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India slams move to block ban on Jaish chief

Published

8 years ago

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jaishWashington:India’s move to get Pathankot terror attacks mastermind, Jaish-e-Mohamed chief Masood Azhar, banned by the UN was rebuffed for the second time by China, a close friend of Pakistan. New Delhi has slammed the move.

India had approached the UN in February to include Masood Azhar in the UN Security Council’s 1267 sanctions list, in the aftermath of the January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot air base by Pakistan-based JeM terrorists.

However, China requested the UN sanctions committee to keep on hold the move to ban Masood Azhar.

India on Friday voiced disappointment at the “technical hold” put on its application to include the name of Azhar, in the UN sanctions list, and criticised the UN sanctions committee for adopting a “selective approach to combating terrorism”.

In a statement, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: “We find it incomprehensible that while the Pakistan based JeM was listed in UN Security Council Committee established under UNSCR 1267/1989/2253 as far back as 2001 for its well known terror activities and links to the Al Qaeda, the designation of the group’s main leader, financier and motivator has been put on a technical hold.”

“The recent terror attack in Pathankot on January 2 has shown that India continues to bear the dangerous consequences of not listing Masood Azhar . Given the global networking of terrorist groups, this has implications for the entire international community,” the statement said.

“It needs no emphasis that the UNSCR 1267 regime is an important building block of the UN global counter terrorism strategy that should aim to protect all member states and their citizens from the activities of terror groups such as JeM and its leader Mohamad Masood Azhar.”

“Its working methods, based on the principles of unanimity and anonymity, is leading the Committee to adopt a selective approach to combating terrorism. This does not reflect well on the determination that the international community needs to display to decisively defeat the menace of terrorism,” the statement said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei, answering a question on blocking the ban on Azhar, indicated that it did not have all the facts to support the ban.

Hong said that “China opposes all forms of terrorism, supports the UN in playing a central and coordinating role in global counter-terrorism cooperation, and plays an active part in this area.

“China deals with the listing matter of the 1267 Committee on the basis of facts and in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and relevant rules of procedure. China remains in contact with all relevant parties on this matter.”

The UN had banned JeM in 2001 but India’s effort to ban Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack was not successful as China, one of the five permanent members of the UN group with veto powers, didn’t allow the ban apparently at the behest of Pakistan again.

The blocking of India’s move to get a ban slapped on the terrorist came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the US, to attend a Nuclear Security Summit where he spoke out strongly against terrorism and on the need for countries to unite against the menace. Modi said the world needs to drop the notion that terrorism is someone else’s problem and that “his” terrorist is not “my” terrorist.

In June last year, China blocked India’s move in the UN demanding action against Pakistan over release of Mumbai attack mastermind and LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as it contended that India had provided insufficient information.

 

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Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

Published

2 years ago

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June 25, 2022

By

PureWin Online Betting

The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index

Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.

The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports

Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.

All for the Tourists

The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.

“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.

To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.

Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market

With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.

Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.

Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.

Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting

Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.

Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.

The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.

If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.

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