Sporadic violence marks PFI bandh in Kerala against NIA, ED raids

News Network
September 23, 2022

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Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 23: A Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus was vandalised as sporadic incidents of violence were reported in various parts of Kerala as the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) was underway in the southern state on Friday.

In Thiruvananthapuram, one auto-rickshaw and a car were damaged allegedly by people supporting the state-wise bandh.

The hartal was called by the PFI to protest against the raids in the offices and residences of its leaders and their subsequent arrests on Thursday by the NIA and other agencies for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country, a charge rubbished by the outfit as a blatant lie. 

Local media reported that a petrol bomb was hurled at a vehicle which was carrying newspapers for distribution at Narayanpara in Kannur in the morning. In Alappuzha, KSRTC buses, a tanker lorry and some other vehicles got damaged in the stone pelting allegedly by those supporting the hartal call.

A 15-year-old girl and an auto-rickshaw driver suffered minor injuries in the stone pelting allegedly by PFI activists in Kozhikode and Kannur respectively. Meanwhile, Kerala police beefed up security in the state and issued directions to the district police chiefs to ensure law and order after the PFI called for a day-long state-wide hartal.

A statement issued by the police said stern action will be taken against those who violate the law. "All the policemen in the state will be deployed for the maintenance of law and order," the statement said. The PFI on Thursday had said a hartal will be observed in the state today "against the RSS-controlled fascist government's attempt to silence dissenting voices using the central agencies".

The hartal would be held from 6 am to 6 pm, A Abdul Sathar, state general secretary, PFI, had said in the statement.

On Thursday, PFI workers had taken out marches to the places where raids were carried out and raised slogans against the Centre and its investigating agencies. However, central forces were already deployed in all such places as part of strengthening security. Multi-agency teams spearheaded by the NIA had arrested 106 functionaries of the PFI on Thursday in near-simultaneous raids at 93 locations in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.

Kerala, where PFI has some strong pockets, accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests, officials said. PFI state president C P Mohammed Basheer, national chairman O M A Salam, national secretary Nasaruddin Elamaram, former chairman E Abubacker and others were among those arrested. 

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News Network
October 25,2024

Udupi, Oct 25: A team of police from Udupi apprehended a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) at Kannur International Airport, Kerala, after he had been absconding overseas since 2019. 

Ashmath Ali (35) originally arrested on charges of recording a video of unnatural acts, had been out on bail granted by the second ACJ and JMFC court of Udupi on September 6, 2019.

Despite 18 arrest warrants issued in his name, Ali managed to evade authorities for years, frequently traveling abroad. 

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths from Kaup police station intercepted him as he landed at Kannur International Airport on October 21, marking the end of his prolonged evasion from Indian law enforcement. 

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News Network
October 21,2024

Mangaluru: The MLC by-election for the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities Constituency commenced at 8 AM on Monday, with voting set to continue until 4 PM. A total of 392 polling booths have been established across the two districts, which form the constituency.

The constituency has 6,032 eligible voters, including 3,127 women. Early reports indicated brisk voting at the Mangaluru City Corporation polling booth, where corporators were seen patiently standing in line in the morning.

In a unique moment, Sharath, a gram panchayat member from Kokkada, cast his vote at Kokkada Gram Panchayat before heading to his wedding ceremony.

The constituency features 53 sensitive polling booths. Eligible voters include members of gram panchayats, corporators from Mangaluru City Corporation, city and town municipal councils, town panchayats, MLAs, MLCs, and Lok Sabha members representing the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

Notably, Byndoor MLA Gururaj Gantihole and MLC Prathap Simha Nayak, who do not represent local bodies, were left out of the voters' list. According to electoral rules, only those MLAs, MLCs, and MPs who represent city corporations, municipalities, town panchayats, taluk panchayats, or zilla panchayats are granted voting rights in the MLC elections for the Local Authorities’ Constituency.

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News Network
October 27,2024

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The Israeli regime’s forces have carried out intense bombing raids against six buildings in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people.

Dozens more were also wounded after the raids targeted the structures, including a house belonging to a Palestinian family named as Abu Shidiq, on Saturday.

The attacks came as the severity of the regime’s aggression has forced the Palestinian Civil Defense to cease its activities in the northern side of the coastal sliver, leaving civilians there to their own devices.

Commenting on the situation, Director-General of the Gaza Health Ministry, Medhat Abbas said more than 900 Palestinians had been killed over the past weeks during the Israeli campaign that has targeted the northern areas.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning hospital in the north, has been a special focus of the campaign that has either killed all of the facility’s doctors or forced them to flee, with the exception of three physicians, who remain there, he added.

“The occupation is committing genocide by destroying the health system in Gaza,” Abbas noted.

The regime embarked on implementing a so-called “Generals’ Plan” in northern Gaza earlier in the month, deploying hundreds of military vehicles and thousands of forces with immense firepower towards its realization.

The plan seeks to tighten the regime’s siege against the areas, cut off humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians inside, and label those who remain there as combatants so it could target and kill them after declaring the areas "closed military zones.”

The plan is part of a genocidal war that the regime launched against the Gaza Strip last October, during which it has killed more than 42,924 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded another 100,833.

Also on Saturday, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group, called on the United States, the regime’s biggest supporter, to stop the “systematic extermination of an entire population” in Gaza.

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