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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 18 September 2020

Spanish court considers Catalan leader's removal from office

Associated Press the region politically amid
MADRID (AP) — Catalonia's the coronavirus pandemic.
regional president on Thurs- However, Torra has refused
day vowed not to waver to call snap elections. In-
from his separatist cause stead, he has floated the
after hearing the closing possibility of not stepping
arguments at Spain's Su- down, letting his vice presi-
preme Court, which is dis- dent do the formal business
cussing whether to bar him of signing executive orders,
from public office. while he still tries to call the
Quim Torra spoke after at- shots.
tending the hearing at the "I'm not the one who will put
nation's highest court of his this country through an irre-
appeal of a verdict by a sponsible electoral period
lower court last year. That that will paralyze the Cata-
court, in Barcelona, ruled lan administration at such a
that Torra was unfit to hold critical time," he said.
public office for 18 months It is unclear what would
for having violated elec- happen if Torra refuses to
toral law. step down and the Catalan
"I am in Madrid today be- parliament does not name
cause the judicial and po- a new president, as Torra
litical repression has gone has suggested in an act of
too far," Torra said. "What- Catalan regional President Quim Torra arrives at the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid, Spain, defiance of the courts.
ever the judges now de- Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. If the parliament tries and
cide, even though it con- Associated Press fails to name a new presi-
travenes a parliament's dent, that would trigger a
democratic mandate, it paign period, when public sion parties in the election. what his response will be two month countdown to
must not force us to cede officials are prohibited from Torra admitted he had if he is ousted from power. find one among the mem-
one inch in our political using public buildings to dis- disobeyed the electoral He has often encouraged bers of the legislature. If
convictions and goals." play political propaganda. board, but argued that he fellow separatists to prac- that failed, regional elec-
The court's ruling is expect- The lower court said that was defending the higher tice civil disobedience to tions would automatically
ed in coming days. the banner's message de- cause of political and hu- further their goals. be triggered.
Torra ran afoul of Spain's manding the release from man rights. Torra's partners in Catalo- Polls and election results
electoral board after he prison of politicians and ac- In line with Catalan law, nia's coalition government show that the 7.5 million
refused to remove a ban- tivists who had broken the Torra has been allowed to have urged him along with residents of Spain's wealthy
ner reading "Free Political law to promote the cause remain in office during the opposition parties to call northeastern region are
Prisoners and Exiles" during of Catalonia's indepen- appeal process. elections before the ruling roughly equally split on the
an official election cam- dence favored pro-seces- Torra has not made clear so as to avoid destabilizing independence question.q

India asks China to pull back troops, arms in Ladakh region

He said that was not ac- the tensions and said Chi- countries have often been
ceptable and that India is nese border troops have strained, partly due to their
seeking a peaceful resolu- "always strictly abided by undemarcated border.
tion through talks. the (agreements) between They fought a border war
The two countries' foreign the two countries and are in 1962 that spilled into
ministers met in Moscow a committed to safeguard- Ladakh and ended in an
week ago and agreed to ing China's territorial sov- uneasy truce. Since then,
deescalate tensions in La- ereignty and maintaining troops have guarded the
dakh, but Singh's words to peace and tranquility in undefined border area,
Parliament suggested they the border areas." occasionally brawling.
remain high and that set- "What is pressing now is that The standoff escalated to
tling the impasse will be a the Indian side should im- a deadly clash on a high
long process. mediately correct its mis- ridge on June 15 that left 20
He also said India has take, disengage on the Indian soldiers dead.
counter-deployed troops ground as soon as possible Singh said India inflicted
An Indian army convoy moves on the Srinagar- Ladakh high-
way at Gagangeer, northeast of Srinagar, Indian-controlled that have foiled "transgres- and take concrete ac- "heavy" casualties on Chi-
Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. sion attempts by China." tions to ease the tension nese forces, but did not
Associated Press "We should be confident and lower the temperature provide any numbers. Chi-
that our armed forces will along the border," Wang na has not given any de-
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's kh region. handle the situation suc- said at a daily briefing. tails on its casualties.
defense minister said Thurs- Rajnath Singh told the up- cessfully," Singh said. In New Delhi, Indian Exter- After that clash, the two
day the country faces per house of Parliament He said it was "apparent nal Affairs Ministry spokes- countries partially disen-
challenges in its border dis- that China has amassed from Chinese activities that man Anurag Srivastava gaged from the site in the
pute with China and urged troops and weapons in La- their words don't match urged China to "sincerely Galwan Valley and at least
Beijing to sincerely imple- dakh in violation of agree- their actions." work with the Indian side two other places, but the
ment an understanding ments reached in the 1990s In Beijing, Chinese for- for complete disengage- crisis has continued in at
they reached previously and is trying to alter the eign ministry spokesperson ment at the earliest from all least three other areas, in-
to completely disengage status quo in the region Wang Wenbin again laid friction areas." cluding glacial Pangong
their forces from the Lada- through aggressive actions. the onus on India to relieve Relations between the two Lake.q