Modi-Mahmoud Abbas meet raises hope for captives’ kin

September 30, 2015

New Delhi, Sep 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas in New York before leaving for India on Tuesday.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the leaders discussed the issue of Indians being held hostage in Iraq. The meeting has raised the hopes of family members of the 39 Indians kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

The government had kept the family members informed of the Modi-Abbas meeting as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj herself briefed a delegation of the relatives on September 18 before the Prime Minister left for New York.

Ms. Swaraj had told the families that the Palestinian Authority provided her irrefutable proof that the hostages had not been physically harmed by the IS.

“Ms. Swaraj told us that the Indians are being held by the IS in the northern part of the city of Mosul and the IS is using them to move heavy loads across the city,” said Gurpinder Kaur, whose 24-year-old brother, Harjinder Singh, is among the captives.

Silence for long

Mr. Harjinder spoke to his family like others in his group on June 15, 2014, informing them of the kidnapping. Neither he nor others have contacted their families since. One of the kidnapped men, Harkit Singh, emerged last December to claim that the rest of the 39 were massacred by the terrorists in Iraq a few days after the ordeal began.

Ms. Kaur and other family members have formed a group which has been kept informed of the progress of the investigation by the Ministry.

She said Ms. Swaraj had promised them that Mr. Abbas would provide some proof of life to Mr. Modi. “We are therefore waiting to hear what the Palestinian President told the Indian Prime Minister.”

A high-level official in the Ministry told The Hindu that the meeting had not thrown up anything substantial. Reportedly, Mr. Modi reiterated India’s request for help from the Palestinians to bring the men back home. “We have asked them for help in locating the captives as we have asked Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and a host of other countries.”

“The President said the hostages were alive and will update us as and when there is more information,” Mr. Swarup said.

The meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Abbas comes in the wake of India’s increasing proximity to Israel and ahead of President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Israel next month.In an apparent effort to underscore India’s historical association with Palestine, Mr. Swarup tweeted pictures of the two leaders together, with the caption, ‘bonding with Palestine.’

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Rahul Gandhi Accuses Speaker of Running Lok Sabha ‘Undemocratically’

Agencies

March 26,2025

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that he was not being given a chance to speak in the House which was being run in a "non-democratic style", and said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had made "unsubstantiated" remarks about him.

Gandhi's remarks came after Birla asked him to follow the rules of procedure that members are expected to observe to uphold the dignity of the House. It was not immediately clear what was the reason for the Speaker to make the observation.

The former Congress president said the Speaker made remarks about him and then adjourned the House without giving him an opportunity to speak.

"The Speaker just got up and left. He did not allow me to speak a word. He was speaking about me, and I don't know what he said about me, all unsubstantiated. I said, 'let me speak as you have spoken about me', but he did not say a word and just left. He adjourned the House when there was no need of it," the former Congress president said.

About 70 Congress Lok Sabha MPs, including deputy leader of Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, party general secretary KC Venugopal and party's whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, met the Lok Sabha speaker and raised the "denial" of opportunity to Gandhi to speak in the House.

Speaking with reporters in Parliament House complex, Gandhi said there is a convention that the Leader of Opposition is allowed to speak, but whenever he gets up to speak, he is not allowed to speak.

"So, in what manner is this House being run? We are not being allowed to speak. I have not done anything, I was sitting quietly, I did not speak anything. In the last 7-8 days, I have not been allowed to speak," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

In a democracy, the opposition has a place, and the government has its own place but here there is no place for the opposition, he alleged.

Gandhi said he wanted to speak on Maha Kumbh last week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a statement on it but he was not allowed to speak.

"I wanted to state that it is good that Kumbh happened, and I wanted to speak about unemployment, but I was not allowed to speak. I don't know what thinking or approach does the Speaker have but the truth is we are not being allowed to speak. It (the House) is being run in a non-democratic style," Gandhi claimed.

Earlier, in his remarks, the Speaker said members are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the high standards and dignity of the House.

"Several instances have come to my notice where the conduct of members does not conform to the high standards," the Speaker said.

"In this House, father and daughter, mother and daughter, husband and wife have been members. In this context, I expect the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself in accordance with Rule 349 that deals with rules to be observed by members in the House," the Speaker said.

"Especially, it is expected of the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself as per the rules," the Speaker said.

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