Mumbai evidence not admissible in its court: Pak tells India

August 1, 2012

mumbai_copy


Islamabad, August 1: The Pakistan government has formally informed India that evidence provided by New Delhi in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks case is not admissible in a Pakistani court as defence lawyers were not allowed to cross-examine Indian officials, a media report said today.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry has informed the Indian government that the evidence is not admissible in the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, since defence lawyers were not allowed to cross-examine Indian officials when a Pakistani judicial commission visited Mumbai in March. In a letter sent to the Indian government yesterday, the Interior Ministry cited the ruling of a Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court and said cross-examination of key Indian officials is needed to make the evidence admissible in Pakistan, The Express Tribune reported.

During a hearing on July 28, the anti-terrorism court did not record the statement of two Pakistani investigators who were scheduled to testify about the evidence provided by India. The judge ruled that since the evidence gathered by the Pakistani judicial commission in India had not been made part of the case, the testimony regarding the Indian evidence too should not be recorded.

The evidence provided by the Indian authorities includes the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist, a CD with intercepts of conversations between the attackers in Mumbai and their handlers in Pakistan, autopsy and medical reports of the dead and injured and the statements of four Indian officials.

The Pakistani judicial commission had interviewed these four officials during the visit the Mumbai. However, no cross-examination was allowed under an agreement between India and Pakistan.

Sources privy to the investigations by the Federal Investigation Agency told The Express Tribune that the Interior Ministry had made it clear to India that the evidence would not have any legal value in Pakistan if the Indian officials could not be cross-examined by lawyers representing the seven accused facing trial in Pakistan.

On July 17, the judge of the anti-terrorism court accepted Lakhvi's plea and declared the findings of the judicial commission "null and void". The accused had challenged the legal value of the report of the judicial commission as their lawyers were not allowed to cross-examine Indian officials who provided evidence against them.

The seven suspects have been charged with planning, financing and executing the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people in November 2008.

Their trial has been hit by countless delays and the judge has been changed five times.

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News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: An Indian Air Force aircraft on Thursday evacuated 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan.

The C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft was sent to Wuhan on Wednesday and it carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies for coronavirus-affected people in China.

On its return, the aircraft brought back 112 people, including 23 citizens from Bangladesh, six from China, two each from Myanmar and the Maldives and one each from South Africa, the US and Madagascar.

Earlier, India had evacuated around 650 Indians from Wuhan in two Air India flights.

“In all 723 Indian nationals and 43 foreign nationals have been evacuated from Wuhan, China, in these three flights,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

On the medical supplies delivered by India to China, the MEA said they would help augment the country’s efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak which had been declared as a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation.

“The assistance is also a mark of friendship and solidarity from the people of India towards the people of China as the two countries also celebrate 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year,” it said.

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News Network
July 22,2020

New Delhi, Jul 22: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government as 'goonda raj' (rule by hooligans), hours after Ghaziabad-based journalist Vikram Joshi succumbed to bullet injury he received from a group of men, who had allegedly harassed the scribe's niece.

"Journalist Vikram Jashi was killed after he protested against the harassment against his niece. My condolence to the family. They promised Ram Raj, but gave Goondaraj," Gandhi tweeted.

"Is it the same Ram Rajya that BJP promised after it came to power? This is complete 'Goondaraj'. Neither journalist, nor those who protect the law are safe in UP, so how can the common man expect justice," tweeted his party colleague Randeep Surjewala.

Expressing his shock over the incident, party leader and lawyer Abhishek Singhvi said, "Shocking jungle raj in #Ghaziabad area with journalist #Joshi, already known as the complainant in #FIR, being shot on a scooter while with his daughters, struggling in a coma with a bullet in the skull! Thank God daughters not hit. Shocking, scary, disgusting lack of fear of law & order! #UP."

Ajay Kumar Lallu, Congress president in the state added, "The Ghaziabad incident has shocked the entire state. It's a tragic incident. Nobody is safe in Uttar Pradesh. If it is not jungle raj then what is. The government remains silent while criminals are becoming more active. While leaving home in the morning, people in the state worry whether they will be able to return in the evening or not."

In the meantime, the Station in-charge has been suspended and a departmental inquiry has been ordered after the journalist's family accused the police of inaction. A total of nine accused have been taken into the custody, while efforts are on to nab another accused.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday said the country's economy is not showing good signs though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has manifested tremendous leadership skills in fighting terror and in social welfare projects.

The fiscal decisions of the government have not yielded the desired results, the Rajya Sabha MP said here.

"Modi had shown tremendous leadership skill in fighting terror, in several social areas, micro areas like bringing toilets to every village home. But the economy is a complex system...," he said while taking part in a discussion.

While every minister is talking about a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024, but the current GDP growth has to be multiplied in four years to achieve that, the former Union minister said.

He said, if wages are slashed as a measure to cope with the situation, labor will become cheap but that will also cut down the people's purchasing power triggering dip in demand, closing down factories and rise in unemployment.

"This is one problem for which you really need an economist," he said.

Swamy said in jest, "I think Modi has one problem with me. Not only I am an economist but also a politician."

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