Home Blog Page 5926

Uttar Pradesh: BSP state president’s brother, Sajid Ali, goes missing after shooting a villager

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Uttar Pradesh: BSP state president’s brother, Sajid Ali, goes missing after shooting a villager

The Uttar Pradesh police, who raided the house of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Uttar Pradesh president Munkad Ali in Shahjahanpur on Thursday night after learning that his brother Sajid Ali was involved in an incident of firing, found him missing from the residence.

Circle officer of Kithore area, Alok Singh, said that a villager, Yaseen, had sustained bullet injuries in the firing incident and was undergoing treatment. According to a report by Hindustan Times, Yaseen’s condition is stated to be stable by doctors.

“Initially, Yaseen’s family had lodged a case against unidentified criminals. However, later, a video surfaced in which he was seen accusing Sajid Ali of opening fire on him. Yaseen said he had gone fishing in the pond near Sajid Ali’s resort in Shahjahanpur on Monday evening when he was prevented from doing so and was shot at,” said Alok Singh.

The Circle officer confirmed that Sahid’ name was added on the basis of that video and furthered: “He is absconding and a recommendation has been made to the SSP of Meerut to declare a cash reward on him. We are also seeking a warrant in his name from the court.”

Recently, police had also conducted a raid at another BSP leader and former minister Haji Yakoob’s Meerut house in connection with a case of land grabbing and attempt to murder registered against him and his son Imran Qureshi.

The complaint was lodged by Muzammil, a resident of Hajipur naming Haji Yakoob and his son Imran Qureshi for grabbing his ancestral land in 2005 by making fake documents. He won the case from the court and went for taking possession from Yakoob and his son who allegedly attacked him and forced him to go away from there in spite of the court orders. Muzzamil then approached Kharkhauda police and registered a case of grabbing land and attempt to murder against the duo.

RSS deliberates upon ways to maintain communal harmony ahead of Ayodhya verdict: Report

OpIndia Staff
-
0
RSS deliberates upon ways to maintain communal harmony ahead of Ayodhya verdict: Report

During a two day meeting at New Delhi, senior RSS leaders and prominent dignitaries deliberated upon ways to maintain communal harmony in wake of the Ayodhya verdict which is expected to be delivered before the 17th of November when the current Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi retires.

The discussions which began on Wednesday and continued on Thursday were attended by BJP working president JP Nadda on both days. They primarily revolved around the impending Ayodhya verdict, ANI reported. The functionaries of the RSS expect people to be celebratory following the verdict but believe it’s the duty of every individual to ensure that the sentiments of the other community are not hurt.

As per the report, one senior functionary said that there was no scope for “aggressive behaviour” such as taking out processions in neighbourhoods dominated by a particular community. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and senior functionaries Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Dattatreya Hosabale and Manmohan Vaidya, VHP’s Justice V S Kokje and Alok Kumar along with other office bearers and ‘kshetriya pracharaks’ were part of the meeting on Thursday. Reportedly, one Sangh functionary stated that the RSS and the BJP will coordinate their efforts to ensure that peace isn’t disturbed.

Earlier, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had cancelled all its scheduled events lined up for the month of November. The Supreme Court concluded hearings on the matter on the 16th of October before reserving the verdict. Earlier, authorities had imposed section 144 at Ayodhya which would last till the 10th of December. The prohibitory order bars the assembly of four or more persons across the district.

Did Propagandist-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai try to influence the Ayodhya verdict in his interview with Justice Bobde?

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Did Propagandist-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai try to influence the Ayodhya verdict in his interview with Justice Bobde?

On the last day of October, Chief Justice of India-designate Justice SA Bobde gave an interview to propagandist-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai. During the course of the interview, it became obvious that Sardesai’s objective from the very beginning was to craft a narrative to favour a particular political faction. And he went about his job diligently.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ut511UrOlQ]

Read: As Rajdeep Sardesai completes 30 illustrious years in journalism, here is a walk down memory lane

Rajdeep Sardesai appeared to suggest that the Ayodhya Case is political in nature and insinuated that the day-to-day hearings in the matter were a consequence of the Judiciary succumbing to pressure from the NDA government at the centre. He also questioned whether the Bench of the Supreme Court could keep away from the politics of the matter in a case that ‘pits Hindus against Muslims’ and ‘the ruling BJP against the opposition’. Justice SA Bobde, for his part, refuted these suggestions strongly and said it wasn’t a political issue. ‘We are deciding on an issue raised by litigants, that’s all,’ he said.

After decades of delay in resolving the Ayodhya dispute due to the involvement of the Courts, Rajdeep Sardesai now asks Justice SA Bobde whether the Supreme Court could pass judgment on a matter of faith. “Can the Supreme Court legislate on a matter of faith?” Sardesai asked. “We saw what happened with the Sabarimala issue as well.”

Read: Read the stunning arguments made by People for Dharma’s lawyer to protect traditions of Sabarimala

In all these years, Rajdeep Sardesai and his ilk could not bring themselves to ask the question. Now that the judgment in the case is imminent, Sardesai discovers whether the Supreme Court is qualified to pass judgment on the matter. Even more shamefully, he rakes up the Sabarimala verdict to peddle his propaganda. The entire mainstream media was cheering for the desecration of the Sabarimala when the verdict was passed. They turned the sacred abode of Swami Ayyappa into a battleground for their ideological war.

Now, Sardesai uses the Sabarimala verdict to question whether the Supreme Court is qualified to pass judgment on the Ayodhya Dispute. Justice Bobde, for his part, denied that the Bench was passing judgment in a matter of faith in this particular instance. The CJI-designate admitted that there was an element of the nature of religious structures involved but he said it was only one of the issues.

Sardesai went further and said that whoever wins the case will celebrate and the other side will feel defeated. ‘Do these things concern you as a judge?’ Sardesai went on to ask. Justice Bobde replied that they couldn’t do anything even if they thought about such things because they have to make a decision. To this, Sardesai replied, “You have to take a decision which has been deferred for so many years? Because it is seen like you are playing with fire.”

Read: Hindus have been demanding restitution since 1528 for the Ram Temple destroyed by Islamist barbarians, Rajeev Dhavan

At what point will it be legitimate to argue that Rajdeep Sardesai is trying to influence the judgment in the Ram Janambhoomi case? Because it does appear that he is trying to make Justice Bobde feel guilty about issuing a verdict on the matter. During the entire interview, Sardesai repeatedly asked whether the Supreme Court was being pressurized by the ruling establishment. At one point when Sardesai was asking whether the Supreme Court’s dealing with the Kashmir issue and the Ayodhya dispute was being affected by any kind of political pressure, Justice Bobde appeared annoyed and said, “Kashmir has not even been decided yet, what are you talking about?”

Despite Justice Bobde’s annoyance, Sardesai did not stop and asked, “Has there been any pressure to sort of defer it, delay it or day to day hearings on Ayodhya, no pressure from the State?” Justice Bobde refuted these suggestions time and again and said that there was no political pressure on them. To this question too, he replied with a clear hint of annoyance in his tone, “I don’t even know where you get this from, that someone is putting pressure on the Supreme Court.” He also said they had no choice in the day-to-day hearings of the Ayodhya dispute and said that this was a case that has been pending in the Judicial system since 1949.

Most significantly, Justice Bobde said, “People don’t want this case to be heard before an election, so the Court started hearing after the elections were over. So where is the pressure?” It is pertinent to mention here that Congress leader Kapil Sibal who was appearing for a Muslim party in the matter wanted to delay the case last year due to the General Elections. Considering how events have turned out and the judgment did get delayed even when no parties wanted it to be delayed, Kapil Sibal did get what he wanted. It hardly matters how he got it.

Read: Good news for Sibal, SC may defer Ram Mandir case until after 2019 elections

Rajdeep Sardesai also raked up Justice Bobde’s connection to Nagpur. Considering how the whole interview panned out, it will be naive to assume that he emphasized on the CJI-designate’s Nagpur connection innocently. It is widely known that the RSS has its headquarters in Nagpur. Although Sardesai did not mention this, he did mention that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is from Nagpur and so is Union Minister Gadkari. “What is it about Nagpur?” Sardesai asked, “Something in the air in Nagpur?”

Justice Bobde replied innocently to the not-so-innocent question. “Maybe, maybe, I don’t know,” he said smiling. Sardesai then asked him, “Are you proud of your roots in Nagpur?” While he was smiling generously while asking that question, we could all guess what his actual intentions were.

Rajdeep Sardesai interview with Justice SA Bobde revealed precisely why people do not trust the mainstream media anymore. He headed into the interview with the preconceived objective of peddling a certain narrative. While Justice Bobde was firm in his reply and refuted all the suggestions that Sardesai made, it also provides good reasons why people distrust the mainstream media so much these days.

NCP jumps into Maharashtra government formation fiasco, says will find ways to form a govt if BJP-Shiv Sena alliance fails

OpIndia Staff
-
0
NCP jumps into Maharashtra government formation fiasco, says will find ways to form a govt if BJP-Shiv Sena alliance fails

Its been a week since the results of the October 21 Assembly elections in Maharashtra were announced, yet there seems to be no progress in the government formation in the state, with allies BJP and Shiv Sena still at loggerheads over the formula of power-sharing.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party has jumped into the entire fiasco claiming that they would find ways to form a government in Maharashtra if the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance falls through. NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “If the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance does not form the government in Maharashtra, then the NCP will have to seek ways to form government in the state. No party is untouchable for us,” Nawab Malik said.

As the saffron allies, Sena and BJP are locked in a dispute over the power-sharing formula for the new government, NCP has obliquely extended its backing to Shiv Sena as the NCP spokesperson added: “There is no question of a different ideology, NCP will never support the BJP. We are ready to sit in opposition,” he said.

Meanwhile, a meeting between Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar at his residence in South Mumbai on Thursday triggered speculations about the possible formation of an alternative government in the state. However, Raut said the meeting was a “courtesy call”.

Also Read- Have other options if BJP doesn’t agree to 50-50 formula: Shiv Sena ups its ante in Maharashtra, attempts to negotiate with BJP

Ever since the Maharashtra assembly results were declared, BJP and Shiv Sena have been grappling to reach a final settlement regarding the formation of government in Maharashtra.

Government formation is in limbo as Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had upped the ante over the pre-poll ’50-50′ agreement he claims to have with the BJP almost immediately after the results were announced. Its been a week now since Sena has been moving back and forth on its power-sharing rant while with every passing day, the BJP appears more and more adamant on its stance, dismissing the continuing jibes by the Shiv Sena on the power balance in the BJP-Sena alliance and insisting that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will continue to hold the post for the next five years.

BJP had emerged as the single largest party by winning 105 seats and Shiv Sena 56, in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. On the other hand, the NCP and its ally, the Congress, won 54 and 44 seats, respectively.

Madhya Pradesh: Snakebite victim treated with witchcraft inside Sheopur govt hospital

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Madhya Pradesh: Snakebite victim treated with witchcraft inside Sheopur govt hospital

A bizarre incident has come to fore from a hospital in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. Here, a snakebite victim was treated not by medicines but through sorcery inside the emergency ward of a government hospital. Soon, the video of a person performing witchcraft on the patient emerged online and went viral.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPbQKphUntA]

As can be seen in the above video, the snakebite victim is laid on a hospital bed and another person is performing some ‘treatment’ with a bunch of twigs and branches. The people surrounding the victim patiently watch the ‘doctor’ performing sorcery over the victim. The patient, Yogendra Singh Rathore was reportedly admitted to the government hospital after he was bitten by a snake.

The RMO of District Hospital, RN Bindal said that this matter has come to his notice and he has ordered an investigation into it. He has condemned the use of magic tricks inside the hospital and claimed that necessary action will be initiated against those responsible for it after the investigation concludes.

It was a joke, being made into a mountain out of molehill: Farokh Engineer over ‘serving tea’ comment on Anushka

OpIndia Staff
-
0
It was a joke, being made into a mountain out of molehill: Farokh Engineer over ‘serving tea’ comment on Anushka

After Anushka Sharma lashed out at detractors over alleging her interference in BCCI through a poignant post on Twitter, the former India cricketer Farokh Engineer has come up with a justification on his statement after he had said that all that the BCCI selectors did during the World Cup in England earlier this year was fetch “cups of tea” for actress Anushka Sharma, the wife of India captain Virat Kohli.

Engineer said that the comment was made in jest and that he never intended to demean Anushka. “I just said it in a jest and it’s being made a mountain out of a molehill. Poor Anushka has been dragged into it, she is a lovely girl. Virat Kohli is a brilliant captain and coach Ravi Shastri is extremely good. The entire matter is being blown up unnecessarily. It turned out to be a selector as he was wearing an all India blazer”, said Engineer.

The 82-year-old former wicket-keeper had stirred controversy by dragging Anushka’s name while launching an attack on the Supreme Court-appointed Committee Of Administrators (CoA), which was in charge of the BCCI for 33 months before the recent election, which saw Sourav Ganguly become president.

Calling them “honeymooners” and a “Mickey Mouse selection committee,” in an interview with The Times of India, Engineer had said: “All they were doing was getting Anushka Sharma cups of tea. I feel people with the stature of Dilip Vengsarkar should be in the selection committee.”

Miffed over the allegation accusing her of interference in the selection process of BCCI, the Bollywood actress and producer in an emotional post had refuted all the accusations meted out at her in present as well as in her past.

Without taking any names, Anushka Sharma has hit out at former Indian wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer’s comment saying that if one wants to criticise the selection committee they are free to do so but she does not appreciate that her name is dragged into the controversy to sensationalise the news.

Disproportionate assets case: No exception from personal appearances for Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Disproportionate assets case: No exception from personal appearances for Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy

In a setback for the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, a CBI court on Friday turned down his plea seeking exemption from weekly personal appearances in the disproportionate assets case against him. The court admitted that Jagan might sway witnesses if shown leniency.

Turning down Jagan’s argument that his position as the Andhra Pradesh chief minister made weekly appearances in court both hard and expensive, the court agreed CBI’s contention that exception granted to Jagan would provide him with undesirable freedom to do whatever he wished, including influencing the witnesses. Furthermore, the premier investigative agency asserted that Jagan is number 1 accused in all the 11 charge-sheet filed by the agency and therefore should not be granted any mercy. The CBI also listed down the high court’s observations about charges on Jagan stating they were grave and serious in nature and affected the economies of the state and the country.

Also Read: Andhra CM Jagan Reddy revokes Naidu govt order, reinstates general consent granted to CBI

The cases pertain to investments made by several companies during the period when Jagan’s father YS Rajasekhar Reddy was chief minister between 2004 and 2009. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has claimed that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had accepted Rs 1,172 crore from various investors as a bribe and in an alleged quid pro quo, helped them in getting favours from the state government. The favours were mainly land, mining leases and licences for new industries. Jagan was arrested by the CBI on 27 May 2012 in connection with a disproportionate assets case. Jagan had served in prison for 15 months after his arrest in May 2012 in related cases.

Following the court order, Jagan Reddy will now have to appear in CBI court every Friday for hearing linked to the cases filed against him in 2011.

Write letters to Khattar uncle, Captain uncle: Kejriwal teaches Delhi school kids to blame Punjab, Haryana CMs for air pollution

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Write letters to Khattar uncle, Captain uncle: Kejriwal teaches Delhi school kids to blame Punjab, Haryana CMs for air pollution

Even after receiving severe backlash for using children to garner votes for the Lok Sabha election at the beginning of the year, Arvind Kejriwal seems reluctant to change his habitude. In yet another political low, the Delhi chief minister has now used school children for playing politics over pollution.

On Friday, Kejriwal told school children in the city that smoke emanating from stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana was causing air pollution in New Delhi and asked them to write letters to chief ministers of the two states urging them to control it.

“Please write letters to ‘Captain uncle’ and ‘Khattar uncle’ and say, ‘Please think about our health’,” he told children as he visited schools to distribute masks to schoolchildren to protect them from the rising pollution levels which have choked Delhi.

A Supreme Court-mandated panel has on Friday declared a public health emergency in the Delhi-NCR region and banned construction activity till November 5 as the pollution levels in the region reached the ‘severe plus’ category. According to official data, the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 1 pm on Friday was recorded at 480, which falls in the severe category. Schools have been closed till November 5 too.

Kejriwal has blamed Punjab and Haryana governments for severe pollution in Delhi. He has accused the state governments of Haryana and Punjab of forcing their farmers to burn stubble, which he said is the reason behind pollution in the national capital.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today criticised Kejriwal for playing petty politics over air pollution in Delhi and indulging in a blame game by rebuking everybody, including neighbouring states and the Centre.

However, this is not the first time Kejriwal has dragged innocent children into his petty politics. On January 29, the Delhi CM had sought votes for the Lok Sabha elections in the name of children asking parents to choose between their children or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Read: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal discovers a new low, asks parents to vote for AAP if they love their children

Addressing children and parents at the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya at New Friends Colony, Kejriwal asked the students, present at the event to thank their parents for voting the AAP to power in the Delhi Assembly elections.

Read: Child right body writes to Arvind Kejriwal, says poll campaigns in schools a bad influence on children

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, repeating Kejriwal’s statements had also said, “Someone told me that they will vote for Modi in the election, because ‘Woh achhe lagte hain, I told them that if you love your children, vote for those who are building schools for them. So I’m telling all parents, and asking all children here to go home and ask their parents whether they love you or not. If they say that they love you, tell them to vote for those who are building schools for us.”

In fact, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had then written to Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government reminding them that poll campaigning in schools is ‘bad influence’ on children.

The proper way forward is teaching students accurate history about Tipu Sultan, not removing the Jihadist tyrant from textbooks

K Bhattacharjee
-
0
The proper way forward is teaching students accurate history about Tipu Sultan, not removing the Jihadist tyrant from textbooks

The textbook committee in Karnataka has said that chapters in school textbooks on Tipu Sultan cannot be removed from textbooks, Times of India reported. The statement comes two days after Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa said that the ‘tyrant’ will be removed from textbooks.

“I am yet to see the letter Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan had sent to the government and which was forwarded to the committee,” Baragur Ramachandrappa, head of the textbook committee, was reported as saying by TOI. “But I can say in my personal capacity that Tipu cannot be erased from history textbooks.” The controversy erupted after Ranjan wrote a letter to the state education minister saying that Tipu Sultan is not portrayed in the right manner in textbooks. Thus, he asked all references to him be removed from them.

“Textbooks provided to students between classes I to X are supposed to only be informative. There may be a lot of opinions for and against Tipu. But this must be reserved for students when they reach PUC level and above,” Ramachandrappa reportedly stated.

Following the statement by Yeddyurappa, Karnataka BJP tweeted saying that “textbooks must be rewritten to portray the real Tipu Sultan to our Children”. They added that children “should be made aware of the Tyrant’s cruelty against Hindus & his anti-Kannada rule.”

Read: The legacy of Tipu Sultan: Here is why Mandyam Iyengars of Karnataka observe Diwali as a day of mourning

Compared to the opinion that all references to Tipu Sultan be dropped from textbooks, the stance adopted by Karnataka BJP appears much more logical. The Islamic tyrant is part of our history. Regardless of his actions, students at schools must be taught the facts about his reign. If we don’t teach our children the authentic version of history, someone will else teach them a distorted version of it.

The reasonable course of action is not expunging a Jihadist from the pages of our textbook but teaching our children about the atrocities he committed. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Those who don’t learn an accurate version of history and therefore, are not in a position to take reasonable lessons from it, are bound to suffer the same fate.

It is true that the version of history that is taught to our children at school is heavily ‘secularized’ so as not to hurt religious sentiments. The proper response to it is teaching them the accurate version of it. If Tipu Sultan is dropped entirely from textbooks, our children will continue to suffer from ignorance; ignorance that will eventually come back to hurt them.

Read: Tipu Jayanthi celebrations show Indian secularism at its rotten worst

By all reasonable measures, Tipu Sultan was a Jihadist genocidal megalomaniac. The Mandyam Iyengars observe a day of mourning during Diwali to this day after Tipu massacred 800 men, women and children in cold blood over two centuries ago. Amusingly enough, the Islamic barbarian was proud of the actions the secular camp says he either never committed or must be viewed in the proper context.

Tipu Sultan boasted about the fact that he had managed to convert lakhs and lakhs of Hindus to Islam. He was proud of the fact that he was doing it for Allah and Islam. During the course of his reign, he destroyed many many Temples and slaughtered and converted hundreds and thousands of Hindus.

These are facts, our children must learn our history so that they could truly appreciate the monumental resistance put forth by our ancestors so that they could live the life they are living today. We cannot run from our history. As painful as these events are, these things happened and they are a part of our history. We cannot deliberately shut our eyes to them and wish them away. If we do, it will be a terrible disservice to our own ancestors and our civilization.

Read: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa says ‘tyrant’ Tipu Sultan will be removed from textbooks

The glorification of Tipu Sultan is borne of a combination of motivated desire to gain political mileage from a certain community of the electorate and a malicious desire to undermine our Hindu Civilization. We can be pretty certain that certain people love Tipu Sultan for the very atrocities he committed against Hindus.

Therefore, it is imperative that our children learn the authentic version of our history, so that they are wary of those who celebrate him and his reign. Tipu Sultan’s legacy also exposes the farcical nature of Indian secularism. If secularism is dependent on the glorification of genocidal Islamic fanatics in a Hindu majority country, then perhaps we ought to consider whether secularism is worth preserving at all.

There’s a good reason why the Jews have holocaust museums. Quite obviously, it’s not due to their fondness of Adolf Hitler. These museums serve to remind their people and everyone else of the genocide they suffered so that they can guard effectively against such morbid hatred in the future, so that what happened during Hitler’s reign never happens to them again.

There’s another significant reason why students in Karnataka must be taught about Tipu Sultan’s reign. Despite the million he atrocities he committed, despite the genocide he perpetrated against Hindus, despite the rapes, pillage and rampant slaughter, despite the Jihad, the Vijayanagara Empire still towers over his legacy in every manner. And the great land of Karnataka is still an inseparable part of the Hindu Civilization despite the vicious Jihad that was waged by Tipu Sultan and others before him.

Therefore, there’s true pain and sorrow in our history. But there’s hope too. And our children must learn history from a proper perspective in order to appreciate the monumental struggle of our ancestors against depraved Jihadists. If we don’t teach our children accurate history, someone else will teach them a distorted version. It’s as much a battle of minds as it is one of arms. For far too long, the minds of our children have been corrupted by distorted history in textbooks. Now, it’s time to right that wrong. And the way forward is not removing tyrants from textbooks but teaching our children the authentic version of history.

No prior registration, passport: Imran Khan announces waivers for Indian pilgrims visiting Kartarpur Sahib

OpIndia Staff
-
0
No prior registration, passport: Imran Khan announces waivers for Indian pilgrims visiting Kartarpur Sahib

The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan today took to Twitter to announce waivers for Indian pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib through the Kartarpur corridor. Khan declared that Indian pilgrims will not have to register in advance and they will not require a passport for their visit, although a valid ID will be needed. Besides, he also stated that no fees will be charged on the inauguration day and on Guruji’s 550th birthday.


“For Sikhs coming for the pilgrimage to Kartarpur from India, I have waived off 2 requirements: i) They won’t need a passport-just a valid ID; ii)They no longer have to register 10 days in advance. No fees will be charged on the day of inauguration and on Guruji’s 550th birthday,” Khan tweeted.

Although the requirement of passport and advance registration have been waived, the entry fee will still be required, which have been waived on two specific days only. The move comes after repeated insistence from India to Pakistan to waive off the fee of USD 20 per Indian pilgrim. In addition, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also made an appeal to Pakistan to stop levying fees and allow ‘khulla darshan deedar’.

Even as India inked an agreement with Pakistan over Kartarpur corridor, it expressed “disappointment” over Pakistan’s persistence on levying the fees of $20 per pilgrim. Pakistan, which is reeling under severe economic crisis, plans to earn $100,000 every day by allowing 5000 pilgrims a day.

Also Read: Navjot Singh Sidhu invited by his ‘friend’ and ‘angel’ Imran Khan for the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9

In November 2018, India and Pakistan had accepted to set up the border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak. The foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor was laid in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in November last year.

The construction of the 4.5 km corridor from Indo-Pak border to the Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is almost complete, and it will be inaugurated on the Indian side by PM Narendra Modi on 9th November.

1...5,9255,9265,927...7,602Page 5,926 of 7,602