News Analysis India

Tag: Indian Mujahideen

  • ‘East India Company, Indian Mujhaideen…’: PM Modi’s jibe at INDIA alliance; Congress says, ‘Manipur burning’

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a stinging attack on the “completely directionless” INDIA alliance of opposition parties and compared the grouping with terrorist outfits like Indian Mujahideen and Popular Front of India.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig that as the Britishers named themselves the East India Company and terror organisations like the Indian Mujahideen and the Indian People’s Front, all of whom have ‘India’ in them, similarly the Opposition was presenting itself with the name of India.

    Addressing media persons here, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted the PM’s remarks in the party’s Parliamentary meeting held earlier today.

    “We are proud of our PM. We will return to power in 2024. PM Modi in his remarks said that Indian National Congress, East India Company was founded by a foreign national,” Prasad said.

    “Today people are using names like Indian Mujahideen and Indian People’s Front. Something on face value could be different from something that is really true,” the former union minister said citing the Prime Minister’s remarks at the BJP Parliamentary party meeting.

    Congress National President and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that while the Opposition was urging the Prime Minister to speak on the Manipur issue in Parliament, he was instead talking about the East India Company in his party meeting.

    “Why is he scared about opposition parties naming themselves as INDIA. They are nervous because of our successful meetings in Patna and Bengaluru,” Kharge said responding to PM’s jibe on the acronym INDIA, which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

    “The opposition is giving direction to the country. The Prime Minister himself has become directionless,” Kharge said.

    “The Manipur issue is not like the ones in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh or West Bengal, it is way more serious. This is a concern for all the Northeast states in the country. They are not concerned about the atrocities against women, Kharge further stated.

    Inside the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition Kharge said that the prime minister was busy talking about the East India Company at a time when Manipur was burning.

    “So many representatives are giving notices under 267 in Parliament. We are talking about Manipur. Manipur is burning but the Prime Minister is talking about East India Company,” Kharge said.

    Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was poised to return to power in 2024.

    “We are well on course to return to power in 2024. The country has set high hopes on us and the Opposition alliance knows it is not coming to power. This sad and tired Opposition will disintegrate,” he said.

    Prime Minister Modi today came down heavily on the face-off in Parliament over the Manipur issue between the Opposition and the government that has led to continued disruptions since the beginning of the ongoing Monsoon Session.

    Parliamentary Affairs minister Prahlad Joshi said that in the BJP Parliamentary meeting, PM Modi said that from the Opposition’s conduct, it seems that they have decided to remain in the Opposition for the coming years.”

    Earlier today the BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting was held to chalk out a strategy to counter the Opposition’s ruckus in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

    The Monsoon Session, which began on July 20, with a long list of legislative businesses on the agenda, has seen repeated adjournments in the face of Opposition protests, sloganeering, and ruckus by members of the fledgling grand Opposition alliance over its demand for a statement from PM Modi on the Manipur situation. 

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a stinging attack on the “completely directionless” INDIA alliance of opposition parties and compared the grouping with terrorist outfits like Indian Mujahideen and Popular Front of India.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig that as the Britishers named themselves the East India Company and terror organisations like the Indian Mujahideen and the Indian People’s Front, all of whom have ‘India’ in them, similarly the Opposition was presenting itself with the name of India.

    Addressing media persons here, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted the PM’s remarks in the party’s Parliamentary meeting held earlier today.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “We are proud of our PM. We will return to power in 2024. PM Modi in his remarks said that Indian National Congress, East India Company was founded by a foreign national,” Prasad said.

    “Today people are using names like Indian Mujahideen and Indian People’s Front. Something on face value could be different from something that is really true,” the former union minister said citing the Prime Minister’s remarks at the BJP Parliamentary party meeting.

    Congress National President and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that while the Opposition was urging the Prime Minister to speak on the Manipur issue in Parliament, he was instead talking about the East India Company in his party meeting.

    “Why is he scared about opposition parties naming themselves as INDIA. They are nervous because of our successful meetings in Patna and Bengaluru,” Kharge said responding to PM’s jibe on the acronym INDIA, which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

    “The opposition is giving direction to the country. The Prime Minister himself has become directionless,” Kharge said.

    “The Manipur issue is not like the ones in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh or West Bengal, it is way more serious. This is a concern for all the Northeast states in the country. They are not concerned about the atrocities against women, Kharge further stated.

    Inside the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition Kharge said that the prime minister was busy talking about the East India Company at a time when Manipur was burning.

    “So many representatives are giving notices under 267 in Parliament. We are talking about Manipur. Manipur is burning but the Prime Minister is talking about East India Company,” Kharge said.

    Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was poised to return to power in 2024.

    “We are well on course to return to power in 2024. The country has set high hopes on us and the Opposition alliance knows it is not coming to power. This sad and tired Opposition will disintegrate,” he said.

    Prime Minister Modi today came down heavily on the face-off in Parliament over the Manipur issue between the Opposition and the government that has led to continued disruptions since the beginning of the ongoing Monsoon Session.

    Parliamentary Affairs minister Prahlad Joshi said that in the BJP Parliamentary meeting, PM Modi said that from the Opposition’s conduct, it seems that they have decided to remain in the Opposition for the coming years.”

    Earlier today the BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting was held to chalk out a strategy to counter the Opposition’s ruckus in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

    The Monsoon Session, which began on July 20, with a long list of legislative businesses on the agenda, has seen repeated adjournments in the face of Opposition protests, sloganeering, and ruckus by members of the fledgling grand Opposition alliance over its demand for a statement from PM Modi on the Manipur situation. 

  • Delhi court hands death sentence to Batla House encounter convict Ariz Khan

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Ariz Khan, convicted in the killing of a police officer in the 2008 Batla House encounter in Delhi, was sentenced to death on Monday by a Delhi court, which said it is the most appropriate punishment for ‘dreaded terrorists’ like him.

    “Nature of offence and manner of committing the crime caused extreme indignation to the society in this case,” Additional Sessions Judge Sandeev Yadav said, declaring that there was no doubt that Ariz and his accomplices fired at police officials “without any provocation”.

    The encounter between the Delhi Police and a bunch of Indian Mujahideen members holed up in a flat in South Delhi had led to the death of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma while two others sustained injuries.

    The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 11 lakh on Ariz, of which Rs 10 lakh was ordered to be given to the family of Sharma, who was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra and many gallantry awards.

    Judge Yadav also sought to put an end to the allegations of the September 2008 police operation being a fake encounter.

    He held that police officials had no intention to kill the occupants of the flat, stating that some members of the raiding team were not even carrying arms.

    “It is obvious that convict Ariz Khan along with his accomplices fired at police officials without being challenged, instinctively…” the judge said, in the 22-page verdict.

    Ariz’s lawyer M S Khan had opposed capital punishment saying the incident was not premeditated. 

    “Deadly weapons like AK-47 and two pistols were retrieved from the flat where the shootout took place…. Considering the nature of devastation these weapons can cause, it will be safe to conclude that there was were kept in the flat with a view to indulge in terrorist and anti-social activities,” the court ruled. 

    The case will now go to the Delhi High Court for confirmation of the capital punishment. 

    Fits rarest of rare yardstick

    The court put the case in the “rarest of rare” category while agreeing with Additional Prosecutor A T Ansari that this was not just any killing but a murder of a law enforcement officer who was a defender of justice.

  • Ambani bomb scare: IM terrorist questioned for 4 hours in Tihar Jail on mobile phone recovery

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Indian Mujahideen terrorist Tehseen Akhtar was on Saturday questioned for “nearly four hours” inside the Tihar Jail by a team of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell in connection with the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare probe, jail sources said.

    A mobile phone, recovered from Akhtar’s barrack in Tihar Jail, is suspected to have been used for creating a Telegram channel used by a group named Jaish-ul-Hind for claiming responsibility for parking an SUV with gelatin sticks outside Ambani’s south Mumbai home, ‘Antilia’, on February 25.

    Akhtar was arrested in 2014 when he was heading the proscribed terror group Indian Mujahideen.

    According to the sources, a special cell team of Delhi Police sought permission from the court to question Akhtar, in connection with the phone recovered from his barrack during a search operation by the jail administration on Thursday night.

    “The team was given a separate room in central jail number 8 in Tihar where Akhtar was questioned. He was interrogated for nearly four hours by the team and was quizzed about the phone seized from his barrack. No other inmate was questioned,” sources said.

    Earlier in the day, a senior police officer had said, “Our team is in Tihar and we have taken permission from the court to question Akhtar and based on that, we may question other inmates if needed.”

    The Special Cell had approached the Tihar Jail administration on Thursday in connection with the Ambani bomb scare case after the new angle emerged.

    On Thursday, a senior Mumbai Police officer had said the Telegram channel through which Jaish-ul-Hind had claimed responsibility for parking the explosives-laden SUV outside the industrialist’s residence was “created in the Tihar” area of Delhi.

    The Mumbai Police took the help of a private cyber agency to track the location of the phone on which the Telegram channel was created.

    During the investigation, the location of the phone was traced near Delhi’s Tihar Jail, the officer had said.

    The Delhi government has sought a report from the director general of prisons regarding the recovery of the mobile phone from the jail.