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Archives for November 2014

Bombay HC quashes Muslim, Maratha reservation in Maharashtra govt jobs

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Allows reservation to Muslims in educational institutions, Chief Minister evades comments on Muslim reservation but says the state will challenge the decision in SC.

bombay_high_court

Mumbai/Agencies: The Bombay High Court Friday put a hold on Maharashtra government’s decision to give 16% reservation to Marathas in public service and educational institutions. The High Court also stayed the state government’s decision to provide 5% reservation to Muslims in public service, but allowed them reservation in educational institutions.

On June 25, 2014, with an eye on the state assembly elections, erstwhile Congress-NCP government had approved 16% reservation for Marathas and 5% for Muslims in government jobs and education institutions.

While hearing the PILs challenging reservation for the two communities filed by social activist Ketan Tirodkar, an NGO Youth for Equality, Anil Thanekar, I S Gilada of Indian Health Organisation and others, the bench concluded it was not up to the state to treat the Maratha community as a ‘backward class’.

“Rather, the National Commission for Backward Classes and the Mandal Commission has concluded the Marathas are a socially-advanced and prestigious community,” the court said, citing the findings of the Mandal Commission (1990), the National Commission for Backward Classes in February 2000 and a July 2008 report of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (Bapat Commission).

The bench noted several flaws in the report of the Narayan Rane Committee that had recommended the inclusion of the Maratha community in the socially- and economically-backward class, and which forms the basis of the 16 % reservation in favour of the community.

The bench observed that the Rane committee did not refer to important rulings of the Supreme Court and findings of other commissions.

The state government, however, has decided to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis saying he will take all possible steps to remove the stay on the Maratha reservation. But, he did not comment on reservation for Muslims as the BJP has been opposed to it.

“The state government is fully supportive of Maratha quota. We will appeal in Supreme Court on the High Court ruling. We will take measures to ensure that the quota remains,” Chief Minister Devednra Fadnavis told reporters on the sidelines of an event in suburban Vile Parle.

Fadnavis further added, “If the court has pointed out any discrepancy in law, we will remove any lacunae in law during the winter session of the State Legislature in Nagpur.”

The court was of the view that the comparative data provided by the government justified its decision to introduce reservation for Muslims in government educational institutions. It, however, excluded private educational bodies from the purview of reservations for the minority community.

The government defended its decision on reservation to Marathas and Muslims contending that the two communities were socially and educationally backward and also economically poor. It said the decision was based on the report of a committee headed by former minister Narayan Rane set up to look into the issue.

The government said it had taken into consideration recommendations of Rajinder Sachar Committee and Mahmoodur Rahman Committee, both of which had recommended reservation for Muslims, while arriving at the decision to provide quotas for them.

Former journalist Ketan Tirodkar is his public interest litigation (PIL) noted that Marathas have been wrongly categorised as socially and educationally backward. It claims Marathas are not a caste, they comprise a linguistic group. Tirodkar adds Marathas are a dominant community, not a backward one.

52% seats in government jobs and educational institutions were already reserved for the targeted groups and the Congress-NCP government had, in the run up to the Assembly poll, raised it to 73 per cent by announcing 16 per cent quotas for Marathas and five per cent for Muslims.

Reservation already exists among OBCs for a section of Marathas known as Kunbis. Maratha Kunbis, who are largely agriculturists, constitute 31.5 per cent of the total Maratha population and have a large presence in Vidarbha and Konkan.

Apart from former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, a majority of the education barons — DY Patil, Patang Kadam, Kamalkishore Kadam and Pawars of Vidya Pratishthan — belong to the Maratha community.

Chhattisgarh: PUCL Condemns sterilisation deaths, calls it a form of medical homicide

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Photo: AP

Photo: AP

by Chhattisgarh Lok Swatantrya Sangathan (People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Chhattisgarh)

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Chhattisgarh expresses its grief and outrage at the deaths of so many young women as the outcome of laproscopic sterilization camps in Bilaspur district in the past week. So far 13 women have died as a consequence of the camp held at Nemichand Jain Hospital at Takhatpur, and a woman of the Primitive Tribal Baiga group as a result of the camp at Gaurela. Dozens of women are ill to the point of risk to life. Almost all were from BPL families.

In the first incident an experienced surgeon who had been honoured earlier this year for having performed enormous numbers of laparoscopic sterilization operations, singlehandedly performed 83 operations in a five hour period with a single laproscope – a circumstance which by itself establishes that adequate aseptic precautions would not and indeed could not have been effected. The camp at Takhatpur was conducted in a private charitable hospital which had remained closed for a year where the physical infrastructure was absolutely abysmal.

These circumstances are routine and they are replicated in “family planning” camps all across the country, in direct and deliberate contravention of the Central Government guidelines formulated in response to Supreme Court orders of 2005 (Ramakant Rai vs Govt. Of India) and 2012 (Devika Biswas vs Govt. Of India), that direct that a medical team can conduct a maximum of 30 operations in a day with three separate laproscopes, and that one doctor cannot do more than 10 sterlisations in a day. The guidelines also state that all sterilisation camps must be organised in established government facilities.

Serious and substantial doubts have been raised about the quality of medication used in these camps. Ironically the Chhattisgarh State Human Rights Commission in their inspections in the year 2009-2010 had recorded that expired drugs, fungus-ridden drugs, and untested drugs manufactured at local facilities were found in the stores and operation theatres of District Hospitals at Durg, Bilaspur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon. In most of the cases little follow up action had been taken by the government. Despite the fact that the Purchase Committee for the drugs was headed by Health Minister Amar Agrawal, the Government has refused to accept any liability for the tragedy.

So far one doctor has been arrested, however, as per newspaper reports, the private local manufacturers in Raipur who were supplying the drugs used in the camps, had already destroyed a significant part of their stocks prior to raids by the Special Investigation Team of the Police.

While the State Government has announced a Judicial Enquiry by District Judge Anita Jha, it does not inspire confidence that another Judicial Enquiry headed by the same Judge into the Fake Encounter of a minor adivasi girl Meena Khalkho has not made any progress since its announcement in June 2012.

Target based coercive female sterilization has had serious consequences all over the country, and in the case of malnutritioned and routinely anaemic women of poor families, fatal ones. Yet the State has continued and rewarded such a policy. In the case of the Baiga tribes where permission is required to be taken from the Collector prior to conducting sterilization, the same was not taken. Perhaps following the procedure could have ensured that the Baiga women could have been provided safer medical conditions.

The State of Chhattisgarh has been seeing a series of medical catastrophes – blindness and even deaths of patients after cataract operation camps in 2011, the scandal of a large number of unnecessary hysterectomies only to extract “smart card” payments, a large number of malaria deaths, and recently a number of jaundice deaths in Raipur and other cities owing to contamination of drinking water by sewage.

The High Level Expert Group of the Planning Commission on Universalization of Health Care in 2013 clearly recommended that all citizens should be able to access equitably tax based, publicly provisioned health facilities and programmes of adequate quality. In our country this is the only way forward to avoid major epidemiological and social tragedies like the present. The Chhattisgarh PUCL further notes with concern that the present development model being pursued by the State Government is resulting in impoverishing a large section of the people who are easy victims of such incidents

The Chhattisgarh PUCL demands:-

  1. A credible Judical Enquiry should be conducted expeditiously into the present incidents preferably by a Retired Supreme Court Judge and the results made public at the earliest.
  2. The said Enquiry should establish whether the norms laid down repeatedly by the Supreme Court have been violated and if so how.
  3. All those responsible for the manufacture, quality control, and supply of spurious drugs should be identified and brought to justice.
  4. The Chhattisgarh Government should immediately consult medical experts at the highest level to lay down stringent guidelines regarding the conduct of various types of health camps.
  5. Targeted approach for female sterilization must be done away with.
  6. Steps should be taken toward the implementation of the recommendations of the High Level Expert Group on Universalization of Health Care.

Dr. Lakhan Singh (President)
Adv. Sudha Bharadwaj (General Secretary)

BJP MLA’s henchman strips, thrashes youth for supporting love marriage

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Suresh Maruti Gatige

Belagavi: A notorious henchman of a BJP MLA has been caught on camera, assaulting and brutally thrashing two young men with hockey sticks after stripping them to the skin.

The barbaric incident which reportedly took place on November 2, came to light only when the hair-raising video footages, reached a few media persons this week. TV news channels on Friday showed visuals where Suresh Maruti Gatige, the henchman of Belagavi (Rural) BJP MLA Sanjay Patil, was thrashing the helpless youngsters.

A known miscreant of Sangh Parivar, Gatige punished the two for allegedly supporting their friend’s love marriage with a girl related to the accused. He thrashed both of them so brutally that a part of the hockey was also broken. Both the victims are said to be the natives of Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

According to reliable sources, the local police were initially reluctant to file case against the culprit. When the father of one of the victims approached a police station in Kolhapur, the police refused to file the case by passing it off by claiming that the incident happened in Karnataka, so the case will be filed there only.

Finally, the case was registered on November 10 at Kakti police station in Karnataka, but police did not initiate any against the accused. However, media pressure gradually forced the police to arrested Suresh Gatige along with four others.

According to senior police officials, the other accused in the case are Digamber Jothiba Kavanewadkar, Jothiba Krishna Gundakal, Namdev Chaloba Bamne and Maruti Subbarao Savanth. All are from Khudanur of Chandgad taluk of Kolhapur district, and were arrested following a complaint filed by the victim, Anil to the Inspector-General of Police (Northern Range) Bhaskar Rao.

Witnesses

Preliminary investigations suggest that the victims- Anil and his friend, Ganesh, both from Khudanur- were witnesses to the registered marriage of Shubhangi and Prabhakar Ashok Vaddar.

The relatives of the girl, who were opposed to the marriage, kidnapped the witnesses from Chandgad and brought them to a farmhouse near Uchagaon village in Belagavi taluk on November 3.

The accused assaulted Anil and Ganesh with a hockey stick. One of them videographed the assault and threatened them if they informed the police.

Meanwhile, MLA Sanjay Patil has denied having any role in the incident, or any connection with the accused. He has said the accused was from Kolhapur district of Maharashtra and was visiting Belagavi.

Keep Gauri Lankesh away from naxal panel, tells BJP; CM refuses

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Photo: K . Bhagya Prakash

Photo: K . Bhagya Prakash

Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party has urged the Karnataka Governor to direct the state government to keep senior journalist Gauri Lankesh away from the committee formed by the government to help bringing the naxals into the mainstream by convincing them to shun violence and surrender.

A delegation of the BJP leaders comprising legislators and leaders from the Malnad region C. T. Ravi, D. N. Jeevaraj and Bhanuprakash, accused Ms. Lankesh of having a soft corner for naxals and said it would not be possible for the government to have a dispassionate view on the issue if she was present on the panel.

Emerging from Raj Bhavan after submitting a memorandum to governor Vajubhai Vala, former minister, C.T. Ravi claimed Ms Lankesh, who is convenor of the Civilian Forum for Peace, was a Naxal supporter and her presence on the committee was likely to help the ultras rather than the government.

Criticising the ongoing efforts to ensure surrender of naxals Sirimane Nagaraj and Noor Zulfiqar, the BJP said the two were old and ill. Instead, efforts should be made to convince the young and active naxals to shun violence.

Meanwhile Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shunned the BJP’s suspicions over Ms. Lankesh. He accused the party of seeing everything with a biased view.

'Garm Hawa' – as timeless and relevant now as then

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The Mirza family of Garm Hawa, in 1973

The Mirza family of Garm Hawa, in 1973

by Subhash K. Jha

Very few Indian films have had the enduring impact of M S Sathyu’s “Garm Hawa”. This is the kind of rare cinema that serves the very core purpose of art. And now this tale of imperishable resonance comes to us in a restored digitally mastered avatar.

It stimulates the heart, stirs the soul, lifts the spirit and pricks the conscience. Dealing with Muslim pride and Islamic isolation during times of the stress and separation of the Partition, the relevance of “Garm Hawa” resonates to this day.

M S Sathyu’s “Garm Hawa” brought in furious winds of change in Hindi cinema and its approach and attitude to the theme of Muslim isolation in pre-Partition India. Though it is set in Agra just after the division of India into two separate countries, “Garm Hawa”, which re-released on Children’s Day Friday, doesn’t focus on the riots and bloodshed that followed the decisive moment in history.

Sathyu’s film, brilliantly written by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi, seeks to pin down the violence that the community experienced from within their own hearts and souls. That sense of agonised isolation when history seems to have betrayed a whole community and its people comes vividly alive in “Garm Hawa” as Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni) watches his family torn apart as one by one they all leave, most of them across the border and a beloved daughter for the other world.

Heartbreak is a constant in the narration. But the sound of the broken heart is muffled in the aggressive voices of politicians and religious leaders seeking to establish their own self-interest in a nation that desperately needed selfless leaders in the post-Gandhian era.

“Garam Hawa” is as real as Indian cinema gets. The crowded mohallas and gallis of Agra are shot in documentary style. But the characters don’t seem to occupy that dispassionate space that documentaries are known to nurture.

We are without fuss taken into the world of Mirza’s family. We learn soon enough that Ameena (Geeta Siddharth) is the apple of Salim Mirza’s eyes. Co-writer Kaifi Azmi drew liberally from his own gentle and sensitive relationship with his daughter Shabana Azmi. And Balraj Sahni, that actor-extraordinaire who didn’t seem to be acting at all, drew from his own relationship with daughter Shabnam who, like Ameena in the film, committed suicide.

“Garm Hawa” is many things at the same time. It’s an evocative mirror of a people who chose to stay on when the land was divided. The film is also a love story. It is the intense tragic story of Ameena’s two aborted relationships, first with her cousin Kazim(Jamal Hashmi) , her childhood sweetheart who’s stolen away by Pakistan, and then her ardent suitor Shamshad(Jalal Agha) who leaves the country promising to return but never does. The second betrayal kills Ameena.

Finally , in a bizarre evocation of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There None”, Salim is left in India with only his wife and younger son, the rebellious Sikandar(Farouq Shaikh) who refuses to leave India for “greener pastures”(read: Pakistan).

The film ends on a note of heart-wrenching optimism when Salim Mirza changes his mind at the last minute about leaving the country.

Balraj Sahni as Salim Mirza gives what many film experts consider the one single-most flawless performance in the history of Hindi cinema. He gets into the skin of his character and inhabits the inner-most recesses of Salim Mirza’s soul. You really don’t see Balraj Sahni on the screen. You see this Muslim patriarch of a disintegrating family who never stops believing his God even when He seems busy elsewhere.

“Garm Hawa” is not just a cinematic experience. It is much more. It is a treatise on life’s most precious emotions. Unfiltered, raw and still hurting.

(IANS)

Crowdfunder Indiegogo hosts campaign to destroy al-Aqsa mosque

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A campaign to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock and build a “Third Jewish Temple” in their place is raising funds on Indiegogo.

A campaign to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock and build a “Third Jewish Temple” in their place is raising funds on Indiegogo.

by Sarah Irving, Electronic Intifada

What do a “fashion label” which celebrates the Israeli army with sexist images of scantily clad female soldiers and inflammatory plans to build a “Third Jewish Temple” on the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem have in common?

The answer: support from Indiegogo, the social media fundraising platform which calls itself “the most trusted platform in the crowdfunding industry.”

In the past three months, Indiegogo has permitted two separate campaigns which clearly violate its terms of use to raise money through its website. Between them, the projects of the Temple Institute and fashion label MTKL promote racism, ethnic cleansing, open sexism, misogyny and rampant militarism — but Indiegogo seems determined to look the other way.

At the end of September 2014, the Jerusalem-based Temple Institute, an extremist organization which is part of the wider “Temple Movement,” successfully raised more than $100,000 to complete “architectural plans for the actual construction” of a “Third Temple” on the Haram al-Sharif. The Jerusalem site is home to the al-Aqsa mosque, the third most holy site for Muslims, and the Dome of the Rock, one of the earliest and most significant pieces of Islamic art and architecture in the world.

A better place?

Indiegogo markets itself as a supporter of “independent” initiatives. Using statements like “Indiegogo is a way for people all over the world to join forces to make ideas happen. Since 2008, millions of contributors have empowered hundreds of thousands of inventors, musicians, do-gooders, filmmakers — and other game-changers — to bring big dreams to life,” it plays on the creative, progressive images evoked by the ideas of artists and — as the company puts it — “do-gooders.”

Words like “empowering” litter the site, and staff profiles include promises that “My dream in life is to make the world a better place. Enabling people to raise capital using Indiegogo is my way of fulfilling that dream.”

But recently, these two campaigns on Indiegogo have shown that it is willing to help groups which are very far from “making the world a better place” to raise funds.

Inciting violence in occupied Jerusalem

The Temple Institute was founded in the early 1980s by a former high-ranking member of Meir Kahane’s Kach Party, which was banned for its extremist positions and links to the Jewish Defense League, a violent group regarded as a terrorist organization by even the US and Israeli governments. The institute, however, has since received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from the Israeli government.

The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem called the plans illegal, and coalition spokesperson Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, calling on Indiegogo to remove the Temple Institute’s campaign, told the press at the time that:

Numerous UN resolutions affirm that East Jerusalem, including the Old City and its religious sites, are part of the occupied Palestinian territory, where sovereignty belongs to the Palestinian people … this is an illegal campaign as defined by [Indiegogo’s] terms, violating international law and human rights, resulting in the destruction of property, inciting for religious intolerance, hatred and violence.

The Temple Institute bills itself as the “only one organization is paving the way for the rebuilding of the Temple,” and has already, it claims, produced a number of the ceremonial items which would be used for worship in a reconstructed temple.

The Institute’s fundraising page on Indiegogo — which features the video below — specifies the use to which money raised on the site will be put:

The Temple Institute has engaged an architect to map out the modern Third Temple’s construction. Your contribution will go towards completing this ambitious project and the continued research and development which will make the Third Temple a reality. With every detail of the future Temple’s requirements listed in the written and oral law, our architects are not only designers, but Torah scholars who will ensure that everything is built to the highest modern standards, while adhering to the letter of Jewish law.

Sweeping harassment

The Haram al-Sharif has been the site of many attacks by Israeli settlers, the Israeli military and Israeli police against Palestinian worshippers, and Israeli extremists have stepped up their attempts to take over the compound in recent months.

This has led to violence in Jerusalem and has been used by the Israeli authorities in Jerusalem as an excuse for sweeping harassment of Palestinian communities and hundreds arrests, including those of many children. Observers have accused Israeli extremists — similar to those at the Temple Institute — of trying to start a “holy war” in Jerusalem.

Hardly the “better world” which Indiegogo claims to be helping to build.

Misogyny, militarism and crowdfunding

Personally, I would really like this next example of Indiegogo’s support for demeaning, discriminatory projects to be a spoof. It looks like it could be satire, but all current indications seem to be that it is real, and that its revolting combination of sexism and militarism is genuine.

MTKL calls itself a fashion label, but its first product looks set to be a calendar filled with photos of scantily clad female Israeli soldiers. Using language such as “ the chosen amongst the chosen people, real women soldiers of the IDF [Israeli army],” it claims that “MTKL was founded by 2 former soldiers that always dreamt to show the world the beauty of Israel and its people.”

Despite the nauseating misogyny of the calendar, the brand’s Indiegogo page even has the gall to claim that “the initiative also shows a side of Israelis the world rarely sees; attractive, egalitarian and determined to fight for their right to survive.”

But most disturbingly, the women aren’t just depicted half-naked, they are also shown in military “themed” clothing, camouflage makeup and carrying large pieces of automatic weaponry. Even the brand name — MTKL — is a play on the Hebrew word matkal, which means “army command.”

The sinister blend of sexuality, sexism and violence is carried through into the project’s fundraising on Indiegogo. The wording of the funding campaign’s video, transcribed by blogger Richard Silverstein, contains passages which present Israeli culture as a combination of indiscriminate violence and objectification of women, but as somehow embodying emancipation at the same time:

Shenfeld: we are now producing the world’s first Israeli army girl calendar. We recruited a real group of Israeli soldiers as our models, and we tell the stories of their actual military service while sporting the best military-inspired apparel ever designed.

Missulawin: these are not your run-of-the-mill models. These are real soldiers of an army which sees plenty of combat action. Contribute a few dollars to help us publish this calendar as a premium printed product and take a stand with us in the name of freedom, life and having fun.

Narrator: Women who handle guns, lead operations, and fight terror; highly-trained army machines by day, supermodels by night. Because when you only have one shot, it has to be a killer one [sic]. Now, MTKL: over and out.

Ducking the issues

In an emailed response to an enquiry from The Electronic Intifada about its attitude to fundraising for projects which were misogynistic or politically inflammatory, John Eddy of Goldin Solutions, Indiegogo’s media representative, would say only that “Indiegogo requires all campaigns to follow the terms of use.”

These terms of use state that Indiegogo itself “makes no representations about the quality, safety, morality or legality of any Campaign,” effectively attempting to wash its hands of liability for the results of immoral or illegal use of its fundraising platform.

Despite Indiegogo’s tolerance of the MTKL and Third Temple projects, both seem to infringe a number of the “terms of use” by which Eddy claims that users must abide.

For example, “Campaign Owners are not permitted to create a Campaign to raise funds for illegal activities, to cause harm to people or property, or to scam others” and “perks” offered to donors to campaigns must not include “any items promoting hate, discrimination, personal injury, death, damage, or destruction to property.”

Given that MTKL’s perks and other plans include blatantly misogynistic calendars and are intended to promote the image of an army which, less than three months before the campaign was launched, killed 2,100 people and destroyed thousands of homes and public buildings in its attacks on Gaza, it very much seems to violate the supposed bar on associations with “promoting hate, discrimination, personal injury, death, damage, or destruction to property.”

And the plans to build the Third Temple, as well as being illegal in relation to the status of Jerusalem, also by definition entail “damage [and] destruction to property” — in this case, some of the holiest and most artistically significant Islamic sites in the world.

Violating terms of use

In addition, the plans are part of a wider, viciously racist program of ethnic cleansing which is intended to force the Palestinian people from their land and deny them their basic rights.

Indiegogo also states that users should not use campaigns to:

“use the Services to promote violence, degradation, subjugation, discrimination or hatred against individuals or groups based on race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity”

… a list which, again, includes a number of stipulations which the MTKL and Third Temple campaigns blatantly violate.

Since Indiegogo’s terms state clearly that it “reserve[s] the right to refuse use of the Services to anyone and to reject, cancel, interrupt, remove or suspend any Campaign, Contribution, or the Services at any time for any reason without liability,” it remains unclear why both of these campaigns have been allowed to use to site to raise money.

Israel lifts age restriction for al-Aqsa prayers after Amman meetings

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A Palestinian woman in front of the al-Aqsa Mosque during Friday prayer in annexed East Jerusalem on November 07, 2014. Anadolu / Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu

A Palestinian woman in front of the as-Sakhra Mosque (in Al-Aqsa compound) during Friday prayer in annexed East Jerusalem on November 07, 2014. Anadolu / Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu

by Al-Akhbar

Palestinians of all ages will be allowed to perform prayers Friday at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in annexed East Jerusalem for the first time in months, an Israeli police spokesman announced, a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry said “firm commitments” have been made during the Amman meetings to maintain the status quo at the compound.

“No age limit on the Temple Mount, we’re hoping things will be calm and quiet today,” spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP, using the Zionist term for the al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.

“Extra police units were deployed in Jerusalem this morning to prevent any incidents in and around the Old City,” he added.

Israeli forces have long restricted Palestinians’ access to the al-Aqsa compound based on age and gender, but in the past months they have further prevented Muslim worshipers from entering the mosque while facilitating the entrance for Zionist extremists.

Rosenfeld linked the decision to lift age restrictions to talks in Jordan on Thursday after which Kerry said steps were agreed between King Abdullah II and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lower tensions at the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

“Firm commitments” were made to maintain the status quo at the compound, Kerry said at a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, asserting that both Israel and Jordan agreed to take steps to “de-escalate the situation” in Jerusalem and “restore confidence.”

“We are not going to lay out each practical step. It is more important they be done in a quiet and effective way,” Kerry stated, adding that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who joined in over the phone, “promised” to encourage resumption of collapsed Palestinian-Israeli talks.

“It is clear to me that they are serious about working on the effort to create de-escalation and to take steps to instil confidence that the status quo will be upheld,” he stated.

The US diplomat also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday, and they, according to Kerry, “discussed constructive steps, real steps, not rhetoric, that people can take in order to de-escalate the situation.”

Tensions have been running high in the occupied West Bank, annexed East Jerusalem and other regions in Occupied Palestine, where in recent weeks Israeli forces shot and killed six Palestinians.

Israeli authorities have also allowed Zionist settlers to take over homes in Palestinian neighborhoods, have announced plans to build thousands of settlements strictly for Israeli settlers in the city while ignoring Palestinian residents, and have generally looked the other way at rising violence by Zionist settlers against Palestinians across the city.

The anger has been further provoked by the Israeli authorities’ decision to hold a vote on splitting the al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third holiest site, despite the existence of a Jewish prayer area at the Western Wall immediately next door.

Jordan’s King called for Israel Thursday “to put an end to its unilateral action and repeated attacks against holy sites in Jerusalem, especially those targeting the al-Aqsa mosque compound,” his palace said.

Recent clashes between Israeli Occupation Forces and Palestinians protesting the storming of al-Aqsa by several far-right Israeli members of the Knesset as well as groups of Zionist settlers, prompted Jordan last week to recall its ambassador to Israel “in protest at Israel’s escalation” and move to file a UN complaint.

Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, an agreement with Jordan has maintained that Jewish prayer be allowed at the Western Wall plaza – built on the site of a Palestinian neighborhood of 800 that was destroyed immediately following the conquest – but not inside the al-Aqsa mosque compound itself.

In a letter to the UN Security Council sent on Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour demanded international intervention over Al-Aqsa, warning tensions could “spiral out of control”.

Furthermore, in a move likely to further heighten tensions around al-Aqsa, Israel’s Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said late Wednesday that Israel will “increase the supervision of people entering the [al-Aqsa] compound” by reintroducing metal detectors and facial-recognition technology that were removed from the compound’s entrances in 2000.

In September 2000, a visit to al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon triggered what later became known as the “Second Intifada,” a popular uprising against Israel’s decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War. It later annexed the city of Jerusalem in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Zionist state – a move never recognized by the international community.

(AFP, Anadolu, Al-Akhbar, Reuters)

Syrian rebels reject UN's Aleppo truce plan

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FSA commander says proposal only serves Assad regime, amid reports of fresh violence and arrest of prominent dissident.

Images of a reported strike in Aleppo's al-Marjeh district showed men digging through rubble. Photo: Reuters

Images of a reported strike in Aleppo’s al-Marjeh district showed men digging through rubble. Photo: Reuters

by Al Jazeera

The opposition-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Aleppo has rejected a UN truce proposal that seeks to suspend fighting in Syria’s second city, a day after the government hinted at considering it.

Zaher al-Saket, FSA military commander in the city, said on Wednesday that the proposal only serves the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and pledged that his troops would continue their fight.

“First I would like to say that we completely reject this so-called freeze plan and truce,” he said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

“We learned not to trust the Assad regime because they are cunning and only want to buy time. We saw what happened in Homs and we will never accept the same scenario in Aleppo.”

The news came as forces loyal to Assad dropped a barrel bomb on Wednesday on Aleppo’s al-Marjeh neighbourhood, according to activists.

Images from the aftermath of the reported strike showed men digging through a rubble of a building.

There was no immediate report on casualties from the attack.

Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy to Syria, said on Tuesday the Syrian government had responded with “constructive interest” to the UN proposal.

De Mistura set out the plan last month that would allow humanitarian aid through, and will lay the groundwork for peace talks.

As he continues to press for a diplomatic solution, there is no sign of let-up in fighting on the ground.

Syrian state media reported on Wednesday that two rockets were fired at a school in the central province of Hama, killing seven children.

Opposition leader detained

Separately Syrian authorities detained a prominent Damascus-based writer and dissident, Louay Hussein, as he was trying to leave the country at the Syria-Lebanon border bound for Spain.

Hussein is a longtime opposition activist and the leader of Building the Syrian State.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported on Wednesday Hussein’s arrest, saying he was taken to the justice palace in Damascus.

Human rights groups said the government has rounded up tens of thousands of Syrians, many of whom disappear in custody never to be seen again.

A UN panel last year accused Assad’s government of committing a crime against humanity by making people systematically vanish.

More than 195,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, with successive attempts at internationally backed negotiations failing to yield a peace deal.

Nearly 10 million people have been displaced by Syria’s civil war, and more than three million have fled the country.

IPL match fixing: Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra named in Mudgal Committee report

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IPL match fixing

New Delhi: N. Srinivassan, his son in law Meiyappan, Sunder Raman former COO IPL, Rak kundra, co owner of Rajasthan royals and husband of bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, figure in the list of those Mudgal committee, who probed the IPL match fixing and betting, mentioned in its report.

Supreme Court today revealed the six names including Stuart Binny who was named in the remaining two ODI against Sri Lanka.

After the revelation the AGM of BCCI has been postponed for four weeks. The meeting was scheduled to be held on 20th of November. The meeting was to be followed by the elections of BCCI President. Former president Srinivasan had to step down after Mudgal committee mentioned his son inlaw in the IPL match fixing.

Srinivasan is desperately trying to make a come back and postponement may come a breather for him as it will give him more time to garner the support.

Supreme Court has not mentioned their roles in the match fixing. Mudgal Committee has mentioned 13 names in its report which was submitted to the apex court.

The apex court bench headed by Justice T. S. Thakur said that the report dealing with the conduct and role of Srinivsasan, Meiyappan, BCCI official Sundar Raman and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra will be given to these four people as well as to the BCCI and the petitioner Cricket Association of Bihar.

The court, however, said that the names of the players named in the report will be held back for the time being.

The court said all the parties will file their objections to the report within four days of its receipt and they will have the liberty to file responses to rival objections in another four days and directed the listing of the matter for Nov 24.

The court recorded the statement by BCCI counsel T.A. Sundaram that the meeting of the BCCI annual general body which was scheduled to be held Nov 20, will now take place after four weeks.

The sixth IPL season last year was marred with a major controversy after police launched legal proceedings against several IPL officials and cricketers, including former Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, for illegal betting and spot-fixing.

The IPL, which began in 2008, features the world`s top players signed up for huge fees by companies and high-profile individuals in a glitzy mix of sport and entertainment.

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