently being updated in the state. The letter, goes on to say that
“concerns have been raised that local authorities in Assam, which are deemed to
be particularly hostile towards Muslims and people of Bengali descent, may
manipulate the verification system in an attempt to exclude many genuine Indian
citizens from the update NRC”.4 special rapporteurs work under the Office of
the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.Their mandates are to look into minority
issues, contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance, promotion and protection of the right to freedom of
opinion and expression and freedom of religion or belief, respectively.The
communication, published online, seeks a reply from the external affairs
ministry within 60 days. It raises a number of concerns around the process of
updating the register, an exercise monitored by the Supreme Court and being
undertaken for the first time since 1951, when Assam had seen a massive
population exchange post-Partition. The complete draft of the register was to
be published on June 30, though this has now been delayed because of the floods
in Assam. There is no deadline yet for the publication of the final NRC. The
massive bureaucratic exercise is aimed at identifying the Indian citizens
living in Assam, the letter notes. It then points to silences in the Govt policy
on those who do not make this category.“There is no official policy outlining
the implications for those for those who will be excluded from the final NRC,”
it said. “It is reported that they will be treated as foreigners and their
citizenship rights may be revoked in the absence of a prior trial.” Such
persons would then have to prove citizenship before a Foreigners’ Tribunal in
the state. This procedure, the letter concludes, would lead to “wrongful
exclusion of close 3 million names” without investigation and trial.Letter asks
Swaraj to provide assurances that the updating process is in line with India’s
obligations under international human rights law, details of safeguards taken
against discrimination, data breaking down the race, religion and ethnicity of
those excluded from the register and information about what would happen to
those excluded. It also asks why Bengali Muslims are excluded from the
citizenship bill. Scroll.in
Adhere to human rights norms in National
Register of Citizens in Assam: UN to
India
NRC: Bangladeshi Hindus, Muslims Staying
Illegally In Assam Post-1971 Will Have To Go:Abdul Gani, outlook
Siblings of ‘declared foreigners’ won’t be in Assam NRC: HC
What the ruling means is that the names of those siblings and family
members (of ‘declared foreigners’) who have been referred to the foreigners
tribunals in the state to ascertain if they are genuine Indian citizens will
not be included in the updated NRC.A 2-judge bench of the Gauhati high court on
Friday dismissed a writ petition challenging the validity of a May 2 directive
by NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela, that the names of siblings and family
members of declared foreigners be kept on hold and not included in the NRC till
the cases are decided by the foreigners tribunals.The May 2 order, which
followed a Gauhati High Court order of May 2, 2017, had caused considerable
anxiety among people, even leading to speculation that a large number of them
may be left out of the NRC.However, Hajela, in a May 25 directive, clarified
that only those individuals (siblings and family members of declared
foreigners) will be kept on hold after receipt of information from the border
police that reference has already been made to the foreigners tribunal.Official
estimates say about 90,000 individuals have been declared foreigners over the
years. However, a sizeable number have since gone missing. “Although our
petition has been dismissed, we are happy that the government and the NRC
authorities clarified on the May 25 directive. The May 2 directive could have
been misused and there were all kinds of rumours,” said Shamsul Alam Hussain,
the lawyer of petitioner Azizul Haque.HT
Not 1 but 11 banks ‘linked to Amit Shah’, BJP
accepted Rs 3,118 crore worth demonetised notes after note ban: Congress
Congress has launched a blistering attack on
Amit Shah while alleging that as many as 11 banks linked to the BJP and its
president accepted whopping Rs 3,118 crore worth demonetised nlotes immediately
after note ban announcement by PM Narendra Modi on 8 Nov, 2016.Congress party’s
communications in-charge, Randeep Surjewala, said that while people suffered in
queues, scamsters converted black money to white. He alleged that in 11
district cooperative banks in Gujarat headed by BJP leaders, as much as Rs
3,118 crore worth of old notes were deposited within the five days after demonetisation.
He told reporters, “PM choreographed the Demonetisation, leaving out window for
black money hoarders to benefit. Nineteen months post Modi Made Disaster of
Demonetisation, it is now officially clear that this entire exercise was the
biggest scam in Independent India, indulged to convert its ill-gotten Black
Money into White.”“It is time for PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to
answer. Will PM Modi hold a probe
against Amit Shah, his party MPs and ministers?” he asked.A beaming Surjewala
added, “We expect the PM will himself
come forward and give answers on the charges against Amit Shah, whom he has
appointed. There should be an independent time-bound probe into this entire
scam.”Congress’ argument was that since Shah managed the party’s affairs
nationally, he had the direct role in the abnormal deposit of demonetised notes
in banks linked to him and other key BJP functionaries. Rahul Gandhi too
tweeted using a disparaging hashtag #ShahZyadaKhaGaya(Amit Shah has eaten too
much),“Congratulations Amit Shah ji, Director, Ahmedabad Dist. Cooperative
Bank, on your bank winning 1st prize in the conversion of old notes to new
race. 750 Cr in 5 days! Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by
Demonetisation, salute your achievement.”jantakareporter
Draw a line or face the fate of Shujaat Bukhari: BJP leader Lal Singh
warns Kashmiri journalists
New Delhi:Senior BJP leader Lal Singh, who was accused of supporting
the Katha gangrape and murder case accused, on Saturday stoked controversy
after asking Kashmiri journalists to draw a line and “take care” of themselves
if they do not want to meet the fate of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat
Bukhari.The former minister’s remarks came days after the death of Bukhari who
was shot dead by militants. He was immediately condemned for his remarks by NC
as the party said the remarks merited “immediate cognisance” by state
police.Singh has accused the scribes in the Valley of creating “an erroneous
atmosphere” and warned them against crossing the line. “Kashmiri journalists
have created an erroneous atmosphere and I would like to ask them to draw a
line…You want to live like what happened to Basharat (Shujaat Bukhari)…Take
care of yourselves and draw a line so that the brotherhood is not broken and it
is maintained so that progress and development is ensured,” Singh told
reporters in Jammu on Friday. BJP leader was in news recently in connection
with the Kathua rape-and-murder case. He has started a campaign for a CBI probe
into the case after resigning from the previous PDP-led government in April. He
has been highly critical of the media over past few months, especially
Kashmir-based journalists, for creating a “wrong perception” about the January
incident, a PTI report said. Meanwhile, leader was severely criticised by NC,
which termed his remarks as “outrageous”. indianexpress
Kashmir’s BJP MLA issues chilling threats to
journalists: 'Behave or meet same fate as that of Shujaat Bukhari'
BJP MLA Choudhary Lal threatens Kashmiri
journalists
After gunning down is J&K chief, these are
20 top militants on army’s radar
4 militants reportedly affiliated to the
Islamic State J&K (ISJK) and a policeman were killed on Friday during an
encounter in Anantnag district of J&K.
Among those killed in the encounter was Dawood Sofi, resident of HMT,
Srinagar. As per the army, Sofi, an A++ category militant, was the chief of
ISJK and had joined militancy in August 2016. With one down, the list of top
militants on Army radar has come down to 20. News18
Gorakhpur terror funding mastermind Ramesh
began life as vegetable seller: Family
Gorakhpur: Terror funding kingpin Ramesh Shah,
who was arrested in Pune by an UP police
team on Wednesday, once sold vegetables for a living.Ramesh Shah (28), picked
up by UP's ATS in a joint operation with Maharashtra Police, entered the
property business and then went on to open a large grocery store here called
Satyam Mart, his family members said.He has now been brought to Lucknow on
transit remand and produced before a court, which sent him to police custody
for seven days.Shah's father Harishankar started selling vegetables under the
Charphatak overbridge in Mohaddipur area, and Ramesh Shah joined him in the
trade when he grew up.A year ago, when Shah launched Satyam Mart on Medical
Road his family believed he had used his savings from the property business.But
police have charged that he was involved in passing lakhs of rupees sent by
Pakistani handlers to terrorists, and this had brought in the money.PTI
Hapur Lynchings: Narratives of Victims'
Families Suggest Pre-Planning
New Delhi: 3 days after the 45-year-old cattle
trader, Qasim, was lynched to death and the 65-year-old farmer Samiuddin was
brutally beaten by a mob in Hapur, UP , the members of their families narrated
the sequence of the events that led to the mob attack, strengthening the
widespread perception that the violence may have been pre-planned. Their
versions also indicated that the Hapur police may have deliberately misled the
family members to sign on FIR that claimed the attack on Qasim and Samiuddin
was a case of road rage.Samiuddin, who was working on his farm, tried to
intervene and stop the violence but the mob did not spare him too. Currently,
he is the ICU of a hospital in Hapur. Videos of the violence have gone viral on
social media. The videos clearly shows that the attack was carried out as part
of the infamous cow protection campaign run by the Hindu Right.As Qasim was
attacked, several minor boys, who formed the mob, kept abusing him for being a
Muslim and indulging in cattle slaughter. But FIR, which was lodged later, and
bore the signature of one of Samiuddin’s brothers as the complainant and one of
Qasim’s brothers as a witness, made the case as one of road rage.The
discrepancy in the FIR was highlighted by many speakers at a press conference,
organised by a civil society group, United Against Hate, in New Delhi. “My
brother was a cattle trader. He used to buy cattle from different villages and
then sold it in weekly cattle markets in the area. He got a call from someone
about one such possible purchase at around 11:30 am. He rushed to buy it with
around Rs50,000,” Qasim’s brother, Nadeem, said. “Then, our family was informed
by the police at around 3:30 that my brother was admitted in a hospital as
there was a fight between him and some people. The police asked us to come to
the police station. They kept us waiting until 6:30 pm before we were told that
Qasim was admitted in Nandini Hospital,” he added. He further said his family
could only see Qasim’s dead body at the hospital and that only Rs 14,000 was
found in his pocket when he saw his dead body at the hospital.Similarly,
Samiuddin’s brother, Mehruddin, too said, “My brother had gone to our farm to
collect fodder for our cattle. When he saw a mob of around four-five boys
beating up one person, he tried to intervene, but got brutally attacked as
around 35-40 men had gathered by then. We were informed by the police at around
3:30 pm that he has been admitted to the hospital but were not allowed to meet
him until 6:30 pm despite our constant requests. There is no part of his body
which is not injured. He has multiple fractures and deep bruises.”It is between
3:30 pm and 6:30 pm, Nadeem Khan of United Against Hate said, that the police
insisted Samiuddin’s family to sign on FIR that was already written by someone.
“Only after signing on FIR, were they told about the whereabouts of the two.
When they reached, Qasim was already dead and Samiuddin injured.This was
confirmed by family members of Qasim and Samiuddin but they added the police
has told them that they would follow up the case rigorously.“Exactly like
Dadri, some people decided at a temple that a cattle smuggler had come to the
village and went in a group to attack Qasim who was visiting the village to buy
cattle. The way the events unfolded make the lynching appear as a pre-planned attack,”
Salim Engineer, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, who visited
Hapur.Responding to such adverse circumstances of both the family to secure
justice, eminent lawyer Colin Gonsalves said, “FIR is really weak. We must
ensure a plan of action, given all the institutions have acted in a partisan
manner. One, we should get the investigation transferred outside UP as it
happened in Mirchpur killings. 2, families should get a separate FIR registered
in Delhi high court. The law has these provisions. Since such incidents are on
the rise, there needs to be a concerted effort to ensure justice.” Apoorvanand,
a Delhi University professor, said, “Today is the first anniversary of
Md.Junaid murder. (Junaid was killed in a train before Eid in a similar incident.)
In that case, too, it was being said that it was not a communal murder and that
a small fight for a train seat escalated into a bigger one. Here, too, it is
being said that the lynching was a case of road rage.”In the last week, 4 such
communal lynching incidents – 3 in Jharkhand and one in Hapur – have rocked the
country.The Wire
Hapur: Samiuddin assault video punctures ‘road
rage’ story of police
Hapur lynching: victim families address
national media, demand justice
‘Vigilante’ defender VHP confident that PM
won’t condemn recent mob lynchings
PM Narendra Modi won’t condemn the recent mob lynching
of cattle trader Qasim Qureshi in UP ’s Hapur district, predicted a confident
VHP, one of the core backers of the BJP-led Govt , on Saturday, ahead of the
governing council meeting of the Hindutva outfit in New Delhi starting on
Sunda.“We are aware that the PM has
condemned lynchings by gau-rakshaks in the past. Did he ever do it again? No,
he didn’t,” said VHP’s general secretary Milind Parande at a press conference,
going on to add that the VHP’s leadership is expecting the Govt to form a cow protection ministry in the
lead-up to the general elections in 2019. VHP had reacted sharply to PM Modi’s
remarks billing a killer mob as “fake gaurakshaks” in 2016. At the time, VHP
had said that Modi would “pay the price for his words” in 2019 elections.2
different videos of the Hapur incident show cops from UP Police escorting a
village mob who are seen carrying a brutalised cattle trader, Qasim. Following
the surfacing of the videos, UP Police was forced to tender an apology for
their inaction, even as PM Modi and the Govt gets panned for their studied silence and
inability to curb surging hate crimes.nationalheraldindia
Hindus Take Up Farming While Muslims Bank on
Industrial Jobs, Reveals Census Data
New Delhi:Employment choices for India’s
religious communities vary. While Hindus are engaged in agriculture, Muslims
tend to veer towards industrial jobs.According to 2011 Census data released by
the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, 45.40% main workers
engaged in agricultural activities in the country are Hindus.Muslims, on the
other hand, are more likely to take up jobs in the non-agricultural sector,
with 60 % of those employed engaged in
industrial jobs. Census describes main workers as those who are employed for
most parts of the year. For all calculations in the story, figures relating to
main workers will be used. Employed individuals include main and marginal
workers. Further bifurcation shows that most working Hindus in India,
approximately 28 % , are cultivators.Census defines cultivators as those
engaged in cultivation of self-owned land or held from Govt or private entities for payment in money, kind
or share. The manufacturing sector tops the charts when it comes to Muslims.
However,community is ranked the lowest in terms of literacy, which means it may
not be privy to privileged jobs. Census data reveals that Muslims have highest
percentage of illiterates aged beyond 7 years at 42.72 % as compared to 36.40% among Hindus.But lack of
education is not the reason behind the difference in career choice.“Muslim
population is dense in north India. Most of them are artisans. They do jobs
such as weaving, pottery, that of blacksmiths, carpenters, handloom — things
that are involved in manufacturing at a smaller level. It is important to
understand that most Muslims are not agriculturists,”said PS Krishnan, former
Secretary to govt of India and former Member-Secretary, National Commission for
Backward Classes.Experts opine that disproportionate land holdings lead to
Muslims opting for manufacturing jobs.The land-holding numbers are further
skewed in urban areas. Analysis based on National Sample Survey data shows that
household ownership of land across the country, when compared to all religions
in India, is lowest among Muslims.Muslim community has also registered a
moderate 0.8 % growth to touch 17.22
crore in the 10-year period between 2001 and 2011, up from 13.8 crore, while
Hindu population showed a decline by 0.7 % at 96.63 crore during period,
according to Census data on religion.News18
Muslims missing from voters’ list in 2
Telangana Assembly segments
Hyderabad:2 Assembly constituencies in
Telangana indicate an alarming number of Muslims missing from voters’ list.
According to a preliminary random survey carried out by an NGO, about 49.3%
Muslims are missing from the voters’ list in Armur segment in Nizamabad
district and 43.6% in Siddipet, Medak district.Dr Amir Ullah Khan, a renowned
researcher in development economics, said that to get to the bottom of the
problem related to missing voters, a state-wide survey has to be carried out. It
can be done with the support of Election Commission,state Govt and voluntary
organisations.“It appears that in almost all states, the numbers of missing
Muslim and other voters are huge.This is particularly significant in case of
Muslim voters.This is a different kind of disenfranchisement that can be
corrected to a large extent if EC and NGOs work together,” he said.Khan along
with Abusaleh Shariff, secretary of now-dissolved Sachar committee, Gautam
Pingle, dean of research at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad,
and Khalid Saifullah, a research associate, held a meeting with a host of
social workers and NGOs in the city two days ago to discuss the possibility of
carrying out a nationwide survey to correct the electoral list. The estimated
cost of this survey could be about Rs 80 lakh. Khan
said a similar exercise was carried out in Karnataka by Delhi-based Centre For
Research And Debates in Development Policy(CRDDP),headed by Shariff, a couple
of months before the elections in May. As a result, the Centre was able to get
about 12 lakh new voters registered, of which about 7 lakh were Muslims. Group
received support from 2 ex-CECs Navin Chawla and SY Qureshi. Saifullah said
that CRDDP had modified its research model following its experiences in
Karnataka.“We are ready for any fresh task,”he said.Khan said that pattern of
missing voters is similar in Telangana, AP,Kerala, Rajasthan and Bihar.TOI
Hugging strangers of opposite gender forbidden
in Islam, says UP imam; girl who hugged youths on eve of Eid, apologizes
Moradabad:District imam has pronounced as
“illegal and un-Islamic” the act an unidentified girl hugging youths outside a
shopping mall in Moradabad on the eve of Eid. A video of the girl hugging
youths was widely shared on social networking sites. The girl hugged almost 50
youths who waited in a queue for their turn.Traditionally, in Muslim society,
women and girls are not permitted to hug or make any physical contact with male
strangers, regardless of whether it is a festive occasion or not.After facing
flak for her act, the girl who had uploaded the video on YouTube apologized
through social media. Cleric also criticized the youths who hugged the girl and
said they too violated Sharia laws.District imam Maualna Mufti Mohammed Ashrafi
said, “I have spoken with the girl and convinced her that hugging the boys is
un-Islamic and against the Shariat. She had committed this act in innocence and
the same law applies for the boys who committed this un-Islamic Act."She
is like my daughter and I have told her that under the Islamic law, you can
only hug people who are ‘mahram’ to you (category of people with whom marriage
is not permissible for example father, brother etc) and your spouse of course,”
said Ashrafi.The youth who hugged the girl should also perform repentance and
never repeat it, said Ashrafi. TOI
Viral Photo of Madrasa Teacher Showing Islam
as ‘Superior’ Is Fake
"These pigs teach this in the madrasas
..Then they say Hindus don’t keep the brotherhood Hinduism - 0 and Islam -
3." This message was posted in a public group named WE SUPPORT NARENDRA
MODI, which has more than 28 lakh members. It shows a madrasa teacher claiming
Islam to be a superior religion than Hinduism.The image has been shared on many
other public groups on Facebook like एक करोड़ हिंदुओं का ग्रुप (एड होते ही 150 हिंदुओ को एड करो) जय श्री राम with more than 500,000 members, I Am Proud Indian with
over 11 lakh members and अगर आप राजपूत हैं तो Join कीजिये ये ग्रुप,देखते हैं FB पर कितने राजपूत है which has more than 18 lakh members. Moreover, it was
widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with different text but the same
context.A tweet by a user Pooja Goswami (@PoojaGoswami_01) has been retweeted
and ‘liked’ more than 650 times. The account is followed by more than 60,000
followers. Controversial journalist Jagrati Shukla has also retweeted the tweet
from Pooja Goswami.Alt News did a reverse image search and found that the image
was from a report of 10 April, 2018.This a photograph of a Madrasa named Darul
Uloom Husseini in Gorakhpur. Many news organisations had reported the story and
carried the photograph, out of which an article from Outlook
reported:"This Madrasa has become a center for modern education, where
along with Arabic and English, Sanskrit is also taught (translated from
Hindi)”. It further states, “The specialty of this Madrasa is that Sanskrit is
being taught by a Muslim teacher. Probably, this is first time ever that
Sanskrit is also being taught in Madrasa.”thequint
AMU refutes allegation of religious
discrimination by LLM candidate
Aligarh: AMU has strongly refuted allegation
that Satyaveer Singh, a candidate seeking admission to LLM course, was denied
admit card to appear in the LLM admission test on religious grounds. According
to Mujib Ullah Zuberi, Controller of Examination, the allegation is
“baseless and unfounded” because the concerned candidate, along with 15 other
candidates, was declared ineligible as they did not fulfill the eligibility
criteria of 55 % in qualifying examination, that is LL.B. According to Prof
Javaid Talib, Chairperson, Department of Law, AMU, the candidate in question,
alleging disparity, has obtained 51.64 % marks in LL.B. examination of Dr Bhim
Rao Ambedkar University, Agra. He also added that 15 other candidates were
declared ineligible to appear in the entrance test. The list of these
candidates was uploaded on the website of Department of Law on June 21, 2018,
and they did not need to come to the department for admit card.TCN
Police deployed in Haryana village after
graveyard wall toppled by villagers, suspecting msoque being built inside
Chandigarh:The police have been deployed in
village Patla of Sonipat district after the villagers toppled an
under-construction shed and a wall being constructed around a graveyard on
Tuesday evening “suspecting that a mosque was being built there”. The local
police visited village on Thursday and assured the Muslim community members
about their safety.A panchayat department official said that BJP MP from
Sonipat, Ramesh Kaushik, had sanctioned Rs 10.53 lakh from his Local Area
Development fund for construction of a shed and wall around the graveyard land.
Both works were nearing completion. According to the official, the land, which
is little more than one acre, belongs to Wakf Board.Village sarpanch’s husband
Anil Kumar said villagers suspected that a mosque was being built in the
graveyard land premises. However, Noor Deen, a resident, said the suspicion was
baseless as there were only about 15 Muslim families in the village. “We have
already mosques in the neighbouring villages and there were no plans for any
mosque in the village,” he said. Village, with a population of about 5000, is
dominated by Rajputs.According to Noor Deen (58), over 100 youths went to
topple the graveyard wall at 7pm on Tuesday.“They were carrying iron implements
to topple the wall,”he said.However, Anil Kumar said they had called a
panchayat meet on Wednesday in which the representatives from 4-5 villages
participated.“Villagers made it clear that they (Muslims) can construct the
wall and a hand pump, but not the mosque,” said Kumar.Noor Deen said, “We had
plans to lodge a police complaint today. But the police advised us not to lodge
the complaint, saying it would only be lodged by a junior engineer.”indianexpress
Just 1 doctor to treat 11,000 patients: The scary
truth of India’s govt healthcare:theprint
New Delhi: India requires over 10 times more
allopathic doctors to meet WHO prescribed norms for doctor-population ratio,
reveals data released by central Govt, with the country needing at least 5 lakh
more Govt doctors to bridge the
disparity.As per data released by the Health Ministry, under the National
Health Profile, on June 19, there is one Govt allopathic doctor per 11,082 population, one Govt
hospital bed per 1,844 population and
one state-run hospital for every 55,591 population.The report also says that
India has a little over 10 lakh allopathy doctors to treat its 1.3 billion
people. This works out to a doctor to population ratio of 1:11,082;WHO
prescribes a ratio of 1:1,000.The doctor density is far worse in the country’s
poorer states.For instance, in Bihar, there is one Govt allopathic doctor per 28,391 population, down
from 2013, when there was one Govt allopathic doctor per 20,207 population in
the state.While WHO norms do not specify if it should include private and Govt doctors, they are used as a benchmark to
measure the availability of a doctor per 1,000 population.Ministry data is only
for Govt doctors.theprint
Maharashtra Govt to approach Supreme Court
against Bombay HC order on minority college quota
Mumbai: Maharashtra Govt will approach the Supreme Court against a
Bombay High Court order to quash quota for students belonging to backward
communities in minority degree colleges, state ministers Vinod Tawde and
Rajkumar Badole have said.According to a circular the Mumbai University had
issued over a decade-and-half ago, minority colleges were required to reserve
seats for students belonging to OBC and SC and ST communities apart from the 50
% reserved for students from minority
communities.The Bombay High Court had scrapped this circular in November last
year.PTI
Bleak future staring Uttarakhand Madarsa Parishad
students due to lack of equivalency :daily pioneer
Dehradun: In absence of the required recognition,
a dark future seems lying ahead of the students who cleared the Munshi, Maulvi,
Aalim, Kalim and Fazil exams of Uttarakhand Madarsa Shiksha Parishad.There are
over 20000 Muslim students in different parts of State who have passed
different exams of the Madarsa Parishad over the past 6 years. A proposal to
give equivalency of Munshi, Maulvi and Aalim exam of Madarsa Parishad to High
School and Intermediate examinations of Uttarakhand board,CBSE and ICSE was
passed by Ramnagar- based Uttarakhand Vidhyalayi Shiksha Parishad (UVSP) in
year 2005 and subsequently sent to the State Govt. The proposal has been
gathering dust amidst the piles of files kept in the state secretariat since
then.If the State Govt gives its
clearance to proposal of Uttarakhand board Munshi(Persian) and Maulvi (Arabic)
certificate holders of Madarsa Parishad would have been considered equivalent
to High School exam while Aalim certificate holders would have become
equivalent to the certificate holders of intermediate examination.Member of
Madarsa Parishad, Dr Iqbal accepted that in
the absence of equivalency, the students passing the exam of the Madarsa
Parishad face problems to get jobs. It is learnt that theses students are
categorized as illiterates in passport applications. Minorities’ affairs
Minister, Yashpal Arya said that the State Govt is aware of the issue.He added
that very good progress has taken place in matter of according equivalency.
Maharashtra plastic ban, defaulters to face 3
months jail
From today, Maharashtra Govt will fine people for
carrying a plastic bag today. According to a report, the defaulters will have
to fork out as much as Rs 5000 as a penalty. Speaking to media, state
environment minister Ramdas Kadam said that Govt will ensure that the common
man and the small traders are not harassed and penalised under this new law.
However, he added that willful offences will be penalised.newsx
WORLD
Turkey's presidential, general polls to be held tomorrow: AK Party, Saadet Party leaders discuss polls
Millions of Turkish voters will head to the polls on June 24 to
simultaneously elect a president and new members of parliament.It's the first
time since the referendum last year when the people approved key constitutional
amendments - giving more power to the presidency.Incumbent President Tayyip
Erdogan and ruling AK Party argue that a more powerful executive presidency
makes Turkey more stable.But critics like Temel Karamollaoglu, presidential
candidate and leader of Saadet Party, warns that Erdogan is moving country to a
dictatorship and says the president is not doing enough to unite the Muslim
world abroad."New presidential system is going to lead Turkey to a dictatorship,"
Karamollaoglu says. "There is no doubt, because parliament has no
influence on the president. They can't control, they can't produce any values
which will be effective, so the president, in fact, will decide whatever he
thinks proper without consulting the parliament." And although the Turkish
people voted for the constitutional changes last year, Karamollaoglu says,
"public can make mistakes as well. It will be too late when they see,
realise what the dangers are and what they will face.""We believe in
separation of power... Govt should not have any influence on justice, on the
courts. Today,Govt directly controls and gives in fact orders to the courts.
You can't have justice in a world like this," he says.Asked about his
chance to winning the presidency, he says, "there are some rumours that
certain tricks are prepared, but we don't know what will happen. When you take
part in elections, you go there to win."President Erdogan has been ruling
Turkey for more than 15 years, and his spokesperson is confident that he will
win another term - with increased powers."Those who claim that the new
system will be some kind of an authoritarian autocracy, one-man rule, etc, they
should study political history and look at examples of other presidential
systems," says Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for AK Party and President
Erdogan.According to Kalin, "judiciary used to be dominated by a kind of a
more secularist type of judges and prosecuters in the past.Then what happend in
the last 5, 6 years was, the Gulenists infiltrated the judiciary ... they put
their people in key positions of the judiciary - prosecuters and judges ... and
they were controlling the judiciary. We have eliminated the Gulenists from the
judiciary ... They are independent."Some opinion polls suggest a tight
race and some have suggested that Erdogan's AK Party might not achieve a
parliamentary majority, but Kalin says there is no doubt about the election
outcome.Alzajeera
British-educated Islamic Saadat party chief Karamollaoglu joins opposition
against Erdogan: Telegraph
Temel Karamollaoglu was once a close ally and friend of the Turkish
president Tayyip Erdogan. They were both members of the Islamist Welfare party
in the 1980s and struggled together as Muslim politicians trying to find space
for religion under Turkey’s aggressively secular constitution. But today
Karamollaoglu is a leading member of a coalition working to defeat Erdogan and
his AKP in Sunday’s elections.“Although they are called Justice and Development
party, justice has gone out of their door,” he said.The sprightly 77-year-old
is the leader of Saadet, Islamist party competing in both presidential and
parliamentary polls.Saadet has been a political minnow in the past and has
never passed the 10% vote threshold needed to win seats in parliament.This
year, however, it is running as part of a broad coalition opposing Erdogan,
guaranteeing that they will get parliamentary seats. If they can peel off
enough conservative voters who are disenchanted with Erdogan, they may find
themselves holding the balance of power in parliament.“Saadet is a real
Islamist party ideologically and pious Muslims who are not happy with Erdogan’s
pragmatism are going to vote for them.If they get 6% of the vote they are going
to be kingmakers because they will take votes directly from AKP,” said Behlul
Ozkan, associate professor at Marmara University. “He was working for Allah’s
blessing and then for the party,” said his converted British wife in a video
about her husband’s career.“We are religious people and we want to live our
religion according to our tenets but we don’t discriminate against those who do
not believe the same way we do,”said British educated Karamollaoglu. Saadet’s
campaign platform is a mixture of Islamic appeal, economic populism,and calls
for an end to authoritarianism under Erdogan. One campaign poster lists
promises including “We believe in our civilization, not the EU” while also
railing against cronyism under AKP and saying the state should not be “like a
prison guard”. Karamollaoglu says he rejects the term “Islamist” to describe
his political beliefs, because it can imply using Islam as a political tool to
win votes.“I am not an Islamist, I am a Muslim. The term Islamist was created
in the West,” he said. His political attacks on Mr Erdogan are focused on
economics and foreign policy and he says he broadly supports what the AKP has
done about religion in office, including scrapping a ban on headscarves in
universities and public places.“From that point of view, they have been
successful,” he said.“This was a human rights issue,”he said. As part of the
opposition coalition, Karamollaoglu’s Saadet has joined forces with CHP,
Turkey’s leading secular party.Islamists and the secular republicans might seem
like strange bedfellows but Karamollaoglu said CHP was not as stridently
anti-religion as it once was. At AKP’s sleek Istanbul HQ, party officials
insisted they were not concerned that Saadet would eat into their conservative
religious voter base. Ravza Kavakci Kan,AKP MP, said party had recently hosted
a gathering of Erdogan’s ex Islamist allies and was confident of their support.“Saadet
has their own perspective and they have a certain amount of support but it’s
nice for Turkish democracy to have different parties," he said. If his
party were to take power, Karamollaoglu said he hoped to unite the fractured
Islamic world in an EU-style federation of states.“We as Muslims in the past
lived together and we should be able to live together again. Not in a single
country but just like EU, we should be able to establish closer relations
between us and improve our economic status and develop foreign policy along the
same lines.” Telegraph UK
Islamists, secularists join forces in bid to unseat Erdoğan
Who will Kurds vote for in key Turkey elections?
UN rights experts urge Egypt to free Yousef
al-Qaradawi's daughter, her husband, unlawfully detained
The daughter of the spiritual leader of the
Muslim Brotherhood and her husband have been unlawfully detained in Egypt for
the past year without formal charge, UN human rights experts said, calling for
couple's release and compensation. Cairo Govt , in its reply published in UN
opinion, said that Ola al-Qaradawi and Hosam Khalaf were accused of belonging
to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which it says is a terrorist group, and
providing financial support to it with the help of Qatar and Turkey.The family
denies the accusation and brought the case last Sept.to the UN working group on
arbitrary detention. In a statement, the family welcomed the opinion issued by
the panel's 5 independent experts, posted on the UN website.Al-Qaradawi and
Khalaf, US residents in their late 50s, were taken into custody by state
security forces without an arrest warrant at their vacation home in June 2017
and have been held largely incommunicado since, the UN panel said.Ola
al-Qaradawi, a Qatari citizen, is the daughter of influential Qatar-based
Muslim Brotherhood cleric Yousef al-Qaradawi, whose assets have been frozen in
Egypt."The alleged legal basis for Ms. al-Qaradawi and Khalaf’s arrest and
detention further suffers from other serious defects," it said, noting
they were not brought promptly before a judge and were denied access to family
and lawyers.The couple has not received a fair trial within a reasonable time
and there was "no sign that their criminal trial will take place
soon", UN experts said. Their "ordeals in prison amounted to cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment".Govt said that case was based on an
investigation by the security services relating to an alleged plot by senior
leaders of Muslim Brotherhood to create an armed wing aimed at overthrowing Govt.UN
experts called on Govt to "remedy situation" including by releasing
and compensating the couple.Jared Genser, the family's US-based lawyer, said in
a statement:"...(the)decision vindicates what we have maintained all
along, that Ola and Hosam are innocent victims wrongly targeted and arbitrarily
detained by the Govt of Egypt. Reuters
UN: Detention of Qaradawi’s daughter violation
of international law
Morsi’s son asks when violations against father
will end
The eldest son of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed
Morsi has asked when the violations against his father in prison are going to
end.In a post on Facebook, Ahmed Morsi commented on a video showing his
father’s suffering. “When are the flagrant violations, which are known to
everyone, going to end?” he asked.“This has been going on for 5 years.”MEMO
Saudi turns against political Islam?crown
prince tries to reform Wahhabism, isolate Muslim Brotherhood: Economist spl
report
Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi crown prince says
his country took a wrong turn in 1979.That was the year when Shia Islamists
overthrew Shah of Iran, Sunni extremists opposed to the Saudi monarchy stormed
the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Soviet army marched into Afghanistan. Before
that, so the story goes, Saudis could enjoy cinemas and concerts.Even in the
time of Abdel Aziz Al Saud, the founder of the modern Saudi state, women worked
in the fields and rode camels alone. But after 1979 Saudi kings, who call
themselves custodians of the 2 holy mosques, resolved to outdo their foes, both
Shia and Sunni, in Islamic piety.The more relaxed social rules now being
introduced are thus no heresy, says the crown prince; they are simply a return
to a pre-existing normality. “Islam is moderate in its ways. It is unfortunate
that extremism has hijacked this religion,” says Sheikh Mohammad Alissa, head of
the Muslim World League, a body that has long spread ultra-puritanical
ideology. It is a sign of the new times that, these days, it is busy making
ecumenical contacts with Christians, Jews and others.How can Saudi authorities
distance Wahhabism from jihadism?One argument is semantic. They deny that there
is any such thing as Wahhabism; what they practice, they say, is plain Islam as
it existed among the salaf, the generation of Prophet and his companions (thus
they accept “salafism”). A second defence is doctrinal. Real salafism is quiet
and non-political, they say. “It dictates that we should obey and hear the
ruler,” says Sheikh Mohammad. A third contention is that, if salafists have
become rebellious, that is because they have been infected by the ideas of the
Muslim Brotherhood. Founded in Egypt in 1928 during the agitation against
British rule, the Brotherhood has inspired political Islam across the Arab
world under different names, and with various degrees of militancy—from
Ennahdha, the “Muslim democrats” of Tunisia, to Hamas, the armed Palestinian
movement that rules Gaza. Still, early on the Brothers enjoyed good relations
with Gulf rulers, who thought them useful against nationalists and leftists.In
many Arab countries the Brothers established themselves by providing social
services for the poor. In the rich Gulf, the Brotherhood developed a form of
“rentier Islamism” in which opposition was based on religious issues, says
Courtney Freer of the London School of Economics. “Islamists have not tended to
focus on economic policy,” she argues. “Theirs is a moralising agenda. For
them, Govt s have to prove that they are guardians of the morality of the
nation.”
Hajj observation committee condemns Saudi ban
on Qataris and Syrians
International
Committee for Observing Hajj Administration has condemned Saudi Arabia’s ban on
Qatari and Syrian citizens performing the pilgrimage, Echoroukonline.com
reported on Friday. Saudis have prevented Syrians from performing the Hajj for
seven years, and Qataris for the second year running, for what are said to be
purely political reasons.According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, the committee added
that such a ban is against the Shari’ah, as well as international law.The
committee called for the participation of other organisations and Islamic Govt s
in administering the Hajj given Riyadh’s alleged lack of transparency in the
role. middleeastmonitor
Saudi, Houthis ‘stranglehold’ Yemen’s
aid:Amnesty
Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi armed group
in Yemen are hampering the delivery of aid to Yemen, a new briefing released by
Amnesty International reveals.Amnesty carried out research between Dec.2017 and
June 2018,including interviewing 12 aid workers, 8 medics and 5 local community
activists in the capital Sana’a, the strategic port town of Hudaydah and
besieged Taiz. It found that both the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi armed
group are placing difficulties for aid organisation in delivering relief
promptly in Yemen.“Despite the coalition’s announcement on 22 Nov.that it had
lifted its blockade of ports, it has continued to restrict or severely delay commercial
imports. Its misuse of the inspection regime under UNSC Resolution 2216 has led
to excessive delays and unpredictability that have served to obstruct the
delivery of essential goods and humanitarian aid,” Amnesty said.MEMO
Iran warns N-deal in 'ICU'; exit likely in 'coming weeks'
That's how Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, has
described the state of the Iran nuclear deal, while also warning of a potential
withdrawal "in the coming weeks" if Tehran does not secure sufficient
financial guarantees from Europe. Araghchi made the remarks on Friday in Vienna
as the remaining signatories of the multinational deal - formally known as
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - met in the Austrian capital to
discuss the future of 2015 agreement in the wake of the US' decision last month
to unilaterally pull out of it."I told the conference today that the JCPOA
is in the intensive care unit because it has lost its balance as a result of
the US withdrawal from the deal," Araghchi was quoted as saying by Iran's
Mehr news agency.aljazeera
OPEC reaches deal to raise oil output: aljazeera
Leaders from Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) have agreed on a modest increase in oil production
from next month.The pact came after a week of tense negotiations amid calls
from major consumers to help reduce price of crude and avoid a supply
shortage.TopOPEC producer Saudi Arabia said the move would translate into a
nominal output rise of around 1 million barrels per day, or 1% of global
supply.Iraq, however, said real increase would be around 770,000 bpd because
several countries that had suffered production declines would struggle to reach
full quotas.
Syria's war: Assad defies US, presses assault
near Deraa
Syrian Govt helicopters have pressed on an assault on
opposition- held areas of the country's southwest, dropping barrel bombs in
defiance of US demands that President Bashar al-Assad halt offensive.The barrel
bombs on Friday targeted a cluster of rebel-held towns including Busra
al-Harir, northeast of Deraa city, where the attack threatens rebels holding
ground jutting northwards into land held by the Govt .Syria's army has been
pushing a week-long assault on area bordering Jordan and Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights, which Assad has sworn to capture, threatening a
"de-escalation" zone agreed upon by US and Russia last year.US on
Thursday reiterated its demand that zone be respected, warning Assad and his
Russian allies of "serious repercussions" of violations.It accused
Damascus of initiating air attacks,artillery and rocket attacks.aljazeera
Report: Israel demolished, sealed 48 homes of
resistance fighters
Israeli occupation authorities have demolished
and sealed 48 houses belonging to Palestinians under the pretext that one of
their residents carried out attacks against Israeli targets, a new report
revealed.Abdullah Al-Hourani Centre for Studies and Documentation said in a
report yesterday that occupation forces demolished 43 houses on charges that
one of their residents had carried out resistance operations against Israeli
targets and sealed five houses with reinforced concrete.MEMO
Arab pressure on Abbas to accept Trump’s deal
A number of Arab states have been putting
pressure on Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas for him to accept Donald
Trump’s “deal of century”, Quds Net News reported. Sources close to Abbas have
apparently revealed that Saudi Arabia and Jordan are among those which have
given the green light to talks with US administration about the deal, which it
is said will end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The same sources said that
Abbas, who claims to be boycotting the US administration over the deal, is
“surprised” at the stances of the Arab states. He regards this as interference
in Palestine’s internal affairs after they have rejected the punitive measures
that he has imposed on Gaza.middleeastmonitor
Kushner discusses ‘deal of the century’ and
Gaza siege with Netanyahu
US envoy to the Middle East Jared Kushner met
Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to discuss Donald Trump’s “deal of the century”
and the Israeli-led siege of the Gaza Strip, local media have reported. Kushner
was joined by America’s envoy to the peace process, Jason Greenblatt,in the
meeting with the Israeli PM.A White House statement said that US officials
discussed ways that the siege can be alleviated while maintaining Israel’s
security.It stressed the Trump administration’s commitment “to advance peace”
through the deal.MEMO
ICC gives Myanmar deadline over Rohingya case
jurisdiction
International Criminal Court (ICC) has given
Myanmar just over a month to respond to a prosecution request that it consider
a case on the alleged deportation of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya
to Bangladesh.On Friday, The Guardian published details from evidence that has
been sent to the ICC and forms part of the investigation.The document included
accounts from a 10-year-old girl who was repeatedly gang-raped after her family
was shot dead and a 25-year-old woman whose family was locked inside a house
that was set on fire by soldiers. The ICC published a decision on Thursday that
gives authorities in Myanmar until July 27 to respond to an earlier request for
the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over the alleged crimes. aljazeera
HRW urges Iraq to change tack on IS's foreign women,kids
BAGHDAD: HRW has urged Iraq's judiciary to deal with foreign women and
children affiliated with the Islamic State group on a case-by-case basis
instead of slapping them with "one size fits all" sentences.Since
January, HRW said Iraq's judiciary had "proceeded with rushed trials
against foreigners on charges of illegal entry and membership in or
assistance" to IS.It said most foreign women had been sentenced to death
or life in prison and children aged nine and above to between five and 15 years
in jail for taking part in violent acts."Iraq's 'one size fits all'
approach to women who travelled to live under ISIS or to children whose parents
brought them along is producing unjust outcomes in many instances," HRW's
terrorism and counter-terrorism director Nadim Houry said. Over 300 people --
including some 100 foreign women -- have been sentenced to death in Iraq, and
as many to life terms, for joining IS, judicial sources say.Most of the
convicted women are Turkish or from ex Soviet republics.AFP
Trump renews sanctions on N Korea citing
'extraordinary threat'
US President Donald Trump extended sanctions
against North Korea for one year, saying the country still posed an
"extraordinary threat" despite insisting just days earlier that Pyongyang
was no longer a nuclear danger to the US.The sanctions, which were renewed on
Friday, were originally introduced under an executive order originally put in
place in 2008.After his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore
on June 12, Trump had said that sanctions would not be lifted on Pyongyang
until further progress was made on its denuclearisation. aljazeera
Indonesian Muslim leader sentenced to death
over attack
An Indonesian Muslim leader was sentenced to
death on Friday over his role in a deadly 2016 suicide attack at Jakarta
Starbucks cafe carried out by an affiliate of ISIL group.Aman Abdurrahman, who
police and prosecutors said is a key ideologue for ISIL, in the world's largest
Muslim nation, kneeled and kissed the floor as the panel of five judges
announced the sentence.Several hundred paramilitary and counterterrorism police
secured Jakarta court where trial took place.aljazeera
Ethiopia: Grenade attack caused blast at rally
for PM Abiy
An explosion has struck a large rally by supporters
of Ethiopia's new, reformist PM Abiy
Ahmed in capital, Addis Ababa.In a TV address shortly after Saturday's blast,
Abiy said "a few people" were killed in the what he called a
"well-orchestrated attack", offering his condolences to families of
the victims.However, Fitsum Arega, the PM 's chief of staff, later said that at
least 83 people were wounded but that there were no fatalities, despite earlier
reports to the contrary. In an earlier post on Twitter,Fitsum said unidentified
assailants launched a grenade attack at the rally."Some whose heart is
filled with hate attempted a grenade attack.HE PM Abiy is safe. All the
casualties are martyrs of love & peace. HE PM sends his condolences to the
victims.The perpetrators will be brought to justice," Arega said.Police
said more than 100 people were wounded and 15 of them were admitted to hospital
with serious injuries.The explosion occurred shortly after Abiy finished
speaking and was waving to the crowd.Ethiopians had packed the square in a show
of support for Abiy's reformist agenda, with numbers unseen in recent years in East
African nation.
Nearly 100 Indians languish in 2 detention centres in US; MEA says
monitoring situation closely
Washington: Indian mission in US has established contact with two
immigration detention centres where nearly 100 Indians, mostly from Punjab, are
detained for illegally entering the country through its southern
border.According to officials, around 40-45 Indians are at a federal detention
centre in the Southern American State of New Mexico while 52 Indians, mostly
Sikhs and Christians, are held in Oregon.The Indian Embassy in a statement said
it has established contacts with both the detention facilities.More than a
dozen of them are being held at the New Mexico centre for months. And the rest
of the Indians were brought to this detention centre about a week ago.Satnam
Singh Chahal, of North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), believes that
thousands of Indians, with overwhelming majority of them being from Punjab, are
languishing in jails in US.According to information obtained by NAPA through
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) between three years of 2013, 2014 and 2015,
more than 27,000 Indians were apprehended at the US border. Of these, over
4,000 were women and 350 were children.PTI
Kids of Indians at US detention camps separated from parents
FLASH: VIEWS & NEWS
Turkey's June 24 elections are about checks
and balances:Fuat Keyman
It will take years for Kashmir to recover from
Narendra Modi’s Hindutva politics;ASHUTOSH
Wages of vigilantism:Zoya Hasan
Junaid's Lynching and the Making of a 'New
India' Beyond Recognition:Apoorvanand
From Hadiya to Tanvi Seth, casual bigotry is
fashionable, politically celebrated:Sakshi Arora
The holier-than-cow Indian liberal elite is
actually Modi’s best friend and ally:Shekhar Gupta
Does BJP Care About Winning Hearts and Minds
in Kashmir? — Amulya Ganguli
Kashmir Aka National Security is Essential For
2019 Power Mix:saeed naqvi
Dadri to Hapur: Public Call to Attack “Cow
Killers” Says Family, Cops in Cahoots With Mob
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