Page 1099 - Politics
Pak SC warns Musharraf of action if he doesn't record statement in treason case
Insisting that a trial becomes "unconstitutional" in suspect's absence, Pakistan Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa warned former President Pervez Musharraf on Monday of strict action if he does not appear during the next hearing to record his statement.Pakistan's Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by a lawyer, which stated that the proceeding of the treason case has come to a halt as the former President has not returned to the country since 2016."Despite assurances, if Musharraf does not come back, what would happen then? Something should be done if he does not return," Dawn quoted Justice Khosa, as saying.Stating that "high treason is not an average crime," Justice Khosa also said: "A trial becomes unconstitutional in the absence of a suspect." Musharraf's lawyer Salman Safdar had earlier said that his client is expected to return to the country May 13.The apex court last month also issued a notice to the government, seeking a reply on the steps taken to bring former President .
Facebook removes Congress linked 687 accounts, pages for inauthentic behaviour, party denies claims
Facebook Inc on Monday announced that it is removing 687 Pages and accounts linked to the Congress party for "coordinated inauthentic behaviour", barely two weeks before the polling begins for the Lok Sabha elections."We removed 687 Facebook Pages and accounts -- the majority of which had already been detected and suspended by our automated systems -- that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behaviour in India and were linked to individuals associated with an IT Cell of the Indian National Congress (INC)," Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity Policy at Facebook said in a statement.Gleicher also stated that the social media giant has taken the step of removing the accounts on the basis of their behaviour and not their content.The US-based social media platform added that its investigation found individuals using fake accounts to spread content, criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)."While the people behind this activity attempted to conceal ..
Bengal opposition parties meet police observer
Representatives of West Bengal opposition parties on Monday met the Election Commission (EC)-appointed special police observer Vivek Dubey and demanded that security measures should be taken immediately across the state to guarantee free and fair polls.
India activates strategic ITBP command from J-K to counter Chinese build up
India operationalised its strategic ITBP command in Jammu and Kashmir's Leh-Ladakh district on Monday after moving it from Chandigarh as part of a plan to counter the ever-increasing Chinese military build up in the region. The North West (NW) frontier of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), tasked to guard the 3,488-km long Sino-India border in peace times, is headed by an Inspector General (IG) of Police-rank officer, which is equivalent to a Major General in the Army. "We are operational from the Ladakh region beginning April 1 and the force headquarters in Delhi has been informed," ITBP IG Arvind Kumar told PTI from Leh. The Indian tricolour and the force flag were unfurled to herald the new move and the frontier will be operating from the existing premises of the ITBP sector headquarter, another official said. Sanctions have been received to create more buildings and logistics for the new command and Director General (DG) S S Deswal, the force chief, is expected to visit the ...
Civil society to take up poll issues in Nagaland
With the voting date for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland drawing closer, civil society groups have organised an interactive event titled "Voters' Voice: An Interface", to be held here on Tuesday.
NDA govt did not increase taxes in 5 yrs, but development did
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said his government had not increased taxes in the last five years, but that has not slackened the pace of development. Lauding "honest" taxpayers, he said the implementation of various welfare projects was possible because of them and listed out the various projects in Andhra Pradesh. In the state for the second time since Saturday, he repeated his 'u-turn Babu' taunt againt Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and accused the TDP supremo of indulging in corruption in the Polavaram project. "In five years, there have been no new taxes. Not just that, we have been lowering them. But the pace of development has been fast," he said addressing a public rally here. However, the previous governments had complained of shortage of funds to implement projects, he said. "(They) said there is no money even to buy Rafale (aircraft)," he said in an apparent reference to former Defence Minister A K Antony's remarks in this connection. Antony, as ...
No talks between AAP, Congress on alliance: Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that no talks were going on with the Congress for an alliance in the national capital and that Congress President Rahul Gandhi had vetoed the idea.
Uphill task for BJP in Secunderabad (Constituency Profile)
Secunderabad is set to witness a three-cornered contest as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) appears to have an edge in its bid for a maiden win in this Lok Sabha constituency, which so far elected either Congress or BJP candidates.
Congress sniffs a change at Kerala's Alathur (Constituency Profile)
For the Congress party in Kerala, the erstwhile Ottapalam reserved Lok Sabha constituency evokes passion and emotion as it was from here that diplomat-turned-politician K.R. Narayanan eventually crested Raisina Hill as the first Dalit to become the President of India.
British MPs seek new way forward after Brexit deal rejected again
British MPs will try again to chart a new Brexit path on Monday after rejecting Prime Minister Theresa May's deal for a third time, but the EU warned its patience was wearing thin. Less than two weeks before Britain risks crashing out of the European Union, MPs will hold a second round of votes on various options to try to break the political deadlock. But any attempt to force May to accept a closer relationship with the EU risks splitting the government, and there is widespread speculation she might try one last time to get her deal passed this week. European Union leaders have called an emergency summit on April 10 and have warned that unless Britain sets out what it wants to do, it risks severing ties with its largest trading bloc two days later with no deal at all. "With our British friends we have had a lot of patience, but even patience is running out," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Italian public TV channel Rai 1 on Sunday. Britain voted by 52 percent ..
US peace envoy returns to Kabul ahead of Taliban talks
US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Monday he was in Kabul to meet with Afghan officials ahead of his next round of talks with the Taliban aimed at ending more than 17 years of war. The Afghan-born US adviser tweeted that he had already met with some government representatives with responsibility for the Afghan peace process. "We discussed the urgency of making progress on intra-Afghan dialogue," Khalilzad wrote. Khalilzad's last round of talks with the Taliban in Doha was originally slated to last two days in February, but dragged on for 16 days, eventually ending March 12 with Khalilzad saying "real strides" had been made. On the table were proposals to get foreign armed forces to leave Afghanistan, and the Taliban to guarantee the country cannot be used as a springboard for terror groups to launch any future attacks. The State Department on Friday said Khalilzad's trip was "part of an overall effort to facilitate a peace process that brings all Afghan parties together in ...
JKNPP leader oldest, poorest among candidates fighting LS polls from twin seats of Jammu region
JKNPP chief patron Bhim Singh is not only the oldest but also the poorest candidate among the 36 politicians who are in fray for the two parliamentary constituencies of Jammu and Udhampur. The Jammu Lok Sabha seat covering over four districts -- Jammu, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri -- is going to polls in the first phase on April 11 and the Udhampur constituency covering the districts of Udhampur, Kathua, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban in the second phase on April 18. Besides 78-year-old Bhim Singh, four other candidates have assets worth below Rs 1 lakh while 18 candidates have property, both movable and immovable, worth crores of rupees each. Nine candidates have not filed their income tax returns and another has a pending liability of Rs 15,240 towards the Income Tax Department, according to affidavits filed by the contesting candidates. The affidavits also revealed that over a dozen candidates have studied till class 12 and 10, two are ex-servicemen and others are businessmen and ...
BJP will meet the fate of "India Shining" due to anti-poor
Predicting defeat for BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah Monday mockingly said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the fate of 'India Shining' due to his anti- poor policies. "After completing five years, Vajpayee came up with a slogan 'India Shining' in 2004. I don't know where it shined. If it had really shone, there was no need for any welfare schemes. History tells us what happened to 'India Shining'. Narendra Modi will also meet the same fate," Siddaramaiah said at a 'Meet the Press' programme at the Press Club of Bangalore. He was referring to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led National Democratic Alliance government's slogan 'India Shining' in 2004. India Shining referred to the overall feeling of economic optimism in the country during the 2004 general elections. The NDA witnessed a defeat and a stunning comeback of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre to rule India for 10 years. The Congress ...
Philippines protests 'swarming' of Chinese boats near island
An official says the Philippines has protested the presence of about 275 Chinese vessels that were sighted from January to March near a Philippine-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said Monday the Department of Foreign Affairs lodged the protest after the military monitored the Chinese vessels near Thitu island, which is called Pag-asa by Filipinos, in the Spratly chain of islands. Panelo met with the Chinese ambassador on Monday and raised the country's concern. A diplomat says the Philippines sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy on Friday to express concern over the "swarming of Chinese boats" near Thitu. China, the Philippines and four other governments have had territorial spats in the region for decades.
Bring BJP for development of Odisha: Amit Shah
BJP President Amit Shah on Monday urged the people of Odisha to uproot the Naveen Patnaik government and bring the saffron party for the development of the state.
Congress coined 'Hindu Terror': Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress of coining the term "Hindu Terror" for pursuing its "vote-bank politics" and thereby painting crores of Hindus as terrorists which hurt their sentiments.
Akali Dal clears candidates for three LS seats
The Akali Dal on Monday announced its candidates for Punjab's Anandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala Lok Sabha constituencies.
Cong linked "peace-loving" Hindus to terrorism: Modi
Slamming the Congress for the 'Hindu terror' metaphor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday charged the opposition party with insulting "peace-loving" followers of the religion by linking them to terrorism. The Hindus have now woken up and the country has decided to "punish" the opposition party, Modi said as he launched the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance's Lok Sabha poll campaign in Maharashtra at a public rally here. The Congress is scared to field its leaders from constituencies where majority dominates in terms of voter- base, Modi said. He did not name Congress chief Rahul Gandhi who has decided to contest the Lok Sabha election from Wayanad in Kerala. "The Congress tried to stain crores of the country's people using the term Hindu terror. Tell me, weren't you deeply hurt when you heard the term 'Hindu terror'? Is there a single incident in the history of thousands of years of Hindus engaging in terrorism?" Modi said. He also asked the people whether they would forgive the .
Lie gang active in Uttarakhand Congress; its main job is to mislead voters: BJP
The ruling BJP in Uttarakhand Monday accused the Congress of launching a slander campaign against its candidate for Tehri Lok Sabha constituency, claiming a "lie gang" is active in the state unit of the Congress whose "main job is to concoct falsehoods to mislead voters". Rebutting state Congress spokesperson Mathura Dutt Joshi's charge of non-performance against sitting MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, who has been renominated from the seat, the Uttarakhand BJP's media head Devendra Bhasin said she had asked 33 questions and participated in as many debates in the Lok Sabha. She also played a significant role in many development projects like the Mussoorie-Dehradun ropeway and the all-weather roads project, he said. Shah, who belongs to the erstwhile Tehri royal family, is pitted against Uttarakhand Congress chief Pritam Singh in the Lok Sabha seat. "The lie gang of the Congress has gone into overdrive. It is concocting lies and spreading them to mislead the electorate. Recently it hurled ..
My wish is to work in Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Chouhan
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Monday indicated his unwillingness to contest the upcoming Lok Saba polls, saying he wants to work in the state. There have been reports that Chouhan, who is also BJP vice president, may be fielded from one of the seats but the party leadership has so far not made any official comment. "I had said that my wish is to work in Madhya Pradesh. I will accept whatever the party decides," he told reporters when asked if he would be contesting the general election. The BJP is yet to announce its candidates for several seats, including Bhopal and Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh. Chouhan had won from Vidisha for five consecutive terms before he resigned in 2006 after becoming the state's chief minister. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj represent the constituency in the Lok Sabha. She, however, has announced that she will not fight the polls due to health reasons. Chouhan remained the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for 12 years and ..