Muslims have not allowed radicalisation to spread in India: Rajnath Singh at HTLS 2018
New Delhi, Oct 05: Muslims in India should be complimented for not letting radicalisation spread in the country despite consistent efforts to brainwash them, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday while castigating Pakistan for not desisting from its “evil designs” in the context of Kashmir.
Speaking at the 16th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Singh called terrorism a “crime against humanity” and said it was not linked to any religion or caste.
“Even Islamic nations have condemned terrorism. Pakistan should take efforts to stop terrorism. I must compliment Muslims in India that they have not allowed radicalisation to spread in the country,” Singh said.
The home minister said the situation in Kashmir will improve, but expressed dismay that Pakistan was still indulging in cross-border terror. “Not one, but every prime minister has tried to improve the relationship with Pakistan,” Singh said. “But Pakistan is continuing to infiltrate terrorists into India. This is a reality.”
He said that the general situation in Kashmir is better than it was a year ago, and pointed out that terror-related incidents have come down from 6,000 in 1995 to 360-odd incidents in 2017. His comments come at a time when the Opposition has blamed the government for a spurt in violence in the region in recent months.
The home minister said he has told security persons not to fire the first bullet, but if there was any provocation from Pakistan, then the jawans should not count the number of bullets in retaliatory action.
He said there is an “amazing” coordination between the army, central paramilitary forces and the J&K Police in the state and about 700 terrorists have been neutralised over the last four years.
The government, he said, has launched a pilot project in Jammu & Kashmir and Assam to replicate an Israel-type border management system that will use the latest technology and resources to make India’s coastline and borders breach-proof. “The Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System will be operated through a command centre and every activity on the borders can be monitored from one place,” Singh said. “This is a huge development.”
The former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president admitted that the alliance with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of Mehbooba Mufti was “not successful”, but maintained it was the need of the hour after the 2014 assembly elections returned a hung verdict.
“The PDP emerged as the number one party and the BJP was the second-largest party. We thought we should respect the mandate,” Singh said. “That experiment was not successful.” The BJP pulled out of the government in June and the state is now under Governor’s Rule.
Singh also said that there has been a 50% decline in Maoist-related activities in the last four years and the major activities of the Maoists have been restricted to 10-15 districts. “They are now trying to move into urban areas.”
He defended the criticism of the government after five activists were arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence in January, and said that the Supreme Court allowed the Maharashtra police conduct the probe as it wanted to. “We have said you may be influenced by any ideology but you cannot be allowed to indulge in violence. You will not be allowed to do that,” Singh said.
The home minister also expressed optimism that a framework agreement with insurgents in Nagaland will be stitched and claimed there was some forward movement in it.
Speaking on farmer agitations in different parts of the country, he said the government was committed to solving the issues faced by farmers, and those who staged a protest at the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border last week have returned following the promise that the government will look into their demands – which range from higher minimum support prices to overturning the ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles.
“There is a crisis of credibility in politics today. We have taken it up as a challenge. We will not let this crisis of credibility to deepen,” Singh said. “If we have promised something, then the protesters know we are honest in our commitment.”
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
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Rishabh Pant's troubles continue as Punjab Kings push LSG towards exit door
Dharamsala, May 4 (PTI): Rishabh Pant lost the grip on his bat and the match simultaneously as Punjab Kings rode on heroics from the two 'Singhs' -- Prabhsimran and Arshdeep -- to literally push Lucknow Super Giants to the brink of elimination with a 37-run win in an IPL match here on Sunday.
It was Prabhsimran's 48-ball 91 that formed the cornerstone of Punjab Kings' unassailable 236 for 5 and any hopes of a remarkable chase was nipped in the bud by Arshdeep's (3/16 in 4 overs) now familiar Powerplay spell which summarily destroyed the opposition top-order.
This time, he got the three top run getters -- Mitchell Marsh (0), Aiden Markram (13) and the ever-dangerous Nicholas Pooran (6) -- to swing the match decisively in Punjab's favour. Ayush Badoni's (74 off 40 balls) effort was a good one albeit it came for a losing cause.
LSG were finally restricted to 199 for 7 in 20 overs and even if they win their last three games and get to 16 points from 14 games, their net run-rate can make things difficult for them.
Punjab Kings are now placed second with 15 points from 11 games and one more win could possibly clinch a place in top four for them.
But what is becoming an eyesore is LSG's Rs 27 crore worth skipper Pant's inexplicable approach which has fetched him a dismal 128 runs in 11 innings at a sub-100 strike-rate (99.22).
On the day, he scored 18 off 17 balls and that he is completely out of sync was evident in the manner he tried to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at an Azmatullah Omarzai delivery. There was no control in his shot as the bat took off on parabolic curve towards square leg and the ball went towards deep point.
Pant's misery was a testimony of LSG's wretched campaign that was lost at the auction table when the owner decided to go with a sub-standard bowling attack based on a half-fit talented pacer Mayank Yadav.
Mayank has already lost at least 10-15 yards of pace post rehabilitation under the watch of Nitin Patel at the National Cricket Academy.
On Sunday, he went for 60 runs off four overs with half a dozen of sixes struck off his bowling.
The pint-sized Prabhsimran packed a mean punch in his strokes as he blasted his way to a 48-ball 91 with the help of six fours and seven sixes.
The Punjab keeper-batter should have got his second IPL hundred but an ambitious switch hit off Digvesh Rathi saw him head back to the pavilion, nine runs short of what would have been a deserving milestone.
Towards the end, Shashank Singh scored 33 off 15 balls to take PBKS to what looked like an unassailable total. There were 16 sixes hit by Pujab Kings with 13 coming off pacers.
Prabhsimran was initially a passive partner as it was Australian Jos Inglis who launched the first attack with a hat-trick of sixes off Mayank Yadav, whose speed has decreased by at least 15 kmph post his intense rehab under Nitin Patel at the BCCI's erstwhile National Cricket Academy to recover from back injury.
However, once Inglis was dismissed, Prabhsimran, along with skipper Shreyas Iyer (45 off 25 balls), took control of the game. They were only helped by some atrocious fielding from Avesh Khan, who would probably go down as the worst fielder in the 18-year history of IPL.
Adding insult to injury, Prabhsimran took the tall MP fast bowler to the cleaners as he was pulled over mid-wicket for back-to-back maximums. Khan went for 57 in four overs and if around 15 runs due to his misfielding is added, he caused the maximum damage for his team.
The duo of Prabhsimran and Iyer added 78 runs in 7.5 overs before Rathi, LSG's best bowler on view, became the first spinner in the current season to account for Punjab Kings skipper's wicket.
But Prabhsimran continued like a man possessed and LSG bowlers were guilty of feeding to his strengths throughout the innings.
