07:52 US Defence chief James Mattis resigns over differences with Trump:
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will be “retiring, with distinction,” in February, President Donald Trump has said, a day after he ordered American troops to rapidly withdraw from war-torn Syria in an abrupt decision criticised by many as premature.
In his resignation letter, Mattis told Trump it was the “right time” for him to step down because the US president deserved a defence secretary “whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects.”
“The end date for my tenure is February 28, 2019, a date that should allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed as well as to make sure the Department’s interests are properly articulated and protected at upcoming events to include Congressional posture hearings and the NATO Defense Ministerial meeting in February,” he said.
The 68-year-old Pentagon chief did not mention if he was resigning specifically over the troop withdrawal decision, which has surprised US allies and several lawmakers.
Analysts say the withdrawal of troops will please US enemies by clearing the way for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, Russia and Iran. Mattis had warned that removing ground forces from the Middle Eastern country would be a “strategic blunder”.
After Mattis sent his resignation, Trump announced he will be “retiring” in February.
“General Jim Mattis will be retiring, with distinction, at the end of February, after having served my administration as secretary of defense for the past two years,” the president said.
“During Jim’s tenure, tremendous progress has been made, especially with respect to the purchase of new fighting…,” he said on Twitter.
00:56 Verdict in Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case likely today:
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Mumbai is likely to pronounce on Friday the verdict in the sensational Sohrabuddin Shaikh-Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter case of 2005 in which 22 persons, most of them policemen, are on trial.
The case has attracted much attention as Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, who was Minister of State for Home in Gujarat at the time of the incidents, was one of the accused before being discharged in 2014.
During the trial, as many as 92 prosecution witnesses turned hostile.
After the final arguments were wrapped up earlier this month, Special judge for CBI cases S J Sharma had said he will pronounce the verdict on December 21.
Most of the accused are junior-level police officials from Gujarat and Rajasthan. The court earlier discharged, for want of evidence, 16 of the 38 persons charge-sheeted by the CBI.
These included Amit Shah, the then Rajasthan home minister Gulabchand Kataria, former Gujarat police chief P C Pande and former senior Gujarat police officer D G Vanzara.
According to the CBI, Shaikh, an alleged gangster with terror links, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Prajapati were abducted by Gujarat police from a bus when they were on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra from Hyderabad on the night of November 22 and 23, 2005.
Shaikh was killed in an alleged fake encounter on November 26, 2005 near Ahmedabad. His wife was killed three days later and her body was disposed of, the CBI said.
A year later, on December 27, 2006, Prajapati was also shot dead by Gujarat and Rajasthan police in an alleged fake encounter near Chapri on Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
The case was initially probed by the Gujarat CID before the CBI took over in 2010. The Supreme Court in 2013 directed that the trial be shifted to Mumbai from Gujarat on the central agency’s request to ensure a fair trial.
The prosecution examined 210 witnesses, of which 92 turned hostile.
Even as the trial has wound down to a close, two prosecution witnesses applied to the court Wednesday that they be re-examined.
One of them, Azam Khan, an aide of Shaikh, claimed in his plea that accused Abdul Rehman, a former police inspector who had allegedly fired on Shaikh, threatened Khan that if he did not depose as told, he would be framed up in false cases.
His wife was also threatened, Khan claimed. Another witness, Mahendra Zala, a petrol pump owner, has alleged that the prosecution did not furnish to the court his statement recorded before a magistrate.
The court will decide both pleas Friday. — PTI
Source: Rediff