U.S.-sanctioned Iranian ships banned from Indian waters

July 27, 2012
Iranship
New Delhi, July 27: India has imposed a ban on Iranian ships hit by U.S. sanctions from entering its waters, leaving the oil marketing companies (OMCs) with little options.

“We were to import four tankers or cargos of about 990,000 each from Iran in July. But were able to get one as the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) approval was withdrawn by the Indian government,’’ Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) Managing Director, P.P. Upadhya told journalists in New Delhi on Friday.

Following the imposition of the European Union sanctions from July 1, the Indian government had allowed import of crude oil from Iran in ships arranged by Tehran. It had allowed MRPL and other OMCs to import oil from Iran on CIF basis. It was left to Tehran to arrange for ships and insurance under this arrangement.

However, the permission to MRPL and other OMCs was revoked within days leaving them high and dry. The U.S. had imposed sanctions against National Iranian Tanker Company and its 58 vessels. MRPL had in 2011-12 contracted 7.3 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran but imported only 6.2 million tonnes as India cut imports from Persian Gulf nation to win a waiver from U.S. sanctions.

MRPL Director (Finance), Vishnu Aggarwal said that while India has got waiver from U.S. sanctions for its import of crude oil from Iran, shipping was not covered in that.

Crude oil imports from Iran are possible only if state insurers led by General Insurance Corp. (GIC) provide insurance cover for domestic ships carrying Iran crude. However, the matter for sovereign guarantee for ships is still pending resolution with the government.

On its part, it is understood that GIC had agreed to provide domestic ships a $ 50 million of cover for hull and machinery (H&M) and a similar cover for protection and indemnity (P&I) but this has been delayed as company has not got approval from the insurance regulator.

Mr. Upadhya informed said MRPL had imported 1.2 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran so far this fiscal beginning April 1, 2012. To compensate for the loss of crude oil supplies from Iran, the company has almost doubled its purchase of oil from spot market. It now buys up to 3 cargoes or shiploads every month instead of one earlier. It has this year started buying oil from Iraq after signing an annual contract for 11,000 barrels per day or just over 0.5 million tonnes. It buys 2.5 million tonnes on term contract from Saudi Arabia and another 2 million tonnes from Abu Dhabi.

Mr. Agrawal said the company has covered supplies of up to 9 million tonnes this year from overseas sellers and domestic fields like Bombay High. Of the 14.5 million tonnes of crude oil processing planned this year, the company is reliant on Iran for only 5 million tonnes. “Even out of this, we have imported 1.2 million tonnes. So the uncovered supplies are very less,’’ he remarked.

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Agencies
May 6,2020

New Delhi, May 6: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the validity of electronic way (E-way) bills, whose expiry date fell between March 20 and April 15, till May 31.

"Notification No. 40/2020-Central Tax issued to extend the validity of e-way bills till May 31 for all those e-way bills which were generated on or before March 24, 2020 and had expiry between the period from March 20 to April 15, 2020," the CBIC tweeted on Tuesday.

E-way bill is produced by transporters and businessmen before a Goods and Services Tax (GST) inspector for moving goods worth over Rs 50,000 from one state to another.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Srinagar, Jun 30: On the deadly attack at Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday morning, a Kashmiri social activist and journalist warned that the incident is a stark reminder to all those in Pakistan supporting Jihad and attacked Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan for ignoring development agenda in Balochistan.

Yana Mir, the editor-in-chief of The Real Kashmir News, said, "Karachi Stock Exchange attack is a reminder to all those in Pakistan supporting Jihad. Remember @imrankhan that Youth is restless and they want development agenda. These young boys of BLA are also looking for a life which is settled and peaceful. Wake up Imran Khan and you Kashmiris also. Pakistan is going to finish you. Open your eyes."
Four heavily armed terrorists attacked the busy Pakistan Stock Exchange building in Karachi with grenades today, killing four security guards and a police officer before being shot dead in an exchange of fire, authorities said.

The terrorists, who arrived in a car, stormed the Karachi Stock Exchange building by firing indiscriminately and lobbed grenades at the main gate of the multi-storey building situated in the city's high-security commercial hub.

Balochistan is a well-known region rich in natural resources but the Balochis have always been deprived of basic facilities. No hospitals are available in Balochistan. If there are some then medical facilities and equipment are not available in hospitals. The education system is pathetic and similar is the case with the infrastructure: the roads, water system, agriculture and almost all fields of life.

It is pertinent to mention that enforced disappearances and abductions by the Pakistani military establishment have also been carried out regularly and for innumerable times in Balochistan. Leaders, activists, and vocal members of various student organizations have been detained by the security forces and kept in confinement. While others have been shot dead.

This crime against humanity has been going on for so long and so systematically in Balochistan that it has come to be considered as a normal state of affairs in the province. Many social and human rights activists have flagged the issue of oppression by the Pakistani establishment before the United Nations and other international agencies.

According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, an entity established by the Pakistani government, about 5,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been registered since 2014. Most of them are still unresolved.

Independent local and international human rights organisations put the numbers much higher. Around 20,000 have reportedly been abducted only from Balochistan, out of which more than 2,500 have turned up dead as bullet-riddled dead bodies, bearing signs of extreme torture.

Before being elected as Prime Minister, Imran Khan had admitted in multiple interviews about the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in enforced disappearances as well as extrajudicial killings and vowed to resign if he was unable to put an end to the practice, holding those involved responsible. But times have passed and only reports are available to narrate the true story.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said that he has never seen innocents like the Indian people, who believe the claims made by the government on the implementation of its programmes. The former Union Minister, addressing a literary event, said, "I have never seen innocents like the Indian people. If something appears on print (and named two newspapers also), we believe it. We believe anything."

Claims like all villages having been electrified in the country and toilets built for 99 per cent of families in India were being believed, he said.

Similar was the case of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or PM-JAY is a flagship health care scheme of the Centre), he alleged.

Stating that his Delhi-based driver's father had to get a surgery done under the scheme, he said, however, it could not be performed.

"I asked him (car driver) if he had the Ayushman card and he showed a card and I told him to take it (to hospital). In hospital after hospital, they said they were not aware of anything like that (Ayushman scheme). But we believe that the Ayushman scheme has come to the whole of India," he said.

Further, he said "we believe that for any disease, treatment will be done (indicating the Ayushman scheme) without shelling out money. We are being innocents."

Many news items and data were contrary to the truth, he added.

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