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Archives for March 2018

Owaisi slams Sri Sri Ravi Shankar over Ayodhya remarks

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New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi today slammed spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his remarks on the Ayodhya dispute saying it was contempt of the Supreme Court and stressed that the apex court should not hear the matter till the next Lok Sabha election.

Talking to news channel NDTV yesterday, Ravi Shankar said, “According to Islam, you cannot pray in a disputed site so anyway they can’t have a mosque there. This way everyone wins.”

The spiritual leader said that the Supreme Court order would not resolve the issue.

“If the court rules against a temple, there will be bloodshed. Do you think the Hindu majority will allow it? They will garner resentment towards the Muslim community,” he had said.

Owaisi slammed Rav Shankar’s comments, saying “I would say that he has committed contempt of the Supreme Court by whatever he has said.” Owaisi also said that the apex court should not hear the matter till the next general elections.

After his (Ravi Shankar’s) open threat of infighting people saying that if the issue is not decided in favour of X group, then India would become like Syria, I think the Supreme Court should not hear this matter till the next Lok Sabha elections because politics is being done over it, he told NDTV.

He said Ravi Shankar has come out with his weird statement deliberately before the hearing on the issue in the court on March 14.

He alleged that Ravi Shankar’s comments showed that he (Ravi Shankar) was not a man of peace and does not believe in the Constitution.”

(PTI)

Congress sweeps Rajasthan local body bypolls held across 21 districts

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Jaipur: The Congress on Wednesday swept the Rajasthan local body bypolls which were held across 21 districts of Rajasthan for electing Zilla Parishad members, Panchayat Samiti members and Nagar Palika/Nagar Parishad members on Tuesday, March 6. The Congress won in all three local bodies.

Out of the 6 Zilla Parishad seats where bypolls were held, the Congress won 4, Bharatiya Janata Party won 1 and an Independent candidate won one. In the Panchayat Samiti member bypoll on 21 seats, the Congress won 12, BJP won 8 while Independents won 1.

In the Nagar Palika/Nagar Parishads bypoll on six seats, the Congress won 4 while the BJP won 2. Soon after the results were out, Congress leader Sachin Pilot tweeted, “After winning the recent MP&MLA by elections, Cong has today comprehensively routed BJP in the local body by elections held in 21 dists in Rajasthan!”

In Bikaner district, Congress won all three seats. Congress’s Savitri Devi Jakhar won Shri Dungargarh Panchayat Samiti seat in Panchayat Samiti bypolls. Congress’s Bhanwari Devi won from Nokha’s Jasrasar seat. Congress’s Sunita Devi won the Baadnu Lal Madesar seat.

In Barmer, the Congress’s Kheemawati Meghwal won Ward 37 of Zilla Parishad. Congress also won the Ward 7 of Dungarpur Zilla Parishad. The Congress also won both Wards 1 and 18 of Karouli Zilla Parishad.

These bypolls came a month after the Congress won two Rajasthan Lok Sabha seats – Alwar and Ajmer – and one Assembly seat – Mandalgarh – where bypolls were held.

(Agencies)

Rohingya ‘ethnic cleansing in Myanmar continues’: UN

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About 700,000 Rohingya have fled over the border to Bangladesh since August [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Myanmar is continuing its “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya, while claiming it is ready to receive them back from Bangladesh, according to a UN human rights envoy.

Andrew Gilmour, UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday after speaking to newly-arrived Rohingya in Bangladesh’s refugee camps on his four-day visit to Cox’s Bazar district.

“The ethnic cleansing of Rohingya from Myanmar continues. I don’t think we can draw any other conclusion from what I have seen and heard in Cox’s Bazar,” he said.

“It appears that widespread and systematic violence against the Rohingya persists,” the statement said.

His statement also said it was “inconceivable” that any Rohingya would be able to return to Myanmar in the near future, despite Myanmar’s pledges to start taking back some refugees.

“The Government of Myanmar is busy telling the world that it is ready to receive Rohingya returnees, while at the same time its forces are continuing to drive them into Bangladesh,” Gilmour said.

“Safe, dignified and sustainable returns are of course impossible under current conditions.”

“The nature of the violence has changed from the frenzied blood-letting and mass rape of last year to a lower intensity campaign of terror and forced starvation that seems to be designed to drive the remaining Rohingya from their homes and into Bangladesh.”

Persecuted community
The Rohingya, one of the most persecuted communities in the world, are not recognised as citizens of Myanmar and face widespread discrimination from the authorities.

Prior to the current exodus, tens of thousands of Rohingya have already been living as refugees in several neighbouring countries.

The plight of the Rohingya reached its peak in Myanmar six months ago when the country’s military cracked down on the minority group in Rakhine State, sparking a mass exodus.

About 700,000 Rohingya have fled over the border to Bangladesh since the violence erupted in August, bringing with them consistent testimony of murder, rape and arson by soldiers and vigilante mobs.

Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym, MSF) has estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the crackdown alone.

Hundreds of Rohingya villages were torched, and recent satellite imagery showed at least 55 villages have since been completely bulldozed, removing all traces of buildings, wells and vegetation.

Myanmar’s military says its crackdown was needed to root out Rohingya armed rebels who attacked border police posts in August, killing about a dozen people.

In January, Myanmar and Bangladesh announced a repatriation deal, but rights groups and Rohingya have raised concerns about the agreement, saying it does not guarantee full citizenship, or safety, for those who return.

Sri Lanka: Police inaction as Muslim shops torched by Buddhists

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[File: AP]

by Al Jazeera

Sri Lanka imposed a curfew in a central town popular with tourists after days of unrest between religious communities with a Buddhist man killed and Muslim businesses set ablaze.

Police said on Monday there had been riots and arson attacks since the weekend in Kandy district, while sources told Al Jazeera the violence was spreading throughout the South Asian island nation.

“The curfew was imposed to control the situation in the area,” said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.

Police officers were placed on heightened alert in Kandy to ensure the “situation does not spiral into inter-communal conflagration”, the government said in a statement.

Mobs set fire to Muslim-owned businesses and attacked a mosque in the east of the country.

Local officials said more than two dozen suspects had been detained by police in connection with the spate of arson attacks, while senior officers also launched an investigation into the conduct of the police.

Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights Sri Lanka, condemned the “unfathomable police inefficiency” that he said led to the violence.

“Social media pages rallied Sinhalese mobs to assemble in Teldeniya town at 10am. At 11am, there was a proclivity for violent confrontations to take place as mobs gathered. The destruction of Muslim properties started taking place from around 1pm,” Tennakoon told Al Jazeera.

Kandy is the latest region to be plagued by religious and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, a nation of 21 million people.

Najah Mohamed, secretary of the National Front for Good Governance party in Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera attacks are spreading all over the country, not just in Kandy.

“We are facing the same situation that we had experienced with the previous government with tension, hate, and violence against Muslims are rampant especially where they are a dispersed community,” said Mohamed.

Religious and ethnic violence can turn deadly in Sri Lanka, where Muslims account for 10 percent of the population and Buddhists Sinhalese make up nearly 75 percent.

Some observers blame the hardline Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) group for the ongoing violence.

“The violent BBS mobs manipulated the situation to fuel attacks against Muslims in an unprecedented way and started attacking people. In the afternoon the police and curfew were here, but there are still rising underreported incidents taking place,” Mohamed said.

Religious violence is not new to the island. An anti-Muslim campaign was launched following the deadly Aluthgama riots in June 2014.

President Maithripala Siresena had vowed to investigate anti-Muslim crimes after assuming power in 2015, but no significant progress has been reported.

Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe are yet to make an official statement on the recent unrest.

India lose to Australia, still winless in Azlan Shah

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India remained winless in the 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament after losing 2-4 to Australia in their third match here on Tuesday.

Ramandeep Singh (52nd and 53rd minutes) scored twice after Australia were 4-0 up, thanks to Mark Knowles 28th minute, penalty stroke), Aran Zalewski (35th), Daniel Beale (41st) and Blake Govers (43rd, penalty corner).

(IANS)

Gauri Lankesh murder: Suspect acquired live bullets from UP

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Bengaluru: Naveen Kumar, the suspect who is being investigated for his charged in connection with the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, has revealed that he had sourced the bullets from Uttar Pradesh.

According to SIT sources “He said a man from a neighbouring state assured him to get bullets from Uttar Pradesh for 1,000 each. As indicated by his statements, Naveen conspired to execute the journalist. We have sufficiently gathered material confirmation to demonstrate it in court. Naveen claims that it’s his first mission, however, we are not persuaded. It’s not an easy job for a first-timer to contact professional arms dealers and buy live bullets. Naveen is no beginner and this has made us presume his part in the Gauri case,”

Naveen Kumar the right-wing activist from Maddur in Karnataka’s Mandya region who is presently in the custody of the special investigation team (SIT), was caught from a KSRTC bus stop on February 18. Fifteen live bullets were seized from him. His striking resemblance to the CCTV footage of the biker roaming close to Gauri’s home on the day she was killed and two days before landed him in SIT custody.

A target practice camp is said to have organised by Naveen for four individuals in Kollegal forest, sources said they required more opportunity to remark on it. “Naveen claims that he was just going by a relative’s farmhouse in Kollegal. We are doing examinations at the forest and farmhouse,” another officer said.

(Agencies)

Lenin statue in Tripura razed, CPI-M accuses BJP as post-poll violence continues

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Agartala: The post-poll violence in Tripura continued for the fourth day on Tuesday even as the administration, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) urged everyone to maintain peace.

According to a leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the 11.5-feet fibre statue of Vladimir Lenin was brought down with a bulldozer by the BJP activists on Monday evening.

“The BJP supporters, chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, knocked down the statue of Lenin near a government college in Belonia,” CPI-M leader Haripada Das told the media on Tuesday.

He said the statue was set up a year ago in Belonia, South Tripura’s district headquarters, around 90 km from Agartala.

“We are getting huge number of reports from different districts on Tuesday about BJP and IPFT workers attacking CPI-M members and supporters and demolishing their various assets,” Das added.

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on Tuesday, in a tweet said: “What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa.”

Roy is believed to have referred to instances of statues of leaders iconic to other parties demolished or defiled in the past in the state.

A media report said Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday spoke to the Governor and Tripura Police chief Akhil Kumar Shukla, requesting them to take steps to control the violence in the northeastern state, ahead of the swearing-in-ceremony of the new BJP government.

CPI-M Tripura secretary Bijan Dhar on Monday night alleged around 514 CPI-M supporters were injured in attacks by rival BJP-IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura) party workers in more than 200 places across Tripura since Saturday, after the declaration of the poll results.

“Arsoning, attacks and loot were carried out in around 1,539 houses. Many rubber gardens and small vehicles, hundreds of small shops, were forcibly occupied, ransacked or burned at around 500 places,” Dhar told the media.

“We urge the administration and the BJP party leadership to take adequate measures to stop these post-poll violence immediately,” said Dhar, also a CPI-M central committee member.

Accusing the CPI-M for “deliberately provoking and indulging in violence and attacks on BJP supporters”, BJP Tripura Pradesh Vice-President Subal Bhowmik said according to the reports from different district party units, there have been 49 incidents of attacks on BJP workers and supporters by CPI-M cadres during the past 48 hours injuring 17 party men, who are now being treated in different government hospitals.

He warned all that law would take its own course against the attackers irrespective of party affiliations.

Meanwhile, following reports of clashes between the workers of the BJP and the CPI-M in different parts of the state, the district administration in several districts promulgated prohibitory orders and deployed additional security forces to foil the post-poll violence.

West Tripura district police chief Abhijit Saptarshi said police have arrested some people in Mandai in western Tripura for indulging in violence.

(IANS)

ICICI’s Chanda Kochhar, Axis’ Shikha Sharma summoned in PNB fraud case

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Mumbai: ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar and Axis Bank’s Shikha Sharma have been summoned by an anti-fraud agency in the bank fraud case involving jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner and uncle Mehul Choksi.

Kochhar and Sharma will appear before the Serious Fraud Investigation Office in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon, sources in the agency said.

The sources said the two top bank officials were summoned for giving loan facility to Gitanjali Group and would be questioned.

ICICI Bank is believed to have extended a loan of Rs 1,000 crore and Axis Bank Rs 700 crore last year to Gitanjali Gems of Choksi.

According to another source, officials of country’s largest lender State Bank of India have been called for questioning.

Both Modi and Choksi are alleged to have frauded Punjab National Bank with Rs 12,600 crore. They have since fled from country.

(IANS)

Sri Lanka declares national state of emergency over anti-Muslim riots

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Colombo: Sri Lanka Tuesday declared a nationwide state of emergency to quell anti-Muslim riots that have killed at least two people and damaged dozens of mosques and homes, a minister said.

“The cabinet of ministers decided on tough measures, including a 10-day nationwide state of emergency,” Minister of City Planning Rauff Hakeem said as police imposed a curfew in the riot-hit central district of Kandy.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday imposed fresh curfews and deployed heavily-armed police commandos to a central hill district popular with tourists where riots have left two dead and Muslim homes and businesses in ruins.

Earlier the day, police extended a curfew in parts of Kandy, home to famous tea plantations and Buddhist relics, after rioters disobeyed an overnight curfew and went on a rampage.

The body of a Muslim man was pulled from the ashes of a burnt building Tuesday, police said, threatening to further fuel communal tensions that have flared up across the country in recent weeks.

A police spokesman said hundreds of commandos from the police Special Task Force had been deployed to the troubled district to restore order and enforce the curfew.

Muslim homes, business and mosques were badly damaged in riots Monday triggered by the death of a Sinhalese man at the hands of a mob last week.

The Sinhalese are a mainly Buddhist ethnic group making up nearly three-quarters of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people. Muslims are just 10 percent of its population.

More than two dozen arrests have been made and an inquiry opened into police conduct in Kandy, just the latest region to be plagued by religious and ethnic conflict.

Mobs set fire to Muslim-owned businesses and attacked a mosque in the east of the country last week after a Muslim chef was accused of adding contraceptives to food sold to Sinhalese.

The government dismissed the allegation as baseless and ordered the arrest of those fomenting unrest in the area.

Last November riots in the south of the island left one man dead and homes and vehicles damaged.

In June 2014 riots between Buddhists and Muslims left four dead and many injured.

That violence was instigated by a Buddhist extremist group whose leaders are on trial accused of spurring religious conflict.

(PTI)

Upendra quits KPJP, to float another party

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Photo credit: Filmibeat

Kannada superstar Upendra, who wanted to upset political equations in the state Assembly elections, resigned from the Karnataka Prajavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) on Tuesday and announced that he intends to create a new party instead. He has named the new party as ‘Prajakeeya’.

After many of his party colleagues came out against him on Monday, calling him a dictator, rumour mills were abuzz that Upendra might join the BJP on Tuesday. Several top BJP leaders, including Shobha Karandlaje and R Ashoka, had also invited him to the saffron brigade. But Upendra has politely turned down their offer.

(Agencies)

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