India prepared for US pullout from Afghanistan: Govt

February 7, 2013

Indian_army

Bangalore, Feb 7: India is taking steps to face any eventuality that may arise after the US begins to pull out its troops from Afghanistan next year, defence minister AK Antony said here on Wednesday.

"We are taking steps to safeguard our country from any eventuality that may arise after the US withdraws all its combat troops from Afghanistan," Antony told reporters at an aerospace event here on Wednesday.

Terming the geo-political situation in the region "very critical", Antony said the complete withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan would be a matter of concern for India as hostile forces could pose a threat to the country from across the border.

"Nobody can threaten our country as our armed forces are fully prepared to take on any threat to our national security. We are equipping all the three services with the latest warfare equipment from within the country and overseas," Antony said.

Concerned about Gwadar

Noting that the transfer of the Gwadar port to China by Pakistan was also a matter of concern for India, the defence minister said though the Chinese were building the port on Pakistan's request, their presence would be assessed from security interest.

The Pakistan government January 30 transferred the management of the strategic Gwadar deep sea port in the Arabian Sea from Singapore to China Overseas Port Holdings Ltd, which played a key role in its construction.

"As the Chinese constructed that port, Pakistan handed it over to China in mutual interest. It (presence of China) is a matter of concern us. My answer is simple and straightforward: We will keep an eye on it," Antony said.

Located between the apex of the Arabian sea and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Gwadar port is 400 km away from the Strait of Horumuz, through which global oil supplying tankers pass.

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News Nerwork
June 7,2020

New Delhi, Jun 7: Rain lashed some parts of the Delhi-NCR on Sunday morning.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted partly cloudy sky with possibility of development of thunder lightning for three days from June 10 onwards with minimum and maximum temperature will hover around 29° Celcius and 42° Celcius respectively.

Strong surface winds during day time have been predicted for today by IMD.

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News Network
April 15,2020

New Delhi, Apr 15: Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi has been booked for culpable homicide after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to coronavirus, police said on Wednesday.

Kandhalvi had organised the religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month against the social distancing protocol imposed by the Centre to curb the spread of the deadly disease.

An FIR was registered against the cleric on March 31 at Crime Branch police station on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin.

He was earlier booked for holding the event, police said.

“After several attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event succumbed to coronavirus, we added IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the FIR against the leader, a police official said.

Some foreigners who attended the event have also been booked for violation of visa norms.

In an audio message, Kandhalvi had said that he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

The FIR registered against the Tablighi Jamaat event says that the Delhi Police contacted the authorities of Nizamuddin Markaz on March 21 and reminded them of the government order which prohibited any political or religious gathering of more than 50 people.

It says that despite repeated efforts, the event organisers failed to inform the health department or any other government agency about the huge gathering inside the Markaz and deliberately disobeyed government orders.

“The sub district magistrate of Defence Colony inspected the premises several times and found that around 1,300 people, including foreign nationals, were residing there without maintaining social distance. It was also found that there were no arrangements of hand sanitizers and face masks,” the FIR adds.

The Nizamudddin centre, attended by thousands, turned out to be a hotspot for spread of coronavirus not only in the national capital, but the entire country.

More than 25,500 Tablighi members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country after the Centre and the state governments conducted a "mega operation" to identify them.

At least 9,000 people participated in the religious congregation in Nizamuddin. Later, many of the attendees travelled to various parts of the country.

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 8: Five more people from

Kerala have tested positive for coronavirus, Health minister, K K Shailaja said on Sunday.

All the five hail from Pathnamthitta district.

While three of them had returned from Italy on February 29, two others were their relatives, the minister said.

All the five have been isolated in Pathnamathitta general hospital and are under observation.

Their tests were confirmed on Saturday night.

Earlier, India's first three positive cases had been reported from the state.

All the three patients, medical students from Wuhan, have been treated and discharged from hospitals.

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