Iraqis don’t know where is Saddam’s body, but Indians exhume it every year!

coastaldigest.com web desk
April 20, 2018

Within a day after his execution on the first day of Eid ul-Adha on December 30, 2006, the mortal remains of the dethroned Iraqi president Saddam Hussein were buried in a tomb in his birthplace, Al-Awja (near Tikrit), about 95 miles north of the capital city of Baghdad.

Reports say that then-US president George W Bush had personally authorized the immediate transfer of the slain leader’s body on an American military helicopter from Baghdad to the northern city of Tikrit. 

Sheikh Manaf Ali al-Nida, a leader of the Albu Nasser tribe to which Saddam's clan belongs, held on to a letter his family signed when they received the body, agreeing that Saddam be buried without delay. The place turned into a richly-adorned pilgrimage site to which supporters and groups of local school children would flock on his birthday, April 28, every year.

However, in March 2015, the mausoleum where the grave of Saddam lies was partially destroyed in an Iraqi air strike after the Daesh group, the so-called Islamic State (IS), posted snipers on its roof. This attacked fuelled a series of theories on the mortal remains of Saddam.

Some believe that hours before the air strike on the mausoleum, a Sunni tribal group shifted his body to a secret location, fearful of what may happen.  Shaikh Nida was not there to witness the blast — but he is convinced that Saddam's tomb was "opened and blown up". On the other hand, one of his fighters speculated that Saddam's exiled daughter Hala had flown in on a private plane and whisked her father's body away to Jordan. Jaafar al-Gharawi, the Hashed's security chief, argue that the body is still there. 

Today, visitors need special authorization to enter, the site lies in ruins, and Sheikh Nida has been forced to leave the village and seek refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

Amidst all these confusions, some of the ardent fans of Saddam Hussein believe that he’s still alive. According to them it was one of Saddam’s body doubles who was hanged.

Indians, Pakistanis keep exhuming the body!

On the other hand, thousands of miles away, in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh people keep spreading “miraculous” rumours about Saddam’s body through social media in general and WhatsApp in particular.

For past few days a morphed image of the smiling face of Saddam has been going viral on WhatsApp groups in these countries. The image also bears a caption: “Saddam’s body was exhumed today. Even 12 years after his burial the body was in same condition. People were surprised to see his smiling face.” Ironically, similar messages had gone viral in this part of the world in April 2017 and Apirl 2016 too!

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News Network
April 20,2020

Bengluru, Apr 20: Lockdown restrictions have been extended by a day by the Karnataka government, in an order issued by chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar on Sunday.

The order directed all heads of departments, district deputy commissioners and superintendent of policies to "continue to implement the measures presently in force" as per Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines dated April 14, "till the midnight of April 21, 2020."

The MHA guidelines had earlier allowed the state government to relax lockdown norms post-April 20.

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coastaldigest.com news network
March 2,2020

Abu Dhabi: Yogish Prabhu K is the newly elected president of Abu Dhabi’s prestigious India Social & Cultural Centre (ISC) and he will serve for the period 2020-2021. ISC’s annual general body meeting and Election for 2020 were held on Thursday, February 27 and the election results of the election were announced during the early hours of Friday, February 28th morning.

In the keenly contested election, Yogish Prabhu emerged victorious. Humble origin and hailing from a small town of Karkala from Udupi district of Karnataka state has never deterred him from setting challenging goals. He belongs to a well-known Gouda Saraswat Brahmin family of K.V.Prabhu Coconut oil mill in Karkala. He is the eldest son of Late Rtn. Krishna Prabhu and Rtn. Bharati Prabhu.  His father and grandfather were freedom fighters who left a profound impression on him and their ideology “serving people is like worshiping God” (Jana seveye Janardhana seve) inspired and guided his life ever since. Prabhu has been a privilege member of ISC since 2003 and has been actively involved in ISC activities throughout. His relationship with ISC spans over 2 decades during which he has immensely contributed in many ways to ISC and the Indian community at large. A banker by profession, Yogish Prabhu is currently working as Vice President, Group Finance & Treasury, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).

With some new initiatives in his mind, Prabhu wants to creatively improve the quality of ISC’s services, its humanitarian impact as well as the diversity of its membership. His intentions are always to help everyone irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language or status. As a new elected President of ISC, Prabhu’s main objective is to strategically plan and implement his vision through his ABC 5 Year Plan i.e.,

A-    Accountability & Transparency,

B-    Build a Sound Financial Plan and

C-    Compassion & Affection for the needy

so that ISC is recognized not just in UAE, but worldwide as a mascot of the great Indian community.

Prabhu thinks “as individuals, we can do only so much but with the support of Elected ISC Committee members and all the ISC members together, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and in the process, we can truly transform the ISC”. He proudly says, “I have a strong treasury management experience in ISC as well as in the bank which we need now more than ever”.

With his dynamic leadership, sheer dedication and ambition, ISC will definitely be scaling new heights of glory and prestige in Abu Dhabi and beyond. His humble nature, leadership qualities coupled with his rich administrative experience will surely help boost ISC’s popularity and meet its challenging goals and can serve people in a better way and contribute to the Indian community at large.

Yogish Prabhu has been married for 28years. His wife Chethana Prabhu Kasaragod too has been equally active in ISC and continuously supporting and participating in various sports, entertainment and literary committees throughout these years. She became ISC Women’s Forum Convener in 2016-2017. Their daughter, Aarti Prabhu is an IT Engineer from NITK Suratkal, working in Bangalore. Son, Ajith Prabhu finished his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Management in Industrial Design in Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and at present doing his internship there. Both Aarti and Ajith are alumni of Abu Dhabi Indian School and both have represented National level CBSE Badminton meet. Also, Aarti was a Gold medalist in the school for scoring 100 in Mathematics in SSLC.

Following are few of his contributions and achievements:

•          Hon. Asst. Treasurer of ISC for consecutive years from 2005 till 2007

•          Hon. Treasurer of ISC in 2011.

•          Member of Finance Committee of ISC new infrastructure and premises from approval till completion.

•          In 2016, initiated the participation of ISC members as officials for International Yoga Day organized by Indian Embassy

•          In 2017, initiated the participation of children as officials to help the organizers so that children could learn their social responsibility and become good citizens.

•          In 2012, initiated ladies throw ball tournament in ISC and now it is extended to men too.

•          Member of IPEF since its inception in 2014. Also served as its Governing board member in the same year.

•          Founder member of ‘UAE GSB group’ since its formation in 2004

•          Committee member of ‘Gandhi Sahitya Vedi’ Abu Dhabi

•                    Treasurer of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha

•          Head of Finance and member of other committees of ‘World Tulu Convention’ held in Dubai - 2018

 

Election was held for other Posts too. The other office bearers elected to the present committee are:

Vice-President: George Varghese.

General Secretary: Jojo J Ambooken

Asst.Gen.Secretary: C. George Varghese

Treasurer: Shijil Kumar N K

Entertainment Secretary: Jayapradeep K P

Literary Secretary: Elias Padavetty

Sports Secretary: Freddi J. Fernandes

Secretary Southern Region: Raja Srinivasa Rao Aita

Auditor: G.N.Sasikumar

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 8,2020

Kasaragod, Jul 8: The meeting of Kasaragod district-level corona control core committee has resolved to make pass mandatory for vehicles to bring vegetables and fruits to Kasaragod from Dakshina Kannada and other parts of Karnataka.

Pass will be issued by RTO. Employees, including the driver of the vehicle, must visit the nearest primary health facility once in seven days and undergo a health check and submit a medical officer's certificate.

District Collector Dr D Sajith Babu, who presided over the meeting, said that only those vegetable and fruit vehicles that produce medical officer's certificate and RTO's passes will be allowed to cross the border.

Meeting, the RTO has decided to convene an emergency meeting of vegetable and fruit merchants.

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