‘Army killed this 12-year-old girl when she was giving water to an injured relative’

News Network
July 10, 2018

Srinagar, Jul 10: The people of Kashmir and the family members of the 12-year-old Andleeb Ali, who was shot dead mercilessly by the army in Kashmir’s Hawoora village on July 7, are questioning the Indian government what was the crime of victim?

"She was neither a militant nor a stone pelter, why was she killed?” wonders the father of Andleeb Ali. The class VII student and two other boys from the same locality were killed when soldiers opened fire during a protest.

Recounting the tragic day, her father Ali Mohammad Aliee said: “We were working in the lawn when suddenly firing began. Andleeb and my elder daughter asked me to run as they feared the army may harm me.”

“Outside our home, the army had shot at several boys and one of them was 19-year-old Shakir Khanday, our relative. As soon as my daughters came to know, they rushed towards the road with a glass of water and tried to help Shakir. But the army men didn’t tolerate this and they directly fired at my daughters,” Aliee said as mourners continued to visit the family.

While Aliee’s elder daughter escaped unhurt, the younger one was hit on the thighs. “While Shakir died a few minutes later, Andleeb was profusely bleeding. The army didn’t allow the ambulances to move in the area and some of the neighbours took my daughter on a stretcher to a hospital, 3 km from our home. By the time they reached the hospital, she was dead,” he said and burst into tears.

Aliee called it a "targeted killing" and questioned the army's tactics. “Is helping an injured person a crime for which he or she should be killed? And the army didn’t stop after killing my daughter. They ransacked our house. Everywhere in the world army is meant for fighting the enemy on the border. But in Kashmir, they treat 12-year-old kids as the enemy and show their might over them. If the Indian Army is so strong, let them fight with the enemy on the border and not against unarmed kids.”

Andleeb was a brilliant student, her teachers said. She always topped the class and was also a unanimous choice for the class prefect. She had aspired to become a teacher.

“I don’t know how I would be able to sit in the classroom without her by my side. She was very friendly and would help us with studies,” said Ruvaida Amin, Andleeb's friend and classmate.

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Well Wisher
 - 
Wednesday, 11 Jul 2018

Many innocents are dying, being killed without reason. For sure, there is a day of resurrection. All the dead people will be resurrected on that day & every one will be questioned for their deeds in this world. Allah will decide who has to go to hell & heaven. No criminals will be escaped on that day.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Washington, Jun 9: The defacement of Mahatma Gandhi's statue by unknown miscreants was a "disgrace", US President Donald Trump has said, days after it was vandalised with graffiti and spray painting during the nationwide protests against the custodial killing of African-American George Floyd.

The statue, which is across the road from the Indian Embassy, was vandalised on the intervening night of June 2 and 3, prompting the Indian embassy to register a complaint with the local law enforcement agencies.

The incident happened during the week of nationwide protests against the custodial killing of Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

"It was a disgrace," Trump made the brief comment at the White House on Monday when asked about the incident.

The Indian Embassy here has taken up the matter with the US Department of State for early investigation into the matter, as also with the Metropolitan Police and National Park Service.

It is working with the US Department of State, Metropolitan Police and National Park Service for expeditious restoration of the statue at the park.

The US president and First Lady Melania Trump, during their visit to India in February, had spent considerable time at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally given them a tour of the historic place.

"The First Lady and I have just had a pleasure of visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram, a few miles from here, where he launched the famous Salt March," Trump had said during his address at the Namaste Trump rally at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 24. A day later, Trump and the first lady also laid a wreath at Raj Ghat in New Delhi.

Pictures of Trump and the first lady with Gandhi's spinning wheel during their visit to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad are seen hanging on the walls of the White House.

Last week, top US lawmakers and the Trump Campaign condemned the vandalisation of the statue.

"Very disappointing," tweeted Kimberly Guilfoyle, advisor to Donald J Trump for President Inc. and National Chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committees.

North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis said, "It's disgraceful to see the defacing of the Gandhi statue" in Washington DC.

"Gandhi was a pioneer of peaceful protesting, demonstrating the great change it can bring. Rioting, looting and vandalising do not bring us together, he said.

Senator Marco Rubio said, "more evidence that violent radicals and run of the mill crazies have hijacked legitimate protests to create anarchy or for their own purposes."

Protests against the custodial killing of Floyd turned violent in the US and prestigious monuments were damaged. In Washington DC, protestors burnt a historic church and damaged monuments like the Lincoln Memorial.

US Ambassador to India Ken Juster apologised for the incident.

"So sorry to see the desecration of the Gandhi statue in Wash, DC. Please accept our sincere apologies," he said.

"Appalled as well by the horrific death of George Floyd and the awful violence and vandalism. We stand against prejudice & discrimination of any type. We will recover and be better," he said in a tweet last week.

One of the few statues of a foreign leader on a federal land in Washington DC, the statue of Gandhi was dedicated by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the presence of the then US president Bill Clinton on September 16, 2000, during his state visit to the US.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: As the counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly polls began, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday raised doubts on EVMs, alleging that no machine having a chip is tamper-proof.

He called upon the Election Commission and the Supreme Court to take a fresh look at the use of EVMs in the country.

"No machine (which) has a chip is tamper-proof. Also please do for a moment think, why no developed country uses EVM," Singh said in a tweet.

"Would CEC and Hon Supreme Court please have a fresh look on EVM voting in India? We are the largest democracy in the world, we can't allow some unscrupulous people to hack results and steal the mandate of 1.3 billion people.

"If they match the votes in the counting unit. Declare the result. If they don't match then count the ballots of all polling booths in the assembly. It would convince everyone and save time also as this has been the consistent argument of CEC in favour of EVM," the Congress leader said.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly polls was held on Saturday.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced that the final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, five per cent less than 2015.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Thrissur, Mar 23: Kerala police on Monday has booked a Catholic priest for violating the Covid-19 advisory against conducting Holy Mass in which more than 100 people attended.

Fr. Pauly Padayatti, vicar of Nithya Sahaya Matha (Mother of Perpetual Help) church at Koodapuzha near Chalakudy in Thrissur district has been arrested by the police.

Despite the strict restrictions of the health department and the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) to temporality suspend church services involving laity in churches, the vicar conducted the Holy Mass on Monday.

The police have also registered case against the devotees for violating the guidelines by attending the service.

The top church leadership including Cardinal Mar George Alencherry repeatedly urged the laity not to go to churches for Holy Mass or other services.

The faithful have been asked to participate in the online streaming of Holy Mass by bishops and priests and pray from their homes.

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