Terrorism one of the foremost threats to global peace, says Sushma

Agencies
April 5, 2018

Baku, Apr 5: Terrorism is one of the foremost threats to international peace and security as it maims and kills "our citizens", and undermines the ability to attain development goals, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Thursday.

Addressing the 18th mid-term ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) here, Sushma also pushed for reforms of the United Nations Security Council.

She said that no effort to reform the UN will be complete without reforms of the United Nations Security Council.

India had been strongly pushing for completing the long-pending reforms of the powerful Security Council.

Sushma said that terrorism is one of the foremost threats to international peace and security.

"It maims and kills our citizens and undermines our ability to attain our development goals.

"Unfortunately, the talks about combating terrorism have not been matched by our actions. The strengthening and implementation, without double standards of existing international laws and mechanisms to fight the menace of terrorism is an imperative," the minister said.

The meeting was chaired by Jorge Arreaza, Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

In 1996, India proposed a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) as a way to strengthen the existing legal framework. Yet after more than two decades, discussions have made little progress even while terrorists continue to operate with greater impunity and inhumanity, the minister said.

"As a first step, let us renew our commitment to finalise the CCIT. NAM countries must galvanise the international community towards this goal," Sushma said.

At the last UN General Assembly High Level segment, a strong desire was voiced by the international community for change and reforms at the United Nations, she said.

"To date, the Inter-Governmental Negotiation process, has been carefully nurtured into a credible collective process for negotiation on this important subject.

"The time has come to move to the next phase and commence text-based negotiations a demand made by an overwhelming majority of UN members including most NAM members," she said.

"India's support to the Palestinian cause has been a reference point of our foreign policy. At this juncture, this would be a good way for NAM to manifest its solidarity with the Palestinian people," Sushma said.

At the recent meeting in Rome to deal with the financial crisis faced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), India decided to increase its contribution to the UNRWA budget from $1 million to $ 5 million, on a multiple year basis, in view of the dire financial crisis that this body now faces.

"The challenges we face today such as nuclear escalation, armed conflict, refugee flows, terrorism, poverty and worsening environmental degradation all require more effective multilateralism. The fundamental values and principles on which the Non Aligned Movement is based are, therefore, even more relevant today.

"In 2015, we adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to find solutions of the developmental challenges we face. We also promised that no one will be left behind. Genuine global partnerships have to be forged if the SDGs are to be achieved. Financing for Development is, therefore, of utmost importance to NAM countries," Sushma said.

Protecting the environment of the planet is a moral responsibility. Global action on the basis of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities is now an even greater imperative, she said.

India along with France launched the International Solar Alliance through which more than 60 countries have joined to promote greater use of solar energy, she said.

"Finding energy sources that are cost-effective, environmentally sustainable will be vital for achieving our SDGs, while ensuring that we protect mother Earth for future generations," Sushma said.

NAM has been a votary of universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament and of pursuit of that goal through multilateralism.

India remains committed to the shared goal of the global elimination of nuclear weapons, Sushma added.

Comments

Abdullah
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Modi & RSS Terrprists are the Threat to Indian peace.

Wellwisher
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Mr.Sushma you are correct,  Please  brief your opinion and knowledge about terroris.

1. What is th meaning of terrorism

2. To whom you will call a terrorist

3. What to call the groups, which always ignite communal clash and attacke one inncoents

Hope you will give a respectful  explanation.

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Agencies
May 1,2020

New Delhi, May 1: The Centre has finalsed the criteria for delimitation of various zones after May 3. It has identified at least 130 districts as red zones, 284 orange zones and 319 green zones.

According to a letter written by Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, all the states have to delineate the containment areas and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and notify the same.

The letter said, the national capital has at least 11 red zones, Uttar Pradesh 19 red zones, 36 orange zones and 20 green zones while, the state of Haryana has 2 red zones, 18 orange zones and 2 green zones.

The Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh has been identified as a red zone district while, Ghaziabad has been designated as an orange zone. The national capital has no orange and green zone; there are only red zones according to the letter.

In Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik come in the red zone.

In West Bengal, Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Parganas -- both North and South have been identified as red zones while Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad etc have been marked as orange zones.

In the southern part of India, Kerala has 2 red zones and 10 orange zones, while Tamil Nadu has 12 red zones and 24 orange zones.

The Health Secretary said that the list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 based on field feedback and additional analysis at state level, states may designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate.

However, states may not relax the zonal classification of districts classified as red or orange as communicated by the Ministry. This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts.

A district will be considered under green zone, if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case since the last 21 days in the district.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Days after a gunman opened fire in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-CAA movement, YouTuber Gunja Kapoor was detained at the protest site on Wednesday after she was caught covertly filming the protests in a burqa.

Kapoor runs the channel ‘Right Narrative’ on YouTube and her pinned tweet on Twitter says she is followed on the microblogging site by PM Narendra Modi.

According to police, the protesters turned suspicious after Kapoor asked them "too many questions". She was caught by some of the women protesters after they identified her as the popular YouTuber. The incident led to a commotion at Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a senior police official said.

She was taken to Sarita Vihar police station where her identity was ascertained, police said.

The incident sparked outrage on social media. Many took to Twitter to question why Kapoor was at the protest in disguise. Others expressed concern about her motives at secretly filming the protests.

Meanwhile, praises flew in for the women of Shaheen Bagh who can be seen defending Kapoor from angry protesters after she was caught.

This is not the first time that a right wing social media activist has landed in trouble in Shaheen Bagh where residents and other women and children have been sitting in protest for nearly two months since the passing of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 in December last year.

In January, Deepa Sharma had posted videos online about the "traumatic" experience she had when she was allegedly heckled and harassed by Shaheen Bagh protesters. While the woman's claim could never be verified, other pieces of rampant fake news aimed at delegitimising and villainising protesters has taken social media by storm.

From doctored videos of women protesters allegedly accepting they were paid Rs 500 to attend protests to alleged fights over biriyani and anti-India sloganeering, trolls on social media seem to be working overtime to taint the ongoing protests.

The latter, however, show no signs of giving up. In fact, as Delhi nears elections on February 8, protesters have arranged for music performances by eminent artists, including pop celebrity Prateek Kuhad, till February 7.

Sit in protests take place 24x7 with women showing up in thousands to spend the night and sing songs of protest. And with polls around the corner, the protests have become an active part of political discourse with Aam Aadmi Party's Manish Sisodia expressing his support for the protesters at a recent press conference.

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Agencies
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: The Supreme Court said on Monday that people have a fundamental right to protest against a law but the blocking of public roads is a matter of concern and there has to be a balancing factor.

Hearing pleas over the road blocks due to the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said its concern is about what will happen if people start protesting on roads.

Democracy works on expressing views but there are lines and boundaries for it, the bench said.

It asked senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and advocate Sadhana Ramachandran to talk to Shaheen Bagh protestors and persuade them to move to an alternative site where no public place is blocked.

The matter has been posted for next hearing on February 24.

People have a fundamental right to protest but the thing which is troubling us is the blocking of public roads, the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Shaheen Bagh protestors should not be given a message that every institution is on its knees trying to persuade them on this issue.

The apex court said that if nothing works, we will leave it to the authorities to deal with the situation.

Protestors have made their made their point and the protests have gone on for quite some time, it said.

Restrictions have been imposed on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch and the Okhla underpass, which were closed on December 15 last year due to the protests against CAA and Register of Citizens.

The top court had earlier said the anti-CAA protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh cannot block public roads and create inconvenience for others.

The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by advocate Amit Sahni, who had approached the Delhi high court seeking directions to the Delhi Police to ensure smooth traffic flow on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, which was blocked by anti-CAA protesters on December 15.

While dealing with Sahni's plea, the high court had asked local authorities to deal with the situation keeping in mind law and order.

Separately, former BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg has filed a petition in the apex court seeking directions to the authorities to remove the protestors from Shaheen Bagh.

One of the pleas has sought laying down of comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protests or agitations leading to obstruction of public place.

In his plea, Garg has said that law enforcement machinery was being "held hostage to the whims and fancies of the protesters" who have blocked vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting Delhi to Noida.

State has the duty to protect fundamental rights of citizen who were continuously being harassed by the blockage of arterial road, it said.

"It is disappointing that the state machinery is muted and a silent spectator to hooliganism and vandalism of the protesters who are threatening the existential efficacy of the democracy and the rule of law and had already taken the law and order situation in their own hand," the plea had said.

In his appeal, Sahni had sought supervision of the situation in Shaheen Bagh, where several women are sitting on protest, by a retired Supreme Court judge or a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court.

Sahni has said in his plea that protests in Shaheen Bagh has inspired similar demonstrations in other cities and to allow it to continue would set a wrong precedent.

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