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We do not need international busybodies to tell us how to run our lives, Pakistan using Jihad to promote violence: Syed Akbaruddin

OpIndia Staff
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We do not need international busybodies to tell us how to run our lives, Pakistan using Jihad to promote violence: Syed Akbaruddin

After the closed-door consultations of the UNSC over a China-initiated deliberation on the Kashmir issue, India’s permanent envoy to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin addressed a press conference at New York yesterday.

Akbaruddin’s brilliant presentation of India’s side before the world media has wowed everyone.

Akbaruddin started by asserting that any decision regarding Article 370 are entirely India’s internal matter and they have no external ramifications. Akbaruddin stated that two countries have been trying to pass off their national statements as the ‘will of the international community’ but the UNSC does not work like that.

Akbaruddin asserted that the recent decisions taken by the government of India are to promote good governance and enhance socio-economic development for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zYDwH9d0E]

Akbaruddin further discussed the new set of measures announced by the chief secretary of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir promising steps towards normalcy. He added that the UNSC has acknowledged the efforts and appreciated the moves.

Akbaruddin further added that India is committed to gradually removing all civilian restrictions and asserted that since the move is is internal to India, it has not made any difference to India’s external orientation. He affirmed that India is committed to ensuring that the situation remains calm and peaceful.

Slamming Pakistan, Akbaruddin stated that there are some who have tried to project an alarmist approach. He added that 1 country is using the term ‘jihad’ and jas been promoting violence against India.

Akbaruddin slammed Pakistan for fuelling terrorism and stated that violence is not a solution. He added that India is saddened that terrorism is being fuelled by Pakistan using incendiary language.

inviting questions from the press, Akbaruddin further stated that history knows that the last agreement was signed in 1972, India adheres to that, but Pakistan also needs to follow that. He added, “We can go back in history. Every new agreement overtakes the past. We have already extended our friendship according to the Shimla agreement and we are committed to that”.

Akbaruddin asserted that Pakistan’s actions do not seem like it adheres to bilateral agreements.

Akbaruddin stated that he has been a diplomat and has been personally associated with many delegations to Islamabad. He asserted that there are normal diplomatic ways of dealing with countries when countries deal with each other, but using terrorism to try to push one’s goals is not the way normal countries behave. No democracy will accept talks when there is a threat of terrorism. He affirmed India’s stand that to start bilateral talks, Pakistan has to stop terrorism.


Akbaruddin stated that any country can bring an issue to the notice of the UNSC for deliberation but that does not mean that India’s stand over bilateral agreements or Kashmir issue has changed.

Akbaruddin stated that the measures taken to impose certain restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir before the major decision was taken to prevent terrorists from harming the people and cause violence. He affirmed that in the days since August 5, there has not been a single fatality. he added that restrictions or preventive measures are the balance of choice that the administrators on the ground make. They should be allowed the time and space.

Answering a question on allegations of human rights violation committed by Indian security forces, Akbaruddin stated that there is not a single intergovernmental body in the world that can accuse India of human rights violations. He asserted that India was the first country to speak against apartheid. India was the country which initiated the efforts to modify the UN charter of human rights declaration that said ‘All men are born equal’ to ‘All humans are born equal’.

Akbaruddin asserted that India is a transparent democracy and it has courts to address the issue. “We don’t need international busybodies to tell us how to run our lives”, he said.

Answering a question on whether the current restrictions on the people of Jammu and Kashmir undermine India’s democracy, Akbaruddin stated that public order is essential for a democracy to function. He added that there are reasonable restrictions but they will be eased as per the decisions of democratically elected leaders.

It is notable here that China and Pakistan’s UN representatives had merely made statements before the media. It was only India’s UN rep Syed Akbaruddin who had agreed to take questions from the media.

PM Modi’s debut on Man vs Wild becomes most trending show worldwide with 3.6 billion impressions, leaving Super Bowl behind

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi’s debut on Man vs Wild becomes most trending show worldwide with 3.6 billion impressions, leaving Super Bowl behind

PM Narendra Modi appearance on Discovery’s Man vs Wild show with survivalist and adventurer Bear Grylls has garnered 3.6 billion impressions and counting. The show has now surpassed Super Bowl that garnered 3.4 billion impressions.

Delbert Shoopman, EP and Co-Creator of RunningWild on NatGeo and YouVsWild show on Netflix has tweeted about this achievement.


The show, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi debuted has now achieved the unique distinction of being the highest trending televised event not just in India but worldwide.

The show premiered on 12th August on Discovery Channel and was then also televised up by Doordarshan.

Survivalist Bear Grylls who hosted PM Modi on Man vs Wild also quoted Shoopman’s tweet and expressed his pride at this achievement.


When PM Modi made his appearance on Man vs Wild show, several people trended #PMModiOnDiscovery. In less than 12 hours since the tweet first made an appearance, the hashtag had reached 728 million people through over 204.2K mentions by more than 206.2K users, as per data from global media intelligence firm Meltwater.

When the show was announced, the Left had a collective meltdown in an effort to dehumanise PM Modi. Congress had also resorted to peddling lies saying that PM Modi had shot for this show while the Pulwama terror attack had happened. The Left had also peddled lies that PM Modi was a ‘climate change denier’ by malicious tweeting an edited video.

After the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan Minister expresses angst over Rahul Gandhi not winning 2019 elections

OpIndia Staff
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After the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan Minister expresses angst over Rahul Gandhi not winning 2019 elections

After the abrogation of Article 370 by the Modi government for the full integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country, Congress and Pakistan seem to have found an ideological soulmate in each other. Their rhetoric have often been exactly the same as far as Kashmir, Modi or even RSS is concerned. Today, taking that camaraderie a step further, Pakistan Minister Choudhury Fawad Hussain rued the fact that Rahul Gandhi did not win the 2019 elections and instead, Prime Minister Modi is running the country.

It all started with this Tweet by Rahul Gandhi.


Rahul Gandhi “strongly condemned” the arrest of Congress PCC Chief Ghulam Nabi Mir and spokesperson Ravinder Sharma in Jammu. Rahul Gandhi said that this was a ‘another blow to democracy’. Why this statement gains significance is that while the Modi government has been trying to ensure that all separatists and people fanning tension are detained so peace in Jammu and Kashmir can prevail, Rahul Gandhi has been playing petty politics over the steps.

It was in response to this tweet that Choudhury Fawad Hussain responded and rued the fact that Rahul Gandhi did not win in 2019.


Fawad Hussain tweeted, “Had you been a leader and a man enough would have taken a just stand on #Pulwama Today world would have been better sans #ModiMadness Your coward politics allowed India to become a prey of Fascism and Extremism”.

Fawad Hussaid said that Rahul Gandhi was a coward to not take a “just” stand on Pulwama. Interestingly, several people from within the Congress party had floated the theory that Pulwama was not perpetrated by Pakistan backed terrorists but was an “inside job” by the Modi govermment. This was also a stand vehemently peddled by parody nation Pakistan to shield itself after sending state sponsored terrorists to bleed India.

What must be mentioned here that as a response, after the government conducted the Balakot airstrikes deep inside Pakistan territory to neutralise JeM terror camps, Pakistan and Congress had in one voice demanded for proof of the airstrikes from the Modi government.

This is not the first time that Pakistan has reposed its faith in the Congress party and its leaders to show India down. Recently, Pakistani media had used footage of Congress leaders speaking in the Parliament to further their agenda in Kashmir.

Purported email screenshots of Kavita Krishnan’s team show them discussing use of retired judges and ex-military officers for Kashmir propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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Purported email screenshots of Kavita Krishnan’s team show them discussing use of retired judges and ex-military officers for Kashmir propaganda

Two days after the Press Club of India had refused to allow tukde tukde gang member Kavita Krishnan to show propaganda video on Kashmir in their premises, few screenshots allegedly showing email exchanges among the group members are doing the rounds on social media. The emails show how the left-wing activists are planning to go to Kashmir, and also to send eminent personalities to the state.

Screenshots of three emails, which seem to be from the same conversation, are being circulated, and the email exchange seems to be after Kavita Krishna returned from Kashmir. In one email, Kavita writes to her colleague Suresh and others that after her team’s return from Kashmir, more people are planning to go there. She suggests that after some team members safely leave Kashmir with any material they have collected, future teams visiting Srinagar should consider meeting police and demand to know the detail of ‘arrests’. Krishnan also suggests that some heavyweight eminent people may try to go to police and demand the detail of ‘arrests’.


She also suggests that people visiting Kashmir should do so without telling anyone in advance, and they just walk out of the airport after landing.

In the next two emails, the team discusses probable eminent persons who can go to Kashmir and demand detail of arrests from police. One Rakesh Shukla suggests Justice Shah could be approached, and asks about Chandru J, probably referring to former Madras high court judge K Chandru, who is known for his anti-BJP, anti-RSS views and have opposed the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A in a recent interview. Justice Shah might refer to former chief justice of Delhi High Court Justice A P Shah, who has teamed up with left-wing leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Harsh Mander in the campaign against the Modi government.

Rakesh Shukla also informs that they have a list of other retired judges who could be approached, suggesting that although politically weakened, the left-liberals have still strong root in the judiciary.

Responding to this mail, Kavita Krishnan writes that she thought about people like Kapil Kak, the former Air Vice-Marshal of Indian Air Force, who has opposed the government’s decision to fully integrate Kashmir into India. Krishnan suggests that ex-military, Pandits etc should be approached, and gives the go-ahead for Justice Shah.

The authenticity of the screenshots can’t be verified. If true, it gives an insight on how the tukde tukde gang has still support from several eminent persons including retired judges and senior military officers. Going the video produced by Kavita Krishnan’s team which was uploaded on Youtube after Press Club refused it to be shown in their premises, it can be concluded that the activists will conduct more visits to Kashmir to produce more propaganda material, and will also try to use eminent names in their campaign for the Pakistan backed separatists.

Distinctive features of a 10th century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site: Senior lawyer CS Vaidyanathan tells five-judge bench

OpIndia Staff
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Distinctive features of a 10th century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site: Senior lawyer CS Vaidyanathan tells five-judge bench

On the seventh day of the day to day hearing in the sensitive Ram Janam Bhumi dispute case, senior lawyer CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for Ram Lalla Virajman, one of the parties in the case told the Supreme Court that Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had found ‘distinctive features of a 10th century temple beneath the Babri Mosque site.’

Vaidyanathan briefed the five-bench Constitution bench about the ASI report, which concludes that Babri Masjid is built on the ruins of the Ram Mandir. The council also submitted the ASI report before the bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, and Justices S Abdul Nazeer, DY Chandrachud, SA Bobde, and Ashok Bhushan.

“The archeological evidence, scriptures, and other memorabilia hinted that there are distinctive features found associated with the temples of north India,” he added. He also submitted various pictures of deities found on the pillars of the disputed site in Ayodhya with the court.

“The court commissioner had inspected the disputed site on April 16, 1950, and his report describes the presence of pillars with images of Lord Shiva, said the lawyer to SC,” he said and added, “These images of deities on pillars of the structure are not found in mosques and found in temples.”

Meanwhile, Rajender Singh, who claims to be the descendant of Lord Ram and wanted to be a party to this case, has also filed a petition before the apex court.

According to Vishnu Jain, the lawyer for Hindu Mahasabha, Vaidyanathan tried to establish before the court that a huge temple existed at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid. Jain also suggested that several photographs and evidences submitted before the court corroborate the ASI report proving that a temple existed on the disputed site.

In the wake of today’s inconclusive argument, it would continue on Monday where Vaidyanathan will argue to prove that a temple did, in fact, exist at the disputed land in Ayodhya.

Earlier, on August 8, the five-bench judge headed by CJI Gogoi had called for a five day hearing in the Ayodhya Ram Janambhoomi – from Monday to Friday.

The apex court is hearing the case against the appeal of the Allahabad High Court case of September 30, 2010.

Bihar: AK-47 rifle recovered from the residence of ‘Bahubali’ Independent MLA Anant Kumar Singh

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: AK-47 rifle recovered from the residence of ‘Bahubali’ Independent MLA Anant Kumar Singh

Police recovered an AK-47 from the residence of Anant Kumar Singh, an independent MLA from Bihar’s Mokama on Friday. During the raid police also recovered magazines and bullets along with the rifle from his paternal residence in Nadava village.

According to the reports, after the seizure, a bomb squad was also called at the residence of the MLA. As per the Times Now report, a bomb was also found at his residence, because of which the bomb squad was brought in.


The gangster turned politician, Anant Kumar Singh, also widely referred to as ‘Bahubali’ or Chote Sarkar is a former member of the Janata Dal (United) party. He has various criminal cases against him. He had contested and won from the Mokama assembly seat in 2005 on a JDU ticket.

The MLA was considered to be very close to JDU chief Nitish Kumar but quit the party ahead of the 2015 assembly polls. Soon after he was arrested in connection with kidnapping and extortion case. Reportedly, he quit the JDU following a fall-out with Nitish Kumar over JDU’s alliance with Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

His wife, Neelam Devi contested the recently-held general elections on a Congress ticket from Munger Lok Sabha constituency.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer confirmed, “The house was unlocked in the presence of a magistrate with proper videography. AK-47 rifle and other suspicious things have been recovered, for which we have called Bomb Squad team from Patna. We are taking further action on it. This has been recovered from the house of MLA Anant Kumar Singh.”

“As I told you earlier that this has been done in the presence of a magistrate, the entire incident has been videographed. You can see that no damage has been done,” added the police officer.

Singh, however, claimed that he was being harassed because he contested elections against Lalan Singh. “I contested election against Lalan Singh that is why I am being hounded. Lipi Singh (Barh SP) has been brought to Barh to trouble me,” he asserted while addressing the reporters.

“My home is not being raided…it is being demolished by 100 policemen. Na Kurki hai, na jabti hai..mera ghar tod rahe hain 4 baje bhore se (My house is being demolished since 4 am)” he said. The police have, however, denied the allegation of the house being demolished.

SP (rural) Kantesh Kumar Mishra confirmed that the raid was being conducted after information about suspicious items being present at MLA’s home was received.

Criminal case filed against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her comments against trial court’s verdict in Pehlu Khan case

OpIndia Staff
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Criminal case filed against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her comments against trial court’s verdict in Pehlu Khan case

A criminal case had been filed against Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her remarks on the trial court’s verdict in the Pehlu Khan case. The case against Vadra was filed by lawyer Sudhir Ojha in Muzaffarnagar, Bihar on Friday.

According to a report, petitioner Ojha has filed cases against Vadra under sections 504, 506, 153 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He added that cases for contempt of court regarding her tweet on the acquittal of accused in Khan’s lynching have also been filed against her.

“The acquittal was done by the court due to lack of search, however, Vadra today tweeted against the verdict and this could generate religious frenzy and it is also a contempt of court,” asserted Ojha.

He furthered that his case has been accepted and listed for hearing on August 26. Earlier today, Vadra had termed the trial court’s verdict as “shocking,” wherein all the accused were acquitted. She had, however, expressed here hope in the Rajasthan government in delivering justice to Khan and his family.

“The lower court’s decision in Pehlu Khan’s case is shocking. in our country, there should be no place of inhumanity and mob killing is a heinous crime,” she tweeted.

In another tweet, Vadra had lauded the Rajasthan government’s initiative to bring law against mob lynching and hoped by getting justice for Khan, the government would set a good example.

BCCI retains Ravi Shastri as Team India’s head coach till T20 World Cup in 2021

OpIndia Staff
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BCCI retains Ravi Shastri as Team India’s head coach till T20 World Cup in 2021

Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has retained Ravi Shastri as the coach of the Indian cricket team till World T20 which will occur in India in 2021. A Kapil Dev led Cricket Advisory Committee announced the team coach’s name on Friday evening.

Kapil Dev along with Anushman Gaekwad and Shanta Ranagswamy picked the Indian coach. There were six candidates in which Phil Simmons withdrew his name at the last moment. The other five candidates were Mike Hesson, Tom Moody, Ravi Shastri, Robin Singh, and Lachand Rajput

In a press release by BCCI, quotes:

As per the directions of the Honorable Supreme Court of India appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), the Cricket Advisory Committee met on August 16, 2019, in Mumbai to select the Head Coach of Team India (Senior Men) for the period of September 2019 till the end of ICC WT20 2021 India.

The meeting was convented by Mr. Kapil Dev, Mr. Anshuman Gaekwad, and Ms. Shanta Ranagaswamy.

Candidates preference in order of priorty are as follows

  1. Ravi Shastri
  2. Mike Hesson
  3. Tom Moody


Ravi Shastri is working as team India’s coach since July 2017. Under his tenure, India won 11 Tests out of 21 in which seven lost and three draws. In ODIs, India won 45 out of 63 games, lost 15, tied 2 and one no result whereas in T20Is India won 25 out of 37 and lost just 11 with one no-result game.

Despite such records, Ravi Shastri was not a favorite choice for many experts and fans in India as India lost the semi-final of World Cup 2019. Ravi Shastri has the backing of Indian skipper Virat Kohli which also helped him to retain the position of Indian cricket team coach.

Barkha Dutt’s strange coincidences with a Kashmiri who wished death upon PM Modi and Amit Shah

OpIndia Staff
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Barkha Dutt’s strange coincidences with a Kashmiri who wished death upon PM Modi and Amit Shah

In the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370, one section of the India media is hell bent on casting a gloom over the valley by peddling hyperboles regarding the situation in the state. Leading this group is the Radia tapes famed Barkha Dutt who had a string of strange ‘coincidences’ with a Kashmiri migrant currently residing in Pune.


This Kashmiri man who currently lives and earns in Pune had reportedly contacted Barkha on Twitter seeking her help to know about her diabetic mother’s whereabouts. Coincidently Barkha met this very guy on her flight to Srinagar. Barkha then interviewed the man who claimed that he was profoundly distressed by the government’s move as communication blockade was enforced across the valley and he couldn’t inquire upon his mother’s health.

Barkha then chose to follow the man to his home where she interviewed his father who too toed the familiar liberal line of securing opposition and Kashmiri politicians’ confidence before embarking upon such an audacious move.


A cursory glance at the profile of the supposedly distraught man and his past interactions with Barkha makes one doubt about the veracity of the string of ‘coincidences’ struck by Barkha on her way to Srinagar. Barkha had a series of interactions with this man before, right from 2012. Many Twitter users started questioning the ‘coincidences’ after it was established that Barkha had a long association with the man.


Idrees ul Haq, who ‘coincidentally’ met Barkha on her flight to Srinagar has separatist tendencies. He has run a campaign #KashmirExit demanding separation of Kashmir from the Indian Union. In a Facebook post on August 10, 2019, Idrees had wished death upon PM Modi and Amit Shah for repealing Article 370 and integrating Jammu and Kashmir with the Union.

In light of such revelations, one wonders if these ‘coincidences’ were assiduously engineered moments of serendipity designed to evoke sympathy amongst the masses regarding the plight of Kashmiris. Furthermore, with the dubious credentials, of both Barkha and Idrees, one is compelled to believe that the streak of ‘coincidences’ were no less than a propagandist attempt to tarnish the central government’s momentous decision of revoking Article 370.

TikTok flooded with adult-dating scams and fake accounts: Report

OpIndia Staff
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TikTok flooded with adult-dating scams and fake accounts: Report

Owing to its rising popularity, TikTok has become the latest target for scammers. According to a report by the cybersecurity firm, Tenable, the popular media app, has been flooded with scams involving ‘adult-dating’ services.

Tenable’s Satnam Narang wrote in a blog post that these scams leverage the popularity of celebs and social media stars to redirect users to scam sites that offer adult content and ‘free’ likes and followers.

“Given TikTok’s meteoric rise in popularity, it comes as no surprise that scammers would take notice. So far, these scams appear to be in their infancy,” said Satnam Narang in his blog post.

“These profiles feature stolen videos from sources like Instagram and Snapchat, featuring women dancing, posing in bikinis, working out or just going about their normal day-to-day lives,” wrote the Tenable’s senior security response manager.

“While these accounts could use their TikTok profile biography to promote their adult-themed dating websites, the scammers primarily use these accounts to drive users to a separate Snapchat account, which they promote in their video captions… Based on a sampling of adult dating scam accounts I’ve encountered since March 2019, on average each account would follow 299 users, would be followed by 650 users and receive an average of 1,744 likes across their videos.”

The method being adopted by scammers:

The most popular method of scamming users involves duplicating the profiles of social media stars. Scammers steal content from popular Instagrammers and upload them to TikTok accounts that look legitimate at first glance. They also resort to tactics like setting up fake ‘backup’ accounts and fan pages in the name of social media celebs. This is one of the oldest tricks in the books. 

The posts will usually be accompanied by suggestive hashtags – #18Plus, #18PlusOnly #NSFW (Not Safe For Work), etc. – and links to adult-themed sites. Many of these accounts redirect users to premium Snapchat accounts hosting adult content.

How scammers benefit:

Narang, who has spent months analysing scammers’ modus operandi on TikTok, concluded that these scammers earn money when users click on the links or sign up to these adult-themed sites. This means every time a user signs up, they get paid.

One such website identified to indulge in this scam is flirt.com. Narang of Tenable says in the report that flirt.com affiliate could earn a scammer anywhere between $1 to $3 dollars for a qualified lead depending upon various criteria like the geographic location, age.

In another method, which is being widely adopted by scammers recently, users are being made to subscribe to a ‘premium’ Snapchat account in which people earn money by posting not-safe-for-work (NSFW) Snaps from a more private account. According to the report, scammers are offering their so-called ‘premium Snapchat’ for $10. They ask the user to make the payment through online payment modes like PayPal. If users ‘swipe up’ they’re redirected to a PayPal payment site to send the scammer the funds they’re requesting. Such ‘services’ are offered for a payment which varies from 5 dollars to 20 dollars.

TikTok’s response:

According to a report by CNET, TikTok has stated that the accounts which have been mentioned in the Tenable report have been pulled down. The CNET report quoted TikTok stating, “TikTok has strict policies safeguarding users against fake, fraudulent or misleading content. We flag and remove most spam accounts before they can reach users’ feeds, and we continuously improve our protections, even as malicious actors work to evade our safeguards.”

However, TikTok did not clear as to how many accounts have actually been pulled down until now. It has also not revealed as to how many such spam accounts actually existed on the platform as of now.

The app, created by a Chinese Internet technology company Bytedance, allows the creation of short videos which can be lip-synced with any of the existing soundtracks. This is, however, not the first time this popular media app has come under scrutiny.

In India, the app has faced attack after several incidents of death, morphed pictures of girls and even flesh trade were reported. Earlier also TikTok has been under the scanner for creating ‘law and order problem’. In February 2019, a Tamil Nadu minister sought a ban on the app as according to him many obscene activities take place on it.

With the increasing quandaries, it now becomes imperative for media apps like TikTok and other platforms to take cognisance of such alarming issues and take up fast and stringent steps to tackle them.

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