Raza Academy, Muslim groups apologize for violence

August 12, 2012

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Mumbai, August 12: Mumbai's liberal Raza Academy Sunday offered unconditional apology to the the media and Mumbaikars for the widespread violence Saturday and sought forgiveness.

"The people who indulged in violence cannot be Muslims. No Muslim would dare to do anything like this during a Ramzan fast. Some mischief mongers have taken advantage of the situation," Raza Academy president Mohammed Saeed Noori told IANS.

He said Raza Academy and others - All India Sunni Jamaitul Ulema, All India Sunni Ayema-e-Masajid, Jamaat-E- Razae Mustafa and another 20 Sunni Muslim groups - felt "deeply ashamed" over Saturday's violence after a protest march against attacks on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

On behalf of everyone, he sought "forgiveness" of the police and the media which have always supported different causes in the past.

Founded in 1978 and generally regarded as a secular outfit, the Raza Academy's reputation suffered a serious setback after Saturday's violence left two people dead and another 100, including 45 policemen, injured.

Ahmed Raza, one of the organisers, took pains to explain that they had never anticipated such a large turnout for the procession. They had thought around 2,000 would participate.

"We have ordered only 1,500 chairs for the public meeting at Azad Maidan in the afternoon but the huge turnout from all over Mumbai shocked us," Raza told IANS.

Awami Vikas Party chief Shamsher Pathan, which had supported the procession, said the violence was "highly deplorable but nipped in the bud".

"I helped police to prevent the crowds from rushing towards CST and diverted them towards New Marine Lines, from the rear side of Azad Maidan," Pathan, a former assistant commissioner of Mumbai police, told IANS.

"I also appealed on the mike to the groups which were outside the Azad Maidan not to attack the media and police. Simultaneously, with police help, we diverted the 20,000 people inside the Azad Maidan precincts to leave the venue from the backside, towards New Marine Lines.

"If they had gone out of the front side, with angry police and media in confrontation with the rioters, it could have been another Jallianwala Bagh," Pathan told IANS.

Meanwhile, prominent peace activists including retired Admiral L. Ramdas and film-maker Mahesh Bhatt Sunday condemned Saturday's attack on the media as "mindless and shameless action by misguided individuals".

"Using violence in a protest against violence is an insult to the suffering victims in whose support the protest was purportedly called," a statement said.

They urged the government and police to take exemplary action against the guilty. The other signatories to the statement included Jatin Desai, Lalita Ramdas, Mazher Hussain, Ram Punyani and Kamla Bhasin.


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Agencies
July 2,2020

New Delhi, Jul 2: In the midst of India's tense border standoff with China, the defence ministry on Thursday approved procurement of a number of frontline fighter jets, missile systems and other platforms at a cost of Rs 38,900 crore to bolster the combat capability of the armed forces, officials said.

They said 21 MiG-29 fighter jets are being bought from Russia while 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft will be procured from Russia. The ministry has also approved a separate proposal to upgrade existing 59 MiG-29 aircraft.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The procurement of 21 MiG-29 and upgrading of the existing fleet of MiG-29 are estimated to cost the government Rs 7,418 crore while purchase of 12 new Su-30 MKI from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will be made at a cost of Rs 10,730 crore, the officials said.

The DAC also approved procurement of long-range land-attack cruise missile systems with a range of 1,000 KM and Astra Missiles for Navy and Air Force.

The officials said cost of these design and development proposals is in the range of Rs 20,400 crore.

"While acquisition of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted, addition of long-range land attack missile systems having a firing range of 1000 KM to the existing arsenal will bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force," said a defence ministry official.

"Similarly induction of Astra Missiles having beyond visual range capability will serve as a force multiplier and immensely add to the strike capability of the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force," he said.

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News Network
April 11,2020

New Delhi, Apr 11: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with chief ministers, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday urged CMs of states where the party is in power to unanimously demand for transfer of cash to every poor family.

He said the poor have lost their jobs and have exhausted their savings. They are now standing in lines to get free food, the former Union finance minister said.

Chidambaram said remonetising the poor would cost only Rs 65,000 crore, which is economically viable.

"Chief ministers Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, V Narayanasami, Uddhav Thackeray and E Palaniswani should tell the prime minister today that just as LIVES are important LIVELIHOOD of the poor is important, he tweeted.

"The poor have lost their jobs or self-employment in the last 18 days. They have exhausted their meagre savings. Many are standing in line for food," Chidambaram said.

Can the state stand by and watch them go hungry," he asked, adding that chief ministers should demand that cash be transferred to every poor family immediately.

"Remonetise the poor should be their unanimous demand," Chidambaram said.

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Agencies
July 23,2020

Jaipur, Jul 23: Four days after the Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the purported audio clips indicating his alleged involvement in horse trading of MLAs in Rajasthan, a city court has directed the Rajasthan police to probe a complaint alleging Shekhawat's role in a credit society scam worth Rs 840 crore.

The additional district judge Pawan Kumar, on Tuesday, directed the additional chief judicial magistrate's court to send the complaint against Shekhawat to the SOG.

Shekhawat, his wife and other partners have been named in the complaint in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam in which around 50,000 investors allegedly lost about Rs 840 crore.

The Jaipur unit of the SOG has been probing the scam since last year after an FIR was registered on August 23, 2019.

Now, Jaipur ADJ Court-8 ordered a fresh inquiry in the case against Gajendra Singh accepting the revised application filed by Lagu Singh and Guman Singh and said that "this is a serious matter and hence SOG should investigate this".

Both the applicants had invested a huge amount in Sanjivani credit cooperative society.

It is alleged in the complaint that a multi-storey building has been built with the money instead of a theatre which was proposed earlier and many properties were also bought in Ethiopia with the money.

An SOG investigation also reveals that a large amount of money has been deposited into accounts of Shekhawat and his wife at different time spans, said sources.

Earlier, Shekhawat was not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the SOG in connection with the case. Later, a magistrate's court also rejected the application to include him in the chargesheet. The applicants then approached the additional district judge's court with a revised application.

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