Doctor whose naqab was removed by Nitish Kumar will join duty in Bihar: Official
Patna (PTI): Amid rumours that a doctor has declined a government job in Bihar after her naqab (veil) was removed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during a programme here, an official concerned on Friday claimed that she will join duty.
Dr Mahfoozur Rahman, principal of the Government Tibbi College and Hospital here, told PTI that AYUSH doctor Nusrat Parveen’s family has confirmed that she will join duty on Saturday.
"I spoke to Parveen's husband, relatives and her classmates. They told me that she would join duty on December 20. She has to first join the Government Tibbi College and Hospital, and later she will be shifted to her place of posting. Her family members and classmates have assured me that she would join duty," Rahman said.
The incident, a video clip of which has been circulated widely and sparked a major political row, took place on Monday at the chief minister’s secretariat in Patna when Ayush doctors had gathered to receive their letters of appointment. When the woman came up for her letter, Kumar saw her 'naqab', said “what is this” and then removed the veil.
Following this, there were rumours that Parveen declined the job.
The incident has drawn criticism from far and wide, including several West Asian countries, and Kumar, also the JD(U) president, has been facing accusations of disrespecting Muslims traditions allegedly in line with the 'RSS agenda'.
Bihar Minister Dilip Jaiswal on Friday said, "A controversy is being created unnecessarily over the issue. The NDA government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar ji has taken several steps for the empowerment of women in the state."
Meanwhile, the CM has reportedly received a threat from a Pakistan-based man over the naqab controversy. The Cyber police station in Patna has registered a case.
DGP Vinay Kumar on Thursday told reporters that the case has been handed over to Patna Inspector General of Police.
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Trump suspends green card lottery programme that let Brown University, MIT shootings suspect into US
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery programme on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump's direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the programme.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit.
It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa programme makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the US, many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem's announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump's administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on US soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
