British PM Boris Johnson confuses farmer protests with India-Pakistan conflict
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday landed himself in a controversy after he appeared to confuse the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the agricultural laws in India with the conflict between New Delhi and Pakistan.
During the question period in the United Kingdom’s Parliament, MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi asked Johnson to comment on the ongoing protests in India, which have seen tens of thousands of farmers camped in the outskirts of Delhi for over two weeks now. The British MP has been a vocal supporter of the farmers and initiated a letter pledging support for the protests signed by 35 other lawmakers.
Dhesi said he was “horrified” to see that “water cannon, tear gas and brute force” was being used against the farmers and questioned the British government’s position on the demonstrations. “Will the prime minister convey to the Indian prime minister our heartfelt anxieties and our hopes for a speedy resolution to the current deadlock, and does he agree that everyone has a fundamental right to peaceful protest?” the British MP asked.
However, Johnson confused the protests that Dhesi was referring and seemed to imply they were a diplomatic matter. “Our view is that of course we have serious concerns about what is happening between India and Pakistan but these are pre-eminently matters for those two governments to settle,” he said.
Many were horrified to see water cannon, tear gas and brute force being used against farmers peacefully protesting in India about #FarmersBill2020.
— Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP (@TanDhesi) December 9, 2020
Everyone has the fundamental right to protest peacefully.
But it might help if our PM actually knew what he was talking about! pic.twitter.com/EvqGHMhW0Y
Dhesi looked perplexed at Johnson’s response. He later took to Twitter to criticise the prime minister, saying “it might help if our prime minister actually knew what he was talking about”.
“The world is watching, issue is a huge one with hundreds of thousands protesting globally (including in London, reported on by BBC) and the usual Boris Johnson bluff and bluster heaps further embarrassment onto our nation,” he added. “Absolutely clueless! So disappointed with his response.”
A United Kingdom government spokesperson said that the Prime Minister had “misheard” the question, reported India Today. “The prime minister clearly misheard the question in parliament today,” the spokesperson told the channel. “The Foreign Office are [is] following the issue of protests in India closely.”
The UK government has so far refused to be drawn into the ongoing protests in India, with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office saying the matter was an internal one, according to PTI. “The police handling of protests is a matter for the government of India,” said an FCDO spokesperson last week.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting near Delhi borders against the new agricultural laws, which they fear could pave the way for the government to stop buying grains at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.Their agitation was met with violent action from police, who attempted to turn them back by using water cannons and tear gas.
The Centre, which claims the laws would revitalise India’s agrarian economy by boosting produce, has made several attempts to placate the farmers. But five rounds of talks have failed to break the impasse so far.
Courtesy: Scroll.in
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
