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92-year-old Sikh man, who lost 22 family members to Partition violence, meets his surviving nephew Mohan Singh-turned-Afzal Khaliq in Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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92-year-old Sikh man, who lost 22 family members to Partition violence, meets his surviving nephew Mohan Singh-turned-Afzal Khaliq in Pakistan

Sarwan Singh, 92, a resident of Bahaudinpur village in Jalandhar, was overwhelmed with emotions when he met his nephew lost to the partition riots over 75 years ago at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, in Pakistan.

Sarwan’s nephew, Mohan Singh, then six years old, was separated from his family during the Partition riots in 1947, during which 22 of his family members lost their lives in the communal conflagration in Chak 37 village in Pakistan.

But Mohan somehow miraculously survived the onslaught unleashed in the wake of the partition when millions of Hindus and Sikhs were slaughtered by the Islamist supremacists who wanted to purge Pakistan of non-believers. However, survival came at a cost. Mohan Singh relinquished his faith and became Afzal Khaliq.

Seven and a half decades later, Mohan met his uncle and his daughter Rachhpal Kaur when the duo visited the resting place of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak. Both Sarwan Singh and Mohan (Afzal) were swept with emotions as the two found themselves short of words to express their pleasure over meeting each other after 75 years.

After returning from Pakistan, Sarwan said, “I cannot believe I found my nephew. There was no hope. God blessed me long age to meet him.”

He further added, “I wish he comes to India if both the governments agree to his visit.”

During the partition, Mohan and his family, who lived in modern-day Pakistan, were attacked by a group of rioters. While they slaughtered men, the women in the house jumped into the well to save their honour. Mohan had managed to flee from the place. He was raised by a Muslim family in Pakistan and was converted to Islam. 

Neither Sarwan nor Mohan knew they were related to each other until a Punjab-origin man, based out of Australia, Gurdev Singh, assisted the two families to unite after separately coming across their respective Partition accounts. Singh had watched a documentary, in which Sarwan Singh spoke about the identifying marks of the missing child. He had also seen the interview of one Partition victim based out of Pakistan, who had described a similar account of the ordeal that befell him. He managed to get the contact numbers of both the families and got them to speak over the phone.

After a day of political upheaval in Bihar, Nitish Kumar once again stakes claim to form the government

OpIndia Staff
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After a day of political upheaval in Bihar, Nitish Kumar once again stakes claim to form the government

A day of great political upheaval in Bihar ends with Nitish Kumar once again staking claim to form the government. After resigning from the post of Chief Minister earlier in the day and breaking the Janata Dal (United) alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nitish is set to return as the Bihar CM.

Returning to his Mahagathbandhan alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar has staked claim to form the government in front of Governor Phagu Chauhan. Congress and the communist parties are also going to support this alliance in government.

Nitish Kumar has said that they have the support of seven Mahagathbandhan parties, totaling 164 MLAs in the Bihar assembly.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is likely to be the deputy CM in this new government. It is notable that JDU-RJD alliance had formed the government in the state after the 2015 elections as well but that government couldn’t even complete 2 years as Nitish returned to BJP.

Nitish Kumar resigns and breaks alliance with the BJP in Bihar

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar resigned from his post as Bihar Chief Minister as the BJP-JDU alliance once again broke in the state. After days of speculations, Nitish Kumar resigned after meeting Governor Phagu Chouhan in the afternoon.

Nitish Kumar made the announcement of breaking the alliance with the BJP in front of JDU MLAs and MPs who had gathered in Patna for a meeting on this issue.

This is not the first time that JDU has broken its alliance with the BJP. The party walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2013 in protest against the announcement of Narendra Modi as the PM candidate. However, after a brief affair with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar re-entered an alliance with BJP in 2017.

The relationship between BJP and JDU has been strained since the last Bihar elections, but the tensions had been rising in recent days and the breaking point may have been former union minister RCP Singh’s resignation from JDU last weekend, calling it a sinking ship. JDU had called it BJP’s attempt to split the party through RCP Singh.

Modi government helps revive the only school in Delhi for Afghan refugees, school was struggling for funds after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

OpIndia Staff
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Modi government helps revive the only school in Delhi for Afghan refugees, school was struggling for funds after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

The only Afghan school in Delhi, Syed Jamaluddin Afghan High School, was given a second life by the PM Modi-led government a year after the government in Afghanistan collapsed in August last year. The school for Afghan refugees which is located at Jangpura, Delhi, faced an acute shortage of funds due to the Covid pandemic and government collapse in Afghanistan until the Ministry of External Affairs provided financial assistance to the school and ensured that it operated as usual.

According to the reports, Syed Jamaluddin Afghan School was first set up at Lajpat Nagar in 1994 and then shifted in the mid-2000s. It enrolls pupils from classes 1-12 and employs 32 Afghan teachers. The school used to receive funds from the Afghanistan Ministry of Education through the embassy in Delhi. However, due to a combination of factors, the school has been facing a shortage of funds since 2020.

The school began facing problems with the onset of the Covid pandemic and it escalated after the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban. The school didn’t have money to pay the teaching and non-teaching staffers, and later also could not afford the rent of the school premises at Jangpura.

“Problems had started even before the collapse of the previous regime in Afghanistan. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, funds were irregular and we were facing several challenges”, Nazir Ahmad Yosufi, board secretary of the school was quoted as saying. He added that after the government collapsed in Afghanistan, the board members and the staffers became hopeless which forced them to give away the school building.

Reports mention that the school could not pay the salaries of the staff members for 10 months and some of the board members sold their assets to meet the basic expenses. It is then that the Ministry of External Affairs came to the rescue and asked the board members to find a new place for the school to resume the offline classes. It also committed to looking after the other sundry expenses like the rent, teachers pay, administrative expenses, etc.

Following support and funding from the Narendra Modi government, the school officials are currently engaged in chartering a new road plan. The Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), which started the school in 1994, presently sponsors 257 students, the majority of whom are female. However, the number has significantly decreased from the previous 400. While 65 percent of the students are girls, the teaching staff comprises only women.

Yosufi cited the relocation of several refugee families to other nations as the reason why there are now fewer pupils admitted to the school. However, he added that from this year the school is seeing a boost in admissions. The school also has established several extra-curricular clubs to ensure that the children receive a well-rounded education. The school members also celebrated International Women’s Day at the school premises.

Navita Srikant, an international affairs expert who has worked closely with the school administration, stated that the administration is dedicated to the cause. “Mentoring and inspiring these children for creative activities beyond education which helps them express their emotions constructively has been a humbling experience,” Srikant was quoted.

The teachers of the school have also been introduced to a non-violent communication course to enhance the quality of teaching. “The centre’s efforts will become a landmark case study at UN inspiring other member states to make arrangements for education for Afghan Students, especially girls,” Srikant added.

Actor Satish Shah shares an image of the Indian flag his mother got during the quit India movement

OpIndia Staff
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Actor Satish Shah shares an image of the Indian flag his mother got during the quit India movement

On August 9, actor Satish Shah shared a photograph on the social media platform Twitter in which he was holding the Tiranga. Shah mentioned that the flag belonged to his mother who got it during Quit India Movement in 1942. He said, “The very same TIRANGA DHWAJ my mother had got during Quit India Movement 1942.”

Though a few netizens pointed out that the flag with Ashok Chakra was adopted shortly before the Independence in 1947 and before that the flag had Charkha at the centre, it does not take away the fact that he was very proud of having held on to this memento of Indian independence.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that the flag with Ashok Chakra was officially adopted as Indian National Flag, that is, in its present form, during the meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on 22 July 1947. However, the flag might have been used with Ashok Chakra before the said date. For example, an image attributed to from Quit India Movement in Karnataka from 1942 has a flag with Ashok Chakra at the centre. OpIndia could not verify the origin of the image.

OpIndia tried to connect to Satish Shah to get more information about the flag and his mother’s participation in the struggle for Independence but could not get a reply from him.

Tej Pratap Yadav gives ‘Muharram ki Badhai’ to Muslims of India, except it is the Muslim festival of mourning

OpIndia Staff
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Tej Pratap Yadav gives ‘Muharram ki Badhai’ to Muslims of India, except it is the Muslim festival of mourning

RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Tuesday extended greetings to Indian Muslims on the occasion of Muharram, the Muslim festival of mourning. 

Speaking to the media, Yadav said, “Desh bhar mein sabhi Musalman bhaiyon ko hum Muharram ki badhai dete hain” (I extend my wishes to all our Muslim brothers on Muharram).

Tej Pratap Yadav was not the only politician to commit the gaffe. Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who remains in controversy over his indiscreet comments, was subjected to online trolling after he wished “Happy Islamic New Year” on the day of Muharram. 

Soon after sharing the tweet, social media users slammed Chowdhury for wishing on essentially what is known as the festival of mourning. Many others wondered if Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was ignorant about the festival of Muharram, primarily observed by the Shia sect of Muslims. Subsequently, Chowdhury deleted his tweet after Muslims objected to his greetings on the festival of mourning.

According to the Islamic calendar, Muharram is considered the second holiest month after Ramadan. The 10th day of this month, known as Ashura, has special significance in Islam. The month of Muharram started on July 31, so August 9 happened to be Ashura. 

It is also known as Youm-e-Ashura. As per Islam, the 10th day of Muharram is the day of mourning. As per legends, about 1,400 years ago on this day, Hazrat Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, died while fighting a war in defence of Islam. Therefore, in his memory, Ashura is observed as a day of mourning by the Muslim community. 

Muharram literally translates to “forbidden” and marks a period of remembrance and reflection for the believers rather than celebrations. While Shias mourn the death of Imam Hussain, for Sunnis, it is the day when God saved Moses and the Israelis from the brutal Egyptian pharaoh by ‘parting the Red Sea’.

Memes, jokes flood the Internet as Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM, political drama ensues

OpIndia Staff
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Memes, jokes flood the Internet as Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM, political drama ensues

In a major political development, the NDA alliance in Bihar broke as Nitish Kumar of JDU resigned as chief minister of state. It is expected that he will again join hands with Lalu Yadav’s RJD and other left parties in the state to form government again. Amid all this, the Internet has exploded with memes and jokes on the ‘palti babu’ who has once again switched alliance.

Many think Nitish Kumar as opposition leader would like to portray himself as the PM candidate in upcoming 2024 elections. However, the ‘united opposition’ is far from united when it comes to the PM candidate as everyone wants to be the one to ‘defeat Modi’ which at this point seems quite unlikely.

Many feared that this may bring back the jungleraj, where under RJD rule, law and order situation in Bihar had hit rock bottom.

Nitish first formed alliance with BJP in 2005 and won elections. He won 2010 elections also in alliance with the BJP. In 2013 he snapped ties with BJP. In 2015, Nitish joined hands with RJD and contested elections and formed government. However, in 2017, the alliance broke and he formed government again with BJP alliance. He then contested 2020 elections in Bihar with JDU-BJP alliance and won and now, 2 years later, he again decided to break alliance with BJP and will likely form government with the RJD. It is because of this multiple flipflops that Nitish Kumar is called ‘Palti Kumar’ or as suggested by Twitter user, giving tough competition to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for u-turns.

Netizens also poked fun that this way, if Nitish Kumar keeps switching sides, he may lose everyone’s support. Though it is unlikely to happen in politics as there is never any permanent enemy or friend.

In fact, the jokes had started from last evening itself as early hints suggested he may break the alliance.

Some even joked that this perhaps would be ideal time to break the JDU as a party and make Nitish Kumar irrelevant like the Thackerays in Shiv Sena.

Meanwhile, as per latest reports, Nitish Kumar, along with Tejashwi Yadav has reached Raj Bhawan in Bihar where it is expected they would stake claim to form government and it is likely again that he will be chief minister of the state with just a different alliance partner.

‘Love Jihad’ case in Greece: Pakistani asylum seeker says he killed 17-year-old Nicoletta because she ‘spoke badly of the Quran’, asked him to become Christian

OpIndia Staff
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‘Love Jihad’ case in Greece: Pakistani asylum seeker says he killed 17-year-old Nicoletta because she ‘spoke badly of the Quran’, asked him to become Christian

The Greek Police who arrested an illegal Pakistani immigrant named Ahsan for murdering a 17-year-old girl in Peristeri revealed on Tuesday that the accused possessed four different identity documents with different names and age. The names on the four different identities appeared unique as they had variations in both his own and his parents’ names.

The first identity he possessed showed his name as Munasif Ashan born on the year July 23, 2001. The remaining three identity cards were in the name of Hasan Hasan, Shamin Akhtar, and Munasif Ashan with a different date of birth mentioned. The Police earlier said that the accused was 30 years old, but considering the 4 identity cards recently recovered, the officials stated that the age of the accused may be around 22 but is yet to be confirmed. The Police also revealed that he had his asylum application rejected.

According to the reports, the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum confirmed that the accused had filed an asylum request once, last July, which was rejected within 15 days, while he then filed a late appeal. Last week, the Pakistani accused, earlier identified as ‘Sunni’ had killed his 17-year-old girlfriend over an argument in Peristeri, Athens. He was hosted at the house of the victim who was staying with her mother and her sister. The teenage minor girl’s affair with the 30-year-old Pakistani man was reportedly objected to by her mother.

However, Nicoletta’s father while talking to the media had said that the duo was in a relationship for the past 10 months. The lawyer of the 17-year-old stated on August 8 that the accused was an illegal immigrant and was involved in illegal activities like cigarette smuggling. The lawyer also confirmed that his brother had testified before the authorities that Ahsan aka Sunni was a criminal.

“His abusive behavior against the 17-year-old is proven even before the act of intentional homicide, with evidence of violence against her. But this man had nothing to kill for, he had no inhibitions. This bipedal anthropomorphic monster had no moral inhibitions to stop him from doing evil. Unfortunately, the 17-year-old fell into his hands without knowing and without being able to resist. She fought for 7-8 minutes for her life but finally, she couldn’t be saved,” he added.

He also said that the relationship of the duo was opposed by the victim’s family considering his degraded behavior towards the 17-year-old girl. According to the reports, the accused had planned the murder as the incident happened last week when the parents of the victim were away from the house. He executed the murder and packed his clothes and left for Kilkis. “All this planning shows that the crime was premeditated”, the lawyer affirmed.

‘The accused operated coldly, deliberately, and showed no signs of dejection or remorse after committing the crime’

The forensic examination revealed that Nicoletta died from suffocation as the culprit covered her nose and lips. The victim’s death by suffocation took four to five minutes, and it seemed that she struggled a lot to survive. According to judicial officials, the accused operated coldly, deliberately, and systematically. His post-act behaviour showed no signs of anger, dejection, or remorse for the horrible murder of the young girl, as per reports.

The Police stated that the accused wasted no time in hurrying to vanish and make an attempt to depart Greece as soon as possible on the afternoon of the murder. During the investigation the accused also confirmed to the Police that he killed the girl after an argument. The accused was arrested along the border with North Macedonia while he was trying to reach Central Europe with illegal immigrants.

greek journalist Paul Antonopoulos shared that the Greek authorities had listed the accused Pakistani man for deportation in 2021, but they released him from the migrant camp during a ‘decongestion’ drive.

Reports mention that the accused had fled from the spot with his phone and with the victim’s phone. The police had issued an international warrant in the case and tracked the accused’s phone to arrest him along the border with North Macedonia.

Victim’s mother objected to the relationship, she wanted to break up

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother elaborating on the case stated that she had opposed Nicolleta’s relationship with the accused. The 17-year-old’s mother pointed out that the victim girl was receiving threats from the accused and revealed that a few days ago she asked to break up with him, thus giving a potential reason why he allegedly killed her. “They weren’t fighting. She was fine, but lately, she wanted to break up. She didn’t want it anymore. He killed my child and took my soul. I only ask for justice”, she quoted.

The Police officers during the investigation retrieved the data from the victim’s mobile phone to confirm that the girl had received threat messages from the accused. These communications, according to the investigation, were exchanged a few days before her death and after the girl informed the Pakistani man that she wanted to end her relationship with him.

The father of 17-year-old Nicoletta, who was discovered dead in her home in the Peristeri neighborhood of western Athens, is requesting the death sentence as fitting retribution for the killer of his daughter, who is thought to be a 22-year-old Pakistani. Her younger sister, who was the first to discover her dead, is distraught and unable to accept the fact that she would never see her again.

‘Accused says he killed her because she spoke badly of Quran’

Greek City Times reported on Wednesday, August 10 that the accused Pakistani man has revealed that he had wanted to get married to Nicoletta and had plans to have the wedding in Italy. As per the report, the accused has stated that he was asking Nicoletta to help him with his asylum application and she refused. Nicoletta reportedly asked him to become a Christian and ‘spoke badly of the Quran’.

The lawyer of Nicoletta’s family has stated that the murder was planned because the Pakistani man entered the house when nobody else was there and immediately after the murder, he did not waste a single minute contacting other Pakistanis and trying to get out of the country.

Nitish Kumar resigns from Bihar CM post as BJP-JDU alliance breaks in the state, JDU-RJD alliance set to return to form the government

OpIndia Staff
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Nitish Kumar resigns from Bihar CM post as BJP-JDU alliance breaks in the state, JDU-RJD alliance set to return to form the government

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned from his post as Bihar Chief Minister as the BJP-JDU alliance has once again fallen apart in the state. After days of speculations, Nitish Kumar resigned after meeting Governor Phagu Chouhan today afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar made the announcement of breaking the alliance with the BJP in front of JDU MLAs and MPs who had gathered in Patna for a meeting on this issue.

This is not the first time that JDU has broken its alliance with the BJP. The party walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2013 in protest against the announcement of Narendra Modi as the PM candidate. However, after a brief affair with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar re-entered an alliance with BJP in 2017.

As per sources, during the JDU meeting, all its MPs and MLAs supported Nitish Kumar’s decision to break the alliance and said that they will continue to support him in the future as well.

The relationship between BJP and JDU has been strained since the last Bihar elections, but the tensions had been rising in recent days and the breaking point may have been former union minister RCP Singh’s resignation from JDU last weekend, calling it a sinking ship. JDU had called it BJP’s attempt to split the party through RCP Singh.

Nitish Kumar is expected to partner with Rashtriya Janata Dal once again now, in a formula that is likely to see Nitish retain the CM’s chair while Tejaswi Yadav becomes deputy CM. Congress is also likely to be a part of this government, while communist parties have already extended their support to JDU-RJD alliance.

Congress back to hating Gujaratis, social media in-charge of Mahila Congress says they are only good enough to loot banks, not to win medals

OpIndia Staff
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Congress back to hating Gujaratis, social media in-charge of Mahila Congress says they are only good enough to loot banks, not to win medals

While the country is busy celebrating the stupendous performance of its athletes at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Congress couldn’t stop itself from using the occasion to once again target Gujarat and Gujaratis. Social media in-charge of Mahila Congress, Nattasha Sharrma, used this opportunity to say Gujaratis are only good for looting banks, and not to win medals.

As the Indian contingent returned from Birmingham after a highly successful games, Nattasha Sharrma took to her Twitter account and taunted Gujaratis by saying, “Has anyone from “Gujarat” also returned with a Gold Medal from the games? Or are they gold medallists only in looting banks and running away?”

Screenshot of Nattasha Sharma’s tweet

So proud of her mockery of Gujaratis was Sharrma, that she chose to retweet her own tweet after a while, to ensure more people can appreciate her “wit”.

Following her tweet, many social media users noted how this is not a new phenomenon and Congress always looks to insult Gujarat and Gujaratis.

One social media user Darshan Pathak tweeted, “No wonder Gujaratis have kept @INCIndia out of power since 1995.”

With Gujarat elections barely 5 months away, some users wondered if Congress is even planning to fight the elections there with their constant targeting of Gujaratis.

Few Congress supporters also couldn’t believe that such people are running the social media for their party.

Some helpful users even tried to educate Sharma that Gujaratis have returned from the games with medals as well, including Bhavina Patel who won a Gold in her Table Tennis event. However, Sharrma doubled down on her Gujarati hate even after that by retweeting her own tweet to share it again.

This is not the first time that Congress has needlessly tried to insult Gujarat and Gujaratis. Maybe they can’t tolerate that the state hasn’t voted Congress back to power in nearly 3 decades, or maybe because the state produced Narendra Modi who decimated Congress at the national level. Whatever may be the reason, this propaganda against Gujarat stems from the very top, and Nattasha Sharrma is not the first Congress leader to target the state.

MP: Mirchi Baba who performed yagna for the victory of Digvijaya Singh arrested on rape charges; the victim had approached him for a child

OpIndia Staff
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MP: Mirchi Baba who performed yagna for the victory of Digvijaya Singh arrested on rape charges; the victim had approached him for a child

Mahamandaleshwar Niranjani Akhada and Spiritual Guru Vairagyanand Giri Maharaj, a self-styled seer popularly known as Mirchi Baba, was arrested on Tuesday from Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on rape charges. 

According to the reports, Mirchi Baba was arrested from a hotel in the city in a joint action by the Bhopal Police and Gwalior Crime Branch, and handed over to the Bhopal Police, said Amit Sanghi, the Gwalior superintendent of police. 

Mirchi Baba was arrested after a middle-aged woman from Raisen filed a complaint to the Mahila Police station accusing him of raping her on the pretext of conceiving a child. 

Reportedly, the woman had approached the seer with the grievance that despite four years of marriage, she was still bereft of a child. In July this year, she visited the Baba to seek his blessings to have a child. When she confided about her grief to the seer, he asked her to come to him to offer havan and prayers for begetting a child. Under the pretext of prayers for conceiving a child, he reportedly drugged her and raped her, the complaint said.

The police have registered the case under section 376 of IPC.

It is worth noting that Vairagyanand Giri alias Mirchi Baba came into the limelight during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he performed a havan of five quintals of red chillies for the victory of Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh. Mirchi Baba had then vowed to take samadhi if Digvijaya Singh loses the elections. However, BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur emerged victorious in the polls. When people reminded him of his vow to take samadhi, he quietly retired from public life.

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