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NIA arrests notorious stone pelters and raids 16 locations as part of its terror funding probe

Hemant Bijapurkar
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NIA arrests notorious stone pelters and raids 16 locations as part of its terror funding probe

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) has been thoroughly focused on the terror funding in Kashmir for some months now.

At the start of June, the NIA had raided as many as 23 locations across Delhi, Haryana and Kashmir in connection with the Pakistani funding which the Kashmiri separatist leaders are believed to receive in order to spread terror in the valley. This had been followed by the questioning and detention of Geelani’s son-in-law, Altaf Fantosh. Later it was also revealed that the NIA was investigating journalists and retired judges in connection with fuelling the Kashmir unrest. The NIA had then even arrested 7 separatist leaders including the dreaded Bitta Karate.

Now according to reports the NIA has again gone on the offensive in its terror funding probe. Reports claimed that the NIA had identified 117 individuals who led stone pelting groups and gave instructions over WhatsApp. The NIA has also as a result identified 79 WhatsApp groups, many of which have admins in Pakistan. Some of the WhatsApp groups were named valley of tears, Pulwama rebels, FrEEdom FigHtErz (sic), Tehreek E Azaadi123. A total of 6,386 phone numbers were part of these groups out of which about a 1000 were active from Pakistan and Gulf countries.

The NIA has also reportedly arrested two notorious stone pelters on Tuesday one of whom is a photojournalist. The pelters have been identified as Javed Ahmad Bhat and Kamran Yousuf. Kamran reportedly used to contribute photographs to various local newspapers based in Kashmir. Both these pelters were also reportedly very active on social media and used to instigate youths to pelt stones on the security forces.

Apart from them, Mian Abdul Qayoom a senior lawyer and Kashmir Bar Association chief has also been summoned to the NIA headquarters in Delhi. He is considered close to separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The NIA on Wednesday also raided a total of 16 locations in connection with its probe. 11 of these locations were in Srinagar and the rest are are in Delhi. The raids reportedly took place on establishments owned by traders and the teams carried out extensive search operations at the suspected locations.

Rohingya are illegal immigrants and need to be deported as per law: Kiren Rijiju

OpIndia Staff
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Rohingya are illegal immigrants and need to be deported as per law: Kiren Rijiju

The issue of illegal Rohingya immigrants in India has been heating up by the day. The Rohingya Muslims who comprise a minority in Mayanmar have been portrayed as one of the most persecuted communities in the world, though there have been reports which claim that things are not as simple as they look.

We had reported in the past how the erstwhile UPA government had in 2012 turned a blind eye to the illegal immigration, due to domestic political pressure and international concern over human rights. As a result of this inflow, their numbers have been pegged at about 40,000 which was excluding the 14,000 odd Rohingyas who are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The impression of the Rohingya community though started to morph from being simple refugees to being a security threat after it was found that the Rohingyas had started to get radicalised by the Lashkar-e-Toeba (LeT) to avenge the sectarian violence in Myanmar. And it was also found that their retribution was also for some reason aimed towards India.

All these factors reportedly prompted the Modi government to take up the issue of their deportation which included talking with Myanmar and Bangladesh on a diplomatic level. This action though wasn’t welcomed by the Rohingyas and their sympathisers in India and abroad.

The National Human Rights Commission as a result of this government stand, issued a notice to the centre and two Rohingya immigrants assisted by noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan also petitioned the Supreme Court to challenge the decision to deport Rohingyas which the Supreme Court agreed to hear.

Now Kiren Rijiju the Minister of State for Home Affairs has spoken [1][2] to the media about this issue without mincing his words. These statements of his come a day after the Supreme Court asked the government as to why it wanted to deport the Rohingyas.

Rijiju stated that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants who need to be deported as per law and that India is a nation with a great democratic tradition. He added that he was responding to the harsh and unnecessary criticism from human rights groups. He also took exception all such criticism by stating that why was the government being called inhuman when it was just following the legal path.

He also made a very pointed statement by categorically asking the critics to not preach to India regarding this issue as it has in its history given shelter to a maximum number of refugees in the world.

All these statements were made by him during the press briefing of the North East Democratic Alliance which is a political platform of the BJP and its allies in Northeast India.

Is Twitter India censoring content of users from Kashmir?

Nirwa Mehta
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Is Twitter India censoring content of users from Kashmir?

Hindustan Times yesterday reported that several Kashmiri Twitter users who frequently tweet on the Valley’s conflict received an email from Twitter India saying that an “official correspondence” was received about the content on these profiles violating “Indian law”.

The report says,

“The correspondence claims that your account is in violation of Indian law. Please note we may be obligated to take action regarding the content identified in the complaint in the future. Please let us know by replying to this email as soon as possible if you decide to voluntarily remove the content identified on your account.”

While the email does not specify which posts attracted the complaint, “a scrutiny of the Kashmiri profiles that have received the communication shows that some of the content they post take a separatist stand on Kashmir and severely question the role of the Indian state in Kashmir.”

The report does not specify which accounts received this email from Twitter India, nor does it divulge the content of these accounts. The writer of the story, Abhishek Saha, got called out for his lopsided reporting on Twitter.


Khalid Shah, who is a journalist based out of Kashmir, also adds that many accounts blocked by Twitter are “laced with content promoting Abu Dujana, Musa, Burhan Wani, AQIS etc.” and the accounts which do not breach the reasonable restrictions are still functional, which Saha has not reported.

Saha then clarifies that his story only focuses on users receiving the email from Twitter. Not who or why anyone received it.


Well, it would seem like partial reporting if you mention Twitter users receiving an email from Twitter India about content on their page, without divulging information on which handles got it for what content.


Perhaps screenshots of those tweets or handles could have given a slightly better picture on why Twitter is reaching out to these users. Khalid further states how the annexure which had details was ignored by Saha, which could have given clearer picture.


Indian Express carried out a similar story, except, they mention how they tried to access accounts and links mentioned in the annexure but most of it led to either a suspended account or deleted tweet. However, several of the links were still accessible. Saha fails to mention this in his report.

Saha then tries to defend his story by saying how the emails were sent as a means to curb Freedom of Speech. However, as per Khalid, most of these handles were militants sympathisers with pro-Musa content.


But seems like the reporting could be biased for a reason.


Of course, every story has a baffling, liberal twist.


Why should the Government of India want pro-militant and pro-separatists accounts blocked? After all, all they want to do is liberate India from the Hindus.

Essentially, Hindustan Times journalist Abhishek Saha wrote a story claiming Twitter is curbing freedom of speech of Kashmiris on behest of Government of India without specifying and getting into details about which these handles are and why were they sent a notice. He even defends it by saying how the focus of the story was the emails sent by Twitter and not the users who received. Which is baffling because wouldn’t that be more informative? The report misses out on giving details in the annexure, and that a lot of these posts were deemed to be pro-separatists and pro-militants, which is why the emails were sent.

About time peddling one-sided narrative comes to an end. Not sure which is more dangerous, false narrative or one-sided one?

Journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead, Twitter abuzz with speculations

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead, Twitter abuzz with speculations

Earlier this evening, senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead at her residence in Bengaluru.


Unfortunate death of Lankesh triggered speculations and most media persons were quick to blame the murder on right wing and in some cases, the BJP.

Nothing like quoting a 2016 tweet out of context to set the bar high for nastiness.


Some didn’t even lose the opportunity to plug their book.


While the ones who are actually good with words implied.


Of course, those who have to have an opinion in everything also had a say.


They even had a suspect in mind.


Whereas some had already decided who killed her.


Brother in law of nation’s brother in law has impeccable intelligence… erm.. inputs.

And then, journalist turned politician also termed that it is not a “regular murder”


Wonder what is an extra ordinary murder.

Some even forgot that Karnataka is not BJP ruled state.


And the fearmongers weren’t far behind.


Psst.. seems like #NewIndia was a hashtag suggested in WhatsApp groups for social media.


And of course, more conspiracy theories followed.

But then, are there some clues in the tweets she posted few hours before she was shot dead?


Which comrades is she talking about? What fake news? Who was exposing whom? Why are these angles not talked about?

Or is it something completely different?


Without speculating and creating panic, let investigative agencies look into the murder and ensure that the culprits are caught and justice is meted out.

Let us not hold

How Yogi govt saved thousands of children in UP but still got a bad name

Abhishek Banerjee
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How Yogi govt saved thousands of children in UP but still got a bad name

For several weeks now, the media has been chasing tragic child death stories in Uttar Pradesh. You know like this:

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Such tragic deaths are a blot on any modern society and we must pressurize the government relentlessly until every single avoidable child death is successfully prevented in India.

Having said that, what also needs to be asked is that, what is the current health situation in UP? Compared to previous years, has it remained the same, is it getting worse or is it improving? If it is getting worse, let thunder fall on the new government. If it is the same, that’s a disappointment. If it has improved, let us recognize it.

So first, thank you Firstpost for omitting from your headline that the 49 deaths happened over a period of 30 days. That is little over 1 patient a day in a large government hospital.

We have seen a lot of hitjobs against the BJP and its state governments, but this new line of attack is by far the lowest that the mainstream media has sunk. Underlying the media overdrive, is a cold cynical calculation that the issue here is so emotionally charged that it rules out the possibility of a rational response from the other side based on facts.

Because, who would like to speak on the issue of deaths, that too the deaths of innocent children, mostly infants? When you raise an issue like this, you can always expect the majority of the public to take the side of the emotion driven outrage. Any effort to put the matter in context will be seen as “justifying child deaths”, which will ensure that bringing out the facts will ironically make the fact checker look bad.

Take this :

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Again, tragic. But what most of those clickbait media headlines don’t tell you is this :

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In the same Jan–Aug period of 2014, there were 3828 kids who died at the same BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. In 2015 it was an even more shocking 4601 and in 2016 it was 3758. If you take the average of the numbers in 2014, 2015 and 2016, it works out to be 4062 deaths in the Jan to Aug period.

Now in 2017, the number for the same Jan — Aug period is 1285.

That is a fall of almost 70% in the number of child deaths in BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur.

Subtracting this year’s 1285 from the average of 4062 in previous years, we can confidently estimate that close to 2800 little angels have been saved this year. In just ONE Medical College in Gorakhpur.

What is the possible explanation for this drastic prevention? Is there any other explanation for the child deaths suddenly falling by 70% in a single year apart from the fact that the BJP came to power? There might well be but it would be very unfair to the Yogi government if we say that they had no part to play in this reduction.

To again make it clear that the 1285 deaths are by no means acceptable and that the government must be held accountable until every last avoidable child death is successfully prevented, but when there is a commendable performance by a government, such as saving 2800 little angels in just one hospital, it should be recognized. Most importantly because its a simple matter of providing incentives in hopes of a better outcome. Unless we as a people start rewarding good performance, how will we incentivize political parties to deliver that good governance?

When a government successfully brings down child deaths by 70%, we must make sure everyone hears about it. Otherwise, will there be any incentive for political parties to focus on good governance and solid work instead of playing up the cliched issues like caste, language and religion?

This is why I said the media hitjob on child deaths in Uttar Pradesh is one of the most unfortunate lows in the history of fake news. Think for a moment about those who wrote those screaming headlines about children dying by hundreds in Uttar Pradesh. They are the ones who have deliberately taken the data out of context to make the man they hate look bad, possibly without even batting an eyelid.

In the end if you point out the above data, they might try and shame you but I say let’s not be scared and let’s spread the truth. This is for the children.

Sona Mohapatra slams media for misinterpreting her statement on Kangana Ranaut

OpIndia Staff
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Sona Mohapatra slams media for misinterpreting her statement on Kangana Ranaut

Following the Aap Ki Adalat interview of Kangana Ranaut, singer Sona Mohapatra wrote a Facebook post calling ‘washing dirty linen in public’ a ‘disservice to feminism’.

Without taking names, Mohapatra referred to her interview dissecting her personal life on a public platform, and called it a ‘circus’. She goes out to tell her that while life may have been hard on her, she is at a position of influence now to bring about positive changes, which she could focus on, instead of discussing private life, which eventually is just entertainment for people.

However, soon her note was taken out of context and she was accused of taking Hrithik’s side, even when she had not taken any names.

 

Others had also agreed that Kangana could have used the platform for talking about her work than her personal life, considering celebrities are usually angry at media for discussing their personal life instead of their work.

She even called out another one for “clickbait nautanki”

She even said how she never mentioned anything about “Daddy’s pretty boy”

And even called the journalism “yellow journalism”.

Loudspeakers can be used freely during Ganesh Visarjan as Supreme Court stays High Court ban

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Loudspeakers can be used freely during Ganesh Visarjan as Supreme Court stays High Court ban

As reported by various outlets, the Supreme Court has put a stay on an High Court order which had banned the use of loudspeakers in Mumbai during the annual Ganpati Visarjan. This means that the loudspeakers can be used unhindered on Tuesday.

The whole issue started when Mumbai lost its 1,537 silence zones as a result of the state government not notifying them from 10th August. This was a result of an amendment to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 which was carried out by the Central government. This amendment meant that individual states were responsible for explicitly notifying these zones.

The lack of these silent zones had meant that loudspeakers could be used unhindered throughout the city and as per some, may have had a larger than normal impact during the upcoming Ganesh Utsav. Such fears were assuaged by the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS) the umbrella body of Ganesh mandals which asked the Ganesh Pandal authorities to not not play Bollywood songs or invite DJs.

But the Bombay High Court on 1st September had declared the amendments of these noise rules as unconstitutional while stating that the lack of silence zones violated the citizens’ fundamental right to live in peace. This meant that restrictions on the use of loudspeakers notably during Ganesh Visarjans were reimposed. The state government then decided to appeal this High Court order and as a result of that, the Supreme Court put a stay on it.

The apex court also sought a reply from the activists who were in favour of such a ban (the activists also had an advocate representing the in the Supreme Court) and also restrained the High Court from passing further orders in the matter. The Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who had appeared for state government had argued that if the noise regulations were taken in a literal sense it would lead to almost the whole country going silent as the rules among other things, stated that no loudspeaker can be used near small clinics, schools or even court premises.

Loudspeakers used for religious purposes have always been a controversial topic in Mumbai and the administration has often been accused of not enforcing the existing judgments regarding them.

As reported by us, in 2014 the Bombay High court had called for a removal of Illegal loudspeakers from Religious structures in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai and it had also reportedly made it clear that loudspeakers cannot be used at religious shrines from 10 PM to 6 AM. But even after that there have been high profile complaints about Mosques continuing to play early morning Azans on loudspeakers which also hasn’t been clamped upon by the authorities.

Pakistan: Journalist claims Hindu temple near Karachi airport used to keep sacrificial animals

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Journalist claims Hindu temple near Karachi airport used to keep sacrificial animals

In complete disregard for the sentiments of minorities in Pakistan, a temple in Karachi was used to keep sacrificial animals.

In a tweet, Pakistani journalist Bilal Farooqui shared the video of animals being kept in the temple premises.


In the video it can be seen that a camel is kept inside a temple along with a motorcycle. This triggered a discussion on situation of minorities in Pakistan.

Abdullah Rajput, a journalist associated with Dawn News in Pakistan showed concern that the minority may get offended by this behaviour.


As against how minorities are treated in India.


Twitterati also condemned the disrespect shown towards minorities in Pakistan.


Of course, there were secular liberals from India who denied such thing could exist in Pakistan. And how this could be used by “Hindu terrorists” as part of “terror training”. Farooqi, on his part, stood by his tweet.

Just to conclude, here’s what could have happened if religions were switched.

 

Uproar in Mumbai Church after a CCTV camera is found in its women’s toilet

OpIndia Staff
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Uproar in Mumbai Church after a CCTV camera is found in its women’s toilet

The St Michael’s Church in Mahim, Mumbai has become shrouded in controversy after it was reported that a CCTV camera has been installed in its women’s toilet. As a result, the parishioners of that church sent a letter to Cardinal Oswald Gracias the archbishop of Mumbai in order to ask as to what the officials of their church were trying to achieve by installing it.

Karen C D’Souza the vice-president of Association of Concerned Catholics, in the letter also reportedly questioned as to “why were the priests of St Michael’s parish being more ridiculous by the day” and also urged the priests to wake up and be sensitive to the ladies. The letter further asks as to what were they expecting to capture on the camera. Furthermore it stated that the Church can also close the washroom itself as the women cannot use it under the present conditions.

Other women parishioners too raised concerns about the installations by stating that they felt insecure and didn’t know as to who was monitoring the footage. An advocate named Joseph Sodder claimed that the installation amounted to outraging the modesty of women and claimed that they intended to lodge a complaint against the church and seize its footage.

Incidentally the church has sought to explain away the installation by claiming that they were done to ensure the safety of the women and to prevent thefts. According to Father Simon Borges the parish priest of the church, the cameras were installed sometime back to prevent thefts as women leave their bags outside near the basin before entering the toilet.

This isn’t the only time such controversies have happened in this country. Famously Union Minister Smriti Irani in 2015 had found a CCTV camera aimed at a women’s trial room in a retail store in Goa after which police had detained staff members and consequently sealed the store. The Madras High Court too in the same year had instructed a Chennai based company to immediately remove a CCTV camera installed in the men’s washroom. This installation was done in 2013 when the company decided to install CCTV cameras literally everywhere in the factory to check if the staff was working or passing time.

Explosives, IED making equipments recovered from Darjeeling

OpIndia Staff
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Explosives, IED making equipments recovered from Darjeeling

West Bengal police today recovered huge amount of explosives from Lebong Valley area of Darjeeling hills. A large police contingent including central forces carried out the raids where gelatin sticks along with metal pieces which are believed to be used for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were recovered from a house.

The police believes that it is part of the stolen gelatin sticks from NTPC project at Negi.

West Bengal Police claim that the offenders are connected to Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), the party that is spearheading the Gorkaland movement in the hills and they have arrested Puran Tamang, a GJM youth wing leader from Lebong. Bhaskar Rai, the owner of the alleged house has been detained for interrogation along with a few others. The explosives recovered are similar to the ones used in the blasts at various parts of the hill.

Pro-Gorkhaland activists took out rallies in various part of the hills including Darjeeling and Kalimpong even as the GJM sponsored indefinite shutdown in the north Bengal hills entered its 82nd day.

The picturesque hill station of Darjeeling has in recent days been a witness to less than picturesque scenes after numerous protesters have taken to the streets in order to renew their demand for a new state of Gorkhaland.

Fresh demands for a separate state were triggered after reports of Bengali being made a compulsory language for all schools in the hills. The opposition to this ‘Bengali imposition’ was reported to be peaceful initially, but the state administration is now being accused of ignoring the grievances of people by engaging with the Gorkha activists over their concerns.

Around 16th June, there were already signs of situation worsening after there were reports of alleged Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists setting a Panchayat office and a Health Center ablaze in areas nearby Darjeeling. This though has been strongly refuted by the GJM MLAs, who have accused the TMC government of turning a peaceful political movement into a law and order situation. They have also claimed that outsiders were indulging in this arson and it had nothing to do with GJM activists.

Amid all these, tourism, which is the main income for the people over there, has taken a huge hit.

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