Treat our fishermen humanely: Manmohan to Rajapaksa

March 4, 2014

Manmohan_to_RajapaksaNay Pyi Taw, Mar 4: Even as the Sri Lankan Navy arrested 32 more Indian fishermen, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised the issue with the neighbouring country's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, here Tuesday, calling for a humane approach to the issue.

Meeting on the margins of the BIMSTEC Summit, the two leaders also spoke about the upcoming US-led resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the text of which was released to member countries late Monday.

"The prime minister said it (the fishermen issue) was a livehood issue and must be handled in a humane manner by Sri Lanja," Indian foreign office spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said at a post-meeting briefing.

The prime minister's concern followed the arrest of at least 32 Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy Monday for allegedly intruding into their waters and the seizure of their eight trawlers.

The arrests came just ahead of the second round of talks between the fishermen of two sides scheduled March 13 in Colombo, mainly to discuss the rights over the waters in the Palk Strait between the two countries.

Manmohan Singh and Rajapaksa were here in this capital city of Myanmar for the third summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

Besides India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, the seven-nation grouping comprises Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Thailand.

Rajapaksa, on his part, raised the proposed resolution against Sri Lanka in Geneva which has been co-sponsored by the US, Britain, Montenegro, the Maldives and Mauritius.

"Our prime minister said we have just seen the draft and given that it has implications on both countries, let us keep in touch," Akbaruddin said, referring to Manmohan Singh's comments on the matter.

It is learnt that the draft resolution, which deals with the alleged war crimes against Tamil separatists, does not call for any sanctions but pushes for an international probe into the matter, which Colombo has thus far rejected.

The probe was first requested at the UNHCR Feb 25 after a post-civil war expert report. The war between Sri Lankan forces and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) ended in 2009.

During their 25-minute meeting, the two leaders also raised the issue of closer economic relations as also reconciliation of ethnic Tamils after the bloody civil war.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

Lucknow, May 19: The administration of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) has ordered a probe into the cardiac procedure conducted on a corona positive patient in the hospital.

The patient underwent a cardiac procedure without being tested for corona before the surgery. He later tested positive for COVID-19, leading to panic among the staff and other patients.

The medical staff that came in contact with the patient were quarantined on Monday while the area was sanitized.

As per orders from the State Medical Education Department, even in emergency cases, patients are to be screened for Covid-19 before procedures are done.

According to the SGPGI administration, the incident took place late on Sunday night.

In an official statement, director, Prof R.K. Dhiman said, "The 63-year-old patient was a case of complete cardiac blockage and needed an urgent temporary pacemaker. The patient was admitted to the holding area of the institute and later shifted to the MICU for permanent pace making."

He said that when the patient's corona status was found to be positive on the Hospital Information System, she was shifted to the Rajdhani COVID Hospital.

The Director said, "Though the involved areas have been sanitized and healthcare workers were quarantined as per protocol, a probe has been ordered to investigate the lapses."

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News Network
January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has assets worth Rs 3.4 crore, an increase of Rs 1.3 crore from 2015, according to his election affidavit.

Kejriwal's total assets were worth Rs 2.1 crore in 2015.

The cash and fixed deposits of Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal increased from Rs 15 lakh in 2015 to Rs 57 lakh in 2020.

A party functionary said Rs 32 lakh worth cash and fixed deposits have been received by Sunita Kejriwal as voluntary retirement benefits while the rest are savings.

The cash and fixed deposits of the chief minister increased from Rs 2.26 lakh in 2015 to Rs 9.65 lakh in 2020.

There was no change in the value of immovable assets of his wife while Kejriwal's immovable assets' worth increased from Rs 92 lakh to Rs 177 lakh.

The party functionaries said increase in Kejriwal's immovable assets' worth is due to the increased valuation of the same asset as in 2015.

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News Network
January 3,2020

Dhaka, Jan 3: Bangladesh's paramilitary force chief said on Thursday that a total of 445 Bangladeshi nationals returned from India in last two months following the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the Indian government.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Maj Gen Md Shafeenul Islam disclosed the figure during a press briefing here.

"About 1,000 people were arrested in 2019 for illegal border crossings from India to Bangladesh, with 445 of them returning home in November and December," he said.

After verifying their identities through local representatives, BGB came to know that all the intruders are Bangladeshis, Islam said, adding that 253 cases were lodged against them for illegal trespass, while initial investigations found that at least three of them were human traffickers.

The BGB Director said the trespassing did not create any tension between the border forces of Bangladesh and India.

Last week, Islam visited India where he said that the creation of the NRC is completely an "internal affair" of India and the cooperation between the border guarding forces of the two countries is very good.

He said the BGB will continue to do its work of preventing illegal border crossings as per its mandate.

A BGB delegation, led by Islam, was on a bilateral visit to India to hold DG-level border talks with its counterparts, the Border Security Force (BSF).

The talks took place from December 26-29, during which a host of issues related to cross-border smuggling and activities of criminals and others along the 4,096-km-long front were discussed.

Responding to a question, Islam said, "No discussion was held at the conference over the (NRC) issue".

He said during the five-day talks held in New Delhi, the BGB demanded that the BSF should take effective steps to prevent killings of Bangladeshis on frontiers as casualty figures sharply rose in 2019.

"The number of border killings in 2019 was highest in the last four years. As per our calculation, the number of such unexpected deaths was 35," the BGB chief said.

However, the BSF estimate of the casualty figure is much lower than our calculation, he said.

Islam said the BSF is following the policy of maintaining maximum restraint and minimal use of force even after being attacked by "armed border offenders".

A statement issued by the BSF last month in New Delhi after the conclusion of the DG-level talks said, "On the concern of the BGB regarding the death of Bangladeshi nationals on borders, it was informed to them that a non-lethal weapon policy is strictly followed by BSF personnel on borders.

"Firing is resorted to only in self-defence, when BSF patrols are gheraoed and attacked by ‘dah’ (a sharp-edged weapon) etc. It was specified that the BSF does not discriminate between criminals based on nationality," it said.

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