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39 Indians held hostage by ISIS alive: Sushma Swaraj

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sushma-swaraj

New Delhi: All the 39 Indians held hostage in Iraq by Islamic State militants for more than a year are “alive”, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the families of the victims.

Swaraj, who met the families for the eighth time since the abduction of the Indians in June last year from Mosul, reassured them about the well-being of the nationals on the basis of information received from multiple sources.

The government was making all sincere efforts for the safe and early release of the Indian workers, she told the families, who were accompanied by Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Official sources said the minister also told them that though there was no “first-hand confirmation” about the wellbeing of the 39 nationals but multiple sources have indicated that they were being made to work in Iraq.

Swaraj had earlier personally spoken to her counterparts in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as other friendly countries in the region for their assistance in the safe release of Indians in captivity.

The minister also assured the families that as soon as some concrete proof on the well-being of the workers is received by the government, it would be shared with them.

(Agencies)

Mobile Internet services banned in Gujarat after Hardik Patel’s detention

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Ahmedabad: In a bid to curb spread, of rumours after detention, of Patel community leader Hardik, the Gujarat administration today banned mobile Internet services across the state.

“We have decided to ban mobile Internet service in the state to tackle the law and order situation and to curb the rumours across Gujarat for an indefinite period,” Director General of Police PC Thakur told media persons.

Hardik, who has been agitating to get reservation under OBC quota for his community, was today detained by the Surat city police ahead of his Ekta Rally.

According to a notification issued by Ahmedabad city Police Commissioner Shivanand Jha, mobile Internet services have been banned from this afternoon to 12 PM on September 20.

Jha in the notification said the action has been taken to curb rumours after Hardik’s detention and to control the law and order situation.

Soon after the 22 year-old leader’s detention, Surat district collector issued notification putting ban on mobile Internet services for 24 hours.

In Rajkot also, mobile Internet services have been prohibited for a week, said District Collector Manisha Chandra.

Gujarat had witnessed violence after Hardik’s detention on August 25, in which ten people were killed in the state and property of crores was damaged as well.

Then too, the state administration had banned mobile Internet services for around a week to prevent rumours.

(Agencies)

Sheena Bora murder case handed over to CBI

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Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Friday decided to hand over the Sheena Bora murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in order to ensure a fair and impartial probe.

The announcement was made by state Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K.P. Bakshi.

“For the last few days, since the former Mumbai police commissioner (Rakesh Maria) was replaced by Ahmad Javed, the media have sought to convey the impression that efforts were on to deliberately try and dilly-dally and interfere with the (murder) inquiry,” Bakshi told media persons.

However, when the transfers-cum-promotions took place, Bakshi said he had taken great pains to clarify that there was no connection between the administrative decisions and the particular case.

“I am compelled to say that because of this impression being created by certain sections of the media and based on the report of the DGP (director general of police), we have decided to hand over the case to the CBI,” Bakshi said.

The DGP gave a complete status report on the Sheena murder case and he also commented on what should be done in future, he added.

After lengthy discussions with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other top police and civil officials, the government decided that not a single state officer should be involved or connected with the investigation.

“We want to give a clear message to the people, and the government has no intention to interfere in the case and we want a complete and impartial investigation. We have been in touch with the centre and the CBI and completed all relevant formalities in the matter,” Bakshi explained.

However, he said it was upto the central government to take a final call on whether to assign the case to the CBI or not, depending on its workload.

(IANS)

Reporters Without Borders founder: Schools should reject Syrians

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The founder of Reporters Without Borders and current mayor of Beziers refuse to help educate Syrian refugees.

Founder of Reporters Without Borders Robert Menard | Photo: AFP

Founder of Reporters Without Borders Robert Menard | Photo: AFP

by teleSUR

The founder of Reporters Without Borders, Robert Menard, has sparked outrage after refusing on Wednesday to allow Syrian children to study in public schools in the city of Beziers, where he is the mayor.

“There are a certain number of Syrian families that arrived, that broke doors, that installed themselves here … and now I have a certain number of associations … (that demand) I allow the children (of the Syrian families) in our schools, of course I won’t!” said the mayor during a televised interview.

Menard’s latest remarks come after he himself took up the task of evicting Syrian migrants in his city last week. A video of him carrying door-to-door evictions with a translator and a handful of armed policemen was posted by the mayor’s office on Youtube.

“You are not welcome in this city,” he tells a Syrian refugee, who entered an abandoned apartment.

The mayor, accompanied by armed policemen, aggressively tells another refugee that he has to leave immediately and if he refuses, the police will take him out.

“We cannot accept that people behave this way … They exploit (these people) politically,” he explains to other local government authorities accompanying him at the end of the video.

Menard has also been widely criticized for using a picture of Syrian refugees boarding a train in Macedonia for the front cover of the local government’s magazine, with the title “They are here!”

The misuse of the photograph elicited the news agency AFP and its photographer to sue Menard for 60,000 Euros (US$68,517).

The organization he founded, Reporters Without Borders, has become famous for its freedom of the press reports which specifically targets countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.

Since 2008, the United Nations’ Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has twice sanctioned the organization for its lack of ethics.

Woman raped in moving bus in Bhopal, three held

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Bhopal: Three people accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a moving bus here on Wednesday night have been arrested and a case of rape slapped against them, an official said on Friday.

Anshuman Singh, police superintendent, Bhopal (south region), told IANS that the incident occurred on Wednesday when a 35-year-old woman was travelling by the state transport bus.

The woman was left alone after fellow passengers got down at a stop. When she wanted to get down, the driver asked her to wait till the bus took an about turn from a nearby roundabout.

Meanwhile, the conductor Deepak first misbehaved with her and then sexually assaulted her. The driver Sallu and another traveller Raju allegedly helped him in carrying out the assault. They later dropped her near an income tax office and fled.

The official said, “A rape case has been filed against all the three, as the two helped conductor Deepak in committing the act. All three have been arrested and bus seized.”

(IANS)

Donald Trump: ‘We’re gonna be looking into’ How we can get rid of all the Muslims

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The racial politics of the current GOP frontrunner, warns one critic, are ‘just vague enough to be popular with enough people to earn him a serious following, but specific enough for us to know the atrocities this type of talk can lead to.’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is being criticized for his response to a question about Muslim and their "training camps," asked during a town hall event in New Hampshire on Thursday. (Image: Screenshot)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is being criticized for his response to a question about Muslim and their “training camps,” asked during a town hall event in New Hampshire on Thursday. (Image: Screenshot)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

In a week that has already seen collective outrage in response to the treatment of a Muslim teenager in Texas who was handcuffed and arrested simply for bringing a homemade clock to school, the pervasiveness of Islamaphobic sentiment was on display once again overnight after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump fielded a question in New Hampshire about what he planned to do “about getting rid of” all the nation’s Muslims.

And though no candidate can be held responsible for the statements made or questions directed at them during an open Q&A session, it is Trump’s response that has set off a firestorm of condemnation.

As the Washington Post reports:

The exchange came during a post-debate rally in Rochester, N.H., during which Trump asked the audience for questions rather than giving a speech. To kick things off, Trump pointed at a man in the audience: “Okay, this man. I like this guy.”

“We have a problem in this country, it’s called Muslims,” the man said. “We know our current president is one. You know, he’s not even an American. Birth certificate, man.”

“Right,” Trump said, then adding with a shake of his head: “We need this question? This first question.”

“But any way,” the man said. “We have training camps… where they want to kill us.”

“Uh huh,” Trump said.

“That’s my question: When can we get rid of them?” the man said.

Trump responded: “We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. You know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re going to look at that and plenty of other things.”

Watch:

In response, Kevin Drum wondered at Mother Jones whether the latest comment would be enough to damage his campaign. “If there’s any justice,” wrote Drum, “this might finally do him in.”

However, Trump has so far seen his poll numbers rise in the wake of derogatory comments made about other groups, including Mexican immigrants and women. By targeting the Muslim community, Trump is contributing to what critics see as a growing and troubling atmosphere of anti-Islamic sentiment that has taken hold of the nation in recent years. Not spoken in a vacuum, wrote journalist Glenn Greenwald of Trump’s latest comments, they follow a “continuous, sustained demonization of a small minority group” in this country that has become part of the right-wing ethos in the post-9/11 era. Such demonization, “sooner or later,” said Greenwald, has consequences.

Since Trump entered the presidential race many have brushed off his early success as flash-in-the-pan politics that result largely from his celebrity status and flamboyant (if noxious) media persona. However, other observers on these pages (here and here) have warned that beneath his bravado lurks a deeply troubling—and quite modern form—of fascism that should trouble the minds of those who care about fundamental principles of tolerance, human rights, and civil decency.

“In every way that matters, [Trump] is a fascist,” wrote Roger White, a senior research analyst for SEIU, at Common Dreams last month. “He reminds one of Mussolini—a corporatist buffoon with a huge ego and a mean streak. He is a first rate demagogue. His brand of racial politics is just vague enough to be popular with enough people to earn him a serious following, but specific enough for us to know the atrocities this type of talk can lead to.”

And, White continued, “This is not the phony so called ‘liberal’ fascism invented by the right. This is the real deal, and its popularity is growing among GOP voters right now. Republicans are standing on the edge of the abyss.”

The question is, he asked in conclusion: “Will they jump?”

Pakistani Taliban storms airbase near Peshawar

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At least 21 security officers among 43 dead in firefight after attack by fighters on military barracks and mosque.

Ambulances took about 20 wounded military personnel to hospital after Friday's attack, officials said [Reuters]

Ambulances took about 20 wounded military personnel to hospital after Friday’s attack, officials said [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Fighters belonging to the Pakistani Taliban have stormed an air force station near Peshawar in Pakistan’s northwest, resulting in a firefight with security forces and the deaths of at least 43 people, sources say.

ISPR, the Pakistan military’s media wing, said at least 21 security officers and five civilians working at the Badaber Air Force base died and 14 fighters were killed in Friday morning’s gun battle.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Taliban, claimed responsibility for the raid at the facility, located on the edge of Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

An army captain and two guards were among the dead, according to the military and a local hospital that received the bodies, and at least 10 soldiers were wounded.

It was unclear if any of the attackers got away. Details about how they managed to make their way into a mosque inside the compound walls and kill worshippers during prayers were sketchy.

Ambulances took around 20 wounded military personnel to hospital, Bilal Ahmed, a rescue official, told Reuters news agency.

Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Peshawar, said Friday’s assault was the first major attack conducted by the Pakistani Taliban since the Peshawar school massacre in December.

“Having said that, there have been warnings of a major attack to come … At the stage we don’t know if the 16 killed in the attack on the mosque are civilians or military personnel,” she said.

The assault came as the Pakistan army was carrying out a major operation against local and foreign fighters in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Major-General Asim Saleem Bajwa, an army spokesman, said the attackers entered the base from different directions in a two-pronged assault – apparently one push targeted the mosque – but security forces quickly responded.

The airbase – established in the 1960s – was not functional and it was mostly being used as a residential place for the employees and officers of the air force, reports said.

Soldiers wounded

In statements posted on Twitter, Bajwa said Pakistan’s army chief, General Raheel Sharif, rushed to Peshawar to meet the security forces taking part in the clearing operation.

He said Sharif would visit a military hospital where doctors were treating wounded soldiers.

A military official at the airbase, who asked not to be identified, said the attackers opened fire on security guards as they tried to fight their way into the facility.

“All the terrorists were wearing explosives-laden jackets and were armed with hand-propelled grenades, mortars, AK-47 rifles,” the official told Reuters.

“The Quick Response Force of the Pakistan army immediately responded and killed six terrorists before they could enter.”

Mohamad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement to the media, he said the fighters gave safe exit to women and children after attacking the base.

He said the group targeted 50 security forces, but the claim could not be confirmed by government or military sources.

Shortly after the attack, a suspected US drone strike hit a home in the South Waziristan tribal region, south of Peshawar, killing at least three fighters and wounding five, according to two Pakistani security officials.

The number of attacks in Pakistan has fallen around 70 percent this year, due to a combination of a military offensive against Taliban bases along the Afghan border and government initiatives to tackle violence.

That follows a massacre at a military-run school last December that killed around 150 people, almost all of them children.

The Pakistani Taliban said it gave safe exit to women and children after attacking the airbase outside Peshawar [EPA]

West Bengal government declassifies 64 files related to Netaji

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Kolkata: The West Bengal government today declassified 64 files relating to Subhas Chandra Bose which might throw some light on his mysterious disappearance as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Centre should also make public its files on him.

The 64 files containing 12,744 pages were declassified in the presence of his family members who have been demanding that information on Bose, kept confidential till now, should be made public.

The files were displayed in glass cascades in Kolkata Police Museum here and they would be made accessible to the public from Monday, City Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha said.

Of the 64 files, 55 were with Kolkata Police while another nine were with the state police.

Purakayastha handed over a DVD containing the files in digitised format to the family members of Netaji.

Chief Minister Banerjee, who visited the police museum, tweeted, “Today is a historic day. Our government has made all Netaji files public. People have a right to know about the brave son of India.”

Later, she said, “We made a beginning. The people should know the truth. Let the central government also declassify the files (on Netaji). Let good sense prevail on all of us. You cannot suppress the truth. Let truth come out.

“In 70 years, the mystery has not been solved. We did not know what happened (to Netaji). It is unfortunate. How long you can keep it under secrecy. You read the files in details,” she said.

Welcoming the declassification of the 64 files by the state government, Chandra Bose, Netaji’s grandnephew said, “It is a correct step. Now it is the duty of the central government to declassify 130 files it has with it.

(Agencies)

Avoid cow slaughter in larger interest, Ulema tells Muslims

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by Mohammed Shafeeq

Hyderabad: With the ban on beef in some states and the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha triggering a fierce debate on cow slaughter across the country, a group of Islamic scholars in southern India has appealed to Muslims to avoid sacrificing cows, bulls and bullocks in the community’s larger interest.

The scholars have advised Muslims to show pragmatism in the prevailing situation and instead opt for alternate animals permitted by the Sharia to ensure that peace is maintained and there are no impediments in their larger duty of “dawat-e-deen” of introducing Islam to non-Muslims.

Backed by all schools of thought, the group has taken up the campaign through social media, meetings, pamphlets and Friday sermons in mosques in different states of southern India.

“Our message is that Muslims should not take law in their hands but desist from sacrificing cow, bulls and bullocks for maintaining peace. This will also help in introducing Islam to others,” Syed Hussain Madani, an Islamic scholar heading the campaign, told IANS.

The scholar has suggested that the community should avoid sacrificing cows to protect life and property. People trading in cows, bulls and bullocks have been suffering loss of life and property and sometimes ending up harming others.

Madani quoted ‘Hadith’, or the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, that “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.”

Noting that the Prophet sacrificed two sheep on Eid-ul-Azha, he said: “Since the Prophet Muhammad is the best model for us, we should follow him. Sacrificing cow is allowed but it is not ‘afzal’ (preferable),” he said.

Every year, hundreds of bulls and bullocks are brought to the city for sacrifice on Eid day. Such animals are in huge demand because seven people can have share in each. At Rs.2,500 to Rs.2,800 each share, this works out more economical than Rs.6,000 to Rs.7,000 for a goat or sheep.

The scholars pointed out that sacrificing per se is not “farz” (obligation) but “sunnat” (practice of the Prophet). “Allah doesn’t burden more than one can bear. There is ample room to avoid this (sacrifice of cow) in the prevailing situation when there are legal restrictions and communal disharmony over the issue,” said Madani.

As many families take a share in such animals to distribute meat among the poor, Madani said that the poor may be helped in many other ways.

The ulema, while noting that slaughter of cow, bulls and bullocks are linked to the livelihood of a group, argue that the interest of the entire community should get priority.

“Prevention of means of ‘fasad’ (mischief) is better than the benefits we may get from certain things,” said Madani.

The scholars are also of the opinion that the misconceptions about cow slaughter and the misinformation spread by some elements affects “Dawate-e-deen” and since this is an obligatory duty of every Muslim, it should get priority over sacrificing cow, bulls or bullocks.

“Some miscreants themselves sell cows and strengthen their economy but take legal action against those who buy cows and sometimes even kill the buyers. Desisting from the sacrifice of such animals will deny them an opportunity to indulge in mischief,” added Madani.

Well-known personalities like Mohammed Abdul Raheem Qureshi, president of the Majlis-e-Tameer-e-Millat and assistant secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Moulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, Moulana Aneesur Rehman Azmi of Chennai, Moulana Mufti Nassem Ahmed Ashrafi, and Moulana Mufti Mahboob Shareef Nizami are backing the initiative.

The appeal also has the backing of Muslim political leaders and legal experts. It also made reference to a suggestion by some political leaders that giving up eating of beef for a couple of years will show its impact on the economy and those opposing it will be forced to amend the legislation.

(IANS)

Infiltration bid foiled in J&K, two militants killed

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Srinagar: The Army on Friday foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, killing two militants.

“An infiltration bid has been foiled in Gurez. Two terrorists have been killed,” Defence Spokesman Lt Col N N Joshi said.

He said post midnight, the alert troops posted on guard duty along the LoC intercepted the militants while they were trying to sneak into the Valley from across the border.

“An encounter erupted and during the exchange of fire, two terrorists were killed,” Mr. Joshi said.

The spokesman said two AK-47 rifles have been recovered from the site of the encounter.

“The search operation is going on,” he said.

The identity of the militants has not been ascertained so far, the spokesman said.

(Agencies)

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