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Here are 7 occasions on which Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, violated the ethical principles of Journalism

OpIndia Staff
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Here are 7 occasions on which Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, violated the ethical principles of Journalism

An FIR was filed recently against Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, for spreading fake news about the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath. The FIR was filed after he had attributed a fake quote to the Mahant of the Gorakhnath Muth in order to whitewash the deeds of the Tablighi Jamaat, which was responsible for spreading the Wuhan Coronavirus all cross India. Since then, an organized campaign has been launched to paint him as a victim despite the obvious mala fide intent on his part. As it turns out his sins are many and it has been going on for quite some time.

In this report, we shall highlight the numerous occasions on which Siddharth Varadarajan has violated the ethical principles of journalism and in certain cases, where there are clear conflicts on interest. During the course of this report, we shall not mention the barrage of propaganda that The Wire has been indulging in and keep it limited to the conduct of its founding editor alone.

Suppressing the Vadra Scam Expose

Siddharth Varadarajan had suppressed the expose on Vadra’s dealing with DLF for seven months, according to journalist Shalini Singh. Shalini Singh had joined the Hindu in February 2012 and had submitted the Vadra story around March-April 2012, after emailing detailed questionnaires to both Mr. Robert Vadra and the DLF. She further said that after she submitted the Vadra report, the editorial team communicated to her that the story wasn’t good enough and couldn’t be carried. As a result, the story remained shelved for 7 months. The Editor of The Hindu at the time was Siddharth Varadarajan himself. In effect, the onus of the Robert Vadra scam story being shelved for that duration lies squarely on his shoulders.

In an earlier interview, Ms Shalini Singh has said that when she realized that there was no interest in carrying the story, she sought permission to give the story along with the documents to Mr. Prashant Bhushan who was at that time involved with “India Against Corruption”. Although there were several opportunities to carry the story even then, none were taken. The story was eventually only carried AFTER Mr. Prashant Bhushan’s press conference where he talked about the dubious business deals of Robert Vadra.

Spreading Propaganda regarding the Gujarat Riots

Suddharth Varadarajan spread a great deal of propaganda regarding the Gujarat Riots, while maintaining the garb of neutrality. He insinuated that the post-Godhra riots would have occurred anyway and attempted to whitewash the Godhra massacre by Radical Muslims, where even women and children lost their lives. He wrote in August 2004, “Far from being a spontaneous mass reaction to the attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra the day before in which 58 Hindu passengers died, the killings across most of Gujarat seemed scripted. So well chosen were the targets that it is almost as if there was already in place a plan to do something dramatic as part of the ongoing Ayodhya agitation, probably in order to polarise the state on communal lines in the run-up to state elections that the BJP might have had some difficulty winning on the basis of its actual performance.”

Siddharth Varadaran wrote further, “Had Godhra not happened, would Naroda Patiya have burned, would Ehsan Jafri have been killed, the Best Bakery been destroyed and Bilkis Bano been raped? These questions are deeply problematic because they are tainted by the bankruptcy of the Sangh parivar’s moral arithmetic. When you have an organisation like the VHP whose cadres are capable of the most horrific violence, when you have a police force that is willing to let innocent citizens be attacked, and when you have chief ministers and prime ministers who offer post-facto justifications for genocide, it is a dangerous delusion to believe the Gujarat violence occurred because of Godhra. The Gujarat violence happened because the government wanted it to. Godhra was just the excuse.”

Refusal to carry a woman’s account of sexual harassment due to funding from TATA

Reputed Columnist, Manu Joseph, claimed in January 2019 that in November the previous year The Wire had refused to report Anjuli Pandit’s account of sexual harassment at the Taj because of fear of the Tatas. Pandit is a former Tata Group Executive. Then, Tata was believed to be a possible donor to The Wire. Siddharth Varadarajan, the Founding Editor of Wire, had vehemently denied the claim.

As per Pandit’s account, which was later carried in Indian Express, she narrates how complaining against her abuser, her boss, she was robbed of her personal and professional goals. In her article, she mentions, without giving any specific names, that she was turned down by Indian journalists who didn’t want to carry her story. It was eventually revealed that the Tatas have funded The Wire.

The Wire’s coverage of the internal feud within the CBI

The feud within the CBI had prompted the Modi Government to ask both the Director, Alok Verma and the Deputy Director, Rakesh Asthana to step down after a bitter turf war had broken out. Both Verma and Asthana had made allegations of corruption against each other. The Supreme Court had ordered the Central Vigilance Committee to file its report on the allegations in two weeks.

Following this, the Central Vigilance Committee submitted its observations to the court in a sealed envelope. The court was also given the answers provided by Alok Verma to the CVC. The report including Alok Verma’s response was given in a sealed envelope and was supposed to be highly confidential.

However, the leftist propaganda website The Wire somehow got a hold of the confidential documents and ran elaborate stories publishing Alok Verma’s version. They have contested that the reports were based on Verma’s response to the CVC before the SC had ruled and the responses were not in a sealed cover, hence, they have not contravened the SC order.

The Then CJI Ranjan Gogoi was furious at the leak. He said that Free Press and responsible press have to be balanced. Not only the CJI but even Fali Nariman, Alok Verma’s advocate, was distressed at the media leak. He said that the leak was unauthorised and that free press should not mean irresponsible press. Fali Nariman also asked the Supreme Court to summon The Wire’s Editor to get answers.

The Jay Shah Defamation Case

On October 8th 2017, the leftist propaganda website The Wire had published a shoddy hit job against Jay Shah, who is Home Minister and then BJP party president Amit Shah’s son. After the hit job by The Wire, Jay Shah had slapped a 100 crore defamation suit on the website and the author of the article, Rohini Singh. What followed was the usual liberal rhetoric. Opeds were written about how freedom of expression is in danger and Press freedom is being thwarted.

Soon, Jay Shah approached the civil court at Ahmedabad which granted him an ex parte ad-interim order against ‘The Wire’ and its founding editors, including the author of the article, Rohini Singh, stating that they be barred from publishing anything, directly or indirectly in connection with Jay Shah. “The Wire” then approached the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad, appealing against this particular gag order. The High Court made some interesting observations and rejected the plea of ‘The Wire’ against the ex parte ad-interim order.

The Court made it amply clear in its judgement in 2017 that till the ex parte ad-interim matter (gag order matter) was heard, none of the defendants (folks from The Wire) had filed even an appearance before the Trial Court, much less any reply. Defendant No. 2 (Siddharth Varadarajan) had filed appearance on 8th November 2017, only to take adjournment before the Trial Court.

Siddharth Varadarajan, on 13th November 2017, had tweeted that his team was outside the Ahmedabad court waiting for Jay Shah who did not show up. The court has observed that Defendant No. 2 (Varadarajan) filed an adjournment application on 8th in the Trial Court, citing the reason that the matter is pending in the High court, and that none of the other defendants had even filed an appearance or reply till 16th, when the matter was heard.

The court observed that under the provision of Order 39, Rule 4 of the Code, The Wire could have approached the Trial Court itself to modify and/or vacate the ex parte ad-interim impugned restrain order dated 12.10.2017 (Gag order), but ‘The Wire’ did not avail of this option. The court then makes a rather scathing indictment of team Wire saying that “there is reluctance on their part, even to put their contest, on merits, before the Trial Court”.

The High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad observed that since “there is no motivation on the part of any of the defendants to contest the matter before the Trial Court, keeping in view the above noted proposition of the law, this court finds that these Appeals need not be entertained on merits”. This would, in laymen terms mean that the court refused to entertain The Wire’s appeal of vacating the gag order on the ground that The Wire was least motivated to explore their options of approaching the Trial Court and argue the case on merits.

Rajya Sabha TV accused The Wire of stealing, illegally possessing and using copyrighted material

Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) served a legal notice to The Wire in April 2019 for intellectual property rights and copyright infringement. In the legal notice, RSTV has also accused The Wire of coming into possession of copyright material of Rajya Sabha TV in an “unauthorised and unlawful manner suggestive of either stealing or obtaining and making use of the stolen property”.

The notice asked The Wire to provide necessary details and documents within 2 weeks to prove that they had not stolen or come into possession of stolen property of RSTV, that they had not violated exclusive Intellectual Property Rights of RSTV and that they had not infringed upon Copyright vested in RSTV. The legal notice said that should The Wire fail to do so, they will be liable for civil and criminal consequences.

Siddharth Varadarajan and the CHRI

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is no fan of the Narendra Modi government and it is known to receive funds from the United States Department of State. The CHRI had issued a statement against the then ongoing process of the NRC and the issue of detention centers, which was signed by individuals such as Retired Justice Lokur. As per its website, “CHRI’s work is split into two core themes: Access to Information and Access to Justice, which includes Prison Reform, Police Reform, and advocacy on media rights and the South Asia Media Defenders Network (SAMDEN). CHRI additionally monitors the human rights situation across the Commonwealth through its International Advocacy and Programming (IAP) unit.”

What is the SAMDEN? Again, its website states, “SAMDEN’s core group includes eminent professionals such as such as Bangladesh’s Mahfuz Anam of the Daily Star, Kanak Mani Dixit of Himal in Nepal, Salil Tripathi, chair of PEN’s unit on journalists in prison, Mrinal Pande, veteran editor and author, John Zubrzycki (a Sydney-based journalist, author specialising in South Asia), Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor of The Wire, and Sanjoy Hazarika, former correspondent for the New York Times and now International Director at CHRI, among several others.”

CHRI had received Rs. 2,29,500 on the 20th of September, 2019 from the United States’ Department of State for the purpose of “Advocacy and Outreach Programme for Detainees in the North Eastern States of India”. This clearly amounts to foreign interference in India’s internal affairs by elements in the United States. The CHRI has also received huge amounts of money from the Oak Foundation, a shady globalist organization. It received Rs. 1,56,62,639 from the Oak Foundation for the purpose of “Reducing Arbitrary Detention in India 2016-2019” on the 12th of July, 2019. A year ago, the CHRI received Rs. 1,28,89,915 from the same foundation for the same purpose. Quite clearly, these are huge amounts of money that are coming in from abroad in order to meddle with the internal affairs of India.

Rajasthan: 3 policemen injured after a mob attacked them while patrolling in Tonk’s Kasai Mohalla, 12 detained

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: 3 policemen injured after a mob attacked them while patrolling in Tonk’s Kasai Mohalla, 12 detained

During the strict lockdown in the Rajasthan’s Tonk, a police team that went for patrolling in the Kasai Mohalla area was attacked by a violent mob. As a result, three policemen were injured. The Tonk police have registered FIR against 12 people. The injured policemen are admitted to the district hospital.

Tonk has several coronavirus cases listed hence a curfew has been imposed around the coronavirus hotspots. As per reports, a crowd had started gathering in the Kasai Mohalla area on Friday morning despite lockdown orders. A police team was sent to patrol the area and convince the locals to stay at home. However, the locals gathered outside allegedly started attacking the police team.

Some of them refused to obey the policemen and when the police started acting strictly, the mob attacked the police. An additional police team came to rescue as soon as the information about the incident was received. Police have registered FIR against 12 people and detained them.

Coronavirus in Rajasthan

It is notable that Tonk has been listed as a hotspot after 60 positive cases of coronavirus have been reported. Rajasthan has reported 1131 cases of coronavirus so far with an increase of 108 cases in the last 24-hours. 164 People have been recovered and discharged while 3 have succumbed to the disease. On Thursday alone, 55 new cases were reported in Rajasthan and Tonk had 11.

Attacks unleashed against Coronawarriors

Ever since the nationwide lockdown was announced in the country, there have been many such concerted attacks against healthcare workers, policemen by violent mobs. We had reported regarding the series of attacks unleashed against frontline health workers by violent mobs during the coronavirus epidemic.

Earlier, 25 people including 13 women are arrested for pelting stones at the medical team in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place at the Haji Neb Masjid area in Moradabad when a team of doctors and medical staff went to take away two persons suspected of having novel coronavirus in the area. The mob pelted stones at the ambulance and doctors. The stones were also pelted on the police van which came to rescue the health workers later. Several people have been injured in the ensuing mayhem, including Dr. Sudhish Agrawal.

The number of Coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 13387 while 1749 have been recovered. 437 people have died so far in the pandemic.

India tightens scrutiny of Chinese investment in the share market as SEBI asks banks to disclose details of investment coming from China

OpIndia Staff
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India tightens scrutiny of Chinese investment in the share market as SEBI asks banks to disclose details of investment coming from China

The market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued fresh communication to custodians seeking details of investments specifically coming from China or through China into Indian stock markets.

According to the reports, the SEBI has asked custodian banks to disclose details of ‘ultimate beneficial owners’ of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) based in China and Hong Kong. The communication to custodians said, “Urgently provide list of FPIs whose beneficial owner is from China and list of FPIs whose beneficial owner is from Hong Kong.”

SEBI’s initial intent was to increase checks of only new FPIs coming from China and other neighbours of India. With Chinese investments entering into Indian markets, the SEBI is now cautioned and has now changed its focus to existing investments as well.

SEBI’s warning comes after Chinese raised investments in HDFC

The direction issued by SEBI to custodians comes as an immediate reaction to People’s Bank of China (PBOC) buying a little above 1% stakes in HDFC. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) purchased 1.75 crore shares of HDFC. HDFC is one of India’s leading housing finance company and traditionally considered as one of the blue-chip stocks by most institutional investors.

Even though such share acquisitions are routine, it had raised some serious concerns about China looking to enter the Indian stock market to tighten its grip by taking advantage of the fall in stock prices in the country.

Following the scare, the SEBI had asked custodians to increase its scrutiny of investments coming from China and Hong Kong. The custodian companies, which are typically MNC banks and arms of Indian financial services groups handling fund and securities of FPIs registered with SEBI, maintain records of Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBOs) of all investors owning 25% or more in an FPI.

Ultimate Beneficial Owner refers to the individual, who ultimately owns or controls a customer on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. 

1 Billion dollar worth of Chinese investment in Indian stocks

Reportedly, there are a total of 16 Chinese FPIs registered in India with $1.1 billion invested in top-tier stocks. However, the exact level of China’s investment through direct and indirect route is not in public knowledge. According to asset managers, it has been difficult to keep a track of investments from China and Japan.

Some of the big FPIs from China include PBOC, CIFM Asia Pacific Fund, China International fund management, Best Investment Corporation and Asian Infrastructure Investment. Some of these funds are also joint ventures with US-based asset managers.

RBI Governor announces new measures to ease financial distress amidst coronavirus lockdown

OpIndia Staff
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RBI Governor announces new measures to ease financial distress amidst coronavirus lockdown

During a press conference on Friday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das assured everyone that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would do whatever it can to ease financial distress, ensure liquidity in the market and facilitate bank credit flow. He, however, conceded that the market had taken a hit in some areas.

Das praised the banks and other financial institutions for ensuring normal functioning, amidst the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak. Quoting the International Monetary Fund projection of 1.9% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, he said that India’s growth would be the highest among the G20 countries and that the economy would turn around by 2021-2022.

Ensuring Liquidity in the Market

The RBI Governor informed that Targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO) 2.0 operations of ₹50,000 crores will be conducted. While the repo rate (the rate at which RBI lends money to commercial banks) has remained unchanged, the reverse repo rate (the rate at which the RBI borrows money from the commercial banks) has been cut by 25 bps to 3.75%. The redemption pressures faced by some mutual funds have also been moderated.

Measures for the Banking Sector

The banks have been asked to not pay dividends to shareholders until further notice. the RBI Governor also informed that the Non-Performing Asset (NPA) classification for banks will exclude the moratorium period (waiting period before a borrower begins repaying his loan).

The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (proportion of liquid assets that help meet short-term financial obligations) requirement of banks have also been decreased from 100% to 80%.

Measures for other Financial Institutions

The RBI will provide a ₹50,000 crore finance facility to financial institutions such as the National Housing Bank (NHB), National Bank For Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The loans sanctioned by Non-Bank Financial Companies (NBFCs) to real estate companies will receive same benefit as that of scheduled Commerical banks.

Finance ministry package

On 26 March, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a press conference and announced a financial package that would take care of the welfare concerns of the poor and the suffering migrant workers after the 21-day lockdown has been announced to arrest the spread of Wuhan Coronavirus.

The package was called ‘Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Yojana’ and totalled a whopping 1.70 lakh crores. The Finance Minister said that one side of the scheme would focus on cash transfers through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) and the other would focus on food security as the government does not want anyone to remain hungry.

Uttar Pradesh: NSA slapped, govt to seize assets of the Moradabad stone pelters if they fail to pay for the damage to public property

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: NSA slapped, govt to seize assets of the Moradabad stone pelters if they fail to pay for the damage to public property

A day after the Muslim mobs had unleashed violence against the police and health workers in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed authorities to seize the properties of Moradabad attackers and violent lockdown violators if they fail to pay for the damages done to government property.

According to reports, Uttar Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday ordered attachment of properties of people involved in the attack, if they fail to pay for the damage to public property.

CM’s orders against the mob attacking healthcare professionals

CM Yogi Adityanath has also directed the officials that if violent mobs damage public property during a lockdown or during the screening of suspected coronavirus patients, the cost should be recovered from them. If the accused fail to pay up, their properties will be confiscated.

The Chief Minister also issued orders to magistrates and police chiefs of districts to ensure the security of health officials and take tough action against those involved in the attack of health workers.

Moradabad stone-pelting incident

The incident took place at Haji Neb Masjid area in Moradabad when a team of doctors and medical staff went to take away two persons suspected of having novel coronavirus in the area. The mob pelted had stones at the ambulance and doctors, severely injuring many and damaging government vehicles.

The stones were also pelted on the police van which came to rescue the health workers later. Several people have been injured in the ensuing mayhem, including Dr Sudhish Agrawal. According to health officials, hundreds of people came out on the streets to attack the medical team.

25 accused, including 13 women arrested for pelting stones

As many as 25 people including 13 women are arrested for pelting stones at the medical team in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. Issuing a stern warning to mobsters, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had said that not only will they be booked under the Epidemic Diseases Act but they’ll also be slapped with sections of NSA.

The NSA allows preventive detention for up to 12 months without a charge if the authorities are satisfied that the person is a threat to national security or law and order.

Earlier, the Shivraj Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh had also slapped NSA charges on some people who had brutally attacked a medical team that had female doctors in Indore’s Tatpatti Bakhal area.

Muslims discharged from Chennai hospital make Islamic gesture popularised by ISIS while posing for photos: Here is what it means

OpIndia Staff
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Muslims discharged from Chennai hospital make Islamic gesture popularised by ISIS while posing for photos: Here is what it means

Amidst the gloomy Coronavirus outbreak that has gripped the world and in India specifically, the spread of the virus due to Tablighi Jamaat, images of patients being released from a Chennai hospital after being treated for Coronavirus were released by a journalist today. Journalist Sanjeevee Sadagopan with Republic TV tweeted three photographs of patients, mostly Muslims, being released from the Chennai Hospital.

Of the pictures, two of the pictures tweeted by the journalist caught everyone’s attention. In one of the pictures, two patients in the photograph were seen making the Islamic gesture popularised by ISIS, where the index finger is raised to the sky. In the other, one patient was seen making the same gesture.

Picture of patients being released from Chennai hospital
Picture of patients being released from Chennai hospital

Speculations of connection to ISIS

There were several people on micro-blogging website Twitter who speculated whether the patients have connections or sympathies with ISIS since they were seen making the hand gesture which was popularised by the terrorist organisation.

There were Netizens who tweeted and said that the National Investigating Agency (NIA) should get involved and investigate the 3 Jamaatis seems to be showing the ISIS salute.

What does the one-finger-raised gesture mean in Islam

Nathaniel Zelinsky writes in Foreign Affairs that the gesture refers to the tawhid, “the belief in the oneness of God and a key component of the Muslim religion.” 

In an essay published on the CIA website, Tawheed is described as follows:

“Literally Tawheed means “unification” (making something one) or “asserting oneness”, and it comes from the Arabic verb (wahhada) which itself means to unite, unify or consolidate.1 However, when the term Tawheed is used in reference to Allaah (i.e. Tawheedullaah2), it means the realizing and maintaining of Allaah’s unity in all of man’s actions which directly or indirectly relate to Him. It is the belief that Allaah is One, without partner in His dominion and His actions (Ruboobeeyah), One without similitude in His essence and attributes (Asmaa wa Sifaat), and One without rival in His divinity and in worship (Ulooheeyah/’Ebaadah). These three aspects form the basis for the categories into which the science of Tawheed has been traditionally divided. The three overlap and are inseparable to such a degree that whoever omits any one aspect has failed to complete the requirements of Tawheed. The omission of any of the above-mentioned aspects of Tawheed is referred to as “Shirk” (lit. sharing); the association of partners with Allaah, which, in Islamic terms, is in fact idolatry”

Zelinsky was of the belief that the raised finger gesture pertains to the fundamentalist interpretation of Tawhid, “which rejects any other view, including other Islamic interpretations, as idolatry”.

In a website called www.dar-alifta.org, which explains the basic tenets of Islam, the requirement of the finger-hand-gesture is explained win details and the explanation also cites the relevant Hadiths that require the hand gesture to be made by Muslims.

According to the website, the raised-fingers signifies three tenets of Islam. They are:

 Raising one’s index finger in tashahud signifies tawheed [monotheism].
– The index finger must be raised when saying ‘illa Allah’. 
-The phrase ‘La illaha’ [there is no deity] refutes shirk [associating partners with God].
– ‘Illa Allah’ demonstrates tawheed.

Further, the website cites examples from the Quran and explanations by Imam’s that talk about the significance of the finger-raised hand gesture.

  1. Al-Bayhaqi reported in Al-Sunan Al-Kubra through Ibn ‘Abbas that the Prophet of Islam said: ” ‘This,” and he pointed to his index finger “signifies ikhlas [sincerity of faith] and this,” and he raised his hands to his shoulders “signifies du’a` [supplication] and this,” and he raised his hands high “signifies ibtihal [invocation].’” 
  2. In another phrasing of the hadith, Imam Abu Bakr Ibn Abu Shaybah and Al-Bayhaqi in Al-Sunan Al-Kubra reported through Ibn ‘Abass that the Prophet of Islam said: “It is ikhlas” i.e. lifting the index finger when saying ‘illa Allah’. 
  3. Ibn Shaybah reported through Ibrahim Al-Nakh’i who said: “It is recommended to point with one’s finger when saying ‘illa Allah’ because it is tawheed. But it is disliked to point with two fingers.” 

It is pertinent to note here that when the article spoke of ‘Illa Allah’ it was probably referring to the Islamic Shahada ‘La Illaha Illallah’ which means ‘there is no God but Allah’.

Significance of the raised-finger gesture in ISIS

Nathaniel Zelinsky writes in Foreign Affairs that “when ISIS uses the gesture, it is affirming an ideology that demands the destruction of the West, as well as any form of pluralism. For potential recruits around the globe, it also shows their belief that they will dominate the world”.

The gesture, though rooted in Islamic tenets is deeply connected with the terrorist organisation ISIS. In fact, even Baghdadi had used the gesture in his first Friday speech from the Mosque after ISIS had taken over Mosul.

Baghdadi delivering first speech after ISIS taking over Mosul

“The gesture has been used by jihadis for years, including high profile ones like Osama bin Laden. Within the jihadi context, the raised index finger takes on political meaning as well, widely rejecting any form of government not under Shariah law,” she said.

Since then, it is not only used by fighters and supporters of IS but by those celebrating weddings in IS-held areas.

In fact, the one-finger gesture has become a common way for journalists and investigators to identify people with affliations or sympathies to ISIS.

Thus, while the one-finger gesture is intrinsically connected to Islam, it is to be noted that several analysts believe that the gesture itself pertains to the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam and that it has now become synonymous with ISIS.

What about the Chennai patients?

The hand gesture in itself can be considered a simple expression of faith by the Muslims, however, given the context of today’s world where it has become synonymous with a terror organisation like the ISIS, it is bound to raise some eyebrows and questions.

In the UK, Islamophobia Awareness Month is run by an organisation called the Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend). Mend says the logo of a finger pointing upwards signifies the “oneness of God in Islamic prayer ritual” but due to the gesture’s association with ISIS, Bedfordshire Police had once deleted the poster it had tweeted after severe backlash.

Poster deleted by Bedofrdshire Police

Thus, given the context of the gesture, it is not unthinkable that the gesture could mean sympathy or affiliation to ISIS, however, even without the affiliation to ISIS, according to some experts, the gesture itself pertains to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.

Pakistan: Hindu family in Karachi threatened to be killed if they refuse to convert to Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Hindu family in Karachi threatened to be killed if they refuse to convert to Islam

Even a pandemic of the scale and extent of Wuhan coronavirus has not deterred radical Maulvis in Pakistan from intimidating and browbeating minorities into converting to Islam. Recently, Islamist fundamentalists forced a Hindu family in Karachi to embrace Islam as the menace of coronavirus sweeps Pakistan.

A Hindu family in Karachi was attacked amidst coronavirus lockdown in Pakistan on April 12, 2020, for refusing Islam. The case is from PIA township in Karachi where a Maulvi named Usman teamed up with the Hindu family’s neighbour named Shahid to assault the minorities for their denial to accept Islam.

Basant Kumar, a Hindu and his mother were also threatened to be killed if they disobeyed the order. The incident was narrated by Basant’s brother in a video. He alleged that 4-5 Muslim evangelists had threatened and attacked them to convert to Islam. In the video, the man claims that the matriarch of their house was grabbed and slapped by Maulana Usman, repeatedly asking her to read Kalama and embrace Islam.

The man in video claims that his brother Basant Kumar and their mother were beaten up by Maulana Usman. He adds that after thrashing his mother, Usman asked her to read Kalama, an important religious obligation to embrace Islam. A skull cap of the attacker, Maulana Usman, can be seen on the floor of the house of the Hindu family.

The man in the video further claims that despite the lockdown amidst the coronavirus, Maulana Usman, Maulvi Shahid and others have been defying the restrictions and offering namaz at the terrace of their building. However, belonging to the Hindu community and given the treatment meted out to minorities in their country, the Hindu family did not file a complaint against the illegal gathering by the Muslim clerics to offer namaz.

Basant’s brother also alleged that three days earlier a scuffle broke out between the same Maulana and Basant when the religious zealot had asserted that he will settle the scores with the family soon. Nonetheless, an FIR has been lodged in this matter by the Karachi police and investigation is underway.

Pakistan is notoriously known for its persecution of not only religious minorities but also ethnic minorities within their own country. The forceful conversion programmes have often been unleashed against the minorities especially Christians, Sikhs and Hindus living in Pakistan with utmost brutality. Therefore, minorities in Pakistan live under perpetual fear of persecution at the hands of Muslim fundamentalists who enjoy state patronage and support. Minorities are also wary of the cruel ‘blasphemy’ laws that are often used as an instrument of subjugation by the radical Muslim majority.

Past forcible conversions of minorities in Pakistan

Recently, radical Islamists and clerics in Pakistan demanded the beheading of a Hindu minor girl named Mehak Kumari, who was abducted, converted to Islam and forcibly married to a Muslim man, for leaving Islam. Mehak was abducted from the Jacobabad district of Sindh province in Pakistan on January 15. In a video going viral on Twitter, few radical Islamists and clerics of Pakistan are heard blaming 14-year-old Mehak of murtad, or an act of Apostasy, and are demanding death punishment, accusing her of insulting Islam.

A few months ago, Huma Younus, a 14-year-old Christian girl from Karachi, was abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to her captor Abdul Jabbar. According to the reports, Younas was kidnapped on October 10 by three men who waited on the girl’s parents to leave the house before forcibly abducting her. She was reportedly taken to Dera Ghazi Khan, a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan, about 600 Kms from her home.

Earlier, Jagjit Kaur, a Sikh girl was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in Nankana Sahib which had caused a huge uproar. In another horrific incident, a 13-year-old Pooja Sotahar Kumari, daughter of Fatan Rathore, resident of village Bakhsho Laghari in Hyderabad district’s Hosri Taluka, was kidnapped, forcefully converted and subsequently married off to a man identified as Syed Irshad Shah.

Forced religious conversion in Pakistan amidst global pandemic

However, what is particularly deplorable in the latest case is that the Muslim zealots have continued with their nefarious agenda of forcible conversion of minorities to Islam even as the existential threat in the form of coronavirus looms over their head. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan has seen a sharp rise recently, with as many as 6919 cases and 128 fatalities already reported from the country where the testing has been abysmally low and the public health system awfully incompetent.

‘I am not Zaira Wasim, won’t be intimidated because of your threats’: Babita Phogat lashes out after she gets threats for calling out Tablighi Jamaat

OpIndia Staff
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‘I am not Zaira Wasim, won’t be intimidated because of your threats’: Babita Phogat lashes out after she gets threats for calling out Tablighi Jamaat

Commonwealth Games gold medalist wrestler Babita Phogat took to Twitter on Friday to address the social media trolls who have been hitting out at her, demanding that her Twitter account be suspended after she called the “Jamaatis” a bigger problem than coronavirus in India in a tweet.

Babita Phogat started her video message by saying that since she has posted a few tweets about Tablighi Jamaat people have been sending her improper and spiteful messages, abusing her on Facebook, Whatsapp and on Twitter. She said that she has also been receiving threat calls, but such trolls cannot intimidate her. Babita added that she has spoken the truth and she stands by what she has said about the Tablighi Jamaat. “Listen carefully and keep this in mind, I am not Zaira Wasim, I am Babita Phogat, I have fought for my country, I will not get bullied, I will keep fighting for my country and keep speaking the truth, I stand by what I said”, Phogat lashed out at all her trolls.

It becomes imperative to note here that Zaira Wasim is the Bollywood star who stirred up a storm in the film fraternity and ‘liberal’ world by announcing her ‘retirement’ from Bollywood because the film industry was ‘taking her away from Islam’. Earlier in 2017, Zaira was targeted by Islamic fundamentalists for acting in a “polluted” medium, acting against “religious norms” and bringing shame and disgrace to the entire community. Trolls had attacked her after she met with J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti.

Phogat furthers: “Isn’t it the truth that the Tablighi Jamaat is the super spreader of coronavirus? Don’t they still head the list of the total number of cases in India? Had it not been for them India would have contained the pandemic long ago and there wouldn’t have been the need to extend the lockdown. They are the trouble makers and people have to accept this, said the wrestler.

“People who are in a habit of turning away from listening to the truth and have a problem with me speaking the truth should either change their proneness and just accept me the way I am”, said the gold medalist, muffling the voice of her trolls.

The wrestler has been on the receiving end of vicious messages and hatred over social media ever since she called the “Jamaati” a bigger problem than coronavirus in India in a tweet. Taking to Twitter on April 15, Babita Phogat wrote in Hindi: “कोरोना वायरस भारत की दूसरे नंबर की सबसे बड़ी समस्या है। जाहिल जमाती अभी भी पहले नंबर पर बना हुआ है।” (Coronavirus is the second biggest problem in India, uncivilised Jamaati, however, are India’s number one problem right now).

Though Babita Phogat was merely stating facts, as the Tablighi Jamaat’s transgression has left the country in a complete mess, setting back India’s efforts to contain the pandemic, the prejudicial and bigoted Islamist trolls, as well as some so-called ‘secular-liberals’ on Twitter could not control their bitterness and started trolling the wrestler.

Phogat, unhinged by the netizens calling her out on her tweet, put out another tweet on Thursday, speaking out loud and clear in support for Rangoli Chandel, Kangana Ranaut’s sister, who was suspended by the microblogging website after she tweeted an angry tweet against ‘Mullahs’ who have been attacking the doctors, nurses and policemen amidst coronavirus outbreak.

The very next day, Babita Phogat became the top trending hashtag on Twitter in India as Islamists and the so-called liberal trolls on Twitter stormed at Babita Phogat for daring to take a righteous stand and started demanding that her account be suspended.

Congress ad girl Hasiba Amin also jumped at the opportunity to peddle the usual ‘Islamophobia’ narrative.

But however, disheartening it might be for the so-called liberals, rabid Islamists and Congress, it is a fact that the Tablighi Jamaat has clearly emerged as the sole reason for the surge in the coronavirus cases in the country.

The Tablighi Jamaat time bomb erupted across the country in the last week of March when around 200 people with Wuhan Coronavirus symptoms were admitted to various hospitals in Delhi from the Markaz Nizamuddin and surrounding places. Subsequently, the area around the Markaz Nizamuddin was cordoned off by the Delhi Police. Soon, cases began to erupt across the country with links to the Tablighi Jamaat and the country stood horrified as the magnitude of the Islamic Missionary organization’s transgressions became known. But even so, a significant section of the media and the political class is going out of its way to whitewash and hide the crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat.

‘Action will be taken’, says Karnataka Deputy CM as HD Kumaraswamy defies lockdown to get son married with fanfare: Watch visuals

OpIndia Staff
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‘Action will be taken’, says Karnataka Deputy CM as HD Kumaraswamy defies lockdown to get son married with fanfare: Watch visuals

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwathnarayan Narayan Thursday said that action will be taken against the former CM HD Kumaraswamy for getting his son married with fanfare defying the lockdown, otherwise, it will be a complete mockery of the system. The Deputy CM said that the state government has asked the concerned authorities to film the entire wedding and he would seek a report from Ramnagar Deputy Commissioner.

“Kumaraswamy has made a public statement that guidelines will be followed. He is a people representative. He’s in public life for a long time. He should abide by the guidelines. Since he’s in a responsible position for a long time, he was chief minister of Karnataka, he’s also an MLA from Ramnagar, so guidelines must be followed in his son’s marriage as per the rules amid COVID-19 scare. After the marriage, there must not be any excuse, he can’t say that people came without invitation, said the Deputy CM to news agency ANI.

While the entire country is under strict lockdown and many weddings and funerals have been cancelled across the nation owing to the lockdown, the political heavyweights of Karnataka, the Gowda family headed by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, got their grandson married on Friday.

Putting many more lives at risk, actor-turned-politician, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, tied the knot with Revathi, the grandniece of former Congress Minister for Housing M Krishnappa, at a farmhouse about 28 km from state capital Bengaluru.

Family and relatives thronged the farmhouse of Kumaraswamy, where the bride and groom exchanged garlands. Priests and family members including Deve Gowda were seen in the backdrop. The media was banned from entering the Ramanagara district while around 30-40 cars were seen heading towards the location from Bengaluru.

The families had earlier organized the wedding in Bengaluru. Despite the lockdown, Kumaraswamy refused to defer the big day but instead shifted the venue. Any such mass movement and public gatherings, weddings that are attended by a large number of people have been banned by the government due to the lockdown and over the fear of the deadly coronavirus spreading.

“It would be difficult to maintain social distancing if the event was organised at home. That’s the reason we are organising the event at our farmhouse in Bidadi. I request my workers and well-wishers to avoid attending the event,” Mr Kumaraswamy said, adding that the decision to go ahead with the wedding was taken in consultation with doctors, including those in his family.

“Only around 60 to 70 people” of the family would attend the wedding, he claimed.

Karnataka has recorded 315 coronavirus cases, including 13 deaths.

Delhi: Shaheen Bagh sealed off after being listed as a containment zone for coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi: Shaheen Bagh sealed off after being listed as a containment zone for coronavirus

The Shaheen Bagh area of South Delhi which saw massive sit-in protests against the CAA and NRC for months has been sealed off after three new positive cases of Wuhan coronavirus were detected in that area. As the coronavirus cases keep rising in Delhi, more hotspots are being identified as containment zones.

The Shaheen Bagh area which witnessed 101-day long sit-in protests against the central government’s CAA was sealed by Delhi police last month due to the breakout of coronavirus epidemic. The women and children of Shaheen bagh had blocked one of the busiest thoroughfares in the national capital in protest against the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act that intends to grant citizenship to a persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Many other areas have also been added to the list of new containment zones. Some of them are Street No 6, A Block, Abu Fazal enclave and Street nos. 3-5, East Ram Nagar in Shahdara. Containment zones are those infected zones that include all suspected and confirmed cases that are epidemiologically linked and where spread control, biosecurity and sanitary measures are mainly applied to eradicate the epidemic.

Delhi Government to launch operation ‘SHIELD’

With the new zones added in the list of containment areas, the total number of containment zones in the national capital has now reached 60.

As per the report of Times now, the Delhi government will now start operation ‘SHIELD’ in that area. Operation ‘SHEILD’ stands for- Sealing, Home Quarantine, Isolation and Tracking, Essential Supply, Local Sanitisation, and Door-To-Door Checking.

Delhi government has claimed that the operation SHIELD has helped stop the transmission in areas like Dilshad Graden and Old Seemapuri. In addition to that, no new cases have been reported from the containment zones of Vasundhara enclave, Mayur Vihar and Khichripur.

As per reports, a total of 1578 cases of coronavirus have been reported from Delhi till date. 32 deaths and 42 recoveries have been listed. In India, the number of total cases has jumped to 13,387, with 1749 recoveries and 437 deaths.

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