1. Kashmiri Army Officer Abducted, Shot Dead by Militants
Suspected militants abducted and killed a Kashmiri army officer on leave for a relative’s wedding, police said on Wednesday, an attack the military called a “watershed moment” that will turn the tide against extremist violence in the region.
Villagers found Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz’s body on a road in Shopian early Wednesday, a day after the 22-year-old was snatched by unidentified men from his cousin’s wedding a few kilometres away. He was shot twice.
In Kashmir, security forces are regularly targeted but militants singling out off-duty soldiers is rare. Army sources said the killing was to intimidate people and discourage local youngsters from joining the government forces that have been fighting an insurgency that broke out in the region in 1989.
The region has been battling an upsurge in violence since the killing of militant leader Burhan Wani by government forces last year.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. ICJ to Hear Jadhav Case on 15 May, Pak Army Says Govt Will Respond
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday said it would hear the case against former Indian Navy veteran Kulbhushan Jadhav on Monday, 15 May. The public hearing will take place between 10 am and 11 am (local time) at the Peace Palace in The Hague. The developments come a day after the ICJ, acting on a petition submitted by India, stayed the death sentence awarded to Jadhav by a Pakistani military court.
India’s application to the ICJ accused Pakistan of “egregious violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations”. It added that Pakistan denied Jadhav the right to defend himself. The Pakistani court had found him guilty of ‘espionage and subversive activities’.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army on Wednesday said it would respond to any query by the ICJ, regarding the court ruling. Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor had said, “If the ICJ requests Pakistan anything about Jadhav, then the government of Pakistan will respond to it at an appropriate level.” He added that Jadhav’s sentencing was done after “due process of law”.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Cops in Chennai on Karnan Hunt
Police forces across cities scrambled on Wednesday to find and arrest Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, a day after he was sentenced to six months in prison by the Supreme Court for contempt.
A five-member team of Kolkata Police reached Chennai in the morning to arrest the 61-year-old judge, who travelled to the Tamil Nadu capital on Monday night.
But sources told HT that Karnan left for the Andhra Pradesh temple town of Srikalahasti, about 120 kilometres from Chennai, on Wednesday morning. The judge is expected to be at the shrine at 4 pm, sources added.
The judge stayed the night at a guest house near central Chennai’s Chepauk and sources added that he hadn’t vacated the guest house. Kolkata Police were learnt to have reached out to Chennai counterparts.
This is the first time a serving judge would be arrested.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Trump Fires FBI Director Over Hillary Email Probe
US President Donald Trump abruptly fired the FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, causing a seismic political and bureaucratic convulsion in Washington where his fledgling administration has had a hard time steadying itself.
Comey became the fifth senior public official to be eased out of the Trump administration in less than four months it has been in office – an unprecedented casualty rate at higher levels – following the canning of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, his deputy KT McFarland, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, and the Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh.
The President’s aides said Comey was fired because of his mishandling of the probe into Hillary Clinton's email server, amid indications that Trump was miffed that he had eventually gone easy on the defeated presidential candidate.
(Source: Times of India)
5. Mayawati Fires Her Party No2 and His Son, Both Hit Back
BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday expelled party general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui and his son Afzal, accusing the veteran leader of “anti-party activities” and corruption.
Considered the BSP’s Muslim face, Siddiqui struck back, saying he would prove “with evidence” that these charges were true of Mayawati and Rajya Sabha member Satish Chandra Misra who announced the expulsion and levelled the allegations.
Siddiqui and son Afzal, a close aide said, were keeping future options open. “Both the Congress and the SP have been approaching us for the last few days. Both parties have their own merits. Akhilesh Yadav has a future ahead, while the Congress can accommodate us better. It can even give us some post at the national level. Both options are open. We will decide very soon,” the aide said.
(Source: Indian Express)
6. 5 Judges of 5 Faiths on Supreme Court’s Triple Talaq Bench
A unique combination of five Supreme Court judges belonging to different faiths will start hearing final arguments on the constitutional validity of triple talaq from Thursday, the first day of the SC's summer vacation.
For a sensitive issue like this, the lead petition is aptly titled "Quest for Equality vs Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind". And hearing the case will be five judges from five different communities – CJI JS Khehar (Sikh) and Justices Kurian Joseph (Christian), RF Nariman (Parsi), UU Lalit (Hindu) and Abdul Nazeer (Muslim).
However, it needs to be mentioned here that a judge decides a case only on the consideration of merit and nothing else as s/he takes oath that “I will bear true faith and solemnly affirm faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability, knowledge and judgment perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or ill will and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws.”
(Source: Times of India)
7. After 18-Month Faceoff, Manipur Protesters Agree to Bury Their Dead
For over 18 months, protesters in Manipur’s Churachandpur town refused to bury the bodies of eight of their fellow activists who died during an agitation against the previous Ibobi Singh-led Congress government over the implementation of an Inner Line Permit that restricts the entry of outsiders.
They will now go ahead with the burial within 25 May, following the signing of an agreement Wednesday with the BJP state government, which took charge in March.
In what is being seen as a huge victory for Chief Minister N Biren, officials said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Manipur Chief Secretary O Nabakishore Singh and members of the Joint Action Committee Against the Anti-Tribal Bill (JACAATB), which has been leading the agitation.
According to the MoU, officials said, the government has agreed to compensate the families of those who died in the protests on 31 August 2015; set up a memorial in Churachandpur town; take in to account tribal opinion in all future action; and, investigate the deaths of the protesters.
(Source: Indian Express)
8. Yes, Have Been Spoken To: Gopal Gandhi on Oppn Hunt for President
Former administrator, diplomat and Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi Wednesday said that Opposition leaders have reached out to him with a proposal to field him as the joint Opposition candidate for the forthcoming Presidential elections. Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
“Yes, I have been spoken to. But the conversations have been of a very preliminary nature. It would not be right for me to say anything beyond that,” Gandhi told The Indian Express.
Sources in the Opposition said a broad consensus is emerging on two names: Gandhi and that of former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. But many Opposition parties are not keen on a Congress nominee as the presidential candidate.
While Gandhi said it would not be right on his part to “speculate more”, sources said both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury have spoken to him. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is also said to be keen on Gandhi.
(Source: Indian Express)
9.Ghuggi Quits AAP, Says Can’t Work Under Bhagwant Mann
“I cannot work under the leadership of a person who has been appointed on the condition that he will not drink (liquor),” said actor-politician Gurpreet Singh Waraich ‘Ghuggi’ as he resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday, two days after he was replaced as the Punjab unit convener to make way for Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann.
“I am upset at the way I was removed... With a heavy heart, I resign from the primary membership of the AAP,” he told reporters at a press conference here. His resignation further hits the party which is already facing the heat over allegations by a former Delhi AAP minister that chief minister Kejriwal took a “bribe” of Rs 2 crore.
He suggested that the party could have given the post to Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi – who remains suspended from the party – or Sukhpal Singh Khaira. “I must admit that (HS) Phoolka Saab was a better choice than Mann,” he added.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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