At least 13 persons, including four lawyers, were killed and 60 injured when six bombs went off in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday. Three court complexes in the capital city Lucknow and the towns of Faizabad and Varanasi were the target.
India’s leading newspaper The Hindu says that loaded on bicycles parked outside the lawyers’ chambers in the three towns, the bombs were synchronised to explode shortly after 1.15 p.m.
“All the explosions occurred in the courts where suspects linked to recent Islamist terror strikes have been attacked or denied presentation by lawyers, suggesting that they were intended as an act of reprisal.
“Pakistani nationals Mohammad Abid, Mohammad Yusuf and Mirza Rashid, who police say were members of a Jaish-e-Mohammad module assigned to assassinate Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, were beaten up by Lucknow lawyers when they were produced in the court on November 18.”
Another report says: “Police on Friday night walked into the studios of CNN IBN and grabbed the eyewitness to the bomb attacks on courts in Uttar Pradesh. As soon as the television channel started beaming the footage, a police team carrying firearms entered the studios in Hazratganj and roughed up some of its reporters, the channel alleged.
“Eyewitness Sunny, who is a cycle parking attendent, claimed he had seen a clean-shaven man wearing a plain white shirt and maroon trousers parked a cycle at the court compound.” More here…
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Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.