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Nexus between Congress and Islamists in stoking anti-CAA riots? PFI spent over 120 crores, transferred huge sums to Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising: Read details

In a stunning revelation, the Enforcement Directorate has claimed that the Islamic radicals of Popular Front of India(PFI) are behind the funding of the violent anti-CAA protests across several parts of the country that ensued following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act by both the houses of the parliament in December 2019.

The explosive investigation reports claim that the PFI spent about 120 crores in a month to orchestrate the violent riots in the country, naming eminent lawyers Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising and Dushyant Dave also as the beneficiaries of PFI’s funding.


According to the probe agency sources cited by Zee News, following the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, PFI started mysteriously receiving monetary funds. It further added that it seemed like the depositors were expressly instructed to make donations less than Rs 50,000 at a time. The modes of transactions were mainly cash, RTGS/NEFT. Overall, 120 crores were credited to a total of 73 accounts held by PFI, its related entity namely Rehab India foundation and several individuals associated with the PFI. Rs 120 crore was routed through 73 different bank accounts to avoid scrutiny.

Among these, as per reports, 27 bank accounts were opened in the name of Popular Front of India. 9 bank accounts belong to Rehab India Foundation, an organization associated with PFI and the same organization has opened 37 bank accounts in the name of 17 different people and organization.

anti-CAA protests juxtaposed with transaction activities in PFI and RIF accounts, image via Zee media

The report stated that the money was withdrawn on or a day before the anti-CAA protests, thereby proving beyond doubt PFI’s role in sponsoring the anti-CAA riots. As per bank transactions records accessed by the ED, the transaction dates in the bank accounts held by PFI matches with the dates of violence which points towards the direct correlation between the violent protests and the PFI.


The report also names prominent individuals to whom PFI had made payments. Congress politician and Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal allegedly received Rs 77 lakhs while Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising received Rs 4 lakhs from one of the PFI accounts based out of Kozhikode, Kerala. Abdul Samand has allegedly received Rs 3.10 lakhs.

The suspicious payment of Rs 1.17 crores made by PFI to New Jyothi Group is also under the scanner of the probe agency as investigations are underway to determine the nature and reason for the transaction between two organisations working in two different areas.

Speaking to Times Now, lawyer Dushyant Dave has claimed that he had received money from PFI 2 years ago and it is not linked with anti-CAA protests. The ED has already submitted its report to the MHA.

Kapil Sibal has reportedly clarified to Times now that he had received money from PFI only during 2017-18 for the Hadiya Love Jihad case for his ‘professional services’.

In another shocking revelation shared by Zee News, it has been found that 9 offices of PFI and related organisations have also been opened in the Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area to fund the ongoing protest against the CAA.

Several parts of Uttar Pradesh witnessed widespread violence under the pretext of ‘peaceful demonstrations’ against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Earlier, three people associated with the radical Islamic organisation PFI, including UP state head Waseem, were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for orchestrating violence by spreading misinformation through social media platforms.

UP police had also stated that the violence in AMU on December 15 was largely instigated by WhatsApp messages and Twitter posts stating that some Jamia Millia Islamia students were killed in police firing on December 15 in Delhi.

UP police chief OP Singh had stated that members of radical Islamic organisations – Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political front, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), including political parties like Samajwadi Party were involved in instigating Muslim mobs to indulge in violence across the state during the anti-CAA protests. The UP police had advocated a ban on PFI after the widespread violence in the state.

Deepak Chaurasia, who was assaulted at Shaheen Bagh, gives befitting reply to The Wire employee who downplayed attack

Consulting Editor of News Nation Deepak Chaurasia was attacked at Shaheen Bagh by people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Sharing a video from his ordeal on social media, he had said, “We are hearing that the constitution is in danger, we are hearing that the fight is to save democracy! When I reached Shaheen Bagh to show the same voice to the country, there was nothing less than mob lynching!”

The video that emerged was nothing short of shocking, with goons almost lynching Chaurasia. The video journalist accompanying Chaurasia was attacked as well and the camera was destroyed. According to him, there was no policeman at the site to protect him.

While most people expressed shock and unequivocally condemned the violence against Deepak Chaurasia by Shaheen Bagh goons, there were some who chose to shield the Islamist mobs by justifying the attack on him. From Marya Shakil of CNN News 18 to Arfa Khanum Sherwani of The Wire and even a columnist with Shekhar Gupta run The Print, the entire ecosystem proceeded to justify the attack against Chaurasia.

Read: From The Print to The Wire: How journalists justified the attack on colleague Deepak Chaurasia by Shaheen Bagh goons

One conversation was intriguing and brazen in particular.

Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV, speaking about Chaurasia said that he once used to be a fine journalist but has now stopped being one, presumably, because he has stopped toeing the line set be the ecosystem. He further said that the brand of journalism practised by Chaurasia has ‘consequence’.

To this, Rohini Singh of The Wire further, slyly, justified the attack on Chaurasia by saying that he really is not a “journalist” as per her.


Giving a fitting response to Rohini Singh, Deepak Chaurasia lashed out at The Wire employee.


Chaurasia said that he comes from a poor background and has done his journalism on his own merit. He said that his only fault was that he was not a “designer journalist” like Rohini Singh he had no contacts in the Finance Ministry through brokers like Nira Radiia. He added that he has also never received a 3 BHK apartment from any government for writing reports.

Read: Samajwadi Party friendly ‘journalist’ associated with The Wire caught spreading lies about Yogi Adityanath, deletes tweet after getting called out

Back in 2010, during the Congress regime, a scandal had come to the fore where journalists, including ones like Barkha Dutt and MK Venu (who is the founding editor of The Wire where Rohini Singh now works), were heard hobnobbing with corporate lobbying Niira Radia. MK Venu was heard requesting corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to introduce a journalist named ‘Rohini Singh’ to her (lobbyist’s) circle (of politicians, businessmen, lobbyists, etc.). Radia was believed to be using journalists as brokers for securing favourable deals for her corporate clients from the UPA government. Rohini Singh is currently working with The Wire as well. This is what Chaurasia was referring to when he said that he had nobody introduce him in the Finance Ministry.

Further, Chaurasia claimed that unlike Rohini Singh, he was not given a 3BHK apartment to write favourable stories by any government. Prior to the Uttar Pradesh elections, it was rumoured that Rohini Singh had received a 2BHK apartment by Samajwadi Party headed by Akhilesh Yadav to write favourable stories. This rumour was further given wind by the fact that though the writing on the wall was clear, till the day before the results, Rohini Singh was adamantly asserting that SP was coming to power in the state. Further, after the election results were announced, she had disappeared and gone off Social Media for months. These allegations have, however, only remained allegations and no proof to substantiate these charges have emerged yet. Interestingly, now Deepak Chaurasia has suggested that it was not 2 BHK but 3 BHK apartment that was given to Rohini Singh, something OpIndia can not independently verify.

Read: Nothing short of yellow journalism: Read SC’s scathing remarks against The Wire in Jay Shah defamation case

It is pertinent to note that The Wire is facing trial in a defamation case filed by Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah.

The case relates to an article written by Rohini Singh and published by The Wire alleging impropriety in business dealings of Jay Shah. Their article, which was riddled with glaring loopholes and inaccuracy, was decimated by us. Subsequently, The Wire had selectively altered its story, but the shaky ground on which the story stood remained as it was.

In response to the shoddy story, Jay Shah had slapped ‘The Wire’ with a ₹100 crore defamation case against them in a Gujarat court. Subsequently, the Gujarat High Court had issued a gag order on The Wire, preventing it from publishing anything on the matter. The High Court had observed that Jay Shah has a prima facie case against the publication.

As students from IIT Bombay take out Tiranga march, Left group paints posters in support of Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam

On the eve of Republic Day, students of IIT Bombay joined by faculty members took out a Tiranga Yatra condemning the politicisation of campuses, mostly by the Left students. More than 1500 student’s of IIT Bombay participated in the march holding the 1,000 feet Tricolour from the convocation hall covering each and every hostel. While the students and faculty members of IIT Bombay congregated to condemn politicisation and celebrate Republic Day, the Left students, spearheaded by the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle were busy painting posters in support of the mastermind of Shaheen Bagh protests, Sharjeel Imam, who had called for the breaking up of India.

Read: IIT Bombay faculty condemns politicisation of campus, joins students in Tiranga March ahead of Republic Day

A Facebook page called ‘IIT Bombay for Justice’ uploaded a picture of “students” getting ready to celebrate an event called ‘Reclaim the Republic’. The event and the Facebook page is run by Left students who mostly belong to a group called Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, we have learnt. The event ‘Reclaim the Republic’ was also attended by ‘comedian’ Varun Grover, who has written a propaganda poem called ‘Hum Kagaz Nahi Dikhayenge’ in opposition to NRC and CAA.

Poster for Left students’ ‘Reclaim the Republic’ event at IIT B

OpIndia has learnt that ‘IITB4Justice’ is a group which is spearheaded by APSCC. During the preparation of this rally by the Left students on campus, the Facebook page of this group uploaded pictures of students painting posters for the event.

Left students making posters for ‘Reclaim the Republic’ rally

As one can see from the snapshot, the poster which has been circled in red reads ‘Support Sharjeel Imam’. Sharjeel Imam is the mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protest who had been caught on video talking about the breaking up of the country.

Sharjeel Imam has now been booked by various states for his seditious statements including Assam, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Read: Radical Islamists say Muslims must stand by Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam, defend his decision to cut off Assam

Sharjeel Imam has been at the forefront of the anti-CAA protests from the very beginning. In a video that had gone viral on social media by the 17th of December, he could be seen inciting Muslims to do ‘Chakkajam’ in Delhi and wherever they have sufficient numbers. He called for Muslims to bring entire cities to a halt. “There are over 30% urban Muslims in UP. Do you have no shame at all? Why cannot you do Chakkajam in UP? The area in Bihar where I am from, the rural Muslim population is 6% while the urban Muslim population is 24%. Indian Muslims mostly live in cities. So it is upon you. You can bring your cities to a halt. If anyone asks you not to, disown them” he was heard saying in the viral video.

On Saturday, another video had gone viral on social media where he had asked Muslims of the country to break India by cutting of North-east from the rest of the country. “Our main aim is to permanently cut Assam and North-east India from rest of India,” he could be heard saying in the video.

Read: From The Wire to everything else, the Anatomy of an Islamist: Into the mind of Sharjeel Imam, mastermind of Shaheen Bagh

Interestingly, while the Tiranga March by the students and faculty members of IIT B saw a massive turnout of over with students carrying a 1000 feet Tirange, the Left students’ event hardly saw any engagement.

‘Reclaim the Republic’ rally by Left students
‘Reclaim the Republic’ rally by Left students

Another interesting poster that emerged from IIT-B by the Left students was a poster that called for the release of ‘Taha Alan’.

Poster at IIT-B Left rally

Alan Suhaib and Taha Fasal were two Communist party members who have been booked by UAPA for their links with Maoists.

This poster, coupled with the one where it calls for solidarity with Sharjeel Imam, who had called for the breaking up of India only proves that the Left organisations even in prestigious institutes like the IIT are trying to foment problem and politicise the campus for their petty political gains.

On the other hand, even faculty members have condemned this politicisation during the Tiranga March. “IIT Bombay is an institution which is known for excellence in research, not politics. It’s hampering our research. We condemn it. Today what is more important is to celebrate Republic Day and we are here for that,” said Professor Ashutosh Kumar.

IIT Bombay faculty Prof Varadraj Bapat Som condemned the politicisation of educational campuses and said this (IIT-Bombay) campus is not for politics and to serve someone’s political propaganda.

Kerala: Catholic priest says govt ignoring Love Jihad cases, missing women and children is ‘silent sanction’

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The debate on Kerala’s Love Jihad problem is far from over.  A senior Catholic Church priest in Kerala, Fr Varghese Vallikkatt, has now stated that young women from South India are being used as sex slaves in war-torn nations of Syria and Afghanistan.

Vallikkatt, the current spokesperson of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), has also slammed the State and Union Government for turning a blind eye to the issue, and not conducting a proper probe into the case of “missing women and children”.

In a video on Sunday, the priest alleged that the government’s inaction reflected a “silent sanction.” According to Vallikkatt, investigations have failed to nab the real culprits. He also blamed the government for not maintaining data on Love Jihad and dismissing such incidents as “isolated”. Vallikkatt said that the Church was under pressure from its followers for not doing anything about it.

Vallikkatt’s remarks have come days after the Kerala state government had dismissed the claims made by the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church earlier this month.

Recently, the Syro-Malabar Church had stated that Love Jihad is a reality and that Christian girls are being entrapped by radical elements for Islamist terror outfits.

Read: Christian girls are being targeted, killed or being used in Islamic terrorist activities: Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala

This induced a sharp reaction from Kerala’s Finance Minister Thomas Isaac who claimed that Love Jihad has “no factual basis.” He, however, assured to look into specific cases (if any) but also stated that the claims regarding love Jihad were gross generalization.

Syro-Malabar Church’s stand found support from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP) which advocated a “united fight” against Love Jihad. The Popular Front of India, a radical Islamic outfit, had asked the Church to withdraw its statement as it would create divisions in the society at a time when a large number of people were standing up to so-called “Hindutva fascism.”

It is notable here that the NIA is also investigating cases of radical Islamism in Kerala where Islamists are recruiting terrorists for the ISIS. Kerala has the dubious distinction of being the Indian state with most numbers of jihadis fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Several cases of Love Jihad are also included in the probe.

Pak-origin MEP moves anti-CAA resolution in EU Parliament, India slams the move calling it internal matter

Shaffaq Mohammed, Pakistan-origin Member of European Parliament, is the lead mover of the European Parliament Resolution on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Taking to Twitter, Mohammed has been bombarding media houses and ‘activists’ to take credit for the resolution he has moved out of ‘concerns about the discriminatory nature of the Act”.


Shaffaq Mohammed was born in Mirpur, Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir and has been an MEP since 2019. It is reported that the proposed resolution, which is expected to be debated on 29th January, is supported by 154 out of 751 members of the European Parliament. The voting for the same will be held on 30th, though it may not really garner support from majority of the members.

As reported by news agency PTI, a total of six resolutions have been tabled by various groups within the European Union (EU). This includes the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) (PPE), Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Verts/ALE), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), Renew Europe Group (Renew) and European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group. The resolutions, reportedly, have also made a reference to the revocation of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Read: European Parliament member backs India on Jammu and Kashmir, says abrogation of Article 370 will help curb terrorism

The Indian government, however, said that the CAA is an internal matter and said that the EU Parliament should not take actions that call to question the rights and authority of democratically elected legislatures in other parts of the country. Clarifying once again that the CAA only speeds up naturalisation procedure for persecuted religious minorities in three neighbouring Islamic countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh), government sources told media houses that the Indian government hopes that the supporters and sponsors of the draft will engage with the Indian officials to get full and accurate assessment of facts before they proceed.

Chennai: Plan to attack on economist and Thuglak editor S Gurumurthy’s house foiled, 2 arrested

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On Sunday, a group of 9 miscreants reportedly tried to attack the house of S Gurumurthy, the editor of Thuglak magazine in Mylapore, Chennai at around 3:30 a.m. Gurumurthy took to Twitter later to inform about the incident.


As per reports, 9 men had tried to barge into the former journalist’s house in Mylapore when the guard on duty was alerted by barking dogs in the house. Seeing the guard approaching, the man allegedly fled, on bikes that were waiting for them.

CCTV footage has revealed one of the masked intruders was carrying a suspicious bag. Other reports have stated that the men might have been carrying petrol bombs

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mylapore, S Nelson, said “The house was under security cover. The unidentified men reached the area and were roaming around the house, evoking suspicion. When they tried to enter the house with a suspicious item in the bag, the personnel tried to accost them, following which they ran.”

The Commissioner of Police also informed that around five men approached the house while the remaining four were on their bikes. Earlier, on Monday, S Gurumurthy tweeted that the police have now arrested 2 assailants belonging to an extremist Tamil group. Moreover, he expressed his gratitude to the police for their reassurance and swift action.

The Tughlaq magazine had recently decided to re-publish its articles dating back to Periyar’s Salem rally in 1971 after superstar Rajnikanth spoke about it in the magazine’s event. During the rally, it is alleged that naked pictures of Lord Ram and Sita were garlanded with slippers. This drew the ire of the Periyarists and the DMK who had demanded an apology from the superstar over his statement.

Read: Rajnikanth refuses to apologise after a complaint filed against him for comments on Periyar: All you need to know about the controversy

Rajnikanth had refused to retract or apologise over his statement.

It is, however, not the first time that Gurumurthy has been under threat. The noted journalist shared that a man named Fakruddin arrested by police in 2013 had confessed that he intended to shoot Gurumurthy. There was also another attempt to break into his by a masked man in 2014. The noted journalist and economist has stated that he was advised by NSA Ajit Doval after the incident over his security arrangements.

Gurumurthy has also stated that security threats are not new for him and he has faced them since the 1980s. He had been closely associated with Indian Express’ founder Ramnath Goenka. Gurumurthy rose to national prominence when he and Goenka took on the Reliance Industries in the 1980s. Gurumurthy and Goenka ran a series of exposes on the crony capitalism and policy influencing practised in the polyester industries.

Gurumurthy was also the key person who had brought the dubious financial dealings of the Chidambaram family to highlight. He had exposed Karthi Chidambaram‘s links with the Advantage Strategic Consultancy Pvt Ltd and brought the numerous proxies and benamis used by the Chidambaram family out in the open.

An RSS ideologue since his early days, Gurumurthy is also the chairman of the think tank Vivekananda International Foundation, a visiting faculty in IIT Bombay and a distinguished professor in Sastra University.

Javed Akhtar’s daughter Zoya Akhtar promotes Jamia ‘shero’ Aysha Renna, who condemned Yakub Memon hanging, through her production ‘Tiger Baby Films’ Instagram

Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar’s filmmaker daughter Zoya Akhtar, through her film production company ‘Tiger Baby Films’ has promoted Jamia ‘shero’ Aysha Renna, who has now extended support to Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam.

In an Instagram picture posted on 13th January, 2019, Tiger Baby Films glorifies Renna as “Fearless, determined, unstoppable: Tigress Ayesha Renna. #SheRoars”. Zoya Akhtar’s film production company further describes Renna as “During the anti-CAA protests in Jamia Millia Islamia College, Delhi, the history student shielded a young man from being attacked by brute forces like a true shero. Her roars were heard loud and clear.”

Read: Truth behind anti-CAA image shared by Farhan Akhtar: A Kashmiri separatist org that called Islamic terror org JKLF ‘secular’

As per reports, Zoya Akhtar along with filmmaker Reema Kagti had launched Tiger Baby Films back in 2017 and currently has Zoya and her mother and Javed Akhtar’s first wife Honey Irani as directors.

Tiger Baby Films Director info (source: Zaubacorp)

Aysha Renna came to limelight after controversial journalist Barkha Dutt interviewed her after an image of Renna ‘protecting’ her friend from Police during anti-CAA riots in New Delhi went viral. Renna’s social media posts were a little problematic where she called India a ‘fascist’ state for hanging 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused Yakub Memon. However, after she was exposed as a terrorist sympathisers for the first time, she deactivated her account. Renna is now back on Facebook and extended support to Shaheen Bagh road block mastermind Sharjeel Imam for his seditious statements where he was instigating secession and asked Muslims of India to cut off Assam from rest of India.

Pakistan: Muslim man abducts Hindu girl while her wedding was in progress, forces her to marry him and convert to Islam

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The persecution of Hindu minorities in Pakistan has carried on unabated. Now, a 24 old Hindu woman was abducted from her wedding venue, married off to a Muslim man and forcefully converted to Islam. The victim of this atrocity was identified as Bharti Bai who was getting married to a Hindu man. The incident was reported from Pakistan’s Hala city on Sunday, 26th January 2019.

The father of the victim, Kishore Das, said that Shah Rukh Gul came while his daughter’s wedding ceremony was in progress and abducted her. He has also alleged that Gul was accompanied by some policemen. Gul was also accompanied by several other men who helped carry out the abduction.

According to the documents of her conversion, it seems that Bharti had converted to Islam on December 1, 2019, which may be the reason why she was taken away from her wedding venue. The documents that showed Bharti married to Shah Rukh Gul went viral on social media where Bharti’s name was changed to ‘Bushra’ after conversion to Islam.

Read: Pakistani Sikh politician forced to flee country after threats by Islamist fundamentalists, says minorities there are under constant threat

According to the documents that went viral, her permanent address is in Hala, Pakistan but her temporary address was shown as Gulshan Iqbal area in Karachi.

Jamiat-ul-Uloom Islamia, located at Allama Muhammad Yousuf Banuri town in Karachi, issued the certificate of Bharti’s conversion while her conversion was witnessed and certified by Mufti AbuBakar Saeed ur Rehman.

The details of the case are still unclear as it is not evident when Bharti was forcefully married to Shah Rukh Gul. While the dates are unclear, different version by Bharti’s family and her abductor, Gul, have also emerged.

Father of the Hindu girl has said that his daughter was abducted by Shah Rukh Gul under the supervision of local policemen. Meanwhile, the locals are saying Shah Rukh Gul approached the police and claimed Bushra as his wife after he learnt of her wedding with another man. The family was marrying off their daughter illegally, Gul had claimed.

Read: Pakistan: 14-years-old Christian girl in Karachi abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to her abductor

The despicable persecution of minority Hindus in Pakistan seems to be an endless cycle with news of Hindu girls being abducted and converted to Islam are regularly reported from the terror-state. Recently, a young girl named Chandri Kolhi from Noukot, Mirpurkhas, was abducted, converted and married to Allah Dino. The family of the girl filed a complaint alleging that she was abducted and forcefully converted to Islam.

In March 2019, two underage Hindu girls Raveena (13) and Reena (15) were abducted from the Ghotki in Pakistan, Sindh, on the eve of Holi and forcefully converted to Islam and married off to older Muslim men.

Earlier, Jagjit Kaur, a Sikh girl was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in Nankana Sahib which had caused a huge uproar. In another horrific incident, a 13-year-old Pooja Sotahar Kumari, daughter of Fatan Rathore, resident of village Bakhsho Laghari in Hyderabad district’s Hosri Taluka, was kidnapped, forcefully converted and subsequently married off to a man identified as Syed Irshad Shah.

Another Hindu temple attacked in Pakistan’s Sindh, goddess statue desecrated, scriptures damaged

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Pakistan’s Sindh province has been in the news for the rampant abductions of minor Hindu girls, their forceful conversion fo Islam and marriage to older men. In another testimony of the level of religious intolerance and hatred, the Mata Rani Bhatiyani Devi temple in Chachro, Tharparkar in Sindh has been brutally attacked by an Islamist mob on Sunday.


The attack comes just weeks after the attack on Sikh pilgrimage site Nankana Sahib. In Sindh’s Ghotki region, in September 2019, another temple was brutally attacked by an Islamist mob over fake charges of a teacher indulging in ‘blasphemy’ against Islam.

The Rani Bhatiyani temple was allegedly attacked by an Islamist mob on Sunday. The mob had proceeded to vandalise the temple, desecrate the area and damage the goddess’ statue. The mob had also blackened the face of the idol.

The local Hindu community has express anger and outrage at this attack. It is notable here that Sindh region has been constantly witnessing attacks on the minority Hindus over their faith.

There have been numerous abductions of young Hindu girls, often minors, by local Islamists who then forcefully convert and marry these girls to older Muslim men. The local administration becomes mute spectators when these girls are produced later in local courts with a conversion certificate and ‘Nikahnama’ issued by the Imam of a local Mosque.

The recent attack on Sikh pilgrimage site Nankana Sahib was led by the man was had earlier abducted and forcefully married Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, the daughter of the ‘Granthi’ at the Gurudwara.

Read: Won’t let Sikhs live in Nankana Sahib: Muslim mob led by family of man who abducted and converted Jagjit Kaur pelt stones at Gurudwara in Pakistan

Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, the minority communities in the Islamic Republic Of Pakistan have been constantly under attack by the Islamist fundamentalists. The attacks are often said to be orchestrated by Islamists leaders who enjoy patronage and protection by the Pakistani government.

Barkha Dutt’s ‘Sheroes’ come out in support of Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam, call crackdown against his seditious speech “Islamophobia”

Aysha Renna and Ladeeda Sakaloon alias Ladeeda Farzana, Jamia Millia Islamia students who was hailed by controversial journalist Barkha Dutt as ‘sheroes’, have now come out in support of Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam. Taking to Facebook, Renna referred to police action against Imam ‘witch hunt’ and demanded it be stopped.

In another post, Renna demanded that all the cases against Imam for his seditious remark instigating secession for Northeastern states from rest of India, be dropped.

She condemned action by Assam and Uttar Pradesh Police against “Anti-CAA Activist and PhD scholar of Jawaharlal Nehru University” under the UAPA. Renna, in her Facebook post, lies that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) denies citizenship to Muslims in India. The CAA merely fast tracks Indian citizenship of persecuted religious minorities from three neighbouring Islamic countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. CAA does not affect Indians, Muslims and non-Muslims, in any way.

Read: Radical Islamists say Muslims must stand by Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam, defend his decision to cut off Assam

Further, watering down Imam’s seditious remarks where he called for Muslims across the India to block the Siliguri Corridor aka Chicken’s Neck which connects the seven northeastern states to rest of India so that Assam is ‘cut off’ from India, Renna said that his speech was ‘misinterpreted’. About 500-odd ‘students’ and ‘activists’ have written a letter supporting Imam.

Other Jamia ‘Shero’ Ladeeda Sakaloon aka Ladeeda Farzana also took to Twitter to voice her support to Sharjeel Imam.


Ladeeda Sakaloon has deleted her Facebook account after her posts calling for jihad went viral on social media.

Various cases have been registered against Imam for his provocative speech in Aligarh and Delhi. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur Police have registered FIR against him for trying to instigate secessionist movement in the northeast. Uttar Pradesh Police and Delhi Police, too, have registered FIR under various sections of the IPC against Imam. On Sunday, Police raided his ancestral home in Bihar but he was not to be found.

Last week, The Wire columnist and Shaheen Bagh roadblock mastermind Sharjeel Imam’s video went viral where he had asked Muslims of the country to break India by cutting of North-east from the rest of the country. “Our main aim is to permanently cut Assam and North-east India from rest of India,” he could be heard saying in the video.

In his video, Sharjeel Imam had added, “If 5 lakhs Muslims are organised then we can cut the North-east from rest of India. If we cannot do permanently, at least we can cut North-east from India for months”.

Read: “An enemy community was foisted upon the Muslims after Independence”: Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam reveals real-agenda behind CAA protests

Further, Sharjeel Imam who is also a columnist with The Wire and mastermind of Shaheen Bagh protests had said, “Our responsibility is to cut the Assam from India then Govt will hear our voice. If we have to help the Assam then we will have to cut the Assam from rest of India”.

Sharjeel Imam is the mastermind and main coordinator of the Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Interestingly, earlier, ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’ slogans were raised at Shaheen Bagh which also pointed towards the main agenda of these anti-CAA protests, specifically at Shaheen Bagh, is the second partition of India.