Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

328 COMBINATIO­N DRUGS BANNED

SUU KYI DEFENDS COURT DECISION TO JAIL SCRIBES mustread DEFER ART 35A TILL POLLS: NC

- Press Trust of India letters@hindustant­imes.com letters@hindustant­imes.com

HANOI: KOCHI: COLOMBO: LUCKNOW: OBSTACLE ‘Beijing hurting New Delhi’s nuclear club bid’ WASHINGTON: NEW DELHI: NEW DELHI: NEWDELHI:

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday robustly defended the jailing of two Reuters journalist­s – Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 – who were reporting on the Rohingya crisis, as she hit back at global criticism of a trial widely seen as an attempt to muzzle the free press. She acknowledg­ed that the brutal crackdown on the Muslim minority could have been “handled better”, but insisted the two reporters had been treated fairly. “They were not jailed because they were journalist­s” but because “the court has decided that they had broken the Official Secrets Act,” she said. PTI

India has not been able to secure membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) because of China’s veto, a senior Trump administra­tion official said on Thursday, asserting that the United States will continue to advocate for New Delhi’s membership in the elite grouping as it meets all the criteria.

India has been seeking entry into the 48-member elite nuclear club, which controls nuclear trade, but China has repeatedly stonewalle­d its bid.

While India, which is backed by the US and a number of western countries, has garnered the support of a majority of the group’s members, China has stuck to its stand that new members should sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferat­ion Treaty (NPT), making India’s entry difficult as the group is guided by the consensus principle. India is not a signatory to the NPT.

“Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a consensus-based organisati­on. India has not been able

PM MODI, WHO HAS A GREAT PERSONAL RAPPORT WITH PUTIN, WILL HOST THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT ON OCTOBER 4 AND 5 IN NEW DELHI SRINAGAR:

A team of functionar­ies from the Rashtriya Swayamseva­k Sangh (RSS) will soon turn up at the offices of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders with an invitation to attend the upcoming three-day lecture series by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in an attempt to clear the air about the Sangh, which Gandhi recently compared to the Muslim Brotherhoo­d.

According to Sangh functionar­ies aware of the developmen­ts, and who asked not to be identified, the RSS will send its functionar­ies to “personally deliver” the invitation to leaders of Opposition to secure membership as a result of opposition from China,” Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told a Washington audience.

“We have deemed that we’re not going to limit our own cooperatio­n with India based on a Chinese veto. Of course, we moved ahead with an STA One authorisat­ion and we certainly believe that India meets all of the qualificat­ions of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and will continue to actively advocate on behalf of India’s membership,” Wells said in response to a question. She said by granting Strategic Trade Authorisat­ion (STA-1) status, the US has placed India in the inner circle of America’s closest allies.

“It reflects just the intimacy of the strategic partnershi­p,” she said in response to a question at the Center for Strategic and Internatio­nal Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank. old allies, are not keen on shelving the purchase. Officials in New Delhi and Washington confirmed that Doval would be meeting his counterpar­t John Bolton, who, along with the US State Department, has still not decided on India getting a waiver in the Russian missile deal. However, there is another view in both the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom that a major defence partner of the US like India should not be penalised, especially because New

About an hour before the Congress’s press conference on Thursday, the BJP alleged the UPA government gave “sweet deals” to Mallya. The party claimed that the Gandhi family “partially owned the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines through proxy”.

“There are documents that show how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the United Progressiv­e Alliance (UPA) under Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had given sweet deals to Kingfisher Airlines,” BJP leader Sambit Patra told the media.

Later, Union minister Piyush Goyal too attacked Gandhi and asked him to resign as Congress president.

“Rahul Gandhi should answer what were the relations between his family and Mallya,” Goyal said. At an all-party meet convened by the National Conference (NC) in Srinagar, Omar Abdullah said all

J&K leaders will approach the Centre and the Supreme Court to defer the hearing on Article 35A till assembly elections are held.

 ?? FILE PHOTO ?? Aung San Suu Kyi India has been seeking entry into the 48member nuclear club, which controls nuclear trade, but China has repeatedly stonewalle­d its bid. Vijay Mallya
FILE PHOTO Aung San Suu Kyi India has been seeking entry into the 48member nuclear club, which controls nuclear trade, but China has repeatedly stonewalle­d its bid. Vijay Mallya

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