Month: June 2022

In a major setback to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday claimed victory in the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll, the home turf of Chief Minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Singh Mann.

“This is a great win for our party. We have defeated all national parties in this bypoll. My priority will be to raise the issue of the poor economic condition of Sangrur including the condition of farmers under debt. We will work with the Punjab government,” said Mann.
“I am grateful to our voters of Sangrur for having elected me as your representative in parliament. I will work hard to ameliorate the sufferings of our farmers, farm-labour, traders and everyone in my constituency, he added.

The final outcome is yet to come but the trends are signalling victory for Simranjit Singh Mann.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal congratulated Mann and said, “I sincerely and wholeheartedly congratulate Sardar Simranjit Singh Mann and his party on their electoral victory in Sangrur parliamentary bypoll and offer them our best wishes and cooperation. We bow before the mandate of the people in a true democratic spirit.”

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also congratulated Mann.

“Humbly accept people’s verdict in Sangrur bypoll. My congratulations to Simranjit Singh Mann Ji for his victory. I am sure he would keep raising Punjab’s voice in his new role. The result reflects displeasure of public with Aam Aadmi Party insensitive and inept governance,” tweeted Warring.

On the other hand, Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu took a pot shot at Sukhbir Badal-led SAD for its candidate’s defeat.

“Kamaldeep Rajoana, representative of violent terrorists and sinking Akali dal is set to forfeit her security deposit and face huge loss getting roughly only 5 per cent votes. Sukhbir Badal, Pannu 2020 and Rajoana should come and try now to save their candidates’ deposit,” Bittu said in a Twitter post.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the Sangrur Bypoll results indicated that Punjab has rejected the Delhi model of the AAP government.

“Punjab has clearly rejected Delhi Model. AAP Punjab losing Sangrur Bypoll is a warning signal to Bhagwant Mann to take command in his hand,” Sirsa said in a Twitter post.

Sangrur is known as the stronghold of AAP incumbent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from where he had won the parliamentary seat in 2014 and 2019. The seat fell vacant after Mann resigned as MP following his victory from the Dhuri constituency in the state assembly polls.

The counting of votes on Sunday began amid tight security. “A company of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and 600 police personnel are deployed,” said Superintendent of Police, Barnala.

Besides Sangrur, counting of votes of bypolls in two other Lok Sabha constituencies – Rampur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh began on Sunday. Further, the counting of votes is also underway for the bypolls of seven assembly seats spread across Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.

The bypolls were held on June 23.

In Tripura, assembly bypoll was held in Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma and Town Bardowali.

The other constituencies where assembly bypolls were held were Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, Mandar in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district and Atmakuru in Andhra Pradesh. The bypolls were necessitated in these seats due to the resignations of the legislators in two seats, disqualification of an MLA in one, and the death of one of the MLAs midterm.

The bypolls in Tripura were crucial for Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha who replaced Biplab Kumar Deb last month. The dentist-turned politician himself is a candidate and is fighting his first-ever direct election to save his CM seat.

The bye-elections to the Azamgarh seat were necessitated due to the resignation of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly as an MLA in the elections earlier this year.

Seats fell vacant in Azamgarh and Rampur after Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders

Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan resigned as MPs from the seats after winning in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Akhilesh was elected as an MLA from the Karhal assembly seat while Azam Khan was elected from the Rampur Sadar constituency.

Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar seat remained vacated after the AAP MP Raghav Chadha was nominated for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on March 21.

The AAP had fielded Durgesh Pathak for filling the Chadha’s vacant seat of Rajinder Nagar against the former Bharatiya Janata Party councillor Rajesh Bhatia and Congress’ Prem Lata. (ANI)

‘Ishaqzaade’ actor Arjun Kapoor gave real couple goals as he shared some serene pictures with his ladylove, actor Malaika Arora, all the way from Paris.

“Eiffel good… I knew I would…” captioned Arjun on Instagram.
The power couple looked so-in-love as Malaika acted coy and hid behind her beau, Arjun with a smile on her face. Arjun also flashed a grin, wearing a chic black cap.

In the second picture, Malaika seemed to inch closer to Arjun as the latter gave a broody look with his on-spot beard against the excellent Paris backdrop.

The star couple looked smitten by each other in the fourth picture as Malaika kissed Arjun on his cheek while the latter leaned towards her.

Malaika pointed at the distant Eiffel Tower in the fifth picture as Arjun seemed to slightly raise his eyebrows as if amused. Both the actors looked completely in love, while the beautiful backdrop of Paris made the picture absolutely perfect.

Malaika and Arjun landed in the beautiful destination of Paris to celebrate Arjun’s 37th birthday. Arjun and Malaika have been dating each other for a long time and are often seen sharing heartwarming posts on their respective social media handles.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Arjun will be seen in Mohit Suri’s much anticipated ‘Ek Villain Returns’, which also stars John Abraham, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria. The film is a sequel to the 2014 film ‘Ek Villain’ starring Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor.

The cast wrapped up shooting last year and the film was earlier supposed to release on July 8, however makers earlier this month postponed the date to July 29.

Apart from ‘Ek Villain Returns’, Arjun will also be seen in Aasman Bhardwaj’s Kuttey and Ajay Bahl’s ‘The Ladykiller’.

Talking about Malaika, she is all set to become an author after glamorizing the film industry with her sexy moves. She will soon write her debut book which is going to be all about nutrition. The actor, who also serves as a judge on the reality show ‘India’s Best Dancer’, will be sharing her wellness tips in the book. (ANI)

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has airlifted at least 96 tonnes of relief material on Saturday using the aerial platforms in continuation with its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operation in Assam and Meghalaya, the IAF said on Sunday.

“In continuation of HADR efforts to provide relief and succour in Assam and Meghalaya, IAF has airlifted 96 Ton of relief material on 25 Jun 2022 using various aerial platforms, flying 37 hours in 46 sorties,” the IAF tweeted.
According to the IAF, they have been conducting flood relief operations in Assam and Meghalaya since June 21.

“Continuing its efforts to provide relief to the flood-affected populace of Assam and Meghalaya since past 4 days, IAF has airlifted 203 Tonnes of relief material in 74 HADR missions while also rescuing 253 stranded personnel utilising various helicopter and transport aircraft,” it said in another tweet.

The IAF had utilised C-130, An-32, Mi 17V5, Mi 171V, Mi17s and ALH extensively for continuing its flood relief operations in Assam and Meghalaya

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has flown around 74 missions, rescued 253 persons who were stranded in the flood in Assam and have dropped over 200 tonnes of relief material as part of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operation to the state, IAF informed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Saturday had informed that the overall flood situation in Assam has improved but over 33.03 lakh people in 28 districts continue to remain affected due to the natural calamity in the state.

According to ASDMA, a total of 117 people have lost their lives till then due to the flood and landslides in the state this year; of which 100 people died in floods alone, while the remaining 17 died of landslides.

As per the reports, at least 10 people, including four children died after drowning in the flood water in the last 24 hours on Saturday.

The report also stated that 8.76 lakh people have been affected in Barpeta district alone, followed by 5.08 lakh people in Nagaon, 4.01 lakh in Kamrup, 2.76 lakh people in Cachar, 2.16 in Karimganj, 1.84 lakh in Dhubri, and 1.70 lakh people have been affected in the Darrang district of Assam.

Notably, 3,510 villages under 93 revenue circles of the state and nearly 91,700 hectares of cropland are still reeling under the flood water.

2,65,788 people affected by flood water are still lodged in 717 relief camps set up by the administration of 22 districts in the state, ASDMA reported.

Two drones have been deployed in Silchar of Cachar district for carrying out the flood inundation mapping as well as to provide the relief materials in the inaccessible areas.

85.2 MT of GR items including packaged drinking water, rice, etc. have been air transported from Guwahati and Jorhat to Silchar.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel along with SDRF, Fire and Emergency personnel, Police Force and AAPDA MITRA volunteers are helping the district administrations in the rescue operation and relief distributions. (ANI)

The counting of votes on Sunday began amid tight security for the bypolls of three Lok Sabha seats and seven assembly seats spread across Delhi and five other states.

The elections for the bypolls were held on June 23.
The seven assembly seats are spread across Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi while the three Lok Sabha seats are in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur and Azamgarh and Punjab’ Sangrur.

In Tripura, assembly bypoll was held in Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma and Town Bardowali.

The other constituencies where assembly bypolls were held were Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, Mandar in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district and Atmakuru in Andhra Pradesh.

Lok Sabha by-elections were held in Rampur and Azamgarh constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and Sangrur seat in Punjab.

The bypolls were necessitated in these seats due to the resignations of the legislators in two seats, disqualification of an MLA in one, and the death of one of the MLAs midterm.

The bypolls in Tripura were crucial for Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha who replaced Biplab Kumar Deb last month. The dentist-turned politician himself is a candidate and is fighting his first-ever direct election to save his CM seat.

The bye-elections to the Azamgarh seat were necessitated due to the resignation of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly as an MLA in the elections earlier this year.

Seats fell vacant in Azamgarh and Rampur after Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan resigned as MPs from the seats after winning in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Akhilesh was elected as an MLA from the Karhal assembly seat while Azam Khan was elected from the Rampur Sadar constituency.

The Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar seat remained vacated after the AAP MP Raghav Chadha was nominated for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on March 21.

The AAP had fielded Durgesh Pathak for filling the Chadha’s vacant seat of Rajinder Nagar against the former Bharatiya Janata Party councillor Rajesh Bhatia and Congress’ Prem Lata. (ANI)

As the counting of votes for the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll is underway, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann is leading with 42,511 votes, according to the Election Commission.

As per the trends in the counting, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gurmail Singh is trailing at the second position with 11, 858 votes. Further, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kewal Singh Dhillon, Congress’ Dalbir Singh Goldy and SAD’s Kamaldeep Kaur got 3,529, 3,446 and 1587 votes so far.
Sangrur is known as the stronghold of AAP incumbent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from where he had won the parliamentary seat in 2014 and 2019. The seat fell vacant after Mann resigned as MP following his victory from the Dhuri constituency in the state assembly polls.

The counting of votes on Sunday began amid tight security. “A company of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and 600 police personnel are deployed,” said Superintendent of Police, Barnala.

Besides Sangrur, counting of votes of bypolls in two other Lok Sabha constituencies – Rampur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh began on Sunday. Further, the counting of votes is also underway for the bypolls of seven assembly seats spread across Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.

The bypolls were held on June 23.

In Tripura, assembly bypoll was held in Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma and Town Bardowali.

The other constituencies where assembly bypolls were held were Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, Mandar in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district and Atmakuru in Andhra Pradesh. The bypolls were necessitated in these seats due to the resignations of the legislators in two seats, disqualification of an MLA in one, and the death of one of the MLAs midterm.

The bypolls in Tripura were crucial for Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha who replaced Biplab Kumar Deb last month. The dentist-turned politician himself is a candidate and is fighting his first-ever direct election to save his CM seat.

The bye-elections to the Azamgarh seat were necessitated due to the resignation of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly as an MLA in the elections earlier this year.

Seats fell vacant in Azamgarh and Rampur after Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan resigned as MPs from the seats after winning in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Akhilesh was elected as an MLA from the Karhal assembly seat while Azam Khan was elected from the Rampur Sadar constituency.

Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar seat remained vacated after the AAP MP Raghav Chadha was nominated for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on March 21.

The AAP had fielded Durgesh Pathak for filling the Chadha’s vacant seat of Rajinder Nagar against the former Bharatiya Janata Party councillor Rajesh Bhatia and Congress’ Prem Lata. (ANI)

Amid the political crisis in Maharashtra, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde has called a meeting of MLAs camping with him at a hotel in Assam’s Guwahati on Sunday to discuss the strategy ahead.

The political turbulence in Maharashtra was triggered by the faction war in Shiv Sena after Minister Eknath Shinde flew to Surat with some MLAs and then to Guwahati where he claims of having the support of 38 MLAs of the 55 Shiv Sena legislators, which is more than two-thirds of the party’s strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. It means that they can either leave and form another political party or merge with another without being disqualified from the state assembly.
According to sources, Maharashtra deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal has sent notices to the 16 Shiv Sena rebel MLAs. The MLAs have to be present in Mumbai on Monday for the hearing of disqualification.

Notably, Zirwal has earlier approved the appointment of Ajay Choudhary as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader, replacing Shinde, the state cabinet minister who rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership.

Zirwal also turned down the Shinde camp’s suggestion to appoint rebel Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip of the legislature party in place of Sunil Prabhu.

Interestingly, the Shinde faction named their group as ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’.

The naming of the group after the name of the Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray attracted sharp reactions from the Uddhav faction as the Chief Minister said that those who left the party should not seek votes in the name of the party founder.

Earlier on Saturday, rebel MLA Chimanrao Patil on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction over Shiv Sena’s alliance with its “traditional rival” parties, Congress and NCP and said that they had urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to stitch a “natural alliance”.

The leader, however, added that there was no response from the Chief Minister which is why Eknath Shinde, who is leading the faction, “took a stand”.

“We are traditionally the rivals of NCP and Congress, they are our primary challengers in constituencies. We requested CM Uddhav Thackeray that natural alliance should be done,” said Shiv Sena rebel MLA Chimanrao Patil in a video tweeted by Eknath Shinde.

Patil claimed that the faction has the support of two-thirds of the Shiv Sena MLAs along with 10 independents.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction recently submitted a plea before the Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs.

The Shiv Sena national executive meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray adopted six resolutions as the political crisis deepens in Maharashtra.

“We strongly condemn the treachery that a few Shiv Sena legislators have displayed and express that the party and its organisation is strongly standing behind party leader Uddhav Thackeray. The party gives all the rights to Thackeray to exercise control over the emerging scenario and to implement decisions required for the same,” the resolution read.

“The national executive expresses its pride in the work Uddhav Thackeray has done as the chief minister of Maharashtra and the fame that he has earned for his taking care of the Maharashtra populace during Covid,” read the second resolution adopted by the national executive.

According to another resolution, Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray are two sides of the same coin which are inseparable. Hence, besides Shiv Sena, no one else can use Balasaheb’s name.

Another resolution, Shiv Sena has always stayed true to Hindutva, the idea of a united Maharashtra and Marathi Asmita.

As rebels continue to camp in Guwahati, some of their offices were vandalised allegedly by Shiv Sena workers in Maharashtra.

Following this, Shinde on Saturday wrote to Uddhav Thackeray over the alleged ‘malicious’ withdrawal of security of family members of the 38 MLAs camping with him in the Guwahati hotel. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Munich on Sunday to attend the G7 summit in Germany where he will hold meetings with G7 and partner countries and will hold discussions on issues ranging from environment, energy, to counter-terrorism.

The meeting is scheduled from June 26-27 during which PM Modi will see interaction with the Indian diaspora and hold a meeting with world leaders.
Taking to Twitter, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi tweeted, “At the invitation of @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz, PM @narendramodi arrives in Germany for the G7 Summit.”

On the sidelines of the Summit, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of some of the participating countries.

He was welcomed by a Bavarian band on his arrival in Munich.

“Besides participating in @G7 discussions on climate, energy, food security, health, gender equality and more, PM will also hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines,” MEA added.

The G7 Summit invitation is in keeping with the tradition of strong and close partnership and high-level political contacts between India and Germany.

Meanwhile, the Indian community in Germany is already preparing to welcome PM Modi to Munich.

It will be the largest gathering of the Indian diaspora in Germany post-pandemic. Hundreds of performers will be participating in the event and the Audi MDome will be embellished with the ‘Vande Matram’ song.

After attending the G7 Summit, Prime Minister will be travelling to United Arab Emirates (UAE) while coming back to India on June 28, 2022, to pay his personal condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the former UAE President and Abu Dhabi Ruler. He will also congratulate Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on his election as the new President of UAE.

This will be PM Modi’s first meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan since his election as the new President of the UAE and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

The G7 Summit invitation is in keeping with the tradition of strong and close partnership and high-level political contacts between India and Germany.

PM Modi’s last visit to Germany was on May 2, 2022, for the sixth edition of the India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC). Before his departure for the G7 Summit, PM Modi said that it will be a pleasure to meet Scholz again after the productive India-Germany IGC. (ANI)

Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Sanjay Popli, who has been arrested on corruption charges, on Saturday alleged that the Vigilance Department has murdered his son and he is an eyewitness to the incident.

“I am an eye-witness, they (police officials) are taking me….my son was shot by them,” said Popli.
The IAS officer’s son died of gunshot injuries on Saturday. While the police said Kartik Popli, died by suicide, his family, however, has claimed he was murdered.

“They tortured my child and killed him. They tortured my domestic help for evidence. The entire vigilance bureau and the DSP are under the pressure from the chief minister. This is the way they are killing people,” the mother of Kartik Popli said.

The incident comes days after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested IAS officer Popli and his accomplice on corruption charges. Anu Preet Kular, a relative of Sanjay Popli alleged that the “Vigilance people murdered him”.

“Vigilance team asked Sanjay Popli to sign on something otherwise it won’t be good for his son. They locked him in a room and took his son upstairs. We were standing downstairs and after some time we heard the sound of gunshots. The Vigilance people murdered him.”

SSP Kuldeep Chahal said that the boy allegedly shot himself in the head with his father’s licensed pistol.

“The vigilance team had arrived (at IAS Sanjay Popli’s house) for an enquiry and heard a gunshot. After verification, they realized that his son had shot himself with his licensed gun. He was taken to a hospital,” SSP Chahal said.

The Vigilance Department of Punjab on Saturday recovered over 12 kg gold among other items from arrested Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sanjay Popli’s house.

“Four days after the arrest of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sanjay Popli in corruption case, the Vigilance Bureau on Saturday recovered over 12 Kg gold, 3 Kg silver, four Apple iPhones, one Samsung fold phone and two Samsung smartwatches from storeroom of his house at Sector 11, Chandigarh,” stated the Vigilance Department release.

IAS officer Sanjay Popli was arrested on June 20, for allegedly demanding a 1 per cent commission as a bribe of Rs 7 lakhs for clearance of tenders for laying of sewerage pipeline at Nawanshahr.

His accomplice identified as Sandeep Wats was also arrested from Jalandhar. (ANI)

“Wanted: Dead or Alive” is the usual demand in the world of crime anywhere. But the living is declared dead in Pakistan’s world of criminals and terrorists. And if need be, the dead come alive, if the powerful are to be placated.

This is the curious case of Sajid Mir, one of the masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, in 2008. Declared “untraceable” and “dead” for a long time because India wanted him captured, tried and punished, he has “come alive”, in a manner of speaking, and is quietly imprisoned for 15 years.

The reasons range from placating the United States to reaching out to India for talks and trade. But the immediate intended gain is convincing the fact-finding team of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that is expected to make an on-site visit to Pakistan.

The FATF, it may be recalled, at its last conference in Berlin (June 17-18), resolved to take Pakistan off its “under watch” list, popularly known as the “grey” list, since it had fulfilled most, though not all, requirements of enacting laws and taking executive actions to eliminate money-laundering and promoting terror financing through its agencies and banking institutions.

It is but tentative. Hence, after initial rejoicing, when everyone fell over each other in taking credit, the sober mood called for clearing all tracks before the arrival of the visiting FATF team.

This is why, and how, Sajid Majeed Mir has surfaced. Before proceeding further it is interesting to note three recalls of the recent past. Osama Bin Laden was “probably dead, and definitely not in Pakistan”, according to the now ailing and exiled military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf.

He would ridicule any talk of Pakistan hiding Osama. Till, long after he was out of office and under house arrest in 2011, when the US Seals, the Special Forces’ commandos, located him in a hideout in Abbottabad and eliminated him. When asked, he sang the “sovereignty” song — its violation by the US.

Baitullah Mehsud of the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) backed the assassin who killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. He was declared “untraceable”, even “dead” in an encounter. But he surfaced in 2018 to deny any involvement.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, another TTP leader and spokesman was behind the shooting of Malala Yusuf, the little girl who survived being flown to Britain. She eventually became the world’s youngest Nobel Laureate. Ehsanullah even baited Malala to “return to Pakistan once.”

Under prosecution, Ehsan escaped, and then surrendered following an “understanding” reached with one of the Pakistani intelligence outfits. When this did not succeed, he escaped again, simply took a flight along with the family, and fled to Turkey.

Sajid Mir has now “come alive” and is in jail. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan awarded over 15 years jail term in a terror-financing case to Mir.

“An anti-terrorism court in Lahore early this month had handed down over 15 years jail term to Sajid Majeed Mir, an activist of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), on a terror-financing case,” a senior lawyer associated with terror financing cases of LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa leaders said on June 24, 2022.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police, which often issues convictions of the suspects in such cases to the media, did not notify Mir’s conviction in a terror-financing case. Besides, since it was an in-camera proceeding at the jail, the media was not allowed.

The lawyer further said convict Mir, who is in his mid-40s, has been in the Kot Lakhpat jail since his arrest this April. He said the court also imposed a fine of over PKR 400,000 on Mir. Pakistan told the FATF at the Berlin conference that it had arrested and prosecuted Sajid Mir to facilitate removal from the FATF ‘Grey list’.

Sajid Mir has a bounty of USD 5 Million. He was called “project manager” of the Mumbai attacks. He had reportedly visited India in 2005 using a fake passport with a fake name. Mumbai terror attacks alleged mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has already been sentenced to 68 years imprisonment in terror financing cases by the Lahore Anti Terrorism Court (ATC).

Mumbai attack “operation commander” Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is also convicted to several years in jail. Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases.

The jail sentence of Mir, after Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi, comes as part of the plan to placate FATF.

The arrest of Sajid Mir also has a diplomatic angle. The new government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is keen on mending fences damaged by its predecessor Imran Khan Government. The targets are the United States and up to a point, India, ostensibly, under American persuasion.

The Sharif government is playing up to Washington, in contrast to Imran Khan’s anti-US campaign that has intensified after being voted out of power. Reports are that Islamabad wants to facilitate the US presence in Afghanistan that the latter had to quit last August when the Taliban seized power.

Islamabad began by sending ISI chief, Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum to Washington. After the stage was set, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Foreign Minister in the Sharif Government, was in the US and soon after, Bilawal began advocating the resumption of the ties with India, gone “cold” in the last two years.

He talked of ties with India being of mutual interest, even in Pakistan’s interest, but stopped short of doing anything concrete, even resuming bilateral trade that he thinks would benefit Pakistan more. Mir’s surfacing and imprisonment are to impress India, of good intent of the Sharif Government. But only words have come forth.

Pakistan has acted this way in the past as well, under Washington’s persuasion.

In this game wherein wheels-within-wheels move, it may be safe to surmise that the next gesture from Bilawal to India may come once Washington helps clear the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan that Pakistan urgently requires. (ANI)

Rebel MLA Deepak Kesarkar, who is a part of the Eknath Shinde camp which named its group ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb’ on Saturday, said that they are still with the Shiv Sena and claimed that they have a two-thirds majority.

The rebel MLA further demanded recognition for their faction and warned of going to court if it is not done and denied the role of the BJP behind their revolt.
Addressing a press conference virtually, Kesarkar said, “We are still in Shiv Sena, there is a misunderstanding that we have left the party. We’ve just separated our faction. We have a two-thirds majority to follow the path we wanted. Our new leader has been chosen by the majority. They didn’t have more than 16-17 MLAs.”

Notably, Eknath Shinde was unanimously elected as the leader of the group recently which is revolting against the Uddhav faction.

Eknath Shinde claims to have the support of 38 MLAs of the 56 Shiv Sena legislators, which is more than two-thirds of the party’s strength in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. It means that they can either leave and form another political party or merge with another without being disqualified from the state assembly.

According to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with the anti-defection law, any group of lawmakers can leave a party and form another or merge with another party without disqualification if they are together at least two-thirds of legislators of the party’s original strength.

The rebel MLA refuted the speculations of the new group merging with any party and said that their faction will be given different recognition.

“There’s no need to merge, our faction will be given different recognition and we aren’t merging with any other party,” he said.

Kesarkar denied speaking against Uddhav Thackeray and said that they “respect” the Chief Minister.

“Recognition should be given to our faction, if it isn’t given, we will go to court and prove our existence and numbers. We have numbers, but we respect CM Uddhav Thackeray, we won’t speak against him. We must follow the path on which we fought Assembly elections,” he said.

“No party is paying for our expenses (of hotel accommodation), our leader Eknath Shinde called us and we came and stayed here (Guwahati hotel); will pay the expenses. BJP isn’t behind all of this,” the lawmaker added.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction recently submitted a plea before the Maharashtra Assembly deputy speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs.

As rebels continue to camp in Guwahati, some of their offices were vandalised allegedly by Shiv Sena workers in Maharashtra.

Following this, Shinde on Saturday wrote to Uddhav Thackeray over the alleged ‘malicious’ withdrawal of security of family members of the 38 MLAs camping with him in the Guwahati hotel.

In his letter to Thackeray and State Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, Shinde claimed that the security provided to the MLAs at their residence as well as to their family members as per the protocol has been illegally and unlawfully withdrawn, as an act of revenge.

“Needless to mention, this sinister move is another attempt to break our resolve and arm-twist us to give in to the demands of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress goons,” he said.

Eknath Shinde faction, earlier on Friday, gave notice of a no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Narhari Jhirwal after the Uddhav Thackeray faction submitted a plea before the deputy speaker to disqualify 12 rebel MLAs. (ANI)