University of Chile Casa Central Taken Over by Students
In a sign of the radicalization of the student protests, some 30 young people took over the historic Casa Central at the University of Chile at dawn, on Alameda boulevard here in the capital.
The action is an extension of this form of protest, expressed recently in secondary schools.
“As university students we are supporting our high school comrades, who have remained steadfast but lonely in their position,” said a communiqué from the demonstrators, alluding to the numerous takeovers at the high school level.
“While we sleep comfortably in our homes, the high school students are taking over and retaking over their schools, even as they are violently removed and arrested,” said the statement.
The text called furthermore, for prioritized renewal of the debate in favor of free, quality public education.
Before the demonstration, the President of the Federation of University of Chile Students, Gabriel Boric, called an urgent meeting of the student union to decide whether to ratify the takeover.
“We said that in light of government inaction, August would be a month for demonstrations by university and high school students, united toward the same objective,” the student leader wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile the Chilean carabineros (police) are continuing in their operations to forcefully remove students who have taken over their high schools in Santiago de Chile.
Up until yesterday, more than 140 were reported under arrest, and today at dawn another 50 teenagers were arrested.
Taliban Insurgents Step Up Attacks in Afghanistan
Taliban militants fighting the Afghan government have stepped up their attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, demonstrating their ability to expose the weaknesses in Afghanistan’s security apparatus.
“By conducting indiscriminate attacks in the holy month of Ramadan,the Taliban on one hand wants to expose the government’s weak security and on the other hand, to demonstrate that they are capable of carrying out attacks anytime and anywhere in the country,” Nazari Pariani, the editor in chief of the Daily Mandegar observed.
But Pariani said that by killing people, particularly civilians, during the fasting month of Ramadan has only exposed the Taliban ideology that it has no respect for Ramadan and Islamic values.
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world observe roza or fast from dawn to dusk during which drinking, eating, fighting between Muslims and even using harsh language are forbidden.
However, during the last few days the Taliban, which is practicing the fundamentalist brand of Islam, have stepped up their attacks on the run-up to Eid-ul-Fitr, which is the culmination of the month-long fasting and the holiest day among Muslims.
Eid-ul- Fitr would probably fall on Saturday or Sunday depending on the sighting of the new moon.
In the latest wave of violent incidents, a roadside bomb struck a military van in the northern Baghlan province on Thursday killing seven soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA), an army official Janullah Khan confirmed.
In the previous attack in Khost province on Wednesday, 11 civilians were injured when a Taliban loyalist threw a hand grenade at a group of workers near the entrance gate of a U.S. base in Khost city, the capital of Khost province.
Zabihullah Mujahid, who claims to speak for the Taliban in talks with media via telephone from unknown location, said that the Taliban had already warned people working for the foreign troops to stop working for them or face the music. “Since they did not heed our advice, our mujahidin (holy warriors) punished them,” Mujahid said.
A day earlier on Tuesday, 25 people including four policemen were killed and 50 others, including seven police sustained injuries, as a group of six suicide bombers targeted Zaranj city, the capital of southwestern Nimroz province 790 km southwest of Kabul.
An official of the Interior Ministry has confirmed the report and blamed the Taliban for the attack.
On the same day, according to Interior Ministry, 11 people, including 10 civilians and one policeman, were killed and 36 others were injured as an explosion rocked Dashti Archi district in Kunduz province 250 km north of Kabul.
“Taliban, by intensifying attacks in the month of Ramadan, want to gain ground and boost the morale of their supporters at home and abroad,”a Kabul University professor and political analyst Faizullah Jalal said.
Jalal said that the Taliban sanctuary is in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
According to Jalal, for carrying armed attacks during Ramadan, the Taliban would only “defame” itself. “Since killing people during Ramadan is forbidden in Islam, the Taliban would further lose its support even among its backers,” the analyst said.
India PM Urged to Resign Over Huge Economic Loss
India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign over a huge economic loss resulting from alleged mismanaged coal block allocation.
The Indian exchequer could have earned 185 billion rupees (37 billion U.S. dollars) more if a competitive bidding process was followed in the award of coal blocks to private and government players, the official auditor said in its report released Friday.
The BJP held Singh directly responsible as he held the Coal Ministry portfolio when the loss allegedly occurred.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India said the losses occurred because the process of bringing transparency in the award of coal blocks, which was to commence in June 2004, got delayed due to various reasons.
The BJP has stepped up attack on the government over various issues as the 2014 general election comes within agendas of India’ s political parties.
A latest public opinion poll by the India Today magazine published on Friday said the BJP is surpassing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in support rate, because of increasing discontent over high inflation, corruption and unemployment under the UPA rule since 2004.