TMC MP Yusuf Pathan visits residence of deceased migrant labourer in Bengal's Beldanga
Kolkata (PTI): TMC MP from Murshidabad Yusuf Pathan on Sunday visited the residence of a migrant labourer from Beldanga whose unnatural death in Jharkhand earlier this week triggered mob violence in the West Bengal town and pledged his support to the victim's family.
Pathan met the parents of 30-year-old Alauddin Sheikh, whose body was found hanging at his shelter in the neighbouring state and brought to his native village in Beldanga on Friday.
"I strongly deplore the harassment and attacks on poor Bengali-speaking migrant workers from Murshidabad and other parts of Bengal who go outside the state in search of livelihood," Pathan told reporters after meeting the family.
"Our party, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other MPs and MLAs are taking up the issue with the administration of respective states. We are also flagging the issue regularly. I am pledging my support to the victim families," he said.
Responding to opposition allegations that he had failed to visit families of migrant workers who were allegedly killed or harassed in other states, Pathan dismissed the charge as "propaganda".
"It is an attempt by the opposition to mislead people. I have been constantly monitoring every case. I have been constantly monitoring every case, and our supremo Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee are getting regular feedback," he said.
He said the district administration set up helpline numbers for migrant workers working outside Bengal and called upon them to contact the administration if they faced any trouble.
A day earlier, Abhishek Banerjee had said at a meeting in the district that Pathan would visit the family of Alauddin Sheikh.
Banerjee also said he had taken up the matter with the Jharkhand Chief Minister’s Office, seeking a probe into the incident and action against those responsible for the migrant worker’s death.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
