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

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News Network
February 2,2020

Kolkata, Feb 2: A protester at Park Circus, known as Shaheen Bagh of Kolkata, died last night after she fell ill during her agitation against CAA, NRC and NPR.

The woman has been identified as Sameeda Khatun (57) who was a resident of Entally area of the city. According to protesters, Khatun who was asthmatic patient died after suffering a cardiac arrest. She is survived by husband and eight children.

Around 250 women from Kolkata have been holding a peaceful sit-in at Park Circus Maidan since January 7 to protest against CAA, NRC and NPR and demanding the withdrawal of the new citizenship law.

Research Scholar at Rabindra Bharati University, Nousheen Baba Khan who has been spearheading the Park Circus protest since the beginning, told the newspaper, “Sameeda Khatun was a regular face at the protest and she was not well as she had asthma.

Last evening she came to me complaining that she is having trouble in breathing. We immediately took her to Chittaranjan Hospital where doctors said she had suffered a cardiac arrest. We later took her to Islamia Hospital where doctors declared her brought dead,” said Khan.

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ABDULAZIZ
 - 
Monday, 3 Feb 2020

Inna Lillahi wa in ilaihi rajivoon.    

 

Subhaan Allah,   she died for the cause .May Allah Almighty accept her shahada . and bless her with Jannatul Firdous .   Aameen

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coastaldigest.com web desk
July 23,2020

Mangaluru, July 23: Lavanya Ballal, national co-coordinator for social media department of Indian National Congress, has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of destroying the nation by misleading the youth.

In an interview with a regional Kannada news paper, the Dakshina Kannada based activist, lamented that instead of using social media for the welfare of the nation, BJP leaders used it to spread lies for their political gains. 

On one hand BJP fooled people through false promises and colourful dialogues, while on the other hand it misled crores of youth by spreading fake news, twisted facts and false information, she said.

Ms Ballal went on to accuse BJP of following the footsteps of the British. “BJP is following all the methods employed by the British invaders to divide the people of India and make them hate each other,” she said.

She said that Congress always used the social media for the benefit of the country. If the new generation realises this fact, the country will once again turn its direction towards development, she asserted.

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News Network
April 5,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 5: An elderly couple from Bengaluru

with a travel history to Dubai joined the list of coronavirus patients in the state, taking the total number of cases to 146, the health department said on Sunday.

The list includes four deaths and 11 discharges.

The 68-year old man and his 62-year old wife, hailing from Madiwala in the city, had returned from Dubai on March 22.

They were quarantined at a private hospital and have been asymptomatic.

Meanwhile, the government appealed to people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat Congregation in New Delhi to contact 080-29711171 Arogya Sahayavani, the medical helpline number.

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