Page 1429 - Politics
Pak violates ceasefire in Poonch
Pakistan violated ceasefire in Poonch sector along the Line of Control (LoC), officials said on Monday.At around 1730 hours, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with mortars and firing of small arms.Earlier today, Pakistan had violated ceasefire in Akhnoor sector on the International Border.Firing from across the border started at 3 am and went on till 6:30 am in the Akhnoor sector. The Indian Army retaliated effectively, officials added..
Sitharaman attacks Opposition over OROP, claims Modi govt transfered Rs 35000 crore in 3 years
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacked the Opposition over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue on Monday, saying that the previous government had approved a proposal of just Rs 500 crore for it while Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has already transferred Rs 35,000 crore to the account of former armed forces personnel in the last three years."Previous government approved OROP with only Rs 500 crore. Our government in 2016 made an announcement on OROP and Rs 35,000 crore already transferred to the account of former army servicemen in three years. In the coming years, Rs 8000 crore must be added per year," Sitharaman said while addressing at an event here.Speaking on the OROP, Union Minister Piyush Goyal who presented the interim budget on behalf of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, said Rs 35,000 crore have already been dispersed under this scheme by the present government.In an apparent reference to the Opposition, Sitharaman also asserted that the ...
Maulana Masood Azhar is alive, says Pakistani Minister
Maulana Masood Azhar is alive, confirmed the incumbent Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information and Culture in Pakistan on Monday."He is alive, Maulana Masood Azhar is alive, we have no information of his death," Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan told ANI, without elaborating on Azhar's current state of health.Social media has been abuzz with speculations regarding death of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief, with many alleging liver cancer as the reason behind his supposed demise.Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the February 14 ghastly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which killed over 40 Indian CRPF personnel.Following this, the international community has thrown its weight behind India in its fight against terrorism, with the United States telling Pakistan to stop providing support to terror outfits and terrorists in the immediate aftermath of the terror attack.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacks Congress for sympathizing with Pakistan post terror attacks
Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Congress party accusing them of sympathizing with Pakistan after the Pulwama attack and aerial strikes that claimed the lives of several Indian soldiers."While the security forces are cracking down on terrorists and their sponsors; the Congress and its supporters are left "screaming". Is it a coincidence or a jugalabandi? (partnership)," Naqvi said in a tweet accusing Congress of colluding with Pakistan.He further accused the Congress of raising questions on national security."Congress has become 'Flop Show' of 'PVR' (Priyanka, Vadra, Rahul). Raising questions on national security and creating ruckus on development of their own areas; Congress leaders are trying to act on a 'Flop and Expired Script'….," he saidEarlier today, citing international media reports of "no proof of militants being killed at Balakot", Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday questioned BJP leaders how they could ..
Look for peaceful solution to Kashmir issue: group of Delhiites
A group of Delhiites Monday urged the governments of India and Pakistan to look for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue. Banding under the #citizensagainstwar, they gathered at Jantar Mantar and formed a human chain in protest of the airstrikes by India on Pakistan and the counter strikes by Pakistan. Holding the placards of #citizensagainstwar, protesters, including prominent activist Shabnam Hashmi, called upon the governments of India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue. "The only way forward in the conflict between India and Pakistan is to find a peaceful solution the Kashmir issue," according to the statement issued by '#citizensagainstwar', a group of Delhi residents. "War allows conflicts to fester the differences to grow. War causes economic hardship not for the rich but for working people, the poor, the downtrodden," the statement said. India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber
Punjab CM lays foundation stones for 7 developmental projects in Hoshiarpur
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Monday laid the foundation stones for seven developmental projects here. The seven projects include a cancer hospital, a multipurpose indoor hall, a food street, a new library, one railway over bridge on the Jalandhar Cantonment-Hoshiarpur line, a girls hostel and a community centre, according to an official release. Singh also announced sub-tehsil status for Sham Chaurasi, and said work has already been initiated on the establishment of a government college in Dholbaha. The chief minister said the region had many demands and his government had tried to fulfill most of them as part of its duty to ensure the welfare of the people. He said his government wants Punjab to become an educational hub. "This would also help prevent the youth from making a beeline abroad to seek better opportunities," he said. Reiterating his commitment to give employment to the youth, the chief minister said as many as 6.2 lakh people have already got jobs under the 'Ghar
Cross-LoC bus service suspended between Poonch and Rawalakot
The trans-Line of Control bus service between Poonch and Rawalakot in divided Kashmir was suspended on Monday after Pakistan Army refused to open gates on the Zero Point.
Seoul proposes trilateral talks with US, N. Korea
South Korea on Monday proposed trilateral dialogue with the US and North Korea after denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang collapsed in Hanoi last week.
Pakistan will not hesitate to go nuclear in war with India: Punjab CM
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it was losing out against India in a conventional war.
Air strike doubters acting like anti-nationals: Bengal BJP
West Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy here on Monday said those who were raising questions about the air strikes on a terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan, were insulting the country's armed forces and acting like anti-nationals.
Dushyant Chautala hits out at BJP on PLPA
Haryana MP Dushyant Chautala lashed out at the ruling BJP Monday for amending the Punjab Land Preservation Act, claiming it will destroy the forest cover in the Aravallis and cause immense damage to the environment if implemented. The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader said Haryana already has a thin forest cover and after the implementation of the act, it will pose more danger to it. "If the act is implemented, it will destroy the forest cover in the Aravallis (Faridabad-Gurgaon region) and cause immense damage to environment. The government wants to extend benefit to its own people and hence used its majority for passing the PLPA amendment bill," Chautala told reporters here. The lawmaker claimed that the JJP is looking into who all have purchased lands in the Aravallis area recently. Amid protests and walkout by the opposition, the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday passed amendments to an act, opening up thousands of acres to real estate and other non-forest activity that were ...
Imran Khan's party tweeted in Hindi
In an unusual move, Pakistan's ruling party on Monday tweeted in chaste Hindi Prime Minister Imran Khan's statement that the person who solves the Kashmir issue will be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. "Main Nobel Shanti Puraskaar Ke Yogya Nahi Hun. Is(ka) Yogya Vyakti Vah Hoga Jo Kashmiri Logo Ki Iccha Ke Anusar Kashmir Vivaad Ka Samadhaan Karta Hai aur Upmahadweep Main Shanti aur Manav Vikash Ka Marg Prashasth Karta Hai," the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf pary tweeted quoting Khan. (I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace & human development in the subcontinent.) On March 2, a resolution was submitted in Pakistan's National Assembly Secretariat stating that Khan's decision of releasing Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has de-escalated the hostility between Pakistan and India. According to the resolution, Khan .
'Were you uprooting terrorists or trees?' Sidhu on air strikes
Punjab's ruling Congress party minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday urged the BJP-led Central government to stop politicising the army for the ruling party's political ends and questioned the Centre over the damage inflicted on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Pakistan.
Britain and its islands square off over tax haven rules
Leaders of three tiny British islands gathered in London on Monday to try to head off proposed legislation aimed at increasing transparency and ending secret company ownership in their jurisdictions. Britain has been gradually ramping up its fight against money laundering and various tax avoidance and evasion schemes. But it has less say in the rules governing the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and its fellow crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey near the French coast. The European Union has threatened to include the three in its 2019 list of tax havens if they fail to improve their transparency rules. The BBC reported that they are home to 76,000 companies -- nearly one for every three people living there. A cross-party amendment to be debated in the British parliament on Monday wants the islands to introduce registers disclosing the true ownership structures of companies. The law would require the names of parties owning more than 25 per cent of any firm registered in the ...
DMK inks electoral pack with CPI, VCK and IJK
The DMK on Monday concluded electoral pacts with three more Tamil Nadu parties - the Communist Party of India (CPI), the VCK and the IJK - for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Keep your guard up, Pakistan Air Force chief tells personnel
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, on Monday asked the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) personnel that they should keep their "guard up" as the challenges facing the nation "are not over yet", amid tensions with India.
Notes show how British tried to keep Kumbh crowd at minimum: Deny train tickets, run few specials
Managing a Kumbh Mela, the world's largest gathering of religious pilgrims, has never been easy -- not now, not 100 years ago when India was still under the British rule, Uttar Pradesh was still United Province and people had limited options to commute. A British-era communication between railway officials and the United Province Lieutenant Governor shows the administration went to the extent of suggesting that prospective visitors be denied railway tickets and only a limited number of special trains be run. However, these suggestion were rejected by the government of India after some religious groups felt such restrictions could "create deep dissatisfaction in the Hindu community" and indirectly interfere with their religious observance. A letter dated November 8, 1917 from the then Railway Board President Sir RW Gillan to the then Lieutenant Governor of United Provinces Sir James Meston has been put up at an archival exhibition on Kumbh at the Allahabad Museum and records these ...
CPI-M to support Congress where it is in direct contest with BJP
The CPI-M on Monday said that in order to defeat the BJP-led alliance and ensure an alternative secular government is formed at the Centre, it would lend support to the Congress in states where it is in direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
TRS, BJP set to step on gas on poll preparations in Telangana
The ruling TRS and the BJP will be stepping on the gas from Wednesday to gear up their cadres for the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana. K T Rama Rao, TRS Working President and son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, is embarking on a state-wide tour, chairing constituency-wise meetings in 16 of the total of 17 Lok Sabha segments in the State. In the remaining one constituency -- Hyderabad --, the TRS has said it would back AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. The meetings would be held till March 17. Rama Rao would take a break from March 10 to 12. Brimming with confidence after the thumping victory in the December 7 2018 Assembly elections, TRS said at least 15,000 people -- party workers, activists, leaders and elected representatives -- would attend each of the meetings. "Rama Rao would review the party's poll preparedness, interact with the attendees and share his thoughts on the strategy to be adopted", a TRS leader said. Also on Wednesday, the BJP President Amit Shah is
PM Modi walks the talk, says Isha Koppikar
Actress-turned-politician Isha Koppikar says she admires Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lot and he inspired her to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the working president of the Women Transport Wing in January.