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Maharashtra: Maha Vikas Aghadi’s unholy alliance continues its vendetta as it mulls scrapping Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: Maha Vikas Aghadi’s unholy alliance continues its vendetta as it mulls scrapping Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project

According to a report by Pune Mirror, the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress may soon scrap the experimental hyperloop project between Mumbai and Pune. This comes close on heels of reports of various other projects either stalled or scrapped by the new government in Maharashtra.

According to the report, the NCP feels that the hyperloop project is an ‘expensive experiment’ and the Shiv Sena has said that the decision on the multi-crore project will be taken after a review. The project has now been placed under review and may be scrapped.

In 2017, the Devendra Fadnavis government through Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) had signed an MOU with Virgin Hyperloop One, a US based company to carry out a study identifying potential routes and analyse economical impact as well as technical viability.

Read: Despite SC’s stay on tree cutting in Aarey, new Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray says not a single leaf will be cut, halts metro car shed construction

The hyperloop project, if completed, may have brought down transport time between Mumbai and Pune to 15 minutes. However, within days of coming to power, the new government has put the project under scrutiny.

Earlier this month, NCP leader and Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asking him to immediately shut down the Mahaportal service started by the Devendra Fadnavis government with the aim to provide employment opportunities to the youth of Maharashtra. Sule asserted that far from addressing the grievances of the people, it has increased the problems faced by the aspirants due to improper functioning of the portal. Besides this, Uddhav Thackeray has also ordered a review of all developmental projects going on in the state including the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train.

Islamist organisation PFI that hosted Hamid Ansari opposes Citizenship Amendment Bill, gives away PoK to Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Islamist organisation PFI that hosted Hamid Ansari opposes Citizenship Amendment Bill, gives away PoK to Pakistan

The Islamist organisation, Popular Front of India (PFI) that has in the past been embroiled in several cases of Islamic extremism and had hosted controversial former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari, has issued a press note opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by the Modi government that aims to give citizenship to persecuted minorities of neighbouring Islamic nations such as Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians. Interestingly, in their press note, the PFI seems to have also given up India’s right on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

PFI press release

The PFI termed the Citizenship Amendment Bill ‘unconstitutional’, ‘partisan’ and ‘controversial’. While saying that CAB paves way for Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Jains from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, it says that the BJP government has shown its ‘communal colours’ by leaving out Muslims from the list. Further, the press release says that the BJP government’s claim that persecuted minorities are to be given citizenship doesn’t hold water since the government has refused to give citizenship to Rohingya Muslims.

Read: India: A land with Hindu consciousness, which will forever be a natural home for Hindus

The PFI press release says that the government has gone against various articles of the constitution though it forgets to take into account that this bill is for granting citizenship to refugees and doesn’t pertain to existing citizens of India.

In their press release, the PFI “demands” that the Union Cabinet recalls the decision to table the Bill in the Parliament and it also calls upon the secular and democratic forces from civil society to come out against the proposed amendment which is “against the basic tenet of our constitution’.

Read: Rohingyas pose a serious threat to national security, India should never let them in

Interestingly, in their press release, the PFI seems to have given away Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to Pakistan.

In the statement, while advocating for India to give citizenship to Rohingya Muslims, PFI says that India doesn’t share a border with Afghanistan but does with Myanmar. By making this statement, PFI essentially gave up India’s right on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

If one looks at the current map of India even after Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh were declared as Union Territories, India does share a border with Afghanistan since Gilgit Baltistan is a part of India.

Map of India. Source: Indian government

In this map, one can clearly see that the top part of Ladakh Union Territory includes Gilgit Baltistan which is illegally occupied by Pakistan and shares a border with India.

Read: Judge S Abdul Nazeer who was a part of Ayodhya and Triple Talaq verdict gets Z plus security after threats from Islamist PFI

To get a clearer picture, even if we look at the map before the state was bifurcated into two Union Territories, India did share a border with Afghanistan and that fact doesn’t change simply because Pakistan has occupied that land illegally.

Map of Kashmir before the status of UT

One can see that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir shares a border with Afghanistan and since India has always maintained that PoK is Indian territory illegally occupied by Pakistan, by default, India shares a border with Afghanistan.

Read: Kerala: Two radical Islamist PFI members among the 10 believed to have joined ISIS

The Islamist organisation in its press release seems to have not only fear-mongered about Citizenship Amendment Bill and batted for Rohingya Muslims who are a security threat for India but also toed the Pakistan line by claiming that India has no right over PoK.

Update: After the OpIndia report, PFI has deleted the tweet where they shared this press note. They have also emailed all concerned that they have retracted their previous press release. 

Email by PFI

In their latest press release, they have retracted the sentence they had mentioned earlier about India not sharing a border with Afghanistan thereby the Islamist organisation recognising the territorial integrity of India.

In their latest press release as emailed by PFI, they have removed the reference of India not sharing a border with Afghanistan.

New Press Release by PFI

In their earlier press note, by making this statement, PFI had essentially declared that they do not believe that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is a part of India.

Daniel Shravan’s mother says she is ashamed of her son’s comments, he should apologise to all women with folded hands

OpIndia Staff
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Daniel Shravan’s mother says she is ashamed of her son’s comments, he should apologise to all women with folded hands

A small-time Telugu filmmaker Daniel Shravan had stoked a massive controversy recently with his outrageous and filthy comments over rapes and crimes against women.

Commenting over the recent incident of brutal rape and murder of a Hyderabad-based veterinarian that has created furore all over the country, Daniel had written on a Facebook post that rapes happen only due to unsatisfied sexual desires of men and women ‘should cooperate with their rapists’ so they are not murdered. He had also called for ‘legalised rapes’ and stated that rapists think of killing the women only because of the fear of punishment.

Shravan had also advised women to ‘carry condoms’ instead of calling 100 number. “If these adamant bitches didn’t consent to the proposal made by the rapists, they will have no other way but to rape them”.

Shravan’s sick comments had created a massive outrage on social media. When a Facebook user had asked whether he would give the same advice to the women in his own family, Shravan had reportedly replied in the affirmative.

Following the controversy, a women’s group named ‘Narisena’ had reportedly approached Shravan’s family and talked to his mother.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQlQBRRJRJw]

In a YouTube video uploaded, the women from the group has met with a lady, reportedly Daniel’s mother, and have made her aware about her son’s perverse comments on the social media regarding heinous crimes like rape and murder.

When the lady stated that she is not aware of any comments made by her son on social media, the group informs her about the context and content of Daniel’s comments.

The group explains to the lady how Daniel’s comments have created a furore on social media and how he has attempted to blame rape victims in the worst possible manner.

The group then told the lady that her son has asked women, in general, to forget calling the 100 number for police help and carry condoms with them instead to ‘cooperate’ with rapists. Addressing Shravan, the group enquired whether he wants them to give some condoms for his mother to carry around.

After hearing about Shravan’s comments, the lady stated that she is shocked to hear his statements and expressed sadness at his behaviour. She stated that Shravan’s comments have made her feel ashamed. Addressing Shravan, she added that he should never have made such statements regarding any woman.

The lady then asked Shravan to apologise to all women with folded hands and seek forgiveness.

It is notable here that after his comments created a massive controversy and social media users started demanding action on Shravan, he had deleted the comments and had shared a statement that the statements were not his opinion but rather a villain’s dialogues from one of his upcoming projects.

Read: Hyderabad rape and murder case: 22-year-old arrested for making vulgar comments on Facebook about the victim

The brutal murder of the 27-year-old veterinarian, named as ‘Disha’ in the police cases as Indian law prevents disclosure of the real name of the rape victim, had brought to the fore many such shameful and perverse comments from many individuals, exposing their mindset. Recently, the Cyber Crime cell of the Hyderabad police had arrested a 22-year-old man for sharing obscene posts regarding the victim.

Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh trivialises 1984 Sikh genocide as a ‘sad event’, blames PV Narasimha Rao to shield Gandhis

OpIndia Staff
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Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh trivialises 1984 Sikh genocide as a ‘sad event’, blames PV Narasimha Rao to shield Gandhis

Former Prime Minister and Gandhi-family loyalist Manmohan Singh has again come out to display his servitude to the Gandhi family. This time, the former PM has called the 1984 Sikh massacre that saw thousands of Sikhs killed, as a mere ‘sad event’.

Not just that, Manmhan Singh has taken some extra effort to shield former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and has blamed the then home minister PV Narasimha Rao squarely for the genocide of Sikhs under the then Congress government’s watch.


Manmohan Singh has stated that that in the aftermath of assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh guards which led to anti-Sikh riots, where many Congress leaders led the mobs, could have been avoided had the then Home Minister acted on time and called in the army. Dr Singh absolves Rajiv Gandhi’s alleged justification of riots during his infamous rally by saying ‘big tree falls, the earth shakes’.

Not just that, Dr Singh also skips the part that it was Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s office which had given clear instructions not to call the army.

Read: Even while apologising for Sam Pitroda’s comment, Rahul Gandhi won’t stop whitewashing the 1984 organised Sikh genocide

According to a report by The Times of India, in May 2019, I K Gujral’s son Naresh Gujarat had said that his late father, General Jagjit Singh Arora and Air Marshal Arjan Singh repeatedly went to the then President Giani Zail Singh and HM P V Narasimha Rao pleading them to call in the army to stop the Sikh massacre. However, Naresh Gujral told TOI that the two leaders expressed helplessness as “there were clear orders from Prime Minister’s house to not call in the army”.

Just a day prior, President Giani Zail Singh had administered oath to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who swore in after his mother’s assassination.

Reacting to Dr Singh’s statement, NV Subhash, PV Narasimha Rao’s grandson said as his family member, he felt saddened by Singh’s statement. Speaking to news agency ANI, he said, “Can any Home Minister take independent decision without Cabinet’s approval? If Army had been called, it would’ve been a disaster.”

A day after his release from Tihar, INX scam accused former union minister P Chidambaram to address media

OpIndia Staff
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A day after his release from Tihar, INX scam accused former union minister P Chidambaram to address media

Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who is currently out on bail for his involvement in the multi-crore INX Media scam, is set to address the media at the Congress headquarters on Thursday afternoon.


On his release yesterday, the court had put up condition that he could not speak to media on INX case. The scam accused Chidambaram, who was released from Tihar jail on Wednesday after spending over a 100 days in prison, tweeted today morning to state that he was be addressing media later today.

Read: Prima facie allegations serious, P Chidambaram played a ‘key and active role’: Delhi HC observes while dismissing bail

While granting the regular bail to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the Supreme Court on Wednesday had put certain conditions for granting bail that included orders not to give any press interviews or make public statements on the case. He was also asked to furnish bail bonds of Rs. 2 lakh.

Apart from these conditions, the passport of the accused would remain confiscated and he would not be able to leave the country without permission. He was also directed to make himself available for interrogation. The court had also ordered him to not intimidate any case witnesses.

The bail to Congress leader P Chidamabaram comes after over 106 days in custody. As the SC granted the bail, it also criticised the Delhi HC for making observations on the merits of the case. The SC has noted that despite the triple test being found on Chidambaram’s favour, observations were made on merit. The SC observed that the accused has participated in the investigation.

Read: Chidambaram gets bail, to walk out after 106 days but can not talk to media

Former Union minister was arrested by the CBI after a high-level drama where CBI officials had to scale the walls of his residence on August 21. After 58 days under the CBI custody, the SC had granted him bail in the CBI case.

But the ED had taken the custody of Chidambaram on October 17, before his bail order came for the CBI case. So he had remained lodged in Tihar all this while.

P Chidambaram is accused in the INX Media scam which involves charges of bribery and lobbying in granting foreign investments worth over Rs 300 crores to INX Media. INX Media was later known as NewsX, it was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjee of the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. Chidambaram is accused of misusing his power as the finance minister to grant INX Media an FIPB clearance.

Showing complete disregard for law of the land, ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub illegally smuggles a foreign journalist in Kashmir for New Yorker article

OpIndia Staff
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Showing complete disregard for law of the land, ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub illegally smuggles a foreign journalist in Kashmir for New Yorker article

In lieu of a glorifying article on herself in the New Yorker, controversial journalist Rana Ayyub illegally smuggled a foreign journalist in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to report on the situation in the valley in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370. Journalist Dexter Filkins, in his latest article on the New Yorker, brazenly admits that he was illegally snuck into Kashmir by Ayyub.

Relevant screenshot from The New Yorker where Dexter claims how Rana smuggled him in Kashmir at Srinagar airport

Filkins writes that he was invited by Rana Ayyub to Mumbai, from where they would try to get into Kashmir in blatant disregard to the Indian government’s order banning the foreign correspondents in Kashmir. The scribe mentions that Rana handed him a pair of scarves and told him to buy a kurta, the typical Indian tunic, to ‘disguise’ himself as an Indian. “I am ninety-nine per cent sure you will be caught, but you should come anyway. Just don’t open your mouth,” Filkins quoted Rana in his article.

Filkins further mentions in the article that when they landed at the Srinagar airport, Rana hustled him away without getting him enrolled at the “Registration for Foreigners” desk. Taking advantage of the milling policemen and commotion at the airport, Filkins and Rana made it to the curb without being noticed and vamoosed for Srinagar.

Read: Tulsi Gabbard punctures fake news spread by ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub and others about Howdy Modi event

This act by Rana and Filkins clearly violated the laws mandated by the Indian Government. According to Foreigners Order 1958, foreign nationals, tourists as well as journalists, required prior government permit to enter “restricted areas” or “protected areas”. These areas include Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. According to Ministry of External Affairs, foreign journalists wishing to travel to restricted or protected areas have to simultaneously apply to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the prescribed format and to XP Division on plain paper for permission. The permission is given by MHA in consultation with XP Division.

Filkins, as evident from his confession, clearly did not apply for the permit and relied on Rana’s sleight of hand to get past the registration desk and enter Kashmir illegally.

Read: Rana Ayyub slammed on social media for spreading lies about Kashmir violence

In the wake of the annulment of Article 370, as a precautionary measure to tackle the misinformation spread by journalists with motivated agenda, the Indian government set up desks at the Srinagar airport to facilitate the entry of those foreign journalists who had legitimately secured the government permit to enter Kashmir. However, with Filkins not having the requisite permission, Rana obliged him with her chicanery at the Airport terminal and smuggled him into Kashmir. Showing zero regard for law of the land, Rana Ayyub illegally helped a foreign journalist sneak into Kashmir.

Filkins honoured the symbiotic relationship between the two devious journalists by writing an adulatory article dedicated to Rana Ayyub. Through this article, Filkins sought to legitimise the distortions, lies and illusions peddled by Rana Ayyub while displaying a haughty disregard for the facts. He showered unmitigated praise for Rana Ayyub’s controversial book-‘Gujarat Files’, the book which was trashed by the Supreme Court of India as a book based on conjectures, surmises and suppositions.

Implementation of 7th Pay Commission increased costs for Indian Railways, explains Union Minister Piyush Goyal

OpIndia Staff
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Implementation of 7th Pay Commission increased costs for Indian Railways, explains Union Minister Piyush Goyal

The CAG report on Railway Finances tabled in the Parliament on Monday raised questions on the operations of the Indian Railway. It said that the Indian Railways recorded its worst operating ratio in 10 years in 2017-18 at 98.44%. The operating ratio (OR) is the amount of money the national transporter spends to earn each rupee. Lower the ratio, the healthier the railways’ finances. This means that the Indian Railway spent Rs. 98.44 to earn every hundred rupees.

Addressing the issue of OR, Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal spoke on it during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. He asserted that the increase in the salaries of the employees has affected the operational costs of the Indian Railway. He said, “After the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations, there has been an over expenditure of Rs 22,000 crore for salaries and pension of railway employees. This has contributed to the overall operating loss.”

“When we see the overall picture, implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations and running trains under social obligations lead to operating ratio going down by 15% in just one year,” he stated. Goyal also remarked that following the implementation of the 7th pay commission, employees’ salaries have gone up from 14 percent to 26 percent.

The Union Minister also provided other reasons for the increase in OR. “We try to restrain ourselves from any significant increase in the passenger fares, which also results in a huge cross-subsidy where the passenger fares do not recover over 43% of the cost that is incurred for providing the passenger services,” Goyal said.

Read: The story behind viral picture of Piyush Goyal running towards parliament building

“But the time has also come for the nation to consider whether the social cost should be separately considered as a part for the budget which the govt also gives budgetary support,” Goyal said, suggesting that the OR should only reflect the actual cost of running the Indian Railway efficiently.

Regarding the issue of decline in generation of internal revenues as raised by the CAG report, Ministry sources told us, “Continuing pressure on working expenses without commensurate growth in earnings led to reduced share of internal resource in the Capex. Railways Capex has witnessed a significant jump over the last five years (from Rs. 58,718 cr in 2014-15 to Rs. 1,33,377 cr in 2018-19) with focus on safety, capacity augmentation and removal of bottlenecks. Though presently Capex is financed mainly from GBS and EBR, with the completion of capacity augmentation works and removal on bottlenecks, revenues will increase leading to sufficient internal surplus for redeployment as Capex.”

The CAG report further mentions that the appropriation to Depreciation Reserve Fund (DRF) has decreased significantly in 2017-18. We were told by sources that to clear the back log of over-aged assets, the Government has created a new fund named ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ with committed funding of Rs.1 lakh crore in 5 years. This fund was specifically created to cater to arrears of safety related renewal works and has helped in focused investment in safety works. Since a majority of safety works earlier funded from DRF are currently being funded out of RRSK, it takes care of the major part of the requirement under DRF.

The CAG report also highlighted the fact that certain ‘concessions’ are being misused by passengers. Sources within the Ministry clarified that privilege Pass/PTO facility is not akin to “concessions” granted to passengers but a service entitlement granted to railway servants and extended to the officers and staff of Railway Audit Department under the statutory provisions of Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986, as amended from time to time. An IT project of the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) has also been sanctioned and is under implementation over Indian Railways to ensure that duty and privilege passes are not misused.

The Indian Railways under Piyush Goyal has undertaken various initiatives to increase its revenue. Recently, it was announced that the movie industry could use special trains for promotion of their products. Housefull 4 was the first movie to use the new service. In another ambitious move, the Indian Railways has decided to run as many as 150 private trains by 2023-24. In October, the first private train to run on Indian tracks, the Tejas Express, completed its first run.

Former Mayor and Labour leader Neeraj Patil expresses concern over terror organisation JKLF endorsing Labour Party

OpIndia Staff
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Former Mayor and Labour leader Neeraj Patil expresses concern over terror organisation JKLF endorsing Labour Party

Dr Neeraj Patil, former Mayor of the Lambeth Borough of London, has expressed concern over Pakistan-sponsored terrorist organisation Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) extending support to the Labour Party, reports India Today.

According to the report, the Indian-origin former mayor, Patil has written to party’s Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Party General Secretary Jennie Formby, requesting the party to cut its ties publicly with terror outfit JKLF.

Speaking to India Today, Dr Patil said that he was a strong advocate of peace between India and Pakistan. “Our party is for international peace and justice and I hope they will understand the sensitivity of the situation and sever their ties with JKLF. I am confident that my party will take all the necessary remedial measures and dissociate itself from this terrorist organisation JKLF,” the doctor-turned-politician said.


Last week, the terror organisation JKLF had released a statement extending its support to the UK Labour party ahead of the December 12th elections in the country.

In a letter written to the Labour Party chief Corbyn, the JKLF had stated that it has decided to extend its complete support to the party “on behalf of the Kashmiri diaspora in the UK, and particularly thousands of members of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)”.

The JKLF had also expressed its gratitude towards the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn for adopting a ‘unanimous resolution on the issue of Kashmir, which had pushed for mediation as a process to solve Kashmir issue.’

Read: NDTV’s Nidhi Razdan attends UK ‘Kashmir’ event, gets endorsed by JKLF

Reportedly, Dr Patil is yet to receive any reply from the party. However, he said that he firmly believes that anti-India forces in the Labour Party need to be fought while remaining in the party and not resigning from it.

Patil also pointed out that not only has the JKLF extended support to the Labour Party but, the Luton Labour party is displaying and circulating a letter of endorsement by JKLF to the Labour Party and is appealing to vote for our party.

“Our Labour party does not need the endorsement of a terrorist organisation. It is very disturbing to note that Luton Labour party is displaying this letter of endorsement from JKLF on the official Facebook of the Constituency Labour Party,” added Neeraj Patil.

He also cited how JKLF was behind the killing of an Indian diplomat in London and said that JKLF was a designated terrorist organisation in India. On February 6, 1984, JKLF had kidnapped an Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in Birmingham and demanded the release of its founder member Maqbool Bhat from an Indian prison. When the Indian government declined, the diplomat was brutally murdered in Birmingham by members of JKLF at Alum Rock.

JKLF is one of notorious Pakistan sponsored terror outfits and also has been one of the chief initiators of radicalisation and terrorism in the Kashmir valley. Its chief Yasin Malik is currently facing charges for killing 4 Indian Air Force personnel in cold blood. The JKLF in the Kashmir Valley was banned by the Indian government under the revamped anti-terror law in March 2019.

Read: When they shout “Afzal hum sharminda hain, tere qatil zinda hain”, Neelkanth Ganjoo’s fate is what they mean

Apart from this, after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, JKLF activists, prominent British-Pakistanis associated with the Labour Party, and even several Labour party MPs in the UK were part of anti-India protests that had seen attacks on the Indian High Commission building in the UK in September 2019.

JKLF, with support from several Pakistani-British groups, has been mobilising people to hold rallies to garner support against India over the Kashmir issue.

The Labour Party’s stand on Kashmir has been extremely controversial which has upset many pro-Indian voices in the country. Led by controversial leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party has often taken an anti-India stance and has also extended its support to various propaganda pushed by pro-Pakistan elements in the United Kingdom.

Recently, the Labour party had asked Corbyn to meet the high commissioners of both India and Pakistan to ensure there is “mediation” and restoration of peace and normality to prevent a potential nuclear conflict. On September 25, the Labour Party had passed a resolution that supported “international intervention in Kashmir and a call for UN led-referendum.”

Read: After Congress delegation meets Jeremy Corbyn, JKLF announces support for his Labour Party in upcoming UK elections

After massive outrage by the Indian diaspora and over fears of losing British-Indian votes, Jeremy Corbyn’s labour party had later backtracked on its resolution. In a complete turnaround, the Labour Party’s chairperson, Ian Lavery, has called Kashmir a ‘bilateral issue’ and said that it should be resolved by India and Pakistan. It states that the Labour party is opposed to external interference in the political affairs of any other country.

The Labour party’s stand on Kashmir is contrary to India’s position on Kashmir. India has categorically told the international community that its move on Kashmir was an internal matter. India has always maintained that any dialogues with Pakistan will be bilateral only.

In a bizarre development, representatives from the Congress party in India had met UK Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn “to discuss the human rights issues in Kashmir”. After facing criticism and backlash for meeting Corbyn despite his vocal anti-India stand, Congress had issued a clarification that their meeting was to ‘condemn’ the anti-India resolution passed by Corbyn’s party.

Mumbai: 60-year-old shopkeeper Abdul Hamid Ansari rapes a 6-year-old girl for days, arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai: 60-year-old shopkeeper Abdul Hamid Ansari rapes a 6-year-old girl for days, arrested

A 60-year-old grocery-store owner named Abdul Hamid Bahadur Ansari has been arrested by the police on the charges of repeatedly raping a 6-year-old girl.

The man was arrested from Kurla after an FIR was lodged against him at the Vinoba Bhave police station. According to the complaint lodged by the victim’s parents, Ansari, who owns a grocery shop in Kurla, kept on molesting the girl since December 1 whenever she used to visit the shop to buy eggs. Ansari reportedly lured the girl inside the shop by offering her chocolates each time she visited the shop.

The repeated assault on the girl came to light on December 3 when the girl complained of stomach pain and apprised her parents of the incident. Her parents then approached the nearest police station and filed an FIR against the accused grocery shop owner. The medical examination of the girl confirmed that she was sexual assaulted. However the police arrested the accused on the same day.

The police have registered a case under Section 376(rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4(penetrative sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Further probe in the matter is underway.

The crime took place amidst the country-wide outrage against the brutal killing and gang rape of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad. Doctor Preeti Reddy(name changed) was was gang-raped and murdered by 4 assailants before setting her body on fire.

629 Pakistani girls ‘sold’ as brides to Chinese men: AP news report

OpIndia Staff
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629 Pakistani girls ‘sold’ as brides to Chinese men: AP news report

At least 629 Pakistani girls and women have been sold as brides to Chinese men and taken to China, says an exclusive report by AP news. The Associated Press obtained a list of trafficked Pakistani women prepared by the Pakistani investigators doggedly pursuing the ongoing trafficking of poor and vulnerable people.

Taking the help of Pakistan’s integrated border management system, which digitally records travel documents at the country’s various airports, Pakistani investigators had come up with a list of 629 women with their details such as brides’ national identity numbers, their Chinese husbands’ names and the dates of their marriage. As per investigation officials, almost all these women were ‘sold’ to Chinese men by their families.

An investigation official, who has years of experience in studying human trafficking in Pakistan, said that the lucrative trade of selling girls as brides to Chinese men continues unabated. He also claimed that the Chinese and Pakistani brokers earn anywhere between 4 million and 10 million rupees ($25,000 and $65,000) from the groom, but the girl’s family is fobbed off with about 200,000 rupees($1500) only. In addition to this, the official revealed that many women who spoke to investigators talked about being subjected to forced fertility treatments, physical and sexual abuse and, in some cases, forced prostitution.

There is a rising demand for foreign brides in China owing to the country’s skewed population ratio. Following the end of one-child-policy in 2015, China was stuck with roughly 34 million more men than women. In addition to this, the overwhelming majority’s preference for boys has also led to abortions of girl children and female infanticide. There are several reports now stating that this bride trafficking business is rapidly spreading to other countries with brides from Myanmar, North Korea, Nepal and Vietnam being trafficked to China.

The report claims that it is the latest number of girls/women yet caught up in the trafficking cases since 2018. However, the investigations into trafficking have been suppressed by the Pakistani government, lest they adversely impact its ties with Beijing. China has been an all-weather ally of Pakistan and perhaps the only country with a monetary heft to be siding with Pakistan. The Pakistani regime doesn’t want to irk its Chinese mandarins and therefore it has hustled the Pakistani investigators into putting brakes on the trafficking investigations.

Read: Pakistani Christian brides forced into prostitution in China, trafficking rackets targeting poor Christians in Pakistan

Recently, in October, a Faisalabad court absolved 31 Chinese involved in trafficking. According to a court official, several of the women who had earlier been interviewed by the police refused to testify in the court of law possibly because they were either bribed or threatened.

Salim Iqbal, a Christian activist, who helped many parents in getting their daughters back from China and prevented others from being sent there claimed that the government has been trying very hard to put a lid on the investigations by applying immense pressure on officials from the Federal Investigation Agency pursuing trafficking networks.

When asked about the ubiquitous trafficking cases tumbling out in the country, Pakistan’s interior and foreign ministries refused to comment on the issue.

According to some officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity for the fear of retribution, the investigations have been slowed down, resulting in the growing frustrations of the investigators. The media houses have been coerced into not reporting on the trafficking cases, he claimed.

The Chinese Ministry stated that it was not aware of any such list prepared by the Pakistani investigators. The Ministry reportedly sent out a fax to AP saying that both China and Pakistan support the formation of happy families between their people on a voluntary basis in keeping with laws and regulations. It also said that they are staunchly and resolutely fighting against any person engaging in illegal cross-border marriage behaviour.

The AP report also states that the Pakistani investigation agency probing the pervasive trafficking in the country shared a report titled ‘Fake Chinese marriages cases’ with Prime Minister Imran Khan. The report entailed detail account of cases registered against 52 Chinese nationals and 20 of their Pakistani associates in two cities in eastern Punjab province, Faisalabad, and Lahore, as well as in the capital Islamabad. The Faisalabad later acquitted the 31 Chinese nationals involved in the case.

Today, Pakistan has been a foremost beneficiary of Chinese largesse. Pakistan also uses its strong-ties with China to negate the obvious superiority of India. China has been generously investing millions of dollars in the dwindling Pakistani economy through its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. It has promised Pakistan of sprawling infrastructural development and pledged $75 billion in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. This generosity of China has made Pakistan turn a blind eye to the horrifying atrocities committed on the Uighur Muslim population of Xinjiang province as well as to the plight of women sold off to the Chinese men.

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