A day after India called for the human rights of the people of the Xinjiang in China to be “respected and guaranteed”, Beijing on Saturday defended its policies in the region and said issues there were “not related to human rights” but about “countering violent terrorism, radicalisation, and separatism”.
India was among the countries that did not vote in favour of a West-led United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) draft resolution on Xinjiang that failed to pass this week.
Explaining why New Delhi abstained on the vote, the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday cited India’s long-held view that “country-specific resolutions are never helpful”, but at the same time also called for “he human rights of the people of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region [to] be respected and guaranteed.”
“We hope that the relevant party will address the situation objectively and properly,” the Ministry’s spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had “noted” reports on India’s abstention as well as the MEA’s statement.
“I want to stress that the issues related to Xinjiang are not related to human rights and are about countering violent terrorism, radicalisation, and separatism,” Ms. Mao said. “Thanks to strenuous efforts, there was no violent terrorist incident in Xinjiang for over five consecutive years.”
She said the UNHRC vote in its favour had affirmed China’s position. “The voting results at the UNHRC reflect the position of the international community, especially of developing countries, in firmly rejecting the politicisation of the human rights issues,” she said.
India said it had also taken note of concerns expressed by a recent report of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) which said China’s “arbitrary detention” of Uighurs may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Beijing slammed the report and blamed Western interference. China initially denied the mass detention of Uighurs in “re-education” camps, but later claimed the vast network of centres in Xinjiang were for “vocational training”.
3 killed, key Russian supply route damaged in Crimea bridge blast
An explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, damaging a key supply artery for the Kremlin's war in southern Ukraine. Three people were killed in the blast, Russian authorities said.
Flame and smoke rise fron Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait in Kerch, Crimea on October 8, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP
The speaker of Crimea's Kremlin-backed regional parliament immediately accused Ukraine, though Moscow didn't apportion blame. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge and some lauded the attack, but Kyiv stopped short of claiming responsibility.
Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that a truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in a “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.”
A man and a woman who were riding in a vehicle across the bridge were killed by the explosion and their bodies were recovered, Russia's Investigative Committee said. It didn't provide details on the third victim.
The 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov opened in 2018 and is the longest in Europe. The $3.6 billion project is a tangible symbol of Moscow's claims on Crimea and has provided an essential link to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The peninsula holds symbolic value for Russia and is key to sustaining its military operations in the south of Ukraine.
If the bridge were made inoperable, it would make it significantly more challenging to ferry supplies to Crimea. While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early on during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them.
CBI charge sheet against Lalu Prasad, family | There’s nothing in the case, says Nitish Kumar
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar defended alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his family members after the CBI filed a charge sheet against 16 accused persons, including Prasad and his family members, in alleged land-for-job scam.
“I’ve seen everything. There is nothing in the case. It happened only because we’ve (JD-U and RJD) come together again. What happened five years ago...they found nothing but they do whatever they feel like, what can we do?”, he said, when asked about the CBI’s charge sheet against Lalu Prasad.
The CBI on September 7 had filed a charge sheet against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, their daughter Misa Bharti and 13 others in the land-for-job scam. The CBI had filed an FIR in the case on May 18.
Lalu Prasad and his family members are accused of getting more than one lakh square feet of land allegedly by those who sought jobs in railways.
Further, Nitish Kumar also expressed unhappiness over Patna High Court calling the Urban Local body elections in Bihar “illegal”.
The High Court recently had said that the polls would be held “only after re-notifying the seats reserved as those of general category”.
“It is very sad that Urban local body polls are not held. But it was in practice since 1978 and I had included Extremely Backward Classes too in the reserved category in 2006 and then BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was the State’s Deputy Chief Minister”, Nitish Kumar said.
“BJP do not want reservation for backward people”, he added. JD(U) is likely to challenge the Patna High Court Order in apex court early next week.
When asked about poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s claim that he was offered to lead the JD(U), Kumar said, “I didn’t call him, he had come on his own”.
“It’s false. Let him speak whatever he wants, we’ve nothing to do with it. Once he told me to merge my party with the Congress” he further said, throwing guffaw on his face. “He has now gone to the BJP and is acting on their behalf”, he added.
Kishor joined the JD(U) as national vice-president in 2018 and Kumar had introduced him before media persons as “future of Bihar”. However, later, he was expelled from the party over issues of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Pharma exporters body suspends membership of Maiden Pharmaceuticals
Pharma exporters body Pharmexcil has suspended the membership of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the Delhi-based drugmaker facing a probe after the World Health Organization red-flagged four products following the death of 66 children in the West African country of Gambia.
Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India Director General Ravi Udaya Bhaskar said that the membership of Maiden Pharmaceuticals is being suspended with immediate effect as the Council hadnot received any input or report on the adverse events from the company.
On October 6, Pharmexcil had sought details of licensees and importers to whom the drugs were supplied as well as the manufacturing licence copies and product permissions of the products from Maiden. Failure to provide the information will result in the company’s registration cum membership certificate (RCMC) getting suspended without further notice, it had said, setting October 7 as deadline for the responses.
Additionally, the exporters body under the Union Commerce Ministry had advised the firm to investigate reasons of the serious adverse events and update with findings “at the earliest to take necessary further action.”
Close on the heels of the WHO medical product alert, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) launched an investigation. It also sought more information from the WHO, which named the firm as manufacturer of the four cold and cough syrup formulations potentially linked to acute kidney injury and death of the children.
CDSCO took up the matter immediately with Haryana State Regulatory Authority, under whose jurisdiction the drug manufacturing unit of Maiden is located. A detailed investigation was launched to ascertain facts/ details in the matter in collaboration with the State Drugs Controller, Haryana, the Union Health Ministry had said.
Be it Adani, Ambani or Jay Shah, we welcome all: Rajasthan CM Gehlot
Condemning the BJP for mocking the Congress after he lavished praise on industrialist Gautam Adani during the Invest Rajasthan summit, CM Ashok Gehlot said it was not a private programme and 3,000 delegates attended it.
Be it Adani or Union Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, Rajasthan will welcome all because it wants investment and employment, Gehlot said.
"It is not a private event, it is an investors' summit. Are 3,000 delegates (who attended the summit) of the Congress?" he asked, saying their ideologies could be that of the Congress or the BJP.
"In such a situation, why do they want to create a hurdle? I condemn these people. They talked about Gautam Adani yesterday (Friday). Be it Gautam Adani or any Adani, or Ambani or Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, we will welcome all of them here. We want employment, we want investment," he said.
Adani announced plans to invest ₹65,000 crore in Rajasthan over the next five to seven years, including the setting up of a 10,000-MW solar power facility, expansion of a cement plant, and upgradation of the Jaipur International Airport.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, to a question about Adani’s investment in Rajasthan, said he was not against corporates or any business, but opposed monopolisation of Indian businesses and concentration of capital. “No chief minister can refuse it. It would be wrong to refuse investment. However, the government has not used political power for the investment. If the state government does that, I will stand against it,” he said.
In Brief:
The New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express was taken out of operation after it suffered a snag in a traction motor that jammed its wheels and damaged their perfect roundness, a situation officials described as ”flat tyre”. The semi-high speed train left New Delhi station at its scheduled time of 06.00 a.m. but it had to be withdrawn at Khurja station in Uttar Pradesh, just after travelling about 90 km. All the 1,068 passengers had to be shifted to a Shatabdi Express train brought from Delhi for their onward journey, which resumed around 12.40 p.m. Earlier, the newly launched Gandhinagar-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express ran into cattle herds on Thursday and Friday, damaging the nose of the train on both days.
