A fake notice asking residents of IIT Roorkee hostel to refrain from masturbating in the shower has been doing the rounds on Internet. The phony circular carrying the letterhead of ‘Rajendra Bhavan’- the hostel of IIT Roorkee mentions that masturbation in the showers is a violation of Indian Institute of Roorkee Hostel code of conduct.
The notice further mentions that the excessive amount of semen in the drain costs thousands of rupees in maintenance and must be reflected in the hostel prices increase for next year. It instructs students to ‘masturbate in their own room’. It also carries the signature of Ashutosh Chamoli who is the chief warden of the hostel.
When contacted, the Rajendra Bhawan Hostel warden office said that the notice is a hoax and there is no such circular issued by the hostel warden.
It is pertinent to note that such hoax have been doing the rounds on Internet since time immemorial. In 2014, a similar notice was issued in a college in Miami. Similarly, in 2016, a similar fake anti-Masturbation notice with Manipal University logo had gone viral on Internet. It has become a common practice to lift the content of the previous such hoax notices and deck it up with one’s college/hostel logos to add credibility to the fake notice.
Ever since the 2014 elections, India has experienced a sea change not just attitudinally, but also in terms of the policy. One of the policy decisions that aims to right a historic wrong is the Citizenship Amendment Bill. In 2016, the Modi government tabled the Citizenship Amendment Bill that aimed to cleanse the country of illegal immigration. The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide citizenship to illegal migrants, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian extraction.
The acceptability of the propositions furthered by the Citizenship Amendment Bill was split in the middle. As is India’s wont, the ideological divide was as stark as a bright sunny summer morning. The Left opposed the provisions tooth and nail. The ‘idea of India’ that has long been touted as the existential foundation of India had been shaken, as per them, with one swift motion.
The Left has long espoused the principle that India is an all-giving, all-embracing entity, especially when it comes to Muslims. Whether this special corner of the heart that bleeds only for Muslims is a result of political compulsions, the Gandhian dystopia or the engrained false persecution complex is unclear. Perhaps it is a culmination of all of the above.
Either way, while the Left detested the idea of law finally being honest enough to give citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring Islamic nations, the non-Left rejoiced the decision as one that rights a historic wrong.
The foundation for the citizenship amendment bill is rather simple – India is a natural home for persecuted Hindus, Buddhists and Jains from neighbouring Islamic countries. Essentially, all people belonging to non-Islamic religions should see India as their natural home.
The objection that the Left raised was rather a simple (and expected) one as well – why are Muslims being left out when all others are being given the chance to become Indian citizens.
An example of the outrage that is expressed by the Left is journalist Rajdeep Sardesai voicing his concerns during an interview with website Lallantop. An incensed Rajdeep spoke at length about how we are moving towards Jinnah’s India and how the Citizenship Amendment Bill should have a human element in it. He also spoke about how the Hindu refugees in India are political refugees and not those persecuted on religious lines.
Before we go into the details of Rajdeep’s assertion that Hindu refugees are merely economic refugees and not ones borne out of religious persecution, it becomes essential to examine why the Citizenship Amendment Bill is bang on target and why India has to be considered the naturalised home for persecuted Hindus.
Dominant religions of the world
According to theregistere.co.uk, nearly 75% of the world’s population practices one of the five most influential religions of the world: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. To quote from the report, “Christianity and Islam are the two religions most widely spread across the world. These two religions together cover the religious affiliation of more than half of the world’s population”.
if one sees the world map at a glance, the dominant religions, country-wise, draws a rather obvious picture.
Country-wise majority religions. Source: pbslearningmedia.org (OpIndia doesn’t endorse the map of India depicted here, it has been used only to show the religious demographics of the world)
The interactive map by PBS visually displays the countries of the world and the dominant religions in those countries. While the extent of the spread of Christianity is evident by the ocean of purple, Hinduism and Islam deserve a closer look.
The interactive map can be used to see the spread of Hinduism and Islam.
Map showing Hindu population % (OpIndia doesn’t endorse the map of India depicted here, it has been used only to show the religious demographics of the world)
From the map, one can see that there are only 2 countries in the world that have a Hindu majority population today. India and Nepal. There is not one country where the Hindu population is between 40% to 70% and most other countries where there is a remote presence of Hinduism ranges between 1% and 10% of the population.
In India’s neighbouring countries, Pakistan, according to this map, has a Hindu population of 1.9%, which some may believe is an exaggerated number in itself, Bangladesh has a Hindu population of 9.1%, Myanmar of 1.7% and Bhutan of 22.6%.
Map showing Muslim population % (OpIndia doesn’t endorse the map of India depicted here, it has been used only to show the religious demographics of the world)
Above is the map that visually displays the number of Islamic countries or countries with a Muslim majority in the world.
According to the Pew Research Center in 2015, there were 50 Muslim-majority countries. Worldatlas.com (April 2017) identified 45 ‘Islamic countries’.
Among the Islamic states are Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Oman, and Yemen. Other states where Islam is the politically defined state religion are Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Somalia and Brunei. Other Muslim-majority countries include: Niger, Indonesia, Sudan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Northern Cyprus, Nigeria, Senegal, Syria, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
According to a 2010 study and released in January 2011, Jones (2005) defines a “large minority” as being between 30% and 50%, which described nine countries in 2000, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Islam has 1.5 billion adherents, making up c. 22% of the world population.
The argument about India being a naturalised home for Hindus stems first and foremost from the demography of the world. As is evident, India and Nepal are the only two countries in the world where Hindus are the majority population. With Nepal being a rather small country, the onus to be the naturalised home for Hindus falls on India, and rightly so.
With 50 Muslims Majority countries and the entire world painted purple as is evident from the world demography map shared, there is no other country in the world that can be called their own other than India.
India a ‘secular’ state?
The obvious counter to this argument by the Left is that India is a ‘secular’ nation with no state religion. The concept of ‘secular’ was inserted in the Constitution only at a much later date by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was after the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1976 that the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular country. It is thus fair to assume that the makers of the Constitution did not envisage India as a secular state, to begin with.
Moreover, even if accept that India is a ‘secular’ state by virtue of the 42nd amendment to the Indian Constitution, that would only mean that India does not have a State religion. As Pakistan is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, India, is not a Hindu state where the state religion is Hinduism. For the purpose of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, that still does not take away from the fact that by virtue of demography, India will remain a naturalised home for persecuted Hindus.
It is often the wont of the Left that they tend to recognise the existence of India from the moment of its political freedom. They recognise the Indian State as having come into existence only after the political boundaries were drawn in 1947. However, Bharat exists for as long as civilisation has existed. The consciousness of Bharat does not exist from the moment political boundaries were drawn. The sacred land as described by our scriptures is India. This land is the mother of our entire existence. All our heroes, our greatest stories, our greatest accomplishments, our entire history basically, happened in this piece of land. India’s consciousness will, forever, remain Hindu.
While accepting the truth might be hard with the politically correct narrative of ‘secularism’ having diseased our discourse, the truth is that Islam as a religion was introduced in India through violent conquests and barbaric Islamic rulers who were alien to the nation. Does this mean Indian Muslims are not just as Indian as the Hindus? Certainly not. However, the very cultural and existential foundation of India has been and shall forever remain Hindu even if the Indian State has no State religion constitutionally speaking.
The Nehruvian Blunder
After the partition, which was squarely based on religious lines owing to the demands of Jinnah, widespread riots had broken out in India and the newly formed Pakistan. The non-Muslim citizenry who were in Pakistan started making their way to India and the Muslim citizens in India started making their way to Pakistan. The migration is well documented and proven.
In 1950, an accord was signed between Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan where each side pledged to secure its minorities and give equality of citizenship regardless of religion. Both sides promised to help recover looted property, assist in the recovery of abducted women and not recognise conversions made during communal disturbances.
Essentially, Jawaharlal Nehru scuttled the de facto population exchange with the 1950 Accord. After the Accord was signed, Muslims, who had left West Bengal, returned and Nehru ensured that their property was restored to them. However, the travesties heaped on the Hindus continue to this day, unabated in Islamic Nations like Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Quoting a report from DailyPioneer:
Syama Prasad Mukherjee resigned from the Cabinet on April 1, 1950, in protest against Nehru’s failure to take Pakistan to task for the continued suffering of his people. At a Cabinet meeting the same day, Mukherjee said, “What do you care for us Bengali Hindus? What do you care for the criminal assaults on our women?” (Soundings in Modern South Asian History, ed. DA Low) Enraged at the renewed exodus of Hindus, which he viewed as deliberate, he suggested an exchange of populations, which Nehru rejected vehemently.
Nehru, in his communication to the then West Bengal Chief Minister, had further said (as quoted in the DailyPioneer report):
“I have been quite certain right from the beginning that everything should be done to prevent Hindus in east Bengal from migrating to West Bengal…I think the Hindu leaders of East Bengal, who have come away, have done no service to their people. If as you suggest things have gone too far already, then naturally, we shall all do what we can but I shudder at the prospect and the magnitude of the human misery that will come in its train. To the last, I shall try to check migration even if there is war”.
Jawaharlal Nehru was thus, quite vehemently against population exchange and was, in fact, willing to fight a war to ensure that persecuted Hindus are not allowed to migrate back to India.
While since the time of Nehru, Hindus were disallowed from migrating to their natural homeland, India, despite persecution, the influx of Muslim illegals continued un-checked. If today, the Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to right that historic wrong that, in the name of ‘secularism’, sacrificed Hindus at the altar of Islamic Jihad, the Left must introspect why it is vehemently against the move in the very name of secularism.
One has to ask at this point, where else are Hindus supposed to go if not India.
The double standards of the Left
While the Left has vehemently opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the name of secularism, in the very name of secularism have rallied behind Rohingya illegals and demanded that the Indian State accept the influx from Myanmar. The Left has demanded that on humanitarian ground, India should accept Rohingya Muslims as refugees in India. India has, in its part, repeatedly asserted that firstly, India has no legal obligation to accept international refugees and secondly, Rohingya Muslims pose a security threat to India.
It is thus intriguing that while the Left does not recognise India as the natural home for Hindus, the only country in the world apart from tiny Nepal that has a Hindu majority, it is insistent that India strain itself by accepting Muslim refugees who pose a security threat. Interestingly, even Saudi Arabia, the country which is considered to be the birthing place of Islam, has also deported hundreds of Rohingya Muslims from the country. Al Jazeera had reported that hundreds, who had outlived their visa had been put in detention camps and deported. The ones who resisted were handcuffed and deported. In fact, some who had lived there for their entire lives were also deported from the country when the police found that they did not have adequate documents.
This begs two important questions:
1. If the Left is so concerned about the dignity of Human Life as it claims to be, then how is it that they have a problem with India accepting Hindus, Sikhs and even Christians persecuted in neighbouring Islamic countries?
2. How is it that the Left heart beats only for Muslim refugees whom even the Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia are not accepting?
The ‘secular country’ bunkum that is furthered by the Left is used to browbeat India into accepting Muslim refugees when over 50 Islamic countries are not coming forth to help them. The narrative is also used to ensure that India forgets its Hindu consciousness thereby following Nehru’s path to abandon the Hindus who are regularly persecuted in Islamic Nations. As discussed earlier, the argument of ‘secular country’ can only be limited to the political Indian State not having a State religion, however, the argument can in no way be used to erase the Hindu foundation and consciousness of the country.
The fact of the matter is that Islamic Nations are violent towards ‘Kaafir religions’. It a fact that can no longer be glossed over with mere rhetoric. With India, being a large ‘Kaafir nation’ surrounded by Islamic nations that seek to annihilate it, one has to ask oneself honestly how well the ethos of ‘secularism’ will serve the interest of the nation.
For the purpose of this argument, I will club Jawaharlal Nehru with the Left as well. While he was vehemently against the Hindu population of East Bengal coming into West Bengal, he firstly did nothing to arrest the influx of Muslim illegals. Secondly, with the 1950 Accord, he scuttled the full exchange of population that could have taken care of the woes of India that it is diseased with today. This is not to say that Muslim citizens of India should ‘go to Pakistan’, an argument often used by the Left to show the non-Left as anti-Muslims. However, the fact does remain that a full transfer of population between India and Pakistan was the only logical step when a nation was carved out of India on the basis of Islam.
The Muslims who stayed back often like to cite that as an excuse to whitewash the crimes of the Muslim community in India. However, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is a testament to the fact that while several Muslims stayed back, the full population exchange was scuttled by Nehru and several of them are certainly loyal to India, the Ummah does reign supreme with a large section of Muslims.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which claims to be born after Indian Independence in 1948, is actually an off-shoot of Pakistan founder and Islamist Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s All India Muslim League (AIML). The All India Muslim League was succeeded by the Muslim League in Pakistan and the Indian Union Muslim League in India. In its website, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) claims that its motto is secularism and communal harmony but has often openly indulged in carrying out objectives which are contrary to its own motto.
The Muslim League had strongly advocated for the establishment of a separate Muslim-majority nation-state, Pakistan, which successfully led to the partition of British India in 1947 by the British Empire. The birth of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in December 1947 was part of that intention to keep the spirit of the All India Muslim League alive.
Muhammad Ismail, the first President of the Indian Union Muslim League after it split up from the Jinnah’s Muslim League, had actively participated in the partition movement of the country and was an ardent supporter of the creation of Pakistan. Interestingly, Muhammad Ismail, who claimed IUML was a secular outfit had, in fact, supported the retaining of Sharia law for Indian Muslims in the Constituent Assembly after India’s independence.
Thus, while a large section of the Muslim population in India still does advocate for Sharia and vehemently supports Pakistan owing to its Islamic foundation, Hindus have no home to truly call their own because of tenets of ‘secularism’. While a portion of the Muslim population still bats for Pakistan, Hindus have one land that they can call their own, that have them as the majority.
The fact remains that India’s foundation is Hindu and when that is acknowledged, it would in no way mean that Minorities don’t get their rights since a Hindu Nation would not function as an Islamic nation that has the concept of Kaafirs. In such a scenario, one has to concede that while the change from ‘secularism’ to ‘Hindu nation’ would take years if not decades, at least for the purpose of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, India is and always will be the natural home for all Hindus. Just like Israel is considered the natural home for Jews or any one of the 50 Islamic Nations should be considered the natural home for Muslims.
Conclusion
The arguments against India being the natural home for Hindus are mostly based on facetious arguments. That India is a ‘secular’ country, that it goes against the ethos of humanity and often, scriptures quoted out of context to assert that Hinduism itself talks about embracing everyone. Other arguments against the Citizenship Amendment Bill talk about why Ahmadiyyas, who are also persecuted in Islamic countries are not a part of the section of people who deserve asylum. The last argument has an explanation, albeit, a rather harsh one. Muslim Nations often persecute certain sections of the Muslim community because they claim that certain sects are not following the ‘true’ version of Islam. Hindus, cannot be held responsible for the internal troubles of the Muslim world. That is something that the Muslim world needs to reform to tackle all on its own.
India is the only land that has a Hindu majority. Hinduism, Sanatan, is engraved in its consciousness since before the political boundaries were drawn. Our stories, our heroes our legacy is attached to this land and no other. Hindus deserve a land they can come back to when the world seems too harsh, when their rights are denied and when they are persecuted because of their very identity.
UP police have arrested nine persons for attacking and damaging a car trapped in a Muharram procession between Arya Kanya crossing and Bargad Gali, under the Mutthiganj police station area, Prayagraj, on Sunday night.
As per a report in Times of India, Ravi Kumar, Saurabh Gupta and Ramesh Verma were travelling in a car owned by Ravi from Ram Bhavan crossing to Transportnagar on Sunday night. When they were passing near Arya Kanya Gali, their car was stuck in a Muharram procession near Bargad Gali. As the trio tried to move their car through the procession, an argument was initiated with a group nearby.
Following the argument, a mob allegedly started attacking the car with iron rods and sticks. The locals reportedly alerted the police who intervened to get the situation under control and allowed the car to drive through the narrow lane.
The police later scanned CCTV footage in the area and arrested nine people, namely, Mohammad Saleem, Fahad Usman, Faizan, Mohd Irfan, Mohd Kaleem, Asad, Gulab Babu, Mohd Vakeel and Mohd Anas.
DIG, Prayagraj Range, KP Singh has stated that a case has been registered against the accused under sections 147,148, and 427 on the complaint by the car owner.
It is notable here that no person was reported injured in the incident. The TOI report states that there were some social media posts claiming communal angle into the crime but the police have acted against the posts and had also reportedly detained a person named Aman for trying to fuel communal tension over the incident.
Jharkhand Police has dropped the murder charges in the chargesheet filed against the 11 accused in Tabrez Ansari’s death case. The chargesheet cites the final post-mortem report which states that Ansari’s death was caused by a ‘cardiac arrest’. The chargesheet also states that Ansari’s death was not a ‘pre-meditated murder’.
Last month, the police had filed a chargesheet under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). Earlier, on basis of complaint filed by Ansari’s wife, the police had earlier invoked IPC section 302 (murder).
Indian Express, while quoting SP Karthik S, reports that the chargesheet was filed under section 304 because of two reasons. Firstly, Ansari did not die on spot. “The villagers did not have any intent to kill Ansari,” he adds. Secondly, the medical report did not substantiate the murder charge. He further added that the autopsy stated that Ansari died due to cardiac arrest and that a haemorrhage in the head was not fatal. Second medical opinion had deduced that the cause of death was a combination of cardiac arrest and head injury.
In June this year, the investigation team set up by the district administration to inquire into the matter of Tabrez Ansari’s death has concluded that he could have died as a consequence of stress-induced cardiac arrest. Tabrez Ansari was allegedly brutally beaten by a mob in Jharkhand on the 18th June on the accusation of theft. He had died on 22nd in police custody.
According to the Police, people had gotten into a fight with Ansari on 18th June who was accused of trying to steal a bike. After police got information about the same, they reached the spot and rescued him. Police had also recovered the stolen bike and some other items. The Police gave him first aid, subjected him to a medical examination and then submitted the report to the Court, only then he was sent to jail. Three days later, his health deteriorated and he died. Therefore, the Police says it is wrong to claim he died due to mob lynching.
Comments of both the doctor and police suggest that the mob attack may not be the result of Ansari’s death, but that will be confirmed after the detail forensic reports become available.
Congress is a joke that writes itself. They have even different punchlines when elections are round the corner.
With Maharashtra state assembly elections on the horizon, the Maharasthra Youth Congress shared an image criticising the Narendra Modi government for alleged unemployment in the country.
However, in doing so, they have tweeted an image of contestants lining up for participating in a reality show Indian Idol in 2012.
Congress party sharing the image of 2012 Indian Idol auditions to target the BJP
The image pertains to an audition held at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, Lucknow in 2012 for a Sony TV reality show – “Indian Idol 6”, where a lot of aspiring young men and women had arrived to exhibit their talent and be part of the reality show. A little too harsh to call enthusiastic aspirant singers ‘unemployed’.
Awkwardly, the Maharasthra Youth Congress has scored a self-goal by sharing an image that was shot in the year 2012, the year when UPA was in power at the centre. In Maharashtra, too, it was Congress government with Prithviraj Chavan as Chief Minister.
The Congress party which is fighting an existential battle against the mighty BJP seems to be trying too hard to influence voters. However, in an attempt to mount a fight against BJP, Youth Congress has now resorted to posting fake images to target them ahead of the state assembly elections.
Earlier, the Haryana Youth Congress had resorted to cheap propaganda after they were caught sharing a series of misleading images with half-truths to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Manohar Lal Khattar led Haryana government.
The Congress party has decided to snap ties with their ideological allies in Kerala – Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and its sister organisation PFI, after one of the members of the Islamist organisation PFI was arrested in connection with the murder of Congress worker in Kerala’s Thrissur district, reports Times Now.
According to the reports, the Kerala police have arrested a leader of Popular Front of India (PFI) which is an ally of Congress in the state for the brutal murder of Congress worker P Naushad. In the wake of the arrest, the Congress has announced that it will cut ties with both Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and its sister organisation PFI.
Reportedly, Kerala Congress has come heavily down on the notorious Islamist organisation PFI for its involvement in the murder of 40-year-old Congress worker Naushad. Speaking to media, one of the Congress workers said that the Congress party has never believed in communal politics and it has nothing to do with the PFI or SDPI anymore because they are communal organisations.
“We have always been against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI). We believe that they are two sides of the same coin. We don’t believe in communal politics and don’t want any such parties in the alliance,” said the Congress worker.
Earlier on July 31 this year, 40-year-old Noushad was brutally murdered by stabbing him by bike-borne assailants in Chavakkad in Thrissur district. The Kerala Police then nabbed five other accused in the case.
The prime accused Arakkal Jamaludheen had run away after the incident. However, Jamaludheen, who is the Chavakkad area president of the PFI, was arrested from Tamil Nadu by the investigation officials.
Jamaludheen has been charged under sections 302 (Punishment for murder), 143 (Unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) of the Indian Penal Code and section 27 (Punishment for possessing arms) of the Arms Act.
The Islamist outfit PFI was launched in Kerala in 2006 after merging three fringe Muslim outfits – the National Development Front of Kerala, Karnataka Forum for Dignity and Manitha Neethi Pasari of the Tamil Nadu – to protect “interest of the backward and oppressed people.”
In Kerala, most of its leaders were members of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India. Reportedly, the PFI was allegedly involved in at least 24 political murders in Kerala.
The Islamist outfits Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and its sister organisation PFI Popular Front of India have been accused of extreme communalism and has a long history of resorting to violence against their political opponents. The PFI is also accused by the National Investigation Agency for being involved in love-jihad cases in Kerala. Recently, the SDPI members were also arrested in connection with the brutal murder of ABVP worker in Kannur.
Recently, PFI members were accused of killing 42-year-old activist Ramalingam. The activist was brutally murdered for opposing religious conversion. The accused PFI members have been preaching conversion to Islam.
In December, two people, former members of the extremist Islamist organisation, Popular Front of India (PFI) had joined the IS. The police said that K Sajjad and Anwar Poothappara had links with the radical Islamic outfit in the past.
While PFI an SDPI have had a long history of communalism and political murders, Congress continued to remain an ally till one of their own party workers was allegedly killed by one of the leaders of the outfits.
‘Activist and intellectual’ John Dayal has stated in a debate on Times now that he will consider Yasin Mallik a murderer only after the courts see him as a murderer. He made this statement in the presence of Nirmala Khanna, the wife of late Sqn Ldr Ravi Khanna, who was killed by Mallik on January 25, 1990.
During the discussion, Dayal made a grandstanding that ‘blood will out’ and those who have committed murders will be punished someday. He also slammed the BJP for being in a coalition government with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir for 4 years. When anchor Padmaja Joshi asked Dayal whether he will call Yasin Malik a murderer now, Dayal stated that he will call him a murderer only when the courts find him guilty of murder.
Sqn Ldr Ravi Khanna was one of the four Indian Air Force personnel killed by Yasin Mallik and other JKLF terrorists when they had attacked IAF personnel who were waiting at Sant Nagar Crossing to board their buses on January 25, 1990. 40 personnel, including a female official, were injured at that shootout led by Malik himself.
Later, Malik had admitted in a BBC interview that he was involved in the murders of IAF men. The case, pending for 30 years, has been reopened. Malik, lodged in Tihar, will be produced before a special TADA court in Jammu tomorrow on 11 September.
Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna, only 38-year-old at that time was killed by Yasin Malik. Malik had allegedly fired 26 bullets on Khanna.
A former MLA belonging to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is attempting to seek asylum in India over atrocities on minorities in Pakistan, as per reports.
Baldev Kumar, former MLA of Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI): Indian Govt should announce a package so that the Hindu and Sikh families staying in Pakistan can come here. I want Modi Sahab do something for them. They are tortured there. https://t.co/h93hsq7zEO
Not only minorities but even Muslims aren’t safe in Pakistan, he said. “We are surviving in Pakistan with a lot of difficulties. I want Modi Sahab do something for them. They are tortured there,” he said on religious persecution of minorities in Pakistan.
According to the reports, 43-year-old Baldev Kumar is a former MLA from Pakistan’s Barikot reserved seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Kumar said he wants political asylum in India as minorities are being persecuted in Pakistan.
Baldev Kumar is presently in India on a three-month visa. A few months before he arrived in India on August 12, Baldev Kumar had sent his wife and their two children to their relatives in Ludhiana’s Khanna. Kumar said that he was forced to move his family out of Pakistan as religious minorities were being persecuted in the country.
Baldev Kumar is currently residing with his family in a two-room rented house in Model Town on Samrala Marg, Khanna in Ludhiana. Baldev Kumar married Bhavna, a resident of Khanna in Punjab, in 2007. He was a councillor in Pakistan at the time of marriage and later became an MLA.
Kumar’s wife Bhavna is still an Indian citizen. However, their two children, 11-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, are Pakistani nationals. Kumar said he fears going back to Pakistan. He said he will formally seek political asylum in India as he fears for his family’s safety.
Targetting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Baldev Kumar said Imran Khan has failed to protect his people especially the minorities. He also alleged that the Pakistani Army and ISI dictate Imran Khan.
Kumar said a large scale of religious persecutions by state and non-state agencies continues to take place in Pakistan. He added that people had high hopes when Imran Khan came to power in 2018, but he failed. Baldev Kumar added that Imran Khan had promised that he would build a new Pakistan but the promise remains unmet.
“You made certain promises to minorities and gained their votes. Now the time has come to fulfil those promises. Don’t let atrocities happen against Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan,” said Kumar while targetting Imran Khan.
He said that he realised Pakistan was no longer safe for minorities after the daughter of a Sikh priest was forcibly converted in Nankana Sahib province. “If religious leaders are not being respected, then who would listen to me?” Kumar asked.
Baldev Kumar said that he hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would grant him asylum in India.
Kumar said that the atrocities against minorities in Pakistan have increased after India abrogated Article 370 which increased tensions between India and Pakistan over the changed status of Kashmir.
Reportedly, Baldev Kumar is accused in a 2016 murder case of Soran Singh, another person belonging to the minority community in Pakistan, who was then the MLA of his constituency Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Singh, a Sikh activist and the assistant on minorities to the then provincial chief minister, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in 2016.
Soon after Singh’s murder, Baldev Kumar was declared as the MPA-elect Pakistan’s Election Commission. As per Pakistan law, if the MLA dies while being in an office, then the candidate who is second in the same party is made the MLA.
Within 36 hours after he got elected, Baldev Kumar was arrested for Singh’s murder. The police had claimed that Kumar murdered Singh to take his position.
However, Kumar denied allegations and said he was falsely accused in the case. He was kept in a prison for two years while his seat lay vacant till 2018. In 2018, Baldev Kumar was acquitted in the case due to lack of evidence. Surprisingly, he was acquitted in the case two days before the term of the assembly ended.
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 at most brutality.
There have been many such cases reported in the recent past. On March 20, two underage Hindu girls were abducted from their home in Pakistan’s Sindh on the eve of Holi. The girls were later forcefully converted and married off to older Muslim men.
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.
Recently, a report released by the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) threw light on the plight of religious minorities in Pakistan. The report claims that around 1000 girls from religious minorities are forcibly converted to Islam every year. The numbers might be higher as many cases are not even reported.
The Culture Ministry has submitted a 5-year plan to the fifteenth finance commission. As per an exclusive report in the Economic Times, the plan draws a roadmap for a 5-year plan to bring significant developments in revamping of archaeologically important sites, building museums and education centres to train, maintain and propagate Indic culture through art forms and courses.
About a quarter of the Rs 27,000 crores budget has been kept aside for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which will increase ASI’s annual budget by 7 times.
The report also mentions that the culture ministry wants to set up 100 museums on the lines of the Acropolis museum in Greece, a National Centre for Performing Arts, and an Indian Institute of Culture to provide training in archaeology, museology, conservation and related fields. A national-level festival called Jashn-e-Kashmir to celebrate the folk art of Jammu and Kashmir is also included in the proposal.
Archeological Survey of India
The ASI’s current resources of about Rs 974.56 crores are set to be increased to Rs 6,769 crores. Massive infrastructure changes and developmental projects have been planned to reduce waiting time for visitors to 42 monuments. 600 sites under the protection of ASI are to be provided with world-class amenities. 50 monuments have been identified for illumination projects and special interpretation centres are to be established. A special Experimental Archeology Museum has bene planned at Vadnagar, PM Modi’s hometown at an ASI site.
Authentic Reconstruction of sites
The ministry is reportedly exploring technological options for ‘authentic reconstruction’ of archaeological sites including Indus Valley sites such as Dholavira and Rakhigarhi. 25 organisations, including IITs, have reportedly submitted proposals for providing technological help, experts on Indus Valley Civilisation are being recruited too. IIT Bombay will reportedly become the nodal agency for the institutions participating in technological work.
Indian Institute of Culture
The ministry plans to merge education and training institutes to establish the IIC. The Institute of Archaeology, National Museum Institute and National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC) are to be the key centres in the plan. The IIC is to offer graduate, postgraduate and research degrees, apart from diplomas and short-term courses in areas related to Archeology, museology and cultural economy.
Other initiatives
A cultural mapping programme, conceptualised by former culture minister Mahesh Sharma, that aims to bring artists and buyers together in a single authentic platform in the form of an aggregator is also being revised and funded. The project of creation of a dossier of artists across India that was criticised by a parliamentary panel led by TMC’s Derek O’Brien as ‘aimless’ is being revised with additional funding.
Other plans of the ministry’s 5-year project include revamping and infrastructure development of various existing museums and libraries across the country.
Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) reportedly held ‘high level’ meeting with terror groups it nurtures on its soil to plan ‘nefarious activities’ against India. Pakistan is hoping to gain international attention by carrying out such attacks.
As per a report by DNA, a high level meeting was held in capital Islamabad between the ISI and terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen and others to plan various attacks in Jammu & Kashmir. India Today reports that in the meeting, which was held in a ‘safe house’ of Pakistani Army, the terror groups chalked out details of various terror attacks that could be carried out in India.
As per the report, the closed-door meeting also included Khalistani Zindabad Force (KZF) and other pro-Khalistan outfits were also part of the meeting in Islamabad. The pro-Khalistan outfits are reportedly planning joint protests in the UK and US with Kashmiri separatists. The ISI also met Ranjit Singh Neeta of Khalistan Zindabad Force and asked him to activate his channels in Jammu & Kashmir.
Yesterday it was reported that Pakistan had ‘secretly’ released terrorist Masood Azhar from Pakistani jail and was planning a ‘big action’ in Sialkot-Jammu-Rajasthan region. As per the report, Pakistan had deployed additional force along the border near Rajasthan in response to Indian government’s decision to abrogate Article 370.
After getting snubbed by the international community for choosing not to interfere in India’s internal matter, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier threatened “fullest possible response” to India’s moves in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had also said they were prepared to “go till any extent”. Bajwa added they were ready to “give sacrifices for our Kashmiri brothers, fulfil our duty till the last bullet, last soldiers and last breath”.
