*SOUTH ASIA- INDO-PAK, J&K*

Ladakh face-off | China’s People’s Liberation Army meticulously planned attack in Galwan, says senior government official

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ladakh-face-off-chinas-peoples-liberation-army-meticulously-planned-attack-in-galwan-says-senior-government-official/article31862371.ece?homepage=true

Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) meticulously planned the attack on Indian troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan for at least two days, a senior government official said. Chinese blocked small rivulets in heightened areas, releasing water at high speed when Indian Army personnel appeared at the disputed site in Galwan area on June 15. “The strong gush of water made the men lose balance. The Chinese charged, pushed the Army personnel and many fell into the Galwan river,” the official said. Chinese did a reconnaissance by flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to see the strength of Indian troops and accordingly bolstered their presence on the other side of LAC, the official stated.

 

 

 

Ladakh face-off | No Indian soldiers missing in action, says New Delhi

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-asks-china-to-confine-its-activities-to-its-side-of-lac/article31862370.ece?homepage=true

India on Thursday asked China to confine its activities to its side of the Line of Actual Control and that it must not take any unilateral action to alter it. Referring to Galwan Valley clash, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said India was strongly committed to ensuring the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.Speaking to reporters at an online media briefing, he also said that no Indian soldiers were missing since the Galwan Valley clash on Monday evening.“Given its responsible approach to border management, India is very clear that all its activities are always within the Indian side of the LAC. We expect the Chinese side to also confine its activities to its side of the LAC,” Mr. Srivastava said.pti

 

Nepal’s map Bill gets full support in upper House

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/nepals-parliament-passes-constitution-amendment-bill-to-update-map-incorporating-indian-territories/article31858573.ece?homepage=true

The upper House of Nepal Parliament on Thursday passed the Second Constitution Amendment Bill 2077 (Vikram era), with all 59 members voting in favour of the new map that claims the disputed territory of Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh. The voting completed the legislative move that grants constitutional status to the map, which was unveiled after the Kalapani territorial dispute intensified in May. Nepal Communist Party’s Deputy Chief of Foreign Affairs Bishnu Rijal said the Bill would now be forwarded to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari for her signature, following which the amendment would become part of the Constitution.The process of passing the Bill, which was cleared unanimously by lower House Pratinidhi Sabha was fast-tracked. The completion of the legislative process means the new map will be part of the national emblem of Nepal. The Parliament secretariat had started using the revised map in all its official letterheads and posters. The formal inclusion of the map in the Constitution gives a rare kind of guarantee to the physical territory of the Nepalese state that makes future negotiation on the Kalapani issue difficult. However, Nepal has maintained that it remains open for dialogue. Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava had said the amendment amounts to “artificial enlargement of claims that are not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable”.

 

China's President Xi Asks Army To Improve Strategic Management Amid Stand-off With India

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-chinese-president-xi-asks-army-to-improve-strategic-management-amid-stand-off-with-india/354991

Chinese President Xi Jinping has asked the military to improve its management practices to promote high-quality development of the armed forces, the official media reported on Thursday.Xi, who heads the country's military “made the important instruction at a teleconference on strategic management training of the armed forces”, Xinhua news agency reported.His comments on military modernisation came amid heightened tensions with India along the Line of Actual Control and a range of differences with the United States, including on Beijing's flexing of muscles in the strategic South and East China seas.Noting the significance for the armed forces to hold strategic management training, Xi, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, said that efforts should be focused on objectives, problems and results to update the management concept and improve the system and mechanism of strategic management.PTI

 

 

Railways To Terminate Chinese Company's Contract Due To 'Poor Progress'

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-railways-to-terminate-chinese-companys-contract-due-to-poor-progress/354976

Railways has decided to terminate the contract of a Chinese company due to "poor progress" on the signalling and telecommunication work on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor's 417-km section between between Kanpur and Mughalsarai.The Railways had given the contract worth Rs 471 crore to Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group in 2016.PTI

 

 

 

UP: Anti-China protests across Gorakhpur-Basti zone, Chinese president's effigy burnt

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/anti-china-protest-uttar-pradesh-china-president-xi-jinping-effigy-burnt-chinese-flag-on-fire-boycott-chinese-products-1690127-2020-06-18

Protests were held on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur-Basti zone against the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in Ladakh's Galwan Valley. Agitators called for a boycott of Chinese products and burnt effigies of President Xi Jinping at several places. In Gorakhpur, district BJP members and workers of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), a youth group floated by Yogi Adityanath, burnt an effigy of Xi. The National Students' Union of India and Youth Congress activists set fire to the Chinese flag and Xi's effigy at DDU Gorakhpur University gate.Samajwadi Chatra Sabha members in Gorakhpur paid tribute to slain soldiers at the varsity gate. BJP's media in-charge of Gorakhpur, Brijesh Ram Tripathi, said, "The blood of martyrs will not go waste", as he appealed people to boycott Chinese products.NSUI state president Sumit Kumar in Gorakhpur and Youth Congress president Abhijeet Pathak appealed to the government to give a befitting reply to China and teach them a lesson. They said the Congress is standing with the government.PTI

 

 

*CORONAVIRUS- LOCKDOWN*

 

 

 Coronavirus lockdown: Supreme Court rejects plea for directing Centre to move ICJ for compensation from China

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-june-18-2020-live-updates/article31857073.ece?homepage=true

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to approach International Court of Justice (ICJ) and file a $600 billion compensation case against China, alleging that the COVID-19 pandemic was “deliberately created” by it.“The writ petition is dismissed,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice S. A. Bobde, which granted liberty to petitioner K. K. Ramesh to make a representation to the government in this regard.“However, liberty is granted to the petitioner to make a representation to the government. As a sequel to the above, pending interlocutory applications, if any, stand disposed of,” said the bench, which also comprised Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and A S Bopanna, in its order.thehindu

 

Centre targets 6 lakh rapid COVID tests in Delhi; to add 500 ventilators, 650 ambulances; Amit Shah reviews  situation in Delhi-NCR

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-june-18-2020-live-updates/article31857073.ece?homepage=true

Centre plans to conduct 6 lakh rapid antigen COVID-19 tests in Delhi at 169 new facilities being set up in the capital where 50,000 kits have already been supplied, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said.He also said the central government is going to provide 500 additional ventilators and 650 ambulances to hospitals in Delhi, which has seen a spike in number of coronavirus cases over the past few days. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday reviewed the coronavirus situation in Delhi and NCR, including Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad, officials said.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and district magistrates are among those present in the meeting currently underway at North Block.

 

 

Delhi govt caps rate of COVID-19 test at Rs 2,400

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-june-18-2020-live-updates/article31857073.ece?homepage=true

The Delhi government has decided to cap the rate of COVID-19 RT-PCR test at Rs 2,400, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.On Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had announced that the price of COVID-19 test in Delhi has been fixed at Rs 2,400 as suggested by a high-level committee set up by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday and now tests will be done via Rapid Antigen methodology.

 

 

 SC stays Puri’s Rath Yatra this year

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-june-18-2020-live-updates/article31857073.ece?homepage=true

The Supreme Court has restrained the conduct of annual Jagannath Rath Yatra this year on June 24 amid COVID-19 pandemic in light of concern for public health and safety. Further there shall be no activity, religious or secular, associated with the Rath Yatra during this period.The top court’s order came on a PIL filed by Odisha based NGO seeking cancellation or postponement of this year’s Rath Yatra, which continues for 10 to 12 days and is attended by millions of devotees from across the world. - Krishnadas Rajagopal

 

 

Courts in UP, Tamil Nadu, MP Order Release of Foreign Tablighis; Delhi HC Issues Notices to Centre, Police, Delhi Govt On Stranded Foreign Tablighis

http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/courts-in-up-tamil-nadu-mp-order-release-of-foreign-tablighis;-delhi-high-court-issues-notices-to-the-centre-delhi-police-delhi-state-govt-on-foreign-tablighis-stranded-in-national-capital

NEW DELHI:While the courts in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and some other states have ordered release of foreign Tablighi Jamaat members as they found the allegations against them under the Foreigners Act as baseless and directed the respective state governments to allow them to return to their countries, Delhi High Court has issued notices to Centre, state Government of Delhi and the Delhi police seeking setting up of a designated court for speedy trial in a case in which 121 Tablighis from Malaysia were chargesheeted for attending a Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Hazrat Nizamuddin in violation of visa rules and flouting the Covid-19 guidelines. The HC has asked them to respond to the notices on July 1, the next date of hearing in the case.At the moment, there are 125 Malaysian Tablighis  in the care and custody of Malaysian embassy which is spending lot of money on their accommodation and food. While chargesheets have been filed in case of 121 Malaysians, it is pending in case of 4 others. Meanwhile, a local court in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh has ordered release of 57 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members as it found all allegations against them under the Foreigners Act as baseless. Earlier this week, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has also ordered release of 31 foreign members of Tablighi Jamaat who have been in Tamil Nadu jails for the past 70 days – 11 of them are from Bangladesh and 20 from Indonesia. Welcoming the Saharanpur court order, Jamiat president Maulana Arshad Madani vowed to continue the legal fight for other foreign Tablighi people incarcerated in various parts of the country.India Tomorrow

 

 

*INDIA- ISLAMOPHOBIA, HUMAN RIGHTS & OTHERS*

Delhi violence: HC asks police to file status report on Safoora Zargar’s bail plea in UAPA case

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/safoora-zargar-uapa-6465174/

Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Delhi Police to file a status report on a plea by Jamia Coordination Committee member Safoora Zargar, who was arrested under the anti-terror law– UAPA –seeking bail in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in February.Zargar, M Phil student of Jamia Millia Islamia University, is more than four months pregnant.Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notice to the police and asked it to file a status report on the bail plea.The high court listed the matter for further hearing on June 22.Zargar, who was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on April 10, has challenged the June 4 order of the trial court denying her bail in the case.The trial court, in its order, had said when you choose to play with embers, you cannot blame the wind to have carried the spark a bit too far and spread the fire.PTI

 

‘Govt trying to crush opposition to CAA-NRC-NPR’: Letter to NHRC seeks help for women activists

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/govt-trying-to-crush-opposition-to-caa-nrc-npr-letter-to-nhrc-seeks-help-for-women-activists

More than a hundred citizens who are members of various women's movements, feminist activists, journalists, filmmakers etc have written to the National Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice HL Dattu (retd) seeking his intervention in stopping "political vendetta and malicious prosecution of women activists and human rights defenders" like Safoora Zargar, Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Gulfisha Fatima and Ishrat Jahan, legal news website LiveLaw.in has reported."We seek your urgent intervention in the continuing persecution and criminalisation of women activists who have supported and participated in the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the announcement that it would be followed up with a National Register of Citizens (NRC) and a National Population Register (NPR)," the letter states.Furthermore, it is urged in the letter that the pattern of targeted arrests and prosecutions over the last two months, bear out the contention that the Government of India is treating COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to crush the movement against the CAA-NRC-NPR. Among the primary targets of this political vendetta are the young women student-activists who have participated in dharnas at various locations in Delhi, the letter states.

 

 

Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal are members of Pinjra Tod, a feminist collective that campaigns for the rights of women hostellers and students in Delhi University. They are also research scholars at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and participated in the Seelampur protest. Safoora Zargar, is an M.Phil student and human rights activist who was part of the protest at Jamia University. Ishrat Jahan, is a lawyer and former Municipal Councillor, was involved in the protest at Khureji Khas and 28-year-old Gulfisha Fatima is a 28-year-old MBA student. She was one of the several hundred local women who participated in the protest in the Seelampur area.

 

 

 

Delhi Police Chargesheet Misses Key Fact; Riots Killed the Anti-CAA Protest: The Wire

https://thewire.in/rights/delhi-police-chargesheet-riot-media-coverage

Almost all of the Delhi riot cases that the Delhi Police is investigating are based on premise that the riots were planned by anti-CAA protesters to coincide with US President Donald Trump’s visit to India in third week of Feb. The assumption is that anti-CAA protesters were looking for publicity and knew that any sort of violence during Trump’s visit would be amplified before an international audience by the international press, and embarrass Indian govt. This hypothesis is the foundation over which the police has based its entire case – building in effect a quintessential ‘house of cards’. All the accusations are based on the presumption that the world had no idea that Modi govt had passed a law in parliament that openly discriminated against Muslims and which – when combined with NCR– would create possibility for disenfranchisement of millions of Indian Muslims. Conspiracy theories floated by the police in its ‘blank cheque’ FIRs and chargesheets seem to have assumed that protests against the Modi govt’s discriminatory citizenship law had not already attracted the world’s attention and that the protesters needed a big publicity stunt. Thus, chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in Karkadooma court for FIR 65/2020, registered at Dayalpur Police Station, into the murder of IB officer Ankit Sharma speaks of a conspiracy to organise riots to embarrass Central govt. Advocate Javed Ali, who is representing AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, claims that a 2nd chargesheet filed by the police in connection with FIR 101 also alludes to an alleged conspiracy to stage communal riots during Trump’s visit in Feb. The same theory has been shared by the Delhi Police in FIR 59/2020 which was registered by Crime Branch and is now being investigated by the Special Cell. The police is yet to file a chargesheet in the case but FIR claims that a police officer was told by an informer that communal riots that took place in Delhi between 24 to 26 Feb.were part of a pre-planned conspiracy to defame India. thewire

 

Andhra Assembly passes resolution against NRC and NPR

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/assembly-passes-resolution-against-nrc-and-npr/article31854935.ece

e Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution against NRC and National Population Register (NPR) on the ground that some clauses in them were highly objectionable and needed to be set right.Through the resolution that was moved by Deputy Chief Minister Amzath Basha Shaik Bepari, the government made its stand clear that it would not implement the NRC unless it was carried out in the old (2010) format so that the apprehensions among the minorities were allayed. Amzath Basha said the government had opposed NRC earlier as it infused a sense of fear in the Muslim community, and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was himself not happy with the manner in which the Central government went about the exercise.

 

Congress stakes claim to form government in Manipur after BJP loses majority

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/congress-stakes-claim-to-form-government-in-manipur/article31861128.ece?homepage=true

IMPHAL:Congress in Manipur has staked claim to form SPF govt after a special session of 60-member Assembly for a no-confidence motion against Ministry led by CM Nongthombam Biren. 9 MLAs, including three of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had on Wednesday night withdrawn support to Biren and reduced BJP-led government to a minority.A team of Congress, NPP and Trinamool Congress MLAs led by former CM Okram Ibobi Singh met Governor Najma Heptulla on Thursday afternoon seeking the replacement of BJP-led coalition. Singh pointed out that the Congress has 20 MLAs with seven of its lawmakers barred from entering the House by High Court of Manipur while the strength of the BJP is 18 after the resignation of three of its MLAs, reducing the effective strength of the House to 49 with another Congress MLA – former Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar – having been disqualified earlier for defecting to the BJP.The present Ministry has 23 MLAs with four from the Naga People’s Front and one of Lok Janshakti Party compared to 26 of the Congress with the support of four NPP, a Trinamool Congress and an Independent MLA, he added. Earlier on Thursday, Congress MLA K. Meghachandra submitted a notice to Manipur Legislative Assembly Secretary citing relevant rules for the removal of Speaker Yumnam Khemchand. The notice was supported by 10 other MLAs, including those of NPP. The political upheaval has put the spotlight on the election for Manipur’s lone Rajya Sabha seat on Friday.“We are confident of winning the election because the numbers are with us,” Congress spokesperson Ningombam Bupenda Meitei said. 3 BJP lawmakers who joined the Congress after resigning from the House said they had been demoralised by Biren’s style of functioning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*WORLD*

 

 

 

Trump signs bill for sanctions on China officials over Uighurs

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/trump-signs-bill-sanctions-chinese-treatment-uighurs-200617205702511.html

President Donald Trump signed legislation on Wednesday calling for sanctions against those responsible for the repression of Uighur Muslims in China's far western region of Xinjiang, the White House said in a statement.The bill, which passed US Congress with only a single 'no' vote, was intended to send China a strong message on human rights by mandating sanctions against those responsible for the oppression of members of China's Muslim minority.United Nations estimates that more than one million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang that China says are vocational skills training centres and necessary to tackle extremism. China's foreign ministry said the US law was a malicious attack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*views, Articles, FEATURES*

How India-China Crisis Reveals Limits Of ‘Personalised Diplomacy’;NILANJAN MUKHOPADHYAY

https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/india-china-border-conflict-foreign-ministers-jaishankar-wang-yi-talk-modi-govt-diplomacy

 

 

 

Compiled and edited by Anwarulhaq (Released at: 8:32 PM)*