NEWS
DIGEST, MID-DAY
12 Sept. 2018: 01 Muhram 1440:
Vol: 11, No:01
INDIA
Bhima-Koregaon case: SC extends house arrest
of 5 rights activists till Sept.17
5 activists who have been arrested by the Pune
police in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence will continue to remain
under house arrest till Sept.17. The Supreme Court today deferred the hearing
on a PIL filed by historian Romila Thapar and 4 others, after it was submitted
that senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi - who is representing the
petitioners - was busy in another court. The SC bench comprising Chief Justice
Dipak Misra, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar clarified
that the interim order placing the five accused under house arrest shall
continue until the next hearing.Notably, after the locus standi of the
petitioners were challenged by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta
– who is representing the Government of Maharashtra – during last week’s hearing,
the top court was apprised that four out of the 5 accused – Advocate Sudha
Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao and Arun Ferreira – have filed a
supplementary affidavit seeking impleadment to the proceedings before the top
court.In case of noted rights activist Gautam Navalakha, whose transit remand
from Delhi to Pune was earlier stayed by the Delhi High Court, Mehta objected
to taking recourse to 2 remedies, before the High Court and again the Supreme
Court.He said, “The affected parties have joined as intervenor here while their
cases are also being examined by the jurisdictional courts…others have also
moved the high courts, like the Punjab & Haryana High Court.”Justice
Chandrachud noted that Navalakha is not a party before the apex court.Appearing
on behalf of advocate Surendra Gadling- who was arrested on June 6 along with
Shoma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson- senior counsel Anand
Grover told the court that his client has been sent behind bars because he
defended Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba in a court of law.“He has an
experience of 25 years as an advocate, but he is being treated like a
third-grade criminal,” argued Grover.newsclick
SC extends house arrest of rights activists
till Sept.17
Gauri Lankesh murder case: Man held by ATS
‘Mechanic’ in diary of key suspect, finds probe
Bengaluru:Automobile mechanic Vasudev
Suryavanshi, 29, who was arrested on Sunday by Maharashtra ATS for alleged
links with a radical Hindutva group involved in the accumulation of illegal
arms, has been identified as an individual referred to as “Mechanic’’ in the
diary of a key suspect in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Sources in
Karnataka Police SIT probing the murder case said an automobile mechanic
arrested by ATS has been identified as “Mechanic’’ in the diary of Amol Kale,
alleged to be a key leader of a secretive Hindutva group with links to
right-wing Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. He has been identified as one of dozens of
youths who received training in using guns at camps in Karnataka and
Maharashtra and was involved in activities of the group, the sources
said.“Mechanic’’ has been described by other suspects as being adept at
stealing motorcycles and authorities are investigating if Suryavanshi was used
in any way by the covert group for murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar,
Leftist thinker Govind Pansare, Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi and Lankesh, said
sources.References in the diary of Kale, who was arrested in May, and the
investigation of persons allegedly involved in providing arms training for the
group suggest that one “Mechanic’’ attended an arms training camp conducted by
the group around three years ago. ATS arrested Suryavanshi from Jalgaon as part
of its investigation into an alleged terror plot by right-wing
outfits.indianexpress
2007 Gorakhpur riots: SC asks magistrate in UP
to pass appropriate order against Yogi Adityanath
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed a
magistrate in Uttar Pradesh to pass appropriate orders in accordance with law
in a rioting case allegedly involving Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. A bench
of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud
disposed of a petition challenging the Allahabad High Court order dismissing a
plea filed by one Rasheed Khan in the case."We only direct the Magistrate
(in Gorakhpur), as the High Court has remitted the matter to him, to pass
appropriate orders keeping in view the law laid down. Special Leave Petition
stands disposed of accordingly."The case, according to the police,
pertains to a 2007 incident in the Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh when
Adityanath was MP.FIR said that on Jan.27, 2007, on the occassion of Satvi
Moharram, a call was given by Adityanath, following which members of right-wing
outfit Hindu Vahini, traders and businessmen started assembling and raising
slogans.It said that at about 10 am that day, agitators set several properties
ablaze, damaged religious books and indulged in destructive activities at the
Imam Chowk in Gorakhpur. To disperse the agitating mob, the police fired several
rounds in the air.FIR was lodged on charges of rioting, outraging religious
feelings, trespassing on burial places and promoting enmity between groups.PTI
Gurgaon mosque with ‘loud’ loudspeakers
sealed, civic body says it’s too close to IAF ammunition depot
New
Delhi:A week after Gurgaon’s Sheetla Mata Colony experienced tension over the
use of loudspeakers at a mosque in the area, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon today
sealed the mosque, with MCG commissioner saying it is too close to Indian Air
Force (IAF) ammunition depot. The sealing comes after some people belonging to
Hindu outfits objected to the use of loudspeakers in the area, claiming that
azaan or the call to prayer was disturbing them.“The mosque has been sealed in
accordance with the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which prohibits
any new construction within 300 metres of IAF ammunition depot. The structure
lies within this radius,” said Yashpal Yadav, MCG Commissioner.On Sept.6,
representatives of Muslim community had met the deputy commissioner (DC) to
discuss the matter. In a letter to him, the Muslim Ekta Manch had alleged, “2-3
days ago, some anti-social elements came to the area and submitted a letter
against us to the Commissioner of Police. SHO of Sector 5 police station called
both sides on Sept.5 and asked us to keep the volume of the loudspeaker low.” Community
had claimed that the volume of the loudspeaker was lowered but some people
belonging to Hindu outfits from outside the village were not “satisfied”. “They
said they did not like the presence of a mosque in the locality and that they
would not allow us to pray there. They also indulged in sloganeering and
threatened to kill us and burn our houses,” Haji Shehzad Khan, chairman of the
Muslim Ekta Manch, had said last week.indianexpress
Mosque sealed in Gurugram
PM Modi is culpable in the Rafale scam:
Shourie, Sinha and Bhushan
NDA government is using men and women in
uniform to defend the Rafale deal, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
personally “culpable” in the scam, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and
Arun Shourie and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan alleged.The trio, at a press
conference in New Delhi, stepped up their attack on the prime minister,
alleging that he “compromised” national security by reducing the number of the
jets to 36 from the original proposal of 126 aircraft.Referring to Vice Chief
of Indian Air Force Air Marshal S B Deo's recent comments on Rafale, they said
after being "totally exposed", the government is now using the senior
military brass to defend the deal.The opposition led by the Congress has been
alleging massive irregularities in the deal, claiming that the government was
procuring each aircraft at a cost of over ₹1,600 crore as against ₹526 crore
finalised by the UPA government. The government has rejected the charges.
Noting that that senior Air Force officials had made statements as to how
Rafale is a “beautiful aircraft”, Shourie, Sinha and Bhushan said they agreed
with his views but wondered why Modi had reduced the number of aircraft from
126 to just 36, “disregarding” IAF's strategic needs.PTI
India holds first Tripartite meet with Iran,
Afghanistan with Chabahar & terror in focus
New Delhi:Days after '2 Plus 2 Dialogue'
discussed about strategic importance of Chabahar port, in a major development
India, Iran and Afghanistan on Tuesday held their first Tripartite meeting in
Kabul and discussed matters concerning the port and also counter-terror
cooperation."The meeting focused on consolidating economic cooperation,
including Chabahar, as well as enhancing cooperation on counter-terrorism,
counter-narcotics, and continuing support to the peace and reconciliation
process that is led and owned by Afghanistan," a joint statement said.
Chabahar port can help India bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to
Afghanistan. The statement also said that this was the first tripartite meeting
among the three key players in the region and was held "at the Deputy
Foreign Minister level". The meeting was chaired by Afghan Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Hekmat Khalil Karzai and was attended by Indian Foreign
Secretary Vijay Gokhale. Ira and Deputy Foreign Minister HE Dr Abbas Araghchi.
The 3 sides also agreed that India will host the next round of consultation
meet at an appropriate time in India in 2019. Deliberations on Chabahar by
India, Afghanistan and also Iran are considered significant in their own right
as US has only threatened to slap sanctions on Iran.UNI
Killings by ‘unidentified’ gunmen put Valley
on edge
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/killings-by-unidentified-gunmen-put-kashmir-on-edge-5351487/
3 killings over the last 3 days — all shot in
the head, from point-blank range, by “unidentified” gunmen. As police blame
militants, and separatists allege the role of security agencies, the sudden
spurt of killings in the Valley has triggered fear and panic.The latest victim
was Abdul Ahad Ganai (42), a resident of Kupwara in North Kashmir. Ganai was
shot while he was travelling in his vehicle, in Khanyar neighbourhood of
Srinagar, on Monday night. Ganai was pursuing his doctorate from AMU and was
also working as a teacher at a private institute in Srinagar. Police blamed
militants for his death. On Saturday morning, Hakeem-ur-Rehman Sultani (45) was
shot by unidentified gunmen in Bomai village of Sopore. The police claimed he
was killed by Liqayat Ahmad Lone, a LeT militant who was killed in an encounter
in Handwara on Tuesday.Sultani was an activist of the Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led
Hurriyat Conference and had been released only recently, after spending 20
months in jail under the Public Safety Act.Asif Nazir Dar (22), a resident of
Panzgam in Pulwama, South Kashmir, died on the spot after he was shot in the
head at Naseem Bagh, in Hazaratbal, Srinagar, on Saturday. Besides the three
deaths, a woman was injured when the vehicle she was travelling in came under
fire in Pulwama, South Kashmir, on Saturday. Indianexpress
India regrets Kashmir issue being raised at
UNHRC
India has expressed regret that the Kashmir
issue is being raised at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) after mentions of it
by Michelle Bachelet, the new UN Human Rights High Commissioner, and by
Pakistan at its current session.“Terrorism is the biggest scourge and greatest
violator of human rights and we hope that you will address it more emphatically
in the coming years,” Rajiv K Chander, India’s Permanent Representative to the
UN in Geneva, told Bachelet on Tuesday at the HRC meeting in Geneva.He told the
HRC, “We regret that reference has been made to the Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir. Our views on the matter have been made abundantly clear in the
Council.”It is important that “human rights issues are handled constructively”
and with regard to national sovereignty and territorial integrity in a
transparent and credible manner, he added.IANS
US will be supportive if conditions can be
created for India-Pakistan talks: Trump admin official
US will be "very supportive" if
conditions can be created for productive talks between India and Pakistan, a
senior Trump administration official has said, underling that Washington
understands New Delhi's position that "demonstrable reduction" in
cross-border terrorism would create the confidence for such a dialogue.US
welcomes the positive messages that were exchanged between Pakistan Prime
Minister Imran Khan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "how the
two governments can build on what is already existing structures, whether it's
the national security advisor dialogue or the DGMO channel or the
people-to-people ties that have been sustained through the bus service,"
Alice Wells, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central
Asia told reporters during a conference call on Monday.On Aug.20, Prime
Minister Modi had sent a letter to Khan, conveying that New Delhi was looking
for constructive and meaningful engagement with IslamabadResponding to a
question, Wells said in general the US supports a dialogue between India and
Pakistan that can reduce tensions.PTI
Nepal Army Chief declines Indian Army’s invite
to attend conclave of BIMSTEC defence heads
New Delhi:After Nepal decided to skip the
first ever BIMSTEC military exercise in India, its newly appointed Army Chief
Purna Chandra Thapa has declined an invite by the Indian Army to attend a
conclave of army chiefs of the grouping on Sept.16, official sources said.The
militaries of BIMSTEC member nations, barring Nepal and Thailand, began a
week-long anti-terror exercise at Aundh near Pune on Monday to enhance
cooperation in dealing with the challenge of terrorism in the region.Each
participating country has sent its troops as well as a three-member team as
observers. Though Nepal and Thailand are not participating in the exercise,
both the countries sent observers for it.Indian Army has organised a conclave
of army chiefs of the participating countries on Sept.16, and barring Nepal,
all the countries have accepted the invitation.PTI
Uddhav Thackeray supports movement for demand
of reservation for Muslims of Maharashtra
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray supported the
movement for the demand of reservation for the Muslims of Maharashtra. He said
that if the demand of Muslims is genuine than the government should consider
it.He reiterated his demand to call a special session and pass a resolution for
the same.Shiv Sena chief also praised the brotherhood between Maratha and
Muslim community.On Tuesday, conveners of various Maratha organisations under
the aegis of the Maratha Kranti Thok Morcha submitted a memorandum to the Sena
chief.indiatvnews
Modi came to power as a Hindu leader but acts
like a Muslim advocate now: Praveen Togadia
Agra:Former VHP International President
Praveen Bhai Togadia has charged PM Modi of acting as the advocate of Muslim
women and said that he was not fit to be the Prime Minister.Togadia said that
Modi had come to power by seeking Hindu votes and in the name of Hinduism, but
instead of making India a Hindu country and protecting the Hindus in Kashmir,
he became an advocate of Muslims. He said that the triple talaq issue is a
personal matter of the Muslims and as the leader of a Hindu govt, Modi should
not care about it. Togadia said that the political leaders who left Congress
and joined BJP have made the BJP another Congress, that is why the party which
was formed to talk about Hindu rights and welfare, is now discussing rights of
Muslims."Iss sarkar mein Gorakshak gunde ho gaye aur Kasai bhai ho
gaye,'" he angrily said. He said that almost the entire country has BJP
govts now and even then if BJP is unable to get the temple constructed in
Ayodhya, then it can be very well understood what the party and its leaders had
in mind. They just wanted to use Lord Ram's name as a stepladder to climb into PM's
chair and now that they have done that,they have forgotten the purpose for
which they had been sent into the govt. India today
Over 900 days after arrests in JNU case, no
chargesheet filed:TOI
New Delhi: Delhi Police generally files a
chargesheet within 90 days of an arrest as specified in Section 173 of CrPC.
However, it has been over 900 days since the police arrested three students of
JNU and filed an FIR for sedition but the case is yet to go on trial since the
police has not filed a chargesheet. Senior officials insist that the Special
Cell, which was assigned the case by then police chief BS Bassi, has almost
completed the probe. Bassi had said within a few days of the incident that one
of the students, Kanhaiya Kumar, had indeed raised anti-national slogans on
campus. Home minister Rajnath Singh had gone to the extent of saying that
Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Sayeed had supported the JNU students. However,
quite strangely for a police force that has been confident about its case right
from the beginning, no one is willing to say when the chargesheet will be
filed.Police sources claimed that they have “evidence” against the 3 arrested
students — Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya — apart from some youths
from Kashmir. However, there is no clarity on whether this “evidence” pertains
to sloganeering or being a part of a conspiracy or abetting a crime. This will
be clear only when a final report is submitted to the court.TOI
Sohrabuddin, Prajapati ‘fake’ encounters: Took
down facts as narrated by witnesses, says CID officer
Mumbai:In the alleged fake encounters of
Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati,deposition of investigating officers
commenced on Tuesday. Gujarat CID officer N K Barot, who had recorded the
statements of two witnesses, said he had taken down facts as narrated by them. 2
witnesses, Malde Odedera and Sajjan Oredera, who deposed before the trial court
on Dec.11, 2017, had denied their statements and were declared hostile.The
statements pertained to a Qualis vehicle, which the CBI alleges, was borrowed
by Gujarat IPS officer RK Pandiyan from his friend and used in the abduction of
Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausarbi and associate Prajapati on Nov.21 and 22 in
2005. Pandiyan’s discharge by the trial court in 2016 was upheld on Monday by
the Bombay High Court, which said there was not sufficient evidence to frame
charges against him.indianexpress
Met finance minister before leaving country: Mallya
New Delhi: A defiant Vijay Mallya, who is
facing money laundering charges in multi-crore fraud case in India, on
Wednesday claimed that he met the finance minster before leaving the
country.Speaking outside a London court, Mallya said, "I met the finance
minister before I left and repeated my offer to settle."Arun Jaitley was
the finance minister when Mallya left India in March 2016. He is also the
current finance minister.Mallya spoke to reporters during his hearing in
extradition case at the Westminster Magistrates' Court. Mallya, who has been on
bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, responded
to the swarm of reporters gathered outside the court in his characteristic
manner, saying the "courts will decide".TOI
Disclose Amount of Demonetised Currency
Deposited in Jan Dhan Accounts: CIC to RBI
New Delhi:Central Information Commission has
directed the Reserve Bank of India to disclose the amount deposited in Jan Dhan
accounts of various banks in the form of demonetised currency.Launched in
Aug.2014, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana is a national mission for financial
inclusion to ensure access to financial services banking or savings and deposit
accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in banks.Jan Dhan accounts had
come into focus after demonetisation on Nov.8, 2016, when the deposits
witnessed a meteoric rise, touching an approximate Rs 80,000 crore in April
this year.Information commissioner Sudhir Bhargava ordered RBI to disclose
details of demonetised currency deposited in Jan Dhan accounts to activist
Subhash Agrawal, who has also demanded some other details related to
demonetisation.Union govt demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes on Nov.8, 2016.
Bhargava directed the RBI that in case the information was not available with
it, the bankers’ bank will file “an affidavit with the commission” disposing
that no record related to the information sought was available with it.PTI
Civil liberties monitoring committee condemns
the court verdict of capital punishment to youth in Hyderabad blast case
Hyderabad: Civil liberties monitoring
committee has strongly condemned the verdict of the special court for awarding
capital punishment to two youths and life imprisonment to one youth in twin
blast cases.On August 25, 2007 there were 2 bomb blasts that claimed at least
42 lives. The blasts took place in Lumbini Amusement Park and Gokul Chat
Bhandar of Hyderabad. A special court
was appointed to deal with this case. After 11 years the verdict was pronounced
on 11th September awarding death penalty to 2 city based youth Anique Syed and
Akbar Ismail Choudhary and life imprisonment to Tariq Anjum.Civil liberties
monitoring committee (CLMC) in its press release has denounced this judgement
and termed it as unfair which violated the rules laid down for a free and fair
trial. CLMC has also pointed out to the fact that that the trial has taken
place in the four walls of prison and counter intelligence used all tactics to
influence the court. The court’s verdict thus clearly reflects the double
standards practised in the lower
judicial institutions.CLMC has also brought to light another bomb blast case of
Hyderabad that of the Mecca Masjid in which the court had acquitted all the
accused even though they had confessed to their crime whereas these Muslim
youth against whom there is no crucial
or direct evidence have been found guilty and sent to the gallows.This could
well be a verdict pronounced under political pressure keeping in mind the
elections that are round the corner, said the press release.Making Muslims the
scape goats, demonising them, branding them as Indian Mujahideen or terrorists,
implicating them in false terror cases has become a routine practise in India.TCN
Muzaffarpur shelter case: Media trial of cases
can’t be allowed; press needs to draw a line, says SC
New Delhi :The press should “draw a line” and
strike a balance as media trial of cases cannot be allowed, the Supreme Court
said Tuesday while hearing the Muzaffarpur shelter home case in which several
women were allegedly raped and abused.The apex court, which was dealing with a
plea challenging a Patna High Court order restraining the media from reporting
on the investigation into the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, said the issue was
not “simple”.“It is not such a simple matter. The media goes to one complete
extreme at a point. There has to be a balance. You cannot say whatever you feel
like saying. You cannot have media trials. Tell us where to draw the line,” a
bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said.Senior advocate Shekhar
Naphade, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that the high court had
imposed a “blanket ban” on the media in the case.PTI
Several mild earthquakes strike Assam,
Haryana,JK
Several moderate intensity earthquakes struck
J&K’s Ladakh, Assam and Haryana in last 48 hours, the India Meteorological
Department reported on Wednesday. The tremors from the quake were felt in parts
of Meghalaya, Bihar and West Bengal.No casualties have been reported.An
earthquake of 4.6 magnitude on the Richter scale hit J&K’s Ladakh at 11.45
pm on Tuesday night. Another mild quake of 3.1 magnitude struck Jhajjar in
Haryana at 12.13 am while an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale
struck 2 km north of Assam’s Kokrajhar at a depth of 10 km at 10.20 am on
Wednesday.scroll.in
Had congress lost closely-fought MLA seats(1960-2000),
India would’ve seen 11% more communal riots: Study
Mumbai: Congress MLAs forestall communal
violence in their constituencies due to their reliance on Muslim votes and
their multi-ethnic electoral prospects, a study by former Yale political
science research scholars said. The study cited data that show that in places
where the Congress narrowly wins in state elections, Hindu-Muslim riots are
much less likely to occur and lead to fewer casualties when they do.If the
Congress had lost all the elections it narrowly won at the district level between
1960 and 2000, India would have experienced 11% more Hindu-Muslim riots (1,114
instead of 998) and 46% more riot casualties (43,000 instead of 30,000),
according to the study published in the Quarterly Journal of Political Science
in 2016, an abridged version of which has recently been published in Ideas for
India, a platform for discussion on policy issues. If the Congress had won all
the local elections it had narrowly lost, riots would have reduced by 10%(or
103 fewer riots), the study said, adding that Congress MLAs exerted the same
downward effect on the incidence of rioting whether or not the state chief
minister was a Congressperson. Findings of the study underscore the wisdom of
electoral rules that encourage multi-ethnic parties to form and prosper, the
study’s authors, Gareth Nellis, Steven Rosenzweig and Michael Weaver, suggested.Nellis
is now the Evidence in Governance and Politics postdoctoral fellow at University
of California, Berkeley; Rosenzweig is an Assistant Professor of Political Science
at Boston University and Weaver is a Collegiate Assistant Professor and
Harper-Schmidt Fellow at University of Chicago.“It [study] also suggests a need
to insulate police from political pressures, and to increase levels of police
professionalism, so that their decision to step in to quell attacks on
minorities won’t be swayed by which political party happens to be in power at
the time,”Weaver told IndiaSpend in an email interview.A number of researchers
have suggested that secular nationalist parties, and especially those relying
on minorities for electoral support,play an important role in consolidating
democracy and maintaining peace between different ethnic and religious groups,
Weaver told IndiaSpend, “[W]e wanted to put this theory to the test, using the
case of India.”With a newly compiled data-set from the Election Commission of
India, and geocoded data on Hindu-Muslim riots recorded in the
Varshney-Wilkinson dataset created by scholars Ashutosh Varshney and Steven
Wilkinson, the authors of the Yale study carried out quantitative research
experiments to assess how the election of Congress versus non-Congress MLAs had
affected the probability of riots breaking out. They studied data from 315
districts for the period from 1962 to 2000. Congress controlled the state
governments for a full 58% of the state-years analysed. IndiaSpend
Missing Men of Bhuj, Kutch:Chilling tale of
Muslims, how they picked up by police, never heard of again
Sanjognagar, a semi slum like residential area
in Bhuj, Kutch in Gujarat is where a 22-year-old woman Ashiyana fell in love
with Majid, a 27-year man. Against the wish of their family, the two got married
with dreams of building a life together in a 2-room tenement, the home of
Majid. Her dreams and life came crashing down on July 19 this year. Bhuj police
picked him up at night from home while the family was having dinner. She hasn’t
seen Majid ever since.Majid is not a solitary case. An investigation by
Newsclick reveals a chilling history of Muslim men who were picked up by police
in the district never to return. Their families have battered their heads
against a mute administration and judicial process – but with no result.On July
25, first application on behalf of Ashiyana was sent to the SP of Bhuj. When
there was no response from SP’s office, on Sept.4, the organisations wrote to
the Collector narrating the whole incident. The next day local police released
a notification declaring Majid an absconding criminal. On Aug.28, Gujarat High
Court, in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Ashiyana, directed the
administration to reply by Sept.6. “In their response the police have accepted
that they did pick up Majid from his house on the night of July 19 and that
there was a physical scuffle. But they go on to state that Ashiyana intervened
and she took Majid with her,” said Shamshad Pathan, the advocate who has filed
the petition. Majid is not the first Muslim man in Bhuj to be picked by police
and disappeared without a trace. About
80 kms from the Bhuj city, in Dhrobana (Khavda), a nondescript village near the
border with Pakistan, family of Ismail Julefa Sama has a similar story to tell.
They have been waiting for Ismail for 25 years now. Like Majid, Ismail was
picked by Bhuj police on July 5, 1993 when his family saw him for the last
time. “My brother had gone to Bhuj city for some personnel work. At around 5.30
in the evening he reached the state transport bus stand to take a bus back
home. A police jeep of Bhuj taluka police approached him and 3 police personnel
including the driver took him with them,” recalls Meraj Taiyyab Sama, Ismail’s
younger brother. “A couple of months after Ismail was taken, police published a
notification in a local paper Kutch Mitra declaring him criminal and
absconding. Next day I had a notice published on behalf of my father in Kutch
Mitra refuting the notification of police and stating the incident as it
happened. In about 15 days, a notice from Bhuj police reached our house that
stated that 3 witnesses had seen Ismail at different places after July 6,” said
Meraj Sama. Noticeably, the witnesses police presented in the case of Ismail
were the same the Bhuj police presented in a case of disappearance of Wali
Mohammed in 1984. “Muslims constitute about 35 percent of the population of
Bhuj yet they are socially discriminated. Fear trickles down as generations
have witnessed disappearance of men. Those who have been lucky to be arrested
and returned have had years of legal battles to fight,” says Mohsin Hingorja, a
Bhuj based activist. “My brother and I were thrashed at our home and then they
took all three of us. Later we were booked under PASA and for selling beef,” adds
Mohsin. 18 years ago, Ali Mohammed, Mohsin’s father, also an activist, was
arrested and booked under PASA. Ali Mohammed who worked as a senior clerk in
the office of district panchayat of Kutch lost his job in two days of his
arrest. He worked as a labourer to raise a family of eight, Mohsin his eldest
child had to stop his education and work from an early age. newsclick
Muslims welcome Islamic New Year: Here is all
you need to know
Islamic New Year is considered to be the
second holiest day in the Muslim calendar after Ramadan. Since the Islamic
calendar is lunar, the dates change every year, and Islamic New Year falls on
the first day of Muharram – the first month of the Islamic calendar.According
to the calendar used across most of the Arab world, Muslims have entered the
year 1440 Hijri. It is referred to as the Hijri Calendar because it began with
the Hijra, or hegira, i.e. the Prophet Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to
Medina (in present day Saudi Arabia).Muharram commemorates the occasion of
Hijrah, or the Prophet Mohammad and his followers' migration, from Makkah to
Madinah.economictimes
Islam has no ritual of brandishing swords
during Muharram: Trinamool Congress leader
Kolkata:Ahead of Muharram this year, Trinamool
Congress leadership in Birbhum district has instructed Muslims to refrain from
brandishing swords and lathis during Tazia processions on the occasion. TMC
district president Anubrata Mondal on Monday said, "Muharram shall be held
in a way that people can enjoy it, just like they enjoy Durga puja visarjan. We
have appealed for a peaceful Muharram and we should all take part in
it.""There is no use of sword or lathis in their religion. It is a
very pure religion, one that sends a good message to the world. Not a single
Maulavi here spoke of the use of lathis (during Muharrum)," Mondal said,
after conducting a meeting called by TMC minority cell in Bolpur.The meeting
was also attended by clerics and leaders from the local minority
community."Islam is a tough religion, I feel it is much tougher than Hindu
religion. I really like whatever I have heard from them (Imams) today
(sic)," Mondal added.indiatoday
India accounted for 37% of global suicide
deaths among women, 24% among men in 2016
New Delhi: India accounted for 37 per cent of
global suicide deaths among women and 24 per cent among men in 2016, according
to a study published on Wednesday.Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2016
published in the Lancet Public Health journal said 63 per cent of all suicide
deaths reported in India were in the 15-39 age group.Suicide ranked first in
India as the cause of death compared to its third rank globally in this age
group, it said.There was an increase of 40 per cent in the number of suicide deaths
between 1990 and 2016, with an estimated 2,30,314 deaths in 2016 indicating
that "disproportionately high suicide deaths in India are a public health
crisis", according to the lead author of the study, Professor Rakhi
Dandona from Public Health Foundation of India."Having said that, the
suicide death rate (SDR) has reduced by 15 per cent from 1990 to 2016,"
she said.The study found wide variations in suicide death rate across states in
India.Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Tripura
had high suicide death rates for both men and women, in addition to Kerala and
Chhattisgarh which had high suicide death rates for men.The suicide death rate
for women in India is 15 per one lakh women, double that of the global suicide
rate for women in 2016, which is 7 per one lakh women.PTI
WORLD
Palestinian mission in Washington given a
month to pack up
Palestinian envoy to Washington says his
staffers have been given a month to pack up after the Trump administration
ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization mission closed.Husam Zomlot told
The Associated Press on Tuesday that the closure would not deter Palestinians
from seeking a state with east Jerusalem as the capital.US National Security
Adviser John Bolton said Monday that the mission was being shut because the
PLO, in his words, had not taken steps toward negotiations with
Israel.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted ties with Trump
administration in December after the US recognised contested Jerusalem as
Israel's capital.Zomlot was called home by Abbas in the spring as part of the
crisis.Zomlot says "we lost the US administration but we gained our
national rights."In a statement on Monday, the US State Department said
the PLO office "has not taken steps to advance the start of direct and
meaningful negotiations with Israel".aljazeera
Egypt freezes assets of 1,100 charities linked
to Muslim Brotherhood
An Egyptian judicial committee on Tuesday
announced an asset freeze of more than 1,000 charities tied to the banned Muslim
Brotherhood, as well as those of hospitals and individuals.The funds of 1,133
charities were to be frozen, the committee said in a statement, as well as
numerous other entities it said were owned by the Brotherhood.The decision came
after a law was passed earlier this year to oversee the freezing of assets of
"terrorists" and "terrorist groups".judicial committee
additionally announced the assets of 1,589 Brotherhood members would be frozen,
including some of the movement's leaders.Some 118 companies, 104 schools, 69
hospitals and 33 websites and satellite channels were also hit with an asset
freeze.AFP
Freedom and Justice Party urges UN, EU to stop
Egypt executions
Days after a court in Egypt sentenced to death
75 people, including top Muslim Brotherhood leaders, the political wing of the
organisation has urged the international community to take "urgent
measures" to halt their execution and investigate the "improper"
mass trial.In letters to the United Nations, European Union and African Union
(AU), Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on Tuesday said the sentencing by
the Cairo Criminal Court amounted to a "miscarriage of justice" and
"violated" the international standards of a fair trial."We ask
for your urgent action before any of the people sentenced to death are
executed," the FJP said in identical letters addressed to UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, EU head Jean-Claude Juncker and AU's
chairperson Paul Kagame."The mass trials and extraordinary harsh and
disproportionate sentences that have been taking place since 2013 are clearly
designed to suppress civilian opposition to the military-backed
government," the letter added.aljazeera
Trump mocked Egypt's Sisi, calling him a
'killer': Journalist Bob Woodward
US President Donald Trump reportedly mocked
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and referred to him as a "f***ing
killer", according to investigative journalist Bob Woodward.In an excerpt
from Woodward's recently released book, Fear: Trump in the White House, the US
leader made the remarks after securing the release of Aya Hijazi, an American
Egyptian who was detained by Cairo for three years.Woodward claimed that Trump
was talking to then-White House legal adviser John Dowd about his negotiations
with Sisi over Hijazi's release.Trump reportedly told Dowd: "Remember who
I'm talking to. The guy's a f***ing killer. This guy's a f***ing killer! I'm
getting it done. He'll make you sweat on the phone.The book then describes
Trump as assuming a "deep grovelling voice" apparently intending to
mimic Sisi - "Donald, I'm worried about this [Mueller] investigation. Are
you going to be around? Suppose I need a favour, Donald?"According to
Woodward, Trump called Sisi's comments, which were apparently in reference to
Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections,
a "kick in the nuts".aljazeera
Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim ‘Appalled’ by Suu
Kyi, Criticizes China's Muslim Camps
Anwar Ibrahim, who’s in line to become
Malaysia’s next premier, blasted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s treatment of
the Rohingya and called for formal talks on China’s crackdown against its
Muslim minority.“I was appalled by the attitude of Suu Kyi these days,” Anwar
said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Sophie Kamaruddin in Hong
Kong. “Buddhists, Muslims, Christians all supported her. Why must she continue
to be seen to be condoning crimes against the minority?” UN has said the
treatment of Rohingya in Buddhist-majority Myanmar may amount to genocide, a
report that Suu Kyi’s government has rejected. The crisis, which has seen more
than 700,000 minority Muslims in Myanmar flee to Bangladesh, didn’t even make
it onto the agenda of an Asian leaders meeting in Nepal last month. Anwar, who
has an agreement to take over from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in
a year or two, also spoke out about China’s treatment of Turkic-speaking
Uighurs. Multiple accounts have emerged of secretive “re-education camps” that
have detained tens of thousands to “upwards of 1 million” Uighurs, according to
a UN committee’s assessment.While Malaysia’s government raised the Uighur issue
with China, officials in Beijing view it as an “internal issue,” Anwar said.
“This has gone out into the mainstream media as an issue, and I believe we
should use a proper forum to start highlighting these issues and seek this
understanding from the Chinese authorities.”Anwar’s comments amount to some of
the strongest yet from a senior political leader in Asia condemning abuses of
Muslim minorities. Regarding China in particular, governments in
Muslim-majority countries from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia have been silent even
as calls grow in the U.S. and Europe for China to stop the alleged human-rights
abuses.Asked why Muslim governments have largely been quiet on Uighurs, Anwar
said: “They’re scared. Nobody wants to say anything.”bloomberg
Anwar Ibrahim to make political comeback in
by-election
Taliban ready for second round of talks with
US
Taliban are ready for a second round of talks
with the U.S., possibly this month, which is likely to focus on prisoner
exchanges, confidence building measures, and ways to move from back-door
meetings to formal negotiations, said Taliban officials in separate interviews
in recent days.Speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not
authorised to speak to the media, Taliban officials recounted details of a
meeting held in July with Alice Wells, Washington’s top envoy to the region.One
of the officials said the meeting ended with a plan to meet again in September.
US has refused to confirm or deny that meeting.Both US and Afghan governments
have insisted that talks on Afghanistan’s future would be Afghan-led, while
direct talks between Washington and the Taliban which the insurgents have long
demanded are said to be a stepping stone toward Afghan-to-Afghan talks. Taliban
have sought direct talks to settle U.S. concerns about the Taliban’s
participation in Afghanistan’s future as well as the presence of NATO and US
forces in the country.The official, who spoke to The Associated Press from
Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office, said they are waiting on
Washington for a second meeting date.AP
Afghanistan: Death toll soars to 68 in bomb
attack
The death toll from a suicide bomb attack at a
protest gathering in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Tuesday has
risen to 68, with 165 wounded, a government official said.The provincial
governor's spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, issued a statement with a revised
casualty total on Wednesday after earlier estimates put the death toll at
32.Scores of demonstrators had blocked the highway between the provincial
capital Jalalabad and a key border crossing with Pakistan when the bomber
struck.The protesters had come from Achin district to demand the removal of a
local police commander.aljazeera
UN denounces 'shameful' reprisals on activists
in 38 countries
United Nations has listed 38 countries which
it said had carried out "shameful" practices including harsh
reprisals and intimidation against people cooperating with it on human
rights.The annual report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released on
Wednesday detailed allegations of killings, torture and arbitrary arrests.The
report also alleged instances of ill-treatment, detention, surveillance, and
public stigmatisation targeting victims and human rights defenders."The
world owes it to those brave people standing up for human rights, who have
responded to requests to provide information to and engage with UN, to ensure their
right to participate is respected," Guterres wrote.aljazeera
FLASH VIEWS & NEWS
Inside Ahmedabad's Juhapura: What It's Like
for Muslims to Live in a Ghetto:Christophe Jaffrelot and Sharik Laliwala
Insistence on transparency and a non-partisan
attitude have marked Navlakha’s work:
Sumanta Banerjee
Narendra Modi: The disastrous Prime
Minister:Uttam Sengupta
China thinks Islam is a disease, and Muslim
leaders don’t care: Azad Essa, New York based journalist
Here’s How India Is Consolidating Its Security
Dependency On US:Bharat Karnad
From Shopian to Kathua: The never-ending
tragedy of Kashmir and the eternal wait for justice:twocircles
Compiled and edited by
Anwarulhaq (Released at: 7:30 PM)
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