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Is Congress trying to help China by making racist comments?

Abhishek Banerjee
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Is Congress trying to help China by making racist comments?

Do you have questions for the government of China? Of course you do. You probably want to know when exactly the outbreak of Wuhan Coronavirus was detected. You probably want to know whether the information about the outbreak was suppressed and for how long? How many people were allowed to leave Wuhan? Was crucial information about the spread of the disease, its modes of transmission, its infectiousness and mortality rate suppressed?

In other words, how many lives could have been saved if the Chinese government had been forthcoming with information? How many jobs and livelihoods could have been saved? How many hundreds of billions of dollars of economic devastation avoided?

For the government of China, these are extremely difficult and uncomfortable questions. It would be extremely convenient for them not to answer their critics.

What is China’s strategy? They want to silence their critics by calling them racist. It’s an easy escape route for them. The global liberal ecosystem has been very helpful to China in this regard. They have worked very hard to snuff out as much criticism of China as possible, by labeling it as racist.

So what do you make of it when someone like Adhir Chowdhury puts out an offensive tweet like this? Who really benefits from this?

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Tweet by Adhir Chowdhury

By using an expression like “yellow expansionist,” has Adhir Chowdhury not given a handle to China to dismiss legitimate questions? An opportunity to label their critics as racist?

We should bear in mind that Adhir Chowdhury is not just another Congress MP. He is a very senior leader and indeed the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha. In other words, if the Congress had won the required minimum of 55 seats, he would have been Leader of the Opposition, enjoying among other things, the status of a Cabinet Minister.  Could a man of his political maturity be speaking in such an absurd manner?

The mention of Taiwan in his tweet is also very interesting. It is well known that the very mention of Taiwan sends China into absolute rage. In the current pandemic, the WHO has been heavily criticized for ignoring what could have been useful and timely information provided by Taiwan. The United States and many of its allies such as Australia and New Zealand have come out openly to say that Taiwan should be allowed to have some representation at the World Health Organization.

China is furious. And how is China trying to defend the current WHO? You guessed it!

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Article by Global Times

There it is, straight from China’s state run Global Times newspaper.

So when Adhir Chowdhury uses an expression like “yellow expansionist,” whose propaganda does it help?

This is not the first time that the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha has said something that undermines our position versus another country.

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Article by Times of India

That is music to Pakistan’s ears. It is everything that Pakistan ever wanted to hear.

In the space of less than one year, the leader of the Congress Party in Lok Sabha has made two outrageous remarks. One has made Pakistan extremely happy. The other has given a handle to China to dismiss criticism against them.

Will Congress clarify? What is going on?

‘Ten Day Battle’: Wuhan in China decides to test its entire population in 10 days for the Coronavirus after new cases emerge

OpIndia Staff
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‘Ten Day Battle’: Wuhan in China decides to test its entire population in 10 days for the Coronavirus after new cases emerge

The Chinese City of Wuhan, the epicentre of the Coronavirus pandemic, has decided to test its entire population of 11 million citizens within a span of 10 days. The decision was announced after new cases emerged in city, after which the Wuhan Coronavirus has been named, even after the enforcement of a strict 76-day lockdown. Six new cases were recorded over the weekend prior to which no new cases had been reported since the 3rd of April.

As per a report on The Paper, every district had been instructed to draw up its own 10-day testing plan according to a widely circulated internal document. Each district is to be held responsible for their own plan based on the size of their population and whether there was any active outbreak in the district. The internal document refers to the plan for testing as the “10-day battle”. However, several senior health officials were quoted by Chinese Government mouthpiece who said that the process might be too costly.

Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the pathogen biology department at Wuhan University, said, “About three to five million residents have been tested and proved healthy, and thus Wuhan is capable to test the remaining 6 to 8 million in 10 days.” Yang said the city-wide test may be unnecessary as “you’ll never know if people were infected after testing negative.” According to him, “It’s essentially an epidemiological investigation to determine the current situation.”

China’s conduct during the Coronavirus pandemic has been atrocious, to put it mildly. After resisting any study into the origin of Wuhan Coronavirus, China had recently finally agreed for a review of the pandemic. China agreed to a review by an “open, transparent and inclusive” WHO panel, constituted only under the leadership of the controversial WHO Chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at an appropriate time, following the end of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Chinese regime has also made several attempts to disassociate itself from the spread of the virus even when it has been abundantly clear that it emerged from the wet markets of Wuhan and spread to the rest of the world due to China’s irresponsible and malicious conduct.

Maharashtra CID arrests 24 more people in the Palghar lynching case, 133 arrests made so far

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra CID arrests 24 more people in the Palghar lynching case, 133 arrests made so far

Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) has arrested at least 24 more accused who were reportedly absconding after the incident of lynching in Palghar. With this development, 133 people have been arrested in the Plaghar lynching case so far.

As per police, 9 minors have also been arrested among the 133 accused.

Earlier, in the Palghar Lynching Case, the Palghar Superintendent of police was sent on leave whereas five policemen were suspended and 35 others were transferred for dereliction of their duties on the incidents.

Earlier five accused were arrested in the Palghar lynching case by the Crime Investigation Department of Maharashtra Police.

The Maharashtra police filed an FIR against the villagers on the day of the incident and 110 people including 9 juveniles were arrested, 101 were sent to judicial custody while the juveniles sent to the juvenile shelter home. Later Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh released the name of those who were arrested.

Palghar Lynching Case

On 16th April 2020, two Seers associated with the Juna Akhara, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj, and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgadewere were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Guru. At Gadakchinchale village, a wild and frenzied crowd of over more than 100 people attacked them. The villagers deemed them as thieves and started attacking them. The police claim that their team which had rushed to the spot to rescue the 70-year-old man also came under the attack of the violent mob.

But later videos of the heinous act emerged that completely debunked the claim of police. It was seen that the sadhus were in the custody of the police but later the police personnel handed them over to the mob. Then after the mob then beat them to death in front of the policemen.

Telangana CM’s son KT Rama Rao creates panic by sneezing and coughing during public function, clarifies he is perfectly well

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana CM’s son KT Rama Rao creates panic by sneezing and coughing during public function, clarifies he is perfectly well

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son, KT Rama Rao triggered panic after he was seen sneezing and coughing multiple times at a public function in Rajanna-Siricilla district on Monday. According to reports, KT Rama Rao (KTR) was attending an event in Rajanna-Siricilla district and while interacting with officials, he sneezed several times, triggering panic among those present there.

Videos of KTR, who is Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president and state Information Technology Minister, sneezing into his towel went viral on social media. On several occasions during the event, KTR was spotted without his mask and also flouting the social distancing norms, which created a flutter during the event.

Many raised concerns about the KTR’s health. Many opined that the CM’s son should visit a hospital for a COVID-19 test, citing the Health Ministry protocol which necessitates that people with symptoms of cold, flu, running nose, sore throat and fever should visit the nearest hospital.

KT Rama Rao tweets clarification

KTR, however, clarified on Tuesday that he was perfectly well and apologised for any inconvenience he may have caused.

“Many thanks for your concern sir. Perfectly well now. Developed an allergic cold (struggling for many years) en route to Siricilla. Didn’t want to cancel my visit suddenly as it would inconvenience many people. Apologies for any inconvenience I may have caused inadvertently,” he tweeted, in reply to his follower’s query.

KTR inaugurated the central lighting system, an administrative building among other events at the Textile Park in Baddenapalli of Thangallapalli block in Siricilla, his home constituency on Monday.

Monday was the worst day yet for Telangana with 79 coronavirus positive cases being reported in the state. With this, the number of cases in the state has risen to 1,275. The health department in its daily bulletin on Monday did not report any further fatalities and the toll remained static at 30.

Swati Chaturvedi and her imaginary friends: An analysis of her predictions and ‘source’-based rumours

Nirwa Mehta
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Swati Chaturvedi and her imaginary friends: An analysis of her predictions and ‘source’-based rumours

‘Journalist’ Swati Chaturvedi is like an amusement park personified. When she’s not busy conjuring up fiction and passing them off as investigative journalism, she gives us glimpses into her psychotic tendencies through her tweets. On Monday, Chaturvedi took to Twitter to ‘predict’ that pretty soon we will hear of an assassination plot of PM Modi that was foiled.

Swati Chaturvedi’s now deleted tweet

For a country where two former Prime Ministers, including one in office, were assassinated, one would not take such threats seriously. This tweet of Chaturvedi could mean two things: 1. Chaturvedi is mocking security threat to PM Modi or 2. She might know something about the assassination plot which she fears may get foiled. The former is quite likely because she has made such jokes and ‘predictions’ in the past.

Swati Chaturvedi ‘predicts’

And while she is not mocking PM Modi’s security threat and the NSA Ajit Doval, she is busy making ‘predictions’ based on the inputs given by her sources, whom one suspects to be imaginary. One can deduce it by the outcome of those predictions. And if her ‘sources’ are not imaginary, one would have to deal with a different set of worries as one will have to wonder who are these sources giving her input on the assassination of the prime minister.

Shaheen Bagh women did not clear the protest site for days even as the coronavirus pandemic threatened. With zero disregard for public health and safety, the ‘protests’ continued for weeks after the Delhi elections. Ergo, if Chaturvedi is good at predicting stuff, I’m Madhuri Dikshit. But wait, what? Here are some of her ‘reports’. Vijay Rupani is currently the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Varun Gandhi is a BJP MP from Pilibhit. Amit Shah was the BJP President when the ‘prediction’ was made. He continued to hold the post till 2020. BJP leader JP Nadda was ‘working president’ in 2019 along with Shah and was elected to the top post in party in 2020. And no, Rajnath Singh wasn’t. He continues to be Defence Minister in Modi 2.0. And we all know how that turned out.

Swati Chaturvedi and her ‘sources’

And then there are ‘sources’. Or as some people call, voices in her head. Here is what some of her ‘sources’ have told her.

Starting with latest ‘source-based conspiracy’ ft. Vir Sanghvi, and no this is not a leaked tape. Swati’s ‘source’ had told her PM Modi will reach out to migrants and make an emotional appeal. Vir Sanghi also chirped in affirmative and added how PM Modi may blame the CMs for ‘harsh measures’. PM Modi announced a relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore, 10% of GDP. He stressed on self reliance. Perhaps the voice in Swati’s head needs some fine-tuning. This is such a no-brainer, you don’t even need to consult your imaginary friend to ‘predict’ this. This is also how I attribute my own outrageous ideas to non-existent people to escape liabilities of my words. Most Indians still waiting for this to come true. And the Schrödinger’s cat.

And while no one really should be taking Swati Chaturvedi seriously, she still continues to be a source of amusement.

Update July 2020:

UP-based notorious gangster Vikas Dubey was arrested from Ujjain on Thursday, 9th July. He was on the run for a week after he and his men killed 8 policemen, including a DSP, who had gone to arrest him earlier this week. On Wednesday evening, Swati had predicted, perhaps after talking to her ‘sources’ that Dubey had ran away to Nepal. Nepal and Ujjain are in separate directions.

Social media user Ankur Singh on Sunday pointed out Chaturvedi’s u-turn after Hardik Patel’s appointment as Gujarat Congress chief.

In 2015, Swati was of the opinion that Hardik Patel is planted by the RSS. She had said how Patel was symbol of ‘awful mutation of Hindutva’ in Gujarat. She also believed he was ‘Plan B’ of RSS’ anti-reservation movement. Four years down the line, She believes that Patel is an excellent choice for Congress to lead the party in the state. She believes he is one of the few people who can mobilise people on ground.

Note: The article has been updated with the latest ‘source-based’ conspiracy that turned out to be a dud.

Alert in North-east after African Swine Fever kills more than 14,000 pigs in Assam

OpIndia Staff
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Alert in North-east after African Swine Fever kills more than 14,000 pigs in Assam

Within 15 days of reports of the demise of thousands of pigs due to African Swine fever, the Assam government has again made a shocking revelation. The Assam government has announced that the deadly epidemic of African Swine Fever has killed more than 14,000 pigs in the state. The State government decided to cull the pigs on Monday.

Assam’s animal husbandry minister Atul Bora told ANI on Tuesday, “Till now, 14,465 pigs have died in 10 districts, due to African Swine Fever. The government is taking all possible steps to stop the spread of the disease. For prevention of the disease, we are advising farmers deep burial of dead pigs.”

The state’s Animal Husbandry department and Veterinary department director Pulin Das has told the news agency IANS that they have no intention to cull the pigs despite the advice of central government. He said, “We have told the central government in case of culling we will have to pay huge amounts to farmers and firm owners as compensation. Thus, for culling we need huge financial support from the central government.”

Kaziranga National Park took measure to avoid infection

In efforts to keep the infection at bay, the Kaziranga National Park authority has dug a 2 kilometres long and six-feet deep trench to protect wild boars from the African Swine Flu infection.

According to the 2019 census, Assam had over 21 lacs pigs, which the authorities say that may have increased to 30 lacs now.

After the ASF outbreak in Assam, all the North-East states have sounded high-alert and asked the people, especially those in animal husbandry business domesticating pigs are told to not bring pigs from other states.

Assam is the largest supplier of Pork with annual Pork business worth 8,000-10,000 crores.

What is African Swine Fever?

The African Swine Fever is a highly contagious hemorrhagic viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. This disease can be spread by live or dead pigs, domestic or wild, and pork products. Furthermore, transmission can also occur via contaminated feed and fomites (non-living objects) such as shoes, clothes, vehicles, knives, equipment, etc., due to the high environmental resistance of the ASF virus.

It is caused by a large DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family, which also infects ticks of the genus Ornithodoros. There’s no approved vaccine against African Swine Fever.

It is important to note that the African Swine Fever is different from the Swine Flu, which can transmit to humans. The African Swine Fever does not spread to humans and hence it poses no danger for human health. Although it will have a huge economic impact on pig farms in Assam.

Earlier Assam had banned Pork sale in affected areas, closes slaughterhouses

Earlier Minister Bora had informed that the ASF was reported in the Dhemaji, Sivsagar, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, and Biswanath districts. From 1964 on April 25, the death toll had reached 2262 in Assam in just three days.

The state of Assam banned the purchase and sale of pigs and pork in the affected areas, closed slaughterhouses, and also banned movements from pig farms.

West Bengal: Home Dept issues advisory, warns strict action against those circulating false news regarding the communal violence in Telinipara

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Home Dept issues advisory, warns strict action against those circulating false news regarding the communal violence in Telinipara

The West Bengal Home Department on Monday warned of strict action against those who are posting and circulating fake information on social media in the context of the communal clash which erupted in Telinipara in West Bengal’s Hooghly district on Sunday.

Taking to twitter the State’s Home department said: “Last evening swift and strong action was taken in Telinipara against those who were trying to disturb peace. The situation was immediately brought under control. Telinipara is peaceful now”.

“Police will not allow any provocation and strict action will be taken against anyone who tries to create disturbance including those who are posting and circulating false information,” department wrote in its subsequent tweet.

Earlier in the day it was reported that thirty-seven people have been detained after a communal clash between two groups broke out in Telinipara in Hooghly district of West Bengal on Sunday night. A huge police team had to be posted in the tense Telinipara area to ensure peace. There has been no further incident in the last 24 hours.

The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had tweeted yesterday claiming that flouting of COVID-19 guidelines was responsible for the incident. “Horrific visuals from Telinipara in Hooghly where people from a “certain” community turned violent last night. Criticising Mamata Banerjee for playing vote bank politics the BJP Bengal unit continued to write: “In WB, under Mamata Banerjee, ‘vote bank’ patronised by TMC has held the state to ransom, flouted Covid guidelines at will without any fear of law!”

Several houses were burnt during communal clash in Telinipara, Hooghly

Horrific images had emerged which showed houses, shops and vehicles gutted in fire and stone being pelted on the streets of Telinipara, Hoogly, West Bengal. According to reports, bombs were hurled and shops ransacked in the ensuing mayhem which started when some people from Wardibazar area tried to enter the Telinipara area on May 10, Sunday. There are claims that several people were attacked and their houses were burnt down by people from a “certain” community. The police have stated that the clashes started when members of one community called a group as ‘corona’.

Wardibazar reportedly had some coronavirus cases and several people in quarantine. So when 10-odd people from there headed to Telinipara, apparently to use a public toilet, locals objected and a clash broke out.

The police had fired 26 rounds of tear gas and ten rounds of rubber bullets to bring the situation under control. A number police personnel have been deployed in the area following the clashes.

Chandannagar Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir told news agency PTI, “Some people were addressed as ‘corona’. And it all started from there. After a verbal spat, one group blocked another from entering a community bathroom in the Victoria Jute Mills area of Telinipara, which led to the fight.”

“Bombs were hurled and shops ransacked, following which a huge team of police was sent there. We continued raids throughout the night and detained 37 people. Our raids are still on, said the police commissioner.

BJP alleges communal clash was pre-planned

While BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, who was not allowed into Telinipara by the WB police, claimed that the attack was pre-planned, Dilip Ghosh, the Bengal BJP chief and MP, said: “Bombs and guns were used and the clash turned communal, an example of law and order breakdown in Bengal. A fight against corona turned into a communal fight.”

Terrorists attack maternity clinic in Kabul, the Taliban denies responsibility

OpIndia Staff
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Terrorists attack maternity clinic in Kabul, the Taliban denies responsibility

On Tuesday, armed terrorists reportedly carried out an attack at a maternity clinic run by Doctors Without Borders (French: Medecins Sans Frontieres) at Dasht-e-Barchi Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. This resulted in a gun battle between the armed terrorists and the Afghan security and police forces.

Four people have been injured. A doctor who fled the hospital informed BBC that 140 people were stuck inside the hospital at the time of the attack. The area of Dashti Barchi, a Shia dominated area, has been the subject of Islamists attacks in the past as well.

According to German Press Agency, a security official informed that he heard explosion and gunshots, following the entry of military personnel in the hospital. Black smokes can be seen rising from the hospital in pictures of the terror attack.

A Spokesperson of the Afghan Interior Ministry, Marwa Amini, informed that “special forces” have been deployed in the area and that the situation has been brought under control. Another spokesperson Tareq Arian said that 80 women and infants were evacuated by the forces when the gunbattle between the armed group and security forces were on.

Taliban denies Responsibility

Moreover, information on the gunmen or the number of casualties has not been made available so far. It is not clear why the 100-bed hospital was attacked by the gunmen. Radical Islamist group Taliban has denied involvement in the attack. They have reportedly decided to not target urban centres but only Afghan security forces.

Islamic State attacks Gurdwara in Afghanistan

In March this year, armed terrorists and suicide bombers attacked a Gurudwara in the Shor Bazar area in Kabul. Armed terrorists and suicide bombers attacked a Gurudwara in the Shor Bazar area in Kabul. 25 people were reportedly been killed in the attack so far. The Islamic State (IS) had claimed responsibility for the attack. India condemned the cowardly attack and conveyed condolences to the families of the victims.

In Arnab Goswami v Antonia, Congress is not fairing to well: After questioning photocopy FIRs, Court throws out demand to ban Republic TV

OpIndia Staff
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In Arnab Goswami v Antonia, Congress is not fairing to well: After questioning photocopy FIRs, Court throws out demand to ban Republic TV

The Congress party isn’t faring too well in its fight against Arnab Goswami. After senior party leader Kapil Sibal was grilled by the Supreme Court for photocopied FIRs across numerous states in the country, the Bombay High Court has refused to grant the demand made by Congress party members to ban Republic TV from airing across television sets. The petition for the same was filed by Bhai jagtap, a member of the Legislative Council from the Congress party, and Suraj Thakur, state president of the Maharashtra Youth Congress in the said court.

Reportedly, a plea demanded that the Editor in Chief of Republic TV should “be banned from speaking on any television channel or online platform” and his channel Republic TV should be ”be banned from airing any program and/or be taken off the air”. The Bombay High Court has rejected this demand outright. Meanwhile, a petition was filed by one Mohammed Arif Jameel, an ‘RTI activist’ from Bengaluru, in the Karnataka High Court as well.

The petition states, “Respondent No 8 (Arnab) in utmost unethical, deplorable manner, belittling the profession of journalism in repeated attempt to paint the event of mob lynching at Palhar, Maharashtra into into an communal event demonising the common man to be at fear for his life at all times; The statements made promoting hatred are a punishable offence and an assault on our constitutional values including the right to life of an entire community.”

The petition before the Bombay High Court stated, “The Respondents Nos. 3 (Arnab Goswami) and 4 (Republic TV) intentionally engaged in outright lies to paint minority religions in a negative light. Repeated claims by the Respondent No. 3 such as “award wapsi gang-mombatti gang santo ke mob lynching par khamosh hai” (the award-returning, candlelight gang is silent on the mob lynching of Hindu saints), “mob lynching ko mazhab ke chashme se dekha jaata hai” (mob lynching is merely viewed through the lens of religion), and rhetoric questioning such as “kya gerua pehenna paap hai?” (is wearing saffron a sin?).”

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant the demand made by the petitioners and Arnab Goswami is free to air his views on Republic TV. However, it doesn’t appear that the party would give up its malicious pursuit against the editor-in-chief of Republic TV. Earlier, he was also forced to sit for an interrogation with the Mumbai Police for twelve hours.

Policeman tests positive for Coronavirus

One of the policemen who interrogated Arnab Goswami for over twelve hours in April last week has now tested positive for coronavirus, senior advocate Harish Salve informed the Supreme Court while arguing for the Republic TV chief seeking quashing of the fresh FIR against him. On April 27, 2020, Arnab Goswami was questioned by Mumbai Police for over 12 hours for questioning Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi’s silence over Palghar Sadhu lynching. He was questioned after the Congress party filed more than 150 FIRs against him in various states of the country. The Supreme Court had merged all the FIRs into one and transferred to Mumbai. A week later, a fresh FIR was filed by Raza Academy.

Over the Palghar incident, Arnab, during the hearing on quashing of FIR requested that the case be transferred to the CBI for further investigation since he has made serious allegations against the local police in Palghar incident. “It’s a union vs state problem and I have become a party to this. Of course I can go to Bombay High Court, my request is that the CBI can probe and file report,” Goswami said in the court.

Pakistanis triggered by Major Gaurav Arya’s Balochistan comment stage protest, ‘hang’ his effigy

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistanis triggered by Major Gaurav Arya’s Balochistan comment stage protest, ‘hang’ his effigy

Days after popular presenter of the ‘Patriot’ TV show and Indian Army veteran Major Gaurav Arya triggered Pakistanis by claiming that he is in touch with Baloch freedom fighters in Pakistan, some groups across the border have gone crazy. Unable to vent their frustration after hundreds of tweets, they have started hanging Major Arya’s effigies.

Some Pakistanis have taken to streets, raising slogans against India and have hung an effigy after the retd Major had revealed that he was in touch with Baloch activists in Pakistan and warned the Pakistanis of severe retaliation if they continue their terror activities in Kashmir.

Recently, a landmine blast had occurred in South Balochistan on May 8, which had left 6 Pakistani soldiers and a Major dead.

During a live debate on Republic TV, Major Arya had stated that he has the numbers of all senior leaders of the Baloch freedom struggle stored in his phone and he is in constant touch with them. He had added that if Pakistan doesn’t stop its designs in Kashmir, in a few years Pakistanis will have to apply for a visa to enter Balochistan.

Major Arya’s comments have frustrated many Pakistani leaders. He seems to have touched a raw nerve. He was even criticised by Pakistani media. Many Pakistani politicians including the CM of Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan, a Pakistani parliamentarian Sarfaraz Bugti and many other prominent figures had termed Major Arya’s statements as belligerent and had gone on to condemn it.

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