Human Rights

Lucknow, Nov 28 (PTI) Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said his party will oppose the state government's ordinance on religious conversions when placed in the assembly for passage.

The start cabinet earlier this week gave nod to the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 to curb forcible or dishonest religious conversions including those for the sake of marriage, which could land violators in jail for up to 10 years.

Lucknow/Baghpat, Nov 27 (PTI) Farmers on Friday staged demonstrations at some places in Uttar Pradesh leading to traffic jams on roads, officials said.

Protesting against the Centre's new farm laws and the police action on the agitating farmers, the activists of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) blocked the Delhi-Dehradun National Highway at Nawla Kothi in Muzaffarnagar district and also staged sit-ins in Meerut and Baghpat.

Dehradun, Nov 27 (PTI) National coordinator of Kisan Congress Rakesh Kumar Singh on Friday accused BJP-ruled states of using repressive measures against farmers and warned that attempts to quell their protests will only further intensify them.

Referring to Thursday's incident in Haryana where farmers marching to Delhi had to face water cannons and teargas shells, Singh said coercive methods to silence farmers would only worsen the situation.

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Appealing to protesting farmers to end their agitation, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday said the government is ready to discuss all issues with them.

After braving water cannons and clashing with security personnel, thousands of farmers started entering the national capital on Friday as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' march against the Centre's new farm laws.

Earlier in the day, Tomar said the new farm laws will bring a tremendous improvement in farmers' lives.

Mathura (UP), Nov 27 (PTI) An eight-year-old girl was raped and killed on the outskirts of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district, police said on Friday.

The girl had gone missing a day before and her body was found near a multi-level parking in Chhatikara on Friday morning, they said.

She had gone along with a woman to collect firewood from a forested area on Thursday and had been missing since then, police said.

New Delhi, Nov 28 (PTI) Thousands of farmers gathered at the Singhu border held a meeting on Saturday morning amid heavy security presence and decided to continue demonstrating there even after being offered a site in north Delhi to hold their protest.

Those gathered at the Tikri border continued to hold ground as well. A decision on whether they would head to the designated protest site is expected soon.

Tehran, Nov 27, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a Twitter message highlighted the role of Israeli regime’s role in assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense.

“Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice—with serious indications of Israeli role—shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators,” Zarif wrote in his Twitter account on Friday.

27 Nov 2020; MEMO: Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi reaffirmed her country`s firm support for Palestinian independence.

During a phone call with her Palestinian counterpart Riyad Al-Maliki, Marsudi inquired about the dialogue between Hamas and Fatah and its preparation for the elections to end internal division, as announced by President Mahmoud Abbas in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly.

27 Nov 2020; MEMO: A fourth session of the constitutional committee will begin on Monday in Geneva to hammer out the roots of the basic laws for a peaceful Syria, the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

27 Nov 2020; MEMO: The US decided on Wednesday to blacklist one of the armed groups supporting General Khalifa Haftar, after Russia prevented a United Nations (UN) Security Council committee last week from imposing sanctions on the faction for human rights violations.