Poor get poorer
As always, given the inequities built into the global economic system, the poorest people in the world have been the…
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday came down on the previous UPA government on the Ishrat Jahan case, accusing it of “flip-flop” on the issue and asked the opposition Congress not to politicise terror.
Replying to the issue in the Lok Sabha, Singh said: “There has been a flip-flop by the UPA government in this case. There was an attempt by erstwhile UPA government to dilute the fact that Ishrat was an LeT operative.”
He said, “David Headley’s statement is only a reaffirmation of what UPA government said in its earlier affidavit”.
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“A terrorist has no religion. He or she will be treated like a terrorist if he or she is one,” he said. His speech was disrupted by the Opposition members as they shouted, "Humein bhi bolne ka mauka do. Mauka do" (Give us an opportunity to speak as well).
Earlier, the issue was raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey in the House. "The UPA government was aware that Ishrat Jahan had links to the LeT. Congress has a history of playing politics over terror.“
Dubey accused the Congress of conspiring against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah by changing an affidavit in the case.
Kailash Narayan Singh Deo of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in a spirited speech said: “There have been ample attempts to influence the investigations. The case is not whether she is a terrorist or not, but about a fake encounter. The case does not even have a chargesheet. What is the impact of this case? We are all doing votebank politics.”
Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old woman, along with three other men, was shot dead by Gujarat Police on June 15, 2004 in an encounter which was later alleged to be fake.
After the probe into the case began, the then UPA government submitted two affidavits — one saying the four were terrorists and the second saying there was no conclusive evidence.
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