The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld a trial court conviction of 89 people for rioting, burning houses and breaching curfew in Trilokpuri area in east Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Justice R.K. Gauba dismissed the appeals of the convicts who had challenged a 1996 judgment of a Sessions Court which had convicted the 89 arrested on November 2, 1984.

According to the FIR lodged in connection with the Trilokpuri killings, 95 people died in the rioting and 100 houses were burnt, said senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, who has been representing the riot victims.

The 1984 riots followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Hundreds of innocent Sikhs were killed, mainly in Delhi.

Among the 89 convicts, some died during their appeals and the case against them has abated, police had earlier said.

Convicting all the 89 for various offences including rioting, the trial court sentenced them to five years in jail.

IANS

Bharatiya Janata Party’s saffron mascot Yogi Adityanath dragged the “caste” of Lord Hanuman into the poll slugfest in Rajasthan to seek Dalit votes on Wednesday.

The UP chief minister, known for his polarising speeches, said that Hanuman was a Dalit tribal as he appealed to those belonging to his caste to vote for the candidate fielded by the BJP from Alwar.

“Hanuman was a tribal, a forest dweller and was deprived. Bajrang Bali worked to connect all Indian communities together, from north to south and east to west. This was his resolve as it was Lord Ram’s wish. Just like him, we should also not rest till we fulfil that wish,” Adityanath said during a poll rally in Malpura constituency.

The firebrand leader, one of the BJP’s star campaigners in the state, then directed his divisive diatribe at the Congress and said while all ‘Ram-bhakts’ would vote for the saffron party, only those who pray to Ravana would vote for the Congress.

He has been increasingly invoking the name of Lord Ram in poll-bound states amid the growing clamour from Hindu outfits and some BJP leaders to start the construction of a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Analysts see this as BJP’s two-pronged strategy to appeal to a wide base of voters – Adityanath is employed to reinforce Hindutva narrative while Prime Minister Narendra Modi projects himself as the man for development.

This is not the first time that Adityanath has tried to use Hanuman to seek votes. Earlier this month too, he had claimed that he was a Dalit tribal as he sought to forge a direct connection with voters in tribal dominated state of Chhattisgarh.

“Hunuman sabse bade adivasi hain, vanvasi hain…,” Yogi had said in the state, adding, “When Lord Ram was on vanvaas, he helped the local tribals from the terror of demons. Just like Ram did in Treta Yug, the BJP is also aiming to bring Ram Rajya in the state.”

While Union Ministers Hardeep Puri and Harsimrat Kaur Badal leave for Pakistan to attend Kartarpur Corridor foundation stone laying ceremony External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has given a big statement on India-Pakistan ties in context of the Kartarpur Corridor. “For many years the Indian Government has been asking for this (#Kartarpur) corridor, only now Pakistan responded positively. It doesn’t mean the bilateral dialogue will start because of this, terror & talks can’t go together, ” said EAM Sushma Swaraj

“I feel extremely grateful and privileged to be able to make this pilgrimage. This was a long-standing demand of the Sikh community. Express gratitude also to Pakistan government,” said Union Minister Hardeep Puri before leaving for Pakistan for Kartarpur Corridor  foundation stone laying ceremony.

Earlier Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said, “The Kartarpur Corridor would promote peace and erase “enmity” between India and Pakistan and create infinite possibilities between them, including the resumption of cricket ties.”

The 4-km-long corridor will connect Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur district with Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib Narowal in Pakistan. The corridor will provide visa-free access to the Indian Sikh pilgrims to the gurdwara

Prime Minister Imran Khan will perform the groundbreaking of the corridor on Wednesday.

Sidhu thanked Khan for making this corridor possible which he said will help promote peace between the two countries.

 External Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was bothered about his own family and that he forgot the martyrs of Telangana.

She said though Telangana state was formed because of the sacrifices of thousands of youth, power in the new state remained confined to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief and his four family members.

Sushma Swaraj was in Telangana to campaign for the BJP for next month’s Assembly elections.

“KCR forgot the martyrs whose sacrifices resulted in the formation of Telangana state,” she told the media.

“He remembered only his family. KCR is Chief Minister, his son and nephew are Ministers, his daughter is Lok Sabha member and his niece is Rajya Sabha member,” she said.

The BJP leader said that while 2,000 youth sacrificed their lives for the sake of Telangana, KCR recognized only 400 as martyrs and failed to fulfill even the promises made to them in the previous elections.

She said that the BJP extended its support to the demand for Telangana when the chips were down.

She found fault with the kind of language being used by KCR against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She said that political parties should not treat their rivals as enemies and should exercise restraint while speaking.

Sushma Swaraj denied that the BJP had a secret understanding with TRS. She said the rumours were being spread by those who want to damage the BJP’s credibility. “Whatever we do, we do it openly.”

IANS

India won’t attend the proposed Saarc Summit in Pakistan and there will be no dialogue with Islamabad until it stops sponsoring terrorism, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced on Wednesday.

Sushma Swaraj made it clear that New Delhi will not participate in the Saarc summit and it was not responding to an invite from Pakistan for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the gathering of South Asian leaders.

“As I said, unless and until Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in Saarc,” she told the media here.

Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit, Foreign Office spokesman Mohammed Faisal said on Tuesday.

The Saarc Summit of 2016 which was to be held in Pakistan was cancelled after India boycotted the event, triggering a pullout by Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday that talks and terror cannot go together.

She said that although India welcomed the development of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims, it would not have any dialogue with Islamabad till it stopped sponsoring terrorism.

“Bilateral dialogues and Kartarpur corridor are two different things. I am very happy that for the last 20 years, rather many years, the government of India has been asking for this Kartarpur corridor and for the first time Pakistan responded positively,” she said.

“But that doesn’t mean that bilateral dialogue will start… We always say terror and talks can’t go together. The moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, the dialogue can start. The dialogue is not connected with only Kartarpur corridor,” she added.

Sushma Swaraj said she could not attend Kartarpur ceremony because she was tied up with a visit to Telangana.

She refused to comment on Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s participation in the ceremony related to the corridor opening and referred to his statement that he was going there in his personal capacity.

The Minister said it was for the Punjab Chief Minister and Congress party to comment on Sidhu’s participation.

Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Puri are in Pakistan to attend the ceremony. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will perform the ground breaking ceremony for the project near the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, where Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak Dev, spent the last 18 years of his life.

IANS