PM Modi should assure nation he won't allow 'buying MLAs off': Kapil Sibal

Agencies
May 19, 2018

New Delhi, May 19: Ahead of the crucial floor test in the Karnataka assembly, the Congress on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assure the country that he would not encourage “buying MLAs off” as the BJP seeks to prove majority, and welcomed the assurance of live telecast of House proceedings.

The Congress said that every alleged attempt of the BJP to derail the vote of confidence stood “defeated” and asserted the "democracy will win".

Addressing reporters here, senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented the Congress-JD(S) combine in the Supreme Court, said they did not press for the replacement of pro tem speaker K G Bopaiah after the assurance of live broadcast of the proceedings.

The Congress and the JD(S) had approached the apex court raising questions over the appointment of Bopaiah as the temporary speaker, contending he was not the senior most legislator.

It also maintained that Bopaiah had a "tainted past" as he as the then speaker had tried to save a previous government of Yeddyurappa, who faced corruption charges, in 2011.

Singhvi said whosoever wins or loses in the trust vote, it is the "democracy which will win".

Sibal also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying "He (Modi) should also say 'na kharidunga, na kharidane dunga' (will neither buy off, nor let anyone be bought over)."

"The prime minister keeps saying 'na khaunga, na khane dunga' (will neither indulge in corruption nor allow it). He should also say 'na kharidunga, na kharidane dunga'," quipped Sibal.

There was no question of replacing the pro tem speaker when proceedings would be live telecast and transparency would be ensured, he added.

Asked about the BJP’s claim that the Supreme Court’s order was a blow for the Congress, Sibal countered it, suggesting that things were otherwise as the time period allowed for the BJP by Governor Vajubhai Vala was reduced from 15 days to 24 hours (which ends today).

Singhvi seconded Sibal, and added that the Supreme Court also said no to secret ballot and the pro tem speaker was disallowed to take any other agenda, suggesting the decision favoured the Congress-JD(S) combine.

"The achievement of our petition before the court is holding the trust vote in one-and-a-half days as against 15 days allowed earlier," he added.

Asked why did the Congress move the petition if it had to withdraw its pleas, Singhvi said the offer to hold live telecast was given only after our petition. He described the move of live telecast as “a virtue out of necessity".

Singhvi said, "We wanted safeguards to be in place on our apprehension. In a way most of our demands have been met."

Another senior leader of the party, P Chidambaram, saluted the apex court and added the live broadcast of the House proceedings would mean every citizen watching television “will be a pro tem speaker”.

“In Karnataka, what is at stake is not only who will form the Government, but who will be loyal to the electorate and uphold the verdict of his/her voters.

“Every trick of the BJP to delay or derail the vote of confidence has been defeated. Now, I am sure the Congress and JDS MLAs will defeat Mr Yeddyurappa,” he tweeted.

The Supreme Court today ordered live telecast of the floor test, which is scheduled for 4 pm.

"Live broadcast of floor test will be the best possible way to ensure transparency in the proceedings," a bench comprising justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said.

The bench also made it clear that no other item in the agenda shall be taken up during the trust vote.

The bench said the secretary of the Legislative Assembly will record the proceedings of the House.

It said that several local channels will be provided the live feed of the proceedings so that they can also be in a position to telecast simultaneously.

The Supreme Court yesterday ordered a floor test in the Karnataka Assembly at 4 PM today, drastically slashing the 15-day window given by the Governor to BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove majority.

The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78, JD(S) with 37 and three seats have gone to others in the 224-member Assembly where elections were held for 222 seats.

The majority mark is 112 seats and the post-poll alliance strength of the Congress-JD(S) combine, which claims to have 117 MLAs, has alleged foul play in the Governor inviting BJP to form the government.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Srinagar, Jun 30: On the deadly attack at Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday morning, a Kashmiri social activist and journalist warned that the incident is a stark reminder to all those in Pakistan supporting Jihad and attacked Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan for ignoring development agenda in Balochistan.

Yana Mir, the editor-in-chief of The Real Kashmir News, said, "Karachi Stock Exchange attack is a reminder to all those in Pakistan supporting Jihad. Remember @imrankhan that Youth is restless and they want development agenda. These young boys of BLA are also looking for a life which is settled and peaceful. Wake up Imran Khan and you Kashmiris also. Pakistan is going to finish you. Open your eyes."
Four heavily armed terrorists attacked the busy Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi with grenades today, killing four security guards and a police officer before being shot dead in an exchange of fire, authorities said.

The terrorists, who arrived in a car, stormed the Karachi Stock Exchange building by firing indiscriminately and lobbed grenades at the main gate of the multi-storey building situated in the city's high-security commercial hub.

Balochistan is a well-known region rich in natural resources but the Balochis have always been deprived of basic facilities. No hospitals are available in Balochistan. If there are some then medical facilities and equipment are not available in hospitals. The education system is pathetic and similar is the case with the infrastructure: the roads, water system, agriculture and almost all fields of life.

It is pertinent to mention that enforced disappearances and abductions by the Pakistani military establishment have also been carried out regularly and for innumerable times in Balochistan. Leaders, activists, and vocal members of various student organizations have been detained by the security forces and kept in confinement. While others have been shot dead.

This crime against humanity has been going on for so long and so systematically in Balochistan that it has come to be considered as a normal state of affairs in the province. Many social and human rights activists have flagged the issue of oppression by the Pakistani establishment before the United Nations and other international agencies.

According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, an entity established by the Pakistani government, about 5,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been registered since 2014. Most of them are still unresolved.

Independent local and international human rights organisations put the numbers much higher. Around 20,000 have reportedly been abducted only from Balochistan, out of which more than 2,500 have turned up dead as bullet-riddled dead bodies, bearing signs of extreme torture.

Before being elected as Prime Minister, Imran Khan had admitted in multiple interviews about the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in enforced disappearances as well as extrajudicial killings and vowed to resign if he was unable to put an end to the practice, holding those involved responsible. But times have passed and only reports are available to narrate the true story.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the curative petition of two death row convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case on January 14.

A five-judge Bench of Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear the petition filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh.

The duo had moved a curative petition in the top court after a Delhi court issued a death warrant in their name and announced January 22 as the date of their execution.

Besides them, two other convicts named Pawan and Akshay are also slated to be executed on the same day at 7 am in Delhi's Tihar Jail premises.

They were convicted and sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.

If it is rejected, they are legally bound to move a mercy petition. It is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks' time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

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News Network
February 16,2020

New Delhi, Feb 16: Just an hour ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Arvind Kejriwal invited the people of Delhi again for his oath-taking ceremony at Ramlila Maidan today.

Referring himself as "son of Delhi", the AAP convener today tweeted saying, "Delhiites, your son is going to take oath as Delhi chief minister for the third time. You must come to bless your son".

The AAP national convener will be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row.

Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to take oath along with other ministers at Ramlila Maidan.

On Saturday, Kejriwal, through a tweet, has said that autorickshaw drivers, students, teachers, doctors, labourers, etc will be the "chief guests".

The guest list put out by the AAP includes ''Delhi ke Nirmata''- people who contributed to the development of the city during the last five years.

These include Sumit Nagal, a Delhi government school student and an international Tennis player, Laxman Chaudhry an auto driver, Manu Gulati a teacher and "one of the many architects of Delhi Governance Model", Dalbir Singh a farmer, Ratan Jamshed Batliboi - the architect of the famous Signature Bridge among others.

By winning 62 seats by cashing in on the plank of development, his party nearly repeated its 2015 performance, sweeping the Assembly polls in the face of a high-voltage campaign by the BJP, which had fielded a battery of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers in its electioneering, spearheaded by Home Minister Amit Shah.

The BJP marginally improved its tally, managing just eight seats from its 2015''s tally of three seats. The Congress failed to open its account in the second successive election.

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