Home Blog Page 7440

Twitter users react as Barkha Dutt launches a fresh attack on NDTV

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Twitter users react as Barkha Dutt launches a fresh attack on NDTV

Recently a left leaning website named “The Wire” carried a story which alleged irregular growth in businesses of Amit Shah’s son, after Modi became the Prime Minister. We had soon exposed how the article did more innuendo peddling than point out hard facts. We had also detailed how the author had also made basic mathematical mistakes in the article.

Even though the article lacked substance, it didn’t stop journalists of other media houses from riding on its coattails and enthusiastically report the story. One such journalist was NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain whose report on Jay Amit Shah co-authored with Manas Pratap Singh, was taken down from NDTV’s website for some “legal vetting”:


As a response to that, Jain claimed that it was merely a temporary take-down:


But it turns out that even after a week the story wasn’t republished by NDTV and this led Jain to issue a statement on Facebook:

Clearly as per his statement, he was distressed about the story not being restored by his employers and as a result many felt he was playing the victim card:


One of those who was critical of this stance by Jain was none other than former NDTV journalist Barkha Dutt:


She claimed that axing stories wasn’t anything new in NDTV and that her stores were also meted the same treatment:


She also alleged that the channel had punished her and Nitin Gokhale for speaking against this censorship:


Such revelations by Barkha Dutt predictably intrigued various twitter users, who reacted aplenty:


A few were sceptical about Barkha Dutt’s ”outburst”:


This isn’t the only time Barkha has crossed swords with her former employers. We had reported in the past how things were not well between her and the channel. We had also reported she had even got into a twitter fight with her former colleague and NDTV employee Nidhi Razdan.

While it is certainly commendable that Barkha Dutt had chosen to speak out about the freedom of expression for journalists, but she too can’t take any moral high ground on this subject. We had reported in the past how the professional career of an Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) student was almost ruined, simply because he shouted slogans against Barkha Dutt.

While this episode is playing out, speculations are rife about why exactly NDTV chose to pull down and vet that piece.

Why is NDTV’s deleted story on Jay Amit Shah still being ‘legally vetted’?

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Why is NDTV’s deleted story on Jay Amit Shah still being ‘legally vetted’?

On 8th October 2017, left leaning portal TheWire.in published an “expose” on Jay Amit Shah and his business dealings. The author, Rohini Singh tried to pass off a loss making company as a successful one, negative reserves as a “jump in reserves”, letters of credits as loans, and other normal loans as special favours. All this was done in order to link the alleged rise of Jay Amit Shah’s company, with the rise of Modi as Prime Minister of India. We debunked all the baseless claims in this piece.

The site though, chose to brazen it out. The story continued to be on its site. However some obvious school-boy mistakes were quietly corrected. In fact even these corrections had to be further corrected.

Two Days later, NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain caught up with the story and published his own report on the same. However, within two days, the story disappeared from NDTV’s website and Jain claimed that it was a “temporary takedown”, while the story was being checked for legal issues:


It has been over a week now, but it appears that NDTV’s legal team has still not finished their checking for legal issues. The story still stands taken down. Jain on his part posted on Facebook yesterday, claiming himself to be mystified by the delay:

What is Jain alluding to? Is his intention to hint that there are some pressures on the “fiercely independent” NDTV, which is why the story is in limbo? Does this explain his anguish? Or is he trying to make a bad story look good by cloaking it in the shroud of martyrdom?

An archived version of the story is still on the web, and a glance through it may reveal why the legal team of NDTV may be uncomfortable with it. One of the claims made in the story is:

In 2015, however it shows as having received Rs 15.76 crore as an unsecured loan from KIFS Financial Services, a non-banking finance company (NBFC). However, KIFS’ papers show only Rs 1.16 lakh as unsecured loans advanced that year, as rent deposit. When contacted by NDTV, KIFS claimed that the loan to Mr Shah was a secured loan, part of the Rs 88 crore of secured lending by KIFS that same year (2015-16). If that is the case, KIFS would have lent a significant amount – 17 % of their order book – to a single company, not one with the soundest financial record. This quite apart from the unanswered discrepancy of the nature of the loan, with Temple describing it as unsecured, and KIFS as secured.

The crux of the issue here as per NDTV is, why would KFIS advance a substantial loan to Jay Amit Shah’s company which has no track record. The answers to this issue may be found in Jay Amit Shah’s reply to The Wire itself.

His response stated that promoter of KFIS, Mr Khandwala, was a sharebroker for the Shah family for several years, and had provided loans through his NBFC to Shah family concerns, much prior to this transaction as well. Thus the suggestion that such loans were extended because of Modi’s rise to the top post of the country sound slanderous, to say the least. Further, Shah also mentions that the the loan along with interest has been repaid in full, and TDS has also been deducted on the interest. NDTV did not mention these facts. Is this one of the reasons why NDTV’s lawyers are circumspect?

Another claim made by NDTV:

Another question, though, surrounds this loan. According to the RBI guidelines, urban cooperative banks cannot lend to stockbroking firms, or commodity brokers, against pledging of shares and other financial instruments. The bank, however, said Kusum Finserve is a firm trading in commodities, not brokering in them, and hence is exempt from those restrictions. But Kusum Finserve, in its filings, shows a bulk of its profits – 60% – as having come from “Consultancy”, and the balance from commodity trading. It is unclear what sort of consultancy a commodity trading company be engaged in. Could “consultancy” be used to describe revenues from brokering?

This observation from NDTV crosses over to realm of ridiculous. NDTV itself makes it clear that they are trying to bracket Kusum Finserve as a brokering company, hence their bias makes them allude that even “consultancy” income could be “brokering income”. This is being asserted by NDTV without a shred of evidence.

If NDTV had to cast aspersions on the “consultancy” income, they should have come up with some evidence, some proof, some documents to show that brokering income was being falsely reported as consultancy income. Instead, NDTV gives biased and baseless innuendos. Another issue the lawyers might have been unhappy about.

Next, NDTV also talks about a loan received by Kusum Finserve, from IREDA the power ministry’s lending agency for renewable energy projects:

Whether that includes firms from sharply divergent backgrounds, like commodity trading, remains unclear, as do the terms under which IREDA approved Mr Shah’s project

The allusion here is that how did a commodity trading concern like that of Shah, get a loan from IREDA.

Firstly, the loan was taken for a wind energy plant. Shah’s reply stated that the loan was being serviced regularly with no overdue payments remaining pending.

Secondly, the terms and conditions of obtaining the loan, which NDTV hints might have been violated, are mentioned on IREDA’s site. The eligibility conditions clearly state that the loan scheme is available to all Private Sector Companies/ firms/LLPs, and there is no restriction as to the nature of business or sector of such entity. Financial analyst Deepak Shenoy too had tweeted about this. He spoke about how even filmstars had owned windmills due to the attached tax incentives:

Was this another defamatory claim made by Jain in his piece, which the lawyers were uncomfortable with?

From Jain’s reaction (and the loopholes we found) it appears that the story may never be online again. He calls it “deeply unfortunate” and a “distressing aberration”, which hints that the story may be buried forever. It is possible that NDTV’s legal team has realised that the article is defamatory in nature considering it makes certain fantastical and ill found claims without a shred of evidence. In fact, even Jain may have been made aware of this, and this anguish may just be Jain’s way of saving his face?

However, one does wonder if there might be another twist in the tale and whether NDTV and Jain decide to stick to their seemingly shoddy story, publish it again, and brazen it out like the folks at The Wire.

Congress leaders get nervous jitters when questioned about Vadra, Bofors

Nirwa Mehta
-
0
Congress leaders get nervous jitters when questioned about Vadra, Bofors

Congress Twitter handle, which has in the past brought former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi back from the dead and indulged in many such goof ups, has been getting pats on the back.


This was in response of a tweet where Congress Twitter handle is boasting of how they are all for independent brand of journalism.


This is interesting considering just yesterday, the day they tweeted about ‘respecting independent brand of journalism’, their Gujarat unit chief Bharat Solanki decided to manhandle a journalist who asked a question about Bofors scam.


The journalist could not even complete her question asking on alleged involvement of Bharatsinh Solanki’s father, Madhavsinh Solanki, in Bofors scandal.

In a press conference held in Bengaluru by Congress spokesperson Surjewala to defend Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son in law Robert Vadra in suspected land scams in Rajasthan and Haryana, news channels Times Now and Republic TV were banned.


Times Now, on 16th October, had ran a story on Vadra claiming that absconding ‘arms agent’ Sanjay Bhandari’s travel agent had booked tickets for Vadra at exorbitant prices. Bhandari has been under scanner for his alleged role in swinging a jet trainer deal for Swiss company Pilatus.


When a political party is chest thumping about upholding freedom of press on one hand, bans press coverage on the other hand, irony just grabs some land and sells it at huge profit a few years later.

Not surprising since the party’s leaders spend their free time in normalising Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi back in the 70s.

Islamic radicalisation in Kerala: threat to national security

Dr. Bharat K
-
0
Islamic radicalisation in Kerala: threat to national security

The influence of fundamental Islam in the state Kerala has grown substantially over the last few years and is a grave cause of concern. The 1956 merger of the Malabar (previously under the administration of Madras Presidency) and the princely state of Travancore to form the state of Kerala has dramatically changed religious and socio-economic dynamics in the state. This, along with the of growth of Communism, has contributed to the growth of Wahhabism, a puritanical or rather radical form of form of Islam, which is widely practised in the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain to name a few).

Wahhabism has its roots in 18th Century Saudi Arabia, where sweeping reforms made by its founder Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab began purging Islamic practices like the veneration of Muslim saints, visiting of their tombs and shrines, all of which were common in the region but considered impure innovations. This movement was later endorsed by the first rulers of Saudi Arabia, who later propagated its spread across the world.

Islam in Kerala on the other hand has had a long and significant history; it is believed that Islam first came to the region during the life time of the Prophet Mohammad- even before it made inroads into Persia. The Cheraman Juma Masjid completed in 629 AD is credited to be the first mosque in the sub-continent.

Muslims in Kerala, share a language and culture of the Hindus in the region, including the matrilineal clan structures unique to the South West Coast of India. Historically, the Chera and Zamorin kings of the Malabar have patronised Muslims, who were prominent merchants and mercenaries to numerous kingdoms and chieftains. The matrilineal/matriarchal Arakkal Sultanate with its capital in Kannur in as example of the success of Muslims in the Malabar.

However, the policies of previous communist governments’ for example have stunted economy growth and industries in  Kerala, invariably affecting the rate of unemployment – current rate of unemployment in Kerala is 7.4%, highest in India, where national rate is 5%. This has forced many in Kerala, including a large number of Muslims to move to the Gulf in search of work and the main fallout of this move has been rampant radicalisation of Malayali Muslims into the Wahabi fold. It is clear that radical Islamisation is taking place in Kerala, especially with the Malayalee Muslims (Mappilla) who travel for employment, who are vulnerable to these radical interpretations of their religion and thus bring back these practises back home.

However, this is not the only problem. Today, funds aimed at redefining Islam according to Wahabi principles are on the rise. Examples of this funding include, Saudi Arabia pledging 2.5 million Saudi Riyal (SR) to Islamic Mission Trust, Mallapuram in Kerala, which was registered with the MHA, ostensibly for constructing an arts and science college building.

Funding from radical organisations in Gulf countries has never been addressed in Kerala, this is a cause of concern especially given the illicit trade between the Gulf and Kerala. This can also be attributed due to appeasement politics, which was the hallmark of the previous Congress led alliance in Kerala, which ruled under the banner of the United Democratic Front. However, reports from the MHA and Wikileaks suggests that funding from the Gulf is immense- an example here states that India received Rs. 1,700 Crore funds from Saudi Arabia in 2015.

Very few people have highlighted the issue of radicalisation in the country, Karnataka MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar in his letter to the Home Minister dated 25.10.2016 urged the Government to crack down on Radical organisations claiming that they “created dangerous pockets of radicalism and fundamentalism” using foreign financial contributions made by dubious organizations. He also called for an overhaul of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. BJP leader and MP Subramanian Swamy has also raised this issue and questioned funding to radical NGO’s in the country.

The Government has taken steps by cancelling the FCRA Licences of Muslim organisation with dubious transactions, however more seems to be done to address radicalisation. Proliferation of groups like Popular Front of India (PFI)- a radical Muslim organisation originating in Kerala pose a grave security threat to both Kerala and the rest of India due to their links with the terrorists outfits abroad. According to the report from National Investigative Agency (NIA), PFI have been receiving funds through clandestine means from the Gulf.

The NIA has claimed that PFI has also been allegedly involved in influencing the youth, many of whom have backgrounds in medicine and engineering to join ISIS and wage war in Afghanistan and the middle east. ISIS in Afghanistan has released videos commemorating ‘martyrs’ from Kerala and urging many more from the state to join them in their fight. In a strategic operation based on information about ISIS recruiters operating in northern Kerala, the Kerala police launched Operation Pigeon and saved 350 people from joining ISIS.

This is not all, PFI has been prolific in establishing a network beyond Kerala, they have now merged with the National Development Front (Kerala), Manitha Neethi Pasarai (Tamil Nadu), Karnataka Forum for Dignity (Karnataka), all organisations with radical ideology. Karnataka Forum for Dignity has also been accused for terror attacks at IIsc in Bengaluru and kidnaping of students for ransom in Mysuru.

This ongoing trend of radicalisation emanating from Kerala leaves the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks and is a grave security threat. Our government needs to look at stemming the clandestine inflow of funds from the Gulf, this may require straightening the FCRA laws. The Government of Kerala and India need to strengthen laws that prosecute recruiters for ISIS and ban organisations that are a threat to India’s national security.

Shia board to donate 10 silver arrows for Lord Ram’s upcoming statue in Ayodhya

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Shia board to donate 10 silver arrows for Lord Ram’s upcoming statue in Ayodhya

A few days back it was reported that the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh, had announced its plan to install a glorious 100 meter tall statue of Lord Ram, along the banks of river Saryu in Ayodhya.

This statue was announced under the state government’s plan of a Navya Ayodhya and is expected to cost about Rs 330 crores. This Ayodhya redevelopment plan also includes a regeneration program, making it a tourist friendly city and implementation of schemes benefiting the local community.

Apart from these schemes, it was also announced that a magnificent Diwali would be celebrated in the city, which includes lighting 1.71 lakh earthen lamps.

Now this whole project Ayodhya has found a backer in the form of the Shia central wakf board.

As per reports, the board noted that the construction of Lord Ram’s statue is a matter of pride for all Indians and has announced its intention to gift 10 silver arrows for his quiver as a mark of respect. As per the board, this gift was as part of a Ganga-Jamuni ‘tehzeeb’ of Awadh.

According to Waseem Rizvi, the chairman of the Shia board, the UP government decision was commendable and in a letter to CM Yogi stated that the construction of the statue would put UP on the world map. He also claimed that the Nawabs of the region always respected the temples in Ayodhya.

This isn’t the only time the Shia wakf board has carried out acts promoting the composite culture of India.

We had reported how the board had called for a ban on triple talaq and had also issued a fatwa against cow slaughter. The board had also later called for the construction of a Ram temple on the Ram Janmabhoomi area and had proposed the setting up of a mosque in a Muslim dominated area, at a reasonable distance from Lord Ram’s birth place.

India deported 18 Rohingya Muslims despite ‘SC stay’, claims Bangladeshi newspaper

OpIndia Staff
-
0
India deported 18 Rohingya Muslims despite ‘SC stay’, claims Bangladeshi newspaper

A report in Dhaka Tribune, a Bangaldeshi newspaper claims that India has deported at least 18 Rohingya Muslims, who were living in West Bengal for the past 3 years, to Bangladesh through the Satkhira border.

The local Union Parishad member, Md Nazrul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that the refugees turned up in Kalaroa Chandanpur on Friday (13 October) morning. He said these refugees entered his home, which is 100 yards from the border, at 7 AM.

These Rohingya Muslims told Islam that people from the Ganarajpur Border Security Force camp in Basirhaat, North 24 Parganas had ‘forced them’ to cross over to Bangladesh.

The report in the Dhaka Tribune also claimed that in the last 3 weeks, 57 Rohingya Muslims have been deported by the BSF through various points of Satkhira border. Although another report claims that a similar alleged attempt by the BSF to push around 50 Rohingya Muslims into Bangaladesh was foiled on Saturday.

Chandanpur Union Parishad chairman, Monirul Islam confirmed the Friday incident but could not comment on what would be done with those deported, claimed the newspaper report.

This report of deportation comes after the Supreme Court, on Friday, had deferred the deportation of illegal Rohingya immigrants until the next hearing which is to be held on November 21st.

While Dhaka Tribune claims that Supreme Court of India ‘stayed’ deportation of Rohingyas, while it is to be noted that the Supreme Court merely deferred the hearing.

While talking to ANI, Supreme Court lawyer Aishwarya Bhati said “CJI observed – On one hand, there is humanitarian ground and at the same time national security interest. The bench observed that the court will also have to consider how far courts can interfere in issues like this. The bench was clearly of view that this matter requires a detailed hearing because the magnitude of the issue is much wider.”

She then added, “Initially court felt they would like to pass an interim relief order but ASG stood up and contested.”

A massive debate has been raging in India revolving around whether or not these illegal migrants should be deported or not. While intelligence agencies claim that some of these illegals may have terror links and are a national security threat.

(this report was updated to clarify that the ‘SC stay on Rohingya deportation’ was a wrong assumption by the Bangladeshi newspaper)

Former HT employee, seeking reinstatement, reimbursement for 13 years found dead on pavement

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Former HT employee, seeking reinstatement, reimbursement for 13 years found dead on pavement

In an unprecedented move in the history of media history, on 3rd October, 2004, Hindustan Times had handed over pink slips to as many as 362 workers with immediate effect. As per the reports, many of those dismissed were with the company for more than 25 years and the sole bread earners of the family. Back then, the union had felt that the members were targeted as it has been, along with other unions elsewhere, for opposing the increasing trend in newspaper organisations to bring employees under the contract system.

However, they were told that,

“the ownership of the Printing Undertaking of the Hindustan Times Ltd. at H.T. House, has been transferred to and taken over by H.T. Media Ltd, w.e.f. 2nd October, 2004 under an Agreement dated 1st October, 2004. Since H.T. Media Ltd., while taking over the ownership of the Printing Undertaking, has decided not to take over the services of the workmen working in the Printing Undertaking.”

In September, 2005, one of the 362 retrenched employee, Mahendra, had committed suicide which had sparked a massive protest back then.

Last week, one more, 24th amongst those 362, died. For the past 13 years, Ravindra Singh, lived in a small tent across the Hindustan Times House protesting for justice those sacked back in 2004. The 62 year old from Himachal Pradesh was found dead on 12th October. No one has seen his family in last few years and had been fighting a lone legal battle with the company.

Back in 2012, Delhi Court had reinstated 272 media workers with back wages, As per Newslaundry,

In January 2012, the Industrial Tribunal passed its final order terming the termination “illegal and unjustified.” It asked the management of HTL to “reinstate 272 workmen treating them in the continuity of service under terms and conditions of service” as before the termination.

The case related to the payment of back wages of these terminated employees is sub-judice and pending in the Supreme Court. However, the execution order for their reinstatement passed was in May 2016 by Additional District Judge Surinder S Rathi. He had asked HTL to execute the order of reinstatement within four weeks.

Earlier this year, Hindustan Times had shut down its editions overnight and tried to pass on the blame to demonetization. Many were forced to resign on the same day and work for two more weeks as HR processed the resignation letter. Later, some were even asked to contribute as freelancer with the publication. Last year in December, too, as many as 15 editorial employees, from both, Mint and Hindustan Times, were asked to put in their papers.

Even as Delhi Police tries to trace the family of the slain HT employee, the legal battle for the remaining continue.

 

Yogi govt may cancel accreditation of 2682 state madrasas for non-filing of details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Yogi govt may cancel accreditation of 2682 state madrasas for non-filing of details

Soon after coming to power in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath led BJP government has sought to regularise the madrasas present in the state.

The compliance included having to on the newly launched “Madrasa Portal” of the state government. The madrasas were required to upload the details of the teachers, support staff and also were required to provide infrastructure details along with photographs.

We had reported in September how the madrasas had become lackadaisical in their approach with only about 3000 out of a total of about 19,143 having registered themselves on the portal. Later it was also reported that, as a response to that the Yogi government had stopped the funding of about 46 fully aided madrasas in the state.

Now it seems that the Yogi government has continued its scrutiny, after reports have claimed that the government may cancel the accreditation of 2,682 madrasas, as they have failed to submit their details on the madrasa portal despite several reminders. Apart from the reminders, even the deadlines for registration were extended twice. Reports also claimed that the 2682 madrasas would now also not be able to avail government benefits.

Reportedly the last date of uploading the details was 15th October and and till then about 16,461 madrasas had successfully uploaded their details which included providing photographs, building and class measurements.

This step which has reportedly been taken by the Yogi government to eliminate possible fraud happening in the religious institutions. The new rules also stipulated that the teachers’ salary was also supposed to be paid online, which had necessitated that their details be provided on the portal. Till the last date, the data of about 32,483 teachers was uploaded online.

This new registration process isn’t the only reason why the state’s madrasas have been in the limelight.

In the buildup to the Independence Day it was reported how the Yogi government had directed all madrasas in the state to unfurl national flag and recite the national anthem on 15th August. They were also asked to photograph/videograph the proceedings.

This had resulted in protests from various corners about the government carrying out a test of patriotism. We had later debunked this whole charge by pointing out how it was standard “Sarkari” circular, which the Yogi government had issued after being instructed to do so by the Allahabad High Court.

Abusive Congress troll now mainstreamed by Indian Express as columnist

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Abusive Congress troll now mainstreamed by Indian Express as columnist

BJP MLA Sangeet Som’s statement that Taj Mahal was built by traitors and cannot be considered Indian history has created quite a furore and it led to people from all quarters coming together to defend how Taj is an integral part of Indian history.

One such attempt came from The Indian Express which published an article by Congress leader Amaresh Misra, who was earlier arrested for posting hateful comments and issuing rape threats on Twitter.

You can read his other abusive tweets here and here. His abuses were so obnoxious that even Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had congratulated him on ‘tweeting responsibly’ after being disgustingly abusive:


Here are more tweets of the abusive troll, who was later suspended by Twitter for the abusive and threatening posts, embraced by mainstream media with open arms:


This at a time when the mainstream media created a big deal about the stray abusive tweets of people followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tried to hold him accountable for the abusive tweets on Gauri Lankesh’s death.

Well done, Indian Express.

Muslim mob force UP police to arrest youth for ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Muslim mob force UP police to arrest youth for ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post

A Hindu boy has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police for putting a ‘blasphemous’ post on Facebook after an enraged mob demanded so. A strong Muslim mob had surrounded the Khiwai police station in Suroorpur, Meerut on Sunday afternoon demanding action against the boy.

Former head of the village, Shamshaad and former head Maulvi, Mustafa, alleged that the Hindu boy had deliberately posted blasphemous content on Facebook in order to vitiate the atmosphere and they reached the police station with a print-out of post demanding immediate action.

The villagers indulged in sloganeering and even attempted to block the Meerut-Badaut road.

The complaint was lodged on behalf of Altaf, son of Hasrat against Hindu boy Mahendra, son of Arun, who are residents of the village.

Reports also allege that the police abandoned the police station and fled from the scene once the mob had surrounded the police station and started sloganeering.

This is not the first time Hindus have been arrested for ‘blasphemous’ social media posts or remarks against Prophet Mohammad or Islam.

In December 2015, Kamlesh Tiwari was arrested under similar circumstances when Muslim mob took to the streets of Saharanpur and Deoband demanding action against Kamlesh for ‘blasphemous’ remarks against the prophet. Even then, the mob had clashed with the police and attempted to block the highway. Muslim mobs in various cities of the country had demanded death penalty to Tiwari even after he was arrested under National Security Act.

The latest incident is also a stark reminiscent of Muslim mob demanding that the ‘blasphemer’ be handed over to the mob for justice in Trombay area of Mumbai’s eastern suburbs earlier this year in March.

Such incidents, while uncountable, are a reminder of how fragile and hollow the debates surrounding Freedom of Expression really are.

In a country where mobs indulge in mindless violence over ‘blasphemous’ posts, it is amusing when our eminent journalists claim Freedom of Expression is being trampled upon by the Government while looking the other way and maintaining strategic silence over such incidents.

While the English language Media has squarely ignored such incidents almost as a matter of policy, our politicians seem equally oblivious and inadequate in dealing with such communal intimidation and arm-twisting that is becoming too frequent of late.

1...7,4397,4407,441...7,677Page 7,440 of 7,677