
DK Shivakumar's cryptic 'fighting for chair' remark amid tussle with Siddaramaiah
On Thursday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismissed rumours of his replacement following his meeting with Congress national general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala."Surjewala has clearly said there is no change in the leadership. The leadership issue is not in the discussion. When he said this, why is there speculation? He is in charge of Karnataka, and when he has said there should not be any speculation, the media is still speculating. There is no discussion about this within the party," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Bengaluru.Shivakumar, who also returned from Delhi, refused to comment further, saying that Siddaramaiah had already cleared any confusion by conveying the Congress High Command's decision regarding the future of Karnataka's leadership.Last month, in a joint show of unity, Siddaramaiah, with his deputy Shivakumar by his side, told reporters, 'We are both on good terms, no matter who says what.' - EndsTune InMust Watch
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Mint
23 minutes ago
- Mint
Who's the ‘Grand Mufti of India', Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad? What's his role in deferring Nimisha Priya's execution in Yemen?
Influential Muslim cleric Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar has emerged as a key figure in ensuring the deferment of the scheduled execution of the Indian nurse in Yemen. The 94-year-old Musliyar, who is officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad and is revered as 'Grand Mufti of India,' held talks with religious authorities in Yemen, who were in contact with the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the Yemeni national she allegedly killed in 2017. Nimisha Priya, the nurse from Kerala, was scheduled to be executed on July 16 for the murder of Mahdi, her Yemeni business partner. Now the execution has been delayed. Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad made last-minute efforts to halt the execution of the Kerala nurse, with support from a Yemeni Sufi scholar, according to news agencies. He said that his intervention, at the request of Congress leader Chandy Oommen, has led to halting of the scheduled execution of Nimisha Priya. Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP from Kerala's Thiruvanananthapuram, hailed the role played by the Mufti. "Kerala is praying unitedly for his efforts to be successful. Honourable Kanthapuram Ustad has shown us that humanity is the most important in today's era where there are attempts to divide humans and cultivate hatred and hatred in the name of religion and community," Tharor wrote in a post on Facebook. Musliyar, whose official name is Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, is based in Kerala, the home state of 37-year-old Nimisha Priya. He is a revered figure among the Sunni Muslims, not just India but across South Asia. Widely known as the 'Grand Mufti of India', the title is not official. In Islam, a Mufti is a Muslim scholar who is qualified to issue legal opinions (fatwas) on matters of Islamic law (Sharia). They act as interpreters of Islamic law, providing guidance on religious and personal matters. The term "Grand Mufti" often refers to the highest-ranking mufti in a region or country, like the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. There is no official Grand Mufti in India. Abubakr, the general secretary of All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama, was, however, conferred the 'Grand Mufti of India' title in February 2019 at the Gareeb Nawaz Peace Conference held at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi, organised by the All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam. Born in Kozhikode, Abubakr is chairman of the Markaz Knowledge City project, a private integrated township in his hometown. The project has medical and law colleges, as well as a cultural centre. Abubakr was also in the news earlier. He opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act but was criticised within the community for his stand against women protesting against the CAA. He met both the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah in March 2020 and urged them to amend the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens to remove religion from the list of eligibility criteria for citizenship Abubakr also appealed to the Muslim community to welcome the Supreme Court verdict on Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi issue. Sources said negotiations regarding blood money have taken place, and the details were conveyed to the concerned parties in Kerala. However, there has been no official communication regarding the status of the negotiations. "Islam has another law. If the murderer is sentenced to death, the family of the victim has the right to pardon. I don't know who this family is, but from a long distance, I contacted the responsible scholars in Yemen,' he told news agency ANI. 'I made them understand the issues. Islam is a religion that places a lot of importance on humanity,' he added. Under Shariah law, as applied in Yemen, blood money is a legally recognised financial compensation paid to the family of a person who has been killed. It is a legally sanctioned alternative to capital punishment in Islamic jurisprudence. 'After I requested that they intervene and take action, the scholars (in Yemen) met, discussed, and stated that they would do what they could. They have officially informed us and sent a document stating that the date of execution has been postponed, which will help facilitate the ongoing discussions," he said. Meanwhile, sources said that an office has been opened at Musliyar's headquarters here to facilitate the negotiations. Nimisha Priya, hailing from Palakkad district, was sentenced to death in 2020, and her final appeal was rejected in 2023. She is currently imprisoned in a jail in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. Centre informed the Supreme Court that the government could do "nothing much" in the case of the nurse facing execution on July 16. Attorney General R Venkataramani informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the government was doing "utmost possible". Islam is a religion that places a lot of importance on humanity. "The Government of India is trying its best," Venkataramani said, "and has also engaged with some sheikhs who are very influential people there."


Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Trump administration fires 17 immigration court judges across ten states, union says
Seventeen immigration court judges have been fired in recent days, according to the union that represents them, as the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportations of immigrants in the country. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration court judges as well as other professionals, said in a news release that 15 judges were fired 'without cause' on Friday and another two on Monday. The union said they were working in courts in 10 different states across the country — California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia. 'It's outrageous and against the public interest that at the same time Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause,' said the union's President Matt Biggs. 'This is nonsensical. The answer is to stop firing and start hiring.' The firings come as the courts have been increasingly at the center of the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement efforts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arresting immigrants as they appear at court for proceedings. A spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is the part of the Justice Department that oversees the courts, said in an email that the office would not comment on the firings. The large-scale arrests began in May and have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants appearing in court. In what has become a familiar scene, a judge will grant a government lawyer's request to dismiss deportation proceedings against an immigrant. Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are waiting in the hallway to arrest the person and put them on a fast track to deportation as soon as he or she leaves the courtroom. Immigration court judges are also dealing with a massive backlog of roughly 3.5 million cases that ballooned in recent years. Cases can take years to weave their way to a final determination, with judges and lawyers frequently scheduling final hearings on the merits of a case over a year out. Unlike criminal courts, the government isn't required to provide lawyers to everyone going through immigration courts; immigrants can hire their own lawyer but if they can't afford one they represent themselves — often using an interpreter to make their case. Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois alleged that one of the judges fired was essentially being punished for talking to him during a visit the senator made a few weeks ago to the Chicago Immigration Court. In a news release Tuesday, Durbin said the judge 'took time to show me the court and explain its functions.' He said after the visit, the judge received an email from the Justice Department telling her that all communications with congressional offices should be routed through headquarters and that immigration judges shouldn't be talking directly with members of Congress. 'Her abrupt termination is an abuse of power by the Administration to punish a non-political judge simply for doing her job,' said Durbin, who's the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Under recently passed legislation that will use $170 billion to supercharge immigration enforcement, the courts are set to get an infusion of $3.3 billion. That will go toward raising the number of judges to 800 and hiring more staff to support them. But the union said that since the Trump administration took office over 103 judges have either been fired or voluntarily left after taking what was dubbed the 'Fork in the Road' offers at the beginning of the administration. The union said that rather than speeding up the immigration court process, the Justice Department's firings would actually make the backlogs worse. The union said that it can take as long as a year to recruit, hire and train new immigration court judges. There are currently about 600 judges, according to the union figures. Immigration courts fall under the Justice Department.


New Indian Express
37 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
J&K students association asks Karnataka CM to intervene
BENGALURU: The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, seeking immediate action over an alleged case of religious discrimination at Sri Soubhagya Lalitha College of Nursing in Banashankari, affiliated with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS). According to the association, several Kashmiri female students have been barred from attending classes for wearing the hijab or burkha. In a letter to the CM on Tuesday, the JKSA alleged that the students have faced repeated harassment over several days, being denied entry into classrooms and practical sessions and threatened with expulsion if they continued to wear their religious attire. Nasir Khuehami, National Convenor of the JKSA, stated that the college chairman ordered hijab-wearing students to leave immediately. When questioned the directive, they said, 'This is our college; only our rules apply.' The chairman and principal allegedly warned the students that further defiance could result in termination and withholding of academic records.