Modi wells up at emotional RS farewell to Ghulam Nabi Azad
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday heaped praise on Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad by describing him as a leader who cared not just for his party, but also the country and its Parliament, and welled up while describing experiences with the leader whose tenure in the Upper House ends on February 15.
“I am concerned that whoever is appointed on his position may not be able to match up to him,” Modi said, pointing to Azad, who is the Opposition floor leader in the Rajya Sabha. “Posts come, power comes but how to handle these one must learn from Ghulam Nabi Azad.”
Modi’s emotional farewell speech for Azad came while he was talking about the members of the House whose tenures end this month — these include PDP’S Nazir Ahmad Laway and Mir Mohammed Fayyaz and the BJP’S Shamsher Singh Manhas.
In his farewell speech, Azad said he is a proud Indian, and when he reads about circumstances in Pakistan, he feels proud to be a Hindustani Muslim. “If any Muslim should feel proud in the world, it should be the Indian Muslim,” he said
YANGON: Police cracked down on demonstrators opposing Myanmar’s military coup, firing warning shots and shooting water cannons to disperse crowds that took to the streets again on Tuesday in defiance of rules making protests illegal.
Water cannons were used in Mandalay, Myanmar’s secondbiggest city, where witnesses said at least two warning shots were fired to try to break up the crowd. Reports on social media said police arrested more than two dozen people there. Police also used water cannons in the capital, Natpyitaw, for a second day and fired shots into the air.
Police were reported to have also shot rubber bullets at the crowd in Naypyitaw, wounding several people. Photos on social media showed an alleged shooter — an officer with a short-barreled gun — and several injured people.
Unconfirmed social media reports circulated of shootings with live rounds and deaths among the protesters, with the potential of sparking violent retaliation against the authorities, an outcome proponents of the country’s civil disobedience movement have warned against. The AP was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
The protesters are demanding that power be restored to the deposed civilian government and are seeking freedom for the nation’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other ruling party members detained since the military took over and blocked the new session of Parliament from convening on February 1.
The growing defiance is striking in a country where past demonstrations have been met with deadly force and are a reminder of previous movements in its long and bloody struggle for democracy. The military used deadly force to quash a massive 1988 uprising against military dictatorship and a 2007 revolt led by Buddhist monks.
The decrees issued on Monday night for some areas of Yangon and Mandalay banned rallies and gatherings of more than five people while also imposing an 8pm to 4am curfew. It was not immediately clear if regulations have been imposed for other areas. Violation of the orders, issued under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, is punishable by up to six months in prison or a fine.
Demonstrations were also held in other cities on Tuesday, including Bago — where city elders negotiated with police to avoid a violent confrontation — and Dawei, and in northern Shan state.
In Magwe in central Myanmar, where water cannons were also used, unconfirmed reports on social media claimed several police officers had crossed over to join the protesters’ ranks. A police officer in Naypyitaw was also said to have switched sides. The AP was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
Crowds also gathered in Yangon, the country’s biggest city where thousands of people have been demonstrating since Saturday, despite a heightened security presence. No violence was reported. Soldiers do not appear to have been deployed to stop the demonstrations, a small indicator of restraint by the military government.
State media for the first time on Monday referred to the protests, claiming they were endangering the country’s stability.
“Democracy can be destroyed if there is no discipline,” declared a statement from the Ministry of Information, read on state television station MRTV. “We will have to take legal actions to prevent acts that are violating state stability, public safety and the rule of law.”