Guyana Says It "Stands Unequivocally" With India Against Terrorism
Georgetown:
"Guyana, stands unequivocally" with India, the nation's Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo told the visiting delegation of Indian Members of Parliament on Sunday.
"We are against terrorism, and we believe that all those who perpetrate terrorist acts must be brought to justice," Mr Jagdeo said after meeting with the team of MPs led by Shashi Tharoor.
"It was an excellent visit, and I assured the delegation that Guyana, stands unequivocally with you," he added.
In a post on social media platform X, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading a nine-member delegation, here echoed that it was an "excellent meeting" and said that he expressed "strong sympathy and understanding for India's concerns in the wake of recent events" -- the terrorist massacre of 26 people at Pahalgam by Pakistan-linked terrorists and India's Operation Sindoor against terrorism infrastructure based in Pakistan and in areas it occupies in Kashmir.
Monday is Guyana's 59th Independence Day "and we will be present at the midnight speech by the President (Irfaan Ali) tonight," Mr Tharoor said on Monday in an X post.
Emphasising national unity across the political spectrum against terrorism, the team is headed by Tharoor from the opposition Congress Party and includes Shambhavi of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Sarfaraz Ahmad of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and Milind Murli Deora of the Shiv Sena, as well as Shashank Mani Tripathi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, and Tejasvi Surya of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and GM Harish Balayogi of the Telugu Desam Party, a National Democratic Alliance partner.
The delegation now in Guyana is one of the seven teams of members of Parliament fanning out across the world to convey India's position in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam by The Resistance Front, an affiliate of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba.
After India's Operation Sindoor struck the terrorist headquarters, Pakistan launched an attack on India that also hit civilian targets like places of worship including temples, gurdwaras and a convent, and a medical facility, escalating the conflict.
The Tharoor-led delegation had a meeting with the Indian diaspora.
BJP Tejasvi Surya said on X, "Members of the Indian community at Georgetown, Guyana, welcomed our Parliamentary delegation."
"We also met with representatives of many spiritual organisations like the Art of Living, ISKCON and the Brahma Kumaris," he wrote.
"They serve as the spiritual and cultural anchor for the Indian community here."
During the meeting with Guyanese Vice-President Jagdeo, Tharoor said they also discussed economic cooperation between India and Guyana, a fast-developing country whose rise is fueled by the discovery of oil in its waters.
"Our conversation also spanned a range of topics relating to Guyana's record-breaking 30 per cent annual economic growth and development plans following the discovery of oil and gas," he said on X.
India's High Commisson in Guyana's capital Georgetown said on X that "the MPs delegation elaborated India's position on Pahalgam, #OperationSindoor and the Indus Water Treaty, underlining India's resolute policy of #ZeroToleranceForTerrorism."
Mr Jagdeo offered "Guyana's unwavering support to India's fight against terrorism," it added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
17 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Excise duty on liquor goes up by over 50%, retail prices to rise from 14% to 60%
MUMBAI: The cash-strapped Maharashtra government on Tuesday increased the state excise duty on Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) by over 50%, which will lead to a significant increase in retail prices by over 60%. It has also increased the duty on country liquor and imported premium liquor, which will hike their retail prices by 14% and over 25% respectively. The excise duty on beer and wine has not been increased. The government expects the whopping hike to increase its revenue to ₹57,000 crore, up ₹14,000 crore from the ₹43,620 crore collected in FY 2024-25. It expects 10% of the estimated revenue receipts of ₹5.60 lakh crore for the financial year 2025-26 to come from this. While tapping sources of revenue that would enable the drained exchequer to bear the burden of populist schemes like Ladki Bahin and sops for farmers and other communities, the Mahayuti government in January constituted a committee headed by then additional chief secretary Valsa Nair to recommend steps to increase revenue from liquor sales. The committee submitted its report in April this year, and the state cabinet gave its assent to this on Tuesday. Based on the recommendations of the committee, IMFL will now attract four and a half times excise duty on the manufacturing cost instead of the existing three times. 'This will vary based on the manufacturing price but could lead to a huge hike of over 60% in retail prices,' said an excise department official. The cost of IMFL currently ranges between ₹120 and ₹150 for 180 ml, which will now go up to a minimum of ₹205. Premium brands will cost a minimum of ₹360 for 180 ml as against their current rate ranging between ₹210 and ₹330. The price of 180-ml bottles of country liquor has gone up to ₹80 from the current price of ₹70. Beer and wine have been exempted from the excise duty hike. Officials said the retail price of beer, which has a lesser percentage of alcohol compared to hard liquor, is among the highest in the country and was thus exempted. In the case of wine, it is the policy of the state to promote wine since a significant chunk of the country's wineries are in Maharashtra and a significant number of farmers who supply grapes for these wineries are also based here. The government has also introduced a new category called Maharashtra-made liquor (MML), which will also be exempted from the hike. MML brands, made from grains, will cost a minimum of ₹148 for 180 ml, a price that has been strategically kept in the existing price range of IMFL to help MML capture the IMFL market. An official from the excise department said that the new category had been introduced to revive the 70 manufacturing units that manufacture IMFL from molasses and grains. 'Currently 22 of the 70 licenced units are entirely defunct while 16 do no manufacturing and renew their licence only for permission to sell liquor through their shops,' he said. 'The remaining 32 are actually manufacturing the liquor, and 10 of these produce 70% of the IMFL manufactured in the state.' The official added that distilleries using molasses would have to shift to making grain-based liquor in order to get the benefit of the exemption. The reason for this, he alleged, was that most of the grain-based manufacturing units are owned by politicians and the decision was taken to benefit them. The duty hike on IMFL brands has come after 14 years. According to officials, the excise duty levied is still lower than other neighbouring states like Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. 'The committee's recommendations were based on the study of the rates in other states,' said an officer. Another officer said that the hike in duty on country liquor brands was minimal since a greater increase and higher price would lead to the consumption of illicit liquor. 'It is also because the last hike was done in 2022,' he said. The cabinet has also allowed owners of bars to rent out permit room licences for alcohol by paying 10% of the licence fee.
Hindustan Times
17 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Modi government's 11 years full of achievements:MoS defence
Union minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth on Tuesday said that the 11 years of Modi government are full of achievements and remain unmatched. Seth, who addressed the media in Shimla, said that today the whole world looks at India with respect and the world's view towards India has changed. Today's India is a new India which neither fears anyone, nor bows down, nor extends hands in front of anyone. 'During the Covid-19 pandemic, when the world invented the vaccine, we invented not one but two vaccines, then the Congress party made fun of it. The Prime Minister not only saved 140 crore lives but also saved the world by giving vaccines to 118 countries,' he said. The minister of state for defence said that on PM's call, 175 countries of the world accepted June 21 as Yoga Day. 'No one believed that India would organise such a grand G-20 summit but the whole world acknowledged the success with which the government organised the summit. When the Ukraine-Russia war started, we evacuated 23,000 students from safely and students from 28 countries came out safely from there with our tricolor flag in their hands. Under Operation Kaveri, more than 3,000 Indians were brought back safely,' Seth said. The MoS further said that after the Pahalgam terror attack, the country wanted revenge and our PM said that those who were behind this incident would be razed to the ground and he did it. 'This is the first time in the world that such a huge military operation was carried out on a nuclear-armed country. Our mighty army destroyed the terrorists within 23 minutes and destroyed 11 of their air bases,' he said.
Hindustan Times
22 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
US court pauses ruling allowing Venezuelans to challenge deportations to El Salvador
-A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday temporarily paused a judge's ruling holding that hundreds of Venezuelans the Trump administration deported to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law must be given the chance to challenge their detentions. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an administrative stay to give itself more time to consider an appeal filed by the government earlier on Tuesday. Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on June 4 also ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate their legal challenges, though he stopped short of expressly ordering the government to bring the Venezuelan migrants currently being held at a mega-prison in El Salvador back to the U.S. Boasberg, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, gave the government one week to detail how it would facilitate the deportees' challenges, known as habeas corpus petitions. The Venezuelans were deported in March after President Donald Trump, a Republican, invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without going through normal immigration procedures. The appellate court panel that paused Boasberg's ruling included U.S. Circuit Judges Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, all of whom were appointed to the court by Trump during his first term in office. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the Venezuelans in the case, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
