Railways Minister Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed has always been fond of announcing predictions and his latest one is predicting war between India and Pakistan.
Addressing a ceremony in Rawalpindi, he predicted that there would be a “full-blown war” between Pakistan and India in October or November.
He also said that this was a final freedom struggle for Indian Occupied Kashmir and the war with India would be the, “last this time”.
“Jinnah had assessed the anti-Muslim mindset in India long ago. Those who still think about the possibility of dialogue with India are fools,” he added.
After food delivery platform Zomato, McDonald’s India is now facing a major backlash over serving Halal meat to its customers.
A Twitter user asked McDonald’s India whether their restaurants are Halal certified, the company said it does serve Halal meat to its customers.
Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald’s India. We truly appreciate this opportunity to respond to your comments. The meat that we use, across our restaurants, is of the highest quality and is sourced from government-approved suppliers who are HACCP certified. (1/2)
Soon after this, the hashtag #BoycottMcdonalds began to trend on Twitter.
In #Halal the slaughter of animal is done in #Islamic ritual by reciting tasmiya or shahada in the name of #Allah. Also the animal suffer excruciating pain in the process.
Meat is meat….an animal is sacrificed to satisfy uo appetite whether it’s halal or non halal..even if it is not halal ,that poor creature still suffers n bears d pain of being killed so u should stop uoself calling hindu n overreacting on such petty issues #boycottmcdonalds
In a similar incident, Zomato faced flak after it said that food doesn’t have any religion while responding to a customer who refused to accept an order delivered by a Muslim delivery guy.
In what is being termed as an embarrassment for the country, Sri Lanka has rejected Pakistan’s claims of enjoying President Maithripala Sirisena’s support against Indian decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution in held Kashmir.
“The president acknowledged that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory and expressed his desire that this dispute should be resolved according to wishes of Kashmiris under UN [United Nations] Resolutions,” read a statement issued following Pakistani High Commissioner Maj Gen (r) Dr Shahid Ahmad Hashmat’s meeting with the Sri Lankan president Tuesday.
According to the statement, President Sirisena “also offered Sri Lanka’s mediation and facilitation of dialogue between Pakistan and India to re-activate the SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] forum”.
“The President’s Media Division wishes to state that the said meeting took place at the request of the High Commissioner of Pakistan and during which he briefed the president about the recent developments with regard to India’s abrogation of Section 370 and annulling of Article 35A of the Constitution of India.”
It added that the president gave a patient hearing to the high commissioner’s views and said that both Pakistan and India have excellent friendly relations with Sri Lanka, adding that the country’s interest is to see the growth of regional cooperation.
“The president did not make any other comment on the issues pertaining to Pakistan and India,” it concluded.
As many as 42 residents of Pakistan’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) region have been left stranded in India after authorities reportedly refused to open “Rah-e-Milan” gate on the Line of Control (LoC) for the weekly bus service.
The bus service that runs across the LoC — between AJK’s Rawalakot and Indian occupied Kashmir’s (IoK) Poonch district — is the brainchild of former IoK chief minister (CM) Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
“Every Monday the weekly bus service operates between Rawalakot and Poonch via Chakan da Bagh, but this week it didn’t,” Indian media reports quoted an Indian official as saying.
Out of 42 AJK residents left stranded in Poonch, 27 were due for their return today and taken to the gates at the LoC around 11 am on Monday, but Pakistani authorities didn’t let them pass forcing their return to Chakan da Bagh crossing point.
“We conveyed the message to Pakistani authorities but they didn’t respond and hence the bus service could not operate,” the official said.
Tensions are running high on either side of the border ever since New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of its constitution to rob the disputed valley of its autonomy.
The disruption in cross border travel follows Pakistan’s decision to suspend operations of Samjhauta Express between Wagah in Pakistan and Attari in India along with Thar Express that used to connect Khokhrapar in Pakistan with Munabao in India’s Rajasthan state.
Earlier this month, the Lahore-Delhi bus service was also suspended.
A video of two Indian cops in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) state of the country, which shows them beating each other up “for the front seat of the patrol vehicle”, has gone viral over the internet.
According to Times of India, the video was shot as the two Police Response Vehicle (PRV) constables fought for the front seat in the vehicle that was to patrol around the Bithoor town of UP’s Kanpur district.
WATCH VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvBDWl8PKao
The footage, shot by a passerby on August 18, also shows a third cop trying to bring his colleagues to peace.
The UP police have reportedly suspended the constables for their inappropriate behaviour on duty.
Self-proclaimed defence and security analyst Zaid Hamid has
suggested the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government to “threaten
Saudi Arabia of destroying Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s oil
refinery” to secure the Kingdom’s support.
The world is divided as Pakistan and India face-off over
Kashmir ever since New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of its constitution, robbing
the disputed territory of its autonomy.
Hamid’s advice to the government comes after Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Kingdom might not be standing up in Pakistan’s support since it has hefty investments planned in India.
Earlier this month, Ambani had announced that his Reliance Industries’ plan to sell 20% stake in its refining and petrochemicals business for $15 billion to Saudi Aramco. The oil refinery has an enterprise value of $75 billion.
Speaking to a private media outlet, Hamid criticised FM Qureshi
for “making Pakistan’s position weaker in the diplomatic war against India” and
suggested the government to threaten the Kingdom of destroying the refinery to
garner its support.
WATCH VIDEO:
He further said that Pakistan should threaten Israel of a nuclear
attack to put India on a short leash.
“India took Israel and the United States (US) into
confidence before moving to annex held Kashmir,” he claimed and added that therefore
Pakistan should target Israel instead of talking to India.
Soon after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held its first-ever meeting over the Kashmir issue in almost 50 years, India has backtracked on its statement and admitted that Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) is disputed territory.
According to The Express Tribune, facing a barrage of questions in a press briefing following the historic meeting at the UN headquarters on Friday, India’s envoy to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin said that India was committed to the Shimla Agreement inked with Pakistan in 1972, which explicitly declares Kashmir as disputed between the two countries.
Earlier, New Delhi had regularly blocked discussion on held Kashmir at the UN, saying it considers the matter an “internal affair”.
“So let me begin by coming across to you and shaking your hand… as we’ve already extended our hand of friendship by saying we are committed to Shimla Agreement. Let us wait on that from the Pakistani side,” said the Indian ambassador while awkwardly reaching out to Pakistani journalists and shaking their hands.
WATCH VIDEO:
Responding to a question, he said: “In closed consultations at the UNSC, anyone, especially parties to the dispute, can try and throw in anything at the members of the Security Council. That’s the nature of the beast.”
“We are ready to address these issues in a matter in which states who have normal approaches to international ties address them… and in our case, we are committed to Shimla Agreement,” he added.
Pakistan has taken exception to Indian defence minister’s statement on the use of nuclear weapons, saying the “substance and timing of the statement was highly unfortunate and reflective of India’s irresponsible and belligerent behaviour”.
Rajnath Singh had on Friday said that New Delhi may see a major shift in its nuclear weapons doctrine by doing away with the ‘no first use’ policy in the future. ‘No first use’ is a pledge to not use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an opposition using its nuclear arms.
“Till today, our nuclear policy is ‘no first use’. What happens in future depends on the circumstances,” the Indian defence minister had said while addressing a gathering in Pokhran, the site of India’s nuclear tests in 1998.
In a subsequent tweet, Singh had added:
Pokhran is the area which witnessed Atal Ji’s firm resolve to make India a nuclear power and yet remain firmly committed to the doctrine of ‘No First Use’. India has strictly adhered to this doctrine. What happens in future depends on the circumstances.
— Rajnath Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@rajnathsingh) August 16, 2019
“It further exposes the pretense of their no first use policy, to which we have never accorded any credence,” Pakistan Foreign Office said while reacting to the Indian defence minister’s statement.
“No first use pledge is non-verifiable and cannot be taken at face value, especially when the development of offensive capabilities and force postures belie such claims,” the statement read and added that Pakistan always proposed measures relating to nuclear restraint in South Asia.
“Pakistan will continue to maintain a credible minimum deterrence posture.”
Indian tennis captain, Mahesh Bhupathi, has demanded a “safety guarantee” before travelling to Islamabad for next month’s Davis Cup clash against Pakistan.
The unusual demand comes days after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) responded to another Indian request for the second round of security assessment by a green signal to the safety plan in place.
“We just want guarantees on safety,” Bhupathi was quoted as saying by reports.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) said on Wednesday they had written to the sport’s governing body once again asking them to shift the tie to a neutral venue or to postpone it for a couple of months until tensions simmer down.
In reaction to New Delhi’s unilateral action to abrogate Article 370 of the constitution and strip occupied Kashmir of its special status, Pakistan last week asked Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria to leave, suspended bilateral trade and all public transport links with India.
Tensions are soaring on both sides of the border ever since.
ITF has already responded to a previous AITA request, saying they were satisfied with the current safety plan in place in Islamabad.
The AITA has named a six-member squad under Bhupathi for the September 14-15 tie. The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men’s tennis. It is run by the ITF and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format.
Amid the ongoing unrest in held Kashmir, a viral picture of Game of Thrones (GoT) character Arya Stark being portrayed as a Kashmiri girl, has been fact-checked by Indian media.
As per the details, the image was first shared by a Twitter handle, “Fan of Zaidu”, mentioning Arya — played by Maisie Williams — as a Kashmiri girl “who had gone blind after being hit by a pellet gun”.
It wasn’t later that the image took the micro-blogging website by storm.
Despite the handle clearly stating that its tweets are nothing but satire and “100% fake”, Indian media has started doing fact checks over the image, claiming that Pakistan’s premium intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was “leading the propaganda campaign against India”.
Moreover, a noted Indian scholar and activist, Madhu Kishwar, has retweeted the image and asked Fact Check India to “confirm if it is real”.
This looks too filmy to be true. Would like @FactCheckIndia to confirm if this is real victim. What are Zakat Funds used for if not for poor and vulnerable? https://t.co/5Q8JkqGABl
The image comes as tensions soar on either side of the border ever since India robbed occupied Kashmir of its special status. Pakistan fears the move can lead to a Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.
