Author: LokMarg

Amid the row over gang rape and death of a minor in West Bengal, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday alleged that the bureaucracy is politicised and the preamble of the Constitution is disregarded in the state.

“We need to focus on the spirit of the Indian constitution. It is my duty and obligation that violation of the Constitution does not take place. Recent events were painful. Even before such incidents, there was an urgent need to improve the situation in the state,” Governor Dhankhar told mediapersons here.

“Those concerned with governance must see that probe must be fair. We cannot have a state that is known only for violence and gets into the headlines for crime against women, where bureaucracy is politicised and preamble of the Constitution is disregarded,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dhankhar summoned State Chief Secretary and Director General Police to take steps to curb rising crime against women.

The Governor had directed the officials to improve law and order situation in the state and respond to pending issues. The meeting went on for an hour where Governor Dhankhar emphasized that constitutional governance is a must and not optional, said the Raj Bhavan.

Earlier this month, a 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped in Hanskhali in Nadia district. The victim’s family accused the son of a Trinamool Congress panchayat leader in the case.

Dhankhar also raised concerns about the recent commotion in Calcutta High Court.

“Whatever happened in HC was unprecedented and shocking. If access to justice is obstructed then where is democracy? If those who perform solemn duty in the temple of justice are cornered, then it is not acceptable,” Governor Dhankhar said.

On Wednesday, the TMC workers’ legal wing of West Bengal blocked the doors of the Calcutta High Court and barred the lawyers from entering the Court of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

TMC workers’ legal wing said, “Justice Gangopadhyay has committed a crime by passing orders in the School Service Commission (SSC) corruption case.”

On Tuesday, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court stayed a single bench order that directed West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee to appear before the CBI in connection with irregularities in the appointment of assistant teachers in state government-aided schools. Justice Gangopadhyay had also given CBI liberty to arrest the state minister in the case.

The Bar Association, Calcutta High Court brought out a resolution to boycott Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay. (ANI)

Days after the ouster of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani military categorically rejected “foreign conspiracy” allegations of Imran Khan to topple his government, as well as the involvement of the Army in any way in the no-confidence motion.

Referring to Pakistan’s National Security Council (NSC) meeting, in which the alleged “threat letter” received from the Pakistani embassy in the US was discussed days before the vote on the no-confidence motion, Director General (DG)-ISPR Babar Iftikhar said that although the contents of the meeting were confidential, however, the statement that was released after the meeting, nowhere mentioned the term “conspiracy”.

“The words used are in front of you … as I said … the words used are clear. Is there any word such as conspiracy used in it? I think not,” Babar said at a press conference telecasted on Geo News.

He went on to say that Inter Sevices Intelligence (ISI) had done its investigation on the alleged letter when it arrived and thereby gave its inputs to the NSC.

“If any foreign power tries to conspire against Pakistan we will not let it succeed,” Iftikhar said.

He also rejected the involvement of the Pakistani Army in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan in any manner, while also requesting the people and the political parties to “not drag the military into politics.”

Talking about Imran Khan’s allegations that the military had given him three options, ahead of the no-co0nfidence motion, the DG-ISPR said that it was rather the former Prime Minister who had approached the Army Chief for intervention and then the options were discussed.

“The options were not given by the establishment, Prime Minister’s Office approached the Chief of Army Staff, when there was this deadlock (between political parties), PMO asked Army to intervene,” DG-ISPR said.

“It is very unfortunate that our political parties were not ready to talk among themselves at that point… so the army chief and DG-ISI went to the PMO… it was there that these three scenarios were discussed… one scenario was that no-confidence motion goes as it is, second was that PM resigns and the third was that Opposition takes back no-confidence motion and PM dissolves the NA and goes for fresh elections,” DG-ISPR further elaborated.

He further said that Imran Khan said that the third option of fresh elections was acceptable to him and he asked the Army Chief to talk to the Opposition on his behalf over that option.

DG-ISPR Babar Iftikhar addressed a multitude of questions on the recent political events and related topics, as well as declared that Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was not involved in any deal with Imran Khan’s Opposition and that he did not seek an extension.

“Let me put this thing to rest today, Chief of Army Staff is neither seeking an extension nor will he accept an extension. No matter what, he will be retiring on the 29th of November 2022,” Iftikhar said.

This comes a few days after Pakistan Army claimed that there was a “recent propaganda” campaign by some quarters to malign the country’s military.

This statement was issued after the 79th Formation Commanders’ Conference held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

This high-level meeting was attended by the country’s army’s corps commanders, principal staff officers, and Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa. (ANI)

BRICS Sherpas held their second meeting in a virtual format on April 12-13 and discussed BRICS meetings and activities planned for the year 2022, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday.

In the meeting, Secretary (ER) of MEA, Dammu Ravi led India’s delegation.

“Secretary (ER) Dammu Ravi led India’s delegation at the 2nd BRICS Sherpas’ Meeting on April 12-13 in virtual format. Discussions were held on various BRICS meetings and activities planned during the course of the year 2022,” MEA said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, on April 8, the Chinese Minister of Finance Liu Kun at the First BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting said that the country seeks to continue promoting fiscal and financial cooperation among BRICS countries.

China will take steps such as information sharing and conducting experience exchanges in infrastructure investment to deepen fiscal and financial cooperation between BRICS countries, Liu said during the meeting that was held virtually, reported Xinhua.

“In recent years, BRICS countries have maintained strong cooperation momentum and made important contributions to optimizing global economic governance and boosting the resumption and high-quality development of the global economy,” Liu further said.

The meeting was co-chaired by Liu and China’s central bank governor Yi Gang and saw the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors from other BRICS countries.

Earlier in March, media reports said that the surprise visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India was to make out a strong case for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence at the upcoming BRICS summit in China.

China is scheduled to host the BRICS summit in Xiamen in June this year.

BRICS is a multilateral forum consisting of five major emerging economies of the world, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. (ANI)

Senior Congress leader and former Madya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government for the Khargone violence saying that communal tension is the biggest weapon of the party.

Addressing the media, Singh questioned the ruling party and said, “Pandit Dwarka Pd Mishra used to tell me riots cannot take place as long as the Chief Minister does not want it. I became CM after the Babri Masjid demolition. Why did no riots break out until 2003? Because I arrested those who tried to incite communal tensions.”

Calling the incident a failure of administration, the former CM said, “What is happening today is a failure of the administration. Communal tension is the biggest weapon of the BJP government. They make political use of it to create divides between Hindus and Muslims.”

“It should be investigated where the stones came from? Who pelted it? Why was the route changed? Stone pelting at five places at the same time should all be investigated,” Singh further said.

The Congress leader also alleged that BJP leader Kapil Mishra was present in Khargone’s Bhikangaon, and had given a provocative speech.

“I talked about religious harmony all my life. I had made rules during my tenure as the Chief Minister. The incidents of religious frenzy in the country on Ram Navami are sponsored,” he said while adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is silent on the issue.

Notably, Madhya Pradesh Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against Digvijaya Singh for allegedly conspiring to instigate communal violence by posting misleading tweets.

The FIR was filed based on the complaint of one Prakash Mande, a resident of Bhopal. The case was registered under sections 153A, 295A, 465, 505 (2) of IPC. Mande complained that Singh posted a fabricated photo that might instigate communal violence.

After the violence in Raisen and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has taken strict action against the people involved in the violence and the local district administration got into action mode.

As many as four houses and three shops near Mohan Talkies, 12 houses and 10 shops in Khaskhas Badi area, three shops in Aurangpura area and 12 shops in Talaab Chowk were demolished. Approximately 16 illegal sites were demolished near Ganesh Temple in Khargone.

The incident took place on Sunday when several people, including police personnel, were injured when groups of people pelted stones at each other during a Ram Navami procession. The stone-pelting started at the very beginning of the procession leaving around four people injured including a police inspector, police said.

After the miscreants set four houses on fire, the administration imposed a curfew in Talab Chowk, Gaushala Marg, and Motipura areas. (ANI)

Cases of disappearances, especially from ethnic minority areas continue unabated in Pakistan with a commission recording a total of 158 missing persons for the year 2022.

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has received 76 new complaints of missing persons in March, according to the monthly report released by the commission, Friday Times reported.

The Commission statistics also indicate that a total of 23 cases were deleted due to not being deemed to be cases of enforced disappearance.

As per the data of cases from March 2011, when the commission was established, up till March 2022, the commission has received 8,463 complaints related to enforced disappearances, out of which it has disposed of 6,275 cases, while the whereabouts of 2,266 persons could not be ascertained during the course of inquiry.

The commission took up the case of Muhammad Nabi Marri & Muhammad Khan Marri, residents of Quetta, At the hearing held in this case at Quetta, SP Quaid Abad Quetta informed the commission that incidents of alleged enforced disappearance occurred on 11 April 2012, while dead bodies of both were found in the Maidan of Killa Firozabad, Sariab Road, Quetta last year, the report said.

The commission also took up the case of Sikandar Khan son of Pir Bakhsh, a resident of Quetta, and he appeared before the commission. His statement was recorded on oath, in which he stated that he was abducted in front of his house, blindfolded by three or four persons, who came in a car, and kept him at some unknown place in a small room – from where he was set free at Quetta Bazaar after 45 days.

Out of a total of 940 persons confined in different internment centers in the country, 91 belong to Punjab, 791 are from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 41 are from Sindh, 21 are residents of the federal capital Islamabad, two are from Baluchistan, three are from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and one person belongs to Gilgit-Baltistan, the report further said.

Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah last week equated enforced disappearances with treason. The remark came during the hearing of missing journalist Mudassar Naaru’s case at the IHC. Naru, a journalist from Lahore, went missing in August 2018, the report said.

“Can anyone be disappeared without their [federal and provincial governments’] will? No,” the judge declared. “People going missing are the incompetence of the State. The Executive is responsible if the state agencies are not in control. Why don’t we declare the executive responsible for it?”

Enforced disappearances are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country, or seek individual or social rights. Cases of enforced disappearances have been majorly recorded in the Balochistan and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces of the country which host active separatist movements.

A recent report unveiled by the US revealed that over 8000 people were missing in the country during 2021 including 1,200 missing in Sindh province in the last six months. (ANI)

After acing adorable salwar-kameez looks during her visit to Punjab, Shehnaaz Gill is now turning heads with her sizzling new avatar.

Taking to her Instagram handle, the ‘Honsla Rakh’ actor shared a string of pictures, in which she can be seen wearing a white sweater top with an embellished mini skirt.

Shehnaaz Gill styled her hair with loose waves and completed the outfit with champagne-gold coloured heels. She added drama to her look with smokey eyes and dewy makeup.

In the caption, she wrote, “Style is not a display of wealth but an expression of imagination and mood.”

Fans flooded the post with likes and love-filled comments.

“Wow is an understatement! God bless your Shehnaaz,” a social media user wrote.

“Queen of all hearts,” another added.

On the work front, Shehnaaz was recently seen in Shilpa Shetty’s fitness-based show ‘Shape of You’. (ANI)

Who does not want to look their best when there is an important wedding in the family? Bollywood divas Kareena Kapoor Khan and Karisma Kapoor have undoubtedly aced their fashion game on day one of Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt’s wedding festivities.

The sisters, on Wednesday afternoon, were spotted leaving for Ranbir’s residence Vastu, where the pre-wedding rituals are being held.
For the special occasion, Karisma and Kareena opted for traditional outfits. Kareena chose to wear an ivory dream lehenga. On the other hand, Karisma was seen dressed in a yellow suit. Ranbir’s cousin Armaan Jain was also papped while he was leaving for the venue.

If reports are to be believed, the mehendi function of Ranbir and Alia is currently taking place at the former’s Vastu residence. (ANI)

Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa on Wednesday ruled out resigning from the cabinet amid the opposition’s demand for his resignation and arrest over a case related to the death of a contractor.

“There is no question of me resigning from the post of Minister because of any reason. I have informed CM Bommai and the party president that there is no question of me resigning as a minister,” said KS Eshwarappa, Karnataka Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.
Demanding an investigation into the matter, Eshwarappa termed the incident a “conspiracy”.

“The conspiracy behind the death should be probed. Did he die on his own or for some other reason must be investigated,” Eshwarappa said.

Contractor Santosh Patil, who died by suicide, has purportedly left a WhatsApp message alleging corruption by Eshwarappa.

The Minister defended himself by saying that “no death note was found near the body” and questioned the legality of considering a WhatsApp message.

Denying any relation to the contractor, Minister added, “Officially no work order has been issued to him.”

“I have not seen his (Santosh Patil) face but as you (reporters) are saying that he often travelled to Delhi. It should be probed who booked his flight tickets and why,”

As opposition Congress launched a scathing attack on the Minister over the alleged death by suicide, Eshwarappa said “I want to ask the Congress, did you, when in power, release payment without a work order.”

“Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar know nothing. Whatsaap message cannot be taken as a death note,” said Eshwarappa.

The contractor had earlier alleged that Eshwarappa demanded commission for the release of funds for the civil works undertaken by him at Hindalga village in Belagavi district ahead of a festival.

The 37-year-old contractor allegedly committed suicide in a lodge in Udupi on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday by consuming some poisonous substance, according to police.

The brother of the deceased contractor Santosh Patil on Wednesday demanded the arrest of KS Eshwarappa and his close aides Ramesh and Basawaraj.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Congress delegation led by state party chief DK Shivakumar, and former chief minister Siddaramaiah met Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot demanding the expulsion of Eshwarappa from the state cabinet as well as his arrest over the contractor’s death.

“FIR lodged against KS Eshwarappa. He and the other accused should be immediately arrested; a case must be filed under the corruption act… In his text message, (deceased contractor) Santosh Patil clearly blamed Eshwarappa for his death. The Minister and his PAs demanded 40 per cent commission. He wrote to PM Modi and met BL Santhosh and others. He categorically mentioned corruption. We demand that the case must be filed under the corruption act,” he said.

Referring to the purported social media message, the Congress leader said “In his WhatsApp message, he clearly said that Eshwarappa is responsible for his death. So Eshwarappa must be arrested.” (ANI)

The wait is finally over! Lovebirds Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt will tie the knot on the occasion of Baisakhi on Thursday.

The details about the wedding date have been confirmed by Ranbir’s sister Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and mother Neetu Kapoor while talking to the media after attending the couple’s mehendi ceremony.

“The wedding is tomorrow (Thursday) at Vastu (Ranbir’s Bandra residence),” Riddhima and Neetu, with a big smile on their faces, informed.

The mother-daughter duo also praised Alia, saying she is the “best.”

“Bhaut cute and gorgeous hai Alia (She is extremely cute and gorgeous),” Riddhima added.

Prior to the mehendi ceremony, a pooja was organised at Ranbir’s residence in memory of his late father Rishi Kapoor, who passed away on April 30, 2022, after battling cancer.

Speaking of Ranbir and Alia’s relationship, the two met on the sets of ‘Brahmastra’ five years ago and fell in love with each other while working together. (ANI)