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Archives for July 2018

Imran Khan summons party leaders as PTI leads

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As early results showed the victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the general elections, PTI chairman Imran Khan summoned his party leaders on Thursday for consultations at his residence in Bani Gala.

According to the sources in the know of the development, the party leaders will discuss and decide on the strategies for forming a government.

Khan is expected to ask his party leaders to contact independent candidates from across Punjab and enlist their support. The meeting will formulate a strategy to counter the opponent’s allegation that the elections were rigged.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has rejected the results citing outright rigging.

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denied the allegations, asserting that the elections were “100 percent fair and transparent.”

Moving mosque welcomes Muslims

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A large white-and-blue truck pulls up outside a stadium in central Japan and slowly expands into a place of worship.

Welcome to the Mobile Mosque.

This July 23, 2018, photo provided by Mobile Mosque Executive Committee, shows Mobile Mosque, a mosque on wheels with the capacity for up to 50 people at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, western Japan. As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the Summer Olympics in 2020, a Tokyo sports and cultural events company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home. (Mobile Mosque Executive Committee via AP)

As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the 2020 Summer Olympics, a Tokyo sports and cultural events company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home.

Yasuharu Inoue, CEO of Yasu Project, said the possibility there might not be enough mosques for Muslim visitors in 2020 was alarming for a country that considers itself part of the international community. His Mobile Mosques could travel to different Olympic venues as needed.

“As an open and hospitable country, we want to share the idea of ‘omotenashi’ [Japanese hospitality] with Muslim people,” he said in a recent interview.

The first Mobile Mosque was unveiled earlier this week outside Toyota Stadium, a J-League football venue in Toyota city, which is also the headquarters of the car company with the same name.

The back of the modified 25-tonne truck flipped up to reveal an entrance and then the side slid out, doubling the width of the truck. The 48-square meter room can accommodate 50 people.

The mosque on wheels has the capacity for up to 50 people [Mobile Mosque Executive Committee via AP]
Muslim guests prayed inside the mosque, which includes outdoor taps and a washing area for pre-worship cleansing.

Indonesian students who were victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami also participated in the debut ceremony.

“The Mobile Mosque is very important to Muslim people such as Japanese people or tourists, Muslim tourists who visit Japan,” said 14-year-old Nur Azizah. “I want to show my friends.”

An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Muslims live in Japan.

Tatsuya Sakaguchi, a Japanese guest, expressed hope the Mobile Mosque would help open people’s minds worldwide.

“Looking in from the outside at the people in the mosque, they looked very happy,” said Sakaguchi, the representative director of an Osaka retail company.

Inoue said the inspiration for the project came to him on a trip to Qatar four years ago.

Initially, the project organizers plan to target international sporting events both in Japan and overseas. Inoue said he hopes the project will do more than fill a gap in religious infrastructure.

“Going forward, I would be so happy if people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, the Middle East and, for example, refugees who are coming from Syria are able to use the mosque as a tool to promote world peace,” he said.

UN chief condemns suicide attack in Pakistan

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned Wednesday’s suicide attack outside a polling station in Pakistan’s Quetta that killed 31 people, said his spokesman.

Guterres extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Pakistan, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The United Nations stands in solidarity with and supports the efforts of the government of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, said the statement.

The election day attack outside a polling station in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province in the southwest, killed at least 31 people and injured about 40 others.

Imran Khan’s PTI marches ahead amid ‘glitches’ in Pakistan election

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Massive delays in counting and allegations of rigging dominated the early hours of Thursday in Pakistan, where official poll results were still awaited even 15 hours after voting ended.

Preliminary results indicate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has obtained a clear edge over other parties with 119 in their kitty as unofficial results continue to pour in.

Although PTI workers and supporters started celebrations before the final results, no statement — or even a tweet — has been issued by the former cricket himself on the victory.

His spokesperson Naeemul Haque, however, tweeted that the PTI chief will “address the nation” at 2 p.m. “in celebration and recognition of the massive support received from the people of Pakistan in the 2018 elections which was a contest between the forces of good and evil”.

In Punjab, with preliminary results from 50 percent polling stations available with ECP, PML-N is currently holding its lead on 129 provincial seats but PTI is closing in with a lead on 122 seats.

Imran Khan’s party is clearly steering ahead in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with a lead on 64 seats against Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which is currently leading on 12 seats, as per reports from 35 percent polling stations in the province.

The preliminary results from 37 percent polling stations in Sindh show PPP-P leading on 75 seats, followed by PTI on 22 seats.

In Balochistan, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is leading on 12 provincial seats, followed by Balochistan National Party (BNP) on nine seats, based on unofficial results from 35 percent polling stations.

According to Geo News, Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour conceded defeat to PTI’s Shaukat Ali, his competitor on Peshawar’s NA-31 seat, saying: “The results indicate that Imran Khan is a favourite leader of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. I am a democratic person and I admit the defeat.”

Counting is still going on at the polling stations of different constituencies.

According to PTV news, Imran Khan has maintained a massive lead over PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Islamabad constituency. The PTI chief was pitted against former Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the crucial National Assembly seat.

The voter turnout was recorded at 50-55 percent of the nearly 106 million electorates, similar to the previous electoral contest in 2013.

Television visuals showed election workers sorting through massive piles of paper ballots at polling stations across the country.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif at a mid-vote count press conference said his party rejects the poll results.

In a tweet, he said the party had rejected the results “due to manifest and massive irregularities”.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also said he had not received any official results from any constituency where he was contesting, despite it being past midnight.

“My candidates (have been) complaining (that) polling agents have been thrown out of polling stations across the country. Inexcusable and outrageous,” he tweeted.

A delay has been reported in the transmission of election results due to the breaking down of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s Results Transmission System (RTS), which is being run through a software powered by National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

The Election Commission’s secretary Babar Yaqoob flatly denied allegations of vote count manipulation.

Shortly before Sharif spoke, state television said that just one-fifth of the votes had been counted so far — an unusually slow count that further fuelled suspicion of rigging.

Yaqoob said the vote-counting system, which was untested, had “crashed”, adding: “There is definitely no conspiracy, no one wants to influence the results”.

A single party will need to bag at least 137 of the directly elected seats to be able to form the government on its own.

As many as 12,570 candidates were in the electoral fray for a total of 849 seats of national and provincial assemblies in the country’s 11th general election.

Two Bengal teachers arrested for misbehaving with girl students

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Two school teachers in West Bengal’s Nadia district have been arrested for their alleged misbehavior with two girl students, police said on Wednesday.

The two teachers were nabbed following complaints from the parents of the two girls that he had behaved indecently with the students in the school premises last week.

One of the teachers had allegedly hugged and proposed marriage to one of the victims. The other teacher had purportedly touched the other victim inappropriately.

Both the teachers were presented before a court at Krishnanagar which sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.

US prepares new sanctions against Russia

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that he is committed to working with the Congress on a new Russia sanctions bill after he issued a “Crimea Declaration” that rejected Russia’s control of Crimea.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Pompeo on Wednesday said that he will support the bill to hold Russia accountable for its behaviours around the globe.

He confirmed the necessity to raise the cost of Moscow’s alleged malpractice “if we can find the right places and the right leverage point”, Xinhua news agency reported.

Saying that sanctions focusing more on Russian individuals and oligarchs are necessary, Pompeo noted: “that the things that impact the Russian economy are the things that I hear the Russians are most concerned about.”

He also said that Washington does not and will not recognize the Kremlin’s control of Crimea.

“There will be no relief of Crimea-related sanctions until Russia returns control of the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine,” he said, noting the US stance regarding Crimea is a “policy of nonrecognition”.

Citing the 213 sanctions on Russian entities and individuals since the Trump administration assumed office, Pompeo said “with respect to Russia, this administration has been tougher than previous administrations, and I fully expect it will”.

“The President… will be their toughest enemy, most difficult enemy,” he said.

The relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained over Ukraine, Syria, Iran, the poison attack of an ex-Russian spy in Britain, and Russia’s alleged meddling in US 2016 elections.

The two nations’ presidents met earlier this month in Finland. However, due to the wide backlash inside the US over President Donald Trump’s remarks there, the White House announced earlier on Wednesday that the next meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be delayed till next year.

In the Crimea Declaration, Pompeo said “the US reaffirms as policy its refusal to recognize the Kremlin’s claims of sovereignty over” Crimea.

Russia was expelled from the Group of Eight in 2014 and has since then endured sanctions of the West for its incorporation of Crimea.

Rahul says he fights political battles without hatred

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Days after he hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament generating a controversy, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his attempt was to fight his political battles without hatred, pointing out Hinduism teaches that one cannot be imprisoned by hostility.

Gandhi, who was the guest of honour at the formal launch of journalist Karan Thapar’s book “Devil’s Advocate: The Untold Story”, said he can hug a BJP leader and fight him politically, but he was not sure if he can expect the same from BJP.

“If there is one thing that our religion teaches us it is that you absolutely can not get imprisoned by hatred. And that’s my endeavor in a little way,” he said.

Gandhi referred to the episode in the Lok Sabha during the debate on no-confidence motion last week and said BJP MPs now move “two steps back” when he comes near them.

Gandhi began his speech by attacking the Modi government, saying “India today is colored with “a lot of hate, a lot of anger and frustration.”

He said politicians across the political divide, including him, tend to “see the world as them or us.”

Pointing to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who were in the audience, Gandhi said they would agree that this (‘them’ or ‘us’) was not his worldview.

“This is the design of our politics: It is confrontational and it is like a winner takes it all. But this is not how I am designed from inside and I am sure this is how many of you are designed from the inside. I am sure Mr Advani would agree with the basic idea of what I am saying,” Gandhi said.

The Congress President recalled his visit to Vietnam about ten years back to see the impact of the country’s war with America and said his boatman during ride on the Mekong river happened to be a person who had fought the Americans.

Gandhi said the man had injuries all over his body and that he had also killed an American. “But he did not hate them,” said Gandhi.

Gandhi emphasised that one can fight an opponent without hatred, and noted that hatred was “an active choice” that an individual makes.

“The point I am making is that you can fight someone with all your might but hate is a choice. It is an active choice that you make. And that is something very important to understand,” he said.

Gandhi said he can disagree with Advani and have a completely different perception about the country. “I can fight him on every single inch but he does not need to hate me,” he said.

“I can actually hug him and fight him,” Gandhi said to a loud applause.

“This is very interesting how it works because now whenever I come across BJP MPs, they sort of take two steps back… Let us fight, I will take on Narendra Modiji. All my friends sitting here, we will all take on BJP and they will fight us. But we don’t need to hate them. I don’t know if I can expect the same from them,” Gandhi said.

The event was attended by several senior Congress leaders, including Karan Singh, Digvijay Singh, Ahmed Patel. CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury was also among those present.

BJP’s Rajasthan campaign begins from August 4

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The BJP will formally start its election campaign for the Rajasthan Assembly elections with Suraaj Gaurav Yatra on August 4, said state party president Madan Lal Saini.

Starting from Charbhuja in Udaipur zone, a procession will be taken out under the leadership of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and will be inaugurated by BJP president Amit Shah, said Saini speaking to the media at the BJP headquarters here.

The yatra will pass through each district of the state covering all 200 Assembly seats. It will culminate at Ajmer where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present, said Saini.

The BJP will present its report card and will update people on the benefits of various public welfare schemes launched by it.

Karnataka draws blueprint for farm loan waiver

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he Karnataka government has drawn a blueprint to waive crop loans of farmers from state-run and co-operative banks in the southern state, an official statement said.

“The government has prepared a blueprint to waive off loans up to Rs 48,000 crore that includes loans from co-operative banks, subsidy and crop loans granted by the state-run banks,” said a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office.

The blueprint includes the Rs 34,000 crore loans to be waived as announced by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy while presenting the state Budget on July 5.

Total loans amounting up to Rs 48,000 crore to be waived include Rs 37,159 crore crop loans granted to the farmers by state-owned banks and about Rs 9,500 crore of current loans, the statement added.

The banks are too ready the details of farm loans from across the state that is eligible to waive, and the process of the waiver will commence after the state’s review.

As per the election manifesto promises of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) to waive farm loans if voted to power, Kumaraswamy, who is also the state party chief, had announced in his budget speech to waive up to Rs 2 lakh crop loans per farmer family.

“All crop loans defaulted by farmers up to December 31, 2017, are waived in the first stage. Only loans borrowed from district co-operative banks and state co-operatives are waived in the first stage,” he had said.

The budget had also proposed to allot Rs 6,500 crore to enable farmers to avail fresh loans after they submit a clearance certificate from the department concerned that their loan arrears have been waived.

The previous waiver by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had cost the state exchequer Rs 8,165-crore.

Starvation deaths: BJP, Congress attack Delhi government

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A day after the starvation deaths of three minor girls in east Delhi, both the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Wednesday flayed the Aam Aadmi Party government on the issue.

The BJP said that instead of playing politics over ration distribution, the Arvind Kejriwal government should concentrate on meeting the basic needs of the people.

“Such a sad incident is happening in Delhi where the government claims to be championing the cause of providing ration to the poor,” Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said.

Expressing shock and dismay over the deaths of three siblings in Mandawali, he said that such an incident in a constituency represented by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who on Wednesday ordered a magisterial probe, had “saddened” him.

“We hope that the Arvind Kejriwal government will learn a lesson and concentrate on providing the people the basic necessities,” the BJP leader said.

An autopsy at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital suggested that starvation “appears” to be the cause of the demise of the three sisters on Tuesday in Mandawali area of east Delhi.

According to police, the three — aged two, four and eight years — were found unconscious in their one-room house by their neighbours and later declared brought dead at the LBS Hospital.

The northeast Delhi MP said that a thorough inquiry was necessary and that society too should take notice and come forward to help the destitute.

The Congress claimed that the bodies had been shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital to get the “desired autopsy report”.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said: “Three kids die due to starvation in Delhi’s Mandawali. Post-mortem being shifted to GTB Hospital from LBS Hospital in a bid to get the desired reports. This family doesn’t have the ration card. The number of ration cards has gone down to 15 lakh from 33.5 lakh during earlier Congress rule in Delhi.”

The former Minister said that he will visit the bereaved family on Thursday morning.

“We had alerted the Delhi government earlier that about nine lakh eligible families were denied the ration cards. Three kids have died due to starvation in the constituency of Sisodia, who is buying a new vehicle worth Rs 20 lakh.”

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