NEW DELHI: A Muslim man has died after he was attacked by hundreds of Hindu vigilantes while transporting cows in India, police said Wednesday, amid rising tensions over the slaughter of the sacred animal.
Pehlu Khan, 55, died in hospital late Monday, two days after a mob attacked his cattle truck on a highway in Alwar in the western state of Rajasthan.
Cows are considered sacred in Hindu-majority India, and their slaughter is illegal in many states.
In parts of northern and western India, squads of vigilantes roam highways inspecting livestock trucks for any trace of the animal.
Alwar police chief Rahul Prakash said at least six others were injured in the attack, but had now been discharged from the hospital.
Police are still trying to identify the attackers and have filed a murder case, he said, adding that a postmortem would determine the cause of Khan’s death.
“We are yet to receive the postmortem report but he had multiple rib fractures,” he told AFP.
Prakash said the victim and his associates were returning to their home state of Haryana when the mob intercepted their vehicle.
At least 10 Muslim men have been killed in similar incidents across the country by Hindu mobs on suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows in the last two years.
In 2015 a Muslim man was lynched by his neighbors over rumors that he had slaughtered a cow. Police later said the meat was mutton.
Critics say the vigilantes were emboldened by the election in 2014 of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last year Modi criticized the cow-protection vigilantes and urged a crackdown against groups using religion as a cover for committing crimes.
But last month, he appointed a right-wing Hindu priest to head the country’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh, which is also home to much of the country’s meat industry.
Shortly after he was sworn in, police began shutting butcher shops, grinding much of the industry to a halt.
Muslim man dies after attack by cow vigilantes in India
Muslim man dies after attack by cow vigilantes in India
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Restive Indian state orders curfew after fresh violence
- Manipur in India’s northeast has been rocked by periodic clashes between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community
- The latest violence was triggered Saturday after reports of the arrest of five members, including a commander, of Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei group
IMPHAL, India: An Indian state riven by ethnic tensions imposed an Internet shutdown and curfew after protesters clashed with security forces over the arrest of some members of a radical group, police said Sunday.
Manipur in India’s northeast has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than two years between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community that have killed more than 250 people.
The latest violence was triggered Saturday after reports of the arrest of five members, including a commander, of Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei group.
Incensed mobs demanding their release stormed a police post, set fire to a bus and blocked roads in parts of the state capital Imphal.
Manipur police announced a curfew in five districts, including Imphal West and Bishnupur, due to the “developing law and order situation.”
“Prohibitory orders have been issued by District Magistrates. Citizens are requested to cooperate with the orders,” the police said in a statement.
Arambai Tenggol, which is alleged to have orchestrated the violence against the Kuki community, has also announced a 10-day shutdown in the valley districts.
The state’s home ministry has ordered all Internet and mobile data services in volatile districts to be shut off for five days in order to bring the latest unrest under control.
Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur during the initial outbreak of violence in 2023, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures.
Thousands of the state’s residents are still unable to return home owing to ongoing tensions.
Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.
Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.
Indian FM starts week-long EU trip in new cooperation push
- Jaishankar will inaugurate the first edition of the Mediterranean Raisina Dialogue in Marseille
- India and EU are negotiating a free trade deal, which is expected to be finalized this year
NEW DELHI: India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has embarked on Sunday a week-long trip for talks with the top diplomats of the EU, France and Belgium in a new push for cooperation with Europe, his office said.
Jaishankar is set to meet his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot, and “will be holding a Strategic Dialogue with the EU High Representative and Vice President Ms. Kaja Kallas, and will engage with the senior leadership from the European Commission and the European Parliament,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
“The visit of EAM is expected to further deepen India’s friendly relations with the European Union, France and Belgium and give renewed momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas.”
The foreign minister will also inaugurate the first edition of the Mediterranean Raisina Dialogue in Marseille.
The Raisina Dialogue is a premier multilateral conference on geopolitics and geo-economics held annually in New Delhi and organized by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.
The dialogue in Marseille “is a new initiative involving both government and non-government officials from both from India and various parts of the world to converge and talk about issues pertaining to the Mediterranean,” Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation, told Arab News.
During EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s New Delhi visit in February, India and the EU committed to conclude negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement in December.
During last week’s talks in Paris, nearly half the agenda — covering areas like customs, trade facilitation, rules of origin, and intellectual property — has been agreed on.
“The partnership between India and France, and India and the EU continues to evolve dramatically,” Pant said, adding that Jaishankar’s trip is also about conveying “how India feels about the changing strategic realities, as well as what has happened with Pakistan.”
Last month, India and Pakistan engaged days-long cross-border fire. Indian forces launched a series of strikes across the Line of Control — the de facto border that separates the Indian-controlled and Pakistani-controlled parts of the disputed Kashmir territory. They also hit other sites on the Pakistani mainland, targeting what New Delhi claimed were militant positions.
Pakistan retaliated with strikes on Indian military targets before a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on May 10. According to the Pakistani military, its forces had downed six Indian warplanes, including several French aircraft Rafale and a Mirage 2000.
The escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors took place as India blamed Pakistan for a deadly militant attack, in which 26 tourists were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir — Islamabad denied any involvement.
Indian FM begins week-long EU trip in new cooperation push
- Jaishankar will inaugurate first edition of the Mediterranean Raisina Dialogue in Marseille
- India, EU negotiating free trade deal, which is expected to be finalized this year
NEW DELHI: India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar set out on Sunday to begin a week of talks with leading diplomats of the EU, France, and Belgium in a new push for cooperation with Europe.
Jaishankar is due to meet his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prevot during the trip. He will also hold “a strategic dialogue with the EU High Representative and Vice President Ms. Kaja Kallas, and will engage with the senior leadership from the European Commission and the European Parliament,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The visit is expected to “further deepen India’s friendly relations with the EU, France, and Belgium and give renewed momentum to ongoing cooperation in diverse areas,” the ministry added.
Jaishankar will also inaugurate the first edition of the Mediterranean Raisina Dialogue in Marseille.
The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference on geopolitics and geo-economics held annually in New Delhi and organized by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.
The dialogue in Marseille “is a new initiative involving both government and nongovernment officials from both from India and various parts of the world to converge and talk about issues pertaining to the Mediterranean,” Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation, told Arab News.
During EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s New Delhi visit in February, India and the EU agreed to finalize negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement in December.
Talks in Paris last week resulted in agreement on almost half the agenda, covering areas such as customs, trade facilitation, rules of origin, and intellectual property.
Tens of thousands join anti-government protest in Madrid
MADRID: Tens of thousands of people rallied Sunday in an opposition-organized demonstration in Madrid accusing the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of corruption.
Protesters, many waving red and yellow Spanish flags, massed in the Plaza de Espana, a large square in the center of the Spanish capital, and chanted “Perdo Sanchez, resign!.”
The Popular Party (PP) called the rally after leaked audio recordings allegedly documented a member of the Socialist party, Leire Diez, waging a smear campaign against a police unit that investigated graft allegations against Sanchez’s wife, brother, and his former right-hand man.
Diez has denied the allegations, telling reporters on Wednesday that she was conducting research for a book and was not working on behalf of the party or Sanchez. She also resigned from Sanchez’s Socialist party.
PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo has accused the government of “mafia practices” over the affair, and said Sanchez is “at the center” of multiple corruption scandals.
“This government has stained everything — politics, state institutions, the separation of powers,” he told the rally, going on to urge Sanchez to call early elections.
The PP estimated that more than 100,000 people attended the rally, held under the slogan “Mafia or Democracy.”
The central government’s representative in Madrid put the turnout between 45,000 and 50,000.
“The expiry date on this government passed a long time ago. It’s getting tiring,” Blanca Requejo, a 46-year-old store manager who wore a Spanish flag drapped over her back, told AFP at the rally.
Sanchez has dismissed the probes against members of his inner circle as part of a “smear campaign” carried out by the right wing to undermine his government.
He came to power in June 2018 after ousting his PP predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, in a no-confidence vote over a corruption scandal affecting involving the conservative party.
Recent polls show the PP holding only a slim lead over the Socialists. The next general election is expected in 2027.
Russia continues to accuse Ukraine of delaying planned exchange of dead fighters
- Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action
Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Kyiv that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Ukraine had postponed the swap.
Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from the Ukrainian side, but that there are “signals” that the process of transferring the bodies will be postponed until next week.
Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday that otherwise made no progress toward ending the war.
Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide who led the Russian delegation, said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Medinsky said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came.
In response, Ukraine said Russia was playing “dirty games” and manipulating facts.
According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement on Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn’t correspond to agreements reached on Monday.
It wasn’t immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims.
In other developments, one person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday’s attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded.
Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital.
Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region.
