The People’s Chronicle | www.thepeopleschronicle.in
Imphal, Tuesday, May 09, 2017
07
France gets youngest President in Macron, EU elated Myanmar urged to ensure religious
Sohail Mahmood to
be Pakistan’s new
envoy to India
ISLAMABAD : Career diplomat
Sohail Mahmood will be Pakistan’s new High Commissioner to India and is set to
take charge at the end of this
month, Foreign Office sources said. Mahmood, now Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey,
will succeed Abdul Basit. The
sourcea said the Indian High
Commission in Islamabad
issued visa to Mahmood on
Friday. Mahmood, who has
served in Pakistani missions
in Washington, New York,
Ankara and Bangkok, is 55
years old and holds a Masters
degrees in History and International Relations.
Singapore passes
death penalty law for
nuclear terrorism
SINGAPORE : Singapore’s Parliament on Monday passed a
death penalty law for nuclear
terrorism acts. Death penalty will be given to a person
who commits a fatal act of
terrorism using radioactive
material or nuclear explosive
devices, Xinhua news agency
reported. Second Minister for
Home Affairs Desmond Lee
said Singapore cannot discount the rise of the Islamic
State terror group especially
when many countries,
including those within the
region, use nuclear energy, or
are actively exploring its use.
4 Chinese ships enter
Japanese waters
TOKYO : Four Chinese patrol
ships temporarily entered
Japanese territorial waters
near the Senkaku Islands
in the East China Sea on
Monday, coast guard officials
said. According to the officials, the incursion occurred
in the waters off Uotsuri
Island, public broadcaster
NHK reported. The ships
stayed in the waters for over
an hour before leaving. The
ships had been navigating
in the contiguous zone just
outside the territorial waters
since April 30.
AGENCIES
PARIS : Pro-EU Emmanuel
Macron on Sunday became
France's youngest President
with a landslide victory over
far-right rival Marine Le Pen,
a result hailed by European
Union leaders.
Wild celebrations broke out
in Paris and across France as
Macron, 39, bagged an overwhelming 66.06 per cent or
20.7 per cent of all votes in
a closely and bitterly fought
battle.
Thousands of jubilant Macron
supporters waving blue, white
and red tricolour flags danced
and cheered outside the iconic
Paris Louvre museum.
A civil servant who became a
millionaire investment banker
and then a government minister, Macron founded the 'En
Marche!' movement and went
on to become the President
despite not having a constituency of his own and without
the backing of any major party.
Anti-EU Le Pen, 48, got
about 10.6 million votes in the
Presidential election's crucial
runoff (33.94 per cent). This
A supporter of French presidential election candidate for the En
Marche ! movement Emmanuel Macron celebrates
was almost double of what her
more rabid father Jean-Marie
won in 2002, the last time a
far-right candidate made it to
the runoff.
She told her National Front
supporters that the new divide in France was between
"globalists and patriots". She
continued to criticise Macron
as an establishment candidate.
In a speech to jubilant supporters, Macron said: "Tonight
you won, France won. Everyone told us it was impossible.
But they don't know France."
The new President vowed
to fight "the forces of division
that undermine France", media
reports said.
He tweeted earlier: "As of this
evening and for the coming five
years, I am going to serve with
humility, with dedication, with
determination, in your name."
Macron acknowledged the
anger of many voters and
pledged to protect the weakest
members of the society.
"I will work to renew the
links between Europe and its
citizens... I will fight with all
my strength against the divisions that separate us."
Macron, who will take office
on May 14, is now looking to
use his popularity to lead his
fledgling party in legislative
elections in over a month from
now.
He is expected to meet stiff
resistance from Le Pen's National Front and others.
European Union leaders
heaved a sigh of relief over Le
Pen's defeat. She had threatened a "Brexit" if she won.
European Commission chief
Jean-Claude Juncker said:
"Happy that the French chose
a European future."
European Council President
Donald Tusk congratulated the
French people "for choosing
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity
over tyranny of fake news".
German Chancellor Angela
Merkel said: "Macron's win was
a victory for a strong united
Europe."
US President Donald Trump,
who had earlier praised Le Pen,
congratulated Macron for the
"big win" and said he looked
forward to working with him.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed Macron's victory.
freedom for minorities
AGENCIES
YANGON : The Human Rights
Watch has urged Myanmar to
guarantee religious freedom
for all minorities, amid growing tensions between different
belief systems in the country,
according to a report released
on Monday.
In April, Myanmar authorities had closed down two Islamic religious schools in Yangon, erstwhile capital and the
country's most populated city,
Efe news reported.
"Local officials' craven capitulation to mob demands to
shutter two Muslim schools is
the latest government failure
to protect Burma's religious
minorities," said Phil Robertson, HRW deputy Asia director.
The human rights non-profit
called for immediate reopening
of the schools, and asked the
government to publicly express
its position on ending restrictions against minority religions.
Wunna Shwe, Joint Secretary General of the Islamic
Religious Affairs Council, told
HRW that closures like this are
not uncommon in Myanmar
and also affect other minority
religious groups, including the
Christians.
Buddhism is the majority
religion in Myanmar and is
practised by 87.9 per cent of
its total population, followed by
Christianity (6.2 per cent) and
Islam (4.3 per cent), according
to the official census.
Between October 2016 and
February this year, the army
had conducted a security offensive in the western province of
Rakhine, following an attack on
three police posts, allegedly by
insurgents from the Rohingya
Muslim minority community.
The October 9 attack that
killed nine police personnel,
led to a nearly four-month-long
campaign of Rohingya persecution by the army, claiming
hundreds of lives from the
community.
Around 75,000 Rohingyas
had fled the country and taken
refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.
More than a million Rohingyas live in Rakhine, where they
have suffered discrimination
since the outbreak of sectarian
violence in 2012 that left at least
160 people dead, and since then
around 120,000 of them have
been living severely restricted
lives in 67 camps.
Myanmar do not recognise
the Rohingyas as citizens and
shun them as Bangladeshi immigrants.
"Myanmar's leaders can't
sit back and wait for the next
round of violence against a
minority group; they need to
take proactive steps to address
religious tensions and disputes
so that all can practise their
religion peacefully and safely,"
Robertson added.
Pakistan seeks US help to Will hit inside Pakistan if terror Pyongyang calls for end to
break Afghan-India nexus
inter-Korean confrontation
attacks continue: Iran
AGENCIES
ISLAMABAD :
Reiterating its
charge that India and Afghanistan had formed a nexus against it, Pakistan has
asked the US to help break
the alleged alliance "for the
sake of regional peace", a
media report here said on
Monday.
A senior official at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said
that during recent contacts
Washington was urged to
play its role to defuse Pakistan-Afghan tension.
"We know the US has a
stake in Afghanistan. They
(the US) want peace between
us but India is trying to disrupt these efforts. We have
asked them to take care of
India if they can. New Delhi is obviously pulling their
(Afghanistan's) strings," the
official, who remains in contact with Washington, told
The Nation.
He said the US was concerned over the recent firing
A SENIOR OFFICIAL AT THE
PAKISTAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
SAID THAT DURING RECENT
CONTACTS WASHINGTON
WAS URGED TO PLAY ITS
ROLE TO DEFUSE
PAKISTAN-AFGHAN TENSION
incident along the Chaman
border and "appreciated Pakistan's restraint".
"We told them the nation
was furious over the firing
from the Afghan side, which
left several dead. We obviously do not want the situation to get out of hand," the
official added.
Earlier, Pakistan declared
a four-km area adjacent to
the Chaman border with
Afghanistan a "no-go area"
amid the tensions.
Last week, Afghan forces
opened firing on Frontier
Corps personnel appointed
for security of a population
census team, killing 10 FC
troopers.
AGENCIES
TEHRAN :
Iran on Monday
warned Pakistan that it
would hit terrorist safe havens inside that country if
the government does not
confront militants who carry
out cross-border attacks.
Ten Iranian border guards
were killed by militants last
month. Iran said Jaish-alAdl, a militant group, had
shot the guards with longrange guns, fired from inside
Pakistan.
Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the Chief of
Iranian Armed Forces, said
the enemies were trying to
make up for their failures
through hiring terrorists to
target Iran's borders or interests. He said the method
was that of "cowardly thieves
and bandits" and would only
bring the enemies "humiliation and ignominy," Press
TV reported.
Baqeri said the border area
on the Pakistani side has "un-
fortunately" turned into a
haven and training ground
for "Saudi-hired terrorists,
who enjoy the US endorsement."
The Jaish ul-Adl terrorist
group claimed responsibility
for the attack in a statement.
The assailants escaped into
Pakistani territory immediately after the attack.
Jaish al Adl is a militant
group that has carried out
several attacks against Iranian security forces with the
aim of highlighting what
they say is discrimination
against minority groups in
Iran.
The group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed
eight border guards in April
2015 and 14 border guards in
October 2013.
Baqeri said Iran "cannot
accept the continuation of
this situation," adding, "We
expect the Pakistani officials
to control the borders, arrest
the terrorists and shut down
their bases."
"If the terrorist attacks
continue, we will hit with
crushing blows their safe
havens and cells, wherever
they are," he said.
The border area has long
been plagued by unrest from
both drug smuggling gangs
and separatist militants.
Iran's Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif
visited Pakistan last week
and asked Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif to improve the
border security. Pakistan assured Iran it would deploy
additional troops along its
border.
AGENCIES
SEOUL :
A day ahead of South
Korea's presidential election,
Pyongyang on Monday called
for an end to the history of
inter-Korean confrontation,
a media report said.
"The tragic North-South Korea relations today have been
wrought by the conservative
groups which, having been in
power for the past 10 years,
revived the foregone period of
confrontation and maximised
the political and military rivalry between the same race,"
Pyongyang's ruling party daily,
Rodong Sinmun, said in the
report.
"Our people's yearning for
peace has been mercilessly
trodden by the conservative
groups, manic followers of
confrontation," Yonhap News
Agency quoted the North Korean daily as saying.
"The history of inter-Korean
confrontation, led by the conservatives, should be put to an
end and a new era of unification
THE TRAGIC NORTH-SOUTH
KOREA RELATIONS TODAY
HAVE BEEN WROUGHT
BY THE CONSERVATIVE
GROUPS WHICH, HAVING
BEEN IN POWER FOR THE
PAST 10 YEARS, REVIVED
THE FOREGONE PERIOD OF
CONFRONTATION
should open up in collaboration between our race .. To that
end, the conservative groups'
scheme to seize power again
should be resolutely shattered."
The column is in line with the
North Korean regime's repeated
attempts to influence the presidential election, according to
South Korean officials.
On Tuesday, South Korea will
vote to pick a new President to
replace Park Geun-hye who
was removed from office in
March over corruption charges.
The latest opinion poll
showed Moon Jae-in of the
Democratic Party leading the
race by a wide margin.
STATE NEWS
Awareness on gender
based violence held
IMPHAL : Integrated Rural
Management Association,
Saikul; Kuki Women Union
and District Women Committee, Kangpokpi and UNMM
jointly organised an awareness
progamme on gender based violence at Kuki Inpi hall, Saikul
on Sunday.
Delivering key note address
of the programme, District
Women Committee convenor
Helam Haokip said that delay
in awarding punishment in
cases of crimes against women and children would only
encourage the culprits. As
a resource person, advocate
Lamneichong Kipgen talked about legal provisions on
crimes committed against
women and children. At the
end of the programme, a rally
denouncing Phaknung gangrape and demanding befitting
punishment to culprits involved in the crime was held.
Drive against tinted glass, helmet to intensify, says SP IW Minister Shyamkumar welcomed at Noney
STAFF REPORTER
IMPHAL :
In view of increasing
fatalities in road accidents and
prevailing law & order situation
in the state, Imphal West district police will start intensive
drive against two-wheeler riders without helmet and tinted
glass on vehicles.
Announcing this during a
press conference Monday, SP
Imphal West Herojit said the
drive has been necessitated due
to increasing road accidents
in Imphal particularly in city
area and also to effectively implement Motor Vehicles Act.
Similar drives in the past could
not be lengthen due to certain
factors though continued in
some sections occasionally,
he added.
Unlike in the past in which
defaulters were freed after
paying fine, two-wheeler
riders without helmet will be
detained till defaulters’ family
Imphal West police inspector Joy preseting a helmet to a two-wheeler
driver on Monday during the drive at Kangla park
members brought helmet in the
new drive, Herojit said, adding
that overload on two-wheelers,
tinted glass on four-wheelers
and driving without fastening
seat belt would be strictly dealt.
Herojit also disclosed that
around 2406 suspicious driving
licenses were recovered during
the drive conducted by district
Week-long Yongchak plantation
festival begins at Makhan
DIPR
IMPHAL : The first ever Yongchak
(Siihrapree) Plantation Festival
Week commenced from Monday at Makhan Centre Village
under Tadubi block, Senapti
district. The week-long stink
bean plantation festival is being organised jointly by All
Makhan Women’s Society and
Khrasi Welfare Forum.
Senapati ADC chairman ML
Markson attended the inaugural function as chief guest
while ADC executive member
K David Khrasi, IFS Dr L Puni
and retired IAS Henry K Heniattended were present as
guests of honour.
ML Markson exhorted the
gathering and appreciated
the effort of the organising
committee and the villagers.
He pointed that the festival is
a unique and first of its kind
in the state. He opined that
YONGCHAK (SIIHRAPREE)
SAPLINGS WERE
DISTRIBUTED TO ALL THE
PARTICIPANTS AS MUCH AS
THEY CAN CARRY HOME. THE
WEEK-LONG FESTIVAL WILL
ALSO WITNESSED PLANTING
AND FENCING OF THE
PLANTS IN MAKHAN AREAS
grassroots level initiatives like
the Yongchak Plantation Festival Week is the surest way to
bring about positive change
in a society. Markson further
exhorted the villagers to embrace the good practices and
keep up the noble initiative in
the years to come.
ADC executive member K
David Khrasi deliberated on
the medicinal and economy
values of Yongchak (stink
bean). He demonstrated how
to plant the saplings and take
care of them. David also shared
the marketing avenues and
economy benefit of Yongchak
produce.
Henry K Heni talked on
prospects and economy viability of Yongchak in the district.
He also informed about practical experience of planting and
taking care of the trees.
Dr L Puni emphasised on
wild life relation (chain) of
natural habitations.
MSS under secretary L Kaisa
thanked the organising committee, especially the women
bodies for coming forward to
shoulder the responsibility
of caring and nurturing the
economy and environment
in the areas. Kaisa appealed to
the gathering to be agents of
change, especially the womenfolk to be at par with their
male counter-parts in carrying
out the good deeds and contributing to the society.
police in the past few days and
all the seized licenses have been
handed over to transport department for verification.
About other activities being carried out by police for
the welfare of people, Herojit maintained that DGP LM
Khaute is very much committed to improving police-public
Yoga & Nature Care
Hospital inaugurated
IMPHAL :
Munal Yoga and
Nature Cure Hospital was
inaugurated at JNIMS
Hospital Pong Lambi on
Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Munal Yoga and
Nature Cure Hospital proprietor Ksh Debeshwor
dwelt on the importance
of Yoga and Nature Cure
therapy. Those ailments
which cannot be cured by
allopathic treatment can
be treated through Yoga
and Nature Cure therapy.
The hospital was established with the intention
of ensuring such a hospital
in Imphal East, he said.
State Ayush officer Dr A
Guneshwor Sharma was
the chief guest while chief
medical officer Dr Ksh
Kala of Nature Cure and
Yoga Research Hospital,
Kongpal Kshetri Leikai
presided over the event.
relations.
As part of improving relation
between police and public, a
programme for meeting students and local club members
have been initiated so that police could understand problems
faced by public. Apart from
this, police stations will meet
public on 15th of every month
as part of new government’s
initiative to bring closer relation between public and government institutions/officials,
Herojit added.
While maintaining that police is to serve public and safeguard them, Herojit appealed to
people to share problems with
police. He also appealed to public to cooperate and help police
in investigation whenever any
incident happened instead of
endorsing mob justice, while
maintaining that mob justice
not only destroy evidence of
crime but also helps in delaying
justice.
CORRESPONDENT
NONEY : A reception programme to welcome
Minister of Forest & Environment, Horticulture and Soil Conservation and MAHUD Th
Shyamkumar Singh was hosted by Western
Forest Division, Tamenglong on Monday at
the premises of Range Forest Office, Noney.
The Minister and his entourage were coming
from Jiribam Monday morning after a two-day
long tour programme.
The reception programme was attended
among others by Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Manipur, K Angami; Chief
Conservator of Forest, Manipur, S Dhananjoy
Singh; Chief Conservator of Forest, Manipur,
Th Mohendra Pratap Singh; Conservator of
Forest, Western Circle, Kh Brojendro Singh;
Divisional Forest Officer, Tamenglong, Huri
Golmei and his staffs.
The minister assured establishment of Forest
Guest House at Noney and other demands
which were mentioned in the memoranda
Kabui Traditional shawls were also presented
to the Minister by the Forest Department and
Longmai Village Authority. After a luncheon
the Minister and his team left for Imphal.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
ST Morcha, Tamenglong district submitted
a memorandum to MAHUD, Town Planning,
Forest & Environment, Horticulture & Soil
Conservation minister Th Shyamkumar during
the latter’s stop-over at Longmai Forest Range
Office on the way back from Jiribam to Imphal
on May 8.
Demands highlighted in the memorandum
include request for sanctioning construction
of a forest guest house at Longmai range office
compound, a special package for development
of horticultural farming and sanctioning separate budget for commercial town planning,
etc., informed a statement issued by BJP ST
Morcha president Ading Golmei.
Memoranda were also submitted to the
Minister by Longmai Village Authority, and
other organisations.
World Red Cross Day celebrated
STAFF REPORTER
As done across the
globe, World Red Cross Day
was celebrated in the state under the aegis of management
committee of Indian Red Cross
Society, Manipur State Branch
at its MG Avenue office here
on Monday.
Organised under the theme
“Everywhere for Everyone”,
the function was attended
by Indian Red Cross Society
Manipur State Branch management committee chairman
RK Nimai as president while its
general secretary Dr Y Mohen
Singh and paediatrician Prof
Ksh Chaourajit as guests of
honour.
Delivering the presidential
speech, RK Nimai said that the
voluntary work of Red Cross
Society reaching out to the
people in times of need irrespective of caste, creed, colour,
race, religion and gender is
indeed praiseworthy.
IMOM gets new
office bearers
STAFF REPORTER
IMPHAL :
IRCS Manipur chairman RK Nimai handing over certificate to a
student who win the painting competition
Every society has its own
conflict issues and there is no
place as such where people do
not experience conflict situations. Under such a situation,
Red Cross Society has come
out selflessly to help people
in need. Such attitude of Red
Cross Society should also be
imbibed in the minds of the
upcoming generations, he said.
The celebration was marked
by offering of floral tributes to
the photo of Red Cross Movement founder Jean Henary
Dunant. A song of the state
branch unit was also released
on the occasion.
Along a painting and
ex-tempore speech competition for students, a voluntary
blood donation programme
was also organised as part of
the celebration.
IMPHAL : Indigenous Minority
Organisation Manipur (IMOM)
has installed its new office
bearers for the term 2017-2020
from Monday.
An oath taking ceremony
function was held on Monday at IMOM office, Konung
Mamang which was attended by NIPCO adviser Sunil
Karam, Indigenous Minority
Socio-Cultural Organisation
president Mamsokam Bapui
and outgoing president L
Khupler Kom as presidium
members. Oath was administered to the newly elected
office bearers by Sunil Karam.
The newly elected office
bearers included Medun Maring (president), Abhraham
Saichel (general secretary) and
Sailash (finance secretary).
Former president Khupler
Kom will take charge as advisor of IMOM.