Tag: India

  • ‘Miracle moment’: Indian man walking to Makkah reaches Pakistan after waiting months for visa

    ‘Miracle moment’: Indian man walking to Makkah reaches Pakistan after waiting months for visa

    A 29-year-old Indian man named Shihab Chottur arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday through the Wagah border during his journey to Makkah to perform the Hajj.
    The Keralite had begun his walking 8,640-kilometer trek from Malappuram on June 2, 2022. He had been waiting for a Pakistani visa in Amritsar since the previous four months in order to continue his journey. .

    Shihab has so far walked 3,300km, covering seven states from Kerala to Punjab.
    In September last year, he was denied entry to Pakistan since there is no agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad about transit visas for people travelling on foot.

    Chottur decided to remain in a school in Amritsar while he awaited the visa.

    He was granted a two-day transit visa for Lahore and is presently in Pakistan.

    While sharing videos on his instagram, Chottur wrote, “Miracle Moment” to describe his arrival in Pakistan.

  • Male student faints seeing an examination hall full of girls

    Male student faints seeing an examination hall full of girls

    A 17-year-old male student studying in Grade 12 in Bihar, India, fainted after seeing an examination hall full of 500 girls.

    According to Indian news outlets, the student, Shankar, entered the exam center and started writing. However, Shankar got nervous and fainted. He also suffered a fracture in his arm after falling from his chair.

    Shankar has said that he was nervous because he was the only boy in the examination room while the remaining 500 were female students.

    He said that he felt nervous and fainted at the thought of finishing the exam as the lone male among hundreds of female students.

  • India and Pakistan were close to nuclear war, claims former US Secretary of State

    India and Pakistan were close to nuclear war, claims former US Secretary of State

    Former United States (US) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed on Tuesday in his new memoir that arch rivals— India and Pakistan— were on the verge of nuclear war in February 2019.

    Pompeo, who served in President Donald Trump’s tenure, has written in ‘Never Give an Inch: Fighting for America I Love’ that he does “not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019.”

    He says at the time, he was informed by his Indian counter-partner that Pakistan had begun to prepare for a nuclear strike on India. However, he asked him to give it some time to sort out the matter. Later, he reached out to Pakistani former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

    The ex-army chief told Pompeo that Indian allegations were baseless. He believed the Indians were preparing their nuclear weapons for deployment.

    Moreover, the former US official said that it took them a few hours and remarkably good work by their teams on the ground in New Delhi and Islamabad to convince both countries to desist.

    In February 2019, Delhi launched strikes to attack Pakistan after a militant attack on Indian troops in Kashmir. However, Pakistan shot down two Indian military jets and captured a fighter pilot who later was released.

    In 1974, India became the first country in the region to become a nuclear power while Pakistan attained nuclear power in 1998.

    It is pertinent to mention that neither India nor Pakistan has commented so far on Pompeo’s claims.

  • Indian bride rejects groom for not knowing basic Math

    Indian bride rejects groom for not knowing basic Math

    A bride in India called off her wedding after her groom failed at a basic mathematics test. Rita Singh of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, called off her wedding after the groom failed to count a few Rs 10 rupee notes.

    The incident happened after the girl’s family was informed about the groom’s behaviour by the officiating priest. The moment the family became aware of the groom’s peculiar behaviour, they decided to test him.

    He was given 30 notes of Rs. 10 and told to count them. However, he failed to complete the task.

    For the bride, that was the deciding factor. The 21-year-old walked out of the ceremony, calling off the marriage.

  • Indian govt calls BBC Modi documentary ‘propaganda’

    Indian govt calls BBC Modi documentary ‘propaganda’

    The Indian foreign ministry has dismissed a BBC documentary about Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujrat riots as “propaganda”.

    The first of the two-part series was aired in the UK on Tuesday with the second part scheduled to hit airwaves a week later. The documentary tracks Modi’s first steps into politics, including his rise through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to his appointment as chief minister of Gujrat.

    Modi was still holding the position when communal riots rocked the state, leaving more than 1,000 people dead, most of them Muslims.

    According to the documentary the inquiry team had assessed that Modi had prevented the police from acting to stop the violence targeted against Muslims, stating that he had specifically ordered law-enforcing authorities not to intervene. The documentary also features a former top UK diplomat who says that the violence had been planned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)

    Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, has termed the BBC documentary a “propaganda piece”.

    On Thursday, British PM Rishi Sunak was asked in parliament if he agreed with the report that Modi was directly responsible for the violence. In reply, Sunak defended his Indian counter-partner.

    “We don’t tolerate persecution anywhere”, the British Prime Minister said but added that “he did not agree with the characterisation” of Modi as depicted in the documentary.

  • Passenger banned for 30 days from airline after urinating on woman during flight

    Passenger banned for 30 days from airline after urinating on woman during flight

    A drunk male passenger in business class on an Air India flight from New York to Delhi allegedly unzipped his pants and urinated on a female co-passenger, earning a ban from the airline for 30 days.

    The incident took place in late November, however, the airline took notice on Wednesday after the woman wrote to the group chairman of Air India, N Chandrasekaran. She described the episode as the “most traumatic flight I have ever experienced”.

    According to the female passenger who is in her 70s, after urinating, the man allegedly kept exposing himself and didn’t move until another passenger asked him to return to his seat.

    The woman complained to the crew and told them her clothes, shoes, and bag were soaked in urine. The crew allegedly gave her a set of pajamas and slippers and told her to return to her seat which was covered in sheets but still reeked of urine

    The airline has also filed a police complaint against the man and constituted an internal committee to investigate the matter.

  • ‘Imran se mil ke dosti ka ailaan kareinge’: Gen Faiz convinced Modi to visit Pakistan in 2021, claims Javed Chaudhry

    Journalist Javed Chaudhry continues with bringing inside details of the working of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government in his column. In the fourth part of the series published today, Chaudhry alleges that in 2020 the establishment had convinced Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to visit Pakistan, and former Bahawalpur corps commander Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed played a significant role in arranging the proposed trip.

    The journalist writes that in this regard Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed, who was then the head of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) met Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and both agreed upon Modi visiting Pakistan on April 9, 2021.

    All the details of the trip had been planned out. Modi would have first visited the Hinglaj Mata Mandir in Balochistan and on his way back home he would have met Imran Khan who was Prime Minister. Chaudhry said that it was planned that “Modi would shake hands with Khan and declare peace between the two countries and opening of trade”.

    Continuing with the sensational claims, the journalist writes that both leaders would announce that there will be no interference or terrorist activities from both countries. At the time, Modi was of the view that both countries would sit together after 20 years to decide about the future of India-occupied Kashmir.

    However, this tour was cancelled because Khan—on the advice of his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi—backed out. Chaudhry writes that Qureshi scared Khan by telling him it would give a perception to the masses that he [Khan] has compromised on Kashmir.

    Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed helped Khan in confidence motion

    According to the journalist, the establishment helped Khan throughout the confidence motion that Imran voluntarily announced he will take, right after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani defeated PTI’s Hafeez Sheikh in the senate elections. Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed ensured full numbers for PTI so Khan could win the motion. Calls and visits were made to ensure that disgruntled MNAs voted in favour of Khan.

    Moreover, the journalist writes that as per his sources, Khan advised showing leniency towards former President and co-chairman of PPP, Asif Ali Zardari, from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the court.

    LNG deal was ruined by Khan

    In the column, another detailed passage says that former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa admits that former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz signed the best LNG deal with Qatar to ensure supplies for Pakistan during winters but it was ruined by Imran Khan.

    Chaudhry said that then-Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, Nadeem Babar, asked for just three gas shipments from Qatar despite a one-time generous offer to take ‘as much as required’ amidst a looming gas crisis at home, so he could sell his own furnace oil.

    In another episode, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) caught a ship loaded with cheaply bought Iranian petrol. It was for none other than Babar. According to him, Khan was informed about it but chose to stay quiet.

    Also, prior to Nadeem’s appointment, Khan was warned by the establishment but he didnt listen.

    Babar isn’t in the country anymore but Pakistan is still paying the price of his decisions to serve his own interests, all because Imran wanted to retain him as his aide, writes Chaudhry in his column.

  • Man searches ‘how to commit a murder’ on google, before murdering his wife

    Man searches ‘how to commit a murder’ on google, before murdering his wife

    A man in India was arrested for murdering his wife after searching “how to commit a murder” on Google. As per details, Uttar Pradesh police said on Saturday that the accused, Vikas, had initially provided false information about a robbery.

    However, police found incriminating internet searches including “how to commit a murder” on the suspect’s phone.

    A few years after they were married, the two began having disputes over the suspect’s extramarital relations, leading to the plan to kill his wife.
    As per the police the suspect has been arrested.

  • Maula Jatt release in India indefinitely delayed

    Maula Jatt release in India indefinitely delayed

    akistani blockbuster The Legend of Maula Jatt will likely not get a theatrical release in India after a spokesperson for cinema chain INOX confirmed that the film’s release has been delayed indefinitely, Indian Express has reported.

    The Pakistani action film was set to release in theaters across India on December 30. However, the decision to release the film met with intense criticism by Indian politicians including the president of the cinema wing of the MNS Ameya Khopkar who wrote on Twitter that Fawad Khan’s fans might just have go to Pakistan to watch the film.

    In another tweet, Khopkar said he will not allow Maula Jatt to be released anywhere in India.

    The last Pakistani film to release in India was Bol in 2011, which also featured Humaima Malick and Mahira Khan, both of whom star in Maula Jatt too.

  • Pakistan-India to play Test series in Australia?

    Pakistan-India to play Test series in Australia?

    The Melbourne Cricket Club and the Victorian government have expressed interest in hosting a Test series between Pakistan and India at their iconic venue, Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

    Informal inquiries to Cricket Australia have been made in this regard.

    MCC CEO, Stuart Fox, revealed his intention for the series during a conversation on SEN radio on the fourth day of the second Test between Australia and South Africa.
    “Absolutely. Three [Tests] in a row would be lovely at the MCG. You’d fill it every time. We have asked,” Fox said.

    “We’ve taken that up with Cricket Australia. I know the [Victoria] government has as well. Again, it’s enormously complicated from what I can understand, amongst a really busy schedule. So I think that’s probably the greater challenge. Wouldn’t it be great that it wasn’t just Australia-centric and Victoria-centric, that we’re catering for all the countries and filling the stadium all the time. So we have asked.”

    He hoped that Cricket Australia will keep taking it up with the ICC and keep pushing for it. “When you do see some of the stadiums around the world unoccupied, I think it would be much better to have a full house and that atmosphere and celebrate the game with full houses,” he said.

    Since 2013, India and Pakistan haven’t faced off in a bilateral international cricket match outside of World Cups and the Asia Cup. Neither team has faced off in a Test match since 2007.