Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday embarked on a visit to China to attend a regional meeting on war-torn Afghanistan.
The third meeting of ‘Foreign Ministers of Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan’ is being held on March 29 to 31, according to the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO). The meeting will be held in Tunxi, central China’s Anhui province.
“Besides attending the Neighbouring Countries Ministerial meeting, the Foreign Minister will interact with counterparts from participating countries,” said the FO.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to host a dialogue between the foreign ministers and the acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on the sidelines of the meeting.
Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Qatar have been invited to the meeting as “guests”.
Pakistan had initiated the ‘Neighbouring Countries’ format in September 2021 with a view to evolving a regional approach on the situation in Afghanistan after the hardline Taliban seized power in Kabul in August last year.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has not been recognised by the international community amidst severe economic and humanitarian problems faced by the country.
Pakistan hosted the first meeting on September 8, 2021.
The FO said Pakistan fully supports a regional approach on Afghanistan for promoting durable peace and stability in the region.
Pakistan will continue to support the international community’s efforts to advance the shared objectives of a peaceful, stable, sovereign, prosperous and connected Afghanistan, said the FO.
Qureshi has been invited by State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang.
Vehemently opposes the MVA’s decision to allocate 300 flats via MHADA to MLAs and MLCs across Maharashtra
The Aam Aadmi Party today slammed the MVA government for placing its selfish interests over public welfare, when it comes to decision making. In what is clearly a please-all for the political class, the MVA announced the allocation of 300 flats via MHADA to MLAs and MLCs from across Maharashtra.
Contrary to the MVA, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has focused on bold, citizen-centric decisions – the latest of which is that all MLAs, irrespective of the number of the terms served by them, would recieve a single pension from the government. Until now, a two-time MLA would get two pensions and a five-time MLA would get five pensions; something that was absolutely ridiculous & without any precedent world over, leading to the AAP government’s landmark intervention to correct this unjustifiable policy.
“Globally, 6 years of an individual’s annual income can afford someone decent housing, but that is simply not true for Mumbai, where real estate prices remain skewed and sky-high. Instead of providing relief to the Aam Aadmi in a high-inflation and scarce housing market, the MVA is seeking to providing 300 new flats to MLAs & MLCs in Mumbai, despite fully functional ‘MLA hostels’ having been made available to them.” said Ruben Mascarenhas, AAP Mumbai Working President.
“On the one hand you have the Delhi & the Punjab Government taking pro-people decisions, while on the other hand, you have the MVA government – which is abusing it’s power to cater solely to the political class. Rather than addressing the problem of public housing in Mumbai as a priority issue of policy making, the MVA is choosing to provide for the lavish lifestyles of its MLAs and MLCs. This is nothing but an arrogance of power, seeking to further the VIP culture that continues to prevail among our representatives, and must be vehemently opposed by all, at all costs. The MVA needs to take lessons from the AAP Government in Punjab.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
The ruling BJP seems to be on course to retain power in Uttar Pradesh, with poll trends on Thursday showing the party alliance leading in 269 seats as against 121 of its nearest rival Samajwadi Party.
The state has 403 assembly seats and 202 seats are needed to form a majority government. Trends are available for 399 seats so far.
Prominent candidates who have secured a lead include Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal, Shivpal Yadav from Jaswant Nagar and CLP leader Aradhana Shukla from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh).
Adityanath is heading for a landslide victory in Gorakhpur Urban seat leading over his nearest SP’s Subhawati Shukla by about 15,000 votes.
The BSP nominee has secured 1,477 votes while Chandra Shekhar of Azad Samaj Party has bagged 1,386 votes. Chetna Pandey of the Congress is struggling with 272 votes and AAP nominee Vijay Kumar Shrivastava with 93 votes.
However, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is trailing from Sirathu seat while Swami Prasad Maurya of the SP is also trailing from Fazil Nagar seat. Congress State president Ajay Kumar Lallu is trailing from Tumkuhi Raj.
According to official trends available for 399 seats, the BJP is leading in 252 seats while its allies Apna Dal (S) and Nishad party are leading in 12 and five seats respectively.
While the Samajwadi Party is leading in 110 seats, its allies SBSP and RLD are leading in three and eight seats respectively.
The BSP and the Congress were leading in three and two seats respectively.Two candidates of the Jansatta Dal, including Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya in Kunda seat, were leading.
The BJP vote per cent is 42.3 while SP has got 31.6 per cent votes. The Congress has got meagre of 2.45 per cent while the BSP got 12.9 per cent.
Vuln!! Path it now!!
The Aam Aadmi Party feels that Shiv Sena and the BJP are busy attacking each other and indulging in petty rivalry and misusing the agencies at their disposal. This is costing the state and is impacting the well-being of the citizenry.
“We have just emerged, from the 3rd wave of Covid and there should be plans to restart the economy and rehabiliate those who have been adversely impacted by the pandemic.
Instead of doing that the only thing we see is a spectacle where all corruption is being exposed, without any firm action against corruption.
“What is disappointing is that despite the BJP being in power in the center and having all its agency at its disposal and the MVA Govt being in power in the state and having their agency at disposal, hardly anyone goes to jail.
They just make acccusations against each other, but no ‘Kirit Somaiya’ or ‘Sanjay Raut’ ever goes to jail.
There is just a charade of ED calling for questioning, and everybody be it the top cops, bureaucrats and the politicians, they all come and answer some questions and go away.
No body is really convicted and that is the sad part of this vendatta politics.
Both the sides are aware, that if they arrest one person of them then, they can arrest one person from ours. So no body will really be brought to justice, despite all the scams that are taking place.
All that they will do is threaten each other, compromise and continue the corruption, that they are already doing. This will continue to be the the fate of Maharashtra untill a new Govt comes to power which works for its people and not for the selfish agenda of the politicians who rule it.”, said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhai.
AAP Leader Preeti Sharma Menon wrote to the Honourable Chief Justice of India to draw his attention to the remarks made by Honourable Chief Justice of Bombay in PIL 401 of 2022.
The Aam Aadmi Party has been at the forefront of exposing blatant corruption amongst politicians, bureaucrats and senior police officers in the state of Maharashtra. With many scandals involving senior most police officials rocking the state, all concerned citizens have followed with interest PIL No 401 of 2022 filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the appointment of the highest police officer in the state, the Director General of Police (DGP), Maharashtra.
The AAP feels that this PIL is blatantly politically motivated and it is disturbing that the Bombay High Court has not only allowed an untenable case but has passed unwarranted remarks in the same.
Preeti Sharma Menon pointed out in her letter that the Honourable Courts of India have maintained that PILs in service matters are not maintainable, then how was this case allowed to progress? The Telangana High Court judgement has passed an explicit order to this effect, yet Bombay High Court has allowed this case to progress.
In fact it was surprising that the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court seemed to be in an inordinate rush to pass orders in this case within two days of hearing, without allowing the affected party, acting DGP Shri Sanjay Pandey to be heard or intervene until Mr. Pandey’s lawyer pressed for the same.
We are in a state of shock to read the remarks attributed to the Chief Justice in the last hearing. The media has reported that the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court said that Sanjay Pandey happens to be the blue-eyed officer of the State Government. He declared that ‘Once he is appointed as the DGP, he will not be in a position to discharge his duty… There would be a give and take. The state has gone out of its way to change his ratings… such an officer should never be appointed as DGP.”
We are truly appalled by these unprecedented, highly personal and seemingly unwarranted statements that seem to suggest that the Chief Justice is approaching the case with prejudice.
Firstly the remarks are erroneous because the state government has not shown any bias in favour of Shri Sanjay Pandey. On the contrary they were trying to bypass him and he had to publicly fight for the post which was rightfully his. The AAP too had made a statement on how that state government was being unfair to Sanjay Pandey by superseding him.
Secondly IPS Sanjay Pandey has a track record of being upright and unbiased and the Honourable Chief Justice has no proof to allege that there is any evidence of “give and take” in his entire career.
Preeti Sharma Menon wrote, “As a citizen of this country who has fought corruption and political nexuses, I urge you to please take cognizance of this strange case that is attacking the very foundations of bi-partisan standards upheld by all the courts of India. One cannot even begin to measure the impact it must have on the morale of our police force which has become a pawn of political interests.”
We hope that CJI takes cognizance of this unacceptable conduct and prevents Bombay High Court from becoming an arena for political rivalry at the cost of the safety and security of our state
More than 200 Congress functionaries and workers of Bandra (East) Assembly constituency, led by senior Congress leader Mehmood Deshmukh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Aam Aadmi Party’s National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari Preeti Sharma Menon.
In the program was held at Purushottam High School in Bandra (East) on 13th February 2022 senior leader Mehmood Deshmukh exuded confidence that under the leadership of Aam Aadmi Party’s National Convener Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Mumbai too can implement the Delhi Governance Model. He said after a lifetime in the Congress, he was convinced that Congress is the past and Aam Aadmi Party is the future. The remarkable work done by the Delhi Government in the field of education and health is praised by every countryman today. That is why he along with his supporters decided to join the party.
Welcoming Deshmukh and his colleagues into the party, Aam Aadmi Party’s National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari Preeti Sharma Menon said, “Aam Aadmi Party was formed to resolve the issues of the common people and to do welfare work for them. We wholeheartedly welcome all the good people who want to be partners in this work. Shri Arvind Kejriwalji has proved that if the intention is clear, then the governments can do great work. The Kejriwal Model of Governance in Delhi has proved that even in just 5 years, the lives of lakhs of people can be changed. More than 17 lakh students are studying in government schools of Delhi today. On the contrary, the number of students in the schools run by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation is continuously decreasing. And now perhaps these schools will be closed or they would be given on contract to some politician or bureaucrat. Same is the case with health services. Many services have been outsourced by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation to the relatives of bureaucrats and politicians. We are confident that this time in all 236 wards of Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the people of Mumbai will give full support to the candidates of Aam Aadmi Party. Our goal is not to gain power but to change the system, and people’s confidence in the party is our biggest strength.”
An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the direction of the Karnataka High Court that has asked students not to insist on wearing any cloth on campuses of educational institutions which can instigate people, till the matter is resolved.
The plea filed by a student has sought a stay on the direction of the high court, which is hearing the hijab issue, as well as the proceedings going on before the three judge bench.
The appeal contended that the high court has sought to curtail the fundamental right of Muslim student women by not allowing them to wear the hijab.
The high court has posted the matter for Monday and also said educational institutions can resume classes for students.
The three-judge full bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice J M Khazi and Justice Krishna S Dixit, which was formed on Wednesday, also said it wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest but till that time peace and tranquillity is to be maintained.
“Till the disposal of the matter, you people should not insist on wearing all these religious things,” Awasthi had said.
“We will pass an order. Let the schools-colleges start. But till the matter is resolved, no student should insist on wearing religious dress”, he had said.
On Wednesday, Justice Dixit, who was hearing the case, referred the case to Justice Awasthi’s consideration with a view that a larger bench may look into the case.
The Hijab row started in December end when a few students started coming to a government pre-university college in Udupi wearing Hijab. To protest against it, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves.
The row spread to other educational institutions in different parts of the State, and the protests took a violent turn at some place earlier this week, prompting the government on Tuesday to declare three days holiday for the institutions. PTI.
Central Govt. and Maharashtra Govt. must learn from the Delhi Govt’s humanitarian work during the pandemic
The Aam Aadmi Party today took strong objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Parliament, where he gave a clean chit to his own government as far as Covid mismanagement is concerned. There cannot be anything further from the truth. The fact is, that both the PM Modi-led Central government as well as CM Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government miserably failed our migrant daily wage earners, who make a bulk of our informal labour force. It is these very workers who, through the sweat of their brow, power the engine of economic growth-led development in Urban India.
We first had lies in election rallies, but now we have lies on the floor of Parliament itself, by none other than Prime Minister Modi himself. Misclaims of absolutely no Covid mismanagement is contrary to the lived experience of millions of daily wage earners who were stranded due to an unplanned lockdown, and invariably had to walk back home, not knowing their mode of transport, and that too on empty stomachs. The pandemic amplified inequalities world over, but it was only in India that we saw streams of hundreds of thousands of people, trudging alongside our highways in their journey home. Some of them were also with their families, who didn’t have access to adequate food, water, or even toilets for that matter. After partition, this was perhaps the largest forced displacement of marginalized populations.
The Maharashtra government on the other hand, initially resorted to physically attacking migrant workers, in their attempt to prevent bad press. PR was more important than the safety and travel arrangements of these workers. Let’s not forget that these migrant workers were forced to leave their homes as most of their slums were containment areas. In the absence of a planned lockdown, and no help forthcoming from local administration, they very quickly extinguished their meagre savings, and literally didn’t have anything to eat. It’s in the context of these abject conditions, that we saw what we did, while watching this human catastrophe unfold right in front of our eyes.
“The Aam Aadmi Party demands that the PM have some shame and immediately apologize to our nation for his lies, and his abject failure to manage the Covid crisis. The Central and the Maharashtra government must learn from the Delhi government’s humanitarian work during the pandemic – which not only ensured that labourers were given adequate allowances, but also ensured that food was available at every municipal school for their sustenance. We also appeal to our fellow Indians to shun these failed parties and vote for the greater good, by choosing the Aam Aadmi Party.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.
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