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Pakistan: Historical ‘Guru Nanak Palace’ partially demolished by locals
Narowal [Pakistan], May 27 : A historical four-storied building named ‘Guru Nanak Palace’ was partially demolished by locals in Narowal, local media reported.
According to Dawn, the handful that allegedly committed the act were supported by auqaf department officials. The doors, windows, ventilators and expensive pillars gathered from the partially demolished site have been sold, it added.
“This old building is called the Palace of Baba Guru Nanak and we have named it Mahalan. A number of Sikhs from across the world, including India, used to visit this building,” a local named Muhammad Aslam told Dawn.
He went on to talk about a six-member Canadian delegation that had come to visit the site a few years ago, and were overjoyed at coming to the site, as if “they had found a treasure.”
“The auqaf department was informed about the demolition of the building by some influential persons, but no officer or official took any action or even reached here,” said another native Muhammad Ashraf.
“Three storeys of the building have already been demolished and new houses constructed. The influentials have demolished the building with the connivance of the auqaf department and sold its costly windows, doors, ventilators and wood,” he added.
The ownership of the building is not known. Dawn reported that a family, which lived inside the building, has asserted ownership. Furthermore, Muhammad Anwar, a member of the family, has claimed responsibility for the demolition.
“I do not know whose property this building is as we have been living here for generations. We demolished it because it was in a dangerous, dilapidated condition,” he said. His family settled there after partition.
The centuries-old structure is situated in village Bathanwala, which is 20 kilometres from Narowal. The structure had 16 large rooms, each of which had at least three beautiful doors and four ventilators.
The three-foot-wide wall surrounding the structure was intricately painted with pictures of the founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak Dev, along with murals of Hindu rulers and princes.
The main structure was built with old bricks, sand, clay and limestone.
The rooms were constructed with large broad walls which had cupboards in them. The cupboards were ornately carved with flowers. The walls, meanwhile, had small lamp enclosures. The beams were made of Diyar wood, which easily costs thousands of rupees per foot.
“There is no mention of this building in the revenue record. As it seemed to be historical, we are checking the municipal committee’s record,” said Narowal Deputy Commissioner Waheed Asghar, who stopped the demolition. He is in charge of the record of all properties in the region.
Meanwhile, Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Sialkot zone Rent Collector Rana Waheed said, “Our team is investigating the Guru Nanak Mahal Bathanwala. If this palace was the property of Evacuee Trust Property Board, legal action will be taken against those responsible.”
Locals have demanded Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate cognisance of the incident and initiate action against the perpetrators.
Thailand’s pro-army party invites opponents to join new government
Bankok: Two Thai political parties have been invited to join a new government led by military junta chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister, a pro-army party said on Monday, more than two months after a disputed election.
An agreement would likely sink the opposition Democratic Front coalition’s bid to keep members of the junta from retaining dominance over the government five years after the army seized power in a coup.
The Democrat and Bhumjaithai parties received the invitation at a meeting on Monday with Palang Pracharat, the pro-military party formed last year by members of the junta’s Cabinet.
“We invited two parties, but did not expect a conclusion today,” Palang Pracharat leader Uttama Savanayana told reporters.
“We understand there are internal processes, but it was a very good starting point,” he added.
The two parties would give the pro-army coalition a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
The Bhumjaithai Party said it accepted the invitation and its executive committee would deliberate on policies with a view to forming a government soon.
“Leaders will connect and quickly resolve any issues…so Palang Pracharat will not have any headaches. It’s time we go to work for the country,” party leader Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters.
Democrat Party secretary-general Chalermchai Sri-on said the party would announce its decision soon.
Pro-Europe vote fragments but limits nationalist gains in EU election
2019 European Parliament election results
Preliminary · 751/751 seats
Party Seats
EPP 179 23.8%
S&D 150 20%
ALDE 107 14.2%
Greens/EFA 70 9.3%
ECR 58 7.7%
ENF 58 7.7%
EFDD 56 7.5%
GUE/NGL 38 5.1%
NA 7 0.9% Other parties 28 3.7%BRUSSELS : Parties committed to strengthening the European Union held on to two-thirds of seats in the EU parliament, official projections from the bloc’s elections showed on Sunday, though far-right and nationalist opponents saw strong gains.
France’s Emmanuel Macron, who has staked his presidency on persuading Europeans that the EU is the answer to the challenges of an uncertain, globalising world economy, took a personal hit when his centrist movement was edged into second place by Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, anti-Brussels National Rally.
But Macron’s Renaissance, built on the ruins of centre-left and centre-right parties, added to gains for liberals at the EU level as turnout bounced sharply across the bloc. Along with a surge for the Greens, that meant four groups occupying the pro-EU middle ground lost under 20 seats, securing 505 seats out of 751, according to a projection by the European Parliament.
That may complicate some policymaking, as a two-party “grand coalition” of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) and the Socialists (S&D) no longer has a majority. The liberals, with over 100 seats and Greens, with nearly 70, want a big say.
But it also dents the hopes of Le Pen, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and others who have been seeking to disrupt attempts to forge closer EU integration. Salvini called the elections a mandate for a shake-up in Brussels.
But tensions among nationalists, who also include the Polish and Hungarian ruling parties and the new Brexit Party of British campaigner Nigel Farage, have limited their impact on policy.
“The big thing is that the gains for the extremists were not very substantial,” Guntram Wolff, head of the Bruegel economics think-tank in Brussels, told Reuters.
Luxembourg’s liberal Prime Minister Xavier Bettel tweeted: “Europe wins! Voter turnout very high and pro-European parties are strongest.”
EU officials were delighted by an increase in turnout to 51%, up from 43% in 2014. It was the first reverse in a trend of falling participation since the first direct EU vote in 1979.
At its highest in 20 years, that turnout may muffle talk of a “democratic deficit” undermining the legitimacy of the EU.
As the Union faces unprecedented slights from the United States under President Donald Trump, hostility from Russia under President Vladimir Putin and anxiety over the rising trading power of China, a revival of its citizens’ interest, however muted, and a containment of its critics, is welcome for supporters of the bloc.
A stronger voice for the liberals and Greens could see the next EU executive seek a tougher line on regulating polluting industries, taxing multinational companies or demanding trading partners help contain climate change — as well as press its own members, notably in the east, not to damage civil rights.
Grenn Wave
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives lost seven percentage points from five years ago as the far-right Alternative for Germany gained four points to 11%. But the headlines there went to the Greens, who nearly doubled their vote to finish second on 21%, ahead of the Social Democrats.
Britain voted on Thursday but began releasing results only late on Sunday. The BBC said Farage’s Brexit Party was set for a big win, reflecting frustration at the fact Britain is still in the EU, two months after Brexit was supposed to happen.
Farage is determined that his MEPs will not sit for long in Brussels – though drama after the resignation of Prime Minister Theresa May leaves the fate of Brexit still very uncertain.
In France, an official in Macron’s team acknowledged “some disappointment” that, with some 22%, the president’s Renaissance movement had lost first place to Le Pen’s National Rally, which exit polls put on 24%. However, pro-EU parties were still in the majority, with the French Greens coming third.
Added to the second place of their German counterparts, that lent credibility to expectations of a “green wave” that will influence policy in Brussels in the coming years.
The Parliament’s projection put the EPP on 179 seats, ahead of the S&D on 152, with the liberals on 105, up 36 seats, and Greens on 69, up 17. On the far-right, two groups in the current parliament had a combined 111 seats, a 40% jump from 2014.
The European Parliament election will usher in weeks and possibly months of hard bargaining over who will run EU institutions. Party spokespeople for the four pro-EU centre parties were quick to talk of plans for a broad coalition.
“We are facing a shrinking centre,” said Manfred Weber, the German lead candidate of the EPP. “So what I would ask us to do to is to join our forces to work together from now.”
The Parliament as an institution has insisted that one of its own winning members should succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the executive European Commission. But many national leaders, who will meet over dinner in Brussels on Tuesday, have said they will not be bound by that demand.
Weber in particular faces resistance, having never held government office – although he insists his long experience in the European Parliament makes him the democratic choice.
Frans Timmermans, Juncker’s Dutch deputy who led the Socialists’ campaign, cautioned against putting the “Game of Thrones” over top jobs ahead of efforts to forge a common programme among parties that will push for a stronger Union.
Doors remain open for North Korea to resume talks: US
Washington , May 25 : In response to Pyongyang’s statement that the dialogue between the United States and North Korea would not resume unless Washington comes up with ” a new method of calculation,” US State Department on Friday said that it remains open to holding talks with the communist country and is “very clear” about that position.
The State Department added the Trump administration sticks to the Singapore agreement signed by the leaders of the two countries, that committed to the complete denuclearisation of the North and building a lasting peace, reported Yonhap news agency.
North Korea has upped its criticism towards the United States, especially after Washington seized one of its cargo ships on suspicions of violating sanctions. Yesterday, Pyongyang blamed the US for the collapse of the second summit between the two countries in Vietnam.
“Unless the United States puts aside the current method of calculation and comes forward with a new method of calculation, the North Korea-US dialogue will never be resumed and by extension, the prospect for resolving the nuclear issue will be much gloomy,” North Korea’s state news agency quoted the country’s spokesperson as saying.
The spokesperson also said that the US is attempting to shift the blame regarding the reigning impasse onto the reclusive state.
“We hereby make it clear once again that the United States would not be able to move us even an inch with the device it is now weighing in its mind, and the further its mistrust and hostile acts towards the DPRK grow, the fiercer our reaction will be,” the official added.
In its response, the US State Department added that it is ready to have a constructive discussion with the North to advance the process “simultaneously and in parallel.”
Nuclear talks between the two countries hit a roadblock after the second summit in Vietnam ended abruptly with no joint statement earlier this year. The two sides reportedly failed to resolve their differences on sanctions waivers. North Korea has since launched multiple projectiles as a sign of their apparent frustration regarding the stalled talks and continuing sanctions.