Suggested Modi to resolve Kashmir issue through talks rather than by 'invasion': Malaysia PM
United Nations: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad said that he had suggested to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to resolve issues over Kashmir through "negotiations" rather than by "invasion" when Modi told him why his government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
Mahathir had met Modi in Russia during an economic forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok earlier this month.
Addressing a press conference on Friday in the UN Headquarters on the margins of the UN General Assembly, the Malaysian leader was asked if he has tried to talk to India and Pakistan to calm down and restraint themselves.
Mahathir said he had a long session with Prime Minister Modi in Vladivostok during which Modi explained why he took action to revoke Article 370 in Kashmir.
He (Modi) also agreed with me that even india has solved problems through negotiations, with Bangladesh and others, the Malaysian Prime Minister said.
Mahathir said he suggested to him that since India has experience with negotiating to reduce conflict or to eliminate conflicts why not use negotiations to do so rather than to invade Kashmir.
Mahathir said to this, Modi didn't commit to anything but I did tell him that it is up to him whether he would resort to negotiations to settle the problem of terrorism in the area.
India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 was an internal matter.
India has rejected any scope for third party mediation between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, saying the two countries can discuss and resolve all issues bilaterally. India has been taking up with Malaysia the issue of Zakir Naik.
On September 17, the Malaysian prime minister had said that Modi did not request the extradition of Zakir Naik, but India rebutted, saying the issue did come up when the two leaders met in Russia.
Naik, a 53-year-old televangelist, left India in 2016 and subsequently moved to Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency by the government of former Prime Minster Najib Razak.
Naik is wanted by Indian authorities since 2016 for alleged money laundering and inciting extremism through hate speeches.
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Delimitation will turn out to be 'political demonetisation': Tharoor slams govt
New Delhi (PTI): Delimitation will turn out to be "political demonetisation", senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Friday while slamming the government for linking women's reservation with the expansion of Parliament.
Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendments in the women's quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Tharoor said linking women's reservation with delimitation is to hold the aspirations of Indian women hostage to "one of the most contentious and complex" administrative exercises in the country's history.
"Today we stand at a threshold where there is near unanimous political consensus in favour of women's reservation. Every major party realises that the time for tokenism is over and the era of collective partnership must begin and yet I am finding myself deeply perturbed by the legislative exercise before us," he said.
"The prime minister says he has brought 'nari shakti' the gift of justice but he has wrapped it in barbed wire, tethering the implementation of women's reservation to the expansion of Parliament, to numbers from the 2011 census and an exercise of delimitation... Why must we entangle a moral imperative with a demographic minefield, he asked.
Women's reservation, he said, is ready for harvest and can and should be implemented immediately based on existing parliamentary strength.
"Delimitation is not a mere bureaucratic rearranging of maps, it is a profound shift in political power that is intended....Any delimitation exercise is fraught with complications that could tear at the very fabric of our federalism," he said.
"You have proposed delimitation with such haste, the same haste that you showed on demonetisation. Unfortunately, we all know what damage that did to the country. Delimitation will turn out to be political demonetisation. Don't do it," Tharoor said.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law was introduced in Lok Sabha on Thursday after a division of votes.
Two ordinary bills -- the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women's quota law in Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir -- were also introduced in the House.
