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Here is how media’s war on Yogi Adityanath became a headache for Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Abhishek Banerjee
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Here is how media’s war on Yogi Adityanath became a headache for Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is angry because there are dozens of trains full of migrant workers heading from Maharashtra towards West Bengal. Could this not spread the virus to small towns and villages across her state? How will she manage?

She accuses the Railway Ministry of ‘evacuating Maharashtra’ and spreading the virus to Bengal.

Quite literally a case of blaming the messenger. Why blame the Railway Ministry, Mamata Didi? The Railway is merely running a service between two states.

Of course, Mamata Banerjee’s problem is understandable. She can’t blame Maharashtra, because it is ruled by ‘secular’ parties. And she obviously doesn’t want to take responsibility for her own state.

As someone pointed out to me on Twitter, the railway route from Maharashtra to Bengal doesn’t even cross a single BJP ruled state. From Maharashtra, you go to Chhattisgarh, then Jharkhand and then you arrive in Bengal. No options there.

And just like that, the media’s war on Yogi Adityanath has become a headache for Mamata Banerjee.

How? In the last few weeks, the media has brought us heartbreaking images of migrant workers trying to make it across the country on foot. They highlighted real people and real problems. But as with any media story, there is always an agenda.

Here is a simple question: among all those images and videos, did you see a single migrant worker trying to return to West Bengal?

It seemed like they were all going to Uttar Pradesh. And to a lesser extent, towards Bihar. The first of these states is ruled by Yogi Adityanath, the arch-villain for liberal media. The second state is also NDA ruled and coincidentally faces an election in a few months.

That’s right. They forgot all about West Bengal. Remember Bengal? A few months ago, the media game was all about CAA and NRC. That’s when migrant workers from West Bengal were the big story, all of them supposedly worried about being labeled Bangladeshis. But when the lockdown happened, these same folks suddenly became invisible to the media.

The script was simple. Look at these migrant workers who have lost their jobs in say Maharashtra. They are hungry and desperate. Because they happen to have family in Uttar Pradesh, apparently it is all Yogi Adityanath’s fault.

Why would these migrant workers not be entitled to welfare in the state where they were living and working? Did somebody cancel the fundamental right of Indian citizens to reside and settle in any part of the country? This question does not appear to have come up.

Rather these questions were drowned in the volume of the media fury. The media argued that the migrants “want” to go home.

The target was Yogi Adityanath. The Congress government of Rajasthan even sent Uttar Pradesh a bill of Rs 36 lakh for helping with arrangements for students to go back from Kota.

I’m curious. What if a student from Uttar Pradesh becomes a victim of a crime while in Kota? Will Rajasthan govt also send Uttar Pradesh a bill for the cost of the police investigation?

The migrant crisis created an extreme amount of pressure on the Central government. A number of Shramik Special trains appeared, taking migrant workers back to their home states.

Because I know the liberal media so well, I am certain at least some of them are actively hoping for disaster as lakhs of people return from hotspot states to poorer states such as UP and Bihar.

The danger is apparent to all. And Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has realized what is happening. Her secular friends have forgotten about her. She can’t hit back at Maharashtra. So she hits out at the Railway.

If you feel bad for Mamata Banerjee here, please don’t. The Coronavirus crisis has made India’s secular parties turn on each other. Only the other day, Rahul Gandhi distanced the Congress from the Maharashtra government, even though he has ten Cabinet ministers in it. The Communist Health Minister of Kerala has gone public with mocking Maharashtra for having slums such as Dharavi.

Right now, in the secular camp, it is each person for themselves. No need to feel bad for them. Just imagine what would have happened if these disparate, warring factions had managed to cobble together a majority after the election last year.

US lawmaker introduces a bill in Congress to declare Tibet as an independent country

OpIndia Staff
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US lawmaker introduces a bill in Congress to declare Tibet as an independent country

Amidst the rising tension between the United States of America and China, a US lawmaker has tabled a bill in Congress to allow the American President to recognise Tibet as an independent nation.

In a decision which could escalate tensions between two countries, the US Congressman Scott Perry introduced a bill to declare the Tibet Autonomous Region as an independent country. Perry, a military veteran and a Republican from Pennsylvania, has moved a similar bill to declare another Chinese-ruled Hong Kong as an independent territory.

The two bills introduced by the Republican from Pennsylvania have been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The bills will have to be passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate before getting assent from the President to be an act.

Tibet is situated in the south-west of China, bordering India, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan. The People’s Republic of China had invaded Tibet in 1949 and completed the occupation of the territory in 1959. The Tibetans have accused the Communist country of carrying out large scale human right violations and demographic changes.

Many Tibetan activists have welcomed the move.

US lawmakers to de-list Chinese firms from stock exchanges

Earlier, the United States Senate had initiated a legislation to block Chinese firms from getting listed on the American stock exchanges. There has been some controversy in the US regarding Chinese companies like Alibaba being listed at the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.

Reportedly, the Chinese companies listed at the New York Stock Exchange do not report earnings just like American companies do.

The bill, introduced by Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Chris Van Hollen a Democrat from Maryland, had sought to delist companies not abiding by the US accounting laws. 

Earlier, the Trump administration, in a major escalation, had issued a new rule on Friday barring Huawei and its suppliers from using American technology and software.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement said that the rule change is to “prevent U.S. technologies from enabling malign activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy interests”. He added that Huawei and its affiliates “have stepped-up efforts to undermine these national security-based restrictions.”

US President Donald Trump threatens to cut ties with China

In a sign of further deterioration of ties between US and China, US President Donald Trump on Thursday had said that he had lost interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping and went on to suggest that his country could even cut ties with China following the outbreak of deadly pandemic of the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Donald Trump, speaking to Fox News on Thursday, had said he was very disappointed with China’s failure to contain the disease and that the pandemic had cast a shadow over the US-China trade deal.

Uttarakhand forest department to file police case against those spreading fake photos of wildfire, Chief Conservator says such fires don’t occur in the state

OpIndia Staff
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Uttarakhand forest department to file police case against those spreading fake photos of wildfire, Chief Conservator says such fires don’t occur in the state

Yesterday social media was full of old, misleading photos of wildfires from all over the world, falsely claiming severe wildfire in Uttarakhand. The state govt, including the chief minister himself, had clarified that most of the photographs shared on social media were from foreign countries, and few photographs were from Uttarakhand but from past, not the current year.

Today, the state’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Jai Raj has clarified that such forest fire where the entire tree is burning does not happen in Uttarakhand. Such kind of wildfire occurs in foreign countries like the USA, Canada and Australia. Here forest fires remain confined to the ground, affecting grass and bushes.

Jai Raj furthered that the State’s forest department’s website regularly updates information on forest fires. Therefore people should not fall for such rumours.

He informed that as of now the wildfire in the state has affected 111 hectares, causing loss of Rs 3 Lakhs. He further said that the department will be filing a Police complaint against those spreading rumours on social media.

Old photos from all over the world used to falsely claim severe wildfire in Uttarakhand

Some horrific photos and videos of wildfires claiming to be that of Uttarakhand flooded Twitter on Wednesday. Netizens took to Twitter to share some gut-wrenching photos of the devastating effects of the wildfires that are taking over the region. These pictures were also shared by many tourism adventure groups on social media.

These images shared on social media sites soon drew traction and many media houses reported that Uttarakhand has been burning in a forest fire for the last four days. According to these reports, as many as 46 such forest fires which have affected over 51.34 hectares of forest land have been raging in the hill state of Uttarakhand over the last four days.

State’s CM and police rebut these claims

However, the Uttarakhand police and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat took to Twitter yesterday to confirm that the pictures being shared on social media were false. Trivendra Singh Rawat also called out the propaganda machinery, who tried to pass off old 2016 and 2019 images, that too of forest fires in Chilean and Chinese forests as recent ones in Uttarakhand, to instil fear amongst people.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand police said it would look into the matter and an FIR against concerned persons involved in spreading the false news will be lodged soon.

Congress stoops to new low, makes perverse claim about PM Modi using old photograph of PM with Madame Tussauds’ female employee

OpIndia Staff
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Congress stoops to new low, makes perverse claim about PM Modi using old photograph of PM with Madame Tussauds’ female employee

The Congress party has decided to pursue its senseless attacks against Prime Minister Modi without caring an iota about objective truth. In its most recent attack, the party shared an old image of Narendra Modi from a few years ago to make a misleading claim during the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. The claim was made as part of its #SpeakUpIndia campaign. The tweet has since then been deleted.

The Congress party used a photograph of Prime Minister Modi in which measurements were being taken for his statue at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The scene depicted in the photograph is from 2016 but the Congress party attempted to portray that it was captured in recent times when the country is suffering a grave crisis in the wake of the economic crisis unleashed by the Coronavirus. The Congress party shared the image with the caption, “Aysho aaram ke zindagi me mast hai” which roughly translates to “busy enjoying a life of luxury”.

Although the Congress party deleted the tweet with the photograph, a video they posted is still present on their timeline, which uses the same photograph of PM Modi with a female employee of Madame Tussauds to claim that the prime minister busy leading a luxurious life during the lockdown.

Screengrab from the video posted by Congress

The photograph was captured when a team of artists had visited the residence of the Prime Minister months earlier to record details of his physical attributes, including his eye colour, hair texture and skin complexion, in order to authentically reproduce his stature in the form of a wax statue. A video of the same was also shared on YouTube by Madame Tussauds London in March 2016.

Previous instances of Fake News surrounding the video

On the 12th of May, prior to the Prime Minister’s speech where he spoke of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, a video was circulated along with the claim that Narendra Modi was preparing for his speech later in the evening that day. Before that, the same video was shared by numerous users including Gurugram Congress with the claim that Narendra Modi spends Rs. 80 lakh on a beautician. Photographs of the same process were also shared in 2018 with the claim that the Prime Minister had hired a makeup artist for Rs. 15 lakh per month. All of this is fake news and the Congress party has made dubious claims about the process not once but twice.

Crematoriums in Delhi sending back bodies of Coronavirus victims to hospitals due to high number of bodies and broken down furnaces

OpIndia Staff
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Crematoriums in Delhi sending back bodies of Coronavirus victims to hospitals due to high number of bodies and broken down furnaces

The mortuary in the Lok Nayak Hospital, the largest dedicated coronavirus hospital in the national capital, is now full with dead bodies of coronavirus victims and suspected cases as bodies are returning back to the facility from the crematorium due to their inability to depose more dead bodies.

According to the reports, the Nigambodh Ghat CNG crematorium in Delhi sent eight bodies back to the Lok Nayak hospital on Tuesday as it was in no position to depose more bodies. The crematorium has only two of its six furnaces working.

Following the returning of bodies, the mortuary of the Lok Nayak Hospital is now over the capacity with 108 bodies. Reportedly, the mortuary can store 80 bodies and remaining 28 bodies are on the floor, piled on top of each other, officials at the mortuary said.

The dead bodies of coronavirus patients and suspected patients are being disposed at the electric crematoriums at Nigambodh Ghat and Punjabi Bagh. At Punjabi Bagh, there are two furnaces. Addition to these, four burial grounds for Muslim and Christians have also been approved in the Income Tax Office area, Mangolpuri, Madanpur Khadar and Shastri Park.

The dead bodies of those who died of the coronavirus disease or are suspected to have died of it are being stored at the Lok Nayak Hospital’s mortuary. The bodies are wrapped in personal protection (PPE) kits and are handled only by the staff wearing PPE suits. Nearly 602 of the total 2,242 coronavirus patients who are in hospital care across 16 hospitals in Delhi are admitted in the facility. Currently, the hospital is not admitting any non-coronavirus cases.

With the rising deaths related to coronavirus in Delhi, the hospital staff are worried now, who said, “We are yet to cremate the bodies of those who died five days ago”.

“The backlog of such cases is increasing every day. Wearing PPE suits, we stand in the sun in this heat outside the crematorium only to be told in the evening that they cannot accept the bodies. Today there are 28 bodies on the floor lying next to each other or piled on top of each other. Last week, there were 34,” said another official according to HT.

Four furnaces at Nigambodh Ghat develop snag

Out of the six furnaces at the Nigambodh Ghat electric crematorium, only three were working until Monday. Later in the day, another furnace broke down. An official said that as they could not take anymore load, they returned the bodies back to the hospital.

On Tuesday, even after working extra hours, the crematorium only accepted 15 bodies, said an official. The workers at the Ghat have been rebuilding the three damaged furnaces and another group of workers are reportedly working on the fourth. They said it would take at least two months to rebuild the three damaged chambers. The crematorium has received the bodies of at least 244 coronavirus related dead bodies till date.

“We have fixed the third furnace and it is working now,” said Suman Gupta of the Nigambodh Ghat Sanchalan Samiti, the trust that manages the crematorium.

He added that nobody was prepared for the surge of bodies related to coronavirus. He said that until the coronavirus pandemic, the crematorium got only 4-5 cases a day. “The three defunct machines malfunctioned three to four months ago and it wasn’t a problem then. Ours is not a commercial business. Last week, we finally managed to convince the government to give us the money to fix the three furnaces. Work is on,” Gupta said.

An official at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium said that even an extension of the daily shift has not helped. The workers need at least two hours to depose a body and collecting the ashes takes time, the official said.

According to Dr Suresh Kumar, the director of Lok Nayak Hospital, the backlog in the disposal of bodies has been caused by non-functioning furnaces at the crematorium.

Crematorium using wooden pyres, staff opposes

Meanwhile, North Delhi Municipal Corporations deputy commissioner and spokesperson Ira Singhal has said the civic agency has now received orders to cremate bodies using wood pyre. However, the authorities prefer to use the CNG and electric crematoriums instead of the wood pyres.

Following the order to use wooden pyres to depose bodies, the staff and priests at the four crematoria in the city have threatened to boycott fearing for their safety.

So far, only CNG furnaces at Nigambodh Ghat and Punjabi Bagh were being used for the cremation of deceased coronavirus patients, however, with new order allowing the cremation using wooden pyre, the staff at these ghats are not happy and had refused to take part in the process on the first day.

The manager at the Punjabi Bagh crematorium said four of their staff threatened to quit on Tuesday. He added, “Wood-based cremations should be allowed only in open areas in outer Delhi. Why did the government allow such funerals only at four facilities?”

On Tuesday, the staff and priests at Nigambodh Ghat refused to work. The workers said they will stop entering the ground if all corona and non-corona bodies are processed at the same place.

At Karkardooma, no PPE kits are being provided to the staff and they feared to carry out cremation in the open.

“Unlike CNG units, if cremation is carried out on a wooden pyre, the body is exposed to the air. employees don’t have provisions of compensation and insurance in case we get infected,” said another worker.

Amidst pandemic and untold suffering, the circle of life continues: 31 births in Shramik trains amidst Lockdown

Nupur J Sharma
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Amidst pandemic and untold suffering, the circle of life continues: 31 births in Shramik trains amidst Lockdown

Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, the government of India has been grappling with a migrant crisis, with labourers, understandable, wanting to go back to their home states. Lakhs of migrant labourers have been transported back to their home states in special Shramik Trains that have been started by the Government of India. As the poor labourers suffering under the necessary lockdown in the country are making their way home, there are stories of joy that have also emerged from the depths of suffering that have been thrust on the world due to the Chinese virus.

According to information accessed by OpIndia, 31 infants have been born in the Shramik trains which are being run by the Government of India to facilitate the return of migrant labourers back to their home states. One of the earliest births in the Shramik trains was on the 10th of May 2020. One Mrs Ketki Singh was on her way from Surat to Prayagraj when she went into labour and gave birth to her child. She was attended to at Satna by RPF.

Mother with new born baby delivered in transit

On the 18th of May, 21-year-old mother gave birth to her child under the care of a medical team and railway state authority of Katihar. On her way to Bihar, after giving birth to a healthy child, the mother chose to continue her onward journey to Bihar. Similarly, on the same day, one Neetu Devi on her way to Uttar Pradesh gave birth to her child, and when the medical team assessed the mother and daughter, finding both of them healthy, the mother insisted that she continue her journey to her home town in Uttar Pradesh.

There were several such cases where after giving birth to the child, the mother, after being found healthy along with her child refused to terminate their journey to their home state to receive adequate medical attention post-birth. While the journey would certainly be difficult with a newborn, adequate help was provided to the new mothers who were making their journey home along with their newborns.

Family with their new born child

While several women gave birth to healthy babies while travelling on Shramik trains, some others suffered irreparable loss as well. On the 17th of May, for example, one lady travelling to Gorakhpur lost the twins she had given birth to. According to information, the babies were premature (born well before the due date). While one of the twins was a still-born, the other breathed its last soon after it was born. The mother was then shifted to Basti Civil Hospital for medical attention.

In another heartbreaking tale, a woman travelling from Jaipur to Gorakhpur, UP, gave birth to a still-born at Jaipur itself during transit. The mother then carried her still-born baby to Gorakhpur and was then sent to Gorakhpur hospital by the authorities. On the 25th, a lady gave birth to twins while travelling to Bihar and while she got medical attention, the children and the mother were shifted to Sagar District Hospital where the twins breathed their last.

The deaths on Shramik trains and the lies

While we talk about the birth of children on Shramik trains and new life being brought into this world amidst suffering, one subject that cannot be ignored is the controversy surrounding the deaths of migrant labourers on Shramik trains. There have been certain deaths that have been reported while in transit on Shramik trains and they have invariably been given a false connotation by vested interested. For example, Rana Ayyub shared a video of a woman breathing her last at Muzaffarnagar station and claimed that the woman had died due to hunger. However, OpIndia had confirmed that the woman who had breathed her last at the station was suffering from prolonged illness and had died in the train during the journey. 

The Railway sources had further said that the Inspector-in-Charge of Railway Protection Force and Deputy SP Headquarters GRP Muzaffarpur, Mr Ramakant Upadhyay were informed about the death of the woman in the train and after securing permission from station in-charge, the body of the deceased was disembarked at the Muzaffarpur railway station and was subsequently examined by the Muzaffarpur Railway Division doctor.

Another false story that was floated spoke about the death of a 4-year-old child on Shramik train. A Dainik Bhaskar report spoke about the death of a 4-year-old Mohammad Irshad who passed away while boarding the train from Muzaffarpur to Betiya almost insinuating negligence on the part of the Railway. However, Railways clarified that the child was ill and was returning from Delhi after treatment. The cause of his death will be known only after the post-mortem is carried out.

Indian Railways has called out the misleading reports that are attributing deaths due to prior ailments to negligence by the railways. On May 27, 2020, Jagran had published news claiming that four people died on Shramik Express due to negligence. The report stated that the migrant workers onboard Shramik Express have been deprived of food and water and cast aspersions that some of the migrants who died on these trains died due to lack of basic food and water.

However, the Indian Railways took to Twitter to rubbish the misinformation being spread regards to deaths on-board. Indian Railways asserted that medical assistance is provided to every passenger in case of emergencies. Moreover, food and water are provided on the Shramik Express trains for all passengers.

The same lie, alleging that 10 migrant labourers have died due to hunger while in transit on Shramik Trains was also spread by Caravan India and was promptly rebutted with facts.

Deaths in transit as natural as birth: Here are the numbers

While many of these incidents, when taken in isolation, can give the completely wrong impression, deaths and births in transit are a rather normal occurrence in India considering the sheer volume of people who travel using the Indian Railways every day. It is estimated that over 1 crore people are daily long-distance travellers, and after accounting for the average time of long-distance train travel, and a national death rate of 7.234%, conservatively, over two dozen people would likely breath their last during transit in India every day. This estimation was of course based if normal circumstances were prevailing and the country was not under lockdown.

When OpIndia reached out to sources in the Railway Ministry, they confirmed our estimates to be roughly accurate. Adding that such deaths are unfortunate too, but there’s not much railways can do as it’s a matter of probability and life cycle.

As heartbreaking as those numbers are, giving it a spin to allege ‘negligence’ by the Railways reeks of an agenda to inspire chaos and pandemonium amidst an already difficult situation. While every death is tragic and every birth is a celebration of life, just the location of the death cannot and should not be used to impugn negligence simply because different sections have agendas that are served by creating panic.

Andhra Pradesh: Contempt proceedings against YSRCP MP, 48 others for threatening judges over verdicts ‘against’ Jagan Mohan govt

OpIndia Staff
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Andhra Pradesh: Contempt proceedings against YSRCP MP, 48 others for threatening judges over verdicts ‘against’ Jagan Mohan govt

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has initiated contempt proceedings against YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Member of Parliament Nandigram Suresh and 48 others for making intimidating and abusive social media posts against judges, reports Live Law.

YSRCP leader and Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh and former member of the Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly Amanchi Krishnan are among 49 others those who were served the notices by the High Court for attributing motives to judges of the High Court in abusive language. They are also accused of attempting to lower the dignity of the institution of the High Court.

Reportedly, a division bench of the AP High Court comprising of Chief Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice C Praveen Kumar issued orders to the state government to issue notices to all the individuals, including eight who are yet to be identified.

The High Court has asked all the accused to appear before the court in person or through an advocate on June 16. The Court took the action after it received details of social media posts of the accused targeting judges. The Advocate General had also stated that the comments tend to scandalize the institution of judiciary.

“All this shows that there is a larger conspiracy against the judges. It attracts contempt for scandalising and lowering the image of the court and judges,” the court said.

Threats and abusive comments against judges

The attack on the judiciary, especially against the Andhra Pradesh High Court reportedly began after it struck down Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision to make English the mandatory medium of instruction in government schools.

However, the situation took an ugly turn after May 22 when the HC had transferred the Dr Sudhakar’s assault case to the CBI. Later, on the same day, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had set aside the suspension of senior IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao, leaving members of YSR Congress and Chief Minister frustrated.

Causing further shock to YSR Congress government in the state, the High Court had also ordered to seize the premises of LG polymers, in addition to issuing noticed to officials for contempt after they had attributed political motive behind the orders. The HC had also issued notice to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government on the sale of government land.

The opposition parties had demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister claiming that every step of the government was failing to pass the judicial scrutiny. Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had said the court gave orders against the government in at least 64 cases.

The High Court also noted in its orders that how Bapatla MP had attributed motives to the court stating that Naidu was managing the High Court, who used to be aware of the judgements it was going to deliver or within 10 minutes of the order being issued.

The bench also referred to one Chendu Reddy’s tweet, which read, “All judges shall be cut into pieces,” and “All judges shall be kept in a room and a corona-positive patient should be left with them.”

In another post shared by one individual named Kishore Reddy Dasari, it was written, “All High Court judges are ba***rds, they are good for nothing except for sleeping with wives. Let them arrest me and order a CBI inquiry.”

Major terror attack averted in Pulwama after police received credible information of explosive-laden car

OpIndia Staff
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Major terror attack averted in Pulwama after police received credible information of explosive-laden car

The Pulwama Police and security forces have averted a major terrorist attack after an attempt was made by terrorists to carry out a blast using a vehicle-borne IED. The terror attack was averted due to timely input and action by the Pulwama Police, Central Reserve Police Force and the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police have said.

Reportedly, the Pulwama Police received information that a terrorist was moving in a car laden with explosives. Eventually, 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 explosives in a drum. The attempted terror attack has great resemblance with the one in Pulwama where a vehicle-borne IED was used in a suicide attack.

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. As per reports, the vehicle was using a number plate that belongs to a scooter from somewhere in Kathua district.

Intriguingly enough, only yesterday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had claimed that Pakistan was under threat from India due to ‘false flag operations’. Pakistan always denies its involvement in sponsoring terrorism against India and has, in the past, claimed that it had nothing to do with the Mumbai Terror Attack and the Uri Terror Attack despite overwhelming evidence. That a major terror attack was averted by the police and security forces in Jammu & Kashmir only a day after Imran Khan spoke of ‘false flag operations’ may point towards the sinister designs of India’s neighbour.

LAC standoff: Chinese ambassador, foreign ministry insist on ‘dialogues’, experts say de-escalation has begun

OpIndia Staff
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LAC standoff: Chinese ambassador, foreign ministry insist on ‘dialogues’, experts say de-escalation has begun

The tensions between the India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) eased a bit on Wednesday as China began to de-escalate the conflict through a conciliatory approach by saying that the situation at the border with India is “overall stable and controllable.”

The firm and strong posturing by India in response to Chinese decision to intimidate the country along the LAC, perhaps, made Chinese to seek a de-escalation of the matter.

As per a report in CGTN, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated that both China and India have proper mechanisms and communication channels to resolve the issues through ‘dialogue and consultations’.

In Beijing, Zhao also claimed said that China’s position on the border-related issues is clear and consistent.

“We are committed to safeguarding our territorial sovereignty and security and safeguarding peace and stability in the border areas. Now the China-India border area situation is overall stable and controllable.” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson added.

The Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Weidong on Wednesday also said that China and India should never let their differences shadow the overall bilateral ties and must enhance mutual trust.

“China and India should be good neighbours of harmonious coexistence and good partners to move forward hand in hand. The realisation of ‘Dragon and Elephant dancing together’ is the only right choice for China and India, which serves the fundamental interests of our two countries and two peoples,” he added.

India’s strong response to China resulted in de-escalation

As per Defense Expert Nitin Gokhale, India’s refusal to back down from a standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) pushed China to soften its stand. Reportedly, Indian Army moved its troops to Daulat Beg Oldi, the last military post south of the Karakoram Pass, resulting in China being aware that India will not yield to Chinese aggression.

According to a Hindustan Times report, India’s security establishment took a firm stand against alteration of Indian territory and instead decided to face the Chinese threat with “strength and restraint”.

The Prime Minister, along with Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, which had earlier stood-up against Chinese aggression during the Doklam stand-off,  led India’s response during the current escalation at Northern borders.

According to strategic affairs expert Nitin Gokhale, the retreat by China at the LAC was due to India’s aggressive response of not to back off despite tensions were mounting at the border.

US President Donald Trump offers to mediate

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump had stated that he was willing to mediate between India and China over their ongoing military standoff in the Ladakh region. President Trump has tweeted saying that the USA has conveyed it to both India and China.

Trump stated that the USA has informed both India and China that it is “ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute”.

Galwan Valley standoff

India and China are currently engaged in a military standoff in the Galwan Valley region of Ladakh, near the Line of Actual Control between India and China. It is notable here that vast areas of Ladakh region have been under Chinese control for decades.

In the Galwan flashpoint, it was initially reported that China had started moving heavy equipment and troops in the LAC, and had increased patrols in the area creating skirmishes between Indian and Chinese troops.

As a result, India too has mobilised troops and aircraft in the region. In 2017, India and China had engaged in a similar standoff in the Doklam region near the Bhutan border.

Mumbai: BJP MLA files petition in HC, questions the constitutional validity of Uddhav government’s gag order on citizens

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai: BJP MLA files petition in HC, questions the constitutional validity of Uddhav government’s gag order on citizens

BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the 23 May prohibitory orders issued by the Mumbai Police. Lodha has questioned the constitutional validity of the order.

The Mumbai police commissioner had on May 23rd, 2020 issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC, prohibiting any kind of ‘online hate’ on various social media platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. The order is valid through 00.15 hours on 25th May 2020 and ending at 24 hours on 8th June 2020.

The petition filed by Lodha states that the order is so vague that there are no guidelines for the authorities for its implementation and it is creating panic and ‘unjustified and harsh gagging effect on freedom of speech’.

As per a report in The Livemint, Lodha, who is the President of BJP’s Mumbai unit, has stated, “We do not agree with this order. It is absolutely wrong. It is exactly like the Emergency period.” The petition is due to be heard in the HC in two days.

It is notable here that citing the total failure of law and order and administration in the state and the dire situation due to the coronavirus pandemic, the BJP has been demanding President’s rule to be imposed.

Order directed to curb criticism against state government

Essentially, the order also indirectly bans all criticism of the Maharashtra government led by Uddhhav Thackeray as one of the clauses in the prohibitory order says that messages that incite “mistrust towards government functionaries and their actions taken to control Covid-19” will also be acted against.

The order issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) Pranaya Ashok reads that the Mumbai police will hold the group admin of the social media and messaging platforms personally responsible for any such information being disseminated from a group administered by them and he or she would attract action under the relevant laws.

The controversial order also stated that any person contravening it shall be punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

Aaditya Thackeray’s biggest worry: Hate on social media

In a recent interview with NDTV, Shiv Sena MLA and CM Uddhav Thackeray’ son Aaditya had stated that the most worrying aspect of the pandemic in Maharashtra is the ‘hate’ allegedly perpetrated on social media.

Earlier, in a classic ‘Heads I win, Tails you lose’ situation, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had stated that the lockdown was needed in Maharashtra because it had spiralled out of control. At the same time, he mouthed mandatory criticism to play petty politics in complete contradiction to his previous statement.

Coronavirus situation in Maharashtra

The pandemic situation in Maharashtra has been worsening day by day. It is the worst affected Indian state and has more than 54,000 confirmed cases so far, contributing to almost one third of all cases in India. It has registered more than 1700 deaths.

More than 1000 police officials have been affected by the coronavirus so far in Maharashtra. The state government had requested central forces to control the situation and maintain law and order in several localities. There have been reports of mismanagement in state-run hospitals where corpses of coronavirus patients can been seen lying unattended among live individuals under treatment.

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