thrissur l monday l march 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION At least 137 abducted School children freed in Nigeria They were abducted over two weeks ago from their school in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Kaduna by a band of motorcycle-riding gunmen abductions put pressure on president over 280 students were taken: teachers The Nigerian Army claimed the children were freed during a rescue operation on Saturday. President Bola Tinubu, under pressure to end abductions which has become common in the conflict-hit northern region of the country, had vowed to rescue them without paying ransom. Sources said the abductors were hiding in the region’s vast and ungoverned forests ■ ■ It is not clear how many students were kidnapped. Teachers have said over 280 pupils between the ages of eight and 15 were taken. The government had initially said all of them had been freed Bandit gangs routinely attack communities and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom in northwest and north-central Nigeria | P9 1,400 Students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since 2014 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI INDIA bloc to hold mega rally in Delhi over Kejriwal’s arrest Top leaders of Cong, TMC, CPM, Shiv Sena (UBT) & Samajwadi Party expected to attend rally on March 31 PREETH A N A IR @ New Delhi UPPING the ante against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Opposition INDIA bloc said on Sunday that it will hold a mega rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on March 31 to protest against the BJP government’s alleged targeting of political rivals using federal agencies. Announcing the decision at a joint press conference in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi minister Gopal Rai said all INDIA-bloc parties will hold the rally to safeguard the country’s interests and democracy Top leaders of several op. position parties including the Congress, TMC, CPI(M), Shiv Sena (UBT), and Samajwadi Party are expected to attend the rally . “The Prime Minister has been acting like a dictator and suppressing democracy to arrest Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Whether it is Hemant Soren in Jharkhand or Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar or the CM of West Kangana, Naveen Jindal in BJP’s 5th list rajesh kumar thakur @ New Delhi After a week-long discussion, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday evening released its fifth list of candidates for 111 Lok Sabha seats in 17 states including Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and in the process springing surprises yet again. The BJP retained a majority of its sitting MPs and has given seats to newly inducted members for various high profile seats. Sandeshkhali’s Rekha Patra, who raised voice against suspended TMC muscle man Sheikh Shahjahan, is fielded as the BJP’s candidate from Basirhat. Industrialist and former Congress MP Naveen Jindal on Sunday joined the BJP and was immediately named the party’s candidate for Kurukshetra seat in Haryana. He represented the seat between 2004-14. As was reported first by this newspaper, Pilibhit sitting MP Varun Gandhi was dropped and UP minister Jitin Prasada was fielded from the seat. Va r u n’s m o t h e r a n d Sultanpur sitting MP Maneka Gandhi will contest from the same seat again. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was field from Sambalpur LS seat while Sambit Patra from Puri in Odisha. Sita Surendran to take on Rahul, Annie Raja In a major surprise, the BJP has fielded its state president K Surendran from Wayanad, pitting him against Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and CPI’s Annie Raja for the upcoming general election. The party also announced candidates to the remaining three constituencies in Kerala. The party fielded Dr K S Radhakrishnan in Ernakulam constituency, actor G Krishnakumar in Kollam and Dr T N Sarasu in Alathur. P5 Soren, who joined recently from JMM, was named for Dumka LS seat. In Andhra Pradesh, state BJP chief D Purandareshwari was field from Rajamundry LS seat while Varaparasad Rao, who joined on Sunday, was fielded from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. Former Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was fielded from Patna Sahib in Bihar while union minister RK Singh was repeated from Arrah. Ramayana serial actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Rama, was fielded from Meerut in UP. The BJP dropped union minist e r A s h w i n i Ku m a r Choubey and VK Singh and ex-Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada constituency . Some give importance to animals over humans, says Mar Raphael Thattil E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @Kalpetta Human-wildlife conflicts found mention in the Palm Sunday message of Raphael Thattil, the Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church. Thattil, who was speaking at Holy Cross Church in Nadavayal, Wayanad, said some people gave more importance to animals than humans. “We suspect some people give more importance to wild animals than humans. Migrant families are not robbers of forest resources. They are people who work hard and produce food; that is, they deserve consideration. The Church prays for those who died in wild animal attack during the Holy Week,” he said. Thattil said migrants left their homelands and went to the hilly regions with the help of kings and the government of the time after their life became miserable. “They are not robbers or looters. They are the ones who turn this land into a farming paradise. We must remember how much migrant families contribute to our state. However, they are facing wild animal attacks. The issue needs permanent solution. Many are losing lives. The government should protect them,” Thattil said. Human-wildlife conflicts, which have claimed several lives, including three in Wayanad, this year alone, have become a major poll issue this LS elections. The SyroMalabar Church had earlier criticised the government against recurring attacks. Bengal, all are being slapped with fraudulent cases to silence them ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” said Rai. He alleged AAP leaders are being prevented from holding protests and Kejriwal’s family has been placed under house arrest. “Our party office was sealed despite the Model Code of Conduct being in place. Now the Congress’s accounts have been frozen, so they won’t be able to run a campaign for the polls,” Rai added. Hitting out at the BJP, Delhi Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely exhorted the public to join the proposed rally . The Opposition leaders also alleged Kejriwal was arrested after the State Bank of India was forced to reveal the donations the BJP received through electoral bonds. One of the approvers in the Delhi liquor policy case got bail after sending money to the BJP they alleged. , “There’s no level-playing field for the opposition parties anymore. Our leader Rahul Gandhi has been trying to save the democracy and we will stand by the AAP to save the CM,” said Lovely adding that they are hopeful that the authorities would allow them to hold the rally . CPI(M) leader Rajiv Kunwar said the fight is against the dictatorial rule of the Modi government. Rallying behind Kejriwal, several leaders including Congress, TMC, and CPI(M) of the INDIA bloc had met the Election Commission on Friday and submitted a memorandum on the instances of central agencies targeting them. Delhi CM issues first order from ED custody, says AAP A n u p v e r m a @ New Delhi The Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Sunday said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued his first order from Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, instructing Delhi water minister Atishi Marlena to solve water and sewer problems in some areas of Delhi. “I might be in jail, but people of Delhi shouldn’t be inconvenienced,” he wrote in the order as per Atishi. However, the issuing of the order has raised legal questions. The ED has taken cognisance of Atishi’s statement. The ED will probe if the directions were in line with the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court’s order issued to the ED. Another question raised by Kejriwal’s order is whether he can continue as CM now that he is in custody .
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