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2 of 4 Indians detained in Islamic State-controlled territory in Libya released

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Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar, the two Indians who have been released.

Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar, the two Indians who have been released.

New Delhi: Two of the four Indians detained in the Libyan city of Sirte, an area under the control of the Islamic State, were freed on Friday evening.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said: “I am happy we have been able to secure the release of Lakshmikant and Vijay Kumar. Trying for other two.”

Three of those abducted are faculty members at the Sirte university and the fourth person works at a university branch in Jufra.

“They are back in the Sirte university,” official sources said.

According to sources, two of those released are from Raichur in Karnataka and state capital Bengaluru.

The Andhra Pradesh government urged Swaraj to expedite steps for safe return of all four. The remaining two hostages are from Hyderabad and Srikakulam.

Vikas Swarup, external affairs ministry spokesperson, said earlier in the day that all four were returning to India through Tripoli when they were detained on Thursday at a checkpoint about 50km from Sirte, hometown of former Libyan strongmen Muammar Gaddafi. Later, they were taken to the Sirte city.

The incident came a year after 39 Indians were kidnapped from Iraqi city of Mosul. They still remain in the custody of their captors.

Most of Sirte fell to IS in May and the university is not functioning since February, raising doubts that the Indians continued staying there as they were were yet to get their salary dues. All of them had been in Libya for more than a year.

There are 2,000 Indians at present in conflict-hit Libya, who stayed back despite many advisories urging them to leave the country.

Since most of the Indian mission staff to Libya is now based out of Tunis, it is proving to be difficult task for officials to track the developments inside the trouble-torn country.

Last July, a group of 65 Indian nurses were trapped in fighting which engulfed parts of Libya.

(Agencies)

Tripura governor slammed for calling mourners at Yakub Memon’s funeral potential terrorists,

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Tathagata Roy

New Delhi: Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy’s tweets about Yakub Memon’s funeral have evoked sharp responses from everyone. 70-year-old Roy tweeted saying those who attended the last rites of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon were potential terrorists, who must now be keenly watched by the intelligence agencies.

Yakub Memon was hanged early on Thursday in Nagpur Central Prison after a historic pre-dawn Supreme Court hearing that rejected his 11th hour legal appeal. His body was taken to Mumbai, where he was buried next to his father. A large crowd had gathered when Memon’s body arrived at his home in Mahim. He went on to add, “Governors ought to be concerned abt security of state. Intelligence keeping tab on Yakub’s mourners is preventing terror. Better than cure” (sic) After receiving criticism for his controversial remarks, Roy tweeted, “When I suggested ‘intelligence keeping a tab’,I mentiond NO COMMUNITY. So how come I’m accused of being ‘communal bigot’? Guilty conscience?” (sic)

The Mumbai police had also banned filming or taking photographs of the body during its transportation from the airport to the burial ground, in order to avoid any breach of law and order. Roy, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive since 2002 and the BJP Bengal president from 2002-2006, assumed office as Governor of Tripura in May 2015.

(Agencies)

NHRC issues notice to Karnataka govt over farmers’ suicides

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farmers families

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission has expressed ‘grave’ concern over alleged farmers’ suicides in Mandya district of Karnataka over low payment by sugar mills and issued a notice to the state government seeking a reply within four weeks.

Mandya, known as the ‘sugar bowl’ of Karnataka, has seen a spate of farmer deaths as the mills were paying them Rs 700-800 per tonne, despite the Chief Minister’s promise of purchasing at Rs 2,500 per tonne, the NHRC said.

The deaths due to suicides by farmers is of grave concern and calls for prompt and quick remedial steps by the government, the rights body said.

It has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka calling for a report in the matter within four weeks.

Referring to a media report in this regard, it said that the “negligence” by the state and Union governments in the matter of fixing fair price, payment of arrears by mills and a sugarcane glut are the main reasons for the sudden spike in the suicides.

(Agencies)

“Indian government has sent a wrong message by hanging an innocent man”: Chhota Shakeel

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chhota-shakeel-yakub memon

New Delhi: Soon after Yakub Memon was hanged for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Chhota Shakeel, who is also an accused in the case and is known to be a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, reportedly warned of consequences of executing Yakub.

A report carried by Times of India (ToI) claims that Shakeel called up the newspaper’s office and said that Yakub’s hanging was a ‘legal murder’ and that the Indian government had betrayed him by punishing him for his brother Tiger Memon’s act.

Shakeel also reportedly said that by hanging Yakub, all possibilities of him and Dawood Ibrahim returning to India in exchange of promises of leniency have been ruled out. “Dawood bhai would have been meted the same fate if he would have come at that time… it is clear now,” the report quotes Shakeel.

He also alleged that the Indian government had sent a wrong message by hanging an ‘innocent’ man for his brother’s act. “It is a legal murder,” he said, adding, “There will be consequences.”

Shakeel also said that nobody would believe the Indian government or its agencies in future.

Shakeel also claimed that Yakub was in disagreement with his brother Tiger, the main accused, and had decided to follow the law. “Somebody trusted a government but the government breached the trust… Who will come back to get killed?”

He also claimed that Yakub had no links with Dawood Ibrahim. “He (Yakub) was accused of association with Dawood bhai. That’s not true,” Shakeel told ToI.

He also rubbished special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam’s purported statement that Yakub’s hanging was a ‘message’ to terrorists. “You are hanging innocents to convey a message to us,” Shakeel said.

(Agencies)

To shut you up, they call you ‘Anti-National’, ‘Anti-Hindu’: Rahul Gandhi

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Rahul Gandhi

Pune: Rahul Gandhi’s pep-talk to protesting students of the Film and Television Institute of India or FTII today segued into a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP.

“The nature of the discussion is – you agree with us then fine…if not, we will smash you. To shut people up they call you anti-national, anti-Hindu,” he told the students, who have been on strike for nearly two months over the appointment of TV actor Gajendra Singh as their chairman.

In the open session that was televised, the Congress vice president said that the FTII protest was a part of the “real fight,” which was for what the real idea of India is.

“Only the PM decides in the BJP, only one man has power. If the PM wants somebody, the BJP can’t remove them,” Mr Gandhi said.

Also referring to the BJP’s ideological mentor RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he commented on what he called a “fundamental difference in your thinking and the RSS’ thinking.”

Dressed casually in a tee-shirt and jeans, the 44-year-old took questions and also asked many of them.

“This will make a really nice movie – how the entire might of the Indian government was trying to push 250 students aside,” he remarked to a hall-full of film students.

The students have boycotted classes for weeks and refused to return unless the central government cancels the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, who is seen as close to the ruling BJP. Several alumni and film personalities say Mr Chauhan’s stature fall far short of the qualities needed for the top post.

“This is not just about FTII. It is happening in a lot of higher education and cultural institutions,” one student told Mr Gandhi, who nodded in agreement.

“The real question is how strongly you are willing to fight this issue. I am ready to fight with you,” replied the Congress leader.

The BJP has accused the Congress of trying to whip up politics over the film institute protests. “If students see Gajendra Chauhan as a politician, then is Rahul a filmmaker?” scoffed actor-politician Paresh Rawal.

(Agencies)

Asaduddin Owaisi says Kodnani and others should also get death

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asad-owaisi-on-memon

New Delhi: A political war of words erupted on Thursday over the execution of 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, with a section of opposition leaders speaking against the death sentence.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh fired the first salvo, saying that the BJP- led government should show “similar commitment” in all cases of terror as it showed in the case of Yakub Memon.

“I hope similar commitment of the government and the judiciary would be shown in all cases of terror, irrespective of their caste, creed and religion,” he said in a tweet following Memon’s execution in the Nagpur central jail on Thursday morning.

Party colleague and former union minister Shashi Tharoor said he was “saddened” by Memon’s execution.

“Saddened by news that our government has hanged a human being. State-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to murderers too,” Tharoor tweeted.

“There is no evidence that death penalty serves as a deterrent, to the contrary in fact. All it does is exact retribution, unworthy of a government,” the Thiruvananthapuram parliamentarian said.

“I’m not commenting on the merits of a specific case; that’s for the Supreme Court to decide. Problem is death penalty in principle and practice,” he added.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja, meanwhile, said that the death penalty should be done away with in the country.

“India should say an emphatic no to capital punishment…. It does not mean we do not have sympathy with those (blast victims’) families, but by snatching away one life will not bring back all those lives,” Raja said.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi said the government should ensure death sentence in all similar cases.

“Death sentence should also be given to Babu Bajrangi, Maya Kodnani, Col. Purohit and Swami Aseemanand,” he said.

While Babu Bajrangi and Maya Kodnani are accused in the Gujarat riots, Col. Purohit and Swami Aseemanand are accused in the Malegaon blast.

The ruling BJP slammed the leaders opposed to the hanging. Tharoor and Digvijaya Singh were forsaken by the Congress as well, which said it was their “personal views”.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the views were that of the leaders concerned and not of the Congress.

Former home secretary and BJP parliamentarian R K Singh said those making such comments did not have national interests on their minds.

“These people don’t think about national interest. Whether he (Yakub) had to be hanged or not was not to be decided by the government but the court, and the president uses his judgment after that…,” he said.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said justice had been done.

“Justice has been done; this increased the people’s faith in the judicial process. He got two decades to prove his innocence, and he was proven guilty,” he said.

Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, convicted in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was hanged at Maharashtra’s Nagpur central jail on Thursday morning.

(IANS)

Bias against Muslims on death penalty: Prakash Karat

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INDIA-POLITICS-LEFT-KARAT

New Delhi: CPI(M) politburo member Prakash Karat Thursday said there was a bias against the Muslims in the case of execution of the death penalty in the country.

“There is a bias and an increasing feeling against the Muslims in the case of execution of the death penalty in the country,” Karat told a news channel.

“Three persons, including Yakub Mamon, were hanged till death in India in the last three years. All of them were Muslims. The death sentences of others were commuted or their mercy petitions are pending,” he said.

(Agencies)

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam buried

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Abdul Kalam

Rameswaram: In a spontaneous outpouring of grief, thousands of people bid an an emotional farewell to former President APJ Abdul Kalam who was today laid to rest with full state honours in his home town here amid chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.

The body of Kalam was buried in the middle of a 1.5 acre piece of land earmarked for the purpose at Peikarumbu here after being brought from his family mosque where special prayers were offered.

The “People’s President” was accorded full military honours, including gun salute and playing of the Last Post as the members of his family and local Jamath lowered his mortal remains into a trench as slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” rent the air.

The funeral of the “Missile Man” was attended by a galaxy of leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who placed a wreath, offered his final salute and stood in silence in front of Kalam’s body that was draped in national flag. He also went around the casket with folded hands.

The Prime Minister later went up to Kalam’s eldest brother 99-year-old Mohammed Muthu Meeran Lebbai Maraicker, who was seated nearby, and offered his condolences. Congres Vice-President Rahul Gandhi also paid his last respects to Kalam, who died of cardiac arrest in Shillong on July 27.

Besides some foreign dignitaries, several leaders including Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, his cabinet colleague M Venkaiah Naidu and state Finance Minister O Panneerselvam were present.

(PTI)

Yakub Memon’s body handed over to family, tight security in Mumbai

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Yakub-Memon

Nagpur/Mumbai: The body of Yakub Memon, who was hanged in Nagpur this morning for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, was handed over to his family which flew it to Mumbai for last rites amid tight security with city police disallowing any procession.

Security has been stepped up in Mumbai, especially in Mahim area where Yakub’s family resides as well as other sensitive localities of the metropolis, and over 400 people have been detained as a preventive measure.

Quick Response Teams of police, formed after the 26/11 terrorist attacks, have been deployed at a few places, including the Al Hussaini building where the Memon family lives and in Marine Lines, where the burial arrangements have been made.

“Yes Yakub Memon has been hanged at 7 AM sharp and his body is being handed over to his family,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. Yakub’s brother Suleiman and cousin Usman, who were camping in Nagpur since yesterday, received the body which was taken to airport and flown to Mumbai. The two boarded the same flight.

Suleiman had moved an application last evening to the Nagpur jail authorities requesting that the body be handed over to the family. The request was accepted and accordingly, the body was wrapped in ‘kafan’ (shroud) and placed in a tightly sealed coffin box.

Mumbai Police has not allowed Yakub’s family to carry the body in a procession and has made arrangements to perform the burial at a cemetery in Marine Lines, where heavy police force has been deployed.

“We have not permitted Yakub’s family to reach the cemetery in any procession taking into account law and order situation and only those very close to the family would be taking part in his last rites,” a senior police officer said.

“We have already gathered personal details of the people who would be with Yakub’s family,” he added. Since Yakub’s father Abdul Razzak and some other family members were buried at the Marine Lines cemetery, Yakub’s family has wished to perform his last rites there, another police officer said.

Alternative arrangements have also been made for burial at the Mahim cemetery, he said.

“We are monitoring and reviewing the security arrangements regularly,” Mumbai Police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni said.

Mumbai Police have detained nearly 405 people as a preventive measure to maintain law and order in the wake of Yakub’s hanging. “All the people who are detained are on police record, who might disturb the communal harmony or create disturbance in the city,” said DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni.

Police are also keeping a close eye on any inflammatory statement by religious or political leaders and have warned of strict action against anyone violating law. The burial will take place in a Muslim cemetery after the usual last prayer ‘Namaj-e-Janaja’ later today.

Tight security arrangements were made in and around the Central Prison in Nagpur. Quick Response Teams were deployed and authorities also clamped section 144 of CrPC (unlawful assembly) last evening.

A large number of onlookers gathered at some distance outside the jail. Yakub was hanged till death in the ‘Fansi Yard’ under supervision of Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai.

A team of doctors declared him dead after about half-and-hour of the scheduled hanging, when his body was brought down.

Chief Judicial Magistrate of Nagpur M M Deshpande was present in the Fansi Yard.

She read out the operating part of the TADA court order which awarded capital punishment to Yakub before he was made to stand on a stool and the lever pulled by the hangman.

Yakub, who was the lone convict sent to gallows in the serial blasts which claimed 257 lives across the financial capital of country in 1993, lost a series of legal battles for stay on his execution.

(Agencies)

Yakub Memon hanged in Nagpur jail on his 54th birthday

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Yakub Memon

Nagpur: Yakub Abdul Razzak Memon, “convicted” in the March 12, 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, was hanged till death at the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday morning, officials said.

He was sent to the gallows — on his 54th birthday on Thursday — after several of his court appeals and clemency petitions were rejected by various courts, including the Bombay High Court, the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra governor and the president of India.

Memon was hanged at 6.35 a.m. A medical team at the jail pronounced him dead a short while later. His body was sent for an autopsy by a medical team from a Nagpur government hospital, before being cleared for the last rites.

The last of the legal procedures continued till barely a couple of hours before the execution this morning before sunrise. Memon was the first — and only convict out of 100 in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case — whose hanging was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The death sentence of 11 others was commuted to life. A Mumbai Special Court had sentenced him to death in July 2007. The death warrant was issued by a Special TADA Court judge on April 29, scheduling the execution for July 30.

Maharashtra had started preparations for the noose for Memon almost three weeks ago.

Memon filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court, followed by a clemency plea with the Maharashtra governor, again a fresh plea in the apex court and a final appeal with the president of India.

He got no relief from any quarters, paving the way for his execution. The Supreme Court on early Thursday rejected a last ditch attempt by 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon to stall his execution.

Memon had challenged the rejection of his mercy petition by the president. Past midnight on Thursday, the apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Prafulla C. Pant and Justice Amitava Roy rejected Memon’s plea seeking 14 days’ time before the execution of his death sentence is carried out.

Here is the timeline of the major events that took place in the last 24 hours:

10.35am (July 29): Three-judge bench of the SC starts hearing Memon’s plea after two judges gave a split order on Tuesday

11am: Memon submits a 14-page mercy petition to President Pranab Mukherjee’s office

4pm: SC dismisses Memon’s plea against his death warrant

4pm: Maharashtra governor rejects Memon’s mercy plea

4pm: President sends Memon’s mercy petition to home ministry for advice

8.30pm: Home minister Rajnath Singh drives to Rashtrapati Bhawan, conveys government’s decision to reject Memon’s mercy petition

9.15pm: Union home secretary LC Goyal and solicitor general Ranjit Kumar arrive at Rashtrapati Bhawan

10.45pm: President rejects mercy petition of Memon

10.50pm: Senior lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Anand Grover reach Chief Justice of India Justice HL Dattu’s residence with a fresh petition seeking stay of death warrant for the next 14 days

1am (July 30): Scene shifts to residence of senior SC judge justice Dipak Misra’s residence as senior lawyers Grover and Yug Mohit Chaudhry reach his residence

1.35am: Three judges – justice Misra, justice Pant and justice Roy – agree to meet at the Supreme Court at 2.30am.

2.30am: Judges arrive at the apex court. Hearing deferred over attorney general Mukul Rohtagi’s delay in arrival

3.20am: Hearing on Memon’s plea begins

4.50am: SC rejects Memon’s plea for a stay on the death warrant

5.30am: Memon is provided information as to why he is being hanged by a magistrate in the jail

7am: Memon hanged at Nagpur jail in Maharashtra around 7am. A medical team pronounced him dead a short while later.

9.30am: After doing all formalities by 9.30 am, Yakub’s elder brother, Suleiman and cousin, Usman Memon take the custody of the body and leave for the Nagpur airport by 9.45 am. The body would be taken to Mumbai for burial by a service flight.

(Agencies)

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