Archives for January 2018

Pune: An FIR was filed against Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid for their alleged “provocative” speeches during an event here on December 31, an official said today. Both were charged for allegedly creating a rift and spreading disharmony between the Maratha and Dalit communities.

Mevani, the newly elected MLA from Gujarat, and Khalid had attended the “Elgar Parishad”, an event organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima- Koregaon, at Shaniwar Wada in the city on December 31.

According to a complaint filed by city resident Akshay Bikkad, Mevani and Khalid allegedly made “provocative” speeches at the event and their remarks were aimed at creating disharmony and rift between the communities, which led to the violence in Bhima Koregaon on January 1.

Bikkad approached the Deccan-Gymkhana police with the complaint, which was forwarded to the Vishrambaug police station, since Shaniwarwada falls under its jurisdiction. The Vishrambaug police registered the FIR against the two leaders yesterday, the official said.

According to the complaint, Mevani at the Pune event said, “If we want to win over this new Peshwai, the battle of Bhima Koregaon needs to be taken ahead.” The Dalit leader said it was right that people fighting the battle needed to be in assemblies and Parliament, but if one had to eradicate casteism, it would happen only by taking to the streets.

According to the complaint, Khalid, the student leader from JNU in New Delhi, said the battle of Bhima Koregaon had to be taken ahead. “They had attacked. It is time to retaliate and we will fight this battle and we will win and this victory over new Peshwai will be the true homage to the martyrs of Bhima Koregaon battle,” the complaint quoted Khalid as saying.

Based on the complaint, offences were registered against Mevani and Khalid under IPC sections 153 (a) (delivering speech to create disharmony or feelings of enmity), section 505 (giving statement conducing to public mischief) and 117 (abetting commission of offence by the public or by more than ten persons), the police official said.

Normal life was crippled in Maharashtra yesterday due to a bandh called by Dalit groups to protest the violence on the anniversary of a battle fought 200 years ago. Violence erupted in Pune on January 1 when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the British defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra.

Dalit leaders commemorate the British victory as it is believed that soldiers from the Mahar community were part of the East India Company’s forces. The Peshwas were Brahmins, and the victory is seen as a symbol of assertiveness by Dalits.

(PTI)

by Al Jazeera

Iran’s supreme leader has blamed external “enemies” for heightening turmoil in the country, as the death toll in ongoing nationwide anti-government rallies has passed 20.

The comments by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority, came on Tuesday hours before the US said that it would seek emergency United Nations talks on the protests in the Islamic republic.

At least eight people were killed on Monday night, according to state media, taking the number of people killed since the demonstrations began on December 28 to at least 22.

In his first public remarks since the rallies began, Khamenei said that “enemies” of Iran have allied and used the various means they have available, including “money, weapons, politics, and intelligence services”, to stir unrest.

“The dignity, security, and progress of the Iranian nation are owed to the self-sacrifice of the martyrs. What prevents enemies from exerting their atrocities is the spirit of courage, sacrifice, and faith within the nation,” he said in a statement posted on his official website.

“I have something to say on these events, and I will speak to the dear people when the time is right.

“The Iranian nation will forever owe the dear martyrs, who left behind their homes and families, to stand against the wicked enemies.”

US President Donald Trump, who has used Twitter to criticise Tehran since the rallies erupted, hailed the protesters for acting against the “brutal and corrupt” regime and said Iranians had “little food, big inflation and no human rights”.

Iran’s foreign ministry hit back, saying the US president was “wasting his time sending useless and insulting tweets” and would be better off focusing on “homeless and hungry people” in his own country.

Later on Tuesday, Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the UN, said the US would seek an emergency session of the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council to discuss Iran.

“The people of Iran are crying out for freedom,” she told reporters. “All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause.”

‘Most politicised rallies in years’

The anti-government rallies first erupted in the second-largest city in Iran, Mashhad, prompted by anger over the high cost of living, rising unemployment and the overall state of the economy under the government of President Hassan Rouhani.

They quickly spread to other parts of Iran and turned political, with some protesters chanting slogans against Iran’s foreign policy, as well as against Khamenei and Rouhani.

Despite threats by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to put down the demonstrations, protesters have continued taking to the streets, in what has been described as the biggest show of dissent in the country since huge rallies took place in 2009.

So far, at least 530 people – 450 in Iran’s capital, Tehran, and 80 in the central city of Arak – have been arrested, according to state media.

Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a visiting fellow at Brookings Doha Center, said the past week’s rallies “are the most politicised demonstrations we’ve had in Iran for a very long time.

“Clearly, the slogans are anti-regime and they target all factions of the Islamic Republic [of Iran], all factions of the establishment,” he added, noting, however, that “regime change is such a loaded term because it was misused by a lot of imperialist projects in the past”.

Commenting on the allegations that outside actors were stirring unrest, Fathollah-Nejad said that while there is “no doubt” that there are “some external forces who are instrumentalising” what is currently taking place in the country, it must also be acknowledged that these powers “don’t have enough influence in Iran anyway.

“The claim by the government to say that a lot of those protests are instigated by the outside, when in the past the same government would say that those forces don’t have a following, for example, inside Iran, is just ironic,” he told Al Jazeera.

“There are a lot of different interests that are whirling around Iran, but at the same time those protests are somehow organic,” added Fathollah-Nejad, noting that the rallies are a backlash against Iran’s deeply rooted problems.

“The truth of the matter lies not within the outside world, or with outside forces, but with the very real structural problems that Iranian people have felt over the last few years.”

Structural and contingent factors
In May 2017, Rouhani, who belongs to the reformist bloc of Iran’s political spectrum, decisively won re-election after garnering 57 percent of the vote in the country’s presidential election.

That poll was the first since Rouhani negotiated an historic deal with world powers in 2015, to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Many in Iran hoped that the deal, by lifting many international sanctions, would ease the country’s financial struggles.

Yet, the benefits do not seem to have trickled down, with critics blaming the ruling religious elite for economic mismanagement and alleged corruption.

Last month’s budget, which included cuts to vital social welfare programmes while giving more money to religious and revolutionary institutions, exacerbated tensions, according to analysts.

“If you have been objectively following the socioeconomic indicators in Iran, you’ll see a huge portion of the population has not been benefitting from neither the reformist policies, nor from the conservative ones,” said Fathollah-Nejad.

“If you take all those structural factors, plus the more recent contingent factors – the government’s response to the [December] earthquakes, student and labour protests, and the budget announcement … you cannot be very much surprised.”

Hyderabad: Introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would adversely affect a majority of Indians working there and reduce their remittances, said a former diplomat.

“I would say 70 to 80% of Indian community there will be adversely affected,” said Talmiz Ahmad, the former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE.

The size of the Indian community in Saudi Arabia and the UAE is three million and 2.8 million, respectively, he said.

Of them, the lower-middle-class and middle-class sections will get affected the most as they are already feeling the pressure on account of high cost of living, Ahmad said.

“This is on account of rent, medical expenses, school fees, transport and high cost of essential items. Therefore, cost of living has gone up quite significantly in the last two years,” he said.

The adverse impact on the labour community which is provided accommodation by the employer and blue-collar workers who are “protected” by their companies would be comparatively less, he said.

“As it is, the cost of living there (Saudi Arabia and the UAE) is quite high,” he said. “Obviously, the low paid Indian expatriates will be adversely affected.”

“I have a feeling, as it is because of the fall in oil prices and reduction in employment, the remittances have already reduced in the last two or three years,” Ahmad said.

“The remittances from the Gulf have already come down; earlier it was about $35 billion; I think it would have come down to USD 30 billion. Yes, there will be a further small reduction (following the introduction of VAT) because this income will no longer be available to the person to remit,” Ahmad said.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE introduced VAT from January 1, a first for the Gulf. Reports said the 5% sales tax applies to most goods and services.

(PTI)

Jerusalem: A top Israeli arms firm has confirmed that India cancelled a $500 million deal to develop Spike anti-tank guided missiles and expressed “regret” over the decision just ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first visit to the country.

“Rafael has now received an official notification from India’s Ministry of Defence concerning the cancellation of the Spike deal,” said Ishai David, a spokesman for the Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd.

Spike, in use by 26 countries around the world, is said to have been selected by India after a long and rigorous process and after complying with all the defence procurement regulations.

“It should be emphasised that the cancellation was made prior to the signing of the contract and despite Rafael’s compliance with all the demands,” the company said in a statement.

“Rafael regrets the decision and remains committed to cooperating with the Indian Ministry of Defence and to its strategy of continuing to work in India, an important market, as it has for more than two decades, to provide India with the most advanced and innovative systems,” it added.

The company did not give a reason for the cancellation of the deal.

The cancellation comes days before Netanyahu’s four-day visit to India starting January 14 and is likely to be taken up for discussion. Rafael’s CEO would also be accompanying Netanyahu.

The company recently inaugurated its facilities in Hyderabad where the project was to be executed but company sources said that it is “designed to accommodate a number of other projects Rafael is engaged in with its Indian partners”.

As per the original proposal, India had planned to acquire the ATGMs for the army at a cost of $500 million.

The Indian defence ministry has been strongly pushing for transfer of technology in procuring various weapons and other platforms from foreign defence majors as part of its broad policy initiative to encourage domestic defence industry.

Official sources in New Delhi had earlier indicated that the proposal to acquire the missile system faced hurdles when Israeli side apparently expressed reservations in ensuring full transfer of technology as per the provisions of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

(PTI)