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Afshain Afzal
27 January 2020, TON: The West Bengal on Monday became the fourth state to pass a resolution against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee tabled the resolution in the state Assembly, appealing the Union government to repeal the amended citizenship law and also to revoke plans to implement NRC and update NPR.
Three states - Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab have already passed resolutions against the amended citizenship law.
The law has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, in which despite strong opposition by parties, BJP is adamant for its implementation.
26 January 2020, TON: The Pakistanis across the border have greeted the Indians, especially the Muslims and minorities on Republican Day today
. Speaking on the occasion, the Indian-Pakistani Muslims Front’s President Zaheer Khokhar and Vice President Dilbar Singh congratulated the fellow Indian Muslims and other minorities on becoming a Republic on the map of world on 26th January. They stressed on the point that Muslim and other minorities are part of Indian sub-continent and have rightly launched campaign across India for non-acceptance of violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian constitution. They added, “Pakistan and India have made an agreement and Pakistan is responsible for the Muslim and other minorities, especially the Schedule Castes in India, who are the victim of Indian harassment since last 72 years.”
26 January 2020, TON: On the occasion of Indian Republican Day, the India police detained hundreds of students of the University of Hyderabad on Sunday
when they tried to take out a march to”Protect the Constitution of India” to mark the Republic Day. In the unprecedented use of forces dozens of students were injured.
Police tried to stop the students at the main gate as they wanted to march to Ambedkar statue at Masjid Banda near the University of Hyderabad. The march was called by the students” union of the University with the slogan “Uphold Constitution, Defeat Manu” and “Save the Constitution”, “Telangana police go back”, “Inquilab Zindabad”, “Manuvad ho Barbad” and ”Long live students’ unity”. They also chanted slogans against the highhandedness of the Indian security forces.
26 January 2020, TON: The 154 members European Union lawmakers proposed a resolution that terms controversial law contradictory unconstitutional “discriminatory” and “dangerously divisive”
and may lead to the “largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause widespread human suffering”. In a scathing denouncement of the Citizen Amendment Act, a powerful group of 154 European Union lawmakers proposed a resolution that terms contentious law “discriminatory” and “dangerously divisive” and may lead to the “largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause widespread human suffering”.
The lawmakers belong to the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament from 26 countries submitted the drafted resolution which is slated to be debated on 29th January and a voting is likely on 30th January.
The drafted resolution states that CAA not only contradicts Article 14 of the Indian Constitution but also India’s international obligations.
It has been noted that the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act “sets a dangerous precedent and represents an intensification of the Government’s Hindu nationalist agenda”. The resolution highlights that “the indivisibility of human rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, is one of the main objectives of the European Union in its relations with India.”
The resolution also notes that the CAA is “explicitly discriminatory in nature as it specifically excludes Muslims from access to the same provisions as other religious groups.”
The European lawmakers also condemned the use of “Excessive Force in the crackdown” on the protests against the amended citizenship law instead of addressing the concerns, and have also called on Indian authorities to stop the “criminalization of protests.”
Hyderabad, India, 24 January 2020, TON: This Friday Tehreek-e-Muslim Shabban and Joint Action Committee against CAA, NRC and NPR have given a call of ‘ Million March' to prevent the Indian Government ugly action.
The convener of these two bodies have asked the Indian not produce or give any kind of information once the NPR exercise begins in Telangana. Meanwhile, the city witnessed protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, NRC and NPR at isolated spot, where thousands of people took to the streets and chanted anti-Government slogans. Indian police charged the protesters and tried to stop them from their constitutional rights of peaceful protests. 14 protesters were arrested but after few hours of detention released. A large contingent of security apparatus and police reached the sight while Deputy Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty tried to disperse the protesters.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was welcoming peace initiative between Iran and Permanents Five in 2015. It is a detailed, 159-page agreement with five annexes reached by Iran and the P5+1 (China France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on 14 July 2015. The nuclear deal was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted on 20 July 2015. Iran’s compliance with the nuclear-related provisions of the JCPOA is regularly verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Keeping aside this month’s media statements that do not constitute official version of Iran’s declaration of rolling back from the agreement, no breach from Tehran has been witnessed. There is no doubt that Iran still observes 2015-nuclear deal with world powers.
In a 20th January statement by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Musavi it is clear that Iran has no intention of violating the deal. "Tehran still remains in the deal.... The European powers' claims about Iran violating the deal are unfounded and Tehran still maintais the P5 + 1 deal". If we recall earlier this month Iran had said that it no longer considered itself bound by the agreement, from which the United States has withdrawn.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions. However,
President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew the United States from the deal, arguing that the terms were not tough enough to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and intends to renegotiate the agreement. To pressurize Tehran, Washington has also re-imposed some sanctions on the Iranian economy. It is strange that when Tehran has not violated the agreement and there is no official complaint from International Atomic Energy Agency why signatories to the deal are talking about dispute mechanism in the nuclear deal?
Srinagar, 21 January (TON): In their fresh act of state terrorism by Indian Army, they martyred two more Kashmiri in Pulwama district, bringing total martyrdom to 9 Kashmiris till 21st January this year..
In the notorious joint search and cordon operation launched by the personnel of Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operation Group (SOG) in Awanitpora area of Srinagar district. The operation was carried out in retaliation of death of a Special Police Officer (SPO) and an Indian soldier during a crossing firing between CRPF and Army personnel in an attack in the same area.
Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in the funeral ceremony three other youth martyred in Shopian and Pulwama districts on 20th January. Anti-India, pro-freedom and pro-Pakistan slogans were raised on the occasion. The Kashmiris vowed that they would not allow Indian occupying forces to observe India’s Republic Day celebrations on the territories of Jammu & Kashmir state.
Udhampur, 21 January (TON): An Indian Army soldier committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in a camp in Udhampur
district in troubled Indian occupied Jammu and state.
Police authorities said, Sepoy Prince Kumar (25), a resident of Hoshiarpur in Punjab, was posted in 112 Territorial Army Regiment and was on guard duty when he shot himself at Chinar camp in Rehambal area on Friday, 17th January. As per the details this is the third case of suicide in Indian Northern Command, where there is a wave of hatred against the Indian occupying forces by the local Kashmiris of Jammu & Kashmir state. Havaldar Kumar disclosed that his commanding officer abused him for not firing on the protesters.
The Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on Monday said "human error" was responsible for the downing of the Ukrainian plane in Tehran on January 8
and the possibility of a cyber-attack has been ruled out.
According to a report published by the Parliament news website, Mojtaba Zolnour, the Chairman of the Committee said military and civil aviation officials attended Sunday a special session to probe the crash incident.
Zolnour said in the meeting it was established that "human error" by the missile operator was responsible for the crash. The missile operator who targeted the plane took the decision to fire "on the basis of his own judgement".
Zolnour also said the possibility of electronic war and a cyber-attack causing the crash was also discussed and added: "This is out of the question so far, unless new information becomes available in the future to prove that there had been a cyberattack".
Earlier, several Iranian officials has suggested that a possible U.S. cyberattack might have played a role in the downing of the airliner.
Zolnour defended the Armed Forces against criticisms about concealing the reason for the plane crash and said those who make such criticism are neither aware of the level of expertise required in the process of examination of the crash nor of the time required for that.
The military admitted January 11 that it had known about a missile hitting the plane right after the incident.
According to Zolnour the Committee also heard the reasons for not stopping commercial flights in a tense situation after the attack on Iraqi bases that host U.S. troops hours before the crash. "It was predicted that the United States might react [to the Iranian missile attack] so all missile operators had been told to be fully prepared," he said and added that disruption of communication between the operator and the control and command network has not been proven yet.
The operator of the missile should not have fired without authorization even if there was no communication with the defense command and control, the Chairman of the National Security Committee said.
The Summit will be hosted by the Prime Minister on 20 January 2020, and will bring together businesses, governments and international institutions to promote and find opportunities of investment across Africa. It is interesting to note that UK wants to boost business trade with Africa but at the same time UK plans to leave the European Union at the end of January 2021. Hence trade relations between the UK and Africa will remain effective for only 2020, like other deals conducted under the EU's with the continent. The African politicians and businessmen who gather in London for the UK-Africa Investment Summit were hung in uncertainty. However, UK’s International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss sid in a recent statement that the agreement "will allow businesses to keep trading after Brexit without any additional barriers". In September 2019, the UK initiated an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) - which is made up of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and eSwatini - and Mozambique.
UK forwarded invitations to over 21 African countries and many have shown their presence. However, the African countries have to bring changes in their policy, rules and regulations to allow former colonial power to get so close to the African economies. If we recall, Russia–Africa Summit and Economic Forum took place on 23–24 October in Sochi, where deals worth US$12.5 billion were signed in the form of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU). All 54 African states were represented officially, 45 of which were represented by their head of states including Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, the Gambia, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
