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Fears in Jordan over attacks on ISIL

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Some analysts warn of dire repercussions of Jordan’s role in fighting ISIL.

Jordan's King Abdullah said his country was committed to participating in the war against ISIL.

Jordan’s King Abdullah said his country was committed to participating in the war against ISIL.

by Areej Abuqudairi, Al Jazeera

Amman: Jordan has confirmed it took part in air strikes launched against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) inside Syrian territory in the early hours of September 23.

Mohammad al-Momani, the Jordanian information minister and government spokesperson, said that his country was among four other Arab countries that participated in the air strikes.

“We aimed at attacking terrorists in their home to protect our stability, peace, and the independence of our land. Our country faces real threats by extremism,” he told Al Jazeera Arabic. He added that the operation will continue during the coming hours.

A statement issued by the Jordanian armed forces said the operation was aimed at putting an end to the infiltration and the shooting at military bases on the eastern and northern borders with Syria.

The Jordanian Armed Forces confirmed that air force participated in the attacks.

“Jordanian air force planes destroyed some selected targets of terrorist groups which had been sending their members to carry out destructive activities in Jordan,” said the statement.

“Unfortunately, attempts to penetrate the border increased in the past two months,” the statement said.

Al Jazeera contacted the armed forces to clarify who the “terrorist groups” were and the exact number of the targets and locations, but they refused to comment.

“There are no more details to add to the report,” said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although Jordan had previously announced that it joined the US-led alliance against ISIL, overt participation in the military air strikes came as a surprise to most Jordanians.

The attacks come only one day after statements by the Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein al-Majali about “sleeping cells” in Jordan that aim to “target the kingdom”.

Majali confirmed the kingdom’s full commitment to the international alliance against ISIL.

Last week, Momani told Al Jazeera that Jordan was still examining how it would participate in fighting ISIL: “We will announce at the right time what Jordan’s role [in fighting ISIL] will be.”

Political analyst Hassan Abu Hanieh told Al Jazeera that he attributes this to “possible dramatic developments such as the advances made in northern Syria, which pushed thousands of Kurds into Turkey”.

“Jordan probably feared an attack on its land by ISIL,” Abu Hanieh added.

Other analysts said the government has been working for days to prepare the Jordanian public to accept this type of military intervention against ISIL.

“Jordanian officials repeatedly talked about the threat of terrorist groups which the country is coming under in the past weeks in order to sway public opinion to support any Jordanian role against ISIL,” a Jordanian politician told Al Jazeera.

In response to the attacks, Mohammed al-Shalbi, a leading figure of Jordan’s Salafist movement, told Al Jazeera that: “ISIL has been advised not to target Jordan but now it is a different story as the group will be in self defence mode and will seek revenge.”

Other commentators harshly criticised the move.

“Assisting foreigners in any military activities is condemned by all popular forces and it goes against Jordan’s real interests,” said Zaki Beni Arsheed, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. “There is no interest for Jordan to transfer the Syrian conflict into the country.”

Two days ago, Jordan announced the arrest of 11 ISIL supporters and that it foiled their “attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in the country”.

In recent weeks, Jordan intensified arrests of ISIL supporters. According to Musa Abdullat, a lawyer advocating for political prisoners, in the past month, “Jordan has arrested more than 70 men accused of using the internet to promote terrorist ideas or rallying in support of the Islamic State.”

This move has been viewed by analyst Mohammed Abu Rumman as “a pre-emptive strike” against the pro-ISIL elements in Jordan. The Jordanian participation in targeting ISIL, he added, is rather symbolic.

“The most crucial role played by Amman is on the logistical and intelligence fronts,” Abu Rumman told Al Jazeera.

Plan to reintroduce lottery opposed

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lottery-ibrahim

Bengaluru: The suggestion by State Planning Commission deputy chairman C M Ibrahim to reintroduce lottery in the State has not gone down well with many a ruling party and Opposition leader.

Banned during the JD(S)-Congress coalition in 2004, lottery had been construed as a bane of the lower middle and lower classes of society.

JD(S) floor leader H D Kumaraswamy said it was an extremely bad suggestion. “I urge the chief minister to not consider such suggestions. We had banned lottery out of concern for the poor who were wasting their hard-earned money on buying the tickets and becoming paupers.

The previous Congress government had started lottery to fund the midday meal scheme. This time it is said to be for a health scheme. Such suggestions are absurd,” he said.

Congress State president G Parameshwara, too, opposed the proposal. He said lottery had been banned because men in many poor families mindlessly spent money on buying lottery tickets, putting their dependents to financial hardship.

“If there was such a strong reason to ban lottery, then we should not be reintroducing it. There is absolutely no need to raise funds for health schemes by selling lottery tickets,” he said.

Sources in the Congress said at the legislature party meeting held on Wednesday that a section of the legislators had opposed the recommendation of the Planning Board. However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not react to the issue.

Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar said there were vested interests, including a lobby, which were aiming at getting lottery reintroduced in the State. “There are many other sources to get funds for the health scheme, if the government collects taxes properly,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa likened the move to “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. “While the proposal to start a healthcare scheme for poor and middle-class families is welcome, it should not be done through lottery,” he said.

BJP MLC D S Veeraiah said lottery was a form of gambling and a social evil, while his colleague G Madhusoodhan said the proposal should be rejected outright. “The proposal has come from State Planning Board vice chairman C M Ibrahim. Only he can make such recommendations,” Madhusoodhan said.

(Agencies)

Left parties announce support for AAP to keep BJP, Congress out of power in Delhi

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Communist Party of India

New Delhi: In its effort to keep BJP and Congress out of power in Delhi, Left parties on Wednesday announced their support to AAP and asked their supporters to vote in favour Arvind Kejriwal-led party on those seats from where the joint front of the Left parties has not put up candidates in Assembly polls.

“15 seats are being contested jointly by Left parties in the Delhi polls. Rest of the 55 seats, our party has decided that it will ask our party members and voters to vote for the AAP. Most of the other left parties are also of the same view,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters in New Delhi.

He said the line of the party was not to support Congress and BJP and especially the latter. He said his party has taken similar stands earlier as well and had even voted for BSP in Delhi in earlier elections.

The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on 7 February. The counting of votes will take place on 10 February and tomorrow is the last day of electioneering.

The CPI Delhi state council has also decided to extend support to AAP candidates in all those constituencies where the joint front of the left parties has not put up candidates.

“The decision in this regard is being taken after seeing the all-out offencive by the rabid communal forces led by BJP and spearheaded by divisive anti-national RSS to stoop down to unheard levels to somehow capture power.

“These pro-corporate Hindutva forces are using both money and muscle power along with slanderous campaigns and pernicious attempts even to amend nationally accepted Indian Constitution for scrapping secular, socialist contents,” a CPI statement said.

The party said the Delhi voters are also wary of the anti-people neo-liberal policies that the UPA-II had imposed on them throwing their daily life out of gear.

“Hence to ensure that the there is no hung assembly again, the party has decided to support AAP nominees to avoid a division among the anti-BJP votes,” it said.

The CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, SUCI(C), Forward Bloc, RSP and Socialist Party (India) have come to a seat-sharing arrangement and will be extending support to each other on 15 seats.

CPI appealed to Delhi voters to elect the Left candidates and urged its various branches, supporters, sympathisers and workers to ensure the defeat of BJP by fully supporting AAP candidates in those constituencies where CPI and other left candidates are not in the fray.

(PTI)

Maharashtra farmer climbs on burning pyre, ends life

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Maharashtra-farmer

Yavatmal: A debt-ridden farmer from a village in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region climbed on a lit pyre and committed suicide on Wednesday, the second such incident since November last year, an activist said here on Thursday.

Anandrao S Pandagle, 45, a resident of Bhambh village, is survived by his wife and three teenaged daughters, said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari.

Preliminary police investigations revealed he had farm debts of Rs 50,000 and was trying to collect another Rs 12,000 for his eldest daughter’s marriage.

“He was alone at home, poured kerosene on himself, prepared and lit his own funeral pyre before climbing on it… By the time locals rushed to help, he was burnt to death,” Tiwari told a news agency.

This is the second instance of its kind in the region.

On November 28 last year, 75-year old farmer Kashiram B Indare of Manarkhed village lit his own funeral pyre in a field. Earlier presumed missing, his charred remains were discovered after a couple of days.

Vidarbha has been rocked by five more suicides since Wednesday, according to Tiwari, even as the desperate farmers’ patience was running out in the wake of official apathy to their plight.

The victims are: Ramkrishan Bhalavi of Talni village and Ambadas Wahile of Gunji village, both in Amravati district; Sanju Gawande of Saikheda village in Washim district; Vijay Tadas of Ghorad village and Nanaji Ingole of Kanheri village, both in Wardha district.

In December, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the state government on the issue of debt-ridden farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra following a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer RU Upadhyay.

Similarly, the National Human Rights Commission has also sent a notice to the state government seeking a report on the incident, even as the spate of farmland suicides continues unabated in Maharashtra.

Last week, the Shiv Sena strongly criticized it ruling ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, for ignoring the plight of the farmers though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hails from the Vidarbha region.

(IANS)

Anil Goswami steps down as home secretary, L C Goyal replaces him

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anil-goswami

New Delhi: Home Secretary Anil Goswami resigned Wednesday after he was told by the government to put in his papers over his alleged role in trying to stall the arrest of former Congress minister Matang Sinh in the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam. The government appointed L.C. Goyal as his replacement a few hours later.

Official sources said Goswami handed over his resignation to Home Minister Rajnath Singh. It was subsequently accepted by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

‘The home secretary has resigned. He met the home minister and submitted his resignation,’ said an official who did not want to be identified.

Goswami is the third senior official who had to resign or whose services were curtailed by the government over the past few weeks.

Sujatha Singh was removed as foreign secretary last week while the term of Avinash Chander as chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was curtailed last month.

K. Durga Prasad was apparently removed as chief of the Special Protection Group (SPG) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal and he has now been posted in the Central Reserve Police Force.

Sources said Goswami was summoned by Rajnath Singh earlier in the day.

He is learnt to have explained his position following the controversy over his calls to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials dealing with the Saradha chit fund scam case.

The sources said there have been top-level consultations in the government over the issue.

Rajnath Singh is also learnt to have spoken to CBI director Anil Sinha.

Goswami, an IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was appointed home secretary during the term of the previous United Progressive Alliance government.

There were reports that he had spoken to CBI officers following their decision to arrest Matang Sinh.

Matang Sinh, who was minister of state in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in the 1990s, was arrested Jan 31 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kolkata on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds in the Saradha scam.

The government issued a release Wednesday night saying Goyal was the new home secretary and his term will be for two years.

‘The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of L.C. Goyal, IAS, secretary, department of rural development, as home secretary for a period of two years from the date of taking over charge vice Anil Goswami,’ the release said.

It also said the ACC has also approved request of Goswami for ‘voluntarily retiring’ from service with immediate effect by waiving the notice period.

The release said the term of Goswami as home secretary stands curtailed with immediate effect.

Goyal is an IAS officer of 1979 batch.

(IANS)

Scam in power meter purchase: State government ready for probe

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Vidhana Soudha

Bengaluru: The Opposition BJP has succeeded in making the government agree for an inquiry into reported violation in purchase of electricity meters.

On Wednesday, the state government agreed to initiate an inquiry by Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department into charges made by the BJP in the Legislative Council that Bescom had violated Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act norms in purchase of electricity metres.

Making the announcement in the Council, Leader of the House and Information Technology Minister S R Patil said that the inquiry would be completed and the report submitted within three months.

The BJP on Tuesday had raised the issue in the House, stating that Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), in August 2013, had given contract to a Kolkata-based company for purchase of electricity meters worth Rs 180 crore without calling tenders. This was in violation of KTPP Act norms.

Patil said the government had already cancelled the tenders and fresh tenders had been called for purchase of meters. Patil said ordering a Lokayukta probe would send a wrong message that all officials in the department were corrupt.

The Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department would conduct the inquiry and submit report, Patil said. Following the minister’s statement, the BJP members withdrew their dharna.

(Agencies)

Vatican officials denied visa for Bengaluru meet, claims Catholic church

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Representational Image.

Representational Image.

Bengaluru: The Catholic church today alleged that two key Vatican officials who were to address the 27th national assembly of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) in Bengaluru which began on February 3 had been denied visa.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, CCBI president, said the 140 bishops from across the world are attending the assembly that commenced yesterday.

Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, President of Pontifical Mission Societies and Adjunct Secretary to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, were key resource persons for the week-long conference.

CCBI is now planning to hold the session in which the two officials were scheduled to participate through video conferencing.

Though the two officials had applied for visa in mid-December, their applications were kept pending till the last minute and rejected, a CCBI statement said.

Sources claimed that even after the intervention by Vatican’s Secretary of State office the visa applications were kept pending.

(PTI)

Protests over church attack ahead of polls in the capital

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Indian Christians protest outside the Delhi police headquarters in New Delhi on December 2, 2014 after a Catholic church was badly damaged in a fire which some suspect was arson. EPA

File photo of protest outside the Delhi police headquarters in New Delhi on December 2, 2014 after a Catholic church was badly damaged in a fire which some suspect was arson. EPA

New Delhi: Just ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, hundreds of Delhiites have come together for a protest march over the recent church attacks and governments inaction in the case.

The protesters will be marching from the Scared Heart Church till Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence in Delhi.

It’s a silent protest to express our anguish over government’s inaction in the church attack cases, said a protester to TV reporters.

The protesters demand an answer as to why police has not taken any action against the miscreants and why the government is silent.

The Delhi police has reached the spot and is detaining the protesters.

Section 144 has been imposed outside Home Minister’s residence.

A church was vandalised by unidentified miscreants in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area on Feb 2, 2015.

This is the fifth such attack on a church since November last year.

Last month, a church was vandalised in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri area. In December, the St Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden, was partly gutted and the Christian community had alleged foul play in the incident.

(Agencies)

Tripura CM flays BJP remark on 'immigrants'

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Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar Wednesday attacked the BJP for describing people from the northeast living in Delhi as “immigrants” — a folly the BJP later rectified.

“The northeastern states are an integral part of India. Those people from northeastern states staying in Delhi are also citizens of India,” he told reporters.

Sarkar, a leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said: “Why should people from northeastern states residing in Delhi be treated as immigrants? This is an absolutely wrong notion.”

A 24-page Vision Document released Tuesday by the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of Saturday’s Delhi elections pledged to protect “immigrants” from the northeast living in the capital.

(IANS)

Sohrabuddin Killing: Former Gujarat police chief discharged on technicality

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Sohrabuddin_case

Mumbai/NDTV: Former Gujarat police chief PC Pandey, who was accused of trying to derail investigations into the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter killing case, was today let off on a technicality.

PC Pandey, a former Director General of Police, was discharged after a court in Mumbai ruled that the CBI should have taken the Centre’s sanction before charging him.

Sources say this could pave the way for more police officers to be discharged in the decade-old fake encounter case.

In 2005, Sohrabuddin, a petty criminal, his wife Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati were traveling on a bus from Andhra Pradesh when they were kidnapped by the Gujarat police. Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed a few days later. Tulsiram, a key witness to their kidnapping, was shot dead a year later; the police claimed that he was trying to escape.

Mr Pande was accused of suppressing evidence in Tulsiram’s killing.

Another controversial police officer, DG Vanzara, was granted bail in the case last year.

In 2013, Mr Vanzara quit the force and shot off a vitriolic letter in which he accused Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, and Amit Shah, a former state home minister, of making him and other police officers scapegoats for following their orders.

In December, a court in Mumbai accepted Amit Shah’s discharge petition and said the BJP president will not face charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.

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