1. Pak FM Boycotts Jaishankar at SAARC Meet, India Calls it Drama
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi did not attend the SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting in New York as long as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was present at the meeting on Thursday.
He came later, after Jaishankar left the meeting venue, and said, “Do you think I will sit down with the butcher of Kashmir?” In a series of tweets on SAARC, Jaishankar said: “Ours is really not just a story of missed opportunities but also of deliberate obstacles. Terrorism is among them. In our view, elimination of terrorism in all its forms is a precondition not only for fruitful cooperation but also for the very survival of our region itself.”
An Indian official, referring to Qureshi’s boycott and remark, said: “Such drama will not work. Pakistan has to create a conducive atmosphere for the SAARC process to go ahead.”
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. India, Pak PMs Set to Take Showdown to UN Stage Today
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will cap an eventful week-long visit to the US, marked by two interactions with President Donald Trump, with an address to the UN General Assembly on Friday a short while before his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan.
Modi resolutely focused on positioning India as a key player in a changing global order in the face of repeated attempts by Pakistan to internationalise the Kashmir issue in the aftermath of New Delhi’s 5 August decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and reorganise the state into two Union Territories.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. UNSC Allows Hafiz Saeed to Access Bank Account
The UN Security Council has approved a request by Pakistan to allow Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the banned terror outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa, to withdraw money from his bank account for “basic expenses”.
The request by Islamabad and approval by the UNSC’s anti-terror committee became public a day before Pakistan PM Imran Khan is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly session on Friday.
JuD is the front organisation for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was responsible for the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. Saeed was listed under UNSC Resolution 1267 in December 2008 after which his accounts were frozen.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. 13 Dead, Four Missing as Pune Hit by Heavy Rain; 16,000 Rescued
Heavy rain pounded Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday night, triggering floods and wall collapses, killing at least 13 people and leaving four missing, as the June-to-September south-west monsoon wreaked havoc on its final leg, district officials said on Thursday.
Between 8 pm and 11:45 pm on Wednesday, Pune city and other parts of the district centred on it recorded more than 100 mm of rainfall in which hundreds of cattle also perished. Schools and colleges of the district declared a holiday on Thursday because of the deluge.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. Ayodhya Order by 17 Nov Would be a Miracle: SC
The Supreme Court said on Thursday it would be a miracle if it is able to pronounce its verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case by 17 November, the scheduled retirement date of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
“There cannot be a single extra day given beyond 18 October for conclusion of arguments by both sides (Hindu and Muslim parties). Even if it concludes on 18 October, then too, it will be miraculous to pronounce a judgment in four weeks,” the SC said.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. Disqualified MLAs: EC Tells SC It’s Ready to Defer K’taka Bypolls
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday told the Supreme Court it was ready to defer bypolls to the 15 Karnataka assembly constituencies that fell vacant after the lawmakers representing the seats were disqualified under the anti-defection law in July by the then assembly speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.
ECI’s representation came six days after the poll body announced by-elections to the seats on 21 October, with the results to be announced three days later, and set 30 September as the last day for filing nominations.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll body, said it will defer the elections and await for the top court’s final verdict on petitions filed by 17 rebel Congress MLAs, who were disqualified and barred from contesting elections for the duration of the term of the state assembly that ends in 2023.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Relatives Say Two Minors Detained Under PSA; J&K HC Orders Probe, Seeks Reply
Relatives of two detainees in the Valley have knocked on the doors of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court saying they are minors, one 16 and the other 14, and the court has ordered a probe in one and asked the government to reply in another.
The Srinagar wing of J&K High Court has ordered its own inquiry into a habeas corpus petition filed by a relative of a detainee who claims he is a 14-year-old boy and has been detained under the stringent Public Safety Act. The single bench of Justice Ali Mohammed Magrey has asked the Registrar to complete the inquiry within 10 days and ascertain the age of the detainee.
Another single bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar, hearing another habeas corpus petition, has ordered the government to file a counter affidavit in a PSA case where relatives have produced a school report card to claim that the detainee is 16 years of age and hence a minor. The government has been directed to file its reply before 1 October.
(Source: The Indian Express)
8. EC Takes a Call: Voters Left Out of NRC Will Not be Called ‘Doubtful,’ Can Vote
Registered voters left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be marked ‘doubtful’, a senior official of the Election Commission told The Indian Express.
Doubtful or ‘D’ voters are a category of voters in Assam whose citizenship is uncertain or under dispute. In 1997, the EC had introduced this at the time of revising the state’s voter list.
While ‘D’ voters continue to remain on Assam’s electoral roll, they cannot vote in an election unless their case is decided by a Foreigners’ Tribunal. Around 1.2 lakh ‘D’ voters did not participate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. However, those excluded from the draft NRC were allowed to vote.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. IPS Officer is CBI’s First Arrest in Narada Case
Bengal IPS officer SMH Mirza, who is purportedly seen in one of the Narada sting tapes accepting an alleged bribe of Rs 5 lakh, on Thursday became the first of the 13 accused in the case to be arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Serving a suspension since November 2017 in an unrelated case, Mirza had been summoned for interrogation at the CBI’s Nizam Palace office in south Kolkata before the agency decided to arrest him. He was taken into custody after two hours of questioning. A special court later remanded him in CBI custody till Monday.
(Source: The Times of India)
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