Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

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Serial blasts by ULFA(I) on R-day in Assam

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assam_blast

Guwahati: Assam today as the state was celebrating Republic Day amid tight security.

Bombs were detonated in Charaidow, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, police said.

There was, however, no report of any casualty or damage to property in the blasts.
The improvised explosive devices (IED) were of low intensity and exploded to register the presence of the militant outfit, police said.

In Dibrugarh town, blast took place just 500 metres away from Chowkidingi Parade ground where the national flag was being unfurled at an official function.

Due to high security in the area, the militants threw the bomb into a drain near a tea garden where it went off, police said.

In Charaidow district, IEDs were exploded near a petrol pump at Dholbagan and at Bihu Bor. In neighbouring Sibsagar, two blasts took place at Lengibor and Majpani.

In Tinsukia district, the insurgents detonated two IEDs – one inside an empty water tank at Sisimi village and another near Dhola bridge in Sukan pukhuri area, the police said.

Tight security measures were in place for Republic Day, with patrolling by police and para-military forces in the vulnerable areas and at vital installations.

(PTI)

India, United Arab Emirates ink defence, security pacts

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parikkar

New Delhi: Seeking to boost security collaboration, India and the United Arab Emirates today inked two pacts to enable cooperation in the areas of cyberspace, armaments, defence industries and transfer of technology. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Mohammed Al Bawardi, UAE’s Minister of State for Defence, exchanged Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of defence industry.

The agreement aims to establish cooperation in the identified fields of defence manufacturing and technology, including through studies, research, development, innovation and cooperation between public and private sector institutions of the two nations. Under this MoU, the two sides will also collaborate in areas of armaments, defence industries and transfer of technology.

The second MoU exchanged between Parrikar and Shaikh Khalid bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy National Security Adviser and Chairman of the State Security Department, UAE, was aimed at technology development and cooperation in cyberspace. It is noteworthy that in May last year, Parrikar’s visit to the Gulf country focused on widening conversation with the UAE military on defence and security issues.

Possibilities of Indian defence manufacturers selling military equipment to the UAE were also explored during Parrikar’s visit. Parrikar had also inked an MoU on the Mutual Protection of Classified Information. Bilateral defence interaction between India and the UAE has been witnessing a steady growth.

There have been regular high level exchanges at the level of service chiefs, functional level exchanges and military education exchanges between the countries. The ships of the navies of both countries have regularly made port calls enhancing bilateral defence cooperation. India and UAE also hold an ‘Annual Defence Dialogue’ to discuss the security and defence cooperation issues between the two countries.

(Agencies)

Pakistan bans TV host Aamir Liaquat banned over ‘hate speech’

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Popular TV personality Aamir Liaquat banned by media regulator after accusing abducted activists of blasphemy.

Liaquat also accused those calling for the release of the activists of supporting blasphemy [Aamirliaquat.com]

Liaquat also accused those calling for the release of the activists of supporting blasphemy [Aamirliaquat.com]

by Asad Hashim, Al Jazeera

Pakistan’s media regulator has banned one of the country’s most popular television talkshow hosts over “hate speech” and “incitement to violence”, according to a statement, after he hosted a series of shows accusing five abducted activists and their supporters of blasphemy.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned Aamir Liaquat from appearing on his network Bol TV for an indefinite period on Thursday, until the body’s complaints cell issues a final verdict.

Liaquat is one of Pakistan’s most popular television personalities, having previously hosted a religion-themed show, as well as a major gameshow. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past week, Liaquat levelled a series of accusations of blasphemy against five activists who were abducted within days of each other earlier this month, accusing them of insulting Islam and its Prophet, and of running anti-military Facebook pages.

He also accused those calling for the release of the activists of supporting blasphemy, including calling out some activists by name, while flashing their pictures on screen.

Blasphemy charges

Insulting the Prophet Muhammad carries a mandatory death sentence in Pakistan, while other forms of “blasphemy” carry sentences ranging from a fine to life imprisonment.

There is also a significant risk of mob violence in blasphemy cases in Pakistan, where the matter is considered particularly sensitive.

At least 68 people have been murdered over blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

At least one rally calling for the release of the abducted activists has been attacked by a right-wing group in the last week. Rights activists say the blasphemy allegations on Liaquat’s show and elsewhere are aimed at silencing dissent .

“Aamir Liaquat … has willfully and repeatedly made statements and allegations which tantamount [sic] to hate speech, derogatory remarks, incitement to violence against citizens and casting accusation of being anti-state and anti-Islam, on various individuals,” the PEMRA statement read.

Liaquat has been banned from appearing on Bol TV in any capacity, and from declaring anyone an “infidel” or a “traitor” on any other television news channel, the statement said. PEMRA said it made the ruling in response to hundreds of hate speech complaints.

“I am not in favour of banning speech, but this was not just speech. This was the only kind of speech that should be criminalised, because this is incitement to violence,” said rights activist Gul Bukhari. “Incitement to violence in the Pakistani context is different, because vigilantes can and do come and kill you here.”

Jibran Nasir, a rights activist who was repeatedly accused by Liaquat of supporting blasphemy in the last week, welcomed the decision, saying he has also registered a legal case against Liaquat under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws.

“Clearly there were many Pakistanis who felt extremely distressed, and I’m glad that that good sense has prevailed among the masses to identify someone who was spreading hate speech,” he told Al Jazeera.

“In the end it is the constitution that prevails, which provides everyone the right to dignity, freedom of expression [and] also safety, liberty and protection from harm,” said media analyst Adnan Rehmat.

“In the presence of these clear guidelines on what is permissible and what is not, the insidious, incendiary, wanton and deliberate campaign by Aamir Liaquat was in violation of the constitution and the PEMRA laws,” he said.

Pakistan’s media regulator, which is connected to the government, has in recent months taken a more active approach in imposing a code of conduct on the country’s vibrant electronic news media, which consists of more than 45 24-hour news television channels.

Media rights activists and senior journalists have pushed, however, for a move towards a self-regulation model, fearing a crackdown on dissent by the state.

“We are all advocating not for a ban of any channel or individuals, but for self regulation,” said Owais Tohid, a senior journalist. “Media should hold itself accountable and implement its own code of conduct.”

Two avalanches hit Gurez Sector, 10 soldiers killed: Army

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Jammu

Srinagar: Ten soldiers were killed as two avalanches hit Gurez Sector of Kashmir, an army official said today.

An avalanche hit an army camp in Gurez sector of Bandipora district near the Line of Control last evening in which several soldiers were trapped, the army official said.

He said rescue operations were launched and seven soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer were saved. “Bodies of three soldiers were retrieved his morning,” he said.

The official said another avalanche hit a patrol party which was on its way to a post in Gurez sector last evening. “Rescue teams have so far retrieved seven bodies from the spot of the incident,” the official said.

Yesterday, an officer was killed an avalanche at Sonamarg in central Kashmir Ganderbal district while four members of a family died in another avalanche in Gurez sector yesterday.

Authorities have issued a high danger avalanche warning in hilly parts of snow-bound Kashmir valley in view of fresh snowfall which has been going on intermittently for past three days.

(Agencies)

The Nasheman Urdu Weekly turns 56

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Nasheman Urdu Weekly

Nasheman Weekly, the country’s largest selling Urdu weekly today completes 55 years of glorious publication, establishing a new benchmark in Urdu journalism.

Founded in 1962 by the late Usman Asad, Nasheman currently has a circulation of over 1.20 lac; a feat hardly matched by any other Urdu publication in India.

Nasheman, an Urdu word for ‘nest’, garnered a legendary status among our readers from the very onset. With popular weekly columns like ‘Thapdakhen’ (slaps or smacks), the paper depicts the prevalent social and political conditions of the times in the most starkest terms. Such is Nasheman’s popularity, that it is bought by one, sold to another for double the price, and then sold again to triple the price.

The paper is circulated not only in India but also abroad, copies of it are shipped to UAE, Saudi Arabia and many other countries.

Under the founder’s son, Rizwan Asad’s current editorship, we have remained true to our essence. We still are the staunchest critique of socio-political inequities, we still are the largest selling Urdu weekly in the country.

The year 2014, also saw Nasheman venture into the world of online journalism, with the daily online English edition, which explores news and analysis from an independent, alternative perspective. We would be also starting a print edition in English in the coming months.

On our editor’s behalf, we would like to thank all our readers, staff members and everyone of those, who have been part of this soulful journey.

Hamas warns Trump against moving embassy to Jerusalem

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Spokesperson tells Al Jazeera move would add ‘oil to the fire’ and insists Palestinians will not abandon the city.

[Ammar Awad/Reuters]

[Ammar Awad/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan has warned US President Donald Trump not to add “more oil on the fire” by moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Hamdan’s comments came in response to promises made by Trump and his administration to make the move – a decision that would effectively recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The eastern sector of Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 in an act that was not recognised by any other country in the world.

Trump’s press secretary said last week that the new administration was in “the beginning stages” of discussing a possible relocation.

“[Trump] has to make a choice whether he wants to create peace in the region or he wants to add more oil on the fire,” Hamdan said in an interview with Al Jazeera’s UpFront.

“Palestinians will not accept to abandon Jerusalem, they will not accept to abandon their rights.”

Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital of their future state, and have had the broad support of the international community for that aspiration.

On Tuesday, Jean-Marc Ayrault, French foreign minister, reiterated his country’s stance of pursuing a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Separately, in Iraq, popular Shia Muslim leader Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the potential relocation as a “declaration of war on Islam”.

Palestinian political party Fatah has also issued warnings to Trump against it.

While previous US presidents have maintained that the status of Jerusalem would be left to “final status negotiations” between the Israelis and the Palestinians, they have not formally and unilaterally accepted Israel’s declaration that its capital should be an undivided Jerusalem.

Rights groups say that, despite international opposition, Israel – and in particular, the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – has worked to actively change the demographics of occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel has been revoking Palestinians’ residency, demolishing their homes, and building illegal settlements for Israeli Jewish settlers under threat of violence.

Last month, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding Israel halt settlement activity, calling it a “flagrant violation of international law”.

Asked whether the embassy moving to Jerusalem would lead to violence, Hamdan told Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan: “If there was changes or the United States administration try to make a change in the status of Jerusalem, of course, that will mean an action from the Palestinian side and no one can control that.”

Hamdan added that he personally does not “accept the idea of having violence from the Palestinian side”.

These remarks conform with previous statements made by Palestinian groups, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, linking attacks by Palestinians – usually acting on their own – against Israeli soldiers and illegal settlers as resulting from “provocations”.

“Everyone expected this to happen. Jerusalem is boiling. Yesterday, the Israeli forces demolished the houses of the Palestinians who attacked Israelis, but they never punish Israeli attackers,” Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official, told Al Jazeera after a November 2014 attack on a synagogue.

Trump to put limits on refugees, immigration

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US president also reiterates he will build Mexico wall as he moves to fulfill some of his most controversial pledges.

During his campaign Trump had vowed a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" [EPA]

During his campaign Trump had vowed a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

The US president, Donald Trump, will sign executive orders restricting visas and immigration, as well as the entry of refugees, making good on his signature campaign pledges, according to several media reports.

Trump is due to speak on Wednesday to employees at the Department of Homeland Security – which handles immigration – and sign orders on refugees and national security, the reports said.

“Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!” Trump tweeted late on Tuesday.

One of the orders would restrict immigration and access to the US for refugees and visa holders from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the Washington Post, which noted that citizens from many of these countries already faced major obstacles in obtaining US visas.

Immigration experts told the newspaper that the orders would stop all admissions of refugees for 120 days, including those fleeing Syria’s civil war, and a 30-day halt to issuing immigrant and non-immigrant visas to people from some countries with Muslim majorities.

But there is likely to be an exception for those fleeing religious persecution if their religion is a minority in their country. That exception could cover Christians fleeing Muslim-majority nations, according to The Associated Press news agency.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Nihad Awad, a Muslim American community leader, called the order a “blind policy” that “does not make and will not make America safer”.

“It will make America and our society more fearful and less welcoming. And that’s not the American way of being great as a nation,” said Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

During the fiscal year 2016, the US government had admitted 10,000 Syrian refugees, the majority of whom were families and their children.

‘Total and complete shutdown of Muslims’

Trump launched his presidential campaign with a promise to restrict the entry of refugees and build a wall along the southern US border with Mexico.

He also called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US until authorities can better screen those who come into the country.

What remains unclear is how the orders would be implemented by John Kelly, homeland security secretary, who told his confirmation hearing that the border wall might not “be built anytime soon.”

On Thursday, Trump is also expected to sign executive orders on the so-called sanctuary cities, where local officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities on such things as handing over undocumented immigrants for deportation.

Trump has also vowed to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme, which his predecessor Barack Obama introduced in 2012.

The programme allows more than 750,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the country as young children to live and work in the US without fear of deportation.

But whether, and how, Trump addresses the programme remains unclear.

“Many options are being worked through on DACA,” the Post quoted a White House official as saying.

In addition to the border wall, Trump also wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada, warning last week that he would abandon the pact unless the US gets “a fair deal”.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto vowed on Monday that there would be “neither confrontation nor submission” in the negotiations, which will include trade, immigration and other issues.

Probe ordered into Goa’s attempted jailbreak

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Goa-jailbreak-attempt

Panaji: A probe was ordered on Wednesday into the foiled jailbreak bid at South Goa’s Sada sub-jail late on Tuesday, in which one inmate died, a senior officer said.

Several people, including jail guards, were injured during the attempted escape, the officer added.

Speaking to reporters Additional Inspector General of Police Siddhivinayak Naik said: “Yes, a probe has been ordered into the incident.”

Deputy Superintendent of Police Lawrence D’Souza said inmate Vinayak Korbatkar died due to severe stab injuries which he received in the melee.

“He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital,” the officer said.

Korbatkar was involved in the stabbing of another criminal, Ashpak Bengre, earlier in 2017.

South Goa Collector Swapnil Naik told reporters that the incident happened on the eve of shifting prisoners to the newly constructed Colvale Central jail, 15 km north of Panaji.

“The escape attempt took place after a fight broke out between two groups in the jail. They later attacked our jail guards and tried to escape from the main gate. But they were stopped by police,” Naik said.

Late on Tuesday night, 45 prisoners and undertrials attempted to escape from the sub-jail, located 40 km from Panaji, after assaulting jail guards. The sub-jail is under repair.

Nine prisoners and four guards were treated for minor injuries at a government-run facility.

(IANS)

Padma Vibhushan for Pawar, M.M. Joshi; Kohli to get Padma Shri

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virat-kohli

New Delhi: Former Union Minister Sharad pawar and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi have been made it to the list of Padma awards announced on Wednesday.

Veteran plyback singer K.J. Yesudas, late Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, late Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, late Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sunder Lal Patwah will also be accorded the second highest civilian honour.

Virat Kohli and Olympic Bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik are among awardees of Padma Shri this year. Also, Olympian Dipa Karmakar, Indore’s Bhakti Yadav known as ‘Doctor Dadi’, AIDS crusader Suniti Solomon among ‘unsung’ Padma Shri awardees.

Captain of Indian cricket team of blind Shekhar Naik and Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu have made it to the list.

(Agencies)

Subramanian Swamy objects to Arnab Goswami’s ‘Republic’, writes to ministry

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subramanian swamy arnab goswami

New Delhi: Former editor-in-chief of Times Now and senior journalist Arnab Goswami, who is expected to launch his ‘Republic’ channel soon, has met a roadblock, with controversial BJP leader Subramanian Swamy raising objections to the channel’s name.

Swamy has written to the ministry of information and broadcasting, stating that as per the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, the name ‘Republic’ cannot be used for commercial and professional purposes.

In the letter addressed to the ministry, Swamy stated, “It has come to my notice that a new TV channel under the name style of: ‘Republic’ is in the process of being launched. The channel will be led by Arnab Goswami. The ministry of corporate affairs filings show that Goswami…has become a director in ARG Outliner Media Private Limited and SARG Media Holding Private Ltd on 19-11-2016. The channel is to go by the name of ‘Republic’.

“It may be noticed that certain names and emblems have been prohibited from being used under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 for professional and commercial purposes,” the letted stated, adding that as per the schedule accompanying the statute under item 6, there is an express prohibition from using the word ‘Republic’ would be contrary and a direct breach of the Act.

Swamy urged the ministry to look into the issue and determine if it was prohibited to issue a licence to a company of such name.

(Agencies)

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