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Sri Lankan President escapes to the Maldives

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Tanvi Kapila, Mumbai Uncensored, 14th July 2022:

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees off to the Maldives with his wife, Ioma Rajapksa on Wednesday on a military private jet. However, it is confirmed that the Sri Lankan President is actually heading to Singapore after spending a day in Male, it was just a transiting point according to the sources, and has boarded a Saudi Airlines.

Moreover, Gotabaya appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to serve as President in his absence. The protestors gathered on the streets as well President’s residence in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Additionally, the demonstrators took over the PM’s office.

Furthermore, the police also fired at the mob and cannons to rest the apprehensive crowd. Many were injured as well.  They have become more restless as they came to know about PM turning into the acting President and demanding Ranil to quit and leave as well. Rajapaksa was expected to hand in his resignation on Wednesday but has now escaped.

When protesters broke into the prime minister’s private home and the president’s official residence on Saturday, months of demonstrations in Sri Lanka reached their peak.

The imposed curfew began at 12 noon on 14 July and will end at 5 A.M. on Friday, 15 July 2022. According to NewsWire, the Sri Lankan Army stated that on Thursday, July 14 that the use of “necessary force” to “defend people, public property, and the country” had been authorized.

Why the protest?

Off the coast of southern India, on an island, is Sri Lanka. In 1948, it achieved freedom from British sovereignty. The nation’s 22 million people are divided into three ethnic groups: Muslims, Sinhalese, and Tamils. After years of a brutal and bloody civil conflict, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration overcame Tamil separatist insurgents in 2009, making him a hero among the majority Sinhalese. At the time, his brother Gotabaya served as the defense secretary who is now the country’s President.

The country was known for its tourism. However, the pandemic ruined Sri Lanka’s tourism sector and hence the foreign currency which is required in the procurement of importing fuel and medicine by the country for various purposes. This is now aggravating the problems which are caused by the government’s mismanagement resultant of which was the collapse of the currency.

The prices for basic amenities have shot up like food and pharmaceutical. Power failures have also become a regular thing for the citizens. Public transportations have also been frequently suspended because of the shortage of fuel supplies so that the residual amount can be prevented in the country. Although, it is true that Sri Lanka used to be one of the countries with the highest median incomes in South Asia this has all turned upside down the economy and fate of Sri Lankans just because of the poorly taken political decisions and mismanagement in terms of financial matters.

Well, the situation has been building upon for years now, it is not something that happened overnight.  

Now, peaceful protests have been ongoing since March but the issue escalated, and frustrated by the situation, demonstrators entered the residence of the President, swimming in his private pool. They also broke into the PM’s office and also infiltrated the state broadcaster Sri Lanka Rupavahini’s premises.

Therefore, due to this a state of emergency was declared by the acting President Wickremesinghe, which was later canceled and replaced by a night curfew.

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Behind the Headlines: Understanding the Challenges of the Israel-Palestine Two-State Proposal

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SR 23.09.26 Israel peace feature

Manak Sharma, Mumbai Uncensored, 28th November, 2023:

THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION

The two-state solution is believed to be the only possible way to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The solution proposes two separate states, Israel for the Jewish people and Palestine (including both Gaza and West Bank) for the Palestinian people. The solution is designed on the basis that both the states have the legal right to decide their own destiny in the international order. Both Israel and Palestine will share Jerusalem as their capital city. The border between the two states will be based upon the 1967 border before the third Arab-Israel war. In a fair and equitable manner, Palestinian refugees settled in different parts of the world will be allowed to return.

Since 1947, the United Nations has stated the two-state solution as its official policy but it has failed to be implemented and the Israel-Palestine conflict continues. Many countries around the world have endorsed the two-state solution including Qatar which is mediating between Hamas and Israel.

PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTATION

There are mainly three reasons why the two-state solution has failed to be implemented. First, both countries do not agree on the border of Palestine in future. Second, with the Israeli government building settlements continuously in occupied Palestinian territories, it becomes difficult to create a Palestinian state which will share the border with Israel. Third, the two-state solution does not clarify how the millions of Palestinian refugees living all around the world will be able to return to their country. Palestinian authorities will not agree to any solution which fails to address the issue of Palestinian refugees returning home.

CONCLUSION

The two-state solution might be complex and difficult to achieve but it is the only viable option to establish peace in the region and end the conflict which is causing hundreds of casualties daily since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th this year.  The international community rather than instigating the war further, needs to mediate between the two countries encouraging them to make necessary compromises and agree on the two-state solution.  The two countries reaching a solution seems difficult but the four-day truce which will make both the IDF and Hamas return civilians taken as captives shows a ray of hope that the Israeli government and Hamas will agree to some deal and stop the war in near future.

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Before PM Modi’s visit, the US implores India to finalise a significant armed drone deal

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The Biden administration is pressuring New Delhi to cut through its own red tape and finalise a deal for dozens of American-made armed drones ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington, according to two people familiar with the situation.

India has long indicated a desire to purchase huge, American-made armed drones. But for years, a deal for SeaGuardian drones that might be worth $2 billion to $3 billion has been stalled by bureaucratic roadblocks.

The visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House on June 22 is expected to help U.S. negotiators break the impasse.

The U.S. State Department, Pentagon, and White House have requested India to “show” progress on the agreement for up to 30 armable MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones built by General Atomics since the visit date was set, according to two sources.

While Modi is in Washington, the co-production of munitions and ground vehicles like armoured personnel carriers is also anticipated to be a topic of conversation between Modi and Biden, according to the sources.

Pentagon, Department of State, and White House spokesman all declined to comment on the talks.

While the world’s two largest democracies do not currently have a formal security alliance, U.S. President Joe Biden has made strengthening ties with India a key component of his strategy to counter China’s expanding influence. This year, in particular, Biden has focused on collaboration between the two countries on advanced military technologies.

New Delhi has irritated Washington by preserving some defence and economic connections with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. New Delhi frequently values its non-alignment in wars between great powers abroad.

An internal conference to produce a “Acceptance of Necessity” document—the Indian equivalent of a formal “Letter of Request” that starts the foreign military sale process—could be the key to unlocking India’s bureaucratic bottleneck on drones. The sources were uncertain as of Tuesday as to whether New Delhi had produced the required internal document.

The Indian government will have to decide that, according to a senior Biden administration official. “We believe that they should proceed with the procurement of MQ-9s. However, India sort of has more control over those choices than we do.

As Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday to complete preparations for Modi’s visit, the subject was anticipated to be on the agenda.

According to a person familiar with the conversations, as of last week, the Indian defence ministry still wasn’t sure how many drones it wanted to purchase. The first estimate was for 30, but it was then changed to 24, and then further reduced to 18 last month. According to sources, none of the figures were definitive.

Any contract could be complicated by India’s need for equipment components to be produced domestically.

The MQ-9B SeaGuardian is currently or has previously been used by the Quad group of nations, which consists of the United States, India, Australia, and Japan. India is currently renting MQ-9Bs to use in intelligence gathering.

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Indian Woman Assaulted and Mistreated by a Chinese-Origin Man in Singapore

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An Indian woman who wasn’t wearing her mask properly while briskly making her way to work during Covid-19 was verbally insulted and kicked in the chest by a Singaporean guy of Chinese descent, who was also found guilty. In May 2021, Wong Xing Fong, 32, attacked Madam Hindocha Nita Vishnubhai, 57, in the vicinity of the Northvale apartment complex in Choa Chu Kang.

Wong, who was found guilty on Tuesday, is scheduled to be punished on July 31 for assaulting Vishnubhai by kicking her in the chest and hurting her sentiments, according to The Straits Times newspaper. Vishnubhai testified that while wearing her mask down and briskly walked towards Choa Chu Kang stadium, where she worked at a fast-food restaurant, she heard yelling.

She turned around and spotted Wong with Chua Yun Han, his fiancée. They instructed her to cover up even though she didn’t know the pair. One activity that was excluded from wearing a mask over the mouth and nose was brisk walking.

According to the prosecution, Vishnubhai explained to the couple that she was briskly walking and made gestures to show that she was working out and perspiring while doing so. The accuser berated (and verbally humiliated) the complainant. The complainant responded, “God bless you,” to defuse the situation, the prosecution continued.

However, the accuser kicked the complainant in the chest region. The two of them then started to run away. According to Vishnubhai’s testimony, an onlooker assisted her in standing up and dressed a gash on her left forearm with plaster. That night, she made a police report.

According to the prosecution, the eyewitness, who had no connection to either party, claimed to have witnessed a guy kicking the woman. The prosecution defended Vishnubhai as a trustworthy witness and asserted that it is preposterous to infer that the complainant mysteriously fabricated the accused, a stranger.

Vishnubhai, according to Wong, was rude and belligerent and yelled insults at him. She allegedly spat at him and his fiancée, and he pushed the victim in response. He acknowledged using vulgarities, but he refuted accusations that they were racist slurs.

However, the prosecution said that Wong and his fiancée’s actions fatally refuted any claim that Vishnubhai spat on him.

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