Otta Chora (Same Blood) by Shuhaib Alanallur, a student of Madin Academy in Malappuram, is being quoted by speakers in their programmes all across Malabar.
Kozhikode :
A poem that celebrates the warmth of the relationship between Hindu and Muslim families, penned by an upcoming writer, has become an instant hit after it was published in a magazine recently. Otta Chora (Same Blood) by Shuhaib Alanallur, a student of Madin Academy in Malappuram, is being quoted by speakers in their programmes all across Malabar.
In the poem, a Hindu woman, Narayani, finds solace in Nabeesu’s Islamic prayers while enduring the labour pain, and the ‘Mollakka’ (Muslim cleric) recites a verse from Quran to help her husband Velu quit drinking. Finally, Velu refuses to take his usual quota of toddy because the ‘Mollakka’ had donated his blood when he got injured after falling in a gutter. “I will not pollute Mollakka’s blood that runs in my blood by mixing it with toddy,” declares Velu at the end of the poem.
“Such relationships were quite common in our country-sides few decades ago. We are celebrating the bonding because it is fast fading away from our midst,” said the poet.
“The poem was written during the ‘Sahithyolsavam’ conducted by the Sunni Students Federation last year,” he said. It was the patronage given by Syed Ibrahimul Khaeel Al Bukhari Thangal, chairman of the Madin Academy, that shaped the writer in Shuhaib.
“Muslim Youth League leader Shibu Meeran quoted my poem in an impassioned speech that made it a discussion point on the social media,” Shihaib said. It was the fond memories that he spent with his Hindu friends in Alanallur near Mannarkkad that inspired Shuhaib to write the poem.
“There are people who argue that such relationships are normal in our midst and they need not be highlighted. But I believe that such voices should be amplified at a time when dark forces are lurking in our society,” said Basheer Faizy Deshamangalam, Islamic scholar and the leader of Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation.
“Narayani didn’t refuse to take the Islamic blessing saying that it is from another faith nor did Velu say no to verses from Quran. Such innocent virtues should be underlined when there are deliberate attempts to divide us,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by MP Prashantah, Express News Service / June 07th, 2022
Allahabad, UTTAR PRADESH / Kaloor , Kochi, KERALA :
Ashad Hasim, a student of Darul Uloom VHSS at Kaloor, talks to TNIE about how he started improving his scores in Malayalam despite speaking only Hindi.
Kerala SSLC topper Ashad Hasim with sister sister Falak Bano, who scored A+ in five subjects.
Kochi :
Hard work and perseverance paid for a 16-year-old boy who triumphed over the language barrier to score A+ in all subjects in SSLC examinations. Ashad Hasim, a student of Darul Uloom VHSS at Kaloor, hails from a family that migrated to Kerala from Uttar Pradesh seeking better education prospects for the children. And their gamble paid off.
“My parents, Mohammed Hasim and Mahjabeen Bano, came to Kerala from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh after I was born. They wanted to come to a place that would provide us with ample opportunity to study and achieve our dreams,” said Ashad who wants to be a doctor.
“My achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the help provided by my teachers. Right from the start of my educational journey, my teachers have been my anchor. They went all out to help me tide over the language barrier that made it very difficult for me to learn Malayalam,” said Ashad who speaks only Hindi at home. “In the junior classes, I used to score very badly in Malayalam though my marks in all other subjects were 38-39 out of 40,” he said.
“I wanted to overcome this obstacle and decided to concentrate on scoring better in Malayalam. Gradually, my scores improved and for my model examinations in Class X, I was able to score 38 and 37 out of 40,” he added.
Ashad, whose father Mohammed earns a living as a butcher, said, “When it comes to studies, my parents never held me back. They have been encouraging both me and my sister to achieve our goals.” Ashad’s sister Falak Bano too cleared SSLC exams but couldn’t bag the perfect score of full A+. “She scored A+ in five subjects,” said Ashad who will opt for the science stream in Plus-One.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Anu Kuruvilla, Express News Service / June 16th, 2022
Perunthalmanna Thazekadu Village / Kalikavu (Malappuram District) KERALA :
An ordinary Muslim woman from a remote village in North Kerala’s Malappuram district is today one of the general secretaries of the Congress party in Kerala.
Any woman involved in public service in Kerala, or for that matter anywhere in the country, faces several difficulties and challenges. It is all the more daunting if you are an ordinary woman and a Muslim to boot. Especially in today’s ‘New India’. Let us face the facts: unlike men, the circumstances are not conducive for a woman to enter politics in Kerala.
It is after a lot of uncertainty and dithering that the Congress party in Kerala managed to recently release a list of new office-bearers of the Pradesh Congress Committee. Though the leadership has claimed that the list is a reflection of a unified Congress – remember the local Congress has been ravaged by group rivalry for decades that had once again cost the party dearly in the recent Assembly elections in the state – it has naturally come under criticism for minimal representation for women in different committees. The AICC has co-opted five women, including three general secretaries and two executive committee members, into the KPCC leadership hierarchy. The women general secretaries are K.A. Thulsi, Alippatta Jameela and Deepthi Mary Varghese. The executive committee members are Padmaja Venugopal and P.R. Sona.
It is in this backdrop that Alipatta Jameela, the only Muslim woman general secretary of the KPCC, spoke to DoolNews Malayalam about her political journey. Asked how as a Muslim woman from Perunthalmanna Thazekadu, a village situated in the hilly terrain in Malappuram, one of the most backward districts in north Kerala till not very long ago, she rose to become a KPCC general secretary, Jameela said she had represented the KSU (Kerala Students Union, student organisation of the Congress in Kerala) in the College Union when she was studying in Mannarkkad MES (Muslim Education Society) College. She said she moved to Kalikavu, where she is settled now, after her marriage. She became active in politics after being elected president of the local Kalikavu Mandalam Congress in 2000. In 2005 she became a member of the Kalikavu panchayat after winning from Eenadi ward. In 2010 she contested from another ward and became president of the Kalikavu panchayat.
In 2015 she contested the Zilla panchayat election from Vandiyur division. In 2018 she became the district secretary of the Mahila Congress. In the 2020 panchayat elections, she successfully contested from Thenjippalam division. Currently she is a member of the Thenjippalam division and chairperson of the Public Works Department (PWD) standing committee there.
Jameela said it is significant that the party chose to select her to the PCC while she is already holding the post of general secretary of the Kerala Mahila Congress. “I consider it an honour and a sign of the party’s continuing faith in me. It is a great achievement to become one of the general secretaries of the State Congress, especially for someone hailing from the hilly terrain and living in this small town of Eranadu Kalikavu. I consider it recognition of the work I have done so far and I hope to fulfil the responsibilities bestowed on me to the full extent of my abilities,” she said.
Asked if she had a long struggle to reach the level she has, Jameela admitted that it was very difficult as a woman, especially as an ordinary woman from Malappuram, to embark on a life of public service, which is full of hazards and challenges entirely different from what men face in such circumstances. “When I contested for the panchayat in 2005, my younger child was not even a year old. The elder one was just three. To go out and campaign leaving my two children at home was very tough. This is not in my case alone. A lot of women face the same problems. Many of them are forced to give up as they fail to get enough support at home,” she said.
Jameela asserted that she could reach this level purely because of the support and encouragement she got at home. Despite that as a woman she faces many difficulties which she somehow overcomes to go forward.
On whether she belonged to a traditional Congress family and how she came into the party, she confessed that her family is basically a Muslim League one, but her late brother Nalakath Yusuf was a staunch Congress supporter and introduced her to the party’s ideology. “It was he who initiated me to the basics of politics. That was how I got involved in student politics,” Jameela said.
On the criticism over the shrinking representation of women in Congress forums, Jameela said compared to the previous jumbo KPCC (over 100) the current one has been trimmed to 51. “There are three women general secretaries and two in the executive committee. So, five of us are here. I think this is a decent number. I am myself an answer to that criticism. The fact that of the three woman general secretaries one is from Malappuram (Muslim-dominated district where League roots are deep) is in itself, in my opinion, an important signal to the changes that are sure to happen,” Jameela said.
On the new Congress leadership in Kerala vowing to end group rivalry in the state unit and whether she belongs to any group, Jameela admitted that leaders in the state Congress have grown only through these groups. “All along I have worked above these groups, but it is a fact that Thenjippalam from where I am a member belongs to the I (Indira) group. So, in a way, many see or identify me as spokesperson of the I group. But I try to be above all this and consider myself a humble worker of the Indian National Congress,” she said.
(Note for those who are not familiar with Congress politics in Kerala: For years these groups – A and I – are identified as the former aligned with senior Congress leader from the state, A K Antony, whose soulmate is former chief minister Oommen Chandy. The other group consists of followers of the late K Karunakaran who had stood with Indira Gandhi at the time she split the Congress a second time. Their current leader is former leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala.)
Asked whether the Congress, which is not in power either in the state or at the Centre, and is passing through perhaps the worst period in its history can make a comeback, Jameela said the country is passing through a grave crisis and is heading towards total anarchy without the Congress in power. She said the BJP is destroying India’s secular democracy by the day. “Women in particular are facing many problems in the state and the country in general. We see only such news these days. If Congress was in power these things would not have happened. In such circumstances people want the Congress to return to power. The new state Congress president and the leader of the Opposition are working for that only – to bring Congress back to its glory in the state. We will emerge victorious,” she said.
Asked what advice she would give to those women wanting to come into public life, Jameela said more and more women have started joining mainstream politics. She said it is the need of the hour as the country is passing through dangerous times. She added that she will always be there to guide women, Muslim or otherwise, who come forward to play a role in shaping the destiny of the country.
source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Community News / by MG Correspondent / January 14th, 2022
The couple decided to donate its 28-cent ancestral land to LIFE Mission, the Kerala government’s flagship housing scheme for the landless.
Haj (Photo | PTI)
Pathanamthitta :
Aranmula residents Jasmine and Haneefa were making arrangements for their long-cherished dream of going on haj and were prepared to sell their land to raise funds for the trip when they had second thoughts.
Instead, the couple, married for over three decades, decided to donate its 28-cent ancestral land to LIFE Mission, the State government’s flagship housing scheme for the landless.
The couple’s decision came after it saw the plight of a neighbour-family living on a rented premises and found it difficult to cremate the body of a family member who died recently.
“We were planning to sell our property and use the funds for haj pilgrimage. But, in the past couple of months, we saw some incidents in which certain families find it difficult to cremate their family members as they don’t own a property. Such incidents made us rethink our Haj plans,” Haneefa told PTI.
He said recently, a person passed away in his locality and a community leader donated his four cents of land to that family to conduct last rites and cremation.
“After that incident, we decided to make use of the land to help the needy instead of going for haj,” Haneefa said.
Local Self-Government Minister M V Govindan hailed the decision of the couple and said it was an inspiration to society.
Minister Govindan said the couple was an inspiration to the forward journey of society which needs to embrace every human being.
“People like Haneefa and Jasmine have set an example of humanity and are role models for society,” Govindan said.
Health Minister Veena George on Sunday visited the house of 57-year-old Haneefa and received the agreement to hand over the property for the Life Mission from the couple on behalf of the Aranmula Grama panchayat.
The land, owned by 48-year-old Jasmine, was received under the ‘manasodithiri mannu’ campaign of the Left government, Govindan said.
“Till now, the government has received 926.75 cents of land in 13 locations for the Life Mission scheme. Also in 30 locations, 830.8 cents of land have been assured for the Life Mission. The project has also received a sponsorship of Rs 25 crore to construct 1,000 houses,” the Minister said.
Govindan said he hopes more people would come forward to help the poor and draw inspiration from the couple.
The Left government has till now handed over 2,95,006 houses to beneficiaries under the Life Mission scheme, he said.
He also added that 34,374 houses are currently under construction.
There are 27 housing complexes that are also under construction, he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by PTI / May 29th, 2022
By directly procuring ingredients such as wheat, raggi, millets and almonds needed for products directly from farmers, Shamila ensures a profit for them as well.
Shamila with her husband Muhammed Shahabaz
Ernakulam : :
With adulterated food posing a serious hazard, staying healthy now depends as much on trustworthy sources as on a balanced diet. Worried parents face a difficult time trying to get their children to eat nutritious food.
Doctor-turned-entrepreneur Shamila Shahabaz, 30, is aiming to make life easier for such parents. ‘Mama Papa Zay’, Shamila’s venture, aims to provide a variety of fully homemade and preservative-free products for children, right from eight months old. By procuring ingredients like wheat, ragi, millets and almonds directly from the farmers, the venture is earning profits for them as well.
“The idea struck me when I became a mother,” said Shamila, who is also a certified child nutritionist.
“People, generally, don’t have the habit of reading labels and ingredients before buying a product. This should change. You will stop buying so many products just by reading the ingredients list such as added sugar, artificial flavours and preservatives. It shocked me too and I wondered what to feed my baby. When I started sharing my recipes on social media after my pregnancy, people asked me whether I could make the products myself on a larger scale. Now we are getting orders from all over the world.”
Local farmers are benefiting greatly from Shamila’s initiative. “Kannankaya is the key ingredient used to make banana powder. We have a few local farmers cultivating it, and we directly deal with them. Shops charge Rs 35-40 per kg for the fruit. We pay Rs 20-25 directly to the farmers, who thus get a better deal than selling their produce in the market. Millets, ragi, nuts and other ingredients are similarly sourced from farmers in Salem and Mysuru,” said Mohammed Shahabaz, Shamila’s husband.
“We are playing a small part in trying to transform our society’s health as a whole, by cultivating healthy food habits. This is just a small step, we hope to be known as a trustworthy source of nutritional food for children. Young mothers should never find themselves in the quandary I was in, to identify unadulterated baby food,” said Shamila.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Anuja Susan Varghese, Express News Service / May 22nd, 2022
Dr Zainul Aabideen, with his patient, a 5-year-old Ugandan girl.
Abu Dhabi/Thiruvananthapuram :
A Malayali doctor in Abu Dhabi wrote himself into record books when he performed the first pediatric stem cell bone marrow transplant in the UAE.
Dr Zainul Aabideen, a native of Kannur in Kerala, presently Head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Burjeel Medical City successfully performed the advanced allogeneic procedure on a five-year-old girl from Uganda with sickle cell disease.
Billed as the first such surgery done in the UAE, the patient’s 10-year-old sister donated her bone marrow for the transplant treatment at Burjeel Medical City, a flagship hospital of VPS Healthcare.
Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder, which results in an abnormality in the hemoglobin found in red blood cells, causing them to become sickle-shaped and leading to several complications including anemia, swelling in the hands and feet, frequent pain, acute chest syndrome, and sometimes stroke.
Prior to the treatment, the child has been regularly admitted to the hospital due to complications arising from her disease since birth.
“As this was a life-threatening condition, the only curative option was bone marrow transplantation. Before this procedure, the patient suffered a lot. The entire care team here at the hospital and the child’s parents are delighted that the transplant will relieve this pain from her life,” said Zainul Aabideen, who headed a team of highly specialised doctors, including a pediatric intensive care team, for the procedure.
The patient has responded well to the treatment and will be discharged in a few days after a five-week stay at the hospital.
Earlier, pediatric patients in the UAE who had to undergo allogeneic stem cell bone marrow transplants travelled to the US, the UK, India, and other European countries.
Zainul Aabideen, completed his MBBS from Calicut University in Kerala and a post-graduate degree in Pediatrics from the University of Mumbai.
He then moved to the United Kingdom to specialise and undertake further training in pediatric hematology, pediatric oncology, and pediatric bone marrow transplantation in various hospitals in the UK.
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz / Home> Health / by awazthevoice.in / April 20th, 2022
Jushna Shahin’s passion for the sport made her achieve the unthinkable.
Jushna at the conference room Spain. | Picture by arrangement
Kerala :
Jushna Shahin’s earliest memories are of watching football matches on TV with her family in Kerala’s Mangattuparamb village.
As a die-hard Lionel Messi fan, Shahin got her chance to do her bit for the game in 2009 when she was selected as one among the 70 students in JNU for the language assistant program in Spain by the Ministry of Education, Spain. “In our village, girls rarely went outside of their homes, other than going to school etc,” Shahin, a teaching assistant and football reporter in Spain, told TwoCircles.net. “Girls going out to play was out of the question, and that put an end to my dream of playing the sport.”
The Kendriya Vidyalaya high school where she studied encouraged sports, but Shahin was not comfortable with the usual sports uniform of shorts and t-shirt.
This did not keep the girl away from football. “I spent my time learning about the sport, and its laws and rules,” she said.
Love for Spanish and Messi Shahin said she wanted to study Spanish when she was in 10th grade so that she could talk to Messi.“I don’t know if it will materialize or not but I will make efforts,” she said.
In 2019 when she got her first salary working in Spain, Shain bought tickets for the UEFA Champions League in Barcelona to see her sports hero play live. “It was unreal and amazing,” she said.
The following day, she went over to the Barcelona club’s office and handed over a hand- letter meant for Messi, hoping that he would reply one day.
Jushna Shahin on a visit to a Vine Cathedral with her students at the IES Santa Isabel de Hungria, Spain. | Picture by arrangement
Last year when Messi moved to the Paris Saint Germain (PSJ) football club in France, Shahin flew to Paris and witnessed the team getting trained. “My heart-throbbing moment was when I watched Messi getting trained,” she said.
While in 11th grade, Shahin attended a camp organized by students of central universities to help those interested to pursue studies outside Kerala. Contacts she made from the camp helped her for the entrance exams. “Even after I cleared the exams, my parents were not convinced about pursuing Spanish as a graduation course. However, they gave in to my wishes,” she said.
In September 2019, Shahin traveled to Spain on her first international trip.
After landing in Spain she found that the Spanish she had learned from textbooks was not the same as spoken by people in Spain. “It was a challenge. Also, the other Indian student’s who had been selected were all placed in different cities of Spain. To travel to a new country was exciting but I felt tense and insecure initially,” she said.
Love for sports writing In 2014, when Shahin was at JNU, she started writing journalistic pieces for the Companion magazine. She would write short reports about the matches she watched. Her interest in sports writing led her to report for The Footy Times , which is an online magazine devoted to publishing football journalism. She started reporting for the magazine during the 2018 FIFA World Cup and has been writing for it since. She has also reported for Malayalam news channel MediaOne and online news website MaktoobMedia.
Shahin recalled two events as the most exciting during her work as a football reporter. In 2021 when the stadiums were closed to the public amid a global pandemic, she was one of the few media persons with accreditation pass reporting the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey in Spain. “I was seven months pregnant at the time,” she said
In February 2022, she got accreditation from the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) Football Club to report the UEFA Champions League round 16 in Paris. She also attended a press conference at the home stadium of PSG club where hers was one among the ten questions asked to Karim Benzema (Real Madrid captain). “Now that stadiums are open for the public, I don’t think I will get the chance to go in with the media persons alone to watch a match in a closed stadium. That makes my reporting during the last year very special,” Shahin said.
Jushna with her husband Awad and daughter Eva. | Picture by arrangement
Having been called crazy for her dreams and passion, Shahin shrugs it off and said, “What’s important and special for you might be very silly for the other person. It’s better not to see and look at your dreams in other people’s frameworks. Create your own dream and respect it, and be confident. Instead of just dreaming it, try to work on it. The only thing that matters is whether you are happy with it or not,” she added.
Shahin’s parents had seen her love for football only as a childhood interest and never knew she would pursue a career related to the game.
“More than her craze for football through Messi, I am happy that she is in the field of football journalism,” said her father CKA Jabbar, veteran journalist and associate editor of Malayalam news portal kvartha.com. “Love for football and writing have been in her since childhood, and she worked hard to follow her dream,” said her mother, Nazila CH, working in the Animal Husbandry Department under the Government of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram.
Shahin now lives with her husband, Awad Ahmad, and eight 8-months-old daughter in the city of Vigo in north-western Spain.
Najiya O is a freelance journalist based in Calicut, Kerala. She tweets at @najiyao
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Najiya O, TwoCircles.net / March 26th, 2022
Hasna Iqbal (left) and Muhammed Nahid. Screenshots/ Manorama News
“They may shoot us,” said Hasna Iqbal, a Malayali student stranded in Kharkiv, the northeastern Ukrainian city that is under immense shelling from Russian forces on Wednesday.
Talking to Manorama News from the Vokzal metro station in Kharkiv at 3.45 pm (7.15 pm IST), the second-year medical student in Ukraine said they are unsure of what might happen next.
The student’s response comes hardly an hour after the Embassy of India in Kyiv issued a couple of advisories asking Indian citizens in Kharkiv to exit the city immediately.
The Embassy had reportedly acted in a haste based on Russian inputs. Vladimir Putin’s forces had been launching heavy attacks on the northeastern city the last two days.
“I don’t know what the Indian government wants us to do. Here there is a curfew from 4 pm to 6 am. If we are found outside during the curfew, they will shoot out,” Hasna said, braving tears. “There is heavy shelling and on top of it, we can hear gunfires.”
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Kharkiv has, possibly, the biggest concentration of Indians in Ukraine. “At least 1,000 Indians are here,” Hasna said.
“Many have left by foot holding Indian flags. We don’t know what has happened to them. Things are getting worse here,” she said.
“Some of us reached the railway station at 6 am and three trains have left since. But not an Indian was allowed to board. They are giving preference to Ukrainians,” said Hasna.
“We’ll be here and hope to be safe, Insha Allah,” she added.
‘They aimed guns at us’
Another Malayali student Muhammed Nahid, who spoke to Manorama soon after, said they have not been contacted by the Embassy yet today.
“We reached the railway station at 5 am. They are boarding Ukrainians. They (Ukrainian forces) point guns at us and fired into the sky. We don’t know what to do,” said Nahid.
“We are still hanging around hoping we may be able to board a train somehow. We are running out of water and food,” he added.
source: http://www.onmanorama.com / OnManorama / Home> News> Kerala / by Onmanorama Staff / March 02nd, 2022
Payal Panwar, a final year medical student who returned to her Kotdwar home in Uttarakhand, said the stranded students need help of the Indian government and the Indian embassy people more.
Ukrainian soldiers inspect a damaged military vehicle after fighting in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. (Photo | AP)
Indore / Aurangabad / Dehradun :
Depleting food stocks and long queues for water are adding to the trauma of stranded Indian students in war-hit Ukraine awaiting evacuation amid reports of some being roughed up by security personnel and spending freezing nights out in the open.
As Indian and Ukrainian authorities on Monday described the situation as “complex” and “very difficult” in terms of evacuation of people, the students, joined by their parents, appealed to the Indian government to expedite efforts to evacuate them.
Russia launched its attack on Ukraine last Thursday.
“I want my son in front of my eyes as soon as possible,” said Kamini Sharma, who is praying for the safe return of Vibhor Sharma (22), a resident of Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
Vibhor is pursuing a medical course at the Ternopil National Medical University.
Payal Panwar, a final year medical student who returned to her Kotdwar home in Uttarakhand, said the stranded students need help of the Indian government and the Indian embassy people more while they are still inside Ukraine rather than when they have moved out of the war-torn country.
“The problems end when you cross the borders but while you are inside Ukraine it is really difficult with food supplies running out and no cash in ATMs. Stranded students need the help of Indian authorities while they are still inside Ukrainian borders,” said Payal, who studies in Ivano-Frankivsk city in western Ukraine.
Recounting her ordeal, she said around 60-70 Indian students had to book a bus and also walk a distance of 8-10 km in freezing cold to reach the Romanian border to get out of Ukraine.
Many ATMs could not dispense cash and long queues of men and women waiting for their turn for food supplies were seen at several points, she said.
Though happy and relieved to be reunited with her parents, Payal and her parents are worried about her brother who was still stuck in Kharkiv.
An Indian student who managed to reach the Kyiv train station said Ukrainian guards were not allowing students to board trains and also beating up people and made a fervent appeal to the Indian embassy to evacuate them as soon as possible.
“It’s getting difficult for us to stay here,” Ansh Pandita told PTI, as scores of Indian students, including women, sat huddled together at the teeming Vokzal railway station in the Ukrainian capital, holding a large tricolour aloft so they could be recognised in the crowd and also so no one from the group gets lost.
The group of about 100 students managed to reach the station but no one could board a train.
“Ukrainian soldiers are not allowing us to board the train to Hungary. In fact, they are not allowing any international resident to get out,” Pandita, a student of Taras Shevchenko National Medical University in Kyiv, said over the phone from the station.
“We requested them to at least allow the girls to go but that request too fell on deaf ears.”
The opposition Congress also alleged that Indian students were assaulted by security personnel on the Ukraine-Poland border.
“Students are crying out for help, requesting the Modi government to intervene but to no avail.
We saw a video last night on the Ukraine-Poland border where students are being beaten up,” party spokesperson Ragini Nayak told reporters.
India managed to accelerate its efforts to get its nationals out of Ukraine in the last 24 hours, though the situation on the ground continues to be “complex and fluid” in terms of evacuation of people, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
It said a total of 1,396 Indians were brought back home in six flights as part of the evacuation mission and the total number of Indians who have left Ukraine since India issued the first advisory earlier this month is around 8,000.
An estimated 20,000 Indian nationals, mainly medical students, reside in Ukraine.
As the battle for Kharkiv rages on, at least three students from Maharashtra pursuing medicine in the city located in northeast Ukraine, narrated how they had to stand in long queues for a can of water, drink soda, stay in bunkers, and risk their lives to fetch food items amid bomb blasts.
Hritik Bapulohar, a first-year medical student from Palghar, said he had reached Kharkiv city only a couple of months back.
“We can hear bomb explosions as they are taking place in a periphery of around 500 metres from where we are currently staying in Kharkiv. We are struggling even for basic needs. As many as 500 students are staying in two bunkers for the past four days. When the curfew was lifted some of them left the hostel. The situation is worsening fast. I appeal to the Indian government to evacuate us urgently,” he told a Marathi news channel.
Bapulohar’s senior Aishwarya Patil, who hails from Sangli, said drinking water stocks have exhausted at their Kharkiv hostel.
“We are currently using soda water for drinking. After standing in queues stretching up to 2 km, we can get a can of five-litre water. Food prices have tripled since the war began. We are taking huge risks by stepping out to purchase food items. We are hiding as bomb blasts are happening here. During nights, we are given an hour for cooking by authorities. We cook using mobile flashlights,” she said.
Shivanjali Yadav, also from Sangli, said students and other Indians are asked to stay in bunkers in Kharkiv even though we don’t have much food and water with us.
“The students trapped in a bunker in the Kharkiv region are facing difficulties in arranging food, water. Some of them have fallen sick in freezing temperatures, few blankets, and dipping oxygen. There are also no transportation facilities available for them,” said one of the students who returned to Odisha.
Several students wanting to return to India from Ukraine had to spend two days under the sky in severe cold weather at the Romanian border after travelling by bus and then walking for 25 km, a mother of one of the students said.
“My son somehow boarded a bus from Ternopil to reach Romania. But, on the way, he had to get down from the bus due to some problem and the border was still far away,” the Indore-based Kamini Sharma, told PTI.
The woman said her son along with several other Indian students walked for 25 km to reach the border of Romania.
“But, these students, gathered at the Romanian border, had to stay under the open sky for two days in the harsh winter weather as they were not allowed to enter Romania immediately,” she said quoting the phone conversation with her son.
Sharma said she has now come to know that clearance has been given for the entry of these Indian students into Romania on Monday morning.
Ukrainian Ambassador Igor Polikha said his country is helping the stranded Indians and extending assistance in their evacuation notwithstanding the “very difficult” ground situation.
Polikha said he himself reached out to some of the Ukrainian border guarding commanders requesting them to assist the Indians who are trying to exit the country through land borders.
“The situation is very difficult and complex. My resources are limited. We are victims of aggression. Still, we are trying to help people including those from other countries,” he told a media briefing in Delhi.
Polikha said the circumstances at the Ukraine-Poland border crossing are challenging as lakhs of people including diplomats, foreigners and Ukrainian citizens are queuing up to exit the war-hit country.
Trapped inside a bunker in Kharkiv city of Ukraine, Assoiun Hussain (25), who hails from Kerala, told PTI over phone on Monday that he only had a loaf of bread in the last 48 hours.
He said the bunkers are freezing 24X7 and are overcrowded, adding that they also lack basic amenities like water or bathrooms with doors.
“We bought four to five bedsheets and arranged them together for makeshift beds. We are sleeping near railway tracks and on platforms. Our jackets are worn out because it is very cold here. The conditions are quite bad here,” Hussain said.
Indian students trapped in Ukraine have also alleged racial discrimination against them by the locals.
Recently, videos showing Indians being attacked did the rounds of social media.
In one of the videos shot during night time, a student wheeling his suitcase behind him is kicked by a guard in uniform.
In another video, students claimed that they were being thrown off the train parked at a railway station in Kyiv and beaten with sticks.
Manogya Bora (19), who recently returned from the Poland border to Lviv, alleged that Indians are being subjected to racist attacks and students were beaten up.
“People here are telling us to go back to Ukraine. The situation is much worse for boys. I have seen boys being beaten up,” she said.
Talking further about the pitiable conditions in the bunkers, Hussain said, “I received a loaf of bread today. I did not get food yesterday. The Ukrainian authorities are providing food and medicine, including insulin and food for babies. However, priority is given to Ukrainians not Indians.”
“We are only getting what is left after distributing to Ukrainians,” he said.
The student said getting food from outside is not a cakewalk with continuous shelling underway.
Moreover, no food supplies are available in the market, he added.
“There is only one supermarket and there is nothing in there — only juices and water. We have self-respect, we cannot beg them. The Ukrainian authorities allowed us to go out to get fod because some locals complained that because of us, they are running out of food fast,” he said.
“I tried going out today, but ran back as there was continuous shelling,” Hussain added.
Kharkiv is among the Ukrainian cities where the situation is dire with continuous shelling.
Thousands have taken refuge in metro bunkers to protect themselves.
Recently, a nine-storey residential tower was hit, killing an elderly woman, while about 60 people survived after hiding in the basement.
21-year-old Shana Shaji of Kerala said there is continuous shelling.
“It appears as if the building will fall apart,” she said.
Thousands of Indian students are stranded in Ukraine after the Russian Army launched a brutal offensive last week.
With the war now entering the fifth day, the Indian government has been carrying out evacuations of its citizens from Romania and Hungary — neighbouring countries of Ukraine.
When asked about the evacuation process, Hussain said the embassy has asked the students to reach the western border at their own risk.
“It is not possible for us to reach borders. There is heavy shelling outside. In trains and buses, the priority is being given to Ukrainians,” he said.
Gujarat native Ronak Sherasiya, an MBBS student in Ukraine, was meant to take a morning flight out of Kyiv on Thursday, on way to India, but fate has so far brought him only out of the conflict-hit eastern European country.
The 18-year-old, a first year student at the Bukovinian State Medical University (BSMU) in Chernivtsi, a beautiful town in western Ukraine, about 500 km from capital Kyiv, told PTI over phone that he had “finally crossed the Ukrainian border and was now in Romania”.
“I was part of a group of students who travelled in a bus provided by our university. We alighted a little before the border, and then walked. We reached Ukraine-Romania border on February 25 at around 4 pm (local time). There were about 2,000-3,000 people, mostly Indians at the border. It was a massive crowd, and only a couple of MEA officials, so processing took time. After waiting for hours, we finally crossed the border and entered Romania at about 6 am (local time) on February 26,” he said.
“We are now lodged in a sports complex on the Romanian side, but airport is still far away. We have been provided food, and WiFi connectivity has also been provided, but only limited number of people can join at a time. We are biding our time to fly out of Romania to India,” Sherasiya said.
Asked about various videos circulating on social media about alleged misbehaviour by security forces at some border area, he said, “Things are chaotic at the border area.”
“Ukrainian army personnel were asking people to move back, but when the commotion grew, some of the security personnel started firing in the air,” he claimed.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by PTI / February 28th, 2022
Kanthapuram says most of Waqf properties in Kerala belonged to Sunnis, and most of them were donated to Waqf with the purpose of conducting prayers for the dead and for ‘dars’ in mosques
Kerala Muslim Jamaat (KMJ) president Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar has demanded that the government initiate a move to salvage the dispossessed Waqf properties in the State.
“As per the Waqf rules, a Waqf property can be used or managed only as per the will of the person who has bequeathed the property for Waqf. Many dispossessions and encroachments have taken place in violation of the Waqf rules,” said Mr. Kanthapuram, who also holds the title of the Grand Mufti of India.
He was inaugurating a State-level campaign by the Jamaat called ‘Vigil is the Strength’ in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
Mr. Kanthapuram said that most of the Waqf properties in the State belonged to Sunnis, and most of them were donated to Waqf with the purpose of conducting prayers for the dead and for ‘dars’ in mosques.
“Many such properties are now being used against their donors’ will. Many mosques and Waqf properties have been appropriated and encroached upon,” he said.
Pressure exerted
Although Sunnis used to bring the matter to the attention of the authorities, those in the Waqf Board were found to have been exerting pressure on the authorities to take biased decisions, he said, adding that “this cannot be allowed any longer.”
The Waqf Board and its ancillary systems should help retrieve the lost Waqf properties in the State, he said. “At the same time, the board should carry out programmes meant for the development of the Muslim community in the State,” he added.
Senior KMJ functionary Sayyid Thwaha Thangal presided over the function. Minister for Road Transport Antony Raju delivered the keynote address. N. Ali Abdullah presented the subject. Congress leader K.S. Sabarinathan, KMJ secretary A. Saifuddin Haji, Rahmatullah Saqafi, P.A. Mohammed Kunhu Saqafi and Devarshola Abdussalam Musliyar spoke.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Malappuram – December 15th, 2021
