Tanzil Ahmed: a friendly neighbour, devout Muslim

Mohammed Tanzil Ahmed was always more a friendly neighbour than a cop for them but the timing of and circumstances surrounding the NIA official’s death earned him the title “martyr” from the residents of Shaheen Bagh.

It is in this area where the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)-rank officer spent the last two decades of his life which was suddenly cut short in the early hours of Sunday.

In one voice — distant relatives, friends and neighbours who had gathered to pay their last respects — rejected the possibility of the death being the outcome of anything other that the enemies he had made in the line of his work, including the high-profile Pathankot airbase attack.

Mehboob Alam, another neighbour, said Mr. Ahmed would speak to him but had never mentioned if there was any reason for him to feel insecure and the death came as a shock for them. Acquaintances also described Mr. Ahmed as a devout Muslim who never missed his prayers. And his burial procession began exactly as the muezzin from the local mosque raised the azaan for the evening prayers.

Amid protests over his delayed arrival for the State funeral, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a compensation of Rs. 1 crore and other welfare measures for Mr. Ahmed’s family. While senior officers from the NIA attended the funeral, many pointed out that no Union Minister had attended the funeral.

Mr. Ahmed was laid to rest amidst chants of ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ and ‘Jai Hind.’

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GST will happen soon, Modi tells entrepreneurs in Saudi

Highlighting fast-evolving bilateral priorities, India and Saudi Arabia on Sunday agreed to diversify more bilateral trade and investment into the non-oil sector.

In a bid to boost confidence of Saudi investors in India’s economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a select group of Saudi entrepreneurs in Riyadh during the last day of his visit that India will increase ease of doing business and bring in the long awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“Don’t worry....GST will happen. I cannot give a timeframe, but it will happen. It was our commitment and it will happen,” Mr. Modi said.

He also said that India has a stable tax regime and his government has successfully removed the retrospective taxation policy creating ease of doing business.

“Retrospective tax is a matter of the past. My government will continue to work towards establishment of a predictable long-term taxation regime,” the Prime Minister said, highlighting his commitment to a more congenial business climate in India.

To boost the non-oil sector trade, there was agreement on a Framework for Investment Promotion Cooperation between Invest India and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).

The assertion of India and Saudi Arabia on Sunday to boost counter-terrorism cooperation was made after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wide-ranging talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and delegationlevel parleys between the two sides following which five agreements were signed including one on cooperation in the exchange of intelligence related to money laundering and terror financing.

A joint statement issued after the talks called on states to cut off any kind of support and financing to terrorists operating and perpetrating terrorism from their territories against other states and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice.

The strong views by Saudi Arabia, an ally of Pakistan and one of the most influential countries in the Gulf region, is seen as an unprecedented political endorsement of New Delhi’s concerns over terrorism, extremism and radicalisation. That apart, four other bilateral agreements were signed focused on financial intelligence, handicrafts, labour cooperation and technical cooperation between the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Saudi Standards, Meteorology and Quality Organisation.

Apart from the agreements, the bilateral Joint Statement issued at the end of the visit highlighted that both sides are willing to coordinate efforts on countering international terror networks.

While Saudi Arabia briefed India about the grand coalition that it has formed with three dozen predominantly Sunni-majority countries, both sides also agreed to work jointly at the level of the United Nations to deal with terror sponsors.

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Dadri tense as accused demand forensic report

Amid the demands from Dadri village to release the 18 accused, who have been charged with lynching Mohammad Akhlaq, his family on Sunday alleged that the forensic report of the meat recovered from their house might be manipulated to justify the lynching that shook the country.

Family members told The Hindu that they were “apprehensive” about the possibility of the forensic report being tampered with because the “Hindutva brigade was looking for an alibi and a justification for Akhlak's lynching”. The family pointed to a “well-planned conspiracy” in the way the forensic report was being sought by the accused just before the mammoth “Mahapanchayat” of 144 villages, scheduled for mid-April.

Talking to this correspondent, Akhlaq's brother Mohammad Jameel said an atmosphere was being prepared to find justification for the manner in which lynching took place.

“We have enough reasons to be apprehensive about the possibility of the forensic report being manipulated to justify Akhlaq's lynching and then further use that report to communally vitiate the environment of the region before the U.P Assembly polls. In the proposed mahapanchayat of 144 villages, I can see an echo of the mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar and how that played a crucial role in polarising the entire State,” he said.

No Holi celebration
Dadri village of Bishahra has been tense since last week when the villagers did not celebrate Holi as a mark of protest against the “one-sided action” by the administration in the case. As the resentment grew over the arrest of 18 youths of Bishahra, villagers intensified their protest demanding a CBI enquiry in the case and release of the accused of Akhlaq's lynching till the completion of the CBI enquiry. They also demanded the forensic report be made public and action be taken against Akhlaq's family for alleged cow slaughter.

Eighteen people from the village, including Vishal Rana, son of the local BJP leader Sanjay Rana and his nephew Shivam, were arrested on charges of murder and assault. It has been six months since Mohammad Akhlaq, 52-year-old resident of the village was lynched by a village mob and his son Danish critically injured at their house, some thirty kilometers away from the national capital in Bishahra village in Dadri subdivision of Gautam Buddh Nagar district in U.P. Danish, who was still recovering from the serious brain injury he suffered in the assault by the village mob which lynched his father, said PAC personnel were deployed in the village “since fresh attempts were made to bring back Dadri in the discourse in a twisted manner and use that to polarise the area.”

“We are extremely disturbed at the way a section of villagers and the accused families have suddenly changed the narrative from murder to alleged cow slaughter. The families of the accused never mentioned the forensic report till now in the case which is that of murder. How come they want it now just before the Mahapanchayat?” asked Danish.

It is important to mention here that the preliminary investigation by veterinary doctors concluded that the meat recovered from Akhlaq's house on the night he was lynched belonged to “goat progeny”. Later, the meat was sent to the forensic lab in Agra for detailed examination.

Last week the local court in Greater Noida asked the police to submit the forensic report in the court on April 7 after the lawyer of the accused objected to the framing of charges against them and asked the police to provide all the documents required to frame the charges. The Deputy Superintendent of Police Anurag Singh said the report would be presented in the court once the police got it. However, Mr Singh also reiterated that the forensic report had no role to play in the ongoing case which was about murder and not cow slaughter.

“We have filed the charge sheet against 18 accused and have time and again clarified that the forensic report remained irrelevant to the case which is about murder and assault and not that of cow slaughter,” he said.

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Cigarette makers threaten to halt production

India’s key tobacco manufacturers have threatened to halt production claiming “ambiguity” over the government’s policy on health warnings displayed on tobacco packs.

The Tobacco Institute of India (TII), a lobby group that represents 98% of India's cigarette industry, said in a statement that they have “unanimously decided to shut all their cigarette factories with effect from April 1 owing to ambiguity on the policy related to revision of Graphic Health Warnings on tobacco product packs.”

However, a spokesperson for ITC, a conglomerate and among India’s biggest cigarette manufacturers, didn’t confirm if ITC would cease production over the weekend. “We wouldn’t like to say anything beyond what the TII has stated,” Nazeeb Arif, Executive vice person, ITC, told The Hindu.

April 1st was to be the day when cigarette manufactures were to ensure that 85% of the surface area of their cigarette packages be covered with warnings on the harm posed by consuming tobacco. However a parliamentary panel, that controversially involved members from the tobacco industry, had said last month that these stipulations were “too harsh.”

That 15-member committee also recommended that pictorial warnings be restricted to only 50 per cent on both the sides of the cigarette packets and in the case of bidis, chewing tobacco and other tobacco products, the warning be restricted 50 per cent of the display area and on only one side of the packet.

The Health Ministry, in the wake of this, confirmed to the Rajasthan High Court that the stricter 85%-ruling would continue to hold. The TII has said ceasing production would mean a daily loss of Rs.350 crore for the tobacco industry and that “the extreme 85% Warnings will promote illegal cigarette trade and adversely affect the livelihood of 45.7 million people dependent on tobacco which included farmers, labour and workers.”

Earlier this week, public health professionals told The Hindu that there ought to be no dilution of the Health Ministry’s stipulations. Monika Arora, Director of Public Health Foundation of India and a leading anti-tobacco member of the Health Ministry’s Technical and Expert Committees on tobacco control said that “there should be no dilution of the commitments India has made”. India’s public health community has spoken strongly against what was contended as weak evidence linking tobacco and cancer, she added.

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Despite military opposition, bill to give Suu Kyi a powerful government role gets parliament nod

Myanmar’s upper house of parliament approved a bill on Friday that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a powerful government role, despite opposition from the military on the second day of her party’s new administration.

The bill creates the post of state counsellor and would allow the Nobel laureate to coordinate Ministers and influence the executive.

It would help Ms. Suu Kyi circumvent a constitution written under the former junta that prevents her leading the country because her two sons are not Myanmar citizens.

Ms. Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest because of her push for democracy, has described those constitutional provisions as “silly” and said she would rule regardless after she led her National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide election victory in November.

Members of parliament from the military — who under the constitution hold a quarter of seats — opposed the NLD bill, describing it as unconstitutional. They said the state counsellor position concentrated too much power in the hands of one person and lacked checks and balances.

“The provisions in the bill are tantamount to meaning the state counsellor is equal to the president, which is contrary to the constitution,” said Colonel Myint Swe, a military member of the upper house.

Some lawmakers suggested the Constitutional Tribunal should decide on the bill.

Despite military resistance, the bill passed and moved to the lower house for debate on Monday. The NLD has a majority in both houses so does not need military approval to pass bills.

Ms. Suu Kyi’s party would need military approval to change the constitution: amendments require support of more than 75 per cent of lawmakers.

First of many confrontations

The Constitution is the main bone of contention between Ms. Suu Kyi and the military, whose commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, on Sunday stressed the need for the armed forces to remain a force in politics and warned against amending the charter quickly.

Some NLD lawmakers said the tussle over the state counsellor post would be the first of many between the military members of parliament and the government that took office on Wednesday.

“There will be confrontations between the NLD and military MPs in future,” said Thiri Yadana, an upper house NLD lawmaker. "They have to agree to amend the Constitution.”

The role of state counsellor will add to the list of Ms. Suu Kyi’s jobs — she is already Foreign Minister, Education Minister, Energy Minister, and Minister of the President’s office — and has renewed questions about her willingness to delegate power.

“It will be extremely hard to carry out these roles,” said Richard Horsey, an independent political analyst in Yangon. “The sheer number of people that will want to meet with her will be difficult to manage.”

She has a thin bench of experienced politicians. Her party fought for democracy for more than quarter of a century, but its members are novices in government.

NLD official Win Htein said Ms. Suu Kyi’s roles would not be a burden and the counsellor position would allow her to “work more effectively".

The energy portfolio gives Ms. Suu Kyi oversight of oil and gas production, as well as responsibility for a decision on the $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam project, suspended in 2011. China has invested heavily in it and is keen to see it proceed.

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Trump doesn’t know much about foreign policy: Obama

US President Barack Obama has questioned Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s foreign policy credentials, saying he doesn’t “know much” about the world.

“They tell us the person who made the statements doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally,” Mr. Obama told reporters on Friday at the conclusion of nuclear security summit in Washington.

He said Mr. Trump’s recent statements on U.S. foreign policy, that has unnerved the national security establishment, came up during his interaction with world leaders.

“I’ve said before that people pay attention to American elections. What we do is really important to the rest of the world.

“Even in those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics, want sobriety and clarity when it comes to US elections,” Mr. Obama said.

“They understand President of the United States needs to know what’s going on around the world and has to put in place the kinds of policies that lead not only to our security and prosperity, but will have an impact on everybody else’s security and prosperity,” he added.

Earlier, Mr. Trump had favoured countries like Japan and South Korea developing their own nuclear weapons capabilities to defend themselves rather than the U.S. protecting them.

“America’s alliance with Japan and South Korea is one of the cornerstones of US presence in the Asia- Pacific region.

It is underwritten, the peace and prosperity of that region and has been an enormous boom to American commerce and American influence,” the U.S. President said.

Mr. Obama said it has prevented the possibilities of a nuclear escalation in conflict between countries that in the past and throughout history have been engaged in hugely destructive conflicts and controversies.

He called foreign policies with countries like Japan and South Korea an investment that rests on the sacrifices that American men and women made back in World War II.

“We don’t want somebody in the Oval Office who doesn’t recognize how important that it is,” Mr. Obama said.

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Obama, Xi vow to sign Paris accord

U.S. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China said on Thursday that they would sign the Paris Agreement on climate change on April 22, the first day the UN accord will be open for government signatures.

Officials cast the announcement as a statement of joint resolve by the world’s two largest greenhouse gas polluters, even though there are doubts about whether the U.S. can meet its obligations under the agreement.

In February, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked an Obama administration regulation to curb greenhouse gas pollution from power plants, the centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s climate change policy and the major way for the administration to meet its targets under the Paris accord.

The two world leaders made the announcement on the sidelines of a nuclear security meeting in Washington.

“Our cooperation and our joint statements were critical in arriving at the Paris agreement, and our two countries have agreed that we will not only sign the agreement on the first day possible, but we’re committing to formally join it as soon as possible this year,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where he was meeting with Mr. Xi at the nuclear gathering.

Mr. Obama, who spoke across a table from Mr. Xi, added: “And we urge other countries to do the same.”

Mr. Xi, speaking through an interpreter, said: “As the two biggest economies, China and the U.S. have a responsibility to work together.”

The Paris Agreement, reached in December, is the first global accord to commit nearly every nation to take domestic actions to tackle climate change.

To promote the accord, Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, planned the signing ceremony for April 22, Earth Day, although world leaders will have a year afterward to sign. The announcement by Mr. Obama and Mr. Xi is intended to push other countries to sign on, particularly since diplomats say the Supreme Court order has caused some countries to question American climate policy and might cause them to refuse or hesitate to sign the accord.

The Paris Agreement will enter into legal force only when enough countries have signed on: together they have to be responsible for causing 55 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Because of the Supreme Court stay, the regulation curbing greenhouse gas emissions will not be put in place until legal challenges by 29 states and several business organisations have been resolved, which is unlikely to happen before next year. The regulation would help the U.S. cut greenhouse gas emissions between 26 and 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.

Chinese energy experts said China’s pledge to sign the accord was independent of the status of American climate policy.

“The understanding is that China is doing this for its own sake,” said Ranping Song, an expert on China’s climate change policies with the World Resources Institute, a Washington research organisation. “It’s good for their environment; it’s good for their economy.”

Mr. Xi’s administration has endorsed an aggressive expansion of renewable energy sources in China. The country’s latest five-year economic plan calls for the country to generate 15 per cent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020.

Combined, the U.S. and China account for about 40 per cent of global emissions.

Mr. Ban has invited world leaders to come to New York for the April signing ceremony, which he hopes will represent the largest single joint signing of a major global accord in history.

“The most important thing is how many signatures we get on that day,” said Laurence Tubiana, France’s chief climate change envoy to the UN.

In the U.S., enactment of Mr. Obama’s climate change commitments under the Paris deal will ultimately fall to the next President.

But that fact also worries some climate diplomats as they watch the 2016 presidential campaign from afar. Although the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, has pledged to enact and strengthen the Paris Agreement, on the Republican side, both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have questioned or denied the science of human-caused climate change.

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