A shocking report of Muslim Uighur wives of Pakistani men being held up in ‘education centres’ in China has surfaced. As per the Pakistani men whose wives have disappeared, the Chinese authorities have told them that they are taken to ‘education centres’ but they are not education centres but concentration camps.
According to one Pakistani Businessman, Atta, the Chinese call it “school”. However, the women are not allowed to leave the premises. He has termed it ‘prisons’. “I’m extremely worried now. It has been eight or nine months since I have seen my wife,” Atta said. According to him, there are about 200 Pakistani men whose spouses have disappeared from the Xinjiang province of China.
Incriminating reports blaming Beijing of interning members of its Muslim population – by “re-educating” them away from their faith have emerged. It is believed that China has resorted to this measure as a response to riots and violent attacks that the government has endured recently at the hands of Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang province.
As pointed out earlier, Muslims in these camps are “re-educated”, a process which can take anywhere between a few months to a year. Here they are compelled to give up Islam, pan their own Islamic traditions and extend their loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping. Muslims are made to eat pork, drink alcohol which is taboo in Islam.
In the last month, Mihrigul Tursun, a member of the Uighur Muslim community in China, while speaking to the press had described in harrowing detail her torture at the hands of the communist government in the concentration camps in China. She claimed that she was traumatised to the extent that she was pleading for death to her tormentors. However, the Muslim world including Pakistan has expressed little concern for their fellow Muslim victims.
Pakistanis are often at the forefront in taking up the cudgel for Islam and Muslims whenever Muslim grievances are raised in any part of the world. From the West Bank conflict between Israel and Palestine to the more recent ones caused by cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, Pakistan has been vehement in denouncing the injustices meted out to the Muslims world over. However, they have turned a blind eye to this tyranny by China.
The abject social and economic situation in Pakistan has possibly forced it to maintain a conspicuous silence on the Chinese action. China is the major financial partner for cash-strapped Pakistan. With international organisations such as the World Bank and IMF hardening its noose, Pakistan cannot afford to antagonise the dragon it considers as its an all-weather ally. China is emerging as a global power and has invested heavily in many Muslim countries including Pakistan. This has perhaps kept Pakistan and other Muslim countries silent about the wretched plight of Uighur Muslims in China.
Even the left-leaning media outlets, who champion the cause of Human rights violations, have displayed astounding callousness to the predicament of the Uighur Muslims. The media outlets and Human rights commissions which take no time in raising perceived Human rights violations in other places have maintained a steady silence on the gross inequities meted out to the Uighur Muslims in China.
China, on the other hand, has got emboldened and had defended its policies regarding Uighur Muslims as aimed towards maintaining “peace and stability” in the region. China has claimed that it is sometimes necessary to repress a restive region in order to allow peace to prevail.
A group of four transgender devotees on their way to Lord Ayyappa temple were allegedly stopped at Erumeli, about 50 km from Sabarimala, by the Kerala police, who discouraged them to proceed further.
Ananya, one of the four transgender devotees, told news agency IANS, “We began our pilgrimage on Saturday from Ernakulam and the special branch wing of the police was witness to the prayers and all the ritual functions that we undertook. But when we reached Erumeli, the cops, even women officials, were quite rude.”
Disgruntled with the Kerala police, she further added that “the ban on menstruating women is not applicable to us. We had explained that to the police, they were not ready to allow us to the temple.”
Ananya, Trupti, Renjumol and Avanthika, the four devotees were dressed in black sarees, which is the traditional attire for the pilgrimage, and were carrying the customary ‘irumudikettu‘ (sacred offerings to God).
The four, however, alleged that the police ridiculed them and even asked them to change their attire and get into men’s clothing if they wanted permission to enter the shrine.
“Initially, we refused but after some time, we decided to change our clothes. However, the police still asked us to return,” Ananya added.
These four devotees have now decided to approach the High Court against the Kerela police’s misbehaviour. The allegations have been, however, dismissed by the Kottayam’s Superintendent of Police, S Harishankar, who said that “everyone has the right to offer prayers at Sabarimala. We need to get some more legal clarity in this regard. So, we will approach the high court-appointed panel and seek their advice,” he told reporters.
Sabarimala has been witnessing protests ever since the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple ignoring the shrine’s age-old tradition barring women of menstruating age to enter the holy place.
However, since the controversial order, no woman of menstrual age has been able to enter the hilltop shrine because of massive protests by the devotees, who believe that changing the tradition would be an insult to Lord Ayyappa.
The legend has it that the temple deity Ayyappa followed celibacy all through his life.
More than a dozen women tried but failed to make it to the Sabarimala temple, even with heavy police protection. Thousands have been arrested during protests across the state.
The Supreme Court will begin hearing petitions seeking review of its order from January 22.
Ever since Congress president Rahul Gandhi decided to attack Modi government on the Rafale deal, he has been accusing prime minister Modi of snatching the contract from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and gifted it to Anil Ambani. He has been claiming that HAL is fully capable of making the Rafale plane, but the deal has gone to Reliance, despite the fact that all 36 Rafale jets are coming from France and not of them will be made by Reliance or any other Indian company. Rahul Gandhi had even gone to the headquarters of HAL and held a meeting with a few former and current employees of the company. He had claimed that the Rafale deal rightfully belongs to HAL and he will protect the future of the company.
But recently it had emerged that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament had severely criticised Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Aeronautical Developmental Agency (ADA) over its failure in timely delivery of defence equipment to defence forces. The PAC is headed by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. The report is based on CAG’s report on “Design, Development, Manufacture and Induction of Light Combat Aircraft”, or the Tejas fighter jet that HAL is making. Now we have accessed a copy of that report by PAC, here are some of the important points made in the report.
The report notes that the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project was sanctioned in 1983, and it had been running into delays for a long time. The delays in the project were highlighted in the CAG report in 1988 and after that in another CAG report in 1999. The ADA had started developing two prototypes in 1995, even before development and testing of two Technology Demonstrator aircraft as per the original plan. Due to this, several technologies could not be integrated into the LCA, as many of such technologies were still in development. The decision to advance the development of the first 2 prototypes had a cascading effect on later prototypes, the report notes, clearly hinting at the mismanagement of the project. This had led to delays in the completion of each stage of the project.
HAL was to manufacture and supply eight aircraft between 2006 and 2008. Against this, HAL supplied seven aircraft during April 2007-March 2013 with a delay ranging from 4 to 51 months, the report notes.
Despite the long delays, the Initial Operational Configuration aircraft that was completed in 2013 did not meet the specific requirements of the Air Force. The aircraft had increased weight, reduced internal fuel capacity, non-compliance of all-weather operations, nonachievement of single point defueling, fuel system protection, pilot protection, etc., as opposed to the prescribed requirement of IAF. Due to these shortcomings, the ADA had to obtain 53 temporary concessions/permanent waivers. 20 of them were permanent waivers granted by the air force, while the rest 33 were time-bound temporary concessions, which had adversely affected the combat potential of LCAs being developed during that period.
Delays in FSED Phase-IDelays in FSED Phase-II
Due to delay in development of the LCA, several weapons and systems had become obsolete/out of stock/operationally irrelevant, and to retain an operational edge, newer weapons had to be inducted in the project. This new requirement had further delayed the project, the PAC report says.
The LCA was supposed to be powered by an indigenously developed Kaveri engine, but due to the inability to achieve the required power from the engine, the Tejas uses GE engines. Like the LCA, the Kaveri project also has faced long time and cost overruns. The jet engine is being developed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), a lab under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The delay in development of the engine was also highlighted by CAG in its 2010-11 report.
HAL was to provide the test and prototype aircraft for test flights in 2006 as per the MoU signed with IAF. But due to several deficiencies, the planes were included for flight testing activities in November 2010. The report says that HAL was producing four aircraft per year as against the required eight aircraft per year. According to the original plan, the LCA was to be inducted into IAF by 1994 to replace the Mig-21 planes, but that has not happened even after a delay of more than 3 decades.
Due to non-availability of LCA, the IAF had to resort to other measures to arrest the depletion of squadron level due to phasing out of Mig-21 fighters. It had spent ₹2,135 crore on upgrading 125 MiG BIS aircraft, ₹3,841.87 crore on upgrading 62 MiG-29 aircraft, ₹3,113.02 crore on 61 Jaguars and ₹ 10,947 crore was spent on the ongoing upgrading of Mirage 2000 aircraft. This has meant that due to delay in induction on LCA Tejas, IAF had to up-grade other aircraft at a cost of ₹20,037 crore. Besides that, the phasing out of MiG-21 had to be delayed.
The report notes that the Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) Phase-I was closed in 2004 after a delay of six years, that too without completion of all the activities, which were carried forward to FSED Phase-II. PAC notes that while LCA programme is being monitored by multiple agencies/bodies like General Body, Governing Body, involving the representation of Minister of Defence, Ministry of Finance, ADA, HAL, and Empowered Committee chaired by Chief of Air Staff, there was lack of coordination at various levels and monitoring of the program was ineffective. “The Committee are of the view that casual approach of the monitoring agencies in enforcing the timelines led to inexplicable delays of more than 30 years on an ambitious Defence project”, the PAC report states. It also says, “The Committee are disappointed to note that even after almost three decades, the ADA has not been able to develop the indigenous aircraft as per requirements of IAF in terms of combat potential and serviceability and opine that non fulfilling of requirements of the users has rendered investment of both time and money in the project, so far, infructuous”.
Another defect in the project pointed out in the PAC report is the low level of indigenisation, while the indigenous content of LCA was estimated to be 70 percent, actually it was only 35 percent in 2015.
Commenting on the failure to develop the Kaveri engine, the report says that “GTRE has failed miserably in its attempt to develop an indigenous engine”. The PAC says that since GTRE has been entrusted with the development of a strategic equipment, it may be upgraded from merely a lab under DRDO to a fully autonomous organisation empowered to take decisions on its own and capable of attracting and recruiting best talents in the field. Similarly, a review of the functioning and achievements of DRDO and HAL may also be carried out to suggest ways to improve their working, the parliamentary committee recommends.
The report further states that due to huge delays in development and induction of LCA, forming of LCA squadrons could not materialize, and IAF had to up-grade other fighter planes aircraft at a cost of ₹20,037 crore, and IAF is currently operating with 35 squadrons as against sanctioned 42 squadrons. Moreover, the squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27 will retire over the next ten years. “The Committee are disappointed to note that the failure of HAL/ADA and Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide the required number of aircraft has adversely affected the combat potential of the IAF resulting in security threat to the country”, the report by PAC comments. Severely criticising the executors of the project, the report says that the HAL, ADA and its work stations are miserably failing in its R&D to have the much-needed technology in the aviation sector.
The Committee are aghast to note that, as on 31 July, 2018, IAF has only got 9 out of the 200 fighter and 20 trainer aircraft that it had ordered for. Moreover, the LCA aircraft that have been delivered to IAF as not combat ready. The ADA/HAL have also not been able to provide IAF with even a single production standard trainer aircraft till date. Further, since HAL could not augment its capacity in line with the demand of the IAF, the report states.
All these scratching comments on HAL and ADA have been signed off by Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha.
This is not the first time HAL has come under criticism for delay in projects, and the LCA is not the only project they are delaying. Almost all projects undertaken by the company are delayed. The production of Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft by the company is also getting delayed. Moreover, Sukhois made by HAL cost more than the same planes imported from the original maker in Russia. Other HAL projects like The Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) are also running behind schedule by several years.
While Rahul Gandhi talks about Rafale being made by HAL, the fact is that the original bid to buy 126 Rafale planes during the UPA government was cancelled due to HAL. Under the MMRCA bid for 126 aircraft, 18 planes were to be bought from Dassault and rest 108 were to be made by HAL under licensed production. But the deal didn’t go through as HAL wanted much more time to make the planes. While Dassault provisioned for 3 crore man-hours for production of the aircraft in India, HAL’s estimate was nearly 3 times higher, increasing the cost manifold. This was not acceptable to Dassault, and due to this disagreement, the deal had to be cancelled. More importantly, Dassault was not ready to take the responsibility of quality control of production for the 108 Rafale planes to be made by HAL.
The ability and efficiency of HAL are in question for a long time, given the inordinate delays in projects undertaken by the public sector company, which have been once again confirmed by the PAC report. But this will not dissuade Rahul Gandhi from continuing his ‘Modi snatched Rafale deal from HAL and gave to Ambani’ rhetoric, that is for sure.
The Congress party has been caught in a major embarrassment after the Delhi High Court convicted one of its senior leaders, Sajjan Kumar for his role in the 1984-anti-Sikh riots. The Delhi High Court while delivering the judgement had issued a damning statement saying the accused had enjoyed ‘political patronage’ and ‘escaped trial’.
As the Congress party was pushed on to the back foot, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the issue should not be politicised and the judgement should not be linked to the political atmosphere prevailing in the country. Former Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal attempted to distance convicted Sajjan Kumar from the Congress party and maintained that he does not hold office or fought on a Congress party ticket. He also attacked BJP for politicising the case.
The Congress leaders displayed their eagerness to distance the convict Sajjan Kumar from the party to minimise the damage he has already caused and to avoid furthermore discomfort. Nevertheless, the Congress party had mainstreamed the criminal Sajjan Kumar all along despite several victims had accused him of his involvement in the anti-Sikh pogrom.
Sajjan Kumar, who has now been convicted of murdering five Sikhs in the Delhi Cantonment area during the massacre of 1984, has stayed very close to the Congress party despite Congress party projecting otherwise. In 2004, the Congress party had brought Sajjan Kumar into the mainstream by allowing him to contest and win from Outer Delhi constituency.
Later in 2014, Sajjan Kumar was made the member of party’s campaign committee for parliamentary elections in Delhi. His services were sought for bringing crowds for an election rally of the current Congress party president Rahul Gandhi during the 2014 general elections.
Congress party had also utilised the services of Sajjan Kumar to organise different rallies and election campaigns in various assembly elections. Sajjan Kumar, who was twice MP from Outer Delhi constituency had participated in an election rally ahead of the Bawana Assembly constituency by-election in 2013 and had addressed several meetings.
Recently, Sajjan Kumar was seen leading the party’s Bharat Bandh protests over high fuel prices near Pusa Road, Delhi. He had to face the wrath of the people for trying to intimidate a journalist after he confronted Sajjan Kumar for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre.
Once again on September 30 2018, Sajjan Kumar had displayed his affiliation with the Congress party by participating in a rally to protest against “illegal sealing” of industries, unemployment and price rise to highlight the failures of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and the BJP at the centre.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer HS Phoolka had alleged in the past that the Centre and police have protected Sajjan Kumar since 1984. He had said that there was ample evidence to show how the police and the government have been shielding him from the beginning. Reportedly, the police did not register cases in 1984 wherever the victims named political leaders.
In 2012, during the UPA government, the special public prosecutor had argued that the CBI investigation showed that the police had removed the statement of a main witness from the record and had further placed on record fabricated statements which were not made by the witness.
Meanwhile, the conviction of Sajjan Kumar for his role in the Sikh massacre has finally brought some semblance of justice to the families of victims and the Sikh community while a long road lays ahead in bringing other culprits to book. Over 400 cases related to the 1984 Sikh genocide still remains pending in Indian courts.
Interestingly, Sajjan Kumar has been convicted for his role in the 1984 Sikh Massacre on the same day that another Congress veteran accused of participating in the massacre, Kamal Nath took oath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
However, the loan-waiver comes with terms and conditions that not too many farmers might be aware of.
The following glaring problems are being ignored by most of the media when they hail the newly formed Congress government for living up to their promise.
Upper ceiling of loan waiver
The order that has been signed by Kamal Nath sanctioning the so-called farmer loan waiver in Madhya Pradesh mentions that the upper ceiling for the outstanding amount to be waived off is Rs. 2 lakhs. Which means that any farmer who has racked up a repayment amount of more than 2 lakhs gets hardly any benefit from the state at all.
Only the outstanding till 31 March 2018 to be waived off
The order signed by Kamal Nath says that only the outstanding amount till March 31st 2018 would be waived off by the state government. This poses another problem for several farmers. Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s rhetoric had suggested that all farmer loans would be waived off.
चाहे वो मोदी जी की सरकार हो, चाहे वो शिवराज चौहान जी की सरकार हो, या भाजपा की कोई सरकार, उनके दिल में किसानों के लिए बिल्कुल जगह नहीं है।
जिस दिन मध्य प्रदेश में कांग्रेस की सरकार आएगी, दस दिन के अंदर किसानों का कर्जा माफ हो जाएगा, जिनपर गोलियां चलाई गईं, उन्हें न्याय मिलेगा। pic.twitter.com/rfAGwOWIrf
In the run-up to Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections, last month it was reported that several farmers had stopped repaying their loans owing to Rahul Gandhi’s promise of full loan waiver to the farmers. Times of India had reported that loan repayment had dropped by 10% due to Rahul’s promise.
However, with the order stating a cut-off date going months back from the date promise was made, several farmers who had banked on Rahul Gandhi’s promise would be left high and dry.
Only short-term loans
The order clearly mentions that only short terms loans would be waived off. Short term loans to farmers are those which are given for seasonal crops and hence, loans such as those taken for digging wells, buying irrigation equipment, animals, etc. that usually come under medium to long-term loans, are not to be waived off.
Eligibility?
The loan waiver sanction signed by Congress says that only those farmers who are “eligible” would be able to avail of the benefits. Other than the restrictions already mentioned, one has got to wonder if there are other surprises and restrictions in store that would effectively leave out many more farmers from the blanket promise that was made by Congress and Rahul Gandhi.
In the Assembly Election results of 11th December 2018, the incumbent BJP government in the state was defeated and Congress came to power. Loan waiver promise is supposed to have helped the Congress party, which kept repeating that the BJP government was a ‘suit boot ki sarkar’ and that only Congress would do what is needed to benefit the farmers.
Even during the Karnataka elections, Congress had promised full farmer loan waiver. After the Congress-JDS government came in power, for the longest time, the loans of farmers were not waived off.
When they were, it then emerged that it was mere lip-service by the coalition government. It emerged that the farmers were still getting recovery notices from banks for the loans they had availed. The government had also admitted that out of the Rs. 44,000 crore farmer loan waiver, only a paltry 800 farmers had benefited.
While the Congress party seems to demonise the Modi government and drum up support for itself by indulging in farm loan waiver rhetoric, the reality of the situation seems to be very different for the farmers.
It is often said that it is good to be ‘confident’ but erroneous to be ‘overly-confident’. This has been the plight of the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party in the recent past.
Even after facing a staggering defeat in the Telangana Assembly elections, the state wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) refuses to concede defeat or simmer down. Unfortunately, the party did not manage to take hold of even one seat out of the 41 seats they contested in Telangana (out of the total of 119 seats), but not willing to give up, the AAP party is now said to be intensively preparing for the State’s Gram Panchayat elections slated in January next year.
As per a report in The News Minute, The party’s observer for Telangana elections from Delhi, Priyanka Kakkar, justifying her party’s disastrous performance said, “One has to understand the circumstances under which AAP contested polls in Telangana. “The party has been working on the ground actively for just eight months preparing for the Gram Panchayat elections in January but then the Telangana assembly got dissolved prematurely on September 6, six months before end of term and we entered into state election mode,” she added, hinting that the party was not well prepared to handle the early elections in the state.
The AAP has reportedly registered only 13,500 votes among their 41 candidates combined this Telangana election. All its candidates have lost their deposits.
The party has also had a dismal performance in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, the party contested in 208 seats and lost all seats. AAP’s CM candidate Alok Agarwal got only 823 votes. In all the states it had contested, NOTA had a higher vote share than AAP. It has lost deposits in all the states it has contested.
The party, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, has faced successive defeats from Punjab to Goa to Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections in Delhi to Bypolls in Punjab to Municipal elections in Punjab. Gujarat Assembly elections 2017, had also proved a major setback for the party.
Amongst all the other defeats, the Gujarat Assembly elections 2017 had proved to be one of the biggest heartbreak for the AAP as, despite an elaborate campaign, the party had lost deposits in all but 2 seats.
According to the reports back then, AAP had lost all 27 seats it contested, out of which in 26 seats it fetched far lesser numbers as even compared to NOTA. While the AAP got a total of 29,517 votes in the 29 seats, people used NOTA 75,880 times in these seats.
The total vote percentage of AAP in Gujarat was .08%, which means only 8 voters out of 10,000 voters supported Kejriwal.
AAP had lost Goa in 2017, the only state where it was expected to do well. Hobnobbing with Khalistani elements also could not save AAP from losing Punjab.
AAP failed to retain Rajouri seat in the by-polls in Delhi. And then ultimate decimation came in the MCD elections in Delhi in April 2017, where BJP won 181 seats, while AAP won a mere 49 seats.
In 2018, the AAP also failed to open an account in Nagaland and Mizoram. Similarly, the party’s performance in the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections was no exception. The AAP had then forfeited deposit in all 29 seats it had contested.
Kejriwal has lost every single election for AAP except one freak win in 2015. Kejriwal’s hatred for PM Modi and BJP is well known and as the 2019 general elections draw close, speculations are rife that AAP might look at Congress for an alliance. With AAP’s track record of consistent loss, it is doubtful whether the party will be entertained as an alliance partner among the opposition parties.
People on social media are furious with Times Now for their tweet on Christmas which is starkly different from their tweet on Diwali.
Nov 2018: Avoid high calorie Indian foods this Diwali to stay on track with your weight loss goals.
Dec 2018: What is any festival without food? Christmas is just around the corner & its time to get your hands on the perfect plum cake recipe.@TimesNow , aapko sharm nahi aati? pic.twitter.com/dmADqrOBkw
Before Diwali, Times Now urged their followers to exercise restraint to achieve their weight loss goals. With Christmas around the corner, however, Times Now has no such words of caution for their followers and even urge them to taste the ‘perfect plum cake recipe’.
Times Now’s tweets reflect the general attitude of the Indian elite towards Hindu festivals. While everything negative is associated with Hindu festivals, an aura of celebratory mood is spread on the occasion of Abrahamic festivals.
Every festival deserves to be celebrated with pomp and vigour and it’s simple courtesy to wish people joy during their cultural festivals. However, the mainstream media and the intellectual elite create a narrative of doom and gloom around every Hindu festival while indulging themselves in the festivities of Abrahamic faiths.
The intellectual elite is reminded of pollution and air quality only during Diwali. While Delhi continues to suffer from extremely poor air quality, no attention is paid to it. While ordinary citizens are urged to not celebrate Diwali in a manner of their own choosing, celebrities organize a show of fireworks during their own wedding.
Concern for animal rights develops only during Jallikattu and other Hindu festivals while no such concern is shown during Bakr-Eid. Water conservation becomes a hotly debated issue as Holi approaches, on the other 364 days of the year, hardly anyone bothers.
The elites discover patriarchy only during Karvachauth while maintaining a stoic silence on Nikah Halala and Triple Talaq. Some even go on to criticize an attempt to ban Triple Talaq and Nikah Halala merely because it’s an alleged Hindu Nationalist party that seeks to ban it.
Women Rights become an issue at the Sabarimala Temple, where it’s not supposed to even be an issue as the tradition is not based on misogyny, but such rabid feminists suddenly lose their voice when it comes to the entry of women at Mosques.
At the core of the issue is the fact that the intellectual elite has developed an ingrained aversion towards anything and everything Hindu. In their world, contrary to observable reality, Hindu festivals are associated with negativity while only Abrahamic festivals are ought to be celebrated in a festive mood. Thus, they see no contradiction when they do not wish people in a proper fashion during Hindu festivals and spread abject negativity while participating in the festive mood during Abrahamic festivals.
In their heart, Liberals have been Abrhamicized to the extent that they cannot bring themselves to participate in the festivities during Hindu festivals. However, celebrating Abrahamic festivals comes almost naturally to them. Thus, what we would call hypocrisy is actually reflective of their innate opposition to everything Hindu as a consequence of their losing touch with their cultural roots.
Facebook has temporarily blocked the Facebook page of Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s son Yair Netanyahu, for demanding revenge of an Islamic terrorist attack that left two Israeli soldiers dead.
Yair Netanyahu had expressed anger for the Islamic attack, labelling the Palestinians as monsters disguised as human beings.
After his post was removed, he wrote another post with screen-grab of the blocked post.
“The thought police of the radical progressives at Facebook have reached me as well! Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime have official pages on Facebook. There are also endless pages calling for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews. Thousands of violent and extreme left-wing posts against me and my family, including threats of physical violence and immoral murder threats.” Netanyahu wrote.
Further, he had posted that Iceland and Japan are terror-free because there are no Muslims there. He also had added that there can never be peace until Muslims evacuate the land of Israel. In other words, co-existence of Jews and Muslims can never bring peace.
After all these posts, Facebook blocked the account of junior Netanyahu.
Yair then took to Twitter to express bafflement over Facebook community guidelines. Along with the screenshot of the blocked post, he wrote: “Unbelievable. Facebook blocks me for 24 hours for simply criticising it! Thought police.” In subsequent tweets, he reprimanded Facebook for turning a blind eye on hate directed towards him on Facebook.
“What’s even more amazing is that my post was removed in 5 minutes. But when I report to Facebook about the posts of people inciting hate against me, it takes them a month to come back to me and tell that the post ‘does not violate the rules of the community.”
In the earlier post, he also had also criticised media of harbouring a left-bais and had called them traitors.
Last Thursday two Israeli soldiers were shot dead by a Palestinian driver in a car-ramming attempt. Hamas later claimed that perpetrators were its operatives. The perpetrators killed in the incident were reportedly the same attackers who wounded 7 Israelis on 9 December on the Ofra junction of Samaria district, including a pregnant woman whose prematurely born baby later died.
Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist terrorist organization founded in 1987 with an aim to turn the land of Israel into an Islamic country.
A man was mercilessly beaten up by his wife and mother-in-law in front of Govindpur Tehsil Office in Odisha’s Gajapati district last week after he refused to convert to Christianity, reported Kalinga TV.
According to reports, the victim is identified as Thabir Panda. Panda works as a Revenue Inspector (RI) at the Govindapur Tehsil office in the district. Thabir Panda is a Hindu, while his wife Surabhi is reportedly Christian. Both had lawfully married each other in Bhawanipatna court in 2014. Thabir’s refusal to renounce Hinduism post his marriage had resulted in differences between the couple.
Reportedly, Panda was attacked by Surabhi and her mother in front of his office in Govindpur on Thursday evening. They beat him up while repeatedly abusing in foul language.
Speaking to media persons, Thabir said, “I and Surbhi loved each other. Since we belonged to different religions we decided to get married in Bhawanipatna court on 30 March 2014. She and her family started torturing me after I refused to convert to Christianity post marriage. Her family also wanted to have a Christian marriage”.
Thabir said that they hardly stayed together as whenever they were together, the dispute over his conversion turned worse. Thabir had refused to convert into Christianity as he was the only son of his parents. After Thursday’s incident, Thabir lodged a complaint at the local police station against his wife Surbhi and his mother-in-law.
However, Surabhi and her mother have refused to give any statements to the media and claimed that this their personal matter.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while speaking at the Founding Day of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) said that it is often felt that there should be women’s representation in PAC forces and therefore he has decided to constitute 3 battalions of women in PAC.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow: It is often felt that there should be women’s representation in Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) forces, we’ve decided to constitute 3 battalions of women in PAC. pic.twitter.com/kHwmpWJkEM
Congratulating the workers and officials of the PAC, Yogi lauded the achievements of the PAC. He said, ” The PAC with its dedication and commitment has made significant achievements in its 70 years of glorious history. There is a feeling of appreciation in every faction related to security and a sense of satisfaction in every section of society. Whether it is maintaining the law and order, assuring the smooth conduct of festivities or providing relief in the times of disaster, the PAC has proved itself in every difficult situation.
The CM of UP also stated that the PAC is an inspiration for other state security forces in the country.
Yogi had earlier in March had announced to have a separate women company in PAC as an effort in the direction of women empowerment.
Praising the relief work done by the PAC in disaster-hit areas, Yogi said, “I have closely observed the relief work done by the PAC in flood-hit areas in the past 25 years. When there was a requirement of Jawans in ATS, STF, and SDRF, all the soldiers selected during the recruitment were from PAC. There is a growing demand for PAC soldier”.
He suggested that PAC soldiers should be deployed in the eastern and the northeastern parts of the country during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.” I think that PAC soldiers should be sent to the Eastern and North Eastern parts of India during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the country. When we came to power in UP we revived the 74 companies of PAC which had been dissolved”.
