Life virtually came to a grinding halt across Tamil Nadu as the state woke up to deserted streets with shops, including eateries, remaining shut in the wake of the demise of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in Delhi and parts of Karnataka. Police kept tight vigil in Kerala. In Gujarat, 50 people were arrested for Thursday's violence.
According to the local Brass Handicrafts Manufacturers Association (BHMA), some 800,000 people are directly employed in Moradabad's massive brass handicrafts and utensils manufacturing industry, which has some 30,000 small and micro-scale units and a total annual turnover of Rs 10,000 crore. The manufacturers are heavily dependent on export markets such as the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union. And exports account for nearly 70 per cent of their revenues. According to industry insiders, since this year's lockdowns, manufacturing has been at 65 per cent of normal levels.
Today, the two countries, ruthlessly divided by the Radcliffe line that pierced their very heart, grapple with the political challenges of the present. Yet, when friendships develop there are no borders, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
The British government has turned down India's request for the extradition of Tiger Hanif, an alleged aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim wanted in India in connection with two bomb blasts in Surat in 1993, the UK home office has confirmed.
Security deployment remained in vulnerable areas and mobile and internet services were yet to be restored in most parts of the Valley 48 days after the Centre abrogated Article 370 provisions of the Constitution.
Restrictions under Section 144 CrPc have been imposed in few areas of the valley to maintain law and order, the officials said.
Unlike other top police officers, A A Khan spoke boldly --- be it while defending 'encounters' in many of which he was involved, or in tracing the cause of the ghastly Radhabai Chawl incident, recalls Jyoti Punwani. Encounters were useful, he said, because hardened criminals who were targeted were beyond reform and no good for society.
Most parts of Hyderabad remained shut on Saturday after several Muslim organisations, including the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, called for a strike to mark the 16th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Shops remained closed and roads wore a deserted look in the old city, where thousands of policemen, along with two companies of the Rapid Action Force, maintained a tight vigil. All educational institutions, business establishments remained shut.
Traffic in national capital Delhi and adjoining Gurugram went haywire on Wednesday after heavy rains resulted in waterlogging in many parts of the city.
The Election Commission sent a notice to Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP's Mumbai chief. This is probably because a leading newspaper highlighted his utterances on its front page.
While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet.
As the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday sent a general advisory to all the states and Union territories asking them to deploy adequate security personnel at all sensitive places, political leaders made fresh calls to people not to indulge in making provocative remarks or spreading rumours.
While there is no change in the strength of the Modi-led CCPA over its two tenures, what has changed is its profile.
Officials working in the building will not be allowed inside the premises from Sunday.
'In UP, the CM actually announced that his administration would 'take revenge' against rioters.' 'That must have been music to his police force's ears for it substantiated what the police always do: Take revenge on an entire community for the violence of a few,' points out Jyoti Punwani.
Strident Hindutva has not been the Shivraj Singh Chouhan's hallmark in his long tenure as chief minister. What has changed?
The RSS uses its resentment against mosques and loudspeakers to stoke anti-Muslim feelings among other Hindus, whenever it can, be it during riots, or before elections, says Jyoti Punwani.
RSS to interact with Muslim professionals ahead of Ayodhya verdict.
'How can someone who has never been associated with the movement and never had darshan of Ram Lalla mediate on the matter of temple construction? We have gone to jail for it, faced house arrest and have been fighting court cases. Sri Sri does not qualify to mediate on the matter.'
A group of terrorists struck the house of PDP Kishtwar district president and escaped with the service rifle of his PSO early Friday.
'Traders have been the worst hit because of the government's policies, but for some unknown reason, many continue to support the BJP.'
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
About 2,000 activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan for more than two weeks have been blocking the Islamabad Expressway and Murree Road that connect Islamabad with its only airport and the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The confiscation of properties of JuD and FIF comes after Pakistan formally placed them in the list of banned organisations on Tuesday.
As the number of cases crossed 2,56,000 with more than 7,100 fatalities, according to Union health ministry figures, and the country made a calibrated exit from the lockdown in non-containment zones, shop shutters in many malls went up for the first time since March 25 but the sprawling retail places were eerily empty.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has hit businesses and people who could afford four goats till last year do not have enough money to buy even one this Eid.
It added that there had been several reminders from the club to the government for freeing the communication of newspaper offices, journalists and the club itself.
'It wasn't as if the senior police inspectors in charge of the police stations were not aware of the communal tension that was being created in their areas before and during the riots.' 'Yet they chose not to act,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
The mood was subdued with roads deserted across large swathes of the Valley, the silence broken only by police sirens and Indian Air Force helicopters hovering overhead.
'The Congress today has lost contact with the Hindu clergy.' 'They go to to Hindu clergy only during the time of elections.'
A police spokesman said someone from the crowd burst a fire cracker, which the army personnel took as a grenade blast.
Two Army personnel were injured in the gunbattle.
Barring parts of Srinagar city, Anantnag and Pampore towns, curfew was on Saturday lifted from Kashmir even as normal life remained disrupted due to the strike called by separatists.
There is much more than Taj Mahal to see and experience in this historical Indian city.
'How can the monument where the prime minister unfurls the flag on Independence Day, in a ceremony broadcast and telecast nationally, be maintained by a private entity?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
'This is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved by law alone.' 'This can be resolved only by creating trust again.' 'So much bloodletting has taken place, there is no point in going on and on.' 'Let us sit together and negotiate'
MIM workers tried to shoo the complaining woman and her silent husband away, but Owaisi insisted that she be heard. As he turned to leave, he told her: "Good that you spoke up. Keep doing that.
