The ministry of external affairs has issued a strong reaction to the statement issued by Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in light of the Pulwama attack. Today the Pakistan PM had issued a video message, which appeared to be heavily edited. In the video, Imran Khan did not condemn the attack on CRPF convoy on February 14, but threatened India with dire consequences if it decides to attack Pakistan.
#WATCH MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar reacts to Pakistan PM’s statement on #PulwamaTerrorAttack, says ‘In this “Naya Pakistan”, Ministers publicly share platforms with terrorists like Hafiz Saeed who have been proscribed by United Nations’ pic.twitter.com/FjvQgQ9Z0u
Reacting to the statement, the ministry of external affairs has said “We are not surprised that the Prime Minister of Pakistan refuses to acknowledge the attack on our security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism. Prime Minister of Pakistan has neither chosen to condemn this heinous act nor condoled with the bereaved families.”. The MEA noted that Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed and the suicide bomber claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistan PM ignored the same. “It’s a well-known fact that JeM & its leader Masood Azhar are based in Pakistan. These should be sufficient proof for Pakistan to take action”, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Responding to Imran Khan’s offer to investigate the matter if India provides proof, MEA said that it is a lame excuse. The MEA added that even after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, proof of involvement of Pakistan based terrorists was given to them, but despite this the case not progressed for more than 10 years. Similarly, no progress has been made in the Pathankot attack case. Promises of “guaranteed action” ring hollow given the track record of Pakistan. In this “Naya Pakistan”, Ministers publicly share platforms with terrorists like Hafiz Saeed who have been proscribed by the UN, the statement issued by MEA read.
MEA also said that Pakistan’s claim of being the greatest victim of terrorism is not true, as the entire world knows that Pakistan is the nerve centre of terrorism.
It is regrettable that the Pakistani prime minister has insinuated that India’s response to the terrorist attack is determined by forthcoming general elections. India rejects this false allegation. India’ democracy is model for the world, which Pakistan could never understand. We demand Pakistan to stop misleading the international community, and to take credible and visible action against the perpetuators of the Pulwama terrorist attack and other terrorists and terror groups operating from under their control, the statement by MEA added.
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, issued a statement on the Pulwama Terror Attack perpetrated by the Pakistani Terror Outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad and threatened India with retaliation should our country pursue military action against them. Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Federal Minister for Pakistani Railways, went a step ahead later and commented that should anyone look at Pakistan in a negative manner, then “the eyes will be ripped out, the grass will not grow, the birds will not chirp and the bells won’t toll in Temples.”
The reference to Temples makes the nature of India’s war against Pakistan quite clear. The ‘secular’ establishment may continue denying the obvious but it is a fact acknowledged even by our sworn enemies that India is the custodian of the great Hindu civilization. Pakistan’s war against India is not motivated by territorial disputes or any differences that could be resolved by negotiations or dialogues. They are waging war against our identity, and our identity is Hindu.
The reference to Temples also speaks volumes about the nature of the Pakistani state. The country will never stop waging war against India. They will continue their war until the last Temple in Hindustan has been silenced until the last bell in the last Hindu Temple tolls no more.
In the aftermath of the Pulwama Terror Attack, the clouds of War have been gathering in the sky. And a fitting military response to Pakistan is considered a given considering the fact that we have Narendra Modi at the helm as Prime Minister. The peaceniks, of course, have been decrying war and singing paeans to peace and begging others to give peace a chance. But they forget peace can be achieved through negotiations only when two rational actors are sitting on the opposite ends of a table. And it will be utterly foolish to assume that people who are willing or sympathize with those who are, to blow themselves up for 72 virgins in Jannat are rational actors.
Peaceniks argue that the Surgical Strikes did not solve the menace of terrorism, then what would more military action serve? It’s extremely naive to assume that the conflict between Pakistan and India can be resolved with a single instance of military action and Prime Minister Modi recognizes that fact. The peaceniks must understand the war between Pakistan and India is merely a modern manifestation of the ancient war our ancestors have been waging for centuries.
The peaceniks ought to realize that the War between Pakistan and India can’t be resolved with one ‘strike’ or two. This war can’t be won in a year. This war can’t be won in 10. Heck, this war can’t be won in a hundred years. Our ancestors fought this war, previous generations of Independent India have fought this year, our generation is currently fighting this war and when we are dead and everyone we know is dead, the children of our children will be fighting this war. It’s a clash of Civilizations and we are in it for the long haul.
One of the many reasons why the Secular Indian State has been unable to resolve the Kashmiri dispute and the Pakistani problem is that our elites have shied away from their heritage, from our roots. We must recognize India for what it really is, unless we do, we are fighting an existential war with our hands tied behind our back.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the Legendary Hindu Monarch whose Jayanti it is today, once described the ideological predecessors of Pakistan, the Islamic invaders, as ‘Rakshasas in the guise of men’. Aren’t those the exact words which we would choose to describe people who hate us more than they love their own children? Isn’t that description apt for people who pelted stones at our soldiers when they lay wounded after the terrible Fidayeen attack? Is there any better description for people who harbour terrorists in their own soil, terrorists who rape, murder and slaughter their women and children? The Pakistanis are, as Shivaji Maharaj said, Rakshasas in the guise of men and negotiations with Rakshasas are destined to fail.
Sentiments are running high these days and people are clamouring for War. But we have to understand as a nation that it will be extremely optimistic to assume that the war we are waging today will be won in our lifetimes. We are not at War with merely a nation state, we are at war with an ideology that goes centuries back.
However, there is no cause for despondency. We have lost many good men in this war and it breaks our heart as it should. But the blood of every Indian that has been spilt in this War, and our ancestors before, should galvanize us and only strengthen our resolve for the battles yet to come. It was not a war of our own making, we did not choose this war. It was a War that was imposed upon us. But if the abodes of our Gods are threatened and the dignity of our people is challenged, we shall fight.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, who has expressed his desire to silence the Bells in our Temples, would do well to remember that many of his ilk before have attempted to do the same and failed miserably. The Hindu Civilization has suffered a lot, yes, but whenever Adharma ran rife, the great women of this great nation birthed great heroes who restored Dharma in our sacred land. Our Temples were here long before his ilk set foot upon the Earth and long after they are gone, they shall still be here. We shall not surrender our civilization and its people to barbarism, terrorism and fanaticism.
Sometimes, the right to criticize religious bigotry is both necessary and compelling. Secular preachers practising the unwritten blasphemy law normally, use this phrase: “It’s not moderate Muslims’ fault.” and prevent any criticism of ‘Islamic Jihad.’
In the celebration of being a celebrity, even sharp people sometimes unwittingly or otherwise echo the Left-liberal-cabal and fall into their trap.
The whole discussion would end the moment the so-called “Moderate Muslims” start despising the actions unequivocally, without any ifs and buts, without any paradoxical attempt to detach ‘Islamic-Jihad’ from Islam. But no.
Instead, those who have an audience defend such behaviour by saying, “people who indulge in such acts cannot be Muslims, The Quran does not teach that.” Also, the rest ask: “why would you want to criticize religion if it causes so much hassle?”
My answer to them is -look back at history. From the last quarter of the 12th Century, from Somnath to Martand Sun Temple, from Kashi to Mathura to Ayodhya, both the Quran and Sharia only provided the basis for enforcing Islamic destruction of Hindus and Hindu civilization.
Not so long ago, when key Jihad ideologues Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki were dead, and the Arab streets embraced peaceful uprisings unseating entrenched regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, the secular preachers hailed the end of global jihad movement.
The new dawn, we were told, was breaking.
Soon occurred a series of events of horrifying reality – the terrorist siege of the Westgate (Kenya), a suicide attack outside a church in Peshawar, in Baluchistan province and Iraq, killing scores over that weekend. The Nexus and network of the perpetrators can’t be missed.
The briefest and concerted resurgence of the global jihad can be easily traced to the conflict in the Levant. Today ISIS and its affiliates have attracted foreign fighters from across the world because the Quran & Sharia provide the basis for galvanizing the global jihad movement.
However, the politicians across the world, consistent in their message that “terrorism, is a global threat” avoid saying that it is Islamic terror which is a global threat. If we do not start being honest in identifying the sources of terror, we will never defeat it.
Some imperceptive “war on terror” without getting to the root is doomed to fail. The public opinion considers the subject too unfashionable, too confusing and on them, weariness has descended. The mainstream media knows it and leads the way in their consistent and willful censorship.
The censorship has gotten so bad that both the news and government agencies bend over backwards not to bring Islam into the picture, even if the perpetrator of a terror act has admitted to acting in the name of Islam. Watch this video:
In this interview of Islamist Geelani, where he keeps on saying Kashmir is a religious issue, but the interviewer, a secularist, keeps on asking in different ways: ‘but is it not a political, economic, and social issue? Anything but religious!
The dishonesty and pusillanimity of the mainstream media and secularists in addressing this critical issue of identifying Islamic terrorism as Islamic will spell doom for the free world. Today Islamic terror continues relatively unabated, with shocking appeasement of all kinds.
Principally, all such laws restricting criticism of any religion should be rejected at once. If we wish to be entirely fair, all terrorism and violence done in the name of any religion should be identified as such. Be it Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism or Islam.
The fact that it is the Quranic teachings which is the root of much of the world’s terror.
As we might guess, these are some of the Islamic teachings that continue to drive Islamic Jihad. Wouldn’t these teachings constitute hate speech under the same laws that are being tossed up all over the place to protect Islam?
We need to acknowledge that such double standards will ultimately harm Muslims the most. Insulating a religion from criticism, surrounding it with an electric fence called “respect” keeps it stunted at its most infantile and fundamentalist stage.
I have many Muslim friends and colleagues whom I interact for the better part of the day. These are all very nice guys. They also respond the same way, the moment there is an incident in the name of Islam by fundamentalists: “These guys cannot be Muslims.” A daily routine of unconscious censorship.
The majority, that is the smart, questioning and instinctively moral Muslims learn to be silent or are shunned. I believe that the Muslims in India are safe and secure enough to deal with these tough questions. It is condescending to treat the Muslims like excitable children, assuming they cannot cope with the same probing and mocking treatment we hand out to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists. Let them deal with it.
Ever thought what would Christianity be like today had Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain et al. been pulped?
However, there is now a pincer movement trying to silence critical discussion of Islam and Islamist Jihad. On one side, the fundamentalist fanatics threaten to kill you, and on the other, the secularists call you Islamophobic, to stifle any criticism of Islam.
Ignoring the threat of domestic radicalization and international terrorism won’t make it go away. The leaders and politicians should address it loud and clear, for which they also need the support of the “Moderate Muslims.”
In my opinion, it is their fault too, if they don’t understand that merely opposing ISIS is not enough. As true moderates, they need to resist the idea of a religious state of any kind and extend support to real democracy, support freedom of speech and universal human rights.
It is time we threw the political correctness in the garbage bin, where it belongs, and called out those who wish to insulate any religion from criticism using the bogey of moderate Muslims.
The tomato growing farmers of Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh have decided to not export their produce to Pakistan. The decision comes in the wake of the ghastly attack by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad in which 40 CRPF soldiers lost their lives.
As a mark of respect for the fallen and to protest against Pakistan’s wicked machinations, the farming community in Jhabua’s Petlawad arrived at the conclusion of not exporting their tomatoes to a country which indulges in killing India’s soldiers. There are approximately 5000 farmers engaged in tomato cultivation in the region. CM Kamal Nath had Tweeted in appreciation of the farmers’ exemplary display of solidarity.
Ravindra Patidar, one of the farmers was quoted by Indiatimes saying, “We grow tomatoes here and we also export them to Pakistan. They eat our tomatoes and yet attack our Army soldiers. Pakistan should be destroyed.” He further added that they are no longer concerned with bearing losses. “If there will be no soldiers, how will we survive,” he said. It is notable here that the tomatoes from the region are sold at a much higher price in Pakistan than in India.
Earlier on Saturday, tea exporters’ body had also declared that they are ready to stop export to Pakistan if the government stops bilateral trade. The exporter’s body has asserted that they are willing to bear the losses, asserting that for them their country takes precedence over the profits. They also extended their support to the central government in case of any retaliatory actions against Pakistan.
India had already started concentrating on its efforts on isolating Pakistan internationally. It has also withdrawn the Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan and levied 200% customs duty on the Pakistani goods imported. This is expected to result in a massive economic and trade shock to the already near-bankrupt state of Pakistan.
In what appears as a doctored pre-recorded video message by the Pakistani PM Imran Khan, the terror state’s PM has indulged in mouthing off hackneyed assertions that Pakistan itself has been a victim of Terrorism and that he ‘guarantees’ action against the perpetrators if any actionable evidence is shared with his government. There was not a shred of condemnation either expressed or felt in Imran Khan’s demeanour in the video.
The message seems not only pre-recorded but also heavily censored in many instances. Khan started with alleging that Pakistan was busy preparing for Saudi crown prince’s visit for his investment conference and that it was not in Pakistan’s interest to orchestrate such an attack and sabotage the crucial conference.
At around 1:14 in the video, it can be clearly observed that the Pak PM Imran Khan while prattling on about his country being the biggest victim of terrorism spoke something that was unpalatable to his handlers in Pakistan Army and ISI and hence was abruptly edited out there. Imran Khan claimed that 70000 Pakistanis have lost lives due to terrorism in Pakistan and was about to make a leading point to it when the video was cut.
Then he waffles about how it is not in the interest of Pakistan to have a strained relationship with India. He further pushed the blame of the tragedy as indigenous Kashmir upheaval. Just when Khan agrees to have an investigation to determine any Pakistani’s involvement in the attack, at 2:24 the video is abruptly cut, connecting it to a point where Imran Khan trots out the familiar stance of presenting an actionable evidence to Pakistan and he will ensure a ‘guaranteed’ action against the perpetrators.
Again at 2:55, Imran Khan claims that whenever Pakistan approaches India for talks, India keeps a precondition of talking about terrorism first, the video is edited right there, continuing with Imran Khan’s approval that Pakistan too wants to end the terrorism. The video is censored again at 3:20 when Pak PM threatens India of retaliation if it attacks Pakistan, “Pak won’t just think about retaliating but it will retaliate,” he said.
Towards the end from 4:00 onwards, the video appears somewhat unedited as Pak PM Imran Khan continues to threaten India with dire consequences if it decides to attack Pakistan. Foreshadowing disaster, Imran alleges that starting a war is easy but ending it is very difficult and catastrophic.
Throughout the video, Pakistan PM Imran Khan has not once condemned the dastardly attack on the Indian soldiers in Pulwama that claimed 44 lives. Instead, Pakistan PM appeared to emphasise more on Pakistan being the biggest victim of terrorism.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath (L) , Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh headed by Kamal Nath has taken a massive u-turn on the issues of the Mandsaur police firing and plantation of 6 crore saplings, which the Congress party had effectively used to target the previous BJP government during the assembly elections.
According to reports, on Monday, Madhya Pradesh Home minister Bala Bachchan speaking in the assembly admitted that police opened fire in Mandsaur “following standard procedure norms, in self-defense. Further, Forest Minister Umang Singhar also clarified that there were no financial irregularities in the plantation drive conducted along the Narmada banks.
While replying to the question of a fellow Congress MLA Harsh Vijay Gahlot, Minister Bachchan said, “On June 6, 2017, police firing at Bahi Chaupati on Mhow-Neemuch Road in the absence of an executive magistrate, was done by complying to SOP for self-defense. It was to protect government and private property. The order was given by SDM Malhargarh, Sharavan Bhandari in Pipliya Mandi.”
On government action on the Justice Jain report, Bachchan said, “The report is being reviewed and appropriate legal action will be taken after examining the findings.” The Jain report had mentioned regarding the “communication gap” between farmers and officials.
The report had said, “The administration wasn’t aware of their demands and did not make any effort to find out. But, the district administration wasn’t in a position to address demands that farmers should get better prices or a loan waiver. Thus, police firing on June 6 was necessary and legal.”
Congress party had used the tragic incidents at Mandsaur to indulge in politics as they had targetted the Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s BJP government before the elections claiming that the state government had deliberately attacked farmers at Mandsaur.
Congress minister Jitu Patwari, who had accompanied AICC chief Rahul Gandhi during his Mandsaur visit in June 2018 had said, “Those who fired at the farmers in Mandsaur shouldn’t be spared.” Patwari, who became Minister after Congress won in Madhya Pradesh had said on December 25, 2018, that the Congress government will “reopen the Mandsaur investigation”.
After the Congress’s U-turn, BJP has hit out at Congress and has asked the Congress to publicly apologise for its fake propaganda. “It was Congress’s planned propaganda to attack BJP over the farmer issue. They misguided farmers and the entire country during assembly elections,” said BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal.
Similarly, the Narmada plantation issue was raked up during the state elections as Congress had alleged that there were irregularities in the plantation drive. However, Minister Singhar on Monday said in the House, “The state government has not found any irregularity or misappropriation of funds during the plantation drive on the banks of holy river Narmada. The department has issued instructions to examine the condition of saplings planted on July 2, 2017. There is no question of investigating the matter.”
Congress had created a political controversy to target the BJP government after the then state government led by BJP said it had planted 6 crore saplings along the Narmada. Congress had reacted by saying that it was a big scam in the name of Narmada. “It’s a big scam in the name of Narmada. It’s not only the question of planting 6 crore saplings but also how much expenditure was incurred on it?” the then Congress president Kamal Nath had asked in May 2018. Interestingly, it is his minister who has given a clean chit to the BJP government.
BJP launched a scathing attack on Congress for “misguiding people”. “Now, the forest minister admitted that there was no financial irregularity or misappropriation. Congress must apologize in public for its fake propaganda against BJP,” said Agrawal.
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh seems to have mastered the art of taking ‘U-turns’ as the Kamal Nath led government has failed to implement its promise of unconditional farm loan waivers in the state. Soon after coming to the power, Kamal Nath had taken a ‘U-turn’ by setting conditions for the farmers to be eligible for farm loan waiver.
The politics of farm loan waivers has already taken the lives of a few farmers in life after the state government failed to write off their loans. Reportedly, a massive loan-waive scam has also been brewing in the state of Madhya Pradesh after reports emerged that various beneficiaries listed by the government eligible for farmer loan waiver did not even exist in reality. Many discrepancies and irregularities are already being unearthed in the loan waiver schemes.
Following the ghastly terror attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 which claimed lives of 44 Indian soldiers, as the nation mourned, some floated conspiracy theories while few celebrated the deaths of our soldiers. Even before the tears could dry up, a narrative was being built to whitewash the terrorist. There were more stories about the terrorist who blew himself up with 350 kg of explosive to reach ‘Jannat’ by killing those who ‘drink cow urine‘ than the ones who were killed.
The Times of India referred to the terrorist as a ‘local youth’ and was upset that India was ‘pinning the blame’ on Pakistan. This despite the fact that Jaish-e-Mohammad, a terror organisation nurtured and protected by Pakistan on its soil, took responsibility of the attack. Articles by The Wire and Scroll which informed us that Adil was just an ordinary young boy who wanted to become a Maulvi were shared by many people from Pakistan.
However, when reports of people celebrating the attack came, they were in a fix. How far can one play the Freedom of Speech card? That is when the diversion technique comes into play.
Fake news and rumours were spread that Kashmiri girls were ‘trapped’ inside a hostel in Uttarakhand as a mob stood outside baying for their blood. Amongst them, pioneering the rumourmongering was JNU freelance protestor Shehla Rashid, who was earlier accused of running away with funds collected for Kathua case. Even when Uttarakhand Police refuted the rumours, Shehla stood by her rumour and in turn accused Uttarakhand Police of ‘gaslighting’ the victims. Eventually, an FIR was registered against her for spreading rumours.
Anguished and angered by such instances, especially those calling for war against India and justifying the killing of the jawans, a group of youngsters had come together to report social media profiles to law enforcement agencies. A bunch of people on social media reached out to the educational institutes and companies these people who got into a celebratory mode after the terror attack and questioned them regarding their policies. You see, just as Adil Ahmed Dar, who was a local youth indulging in harmless stone-pelting graduated to driving an explosive-laden car on a suicide mission, who can guarantee that these keyboard ‘revolutionaries’ will not blow themselves up at the sight of ‘militant Hanuman‘? Many colleges and companies suspended these individuals, asking them to explain themselves about their action on the terror attack.
That is when the tectonic shift happened in the narrative. Now that they cannot quite defend the indefensible (after all, he just blew himself up and killed 44 soldiers). So now, under the garb of ‘Kashmiris are under threat’, they decided to save those who are celebrating terror attack by downplaying it and calling it ‘questioning the government’.
One of such attempts to report the offenders was a Facebook page called ‘Clean The Nation’, which was allegedly deleted by Facebook yesterday. Although it’s not known if Facebook deleted the page, the page and its administrators came under attack from Left-leaning website Scroll.
The website tried to paint the Facebook page as involved in targeted harassment while giving ‘context’ to messages of those who were reported for celebrating a terror attack. Not just contextualizing, Scroll article dishonestly and selectively picked up messages where the government was criticized and left the ones where there was an open celebration of jawan’s death to insinuate that page administrators were indulged in targeting citizens for their unfavourable views on Modi government.
One more scumbag down
FIR Lodged against Samajwadi Party Memeber Ravi Prakash Maurya for feeling proud of Terrorist
Samajwadi Party Spokesperson @rohini_sgh must be proud of such criticism by her party Member
OpIndia reached out to the page administrators, who expressed shock that they were maligned for merely reporting an act – that comes under crime as per various acts such as the IT act, sedition law, and the IPC – and were put under risk of being attacked by terror sympathizers. Madhur, one of the administrators of the group, said, “We created the group to expose break India forces. We reported to the authorities and they took action. I think so-called liberals noticed that the nationalists are uniting and this may hamper their livelihood.”
Reacting to the article published by Scroll, whitewashing the celebrations, Ashutosh Vashisht said, “It is unfortunate that Scroll will stoop so low to cherry-pick on the messages shared in the group. One Kashmiri student had updated WhatsApp status praying for ‘Shahadat’ (martyrdom) of the terrorist. Another professor of a university in Guwahati had justified the attack on our jawans by claiming that the security forces have carried out atrocities against people in the valley. How is that okay? How do these so-called ‘atrocities’ justify the terror attack on our soldiers?”
Speaking on the accusations of doxxing (revealing personally identifiable information about an individual with a malicious intention), Vashisht said, “The ones who are accusing us of doxxing today were cheering when Pratik Sinha had revealed identities of anonymous users on Twitter just because they were making memes and couldn’t take a joke.”
“So if one of them does reveal identities of those who crack jokes on them, it is ‘fact-checking‘, but if we report to law enforcement agencies about those who want to celebrate attack on India, we are the bad ones,” added Ashutosh.
Essentially, these activists resorted to the law. They saw something which goes against the interests of the country according to the Indian Penal Code and reported it to relevant authorities. They also intimated their respective employers about these illegalities. While emotions ran high, these activists resorted to nothing that was beyond the scope of the law. Today, it would seem like these activists reporting illegality is a far more heinous crime than blowing people up with explosives or celebrating the cold-blooded murder of our soldiers by Pakistan sponsored terrorists. Scroll did not care about the fact that while the activists reported these elements to proper police authorities, they outed their identity to violent radical mobs. They fed their identities to those who celebrated Jaish-e-Mohammad.
That the activists did was legal, as the celebration of an attack on India is sedition – a crime – as well as such comments are a crime under IT laws and other section of IPC. They were reporting to law enforcement agencies, unlike Scroll, which has essentially outed their profiles to criminals. One wonders then, is that how severe their hate for India is?
The International Court of Justice is hearing a plea to release Kulbhushan Jadhav who has been lodged in a Pakistani jail on the charges of spying. Jadhav was awarded death penalty by a Pakistani court in 2017. The hearing started yesterday when India presented its case. Today advocate Khawar Qureshi started submission on behalf of Pakistan, contesting the arguments made by India yesterday.
And in a huge surprise, the Pakistani advocate used articles published in Indian media to make its case, to prove that Kulbhushan Jadhav was indeed a spy. The Pakistani side quoted an article written by Journalist Karan Thapar in The Indian Express in 2017, where he had questioned the stand on Ministry of External Affairs in regard to Jadhav.
After that, Qureshi quoted another article journalist written by Praveen Swamy in January 2018 for Frontline. In an article titled India’s secret war, Swamy had argued that “it is impossible for India to deny he is who he says he is”, and had claimed that Jadhav was indeed on an espionage mission in Pakistan.
The Pakistani advocate also quoted another article from India media, an article by Chandan Nandy published in The Quint. Nandy had alleged that Jadhav has two passports, one in his own name and another with the name Hussein Mubarak Patel, and this was presented as a proof that he was working for RAW in Pakistan.
All these articles were widely quoted by Pakistani media, as proofs that the claims of Pakistan are true.
This is not the first time comments published by Indian media was used against India in a court outside the country. During the hearing for Vijay Mallya’s extradition in London, Mallya’s lawyers had extensively used articles published against then CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana in trying to prove that the case against Mallya was politically motivated. The London court had rejected those arguments and ordered the extradition of Mallya to India.
Controversial journalist Barkha Dutt has been complaining of harassment recently and has sought help from Delhi Police on Twitter to resolve the matter. In her tweet, she claimed that a sender had confirmed to her that her number was being circulated in groups.
Deluged with what’s app messages since yesterday that are abusive and threatening. Seems an organized hate campaign against some of us. One sender confirms my mobile number being circulated in groups. @DelhiPolice bringing this to your attention. pic.twitter.com/7FAfPoYmm4
However, in a tweet Dutt had posted herself on social media the previous day, she had advertised that her number was online and available to Kashmiris who needed help or ‘felt vulnerable’. Therefore, it appears that she was fully aware that her number was public.
My number is online and my DMs & doors are open to any #Kashmiris who need help or feel vulnerable. Those abusing and vilifying innocent citizens are sympathisers of terrorists in the garb of nationalists. They are reading from a script of hate which is totally what Jaish wants
She was also called out for first claiming that Kashmiri students are facing violence and after no cases of attck or violence was found, claiming victimhood over lewd messages.
Barkha shared her phone number, opened her DM.
Obviously she didn’t get any message from Kashmiris. Because no Kashmiris were hurt.
She got some angry messages for spreading fake narrative.
Barkha has claimed that she has been receiving lewd messages and harassment after her number, which was online as per her own account, began circulating on social media. Although the harassment she suffered was condemned by everyone, she was criticized heavily for politicising the issue by claiming that the obscene image of a circumcised male genital she received was sent “in the name of nationalism”.
The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath seems to be winning the war against Encephalitis as deaths due to the deadly epidemic disease has dramatically dropped by 66 percent in the 14 most-affected East Uttar Pradesh districts in 2018, reported Economic Times.
According to the reports, on Monday, Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh informed the UP assembly in a written answer that 187 people died due to encephalitis in 2018 against 553 such deaths in 2017. The number of encephalitis cases reported in 14 most affected districts of Eastern UP significantly dropped from 3817 in the year 2017 to 2043 cases last year.
The UP health minister said that doctors were able to save more patients compared to previous years. As every seventh patient admitted for encephalitis died during treatment in 2017, the casualty rate declined to every eleventh patient in 2018. The Minister also added that till 11 February 2019, no person has died due to encephalitis out of the reported 35 cases.
The UP government has attributed measures like early vaccination, segregating pigs from affected habitation, immediate response teams for fogging to stop outbreak, convincing parents to not let their kids sleep on the mud floor, drinking water from an ‘India Mark-2’ tap or hand pump, and calling the 108 ambulance helpline immediately if they find any symptoms as having helped in reducing the death toll.
Encephalitis is one of the biggest public health problems in Uttar Pradesh. It has killed thousands of children in the last 30 years. Soon after coming to power, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recognised the seriousness of the health issue and fighting the epidemic was made the top agenda of the UP government.
The UP government had launched the Dastak programme in February 2018, with an aim to immunise every child under 15 years of age and carry out widespread sanitation and awareness programmes. The campaign was planned as a holistic programme to educate and provide facilities to the families, not only for vaccination but also for the prevention and treatment of the disease.
With regards to the drive, Yogi Adityanath had stated that, for the 38 districts of UP affected by the disease the state health department would be made the nodal agency and other departments like urban development, Panchayati Raj, Women, and Child Welfare, Rural Development, Medical Education, Animal Husbandry and basic education departments would work under them.
The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had praised the Uttar Pradesh government led by CM Yogi Adityanath for successfully immunising all children of the state against Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.
Encephalitis is a life-threatening disease causing acute inflammation of the brain. A person afflicted with encephalitis requires serious medical attention. This disease can occur to people of any age group but children and elderly are more likely to be afflicted with the disease. It is caused due to bacterial infection, parasites or may be prompted by other infectious diseases. Encephalitis is a non-communicable disease.
