The bill received 452 votes in favour of it, a historic mandate by all measures. Only 2 votes were received against the bill.
The Women’s Reservation Bill on Wednesday was passed in the Lok Sabha during Special Session of Parliament in New Delhi. The bill received 452 votes in favour of it, a historic mandate by all measures. Only 2 votes were received against the bill.
The two MPs who voted against the bill are reportedly from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and party MP from Aurangabad Imitiaz Jaleel are said to be the two members of Lok Sabha who resented against the historic bill. AIMIM is a minority party that advocates for the concerns of Muslims, Dalits and Tribals.
Asaduddin Owaisi
Asaduddin Owaisi currently serves as the President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. He has been elected four times as a Member of Parliament, representing the Hyderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament.
Asaduddin is the third individual to hold the position of national president within the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party in India, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
Imtiaz Jaleel
Imtiyaz Jaleel Syed, also recognized as Syed Imtiyaz Jaleel, is an Indian politician who is affiliated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). He secured his position as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha representing the Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency during the 2019 General Elections. In 2014, he was elected as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, representing the Aurangabad Central constituency. Additionally, he holds the role of state president for All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in Maharashtra and is a member of the Standing Committee on Urban Development (UD).
Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari, daughter of former Pakistan minister Shireen Mazari, was arrested on Sunday morning.
Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir was arrested on Sunday. (Image: Twitter/ @MahrangBaloch_)
Former Pakistan minister Shireen Mazari’s daughter and human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir was arrested on Sunday by the Islamabad Capital Police “for investigation”.
The arrest occurred just hours after Imaan Mazari took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to report an alleged break-in at her home, sparking outrage and concerns among activists and human rights groups.
Imaan Mazari had tweeted, “Unknown persons breaking down my home cameras banging gate jumped over (sic).” The message was posted at 3:50 am on Sunday, August 20.
The Islamabad Capital Police confirmed the arrests in a statement posted on X, saying, “Islamabad Capital Police has arrested Ali Wazir and Imaan Mazari. Both suspects were wanted by the Islamabad Police for investigation. All action will be taken in accordance with the law.”
The police did not specify the details of the case under investigation.
However, a Tarnol Police Station personnel said the young lawyer and activist was booked for interference in state affairs, staging a sit-in, and resistance, as per a report by news agency PTI.
FAMILY CALLS IT ABDUCTION
An hour after Imaan had posted the distressing message on X, her mother, former PTI leader Shireen Mazari, posted another alarming message, claiming that “policewomen, plainclothes people and r ager (sic) types took my daughter away after breaking down our front door.”
Shireen Mazari said that they also took away their security cameras and her daughter’s laptop and cell phone.
“We asked who they had come for and they just dragged Imaan out. They marched all over the house. My daughter was in her night clothes and said let me change, but they just dragged her away. There was no warrants or any legal procedures. This is state fascism. Remember we are only two women living in the house. This is an abduction,” Shireen Mazari said.
Later, Shireen Mazari told the local media that 20 people had entered their home, with more officials standing outside. “There were six female officers that I saw but there was no male wearing the blue uniform of Islamabad Police,” she was quoted as saying by Dawn.
This arrest follows Imaan’s recent participation in a rally for the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a group of Pushtu-speaking activists known for their criticism of the military establishment. At the rally, she openly criticised the powerful military, which had previously led to a criminal case against her for using abusive language towards former Army chief Gen (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Imaan’s mother, Shireen Mazari, had quit the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party following the May 9 attack on the country’s military installations and government buildings.
Hundreds of yellow-clad demonstrators gathered among the 10-deep crowds lining the procession route in central London to stand out from those clad in red, white and blue, and to hold up signs saying “Not My King”.
People protest monarchy on the day of Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation. (Image: Reuters)
By Reuters: United Kingdom Police arrested the leader of the anti-monarchy group Republic and 51 others at King Charles’s coronation on Saturday, saying their duty to prevent disruption outweighed the right to protest.
Republic said its leader Graham Smith had been detained before the procession began and photos circulated on social media showing police officers seizing demonstrators’ placards.
“We absolutely understand public concern following the arrests we made this morning,” Commander Karen Findlay of the London Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“Over the past 24 hours there has been a significant police operation after we received information protesters were determined to disrupt the Coronation procession.”
Republic vowed to mount the biggest protest against a British monarch in modern history and protesters booed as King Charles and Queen Camilla made their way to Westminster Abbey, and as the service was relayed publicly on large speakers.
“It is disgusting and massively over the top,” said Kevin John, 57, a salesman from Devon who was among the protesters.
“It is also hugely counterproductive by the police because all it has done is create a massive amount of publicity for us. It is completely crazy.”
Police did not confirm Smith’s arrest. They said they had acted because they believed protesters would seek to deface public monuments with paint and disrupt “official movements”.
“All of these people remain in custody,” Findlay said.
Police said in a separate statement on Saturday that they had arrested three people earlier in the day based on intelligence that protesters were planning to throw rape alarms at the procession, which could have scared the horses involved and thereby caused a risk to public safety.
Amongst the items seized during the arrests in London’s Soho district were a number of rape alarms, the police added.
Protests also took place in Glasgow in Scotland and Cardiff in Wales, with participants holding up signs saying: “Abolish the monarchy, feed the people.” On social media, many contrasted Britain’s cost of living crisis with the pomp and pageantry.
Although protesters were in a minority compared with the tens of thousands gathered to support the king, polls suggest support for the monarchy is declining and is weakest among young people.
With the crown passing from Queen Elizabeth to her less popular son, republican activists hope Charles will be the last British monarch to be crowned.
“It has a hereditary billionaire individual born into wealth and privilege who basically symbolises the inequality of wealth and power in our society,” said Clive Lewis, an opposition Labour Party lawmaker.
In London, protesters demanded an elected head of state, saying that the royal family has no place in a modern constitutional democracy and is staggeringly expensive.
“Don’t you think this is all a bit silly,” said one placard.
Most of the anti-monarchy protesters had congregated in Trafalgar Square next to the bronze statue of King Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649, leading to a short-lived republic.
Since Charles became king last September, there have been protests at royal events. He was heckled at a Commonwealth Day event at Westminster Abbey in March and targeted with eggs in York in November.
