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Army begins leaving Muzaffarnagar

September 17, 2013
Lucknow, Sep 17: Soldiers Tuesday started pulling out of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh after being deployed there for the last one week following communal violence. army

"There is absolute calm and the district administration and police are in

complete control of the situation. Hence the army is being withdrawn," Additional Director General of Police Arun Kumar said.

"The process will be completed today," he added. Twenty-eight units of the army were requisitioned to assist the district administration after communal clashes erupted in Muzaffarnagar city, about 130 km from New Delhi, and the adjoining rural areas Sep 7-9.

More than 40 people were killed and scores injured in the violence, forcing the authorities to deploy the military for the first time in over two decades to quell communal clashes.

Police officer Kumar said it was time for the army to withdraw. Informed sources said that while it was decided earlier to pull out the army in phases, it was later felt that this would "unnecessarily create an atmosphere of tension.

"Hence, a decision was taken at the political level, paving way for the (full) pullout."

District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said the administration's focus was now to rehabilitate the people who fled their homes and have taken refuge in makeshift centres.

Officials will also distribute the financial compensation sanctioned by the state government for the riot victims.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Ashok Mutha Jain said special teams had been formed to catch people booked for their involvement in the riots.

Police said door-to-doors checks were still on in rural areas to nab the culprits and to seize weapons.

But despite official claims of normalcy returning to Muzaffarnagar, thousands have refused to return to their homes saying they felt unsafe in villages where they came under attack.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were confronted by hundreds of victims who said they were unwilling to go back to their homes for now.

In Wasi Kalan village where an Islamic seminary has been converted into a

relief camp, refugees told Manmohan Singh and Gandhi that they had little faith in the state government.

According to them, police were mute spectators when they were attacked and their houses burnt.

More than 43,000 people have taken refuge in 38 relief camps set up by the administration.

People say they want to resume normal life but are vary of stepping out of the camps.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Central government as India crossed the 20 lakh COVID-19 positive cases.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader reiterated his earlier tweet, sent out on July 17, which stated "The 10,00,000-mark has been crossed.

With the rapid spread of COVID-19, by August 10, more than 20,00,000 will be infected in the country. 

The government must take concrete, planned steps to stop the epidemic."
"20 lakh-mark has been crossed, Modi government is missing," the Congress leader tweeted today.

The Union Health Ministry has said active cases as a percentage of total cases have seen a significant drop from 34.17 per cent on July 24 to 30.31 per cent.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

The Indian Defence Ministry, which had in its document that China intruded into the Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in early May, on August 6 took down the page which it had uploaded on its website.

According to a report by news channel NDTV, the ministry, in its document, had said the Chinese aggression has been "increasing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and more particularly in Galwan valley since May 5."

"The Chinese side has transgressed in the areas of Kungrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on May 17-18," the document, titled 'Chinese Aggression on LAC' stated.

The document revealed that "... a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, resulting in casualties on both sides."

After the clash, a second corps commander level meeting took place on June 22 to discuss the modalities of de-escalation. "While engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus, the present standoff is likely to be prolonged," it said.

A defence ministry spokesperson told the news channel that the document "did not go through him".

The opposition Congress, meanwhile, asked the government why the report was taken down with party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that removal of the document from websites would not change facts.

"Forget standing up to China, India's PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won't change the facts," Gandhi tweeted.

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Agencies
July 13,2020

New Delhi, Jul 13: Top Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, are in touch with Sachin Pilot and are trying to placate him, a day after the Rajasthan Deputy CM declared open rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, sources said on Monday.

Pilot has claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government is in minority and that he has the support of over 30 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly.

According to sources, top Congress leaders have talked to Pilot and have asked him not to rebel against the chief minister. They also assured him that his grievances would be redressed at the party level.

For latest updates on Rajasthan political crisis, click here

Besides Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.

It was not immediately known what transpired during the discussions.

Sources said the leaders asked Pilot to attend a Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaipur, but he has not given any assurance.

Pilot, who is in Delhi, has not been taking calls of many party leaders. AICC general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Avinash Pande has said that Pilot has not been responding to calls and messages have been left with him.

Pilot has raised a banner of revolt against Gehlot after the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police sent a notice to him for appearing before it in the case involving "horse-trading" of MLAs in the state.

The SOG has registered an FIR in this regard and has also sent notices to the chief minister, chief whip of Congress and some ministers and MLAs.

Meanwhile, Congress has pulled out all the stops to save its government in Rajasthan and CM Gehlot has convened a meeting of the state legislature party.

Pilot, who is also the state Congress president, is miffed with Gehlot and has alleged that he was not being kept in the loop on key decisions.

The Congress Legislature Party meeting began about three hours later than scheduled, with ministers and MLAs flashed victory signs for the cameras.

The Congress said 109 MLAs have already expressed support for Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, rejecting the claim by Deputy Chief Minister and the party’s state unit president Sachin Pilot that the senior leader does not have the majority.

About 100 MLAs had walked into the chief minister’s residence by 12.30 pm, an hour before the meeting actually started.

But some MLAs considered close to Pilot had not arrived till then. 

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