Kerry reiterates Pak must eliminate terror

US secretary of state John Kerry said on Wednesday Pakistan has to do more to eliminate sanctuaries of terrorism on its soil and push harder against indigenous groups engaged in terrorist activities. Islamabad is not going after terrorist outfits such as the Laskhar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed sincerely, he said during an interaction with students at IIT-Delhi on the third day of his visit to India.

Also, he made a point that big democracies like India should respect rights of all citizens, “irrespective of creed and allow them to protest in peace without fear that they will be jailed for speaking”. US secretary of state John Kerry addressing students at IIT in Delhi.

His remarks came in the backdrop of the US speaking out in support of freedom of expression after Amnesty International was charged with sedition in Bengaluru recently.

The city has already recorded almost its entire annual average rainfall, with a month still to go for the south-west monsoon to complete its four-month cycle. The average rainfall in the city is 2,258mm every year. On Wednesday, the Santacruz weather station, representative of Mumbai, recorded 2,183mm rain till 5.30pm. It means the city has received 97% of its annual average rainfall and is just 75mm short of completing the annual average.

Weathermen said as the southwest monsoon begins its withdrawal process, the possibility of heavy rainfall is likely during the second half of September. “The weather bureau had predicted a 6% surplus rainfall for the entire country before the setting in of the south-west monsoon. With almost a month still to go, Mumbai and some parts of the Konkan coast will definitely be a part of that 6% excess for the season,” said Biswajit Mukhopadhyay, additional director general, India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Mukhopadhyay said the upper air circulation over Arabian Sea, responsible for rain last week in Mumbai, has faded away. “We expect conditions to be favourable for some rain from the second week of September,” he said.

Meanwhile, the suburbs recorded 0.2 mm rain between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Wednesday, while negligible rain was recorded in south Mumbai. Between 8.30am Tuesday and 8.30am Wednesday, Santacruz and Colaba both recorded 1.8mm rain.