by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Arul Louis,
New York : Members of the Indian community have held protests outside the Pakistani consulates in New York and Chicago to condemn the February 14 Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF troopers.
In New York on Friday, the police stopped 400 protesters from approaching the consulate building and cordoned them off next to Central Park, across the avenue.
They protested peacefully for over two hours shouting “Vande Mataram” and “God Bless America” along with slogans denouncing Pakistan’s support for terrorism.
A delegation went to the consulate to handover a memorandum demanding “credible and visible” action against the perpetrators of the Pulwama carnage that was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that claimed 163 lives.
Overseas Friends of BJP-USA (OFBJP) President Krishna Reddy Anugula said that the diplomats at the consulate refused to accept the memorandum, which also asked for freedom for Kulbhushan Jadav, who has been sentenced by a Pakistani military court as a spy, and for handing over JeM chief Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, who is wanted for 1993 terrorist bombings in Mumbai, to India.
On Thursday, community members held a demonstration at the Chinese consulate in Chicago against Beijing’s policy of protecting JAzhar from UN sanctions through its veto powers.
Jagdish Sewhani, the president of the American India Public Affairs Committee, and one of the organisers of the New York protest, said that his group was organising a nation-wide outreach campaign to members of Congress to sponsor legislation against Pakistan’s support for terrorism.
Members of his group and other Indians have been asked to call on their legislators or write to them seeking action against Islamabad, he said.
The Federation of Indian Associations organised a candle-light vigil in Woodbridge, Virginia, on Thursday to honour the Pulwama victims.
About 600 people, including Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac Councilwoman Nancy Drumm, attended the vigil.
Earlier in the week, OFBJP organised the screening of Bollywood film “Uri” to raise awareness of terrorism in the sub-continent. .
Across the US, Indian communities have held vigils and prayer services for the victims, including in Atlanta, Georgia; Naperville, Illinois; Sacramento, California’ and Houston, Stafford and Woodlands in Texas.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics
By Saurabh Katkurwar and Brajendra Singh,
New Delhi : Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan says the NDA does not want the Pulwama attack and subsequent developments to become an election issue but “it cannot be ignored” as he made it clear that the government “is as serious as the people of the country” after the terror attack.
While not going into the specifics of what the government may do to retailiate against the Pakistan-sponsored operation in Pulwama, he acknowledges that there are expectations from the government to “act”.
In an interview to IANS, Paswan said he feels the much-talked about Grand Alliance of Opposition parties is a non-starter due to contradictions among the parties and will in no way affect the chances of NDA returning to power, says Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Paswan.
He also rules out his dumping the NDA in case of a hung verdict in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“We have done a lot of development work. We don’t need to make it an election issue. But the Pulwama incident cannot be ignored. The entire world is speaking now. US President Donald Trump has reacted. France has said it will take the initiative to get the Pulwama attack by Jaishe-e-Mohammed condemned in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
“We don’t want to make it a political or election issue. Every political party has come forward and has shown unity in national interest. What government will do I can’t say. But the government has taken it seriously. The government has taken it as seriously as the people have taken it,” he said on the Pulwama terror attack and the demands being made to avenge the terror sponsored from across the border.
Paswan said the people were outraged and the Prime Minister has clearly said that “every drop of soldier’s blood will be avenged”.
“Their sacrifices will not go in vain,” he said, adding people and parties should believe in what the Prime Minister has said.
Dismissing the possibility of the grand alliance being a threat to the NDA returning to power, he said the ruling coalition will get more number of MPs than now and Narendra Modi will again be the Prime Minister.
“I do not think there will be a pre-poll alliance (among Opposition parties). The NDA will be the biggest gainer and it will form the government as President will invite the majority pre-poll group.
“Do you think Mamata Banerjee will go along with Congress and the Left in Bengal? Will SP-BSP go with Congress in Uttar Pradesh? The situation is similar everywhere. There will not be any grand-alliance,” he said.
Asked about the description of the grand alliance as ‘mahamilavat’ (highly adulterated) by the Prime Minister and the BJP too striking deals with other parties in states, Paswan said there was nothing wrong with that.
“We are pure. There is no adulteration. They (Opposition) are adulterated. As Prime Minister says it is ‘mahamilavat’ (highly adulterated). In Opposition, all are tainted. Lalu Prasad is tainted, Mayawati is tainted, Akhilesh is tainted. Mamata Banerjee’s party is in Saradha scam,” he said.
The Union Minister also felt that the Congress contesting alone in Uttar Pradesh would cut into the votes of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which would benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The SP-BSP alliance is not going to continue because the man who built the SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is against it,” Paswan said and recalled Yadav’s praise in the Lok Sabha and his wish to see Modi return to power.
Asked about challenges being posed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led grand alliance in Bihar, Paswan said that it will have no impact on the NDA.
“We are in solid position in Bihar whereas in the Opposition camp, there is uncertainty over distribution of seats. If someone gets lesser seats than expected, it will come out of the grand alliance. The Congress cannot go with the RJD. There is no question of if and but. We will win Bihar and Uttar Pradesh too despite opposition alliance,” he said.
To a query about what will be his party’s strategy in case of a hung verdict and NDA not being in a position to form the government, Paswan said, “We are with the NDA and will remain with the NDA.”
Talking about why the NDA will come back to power, the Minister said that the tax sops for those with annual income of Rs 5 lakh and schemes like the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, housing scheme for poor and toilet, electricity and gas in all the poor homes would vouch for the government’s performance.
The decision to provide 10 per cent quota for economically weaker sections would also remove the anger among the upper castes while issues like demonetisation and rural distress have faded into the background.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Saurabh Katkurwar,
New Delhi : The Indian government’s decision to hike duty to 200 per cent on all imports from Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack is set to affect the already dwindling agri trade between the countries further.
India’s export to Pakistan has declined by more than half in the past four years due to various issues that include restrictions on exports via road, administrative blockades by Pakistani authorities.
And the latest casualty of the decision is likely to be onions, which the Indian authorities were planning to sell overseas in the wake of bumper domestic production this year.
Now, the plan has been shelved following the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, according to the sources in the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
India exported 6.43 lakh tonnes of agriculture commodities worth Rs 1,880 crore to Pakistan in 2014-15 while it came down to 1.16 lakh tonnes worth Rs 784 crore in 2017-18.
“In addition to the lower demand, Pakistani authorities did not issue import permits for the Indian commodities,” said an official, close to the development.
“There will be a reaction from Pakistan over the decision of hiking import duty. We do not expect that onion would be permitted to be sold across the border now.”
Pakistan stood at the 16th position in 2014-15 in terms of the volume of agriculture products from India exported to any country. Its position lowered to 22nd in 2017-18 but it gained 16th position in 2018-19 (April- December).
Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council (IOPEPC) office-bearer Sanjiv Sawla said the overall volume may go down by ten times now.
“Bigger challenge will be for India since we are not importing from Pakistan as much as we are selling to them. Certainly, Pakistan will respond. It may not increase import duty but harass us through permit and quarantine issues,” he said.
In 2016, as many as 130 containers carrying 2,500 tonnes of peanuts exported from India were stuck at the Karachi port for over eight months.
The same year, exports of cotton and soya had dropped after Pakistan put temporary bans citing phytosanitary conditions, though the traders claimed border tension being the major reason.
Notably, India’s share in the total amount of groundnut imported by Pakistan in 2017 was over 75 per cent, 55 per cent in guargum.
Pulses, cereals, fresh and processed vegetables, buffalo meat, poultry products, jaggery & confectionery are among the major agro-products being exported in bulk quantity.
In 2018-19, over 61,949 tonnes of agri commodities worth Rs 455 crore have been exported to Pakistan during April- December for year 2018-19.
The overall situation of the exim trade is not encouraging as the exports of all commodities to Pakistan worth Rs 12,397 crore comes to just 0.63 per cent of total exports by India in 2017-18, as per data of the Commerce Ministry.
India imported commodities worth Rs 3,096 crore from Pakistan in the same year, which is 0.11 per cent of the total imports.
However, traders and exporters said there is great potential in the agri trade between the two neighbours owing to common interests in culture, cuisine, traditions.
(Saurabh Katkurwar can be contacted at saurabh.k@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Seoul : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said here that the time has come for the global community to “come together” and “go beyond words” to act against terrorism, as he expressed his gratitude for South Korea’s support in the wake of the Pulwama attack.
Addressing the media on the second day of his two-day visit after his talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Modi said: “I express my gratitude to President Moon for his condolences on Pulwama attack last week and his support against terror.”
He said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India’s Home Ministry and South Korea’s National Police Agency will further forward the counter-terrorism agenda.
“Time has come for the global community to come together and go beyond words to act against terrorism,” he said.
At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed in the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy hit the state in 1989. A Jaish-e-Mohammad operative on February 14 rammed an explosive laden SUV into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama.
Modi said both New Delhi and Seoul are committed to strengthen their mutual and global cooperation to combat terrorism.
He said the defence sector is an important part of the country’s growing partnership with South Korea. “And induction of K-9 Vajra artillery gun in Indian Army ia an example of this friendship.
“To increase cooperation with South Korea in the defence sector, we have agreed to make a roadmap for defence technology and co-production,” he said.
He also welcomed the partnership of South Korean companies in the defence industrial corridors being built.
The bilateral relations between the two nations have reached new heights, he said, adding that the special strategic partnership that New Delhi-Seoul shares is “very significant” even for the world.
Modi is on two-day visit to South Korea. Later in the day, he will be accorded with the Seoul Peace Prize.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Kolkata : Kashmiri doctor residing in Kolkata alleged that some people turned up at his place post-Pulwama terror attack and threatened him to leave the city, police said on Monday.
The miscreants also threatened to harm his daughter if the medico — a famed cardiologist — chose to stay on in the city.
A senior officer of Kolkata Police said the doctor (name and address withheld) has made an allegation against a group of people who turned up at his place on Friday and ‘asked him to leave Kolkata’.
“Based on doctor’s complaint we have started an FIR, but still could not get any witness to corroborate his allegations. The investigation is going on,” he said.
The doctor, in his 40s, is residing in Kolkata for more than 20 years.
Chairperson of the West Bengal State Commission for Protection of Child Rights Ananya Chakraborti told IANS: “The Chief Minister has assured the safety of the doctor and his family and I personally spoke to him after the incident.”
“He has been provided security. His wife and daughter are also leading a normal life now and the family is safe,” she said.
—IANS
