Mumbai stampede
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At
least 18 people were killed and 40 injured when a stampede broke out in
the Malabar Hill area where a huge crowd had gathered to pay last
respects to the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community in the
wee hours on Saturday.
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The incident occurred after 1 AM when hundreds of people had gathered to pay last respects to the spiritual leader of Dawoodi Bohra community, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, who died on Friday at the age of 102, civic officials said. After learning of his death, his followers had started thronging his house, which is in the vicinity of the official residence of the Maharashtra Chief Minister, and soon a stampede broke out. The injured have been admitted to the Saifee Hospital. Dawoodi Bohra is a sect of Shia Muslims spread all over the world. One of the key principles of the sect is "patriotism as part of the faith." The 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of the worldwide Dawoodi Bohra community, the leader was the eldest son of Syedna Taher Saifuddin. He succeeded his father upon his death in 1965. He was credited with transforming Dawoodi Bohras into a vibrant community and honoured with highest civilian titles like the Star of Jordan and Order of the Nile by the respective governments of Jordan and Egypt. Syedna was conferred Honorary Doctorates for his efforts in social and educational development by renowned institutes like Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Aligarh Muslim University and University of Karachi. | |
Save Dissent to Save Democracy THE rising instances of physical violence and threats against political opponents and the inability to accept dissent must raise huge concerns amongst all of us who see democracy as perhaps the really stellar achievement since Independence. AAP’s attack on BJP headquarters and acts of arson committed under the very noses of their elite leadership; the attacks on Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in Gujarat in the last two days; the recent manhandling of the caretaker of journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s house by some garden variety thugs; and the violence and threats meted out regularly to their political opponents by political parties is surely deplorable and condemnable. This is a fatally flawed trend which will destroy the very foundations of our democratic institutions if not pushed back with all the strength and condemnation that the civil society can mobilise. Replaying the past To begin with, it must be clarified that we should ...
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