Kashmir girl finally gets passport

August 6, 2013

sufaira

Srinagar, Aug 6: The ‘American dream’ of a 15-year-old girl from an orphanage in Jammu and Kashmir to study in the United States is all set to come true as authorities on Tuesday issued a passport to her which she had claimed was denied earlier due to her uncle’s militant past.

“We have issued the passport of Sufaira Jan on Tuesday. Her police verification was received last evening,” Regional Passport Officer, Srinagar, Firdous Iqbal told PTI.

Sufaira, hailing from Budgam district of central Kashmir, had applied for the passport after she got a one-year US scholarship under the India-US youth exchange study programme in March.

She had claimed the CID did not clear her case for issuing passport as her uncle was a militant, who surrendered before the authorities in 1995 - three years before she was born.

“The government doesn’t understand that if my uncle was a militant in the past, and has now surrendered and lives a normal life, what is my fault? I am not a militant,” Sufaira said.

However, authorities including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had said at no level had the application of the girl been rejected and was going through the regular process.

“I am sure she will get the passport within next few days. The process is underway... we have not rejected (her application) at any level. There is nothing adverse against her in any of the reports compiled by various departments,” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here on Monday.

Earlier, Omar, through social networking site twitter.com, pledged that she won’t be denied the travel document. “Needless to say she will not be denied a passport because of her uncle’s past. All such pending cases of previous denials are being cleared,” he had tweeted.

Inspector General of CID B Srinivas told PTI on Monday that the girl had applied for passport only three months ago. He said the verification has been completed and the final letter will be sent to the Regional Passport Office here in a couple of days.

“The girl in question has got clearance both from police and CID and as such no one can deny her the passport,” Srinivas had said.

The police verification in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the valley, can take months together as the personnel tasked to verify the antecedents of the applicants are often pressed into law and order duties also.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 6 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that Congress is known for adopting a soft Hindutva agenda and that there was nothing new in the remarks of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi on Ayodhya temple construction.

"I am not surprised regarding, Priyanka Gandhi's remark on Ayodhya. From Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, Congress had followed a similar stance. I don't think Congress has any stand when it comes to secularism. 

If it was the case, then our country would not have reached such a level," the chief minister said when asked about the 'Bhumi Pujan' ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday.

"There is nothing new on Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi's position on the issue. They are following the Congress' soft Hindutva agenda. There is no element of surprise," Vijayan said.

Further, Vijayan said that CPI(M) Politburo had made clear the party's viewpoint on the Ayodhya temple construction.

"When it comes to Ayodhya issue. I want to ask who had allowed worship there. It was Congress. Who had allowed to lay the idol there? It was Congress. 

Who gave permission to Karseva? It was Congress. Even when it came to demolition of Babri Masjid too who shut their eyes and gave a silent nod for it- wasn't it the Congress regime at the centre? And Muslim League (IUML) was part of it. These are all part of our history," said Kerala Chief Minister.

He said instead of involving in discussions on it, more time should be utilised towards containing the COVID-19 spread in the country and helping the poor who are suffering due to the pandemic.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: People protesting against the JNU violence were evicted from Gateway of India here on Tuesday morning as roads were getting blocked and tourists and common people were facing problems, a police official said.

Police had appealed to the protesters to shift but they didn't listen, so they were "relocated" to Azad Maidan, the official said.

Hundreds of people, including students, women and senior citizens - who assembled at the iconic Gateway of India since Sunday midnight - demanded action against the culprits and called for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation.

Violence broke out in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus.

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Agencies
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: The Supreme Court said on Monday that people have a fundamental right to protest against a law but the blocking of public roads is a matter of concern and there has to be a balancing factor.

Hearing pleas over the road blocks due to the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said its concern is about what will happen if people start protesting on roads.

Democracy works on expressing views but there are lines and boundaries for it, the bench said.

It asked senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and advocate Sadhana Ramachandran to talk to Shaheen Bagh protestors and persuade them to move to an alternative site where no public place is blocked.

The matter has been posted for next hearing on February 24.

People have a fundamental right to protest but the thing which is troubling us is the blocking of public roads, the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Shaheen Bagh protestors should not be given a message that every institution is on its knees trying to persuade them on this issue.

The apex court said that if nothing works, we will leave it to the authorities to deal with the situation.

Protestors have made their made their point and the protests have gone on for quite some time, it said.

Restrictions have been imposed on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch and the Okhla underpass, which were closed on December 15 last year due to the protests against CAA and Register of Citizens.

The top court had earlier said the anti-CAA protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh cannot block public roads and create inconvenience for others.

The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by advocate Amit Sahni, who had approached the Delhi high court seeking directions to the Delhi Police to ensure smooth traffic flow on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch, which was blocked by anti-CAA protesters on December 15.

While dealing with Sahni's plea, the high court had asked local authorities to deal with the situation keeping in mind law and order.

Separately, former BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg has filed a petition in the apex court seeking directions to the authorities to remove the protestors from Shaheen Bagh.

One of the pleas has sought laying down of comprehensive and exhaustive guidelines relating to outright restrictions for holding protests or agitations leading to obstruction of public place.

In his plea, Garg has said that law enforcement machinery was being "held hostage to the whims and fancies of the protesters" who have blocked vehicular and pedestrian movement from the road connecting Delhi to Noida.

State has the duty to protect fundamental rights of citizen who were continuously being harassed by the blockage of arterial road, it said.

"It is disappointing that the state machinery is muted and a silent spectator to hooliganism and vandalism of the protesters who are threatening the existential efficacy of the democracy and the rule of law and had already taken the law and order situation in their own hand," the plea had said.

In his appeal, Sahni had sought supervision of the situation in Shaheen Bagh, where several women are sitting on protest, by a retired Supreme Court judge or a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court.

Sahni has said in his plea that protests in Shaheen Bagh has inspired similar demonstrations in other cities and to allow it to continue would set a wrong precedent.

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