In yet another case of Grooming Jihad, a youth named Atif posed as a Hindu by using a Hindu name to befriend a minor Hindu girl on social media in the Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh. Filing the complaint at the Gopiganj police station, the family of the minor girl has accused Atif of entrapping the minor girl into a love affair by posing as a Hindu, then establishing physical relations with her.
The family said that Atif then allegedly took compromising photographs with her which he used to blackmail her to force her to convert to Islam. He threatened the girl that he will make these objectionable pictures go viral on social media if she did not agree to convert to Islam. He also allegedly tried to extract money from the minor girl.
The incident was reported on Saturday (July 10, 2021). According to reports, the victim narrated her ordeal to her family members after which they lodged a complainant at the Gopiganj police station against Atif. The police, in turn, started investigating the case and arrested the accused.
Atif was arrested by the police on Friday.
Despite pressurisation, neither did the minor girl convert nor did she marry the accused: Uttar Pradesh Police
Bhadohi Superintendent of Police Rambadan Singh said: “Atif (21), befriended the minor girls on social media and entrapped her into a love affair. He clicked obscene pictures of the girl, which he then used to pressurise her to convert to Islam and extract money out of her. The accused kept threatening the victim to leak her personal pictures on social media.”
Rambadan Singh also confirmed that despite being pressurised, neither did the minor girl convert nor did she marry the accused. He also informed that police recorded the girl’s statement on Friday (9 July 2021) and based on it, police are investigating the case.
The Madhya Pradesh state culture minister and Mhow MLA Usha Thakur has informed on Saturday that the work to make a Gaushala (cow-shed) and an Anganwadi on the 70-bigha plot, vacated from the alleged illegal possession of Christian missionaries in Khurda village in Mhow Tehsil in Indore District of Madhya Pradesh, is in progress and would soon be completed.
Post completion, the Gaushala and Anganwadi would be handed over to a women’s self help group (SHG) for them to operate it, said the Madhya Pradesh minister.
Speaking on the issue of forced religious conversion by the Christian Missionaries, the minister said that the government in Madhya Pradesh is building Primary Health Centres so that people don’t have to go to missionaries for treatment. Because either on the pretext of providing education or medical treatment, they make people victims of religious conversion, said the Mhow minister, adding tha strict law has been made against religious conversion in the state. “Such heinous crimes will not be tolerated in Madhya Pradesh. Missionaries provide funds to anti-social elements who are involved in dividing the country”, Usha Thakur was quoted by ANI as saying.
Strict law has been made against religious conversion. Such heinous crimes will not be tolerated in Madhya Pradesh. Missionaries provide funds to anti-social elements who are involved in dividing the country: Madhya Pradesh Minister Usha Thakur (10.07) pic.twitter.com/iHHNI7nMOu
Besides talking about the construction of the gaushala and Anganwadi, and forced religious conversion by Missionaries, there were few other queries like the implementation of the uniform civil code and the perennial problem of dumping of industrial waste in water bodies, that the minister also answered.
Assuring that the uniform civil code would be introduced shortly in the country, the minister said that prayers of the countless numbers of women who had kept a day’s fast for the introduction of the law would be answered soon. Thakur called the introduction of the uniform civil code in the country the “most vital thing for the unity, integrity and pride of the country”.
Speaking on industrial waste, the minister said an FIR had been registered in connection with the dumping of chemical-laced industrial waste in Ajnar river. Officials had earlier informed that not just the river but even underground water sources in the vicinity had got contaminated due to this incident.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah stoked a massive controversy earlier this week after he jumped in support of a fellow Congress leader who was arrested for wishing death for Indian Army soldiers.
On Wednesday, the Udupi Police had arrested Congress leader Radhakrishna Naik over his defamatory social media post abusing the Indian Army soldiers. Radhakrishna Naik is said to be a Congress leader from the Udupi district.
In his Facebook post, Congress leader Naik had not only abused Indian soldiers but also had asked Pakistan Army to kill Indian soldiers mercilessly. In addition, the Congress leaders had referred to Indian soldiers as ‘prostitutes’.
Congress leader Radhakrishna Naik’s derogatory Facebook post/ Image Source: Wali
According to reports, Congress leader Radhakrishna Naik had put out this derogatory post a few months back. However, after facing a massive outrage, the Congress leader left the town and was on the runs since then. A few days back, Naik returned to Karkala near Udupi, from where he was picked up by the police.
Later, the accused claimed that Karkala Police beat him up. He was later admitted to a private hospital in the city. Following the allegations, the Udupi SP has ordered an inquiry.
In his support, on Friday, Siddaramaiah tweeted in Kannada, saying, “Overlooking his ill health, based on a fake old case, the police tortured him”. The Former Chief Minister also demanded an enquiry into alleged attacks against the “aggrieved” Congress leader.
ಕಾರ್ಕಳದ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತ ರಾಧಾಕೃಷ್ಣ ನಾಯಕ್ ಮೇಲೆ ನಡೆದ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ದೌರ್ಜನ್ಯ ಖಂಡನೀಯ.
ಇವರ ಅನಾರೋಗ್ಯವನ್ನೂ ಲೆಕ್ಕಿಸದೆ, ಹಳೆ ಸುಳ್ಳು ಕೇಸ್ ಆಧರಿಸಿ, ಪೊಲೀಸರು ದೌರ್ಜನ್ಯ ನಡೆಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಉಡುಪಿ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ವರಿಷ್ಠಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ತನಿಖೆ ನಡೆಸಿ ನೊಂದ ಯುವಕನಿಗೆ ನ್ಯಾಯ ಒದಗಿಸಬೇಕು.@DgpKarnatakapic.twitter.com/8zjPtLu3Lm
As Siddaramaiah stepped in support of the Congress leader, BJP stepped up attacks against the former CM, saying that he had always worked with people who frequently issued anti-national statements.
BJP leader and Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar slammed Siddaramaiah, saying the Congress leader had earlier supported KG Halli riots, Mangaluru clashes, murder of Hindu workers etc.
“A few days back, a Congress worker has insulted the Indian Army on social media. Few people complained to the police about this. Ex-CM Siddaramaiah has supported him, and I’m surprised. The accused has said Pakistan should come and kill Indian soldiers. Siddaramaiah supports traitors, and it is not the first time. During Mangalore riots, same Siddaramaiah supported SDPT and PFI,” the BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders have demanded action against Siddaramaiah for speaking in support of the person who posted derogatory comments against the soldiers of the country. The BJP leaders have urged the police officials to file a sedition case against former CM for “helping in treason and instigating to commit treachery and publishing lies on social media”.
Microblogging site Twitter, which has locked horns with the Indian government over the new IT rules, has now appointed Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer.
Twitter Grievance Officer
Twitter, on Thursday, had informed Delhi High Court that it will need eight weeks to appoint chief compliance officer. Vinay Prakash, Twitter’s Resident Grievance Officer in India, can be contacted on the email id: [email protected].
Twitter had previously appointed Dharmendra Chatur as its interim resident grievance officer for India as required by the IT rules. However, Chatur stepped down last month.
Twitter vs Indian Government
Tech giant Twitter and the Indian government have been fighting a bitter battle over the recently passed IT Rules that made it mandatory for the social media platforms to have compliance officers residing in India so that the concerns can be addressed quickly. Twitter has been accused of abusing its position for long and acting against the laws that have irked the Indian government multiple times.
Despite multiple warnings and notices, Twitter had failed to comply with the new IT rules. As a result, it lost its legal protection as an intermediary in India. Several cases have been filed against the company in different states over the content posted on the platform.
It is notable here that other tech companies like Facebook and Google had already complied with the new IT rule.
On Wednesday (July 7), as many as 60 Hindus were mass converted to Islam in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
A man, identified as one Abdul Rauf Nizamani, has been the facilitator of the mass conversion process. In a Facebook post, the accused rejoiced, “Alhamdullilah aj meri nigrani me 60 log musalman hui hain inke liye dua karen (Today, 60 people accepted Islam under my watch. Please pray for them.”
Screengrab of the visuals from the mass conversion
According to the Facebook profile of Abdul Rauf Nizamani, he is the Chairman of the Municipal Committee in Matli in Sindh of Pakistan. The accused boasts of a whopping 4,275 followers on his personal profile.
Screengrab of the Facebook profile of the accused.
In a video posted by him, an Islamic cleric could be seen making the 60-odd Hindus chant Kalma (Islamic oath of allegiance) and ensuring their full-fledged conversion.
Video courtesy: Youtube/OpIndia
In a subsequent video, the said Islamic cleric could be seen claiming that it was their recitation of the first-ever Namaz. “The only objective in the life of a Muslim is to make Allah happy. Only then, the purpose of your life will be fulfilled. Only the lives of those, approved by Allah, move forward,” the cleric could be seen speaking to the new converts.
13-year-old Hindu girl abducted, forcefully converted to Islam
Sindh province in Pakistan has been the hotbed of forced religious conversion.
Earlier in March, a 13-year-old Hindu girl named Kavita Oad from Kandhkot area of Sindh was reportedly abducted and then forcibly converted to Islam. A video of the incident went viral online and was shared by Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat on Twitter.
In the video, the minor girl was seen sitting on the ground with a mob surrounding her and conducting the conversion ceremony. According to Inayat, the conversion ceremony was facilitated by notorious cleric Mian Mithoo of the Bharchundi mosque. Mithoo is a hardline cleric and politician and is notorious for systematically carrying out kidnappings and forced conversions of poor Hindu girls.
As per the information shared by Sukhdev Hemnani, Vice-President of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Twitter, informed that he was following up the case with local officials. He said that the documents had proved that the girl was just 13 and he was getting the help of lawyers to file a case in court.
The Uttar Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, is earning huge praises worldwide for its effective management of Covid-19. The measures taken by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to effectively curb the second wave of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of the country with a population of over 24 crores, have become a benchmark for the rest of the world in terms of effectively handling the Chinese pandemic.
Craig Kelly, an Australian Member of Parliament, taking notice of the success of the Uttar Pradesh government in containing the pandemic, lauded the effective leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in crushing the wave.
In his tweet, the Australian MP praised the Uttar Pradesh model saying that the state administration effectively provided ‘Ivermectin’ – an oral treatment normally used to treat lice and other parasitic infections, to save the lives of its critical Covid-19 patients. In fact, the Australian MP went on to show his admiration for the Uttar Pradesh model of Covid-19 management, asking Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take over leadership in Australia so that he can release Ivermectin and sort out the mess that state premiers in Australia have created.
The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh ????????
Any chance they could loan us their Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to release the Ivermectin sort out the mess our hopelessly incompetent State Premiers have created  https://t.co/H6xUwUe8GU
During the second wave of the pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government had said that it was the first state to introduce a large-scale “prophylactic and therapeutic” use of Ivermectin. Furthermore, the UP government had added that the drug helped the state maintain a lower fatality and positivity rate than other states.
The state Health Department had introduced Ivermectin as a preventive measure for people who came in contact with Covid patients, health workers, and the treatment of the patients themselves. With such pro-active measures, both in the first wave and second wave of the pandemic, Uttar Pradesh emerged as the most successful state in the entire country to effectively curb the Chinese pandemic.
Recognising the same, the Australian MP Craig Kelly hailed the pre-emptive steps taken by Yogi Adiyanath and his administration in his tweet, symbolically asking Yogi Adityanath to take the administration in Australia.
Australia has had little over 31,000 total coronavirus cases of which about 589 are estimated to be active cases. 910 people have lost their lives to the pandemic.
Uttar Pradesh model gets praise from Australian MP
However, interestingly, this is not the first time that MP Kelly has shown his admiration towards the Uttar Pradesh government over its ability to handle the pandemic despite such a massive population.
A few weeks back, Craig Kelly had lauded the UP Model of Covid management, referring to the effective leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in “crushing the curve”.
Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Pop : 230 million Smashed ‘scary’ Delta variant with ?Ivermectin Today’s new daily cases : 182
UK ?? Pop : 67 million Rejected ?Ivermectin, worshipped the ? Today’s new daily cases : 20,479
The Australian federal independent Member of Parliament, Craig Kelly, had praised the state of Uttar Pradesh for successfully “smashing” the “scary” Delta variant of novel coronavirus through his novel interventions. He said that Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 23 crores, curbed the second wave of Covid-19 through the use of Ivermectin. In contrast, the United Kingdom, with a population of just 6.7 crores, rejected the usage of Ivermectin.
Kelly put out data to prove why the usage of Ivermectin was a productive way to curb the pandemic. According to Kelly, Uttar Pradesh used Ivermectin effectively and reported just 182 cases on June 30, while the United Kingdom had reported nearly 20,500 cases, suggesting that with the usage of Ivermectin, the Uttar Pradesh government had kept the fresh infections in check.
A few months before that, Craig Kelly, one of the firsts to analyse the success of the Uttar Pradesh model of Covid-19 management, had expressed his disappointment over the media’s reluctance to tell the truth about Uttar Pradesh’s story of handling the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Indian State of Uttar Pradesh is crushing covid – but the world’s media and W.H.O refuse to tell the truth of how they are doing it. https://t.co/5UFZBDZ6xn
In his tweet, Kelly had said, “The Indian State of Uttar Pradesh is crushing covid – but the world’s media and W.H.O refuse to tell the truth of how they are doing it”.
The success of the UP Covid-19 model is attributed to not only the effective leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath but also the timely intervention of health authorities to detect, trace and isolate the Covid-19 patients, and providing required health care and treatment to the patients, especially in the rural populace. Uttar Pradesh model has also won laurels from several expert bodies such as World Health Organisation (WHO) and NITI Aayog, who have asked other states to replicate the mechanism.
Uttar Pradesh Model – Test, Trace and Treatment
One of the major reasons for Uttar Pradesh’s success in handling the pandemic is its leadership. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seems to be determined to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, and the dedicated, multi-pronged approach of the Uttar Pradesh government to tackle the epidemic has yielded exemplary results in the state.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is himself is on the front lines, have ensured that the government has created enough medical facilities to overcome the crisis. Yogi Aditayanath, who recently recovered from Covid-19, is personally visiting hospitals and villages to review the healthcare facilities and passing necessary orders.
The Uttar Pradesh government has followed the ‘3T’ formula of tracing, testing and treatment aggressively to tackle the rise in cases in both urban and rural areas. As a result, Uttar Pradesh also became the first state in the country to carry out as many as 3 lakhs Covid tests in a single day. The Uttar Pradesh government has conducted more than 6.05 crore tests since the start of the pandemic, which is the highest in the country.
Testing data of Uttar Pradesh/ Image Source: Covid19India.org
Aggressive testing has been the mainstay of UP’s Covid-19 combat strategy. As per data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Uttar Pradesh accounts for almost 14% of the total tests done in the country.
Uttar Pradesh govt anticipated the second wave, created infrastructure to tackle the pandemic
In anticipation of the second wave, the Chief Minister had instructed officials to be prepared, and arrangements were made to continue aggressive testing to identify hotspots at the earliest. Based on tracing and testing, micro-containment zones were set up to nip the problem in the bud.
Interestingly, despite aggressive testing, Uttar Pradesh has recorded a low number of fresh cases compared to any other state.
Uttar Pradesh has seen only a marginal increase in the cases in the second wave. On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh recorded just 98 new cases taking took the overall tally to 17,07,225 cases. It is important to note that UP is the country’s most populous state, with more than 24 crore people living in 75 districts.
Image Source: Covid19India.org
Considering its huge population, the fresh cases recorded in the state is one of the lowest in the country. More than 16,82,924 patients have recovered in the past 24 hours.
Image Source: Covid19India.org
The state is now left with under 2,000 active cases. Only 1,608 active cases in Uttar Pradesh till Saturday, of which the majority of them are under home isolation.
Image Source: Covid19India.org
The intervention by the state government has led to faster recoveries, outnumbering fresh cases in the last nearly three weeks, and the case positivity rate has dropped to 0.002 per cent. The positivity rate was around 19 per cent during the peak. The successful strategy of Uttar Pradesh to trace, test and treat, followed by efficient lockdown, have helped in flattening the Covid curve in the state.
In addition, the government is also providing free ration to nearly 15 crore people of the state and Rs 1,000 as financial aid to lakhs of daily wage earners whose livelihoods have been hit by the pandemic. Besides, the government is also providing free Covid vaccines to all.
Recently, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had instructed his state administration to be prepared for a third wave of the pandemic and ramp up the health infrastructure including constructing oxygen plants.
It is no wonder that the world has started to notice the success of Uttar Pradesh in handling the Chinese pandemic.
On July 10, the Jammu and Kashmir administration dismissed eleven of its employees for alleged links to terrorist organisations. The list included Syed Shakeel Yousuf and Sayed Shahid Yousuf, who are sons of terror organisation Hizbul Mujahideen’s chief Syed Salahuddin. The dismissed employees were working in different departments and institutes, including Jammu and Kashmir Police, Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), education, skill development, agriculture and power and health.
11 J&K govt employees sacked for terror links includes two teachers from Anantnag found involved in anti-national activities and two police constables who supported provided inside information to the terrorists: Sources
One of Hizbul’s chief’s sons was employed at SKIMS, and the other was working for the education department. As per the officials, National Investigation Agency (NIA) had tracked terror funding links to the two brothers. They were also involved in raising, recovering, collecting and transferring funds via non-banking transactions for their father’s terrorist activities. Notably, in June 2018, NIA had arrested Syed Shahid, and in August 2018, Syed Shakeel was arrested for receiving funding.
Sons of most wanted terrorist and founder of the terror outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen founder Syed Salahudin among those dismissed from service by J&K govt. Sons, Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf were also involved in terror funding: Sources
Most of the Salahuddin children have been appointed on government jobs allegedly via backdoor channels. Interestingly, most of the appointments took place when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was heading the state. One of the sons of terror chief Syed Salahuddin, Abdul Wahid, holds an MBBS degree. Initially, he had got admission to a private medical college but was later migrated to Government Medical College, which was a violation of the rules. Another son, Syed Majid Yousuf, is working at Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) and was allegedly appointed using the backdoor channels.
The other nine who were dismissed included four from Anantnag, three from Bugan and one from Baramulla, Srinagar, Kupwara and Pulwama. All eleven were dismissed as per the provisions provided under Article 311 of the constitution. Those who have been sacked can only seek relief from the High Court. According to Article 311 that provides protection to civil servants from dismissal without inquiry, there is a provision where if the President or the Governor is satisfied that the dismissal is in the interest of the security of the State, there is no need to hold such inquiry.
Out of the 11 employees dismissed, 4 are from Anantnag, 3 from Budgam, 1 each from Baramulla, Srinagar, Pulwama and Kupwara. Out of these, 4 were working in the Education Dept, 2 in J&K Police & 1 each in Agriculture, Skill Development, Power, SKIMS and Health depts: Sources
Hindustan Times quoted officials saying, “The designated committee in the Union territory, which scrutinises such cases, in its third and fourth meeting, recommended the dismissal of three and eight employees, respectively, from government service.” They added that one of the eleven was found to be an On Ground Worker for Lashkar-e-Taiba, while the other two were found to be involved in anti-national activities, including participating, supporting and propagating the secessionist ideology of the Jamat-Islami (JeI) and Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM). The two constables who have been dismissed were allegedly providing logistic support and confidential information to the terrorist organisations.
One constable, identified as Abdul Rashid Shigan, had executed attacks on security forces and currently lodged in jail. Another employee identified as Naaz Mohammad Allaie had links to terrorist organisations. He also provided space to two terrorists at his residence. Two employees of the education department, identified as Jabbar Ahmad Paray and Nisar Ahmad Tantray, were providing support to terrorist organisations for spreading the secessionist agenda and were Jamat-e-Islami ideologists.
One inspector of the power department identified as Shaheen Ahmad Lone was detained after he was found travelling with two terrorists on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and carrying arms, ammunition and explosives in January 2020.
P.S. Sarith, an accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case who is imprisoned in the Central Prison in Thiruvananthapuram, has alleged that he is being tortured in the jail by cops and forced to name BJP and Congress leaders in the case. He made the allegations during his deposition before a special NIA court in Kochi on Saturday.
After his statement before the court, the NIA court ordered the Kerala Police chief Anil Kant to ensure that Sarith is not ill-treated in the prison. Sarith told the court that three officials including the jail superintendent are tormenting him by not allowing him to even sleep and waking him up in the middle of the night. He repeated the same to the journalists after the hearing in the court.
He P.S. Sarith said that the cops are forcing him to name prominent leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in the case. He alleged that three policemen, including the Poojappura Central Prison Superintendent, are constantly torturing him in the jail.
On the other hand, the jail superintendent has submitted a counter allegation that Sarith and another accused Ramees KT are not following prison rules. He told the NIA special court that Rameez was found using illegal substances in his cell on July 5.
Reacting to the statements made by Sarith before the court, Kerala BJP president K. Surendran said that it is unacceptable the way things are happening with the knowledge of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is engaged in heinous acts against the Congress and the BJP leaders in the gold smuggling case.
After the allegations made by the accused, the Customs department is considering if the accused in the case can be shifted to a jail outside the state.
Sarith is a former employee of the UAE Consulate in UAE, and it is alleged that he was smuggling gold using the diplomatic baggage of the consulate. Another former Consulate staff Swapna Suresh and her associate Sandip Nair are also arrested by the NIA in connection with the high-profile case.
Verified accounts of journalists on Twitter, which have been hacked, are being used to hack more Twitter accounts through phishing attacks. These verified accounts pretend to be members of the Twitter Support team, and tricks Twitter users to reveal their login credentials by threatening to suspend their account. Many people have been victims of this attack, while several others have received the messages but ignored them.
On Saturday, Tenzing Lamsang, the editor of The Bhutanese, informed that there was a phishing attack on his Twitter account just after he had provided his Twitter login credentials to some in a Twitter Support team through Direct Messaging (DM). He said that he received an alert that there was a suspicious attempt to log in to his Twitter account by someone in Mumbai.
Tenzing informed that he had received a DM from a Twitter account named @pencilpusher24 informing that there has been a copyright violation, and he needs to take action to resolve the issue. The message said, “Copyright infringement was detected in one of the tweets on your account. If you think copyright infringement is wrong, you need to provide feedback. Otherwise, your account will be suspended within 48 hours. You can give feedback at the link below. Thank you for your understanding.”
The strangest thing. I got a notification that somebody from Mumbai tried to login or hack into my account a few minutes ago.
Coincidently, Tenzing Lamsang had used a poster of a movie of Dilip Kumar in a condolence message he had posted after the demise of the veteran actor. Therefore, he assumed that the poster had triggered the copyright issue, and believed the message to be genuine. He had even deleted that tweet. The message contained a link to page, which asked for the Twitter username and Password, where the journalist provided his Login Credentials.
He said that the user @pencilpusher24 told him that this was the only way to prevent his account from being suspended. And within minutes of providing the details, the hacking attempt took place. However, due to security features of Twitter, he got an alert as the login attempt was flagged as suspicious.
After that he found out that he was a victim of a phishing attack. Several people pointed out that the login page was fake, as it was a Google Sites page. Google Sites is a free page creation tool, where the attacker had perhaps used Google Forms to mimic the Twitter login page. Any login page for Twitter will be on the Twitter website, not a third-party free site like Google Sites.
Many others also received this same warning message with the link, but they didn’t enter their Twitter login details. This included columnist Harini Calamur, entrepreneur and political commentator Tehseen Poonawalla, IAS officer turned politician Shah Faesal and others.
— Tehseen Poonawalla Official ?? (@tehseenp) July 10, 2021
@TwitterSupport I have got this DM from @pencilpusher24 asking for my feedback on some copy right violations. It is asking for my log in password. Is this real?
All these messages came from @pencilpusher24, a verified Twitter account that is protected. This account belongs to Gaurav Sarkar, a journalist with Mid-Day. He has informed that his account has been hacked and the same is used for the phishing attempts.
After hacking the account, the account name was changed to ‘Support Team’, however it has been changed again and now it only has a dot. The hacker has hacked accounts of several others too, and used those accounts to send the same direct message to other Twitter users in an attempt to get the login credentials.
Hello @TwitterIndia,accounts of 2 journalists Gaurav Sarkar (@pencilpusher24) & Vivek Gupta (@imvivekgupta) have also been hacked. The hacker is sending DMs to others & trying to hack othr accounts. @TwitterSupport plz deactivate these 2 handles & restore them with original users
The account of Hindustan Times Journalist Vijay Kumar Yadav was also hacked, and similar messages were sent from the account. The account was restored later today. Yadav informed that the account of News18 journalist Vivek Gupta also has been hacked, this account is also protected now.
Even though several persons have informed Twitter about the incident, the accounts of Gaurav Sarkar and Vivek Gupta still remains protected, which means they are still in the control of the hackers.
In a major step taken towards crippling the terror link-funding activities in the valley, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has sacked the two sons of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, from their government jobs. The termination of the duo came along with that of 9 other government employees, including two cops, with links to terror funding and other terror support activities. According to officials, the decision was taken in the interest of the nation as per the Constitutional Provision.
Reports mention that the designated committee in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, responsible for scrutinizing and recommending cases under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution, in its 2nd and 4th meeting, recommended 3 and 8 cases respectively, for their dismissal from the government service.
The two sons of the most-wanted terrorist and founder of the outfit Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin, Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf were removed from their jobs after they were found to be involved in terror funding. The NIA had reportedly tracked terror funding trails of both sons of Syed Salahuddin. The agency said that Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Shahid Yousuf were found to be involved in raising, receiving, collecting, and transferring funds through Hawala transactions for terror activities of Hizbul Mujahideen.
Syed Ahmad Shakeel, the second son of Mohammed Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin worked as a lab technician at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura. Meanwhile, Shahid Yousuf, the elder son of the Hizbul chief, was working in the agriculture department of the Jammu and Kashmir government.
In 2015 the then RA&W chief claimed Farooq Abdullah had obliged Syed Salahuddin with the admission of his son in medicals
It is pertinent to note here, that in 2015, the then RA&W chief AS Dulat had claimed that the Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin had called up an IB officer in Srinagar to secure a medical seat for his son. He also claimed that the then CM of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah had obliged him. Dulat’s claims were, however, refuted by Mohammed Yusuf Shah, who had in an interview to Hindustan Times said: “Dulat’s allegations are distortions of the true story floated to malign my father’s image” He had claimed that he had ranked 92 in the merit list and that neither his father called up anyone nor his family members met former chief minister Farooq Abdullah ever for his college admission.
Sons of Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin arrested by NIA in 2018
For the uninitiated, in 2018, NIA had arrested Syed Shakeel Ahmad Shah from his residence at Rambagh in Srinagar, for his involvement in a terror funding case. This move had come 10 months after NIA arrested his younger brother, Syed Shahid Yousuf in the same case.
9 others sacked from their government jobs
Besides the two sons of the Hizbul chief, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities sacked another government employee with terror links, Naaz Muhammad Allaie, an Orderly of the Health Department was found to be the over-ground worker of Hizbul Mujahideen and said to be having a history of direct involvement in terrorist activities. Naaz was reportedly also harbouring two dreaded terrorists at his residence.
Moreover, two employees of the Education Department namely Jabbar Ahmad Paray and Nisar Ahmad Tantray, who were terror outfits Jamat-e-Islami and Dukhtaran-e-Millat ideologists, were also sacked.
Shaheen Ahmad Lone, an Inspector of the Power Department was also found involved in smuggling and transporting arms for the Hizbul Mujahideen. He was found travelling with two terrorists on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway carrying arms, ammunition and explosives in January last year. Shaheen Ahmad Lone was terminated from his job.
Two constables of Jammu Kashmir Police, who have supported terrorism from within the police department and provided inside information to the terrorists and also logistic support, were also terminated from their duties. According to sources, one constable, Abdul Rashid Shigan, had himself executed attacks on the security forces.
