1. Pak Bans Hafiz Saeed’s JuD; Imran Khan Puts Army on Standby to ‘Respond’ to India
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, 21 February, authorised the military to “respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure” by India as the government denied any involvement in the Pulwama terror attack that has sent tensions soaring.
A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Khan in Islamabad also decided to “accelerate action against proscribed organisations” and to notify Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ut-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) as banned groups, an interior ministry spokesman said.
There was no official word on action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed the 14 February suicide bombing in Pulwama that killed 40 troops. The action against the JuD and FIF appeared to have been taken with an eye on the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force in Paris that is reviewing Pakistan’s steps to counter terror financing.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Maharashtra Farmers Call Off March After State Government Steps In
Thousands of farmers, who began a march from Nashik to Mumbai on Thursday morning, called off their protest late at night after the state government promised to meet their demands, set deadlines to do so and hold review meetings every two months to track the progress.
The farmers started walking at 9:30 am from Nashik, and camped in an open ground in the Ambe Bahula village, 15 km from where they started off, around 3.30 pm.
Till late on Thursday, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) — the farmers’ group leading the protest — was in talks with the state’s water resources minister, Girish Mahajan, over demands including better relief for those hit by drought, revision of the state’s river-linking agreement with Gujarat, and a pension scheme among other things.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. Congress, BJP Begin War of Words on Pulwama Terror Attack
A week after a suicide car bomber killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, the opposition Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shook off their self-imposed restraint on Thursday and flung themselves into a political slug fest over the deadliest terror attack in three decades of insurgency in the state.
The Congress alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had continued to shoot for a documentary in Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand for his “propaganda and publicity” the same evening after the attack had taken place on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the afternoon of 14 February. It also wondered whether an intelligence failure was responsible for the attack.
The BJP hit back, with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and party president Amit Shah rising to the defence of the party and the Prime Minister. The Opposition party has shown its “true colours” after maintaining a “facade” of standing alongside the government following the terror strike, Prasad said.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. China Signals Shift: UNSC Condemns Pulwama Terror Attack, Names Jaish
Signalling a clear shift, China Thursday signed off on a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) statement that “condemned in the strongest terms” the Pulwama terror attack and named Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad for the “heinous and cowardly suicide bombing”.
The statement is significant because China has single handedly blocked the listing of JeM Chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” at the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 sanctions committee for the last 10 years. At least three attempts in the last decade — in 2009, 2016 and 2017 — have been blocked by Beijing at Pakistan’s behest.
Sources said France took the lead in issuing the statement at the UNSC— which includes US, UK, Russia and China — that “urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Government of India and all other relevant authorities in this regard”. This is a reference to the Indian government’s efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Don’t Agree With Guv Tathagata Roy’s Remarks on Kashmiris: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Two days after Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy endorsed a call to boycott Kashmir and Kashmiris economically following the Pulwama terror attack, the Centre Thursday distanced itself from his remarks with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that he didn’t agree with them.
In the first official reaction from the government to Roy’s remarks, Prasad said: “I don’t agree with his tweets.”
On Tuesday, Roy posted on Twitter: “An appeal from a retired Colonel of the Indian Army: Don’t visit Kashmir, don’t go to Amarnath for the next 2 years. Don’t buy articles from Kashmir emporia or Kashmiri tradesman who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri. I am inclined to agree.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. NSSO Job Loss Report Junked, Niti Aayog Taps Mudra Survey for Data
The NDA government plans to junk the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report on unemployment and, instead, use findings of the Labour Bureau’s survey on jobs created under the Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency (Mudra) scheme to laud its achievement on this front.
Niti Aayog on Thursday asked the Labour Ministry to process the survey and present its findings on 27 February so that it could be shared by the first week of March. The meeting was attended by Niti vice-chairman Rajeev Kumar, Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar and his officials.
The bureau’s survey covers 1 lakh Mudra beneficiaries who availed of the loan scheme between April 2015 and 31 January , 2019.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Congress Ropes in Architect of 2016 Surgical Strikes
Former Northern Army commander, Lieutenant General (Retd) DS Hooda, considered the chief architect of the 2016 surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, will head the Congress’ task force on national security.
The party on Thursday issued a statement and released photographs of Lt. General Hooda’s meeting with party president Rahul Gandhi.
“The Congress president is setting up a ‘task force on national security’ to prepare a vision paper for the country. Lt. Gen. DS Hooda (retd) will lead the Task Force and prepare the paper in consultations with a select group of experts,” said Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal in a statement.
(Source: The Hindu)
8. India Not to Allow Its Share of Water From Indus Network of Rivers to Flow Into Pakistan
India will not allow its share of water from the Indus network of rivers to flow into Pakistan, Minister for Road Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
Mr Gadkari reiterated India’s position that has been under consideration, saying the water from the “eastern rivers” that fell in the Indian share would be diverted to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, India has full rights to utilise the waters of the Ravi, the Beas and the Satluj rivers, while the waters of the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum belongs to Pakistan.
(Source: The Hindu)
9. Kulbhushan Jadhav ICJ Hearing: Pakistan Has a Robust Reconsideration System, Says Counsel
Pakistan’s counsel Khawar Qureshi and Attorney-General Anwar Mansoor Khan concluded the Kulbhushan Jadhav hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday, by calling for India’s claim for relief to be dismissed or declared inadmissible, on the basis of the appeal options being available to him in Pakistan. The two cited an FIR that had been filed at a civilian court in Pakistan.
“India seeks relief which they cannot receive from the court,” insisted Mr. Khan.
The legal team also launched a wider attack on India, invoking the Kathua rape case, the Samjhauta Express bombing, the Gujarat riots and the use of pellet guns in Kashmir as instances of failures of India’s judicial system and human rights record. Mr. Qureshi began with a personal attack on India and a number of its senior figures, including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and India’s counsel Harish Salve, accusing New Delhi of inhabiting a “wonderland” in “desperation and total disregard for the truth.”
(Source: The Hindu)
More From The Quint
- After Pulwama, Curious Case of Film Shoot & ‘Unreachable’ PM Modi
- DS Hooda to Head Cong Panel, Wants Govt to Retaliate After Pulwama
- India Should Certainly Counter Pakistan, But Leave Sports Alone
- Govt Approves Air Travel for Central Armed Police Forces in J&K
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