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The Hindu
5 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Care home residents in Koyilandy living in fear again
As the dark clouds of the South Western monsoon hover over the skies, members of Asha Niketan, a care-giving home for mentally challenged persons at Nandi Bazar near Koyilandy in Kozhikode district, are living in fear again. The western side of the property was vertically cut for about seven metres without taking scientific or technical precautions for the ongoing construction of the National Highway-66 bypass road linking Nandi and Chengottukavu, claim its authorities. A building standing on the edge of this portion was partially acquired for the work. The remaining part is now on the verge of collapse and is standing in a precarious condition. Asha Niketan is run by FMR (India), a charitable organisation, and there are around 70 inmates at the care home now. O.K. Premanandan, chairman, Asha Niketan, told The Hindu that the contractor and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) authorities were yet to provide any kind of safety steps to protect the boundaries of their property. 'Portions of the property standing on the edge of the road are now sliding down. Soil erosion is happening because of the absence of any kind of protective wall on either side of the acquired property. This has been experienced during heavy showers for the past few years,' he said. The Asha Niketan functionaries said that when heavy rains lashed the area between May 23 and May 31, the mentally challenged inmates had to be shifted to other buildings for safety. Mr. Premanandan said that the bypass road had divided the property into multiple portions. 'When the land was being acquired, we were promised that the service road to Nandi Bazar would be extended to reach the facility. However, the narrow side road leading to the care-giving home was demolished during the work. There is no access from the main road to the residential buildings and other facilities on the eastern side,' he said. Three of the 10 acres owned by the care home were acquired for the work. The road is now passing through the middle of the property, isolating the eastern portion, which has residential buildings, an administrative office, a workshop, classrooms, and a cow shed, among others.
Rudaw Net
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
SDF rescues Yazidi young man after 11 years in ISIS captivity
Also in Syria SDF to hand over 200 Iraqi ISIS members to Baghdad Intra-Kurdish conference to be held in Rojava Friday SDF, Syrian forces begin joint oversight of Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in Aleppo SDF-Damascus deal vital for Syria's future: Rojava's US rep A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Tuesday that they have rescued a Yazidi man who was abducted by the Islamic State (ISIS) around 11 years ago, when he was just eight years old. The individual was taken along with his family during ISIS's brutal assault on the predominantly Yazidi district of Shingal (Sinjar) in the summer of 2014. In a statement, the SDF said that its military operations units carried out a 'special security operation' on March 12, 2025 to free the kidnapped Yazidi individual. For privacy reasons, Rudaw has identified the young man only by his initials, O.K. According to the SDF, the Yazidi man 'is originally from the village of al-Wardiya in the Sinjar region, which witnessed large-scale massacres committed by ISIS, and where thousands of men, youth, and elders were killed, and more than 7,000 women and girls were abducted.' O.K. 'was one of the victims of that massacre.' Now 19, O.K. was quoted by the SDF statement as sharing the harrowing story of his abduction by ISIS. 'I was born in 2006, and I was just a child when ISIS kidnapped me in 2014. ISIS captured me and my family, but separated me and my brother.' He said that he was held in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which ISIS in 2014 declared as the capital of its proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq. He remained in Mosul for three months before being separated from his brother and transferred, along with 60 other Yazidi children, to the city of Albu Kamal in eastern Syria. 'After arriving in Al-Bukamal, ISIS subjected us to a three-year religious indoctrination course. I was given the name 'Osama al-Sinjari.' Then we were moved to the Syrian desert for another three years of military training,' he recounted. Following that, he was sent to the Homs desert in western Syria, where he served as an ISIS fighter for four years. During this time, he sustained a landmine injury to his right leg. O.K. noted that near the end of 2024 and 'while I was getting treatment at one of the ISIS hideouts in the Homs desert, the hideout was struck by an intense airstrike from the [US-led] Global Coalition [to Defeat ISIS], which resulted in the death of 20 terrorists, including high-ranking commanders.' 'I miraculously survived the bombing,' he said, expressing his relief and gratitude toward the SDF for 'liberating him and thousands of other Yazidis, particularly women, from the grip of ISIS.' During its 2014 assault on Shingal, ISIS abducted 6,417 Yazidi women and children, many of whom were subjected to sexual slavery and forced labor. Although the group was territorially defeated in Iraq by 2017 and in Syria by 2019, it continues to pose a security threat in the region. As of now, 2,590 Yazidis remain missing, according to the Office of Rescuing Abducted Yazidis, which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
