'Centre, Sikkim, should grant ST status to indigenous communities'
Gangtok, May 5: Calling upon the Central and Sikkim governments to consider granting the ST status to all the indigenous communities of the state in alignment with a constitutional provision, a resolution has affirmed that it would ensure lasting peace and prosperity.
"We recommend to the government of Sikkim and the government of India, that the Scheduled Tribe status be considered in alignment with the provisions of Article 371 (F) of the Constitution of India, for all the communities of Sikkim. This will ensure lasting peace and prosperity," said the Gangtok Resolution, adopted after a two-day Sikkim Summit for Tribal Status 2018 here on Friday.
Article 371 (F) of the Indian constitution deals with special provisions with respect to the state of Sikkim.
Out of the 20 indigenous communities in Sikkim, 11 Sikkimese Nepali communities are yet to get ST status.
The summit brought together leading scholars and policy makers to present their views on the decades-old demand.
The resolution, read out by Sikkim's lone Lok Sabha member P.D. Rai, reminded the authorities that the state had overwhelmingly voted to join the Indian union at a historic referendum on April 14, 1975.
The Resolution said that all the "tribes of the Sikkim Himalaya live in similar social and economic condition and endure similar hardship and challenges posed by the geo-political situation and the mountainous topography of Sikkim."
It said all the communities were recognised as tribes of the Himalayas by the British, while the erstwhile Sikkimese king, The Chogyal, had placed all of them in the same pedestal, and "gave them protection by providing them reservation in the State Council and employment".
"After the merger of Sikkim with the Indian union in 1975, a section of the Sikkimese people were recognised as STs and SCs of Sikkim, as per the prevailing Constitution of India and the rest, specially, the Sikkimese Nepali community were left out from this affirmative action."
Stressing that the remaining communities had the right to be recognised as STs, the resolution sought justice and rectification of the wrong done to them.
The resolution was signed among others by eminent anthropologists T.B. Subba and Sarit.K. Chaudhuri, former Ministry of Tribal Affairs Secretary Hrushikesh Panda, former Union Minister Kishore Chandra Deo, Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling's legal advisor K.T. Gyaltsen, constitutional law expert Shomona Khanna and Tibetologist-cum-Indo-China analyst Claude Arpi -- all of whom addressed the summit.
The event, inaugurated by Chamling on Friday, was organised by EIECOS - an association of the registered 11 indigenous ethnic communities of Sikkim - as also the Sikkim Commission for backward Classes and the state's Social Justice Empowerment and Welfare Department.
State governor Shriniwas Patil addressed the valedictory session.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
