Pakistan: Pervez Musharraf’s corpse should be dragged to the central Democratic square in Islamabad and hanged for three days if the former military dictator dies before his execution, a special court in Pakistan which sentenced him to death said on Thursday in their judgement. The three-member special court bench sentenced 76-year-old Musharraf to death in absentia on Tuesday for high treason following a six-year legal case. In its 167-page detailed judgement authored by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who headed the bench, the court on Thursday said the “convict be hanged by his neck till he dies on each count as per charge.” Justice Seth wrote that Musharraf should be hanged even if he dies before his execution.
Pakistan to UN: Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership on Thursday cautioned the world community about India’s aggressive and provocative design after New Delhi deployed missile launchers along the Line of Control in the disputed region of Kashmir. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he had written to the United Nations recently, warning the world body of actions by New Delhi such as positioning of missile launchers in India-held Kashmir.
Mamata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday demanded a referendum by an “impartial organisation” like the United Nation to see how many people were in the favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “Let there be an impartial organisation like United Nations or National Human Rights Commission hold a referendum to see how many people are in favour or against Citizenship (Amendment) Act”, she said while addressing a local gathering.
Muslims summit: Leaders and senior representatives from some 20 Muslim nations flocked to the Malaysian capital on Wednesday to discuss issues agitating Muslims globally at a summit Saudi Arabia decided not to attend. Explaining its decision to stay away, Saudi Arabia said the summit was the wrong forum for matters of importance to the world’s 1.75 billion Muslims, though some analysts suspected the Kingdom feared being diplomatically isolated by regional rivals Iran, Qatar and Turkey.
CAA protest: Three persons died in police firing in massive protests, a few of which turned violent, across the country on Thursday against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Violence was reported in Sambhal and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; Mangaluru in Karnataka, which led to curfew to be imposed there; and Ahmedabad.
Nirbhaya: The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed the plea of one of the four convicts facing the gallows in the Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in December 2012. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the convict’s advocate A P Singh, who did not appear in the court despite several communications sent to him on behalf of the court, for playing “hide and seek”. The court asked Bar Council of Delhi to take action against the advocate for filing a forged affidavit in the court regarding the convict’s age. Besides Pawan Kumar Gupta, who moved the plea claiming juvenility, the other three convicts in the case are Mukesh, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh.
Siva Sena: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday asked how and where the government intended to settle Hindu immigrants in the country under Amended Citizenship Act. Thackeray said, “I would like to know how and where the Hindus from other countries are going to be settled. I don’t think you (Centre) have a plan for it.” Shiv Sena had earlier supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha but staged a walkout during voting on it in the Rajya Sabha by saying there was no clarity on questions raised over it by the party.
GST: Rating agency ICRA expects just nine states to need Rs 70,000 crore as compensation for the shortfall in goods and services tax (GST) collection in FY20, on account of a severe dip in the growth of state GST (SGST) revenues amid the slowdown. Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and West Bengal are the nine states. The requirement for all states could be much higher.
BSE- Sensex: Sensex and Nifty on Friday started at fresh highs led by gains in index-heavyweights RIL, ICICI Bank and SBI amid uninterrupted foreign fund inflow. After hitting its record intra-day high of 41,809.96, the 30-share BSE index was trading 102.51 points or 0.25 per cent higher at 41,776.43 in the opening session. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 22.70 points or 0.19 per cent to 12,282.40. It hit an intra-day lifetime high of 12,284.65.
MARKET TODAY
- SENSEX-41673.92 (115.35)
- NIFTY-12259.70 (38.05)
- GOLD (MCX 10 GM)-38124.00 (212.00)
- SILVER (MCX 1 KG)-44805.00 (358.00)
- USD ($) / INR(Rupees Icon)-71.02 (0.07)