Delhi government says 'no' to Muslim school teachers going for Friday prayers
New Delhi, April 27: The Delhi government has told the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) that Muslim teachers cannot be allowed to go for Juma prayers during school hours, a senior official said on Friday.
DMC Chairman Zaraful Islam Khan told IANS that the Education Department of the Delhi government had in a written response said that teachers "can't leave their classes" and go for Juma prayers on Friday, as it would "harm the interests of students".
"They (Education Department) said that the rules can't be relaxed and teachers have to reach school by 12.45 (p.m) for classes which begin at 1 (p.m)," Khan said.
Earlier, teachers had approached the Commission with a request to allow them to go for prayers on Friday, after which it had sought a response from the Education Department and the three municipal corporations on the issue.
The response from the municipal corporations were awaited, Khan said.
"The teachers told us that there is a Union Home Ministry order of 1954 which says that employees can go for prayers after foregoing a certain amount from the salary. We have written to the Home Ministry to know whether the rule is still applicable," Khan said.
The response from the Home Ministry is yet to come, according to Khan.
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Trinamool MP Yusuf Pathan declines government's Operation Sindoor delegation invite
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Yusuf Pathan, who was named by the government to join an all-party parliamentary delegation for the 'Operation Sindoor' diplomatic outreach, is reportedly set to skip the initiative.
The government included his name without consulting the Trinamool Congress, although the government had reached out to the MP directly, India Today quoted party sources as saying.
The former cricketer-turned-politician has conveyed that he will not be able to join the delegation.
According to the report, Pathan was invited to be part of the team led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, which is set to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore as part of the government's diplomatic mission.
Objecting to the Centre's choice of MP to represent the Trinamool Congress, the party's National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee questioned, “How can the Union Government decide on the representative of Trinamool?” He added that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have held discussions with the opposition to decide which representative a party will send.
Meanwhile, a senior Trinamool Congress leader pointed out that foreign policy comes under the Union government’s domain and it should take complete responsibility of such matters.
"We believe that the nation is above all, and we pledged our support to the Union government to take whatever action needed to protect our great nation. Our armed forces have made our nation proud and we are forever indebted to them. Foreign policy is entirely within the domain of the Union government. Therefore, let only the Union government decide our foreign policy and take complete responsibility for it," the TMC leader said.
The government recently announced that seven all-party delegations will be sent to key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism.
A statement by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said, "The all-party delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism."
