INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Two major explosions outside Kabul airport, hand of Islamic State suspected
The U.S. military confirmed a large explosion on Thursday outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, where the United States and other countries have been evacuating tens of thousands of people. Subsequently, a second explosion was reported outside Baron Hotel, also near the Kabul airport. We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Unconfirmed reports put the explosion at the airport’s main Abbey Gate, where thousands of people have massed over the past 12 days hoping to be evacuated after the Taliban seized power. Other reports located it close to the Baron Hotel near the gate, which Western nations had used to stage some evacuations. U.S. and allied officials have said they had intelligence that suicide bombers tied to the Afghan arm of the Islamic State group the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) were threatening to attack the airport ahead of Washington’s August 31 deadline to finalise the evacuation. Early on Thursday Kabul time, Western nations warned their citizens to immediately leave the surrounds of the airport over a terrorist threat, as thousands of people tried to reach a dwindling number of evacuation flights. Those at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately, said the US State Department. Britain’s Armed Force Minister James Heappey said on Thursday a terrorist threat against the airport was imminent. Reporting over the week has become ever more credible. And it is of an imminent and severe threat to life, Heappey said. Most member nations of the U.S.-led coalition said on Thursday they had wound up or would soon end their own evacuation flights from Hamid Karzai International Airport. The total number of people who have been taken out of the US-controlled hub since the international airlift began on August 14 hit 95,700 on Thursday, including both Afghans and foreign nationals. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the United States would stick to its deadline of withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan by August 31, to end the two-decade US-led war there. Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said a suicide attack outside Kabul airport killed at least two people and wounded 15, AP reported. It was the first official report specifying a number of casualties.
Taliban stops 140 Hindu, Sikh Afghans from leaving Kabul
At least 140 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and others have been stopped by the Taliban from going to the Kabul airport, said president of the Indian World Forum Puneet Singh, who has been coordinating the evacuation with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian Air Force (IAF). The development has forced a delay in the departure of a special IAF aircraft, which has been waiting at the Kabul airport since Wednesday. The Indian World Forum said the Taliban turned back the passengers from outside the airport on Wednesday night. The Hindu had reported that around 200 Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan, including other citizens of the country, were scheduled to arrive in the Hindon airbase by Thursday morning. But the movement has been stopped, as the Taliban reportedly blocked those approaching the airport. The Taliban has been urging Afghan nationals not to leave the country and work with the Islamic Emirate that it aims to set up in the coming weeks. Sources said India had moved out a total of 565 stranded individuals from Afghanistan since evacuation flights began. This included 175 personnel of the Indian embassy, 263 other Indian nationals, and 112 Afghan nationals, including Hindus and Sikhs. The Hindu was informed that multiple checkpoints by various armed militant groups, overflight clearances from different countries, and delay in landing permissions have been the major problems posing a challenge to the evacuation process. The biggest challenge, however, came from the frequent firing near the airport and inside.
NATIONAL NEWS
Baghel summoned again by Congress’s central leadership
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been summoned again by the Congress’s central leadership and he is expected to be in Delhi on Friday amidst the continuing power struggle between him and State Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo. Party sources did not rule out a change of guard in the State, though Baghel is resisting it. On Tuesday, Baghel and Deo met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi to resolve the issue. Deo has invoked the assurance made by Gandhi when he was leading the party in 2018 that he (Deo) will be handed over the reins of the State halfway through the government tenure. Following the meeting, party’s State-in-charge P.L. Punia told reporters that the leadership change issue was not discussed, indicating Baghel will continue. The Congress has 68 MLAs in the 90 member Assembly and its central leadership is said to be assessing the risk of effecting a leadership change. Gandhi is reportedly eager that the mid-course change of guard agreed upon by both leaders must be honoured. With the party’s position numerically very strong in the Assembly, the party high command is confident that a rebellion by either Deo or Baghel can be reined in. Baghel returned to Chhattisgarh on Wednesday to a rousing welcome at the airport by his supporters and loyalist MLAs. All along Thursday, more than 30 MLAs paid him a visit. Deo, on the other hand, continued to stay in Delhi. Sources close to him said he was told to remain in the Capital for further meetings. On Wednesday, he met party general secretary K.C. Venugopal, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of arriving at a compromise formula. Deo said, If a person plays in a team, then he can aspire to be the captain too. It’s not about his thoughts or aspirations. It’s about his capabilities and it is for the high command to take a decision. Venugopal has a tough job on his hands, with both sides refusing to cede space. Sources said it was suggested that except for the Chief Minister’s post, Deo could be given other concessions, including admitting his loyalists in the Cabinet and weeding out those against him. He was also offered the Deputy Chief Minister’s post, but he is not too keen to take it up. On the other hand, Baghel also remains adamant on not changing the composition of his Cabinet.
Can PM-CARES Fund spare money to help children affected by Covid-19 stay in school, SC asks Centre
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre whether it can immediately release funds from the PM-CARES Fund for the education of children who have been orphaned or have lost legal guardians or either of their parents during the pandemic. A Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose highlighted that education was a fundamental right of children. Children needed to stay in school. It was especially anxious about the future of children who studied in private schools, where the fee may be on the higher side, and had lost their parents after the Covid-19 virus began disrupting lives since March 2020. Children should not lose the benefits of education because of the pandemic… Can the PM-CARES Fund come forward and immediately release some funds for the education of these children at least for the year? Is there any facility for that? Justice Rao asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, for the Centre. Justice Rao said the Centre could coordinate with the States and help with the funds for education of children. Justice Rao asked Bhati to enquire with the Central authorities about the release of funds later in the day so that the court could pass an appropriate order. We can say that the States can contact the Central government for funds for the education of these children… the Bench observed.
SC orders shifting ex-Unitech bosses from Tihar jail to Mumbai prisons after discovery of their ‘secret underground office’
The Supreme Court Thursday directed that erstwhile Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra be shifted from Tihar Jail in Delhi to Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail and Taloja jail in Maharashtra. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said that two reports of Enforcement Directorate about the conduct of Sanjay and Ajay and connivance of Tihar jail staff in flouting the orders and undermining the jurisdiction of the court have raised some serious and disturbing issues. It directed that Delhi Police Commissioner personally hold inquiry forthwith about the conduct of Tihar Jail staff with regard to the Chandras and submit the report to the court within four weeks. Making a startling revelation in the Supreme Court, the ED said it has unearthed a secret underground office which was being operated by erstwhile Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra and visited by his sons Sanjay and Ajay when on parole or bail. The ED, which has been investigating money-laundering charges against the Chandras’ and Unitech Ltd, said in its report that both Sanjay and Ajay have rendered the entire judicial custody meaningless as they have been freely communicating, instructing their officials and disposing of properties from inside the jail in connivance with the prison staff there.
DGCA lifts ban on Boeing 737 MAX airplanes
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday cleared the decks for operating Boeing 737 MAX upon satisfactory compliance to applicable requirements for return of service. The order, ending more than two years of grounding, would come into immediate effect, aviation sources said. The DGCA had, effective March 13, 2019, banned the operation of two makes of Boeing airplanes following two fatal accidents involving Boeing 737 Max airplanes (Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302) and directed that, for the purpose of securing safety, operation of Boeing 737-8 and 737-9 would not take place from/to Indian airports and transit or enter into Indian airspace. In April, the order was relaxed to the extent that foreign-registered Boeing 737 Max aircraft, which were grounded in India due to the ban, were permitted to fly out of the country. Also, overflying foreign registered Boeing 737 Max aircraft were allowed to fly over Indian airspace. However, commercial operations in the country remained prohibited. The decision now to allow the operation of the airplanes was taken after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive on November 18, 2020, mandating actions for Boeing 737 Max airplanes to return to service. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) also issued the Airworthiness Directive on February 17, 2021. The move followed certain design changes by Boeing. After the grounding order for the airplanes was rescinded by FAA and EASA, the regulatory authority closely monitored the global trend on removal of ban. World-wide 17 regulators have permitted operation of Boeing 737 Max airplanes. A sizeable number of airlines (34) with B737 airplane (345) are operating currently and have attained 1,22,824 departures with 2,89,537 cumulative hours since the ungrounding from December 9, 2020, with no untoward reporting, the DGCA said in an order.
