Delhi violence: Toll rises to 42, some signs of return to normalcy
New Delhi: The death toll in Delhi's communal violence rose to 42 on Friday as the situation showed some signs of returning to normalcy and clouds of smoke cleared to reveal the extent of the damage from the worst riots in the city in over three decades.
As people gingerly stepped out for work and opened shops and other establishments in northeast Delhi, anxiety escalated outside the Guru Teg Bahadur(GTB) hospital where people waited outside the mortuary to receive the bodies of their loved ones.
Police and paramilitary personnel also maintained a strict vigil in view of the Friday prayers at mosques.
The maulvis of the mosques in riot-hit areas appealed for peace and harmony and put out announcements asking people not to fall prey to rumours and cooperate with police.
The GTB hospital has recorded 38 deaths, the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital three, while the Jag Pravesh Chandra hospital reported one death, officials said. Delhi Police spokesperson Mandeep Singh Randhawa, however, maintained that the death toll stood at 38.
Randhawa told reporters that a total of 148 FIRs were registered and 630 people were either arrested or detained so far.
"No untoward incident was reported today(Friday)," he said, adding prohibitory orders were relaxed for 10 hours in several areas.
He said forensic science laboratory teams have been called in and the crime scenes are being revisited.
More than 250 people have been injured in the communal clashes over the amended citizenship law, police said, amid reports that one in every three victims suffered bullet injuries.
The areas mainly affected include Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chand Bagh, Khajuri Khas and Bhajanpura.
While civic workers swept the streets and bylanes of northeast Delhi littered with bricks, broken glass and other detritus of three days of communal clashes, some shopkeepers sorted through the charred remains of their vandalised and burnt shops.
Shops and other establishments opened in some places and more private vehicles were seen on roads. Autos and e-rickshaws also began plying in some areas as people stepped out of their homes to get back to work or catch up on essential errands.
Officials also said they were making extra efforts to quell rumours, and were holding regular flag marches and interactions in the neighbourhoods of affected areas as confidence-building measures.
"My job will be to ensure people feel safe and also that police is there for them," said senior IPS officer S N Shrivastava, who will take over as Delhi police commissioner from Sunday.
He said 331 peace meetings have been held in the affected areas over the last two days.
Shrivastava was repatriated from the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) and appointed as the special commissioner (law and order) of Delhi Police earlier this week when the violence started.
Nearly 7,000 paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the affected areas since Monday. Hundreds of Delhi Police personnel are also on the ground to maintain peace.
As survivors struggled to come to grips with the violence, victims recounted tales of horror.
"We jumped from the first floor with dupattas wrapped around our bodies to save ourselves," said a 45-year-old woman at Al-Hind Hospital, recalling how she and her two daughters were forced to flee their home after a mob allegedly barged in and molested them.
The nightmare on Wednesday night ended only after the three entered a Muslim-dominated lane.
"I was at home when a mob barged in. I and my two daughters were molested and our clothes torn by the mob," the woman, who runs an NGO in Karawal Nagar, claimed with tears in her eyes.
The Delhi Police also initiated an "outreach programme" as part of which its officials met imams and maulvis of mosques
The exercise was carried by senior officials outside mosques in Kardampuri and Kabir Nagar. These areas witnessed pitched battles between two communities for three days from Monday.
During the meeting, senior police officers were briefed about the recent riots.
The policemen posted in these areas briefed senior officials that people of these two areas, which witnessed large scale violence from Tuesday, have been generally peaceful and claimed it was the "outsiders" from adjoining areas such as Seelampur and Jaffrabad who indulged in violence.
Senior police officials were asked to take stock of the situation, especially keeping in mind that it was a Friday and some miscreants may take advantage of large gatherings to engineer an unrest again, they said.
The senior officials assured that police will take every action against the miscreants and ensure safety of locals.
After a visit to Jaffrabad, one of the worst affected areas, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma said the situation is peaceful but there is "tension in the air".
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government has set up nine shelters for the riot-affected people and is distributing food among them.
Addressing a news conference, he said the government has started distributing Rs 25,000 in cash, as part of compensation, to those whose houses have been burnt during the violence.
For assistance of the violence-hit people, Kejriwal said the government has appointed 18 magistrates and four night magistrates.
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal visited the riot-affected areas to take stock of the situation and interacted with locals.
Baijal visited Maujpur, Jaffrabad and Gokulpuri, an official said. He was accompanied by senior police officers. This is his first visit to the riot-hit areas.
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US vetoes Palestinian bid to gain statehood at the United Nations
United Nations, Apr 19: The US has vetoed a resolution in the UN Security Council on the latest Palestinian bid to be granted full membership of the United Nations, an outcome lauded by Israel but criticised by Palestine as “unfair, immoral, and unjustified".
The 15-nation Council voted on a draft resolution Thursday that would have recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
The resolution got 12 votes in its favour, with Switzerland and the UK abstaining and the US casting its veto.
To be adopted, the draft resolution required at least nine Council members voting in its favour, with no vetoes by any of its five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Palestinian attempts for recognition as a full member state began in 2011. Palestine is currently a non-member observer state, a status that was granted in November 2012 by the UN General Assembly.
This status allows Palestine to participate in proceedings of the world body but it cannot vote on resolutions. The only other non-member Observer State at the UN is the Holy See, representing the Vatican.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the US for vetoing what he called a “shameful proposal.”
“The proposal to recognise a Palestinian state, more than 6 months after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and after the sexual crimes and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists was a reward for terrorism”, Katz wrote on X, after the US veto.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, said in the explanation of the vote at the Security Council meeting on Palestinian membership that Washington continues to strongly support a two-state solution.
“It remains the US view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,” he said.
“This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood, but instead is an acknowledgement that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties.”
Wood said there are “unresolved questions” as to whether Palestine meets the criteria to be considered a State.
“We have long called on the Palestinian Authority to undertake necessary reforms to help establish the attributes of readiness for statehood and note that Hamas - a terrorist organisation - is currently exerting power and influence in Gaza, an integral part of the state envisioned in this resolution,” he said, adding that “For these reasons, the United States voted “no” on this Security Council resolution.”
Wood noted that since the October 7 attacks last year against Israel by Hamas, US President Joe Biden has been clear that sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through a two-state solution, with Israel’s security guaranteed.
"There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and future as a democratic Jewish state. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live in peace and with dignity in a state of their own. And there is no other path that leads to regional integration between Israel and all its Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, sharply criticised the US veto, saying that it was “unfair, immoral, and unjustified, and defies the will of the international community, which strongly supports the State of Palestine obtaining full membership in the United Nations.”
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, said that “our right to self-determination has never once been subject to bargaining or negotiation.
“Our right to self-determination is a natural right, a historic right, a legal right. A right to live in our homeland Palestine as an independent state that is free and that is sovereign. Our right to self-determination is inalienable...,” he said.
Getting emotional and choking up as he made the remarks, Mansour said that a majority of the Council members “have risen to the level of this historic moment” and have stood “on the side of justice, freedom and hope.”
He asserted that Palestine’s admission as a full member of the UN is an “investment in peace.”
On April 2, 2024, Palestine again sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres requesting that its application for full UN membership be considered again.
For a State to be granted full UN membership, its application must be approved both by the Security Council and the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting is required for the State to be admitted as a full member.
Earlier in the day, Guterres, in his remarks to a Council meeting on the Middle East, warned that the region is on a “knife edge”.
“Recent escalations make it even more important to support good-faith efforts to find lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Guterres said.
“Failure to make progress towards a two-state solution will only increase volatility and risk for hundreds of millions of people across the region, who will continue to live under the constant threat of violence,” he said.
The UN, citing the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that between October 7 last year and April 17, at least 33,899 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 76,664 Palestinians injured. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on October 7.
As of April 17, Israeli authorities estimate that 133 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
