Islamabad [Pakistan], July 27 (ANI): A jirga of tribal elders in North Waziristan has warned the Pakistan government that it will launch a strong protest movement against target killings in the region.

Mumbai Feb 26 PTI Maharashtra BJP on Saturday continued to target the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government in the state over the arrest of its minister Nawab Malik and sought to know why Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was not asking him to step down Talking to reporters in Pune Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said that in the past some other ministers in the MVA government had resigned after facing allegations so Malik should follow suit Malik has been booked under Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA and has been arrested If a government employee faces criminal charges and is arrested then that person is not only suspended but also loses job So why doesnt the same rule apply to Malik and why his boss is not seeking his resignation he asked By not taking his resignation the government is protecting an accused and the BJP will never tolerate it he said Malik state Minority Affairs Minister and also chief spokesperson of the ruling Nationalist Congress Party NCP was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate ED on Wednesday in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides He was remanded in the ED custody till March 3 On Friday he was admitted to a state-run hospital in Mumbai after he complained of stomach pain Following his arrest MVA leaders have ruled out the possibility of Maliks resignation Patil said Our one-day agitation to seek Maliks resignation was a warning to the state government But going by its stand on the issue it seems we will have to continue our protest over the demand Why are there different set of rules for ministers of NCP and Shiv Sena when they faced serious allegations he asked Earlier Sanjay Rathod and Anil Deshmukh were asked to step down as ministers after they faced different allegations But why Maliks resignation is not being sought despite his arrest he asked In February last year Rathod had resigned after his name was linked to a womans death while Deshmukh had quit in April following allegations of corruption levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh Deshmukh was later arrested by the ED PTI ND NP NP

Mumbai Feb 25 PTI Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik who was arrested by the ED and remanded in its custody till March 3 has been admitted to the state-run J J Hospital here for medical reasons his office said on Friday Hon nawabmalikncp saheb has been admitted to JJ hospital for medical reasons Maliks office said in a tweet An official also confirmed that Malik has been admitted to the J J hospital During the ED custody Malik complained about some health issues to the central agencys personnel following which he was hospitalised he said Malik who is state Minority Affairs Minister and ruling NCPs spokesperson was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate ED on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides Following his arrest a court here had remanded him in ED custody till March 3 PTI ENM DC NP NP

Nashik Feb 24 PTI BJP workers on Thursday staged a demonstration in Nashik city of Maharashtra to press for their demand of Maharashtra minister Nawab Maliks resignation following his arrest by the ED while NCP activists condemned the central agencys action against him Malik 62 a senior NCP leader was arrested on Wednesday after being questioned for about five hours at the Enforcement Directorate ED office in south Mumbais Ballard Estate area and later produced before special judge R N Rokade who remanded him in the ED custody till March 3 The BJP workers gathered outside the party office Vasantsmruti here to demand Maliks resignation After Maliks arrest the NCP is defaming the ED and staging demonstrations in his support The Maharashtra government should make its stand clear on Malik Is it backing the accused BJPs state general secretary and MLA Devyani Pharande said The BJP will hit the streets and continue its agitation against Malik till he resigns the partys city unit president Girish Palve said The activists of the NCPs youth wing condemned Maliks arrest Malik is state Minority Affairs and Skill Development Minister The ED arrested him without any notice one of the agitators said The NCP workers released black balloons in air to register their protest and shouted pro-Malik slogans including Ek Nawab Sau Jawab and Na Darenge Na Jhukenge on the occasion PTI COR NP NP

Mumbai Feb 24 PTI A special court here on Thursday allowed Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Maliks plea seeking home food and medicines while in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate EDThe court also allowed his lawyer to be present within visible distance during interrogationMalik a senior NCP leader was arrested on Wednesday by the ED in an alleged money laundering case linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aidesAfter he was remanded in ED custody till March 3 Maliks lawyer had filed an application seeking home food and medicines for himSpecial judge for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA R N Rokade granted the plea The court also permitted Maliks prayer seeking the presence of lawyer during interrogation by the Central agencyAdvocate Bhumika Gada his lawyer is allowed to remain present from a visible distance but beyond hearing the court saidShe shall not make any consultation with the accused during interrogation the court said adding the lawyer should not interfere in the probe in any wayMalik was arrested under the PMLA on Wednesday after being questioned for about five hoursThe ED case is based on an FIR lodged recently by the National Investigation Agency NIA against the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and othersThe NIA filed the criminal complaint under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA PTI AVI KRK KRK

Mumbai Feb 23 PTI There is no question of taking the resignation of Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik arrested by the ED in a money laundering case since he has not committed anything wrong his cabinet colleague and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said on Wednesday eveningBhujbal said allegations against Minority Affairs Minister Malik arrested by the Enforcement Directorate ED earlier in the day have not been proved yetThere is no question of taking his resignation as he Malik has not committed anything wrong Bhujbal told reporters here adding the allegations against him have not been proved yetCondemning Maliks arrest Bhujbal said his party colleague is being targeted as he openly speaks against the Centre for misuse of powerHe said the ministers in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will stage a protest over the action against Malik on Thursday morningThe MVA government consists of the Shiv Sena the NCP and the CongressMeanwhile Congress Legislative Party CLP leader and State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat spoke to AICC secretary in-charge of Maharastra HK Patil and apprised him about the political developments in the state in the backdrop of Maliks arrestThorat met NCP president Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the political fallout of the ED action against MalikMalik is the first serving minister in the state to be arrested in a money laundering caseEarlier Bhujbal and former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh were arrested in separate money laundering cases but at that time they were not members of the cabinetBhujbal was arrested by the ED in March 2016 and at that time he was not a minister BJP was in power then while Deshmukh was taken into custody by the central agency in November last year Deshmukh an NCP leader had resigned from the state cabinet in April 2021 PTI ENM MR RSY RSY

Mumbai Nov 29 PTI A magistrate court here on Monday granted bail to Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in a defamation case filed against him by former Mumbai BJP youth wing president Mohit Kamboj Bharatiya The Mazagaon magistrate court allowed Maliks bail on a personal bond of Rs 15000 The court had earlier this month issued a process notice to Malik on the criminal defamation complaint of Bharatiya who had alleged that the NCP leader defamed him and his brother-in-law after the NCBs raid on a cruise ship last month The court had then noted that prima facie Maliks statements harmed the complainants Bharatiyas reputation and offence under Section 500 defamation of the Indian Penal Code was made out against the NCP leader The Narcotics Control Bureau NCB last month raided the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast and claimed to have seized drugs onboard The agency subsequently arrested 20 people including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan in connection with the cruise drugs case Aryan Khan and some others were later granted bail Malik has repeatedly termed the cruise drugs case as fake and levelled several allegations against NCBs Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede who has denied the charges Bharatiya in his complaint filed before the magistrate claimed that Malik in a press conference held on October 9 on the NCB raid and arrest of several persons including Aryan Khan purposefully and intentionally defamed him and his brother-in-law Rishab Sachdev He had sought action against Malik for allegedly committing offences under Sections 499 and 500 defamation of IPC In the complaint Bharatiya had alleged that Malik grossly misused his dominant position to defame him and his family with highly speculative statements without any evidence to substantiate his malicious claims The complainant said he had issued a legal notice to Malik on October 9 asking the minister to cease and desist from making any further statements However Malik continued with the allegations and on October 11 Bharatiya sent a second legal notice asking him to prove whatever has been stated by him or cease from making such claims When Malik did not stop from making statements Bharatiya filed the defamation complaint before the magistrate The court will hear the matter next on December 30 PTI AVI GK GK

Mumbai Nov 25 PTI Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik told the Bombay High Court on Thursday that he will not post any tweets or make any public statements against NCBs zonal director Sameer Wankhede his father or any of their family members till December 9 the next date of hearing The assurance came after the high court asked the minister whether he has lodged a complaint with the caste scrutiny committee regarding his allegations against Sameer Wankhedes caste credentials and said if he has not done so what was his intention behind the media publicity which it said does not befit a minister The statement on Maliks behalf was made by his counsel Karl Tamboly before a bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav after it said that it was inclined to pass an order restraining the minister from making public comments against the Wankhedes till further hearing The bench said that it was apparent that Maliks tweets had stemmed out of malice Why is the minister behaving like this Why should he behave like this we want to know This is nothing but malice Please read the dictionary meaning of malice the HC said The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Dnyandev Wankhede father of Sameer Wankhede challenging the order of a single bench of the high court that had refused on November 22 to restrain Malik from making defamatory statements against him and his family Senior counsel Birendra Saraf who appeared on behalf of Dnyandev before the bench led by Justice Kathawalla submitted that the single bench had recorded in its order that Malik had made allegations against Sameer Wankhede pertaining to his religion and his having received illegal gratification while on duty without due verification The findings of the single bench are that the tweets by Malik had actuated out of malice and animosity and yet no relief was granted to me Dnyandev Saraf said The single judge says that he Malik disregarded the truth and that the documents he submitted in court were either interpolated or not verified he said Saraf further said that the minister had made comments not just against Dnyandev and Sameer Wankhede but against their other family members too He Malik has spared no onemy daughter my dead wife This morning too he has tweeted Saraf said referring to a tweet made by the minister on Thursday morning wherein he posted an image of a document that he called pertained to the last rites of Dnyandevs wife and showed her religion as Muslim Saraf further said that Malik had submitted documents in court casual without verification Tamboly however said that the NCP leader had submitted verified documents before the single bench on affidavit to prove several allegations made against the Wankhedes including the claim that Sameer Wankhede though born a Muslim had falsely claimed in his caste certificate to belong to a designated Scheduled Caste SC category to secure his central government job At this the bench asked if Malik had made any formal complaint before the caste scrutiny committee When Tamboly said no such complaint had been made yet the bench asked why Malik was then making such public statements Any complaint made to the caste scrutiny committee If no then what is he trying to prove Is this for media publicity For claims of caste falsities everyone has a redressal forum the caste scrutiny committee the high court said If there is a caste certificate in his Maliks favor then instead of all this media publicity that he wants everyday especially after his son-in-law was arrested by wankhede why not approach the committeeHe is a ministerdoes it befit him to do all this the bench asked The court further said that if it was obvious that Maliks tweets had actuated out of malice and the same had been recorded as a categorical finding of the single bench then what must logically follow was that the minister be restrained from making further comments until Dnyandev Wankhedes appeal was heard finally by the court Tamboly then sought time to take instructions He said that Maliks daughter-in-law was present in court and that they has decided that instead of getting into a controversy I Malik will not tweet or say anything until the final hearing The high court accepted Tambolys statement but asked why was the ministers daughter-in-law present in the court room when she was not a party to the case Is the ministers entire family involved in this Why is she here the HC asked It however took on record Tambolys statement that no tweets and public statements shall be made against the plaintiff Dnyandev Wankhede and his family members through any means of publicity whether directly or indirectly until December 9 the next date of hearing PTI AYA NP NP