Tag: India

  • ‘Not a fixer like you’: Fahad Mustafa slams Danish Kaneria for insulting Shahid Afridi

    ‘Not a fixer like you’: Fahad Mustafa slams Danish Kaneria for insulting Shahid Afridi

    Actor Fahad Mustafa took to his Twitter handle to hit back at Danish Kaneria for his defamatory post about veteran cricketer Shahid Afridi. On December 24th, Afridi was named the interim chief selector of the Pakistani cricket team by the newly appointed PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi. His term is set to last until the end of the New Zealand series.

    While reacting to the news, Danish posted an unpleasant picture of Afridi and made a jibe at Shahid’s selection. Fahad was quick to respond to his post, by saying that “And clearly he is not a fixer like you.”

    A year ago, Fahad hit back at Indian cricket commentator Harsha Bhosle on Twitter after he targeted Waqar Younis for his religious statement.

    Harsha tweeted, “For a person of Waqar Younis’ stature to say that watching Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus was very special to him, is one of the most disappointing things I have heard. A lot of us try hard to play such things down and talk up the sport and to hear this is terrible.”

    However, Mustafa took to Twitter and responded to the commentator, “It’s equally hard to see Muslims being portrayed as terrorists in almost every Bollywood movie for the longest. I can’t imagine how difficult and embarrassing it must be for Muslims in India to watch themselves being ridiculed like that.#stophypocrisy.”

    On the work front, the Jawani Phir Nahi Aani star was last seen in Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad opposite Mahira Khan.

    Mahira Khan & Fahad Mustafa wrap up Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad with a picture worth a thousand words
  • BJP legislator calls for ‘killing Muslims’, urges people to keep knives at home

    BJP legislator calls for ‘killing Muslims’, urges people to keep knives at home

    BJP Member of Indian Parliament Pragya Singh Thakur, while addressing a public gathering has urged her followers to sharpen the knives they have at home. The MP, representing Bhopal Parliamentary segment in Madhya Pradesh, told the community to at least keep the knives in their homes sharp, as everyone has the right to protect themselves.

    “Keep weapons in your homes. At least keep the knives you use to cut vegetables sharp. Don’t know what situation will arise when. Everyone has the right to protect themselves. If someone infiltrates our house and attacks us, it is our right to respond to them. Just like how knives cut vegetables, it will also chop mouths and heads,” she said in the video.

    Although it is not clear who she was referring to as enemies, Twitter users are pointing out that she is referring to Muslims as enemies.

    “Terror case-accused @BJP4India MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur calls for killing of Muslims during her speech in Karnataka on Sunday during Hindu Jagarana Vedike’s event, Indian journalist Anusha Ravi Sood wrote in a tweet.

  • Principal booked in India for making students recite Iqbal’s ‘Lab pe aati hai dua’

    Principal booked in India for making students recite Iqbal’s ‘Lab pe aati hai dua’

    A principal of a government school in India’s UP state has been booked for making students recite Allama Iqbal’s poem “Lab pe aati hai dua ban kay taamna meri”.

    The principal Nahid Siddiqui was booked after a video of a student reciting the poem went viral on social media. The First Hand Information (FIR) alleged that a “religious prayer” was recited at the government school in a bid to convert the students.

    The school principal has also been suspended by the Education Department. The School has 265 students enrolled in Classes 1 to 8.

    Prominent Indian Journalist Rana Ayyub while sharing the screenshot of the news report wrote, “The principal was suspended for singing this song ‘Ho Mera Kaam Garibon Ki Himayat Karna Dardmando Se Zaifon Se Mohabbat Karna.’ Me, my siblings sang it. Your hate will kill you from within you bigots.”

  • Problem solved: Google can now read your doctor’s bad handwriting

    If you can’t read what your doctor wrote, you are not alone. Many tech firms have attempted to solve this age old problem with little to no success. Well now, we finally have a solution.

    Google is having a go at translating those unfathomable texts.

    On Monday, the search giant announced at its annual conference in India that it is working with pharmacists to explore ways to decipher doctors’ poor writing.

    The feature is currently a research prototype and not ready for the public yet.

    Once it’s launched, Google will allow its users to either take a picture of the prescription given by their doctor or upload one from the photo library. Once the image is processed, the app deciphers the scribbles and will tell you what’s written on the prescription.

  • BJP leader places Rs2 crore bounty on Bilawal Bhutto’s head for calling Modi ‘butcher of Gujarat’

    BJP leader places Rs2 crore bounty on Bilawal Bhutto’s head for calling Modi ‘butcher of Gujarat’

    Manupal Hansal, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Uttar Pradesh, has placed a Rs 2 crore bounty on the head of Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, stating that Indian people are angry at the minister’s remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “Mai ailaan karta hoon ke jo uss mantri Bilawal Bhutto ka dhar se sar alag karega, 2 crore ka inaam mai doonga” [I declare that I will give a reward of ₹2 crore to anyone who will behead Minister Bilawal Bhutto], Hansal had said.

    The BJP also held protests across India and in front of the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi, burning effigies of the Pakistani foreign minister.

    Minister of Climate Change Sherry Rehman has condemned Hansal’s remarks in a tweet, saying that this was a testament of “the shocking impunity that extremism enjoys for doing only what terrorists do in Modi’s RSS-defined India”.

    In an interview with “Bloomberg“, Bilawal Bhutto stood by his statement about Modi by pointing out that what he had said was “a historical fact”. He also pointed out that the term “butcher of Gujarat” had not been coined by him, but by the people of Gujarat after the 2002 Godhra incident. He further added that he was aware of the bounty a BJP leader had placed on his head.

    “I was referring to a historical reality. The remarks I used weren’t my own. I did not invent the term ‘butcher of Gujarat’ for Mr Modi. The Muslims of India following the Gujarat riots used that term for Mr Modi. I believe I was referring to a historical fact and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult. If I was incorrect then … So what has happened today… it’s been two days since my remark, a member of Mr Modi’s party has announced 20 million rupee bounty on my head. So I don’t think the best way to disapprove the fact that Mr Modi is the butcher of Gujarat is to adopt such extreme steps,” he said in the interview.

    When the interviewer had further questioned Bilawal on whether these comments might further sour relations with India and even the possibility of nuclear war, the FM pointed out that Indian citizens had the right to protest, but the threat to his life was very problematic:

    “As far as my remarks concerned they resulted in protests all over India and that’s their right. I think you cross the line when you officially announce head money for your neighboring country’s foreign minister’s assassination. I think that’s a line we’re normalizing in crossing and the fact that we get to move on from that question is troubling for me when I’m engaging with Bloomberg which is an important international forum. As far as nuclear war no one has threatened nuclear war. A minister did say that Pakistan is a responsible nuclear country and should be treated as such.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKjz4SUs7s&t=436s

    At a press conference in New York on December 16, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had responded to accusations that Pakistan had sheltered Osama bin Laden by pointing out that Modi, who is regarded as ‘butcher of Gujarat’ is still the Prime Minister of India:

    “I would like to remind Mr Jaishankar that Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the prime minister (of India).”

  • Pakistan to get 20,000 tonnes of additional gas from Azerbaijan

    Pakistan to get 20,000 tonnes of additional gas from Azerbaijan

    In order to meet domestic demand, Pakistan will import an additional 20,000 tonnes of gas from Azerbaijan in the next two months, according to Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik.

    The Russian Petroleum Minister will visit Pakistan next month to strike a deal for the purchase of Russian crude oil, the minister said in a statement. The state minister was confident that Russia will deliver discounted crude oil to Pakistan.

    According to him, the government is working on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project to import 1,300 billion MF of gas from Azerbaijan per year to address the country’s gas shortfall.

    Malik had before claimed that Russia will give Pakistan a discount on the purchase of its crude oil.

    Musadiq Malik stated during a news briefing in Islamabad on Friday that Russian authorities had made it clear they will offer Pakistan cheap crude oil.

    The State for Petroleum Musadik Malik stated, “We are taking talks [with Russia on crude oil] forward,” noting that two of Russia’s eight sorts of crude oil might be utilised in Pakistani refineries.

    He continued by saying that Pakistan was also developing a framework for an LNG cargo arrangement with Azerbaijan.

  • ‘No country has used terrorism better’; Hina Rabbani Khar slams India as ‘rogue state’

    ‘No country has used terrorism better’; Hina Rabbani Khar slams India as ‘rogue state’

    Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, has said that India is a “rogue state” that projects itself as greatest victim of terrorism but is the perpetrator of it.

    During a press conference in Islamabad, Khar said that India’s objective was to undermine Pakistan’s peace and security through terrorism, saying, “No country had used terrorism better than India”.

    Khar’s presser came a day after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that India’s footprints are seen in all terror activities carried out in Pakistan and New Delhi’s activities have gone “beyond that of an enemy state” just to hide its atrocities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

    The state minister said that it was important for everyone who speaks of “justice and the universality of the value system to call a spade a spade”.

    “This particular effort is to bring to the attention of the world and to expect them and really encourage them to see things based on evidence as they are,” said Khar. 

    Khar told the press that Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan had called members of the diplomatic corps in Islamabad and shared Pakistan’s dossier on the 2021 Johar Town blast — that claimed six lives.

    Around 17 others sustained injuries in the blast in Johar Town, Lahore, in June 2021. The explosion took place in a residential area near Allah Hu Boulevard, police said.

    “This dossier has detailed evidence of how India has been found to be fully behind this incident that led to the loss of life,” Khar said on the Johar Town blast.

    The state minister reminded New Delhi that it cannot have islands of excellence in a sea of depravity. 

    “When you try and harm your region, you actually end up harming yourself,” she added. She said that Lahore, the Samjhota incident, and the Khulbushan Yadav evidence all point out that New Delhi plays as a victim of terrorism and gains sympathy.

    “This dossier, as you already know, has details and evidence of how India is fully behind this particular incident which led to the loss of lives. And we do not blame one country or the other the next day, unlike our neighbors. We waited till we had strong hard evidence to be making the case we are making today,” stated the minister.

    “I don’t think I need to remind anyone that India has had a role in destabilising its neighbouring countries and weaken their economies to try and pursue its hegemonic designs in the region,” she said, citing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Balochistan as two examples of India’s designs.

    The minister also reminded India that there could not be “islands of excellence in a sea of depravity”, stressing that when the country will try and harm the region, they actually end up harming themselves.

    “India’s unabated slip into the abyss of terrorism is being clouded by this growing India, emerging India narrative,” emphasised Khar.

  • India bans Pakistani OTT platform for web series against national security of India

    India bans Pakistani OTT platform for web series against national security of India

    The Indian government has banned the Pakistani OTT platform Vidly, after the release of the first three episodes of the series —“Sevak: The Confessions”.

    As per Kanchan Gupta, Senior Adviser at Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in New Delhi, the series is “determined to be detrimental to national security, sovereignty and integrity of India.”

    “Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, using emergency powers under IT Rules 2021, has issued directions on 12 December 2022 for immediate blocking of the website, 2 mobile apps, 4 social media accounts, and one smart TV app of #Pakistan-based OTT Platform Vidly TV,’ he said in a series of tweets.
    “Govt of India action against Pakistan-based Vidly TV follows the web-series “Sevak: The Confessions”, which was determined to be detrimental to national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, and public order in the country,” the tweet added.
    “Action against Pakistan-based Vidly TV follows the assessment that the provocative and wholly untrue web-series “Sevak” was sponsored by Pakistan’s info ops apparatus. First (of 3) episode was released on 26.11.2022, anniversary of Pakistani terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008,” it concluded.
    Sevak stars Amara Malik, Adnan Jaffer, Mohsin Abbas Haider and Hajra Yamin.

  • India-China border clash: Soldiers from both sides injured

    Indian and Chinese troops clashed at the disputed Himalayan border on December 9.

    Indian Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said soldiers of both countries sustained injuries. However, he said that no Indian soldiers had been “hurt or seriously injured” in the clash.

    “PLA troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo by encroaching on the Line of Actual Control, in the Yangtse area of Tawang sector,” he said while referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.

    Both sides’ military commanders met right after the clash to maintain peace and stability on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

    According to reports, an Indian army source mentioned six Indian troops were injured.

    In their last face-off in 2020, at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in Ladakh Galway Valley.

    According to the BBC, “China and India share a disputed 3,440km (2,100 mile) long de facto border – called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC – which is poorly demarcated. The presence of rivers, lakes and snowcaps means the line can shift. The soldiers on either side – representing two of the world’s largest armies – come face to face at many points.”

  • US affirms that both Pakistan and India are “global, valuable partners”

    US affirms that both Pakistan and India are “global, valuable partners”

    The United States of America has once again reaffirmed the importance of Pakistan and India for the superpower, stating that India is a global partner while Pakistan is a valuable partner in a sensitive region.

    Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department, Vedant Patel, said at a briefing, “India is an invaluable partner, not just in the region but as it relates to a lot of the United States’ shared priorities across the world.”

    Commenting on Pakistan, another US official stated: “The United States values our long-standing cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests.”

    In recent statements, US officials have insisted that they no longer see Pakistan from India or Afghanistan’s perspective.

    In a recent report published by the Hudson Institute, it has been noted that several aspects of the US-Pakistan relationship had changed over the last decade.

    “Most importantly, a US-India entente has emerged, and a peer rivalry between China and the US is developing,” the report stated, underlining how a US desire to contain China had strengthened its ties with India.

    It is pertinent to mention that since Biden came into power and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, US-Pakistan relations have been standing on the edge of a precipice.