To protest is our democratic right, but keep emotions under control: Shahi Imam

News Network
December 18, 2019

New Delhi, Dec 18: Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari has called on the people of the country to exercise restraint and keep their emotions under control while demonstrating.

"To protest is the democratic right of the people of India. No one can stop us from doing so. However, it is important that it is controlled. Keeping our emotions in control is the most important part," he said while addressing a gathering here on Tuesday.

Bukhari urged the people, including the youth, to not be provoked by nefarious elements.

He also explained the difference between the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), saying they are two different things.

"The CAA is for those people who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014. They will be granted citizenship and it will not affect the Muslims living in India. The Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will not get Indian citizenship. It has nothing to do with the Muslims living in India," Bukhari said.

"While the CAA has become a law, NRC has been only announced. It has not become a law yet," he further said.

His comments came in the backdrop of an anti-CAA protest which turned violent in northeast Delhi's Seelampur area, forcing police to use tear gas shells to disperse the protesters, who torched two buses on Tuesday.

The police also stopped vehicular movement on the road, which connects Seelampur with Jafrabad, due to the demonstration.

The protest in Seelampur came days after the clashes between police and protesters in Jamia Millia Islamia over the citizenship law.

The CAA grants citizenship to non-Muslims of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who fled religious persecution and arrived in India until December 31, 2014.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have appealed to the people to maintain peace and tranquillity.

Comments

zakir
 - 
Wednesday, 18 Dec 2019

Shahi Imam sahab if you can not motivate Muslims then do not demotivate them..... please keep quite as usual you guys did,

abdullah
 - 
Wednesday, 18 Dec 2019

Shahi Iman should know that itention of bjp + sangh parivar behind CAA is not yet disclosed.   They are trying to dig the basement of muslims keeping the buiding in tight for the time being.   None should be optimistic that nothing will happen.    Their next target is to implement NRC and harass muslims.    CAA is just a start up.  Shahi Iman should support the agitators who are fighting agaisnt CAA + NRC.    Its strange that he did not condemn brutuality of delhi police on jamia students.   I dont know why the so called muslim leaders are not showing any interest in the agitation and instead of supporting they students they are asking them to refrain.   I think they are watching for water cross our head.    Shahi Iman sahab, din me khwab dekhna bhool jawo.   BJP hamari qabr khod rahe hain aur aap leaders kah rahe hain ke musalmanon ko ghabrane ki zaroorat nahin.    Sharm aati hai musalmano ke leaders par jo ab bhi so rahe hain.  

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News Network
March 19,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 19: The Karnataka government has extended the statewide coronavirus shutdown till March 31 as the number of positive cases rose to 14, of whom 11 are those who came in from foreign countries.

In an emergency Cabinet meeting, the state government set up a task force of four ministers to lead the defence against the virus. This core team will have Rs 200 crore to orchestrate the combat.

When chief minister B S Yediyurappa announced the shutdown last week, it was to be in force until March 21, but it was always unlikely that the Covid-19 scare would have waned by then.

Several more restrictions were announced today. Quarantine will be mandatory for all passengers arriving from foreign countries. While schools, colleges and business establishments will continue to be closed, restrictions have been extended to marriages, fairs and social functions as well.

Public entry to Vidhana Soudha, Vikas Soudha and the M.S. Building has been barred till March 31.

While setting up the task force, the government has earmarked Rs 200 crore for the coronavirus campaign. The chief minister said there is no dearth of funds for fighting the virus.

The task force will have deputy chief minister Ashwathnarayana, home minister Basavaraj Bommai, medical education minister Sudhakar, health and family welfare minister B Sreeramulu and chief secretary T M Vijaybhaskar.  Sreeramulu will head the task force.

The task force will monitor coronavirus cases on a daily basis and orchestrate the response of all stakeholders. It will issue a daily bulletin on the epidemic and also run awareness campaigns.

With quarantine now mandatory for passengers coming in foreign countries, community centres, hotels, convention centres, resorts and even PGs will be rented to accommodate the new arrivals.

The compulsory quarantine will be for 15 days.

A quarantine stamp will be imprinted on the right hand of passengers coming in from foreign countries.

Since the Centre has relaxed the rules for using SDRF funds, the state government will draw from it to contain the pandemic; therefore, there will be more funds available to all districts, chief minister B S Yediyurappa said in the Assembly.

In further measures, all passengers and suspected Covid-19 cases will be tracked by their mobile phones.

Primary stage

“We are in the first and second stages of the epidemic. The virus is still at a primary stage and has not spread to community level," medical education minister Sudhakar said in the Assembly.

"It is important that we do not let the epidemic enter the third stage. It is possible if we implement stringent measures. People have responded positively to the state government’s measures and are cooperating with our decisions," Sudhakar said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 7,2020

Mangaluru/Udupi, Jun 7: Coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have recorded 17 and 13 new coronavirus positive cases between 5 p.m. on June 6 and 5 p.m. on June 7. 

16 among 17 new covid patients in Dakshina Kannada are returnees from Maharashtra, while one returned from Goa recently.

Maharashtra returnees comprise 14 males, including three teenagers t, and two females aged 32 and 41. The Goa returnee is a 32-year-old male.

All of them have all been admitted to the designated COVID hospital in the district.

With this, the total tally of coronavirus cases in Dakshina Kannada has risen to 203, out of which 47 are currently active. As many as 150 patients have recovered and been discharged, and seven have died.

Among the 13 in Udupi, 12 are Maharashtra returnees, while process of contact tracing of one patient, a 30-year-old woman, is going on.

The patients comprise eight males, including a 7-year-old boy, and five females. They have all been admitted to the designated hospital.

This takes the total number of coronavirus cases in Udupi district to 902, out of which 798 are currently active, 103 discharged, and one patient has died.

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News Network
April 29,2020

Washington, Apr 29: A US government panel on Tuesday called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a "drastic" downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy, and there is virtually no chance the State Department will follow its lead on India, an increasingly close US ally.

In an annual report, the bipartisan panel narrowly agreed that India should join the ranks of "countries of particular concern" that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.

"In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault," the report said.

It called on the United States to impose punitive measures, including visa bans, on Indian officials believed responsible and grant funding to civil society groups that monitor hate speech.

The commission said that Modi's Hindu nationalist government, which won a convincing election victory last year, "allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity, and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence."

It pointed to comments by Home Minister Amit Shah, who notoriously referred to mostly Muslim migrants as "termites," and to a citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests.

It also highlighted the revocation of the autonomy of Kashmir, which was India's only Muslim-majority state, and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.

Coronavirus state-wise India update: Total number of confirmed cases, deaths on April 29

The Indian government, long irritated by the commission's comments, quickly rejected the report.

"Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels," foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.

"We regard it as an organization of particular concern and will treat it accordingly," he said in a statement.

The State Department designates nine "countries of particular concern" on religious freedom -- China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The commission asked that all nine countries remain on the list. In addition to India, it sought the inclusion of four more -- Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.

Pakistan, India's historic rival, was added by the State Department in 2018 after years of appeals by the commission.

In its latest report, the commission said that Pakistan "continued to trend negatively," voicing alarm at forced conversions of Hindus and other minorities, abuse of blasphemy prosecutions and a ban on the Ahmadi sect calling itself Muslim.

India's citizenship law fast-tracks naturalization for minorities from neighbouring countries -- but not if they are Muslim.

Modi's government says it is not targeting Muslims but rather providing refuge to persecuted people and should be commended.

But critics consider it a watershed move by Modi to define the world's largest democracy as a Hindu nation and chip away at independent India's founding principle of secularism.

Tony Perkins, the commission's chair, called the law a "tipping point" and voiced concern about a registry in the northeastern state of Assam, under which 1.9 million people failed to produce documentation to prove that they were Indian citizens before 1971 when mostly Muslim migrants flowed in during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence.

"The intentions of the national leaders are to bring this about throughout the entire country," Perkins told an online news conference.

"You could potentially have 100 million people, mostly Muslims, left stateless because of their religion. That would be, obviously, an international issue," said Perkins, a Christian activist known for his opposition to gay rights who is close to President Donald Trump's administration.

Three of the nine commissioners dissented -- including another prominent Christian conservative, Gary Bauer, who voiced alarm about India's direction but said the ally could not be likened to non-democracies such as China.

"I am deeply concerned that this public denunciation risks exactly the opposite outcome than the one we all desire," Bauer said.

Trump, who called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the US when he ran for president, hailed Modi on a February visit to New Delhi.

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