Congress leader Mithun Rai moves SC against Kerala HC order for lifting road blockade
Mangaluru: Congress leader Mithun Rai on Thursday filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of Kerala High Court's order for opening the National Highway, connecting to Kasargod.
In the special leave petition filed in the top court through advocate Sanjay M Nuli, Rai has defended the blockade set by the Karnataka government.
Influx of patients from Kerala has caused an "undesirable aura of panic and threat among the medical fraternity which further hinders the ability of the healthcare professionals to make well-reasoned decisions," Rai said.
Rai claimed that the Kerala High Court's interim order did not consider the fact that there was no prescribed treatment for cases of COVID-19 as of today and the only universally accepted solution has been to quarantined in self-isolation.
He further contended, "Restrictions have been imposed solely with the view of safeguarding and protecting the lives of the persons living in the district of Mangaluru."
The petition is likely to be taken up by a bench of L Nageshwara Rao and Deepak Gupta on Friday, along with a similar plea by the Karnataka government.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
