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India will support Palestine cause, engage with Israel: Pranab Mukherjee

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India Palestine Israel

Amman: India will continue to extend unwavering support for separate statehood for Palestine while also engaging with Israel to forge an independent and long-standing bilateral relationship, President Pranab Mukherjee said here on Sunday.

The president also lauded Jordan’s humanitarian support in sheltering 1.4 million Syrians, called for a concerted global action for a peaceful resolution of conflict in the troubled country, while also pushing its own case in forging a UN treaty on countering terrorism.

These were the gist of the visiting president’s messages during his meetings with the Jordanian leadership on the second day of his visit here, and at a speech he delivered at the University of Jordan, which conferred a doctorate on him in political science.

“India supports a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognized borders,” the president said at the university.

“Our bilateral relations with Israel are independent of our relations with Palestine,” he said.

“India has played a proactive role in garnering support for this cause in all multilateral fora. We have called upon both sides to exercise restraint and work towards a comprehensive resolution of the Palestinian issue.”

Jordan is the only country in the Arab world, besides Egypt, which has a peace agreement with Israel.

The president also quoted Mahatma Gandhi, as drawn from a book written by Queen Noor: “‘Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English and France to the French’.”

The Jordanian side was equally candid and said it saw Israel resorting to “state terrorism” against the people of Palestine, as clashes between the two sides continued unabated. This was also the text of a resolution that was passed by the Jordanian Parliament on Saturday, accusing Israelis of “sapping the rights” of Palestinians.

President Mukherjee, who earlier in the day opened a street, named after Mahatma Gandhi here, continued his engagements with the Jordanian leadership, during which he also took up the issue of ending conflict in Syria, while supporting Amman’s endeavours.

Jordan has a population of 6.5 million and another 1.5 million — or 25 percent — have taken shelter in the country.

The Indian side said it strongly endorsed the June 2012 resolution of the Action Group for Syria that met at the UN office in Switzerland — called the Geneva-I Communique — that not only wanted an end to further military conflict, but also rapid steps for a credible political agreement, involving the people.

About the increasing Russian involvement in Syria, Anil Wadhwa, secretary, east in India’s foreign ministry said there was major distinction and Moscow was primarily seeking to curtail the advancement of the extremist group Islamic State in Syria.

Since September 30, Russia has been carrying out airstrikes against certain positions of Islamic State which has been criticised by the US as being directed at anti-government rebels.

The talks between the Jordanian and Indian sides also veered around terrorism — of which the South Asian country has been a victim.

India pushed for a total compliance of United Nations Security Council Resolution number 1,353 of 2011 and the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy adopted in 2006, as also for the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, that has been pending for over a decade.

President Mukherjee himself pushed for this convention strongly and said it will serve to put a curb against state-sponsored terrorism in the most effective manner, by getting countries to take steps that will not only suppress such acts, but also punish its perpetrators, abettors, financiers, facilitators and collaborators.

During his engagements here, the Indian side and the Jordanian sides signed a number of pacts, ranging from cooperation in maritime transport to information technology, besides some 10 in the field of education between the Jawaharlal University, Jamia Millia Islamiyya, University of Delhi and IIT-Kharagpur, with their Jordanian counterparts.

(IANS)

6 more authors return Sahitya Akademi awards

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Noted Kashmiri writer and poet Ghulam Nabi Khayal. Photo: Facebook

Noted Kashmiri writer and poet Ghulam Nabi Khayal. Photo: Facebook

New Delhi: Six more authors including Kashmiri writer Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Kannada writer-translator Srinath D N and Rajesh Joshi have decided to return their Sahitya Akademi awards under the spiralling protest by litterateurs against “communal” atmosphere and “rising intolerance” following rationalist M M Kalburgi’s killing.

Hindi writers Mangalesh Dabral and Rajesh Joshi along with Srinath today said they will return their prestigious Sahitya Akademi awards while Waryam Sandhu and G N Ranganatha Rao intimated the Akademi of their decision. Khayal also joined the bandwagon of authors, saying the minorities in the country today feel “unsafe and threatened”.

“In the place of the pen, there are now bullets being fired. Author Kalburgi was murdered and both the Centre and the state should quickly act against the offenders so that such an incident is not repeated in the future,” Srinath said.

Srinath had won the 2009 Sahitya Akademi for translating short stories in Hindi written by Bheesham Sahani into Kannada.

In their joint statement protesting the “silence” of the Akademi over the Kalburgi murder, writers Dabral and Joshi said, “For the past one year or so basic values of democracy freeedom of expression, freedom to live our lives according to our wishes are under attack by the forces of Hindutva, which is not acceptable.

“The Sahitya Akademi remains silent about the Kalburgi murder so many dangers our democracy is facing, the very fabric of democracy is under threat.”

They said the Akademi should have opposed the killing of Kalburgi openly. “It was the duty of the Akademi to condemn the atmosphere in the country,” he said.

When contacted Akademi officials said they were yet to recieve intimations of the writers returning the awards.

“Apart from writers Uday Prakash, GN Devy, Aman Sethi, Waryam Sandhu and translator G N Ranganatha Rao, we have not got any intimations about the writers returning their awards,” an official said.

Joshi told PTI over phone from Mumbai, “Manglesh Dabral and I made the decision last night and have written to the Akademi chair our decision to return the award.”

Joshi said they had sent a joint statement to the Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari and will soon be returning their prize money too.

“We thought that it is high time that we returned the award. The climate in the country is such that writers are being killed, the freedom of expression is under threat…,” Joshi said.

“Besides, the way country’s atmosphere is being communalised is not good for the tradition of tolerance for which the nation is known and also for its democracy,” he said.

The writer, poet and playwright who recieved the Akademi award in 2002 for his ‘Do Panktiyon Ke Beech’ (Between Two Lines) said it was unprecedented to have so many writers return their awards.

“Right now the Akademi’s executive council has to deliberate on the issue to come up with a provision on what to do with the award money,” Joshi said.

Six authors, including Gujarat-based writer Ganesh Devy, announced they were returning their awards, joining ranks with authors Uday Prakash, Nayantara Sahgal, Ashok Vajpayei who had earlier given up the honour to protest against the Kalburgi killing and Dadri lynching incident wher a man was kileld by a mob over rumour of beef eating

At least 16 authors have announced their decision to return their Sahitya Akademi awards.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Urdu novelist Rahman Abbas today returned the Maharashtra State Urdu Sahitya Academy Award as a mark of protest against the Dadri lynching incident.

“I was to return the award on Saturday. However, officials of the Academy informed me that the office was closed that day. Therefore, I returned the award today,” Abbas told PTI, after returning the award at the Academy office in south Mumbai.

“After the Dadri lynching, the Urdu writing community has been quite unhappy. Therefore, I decided to return the award. There are some other Urdu writers who also want to join the protest. It is high time we stood up to the injustice surrounding us,” he said.

Abbas had in 2011 won the award for his third novel ‘Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Aankh Micholi’ (Hide and Seek in the Shadow of God).

Earlier, noted writers Nayantara Sahgal and poet Ashok Vajpeyi had returned their literary honours to protest what they termed as an “assault on right to freedom of both life and expression”.

A 50-year-old man was on September 28 lynched by a mob in Dadri’s Bishada village near Delhi over rumours of eating beef, triggering a nationwide outrage.

 

Syria: 300 anti-Assad fighters killed in 24 hours

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Russia killed militants in 60 separate attacks in 24 hours. Image used for illustrative purposes. (Al Bawaba/File)

Russia killed militants in 60 separate attacks in 24 hours. Image used for illustrative purposes. (Al Bawaba/File)

by Andolu Ajansi

Russian airstrikes killed 300 suspected militants in 60 separate attacks in northern Syria within the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed Friday.

According to state-owned Russia Today, Russia’s Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Igor Makushev addressed a briefing in Moscow during which he revealed that Russian air forces carried out 67 sorties that also killed two suspected senior Daesh field commanders.

“A precision hit destroyed the headquarters of Liwa al-Haqq, an Islamist group, which has been fighting the government of Bashar Assad since 2012. Russia said that a radio intercept confirmed the deaths of 200 fighters, and two commanders, who Makushev said belonged to Islamic State [Daesh],” Russia Today said.

Another 100 suspected militants were killed in an airstrike near Aleppo, it added.

The targets were mainly hit in Syrian provinces of Raqqa, Latakia, Hama, Idlib and Aleppo.

Russia began its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30.

Nobel Peace Prize for Tunisian democracy group

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National Dialogue Quartet made “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia”, jury says.

Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet

by Al Jazeera

The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet – a democracy group – has been awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for “its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced.

The group of four organisations established “an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war,” the Committee said on Friday, referring to the period following Tunisia’s 2011 revolution.

The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of four key organisations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

The jury cited the group for “its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011”.

“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this Quartet, not to the four individual organisations as such,” the committee said.

The laureates will receive their prizes at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of prize creator Alfred Nobel, a Swedish philanthropist and scientist.

Reaction

A Tunisian union leader who played a key role in democracy-building that won the Nobel Peace Prize says he was “overwhelmed” by the gesture.

Houcine Abassi, secretary general of the UGTT union, told the AP news agency on Friday: “It’s a prize that crowns more than two years of efforts deployed by the quartet when the country was in danger on all fronts.”

“I am happy,” he said, adding that the quartet members were not expecting the prize.

He described how the UGTT, a human rights group, a trade group and a lawyers group joined together to try to “bring the country out of crisis.”

Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunisia, said: “[It’s] very symbolic for many Tunisians who see this as really a symbol of hope for the country which is going through another crisis.”

Tunisia’s young and still shaky democracy suffered two attacks this year that killed 60 people and devastated the tourism industry.

“More than anything, the prize is intended as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, who despite major challenges have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries,” the committee said.

The committee said the prize was also intended as an encouragement to other countries to follow in Tunisia’s footsteps.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee hopes that this year’s prize will contribute towards safeguarding democracy in Tunisia and be an inspiration to all those who seek to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East, North Africa and the rest of the world,” it said.

Tunisian Tourism Minister:

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy:

The United Nations:

Deadly explosions hit Ankara peace rally

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Twin blasts in the centre of the Turkish capital kill at least 30, injure more than 120, interior ministry says.

An online video showed the moment one of the blasts at the peace rally in Ankara [Via @dokuz8haber]

An online video showed the moment one of the blasts at the peace rally in Ankara [Via @dokuz8haber]

by Al Jazeera

Two explosions have rocked a road junction in the centre of the Turkish capital Ankara, killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens of others, the interior ministry said.

The blasts took place several minutes apart, with the first going off at around 10:00am (0700 GMT), local media reported.

A video on social media showed the moment of one explosion: young people were dancing and waving banners as a massive fireball erupts.

The explosions occurred near a train station where people were gathering for a peace march to protest against the conflict between the state and Kurdish fighters in southeast Turkey.

Video footage on social media showed several bodies lying on the ground, as survivors tried to attend to the wounded.

Emergency crews were at the scene, responding to the injuries, with ambulances rushing off to several local hospitals. There were reports of shortages of blood and calls for donations.

‘Barbaric attack’

“We heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station,” said Ahmet Onen, 52.

“A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre, I don’t understand this,” he said, in floods of tears.

Demonstrators angered by the attack on their fellow activists shouted “police murderers!” at the scene of the blasts but were then dispersed as the security forces intervened.

The rally was organised by several leftist groups, including the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

“We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed,” said the HDP’s leader Selahattin Demirtas.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly denounced the attack.

“I strongly condemn this heinous attack on our unity and our country’s peace,” Erdogan said in a statement posted on the presidency’s website.

“No matter what its origin, aim or name, we are against any form of terrorist act or terrorist organisation. We are obliged to be against it together,” Erdogan said.

The attack came with Turkey on edge ahead of November 1 polls and a wave of unrest over the past few months.

An attack in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc on July 20 targeting pro-HDP activists and blamed on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters killed 32 people and wounded a hundred others.

The armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) accused Ankara of collaborating with ISIL and resumed attacks on the Turkish security forces after observing a two-year ceasefire.

Over 140 members of the security forces have since been killed while Ankara claims to have killed over 1,700 Kurdish fighters in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.

PPK ceasefire

Hours after the blasts in Ankara, the PKK called for a unilateral ceasefire in its fight against the Turkish state “unless they or the Kurdish people are attacked”, according to a statement carried by Kurdish news agencies.

The statement was released by the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) and did not reference Saturday’s attack in Ankara.

The move was widely expected as analysts said the PKK hoped it would boost the HDP’s score in the upcoming election.

The HDP performed strongly in the last vote on June 7, winning 80 seats to deprive President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of an outright majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002.

The AKP then failed to form a coalition in months of talks, prompting Erdogan – who had been hoping for a large majority to push through reforms to boost his powers – to call another election on November 1.

Initial reports on Saturday’s blasts spoke of a single explosion but Turkish media said later there had been two separate blasts in short sequence.

The authorities were exploring the possibility that the blasts could have been caused by a suicide bomber, the official Anatolia news agency said.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had been briefed over the blast by Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Anatolia said.

“We are investigating the explosion and will share our findings with the public as soon as possible,” a Turkish official said, without giving further details.

Cow slaughter rumours trigger tension in UP village, 21 arrested

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Mainpuri: Police in action after villagers vandalised properties and resorted to arson in Mainpuri district on Friday over rumours of cow slaughter in the area. Photo: PTI

Mainpuri: Police in action after villagers vandalised properties and resorted to arson in Mainpuri district on Friday over rumours of cow slaughter in the area. Photo: PTI

Mainpuri: After Dadri, tension now prevails in this district where rumours of cow slaughter triggered violence with protesters targeting police vehicles and setting afire shops, leaving seven policemen injured.

Twenty-one people have been arrested for yesterday’s violence even as the circle officer has been suspended for alleged laxity.

The violence started after some persons spread rumours of cow slaughter in Karhal area with an intention to trigger communal tension in the town, an official spokesman said today.

However, the post-mortem report found that the cow had died due to an ailment, he said.

As soon as the rumour spread yesterday, people in Nagaria village set police jeeps on fire and damaged several other vehicles and shops as they were agitated over rumours of cow slaughter in the village, police said.

It was alleged that a cow, which was grazing in a field near the village, was taken away for slaughter and its skin was being removed in a house when some villagers barged in, the police said.

District Magistrate Chandrapal Singh said, “A rumour was spread here that a cow has been slaughtered. But when we did a post-mortem of the cow yesterday, it came to the fore that the cow had been dead for sometime. The people who usually remove bodies of animals had taken away the cow and were removing its skin. That is how the rumour started about the cow being slaughtered.”

Following this, some people came onto the streets and agitated. Police reached the spot and arrested those removing the skin of the dead cow, the District Magistrate said.

“Those who were taking out the skin were arrested as well as those who incited the violence on the streets. Twenty-one people, including two who were removing skin of the dead cow, have been arrested,” he said.

Singh said that an FIR has been lodged against 29 named persons and 250 unidentified people for violence.

“When the accused had already been taken away, the angry mob targeted police vehicles, throwing the policemen into a canal and setting their vehicles on fire. The mob also set one shop on fire as well as destroyed vegetables being sold in an open market here,” the District Magistrate said.

“A lot of policemen were injured including two station officers and five constables,” he said.

Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav said attempts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere in Karhal.

“Attempts are being made in Karhal (Mainpuri) to vitiate the communal atmosphere. We are ensuring arrest of those involved in the incident,” he had said.

Yadav also said that SP was fighting communal forces for a long time and would continue doing so.

The violence in Mainpuri comes close on the heels of the Dadri lynching incident in which a man was killed over rumours of alleged beef consumption.

(PTI)

CBI raids Vijay Mallya’s residence in Rs 900 cr loan default case

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Vijay Mallya

New Delhi: CBI today carried out searches at residential and official premises of liquor baron Vijay Mallya and his now-defunct company Kingfisher Airlines in five places in connection with alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI Bank.

CBI sources said searches were carried out at the offices and residence of Mallya in Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore and other places. They said a case was registered by the agency against Mallya, Director of defunct Kingfisher Airlines; the company; A Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of the Airlines; and unknown officials of IDBI Bank.

It is alleged that the loan was sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits. No immediate reaction was available from the company.

The CBI sources said an FIR into the alleged violations was registered recently as part of its wide probe into criminal aspects of loans declared to be non-performing assets by public sector banks.

The sources said there was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium. Mallya would soon be called for examination in connection with the case.

“It was first exposure to the bank. There was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium when already other loans were getting stressed,” a senior CBI official, probing the matter, had earlier said.

The bank will have to explain reasons for extending the loan to the airlines, ignoring its own internal report which has warned against such a move. The debt-laden airlines stopped operations in October 2012.

The CBI sources said the agency has registered a total of 27 inquiries and cases with regards to “bad loans” given by public sector banks to various corporates in 2013.

The consortium of 17 banks had an outstanding of over Rs 7,000 crore on loans from Kingfisher with State Bank of India having the highest exposure of Rs 1,600 crore.

The then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha had said bulk of non-performing assets were connected to 30 defaulter accounts.

(PTI)

Anti-beef rioter Sangeet Som is founder of ‘halal’ beef exporting company

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Sangeet Som

Meerut: BJP MLA Sangeet Singh Som, who is at the forefront of the frenzied anti-beef protests, is in fact a co-founder of one of India’s “halal” meat export companies, which exports beef along with other meat.

The company, Al-Dua Food Processing Private Ltd, was founded by Mr. Som, along with Moinuddin Qureshi and a third partner, to deal in meat and meat products in 2005. According to Al-Dua’s website, the company is now a “leading producer and exporter of halal meat from India.”

Mr. Som’s role in promoting the company is at variance with the BJP’s campaign, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who during the Lok Sabha polls, called the growing meat exports the “pink revolution.” Mr. Modi and others have said that the growing meat exports were a cover for slaughter of cows.

When a national daily confronted Mr. Som with the evidence, he flatly denied having anything to do with meat business.

“There was nothing about meat. I am a pure Hindu and would do nothing to hurt Hindu sentiment. You would be surprised to know that despite being a Thakur I don’t eat even egg and start my day with a havan,” said Mr Som, who is also an accused in Muzaffarnagar communal riots.

According to the Memorandum of Association of Al-Dua Food Processing, filed on December 19, 2005, the company, which exports halal meat to Arab countries, was started “to carry on the business of (sic) manufacturers, producers, processors, buyers, sellers of and dealers in meat, meat products…”

Official documents show that in 2005-06, all three promoters of Al-Dua, one of India’s leading halal meat exporting companies Mr. Som co-founded, also advanced unsecured loans to the company. Mr. Som gave Rs. 4 lakh, Moinuddin Qureshi Rs. 7.60 lakh and Yogesh Rawat Rs. 4 lakh. The company also received unsecured loans from two other companies totalling Rs. 10 lakh.

Official filings with the Registrar of Company Affairs show that the company purchased a piece of land for Rs. 30,78,000 in 2005-06.

On March 27, 2008, Mr. Som ceased to be a director in the company. He transferred his 20,000 shares in the company to Nasira Begum at Rs. 10 a share. There is no evidence of Mr. Som receiving back the unsecured loan he gave the company, or of him charging any premium for the shares in the company.

Al-Dua was not the only business dealing between Mr. Som and Mr. Qureshi, one of India’s leading meat exporters. Mr. Som has also been involved as an additional director in Al-Anam Agro Foods Pvt. Ltd. with Mr. Qureshi.

A day after telling Hindustan Times that he was unaware of being appointed a director in the company and that his involvement was only in purchasing a plot in Aligarh for a meat processing plant, Mr. Som took a different line when The Hindu confronted him with the evidence. The BJP MLA from Sardhana constituency in Meerut, admitted that he was a director of Al-Dua for about two years because he had invested about Rs. 9 lakh in the property.

“Being one-third stakeholder of the land I was a director in Al-Dua. In fact, I only asked them to make me one of the directors. But just two years after that we sold the land to somebody so it ended my relationship with Al-Dua,” he said.

Mr. Som insisted that Al-Dua was just a piece of land when Mr. Qureshi along with Mr. Rawat, whom he kept on addressing as “Delhiwale pandit ji,” bought it.

“The Al-Dua Food Processing has the best processing facilities and is an established name and has a reputation for which our products are most sought after in all exotic markets. Al Dua Food Processing are specialists in the export of quality halal buffalo, sheep/lamb, goat meat and hides,” the company’s website claims.

(Agencies)

Karnataka hikes job quota for women to 33%

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vidhana soudha

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has hiked the reservation for women in government jobs to 33 per cent from the present 30 per cent.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s had committed in the current year’s budget to increase women’s job quotas by three percentage points. The legislature committee on women and child welfare headed by Congress MLA Malikayya Guttedar had recommended the hike.

Of the 5.56 lakh government employees in the State, 1.60 lakh are women.

The government order to this effect issued on September 11, was gazetted on September 14. The Karnataka Civil Services Rules, 1978 have been amended to increase the job quota for women. Prior to that, the government had invited suggestions and objections from the public and given 15 days time.

The government has not specified any date for implementing the order.

Guttedar said the government had not received any objections. Hence, all departments would be directed to implement the revised rules, he added.

Gujarat made a similar revision in women’s job quota in October 2014. There is no reservation for women in central government jobs.

Karnataka has reserved 50 per cent seats for women in elections to local bodies, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. But there is no such reservation yet in the legislature and Parliament elections. Here, the reservation is based on caste.

(Agencies)

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