Archives for July 2022

LUCKNOW: Haji Wasi, a prominent builder accused of funding the Kanpur violence that broke out on June 3 against the controversial statement of suspended BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma over Prophet Mohammad was arrested in state capital Lucknow on late Monday night, said Joint commissioner of Kanpur police, Anand Prakash Tiwari .

According to police official, Haji Wasi was the main financer of Zafar Hayat Hashmi, the alleged mastermind of the Kanpur violence. His son Rahman was arrested two days ago. Zafar Hayat Hashmi along with Mukhtar Baba, owner of famous Baba Biryani, is already in police custody. Haji Wasi’s name had cropped up after the interrogation of Zafar Hayat Hashmi.

As per the Kanpur Police official, Wasi was arrested near Amausi airport from where he was about to take a flight late on Monday night. Last week , the Kanpur police authorities had procured a non-bailable warrant against Wasi from the court. Wasi was named in three FIRs by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the Kanpur violence.

As per the Kanpur police officials, after the violence, Wasi had fled to Delhi from where he came down to Lucknow with all the documents to escape to abroad ready. He was about to take a flight on Monday night.

Notably, huge violent protests had broken out after Friday Namaz against Nupur Sharma’s statement at Nai Sadak locality of Kanpur engulfing other Muslim dominated localities as well on June 3. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up to probe into the violence, had identified 40 persons accused of spreading hatred. Their posters were put up at the city crossings. Moreover, 55 persons were named and around 1000 unidentified trouble makers were booked by the Kanpur police. Of those booked for violence, around 60 have so far been arrested and sent to jail.

The Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) had also demolished one of his buildings in Swaroop Nagar and seized nine others.

Meanwhile, as per the Kanpur police, just ahead of June 3 violence in Kanpur, the trouble makers were connected through an active WhatsApp group which had numbers from Iran, Pakistan and Oman. The Cyber cell of UP police has been entrusted to track those numbers and collect details about them.

Amid a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in Chennai, the city corporation has made it compulsory to wear masks in all public places from Tuesday.

It has also announced that Rs 500 will be collected as a fine from those who don’t abide by the rule.

The civic body has asked the owners of malls, theaters, shops, marketplaces, etc to make sure their employees and customers wear masks and take due precaution.

India on Tuesday reported 13,086 Covid cases in the past 24 hours against the previous day’s count of 16,135, according to Union Health Ministry. In the same period, 19 fatalities took the nationwide death toll to 5,25,242.

Meanwhile, the active caseload has also risen to 1,14,475, accounting for 0.26 per cent of total positive cases.

The recovery of 12,456 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,28,91,933. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.53 per cent.

NEW DELHI: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of securing the future of his “friends” even in foreign countries but leaving the youth of the country unemployed.

He shared a video of young men who had taken the exam for recruitment as police personnel in the Central paramilitary forces walking on the streets in protest because they never got the results.

“The prime minister, who has secured the future of his ‘friends’ even in foreign countries, has left the youth of his own country to become unemployed. Why so much discrimination with these youth,” Gandhi asked in a tweet in Hindi.

KABUL: Taliban is again making headlines for its cryptic practices the latest being a Talibani commander using a military helicopter to take his newlywed bride home, media reported citing sources.

According to local sources in Logar province, the commander allegedly flew his newlywed bride from Logar to Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan, using a military helicopter.

As per Afghanistan’s local media, Khaama Press, the Talibani figure was referred to as a commander of the Haqqani branch of the Taliban on social media. The sources claimed that he resides in Khost and that his wife’s residence is in the Barki Barak district of Logar in the east of Afghanistan.

Providing further details of the situation, the sources said that the commander flew his wife on Saturday, to the Shah Mazar region of the Barki Barak district of Logar province. The wife of the Taliban commander was seen being transported in a military helicopter.

In a video that went viral on social media, the commander is seen landing near a house. Furthermore, it is claimed that this commander gave his father-in-law 1,200,000 Afghanis as dowry in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage, as per the media portal.

However, defending the commander, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, argued that the allegations are false. He further termed the commentary on the commander as “propaganda of the enemy”. He added that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan dismisses the allegation of a military helicopter being used by the Talibani commander.

People on social media registered their protest over the viral video that was circulated on social media. It incited outrage among the public. People condemned the action and said that it is a blatant misuse of public property.

This occurred after the Taliban have been in control for almost a year, but the group has notably failed to establish a government and gain domestic legitimacy and international recognition.

Taliban is also infamous for its crackdown on women’s rights. The list of Taliban violations of the rights of women and girls is long and growing, said Heather Barr, Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), as she raised growing concerns about the violation of the rights in the country.

When the Taliban announced in May that women and girls should not leave their homes unless necessary and should do so only with their whole bodies including their faces covered, only a few were surprised. Others, who lived through the last period of Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, were not.

“Some diplomats and other Afghanistan watchers who listened to Taliban leaders promise during negotiations and at their news conference two days after seizing the capital that they would respect all women’s rights this time, including their freedom of movement and access to employment and education,” Barr had said.

She said Afghan women’s rights activists warned all along that the Taliban’s promises to respect women’s rights were false. Afghan rights activists warned in the days after the Taliban took the capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, that the group would intensify their crackdown on women.” The list of Taliban violations of the rights of women and girls is long and growing,” the high-ranking HRW official said.

Since the Taliban takeover, there have been many statements condemning their abuses from an impressive range of international and regional organizations and countries. What there has not been, however, is a clear plan for how the countries condemning Taliban abuses will work together to defend the rights of Afghan women and girls and pressure the Taliban to end these abuses.

Of the fresh cases detected from 12,897 tests in 18 districts, the maximum 202 cases were from quarantine and 144 local contacts. The test positivity rate (TPR) shot up to 2.68 per cent from 1.7 per centin a day. The TPR rose to 9.91 per cent in Khurda, 5.22 per centin Cuttack, 2.99 pc in Sambalpur, and 2.23 per centin Sundargarh. The active cases in the State have gone up to 1,310.

The number of infections jumped by 100 pc in Khurda in 24 hours as the district recorded 189 cases, of which 90 pc were from the Capital city Bhubaneswar, followed by 51 from Cuttack, 13 from Sundargarh, seven each from Balasore, Jagatsinghpur and Nuapada and five each from Rayagada and Sambalpur.

Although Puri reported four cases, health experts fear the pilgrim town that witnessed a congregation of lakhs of devotees on the occasion of Rath Yatra on July 1 may see a spike in the coming days. Not only in Puri, large congregations of devotees and visitors were also seen in districts like Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Koraput, Kendrapara and Keonjhar for the annual Car festival.

Anticipating a surge in cases, the State government has kept Covid beds with oxygen supply ready in most of the district headquarters. Health authorities said they are keeping a close watch on the rising trend and initiating measures as appropriate.

Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said the infections are mostly urban-centric and the disease severity is less among the patients as less than one pc people is hospitalised.“The second half of July is crucial as cases may arise due to the festival. But, we are ready to tackle any exigencies,” he added.

“Shelling from multiple rocket launchers on Sloviansk, the heaviest for a long time. There are 15 fires. Many dead and wounded,” Vadim Lyakh said in a video published on Facebook.

Tetyana Ignachenko, a spokeswoman for the Donetsk region to which Sloviansk belongs, told Ukrainian media that the strikes left “six dead and 15 wounded”.

She also reiterated a call on residents to leave the region, as the frontline is just a few kilometres (miles) away.

Ukrainian media said one of the city’s markets was on fire following the strikes. 

Further south, the town of Kramatorsk, which is the administrative centre of Ukraine’s Donbas, was hit for the second day in a row by Smerch rockets, according to the town’s mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. 

The strikes, which hit a residential area and an unoccupied hotel, caused no casualties, he said. 

Sloviansk and Kramatorsk are key targets for Moscow, particularly if the capture of Lysychansk in the northeast claimed by Russia on Sunday is confirmed. 

TUMAKURU: The controversy that erupted after former Congress MLA KN Rajanna’s statement on former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s health condition appears to be helping the JDS rank and file to unite in the Old Mysuru region especially in Tumakuru district.

The Vokkaliga community organisations have reportedly written to Congress party high command asking them to refused ticket to Rajanna from the Madugiri assembly seat in the 2023 assembly polls, sources told The New Indian Express.

KPCC president DK Shivakumar, who had been gaining traction among the community in the region, is worried by Rajanna’s statement that has hurt the feelings of the community. Evidently, the JDS is making most of the opportunity with protest rallies in Kunigal and Madhugiri taluks and there are plans to organise more, sources said.

Rajanna, an ST Nayaka leader, had helped BJP win Tumakuru seat for the first time in 1989 and had contested as a rebel against the Congress party’s official candidate Shafi Ahmed. He then shifted to JDS and was elected from the erstwhile Bellavi assembly seat when Gowda campaigned in 2004, but shifted his loyalty back to Congress in 2008 but lost from Madhugiri twice.

Shivakumar, after meeting Swamiji of Sringeri Sharada Peetham at his home on Sunday, told media persons, “Rajanna’s remarks has nothing to do with the party. The party leadership and myself suggested he should apologise. He has already tendered an apology. Let’s leave it there.”

LUCKNOW: AAP on Sunday protested here over Agnipath and said it has sent a cheque for Rs 420 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing his government of cheating the youth with the new military recruitment scheme, the party said.

In a symbolic protest, members of the Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing-Chatr-Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), sought money from the public amidst the slogans of “Narendra Modi ji ke liye bheek de do” (Give alms for Narendra Modi).

After announcing the military recruitment scheme on June 14, the Central government faced flak from defence aspirants across the country.

AAP’s Uttar Pradesh incharge and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said in a tweet in Hindi, “Modi Ji said that there is no money for the Indian army and jawans will be given jobs for only four years. The student and youth wing of @AAPUttarPradesh begged all across the state and sent a cheque of Rs 420 to the 420 government of Modi.”

The amount refers to the Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that deals with cheating.

“See the brutality of Baba’s (Adityanath) Police and remember that one day @Uppolice will also be on a 4 year contract,” he added in the tweet in which he also shared a video clip showing UP police personnel dragging protesting AAP members into buses.

In Lucknow, over two dozen AAP members were removed from the busy Hazratganj intersection by the police.

Police officials maintained that no one was arrested or detained.

Singh on Saturday said, that Modi would be told not to do ‘char sau beesi’ (cheating) with the Indian Army and AAP will also appeal to the government “to not cry for money to protect the country.”

He added that AAP will continue to protest against the scheme as the government is “misguiding” people by claiming “lack of money for the security of the borders” as the reason behind the scheme.

MUMBAI: The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government on Monday passed the floor Test in Maharashtra Assembly.

Ahead of the trust vote, one more Shiv Sena MLA from the Uddhav Thackeray camp joined CM Shinde’s faction, taking its tally to 40.

The Shiv Sena currently has 55 MLAs in the 288-member state Assembly.

Santosh Bangar, the MLA from Kalamnuri in Hingoli district, on Monday morning switched over to the Shinde camp.

Earlier, in a jolt to Uddhav Thackeray ahead of the Eknath Shinde-led government’s floor test, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had on Sunday reinstated Shinde as the Shiv Sena legislature party leader, removing Ajay Chaudhary.

Narvekar also recognised the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Sena, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Thackeray faction.

The development comes as a major setback to the Thackeray faction, which will be bound by the whip to be issued by Gogawale for the trust vote.

If these MLAs refuse to follow the whip, they face disqualification.