Month: September 2019

Addressing a meeting of party general secretaries, state Congress chiefs and legislative party leaders, she also targeted the ruling alliance over its handling of the economy and said there is a prolonged economic slump and the government appears to be “clueless and insensitive”.

“We are meeting at a time when there is a prolonged economic slump, when job losses are mounting by the day, when the confidence of investors is getting shakier by the day, when the government appears more and more clueless and insensitive by the day. Dr Manmohan Singhji has recently issued an authoritative statement on the economy. I am sure all of you have read it,” she said.

Gandhi accused the government of threatening those who spoke against it.

“We are also meeting at a time when vendetta politics is at its peak and when those who speak out against the ruling establishment are being threatened and intimidated. Each and every institution is being diabolically subverted. The voices of dissent are being silenced. Democracy has never been at greater peril than it is now. As I said a few weeks back, the mandate of 2019 is now being misused and abused in a most dangerous fashion,” she said.

Her remarks came in the backdrop of CBI arresting party leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the INX media case. The party had accused the government of political vendetta over his arrest. Congress has been accusing the BJP-led government of using investigative agencies to target political rivals.

Without naming the BJP, Gandhi accused it of seeking to appropriate legacies of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and BR Ambedkar and “misrepresent their true message for their nefarious ends”. She said people were looking at the Congress to confront and combat these forces. (ANI)

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the intention behind bringing the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act (MV Act) was not to raise revenues through fines but to save lives of people.

The Minister pointed out that the number of deaths caused by road accidents is highest in India.

“First of all, the MV Act comes under the Concurrent List. Both state and Central governments have a right to make laws on it. As for the fines, there is a gap like from Rs 10 to 100. So, the state government can take a decision in this regard. It is not the government’s intention to earn revenues through fines,” he said while talking to reporters at an event here.

His remarks came as a response to a question on some state governments reportedly planning to dilute the act by reducing the fines.

The Minister said saving lives of people is a priority for the government.

“The problem is they neither have fear nor respect for laws. Aren’t the lives of people more important than fines? If you don’t break the laws, you won’t be fined. And I want to thank you for your (media) reporting. Now, people are getting their driving licenses and other documents. Accidents will reduce. The lives of people will be saved, that is our priority,” he said.

Commenting on the Scrapping Policy, the Minister said, “Actually, we have already prepared the draft. But some of the problems are there with the stakeholders. We need cooperation from the manufacturers and at the same time, clearance from the finance ministry. We are in the process. Our ministry is trying its level best to clear it as early as possible and I am confident in a limited short period, we will go ahead with the scrapping policy.”

Asked if it will apply to two-wheelers as well, he replied in affirmative. (ANI)

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should seek an apology from the minister for her remarks.

“This is surprising that the Finance Minister is teaching us new economics that Ola and Uber are responsible for the slowdown in the automobile sector. The gross overstatement made by the FM is a grave joke on the economy and the country. This remarkable, unbelievable statement by the Finance Minister reflects the inefficiency, immaturity and the inexperience of BJP in governance,” Singhvi said.

He said taxi aggregators Uber and Ola have been in the country for years.

“The slowdown is there for some time. How did this reason come all of a sudden?” he asked.

Finance Minister Sitharaman had said that automobile sector has been affected by several things including transition towards BS6 (Bharat Stage 6) and the mindset of millennials, who were preferring not to commit EMIs to buy automobiles but prefer to use Ola or Uber or take the metro. (ANI)

“Pakistan has built 30 launch pads along the LoC to infiltrate militants into the regions of Karen, Gurez, and Gulmarg,” the latest inputs received by the Indian security agencies suggest.

“Pakistan army and the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) are moving militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed into these launch pads.”

The sources have further said that militants from Afghanistan are also being mobilised towards the Line of Control. “An estimated 230 to 280 militants are being moved.”

India has blamed Pakistan for stoking fear and targeting Kashmiri civilians.

Last week, two Pakistani terrorists entered the house of fruit merchant Hamidullah Rather in Dangerpura and opened fire at the family members, injuring his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Usma and son Mohammed Irshad.

On Wednesday, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, identified as Asif Maqbool Bhat, was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore. He is the same terrorist, who was involved in the attack on a girl child.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval had recently said that “Pakistan is trying to create trouble. 230 Pakistani terrorists were spotted. Some of them have infiltrated and some have been arrested.”

“We are determined to protect the life of Kashmiris from Pakistani terrorists even if we have to impose restrictions,” the NSA had added.

India has effectively foiled Pakistan’s attempts to internationalise Jammu and Kashmir issue.

Coming down heavily on Islamabad at the 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), India said Pakistan is building a false narrative and has no locus standi on the issue.

Pakistan stands isolated on the Kashmir issue and has failed to make it an international matter after being snubbed on all fronts. All the major countries in the world have backed India’s position on the abrogation of Article 370.

Next month, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will make a final decision on whether to blacklist Pakistan or to keep it in its grey list or not. The inter-governmental organisation had given the country four months to improve its counter-terror financing operations.

On August 22, the Asia-Pacific Group (APG), a regional affiliate of the FATF, had placed Pakistan in the Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List (Blacklist) for its failure to meet the stipulated standards.

Pakistan media have claimed that Islamabad on Monday submitted a report to the FATF on the strengthening of its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism framework.

(ANI)

In its right to reply following Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s allegations at the UN Human Rights Council meeting here, India said that it was “an ill-disguised effort to advance its territorial ambitions” and Islamabad forgets that terrorism is the worst form of human rights abuse.

Vimarsh Aryan, First Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, said he had been forced to take the floor to call out the “blatant is representation of facts and false narrative peddled by Pakistan in all its statements today.”

“This is an ill-disguised effort to advance its territorial ambitions. We reject this propaganda. We are not surprised at Pakistan’s hysterical statements with false, fabricated narratives aimed to politicise and polarize this forum,” he said.

He said Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall continue to be an integral part of India and Pakistan’s nefarious designs will never succeed.

” It defies credibility that Pakistan, which is the epicentre of global terrorism is claiming to speak on behalf of unnamed countries on the issue of human rights. It forgets that terrorism is the worst form of human rights abuse,” he said.

He referred to call for ‘Jihad’ and to encourage violence both inside Jammu and Kashmir and in third countries.

Aryan said the rhetoric will not distract international attention from Pakistan’s persecution and elimination of religious and ethnic minorities – be it the Christians, Sikhs, Shias, Ahmadiyas and Hindus.

He said the Article 370 was a temporary provision of the Indian Constitution and the recent modification was “within our sovereign right and entirely an internal matter of India.”

The decision, he said, removes “impediments to the enjoyment of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of our citizens in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,” especially those dealing with women, children and disadvantaged sections of our society in that region.

“Pakistan realises that our recent decision cuts the very ground from under its feet by creating obstacles in its continuing sponsorship of cross border terrorism against India,” he said.

“In this desperate mind-frame, some Pakistan leaders have even gone as far as to call for ‘Jihad’ and to encourage violence both inside Jammu and Kashmir and in third countries, in order to paint a picture of ‘genocide’ which even they know is far from reality,” he added.

Aryan said Pakistan has pretended to speak as the voice of the global community on human rights but the world cannot be fooled.

“Pakistan’s gory record speaks for itself. This rhetoric will not distract international attention from Pakistan’s persecution and elimination of religious and ethnic minorities – be it the Christians, Sikhs, Shias, Ahmadiyas, and Hindus. This is the reason that Pakistan no longer publishes official statistics about its minorities as India does,” he said.

Aryan said that blatant abuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan to persecute minorities was well documented and referred to forced conversion and marriage of a minor Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur.

“Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman was incarcerated for years. So was Abdul Shakoor, the 82-year old Ahmadiya, under Anti-Terrorism Act for selling books. The recent case of abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of a minor Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, exemplifies the state of women, especially from the minority communities in Pakistan. And today, in this Council Pakistan has the audacity to tell others about human rights that it so egregiously violates again and again,” he said.

Aryan said the people of India were determined to preserve the territorial integrity.

“Pakistan’s nefarious designs will never succeed because the people of India are united in their determination to preserve our territorial integrity along with our core values of democracy, tolerance, and unity in diversity. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will continue to progress and prosper along with the rest of India,” he said.

Qureshi had claimed earlier in the day that India has transformed Jammu and Kashmir into a largest “caged prison on this planet” after the abrogation of Article 370 and that the human rights were being “trampled with impunity” there.

Earlier in its country statement, India had rejected Qureshi’s allegations and hit back saying a “fabricated narrative” on Jammu and Kashmir has come from “the epicentre of global terrorism” and from a nation, which conducts cross-border terrorism as a form of ‘alternate diplomacy.

Vijay Thakur Singh, Secretary (East) in External Affairs Ministry, made the national statement during the general debate at the UNHRC session and strongly defended the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and reorganise Jammu and Kashmir, saying that legislative decisions on Jammu and Kashmir were “sovereign” and “entirely internal to India.”

(ANI)