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Srinagar | Updated: April 27, 2018 8:11:22 am Two days after four militants were killed in Tral, in Pulwama district of South Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday identified one of them as Mufti Yasir, the ‘operational commander’ of the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). Police sources said Yasir was the personal security officer of JeM’s Pakistan-based chief Masood Azhar. “Operational commander of JeM Mufti Yasir was among those killed in joint operation in upper reaches of Tral,” tweeted J&K’s Director General of Police (DGP) S P Vaid, along with a photograph which showed an armed Yasir with Masood Azhar. “This is a big elimination,” Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, S P Pani told The Indian Express. “He was definitely a very big commander. He was an important person (in JeM),” he said. Four militants, a soldier and a policeman were killed in an encounter in Laam forest of Tral on Tuesday. While two of the militants were identified as locals, police ...

New Delhi | Updated: April 26, 2018 7:49:04 am The Central government and Naga armed groups are said to have finalised the substantive portions of the peace accord which is likely to be signed before the monsoon session of Parliament. The final draft of the accord, which hopes to finally bring India’s oldest insurgency to a close, is now looking to jump the final hurdle: an agreement over the Naga demand for a separate flag for the state. The government is also apprehensive about a violent reaction in the Manipur Valley to the signing of the accord. The accord, official sources told The Indian Express, does not change the boundary of states; provides autonomous Naga territorial councils for Arunachal and Manipur; a common cultural body for Nagas across states; specific institutions for state’s development, integration and rehabilitation of non-state Naga militia and the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. When contacted by The Indian Express, the Centre’s inte...

New Delhi | Published: April 27, 2018 6:02:18 am The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the response of Swaminathan Gurumurthy, editor of Tamil magazine Thuglak, for allegedly questioning the integrity of a judge who gave relief to Karti Chidambaram from Enforcement Directorate arrest in the INX Media case. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and P S Teji issued notice to Gurumurthy on a plea by the Delhi High Court Bar Association seeking contempt action against the editor for allegedly criticising the court order. The court has listed the matter for further hearing on July 12. The bar association, represented by senior advocate Kirti Uppal, said the petition was against tweets posted by Gurumurthy on March 9 levelling scandalous allegations against a sitting judge of this court with the intention to obstruct administration of justice. The association in its plea sought punishment for the editor for “lowering the authority” of the court by posting tweets in connection with its ...

New Delhi | Published: April 27, 2018 2:29:48 am The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached fixed deposits (FDs) worth over Rs 143 crore in connection with a bank loan money laundering probe against a Chennai-based gold jewellery firm. Kanishk Gold Pvt Ltd sold jewellery in the brand name of ‘Krizz’ and is accused of defaulting on a bank loan of Rs 824 crore. The agency said it attached the Rs 143.58-crore FDs after a similar attachment of assets (plant and machinery) worth Rs 48 crore was made against the firm two days back. The total attachment in this case is now Rs 191 crore, ED said. The SBI first sent a complaint to the CBI in this matter. The ED office in Chennai issued a provisional order for attachment of the FDs under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency said it found that an amount of Rs 300 crore was sent by the firm to a jeweller’s account and there was allegedly “no evidence” of receipt of gold sale in lieu of the said payment...

New Delhi | Published: April 27, 2018 2:15:27 am The income Tax (I-T) department has seized Rs 14.48 crore in cash during raids at various locations across three states, including poll-bound Karnataka. The department was acting upon information received regarding “substantial bank transfers followed by big cash withdrawals”, a tax official said. The raids by the tax department come in the wake of cash crunch seen in various parts of the country. The total cash seized in these searches is Rs 14.48 crore and the seized currency is largely in the higher denominations of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500, officials said. Some searches were carried out against prominent PWD contractors in poll-bound Karnataka, who were awarded contracts during January-March this year. The searches carried out last week led to unearthing and seizure of Rs 6.76 crore in cash, mainly from the benami lockers detected during the operations, they said. Over a dozen contractors in Mysore and Bengaluru were covered...

The Indian Express April 27, 2018 The traditional difference between radicalism, extremism, militancy, terrorism and insurgency has blurred over a period of time. Assemblies or speeches preaching radicalism, extremism or militancy without violence are not a crime in the US. For long, the UK was accused of tolerating “non-violent extremism”. But these activities could be punishable in India. On the other hand, terrorism and insurgency are violent tactics employed by the first three categories for religious or political ends. A terrorist could be a foreigner or local. He does not care whether he gets local support or not. But the insurgent is always a local and needs local support as he is fighting for a local cause. This is because insurgency arises when a section of the local public starts supporting a cause against the mainstream, example being the Maoist uprising in India. Insurgency could also happen if the original idea is catalysed from outside the country’s borders, lik...

Rediff.com April 26, 2018 ' Donald Trump's presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation. We all bear responsibility for the deeply flawed choices put before voters during the 2016 election, and our country is paying a high price' 'Trump will do significant damage in the short term' 'It is wrong to stand idly by, or worse, to stay silent when you know better, while a president brazenly seeks to undermine public confidence in law enforcement institutions that were established to keep our leaders in check' James Comey, who was removed as Federal Bureua of Investigation chief by Donald Trump last year, has come out with a tell-all book in which he is highly critical of the US President, calling him "unethical and untethered to truth and institutional values" and saying he would do "significant damage". In "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership", Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from ...

Hindustan Times April 26, 2018 Mike Pompeo was on Thursday confirmed as the US secretary of state, with the Senate voting 57-42 in his favour. He succeeded Rex Tillerson, who had had a tumultuous tenure marked by clashes with President Donald Trump. The confirmation was a foregone conclusion in the Republican-dominated Senate after one Democratic senator pledged support for Pompeo earlier in the week, with two theirs also voting for him on Thursday. India had been watching the process closely as the confirmation will determine the timing for the first 2+2 dialogue between India and US’s foreign and defence ministers. The meet was supposed to take place in April but was postponed. However, the nomination had a rocky passage. Pompeo was questioned at length about remarks made by a blogger — and promoted by his campaign — about an Indian-origin political opponent. The blog in question had referred to Democrat Raj Goyle as “evil” and “just another turban-topper” during Pomp...