Month: November 2020

Lightning the tone during a hearing in connection with a gunshot injury case related to the northeast Delhi violence, an Additional Session Judge in a Delhi court on Saturday broke into a rhyme while granting bail to an accused named Babu.

“Babu pleading for his bail; State opposing tooth and nail.
Summers bygone, winters have arrived; But crime you did, and Rahul cried.
I am not the one, I am not the one; Too grave the charge, don’t pretend.
Whom did I attack, where is he; Oh! That we know, in the trial we will see.
You say I have said and I deny from the first blush.”

Additional Session Judge Amitabh Rawat penned down above lines in his order.

The court issued the order on a plea, filed by accused Babu, seeking bail in connection with a case related to a gunshot injury to a person named Rahul during the northeast Delhi violence.

“Rahul may be gone yet Satish said. Didn’t we say; don’t rush; Let me go, let me go, even Imran is on bail. Even then, even then; it wouldn’t be a smooth sail. Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop; I have heard, heard a lot. The mind is clear, with claims tall; It’s my time to take a call,” the verse continued.

“Babu has a sordid past; proof is scant, which may not last. His omnipotence can’t be assumed; Peril to vanished Rahul, is legally fumed. Take your freedom from the cage you are in;Till the trial is over, the state is reigned in.The State proclaims; to have the cake and eat it too; The court comes calling; before the cake is eaten, bake it too,” it concluded.

During the hearing, the court noted that Rahul had given a fake address in his MLC and had become untraceable even before the police could record his statement.

The present accused Babu, with a bad antecedent history, was arrested on April 8, 2020, for the present offence of February 25, 2020, on the basis of a purported identification by Ct Satish who is claimed to have been posted at Maujpur red light. Co-accused Imran was granted bail by this court earlier,” the court noted.

At least 53 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured in the violence that took place in northeast Delhi between February 24 and 26 sparked by clashes between groups supporting and opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act. (ANI)

The Chief Minister of illegally occupied Gilgit Baltistan, Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman has accused Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan of disturbing the peace in the region.

The Imran Khan government had recently announced granting provisional province status to the region, which is scheduled to have elections this month.

The announcement came during a recent political rally by Imran Khan in Gilgit city.

Locals and political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan have continued to express resentment against the arbitrary decision to alter the legal status and against holding elections in violation of UN resolutions.

Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, the Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan who has accused Islamabad of pre-poll rigging said, “He (Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan) came to disturb peace in Gilgit Baltistan before the election and sabotage the election itself. His visit has made the election controversial”.

“You have made all arrangements to make people come on the streets and start protesting. We will run a campaign against Ali Amin Gandapur, the current Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan” said Rehman.

The strategically important Gilgit-Baltistan region bordering Afghanistan and China is part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is home to an estimated population of two million people.

Gilgit-Baltistan is a vital part of the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with the project’s major overland crossing at Kashgar, in the territory’s north.

Launched in 2014, CPEC is a set of trade and infrastructure projects that would connect China to the Arabian Sea through road and other transport infrastructure in Pakistan, and also includes several power-generation and industrial revival projects. (ANI)

The Austrian government will close mosque after the deadly terrorist attack in Vienna earlier this week, said the Ministry of the Interior on Friday (local time).

A ministry spokesperson said more details would soon be given in a news conference with Interior Minister Karl Nehammer and Integration Minister Susanne Raab, reported Al Jazeera.

Four people were killed in a shooting on Monday, Austria’s first major terror attack in decades. The man who opened fire in Vienna was identified as a 20-year-old Austrian citizen, Kujtim Fejzulai, who was killed by police during the assault, Al Jazeera further said.

A statement from the officials of Austria said in “discussion with the relevant authorities, we are closing one mosque” as it posed a threat to national security.

Fejzulai had traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State, but he was released early from prison in December. Since his release from prison, he had repeatedly visited two mosques. The two mosques were in Vienna’s western suburbs. One called the Melit Ibrahim mosque in the Ottakring district and the other Tawhid mosque in the Meidling area. (ANI)

As COVID-19 cases rise rapidly in the national capital, availability of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds is declining, with major COVID hospitals showing “zero availability” of ICU beds both with and without ventilators, exposing the plight of the health infrastructure.

The latest figures in the Delhi government’s corona mobile application show that out of 1,252 COVID-19 ICU beds with ventilators, 1,010 are occupied, which leaves only 241 vacant.

The situation of ICU beds without ventilators is equally worrisome with figures showing 1,529 available beds out of a total of 1,979, leaving 450 available.

The availability of COVID-19 beds in Delhi is experiencing a daily downfall with 8,108 lying vacant out of 15,911 beds.

Several Delhi hospitals under Central and State government show zero availability under the category ‘ICU beds with ventilators’, including Safdarjung Hospital, Northern Railway, and Sardar Patel Covid Army Hospital under the central government, and the Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital under the Delhi government.

Private hospitals such as Batra hospital, VIMHANS, Holy Family Hospital in Okhla, Max Super Speciality Hospital in Shalimar Bagh and Patparganj, BLK Hospital, Fortis in Vasant Kunj, Goyal Hospital and Urology center, GHIBS Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and RC Rohini, Kalra Hospital in Kirti Nagar and some other hospitals also have “no availability” of ICU beds with ventilators.

The AIIMS Trauma presently has only one ICU bed vacant out of declared 56. Max Samrat Gujarmal Modi has four available out of 51.

Dr Sheeba Marwah, Assistant Professor and COVID-19 Nodal Officer, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital told ANI, “There is definitely a surge of cases. 100 per cent occupancy of ICU beds at this point in time reflects that a higher number of patients are in the in moderate to severe category. We urge the public to refrain from public outings and continue to take all respiratory precautions in the next few months.”

Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) told ANI, “90 per cent ICU beds are occupied now. The numbers have risen. We are also seeing a rise in indoor patients.”

In an important development, non-COVID ICU beds are also being filled up rapidly with 354 lying vacant out of total 1546.

Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, Group Medical Director of Max Healthcare said, “The number of cases has gone up and they are still rising. Occupancy in hospitals is filling up. Many people will stay in home isolation but as cases increase, the proportion of people requiring hospitalisation will also increase. The good thing is that over the past few months there has been a significant drop in the mortality rate”

“Any negligence in getting a test done or seeking doctor’s opinion when one shows COVID-like symptoms may be risking themselves. Such individuals run the risk of becoming critical in the second week of illness,” he added.

Delhi witnessed its highest single-day spike of 7,178 new COVID-19 cases on Friday taking the total count of cases to 4,23,831, including 39,722 active cases. (ANI)

Chinese national security personnel frequently operate in Pakistan, Dubai, Turkey, and Cairo and retaliate against Uyghur Muslims living overseas, revealed an Uyghur scholar Abduweli Ayup.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Ayup, a scholar living in Norway, has exposed the Chinese government network which targets Uyghurs living outside China.

Ayup’s friend Yusufjan Amet, an Uyghur who claims he was forced to spy on members of his ethnic group living in exile in Turkey for China’s government, was assassinated by a gunman in Istanbul on Monday.

Ayup revealed that he had known Amet for many years. Amet told him about his experience of being forced to serve as a Chinese spy, so he encouraged Amet to break the news to the media.In 2018, he introduced Al Jazeera reporters to interview Amet. Unexpectedly, just after thethe program was broadcast in January last year, Amet told him that he had been intimidated by the former boss of the Chinese Communist Party Guoan.

“His boss in Karamay, Xinjiang, contacted him and said, “You have become famous in Turkey, you have become a hero, but you should not think that Turkey will protect you and Western countries will protect you,” Ayup said.

“It is not uncommon for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to monitor and even retaliate against Uighurs overseas. Ayup pointed out that Chinese national security personnel frequently operate in Pakistan, Dubai, Istanbul and Cairo,” he added.

Ilshat H. Kokbore, director of the Chinese Affairs Department of the World Uyghur Congress, pointed out in an interview with Radio Free Asia that the CCP attempted to shoot and kill Uyghurs, which was the first time that this happened in Turkey.

This case is very shocking. “This shows that the CCP is now aggressive, and it is beginning to reach out to countries like Turkey,” Kokbore said.

China’s atrocities on Uyghur Muslims living in Xinjiang are known to the world. In June, documents were leaked from the province showing that across Europe, exiled Uyghurs report surveillance by Beijing and threats of harm to their relatives in the region if they make noise about Chinese repression.

According to the Hill, the leaked documents from Xinjiang show the Chinese government’s reasons for detaining several hundred Uighurs.

The Karakax list contains personal data on more than 300 individuals with relatives abroad.

The Chinese government has flagged “people who leave the country and do not return” as a security risk in Xinjiang, because of their possible ties to exiled groups deemed as “separatists” by Beijing. (ANI)

Showik Chakraborty, the brother of actor Rhea Chakraborty, has moved a fresh bail application before a special court in Mumbai in connection with a drugs case related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Chakraborty, in his bail application filed on November 3, claimed innocence submitting that he has been falsely implicated in the case even though no drugs or psychotropic substances were seized from his possession.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had arrested Showik, his sister, and others under several relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in connection with a case emerging out of the investigation into the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.

“In the facts and circumstances of the present case, given that no commercial quantity has been alleged in respect of the applicant, there has been no recovery from the applicant and that all allegations pertain only to small quantities, the embargo imposed by Section 37 of the NDPS Act, 1985 would not be applicable,” the bail application said.

It said that a perusal of the remand applications of all the accused arrested in the case makes it evident that there is nothing on record to suggest that the present applicant is in any way involved with the financing, illicit trafficking and/or harboring of offenders in relation to any narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.

“Apart from allegedly procuring the drugs for the late actor, there are no allegations against the applicant of being involved in any other form of illicit traffic or even of purchasing drugs for any other person. Hence, terming the applicant as being part of a “drug syndicate” or having financed the “illicit traffic” of drugs is wholly farfetched and without application of mind,” it said.

“There is not a shred of evidence to connect the applicant with financing any illicit traffic or harbouring any offenders and hence the ingredients of Section 27A of the NDPS Act, 1985 are not made out in the present facts and circumstances,” it added.

Showik claimed that Sushant utilised him, his sister and members of his household staff to facilitate his drug habit while ensuring that he did not leave a paper trail of his own in the form of any electronic evidence whatsoever.

“There is electronic evidence to show that the applicant’s sister was in fact trying her level best to rid the late actor of his drug habit by consistently restricting the quantity of drugs he had access to. The applicant’s sister also discussed her concerns regarding the late actor combining his drug habit with prescription medication with his doctor namely Kersi Chavda. However, the late actor being an adult and having his own mind was the ultimate decision,” it added.

Earlier, a special NDPS court had rejected Showik’s bail application in the matter, after which the same was challenged in the Bombay High Court, which was also rejected. (ANI)

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s federal ministers and officials on Friday were ordered by the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court to leave the region in the next three days ahead of the upcoming elections.

A two-member bench comprising of Justice Malik Haq Nawaz and Justice Ali Baig had announced the verdict on a writ petition filed over violation of the code of conduct ahead of the upcoming polls, reported The News.

The court further directed Gilgit-Baltistan’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja Shahbaz Khan, Chief Minister, and Chief Secretary to implement the decision immediately.

Earlier, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman had alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his federal ministers had violated the electoral code of conduct by running political campaigns and urged the CEC to take notice.

“The prime minister and a federal minister are running the campaign of their party illegally in Gilgit-Baltistan, which is a clear violation of the code of conduct of the elections and a pre-polling rigging,” The News quoted Rehman.

PPP had also submitted a complaint letter to Gilgit-Baltistan’s CEC accusing Federal Minister of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur for allegedly violating the electoral code of conduct by campaigning in the elections for the PTI.

Meanwhile, the people across Gilgit-Baltistan are up in arms against Islamabad’s decision of integrating the illegally occupied region with the rest of Pakistan.

In the run-up to the assembly elections in this so-called autonomous region, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan recently announced that the region will become a provisional province of Pakistan–a declaration that has drawn massive condemnation.

Activists wonder as to how an occupying state which has no locus standi over the region can take a call of subsuming it with the rest of Pakistan. (ANI)