Modi on Palestine, West Asia tour to balance growing ties with Israel
Amman: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday arrived in Jordan on the first leg of his four-nation regional trip that will also take him to a first-ever Indian prime ministerial visit to Palestine, besides the UAE and Oman in the Gulf.
The February 9-12 trip comes within a month of the visit to India by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that saw the two countries hailing each other as a strategic partner despite New Delhi's long-standing support for the Palestinian cause.
Modi began the visit with Jordan, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 30 years. He was "warmly received by Prime Minister of Jordan (Hani Al-Mulki) in Amman," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
The spokesperson said the visit to the four countries was aimed at deepening "our multifaceted ties with the Gulf and West Asian region".
After arriving in Amman, Modi met King Abdullah II of Jordan who will facilitate his transit to Palestine on Saturday.
When Modi reaches Ramallah, he will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine where he will meet President Mahmoud Abbas.
Before taking off from New Delhi, Modi said he was "looking forward to my discussions with President Abbas and reaffirming our support for the Palestinian people and the development of Palestine".
This will be Modi's fourth meeting with Abbas. They had earlier met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2015, at the Paris climate summit later that year and during the Palestine President's visit to India last year.
B. Bala Bhaskar, Joint Secretary (West Asia and North Africa) in the External Affairs Ministry, said India had contributed immensely to Palestine's nation-building efforts, including infrastructure development and capacity building.
The visit is also aimed at deepening the bilateral agenda, including cooperation in areas of health, IT, tourism, youth affairs, sports and agriculture.
Modi will also lay a wreath at the memorial for Yasser Arafat, a close friend of India who headed the Palestine Liberation Organization and later the Palestinian National Authority till his death in 2004. India had recognised the Palestine state in 1988.
Despite Modi's personal camaraderie with Netanyahu, India voted in the UN General Assembly in December last year against US President Donald Trump's unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
After his Palestine visit, Modi will reach Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE which is home to a huge Indian diaspora, on Saturday evening -- his second visit after August 2015.
He will hold talks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, who was the chief guest at India's Republic Day in 2017.
The Prime Minister will also hold talks with Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid. Following this, several agreements include in areas like finance and skills development are likely to be signed.
Modi is scheduled to interact with UAE and Arab CEOs in Dubai on the economic opportunities in India.
"At the invitation of the leadership of the UAE, I will be addressing the 6th edition of the World Government Summit in Dubai where India is the guest country of honour," Modi said.
On the final leg, Modi will visit Muscat on Sunday before returning to Delhi the following day.
In both Oman and the UAE, Modi is expected to meet the Indian diaspora which he said "is a bridge of friendship between India and the Gulf countries". He is expected to hold talks with the Sultan of Oman and other leaders and interact with business people of Oman on developing stronger economic links with India.
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Ballari violence: Were cops made scapegoats to cover political failure?
Bengaluru: Across Karnataka, a serious discussion has begun after the violence in Ballari and the swift action taken against police officers who were on the ground that day. The core question being asked is simple: when law and order fails, why are police officers the first to be shown the door, while political responsibility is quietly pushed aside?
The January 1 clash in Ballari was not a sudden street fight. It was a political confrontation involving supporters of two sitting MLAs. A banner related to the unveiling of a Valmiki statue became the flashpoint. What followed was stone-pelting, firing, and the death of a Congress worker. The situation spiralled within hours.
Within a day, Ballari SP Pavan Nejjur was suspended. Soon after, senior officers were reshuffled. Deputy Inspector General of Police Vartika Katiyar was transferred. No official reason was cited in the notification. But the timing made one thing clear: accountability, at least on paper, had been fixed.
Since then, there has been unease within police circles and political debate outside it.
Unconfirmed reports that Nejjur attempted suicide after his suspension were firmly denied by senior officers and the home minister. They said he was safe, resting, and under stress. Still, the very fact that such reports gained traction says something about the pressure officers feel when action is taken overnight, without public clarity.
Opposition leaders have called Nejjur a scapegoat, pointing out that he had taken charge only hours before the violence. They have asked how an officer can be blamed for a political clash he barely had time to assess. They have also drawn parallels with earlier incidents where police leadership was suspended after tragedies, while political decision-making remained untouched.
However, responding to this criticism, Home Minister G Parameshwara rejected the argument that the suspension was unfair because Nejjur had assumed charge only hours earlier. “It is not important whether he reported to duty on the same day (of incident) or one hour back. Duty is duty. He is not new to the department. IPS officers are trained to handle such situations any time. If he had acted swiftly and promptly, he could have prevented the situation from escalating.” He had said adding that Nejjur did not discharge his duties properly and that this was the reason for his suspension.
Now, fresh and unconfirmed reports suggest that Vartika Katiyar may have met a senior cabinet minister, questioning why she was made to pay the price for a situation that was political in nature. There is no official confirmation of this meeting. But the talk itself has added fuel to the debate.
What is being discussed in the state is not whether the police made mistakes. Many acknowledge that the situation on January 1 was mishandled. A clash earlier in the day was allowed to cool down without strong preventive action. Later, a banner came up near a politically sensitive location. The crowd should not have been allowed to build up. Better anticipation was needed.
At the same time, critics are asking whether the entire burden can be placed on officers when the trigger itself was political rivalry. Who installed the banner? Who mobilised supporters? Who had armed private gunmen present at the spot? These are questions that are still part of the investigation, yet administrative punishment moved faster than political accountability.
This has led to a wider comparison with past incidents, including the Bengaluru stampede after the RCB victory celebrations. There too, police officers were suspended after lives were lost, while decisions taken at higher levels were defended as unavoidable. Many are now saying Ballari fits into the same pattern.
The argument being made is not that the police are blameless. The argument is that responsibility appears to stop at the uniform. When things go wrong, officers are transferred or suspended to send a message. But when the violence is rooted in political rivalry, that message feels incomplete.
Within police ranks, there is also quiet concern about working conditions. Officers say they are expected to manage volatile political situations overnight, often with little room to push back against powerful interests. When things hold, they are invisible. When they collapse, they stand alone.
The Ballari episode has once again exposed this fault line.
For the government, the challenge is larger than one suspension or transfer. The real test is whether it is willing to publicly acknowledge political failures when law and order breaks down, instead of letting the system suggest that the police alone dropped the ball.
For now, what remains is a growing feeling across Karnataka that accountability is selective. And that whenever politics turns violent, the easiest answer is to change the officers, not the decisions that led to the violence in the first place.
