Former CM to move bill seeking special status for Goa
Panaji, June 30: Former Goa Chief Minister and Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro on Saturday said he will move a private member's bill in the upcoming monsoon session of the state Legislative Assembly, seeking special status for Goa.
"There is a need for a small state like Goa to preserve and protect its unique identity, culture, tradition, heritage and its landscape, under Article 375 of the Constitution. The bill will be a step towards getting special status for Goa," Faleiro told a press conference at state Congress state headquarters here.
For the last few years, the talks of seeking special status for Goa have been doing the rounds in the political and social circles in the state, which has been facing challenges stemming from rapid in-migration, shrinking land resources and a resultant dilution of identity.
The issue of special status had been raised by all the major political parties in Goa, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, in the run-up to the 2012 state Assembly polls and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP-led coalition government which was subsequently voted to power, was instrumental in moving a unanimous resolution in the Assembly demanding special status for Goa.
But, after winning the polls, then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had said that the seeking special status for Goa was like "running after a mirage".
Over the last couple of years, top BJP national leaders have also rejected the possibility of Goa being granted special status through a constitutional amendment.
Faleiro now claims that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Delhi, has the necessary numerical strength to grant special status to Goa by a legislative act, which he claimed was not the case with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government which was in power at the Centre from 2004-2014.
"Now, the present government could have definitely given special status because they have got the desired majority in Parliament and they have done in many cases like in judicial accountability bill which was ratified by Parliament," Faleiro said.
The 12-day monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly is scheduled to begin from July 19.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
