Human Rights

New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI) Some civil society groups launched a campaign in several states on Saturday to ensure issues such as unemployment, agrarian crisis and sluggish economy are discussed in the run-up to the parliamentary election.

The campaign, titled 'Desh Mera, Vote Mera, Mudda Mera' (my country, my vote and my issues), was launched on the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh.

22 Mar 2019; DW: A United Nations report found Israel's shooting of demonstrators could amount to crimes against humanity. The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Israeli accountability, but the European vote was divided.

The United Nations will step up the presence of monitors in Gaza after its human rights body said Israel's shootings of Palestinians could be deemed crimes against humanity. 

UNITED NATIONS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian envoy said Friday that the Syrian Golan will always remain an Arab Syrian territory, reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise tweet that the United States would recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Srinagar, 23 Mar 2019; A Kashmiri separatist by Indian security forces on Friday in an alleged in Shopian district of the Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

According to a PTI report; the Indian security forces have alleged that a cordon and search operation in Imamsahib area of Shopian in south Kashmir following information about presence of Kashmiri separatist there, an Indian army official said.

New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) The Yasin Malik-led Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) was banned on Friday for "promoting" secession of the militancy-hit state from the Union of India, officials said here.

Banning the outfit under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after a high-level meeting on security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said the Centre is of the opinion that the JKLF is "in close touch with militant outfits" and is supporting extremism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere.

Members of a Muslim family in Gurgaon’s Dhamaspur village and guests were beaten with sticks and rods, allegedly by 20-25 men, who barged into their home and attacked them on Holi evening.

Incident happened after some of the accused approached the boys from the family, who were playing cricket outside. They harassed the boys  and told them to “go to Pakistan and play” there.

22 Mar 2019; DW: Russia, Iran and Syria on Friday criticized President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States intends to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied-Golan Heights.

The move comes as Israel has been pushing the Trump administration for recognition and some members of the Republican Party are backing the idea.

Russia, Syrian and Iranian positions

New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) A day after a special court acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the Samjhauta Express blast case, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal Thursday sarcastically said with a verdict that "no one knows" who killed 68 people, it must be a "proud day" for the criminal justice system.

Twelve years after a blast on the Samjhauta Express killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis, a special court in Panchkula acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the case.

Hyderabad, Mar 21 (PTI) The government should appeal against Swami Aseemanand's acquittal in the Samjhauta blast case if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was really the "chowkidar" of the country, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has said.

Attacking Modi's "main bhi chowkidar" (I too a watchman) campaign, Owaisi at an election rally late last night said, "What kind of a chowkidar are you? 25 Indians are also among the dead in that (Samjhauta blast). Bomb blast is a terrorist offence. How are you a chowkidar?"

21 Mar 2019; DW: A United Nations court in The Hague on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic against his convictions for crimes committed during the Bosnian war on Wednesday. The appeals chamber also increased his sentence from a 40-year prison term to life in prison.

Presiding judge Vagn Joensen said that the previous verdict was too light given the "sheer scale and systematic cruelty" of Karadzic's crimes.