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Met Tiger Memon in PoK after 1993 blasts, claims Kashmir MLA Usman Majeed

August 1, 2015

Srinagar, Aug 1: Former militant-turned Congress MLA Usman Majeed on Friday stoked a controversy by claiming he had met Tiger Memon after the 1993 Mumbai blasts in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir during which he seemed "worried" about his brother Yakub's surrender fearing the ISI might kill him.

Usman-MajeedSMajeed's claim comes a day after Yakub was hanged in Nagpur Central Jail.

"I met Tiger in 1993. I met him 2-3 times. He used to come to our office in Muzaffarabad (capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). I was not friends with Tiger. Hilal Beg, the founder of the Students Liberation Front and chief of Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen militant outfit introduced me to him,"the MLA from north Kashmir'sBandipora claimed.

He said Tiger had already carried out the bomb blasts in Mumbai when they met.

"He was most wanted that time in our country. He had carried out the blasts. I asked him how and why he had done itand what was the reason behind the blasts," Majeed said.

"He replied that the main reason was the demolition of the BabriMasjid and the riots that followed it. He said people, including women, had come to him and told him that they were being killed and he had got emotional. That's is why hecarried out the blasts," Majeed claimed.

He said Tiger had told him that ISI had plannedand helped in carrying out the blasts.

"ISI helped Tiger in carrying out the blasts. Itwasn't Tiger himself who did it. According to Tiger,everything was done by Pakistan the plan and the weaponrywas provided by them (Pakistan) and the plan was executed byhis (Tiger's) gang on the directions of ISI," he claimed.

The legislator also claimed that Tiger was worried after hisbrother Yakub had "surrendered" and feared that the ISI might kill him.

"Yakub was mentioned to me when Tiger said he had surrendered. We had heard from the media that some Yakub, who was Tiger's brother, had surrendered. Tiger said Yakub had surrendered, but our people here said he was apprehended.

"ButTiger was worried about the surrender. He thought ISI wouldlose his trust. Pakistan also had the worry that he mightsurrender. Tiger said there was less respect for him in Pakistan than earlier and that ISI was looking at him with doubtful eyes."

"When Yakub surrendered, Tiger left Pakistan becausehe feared that the ISI will kill him. He felt humiliated and disgusted and fled to Dubai. But after negotiations, they (ISI) brought him back because they did not want him to surrender.

"They feared Yakub might provide the platform and hewill facilitate Tiger's surrender too," Majeed claimed.

According to him, ISI would never allow Tiger to surrender.

Majeed crossed into Pakistan from Bangladesh. After staying there for two years, he returned and surrendered to Indian authorities and was part of a counter-insurgent group headed by Kukka Parray. He later contested the assembly elections and winning as anIndependent candidate in 2002 from the Bandipora consitutency.

He became a minister of state in the then MuftiMohammad Sayeed led PDP-Congress government. In 2008 assembly polls, he was defeated by the PDP candidate but he wrested the seat in 2014 when he contested on a Congress ticket.

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News Network
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: Newly-appointed Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said the armed forces stay away from politics and work as per the directives of the government of the day, remarks that come amid allegations that the forces were being politicised.

Gen Rawat also said that his focus as CDS will be to integrate the efforts of the three services and to work as a team.

"We keep ourselves away from politics. We act according to the directives of the government of the day," he said.

Gen Rawat said his focus will be to ensure best and optimal use of resources allocated to the three services.

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News Network
May 18,2020

New Delhi, May 18: With the highest-ever spike of 5,242 new cases in last 24 hours, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in India reached 96,169 on Monday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With 157 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll has risen to 3,029, as per the latest update by the ministry.

Out of the total number of cases, 36,824 have been cured/discharged/migrated.

This comes a day after the nationwide lockdown, imposed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19, was extended till May 31.

Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state due to the virus with 33,053 cases, including 1,198 deaths. It is followed by Gujarat (11,379), Tamil Nadu (11,224) and Delhi (10,054).

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Agencies
May 27,2020

Global health experts on Wednesday said novel coronavirus is here to stay for more than a year and called for aggressive testing to prevent its spread.

In an interaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, health experts Professor Ashish Jha and Professor Johan Giesecke talked about the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the series being aired on Congress social media channels.

While Jha exuded confidence that a vaccine will be available in a year's time, Prof Giesecke said India should practice a lockdown that is as 'soft' as possible, as a severe lockdown will ruin its economy very quickly.

"When the economy is opened up after lockdown, you have to create confidence among people," Harvard health expert Ashish Jha told Gandhi.

Jha is a professor of Global Health at TH Chan School of Public Health and Director, Harvard Global Health institute.

He said coronavirus is a '12-18 months' problem and the world is not going to be free of this till 2021.

The expert also called for the need for aggressive testing strategy for high-risk areas.

Gandhi, while interacting with the experts, said life is going to change post COVID-19.

"If 9/11 was a new chapter, this will be a new book," he remarked.

Professor Johan Giesecke, former chief scientist, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said India should have a 'soft lockdown'.

"The situation that India is in, I think, you should have a soft lockdown, as soft as possible," he said.

"I think for India, you will ruin your economy very quickly if you have a severe lockdown. It is better, skip the lockdown, take care of the old and the frail...," he noted.

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