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Bihar polls: NDA, Manjhi’s party reach seat-sharing agreement

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Jitan Ram Manjhi

New Delhi: The BJP and Jitan Ram Manjhi have finally reached a seat-sharing agreement for the Bihar assembly elections with the former chief minister party’s being allotted 20 seats.

“All is well and a positive outcome is expected,” PTI quoted a senior BJP leader as saying on Sunday after the talks with Manjhi’s Hindustani Avam Morcha (Secular) party in Delhi.

The seat sharing agreement was said to have been reached at a meeting the Bharatiya Janata Party’s in-charge for Bihar elections and Union minister Ananth Kumar and party general secretary in-charge of the state Bhupendra Yadav had with Manjhi in Bihar Niwas.

After the late night meeting, a HAM(S) leader claimed the party would get to field about 20 candidates, while five others would contest on the BJP’s symbol under the arrangement worked out.

BJP president Amit Shah, party sources said, cancelled his Mysore visit on Sunday to oversee the negotiations. Manjhi met Shah at the latter’s residence twice on Sunday.

Manjhi and his aides also held a series of meetings with BJP leaders including Kumar, Yadav and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan throughout the day.

On Saturday, Manjhi’s associates had threatened to reconsider continuing in the alliance if a “respectable” offer was not made after the BJP agreed to spare 13-15 seats for them.

A final announcement on the seat sharing arrangement between BJP and its three allies – Ram Vilas Paswan’ Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) and Manjhi’s HAM(S) – was held up after Manjhi played hardball.

The LJP and RLSP have already agreed to the seat-sharing formula brought forth by the BJP.

Though the BJP has a strong Dalit ally in Paswan, it wants Manjhi on its side in the high-stakes state elections to bring in the Mahadalit votes.

Manjhi was said to be unhappy after he was offered 13-15 seats by the BJP and sought to draw a parity with Paswan’s LJP, which was tipped to get around 40 seats.

Those privy to the talks said the BJP wanted to contest around 160 of the state’s 243 seats, leaving 25 for RLSP.

BJP sources said its Central Election Committee is likely to meet on Tuesday as the party is keen to announce the names of its nominees at least for the seats which go to polls in the first few phases.

The five-phase polling for the 243-member assembly begins from October 12 and concludes on November 5.

(PTI)

Hindu Mahasabha’s Om Ji, and woman astrologer clash on live TV show

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Rakhi Bai Om Ji Hindu Mahasabha

New Delhi: Shocking scenes were witnessed on the national tv today when two guests on a live show used expletives, slapped and grappled with each other, leaving the audience aghast and prompting the channel to condemn the incident.

Om Ji of the Hindu Mahasabha and and woman astrologer Rakhi Bai were seen having sharp exchanges on tv show ‘Aaj Ka Mudda’ on IBN 7.

Om Ji was seen engaged in a heated discussion with Rakhi Bai over some controversy related to self-styled god woman Radhe Ma, who is embroiled in a case of alleged domestic violence.

“How can you criticise Radhe Ma, you correct yourself first,” Om Ji was heard saying. When Rakhi Bai protested, he said he was talking about another participant on the show Deepa Sharma whom the channel described as ‘Dharma Guru’ (religious teacher).

He referred to some alleged controversies about the family life of Sharma and criminal cases against her. Sharma, who had looked calm by then, stood up and approached Om Ji from behind and interrupted his harangue by patting on his back.

“Tameez se baat kariye (behave yourself),” she was seen warning the self-styled god man and then slapped him. Om Ji also hurled a slap at her and was seen tightly holding both her hands. “Tu kya maregi?” he said as the two were shown grappling on screen.

Meanwhile, the channel has “condemned” the incident. “We invite responsible people to our shows and expect our guests to behave responsibly. We don’t expect such behaviour from them and condemn it,” it said. N K Singh, general secretary of Broadcast Editors Association also disapproved of the incident.

“The purpose of such shows is to give information from both sides and let viewers make a decision. This is shameful,” he said.

2006 Mumbai train bombings: lone acquitted man comes out of jail after 9 years

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2006-mumbai-train-blasts

Mumbai: Abdul Wahid Shaikh, the only accused to be acquitted in the July 11, 2006 train bombings case, was today freed here from high-security Arthur Road jail where he had been lodged for nine years since his arrest.

“Accused no. 8 (Abdul Wahid) is found not guilty of having committed any offences with which he is charged”, special MCOCA court judge Yatin D Shinde had observed while acquitted him yesterday.

In its verdict, the court had held 12 other accused guilty of various charges.

Arguments for the quantum of sentence are likely to begin on Monday.

Shaikh came out of the jail at around 2 PM with moist eyes and was welcomed by his family members.

He had been arrested in September 2006 for allegedly harbouring some of the accused in his house.

Seven RDX bombs had ripped through the first class compartments of as many local trains on western line on July 11, 2006, killing 188 people and injuring 829.

The blasts had occurred within a span of 10 minutes between suburban Khar Road-Santacruz, Bandra-Khar Road, Jogeshwari-Mahim junction, Mira Road- Bhayander, Matunga- Mahim junction and Borivali railway stations.

(PTI)

AIMIM to contest Bihar elections from Seemanchal: Owaisi

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Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) today said it will contest the upcoming Bihar State Assembly elections from Seemanchal region.

MIM chief Assaduddin Owaisi said his party will contest the election but will limit itself to Seemanchal region, which comprise mainly four districts – Araria, Purnea, Kishanganj, Katihar.

“We are limited to Seemanchal area of Bihar. We are realistic about our chances of winning. We know our strengths and weaknesses. It is in the interest and justice of Seemanchal region we are contesting elections there,” Owaisi said without disclosing the number of seats his party will contest.

He replied in the negative when asked about the pre-poll alliance with other parties.

“Bihar’s development parameters are bad. But when it comes to Seemacnhal it is worse. That’s why we want the government to set up a regional developmental council under Article 371,” he said.

Owaisi held Congress, BJP, Nitish Kumar and other parties as responsible for the underdevelopment of the region.

When asked about the division of votes when the party contests without any alliance, the MIM leader said the NDA won with great majority even when his party was not in the poll fray in Jammu and Kashmir and local body elections of Rajasthan.

“Did I contest in Delhi elections? Did I contest in J&K elections. Did I contest in Municipal elections of Rajasthan? This is a wrong allegation which has no relevance. So-called secular parties have lost their credibility,” he said.

MIM, which has two seats in the Maharashtra assembly, has appointed Akhtar Imam as president of AIMIM’s Bihar unit.

(Agencies)

Policy of regression: Haryana bans meat on Jain festival day

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chicken kabab

Chandigarh: It appears that all the BJP ruled states are joining the meat ban wagon. Haryana is the fifth in line to do so. In its order, the state’s urban local bodies department ordered all slaughter houses to be closed from September 11 to September 19 in view of the Jain festival of fasting, Paryushan. The minister heading the department interestingly, belongs to the Jain community.

On Friday, Chattisgarh banned the slaughter and sale of meat till September 17. A meat ban has also been enforced in Rajasthan and Gujarat, both ruled by the BJP.The Rajasthan government has prohibited the sale of meat and fish on September 17, 18 and 27 on account of various festivals, including that of the Jains. The ban has been enforced since 2008 in the state, both by the Ashok Gehlot and Vasundhara Raje governments, but this year, it has been extended by one day, which has angered some groups. In Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, Police Commissioner Shivanand Jha has ordered a ban on the slaughter of cattle like cows and goats for a week during the Jain fasting period. The state enforces the ban every year.

The Haryana announcement came on a day when a similar ban in Mumbai was challenged by mutton traders and opposed by many political parties including the ruling BJP’s ally Shiv Sena. Mumbai’s civic body has, in the wake of the protest, cut short the ban from four to two days.

The Bombay High Court said the ban was “regressive”. “We understand the sentiment part but purchase is an independent choice,” said the judges.

“It is alright to have a two-day ban, but anything beyond that is unacceptable. It affects people’s livelihood… if the ban is beyond two days, people should be compensated for loss of livelihood,” said Salim Engineer, a member of the Forum of Democracy and Communal Harmony.

(Agencies)

Karnataka: 2 killed, 8 injured in train derailment

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Train Accident Kalburgi

Kalburgi: At least two persons were killed and eight others injured when nine coaches of a Mumbai-bound train derailed near Kalburgi in Karnataka early Saturday.

The incident took place at Martur village station, about 20 kilometres from Kalburgi. Two persons were killed and eight injured in the mishap, Amit Singh, Kalburgi Superintendent of Police, said.

“Two people died and eight others are injured after Mumbai-bound Lokmanya Tilak Express from Secunderabad derailed at Martur station,” he said.
Singh said nine coaches of the train derailed between 2.15 AM to 2.20 AM.

The rescue operations are on and the injured people have been rushed to Solapur Government Hospital in Maharashtra, Singh added.

(Agencies)

Two Indians among 107 killed in crane collapse at Mecca Grand Mosque

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collapse Mecca Grand Mosque

Riyadh: At least 107 people died when a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque, with scores more injured, Saudi authorities said, days before the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The civil defence agency said on Twitter that emergency teams were sent to the scene after a “crane fell at the Grand Mosque,” one of Islam’s most revered sites.

That came about an hour after it tweeted that Mecca was “witnessing medium to heavy rains,” and pictures on social media showed lightning.

Ahmed bin Mohammad al-Mansoori, spokesman for the two holy mosques, was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying part of a crane collapsed at 5:10 pm (1410 GMT) “as a result of strong winds and heavy rains.”

Abdel Aziz Naqoor, who said he works at the mosque, told AFP he saw the crane fall after being hit by the storm.

“If it weren’t for Al-Tawaf bridge the injuries and deaths would have been worse,” he said, referring to a covered walkway that surrounds the holy Kaaba, which broke the crane’s fall.

The Kaaba is a massive cube-shaped structure at the centre of the mosque towards which Muslims worldwide pray and which has a major role in the hajj.

Pictures of the incident on Twitter showed bloodied bodies strewn across a courtyard where the top part of the crane, which appeared to have bent or snapped, had crashed into the building.

A video on YouTube showed people screaming and rushing around right after a massive crash was heard and as fog engulfed the city.

The incident occurred as hundreds of thousands of Muslims from all over the world gather for the annual hajj pilgrimage expected to begin on September 21.

The Grand Mosque is usually at its most crowded on Fridays, the Muslim weekly day of prayer.

Many faithful would have been gathered there ahead of evening maghrib prayers, which occurred about an hour after the tragedy.

Two Indians killed

The Ministry of External Affairs said that there were two Indians among the 107 people killed in the collapse. Around 15 Indian nationals were injured and were being treated in hospitals, said the statement posted on Twitter.

Pleas to donate blood

The governor of Mecca region, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, has ordered an investigation into the incident and was heading to the mosque, the official @makkahregion account on Twitter said.

Irfan al-Alawi, co-founder of the Mecca-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, compared the carnage to that caused by a bomb.

He suggested authorities were negligent by having a series of cranes overlooking the mosque.

“They do not care about the heritage, and they do not care about health and safety,” he told AFP.

Alawi is an outspoken critic of redevelopment at the holy sites, which he says is wiping away tangible links to the Prophet Mohammed.

Online activists created a hashtag on Twitter urging Mecca residents to donate blood at hospitals in the area.

No details were immediately available on the nationalities of the victims.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency, quoting the head of the Hajj Organisation, said 15 Iranian pilgrims were among those injured.

Most of them were treated as outpatients, Saeid Ohadi said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country is home to tens of millions of Muslims, took to Twitter to express his sorrow over the incident.

“My thoughts & prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives in the crane crash in Mecca. I wish the injured a quick recovery” he said on his @narendramodi account.

Britain’s David Cameron also used the micro-blogging site to say: “My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones at #mecca today”.

A massive project is under way to expand the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3 million square feet), allowing it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

Though marred in the past by deadly incidents including floods, stampedes and fires, the hajj has become nearly incident-free in recent years because of multi-billion dollar investments.

These have included transport networks and other infrastructure to facilitate movement of the crowds.

SPA said that almost 800,000 pilgrims had arrived by Friday for the hajj, which all able-bodied Muslims are expected to perform if they have the means to do so.

Last year, just over two million people took part.

(AFP)

Explosion kills 82 at Petlwad town in Madhya Pradesh

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Blast took place around 8.30 a.m. at a store where huge piles of explosive material used for mines were kept.

The blast site at Petlwad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday

The blast site at Petlwad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday

Jhabua: Eighty-two people were killed and many injured when explosives kept inside a building went off at Petlwad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Earlier, police said the explosion was caused by a cooking gas cylinder kept in the adjacent three-storeyed building housing a hotel.

Both the buildings were extensively damaged in the high-impact explosion compounding the tragedy.

According to Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Petlawad, A.R. Khan, the explosion took place around 8.30 a.m. at a store in the building where huge piles of explosive material used for mines were kept.

Also, 35 people have been pulled out of the debris and referred to a nearby hospital, Ms. Gupta said.

Many others are suspected to be trapped in the debris, she said, adding that the exact number of casualties will be known once the rescue operations are over.

Senior officials from Jhabua including Superintendent of Police G.G. Pandey besides State Tribal Welfare Minister Antar Singh Arya have rushed to the spot.

State Home Minister Babulal Gaur said a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each to kin of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 for those injured.

Meanwhile, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been dispatched to Jhabua to help in the salvage operations of the collapsed building.

“A team equipped with gadgets to operate in collapsed structures has been sent to the accident site in Jhabua from Vadodara in Gujarat.The team will assist local administration in retrieval operations,” NDRF director-general O.P. Singh told PTI in Delhi.

(PTI)

Alleged Indian woman ‘recruiter’ for ISIS extradited from Dubai

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Afshan Jabeen

Hyderabad: A Dubai-based Indian woman allegedly recruiting youth for terror outfit ISIS in Syria and Iraq has been extradited, police said.

Afshan Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph was brought to Hyderabad on Friday. There are allegations that the woman, a resident of this city, was recruiting youth online for Islamic State and propagating jihadi literature.

A police officer said she would be examined and arrested.
The woman was extradited as part of the investigations taken up by police following the arrest of a US-returned engineer in January this year at Hyderabad airport when he was allegedly leaving for Syria via Dubai to join ISIS.

Salman Moinuddin had told police that he was in touch with Joseph and they were planning to leave for Syria to join Islamic State.

The 32-year-old techie, who has a master’s degree in electronics from Houston, that he came in touch with her over social media when he was in the US.

Initially it was believed that Joseph is a British national who converted to Islam and known by her Islamic name Ayesha.

According to police, Moinuddin admitted that he was trying to attract youth across India with an intention to take them to Syria and Iraq.

Police claimed that he intended to undergo training in Syria, and after returning wanted to indulge in anti-national activities in the country.

(IANS)

Protest against KSAPS – Irregular funding for HIV prevention programmesa

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ksaps_protest

Bengaluru: Karnataka HIV Sonkithara Sanghatane, Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, Karnataka Sex Workers Union along with many representatives of over 22 districts held a huge silent protest with Placards opposite the office of the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) on Crescent Road here on Friday.

Over 200 members of sex workers and sexual minorities participated in the protest for over two hours. Project Director of KSAPS Raveendra assured them that action will be taken against erring Programme Officers who were harassing the HIV workers but gave copies of emails written to NACO requesting early release of funds.

“When approached to present a memorandum, Health Minister UT Khader has asked the leaders of the community members to have a meeting with him and has given an appointment,” said Mallappa Kumbar, State Coordinator, Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum.

“The protest marked the beginning of a statewide AIDS Campaign, to bring to the notice of the State Government and KSAPS, the grave concerns of our community-based organizations (CBOs) of sex workers, sexual minorities (including MSM, transgender and Hijras), People who inject drugs (IDUs), people living with HIV (PLHA) and civil society members about the dwindling funds and irregular release of money for HIV prevention programme in Karnataka,” said Parveen, State Coordinator, Karnataka HIV Sonkithara Sanghatane.

“Thousands of sex workers, MSMs, Transgenders, hijras who are working as peer educators and out reach workers (ORW) in the Targeted Interventions (TIs), the HIV prevention programme run by KSAPS in all the districts are suffering for irregular funding and lack of salaries. The cut in HIV funding and irregular release of funds has badly affected the HIV prevention programme jeopardising the lives of many people. HIV prevalence is increasing and the number of HIV deaths in Karnataka is increasing because of these problems,” she added.

Lack of drug stocks, closure of Care Centres, frequent change of ART combinations and vacancies of doctors and para medical staff in ART centres, including at the Centre of Excellence at Bowring hospital has been killing people living with HIV and affected the prevention programme. On the other had HIV workers including sex workers, transgender and MSMs who are working as peer educators and outreach workers (ORW) in the HIV prevention programme called Targetted Interventions are facing severe harassment and hardships from the Programme Officers.

“All the prevention work is done by communities themselves as the frontline prevention workers are sex workers, sexual minorities and drug users, but irregular release of funds is badly affecting the HIV programme. More than 80 per cent of the workers in a TI are community workers like sex workers and sexual minorities. These community members are harassed by programme officers of TSU (consultants who support KSAPS) and forced HIV testing to meet the targets are a common practice,” said Bharathi, Secretary of Karnataka Sex Workers Union.

“The Government has closed all the Community Care Centres and HIV positive patients are suffering because of lack of in-patient services. They are undergoing serious side effects due to frequent change of

combination of ART (HIV medicines) and have nowhere to go as CCCs are closed from 2012. The present Care and Support Centre’s are poor cousins of CCCs with absolutely no facilities for people living with HIV. They are an eye-wash,’’ said Parveen Ahmed, from Davangere, who is waging a relentless fight for the rights of PLHA in Karnataka from 2010. She is living with HIV for over a decade.

“Government’s decision to shrink organisational and budgetary support to the AIDS response and irregular flow of funds has badly affected the HIV programme in the State. This will lead to a reversal of the good work done in the last 10 years and will result in an upsurge of the epidemic among the most vulnerable groups,” said Mallappa, State Coordinator, Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, which works with all identities of gender minorities in 28 districts of Karnataka.

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