Latest news with #Miya
Eater
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
A Rooftop Pizzeria With Cheesy Pan Pies Opens in Silver Lake Just in Time for Summer
Downtown pizzeria Pi LA, owned by Fred 62 founder Fred Eric, will expand with a new location in the heart of Silver Lake, opening June 14, 2025. Located right on Sunset Boulevard, the pizzeria will operate across the ground floor and rooftop, serving crispy-edged pan pizzas. The first Pi LA opened Downtown in March 2022 in the former Vito's location. Signature pies at the new shop will include the Seoul Love smoked spiced pork belly, the cherry tomato-topped Lil Red, and Mr. Frenchy with potato gratin and truffle-infused Gruyere cheese. Alongside the pizza, Pi LA will serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, baked goods, and frozen pops from Sno Con Amour. At the new location, find Pi LA's forthcoming collaboration with Five Point Five Brewery — a genmaicha and ceremonial grade matcha beer. The new pizzeria's exterior features a mural from artist Shepard Fairey, who is an investor in the restaurant along with Quixote's Mikel Elliott and Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. While Silver Lake has plenty of patios for warm-weather eating and sipping, Pi LA's rooftop is sure to be a hit on nice days. Pasjoli hits pause The Los Angeles Times reports that chef Dave Beran's acclaimed Santa Monica French restaurant Pasjoli is temporarily closing on May 31 to revamp the dining room and menu, which had converted to a sub-$100 prix fixe in its last iteration. The closure is planned to last for two weeks, and the restaurant will reopen on June 12. Beran intends to keep the iconic pressed duck presentation, in addition to the popular bar burger, which makes its way to the main menu. The new iteration of Pasjoli will also serve mini versions of French onion soup, French onion fondue, and duck poutine. Miya reopens after the Eaton Canyon Fire Altadena Thai restaurant Miya is reopening its doors on May 27, just four months after the devastating Eaton Fire burned through the neighborhood. Former Eater senior editor Cathy Chaplin spoke to Miya's owner, David Tewasart, for a story on LAist about the process of getting the restaurant open again. Ototo takes an island vacation Echo Park Izakaya Ototo is kicking off summer residency at Mauna Lani in Hawai'i, which will run between June 7 and September 1. On-property restaurant Surf Shack will serve a menu of Ototo favorites, including the Ode to Mos Burger, alongside sake selections from co-owner Courtney Kaplan. Seaside skating and snacks Street League Skateboarding (SLS) is headed to the Santa Monica Pier for a takeover on May 23, bringing top skaters to a custom-built course. Alongside the kickflips and nosegrinds, SLS will also bring a lineup of food vendors to the pier, including Villa's Tacos, Heavy Handed, Miya Miya Shawarma, Uncle Paulie's, 27 Club Coffee, and Tacos 1986. The event is free to attend. Sign up for our newsletter.
Scroll.in
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Why a maverick Assam activist is pushing Bengali-origin Muslims to boycott citizenship trials
Sometime around 2017, Falu Miya and Jahedul Islam were summoned to a foreigners' tribunal in Assam's Barpeta district. Foreigners' tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies unique to the state that rule on citizenship matters. The two men from the Bengali-origin Muslim community in Assam had been accused of being 'illegal migrants' by the border wing of the state police. But neither of them turned up for the hearings in Barpeta. Eventually, the tribunal declared Miya and Islam as foreigners in ex-parte orders – rulings pronounced in their absence. Both their lawyers blame one man for convincing them to stay away from the proceedings – Faruk Khan, a maverick activist from the Bengali-origin Muslim community. 'When he was arrested last year, Falu Miya told them that Faruk Khan had advised him that he would get relief without going to the tribunal,' Akhtar Hussain, Miya's counsel, told Scroll. This was confirmed by Miya's sons. Hussain added: 'He had the documents [needed to prove himself a citizen], and I told him to go to the hearings repeatedly. But he chose to listen to Faruk Khan.' Jahedul Islam's counsel Mohibul Islam, too, claimed that he had been similarly advised by Faruk Khan. 'Before the arrest, Jahidul Islam made a video in Faruk's presence saying he would not contest the case before the tribunal,' Islam said. 'He was misguided by Faruk.' Khan told Scroll that Islam and Miya did not fight the cases because he had told them to do so – as did many others. 'But only a few were arrested and sent to detention,' he said. Since 2022, the 48-year-old entrepreneur has been travelling to the homes of those flagged as 'illegal migrants' by Assam's complex foreigner detection mechanism and asking them to boycott the foreigners' tribunals. Many of those are from the Bengali-origin Muslim community, who are also referred to as Miya Muslims. 'I tell people not to respond to FT notices and hundreds of people have listened to me,' Khan told Scroll. He argued that the odds are so heavily stacked against the Bengali-origin Muslim community at foreigners' tribunals that it does not make sense to appear before it. 'Even if we submit the right documents, the FTs don't accept it,' Khan alleged. 'Many are sent to the detention centre despite spending lakhs to fight their cases.' Khan added: 'This is not a legal issue, but a political one. It has to be solved politically.' He pointed out that the Assam government had recently decided to withdraw 28,000 cases pending against members of the Koch Rajbongshi community in the state's foreigners tribunals. Similarly, in 2021, the Assam government had issued a notification ordering the border police not to forward any case against Gurkhas to the foreigners' tribunals. It also decided to remove the D-voter tag from 20,000 members of the Gurkha community who had been marked out as 'dubious voters'. 'Why don't the Gurkhas need to go to FTs anymore? Because of a political decision taken by the government,' Khan said. 'We need a government that will withdraw the cases' against the Bengali-origin Muslims. While lawyers like Hussain and Mohibul Islam criticise Khan for misleading their clients, a Guwahati-based lawyer defended him. 'He represents a parallel movement outside of all the legalese,' said the lawyer. '[In Assam], the state has successfully translated majoritarian politics into the language of law. To my mind, Faruk Khan sees things as they are, and is not convinced by this language.' The lawyer continued: 'When he asks people not to respond to notices from the foreigners' tribunals, it is because he knows the citizenship determination mechanism is rigged. In that sense, he is an anarchist.' An activist from the Bengali-origin Muslim community, who has followed Khan's journey, added: 'Like many civil rights activists before and after him, he is advocating for civil disobedience against unjust and oppressive laws of his time.' A D-voter activist Over the years, Khan, who runs a small pickle factory in Barpeta town, has acquired the identity of a D-voter activist. Like the foreigners' tribunals, the concept of a 'doubtful' or D-voter is exclusive to Assam. It emerged as a category in 1997, when the Election Commission of India carried out what it described as an 'intensive revision' of the state's electoral rolls in response to ' apprehensions expressed from various quarters that the electoral rolls were infested with the names of foreigners/illegal migrants'. By the time the revision ended, as many as 3.13 lakh voters had been designated as 'doubtful' or D-voters and their right to vote suspended. There are 118,134 D-voters in Assam at present. Khan's mother, 76-year-old Tahamina Khatun, was one of those declared a D-voter. In July 2019, Khan filed a Right to Information request with the Election Commission of India, asking 'who put the D-sign against his mother's name in the voter list and under which provision of law'. The Election Commission in its response had said it has 'no information with them', Khan told Scroll. It referred the case to the state government, which in turn referred it to the Barpeta district administration, which too said it has no record of why Khatun was tagged as a D-voter. Khan said his investigation revealed that a spelling error had led to her citizenship being called into question. In 2020, Khan formed the D-voter Mancha or platform to fight for the rights of those disenfranchised like his mother. Soon after, Khatun, along with 25 more people from Barpeta moved the Supreme Court, contending that their names have been arbitrarily included in the D-voter list. In 2022, Khan's platform wrote to the Assam Chief Minister, seeking abolishing of the D-voter category, withdrawal of all the suspected foreigners' cases forwarded by the border police and questioned the need for foreigners' tribunals. At the same time, Khan started a campaign against the border police and foreigners' tribunals, urging people to boycott them. ' Why fight false cases?' Khan travels from village to village on his motorcycle, selling jars of pickle to fund his fuel costs. His activism is recorded on his Facebook profile. For example, in February, 2024, he shared a video of his meeting with three women who had been served with foreigners' tribunal notices. Khan had travelled 200 km to Gauripur in Assam's Dhubri district to meet the women on their request. In the video, Khan asked the women if it was true, as claimed by the foreigners' tribunal notice, that they had entered Assam illegally from a foreign country. The women denied this. Nor had the border police come to their village to make inquiries and investigate the case, the women said. 'Why should these people fight these false cases?' Khan is heard saying. 'I am telling them not to fight these cases or take any tension [sic].' In his meetings, Khan assures the people that his activism and the case filed by his mother will lead to the end of the D-voter system. 'Trust me,' Khan told a gathering of people in Lengtisinga village in Bongaigaon district. 'In the past, nobody has filed a case against the government in this matter.' Khan argued that even spending vast amounts on lawyers' fees may not result in their acquittal. He also asked them not to be afraid of being sent to detention camps – as the state government cannot confine them in the camps for over two years, according to a 2002 Supreme Court order. Khan argues that it is naive to expect a fair trial at the foreigners' tribunals, when the tribunal members are incentivised to convict more people as foreigners. 'People are being deprived of rights like citizenship on the whims and fancies of foreigners' tribunals,' he told Scroll. 'Silly and minor discrepancies in oral statements are used to declare people foreigners.' He also questioned the fairness of the process. 'The foreigners' tribunals are not courts but appointed and paid by the government's home and political department,' Khan told Scroll. 'The border police, which alleges that a person is a foreigner, is under the same department. So, the government files a complaint suspecting someone is a foreigner, and the same government decides its fate. That's why the rulings are also in favour of the government. That's how 1.43 lakh people have been declared foreigners.' The politics of citizenship trials stems from the entrenched narrative that Assam has been overrun by foreigners, Khan said. 'Assam saw a huge movement against foreigners, where every Assamese took part,' Khan said. 'This movement instilled a misleading narrative that the state has a huge number of foreigners, that Miya [Muslims] are Bangladeshi. But we came here long ago before independence. We are related to the Brahmaputra river, we live on its banks and have a riverine culture. Unfortunately, the Assamese anxiety that their resources are being taken over continues to shape the politics in Assam.' The social activist, who follows Khan's work, said that while Khan's arguments may not make sense to most activists and lawyers, he realises the reality of the people affected by Assam's citizenship regime. As Khan has often pointed out, 'they sell property, cattle, land, take loans to pay the fees of the lawyers, but they still go to jail'. Khan's arguments have struck a chord with a section of the Bengali-origin Muslim community, as he shows empathy and listens to their experience, said activists and lawyers. 'He is trying to fill a vacuum as nobody is fighting the issue of D-voters as actively as him on the ground,' Barpeta-based advocate Hafizur Rahman said. Rahman pointed out that most of the foreigners' tribunals cases are filed against the poor and uneducated people. 'These people are too poor to understand the laws and their consequences. Khan gives them hope, says nothing will happen to them, and people listen. But he has a limited understanding of the law, and he ends up misleading people. ' The activist from the Bengali-origin Muslim community cited above said that while lawyers take up hundreds of cases of people caught in citizenship trials, they have minimal interaction with their clients, and rarely brief them about the progress in their cases. 'But Faruk is always there with the people, meeting and assuring them.' An unconventional activist Khan argued that 'fighting individual cases' will not lead to anything 'as the government will come and file more cases'. What will make a difference is 'political power' and 'leaders who have an honest intention to do away with cases against the Bengali-origin Muslims like the BJP government did with Gorkhas and Koch Rajbanshis', Khan said. 'This shows that if the government wants, they can stop harassing us. They can remove all these cases.' Khan continues to fight for the Bengali-origin Muslim community, when few community leaders speak up for them, the activist pointed out. 'When we did social activism during the updating of the National Register of Citizens, we had constructed a civic space,' he said. 'But the state demolished that space efficiently – by making sure our community doesn't get enough money, filing cases against our people and through media trials. Community activists who were once vocal and active are silent.' Khan, he said, has a better chance of surviving because he is not a 'conventional activist'. For the thousands caught in Assam's citizenship trials, Faruk Khan is an unlikely source of hope, he added. 'Legal cases not only take away citizenship from people but also their peace of mind. He is able to help by simply showing up in front of the people. He makes them believe that someone has their back.'
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Time of India
1993 Bombay blasts case: 66-year-old accused Farooq Takla found guilty of passport forgery
This is a representational AI image MUMBAI: Alleged to be one of the main conspirators in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, 66-year-old Farooq Yasin Mansoor, alias Farooq Takla , was on Saturday convicted and sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment for travelling to India from Dubai on a forged passport in 2018. "Evidence on record, ie, oral and documentary evidence, shows that the accused... applied for the passport and renewal of the passport by using the name Mustaq Mohammed Miya, which is not his real name. The passport application and passport contain false particulars, false information, and a forged signature. It shows that the accused, by hiding his real identity and submitting false information, obtained the passport and also got it renewed," additional chief judicial magistrate RD Chavan said. Mansoor was arrested in this case in 2020. Having already served five years as an undertrial, his sentence in this case will be considered time served, meaning he will not have to serve any further time for this particular charge. However, he will remain in custody due to the ongoing trial in the blasts case. Alleged to be absconding since 1993, Mansoor was arrested after he landed in New Delhi in 2018. A Red Corner notice was also issued by Interpol against him in 1995. The magistrate noted that Mansoor assumed the identity of Miya, as evidenced by the name mentioned in the passport application and on the passport itself. "The accused affixed his own photograph and signed as... Miya, while knowing fully well that he is not... Miya. Perusal of the passport application and the passport shows that the passports were issued based on this deception," the magistrate said. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Ready-to-move-in luxury residences in Sector 22 Gurugram Ambience Creacions, Gurugram Learn More Undo The forensic science laboratory report and the oral evidence of a forensic expert confirmed that the handwriting and signatures on the passport and application form match, the magistrate said. Investigating the 1993 Bombay Blast Case, officer Shivkumar Jayant deposed that the accused was arrested on March 8, 2018, at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. The arrest followed credible information that the accused was travelling from Dubai to New Delhi under the assumed name of Miya, using a fake passport obtained in 2011 based on a renewed application from a 2001 passport. Jayant stated that in 2018, the accused wrote letters to the Prime Minister of India identifying himself as Farooq Mansoor. Handwriting analysis confirmed that Mushtaq Miya and Farooq Mansoor are the same person. The original Mushtaq Miya was traced through the Regional Passport Office, Mumbai, which revealed that the accused used his name and background in the passport renewal application. Jayant also confirmed the accused's arrest and personal search at the airport on March 8, 2018.
Hans India
04-05-2025
- Hans India
Delhi Police detain six Bangladeshi women residing illegally in Paharganj
New Delhi: In a significant crackdown on illegal immigration, Delhi Police have detained six Bangladeshi women from different parts of the national capital and busted a sprawling network involved in trafficking people from the neighbouring country into India. Authorities confirmed on Sunday that the detained women were residing in India without valid documentation and will be deported. The East District Police, acting on a tip-off received at Mandawali Police Station, launched a targeted operation under the leadership of Inspector Bhupesh Kumar, SHO Mandawali. Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Abhishek Dhania said, "The team first apprehended a suspected Bangladeshi woman, who later revealed the whereabouts of five others residing illegally in the Paharganj area of Delhi." The detained women have been identified as Mim Akhtar (23), Meena Begum (35), Sheikh Munni (36), Payal Sheikh (25), Sonia Akhtar (36), and Taniya Khan (34). Police confirmed that none of the detained women possessed valid immigration documents, and deportation proceedings have been initiated in coordination with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Delhi. This operation forms part of an ongoing initiative launched by East District Police on November 19, 2024, to identify and deport illegal immigrants. So far, 15 Bangladeshi nationals have been identified and deported from the district since the launch of the drive. In a related operation, the Southeast District Police on Saturday dismantled a syndicate involved in trafficking Bangladeshis into India and placing them in low-wage jobs. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh said that the police arrested seven Bangladeshi nationals, including the mastermind Chand Miya, along with five Indian accomplices -- one of whom hails from Kaltali, Assam. Chand Miya, 55, a resident of Muddu Borishal, Bagerhat district in Bangladesh, had been operating as a trafficker for the last 10-12 years. An unlettered man who entered India at the age of four with his father, Miya initially settled in Seemapuri, Delhi, and later in Taimoor Nagar. Over the years, he shifted base to Chennai and began operating a network that facilitated the illegal entry of Bangladeshis through porous borders in West Bengal (Benapole area) and Meghalaya. During the operation, authorities recovered several items linked to the network's fraudulent documentation activities. These included 11 Aadhaar cards created using fake Indian identities, Bangladeshi ID documents, a computer, four hard drives, a laptop, a colour printer, and Rs 19,170 in cash. So far, 18 Bangladeshi nationals identified through Miya's network have been deported with assistance from the FRRO. Additionally, police traced 33 more Bangladeshi immigrants in Chennai, arrested under two separate FIRs, and eight others from Vijayawada.
Hindustan Times
04-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Illegal Bangladeshi infiltration network busted by Delhi Police
The Delhi Police said it has busted an infiltration network facilitating the illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals, and arrested 11 people, including the kingpin. Those arrested also include four Bangladeshis and five Indians who worked for the 55-year-old man, identified as Chand Miya . According to the police, Miya had allegedly immigrated from Bangladesh years back. Police said he used to bring Bangladeshis illegally into India and provided them Indian identification documents (IDs) and employment. He and his gang allegedly brought hundreds of Bangladeshis into India via the West Bengal and Meghalaya borders over the past 10 years, said deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh. Miya was arrested on April 20 from south Delhi. 'His interrogation led to the nabbing and deportation of 18 Bangladeshi nationals through the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) while 33 more illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were traced to Chennai and apprehended from two places. The 33 foreigners were booked in two FIRs that were filed by the local police in Chennai. More than 100 Bangladeshis and agents are still under scanner,' said Singh. Miya told police that he got involved in illegal trafficking 12 years ago. He charged between ₹20,000 and ₹25,000 per person for bringing them illegally into India, DCP Singh said. The infiltration network was busted after anti-narcotic squad (ANS) members on March 12 caught a 25-year-old Bangladeshi national in Taimoor Nagar, identified as Aslam alias Masoom, who had illegally entered India the same week and was living in the neighbourhood. Aslam possessed a fake Aadhaar card and a Bangladeshi ID. Police registered a case at the New Friends Colony police station and launched an investigation. 'Aslam disclosed that his arrival into India through dunki routes was arranged by Chand Miya, who turned out to be the mastermind of a sophisticated racket. Interrogation led to the arrest of Miya, three Bangladeshi men and a Bangladeshi woman, and five Indian agents,' said DCP Singh. The four other Bangladeshis were identified as Mohammad Ali Hussain, 28, Mohammad Mizan, 25, Fatima Afross, 32, who completed an MA degree course from Bangladesh and illegally entered India in August last year, and Radhish Mulla, 24. The arrested Indians were identified as Mohammad Anis, 41, Ranjan Kumar Yadav, 32, Rahisuddin Ali, 37, Shabbir, 28, and Lokman Ali, 35. They all helped Miya with fake Indian IDs for his Bangladeshi clients, the DCP added.
