Azaan issue: Karnataka CM says everyone will be taken into confidence
Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Tuesday the Azaan issue would be addressed by taking everyone into confidence and not by force.
Some right wing outfits and BJP leaders have called for stopping the use of loudspeakers from mosques saying they cause disturbance for people living in surrounding areas.
Responding to questions from reporters, Bommai said there is a High Court order regarding Azaan (the call for prayer) and there is another order asking as to why the first one has not been implemented.
The High Court order even specifies the sound decibel level, and installation of decibel meters at district level. The High Court order is being implemented in stages, he said.
"It is a job which needs to be done by taking everyone into confidence, it is not a job to be done by force in any way", the Chief Minister said.
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Jailed Palestinian writer wins International prize for arabic fiction
Abu Dhabi: Palestinian author Basim Khandaqji, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2004, has been named the winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for his novel “A Mask, the Colour of the Sky”.
Khandaqji’s publisher Rana Idriss, of the Lebanon-based Dar al-Adab publishing house, accepted the award on his behalf at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The book tells the story of Nur, an archaeologist living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, who adopts a “mask” when he finds a blue identity card belonging to an Israeli in the pocket of an old coat.
Born in Nablus, Khandaqji has been imprisoned by Israel since he was 21 years old. He studied political science at Al-Quds University from prison with a thesis on Israeli studies and has published several poetry collections and novels.
In an interview in January, Khandaqji’s brother said his family had not been able to speak with him for four months, a problem many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have faced since October 2023.
Khandaqji wrote the award-winning book in prison in 2021, when he would manage to write about two pages each day between 5am and 7am, although “very often, the papers are taken from him and destroyed by the guard”, his brother said.
