US official lauds protests against Dadri, Kalburgi killings

January 14, 2016

New Delhi, Jan 14: A senior US official on Wednesday lauded the protests by authors and artistes against the murder of rationalist and Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi and cited the instance of the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to drive home the point that silence could embolden perpetrators of such crimes.

sarahv

Delivering a lecture at Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi, Sarah B Sewall, US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, noted that the governments around the world must ensure that all people had the freedom to peacefully speak, organise and worship.

“But,” she added, “ensuring these freedoms calls for more than just enforcing laws, it means proactively speaking out – as both public officials and private citizens – to challenge calls for hatred and violence. Silence can embolden the criminal and the cruel – as in the lynching of a Muslim man last September or the burning of churches in Odisha.” Akhlaq was lynched by a mob at Bisara village near Dadri in Uttar Pradesh on September 28 after it was rumoured that he and his family had killed a cow and consumed beef on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. She also referred to the murder of Kalburgi at Dharwad in Karnataka on August 30 last and noted that he was the third rationalist to be murdered in recent years.

“When extremists murdered Malleshappa Kalburgi last August to silence his critical views – the third such murder in as many years – the Indian literary and artistic community was among the first to condemn the act,” said Sewall, who is currently on a tour of India. She was obviously referring to the killing of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare – at Pune in August 2013 and Kolhapur in Maharashtra in February 2015, respectively.

Over 30 authors returned their Sahitya Akademi award in September and October last year to protest the killing of Kalburgi, Dabholkar and Pansare as well as the lynching of Akhlaq. Several other artistes too returned their awards to protest what they perceived as “growing intolerance” in the country.“These examples of family and community-level interventions may help explain why so few Indians have joined ISIL’s (Islamic State) ranks thus far. But that is not reason for complacency; it is a call to give local leaders a greater role in pushing back against violent extremism in their communities,” said the US diplomat. “Governments can help by ending stifling regulations and allowing citizen groups to peacefully speak and organise around sensitive topics,” she said.

“Learning from the past, we must avoid the trap of invoking security to justify bigotry, profiling, and discrimination against any religious or ethnic group – including our Muslim brothers and sisters.”

Comments

TRUTH
 - 
Thursday, 14 Jan 2016

NO, THEY WILL OFFER SOME BEEF BURGER AND WINE TO KEEP QUITE !

Yo
 - 
Thursday, 14 Jan 2016

Now she spoke about intolarence in india... Will our BJP leaders will condemn this??? Lets wait and see

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 11,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 11: Most COVID-19 deaths in Karnataka occur when infected elderly people, those with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) or any other symptoms delay reaching designated hospitals, a top official said.

Munish Moudgil, chief of COVID-19 War Room in the state, said most of those infected with the virus are brought to COVID-19 designated hospitals at a very late stage and recovery then becomes extremely tough.

He said about 65 per cent of those killed suffered from SARI and are aged above 60.

The death rate due to SARI is 43 per cent for those in the 40-60 age group, he said, releasing data on coronavirus deaths, to reporters.

In the same age group, the mortality due to Influenza Like Illness (ILI) was 17.4 per cent, whereas it is 11.1 per cent among people aged above 60 .

He said 25 per cent of symptomatic patients aged above 60 die due to the virus, while it was 10.7 per cent in the 40-60 age group.

The fatalities among those aged 60 is high even if they are asymptomatic, Mr Moudgil, who is secretary in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, said.

He said the average number of days spent at these hospitals by those who recovered is about 15 days, compared to 3.5 days for those who died of the virus.

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

"Hence persons who are elderly and who have comorbidities or who have SARI must reach designated Covid hospitals at the earliest," Mr Moudgil said.

As of date, Karnataka has reported 69 COVID-19 deaths As many as 6,041 people have tested positive for COVID-19, including 2,862 discharges and 3,108 active cases.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 7,2020

Tumakuru, Jul 7: Coronavirus is spreading at the community level in Karnataka, said minister, JC Madhuswamy on Monday.

"Medical condition of eight infected with coronavirus admitted in Tumkur COVID Hospital is critical. There is no guarantee of their lives as per the information. We somewhere feel we are worried that coronavirus is spreading at the community level," Madhuswamy, Tumakuru district-in-charge minister, told reporters here.

"We have reached a point where it is difficult for the district authorities to restrain it, even though we are trying to restrain it. Somewhere the situation is going out of hand," he said.

The minister confirmed that the cumulative toll in the district due to COVID-19 rises to 9.

Earlier, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Deputy CM Ashwath Narayan, Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar have denied of community transmission of coronavirus in Karnataka.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 23,474 coronavirus cases in Karnataka including 13,255 and 372 deaths.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 20,2020

New Delhi, Jan 20: Security has been beefed up at airports across the country after a suspicious bag was found at the Mangaluru airport on Monday.

According to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards the airports in the country, a man was captured in the CCTV dropping the bag inside Mangaluru airport.

According to the CISF DIG Anil Pandey, traces of improvised explosive device (IED) have been found from the bag.

"According to CCTV footage, a suspect kept the bag at Mangaluru airport and was then seen leaving in auto while concealing his face. The suspected object was detected timely and local bomb disposal team is working on its disposal," DIG Pandey told media.

"We have found traces of IED from a bag lying at a ticket counter in Mangaluru airport, we have safely evacuated it," DIG Pandey told media.

According to sources, initial investigations have revealed that the bag contained some type of black powder.

"Initial investigation has revealed that the bag contained a black powder which seems to be explosive, though it is yet to be cleared what kind of explosive it is," sources claimed.

"After we found the suspicious bag at Mangaluru airport, a security drill has been initiated at all the airports and CISF staff have been asked to beef up security," DIG Pandey said.

Also Read: IED recovered from Mangaluru Airport defused safely; 3 teams formed to nab suspect: Top cop

Comments

bond
 - 
Tuesday, 21 Jan 2020

AIrport bomb new dramshooitng mlore airport 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.