Facing sedition charge, Cong leader Ramya refuses to apologise for Pak comment

Facing sedition charge, Cong leader Ramya refuses to apologise for Pak comment

The Kannada actor and Congress member Ramya, who is accused of sedition over her remarks of praising the people of Pakistan after a recent visit, said on Tuesday that there is “no question of apologising.”

She said, "BJP will not do anything to repeal the law, because they are using it to their advantage", Congress leader Ramya on Tuesday refused to apologise for her statement that "Pakistan is a good country, not hell."

The 33-year-old Divya Spandana visited Islamabad to attend Saarc Young Parliamentarians Conference, responded to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s statement, “Going to Pakistan is like going to hell,” with “Pakistan is not hell, people there are just like us. They treated us very well.”

She made the remarks during a rally in her former constituency Mandya, saying how the people of Pakistan went out of their way on making her stay and comfortable after they got to know that she is from India.

Her comments outraged K Vittal Gowda, an advocate from Karnataka, who lodged a “sedition case” in Kodagu in southern Karnataka, around 250 km from state capital Bengaluru.(more)

Banners on Pakistan roads urge Gen Sharif to impose martial law, form govt

Banners on Pakistan roads urge Gen Sharif to impose martial law, form govt

Mysterious banners springing up overnight on all major thoroughfares in 13 cities acrossPakistan on Monday urged Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif to impose martial lawand form a government of technocrats, strengthening the view that something was cooking up.

The banners that were put up by a little-known 'Move on Pakistan' party of Punjab in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Hyderabad among others unlike its earlier campaign requested the army chief to reconsider his retirement plan due in November the message is quite ominous this time around, reported the Dawn.

Interestingly, the banners sprang up in the 13 cities, even in cantonment areas, despite the presence of several checkpoints and extra security.

A banner hanging at a traffic intersection on the road between the Chief Minister's House and the Rangers headquarters in Karachi reads: "Janay ki baatain hui puraani, Khuda k liye ab ajao (Talks of leaving are now old; for God's sake now come)".

Although the official mouthpiece of the army the 'Inter-Services Public Relations' remained silent, analyst Amir Rana believed that the latest move strengthened the view that something was cooking up.

Ali Hashmi, the central chief organiser of the party, told Dawn that the goal of their campaign was to suggest to the army chief that after imposing martial law a government of technocrats should be made in Pakistan and Gen Raheel should himself supervise it.(more)

Budget 2016: Easwar panel wants higher threshold & lower rates for TDS on bank deposits

Ahead of the Union Budget 2016, a committee asked to make recommendations on simplifying the current income tax (I-T) law has recommended a higher threshold for deduction of tax at source and cuts in rates, plus measures to reduce litigation.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is to be tabled on February 29.   

The 10-member panel is chaired by R V Easwar, a former high court judge. Appointed in late October 2015, its first report, 78 pages, was given on Monday. This is a draft report, issued to elicit feedback before finalisation. It focuses on simpler issues that it feels need immediate attention. Comments have been invited till the coming Saturday, after which the committee will finalise the first part of the report by January 31.