Maldives ex-leader Mohamed Nasheed due to arrive in UK
Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed is due to arrive in the UK for surgery after a stopover in Sri Lanka, according to his party.
Nasheed, who was controversially jailed last year, is seeking urgent treatment for his spinal cord.
The Maldivian government has attracted criticism for asking for a guarantor who would be criminally liable if Nasheed did not return.
After tense negotiations the government finally agreed to waive that condition.
Nasheed – the opposition leader – was jailed for 13 years under anti-terror laws. The government has said Nasheed must return after 30 days to serve the remainder of his sentence.
He left the Maldives on Monday and spent several days in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. He is travelling under what diplomatic sources called a deal brokered by India, Sri Lanka and Britain, according to the Maldivian government.
Mr Nasheed’s supporters said he met with ambassadors of several Western countries including the UK, Norway, Australia, France and Canada in Colombo to discuss his country’s political situation.
Maldivian MP Eva Abdulla said Mr Nasheed met with ambassadors of several Western countries in Colombo to discuss his country’s political situation
Controversial trip
The Maldivian government came under international criticism in recent months for not allowing Nasheed to seek treatment abroad.
It agreed to the trip last weekend, but days later it insisted that he nominate a family member to stay in the capital Male to guarantee his return. Nasheed’s party and lawyers called it “blackmail”, but Maldivian foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said it was “standard procedure” for any prisoner travelling abroad for medical treatment to sign a guarantee.
A compromise was eventually reached and the government waived criminal liability for the guarantor. Nasheed’s brother is acting as guarantor.
A former human rights campaigner, Nasheed became the nation’s first democratically elected leader in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
In 2012, he was detained after being accused of ordering the arrest of a judge.
He resigned months later amid an army mutiny and public protests over the judge’s fate.
Nasheed alleged that he had been removed by a coup, but this was denied by his vice-president, who replaced him.
The current President Abdulla Yameen was elected in controversial polls in 2013 and is the half-brother of Mr Gayoom.
Deadly assault on Pak Uni
A group of militants stormed a university in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding dozens as the Army hunted for any gunmen still holed up on the campus, officials said.
A security official said the death toll could rise to as high as 40 as the Army cleared out student hostels and classrooms.
“Our four suicide attackers carried out the attack on Bacha Khan University today,” Umar Mansoor, a commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) militant group told AFP by phone from an undisclosed location.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University.
According to ‘AFP’, the operation has ended and the death toll in Pakistan university attack stands at 21 as of now. Meanwhile, Army continues to search block by block of the university.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan will visit Charsadda today.
Reports say that Pakistani Army has confirmed that snipers have killed two more terrorists. Four terrorists killed so far.
Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir says 70 percent of students have been rescued.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Paksitan claims responsibility for Bacha Khan University terror attack.
Pakistan Nawaz Sharif condemns the terror attack and said the sacrifice of the deceased will not go in vain. “We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland. The countless sacrifices made by our countrymen will not go in vain,” a statement issued on behalf of the Pakistan PM said.
Pakistan police say they have killed two of the militants who stormed the university.
Pakistan media reports that 60-70 students were shot in the head by terrorists.
Speaking to Reuters, Deputy Inspector General Saeed Wazir said the Army and police had moved into the university and a gunfight with the attackers was under way. He said it was unclear how many gunmen were involved.
One professor is reported to be killed in the attack.
Pakistan media reports that 50 have been injured in the terror attack and have been shifted to Charsadda District HQ hospital
Media reported that three gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.
The Bacha Khan University in Charsadda is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the city of Peshawar.
Reports say that firing was still going on inside the campus where students, teachers and administration staff are present.
Television images showed female students clutching hands as they fled the university, with traffic blocked on the roads of Charsadda as security forces rushed towards the campus.
According to some reports two explosions were heard inside the university.
Geo TV reports that five injured have been taken out from the university.
It further said that over 3000 students were present inside the university when the attack happened.
Security officials have cordoned off the area and students are being evacuated from classes.
Peshawar was the location of Pakistan`s deadliest ever extremist attack, when Taliban gunmen stormed an army-run school in December last year and slaughtered more than 150 people, most of them children, in an hours-long siege.
Singapore, a wealthy multi-ethnic city state, arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers who supported Islamist groups including al Qaeda and Islamic State and deported 26 of them, the government said on Wednesday.
The 27 were arrested in November and December, the home ministry said. Twenty-six were deported, while the last one was jailed for attempting to leave Singapore illegally after hearing of the arrest of the others, the home ministry said.
The investigation revealed that several members of the group had considered carrying out armed violence overseas, but did not plan any attack in Singapore. Some of them had contemplated taking part in armed jihad in the Middle East, the ministry said.
“I appeal that we be more vigilant, whether against radical teachings and ideologies, or of any suspicious activities around us,” Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim said on his Facebook page.
“At the same time, I hope we will remain united and not resort to discriminating (against) foreign workers here.”
Singapore broke up plots for militant attacks after the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States. Recently, concern has been growing in countries around the world about individuals joining the cause of the Islamic State.
The Bangladeshis were encouraged to return home and wage armed jihad against the government in Dhaka, and tried to recruit other Bangladeshis to their group, the ministry said.
The announcement came a week after an attack by suicide bombers and gunmen in the heart of Jakarta, the capital of neighbouring Indonesia, highlighting the growing threat Southeast Asia faces from radicalised Muslims.
PM Narendra Modi launches Essel Group Chairman Dr Subhash Chandra's autobiography
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the autobiography of Essel Group Chairman Dr Subhash Chandra.
Modi unveiled the book at his official residence 7 RCR in Delhi.
Dr Chandra, during the launch event, said that focus and determination is the key to achieving success in life.
PM Modi, praising Dr Chandra, said, “It takes a lot of effort to write an autobiography. Taking risk is Subhash Chandra’s habit”.
Modi also praised Dr Chandra for his contribution to society and education.
Applauding Dr Chandra’s continuous efforts to achieve excellence, Modi said that it is very important to read biography. “It helps you know the history better,” the PM said.
The autobiography titled ‘The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time’ has been written along with Pranjal Sharma.
A book launch event is also scheduled at Zee Jaipur Lit Fest at 12.25 pm tomorrow.
The panelists for the event are M J Akbar and Vallabh Bhansali who will interact with Dr Chandra in the launch session.
The book is published by Harper Collins and will be available in stores from tomorrow onwards. It is already available on Flipkart and Amazon India for pre-orders.
Dr Chandra, who is referred to as the Media Moghul of India, revolutionised the television industry by launching the country’s first satellite Hindi channel Zee TV in 1992 and later the first private news channel, Zee News.
His bouquet of businesses includes television networks (ZEE), a newspaper chain (DNA), cable systems (Wire and Wireless Ltd), direct-to-home (Dish TV), satellite communications (Agrani and Procall), theme parks (EsselWorld and Water Kingdom), online gaming (Playwin), education (Zee Learn), flexible packaging (Essel Propack), infrastructure development (Essel Infraprojects Ltd) and family entertainment centres (Fun Cinemas).
He has made his mark as an influential philanthropist in the country by setting up TALEEM (Transnational Alternate Learning for Emancipation and Empowerment through Multimedia), aimed at providing access to quality education through distance and open learning. Dr Chandra is also the Chairman of the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India – a movement to eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India. The Foundation provides free education to nearly eight lakh tribal children across 27,000 villages through one-teacher schools.
JP not splitting, Ershad declares
–JP not splitting, Ershad declares
–Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu removed as secy general
–Ruhul Amin Howlader replaces Bablu
A day into making his brother the co-chairman of Jatiya Party, HM Ershad today removed Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu as secretary general.
The JP chairman also appointed Ruhul Amin Howlader as the new secretary general of the party.
The press conference was held at 2:00pm this afternoon after a much hyped rift within the party centering the appointment of Ershad’s brother GM Quader as the co-chairman.
The move displeased many leaders as they took it as an indication of Quader being the next chairman of Jatiya Party.
On the other hand, splitting is nothing new for Jatiya Party. It has already split four times with the last one of Kazi Zafar Ahmed “expelling” Ershad and joining hands with BNP.
Ershad, who is currently a special envoy of the prime minister, is also a known chameleon character who flip-flopped went back on his words countless times.
Rohith Vemula's death: Rahul Gandhi demands Hyderabad university VC's removal
My doors are always open for you, Rahul Gandhi tells students at Hyderabad university campus.
The VC and Union Ministers in Delhi have not acted fairly. This youngster was put in so much pain that he had no option but to kill himself
There should be no discrimination on the basis of caste. Rohith came to university with a certain hope: Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi addresses students, says Rohit Vemula’s family should be paid compensation. He further seeks Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao’s removal.
Research scholar Rohit Vemula, who allegedly committed suicide in a room on the campus of the University of Hyderabad, had in a letter purportedly written
by him said he was not getting his fellowship for past seven months. “If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them back. But please pay that to him from that (sic),” Rohit purportedly wrote in the letter.
RPI leader Ramdas Athawale will visit Rohith Vemula’s family in Hyderabad tomorrow.
On the university campus, scores of students intensify their protests, demanding that Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, BJP MLC Ramchander Rao, university’s Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao and two ABVP leaders, against whom cases were registered for abetting suicide of Rohit, be jailed.
Several students in campuses outside the state come out of classes in solidarity with their Hyderabad Central University counterparts.
Rahul Gandhi interacts with students over the issue.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi arrives at Hyderabad university’s campus.
A video of altercation between Rohith Vemula and ABVP activists tearing down, ABVP flag has surfaced.
Have appointed Secretary Anita Agnihotri to investigate Dalit scholar’s suicide case: Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot
Attacking the government over the alleged suicide of a Dalit scholar in Hyderabad, Congress leader Digvijay Singh today charged that vice chancellors have
been handpicked by the BJP and RSS, and asked student wings to come together to fight the “communal forces”.
Also Read: Hyderabad student suicide: Digvijay asks student wings to unite
A two-member Trinamool Congress delegation led by party MP and national spokesperson Derek O’Brien is going to Hyderabad this evening to express solidarity with the students protesting against the alleged suicide.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi slams Rahul Gandhi, says the Congress leader is visiting Hyderabad to just rub salt in the wound.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati sends two-member team to Hyderabad to probe into the matter.
In Pune, the students of FTII sat on a day-long hunger strike outside the institute’s gate, expressing “solidarity” with students protesting over the alleged suicide.
Commenting on Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Hyderabad, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot tells ANI that politics should not be played in such cases. The ministry is gathering information regarding this case, justice will be don, assures Gehlot.
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot seeks report from Telangana on Dalit student`s suicide.
Telangana Jagruti Yuva Morcha protests outside Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya’s residence in Hyderabad. Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor were yesterday named in an FIR regarding the case.
Rohith Vemula, 28, was found hanging in his friend’s room in the hostel on Sunday. The second year research scholar of science, technology and society studies department was one of the five students expelled from the hostel and barred from all facilities except their classrooms following a clash with leaders of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi heads to Hyderabad to meet the to meet the students after Rohith Vemula allegedly committed suicide sparking massive protests. Rahul is leaving for Hyderabad along with party general secretary Digvijay Singh and will meet the students of the university, party sources said.
Also Read: Dalit student’s suicide case: Rahul Gandhi to visit University of Hyderabad today
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday condemned the “cold-hearted attitude” of the concerned minister and the government over the suicide of a Dalit research scholar of Hyderabad Central University (HCU). “I condemn this attitude and hope strong action will taken against Vice Chancellor,” added Owaisi.
Pak anti-terrorism court acquits Musharraf in Bugti murder case
Pakistan’s former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf was today acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
The court in Balochistan’s provincial capital Quetta acquitted former president Musharraf, ex-provincial home minister Mir Shoaib Nosherwani and Qaumi Watan Party chief and member of National Assembly Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao.
After the announcement of the decision by Judge Jan Muhammad Gohar, the lawyer representing Bugti’s son Jamil Bugti, Sohail Rajput, announced his decision to challenge the judgment of the court, the Dawn reported.
“They should have been convicted and I do not understand why the court set them free,” Rajput said.
“We are not satisfied with this judgement and we will challenge it,” Rajput told reporters outside court.
Musharraf, 72, was indicted in the case in January 2015. The court also rejected the request by Jamil to order exhumation of the body of his father to confirm that the body buried in Dera Bugti was that of Akbar Bugti.
In a separate application, Jamil had requested the court to summon the members of a parliamentary committee who had met Akbar Bugti following the violence in Dera Bugti in March 2005
in which dozens were killed.
Jamil had named Musharraf, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, former Governor of Balochistan Owais Ahmed Ghani, ex-interior minister Sherpao and others for the murder.
Bugti, former chief minister of Balochistan and head of his tribe, was killed in 2006 in a military operation ordered by Musharraf who was president and army chief at the time. His killing sparked nationwide protests and further fuelled an armed insurgency that began in 2004 in Balochistan.
Two co-accused – Musharraf’s then interior minister Sherpao and ex-provincial home minister Nusherwan – were also indicted for their alleged role in the murder of Bugti. Musharraf never appeared in the court during the entire legal process which had been in progress since 2009.
He was also absent when the charge-sheet was read out in the court. Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, Musharraf resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.
The ex-army chief is facing a slew of court cases after returning from five years of self-exile in Dubai to contest the general elections in 2013 which he lost.
He is also facing trial in high treason case for abrogating the constitution in 2007 and illegal detention of judges same year.
India within range of Pakistan's nuclear weapons: Hafiz Saeed
Yet again spewing venom against India, 26/11 attacks mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed has said that the neighbouring country is within the range of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
“India and Israel are within the range of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,” Saeed said while addressing JuD supporters on 15 January.
The 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind didn’t even spared his own Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. While targeting Sharif, the JuD chief said the Pakistani Premier wasn’t able to put forward Islamabad’s case when he met President Barack Obama in the US.
The JuD chief said that Sharif went to US with a file allegedly containing evidence against India and its spy wing RAW for spreading terror in Pakistan, but it was of no help to the country, Saeed maintained.
“When the Pakistan Premier reached US, he had to first meet US Secretary of State John Kerry who asked him to handover the file to him. After reluctantly giving the file to Kerry Sharif met Obama, who refused to pay heed to accusations against India and asked him about the action taken by Pakistan against JuD, Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Toiba,” Saeed said.
Saeed also put his weight behind the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad, saying that Pakistan government is taking action against JeM to “please” Modi government in India.
“The arrests are regrettable as the Nawaz government is only doing so to please Modi sarkar (government). The arrests will only encourage the Indian government to put further pressure on Pakistan to backtrack it’s stance on Kashmir,” he said.
Saeed further said the Pakistani government is ignoring “national interest” for the sake of its friendship with India.
China warns US against medddling in Taiwan issue
Expressing concern over a planned visit by a former American official to Taiwan for talks with the new government on the island, China on Monday asked the US to be cautious on the Taiwan issue and not medddle in China’s internal affairs.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a press briefing that China has already expressed concern over the planned Taiwan visit by US former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns , who is to meet with senior officials of Taiwan.
Hong reiterated that Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory and Taiwan affairs are China’s internal affairs.
Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the elections in Taiwan on Saturday, becoming the first woman president of Taiwan.
She was strong critic of pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party which lost the polls. Hong asked the US to firmly abide by the one-China policy and the principles in the three Sino-US joint communiques, and live up to its commitment to opposing “Taiwan independence”.
“We urge the US side to do more things that are conducive to the stable development of China-US relations and peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, not vice versa,” Hong said.
Both China and Taiwan split in 1949 after the civil war. But Yaiwan has never declared independence and China still consider it as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
Meanwhile, China’s state-run Global Times today warned Tsai against pursuing a pro-independence path saying that formal split from the mainland would be a “dead end”.
Zhou Zhihuai, head of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in the daily that if Tsai “parts ways with the mainland, she will go down a dead end.
An editorial in English-language China Daily newspaper said that the Kuomintang lost the election due to issues such as rising unemployment and inequality, rather than its Beijing-friendly approach.
Tsai’s policy towards the mainland “remains ambiguous”. “She has a responsibility to keep the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations on track,” it said.
Republican debate: Trump challenges Cruz over Canada birth
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has attacked Ted Cruz over his birth in Canada, saying it raises questions about his presidential eligibility.
In the latest Republican debate for White House hopefuls, Mr Trump told his rival: “There’s a big question mark over your head.”
The constitution mandates the president be a “natural born citizen” of the US.
Issues of national security, the economy and foreign policy have also played heavily in the debate.
In the polls, the pair are leading the five other candidates, who were also on the stage in North Charleston.
The debate came just two weeks before the first real test of the campaign, when voters in Iowa pick their Republican and Democratic choices for president.
US media verdict on the debate
“Cruz acquitted himself well, cementing his status as the front-runner’s chief opponent,” writes Howard Kurtz for Fox News.
“But Trump didn’t suffer, and in fact may have had his strongest debate performance… The two-man top tier remains just that, way ahead of the rest of the field.”
“For much of his career in Washington, Ted Cruz has been dismissed as a cartoonish sideshow,” Michael Barbaro notes in the New York Times. However, he “did not just dominate much of the Republican debate, he slashed, he mocked, he charmed and he outmanoeuvred everybody else on stage”.
“Donald Trump and Ted Cruz had an unofficial non-aggression pact at the first five Republican presidential debates… but the sixth one Thursday night quickly became a flurry of mutual scorn,” writes Susan Page in USA Today.
“There were only three real players in this exercise: Trump, Cruz and Rubio,” according to Josh Marshall on the Talking Points Memo website. “Trump wins, Cruz loses a bit of ground but not much and the clock continues to run out on Rubio.”
Highlights
Mr Cruz defended a controversy over his campaign finances in 2012, alleging bias in the media
He said Mr Trump embodied “New York values”, adding “not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan – I’m just saying”
Mr Trump defended his call for a halt on Syrian refugees, saying they were a “Trojan horse” bringing in people who would harm the US
He came under fire from Florida Governor Jeb Bush for proposing a ban on Muslims coming to the US
Florida Senator Marco Rubio said Mr Obama would confiscate every gun in the US if he could
The candidates bickered over how to respond to China’s impact on the US economy
Analysis – Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington
The sixth Republican presidential debate was the political equivalent of a wrestling “battle royale”, where fists fly, chairs are thrown, the crowd cheers and the referees flee for safety.
There could have been no clearer indication that the Cruz-Trump honeymoon was over. The two candidates who stand atop the Republican presidential opinion polls had exchanged warm words through much of the campaign but with the Iowa caucuses just two weeks away, the niceties have melted away.
They exchanged barbs over Mr Cruz’s Canadian birthplace and Mr Trump’s alleged liberal “New York values”.
From there, numerous side fights broke out. Rubio v Christie over Mr Christie’s tenure as New Jersey governor. Trump v Kasich, Rubio v Bush on trade. Rubio v Cruz on immigration. Each candidate could boast a strong moment or two, but each also felt the sting of their competitors’ barbs.
A battle royale is supposed to end when only one participant is left standing. In Charleston, however, all the candidates survived – but all were bloodied.
The event hosted by Fox Business Network came after days of Mr Cruz and Mr Trump taking shots at each other, shattering a months-long period of goodwill between the two men.
The start of hostilities began a week ago when the billionaire businessman started raising questions about whether the Texas senator’s birth in Canada put his eligibility in doubt.
But on the debate stage on Thursday night, Mr Cruz said there was “zero chance” of a lawsuit succeeding because the constitution’s definition of “natural born citizens” included people born to an American parent.
Mr Cruz was born in Calgary to an American mother and a Cuban father.
But the business mogul stood firm, noting that a Harvard law scholar had raised doubts and Mr Cruz could face lawsuits by Democrats wishing to challenge his qualification.
Candidates for US president must
be a “natural born citizen” – this has never been tested in court but is widely interpreted as being a US citizen at birth, so born in the US or having a US citizen parent
