I object to using of term Hindu terror or saffron terror: Rajiv Mehrishi

DHNS

August 30, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 30: Outgoing Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi on Wednesday objected to linking religion with terrorism, saying there is no colour to terror and it is not right to describe it as "saffron" or any other colour.

Mehrishi, who will demit office on Thursday, also said Pakistan was fomenting trouble in Jammu and Kashmir but dismissed the theory that Kashmiris feel alienated as a "concept of Delhi media".

Mehrishi, who was appointed two years ago as Home Secretary, will be succeeded by senior IAS officer Rajiv Gauba.

It is speculated that Mehrishi may be given a post retirement job and will be appointed as Election Commissioner. There were also talk about him being appointed as Jammu and Kashmir Governor but he dismissed such speculation, saying he is headed to his home in Jaipur on Thursday.

Describing that there is no colour to terrorism, the 62-year-old bureaucrat said, "I object to using of term Hindu terror or saffron terror. There is no colour to terror."

Questions were posed to him following the Supreme Court granting bail to Col Srikant Purohit, an accused in Malegaon blast case that is described as a Hindutva terror case.

Mehrishi said it is for the courts to decide on whether the accused are innocent or guilty. "Terror is a terror. You can't connect it to any religion. No religion allows terrorism. Those who indulge in terrorism in the name of religion is only bringing a bad name to religion."

On Kashmir, he said more than 90% of Kashmiris want peace and progress and they have same aspirations as any other person in the country. "The view that the Kashmiris are alienated is a concept of Delhi media. We have problems in Kashmir due to Pakistan and radicalisation and terrorism are problems to be addressed," Mehrishi said.

He said the government can talk with Kashmiri separatists only if there is no pre-condition.

Mehrishi also felt that the probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on terror funding had an effect on those financing the subversive activities.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Waqf land: Karnataka govt warns action against officials issuing eviction notice to farmers

News Network

November 10,2024

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.

In a letter, the Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria reminded all regional commissioners and deputy commissioners in the districts that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently had a meeting following complaints about certain land properties being made in favour of the Karnataka Board of Waqfs.

In the meeting it was decided that all the directions issued previously by any government office or authority to change the mutation records has been withdrawn, the letter said.

It added that all the notices served in the past have also been withdrawn and no action should be taken against the farmers who are cultivating on the said land.

On the directions of the chief minister, the previous letters and the latest reminders served on November 7 to the farmers and land owners have been withdraw, the letter said.

"The officials who served reminder-2 despite the chief minister's direction will face appropriate disciplinary action," Kataria said in his letter.

He said he has been instructed to strictly implement the chief minister's direction.

The fresh direction was issued in poll-bound Karnataka, where bypolls to three crucial assembly segments are due on November 13.

Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged last month that they were served eviction notices as the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.

Subsequently, complaints started in pouring in from some other parts of the state.

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on October 25 alleged that Karnataka Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan directed the deputy commissioners and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days, which resulted in confusion.

On Surya's request, the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal visited Karnataka on November 7 and met farmers in Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts who had alleged that their lands were marked as Waqf properties.

Comments