Displaying another low point in India’s politics, Belur Gopalakrishna, a senior Karnataka Congress leader has shockingly called for the assassination of Prime Minister Modi.
According to the local reports, in a month old incident, Belur Gopalakrishna was speaking at a party event, where he had made statements asking BJP supporters to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A video of Gopalakrishna’s speech was posted by the Karnataka BJP on its official Twitter handle.
Belur Gopalakrishna, a Congress leader in a official party function calls for assassination of democratically elected PM Sri @narendramodi ji.
“Today, those people who praise Nathuram Ghodse for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi. I feel that such people should not be in this country. If they try to murder the democracy, I will challenge them to shoot Narendra Modi and no one else needs to be killed in the country anymore,” said Gopalakrishna.
As per reports, Gopalkrishna was addressing a party event on February 4 to condemn a so-called Hindu group that had enacted the assassination of Gandhi.
Meanwhile, the opposition party in the state, BJP has accused the Congress leader of trying to instigate people for the assassination of the PM.
The Karnataka BJP also questioned Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s dubiousness regarding his politics of hate. “Well, Rahul Gandhi, we remember you saying you don’t endorse hate politics but now that your own party leader has openly called for the assassination of democratically elected PM of this Nation would you act on him? If you don’t act it clearly means you endorse his words,” tweeted Karnataka BJP.
However, Gopalakrishna has claimed that he had made these comments a month ago and questioned the BJP why is it making an issue out of it now.
The Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi-Su 30MKI combat aircraft will be equipped with Israeli Spice-2000 bombs which were used for the airstrikes inside Pakistan late last month. The airstrikes had eliminated targets of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad.
“At the moment, the only aircraft which is capable of delivering the bombs on enemy targets is the Mirage 2000. But now the Air Force is putting them on the Su-30s as well to further enhance their firepower,” government sources were quoted by ANI.
According to the sources, the Su-30MKI has already carried out trials where they launched the Spice-2000 bombs on ground targets. “After a few more trials, the Su-30 fleet would be equipped with these bombs which rely on coordinates and satellite pictures of the target to home in and destroy the intended targets,” the sources are reported to have said. It is believed that once the integration is successful, it will be a great force multiplier for the IAF.
As we had reported earlier, The Mirage 2000s used in the airstrikes carried the Spice ‘smart bombs’ made by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems. Each Spice-2000 is approximately a 1000 KG air to ground bomb that can be launched from a distance of 100 km. Israel had used these same bombs in Syria.
The Spice bombs use a Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator (DSMAC) technology. The technology enables it to match the target as it zooms in, with pre-fed images apart from the GPS coordinates. They also come with anti-GPS jammer, which means the enemy cannot manipulate its homing device.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, while addressing Indo-Pacific Regional dialogue, said that terrorists are getting trained to execute operations in the country, including through the route of the sea.
“We have reports of terrorists being trained to carry out operations in various modus operandi including through the medium of the sea,” Admiral Sunil Lanba said.
India in past also has faced many sea-borne terrorist attacks like the 26/11 Mumbai attack, in which terrorists had used the sea-route to enter the city. Since then, India has upgraded its coastal security to prevent future attacks originating through sea route.
India has a long coastline, and it shares the Arabian Sea coast with Pakistan. Sea route has been used to bring weapons and explosives to the country, and before that in smuggling operations for a long time.
Minister of state in the Home Ministry Hansraj Ahir also had said in parliament, in the month of January, that Pakistan-based terrorist groups are getting trained for underwater strike capabilities or “Samudri Jihad”, to enter India by sea.
On the issue of terrorism, Navy Chief said that Indo-Pacific region, in recent years, has faced many acts of horror and only a few countries have been spared.
“Global nature which terrorism has acquired in recent times has further enhanced the scope of this threat.” He added. He also felt that it is imperative for the world to stand against terrorism, and help in containing it and eliminating it.
Talking about the ghastly Pulwama terrorist attack which took lives of more than 40 CRPF jawans last month, Navy Chief Lanba said that India faces a far more dangerous version of state-sponsored terrorism. “This violence was perpetrated by extremists, aided by a state which seeks to destabilise India”, he said about the Pulwama attack, without naming Pakistan. He also said that terrorist groups are evolving in the world at a very fast pace, but he added that India is also relentlessly thwarting their operations.
MEA sources have today confirmed that India will continue its fight against terrorism even though Pakistan is attempting to create the narrative of “India trying to escalate” tensions, as this is a fight against terrorism and not an India-Pakistan conflict.
On Masood Azhar: “It is interesting that Pakistan has not denied Azhar is the JeM chief”
MEA sources said that 2 Pakistan ministers have given two interviews, one to CNN and the other to BBC, in both, some noteworthy points have emerged. One is that they have accepted that Masood Azhar is in Pakistan and that someone in the position of authority is in touch with him. This proves that Pakistan authorities are not only aware of Masood Azhar’s whereabouts but are also regularly in touch with him. There were even suggestions that he has ‘retired’ and is a preacher/religious teacher. The source said that in this interview it is important to note that there was no denial that Masood is JEM chief and that Pakistan’s rhetoric on how it is acting on terror is old wine in a new bottle.
The MEA source said, “stern action will be taken and firm decisions will be made by this Govt”. This was not only said in reference to Masood Azhar but also the fact that Pakistan has not taken any demonstrable action against terror emanating from its soil.
On Masood Azhar’s reported illness: ‘We take this news with a pinch of salt”
The MEA source said that India takes such reports with a pinch of salt as earlier too we had seen similar reports on Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden as well. Our effort is to bring Masood Azhar to book.
Diplomatic efforts by India to isolate Pakistan: Getting Masood Azhar designated by UNSC as a global terrorist, and FATF monitoring
The MEA source said that Pakistan is being isolated globally. It was said that the action on the JEM training camp in Balakot is over and that through these strikes deep inside Pakistan territory, India has demonstrated the capacity and will to act against terrorism. The efforts to the international community are that the world has heard the conjectures by Pakistan before and it is now time we expect to see ‘naya action’ on the ground if this is ‘Naya Pakistan’ and ‘nayi soch’.
The source said that though Pakistan has asserted several times that they are acting against JuD, they are only on the watchlist, not on the banned list hence at the moment, the objective of Pakistan seems to be to pretend like they are taking steps. The source said that India’s focus is now to reach out to members of the security council to explain why the UN security council should Masood Azhar in the list of global terrorists.
The source also said that the focus is on documenting what steps Pakistan is taking and sharing the relevant findings with the members of FATF.
On OIC: “Pakistan stands isolated in its own backyard”
The MEA source said that invitation to India by UAE for OIC was truly a historic one as India was invited to address inaugural plenary after 50 years. Pakistan tried best to scuttle this invite to India till last minute but the UAE backed by Saudi remained steadfast that invite remains and will not be withdrawn. UAE leadership reiterated they remained committed to their invite to India for OIC. Every Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member country attended the plenary (where EAM Sushma Swaraj was the guest of honour) except Pakistan, so Pakistan stands isolated in what it calls its own backyard.
On the lies of Pakistan: “Pakistan trying to create fear psychosis, footage of submarine old, all Sukhois accounted for”
On the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan, the MEA source said that India was able to build enough pressure for Pakistan to release him. In fact, India had clarified loud and clear and that Abhinandan was not a bargaining chip and that was non-negotiable.
The source said that all Sukhoi’s that India has have been accounted for and Pakistan saying that it shot one of them down is an utter lie. He said that Pakistan is deluded and hence it is creating a fear-psychosis that India might do something. If indeed they claim to have shot down our Sukhoi, they should show the wreckage.
On the Submarine footage that has been doing the rounds where Pakistan has claimed that India has mobilised its navy, the source said that the footage was an old one and the only objective of Pakistan was to create fear.
??Navy releases footage to local media claiming it has ‘detected’ @IndianNavy submarine INS Kalvari. No word from ??navy yet, but if video/coordinates are authentic, then Indian Navy likely *wants* Pak to know that ??attack submarine/s are lurking 200 km from Karachi. pic.twitter.com/JKHGYhF22N
The source also confirmed that Pakistan has refused to take its own media to the Balakot area where India conducted the airstrikes. The government of Pakistan is extremely concerned that if media begins to report the facts, its own ppl will ask questions like where PAF was when India struck? Where is the second plane and body of Sukhoi) 3 what is proof you are not escalating war?
The source also said that Pakistan media should ask its own government where was the missile that India found parked if not an F16?
He said that there is a solid support to India from the international community. Any statement which Pakistan has issued regarding their conversation with any other country and the statement issued by that country about their conversation with Pakistan when analysed will reveal who is lying.
India stands firm: “We will reject any mediation, this is a war on terrorism, not India-Pakistan conflict”
Interestingly, India has clarified that we are not looking for mediation and that we have not asked anyone to mediate. Pakistan is reaching out to all countries to mediate, and no one is paying any heed to Pakistan. In fact, the source also confirmed that India is looking at this as a war on terror and not an India-Pakistan conflict. They also said that all attempts to mediate will be rejected.
Post the Pulwama terror attack, India started its relentless pursuit of neutralising the threat of terrorism being used as a policy tool by Pakistan. Soon after the terrorist attack, India conducted airstrikes deep inside Pakistan in the Balakot region, neutralising Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps. Since then, Pakistan has been indulging in fierce psy-ops by spreading fake news and even hailing PM Imran ‘Taliban’ Khan as a peace dove when he was only following the Geneva Convention by releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan.
In an interesting development, some members of the Aligarh Muslim University had organised a ‘Prasad distribution’ event for Kanwariyas on the occasion of Mahashivaratri.
AMU Student Union president Salman Imtiaz and secretary Huzaifa Amir were there leading the event. The initiative was hailed by many on social media. The event was organised in front of the AK Tibbiya college in the university.
यही है असली हिंदुस्तान ????
अलीगढ़ मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी के छात्रों ने आज #महाशिवरात्रि पर कांवड़ियों के लिए प्रसाद वितरण का ख़ास इंतज़ाम किया…शिवभक्तों को अपने हाथों से खिलाया फल, कांवड़ियों ने दी दुआएँ – मुहब्बत ज़िंदाबाद ???? pic.twitter.com/QaZJiJG0Q0
However, as per reports, after the event, both Imtiaz and Amir are being heavily criticised by some other student union leaders and their supporters for organising a ‘pro-Hindu’ event.
As per a report in Amar Ujala, Hamza Sufiyan, the vice president of the AMUSU has alleged that he was not informed about the event and the banner of the AMUSU should not be used for events being conducted in a ‘personal capacity.’ Many other students have also reportedly posted derogatory comments mocking the student leaders for organising a ‘Hindu’ event.
Edited images of Imtiyaz and Amir were also circulated depicting them as Kanwar Yatris.
Edited picture of AMU president and secretary which went viral on social media, Image credit: Amar Ujala
It is notable here that very recently, while addressing the students of the university Salman Imtiaz had asked students to leave class and join a protest demanding the rustication of student leader Ajay Singh who was the first Non-Muslim student to contest for the post of president in 2017.
While addressing the students, Salman Imtiaz, brandishing pro-Islamist rhetorics had tried to instigate students by saying, “else how will you answer Allah”.
AMU students’ union has been demanding, among other things, rustication of Ajay Singh
Here’s AMUSU president Salman Imtiaz asking students to leave class and join protest “else how will you answer Allah” pic.twitter.com/ZfBkj2Y6Fr
Last month, on February 12, an FIR under the clause of IPC section 124A pertaining to sedition had been lodged against the 14 Aligarh Muslim University students for raising pro-Pakistan slogans. Imtiyaz was also named in that FIR. The police had also pressed charges of vandalism and hurting the religious sentiments of people against these AMU hoodlums.
From calling for protests and violence in the name of Allah to organising events to help devotees on Shivaratri, the gesture by Imtiyaz and others is being hailed by many as a positive development.
Someone shared this. AMUSU president Salman Imtiaz (whose video I earlier shared where he is asking students to join protest “else how will they answer Allah”) is being trolled and criticised for this. Nevertheless, a welcome gesture ? pic.twitter.com/df9icAW9V6
Last month, a complaint had been lodged against the AMU students under Section 307 and Section 153 after the harassed Republic TV crew approached police for an incident that occurred a day before the previous incident of violence and vandalism. Several students of Aligarh Muslim University had intimidated Republic TV crew including a female journalist who was present on the university campus.
Pakistan has been denying India’s claim that Indian Air Force bombed terror camps in Pakistan on 26th February, and one F-16 jet of Pakistan was shot down by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman before his MiG-21 was shot down inside Pakistan and he was captured. Indian opposition parties have chosen to believe the Pakistani version instead of what is said by Indian defence forces, and have been demanding proof of the strike from the government.
Joining the doubters, now journalist Saikat Datta has written an article claiming that there is no proof that India had shot down the Pakistan Air Force’s American fighter jet. In an article published on Asia Times, Datta uses social media claims and arguments made by Pakistani side to prove that no F-16 jet was shot down by Indian Air Force.
By making this claim, the author is levelling a very serious charge on the Indian defence forces of lying. The claim of F-16 being shot down was not made in a political rally, it was informed by the spokesperson of mthe inistry of external affairs. He had said that the Pakistani aircraft falling down on Pakistani side was seen by ground forces in India. After that, the same claim was reiterated in a joint conference of the three Armed Forces.
Pakistan even denied the use of F-16 in the attempt to bomb Indian military bases, but that has been already proven to be a lie after the discovery of missile fragments fired from F-16 jets. Datta’s article itself quotes a Pakistani official confirming the use of F-16 jets by Pakistan. In that scenario, the Pakistani claim that F-16 jet was not hit remains a doubt and their version can’t be taken seriously as truth.
One argument used in the article to prove that F-16 was not hit is the fact that there is no Wing Commander Shahaz-ud-Din in PAF who was rumoured to have died while flying the F-16. Doing a probe, Asia Times has found that there is no such pilot in Pakistan Air Force, hence the claim of F-16 being shot down is false, he writes.
But the fact is, govt of India or IAF never released any name of the pilot who was flying the F-16. It came from so-called defence expert Praveen Swami, and quickly it spread on Social Media. Swamy has a history of concocting stories on defence matters, therefore to use a claim made by him to prove government wrong is too much. Is there really a Pakistan Air Force pilot with that name, or someone created it out of thin air, that remains a matter of investigation, but that is no way a prove that F-16 was not shot down. Proving some random social media rumour as wrong is not the same as proving the main claim of government wrong.
Indian forces have so far provided two evidences about the Pakistani F-16. First, a part of wreckage claimed to be from MiG-21 was proved to be from F-16 engine, based on photographs of the wreckage published by Pakistan. Second, fragments of AIM-120 AMRAAM missile was found on Indian soil after Pakistan’s attempt to bomb Indian military bases, and this missile can be carried only by the F-16.
Moreover, there are several evidences that two fighter jets were hit on that day, not just the Indian MiG-21. Initially, Pakistan government itself had claimed that they had shot down two Indian fighter jets and captured two Indian pilots, which points to the strong possibility that Pakistani ground forces saw two jets falling and two parachutes coming down, and due to that, the Pakistani authorities had assumed both to be Indian jets.
The initial reports publishing the photos of the wreckages of the planes states that the photos belong to two aircraft that fell inside Pakistan. While MiG-21 was misidentified as MiG-27 in early reports, the other one was not identified, possibly because F-16 was broken into pieces after hit by the R-73 missile fired by Wing Commander Abhinandan.
The moment of pilots descending using parachutes after ejecting from their destroyed jets was video recorded by people in Pakistan on their phones. In the videos shared on Youtube, it can be heard that people recording the incident are talking about two parachutes coming down. Close examination of the video embedded below also show two parachutes coming down, both at different distances from the camera.
Here is another video shot from a different place, and here also two pilots descending with parachutes can be seen. People are talking about two pilots in this video also.
These videos shot by Pakistani citizens clearly show that two pilots had come down after ejecting from their aircrafts on that day. The MiG-21 Bison used by IAF is a single seater aircraft, and now it is known that only one Indian pilot had landed in Pakistan who was captured by the Pakistani military. This leaves only one possibility, that the other pilot seen in the videos has to be from the Pakistani Air Force.
The Asia Times article also talks absence about audio, video and electronic evidence of the F-16 being engaged by the MiG-21. But the fact is, it has already been reported that Abhinandan had sent the audio message “R-73 is selected” seconds before he was shot down, indicating that he was using the Vympel R-73 air to air missile to shoot down an enemy aircraft. If he had no target in sight and locked by the targeting system of the MiG-21, there was no reason for him to fire a missile on Pakistani airspace.
The event of firing the missile will be recorded by on board computers of the MiG-21, but it is with Pakistanis now, so that data can’t be obtained. The article talks about providing other electronic data as proof, like data from the Airborne Early Warning System aircraft and Radar systems, but such kind of data is highly confidential in nature and the security forces may not want to disclose such data to satisfy few who do not believe the government. Such data may give a glimpse of abilities of India’s defence systems and that may not be desirable.
Pakistan is not known to accept losses incurred by in battles. It even denied the involvement of the Pakistani military in the Kargil war for a long time. Therefore, it is natural that they will hide the loss of an aircraft in combat in their territory. But to use those claims to accuse Indian defence forces of lying is highly unacceptable. There may not be concrete proof that the F-16 was shot down till now, but similarly, there is concrete proof to claim that India is lying. But whatever evidence is present at present points towards the possibility that Pakistan did lose a fighter aircraft on that day, and most probably that aircraft was an F-16.
The baseline of the 2019 election is quite simple :
(1) There is no doubt that BJP and Modi are by far the No. 1 choice of the country.
That’s one of the constant factors. But there is a second constant factor:
(2) No party can seriously hope to get 50% votes… or for that matter … get >50% vote in 200+ seats.
So, can Modi be defeated? Of course. Even Nehru would have lost the 1952 election if the opposition had united against him. In fact, Nehru would have lost pretty badly. In 1952, Congress had a 45% vote. A united opposition would have swept the election, with a double-digit vote share lead of 10%!
So the only “variable factor” in this election is how far the opposition is willing to go to defeat Narendra Modi.
This variable factor depends obviously on the opposition’s perception of who is winning the election. Ironically, this means that “highs” for PM Modi in some way increase the risk of him losing in 2019.
In December, the opposition was all over the place. The cocky Congress, with 3 newly won states, appeared to be on a rampage. They were reading two hung assemblies in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as a huge positive vote for their prince Rahul Gandhi. The enthused Congress even began chasing a mirage in Uttar Pradesh, injecting Priyanka Gandhi into the campaign, thinking that this might be the India of 1975.
One might just laugh at this.
Despite the December low and perhaps because of it, BJP’s chances were going up. The party took some measures to mollify core middle class voters by raising the Income Tax exemption to 5 lakh, brought in reservation for “economically weaker sections” and a cash handout for marginal farmers.
PM Modi remains incredibly popular. Nobody thinks his government is corrupt. Most people appreciate his vision and his work on addressing core issues: such as electricity, gas and toilets for all. And the scale on which he has pulled off these quantum improvements. The only challenge was addressing a strange, almost irrational feeling of “what have I really got?” You can’t assuage these feelings by reeling off data about numbers of gas or electricity connections or roads built, etc. It comes from lingering insecurity that followed the high expectations of 2014….everyone wants to believe PM Modi is thinking about them personally.
That’s why the income tax exemption limit was so important. And so was the reservation for economically weaker sections. And the Kisan Samman Nidhi for marginal farmers. It was a reminder from Delhi that their favourite leader is thinking about them.
The opposition was mostly blind to these shifting sands. They were still on a high from December, the first time Congress had actually beaten BJP in an election since May 2013.
The BJP, meanwhile, was getting ready to sweep Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. With Cong left out of the BSP-SP tie-up in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP was again in the hunt for 40 seats from UP. The state of Bihar was already in the bag anyway. The BJP was escalating massively in Bengal and Odisha.
Then the terrorist attack in Pulwama happened. Then the revenge air strike in Balakote. Then Abhinandan brought back within 24 hours. As Air Force Chief Dhanoa said yesterday, operations are still “ongoing”.
Modi’s face is everywhere. Nobody is even talking about the opposition. They have no narrative, nothing to tell the voter.
“Vote for Congress because PM Modi is not perfect” is not an election-winning slogan. Neither is “Vote for Congress because Pakistan PM likes us”. Nor is “Let’s go back to things as they were because the last five years fell a bit short of your highest expectations.”
I think the election is set to be announced in 4-5 days. Voting may start in a little over 30 days. No time for the opposition to create a narrative now.
The problem for PM Modi now is that a dejected opposition has gone back to working with calculators instead of people.
Today we hear that AAP and Congress are very close to striking a 3:3:1 deal in Delhi. This could easily mean 7 seats subtracted from the BJP tally. If Congress joins the alliance in Uttar Pradesh, that’s BJP down by another 20 seats.
This puts even more pressure on the BJP’s “greenfield states” like West Bengal and Odisha. I do not believe the BJP leadership is overconfident. They have lived through 2004. Getting Jay Panda on board yesterday was a good acquisition. The man has been stalling for a long time. The fact that he finally boarded the BJP ship yesterday shows that fence sitters sense a clear pro-Modi mood.
But as the BJP’s graph rises and so does the desperation on the other side, watch out. Desperate people do desperate things. And these things sometimes do work.
The question is whether BJP’s graph is rising faster than the opposition’s desperation?
The coordination committee of Congress and JD(S) has failed to reach an agreement on seat-sharing for 2019 Lok Sabha election even in the fourth meeting convened on Monday. The reluctance on the number of seats to be shared with each other is the main of point contention for both parties.
According to reports, the meeting was attended by former Congress Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, Former CM and coalition coordination chairman Siddaramaiah and national general secretary of JD(S) Danish Ali, along with other leaders. The meeting lasted for 45 minutes.
In the meeting, JD(S) demanded 12 seats from the coalition including Tumakuru and Chikkaballapur seat, which currently have Congress MPs. Other than this CM Kumaraswamy wants Mandya Lok Sabha seat, considered bastion by party, for his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, as per reports, along with Hassan.
On the other hand, the Congress party does not want to give its alliance partner more than 9 seats, as JD(S) is only believed to have influence in South Karnataka districts, which have huge Vokkaliga community presence.
The deadlock is scheduled to be discussed in the next meeting, in the coming week. Subsequently, the listings of both the parties are expected to be presented to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) supremo HD Devegowda. A meeting between both leaders is also expected.
“While we are offering nine seats to the JDS, they want 12, including some of them, won by the Congress in the 2014 LS poll. There is also a demand within the party for both Mandya and Hassan seats. Since there is much to discuss another meeting will take place this week and all confusion sorted out.” Siddaramaiah was quoted by reports. He also assured that the seat-sharing agreement will be reached by 10th March.
This is not the first time that JD(S) and Congress are trying to maintain the coalition they had forged after the last assembly elections had thrown a hung house. In December, last year, JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda had warned Congress that, if JD(S) does not get its desired number of seats, they will consider going solo in the 2019 general elections.
Wanted terrorist Masood Azhar was recently reported to be in poor health. The reports came at a time when Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the Jaish-e-Muhammad chief is “really unwell”. According to reports, he was suffering from certain kidney issues and undergoes dialysis regularly at an army hospital Rawalpindi.
Then, reports started doing the rounds that Masood Azhar had died as a consequence of his illness. No confirmation of Masood Azhar’s death had been put forward by anyone. Few days after the reports surfaced, Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan, the culture and information minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, confirmed that he is indeed alive.
As it so happens, wanted terrorists in Pakistan to have a tendency to develop kidney ailments almost miraculously whenever international pressure is mounting on them to crack down on terrorism within its territory.
Even in 2002, in the aftermath of the 9/11 Terror Attack, the then president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, had said that Osama bin Laden was likely dead by then as a consequence of kidney ailments. “I think now, frankly, he is dead, for the reason he is a patient, a kidney patient,” Musharraf had told CNN.
Of course, 9 years later, Laden was killed by an American special operations unit in a fortified private residential compound which was located less than a mile from the Pakistani Military Academy in Abbottabad and less than 100 kilometres from its capital.
Just like in 2002, when the USA was hot in the heels of Osama to bring him to justice for murdering thousands of Americans, international pressure has been mounting on Pakistan to crack down on terror as India seeks to bring Masood Azhar to justice. Under such circumstances, any unconfirmed reports of high profile terrorists’ death in Pakistan or their supposed sickness must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Pakistan nurtures terrorists in its soil as an instrument of its foreign policy whereby it wages proxy wars against its neighbours. Currently, India is piling on the pressure. Therefore, Pakistan may well be planting false reports of their death or illness to take attention off them for a while until the climate is relatively safer for them to reemerge.
The Delhi Police has registered a case against pro AAP video blogger Avi Dandiya, who is close to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, for publishing fake audio about Pakistan sponsored Pulwama terror attack claiming to be the audio of Union Minister Rajnath Singh, reports ANI.
According to the reports, the Delhi police has registered an FIR against Pro-AAP blogger Avi Dandiya under IPC section 465 and 469 after he had published a fake video claiming it to be a conversation between Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President Amit Shah and an unidentified woman. In the video, it could be heard that three people discussing a ‘plot’ for the terror attack which claimed the lives of 44 CRPF soldiers on February 14.
Avi Dandiya, who often associates with another pro-AAP blogger and fake news propagandist Dhruv Rathee, was caught spreading a fake audio clip on Pulwama attack, claiming that the Pulwama attack was an inside job. The video, which is deleted now, was with over a million and was also picked up by various Pakistani websites to use against India.
Shockingly, Avi Dandhiya had carried out a poll on Twitter just before he released the fake audio clip, asking his followers whether Pulwama attack was an inside job or an ‘outside job’.
The audio clip was created by taking parts of old interviews/audio clips of politicians and using them out of context to make it appear like a conversation.
Dandiya had also been mainstreamed by pro-AAP video blogger Dhruv Rathee who invited him on a debate on demonetisation. Dandiya regularly collaborates with Rathee to spread propaganda through videos.
