QBullet: Azhar Declares War, AgustaWestland Scam Twist, and More

Read the best news and views across the papers this morning on QBullet.

Massod Azhar, JeM chief. (Photo: Reuters)

1. If I Am Held, My Army Won’t Let Our Enemies Celebrate: Masood Azhar

India and Pakistan seem to be making slow but steady progress on the Pathankot probe front. This has seemingly triggered a reaction from Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, Masood Azhar.

He has vowed retaliation through his army “if his enemies” tried to capture him, according to a report in The Indian Express.

I have prepared an army that adores death. To uproot this army is not in the power of our enemies. God willing, this army will not let our enemies celebrate, nor occasion for anyone to miss my presence.  

<b>Mansoor Azhar</b>

The comment appeared in Peshawar-based magazine al-Qalam on 26 January.

Read the full report here.

2. Wanted Agent: PM Offered to Trade Marines for Proof Against Sonia

Christian Michel alleges that Narendra Modi asked Italy for evidence against Sonia Gandhi and her family. (Photo: Reuters)

According to a report in The Telegraph Christian Michel, an arms agent wanted in India in connection with the 2013 Agusta Westland VVIP chopper scam, has claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to free the two Italian marines facing a murder trial in India in exchange for damning information against Sonia Gandhi. The report suggests that Modi asked Italy for evidence against the Congress President and her family, linking them to the chopper scam.

The foreign ministry, however, has called the charges too ridiculous.

Michel has claimed Modi made the offer at a secret “brush-by” meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during the UN General Assembly in September 2015 when both leaders were in New York.

Read the full story here.

3. In U-Turn, Govt May Make Sex Test Mandatory to Fight Foeticide

Maneka Gandhi has suggested a completely opposite strategy to the existing plan to fight foeticide, according to The Times of India.

The Union Women and Child Development minister said that the Centre was considering lifting the ban on sex determination of the foetus, making it mandatory. Maneka said that it would make it easy to track the parents indulging in female foeticide.

This will ensure institutional deliveries and virtually abolish the practice of home deliveries in certain areas of the country. Home deliveries pose a threat to a newborn as there might be an attempt on its life.&nbsp;

<b>Maneka Gandhi</b>

Read the full report here.

4. Army Band Performance in Dhaka Scuttled by Red Tape

Military band exchanges on Republic Day have been a ritual for India and Bangladesh for decades now. But this year, the band that left for Bangladesh, to perform at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, came back without even reaching the place let alone perform and enthrall the audience. According to a report in The Hindu, the band had reached Kolkata but never made it to Dhaka due to red tape.

The band, comprising two officers, one junior commissioned officer and 32 jawans, was to reach Dhaka on January 24 and was positioned in Kolkata to be quickly transported by road. However, after the proposal was turned down, the team returned to Delhi.

Read the full report here.

5. PDP Signals Phone Call from Delhi May Bring Back BJP Alliance

PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah at an event in Srinagar. (Photo: PTI)

Things are looking a bit up for the PDP-BJP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a report in The Indian Express. After Mehbooba Mufti’s remarks that the alliance is not a popular choice in the state, there were doubts about the future of the combine.

But ahead of their meeting with Governor NN Vohra, PDP sources have said that forming a government with the BJP is not going to be that difficult after all – all they need is a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP chief Amit Shah to assure Mehbooba that the alliance agenda would be “implemented sincerely”.

There are no conditions. The agenda of alliance is sacrosanct for us and we only want its implementation.&nbsp;

<b>Mehbooba Mufti</b>

Read the full report here.

Also on The Quint: Will She, Won’t She? Kashmir in Suspense Over Mehbooba

6. Murud Beach Tragedy: ‘My Brother Met a Hero’s Death, He Tried to Save Others’

The Indian Express meets with the families of some of the students who are either died or are missing since the accident in Murud beach in Maharashtra. Some of them know that their loved ones died saving others. Some are still waiting for the news.

I spoke to one of the girl students who survived the tragedy. She told me that Iftekar saved her life…And after that he again went into the water to save other students, but did not return…He has died, but died a hero.&nbsp;

<b>Victim’s Sister</b>

Read the full report here.

7. The Court’s Second Chance

With the curative petition against the recriminalisation of homosexuality coming up, the courts have the chance to rectify their stand on Section 377. And that comes with a will from the political class, according to an opinion piece in The Indian Express.

The Supreme Court has an opportunity this week to kickstart the process of serious judicial engagement with discrimination, as it hears the curative petition against its judgment in Koushal vs Naz, which recriminalised homosexuality. It’s imperative that the court affirm the Delhi High Court’s 2009 finding that Section 377 is unconstitutional. 

Read the full story here.

Also read: Last Legal Bid to Abolish 377, Curative Petition in SC

8. A Lesson in Rohith Vemula’s Death: India Is Shackled to Caste

An opinion piece in Hindustan Times explores the caste angle in PhD scholar Rohith Vemula’s death. The article quotes a report that says that even today, 25 percent of India’s population has admitted to practising untouchability, which exposes rampant discrimination in our society.

The events at HCU that led to Rohith Vemula’s tragic suicide is a result of the terrible ends when disparity, discrimination and intolerance combine. It forces us to acknowledge that the battle for an egalitarian society is far from over. And till such time that we come close to achieving that goal, oftentimes, pushed to such a corner, death may seem the better alternative.

Read the full opinion here.

9. Towards a Law on Euthanasia

With the Union government forming an SC Bench to deal with a draft Bill for euthanasia, an edit piece in The Hindu says that it is time the government made the choice between pain and death.

The question now before a Constitution Bench on a petition by the NGO Common Cause is whether the right to live with dignity under Article 21 includes the right to die with dignity, and whether it is time to allow ‘living wills’, or written authorisations containing instructions given by persons in a healthy state of mind to doctors that they need not be put on life-support systems or ventilators in the event of their going into a persistent vegetative state or state of terminal illness.

Read the full edit piece here.

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