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Pakistan fruit-seller asks Turkish biker to recite Kalima to prove she is Muslim, says Muslim women don’t wear ‘such clothes’

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan fruit-seller asks Turkish biker to recite Kalima to prove she is Muslim, says Muslim women don’t wear ‘such clothes’

A recent video shared by a female Turkish biker reveals the deeply entrenched religious supremacism and discrimination against women prevalent among average Pakistanis. In the clip shared by female Turkish biker Asil Özbay, one Pakistani fruit-seller can be seen inquiring about her religion before selling her fruits and moralising her for not wearing an appropriate gear as prescribed by Islam.


The fruit seller asks Asil to prove that she is a Muslim by reciting the Muslim Kalima. This reveals the widespread religious supremacism and bigotry against non-Muslims among Pakistanis as a Pakistani fruit seller sought faith of one of his buyers before selling her fruits. The fruit seller also proceeded in denouncing Asil for wearing a uniform that did not conform to the Islamic norms.

After Asil pronounced the Muslim Kalima, the fruit seller goes on to claim that according to Mohammed, women are not supposed to wear attire as donned by the biker. He said, “Mohammed says one shouldn’t wear this uniform. You are a woman. Muslims do not wear such kind of uniform because everybody watches your body. It is not preferred for a woman to wear such uniforms.”

This video serves as a reality-check about Pakistanis whose leaders have recently fallen over themselves to claim lofty principles of secularism while criticising India’s move to invalidate Article 370 as communal and against the Muslim majority in Jammu and Kashmir. The ideology espoused by the concerned Pakistani fruit seller unveils the hatred that an ordinary Pakistani harbour for non-Muslims simply because one’s faith is the not same as his.

The snippet also shows that women in Pakistani worldview are second-class citizens who have no right to wear an attire they are comfortable with and instead depend on the validation from men around them and comply with archaic medieval practices.

Shiv Aroor on India’s Most Fearless 2: They practised unquestioning loyalty to their units and men, and when it came to it, placed the mission above their lives

Nupur J Sharma
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Shiv Aroor on India’s Most Fearless 2: They practised unquestioning loyalty to their units and men, and when it came to it, placed the mission above their lives

‘India’s Most Fearless 2: More Military Stories of Unimaginable Courage and Sacrifice’  has been written by Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh, Penguin Ebury Press, 2019. Shiv Aroor is an editor and anchor with India Today television, with experience of over a decade covering the Indian military. Rahul Singh has covered defence and military affairs at the ‘Hindustan Times’ for over a decade, in a career spanning twenty years.

The book details tales of valour and courage of the Indian Army. In this sequel, Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh take their readers through the unheard stories of some talked about and others, lesser-known recent anti-terror operations by the Indian Army. Detailing the Balakot airstrikes as well, the new book has broken records and is bringing stories of courage and the indomitable will to the readers.

OpIndia spoke to Shiv Aroor, the co-author of the book about the process of writing this book, his motivations, and how, writing about martyrs and the heartbreaking stories of their families changed him.

Following are the excerpts of the interview.

Tell us about your new book. This is your second book which tells the stories of India’s Bravehearts. How has the experience been thus far?

India’s Most Fearless 2 is the second in the series of our books with untold stories of recent military heroes. The book begins with a detailed account of the planning and execution of the IAF airstrikes in Balakot and is followed by 14 stories of individual heroism from the three armed forces, including many from the Special Forces. When we wrote the first book in 2017, in which we brought to readers a first-hand account of the post-Uri surgical strikes by the Army officer who led the mission, we knew readers would immerse themselves in these stories — what we weren’t prepared for was the enormous popularity of these tales. It’s what drove us to write this new second volume, and we’ll be writing more.

Weirdly enough, as inspiring and motivational these stories, somehow are, such stories never quite get told in India. Why do you think that is?

Great question. That’s actually precisely why we created India’s Most Fearless series. We constantly get feedback, Nupur, about how inspirational and elevating these stories are. But to be totally honest, our intention as authors wasn’t to inspire or elevate. We realised, precisely like you suggest in your question, that these are stories that we as journalists hear about, but never manage to tell in the kind of detail that the feats deserve. Fleeting mentions on social media, the odd citation or YouTube video, and heroes usually have the most ephemeral acknowledgement from the public.

But as I said, this wasn’t just about giving these heroes the memory they deserve, but about giving the public some truly stunning stories. It would be a pity if these stories simply faded with time until they could barely be recalled beyond the families and units of heroes. We’ve found an amazing and enduring audience with India’s Most Fearless that agrees wholeheartedly with us — that these are amazing stories that people would plainly love to read.

I understand that a lot of these stories are quite heartbreaking for the families. Can you tell our readers about the ones that affected you the most personally?

To us, all of the stories were heartbreaking at one level or another. If they don’t actually involve loss — and many of the stories in India’s Most Fearless 2 do end in sacrifice — all of them involve men and women being forced into situations where they must decide literally between life and death. It’s a cliche we use often, but the writing of these books has sobered us up hugely about what ‘life and death’ really means. If the heroes themselves have shattered us as we wrote about them, their families have all but silenced us with their quiet pride, pragmatism and zero demand for attention.

It always occurred to us that the hair-raising nature of these stories would leave angry families looking for someone to blame. What we have always found is whatever anger there is about loss is subsumed by a curious mix of grief and pride that is difficult to describe. We’re still trying to fully capture that emotion. All of the stories affected me very personally — I would sometimes need a fortnight away from writing simply to feel normal again. I would feel ashamed that I had the luxury of such a break from the ‘trauma’ of writing about these missions. If I had to name two stories from this second volume, they would be the stories of Capt. Pawan Kumar and Lieutenant Navdeep Singh.

What was the most difficult part in writing these stories?

These stories are based on extended conversations with the military personnel in question or their closest comrades who were with them in their final moments. Also, their families. To those who’ve lived through these deep traumas, recounting them was to relive those wounds. It’s one of the reasons why they usually remain locked away for life. We were always deeply aware of this as we asked questions and went about recreating the stories. We needed to be constantly mindful that this wasn’t a straightforward journalistic exercise. We needed to be sensitive to how we crafted the stories, while also ensuring we were able to access all details that made these stories what they are. I will readily confess there was a sense of guilt when I pried into deeply personal moments. Amazingly, the families and comrades of heroes always noticed this and offered comfort — that the telling of these stories should offset any sense of guilt. They truly exist on a separate level.

From the stories that you have written, what did you learn about the values and virtues of the Indian Army?

For one thing, that the men that we’ve written about are so strikingly like us in so many ways — they navigate the same mundane everyday things that we do. From arranging bank loans or Aadhar cards to video-calling with their families or apologising to girlfriends for not being able to take calls. All this while being in situations that are truly difficult to imagine. The values and virtues that one discovered in the writing of these stories are not some lofty ideals. They’re actually painfully, elegantly simple. These are or were men who practised a code of unquestioning loyalty to their units and men, and when it came to it, placed the mission at hand above their own lives. The other enormous learning has been about the huge personal premium that officers and soldiers place, not on taking lives but saving lives. It’s a brutal, difficult line.

In your book, you ask whether personal stories of martyrs are even necessary to amplify their heroism, brave men who put their lives on the line as a matter of daily routine. I guess we are both aware of how you feel about it but I would like you to elaborate on that particular train of thought.

It’s the truth. There are countless stories of individual military heroism that are cast into relief by the context of family and past. It’s one of the reasons why a soldier’s back-story is as important as his present. You could argue that this applies to everything — it does — but I mean this in the way that there’s a special quality in soldiers. Whatever the reasons they decided to join the armed forces — and no, these are mostly not for sentimental reasons — the nature of their work gives them a quality that is difficult to describe. And when you’ve volunteered for a career that, by its definition, means danger at one point or another, the journey to that point is of enormous consequence. Every one of the backstories in our book has been elevating, educative.

You say in your book, “if you look hard enough, every soldier has a shattering back story”. Why do you think we don’t hear enough of them? We often learn more about the families of terrorists and cow smugglers than our Bravehearts. Why is that?

Everyone has a back story, but it was very clear that the backstories of soldiers simply weren’t told enough. And that’s because even the acknowledgement of soldiers in the press is fleeting. This isn’t a complaint — that’s the nature of the media and public attention. But with India’s Most Fearless, we have sought specifically to tell readers that soldiers have backstories that are riveting. We don’t think people look at soldiers as robotic figures on the border. But how many really want to know more?

What motivated you to begin writing these stories? Was there a particular incident that made you feel that yes, you had to do it?

It actually began in 2017 with a story about a young Indian Air Force pilot that I did for my site Livefist — he had just received a gallantry award and I decided to write up a piece about how he had safely landed his MiG-29 after the canopy blew off mid-flight. The story went viral and was a storm on discussion groups, Whatsapp groups etc. The popularity of the story pushed my friend and co-author Rahul Singh to suggest (yes, the books were his idea!) that we work together and find more such stories for a book series. We went to the armed forces with a very ambitious list of missions/heroes that we wanted details and access to. We topped our list with the 2016 surgical strikes, certain in our minds that the Army would turn us down. To the deep credit of the forces, they saw great value in the stories we were hoping to tell and opened their doors to us. And let me take this opportunity to also say that none of our stories was edited or censored by the forces. They allowed us to be journalists and storytellers.

The second book in the series has forewords by the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of the Naval Staff. Apart from what appears in the book, did they offer any other words of compliment or encouragement or thoughts about the book that you would like to share with our readers?

The chief of the forces has been enormous engines of support in the crafting of India’s Most Fearless. When we told them what we were hoping to do, all they did was open their doors and provide us with access to the units, officers, families and mission logs. They saw enormous value in the idea that military men and women who would otherwise be forgotten beyond award citations and some renown in military circles, could be known by an India-wide, the perhaps worldwide audience. That both these books have been bestsellers is very gratifying proof that they were right. The daily feedback we receive from units across the country (frequently from units deployed in J&K, where many of our stories are based) is a constant reminder that we must never stop writing. The words of Army chief General Bipin Rawat at the launch of our first book in the series in 2017 are words we still hold on to: “Our men and women in uniform have never let us down. Never the service. Never the country.”

Union government denies forming Group of Ministers on Jammu and Kashmir, says media reports not true

OpIndia Staff
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Union government denies forming Group of Ministers on Jammu and Kashmir, says media reports not true

The Indian Government has clarified that it hasn’t formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the affairs of Jammu & Kashmir. The denial came following reports by mainstream media outlets claiming that a group of five ministers has been formed.


The PTI had claimed in its report on Wednesday, which was reproduced by various media outlets including TOI, Business Standard, Deccan Herald, Economic Times and The Week among others, had claimed that a GoM had been constituted to look into the development, economic and social issues in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh that is due to come into existence on the 31st of October.

The report had claimed that according to government ‘sources’, “Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for the PMO Jitendra Singh and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan are part of the group.” It was also reported that the first meeting of the group will take place in the first week of September.

The Government has now asserted that such claims are untrue and no such GoM has neither been formed nor under consideration.

Pakistani Minister rebukes Rahul Gandhi again for his stand on Kashmir, asks him to ‘stand tall’ like Nehru

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistani Minister rebukes Rahul Gandhi again for his stand on Kashmir, asks him to ‘stand tall’ like Nehru

Pakistani federal minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain took to Twitter today to rebuke Congress ex-president Rahul Gandhi for his flip-flop on India’s decision to revoke Article 370 which gave a separate status to Jammu and Kashmir and a subsequent bill aimed to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.

Enraged by Rahul Gandhi’s turn-around, Fawad wrote that this “confusion” was the biggest problem with Congress’ politics. Dressing down the Congress scion, the Pakistani minister said that Rahul should learn lessons from and “stand tall” like his “great-great” grandfather, India’s former Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.


The Pakistani Minister appeared quite irritated by the sudden U-turn Rahul did on the recent Kashmir issue, in which, for all this while, Congress had been one with Pakistan. After months of mirroring Pakistan’s lines and casting doubts on the government over issues of national security, Rahul Gandhi’s sudden modified tune left Pakistan completely flummoxed.

Rahul had tweeted today saying that though he disagrees with the government over many issues, he wants to make it clear that ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India’. He also asserted that there is no room for Pakistan or any other country to interfere in it. Rahul’s statement was significantly different from what his party’s Lok Sabha chief had stated in the parliament.

Rahul then stated that there is violence in Jammu and Kashmir and it is because Pakistan instigates and supports it. He added that Pakistan is the prime supporter of terrorism in the world.

However, this is not the first time Pakistani minister has shown disappointment in Rahul Gandhi, who along with his party have mostly acted as an abettor to the terror state.

Earlier, in response to one of Rahul’s Tweet, Fawad had expressed angst over Rahul Gandhi not winning 2019 elections and 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 Hussain had then said that Rahul Gandhi was a coward to not take a “just” stand on Pulwama.

Actually, Pakistan for all this while had been savouring Congress’ rhetorics which aligned well with that of its own. It had recently written to the United Nations accusing India of carrying out human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. As usual, this time too, Pakistan quoted former Congress President Rahul Gandhi to back up their claims of human rights violation.

Pakistan in their letter mentioned that former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has also ‘noted’ that “people dying” in Jammu & Kashmir, in light of events “going very wrong here”.

After India’s decision to abraograte Article 370, Pakistan had repeatedly used the statements of Congress leaders to further its argument.

Pakistani analysts and strategists in their media debates had even named the Congress as a ‘sympathiser’ of Pakistan. Recently, Imran Khan had even copied Rahul Gandhi’s favourite lines against RSS and the BJP and had stated that the RSS and PM Modi are planning a Nazi-like imposition of Hindutva ideology in India.

Moreover, during the Pulwama attack, several people from within the Congress party and its cronies had floated the theory that Pulwama was not perpetrated by Pakistan backed terrorists but was an “inside job” by the Modi government. This was also a stand vehemently peddled by Pakistan to shield itself after sending state-sponsored terrorists to bleed India.

It 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 proof of the airstrikes from the Modi government.

During the Pulwama attacks and after India’s retaliatory Balakot airstrikes, Pakistan had used Congress and other opposition leaders’ statements to peddle its nefarious agenda.

However, what still remains a mystery is the sudden switch in Rahul’s stance on the Kashmir issue. Whatever might be the reason, be it a desperate attempt to save his own party from losing all respect in the eyes of the Indian voter or a temporary glitch, this is for certain that this slambang may cost the Congress party dearly. It might lose all its credibility within Pakistan which it had carefully crafted in these many years.

Pakistan can’t seem to catch a break on social media: Indians speculate if Pakistan issued missile warning because of Twitter trolls

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan can’t seem to catch a break on social media: Indians speculate if Pakistan issued missile warning because of Twitter trolls

Pakistan today issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen) and Naval warning in view of possible missile test firing from Sonmiani flight test range near Karachi. Pakistan has also closed all three air routes for all international flights due to ‘operational reasons’. Sonmiani, located in Balochistan, is a rocket launch facility operated by Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and is also used by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and National Defence Complex for testing solid-fueled ballistic missiles.

However, as soon as the notice was issued, Indian Twitter users started speculating whether it was in response to the cryptic tweet popular Twitter user, @pokershash, a social media activist who doubles himself as Twitter troll when it comes to give Pakistani ministers a run for their money. On 27th August, @pokershash tweeted a cryptic message to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistani Army spokesperson, former Pakistani minister Senator Rehman Malik and Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, whom he had recently fooled on Twitter by pretending to be a Pakistani with insider information on undercover RAW agent in Pakistan.


As soon as news about restriction on airspace came out, netizens could not stop laughing at how the parody country perhaps got spooked by two Twitter trolls who have given the country a run for their money, whatever of it is left anyway.


Meanwhile, @pokershash is already planning his next move it seems. He has already asked the Railways Minister of Pakistan to allow him to send him a Direct Message on Twitter.


Pakistani minister of Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has predicted a full-blown war between India and Pakistan in October or the following month. Founder of the satire website The Fauxy and popular Twitter user @being_humor who also trolls Pakistani leaders in his free time, had recently fooled former Pakistani minister Rehman Malik by making him believe that a screenshot from the film Singham was actually custodial torture of former Union Minister P. Chidambaram in CBI custody. Malik had even said he’d send the image to the UN as a proof that Indian politicians who are opposing the abrogation of Article 370 are being tortured by Modi regime.

Pakistani politicians, who have to hold high level committee meetings to decide national price of roti and naan, appear to have reduced their collective IQ lower than the GDP of the terror country. Meanwhile, Bilawal Bhutto, who went on an extremely amusing and satisfying rant on Pakistan PM Imran Khan has his DMs open on his Twitter account. In case any of you is bored and just want some entertainment.

Time to act against a threat that can’t be ignored: Here is how Chinese TikTok poses a threat to Indian sovereignty and national security

K Bhattacharjee
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Time to act against a threat that can’t be ignored: Here is how Chinese TikTok poses a threat to Indian sovereignty and national security

Journalism professor Margaret Simons in her submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Petition, which was then preparing a report on social media platforms, flagged a rather pertinent issue. She said that “the current inquiry should not assume that Western digital platforms will be the only ones to gain a foothold in Australia.”

The concerns that Simons raised would resonate with Indians as well who have noticed how way tech giants such as Facebook and Google have played havoc with the privacy of its users. As bad as they are, they are still based in the USA and the current world order, which is a manifestation of Western hegemony, can still be negotiated with rationally to a certain extent.

Facebook and Google, especially, have come under intense scrutiny for their obscure and mala fide practices and pressure is mounting on them to act in the good interests of its users. However, there is another hegemony that is threatening to upend the current world order. In fact, its very goal is to undermine the current international order. The very success of its operations depends on the extent to which it will be able to alter the current dynamics of world politics.

I am, of course, referring to China. The Chinese are rather explicit in their goals and they make very little effort to hide it. As a country that is predisposed towards hostility towards India, China’s success could only be detrimental to us. Should they be successful in their efforts, it could mean disaster for India. Thus, we find ourselves in a situation where our interests ally with those of the USA and the great collaboration between the two countries that we see currently isn’t a mere coincidence or a consequence of the friendship between its leaders.

It is an open secret now that Google attempted to manipulate the results of the 2016 US Presidential elections due to the personal animosity of its employees towards Donald Trump. It is also quite well known that Facebook has been manipulating the political opinions of its users. Twitter is not alien to accusations of political bias and its with good reason that they have been accused of such. It is under this context that we need to view the meteoric rise of the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok.

Some of us may be prone to dismissing such concerns by assuming that TikTok is an app where stupid people go to showcase their stupidity. But it has much more far-reaching consequences than that. Recently, we witnessed the manner in which some TikTok ‘celebrities’ incited violence following the death of the thief Tabrez Ansari. The country witnessed significant violence following the incident and it’s unclear still the extent to which TikTok contributed to it.

TikTok is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance which is often touted to be the world’s most valuable start-up. Digital media platforms are known to collect the personal data of users and TikTok is no different. In its privacy policy statement, it says that it collects “information when you create an account, and use the Platform, such as your contact details, content you create, your location, and credit card details. We also collect the information you share with us from third-party social network providers and technical and behavioural information about your use of the Platform. We also collect information contained in the messages you send through our Platform and your contacts if you allow us access to your phone book on your mobile device.”

It includes information that the user submits voluntarily on his or her own while registering for the site or linking it to other apps such as name, age, gender, address, email address, social media login details, telephone number and financial and credit card information and photographs as well as language selection. Furthermore, it includes the user’s customer profile, the comments made on the Platform (including any Virtual Items contributed to any user-generated content), account and billing details, including but not limited to, the user’s Apple, Google or Windows account, PayPal or other third-party payment channel account where required for the purpose of paying or withdrawing cash. It also includes user-generated content, photographs and video content that the user chooses to broadcast on the platform.

If the user chooses to link TikTok with their accounts on other social media platforms, then TikTok will be able to access information shared on these platforms including his contact list. It doesn’t stop here. TikTok also collects ‘technical information’ about the user that includes the user’s IP address, location-related data and other unique device identifiers, browsing history (including content viewed in the Platform), Cookies, the mobile carrier, time zone setting, mobile or device information including the model of the device, screen resolution, operating system and platform and information regarding the use of the Platform.

Moreover, if the user chooses to find their acquaintances through the contacts in their phonebook, then TikTok can collect information regarding their contacts as well including names, phone numbers, addresses and any other information that the user has stored in their phone regarding their contacts. If the user wishes to do the same through their Facebook accounts, then TikTok can collect the names and profiles of their Facebook contacts.

It only gets worse here onwards. TikTok collects and analyses the personal texts that users send to each other on their platform. It actually reads all the personal information that a user has revealed to their contacts on the platform assuming it to be private communication. Now, we can only speculate about the kind of information that people may choose to share in private messages but we can be fairly certain at least a certain extent of those can be extremely compromising for the user.

TikTok can also retain user data indefinitely, long after the user has deleted his or her account. It says so as much in their statement.

The most concerning part, however, is the part of the document which discusses the entities with which it shares the information it collects from its users. Apart from business partners, advertisers and advertising networks, cloud service providers, analytics and search engine providers, and other such entities, TikTok also shares user information with law enforcement agencies and public authorities “if legally required to do so”.

The problem here is, TikTok being a Chinese entity, is legally required to share its information with the Chinese government if such information is sought by it. Considering the nature of the Chinese regime, it appears obvious that the said information has been sought from TikTok and it doesn’t far-fetched to assume that TikTok has shared it with them given the fact that it is legally required to do so. Consider this for a moment, all the information that we have mentioned above in the article, including private texts between its users, is now quite possibly in possession of the Chinese government.

In addition to these, TikTok has a couple of India-specific regulations but that doesn’t subside the rising tide of apprehension.

Even more of a concern is the fact that TikTok has been rising in popularity across the world. Quoting from a report published by the Peterson Institute of Internation Economics published in January this year, “According to market research firm SensorTower, by October 2018 TikTok commanded around 30 percent of monthly downloads of social media platforms on iPhones in the United States, surpassing Facebook’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube. At the end of the year, it charted at number six in Google’s worldwide ranking of apps for the Android mobile operating system, ahead of Netflix and Amazon Shopping.”

The report further states, “Chinese authorities have ample leeway to request information from the private sector, on broadly defined public safety and security grounds, which include “stability maintenance”—another name for suppression of dissent. There have been multiple reports of dubiously motivated data access, some even involving Chinese operations of American companies. TikTok’s privacy policy for both the United States and the European Union states that data may be transferred to China. This transfer is legal, as long as users give their consent.”

In India, by May 2019, ByteDance had 300 million monthly active users across its three platforms: TikTok, Vigo Video, and Helo. These are astonishing numbers that should concern the Indian government. TikTok alone has over 120 million monthly active users.

Considering what we now know about the unimaginable power of tech giants like Facebook and Google and the vast breach of privacy that TikTok is capable of, and some would argue, have already pulled off, it is not difficult to imagine the numerous ways in which the video-sharing platform is a threat to Indian national interests.

It would be perfectly within TikTok’s powers to promote content on its site that could threaten communal harmony in India. Content generated by people has a life of its own and it is completely unpredictable the manner in which they might manifest themselves in the actual world. The recent TikTok controversy following Tabrez Ansari’s death provides a unique glimpse into it. What if TikTok altered their algorithms to promote such incendiary messages to promote social discord in our country at the behest of the Chinese government?

ByteDance has already bowed down to the Chinese government before. In April last year, the company was ordered to shut down Jinri Toutiao after the authorities decided the news stories featured on it were ‘opposed to morality’. Touitao is one of the largest news aggregators in China and it is owned by ByteDance. The company responded by pledging to increase its team of censors from 6,000 to 10,000, the job ads for which noted specifically that candidates with ‘strong political sensitivity’ would be preferred, and it vowed to pour even more resources into developing an Artificial Intelligence-powered automated censorship apparatus.

What’s the guarantee that ByteDance will now bow to the Chinese government again to further social discord in India? What if it already did so during the controversy following Tabrez Ansari’s death by promoting content that incited violence? We can only speculate but it’s not too far-fetched to assume such a scenario. It’s in the interests of the Chinese regime to foment instability in India and it’s not a secret that the regime uses Chinese private enterprises as weapons its war against the current international order.

As for altering algorithms to promote specific content on their platform, it’s an open secret as well. Grave accusations have been labeled against Google and Facebook in this context in the aftermath of the 2016 US Presidential elections and expose have been made as well. The Tech Giants do it, it’s not even a doubt anymore. Before long, we will have to put some thought into how to deal with the American tech giants but right now, it’s of paramount importance that we deal immediately with the menace of TikTok.

If its popularity continues to rise unabated, TikTok will be in a position to influence the outcomes of elections in our country and thereby, undermine the very basis of our sovereignty. Some people of a particular political dispensation might be wont to say, “Banning is not the solution!” Well, as of this moment, we don’t have any better.

Recently, the government had issued notices to TikTok and Helo over the apps being used for anti-national activities, both these apps are owned by ByteDance. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) had also sought an assurance that the data of Indian users were not being transferred and will not be transferred in future also to any other foreign government or any third party or private entity. Earlier, a Tamil Nadu Minister had sought a ban on the app citing harm to Indian culture as the reason. The Madras High Court had also put an interim ban on the app after it was found hosting pornography.

The ban by the Madras High Court may have come for other reasons but it was a necessary step to thwart the rise of TikTok. A report by Sensor Tower estimated that TikTok could have added 15 million users, if not for the ban. May, the report adds, could have been TikTok’s best month, surpassing December 2018. In short, the ban worked. Considerable damage might already have been done but more can be prevented if the Indian government takes adequate measures to protect our sovereignty.

Pakistani Railway Minister predicts India-Pakistan war in October-December, says 130 million youths ready to die for Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistani Railway Minister predicts India-Pakistan war in October-December, says 130 million youths ready to die for Islam

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid has predicted that a full-fledged war between India and Pakistan will take place later this year, during October-November.

Addressing a public meeting in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, the minister said that the people who think there is room for negotiation with India are fools. “I can foresee a war between Pakistan and India in late October and November, December,” he said. He added that he has started preparing people for the war.

Sheikh Rashid said that while world leader made a mistake in understanding Modi, he didn’t make that mistake. He said that 25 crore Muslims in India are looking towards Pakistan. He said that people in Pakistan must stand with the voice with Kashmir by forgetting all differences, else history will never forgive them.

Addressing the youths, he said that if Pakistanis don’t stand with Kashmiris, Jinnah’s dream will remain unfulfilled.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLYYmF14pgk]

Saying that there is no point in talks with India, he said, “Jinnah had assessed the anti-Muslim mindset in India long ago. Those who still think about the possibility of dialogue with India are fools.”

Rashid said that the time for a final struggle for the Kashmir issue has come and the war with India will be the last this time. He said that Pakistan has 130 million youths, who live for Islam and Pakistan and who die for Islam and Pakistan. His comments indicate that although he talked about an Indo-Pak war, he is also looking towards a Jihad by Pakistani youths who are ready to die for Islam.

Rashid said that India wants access to Afghanistan, but Pakistan is an obstacle in that path. India also wants access to Chabahar Port, but Gwadar Port comes in the way. He said that Pakistan is lucky to have a friend like China who is supporting Pakistan against India.

Rashid also attacked the international Muslim community for standing with India in the Kashmir issue. “Why is the rest of the Muslim world silent over the issue?”, the railway minister asked. He said that if others keep silent over Kashmir, Kashmiris will not look towards anyone, they will make their decisions on their own, and we will know that in the next 1-2 months.

He alleged that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is not serious to resolve the Kashmir issue. “The UN Security Council is not resolving the Kashmir issue, if it is serious then the vote would have been done now,” he said. “Kashmir is on the brink of destruction due to barbarian and fascist Narendra Modi, and Pakistan is the only obstacle in front of him”, the minister added.

He said that PM Imran Khan’s speech at the United Nations on September 27 is of vital significance.

Arundhati Roy’s statement on Pakistan makes her commitment to human rights questionable: Dr Allah Nazar Baloch

OpIndia Staff
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Arundhati Roy’s statement on Pakistan makes her commitment to human rights questionable: Dr Allah Nazar Baloch

After the abrogation of Article 370 by India in a bold move aimed towards the full integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India without any riders or conditions, the ‘Liberal’ world has been losing their mind. While India received support from the international community, the pro-Pakistan voices within India have come in dozens to demonise India and the Indian army. Amidst the cacophony and old video of propagandist and habitual liar, Arundhati Roy went viral on social media.


In this 2011 video, Arundhati Roy can be seen peddling hate and lies against the Indian State. Interestingly, she also says that Pakistan has never deployed troops against its own people in the matter in which India has.

Now Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) chief Dr Allah Nazar Baloch has issued a statement condemning Arundhati Roy’s ignorance and malicious propaganda, as reported by Daily Sangar, a media portal from Occupied Balochistan.

The Press Release by Dr Allah Nazar Baloch of BLF condemning Arundhati Roy

Baloch pro-independence leader Dr Allah Nazar, commenting on renowned Indian writer Arundhati Roy’s statement on Pakistan, has said that we were thinking that Ms Roy is a human rights activist. She writes on human rights issues. She is highly knowledgeable. And hoping that someday she will bring forth the serious human rights violations being committed in Balochistan. But instead, she utterly rejects the ground realities altogether. Instead of trying to make herself aware of the history of this region, her words are evidence of her ignorance.

Dr Allah Nazar Baloch said that ignorance of Arundhati Roy was a surprise because Pakistan’s military brutality does not require any introduction or explanation. Yet here are some facts before Arundhati Roy:

First, it was Pakistan’s army that invaded the newly established Balochistan (from British rule) on March 27, 1948. They not only usurped our sovereignty but also started the Baloch genocide which continues to this day. And it has intensified over time. Thousands of Baloch have been killed by this time. Thousands are incarcerated in Pakistani army jails. Millions of people suffer from forced migration.

Secondly, it was Pakistan that massacred millions of Bengali people right before the eyes of Arundhati Roy. Hundreds of thousands of Bengali women were raped. When India reached to help the Bengalis, ninety thousand Pakistan Army troops surrendered.

Thirdly, in Pakistan’s history most of the time there has been a direct military rule and basic human rights have been suspended. While during the so-called democratic periods, the army has run the government from behind the scenes as it does today.

Fourthly, in the Pashtun areas besides Balochistan, the naked aggression of the Pakistani army is visible to the whole world. Thousands of Pashtuns have been killed. Thousands are missing. Millions are under siege in the military-sponsored camps after the forced evacuation.

Fifth, the overwhelming military barbarism in Balochistan and Pashtun areas reminds the World War II era where the Pakistani army is attacking with heavy artillery, warplanes and gunships. A human tragedy has been born here from Pakistan’s war crimes. The human tragedy of Baloch and Pashtun has shaken the world’s conscience.

But Arundhati says that “Pakistan army was never used against its own people. Her statement not only makes her commitment to human rights questionable but also shows the complete disregard of Pakistan’s history.

Dr Allah Nazar Baloch said that Balochistan has been turned into a cantonment. On every five kilometres, Pakistani army outposts and camps are set up where the disgrace of honourable Baloch has become a commonplace. After the signing of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project agreements, the way the villages and settlements on its route are being bombed and destroyed by military operations, only those wearing Pakistani spectacles cannot see. Otherwise, the rest of the world can see clearly. All the people like Arundhati Roy have different options: whether they present their writings and speeches with truth or keep themselves ignorant of the circumstances and favour falsehood.

The responsibility of historians is the heaviest and the highest,” Dr Baloch said. They fuel the future in order to help future generations to choose the right path. In such a case, if a person like Arundhati Roy shuts her eyes on Pakistan’s conduct and forms her self-righteous opinion, then surely she is oblivious of her responsibilities.

This has greatly hurt the sentiments of Baloch people, especially the families of Baloch national martyrs and thousands of missing persons. The Baloch people hope that she will correct this mistake and do justice to history. And of course, the Bengali nation is expecting the same.

Allahabad High Court dismisses The Quint founder Raghav Bahl’s writ petition challenging IT-Dept’s action against him

OpIndia Staff
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Allahabad High Court dismisses The Quint founder Raghav Bahl’s writ petition challenging IT-Dept’s action against him

The Allahabad High court today dismissed Raghav Bahl’s writ petition challenging the Income Tax department for initiating action against him in a black money case.

The owner of ‘The Quint’ who has been testing rough waters after falling in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) radar, had filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High court challenging the show-cause notices sent to him and the subsequent actions taken against him by the ED after the federal agency had filed a case against the media baron under PMLA for undeclared foreign assets.

Bahl had submitted before the court that the purchase of the said London property was disclosed in the income tax returns for AY 18-19. Claiming that the I-T Dept had initiated the actions to tarnish his image in public eyes Raghav submitted before the court that he had been denied a personal hearing before the prosecution was initiated against him.

The revenue counsel, however, defended the I-T department’ actions, by arguing that there were contradictions in Bahl’s submissions.

The counsel had submitted that Bhal showed the London property as directly held asset in his Income Tax Return (ITR) for AY 18-19 after the prosecution has been launched under Black Money Act for under-reporting of investment in foreign assets by 2,73,000 British Pounds as well as for not disclosing the foreign bank accounts which were allegedly in the name of Bahl’s minor son.

The Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), a police FIR equivalent, was lodged by the federal agency in the month of June after taking cognisance of an Income Tax Department complaint against him and others.

The I-T Department had filed a charge sheet against Bahl before a court in Meerut under the provisions of the anti-black money law or the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act of 2015.

According to the IT department, Bahl has not disclosed his foreign assets, a property bought in London. The economic intelligence agency has sought details from the IT department regarding the offence allegedly committed by Bahl.

Bahl was served a Show-Cause notice on May 1, 2019, seeking information about the property and the source of funds for an investment made in that property.

On October 11, 2018, the IT officials had searched The Quint owner’s premises. Sleuths from the department had raided his residence in Noida to search for documents and other pieces of evidence related to the case.

Raj Kumar Modi, in an admission to the tax officials under oath, had alleged Bahl of using his shell company to launder money and evade tax. Modi is the Managing Director of PMC Fincorp, a shell company, which Bahl had allegedly invested money in.

Modi has reportedly made a statement to IT officials where he claimed that Bahl’s chartered accountant had given him ₹100 crores in cash “to convert into white”.

According to reports, Raghav Bahl and his wife have invested ₹3.03 crore in the penny stock company PMC Fincorp LTD. In spite of the company not indulging in any trade activity, the price of the shares shot up to ₹848/share in the next two years from the initial price of ₹5.50/share when Bahl had bought them. Bahl had then sold his shares following which the share prices appear to have crashed again.

However, in a press release, Bahl had denied the allegations levelled against him. He has asserted that every transaction had been fully disclosed and assessed to tax.

In fact, the entire left-leaning media had then come out in support of Bahl, crying political vendetta.

Bahl had claimed the money invested in the property is from the income on, which taxes have been duly paid. He also claimed the information has consistently been disclosed in the Foreign Asset Schedule of the Income Tax Returns of Raghav Bahl, his wife and children.

Gujjar community comes out on streets to protest against Pakistan after terrorists kill two civilians in Tral

OpIndia Staff
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Gujjar community comes out on streets to protest against Pakistan after terrorists kill two civilians in Tral

The Gujjar-Bakarwal community in Kashmir has come out to protest against Pakistan, accusing the neighbouring country of trying to fan communal tension in the valley.


Protesting against the gruesome killings of the two individuals, people from Gujjar community hit the streets in Srinagar to register their protest against Pakistan sponsored terrorism in the state. They asserted that Pakistan is trying to stoke communal tensions between Hindu-Muslims by sending terrorists in the Valley. The people of Gujjar community demanded from the government that the families of the two people killed in the state should be given Rs 20 lakh compensation each.

A member of the Gujjar community, who was protesting against the grisly murder said, “I want to say to all our leaders who are deliberately trying to paint a gloomy picture of Jammu and Kashmir that we are at peace. Pakistan should not interfere in our case. Pakistan should live by itself and let us live also. Two Gurjar people were killed without any reason. We are living peacefully in the state. Pakistan wants to disrupt Hindu-Muslim brotherhood.” He also demanded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to be given to the family of the deceased.

A couple of days back, Pakistan sponsored terrorists had abducted two individuals belonging to Gujjar community from the Tral area near Manshar Bhaik and were subsequently killed. Two Bhakerwals, named Abdul Qadeer Kohli and Manzoor Ahmed respectively, were reportedly abducted from their ‘Dhok’, a temporary shelter in the Tral region. Mutilated bodies of the Bhakerwals were found by the security forces from Tral forest.

Following the abrogation of Article 370 and subsequent bifurcation of the state into two union territories, there were reports claiming that Pakistan has upped its ante in fomenting unrest in the Valley by planning to carry out terror attacks in 7 Indian states including Jammu and Kashmir. The normalcy is gradually returning in the state and restrictions are being lifted in a phased manner, after evaluating the on-ground situation. However, smarting from India’s daring move, Pakistan continues to engage with terrorists in inciting unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.

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