If Hemraj's head not returned, bring 10 heads from Pak: Sushma Swaraj

January 15, 2013

New Delhi, Jan 15: If Pakistan does not return the head of martyred soldier Hemraj, India should get at least ten heads from the other side, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said and asked the Centre to take tough action against that country.

"If his (Hemraj's) head could not be brought back (from Pakistan), we should get at least 10 heads from their side," Swaraj told reporters here after visiting Hemraj's family along with party president Nitin Gadkari and leader Rajnath Singh.

"The question is: will we sit without any reaction and engage in a dialogue? This should not happen. At least the government should react in some way. That is why we have said that government should take some tough measures," she said.sushma

Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh and Hemraj were killed on January 8 by the Pakistan Army regulars after infiltrating into Indian territory in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Today, the nation is demanding don't prove a weak government. They (Pak Army) came on the LoC, killed our soldier and took away his head with them and there should be no reaction...this should not be tolerated at any cost," she said.

Swaraj alleged the government showed lack of respect to the martyr and demanded an apology.

"The government should apologise for the apathy. They should apologise to the family of the soldier and the country. But they should at the same time take revenge for the incident which took place," she said.

Swaraj said Hemraj's wife Dharamvati was disturbed "about the lack of respect" shown by the government towards him.

"She is disturbed about two things, one is about the honour of her husband. She said I couldn't even see his face. As you know that his body arrived without the head, she is shocked at this but nobody from the government came for his final rites. The other is about the honour and dignity. Both her feelings are legitimate," Swaraj said.

"I feel it is a great neglect from the government's side. When the entire country is feeling outraged, the government didn't even inform when and how the last rites will be performed.

"It was informed that the cremation took place after the sunset, nobody from us got to know about it. But all the top officials from the government knew about it," Swaraj said.

She said there should have been sincere efforts by the government to be present at Hemraj's last rites.

"As per rules, the Defence Minister should have himself come here. If he couldn't come, the State Minister should have definitely come. The Home Minister should have come, somebody from the PMO or some State Minister should have come.

"There is army in Mathura... somebody from the Central Command in Delhi should have come. But the kind of apathy that has been shown, their grievance is genuine," she said.

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News Network
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said the religious and constitutional rights of minorities are absolutely safe in India and it does not need any certificate from anyone as communal harmony and tolerance are in the DNA of the country and its majority community.

Comments of Rijiju, a Buddhist, came after a top Trump administration official has said that the US is very concerned about what is happening in India in terms of religious freedom.

"India doesn't need certificate on communal harmony and tolerance which is in the DNA of India and the majority community in India," Rijiju, who holds the charge of the Union minister of state for minority affairs besides being the union sports minister, said in a statement.

Rijiju said the social, religious and constitutional rights of minorities are absolutely safe in the country.

"A few politically intolerant people are trying to create an atmosphere of fear and intolerance. As a member of the minority community, I feel India is the best country in the world for the minorities," he said.

Samuel Brownback, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, said on Wednesday that India has been a country area that spawned four major religions itself.

"We do remain very concerned about what's taking place in India. It's historically just been a very tolerant, respectful country of religions, of all religions," he said.

The trendlines have been troubling in India because it is such a religious subcontinent and seeing a lot more communal violence, Brownback said.

His comments came after the release of the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report'.

Mandated by the US Congress, the report documenting major instances of the violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department.

India has previously rejected the US religious freedom report, saying it sees no locus standi for a foreign government to pronounce on the state of its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

"India is proud of its secular credentials, its status as the largest democracy and a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to tolerance and inclusion", the government had said earlier.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Ahead of the grand foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Ram Temple on August 5, Ayodhya priest and 16 police personnel, involved in the mega event on August 5, have tested positive for COVID-19. Priest Pradeep Das is one of the four priests who regularly perform puja at the Ram Temple site in Ayodhya.

Das has been placed under home quarantine and contact tracing is underway, reported.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh police and Sashastra Seema Bal have been put on high alert in the districts bordering Nepal ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Ayodhya on August 5.

PM Modi likely to launch postal stamps on Ram Temple, Ramayana during Ayodhya visit: Report
Counterfeit products create Rs 1-lakh-crore hole in economy, incidents up 24% in 2019: Report
On July 29, Uttar Pradesh reported a record single-day spike of 3,570 COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to more than 77,000, while 33 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,530.

"There are 29,997 active COVID-19 cases in the state and 45,807 patients have been discharged after treatment," Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters. "The death toll due to the disease has reached 1,530," he said.

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News Network
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: An Air India flight from Delhi to Moscow on Saturday had to return midway after the airline's ground team found out that one of the pilots had tested positive for novel coronavirus, officials said.

"When the A320 plane, which did not have any passengers as it was heading to Moscow to bring back stranded Indians under Vande Bharat Mission, had reached Uzbekistan's airspace, our team on ground realised that one of the pilots had tested COVID-positive," senior Air India officials said.

"The flight was immediately asked to return. It came back to Delhi at around 12.30 pm on Saturday," the officials said. The crew has been quarantined. Another plane would be sent to Moscow to bring back the stranded Indians, according to the officials.

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