SATURDAY 09 JANUARY, 2021 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard twitter.com/TheMornStandard EYEWASH ACTION ON LAKHVI FARCICAL: INDIA A Pak court sentenced the 26/11 attack mastermind to 5 yrs in jail for terror financing National Guard troops stand watch at the US Capitol in Washington D.C. a day after the building was stormed by Trump supporters | AFP A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 7  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PRESSURE UP TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OVAL OFFICE PAGES 12 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE A farmer holds a placard reading ‘we will win or die’ in Punjabi at a meeting with the government in New Delhi; Jai Kisan Andolan Union leader Ravinder Kaur reacts as she leaves Vigyan Bhawan| EXPRESS/PTI Focus shifts to SC as farm law talks fail Negotiations between govt and farmers inconclusive; next meeting on January 15; apex court hearing on January 11 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi / Chandigarh THE eighth round of talks between protesting farmers and the Centre on Friday could not end the stalemate as both sides stuck to their stated positions. They agreed to meet on January 15 to continue the talks. According to sources, the Centre made it clear that it will not repeal the laws but is ready to make amendments. The government also claimed many farmer organisations have supported the laws. The agitating farmers were told the Supreme Court will decide how to break the deadlock, sources said. The SC is likely to hear the case relating to the farm protest on January 11. The farmer groups have also decided to meet on January 11 TESTING STATUS 38,839 RTPCR/CBNAAT/ TrueNat tests conducted 36,885 Rapid antigen test 94,34,479 Total tests done so far 4,86,025 Tests per million DELHI COVID WATCH to decide their next course of action even as many leaders said they have lost hope now that any resolution could be reached. The meeting at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi ended in less than two hours. Following Centre’s statement, some far mer leaders lost their cool and told the ministers that they will fight till their demands are met. The union leaders also did not take break for lunch or tea while the ministers took frequent breaks to discuss the situation. Some farmer leaders flashed placards saying ‘Bill wapsi toh ghar wapsi’ (repeal the laws and we’ll go home) and ‘Jitenge ya marenge’ (we will win or die). While Agriculture Minister STATUS OF CASES Today Cumulative RECOVERED 823 6,14,849 DEATH 10 10,654 ACTIVE CASES -3,779 TOTAL +VE CASES 444 6,29,282 PATIENT MANAGEMENT Total beds Occupied Vacant HOSPITAL 12,380 1,417 10,909 CARE CENTRE 7,422 33 7,298* HEALTH CENTRE 407 24 383 1,807 HOME ISOLATION *91 beds of CCC are occupied by persons under quarantine including travellers who came by Vande Bharat Mission and Bubble flights 2,965 TOTAL NO. OF CONTAINMENT ZONES AS ON DATE 1,425 TOTAL NO. OF CALLS DISPATCHED TO AMBULANCES S O U R C DELHI L H I H A L T H B L L E T I | J A SOURCE: E : D E HEALTH EBULLETIN |UJANUARYN08 2021N U A R Y 0 8 2 0 2 1 Seven-day institutional quarantine mandatory for passengers from UK EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi ALL flyers coming to Delhi from the UK will have to isolate themselves, irrespective of whether they test positive or negative for the mutant Covid-19 strain, said a Delhi government order on Friday . The directive was issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) after an urgent cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. All those arriving from the UK who test positive will have to be quarantined at an isolation facility while those testing negative have to go for seven-day institutional quarantine followed by a week’s home isolation, Kejriwal in a tweet. The strict measure was apparently taken as Delhi has recorded at least 16 cases of mutant virus so far. The Centre has not heeded to the CM’s request for extending the ban on flights to and from the UK. In view of the transmissibil- ity of the new variant of the virus, the DDMA decided that all passengers coming from the UK, after mandatory selfpaid RT-PCR test, shall be isolated in a quarantine facility . The latest order, signed by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, which is applicable till January 14, also says that strict monitoring will be done of people who are in home quarantine after the completion of mandatory institutional isolation. An official said a decision on extending the enforcement of the new rules will be taken after reviewing t h e situation. About 256 passengers on an Air India flight from London landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International as flight services between the two countries resumed on Friday Cha. otic scenes were witnessed at the airport as passengers protested the government’s belated decision to to make sevenday institutional quarantine compulsory . Narendra Singh Tomar expressed hope that there will be some breakthrough in the next meeting, most union leaders said they have no such hopes. Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab (Rajewal Group) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said, “We knew there will be no decision in this meeting as the gover nment has been adamant, but still we came for the talks. We will attend the January 15 meeting too, as we don’t want the government to claim that we are running away from talks. But we do not expect any decision to happen in that meeting also. We told the government, ‘as you are not repealing the laws and are not ready to talk, so face the agitation’.” Kavitha Kuruganti, a farm leader who attended the meeting, said, “It is a very sad day for Indian democracy that in the middle of talks, an elected government, which has constantly been cheating the farmers, now says ‘let us get this resolved through the Supreme Court’. The court has already looked at the eviction-related issue and said that it is the democratic right ofthe farmers to protest and passed orders on that.” Tomar said no decision could be reached as the farmer leaders did not present alternatives to their demand for the repeal of the laws. He hoped the unions will come up with alternatives in the next meeting for the government’s consideration. Earlier in the day, Tomar held a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah. Govt trying to tire out farmers, alleges Cong The Congress alleged the Centre was trying to tire out the farmers and asserted that repealing the farm laws was the only solution. It also launched an online campaign in support of the agitation, with Rahul Gandhi accusing the Centre of betraying farmers for benefittingits “corporate friends” Solution unlikely in next meet, says union leader Farmers’ union leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said he doesn’t expect any breakthrough in the January 15 meeting also. “We told the government, ‘as you are not repealing the laws and not ready to talk, face the agitation’,” he told the media persons after the meeting at Vigyan Bhawan Acquittal of Advani, others in Babri case challenged in HC N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow TWO Ayodhya residents on Friday moved a revision petition in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court challenging the special CBI court’s acquittal of all 32 accused persons, including former deputy prime minister and BJP leader L K Advani, in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The special CBI judge S K Yadav had delivered the order on September 30, 2020 — his last day in office. Contrary to the observations of the trial court, the revision petition states that the trial court committed an error by not convicting the accused persons despite ample evidence against them. “The judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in the right perspective,” the petitioners alleged. The petition was filed by Haji Mahboob (74) and Sayyad Akhlaq Ahmad (81) on behalf of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). They claimed that they were both witnesses and the victims in the case pertaining to the demolition. The duo was also party to the Ayodhya title suit in the Supreme Court. They urged the high court to summon the records from the trial court, hold all the 32 accused guilty and extend punishment to them by setting aside the CBI court order. Other than Advani, the special CBI court had also exonerated BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Sadhvi Ritambhara, and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Representing the two petitioners, lawyer and convenor of the Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said the revision petition was filed because the CBI had not filed any appeal so far to challenge the verdict. While delivering the verdict in the demolition case, the trial court had refused to believe newspaper cuttings and video clips as evidence as the originals of the same were not produced by the prosecuting agency , the CBI. The entire case was build up on those pieces of documentary evidence. The trial judge also held that the CBI could not produce any evidence that the accused had a meeting of mind with the kar sewaks who had demolished the structure. The revision petition will be placed for hearing before the bench concerned on its rotation. The special trial judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in right perspective —Petitioners AMID buzz on the bumbling US President Donald Trump weighing options to grant himself an unprecedented pardon, pressure kept building up on his immediate removal from office, a day after the maverick’s supporters staged a failed coup by storming the Capitol Hill after his instigation. It now transpires that Trump later tweeted a video calling for peace and asking the mob to stand down only after White House counsel Pat Cipollone war ned he would face criminal charges for inciting riots if he doesn’t do so. The Department of Justice is already preparing to go after the mob and all those who played a role in the riots, including Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met Vice President Mike Pence and asked him to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows the V-P to take over if the President is incapacitated, but he rejected it. Pelosi later told the military to prevent Trump from initiating hostilities or ordering a nuclear strike. She also said Democrats will start the process to impeach Trump if he does not leave office. Trump has less than two weeks to complete his term as Joe Biden is scheduled to take his oath of office on Ja nu a r y 2 0 . B u t w i t h Trump’s aides describing him as psychologically fragile, and one Republican likening him to mad King George, there were concerns over letting an unstable person stay at the helm even for a brief period. Be that as it may, Trump will not be present at Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. “To all of t h o s e wh o h ave asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted. The thought of self-pardon apparently crossed his mind when he offered clemency to a whole bunch of people in his inner circle, including his relatives. While there is no clarity on what he wants to legally firewall himself against, his dodgy income tax statements, a recent phone call to rig the ballot count in Georgia and Thursday’s incendiary speech to his supporters that led to the riots could qualify for criminal P9 prosecution. Kerala man at Capitol denies disrespect to flag E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi ABOUT 20-25 people of Indian origin were a part of the proTrump mob that laid siege to the Capitol building, a passerby who got caught in the violence has claimed. “There were people of many origins there. It is difficult to point a finger at the majority as it was too chaotic. But definitely there were people of Indian origin,” he said. , The most prominent of the lot, who was pictured waving the Tricolour, has been identified as Kerala-born Vinson Palathingal or Vincent Xavier. According to his website, Xavier was born in Kumbalam in Ernakulam district and did his schooling at St Thomas High School and Sacred Heart High School in Thevara. He moved to the US following admission in masters in civil engineering at the University of Reno. Xavier claims to have been at the site to protest peacefully against what he believes was a fraudulent election. “I think the violence robbed of us any chances of a serious objection and a rational discussion in the Congress. American patriots — Vietnamese, Indian, Korean and Iranian origins, and from so many other nations and races — who believe massive voter fraud has happened, joined the rally in solidarity with Trump. Peaceful protesters who were exercising our rights,” he wrote on social media. Following an outrage in India over the Tricolour being waved at the Capitol in an episode that shamed the US democracy Xavier denied having disrespected the Indian flag. , “There is nothing to be ashamed of...the Republican party is not white supremacist. If they were racist, they would not allow me to carry the Indian flag. It was actually showing more respect,” he told a television news channel. TWITTER GOOD NEWS Son’s homecoming: MP family gets New Year gift E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Bhopal FETED SEVEN DWARKA COPS AWARDED FOR EXEMPLARY WORK The policemen were given out of-turn promotions for displaying extraordinary courage in nabbing gangsters and extortionist by risking their lives PAGE 4 THE high-security gates of the international border at Wagah recently opened to let a man cross over from Pakistan to India. As he walked towards the land which he had left long back, a Madhya Pradesh family’s decade-long struggle to trace its missing member was finally reaching a pleasant climax. The man’s mother, Raimun Gupta, is unable to control tears as she eagerly awaits her son. “I had lost all hopes of seeing my son, but this New Year has gifted him to me,” she said. Ravendra Gupta alias Raju had left his village in Shahdol district of MP 17 years ago in search of a job. Hunt for work took him to Mumbai and then Surat. He stayed in touch with the family for a few years before suddenly disappearing without leaving any trace. It was only six months ago that the family received the shocking information that Raju was languishing in a jail in Pakistan’s Lahore. Immediately, the family infor med the local police in Gohparu, which in turn alerted the state police headquarters. Eventually the matter was tak, en up by the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi and Raju was released from the jail in a matter of few months. “Recently we were in, formed that Raju is being handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah border. He is now in Amritsar and we’ve sent his family members with a team of local police to bring him back,” said addition- al SP of Shahdol Mukesh Vaishya. The family members are still clueless how Raju ended up in Pakistan. “We only know that he had been in prison for over 13 years,” said a relative. Sources close to the family said Raju is unable to speak and has become mentally disturbed. They fear he would have faced torture in Pakistani jail. “We don’t know how he landed in Pakistan Jail 13-15 years back. His family came to know about this some six to seven months back,” a close relative of Gupta family said.