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58 years after Nagaland became a state, Jana Gana Mana played in the assembly for the first time this month

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58 years after Nagaland became a state, Jana Gana Mana played in the assembly for the first time this month

In a first, the National Anthem was played in Nagaland Assembly Session. It was played both before and after Nagaland Governor RN Ravi addressed the 7th Session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on February 12, 2021.

This is the first time since Nagaland became a state on 1st December 1963 that the National Anthem was played in the House.

Security analyst Nitin A Gokhale took to Twitter to share a video of the rare moment, where all the members of the Assembly stand as the National Anthem “Jana Gana Mana” is played in the House for the very first time in the history of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.

After the independence of India in 1947, Nagaland remained a part of the province of Assam. The area began to experience insurgency, as well as an inter-ethnic conflict, from the 1950s. Violence grew to hinder the economic development of the area. On 1 December 1963, the state of Nagaland was formally inaugurated and Kohima was declared as the state capital. After elections in January 1964, the first democratically elected Nagaland Legislative Assembly was constituted on 11 February 1964.

Sri Lankan government cancels Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s scheduled speech in its Parliament during his Sri Lanka visit

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Sri Lankan government cancels Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s scheduled speech in its Parliament during his Sri Lanka visit

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, Sri Lanka has cancelled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to the Sri Lankan Parliament that was earlier scheduled for February 24.

According to the reports, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to travel to Colombo on a two-day trip from February 22. He was supposed to address the Sri Lankan parliament on February 24 during his visit to the island nation.

However, on Wednesday, the Sri Lanka government cancelled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address to its Parliament because of concerns that Khan could rake up the Kashmir issue. It is not an unknown fact that Imran Khan has a habit of propagating lies on the Kashmir issue whenever he is presented with a global platform, especially after the Indian Government started to tackle the menace of Islamic terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

It is reported that the speech to the Sri Lankan parliament was earlier included in Khan’s itinerary at the Pakistan government’s request. However, it was later cancelled, according to Sri Lankan media.

Speech cancelled over concerns of Imran Khan parroting lies on Kashmir

According to a Sri Lanka’s Express report, Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage said that Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had requested for cancellation of the speech on the pretext of Covid-19. However, the same newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that some people inside the Sri Lankan government did not want the speech to occur as they feared it may harm ties with India.

It is also speculated that the Sri Lankan government was concerned that Khan, who is desperate for publicity, may talk about the rights of Muslims in Sri Lanka. According to a report in Colombo Gazette, Sergeant-at-Arms of Parliament, Narendra Fernando said that the Foreign Ministry has informed Parliament that the Pakistan Prime Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka will go ahead as scheduled. 

Imran Khan will be the first head of state to visit any country since the Chinese pandemic. He will hold talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena during the visit.

Complaint filed against Manorama News, MediaOne and Reporter TV for spreading fake news to glorify Republic Day violence: Full details

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Complaint filed against Manorama News, MediaOne and Reporter TV for spreading fake news to glorify Republic Day violence: Full details

A complaint has been filed against Malayalam News channels namely, Manorama News, MediaOne and Reporter TV for “exhorting and glorifying violence including acts of extremist organisations in which they made attempts to destabilize and overthrow the democratically elected Central Government”, reports Organiser.

Legal Rights Observatory, an activist group which reportedly uses legal measures to take on people and organizations which they believe are indulged in anti-national works, also tweeted informing the same: “#Kerala Complaint u/s 121, 121A, 124A,505,150,153, 153A,153B, 298 IPC filed with @DelhiPolice against Anusha Andrews, Sawad Muhammad of Malayalam @manoramaonline, Reporter-TV, Media One for glorifying violence by extremist groups to overthrow elected Government using terrorism.”

The complaint which has been lodged with the DGP of Delhi Police accused the news channels of giving factually false news to glorify the Republic Day mayhem, where rioters disguised as farmers unleashed violence on the streets of the national capital and carried out the insurrection against the state by forcing their way into the Red Fort where they unfurled a religious flag and also denigrated the national flag.

The complainant stated that the aforementioned Malayalam News Channels- Manorama News, MediaOne and Reporter TV had actively facilitated the actions of sedition and waging war against the Nation by continuously broadcasting false and malicious news on the Republic Day violence. The complainant accused the channels of “exhorting, encouraging and glorifying” the Republic Day mayhem by its false coverage.

The complaint stated that Manorama News had published a report by its Delhi bureau chief Sawad Muhammed, in which the latter had celebrated the unfurling of the Sikh religious flag, as chaos unfolded at Red Fort on Republic Day. He had in his reports referred to it as “capture of Delhi”.

Manorama News accused of glorifying the unfurling of the Sikh religious flag at Red Fort

The reporter had further hailed and glorified the action in his report by referring to it as a “brave and valiant act” and justified it by calling it a “rightful reaction to the atrocities committed against the farmers by the Government”.

The complainant also stated how these channels had tried to fearmonger by running the fake piece of news claiming that a farmer was killed on the day of violence because the police shot him in the head. The complaint stated: “The aforesaid news channels falsely reported that one of the agitators was shot by the police on the head and he expired on the spot while riding the tractor rally during the protest. It is clearly evident that such news (fake news) at that fury moment may fuel riots of large scale as people may believe that the news reported is right”.

Rajdeep Sardesai spreads similar fake news about a ‘farmer’ dying in police firing

Interestingly, this piece of false news was also shared by none other than Rajdeep Sardesai, who is often hailed as the ‘Michelangelo of the Indian Journalism’, for his hypocrisy and penchant to lie. Rajdeep Sardesai, like several left friendly journalists and intellectuals had tried to extricate the Khalsiatani protestors by spreading fake news about a ‘farmer’ dying in police firing.

However, Rajdeep’s own news network had reported that the man died after his tractor had overturned, busting the web of lies, the senior ‘journalist’ had tried to weave to white wash the havoc unleashed on the streets of the National Capital on 71st Republic Day and malign the Delhi police.

Municipal polls: Congress promises to turn ‘Sanskari Nagar’ Vadodara into dating destination, to setup clubhouses for women to organise kitty parties

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Municipal polls: Congress promises to turn ‘Sanskari Nagar’ Vadodara into dating destination, to setup clubhouses for women to organise kitty parties

Ahead of the municipal polls in Gujarat, the Congress party has made one of the most bizarre election promises saying it would build ‘dating destinations’ and kitty party clubhouses in Gujarat.

In the party’s manifesto for the Vadodara Municipal Corporation elections, the Congress party has promised to build cafes that will serve as ‘dating destinations’ for youngsters belonging to the middle class and lower-middle-class families in Vadodara city. The manifesto was released as part of the party’s “Iconic Vadodara” promise.

Contending that such ‘dating’ facilities are the need of the hour, the Congress city President Prashant Patel said coffee shops or cafes are expensive, and youths from middle and lower-middle-class can hardly afford to pay huge bills. ‘We are in the 21st century, and it is our duty to promote a culture where our youngsters can sit and enjoy private moments without any fear’, Patel said.

He added that if voted to power, the Congress-led Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) will build cafes that can also be used as dating destinations. “These amenities will also generate employment for locals,” the Congress leader claimed. In addition to cafes, Congress has also promised to build clubhouses where women can organise kitty parties at affordable rates.

Ironically, the city of Vadodara is also known as Sanskari Nagari (The Cultural City) and Kala Nagari (the city of art) of India.

BJP says Congress trying to enforce Italian culture

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has criticised the Congress party, saying the manifesto is a result of “influence of Italian culture”.

“The Congress is known for making thoughtless comments during election times to lure voters by hook or by crook. Is dating a part of our culture? The Congress has no respect for the values of the Indian society,” party leader Sunil Solanki said.

The elections to six BJP municipal corporations – Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar, will take place on February 21. On February 28, 81 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats will go to polls. Since 1995, BJP is ruling the municipal corporation in Vadodara. 

PM Modi’s niece denied a party ticket to contest civic polls in Gujarat: Read why

Disha Ravi case: PTI misreports High Court’s interim order, claims media cannot broadcast leaked investigative material

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Disha Ravi case: PTI misreports High Court’s interim order, claims media cannot broadcast leaked investigative material

On Friday, the Delhi High Court heard the writ petition of 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi, accused of co-creating the nefarious ‘toolkit’ that was accidentally shared on social media by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Disha had moved the court alleging a ‘one-sided, defamatory’ coverage by Times Now, India Today and CNN News 18.

While posting updates about the hearing, Press Trust of India alleged, “Toolkit case: HC asks media not to broadcast leaked investigation material as it could affect the probe.” Interestingly, the Delhi High Court did not issue any such direction. The plea came up for hearing before a Bench of Justice Pratibha Singh. 

Screengrab of the misleading tweet by PTI

Live Law reported, “The Court observed that the channel editors should ensure that that proper editorial control is exercised while disseminating information to ensure the investigation is not hampered.” This observation by the Delhi High Court was misreported by PTI. The High Court did not ask the media to ‘not broadcast’ leaked investigative material but instead ensure editorial control on what is being posted and shared.

Delhi High Court issues directions to Delhi Police

The Delhi High Court’s directives were primarily aimed at the Delhi Police and not the media. The Court told the police to ‘not leak’ information about the vital details of the case, as per the Memorandum titled, ‘Advisory on Media Policy of Police’.

The Court said, “In a case that attracts the interest of the media, a specific time may be fixed every day when the designated officer would make an appropriate statement on the investigation. In the first 48 hours, there should be no unnecessary release of information except about the facts of the incident and that the investigation has been taken up.” While directing the police to refrain from making prejudiced/opinionated statements about the accused, the Court said that the privacy and human rights of individuals must be respected.

“The general tendency to give piecemeal information/clues, on a daily/regular basis, with regard to the progress/various lines of investigation, should be strongly discouraged so that the investigations are not compromised and the criminals/suspects do not take undue advantage of the information shared by the Police authorities about the likely course of the investigation,” the Court noted.

Delhi High Court passes an interim order on the petition

Senior Advocate Sibal requested the court to stop the dissemination of Disha Ravi’s ‘alleged’ WhatsApp conversations by media outlets. The court passed an interim order recording all the submissions made before it today. In the interim order, the court directed the Delhi police to conduct press briefings in accordance with the law. It directed media channels to ensure that the broadcast is based on verified sources and that proper editorial control should be exercised so that the investigation is not hampered.

The court further said that once the charge sheet is out, its coverage cannot be prohibited. The court directed the people connected with the petitioner not to indulge in ‘unnecessary/scandalising messages’. The court said that it would pass an order regarding material already put on record at a later stage. The next hearing of the matter posted in March. The court also directed petitioner Disha to ensure that there are no efforts from her to malign the Delhi Police or government authorities.

Meet Swati Mohan, the Star Trek inspired MIT graduate who led the landing of NASA’s rover on Mars

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Meet Swati Mohan, the Star Trek inspired MIT graduate who led the landing of NASA’s rover on Mars

In a major feat, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on the Martian surface after spending 7-long months in space. During the said period, the vehicle crossed 472 million km at about 19000 km per hour speed. When the rover plunged into the Mars’ atmosphere, it was an Indian-American scientist by the name of Swati Mohan who confirmed the vehicle’s survival.

In her own words, Swati Mohan said, “I led the attitude control system of Mars 2020 during operations, and was the lead systems engineer throughout development. The attitude control system points the vehicle where it needs to be and helps figure out where the spacecraft is oriented in space.” During the landing of the Mars Perseverance Rover, she provided commentary regarding the entry, descent and the landing from mission control.

According to the official website of NASA, Swati Mohan’s family emigrated to the United States when she was just a year old. She spent her childhood in Northern Virginia/Washington DC metro area before joining Cornell University for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2000. After her undergraduate programme, Swati Mohan completed her MS and PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 2010.

Screengrab of the Linkedin profile of Swati Mohan

While she worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Systems Engineer between 2004 and 2005, Swati Mohan enrolled on the PhD programme at MIT in 2005. After the completion of her PhD, she joined NASA again as a Guidance, Navigation and Control Systems Engineer. She has worked on the Cassini mission to Saturn and GRAIL. Swati Mohan has been on the Mars project since 2013.

Screengrab of the Linkedin profile of Swati Mohan

Although the Indian-American scientist aspired to become a paediatrician initially, she ended up in NASA. She recounted, “I was always interested in space, but I didn’t really know about opportunities to turn that interest into a job. When I was 16, I took my first physics class. I was lucky enough to have a great teacher, and everything was so understandable and easy. That was when I really considered engineering, as a way to pursue space.”

While talking about her journey, she said, “I remember watching my first episode of “Star Trek” at the age of 9, and seeing the beautiful depictions of the new regions of the universe that they were exploring. I remember thinking “I want to do that. I want to find new and beautiful places in the universe.” The vastness of space holds so much knowledge that we have only begun to learn.

Swati Mohan added that she is the primary point of communication between Guidance, Navigation, and Controls (GN&C) subsystem and the rest of the Mars project. She is also involved in training the team, laying out the policies and procedures for the GN&C team and scheduling the mission control staffing. “The GN&C subsystem is “eyes and ears” of the spacecraft…During entry, descent, and landing on Mars, GN&C determines the position of the spacecraft and commands the manoeuvres it to help it land safely”

Islamic organisation wants to carve Muslim-majority ‘Malabar’ out of Kerala, threatens to start Telangana-like agitation

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Islamic organisation wants to carve Muslim-majority ‘Malabar’ out of Kerala, threatens to start Telangana-like agitation

The Samasta Kerala Sunni Students’ Federation (SKSSF), a students’ organisation affiliated to radical Islamist organisation Samastha in Kerala, has demanded a new Muslim majority ‘Malabar state’ be carved out from Kerala.

As per reports, a massive controversy has now erupted after SKSSF’s mouthpiece – Satyadhara’s editor Anwar Sadiq Faisi demanded the creation of a new state, ‘Malabar’, by carving Muslim dominated areas of the Malabar region out of Kerala. He also warned of starting a ‘Telangana-style’ agitation if their demands are not met.

Taking to Facebook, Anwar Sadiq Faisi called for the creation of a new ‘Malabar state’ out of Kerala. According to Faisi, Kozhikode should be the state capital of the newly carved Malabar state. This demand is due to the Muslim majority in the Malabar region.

The SKSSF was formed in 1989 and is known for its fundamental views on Islam’s religious aspects. It is well known for always politically backing the Muslim League.

Citing a newspaper advertisement of the Kerala government that showed Pinarayi Vijayan’s government’s alleged excellence in handling the health crisis, Anwar Faisi said that the Kerala government had shown its disregard towards Malabar. He claimed that the Kerala government’s advertisement is the latest example of the discrimination shown towards the Muslim majority region.

“While ten thousand are wandering in Malabar without getting seats for plus two, thousands of seats are left without any students in Thiruvanathapuram and Kochi. Private buses in Malabar and KSRTC buses in the south are being monopolized. This discrimination can be seen in many such things,” Faisi said in his post.

Kerala govt neglecting Muslim-majority northern regions, says Faisi

He also claimed that the Kerala government gives importance to Southern-region of the state despite the northern Malabar region having the most assembly seats. The people in Malabar should take to the streets like Telangana to demand ‘Malabar State’ and Kozhikode as its capital, said Anwar Faisi in his post.

“In the south, too, this discrimination has been going on since the formation of the capital and the secretariat in a very remote part of the state, where even the Malayalam language was taken to a border that gave way to Tamil,” the Islamist said.

He also demanded the Kerala government to implement a special package for Malabar and asked Kerala Chief Minister to stay in the region for 3 days a week. In his Facebook post, Faisi appealed to all religious-political-cultural associations to stand united for the demand to create a new Malabar state.

Faisi is not the only one who wants a new Malabar state to be carved out of Kerala. It is not just the first time that Muslim organisations in the state are demanding the bifurcation of the Muslim-dominated Malabar region from Kerala. Faisi is the latest entrant to the separatist agenda of Islamists in Kerala. The key demand of the Islamists in Kerala is to seek a separate state of Malabar by carving out areas from districts in North Kerala – Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, and Malappuram where Muslims are present in substantial numbers.

Disha Ravi WhatsApp chats: Delhi HC passes interim order, asks ‘activist’ not to malign the police or authorities

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Disha Ravi WhatsApp chats: Delhi HC passes interim order, asks ‘activist’ not to malign the police or authorities

The Delhi High court today heard the plea filed by ‘activist’ Disha Ravi, whose name has emerged in the ‘toolkit’ controversy case, seeking direction to the Delhi police not to leak any material related to the investigation in the said case.

Ravi was sent to police custody till February 19 after she was arrested by Delhi police for her alleged role in preparing the ‘toolkit’ and collaborating with a pro-Khalistani outfit named Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF). She had moved the High Court seeking action against media houses CNN News18, India Today and Times Now. Yesterday, the High Court had issued notices to the National Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), News 18 and Times Now in relation to her petition.

The plea came up for hearing before a Bench of Justice Pratibha Singh. During the hearing of her petition in the High Court today, Senior Advocate Akhil Ravi, appearing for Disha Ravi, submitted before the court the reliefs sought by Disha Ravi including directing the respondents to remove all the references to her alleged WhatsApp conversations from their online platforms, restraining the respondents from disseminating any particulars of the investigation that are not in public, restraining the respondents from divulging or sharing with media any material which is part of the case file until the charge sheet is filed and directing the respondents to comply with the programme code while reporting.

Police have been leaking details to media outlets: Disha Ravi’s counsel

Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal contended before the court that Delhi police have been ‘leaking’ the details of the investigation, those not mentioned in the FIR, including the alleged WhatsApp conversations of Ravi with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg with media outlets.

Sibal alleged that a narrative was being built based on the leaked material that Disha Ravi panicked and tried to delete her chats and so on. He further contended that the press briefings of the police should be limited to the facts of the case. Sibal referred to the reports by the respondents claiming that all the reports referred to their ‘police sources’ which logically implied that the police leaked the material to them.

Sibal further alleged that the press briefings were not limited to the facts of the case and that they included ‘details, particulars, inferences, opinions’. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) RV Raju contended before the court that the media reports are not ‘gospel truth’. He said that a journalist may not want to reveal his sources and therefore he may attribute the information to police sources.

ASG Raju further contended that there are several persons interrogating and it cannot be conclusively said who leaked the details. He added that there were certain statements made to malign the police and therefore if the police hold a press conference to clarify, it should not be construed as a violation of guidelines. He urged that the bar on leaking should be applicable to both sides.

Systematic attempt to defame and pressurise the police: ASG

ASG Raju said that Disha Ravi has not said that the leaked messages are her own and that she uses the word ‘alleged’ in her petition. He alleged that this was a systematic attempt to defame and pressurise the police.

Advocate Nisha Bhambani, appearing for the NBSA, said that the NBSA did not receive any complaint and therefore it did not take any action. She added that the NBSA had jurisdiction over broadcasting including YouTube but it does not have jurisdiction over tweets.

The court noted that petitioner Disha Ravi did not say that the impugned WhatsApp messages were false.

Counsels appearing for India Today and Times Now contended that the information shown by the media channels was already in the public domain and therefore they did not violate the petitioner’s privacy.

The court passed an interim order on the petition

Senior Advocate Sibal requested the court to stop the dissemination of Disha Ravi’s ‘alleged’ WhatsApp conversations by media outlets. The court passed an interim order recording all the submissions made before it today. In the interim order, the court directed the Delhi police to conduct press briefings in accordance with the law. It directed media channels to ensure that the broadcast is based on verified sources and that proper editorial control should be exercised so that the investigation is not hampered. The court further said that once the charge sheet is out, its coverage cannot be prohibited. The court directed the people connected with the petitioner not to indulge in ‘unnecessary/scandalising messages’. The court said that it would pass an order regarding material already put on record at a later stage. The next hearing of the matter posted in March.

The court also directed petitioner Disha to ensure that there are no efforts from her to malign the Delhi Police or government authorities.

Indian Express columnist who ranted about ‘Brahmanism’ exposed as PJF collaborator, partnered with Khalistani org for Canada Govt funded project

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Indian Express columnist who ranted about ‘Brahmanism’ exposed as PJF collaborator, partnered with Khalistani org for Canada Govt funded project

Greta Thunberg exposed the dark underbelly of the global campaign against India when she inadvertently shared the ‘toolkit’ that was created to build international pressure on India. Since then, multiple revelations are being made every day. The most recent revelation involves Indian Express columnist Suraj Yengde.

Rajiv Pandit, a member of the Board of Directors of the Hindu American Foundation, revealed that Suraj Yengde had shared a $25,000 grant with the Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) for a project on ‘Caste in Canada: The Unheard Stories of Dalit Canadians’. The PJF is a Khalistani org founded by self-proclaimed Khalistanis.

Expert on foreign funding of NGOs, @by2kaafi, pointed out to us that the grant was paid by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada’s federal research funding agency.

The toolkit makes it event that it was always part of PJF’s intention to denigrate the ‘Yoga-Chai’ image of India. One wonders if the research project in question is a part of atrocity literature to be created to slander India’s image abroad.

Suraj Yengde, the PJF collaborator, is a Harvard alumni and regularly appears on foreign platforms and in the media to peddle atrocity literature. Given his collaboration with PJF, it cannot be denied that he could be a cultivated asset to tarnish India’s reputation.

The role of Canadian government institutions also comes into question. Only recently, Citizens Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, peddled a propaganda report top give a clean chit to ‘Urban Naxal’ Rona Wilson arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Apart from its association with the Canadian government, the Citizens Lab has also received donations from dubious sources such as the Ford Foundation, George Soros’s Open Society Foundation, HIVOS and other organisations of the Canadian Government.

For the Indian Express, Suraj Yengde penned columns such as ‘Charge of Dalit patriarchy is now being used to put down any assertion of being Dalit’ and ‘The Hathras atrocity proves yet again that caste solidarity is firmer than anything else’.

Other columns include ‘Whatever we have today in Brahminism is a twisted history of Buddha’s work’.

As France passes anti radicalism law, anti-France protests intensify in Pakistan, demands for expelling French ambassador grows

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As France passes anti radicalism law, anti-France protests intensify in Pakistan, demands for expelling French ambassador grows

The relation between Pakistan and France, which was strained in the aftermath of the horrifying beheading of a teacher in October last year for showing drawings of Prophet Muhammad to his class, continues to remain bitter. On one hand, France has given a nod to the anti radicalism bill to counter the growing fundamentalism in the country. Parallelly, Pakistan continues to protest against France and it’s President Emmanuel Macron, who has vowed to curb Islamic terrorism in his country.

Miffed over Macron’s bold stance over Islamic fundamentalism, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has proclaimed of taking Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party’s demand of expelling the French ambassador on the issue of blasphemy of Prophet Muhammad, to the Parliament before April 20.

The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan party, which spearheaded the anti-France protest in Pakistan, had last month, threatened to relaunch its protest if the Imran Khan Government did not fulfil its promise of expelling the French ambassador.

Meanwhile, France has denounced Imran Khan for yielding to TLP’s demand. The French daily newspaper Le Figaro has written that a source in Elysees has said that the move by Pakistan government to take the matter of the expulsion of the French ambassador to Parliament is “very badly perceived”.

“There were insulting remarks against the president (Macron) and it was taken in a personal capacity. And now the Pakistani government is considering putting the question of the ambassador’s expulsion to parliamentarians. It is very badly perceived,” Le Figaro quoted one source as saying.

According to the French daily, the relationship between France and Pakistan which was already weakened by a “slanderous tweet” against France from Shireen Mazari, the Pakistani minister of human rights in November 2020, has been further blurred after Imran Khan’s decision.

Pakistan has been antagonistic towards France ever since the French President has taken a stand against Islamic terrorism following the barbaric killing of the French teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his class. Paty was beheaded on October 16 by an 18-year-old Muslim extremist. Following the incident, France’s President Emmanuel Macron had condemned it calling it an “Islamist terrorist attack”.

The killing of Paty was the latest attack by a Muslim extremist in France, coming after the 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine and the 2016 truck attack in Nice. 

French President Emmanuel Macron had then refused to condemn the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo which faced the ire of the Muslims for publishing cartoons of Prophet and vowed to fight Islamic separatism in the aftermath of the brutal killing of the French teacher Samuel Paty.

Ever since Muslims in many Islamic countries, especially Pakistan, have been calling for both protests and a boycott of French goods in response to Macron’s stance on caricatures of Islam’s most revered prophet.

Activists from the TLP party took to the streets, calling for the Pakistani government to sever diplomatic and trade ties with France.

In October, the Pakistan National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the publication of blasphemous caricatures in France and the “resurgence of Islamophobic acts” in some countries.

All these moves had already tarnished the relationship between France and Pakistan. To make matters worse, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his Tweet in October 2020, slammed the French President, saying that he has “chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims”. Taking to Twitter, Khan had said: “Hallmark of a leader is he unites human beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them. This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation.”

Adding salt to the injuries, the Pakistani minister of human rights, also took to Twitter a month later calling out the French President. She Tweeted that Emmanuel Macron was treating Muslims like Nazis treated Jews in World War II.

Linking an online article, Mazari had Tweeted: “Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews. Muslim children will get ID numbers (other children won’t) just as Jews were forced to wear the yellow star on their clothing for identification.” France had, however, taken offence to the Tweet and demanded that Shireen Mazari withdraws her remarks against the French President, after which the Pakistan minister had deleted her Tweet.

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. In a major shot-in-the-arm for French President Emmanuel Macron, who had vowed to act against rising extremism in the country, the French legislators in the lower house of the parliament on Tuesday passed the anti-radicalisation bill, which will empower law enforcement officials to swiftly arrest a person for spreading hate online. The bill will enable agencies to charge a person with online hate speech law, which will be punishable by up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.

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