Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / 2016 / Archives for February 2016

Archives for February 2016

JNU Case: Support for arrested student from Chomsky, Pamuk, 84 others

by

(Photo: Andrew Rusk/flickr/cc)

(Photo: Andrew Rusk/flickr/cc)

New Delhi: Eminent academicians, scientists and writers from across the world, including Noam Chomsky and Orhan Pamuk, have recorded their condemnation of the arrest of a JNU student in a strongly-worded statement that says it is “evidence of the present government’s deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent”.

A statement signed by 86 academicians from renowned universities also condemns “the culture of authoritarian menace that the present government in India has generated”.

The statement says: “We have learnt of the shameful act of the Indian government which, invoking sedition laws formulated by India’s colonial rulers, ordered the police to enter the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus and unlawfully arrest a student leader, Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, on charges of inciting violence –without any proof whatever of such wrongdoing on his part.”

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested last week for allegedly shouting anti-India slogans during an event held on the campus on February 9 in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged three years ago.

Mr Kumar has been charged with sedition, for which the maximum punishment is a life term. A report by the Delhi Police on the arrest credits “reliable sources”, explaining sedition charges against the student.

Expressing solidarity with protesting JNU students and faculty, who have boycotted classes to press for Mr Kumar’s release, the statement says: “Mr. Kumar, whose speech (widely available on a video) cannot in any way be connected with the slogans uttered on the previous day, was nonetheless arrested for ‘anti-national’ behaviour and for violating the sedition laws against the incitement to violence. Since there is no evidence to establish these charges, we can only conclude that this arrest is further evidence of the present government’s deeply authoritarian nature, intolerant of any dissent, setting aside India’s longstanding commitment to toleration and plurality of opinion, replicating the dark times of an oppressive colonial period and briefly of the Emergency in the mid-1970s. ”

The action of the police had brought “great dishonor” to the government, the signatories assert, and urge “all those genuinely concerned about the future of India and Indian universities to protest in wide mobilization against it.”

(Agencies)

BJP wins 4 seats as NDA fares better in by-polls

by

BJP

New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday won four seats and the Congress two as the ruling NDA bettered the Opposition in by-elections for 12 seats held across eight states three days ago. Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) was the worst sufferer.

The SP lost two of the three seats it held in Uttar Pradesh – one each to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP also snatched two seats from the Congress – one each in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

The BJP was the winner in Maihar (Madhya Pradesh), Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) and in Hebbal and Devadurga in Karnataka.

The Congress grabbed Bidar in Karnataka and Deoband in Uttar Pradesh.

Bihar’s Harlakhi seat was retained by the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP). The Shiv Sena won from Palghar in Maharashtra, the ruling TRS crushed the Congress in Narayankhed in Telangana and the CPI-M won from Amarpur in Tripura again with the BJP taking the second spot.

Punjab’s Kharoor Sahib constituency went the Shiromani Akali Dal way in an election boycotted by both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the state’s new entrant.

(IANS)

Turkey pushes for ground operation in Syria

by

turkish_military

by Al Bawaba

Turkey has announced it is in favor of a military deployment on the ground in Syria but on the condition that its allies participate in the operation, according to a statement released by a senior Turkish official said on Tuesday.

“We want a ground operation with our international allies,” the official told reporters in Istanbul.

“There is not going to be a unilateral military operation from Turkey to Syria,” the official remarked, before adding that: “Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop the fighting in Syria.”

Turkey considers the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as essential to ending the protracted war in Syria which is currently in its fifth year. The Turkish state is also highly critical of the involvment of Iran and Russia and their support for the Assad regime.

“We are asking the coalition partners that there should be a ground operation,” the official said.

Turkey has attacked Kurdish militia targets in Syria over the past few days, a move which has strained relations between Ankara and Washington. The United States has been supportive of Syrian Kurds fighting Daesh, but Turkey fears this will embolden Kurds living within Turkish borders to push for independence.

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz previously stated on Sunday that Turkey had no plans of intervening on the gound in Syria.

Movie Review: ‘Sanam Re’ A Musical Love Story Gone Seriously Wrong

by

Sanam Re

Producer: Bhushan Kumar
Director: Divya Khosla Kumar
Star Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Yami Gautam, Urvashi Routela Bharti Singh & Rishi Kapoor
Music: T-Series

Director Divya Khosla Kumar had earlier come up with a very youthful & entertaining film Yaariyaan in her debut outing. But in her 2nd outing Sanam Re is not so impressive after all.

The plotted scenario of Sanam Re entails the story of Aakash (Pulkit Samrat) who is an ambitious young man but he is always rebuked by his boss. The circumstances takes him back to his small home town amidst snowcapped hills. His dadaji (Rishi Kapoor), a photographer had been a strong influence on him during childhood but now he’s old & Aakash’s parents are all set to sell off the photo studio since there’s no one to take care of it. The young & confused Aakash rediscovers the memories of his childhood love Shruti (Yami Gautam) whom he had dumped for a comfortable city life a few years ago. Circumstances make Aakash & Yami to meet again in the salubrious climate of Canada where they attend a Yoga Camp of a lady Yoga guru (Bharti Singh). The triangle is completed by gorgeous & sexy Mrs Pablo (Urvashi Rautela) who has to be won over by Aakash for professional reasons. The story moves forward and the professional ambitions gradually gets taken over by pure unadulterated love.

No doubt director Divya Khosla Kumar has chosen some fantastic locales in Laddakh, Canada & Himachal Pradesh. But only if she had paid more attention and made the script of Sanam Re a little more plausible & lively to keep the viewers interest intact in the film.
The only plus point of the movie is its T-Series brand of chart bursting & foot tapping music and the slow pace of the film is another big let down. But of course Sameer Arya’s soothing camerawork makes the stunning locales a visual treat for the viewers.

Performance wise Pulkit Samrat has given a good account of himself. Both Yami Gautam & Urvashi Rautela look gorgeous & beautiful on screen and add to the glamour quotient and that’s it. Bharti Singh. just carries forward her small screen comedian image to celluloid silver screen to raise a few laughable moments. Rishi Kapoor is picture perfect in a grandfather’s role.

Tail Piece: Sanam Re is strictly recommended only for die – hard music lovers while others please stay away from this old wine in a new bottle’s extremely boring fare.

Movie Review: ‘Fitoor’ is a poorest adaptation of famed author Charles Dickens novella “Great Expectations”

by

Fitoor

Producer: Siddharth Roy Kapur
Director: Abhishek Kapur
Star Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Ajay Devgn, Lara Dutta, Rahul Bhatt, Aditi Rao Hydari, Akshay Oberoi, Delbar Arya et al
Music: Amit Trivedi

Actor turned director Abhishek Kapur’s earlier claim to fame were films like Kai Po Che & Rock On! But the less said about his latest directorial outing Fitoor the better.

The plotted scenario of Fitoor kick starts with the flashback that reflects the childhood of a young Kashmiri boy Noor Nizami and his ‘blink – and – you -miss’ tryst with a random stranger (Ajay Devgn), who turns out to be a certain Mirza Baig eventually. One of the days, when Noor Nizami accompanies his brother – in – law to Begam’s (Tabu) palace for some carpentry work, his young & innocent eyes fall on the eternally beautiful Firdaus Jaan Naqvi. Because, she takes a ‘liking’ for Noor Nizami’s (torn) shoes, he gets hired as their stable’s caretaker. Gradually, the duo start liking each other and each other’s company. One day Noor Nizami comes looking out for Firdaus at her palace when Begum informs him that she has been sent away to London for education. The film then fast forwards to a few years and now a grown up Noor Nizami (Aditya Roy Kapur) leaves his hometown to move to Delhi to build his career as an artist. As luck would have it, Noor Nizami meets Firdaus (Katrina Kaif) at a party and this time round, they try to ‘complete’ their ‘incomplete’ love story. That’s when Firdaus confesses to Noor Nizami that she will soon be getting married to an upcoming Pakistani politician Bilal (Rahul Bhatt). The level of obsession that Noor Nizami has for Firdaus reaches crazy heights.

A cautionary advise to Fitoor’s director Abhishek Kapoor that so much obsession (Fitoor) for directing a film, by hook or crook, can be seriously harmful & damaging both for his health & directorial career respectively.

Performance wise both Aditya Roy Kapur & Katrina Kaif are totally disappointing to say the least as first & foremost they both are totally a mismatched pair sans any on screen chemistry and even a starry on screen presence. Need anything more be said about the duo. Tabu does justice to her Begum’s royal character. In fact she is the only silver lining in the cloud. While Ajay Devgn, Lara Dutta, Rahul Bhatt, Aditi Rao Hydari, Akshay Oberoi, Delbar Arya et al have been totally misused in inane & nonsensical roles.

Tail Piece: Fitoor has already proved to be a total waste of time, money & energy for its entire team. So now a cautionary advise for the audiences too, “Don’t waste your time, money & energy” to watch a lacklustre film like Fitoor.

Former DU lecturer SAR Geelani arrested in sedition case

by

SAR Geelani

New Delhi: Former Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani was arrested on sedition and other charges in connection with an event here in which anti-India slogans were raised, police said.

“Geelani was arrested around 3 AM at the Parliament Street police station under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly),” DCP (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal said.

Geelani was called to the police station last night where he was detained and questioned for several hours, and later arrested. After his arrest, he was taken to RML Hospital for a medical examination, he said.

His arrest comes amid the raging row over the arrest of JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar over sedition charges in connection with an event on February 9 against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

At a Press Club event on February 10, in which Geelani was present on the dais along with three other speakers, a group allegedly had shouted slogans hailing Afzal Guru. Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the police registered a case against Geelani and other unnamed persons on February 12.

Police had claimed that Geelani was booked as he is presumed to be the “main organiser” of the event.

“Request for booking a hall at the Press Club was done through Geelani’s e-mail and the nature of the event was proposed to be a public meeting, which did not turn out to be so,” a senior official had said.

Following the registration of the FIR, the police questioned for two consecutive days DU professor Ali Javed, a Press Club member, under whose membership number the hall for the event was booked.

In 2001, Geelani was arrested by Delhi Police in connection with the Parliament attack case but acquitted for “need of evidence” by the Delhi High Court in October 2003, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2005, which at the same time had observed that the needle of suspicion pointed towards him.

(Agencies)

JNU Row: Journalists take to streets to protest assault

by

protest-journalists

New Delhi: Top editors of national media and hundreds of journalists today hit the streets demanding action against those involved in beating up members of their fraternity in a court complex in police presence and sought Supreme Court’s intervention in protecting freedom of speech.

The journalists, shouting slogans against the Modi Government and Delhi Police, marched from Press Club of India to the Supreme Court and submitted a memorandum to its, Registrar, seeking cancellation of licences of lawyers involved in the assualt.

The protesters also demanded Police Commissioner B S Bassi’s sacking due to alleged inaction by the security personnel at the Patiala House Courts yesterday when journalists, students and teachers of JNU where attacked by people wearing lawyers’ black robes.

A separate delegation of journalists met Home Minister Rajnath Singh demanding his intervention in ensuring “accountability of the Delhi Police who watched silently as the assault happened”.

The memorandum by the journalists was submitted to Supreme Court even as it agreed to hear a petition tomorrow on a plea seeking action against those involved in the violence at Patiala House court complex.

“We demand the intervention of the highest court of the land to take appropriate action against the advocates involved in the assault,” the memorandum said, urging the court to direct the bar council to cancel the licences of the errant advocates.

No arrest has been made even 24 hours after the assault where Delhi BJP MLA OP Sharma was also seen beating up a CPI activist.

The journalists also said the CCTV footage of yesterday’s incident should be called for and police directed to ensure protection to journalists and other media persons.

Yesterday, groups of lawyers had beaten up journalists and JNU students and teachers ahead of the hearing of the sedition case registered against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in connection with an event at the university last week to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Anti-India slogans were also allegedly raised at the event.

Nadeem Ahmad Kazmi, Secretary General of Press Club of India, said the Supreme Court registrar told them Chief Justice of India T S Thakur will meet a delegation of journalists in a few days.

“We hope that the Supreme Court will surely protect freedom of speech because it is constitutionally mandated to do so,” he said.

Senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan slammed the Delhi Police for remaining “mute spectators” when the assault was going on.

“The manner in which the police allowed the goons to beat up jourmnalists and no action has been taken against them even after 24 hours tells you that the terrain is likely to get more and more hostile for journalism.

“There is not even a video of Kanhaiya Kumar saying anything and he has been booked for sedition and here you have a video recording of an MLA kicking and beating somebody and not even a case has been registered,” he said.

In the memorandum to the Home Minister, the journalists demanded that the perpetrators of the assault be brought to book at the earliest.

“As Union Home Minister, we urge your intervention in the matter on two counts. There should be some accountability of the Delhi Police who watched silently as the assault happened.

“And secondly, as there were CCTV cameras where the incident of assault must have been recorded, we demand that the perpetrators of the assault be brought to book at the earliest,” they said.

In the memorandum, the journalists also criticised Bassi for describing the incident as a “minor scuffle”.

“It is a matter of concern that the Delhi Police Commissioner has dismissed the incident describing it as a scuffle. Such observations will encourage only those elements who already believe that they are above the law of the land,” it said.

In the memorandum to the Supreme Court, the journalists said Delhi Police did nothing even as “brutal assault” was unleashed by lawyers on media persons including, on women scribes, in and outside the court room.

More than a dozen journalists were set upon by lawyers who prevented them in the discharge of their duties. The journalists had gone to cover the hearing of the sedition case against arrested JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

(PTI)

BJP wins two seats, Congress won in Karnataka by polls

by

BJP

Bengaluru: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday won two seats and the ruling Congress one seat in the by-elections held to the state assembly in Karnataka.

The BJP’s Y.A. Narayanaswamy won from the high-profile Hebbal assembly segment of the Bengaluru North parliamentary constituency by 19,149 votes, defeating C.K. Abdul Rahman Sharief of the Congress and Ismail Sharief Nana of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

Narayanaswamy, a two-time lawmaker from the state legislative council, bagged 60,367 votes, while Abdul, the grandson of former union minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief, secured 41,218 votes and Nana 3,666 votes.

Similarly, in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) reserved Devadurga constituency in Raichur district, about 510 km from Bengaluru, the BJP’s K. Shivana Gouda Nayak won by 16,871 votes, defeating A. Rajashekhara Nayak of the Congress and Karemma G. Nayak of the JD-S.

In a family battle, the contestants being relatives, Shivana polled 72,647 votes, while Rajashekhara got 55,776 and Karemma 9,156 votes.

In Bidar in the state’s north, about 690 km from here, Congress nominee Rahim Khan won by 22,721 votes, defeating Prakash Khandre of the BJP and Md Ayaz Khan of the JD-S.

Rahim polled 70,138 votes, Prakash 47,417 and Ayaz 4,421.

Hebbal registered the lowest voting of 45 percent in the bypolls on Saturday, while it was 61 percent in Bidar and 67 percent (the highest) in Devadurga.

The BJP retained Hebbal and wrested Devadurga from the Congress, while the ruling party wrested Bidar from the BJP.

The by-elections were necessitated by the death of lawmakers — R. Jagadish Kumar of the BJP from Hebbal, Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli of the BJP from Bidar, and Venkatesh Naik of the Congress from Devadurga.

(IANS)

Academicians from 400 international universities extend support to JNU

by

jnu-students-protest

New Delhi: Over 400 academicians from international varsities, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard and Cambridge, have come out in support of JNU students agitating against a row over an event on the campus.

A joint statement signed by 455 academicians from global universities, said, “JNU stands for a vital imagination of the space of the university – an imagination that embraces critical thinking, democratic dissent, student activism, and the plurality of political beliefs. It is this critical imagination that the current establishment seeks to destroy. And we know that this is not a problem for India alone”.

“Similar attacks on critical dissent and university spaces are being attempted and resisted across the world. An open, tolerant, and democratic society is inextricably linked to critical thought and expression cultivated by universities in India and abroad.

“As teachers, students, and scholars across the world, we are watching with extreme concern the situation unfolding at JNU and refuse to remain silent as our colleagues (students, staff, and faculty) resist the illegal detention and autocratic suspension of students,” said the academicians, some of which are JNU alumni.

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested last week in connection with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy registered over holding of the event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru at the varsity during which anti-India slogans were alleged to have been raised.

His arrest has triggered widespread outrage among students and teachers and drawn severe criticism from non-BJP political parties.

The university teachers have also rallied behind its protesting students and questioned the administration’s decision to allow the police crackdown on the campus even as they appealed to the public not to “brand” the institution as “anti-national”.

Yesterday, violence broke out in the Patiala House court complex when groups of lawyers thrashed journalists and students and teachers of JNU while the political slugfest over the arrest of Kanhaiya snowballed with BJP chief Amit Shah targeting Rahul and Sonia Gandhi on the issue.

(Agencies)

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed denies tweets inciting JNU protesters

by

Hafiz Saeed

New Delhi: Hafiz Saeed, has released a video saying that he has nothing to do with the JNU protest. According to ANI, he said in a video: “I felt very odd when I heard that the Indian home minister had said that I or my tweet was behind the JNU slogans. This is a fake twitter account. I have not said anything via a tweet.”

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had brought in Hafiz Saeed into the public debate on the ‘anti-India’ JNU protests, suggesting that those speaking in support of the JNU students were on the same side as Saeed.

“The incident at JNU has received support from Hafiz Saeed . This is a truth that the nation needs to understand,” Singh told reporters in Allahabad on Sunday. The home minister’s comments had come days after a tweet, on a fake twitter handle, appeared under a hashtag asking Pakistanis to support the JNU protests.

The opposition reacted sharply to the home minister’s remarks.

The Congress and the Left parties slammed the home minister and asked him to provide proof of what he had claimed. The CPM’s top leader, Sitaram Yechury, accused the government of “scaring us off” and crushing dissent, after protesters attacked the CPM party office.

(Agencies)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives