India’s new citizenship law not discriminatory, says Modi

Many Indians feel that the new citizenship law discriminates against Muslims and violates the country’s secular constitution by making religion a test for citizenship. (AFP)
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Updated 23 December 2019
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India’s new citizenship law not discriminatory, says Modi

  • Twenty-three people have been killed nationwide in the protests since the law was passed in Parliament earlier this month
  • Most of the deaths have occurred in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI: Reacting for the first time to the week-long protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the law was “not discriminatory” and that the opposition was seeking to gain political mileage from the situation. 

The opposition was “misleading people and stoking their emotions against the citizenship law,” said Modi, speaking during a rally on Sunday for his Hindu nationalist party in the capital.

New Delhi’s state election early next year will be the first major electoral test for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the wake of the mass demonstrations seen after parliament cleared the Citizenship Amendment Act on Dec. 11.

Several thousand people took part in Modi’s rally where he accused the opposition of distorting facts to trigger protests.

“The law does not impact 1.3 billion Indians, and I must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them,” said Modi, adding that his government introduces reforms without any religious bias.

“We have never asked anyone if they go to a temple or a mosque when it comes to implementing welfare schemes,” he said.
 

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Modi said that the CAA was not directed at Muslims and the idea that the government had brought the law to usurp people’s rights was a “lie.” 

“The law is not discriminatory,” said Modi while addressing a political rally in Delhi. 

“My rivals should burn my effigy if they hate me but they should not target the poor. Target me but don’t set the public property on fire.”

However, Modi’s words failed to assure protesters in Delhi who gathered in the capital to demand the scrapping of the law.

“You cannot trust this regime, which has been acting on the sly and whose intentions are always suspect,” Ovais Sultan Khan, a social activist who has been at the forefront of the protests, told Arab News. “If the CAA is not discriminatory then why did you bring this law?”

“If the government’s intention was pure then it should have allowed peaceful protest. It should not have killed so many people in indiscriminate firing. It should not have excluded Muslims from the citizenship law,” Khan said.

The northern state of Uttar Pradesh has seen intense protest against the law and according to media reports 18 people have died in the past three days in police shootings.

“The situation in the western UP is tense today but no violence has taken place on Sunday. But it has been mayhem for the last three days,” said Durgesh, a Kanpur-based journalist.

“The administration imposed a prohibitory order, and when the protesters came out police used harsh measures and in the ensuing violence several people lost their lives in different parts of the state,” Durgesh said.

Under the new citizenship law, persecuted minorities — Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi and Buddhist — from  Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan would gain Indian citizenship, but not Muslims.

For many, this religious marking for the consideration of citizenship is an attack on the spirit of the constitution and violates the secular preamble of the republic.

The anxiety in the Muslim community has been further compounded by the government’s plan to bring in a National Register of Citizens (NRC), an exercise to identify genuine citizens of India. If a non-Muslim is left off the NRC he or she has the protection of the CAA but a Muslim does not, so protesters see the CAA as an instrument of “otherization of Muslims” in India.

This is the first serious resistance against the Modi regime since 2014 when he came to power. People from all communities are taking to the street to protest.

The BJP-ruled southern state of Karnataka also witnessed large-scale violence against the police crackdown with the government claiming the loss of four lives in Mangalore city. The coastal town has been put under curfew for three days.

Political analyst Pranjay Guha Thakurta said that the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is “trying hard to contain the protest and resorting to arrests and violence to discredit a genuine political uprising.”

He told Arab News that “the unrest is not sectarian and it’s not only Muslims but India which is speaking against the policy of a regime that is hellbent on turning the nation into a majoritarian state and trying to kill its secularism.”


Black boxes from India plane crash under study to ascertain cause of the disaster that killed 270

Updated 56 min ago
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Black boxes from India plane crash under study to ascertain cause of the disaster that killed 270

  • A former pilot and an aviation expert said the recovery of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or black boxes, are crucial to piece together the sequence of events

NEW DELHI: Investigators in India are studying the black boxes of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner after recovering them from the aircraft wreckage to ascertain the cause of last week’s plane crash that left at least 270 people dead.
The black boxes will provide cockpit conversations and data related to the plane’s engine and control settings to investigators and help them in determining the cause of the crash.
The London-bound Air India aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed on a medical college hostel soon after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad. Only one passenger survived the crash, while 241 people on board and 29 on the ground were killed in one of India’s worst aviation disaster in decades.
Experts from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are probing the crash with assistance from the UK, the US and officials from Boeing.
Black box data is crucial
Amit Singh, a former pilot and an aviation expert, said the recovery of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or black boxes, are crucial to piece together the sequence of events.
The cockpit voice recorder records pilots’ conversation, emergency alarms and any distress signal made before a crash. The plane’s digital flight data recorder stores information related to engine and control settings. Both devices are designed to survive a crash.
“The data will reveal everything,” Singh said, adding that the technical details could be corroborated by the cockpit voice recorder that would help investigators know of any communication between air traffic control and the pilots.
India’s aviation regulatory body has said the aircraft made a mayday call before the crash.
Singh said the investigating authorities will scan CCTV footage of the nearby area and speak with witnesses to get to the root cause of the crash.
Additionally, Singh said, the investigators will also study the pilot training records, total load of the aircraft, thrust issues related to the plane’s engine, as well as its worthiness in terms of past performances and any previously reported issues.
Investigation into the crash could take time
Aurobindo Handa, former director general of India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, said the investigators across the world follow a standard UN-prescribed Manual of Accident Investigation, also called “DOC 9756,” which outlines detailed procedures to arrive at the most probable cause of a crash.
Handa said the investigation into last week’s crash would likely be a long process as the aircraft was badly charred. He added that ascertaining the condition of the black boxes recovered from the crash site was vital as the heat generated from the crash could be possibly higher than the bearable threshold of the device.
The Indian government has set up a separate, high-level committee to examine the causes leading to the crash and formulate procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future. The committee is expected to file a preliminary report within three months.
Authorities have also begun inspecting and carrying out additional maintenance and checks of Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners to prevent any future incident. Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet.
The plane that crashed was 12 years old. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.


Russian media say top official is in Pyongyang again to meet North Korean leader

Updated 17 June 2025
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Russian media say top official is in Pyongyang again to meet North Korean leader

SEOUL: A top Russian security official traveled to Pyongyang for the second time this month for another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian state media reported Tuesday, the latest display of the countries’ deepening ties amid President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Russia’s Tass news agency said Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu arrived in the North Korean capital on an unspecified “special” mission from Putin and was expected to meet with Kim. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit.
Kim has supplied Russia with thousands of troops and large shipments of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to support its military operation in Ukraine. Washington and Seoul have expressed concern that, in return, Kim may seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by his nuclear-armed military.
In April, Pyongyang and Moscow officially confirmed North Korean troops’ deployment to Russia for the first time, saying that soldiers of the two countries were fighting alongside each other to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region. Putin then thanked North Korea’s participation in the war and promised not to forget their sacrifices.
In their previous meeting on June 4, Kim told Shoigu that his government would “unconditionally support” Russia over the war in Ukraine and other critical international issues as they discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between their countries, according to North Korean state media. Tass then reported that Shoigu and Kim also discussed prospects for rebuilding the Kursk region and outlined steps to commemorate the combat contributions of North Korean soldiers.


India warns citizens to leave Tehran as some flee Iran

Updated 17 June 2025
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India warns citizens to leave Tehran as some flee Iran

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Tehran, while some nationals have already fled across the Iranian border as the country comes under Israeli bombardment.
With Israel vowing to keep up its attacks four days after launching its assault on Iran, which has launched retaliatory strikes, New Delhi said Indian students have already left Tehran.
“Residents who are self sufficient in terms of transport have also been advised to move out of the city in view of the developing situation,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The warning came after Israel’s ally US President Donald Trump said “everyone” should “immediately” leave the Iranian capital, which is home to nearly 10 million.
New Delhi said “some Indians have been facilitated to leave Iran through the border with Armenia,” hundreds of kilometers (miles) northwest of Tehran.
The foreign ministry did not detail how many of its citizens have been affected in Iran, where there are around 10,000 Indians according to government data last year.
Thousands of Indians are also in Israel, and New Delhi has issued warnings for its citizens there to “stay vigilant.”


Fast-moving brush fire on Hawaii’s Maui island evacuates about 50 people. No structures have burned

Updated 17 June 2025
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Fast-moving brush fire on Hawaii’s Maui island evacuates about 50 people. No structures have burned

  • Officials said it was 85 percent contained as of Monday morning

HONOLULU: A fast-moving Hawaii brush fire fueled by fierce winds forced the evacuation of about 50 Maui residents on the opposite side of the same island where a devastating blaze killed over 100 people two years ago.
The fire started Sunday in a sparsely populated area with land set aside for Native Hawaiians.
Here’s what we know about the fire so far:
Fire size now estimated at 330 acres
The Kahikinui was initially estimated at 500 acres (202 hectares), but aerial surveys overnight put the estimate at about 330 acres (134 hectares), Maui’s fire department said. The fire is 85 percent contained.
The remote, challenging terrain made it difficult to estimate the fire’s size, the department said in a statement. A police drone showed hot spots, but none flared overnight.
No injuries or structural damage was reported. Weather conditions were mostly sunny Monday with a high of 67 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius) and east winds of about 15 mph (24 kph), gusting up to about 25 mph (40 kph).
The US Drought Monitor says all of Maui is in drought.
Authorities conducted door-to-door evacuations and part of a highway remains closed.
Flashbacks to an earlier fire
Warren Aganos was on his family’s Hawaiian Homelands lot preparing to go on a Father’s Day hunt when a neighbor called him around 9 a.m. telling him a fire had broken out.
“I hung up and raced out, I didn’t let her finish,” said Aganos, who has been slowly rebuilding the three structures his family lost in a 2016 brush fire that burned over 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) in the same area. “I was thinking about the last one,” he said. “It was super emotional.”
Aganos said he rushed in his truck to make sure first responders knew where the community’s water storage tanks were before navigating Kahikinui’s dirt roads down to the highway where he could see smoke billowing over the hillside. The community lacks electrical and water infrastructure, and some of the roads are only navigable by four-wheel drive.
State and local leaders signed emergency proclamations so that the Hawaii National Guard can help and counties can access assistance.
What is the region like?
Kahikinui is less populated and developed than Lahaina, which was the Hawaiian Kingdom’s capital in the 1800s and is now a popular tourist destination. Kahikinui was used for cattle ranching for many years and is near a state forest reserve.
The fire department sent engines, tankers and a helicopter to battle the blaze. Three bulldozers cut firebreaks in the lower part of the community, Desiree Graham, co-chair of Kahikinui’s firewise committee, said.
The area has 104 Hawaiian homeland lots of 10 to 20 acres (4 to 8 hectares) each. About 40 lots have homes, including 15 with full-time residents. Some lots have more than one home, Graham said.
A state agency issues lot leases under a program Congress created in 1921 to help Native Hawaiians become economically self-sufficient. Those with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood quantum can apply for a 99-year lease for $1 a year.
Fire devastated Lahaina nearly two years ago
Maui is still recovering from the massive inferno that enveloped Lahaina in August 2023.
That fire was the deadliest in the US in more than a century. It destroyed thousands of properties and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damage. University of Hawaii researchers say unemployment and poverty rose after the blaze.
The Kahikinui fire may seem small compared to continental US fires, but it’s significant for an island of 735 square miles (1,903 square kilometers).
Other Western fires
Crews also are battling wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, around the Great Basin, in California and the Rockies.
National Weather Service forecasters and federal land managers have warned in recent weeks that fire danger is escalating in many places amid rising daytime temperatures and single-digit humidity levels.
The risks won’t start to wane — at least in the southwestern US — until the monsoon starts to kick in, bringing much-needed rain. In southern New Mexico, a wildfire ballooned to nearly 30 square miles (78 square kilometers) over the weekend in the Gila National Forest.
The flames forced the evacuations of homes that dot the mountains north of Silver City, blocked access to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and prompted air quality warnings as smoke drifted north. Campgrounds and access points to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail also were closed.
In Oregon, several dozen homes in Wasco County were destroyed by a fire that started last Wednesday. Some evacuations remained, but fire managers said Monday that the threat to structures had diminished.
So far this year, the nation has seen double the number of fires as last year but the acreage is less, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 2,700 wildland firefighters and support personnel were assigned to 15 large wildfires across the country.


Despite law, US TikTok ban likely to remain on hold

Updated 17 June 2025
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Despite law, US TikTok ban likely to remain on hold

  • Trump has repeatedly downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app’s US business

SAN FRANCISCO, United States: US President Donald Trump is widely expected to extend the Thursday deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States.
It would be the third time Trump put off enforcing a federal law requiring its sale or ban, which was to take effect the day before his January inauguration.
“I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May.
“If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension.”
Trump said a group of purchasers is ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance “a lot of money” for the video-clip-sharing sensation’s US operations.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app’s US business.
The president is “just not motivated to do anything about TikTok,” said independent analyst Rob Enderle.
“Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape.”
Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform after coming to believe it helped him win young voters’ support in the November election.
“Trump’s not really doing great on his election promises,” Enderle maintained.
“This could be one that he can actually deliver on.”
Motivated by national security fears and belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor.
TikTok “has become a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry; a flashpoint in the new Cold War for digital control,” said Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems at Warwick Business School in Britain.
“National security, economic policy, and digital governance are colliding,” Singh added.
The Republican president announced an initial 75-day delay of the ban upon taking office.
A second extension pushed the deadline to June 19.
As of Monday, there was no word of a TikTok sale in the works.
Trump said in April that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over tariffs imposed by Washington on Beijing.
ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be “subject to approval under Chinese law.”
Possible solutions reportedly include seeing existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.
Additional US investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance’s share in the new TikTok.
Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.
Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok’s valuable algorithm.
“TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand — it’s simply not as powerful,” said Forrester Principal Analyst Kelsey Chickering.
Meanwhile, it appears TikTok is continuing with business as usual.
TikTok on Monday introduced a new “Symphony” suite of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for advertisers to turn words or photos into video snippets for the platform.
“With TikTok Symphony, we’re empowering a global community of marketers, brands, and creators to tell stories that resonate, scale, and drive impact on TikTok,” global head of creative and brand products Andy Yang said in a release.