Another jab: BJP’s hate politics will not take India forward, says Rahul

Indian Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addresses an election rally in Allahabad. PHOTO: AFP

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the hate politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not take the county forward, and blamed the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the BJP for lack of development in Uttar Pradesh, Daily News and Analysis reported.

“If you listen to the speeches of the opposition leaders, then they are always abusing and criticising us. They have never appreciated anybody, not even their own party leaders. They indulge in the politics of hatred. This type of politics will not take India forward,”  Rahul told a rally here.

Raking up the issue of Muzaffarnagar riots, Rahul said, “The riots happened in Muzaffarnagar because these parties wanted to gain mileage from the riots. So everybody has to stand up together, and without this the country will not go any further.”

Rahul blamed the SP, the BSP and the BJP for lack of development in UP, and alleged that these parties have only spread communalism and casteism in the state. “The issues like education, poverty, unemployment and development were put on a backburner. They have wasted 25 years,” he said.

He also targeted the BJP and the Shiv Sena on the issue of UP people being thrashed in Mumbai.

“Here they say that they will change the face of the UP. But in Mumbai they thrash the people of UP. Here they show one face and in Mumbai they have a different face,” he added.

He also said that the Congress party believes that both industrialists and farmers should work towards development, and added that the party has always encouraged them to do so.

Embarrassment: Pakistan faces global travel curbs

“Currently, Pakistan does not have trained people who can issue certificates for polio vaccination which meet international standards,” says an official of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination. PHOTO: ONLINE/FILE

LAHORE / ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan’s failure to stem the spread of polio triggered global emergency health measures on Monday, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommending all residents to show proof of vaccination before they can leave the country.

The emergency measures also apply to Syria and Cameroon, which along with Pakistan are seen as posing the greatest risk of exporting the crippling virus and undermining a UN plan to eradicate it by 2018.

The statement issued by WHO Assistant Director-General (DG) Dr Bruce Alyward is based on recommendations of the Emergency Committee and is effective from May 5.

“This has been recommended under International Health Regulations so it will be mandatory on all countries to seek certification of anti-polio vaccination from all Pakistanis travelling to their lands,” the WHO chief coordinator for polio eradication in Pakistan, Dr Elias Durray, told The Express Tribune.

According to the statement, the governments of these three countries shall ensure that all residents and long-term visitors (even foreigners) visiting for more than four weeks should receive a dose of the OPV or inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) between four weeks and 12 months prior to international travel.

The heads of state should officially declare that the interruption of poliovirus transmission is a national public health emergency.

The government must also ensure that individuals undertaking urgent travel (within four weeks) who have not received a dose of OPV or IPV in the previous four weeks to 12 months, receive a dose of the polio vaccine at least by the time of departure.

It must also ensure that such travellers are provided with an ‘International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis’ to record their polio vaccination and serve as proof.

Govt caught ‘unawares’

While the possibility of international travel restrictions loomed for days before Monday’s announcement, the government appears to be largely unprepared for the situation – a predicament evidenced by officials’ cluelessness regarding vaccination of people who will be travelling following these restrictions.

“Currently, Pakistan has no plan to facilitate polio vaccinations for those travelling or any details about locations where certificates can be obtained. Therefore, it is too early to talk about it,” National Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Dr Ejaz Khan said.

He is of the view that Pakistan cannot eradicate polio from the country unless it strengthens routine immunisation and merges it with the National Polio Eradication Programme.

A senior official at the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) who requested anonymity said, “Like always, this time, too, Pakistan has not planned anything beforehand although it had a clue that travel restrictions would be placed on the country.”

The official said the restriction gives a clear message to the government to get serious and start working on polio eradication on practical grounds.

“At present, Pakistan has polio vaccines in stock for the national and supplementary anti-polio drives but do not have supplies for vaccinating every single person who will be going out of the country,” said the official.

He said that vaccine procurement is a lengthy process and will take time to acquire.

Furthermore, in each district of the country there is a need to have adequate health facilities where people could get vaccinated against the crippling disease, which could be conducted at tertiary hospitals, basic health units (BHUs) or rural health centres (RHCs), said the official.

“Currently, Pakistan does not have trained people who can issue certificates for polio vaccination which meet international standards,” he said.

International wire agencies quoted Saira Afzal Tarar, the deputy minister for health, as saying that she had called a meeting of health officials to consider how to respond to the new travel measures, and in particular how to ensure the supply of vaccine and health workers to administer the drops.

An emergency meeting is being held today (Tuesday) with all provincial ministers for the introduction of special measures following the restrictions.

The measures will include the establishment of mandatory immunisation counters at all airports, on border crossings and at seaports, and health officials will ensure that every single person going out of Pakistan has been given polio drops.

WHO national campaign coordinator in Pakistan, Zubair Mufti, said: “It is worrisome that travel restrictions have been placed on Pakistan due to the continuous surge in the number of polio cases.”

“The Pakistani government should immediately formulate a mechanism regarding vaccination for people going out of Pakistan,” he said.

Implications for travellers

• The government must ensure that all residents and long-term visitors receive a dose of the polio vaccine (IPV) between four weeks and 12 months prior to international travel

• Those who are leaving the country within four weeks must receive a dose of the vaccine at least by the time of departure

• Travellers must be given an ‘International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis’ to record their vaccination as proof

• It is mandatory for all countries to ask travellers from Pakistan to show proof of polio immunisation

• PM must officially declare that the interruption of poliovirus transmission is a national public health emergency

Son of the soil: A posthumous return home

Khushwant Singh. PHOTO: FILE

KHUSHAB: 

It didn’t matter if you were the prime minister of India: if you turned up at Khushwant Singh’s home in Delhi without a prior appointment, his family or servants would politely turn you away.

There, was, however, a loophole in this stringent rule. If you were a visitor from Hadali, a town of Khushab district, located 280 kilometres from Lahore, the doors of Singh’s house were wide open to you at any time. Singh’s home in Delhi was named Hadali House, a testament to his abiding love for the place of his birth, which fell to Pakistan upon the partition of India.

On April 22, 2014, in line with his wishes, a handful of Singh’s ashes were mixed into the material used to create a plaque, now installed at the author’s primary school in Hadali. Faqir Aijazuddin, former minister and former principal of Aitchison College was instrumental in this. His family and Singh’s family have had close ties for long. Thus, the resourceful Aijazuddin, along with his family, attended the funeral rites of Singh in India, and brought along some of his ashes to Pakistan.

Boys studying at Singh’s alma mater, where part of his ashes now rest, did not know about him. “We went to our teachers to ask about Singh, and found out who he was,” said boys of grade 10. Today, these boys wish to grow up to be like him. “It is a proud moment for us to know that a person like him has received education from this school.”

Singh, a practising lawyer in Lahore on the cusp of India’s independence in 1947, drove from Lahore to Delhi alone at the time. The journey inspired Train to Pakistan, published in 1956, a record of the disturbing stories that Singh encountered as he migrated to India.

Partition did not diminish his love for his birthplace; if anyone spoke ill of Lahore or Hadali in his presence, Singh found it difficult to forgive the person. He would say that when he would read anything published against Pakistan in Indian newspapers, he would feel hurt, as a part of him continued to consider Pakistan his home. Many thought of him as a ‘Pakistani living in India’.

Thirty-nine years after Partition, Singh was able to return to Pakistan and his hometown of Hadali. “For me, the importance of Hadali is similar to the importance of the Holy Kabah for Muslims,” he said during his visit in December 1986. He spent the day at his former home and school and with the people of Hadali at a ceremony they organised to welcome home the town’s prodigal son.

Legend has it that Hadali got its name when after a war, bones of those killed kept lying in the area. They were buried here later. Hadaan (‘bones’ in Punjabi) of those who belong here deserve to be here. Ironically, part of Singh’s remains have come back here.

Hadali is not very well known. With a population of approximately 60,000, it is the third largest town of Khushab District.

“The kind of recognition that Singh brought to his birthplace, no one else could,” said advocate Mukhtar Islam Baali, resident of Hadali. Baali recalled the time when he accompanied Singh to his ancestral home in 1986. On the way, Baali kept testing Singh’s memory, asking him about the routes they were passing through. “He remembered every street and market correctly.”

Advocate Malik Muhammad Tahir Awan, a resident of Hadali, had the honour of hosting Singh briefly in 1986. “He would converse in Punjabi sometimes. Even if people were eating while standing at dinners in his honour, he would call for a chair to sit on and eat.”

When Muhammad Ali Asad Bhatti, a resident of Hadali and a poet, discovered that Singh was born in the town, he wrote him a letter. As he did not have the author’s address, he simply wrote Khushwant Singh’s name on the envelope and sent the missive to Delhi. Exactly one month later, in 1990, Bhatti received a response to his letter.

The two men frequently corresponded, a steady stream of letters making its way back and forth across the border. In 2002, Bhatti visited Chandigarh for the Punjabi Literature Conference and expressed his wish to meet his pen pal. The conference’s organisers discovered that Singh was in Simla at the time, but passed Bhatti’s request on to the author. A few days later, Singh arrived in Chandigarh. “We embraced like old friends,” Bhatti recalled, saying Singh wept as he spoke of Hadali during their time together.

It was during that meeting that Singh told Bhatti he wished to be buried in Hadali. His remains, he said, must become part of the town’s soil. This year, Singh passed away in Delhi on March 20th, at the age of 99.

His wish partially came true last month. Journalists, locals and officials from the district administration attended these last rites. Locals requested that the school be declared a heritage site and Singh’s house – demolished now, the plot of land is owned by another family – be converted into a library or a free dispensary

Another trick: Holy imagery gets Modi into trouble

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. PHOTO: AFP

The Indian Election Commission sought a report from the Faizabad district authorities hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, invoked Rama, a Hindu god, while addressing a meeting on Monday with his picture in the backdrop, The Hindu reported.

“I will fight against corruption all my life, I promise you from the land of Ram,” Modi said. The BJP leader said even Mahatma Gandhi invoked the name of Ram. “When Gandhiji was asked about his idea of an ideal nation, he said there should be Ram Rajya. If you want to imagine an ideal State, then there must be Ram Rajya.”

Soon after Modi’s address, the Congress urged the commission to register a first information report against Modi and de-register the BJP, accusing it of using religion to win votes.

“The BJP and Modi have used the portrait of Ram, which is strategically placed behind the podium from where the speech is being delivered by him. The headgear of Ram fits on the head of Modi as can be seen in the video, when he is delivering the speech which deceives the gullible voter,” Congress legal department secretary KC Mittal wrote in his complaint to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath.

Chief Electoral Officer, Uttar Pradesh, Umesh Sinha said the commission would decide if Modi had violated the model code of conduct or any other provisions of the law after looking at the report. “We have to wait for the report,” he said. Using religious symbols is banned during election campaigns.

Faizabad, which goes to the polls on Wednesday, is barely six kilometres from Ayodhya and the BJP’s candidate, Lallu Singh, is an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case

BME communities to make up one third of UK by 2050: Study

The study found unemployment rates in BME communities were double the national average. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON: Almost one third of Britons will be from ethnic minorities by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a new study published by a think tank on Tuesday.

Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities are growing at a much faster rate than the white population and are radically changing the face of Britain, the Policy Exchange found.

Currently the five largest BME groups – Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Black Africans and Black Caribbeans – make up eight million people or 14 percent of the population, it said.

This number has doubled in the past decade, while the white population has remained roughly the same, and so is predicted to increase to between 20 and 30 percent of the population by the middle of the century.

Half of ethnic minority communities live in the cities of London, Manchester and Birmingham, according to the analysis of survey, census, academic and polling data.

The study found unemployment rates in BME communities were double the national average, with the exception of the Indian community, whose members tend to be more skilled.

By contrast all minority groups have a higher proportion of students staying in formal education beyond the school leaving age of 16 than the white population.

The study’s authors argue that there are “clear and meaningful differences” between the different BME groups that should be addressed by politicians.

However, they note that all BME communities support the opposition Labour party over Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives, regardless of age or social class.

Pakistan needs to reinforce synergies with Iran: Nawaz

Nawaz Sharif welcomes Abdolereza Rahmani on Tuesday. PHOTO: APP

ISLAMABAD: With Iran having threatened to seal its border with Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said they need to promote strategies aimed at reinforcing synergies between the border regions through physical connectivity and border trade markets.

According to a press release issued by the PM Office, Nawaz met with the visiting Iranian Interior Minister Abdolereza Rehmani Fazli on Tuesday.

The premier spoke about strengthening economic ties between the two countries. He added that Pakistan and Iran are bound by ties of religion, culture, history and geography.

He said Pakistan attaches great importance to its brotherly relations with Iran and seeking a peaceful neighbourhood remains a policy priority for the government.

“Our commitment to this relationship is unequivocal and firm.”

Nawaz also spoke about his impending visit to Iran and meeting with Iranian President Rouhani. He said that the forthcoming visit will serve as a political affirmation and will also set a new direction based on cooperative partnership.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali news conference

On Tuesday afternoon, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that relations between Pakistan and Iran will guarantee peace and security in the region, reported Radio Pakistan.

He said the two sides have agreed to enhance cooperation in areas such as security, cross border terrorism, smuggling, human trafficking, greater intelligence sharing and coordination between the security forces of the two countries.

Furthermore, he said that Pakistan and Iran have agreed in principle to establish hotline for exchange of information to thwart any untoward incident.

Pakistan ready to take 'two steps to greet a hand extended in friendship': Nawaz

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chairing the concluding session of envoys conference at Foreign Office on May 6, 2014. PHOTO: PID

ISLAMABAD: Addressing the concluding session of the Envoys Conference, focused on the Middle East, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said “Pakistan is ready to take two steps to greet a hand extended in friendship.”

Commenting on Pakistan’s aspiration to forge closer bilateral ties with all countries in the Middle East, Nawaz said, “Our efforts to develop bilateral ties with one country are not, and will not be, at the expense of another.”

Re-emphasising Pakistan’s desires for peace and tranquillity in the Middle East, the premier reiterated that Pakistan will maintain its policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states.

He said that the government is paying particular attention to the promotion of its special relationships with fraternal countries in the Gulf and Middle East. Recent exchanges at the highest level reflect these endeavours, said Nawaz.

The prime minister said on external front Pakistan has always emphasised on building a peaceful neighbourhood and PML-N government is also pursuing the policy of constructive engagement with all the neighbouring countries.

On Afghanistan, Nawaz said the key tenants of Pakistan’s approach are non-interference, support for the peace and reconciliation process, and building a bilateral relationship, marked by enhanced trade and economic cooperation.

Commenting on Pakistan’s relation with India, the premier said that Pakistan remains committed in reaching out to India for the peaceful resolution of all the pending disputes, including Kashmir, through a sustained dialogue.

“We believe the main dynamic in South Asia should be cooperation, not confrontation.”

He added that since June 2013, Pakistan has reinforced it strategic partnership with China, re-oriented the relationship with US, upgraded ties with the European Union, reached out afresh to Russia, and strengthened linkages with ASEAN, Africa and Latin America.

Guidelines for Pakistani missions 

Emphasising on the role of Pakistani diaspora, Nawaz said, our community in Europe, North America and the Middle East, is well-placed to play the role both as a “bridge” and a “catalyst”, for fostering of enhanced economic collaboration, between Pakistan and countries of their residence.

While appreciating the efforts made by the envoys to improve services to Pakistani expatriates abroad, the premier said there still more need to be done.

Acknowledging the resource constraints faced by the Pakistani missions, Nawaz said the government has already taken steps in that regard. He hoped that the benefits of the initiatives taken will be felt by the people soon.

“The Government will also welcome innovative ideas for generating funds, for measures aimed at improving community services, as well as adapting the rules and regulations, for utilization of already available funds,” said Nawaz.

Economic diplomacy

The prime minister said that in order to re-invent the foreign in the light of growing inter-dependence, economic strength and greater integration with the rest of the world, Pakistan have taken a conscious decision to re-balance Pakistan’s geo-strategic and geo-economic priorities.

“I have also consistently emphasized the importance of “trade, not aid”, said Nawaz.

He referred to the initiation of the “Economic Corridor” project with China, and the GSP-plus status with EU as the prominent success of PML-N government.

It is essential that in all our endeavours, we focus on seeking opportunities for expanded trade, investments and economic cooperation that exist in every region, said Nawaz.

He added that with a booming energy sector, development of infrastructure, a thriving services sector, and enhanced focus on connectivity, the opportunities offered by the Middle East are immense.

The prime minister also apprised the attendees regarding the steps taken by the government to address the issues of security and energy crisis. He said that a National Security Policy has been approved and a dialogue process has been launched, to address the issues of extremism and militancy. He hoped that the sincere efforts of the government would yield the desired results and help turn the tide of violence.

He also informed that in order to resolve the energy crisis, over 2,100 MW has already been added to the national grid, and more is expected later this year.