Tensions have been rife along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between Indian and China. But the situation appears to be de-escalating as the two countries engage in dialogue at the military and diplomatic levels to resolve the dispute. Propaganda, too, has been flying freely regarding the situation and unfortunately, some people on the Indian side have been spreading panic painting doomsday scenarios in the public eye. One such report was published on the Indian Express on Friday.
In the said report, it was claimed that “Chinese forces have moved into Indian territory by crossing the LAC at some places in eastern Ladakh: in the Pangong Tso area, and at three separate locations in the Hot Springs sector.” ‘Highly placed sources’ were also quoted as saying that there has been extensive deployment of towed artillery and mechanised elements on the Chinese side of the LAC. Defence analyst Abhijit Iyer Mitra has now disputed the content of the report and made it clear that there has been no intrusion by Chinese forces on the Indian side of the LAC.
2n Who twisted the report to present only half the picture in today’s @IndianExpress. We certainly hope that @PMOIndia & @rajnathsingh realise that the mischievous peddling of such incomplete information is being done to force them into a specific course of action. But by whom?
According to Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, the Indian Express report quoted verbatim from a classified and proprietary report prepared by his colleagues. He said that the quoted report conclusively proved that there was no Chinese intrusion and yet, this critical piece of information was left out deliberately. He also said that a serious case of intellectual theft could be made against The Indian Express and accused them of “deliberate omission of relevant facts”. Abhijite Iyer-Mitra said that he had made a tweet thread earlier based on the findings of the report.
4n If the IE correspondents SAW this report with their own eyes it begs the question how they missed PROPRIETARY printed at the top of each page. This constitutes a serious case of intellectual property theft by @IndianExpress, not to mention deliberate omission of relevant facts
The Defence Analyst proceeded to add, “if the correspondents did NOT SEE the report, what good faith basis did @rajkamaljha have for publishing such an inflammatory report? If not plagiarism it constitutes atrocious editorial standards.” The Indian Express report emphasised on numerous occasions throughout the report that the Chinese had intruded on Indian territory as it maintained that the current situation on the ground was at a standstill while dialogue continued to proceed through appropriate channels.
A student of Aligarh Muslim University, Farhan Zuberi was arrested by UP police on Thursday in the anti-CAA violence case. Another student Ravish Ali Khan was also arrested, but later he released by the police, while Zuberi was sent to a jail in Aligarh.
Farhan Zuberi is accused of involvement in the violence on 15 December in the university campus during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. On that day, a police team was attacked by the violent students by pelting stones. Farhan has been charged with stone pelting on police vehicle, damage to public property, preventing govt officials from discharging their duties, attack on the vehicle of City SP, and several other offences.
Zuberi was arrested in connection with the 15 December violence and 6 other cases filed against him. A total of 11 cases under various sections of IPC were registered against Zuberi under various charges at the Civil Lines police station.
Superintendent of police (SP) (city), Abhishek, said, “Zuberi was a wanted criminal and been remanded to judicial custody. Eleven cases are lodged against Zuberi at the Civil Lines police station.”
Farhan Zuberi is a resident of Islamnagar in Budaun in Uttar Pradesh. He is a student of DSW in the Arts department at the AMU.
During the peak of anti-CAA protests across the country, clashes had erupted on AMU campus on December 15 last year after rumours spread that two students had been shot in police firing on Jamia Millia Islamia campus in Delhi during anti-CAA protests. During the confrontation between protesting students and police, students pelted stones at the police and had damaged police vehicles. Around 16-17 policemen have received injuries in the violent clashes with students. The police had resorted to a lathi-charge and used water cannons, teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters to control the violence mob.
In a disturbing incident, a 55-year-old Muslim man, who died of cardiac arrest was denied a burial place in at least six Muslim graveyards in Telangana’s Rangareddy district, claiming that deceased was an outsider and also on suspicion that he was a coronavirus patient.
However, two Hindu men from the area, Sandeep and Shekar, stepped up to help the grieving family and arranged a place to bury the man in a Hindu cremation ground.
According to reports, Mohammed Khaja Miyan who had moved to Gandamguda in Rangareddy district nearly 10 years ago, had died due to heart attack on May 22 at his residence.
The family members revealed that said Khaja Miyan was refused burial by mutawallis (caretakers of graveyards) in six graveyards, who first said that the deceased’s family were non-locals and then claimed that Khaja may have died from coronavirus. The mutawallis said they did not want to take a chance by giving burial space the deceased.
Finally, he was eventually laid to rest at the Hindu cremation ground with the help of two local young men, Sandeep and Sekhar.
“We made rounds from one graveyard to the other before we eventually gave up hope of giving my dad a proper burial,” said his son Mohammed Basha. He added that the family went to at least six different graveyards in a hope to get a place for their father.
Similar incident in Mallapur
In a similar incident, a caretaker of a graveyard at Mallapur also refused to allow the burial of another Muslim person claiming the deceased was non-local.
However, the relatives of the deceased Saleemuddin Siddiqui met local Muslim leaders of Congress party, who later arranged the burial in a Muslim graveyard in another area.
Telangana Waqf Board threatens action against mutawallis
Following these incidents, Telangana State Waqf Board has warned of serious criminal actions against the managing committees and caretakers of graveyards if they do not allow the burial of Muslim bodies on any ground.
Mohammed Saleem, the Chairman of Telangana Waqf Board, said that they have sent teams to the graveyards which denied burial place to deceased Muslims.
Expressing his anger over the incident in which a Muslim had to be buried in Hindu cremation ground, Saleem said that he has it made clear to the managing committees against denying a place for burial even if the someone died of coronavirus or was a non-local or a traveller.
He stated that the burials grounds are not the personal properties of the caretakers and they cannot deny burial to any Muslim.
Social Media giant Twitter’s censorship of free speech has reached unprecedented levels. On Friday, they decided to censor a tweet of US President Donald Trump where he promised to send the military to deal with looters who are running amok on the streets of USA. Trump said, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” And for that reason, Twitter found that the US President had violated rules regarding ‘glorifying violence’.
Responding to the spree of violence that has been unleashed on the streets of the USA, Donald Trump said, “I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.” He then proceeded to add in a second tweet, “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
The Minneapolis violence
The violence had erupted in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a black man, in a case of unparalleled police brutality. During the ‘protests’, the windows of unmanned shops were broken, shops were looted, shops were set on fire and so was a building. Donald Trump’s tweets were in response to the vicious cycle of violence that was initiated by the violent mob.
Trump’s tweet that was censored by Twitter
It is the second tweet which Twitter found violating its rules for the platform. It said, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.” Although the tweet can still be accessed, people can no longer ‘like’ or comment on it. It is pertinent to mention here that Twitter didn’t find Donald Trump’s tweet threatening North Korea with nuclear weapons violating its rules.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
Twitter’s attempt to ‘fact-check’ the US President
Donald Trump has run in into trouble with the social media giant recently over a tweet he made regarding mail-in voting. He said in a recent tweet of his, “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.” For that, Twitter hit him with a ‘fact-check’. When one clicks on the button for ‘more facts’ related to mail-in ballots, it takes the user to a bunch of tweets from the anti-Trump crowd accusing the US President of making false or ‘unsubstantiated claims’.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the ‘fact check’ of the tweet made by the US President and claimed, “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.” He added, “This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.”” Jack Dorsey’s defence came after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg opined that social media giants should not be the ‘arbiters of truth’, taking a markedly different line than Twitter.
This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions.
The censorship of Donald Trump’s tweet came hours after the US President signed an executive order limiting liability protections for social media companies. “I’m signing an executive order to protect and uphold the free speech rights of the American people,” he said. “Currently, social media giants like Twitter receive an unprecedented liability shield based on the theory that they’re a neutral platform, which they’re not.” He also said that if it were legal for him to shut down Twitter, he would do it.
It appears that the Donald Trump versus Twitter feud has reached new heights with neither side in the mood to deescalate. Censorship of conservative opinions on the website has long been a cause for concern and it appears not even the US President is safe from it. It remains to be seen what the future holds and but one thing is clear, we have not yet seen the end of it.
On Friday, CNN-News18 Journalist Marya Shakil tweeted about the data released by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that depicts the grim situation of healthcare machinery in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra.
On May 27, it was reported that Mumbai had 32,791 cases and that it accounted for a whopping 62% of total Coronavirus cases in Maharashtra. Amidst the alarming scenario of Coronavirus outbreak in the State, data reveals that the healthcare system has been overburdened and edging towards an impending collapse.
As per the BMC data, 99% of 645 Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are occupied. Besides, there are 373 ventilators in the city, out of which 72% is occupied. Moreover, 65% of a total of 4292 oxygen beds are in use.
To add to that, just 6 out of 24 wards reportedly have more than 2,000 Coronavirus cases. The G-North ward, E-North, F-North, L, H-East, and K-West wards have 2,728, 2,438, 2,377, 2,321, 2,094, and 2,049 cases, respectively. As of April 29, Maharashtra has 59,546 confirmed cases and 1,982 deaths.
Mumbai running out of beds in ICUs.
99% ICU beds occupied in Mumbai. 72% ventilators occupied. Hospitals treating severe #COVID19 cases 96% occupied.
According to a Guardian report, the coronavirus patients being treated at Mumbai’s Sion hospital emergency ward are now allegedly sharing beds, with two people being allocated to a bed. With a rising shortage in beds, the patients, many with coronavirus symptoms are also sharing a single oxygen tank. The videos of the patients lying almost on top of each other, sleeping on shared stretchers, or just lying on the floor had also gone viral some days back.
Maharashtra Government’s PR Strategy
Amidst allegations of mismanagement, a marketing campaign was launched to show how CM Uddhav Thackeray was the best Chief Minister and was handling the pandemic rather effectively. While the suspicions about the PR campaign for Uddhav Thackeray were just about gaining wind, a tweet by actress and model Urvashi Rautela had given fuel to those speculations. Refuting allegations of plagiarism, she said that it was the “same tweet” which was “provided” to “her and Siddharth Malhotra” by the Mumbai Police and hence, “nobody copied anyone”.
Following the controversy after ‘comedian’ Surleen Kaur’s abusive, derogatory remarks against ISKCON, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd today announced that they have decided to dissociate themselves from any further involvement with comedian Surleen Kaur and Balraj Syal.
Claiming that Ms Surleen Kaur and Mr Balraj Syal ‘failed to meet their standards of public decency’, the organisation posted tweets saying that that they will not be associated with the said persons for their insulting remarks against the ISKCON.
We have high regards for all the good work, especially the spiritual and social service, that ISKCON has done over the years to benefit countless people across India and elsewhere.
ISKCON’s contributions of feeding 5 crore meals during the COVID lockdown is praiseworthy.
Furthermore, Shemaroo lauded ISKCON organisation for its stellar social and spiritual services that have benefitted thousands across the country. “We have high regards for all the good work, especially the spiritual and social service, that ISKCON has done over the years to benefit countless people across India and elsewhere. ISKCON’s contributions of feeding 5 crore meals during the COVID lockdown is praiseworthy,” the tweet read.
Shemaroo’s apology over comedian’s vile, derogatory statements
Shemaroo had earlier issued an apology on its Twitter account for hurting religious sentiments and deleted the YouTube video. The official statement released by Shemaroo read, “This is with regards to the video that has been brought to our notice featuring comedian Ms. Surleen Kaur. The video was found derogatory and the same has been taken down with immediate effect. Shemaroo is committed to ensure our content is neutral and unbiased towards any religion, caste, creed or culture. We apologize to all brothers and sisters of the Iskcon community whose sentiments we might have unintentionally hurt. We extend our assurance that such matters will be dealt meticulously and with extreme sensitivity.”
religion, caste, creed or culture. We apologize to all brothers and sisters of the Iskcon community whose sentiments we might have unintentionally hurt. We extend our assurance that such matters will be dealt meticulously and with extreme sensitivity.@yudhistirGD
However, ISKCON spokesperson Radharamn Das did not seem pacified by the Shemaroo’s apology and declared that they will proceed with legal action against Shemaroo, the host of the show Balraj Syal and Kaur. In his tweet, Das said, “This has become a trend to demean Sanatan Dharma. No more. We will make an example out of this nonsense. Enough is enough.”
We don’t accept your apology @ShemarooEnt . We will proceed legally against you, @BalrajSyal & Surleen Kaur. This has become a trend to demean Sanatan Dharma. No more.
ISKCON files complaint against Shemaroo and Surleen Kaur
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) has lodged a complaint against stand-up comic Surleen Kaur and entertainment company Shemaroo for insulting the organisation and Hindus. The organisation has sent a complaint to the Mumbai police against a stand-up performance by Kaur, which was published by Shemaroo in various online platforms.
In the complaint released by ISKCON vice president and spokesperson Radharamn Das, they have said that the video published by the company on different social media sites, YouTube channel, on the website www.shemaroome.com etc. is highly defamatory towards ISKCON society as well as towards the followers of Hinduism. They have added that the language used by Kaur is highly objectionable and defamatory, and it has caused great pain to the followers of Sanatan Dharma, Hindus and ISKCON worldwide devotees.
ISKCON decided to lodge the complaint after the video of Surleen Kaur went viral on social media yesterday. Even though it was published a few months ago, the video was widely shared on social media today, which has caused the Hindu organisation to notice it. In the video, Kaur can be presenting a stand-up show where she says in Hindi, ‘no doubt we are from ISKCON, but from inside we are all harami porn lovers’.
@CPMumbaiPolice@MumbaiPolice This is the video for your ready reference. I have also emailed you the details. Since the Police Station near our ISKCON Juhu temple, Mumbai is quarantined, please accept this online complaint for your necessary action please. pic.twitter.com/Ujqz5K0eFi
Surleen Kaur also said that ancient Hindu saints used their little knowledge of Sanskrit to hide their clandestine activities. She claimed that the Rishis used the Sanskrit language to write erotic texts, giving the example of Kamasutra. She also made fun of erotic sculptures in Khajuraho, to make the point that Hindus are porn lovers inherently.
With the Coronavirus pandemic raging on and the media finding not much else to attack the Modi government with, the stated line of the media seems to be to discredit the Shramik trains service that the government has started to transport migrants back to their home states with lies, conjectures and downright misreporting. On the 28th of May 2020, the Supreme Court heard a Suo Motu case regarding the miseries faced by migrant labourers during the lockdown period which was imposed to arrest the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. The reportage of the SC case regarding the migrant labourers and Shramik trains only exposes how ThePrint, after telling the opposition parties to focus on spreading fake news against the Modi government is now focussing on spreading fake news itself.
The headline of ThePrint article suggested that the Government has ‘finally’ clarified regarding the ‘confusion’ surrounding the question of payment of tickets for travelling migrants.
Headline article by The Print reporting the SC proceedings in the Shramik Trains case being heard suo motu
The insinuation in ThePrint article was rather simple – After misleading the people of India, the Modi government has finally clarified to the Supreme Court that it is not paying the Shramik Express fare, rather, it is the State that is footing the entire bill. Mind you, the word ‘entire’ is of operative value here as we will see later in this article.
The first paragraph of the article also indicates that ThePrint is clearly insinuating that the central government and BJP spokespersons lied earlier when they claimed that ‘85% of the ticket cost was being borne by the Central government while the states were footing 15% of the ticket cost’. It is to be kept in mind that at this point, ThePrint is claiming that the Central government claimed it is paying 85% of the TICKET fare.
ThePrint article covering the SC proceedings on Shramik trains
In the first part of the article, ThePrint says that the “clarification” by the central government, saying that they are not paying the bill for migrant workers but it is the state that is footing the bill, comes after several statements were made suggesting that the central government is “bearing 85% of the fare and the states are paying the remaining 15%”.
For any lay reader, ThePrint article is essentially saying the following:
The central government lied.
The entire cost of transporting the migrant labourers are being paid by the state governments, which is limited to the ticket. This assertion can be made based on their headline as well as their first paragraph.
However, later in the article by ThePrint, they include the following explanation from the Railway ministry:
Portion of The Print article where they run the clarification by the railways but also give space to opposition lies without any counter
The Railways explained to ThePrint that the central government has always maintained that the Railways is paying 85% cost associated with transporting the migrant labourers and the ticket fare per se, constitutes 15% which is being paid by the states.
However, even after this clarification, which is nestled at the very end of the report, ThePrint starts its reports with blatant lies and ends its report reiterating those lies by the opposition leaders.
How ThePrint and other media houses lied blatantly
ThePrint hyperlinks to a Business Standard report that has the same lie. The headline of the Business Standard report says, “Railways to pay 85% of train fare for workers, says govt after controversy”. However, in the second para of the article, it quotes the Railway authorities saying exactly what the railways is now claiming to ThePrint – that it was 85% of the cost that is being borne by the central govt.
Quoting the health ministry spokesperson, Business Standard wrote, “We have given the permission to run special trains on states’ request. We are dividing the cost in 85-15 per cent (railway: states) as per the norms. We never asked states to charge money from the stranded labourers,” said Agarwal at a media briefing in Delhi.
Clearly, even the the Business Standard report quoted the officials accurately, however, misled its readers in the headline. That same trope was then picked up the ThePrint and misrepresented the facts to paint the Modi government in terrible light.
What is the break-up of the 85% cost being incurred by the centre?
If one sees any railway ticket, it is mentioned as a standard disclaimer that the price any passenger is paying for the ticket covers only 57% of the cost incurred for the travel. This is under normal circumstances and for every ticket sold by railways. For the Shramik trains, only 2/3rd of the seats would be filled to ensure social distancing during travel. So the right seat and the left seat would be occupied with the middle seat being empty. Or the top birth and bottom birth would be assigned with the middle birth being empty. As such, due to this, the chargeable fees would come down to 38% (to the passenger, which is supposed to be paid by the state). The trains, since they are special trains, would come back completely empty, thus, the cost to passenger is further divided by half, which would be 19%. After taking into account passenger services like food and sanitation, the state governments were asked to pay 15% of the total cost with the remaining 85% being borne by the central government.
A 15% cost has been imposed on the state government to ensure that the state government too has skin in the game. As such, if the travel was made completely free by Railways and the Central government, passengers other than migrant workers would have also been boarded on those trains and the result would be chaos like we saw in states like Maharashtra, during the protests near Bandra mosque or even the chaos at Anand Vihar bus station. It was because of this that the states were given the responsibility to come up with a list (after screening) of passengers and central railway is to provide tickets and trains. To impose responsibility, the Railways asked the states to cough up 15% of the travel cost while the central government would make good 85% of the travel cost.
What did the SG says, based on whose statements, The Print lied
The Solicitor General during the hearing answered a very specific question asked by the Bench.
Bench asks the Solicitor General: "We need clarity with respect to who will pay the fare [for the movement of #MigrantWorkers]"
SG : "Either the receiving state pays to the railways or originating state pays OR in some cases, the money is reimbursed"
The question was regarding the FARE for the migrant workers, to which, the SG said that it was being paid by the states. The fare alone constitutes only 15% of the cost as even quoted by ThePrint. Hence, to use his statement to peddle a fake narrative reeks of an agenda.
ThePrint should perhaps read and understand its own reports
Let us post a riddle to Shekhar Gupta – who is President of Editors Guild and has a long and allegedly respectful career in journalism, bulk of which was in newspapers.
A long-standing newspaper, like The Times of India, has 48 pages. The newspaper is sold for around Rs 5 and about 40 per cent is taken by distributors. The media organisation gets around Rs 2.40. Now each page costs Rs 0.25 to print and printing 48 pages costs Rs 12. A very conservative cost of paying employees and news agencies etc is Rs 3. So, if newspapers are produced at Rs 15, while the consumers pay just Rs 5, will it be logical to say that only consumers are paying for news? Obviously not. This information is, in fact, taken from a report published by ThePrint itself.
Shekhar Gupta himself knows that advertisers pay and that the government also pays indirectly not only through ads, but through subsidised newsprints, etc. And if a newspaper is running into losses, essentially the promoters of the newspapers are “paying”. However, this logic, which is applicable to running newspapers goes for a toss when it comes to running trains, evidently. Then Shekhar Gupta’s website assumes that whatever is being paid as the final fare is the only price being paid to run a train, and whoever is paying that price is the only party paying. In the case of Shramik trains, the final price of the tickets are just 15% of total operational costs like the final price of the newspaper is just 33% of the total operational cost. Yet, Shekhar Gupta’s website dishonestly reports as if the final price is the only thing that matters.
It is pertinent to note here that Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint had categorically suggested that opposition parties spread fake news about the Modi government in order to counter the work done by them. It seems ThePrint led by Shekhar Gupta has gone a step further and taken up the mantle itself and is spreading fake news not just to discredit the Modi government but also give credence to lies spread by the opposition parties.
In a significant decision to boost herbal and medicinal plants cultivation in the country, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has decided to develop 800-km network roads in the state as a ‘Herbal belt’ by planting medicinal and herbal trees along both sides of the road.
According to the reports, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is also the PWD minister in the state, said the state government will plant trees like Peepal, Neem, Sahjan along with other herb varieties like Brahmi, Ashwagandha and Jatrofa to promote herbal and medicinal plant cultivation.
The Deputy Chief Minister added that planting of samplings will provide raw material for the medicines and will also help in curbing the erosion of land. He also stressed that this scheme will help both the development and beautification of the area and bring medicinal benefits along with promoting biodiversity.
The mission to develop medicinal and herbal plant cultivation from Uttar Pradesh comes at the backdrop of the Modi government announcement to develop and promote herbal cultivation.
The plants will be cultivated along 800-kilometre roads of national and state highways passing through the state and a herbal garden will be also developed along with them, which will keep the air free from pollution, bacteria and avoid diseases. The PWD Department will also make arrangement for rainwater recharging system on these herbal roads, the minister added.
Promotion for Herbal cultivation by Modi government
In the recent address to the nation by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the third tranche of Modi government’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” package, she had said that the Modi government will commit to spending Rs 4,000 crore to promote Herbal cultivation in the country.
The Modi government’s mission aims to cover 10 lakh hectare under herbal cultivation in the next two years.
The Finance Minister had announced an economic package worth Rs 20 lakh crores to restart the economy following the coronavirus lockdown.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that support package to promote herbal cultivation will generate income of Rs 5,000 crore for local farmers engaged in this cultivation.
She had said the ‘National Medicinal Plant Board’ will undertake 800 hectares of areas in the corridors of river Ganga for growing of herbal and medical plants.
In a massive development in the incident where an explosive-laden car was found by security forces on the night of 27 May, the Jammu and Kashmir police have identified the owner of the car. As per reports, the owner is identified as Hidayatullah malik, who is a resident of Shopian in Kashmir and a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist. Malik had joined the terror group last year.
J&K Police identifies Hidayatullah Malik, owner of the explosives-laden car which was intercepted in #Pulwama. He is a resident of Shopian and joined Hizbul Mujahideen last year: Jammu and Kashmir Police pic.twitter.com/gNvAmok9WA
According to initial police investigation, the car belonged to Hidayatullah Malik, an active Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who is a resident of Sharatpora Shopian. He had joined militant ranks in July last year and police is currently trying to trace him, a top police officer said. “The investigation in the case is on and we will trace the entire network involved in the conspiracy,” he added.
The officer informed that a local Hizbul terrorist Adil, who also works with JeM, a Pakistani terrorist named Fauji bhai of Jaish and one IED expert named Walid bhai were involved in making and planning the Pulwama like terror attack. He said that after several top commanders of the terror organisation was eliminated in encounters, the terror outfits have increased planning for attack on security forces.
While the exact target of the car bomb is not known, security officials said the terrorists could target a camp, a moving vehicle or a convoy, a naka or a patrolling party of the forces in the area.
Police and security personnel averted a major attack recently
Recently, the Jammu and Kashmir police in a joint operation with security forces averted a major attack after they received information that a terrorist was moving in a car laden with explosives. The terror attack was avoided due to timely action by Jammu and Kashmir police along with CRPF and army.
The suspected vehicle arrived at night and a few rounds of bullets were fired at it. The driver abandoned the vehicle a bit further down the road and managed to escape in the darkness.
On inspection, the car was found to be carrying at least 40 kg explosives in a drum. The attempted terror attack has a great resemblance to the one in Pulwama where a vehicle-borne IED was used in a suicide attack.
#WATCH J&K: In-situ explosion of the vehicle, which was carrying IED, by Police in Pulwama.
Major incident of vehicle-borne IED explosion was averted by Police, CRPF & Army after Pulwama Police got credible info last night that a terrorist was moving with an explosive-laden car pic.twitter.com/UnUHSYB07C
The vehicle was kept under watch at night and residents in nearby houses were evacuated. Moving the vehicle would have involved serious risk, therefore, the vehicle was exploded in-situ by bomb disposal squads. The controlled explosion, which was video recorded, completely destroyed the car, giving the indication the power of the bomb it was carrying. As per reports, the vehicle was using a number plate that belongs to a scooter from somewhere in Kathua district.
In a shocking incident, a doctor has been arrested by Rajasthan police after he continued to treat patients even after he was tested positive for the coronavirus, reports India TV.
The incident was reported in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar. The doctor was arrested after coronavirus cases saw a sharp rise to 200 within two days in the city. The doctor named Ibrahim had hidden details of him having coronavirus and treated patients at his clinic for two days without informing the health officials. The doctor runs a private clinic in Jhalrapatan are in Jhalawar.
The Rajasthan Police have now arrested the doctor for spreading coronavirus and violating the Epidemic Diseases Act.
Jhalwar has seen a rise in cases since past week, emerging as a coronavirus hotspot in the state of Rajasthan. At least 64 cases were reported from Jhalawar in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the state of Rajasthan has reported 7,703 cases of coronavirus, while 173 people have succumbed to the Chinese pandemic.
(This is a developing story, details will be updated once more information is available)
