Latest news with #Nijjar
Hans India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Anti-sacrilege Bill: First meet of Pb Assembly select panel concludes
Chandigarh: A 15-member select committee of the Punjab Assembly, which was formed to hold wider consultation with all stakeholders on an anti-sacrilege bill, held its first meeting here on Thursday. Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on July 19 formed the select committee of the House for seeking public opinion on the Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill, 2025. The move came after the Punjab Assembly unanimously decided to refer the bill, proposing punishment up to life imprisonment for sacrilege acts against religious scriptures, to the select committee of the House to seek public opinion, including religious bodies on the proposed legislation. The panel will submit its report on the bill within six months after taking public opinion. The first meeting of the select committee, which was held here on Thursday, was chaired by AAP MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Nijjar said the members of the committee discussed its work area and also about the bill. However, he said he could not share details regarding the day-to-day proceedings of the committee as these are confidential. 'It (sacrilege) is a sensitive issue. We will continue to hold meetings,' Nijjar said, adding their efforts would be to submit their report within six months. He said the public can send their opinion on the bill through e-mail and WhatsApp number, which will be worked out in the next meeting. Replying to a question, Nijjar said the committee will seek opinion of all bodies and intellectuals regarding the bill. He said the next meeting of the committee will be held on Tuesday. 'We may form a sub-committee. We may increase the frequency of meetings,' he said in response to a question. The 15-member panel is led by Nijjar. The members of the committee are AAP MLAs Ajay Gupta, Amandeep Kaur Arora, Inderjit Kaur Mann, Jagdeep Kamboj, Neena Mittal, Baljinder Kaur, Budh Ram, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Madan Lal Bagga, Mohammad Jamil Ur Rahman, BJP MLA Jangi Lal Mahajan, Congress legislators Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Shiromani Akali Dal legislator Manpreet Singh Ayali. The anti-sacrilege bill was introduced on July 14 in the House. The bill mandates strict punishment, extending up to life imprisonment, for the desecration of holy scriptures, including the Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, Bible and Quran.
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Anti-sacrilege Bill: Punjab assembly select committee holds first meeting
A 15-member select committee of the Punjab assembly, which was formed to hold wider consultation with all stakeholders on an anti-sacrilege Bill, held its first meeting in Chandigarh on Thursday. The assembly unanimously decided to refer the Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill to the 15-member select committee of the House to hold wider consultation with all stakeholders. (HT file photo) Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on July 19 formed the select committee of the House for seeking public opinion on the Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill, 2025. The move came after the Punjab assembly unanimously decided to refer the Bill, proposing punishment up to life imprisonment for sacrilege acts against religious scriptures, to the select committee of the House to seek public opinion, including religious bodies on the proposed legislation. The panel will submit its report on the Bill within six months after taking public opinion. The first meeting of the select committee was chaired by AAP MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Nijjar said the members of the committee discussed its work area and also about the Bill. However, he said he could not share details regarding the day-to-day proceedings of the committee as these are confidential. 'It (sacrilege) is a sensitive issue. We will continue to hold meetings,' Nijjar said, adding their efforts would be to submit their report within six months. He said people will be able to share their opinion on the Bill through e-mail and WhatsApp number, which will be worked out in the next meeting on Tuesday. Replying to a question, Nijjar said the committee will seek the opinion of all bodies and intellectuals regarding the Bill. 'We may form a sub-committee. We may increase the frequency of meetings,' he said in response to a question. The members of the committee are AAP MLAs Ajay Gupta, Amandeep Kaur Arora, Inderjit Kaur Mann, Jagdeep Kamboj, Neena Mittal, Baljinder Kaur, Budh Ram, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Madan Lal Bagga, Mohammad Jamil Ur Rahman, BJP MLA Jangi Lal Mahajan, Congress legislators Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali. The anti-sacrilege Bill was introduced on July 14 in the House. It mandates strict punishment, extending up to life imprisonment, for the desecration of holy scriptures, including the Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagavad Gita, Bible and Quran. According to the Bill, any person found guilty of sacrilege may face imprisonment ranging from 10 years to life. The guilty shall also be liable to pay a fine of ₹5 lakh, which may extend up to ₹10 lakh. Those attempting to commit the offence may be sentenced to three to five years and shall also be liable to pay a fine which may extend up to ₹3 lakh, according to the Bill. Individuals found abetting the crime will be punished in accordance with the offence committed. Under the Bill, offence means any sacrilege, damage, destruction, defacing, disfiguring, de-colouring, de-filling, decomposing, burning, breaking or tearing of any holy scripture or part thereof.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Anti-sacrilege bill: Punjab assembly select committee holds 1st meeting
1 2 Chandigarh: The 15-member select committee of Punjab vidhan sabha, tasked with holding wider consultations with stakeholders on the anti-sacrilege bill, held its first meeting under the chairmanship of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar. Speaking to media, Nijjar, who was accompanied by speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, said the committee discussed its work area and the bill. He said a mechanism would be put in place to seek inputs from the public. While methods for submitting suggestions, such as WhatsApp and email, are being considered, these details will be finalised in the next meeting. Religious organisations and thinkers will also be consulted, he said. "The discussions held in the meeting are confidential as it is a sensitive issue," Nijjar stated. "We will meet again on July 29." Nijjar added the committee would try to submit its report within the stipulated period of six months. "We will try to meet at least once a week. However, the frequency can be increased, and we may form a sub-committee... Two members, Bram Shankar Jimpa and Amandeep Kaur, could not attend the meeting, but they are on their way, and we will brief them. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like JAIN Online MBA – Empowering Future Leaders JAIN Online Learn More Undo The panel may also give an option to invite suggestions through local MLAs," Nijjar said. The Punjab advocate general, who is an ex-officio member of the committee, also attended the meeting. The panel includes MLAs from AAP, Congress, BJP, and SAD. The speaker had formed the committee on July 19 to seek public opinion and consult religious orgsanisations on the Punjab Prevention of Offences Against Holy Scripture(s) Bill, 2025. Before this, the sacrilege bill was introduced in the assembly on July 14, proposing stricter penalties, including life imprisonment, for religious sacrilege. The MLAs nominated to the select committee include Nijjar, Ajay Gupta, Amandeep Kaur Arora, Inderjit Kaur Mann, Jagdeep Kamboj, Jangi Lal Mahajan, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Neena Mittal, Baljinder Kaur, Budh Ram, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Madan Lal Bagga, Manpreet Singh Ayali, and Mohammad Jamil Ur Rehman. Under the bill, a person found guilty of sacrilege could face imprisonment of not less than 10 years, extending to a maximum of life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 5 lakh, which can go up to Rs 10 lakh. Those attempting to commit an offence will be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than three years and up to five years, and a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh. Also, any person who abets an offence, and the offence is committed as a consequence of that abetment, will receive the same punishment as prescribed for the main offence.
News18
17-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Modi's G7 Invite Isn't An Olive Branch, It's The West's White Flag Of Necessity
To not have India at the G7 table would be pure diplomatic myopia. Let's be brutally honest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence at the G7 summit in Canada is a sign of how India has become impossible to ignore. Beyond just being a sign of a diplomatic thaw, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's invitation to PM Modi symbolises the criticality of India to the Western world. After all, India is now the world's fourth largest-economy. Therefore, to not have India at the G7 table would be pure diplomatic myopia. Whether it's global supply chain resilience, climate finance, or counterbalancing China's influence, India's role is no longer peripheral. It is, in fact, pivotal. For Canada, despite months of frosty ties following the Nijjar controversy, the invitation is a pragmatic recalibration. For the rest of the G7, it is an acknowledgment that global governance without India is no longer viable. PM Modi's presence in Canada is less about optics and more about bare necessity. So, how should one interpret PM Modi's participation at the G7 summit in Canada? Many would call it an olive branch from Canada, a nation that several months ago stood before the world and accused India of orchestrating a political assassination on its sovereign soil. But is that really the case? Hardly. This was a white flag. Plain and simple. That the Canadian government would agree to share a forum with a leader it has publicly implicated is the entire story. It is a stark and deeply revealing lesson in 21st-century realpolitik. It represents the West's reluctant but necessary capitulation to a new global hierarchy. In a world ablaze—with a grinding war of attrition in Eastern Europe, an escalating inferno in West Asia, and the shadow of China's ambitions looming over the Indo-Pacific—the leaders of the G7 have been forced to confront an inconvenient truth: moral outrage is a luxury they can no longer afford. The principles they preach on sunlit stages have been quietly shelved in the cold, hard calculus of survival. The unstated reality, the one whispered in the corridors of power from Washington to Brussels, is that India has become too big to fail, too powerful to ignore, and too strategically vital to alienate. It is the indispensable counterweight, the emerging economic engine, and the demographic behemoth whose trajectory will define this century. The West doesn't have to like it. They just have to accept it. And Canada's acquiescence is the ultimate proof. Trudeau's government chose drama over realpolitik. There are early signs that his successor, Prime Minister Mark Carney is much more pragmatic. After all, the choice for him was simple: Modi's presence at the G7 summit could be the first step to normalising relations with the world's fourth-largest economy. Alternatively, not having him at the G7 summit would be an act of geopolitical self-immolation. Canada chose survival. Strategic compulsion has officially trumped bilateral fury. You do not have to read between the lines to understand the transactional nature of this decision. You just have to listen. Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre cut through the diplomatic fog with the clarity of a CEO discussing a balance sheet. 'India has been at the last six G7 conferences," he stated, matter-of-factly. 'It's one of the biggest and fastest-growing economies in the world. We need to sell our natural gas, our civilian nuclear power technology and other resource projects to India. And we need to work with India and other countries on trade and security." There it is. Stripped bare of all pretense. No lofty rhetoric about shared values. No platitudes about the bonds of democracy. Just a raw, unvarnished calculation of need: gas, nuclear tech, resources, trade and security. Poilievre's statement was not a political gaffe; it was the accidental articulation of the West's private consensus. He simply said the quiet part out loud, revealing the uncomfortable truth that while principles are admirable, prosperity and national security are non-negotiable. This is not merely a Canadian story of swallowing its pride. It is a collective Western pivot, orchestrated by the bloc's most powerful players. It is learnt that the G7's heavyweights impressed upon Ottawa the need to set aside its grievances for the sake of greater strategic good. Why? Because in the grand chess match against an increasingly assertive China, India is no longer a pawn. It is the queen. Every facet of the West's long-term strategy in Asia hinges on a cooperative, powerful, and economically integrated India. The entire concept of a 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific" is a hollow slogan without New Delhi's active participation. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad—a cornerstone of American, Japanese, and Australian strategy—is toothless without the Indian military's heft in the Indian Ocean. More pressingly, the global push to 'de-risk" and diversify supply chains away from Chinese manufacturing dominance leads directly to India's doorstep. No other nation on earth possesses the demographic scale, the low-cost labour potential, and the burgeoning technological sector to serve as a credible, continent-sized alternative to China. To sideline India over a yet-to-be-proven accusation could cripple the West's most important economic and geopolitical project of the 21st century. For Canada, the calculus is even more desperate. The simmering tensions with India are happening against the backdrop of a far greater existential threat: an increasingly unstable and unpredictable relationship with its southern neighbour. With Donald Trump in-charge of the White House, Canada is scrambling for new friends and alternative markets. The very real threat of American protectionism makes a burgeoning trade relationship with the world's fourth-largest and fastest-growing major economy not just an opportunity, but a strategic imperative. Ottawa cannot afford to be locked in a permanent standoff with India while its economic lifeline to the United States frays. So, when Prime Minister Modi takes his seat at the G7 table in Canada, do not mistake the polite handshakes and forced smiles for friendship or forgiveness. See them for what they are: the grim acknowledgments of a new reality. The West is not embracing Modi's government; it is clinging to the strategic necessity of India. top videos View all This is the world we live in now. A world where strategic imperatives silence moral condemnation, and where economic survival forces erstwhile antagonists into the same room. The old order, where the G7 could comfortably sit atop the global hierarchy and dictate terms, is fading. In its place is a multipolar world, messier and more transactional, where influence must be courted, not commanded. Welcome to the new global order, where power, not principle, gets you a seat at the table. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. About the Author Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra is a producer and video journalist at Network18. He is enthusiastic about and writes on both national affairs as well as geopolitics. tags : g7 summit pm narendra modi view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 17, 2025, 12:53 IST News opinion Straight Talk | Modi's G7 Invite Isn't An Olive Branch, It's The West's White Flag Of Necessity Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Calgary Herald
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Edmonton police chief backs province's call to label Bishnoi Gang 'terrorist'
Interim Edmonton Police Chief Devin Laforce said the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) appreciates the province's call for the federal government to designate the India-based Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist organization in Canada. Article content 'Edmonton is not immune to the impacts of transnational crime. We agree with the Government of Alberta that this designation will provide the EPS and its law enforcement partners with enhanced powers and investigative tools that will help us continue to dismantle organized crime groups and criminal activity on our streets,' Laforce said in a statement to Postmedia on Monday. Article content Article content Article content The alleged extortion ring operating in Edmonton, B.C. and around the country is a terrorist organization, Premier Danielle Smith and Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said Monday, calling on Ottawa to call the 'global and violent' group a terrorist organization. Article content The leader of the northern India-based gang has been imprisoned in India for 11 years, but is still suspected of pulling the strings on a transnational criminal network responsible for violence, extortion, drug trafficking and targeted killings, including in Canada, the government statement said. Article content Alberta Justice stands with B.C. Premier David Eby and other officials across Canada in calling for immediate federal action, the statement said, calling on the federal government to use every tool available to dismantle the network and keep Canadians safe, adding that gang activity knows no boundaries and respects no borders, and Alberta wants to send a clear message that it's not welcome here. Article content Article content 'Formally designating the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity will unlock critical powers, allowing provincial and municipal-level law enforcement agencies to access the necessary tools and resources needed to effectively disrupt operations and protect our people,' Smith said, adding that South Asian communities in Alberta have been disproportionately targeted and affected by the gang. Article content Article content Links to Bishnoi are suspected in the case of the June 18, 2023, murder of Surrey, B.C., Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Article content Nijjar was shot and killed in his pickup truck as he left the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., touching off a wave of protests and rallies from local communities against diplomats from India. Article content He was the president at the gurdwara where he was killed. Nijjar also campaigned for a separate Sikh homeland in India — also known as Khalistan — and organized unofficial referendums around the world about Punjabi independence.
