Tag: Modi

  • Modi, Biden demand Pakistan should take the initiative to end ‘cross-border terrorism’

    Modi, Biden demand Pakistan should take the initiative to end ‘cross-border terrorism’

    United States (US) President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi have demanded that Pakistan should ensure that Pakistani land will not be used by terrorists.

    Indian premier is currently visiting the United States.

    The statement has been issued after a meeting between Biden and Modi.

    Both leaders have demanded action against terrorist groups allegedly based in Pakistan, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

    “They strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks,” the 58-point statement issued by the White House read.

    Both the leaders demanded action against perpetrators of attacks, including the Mumbai and Pathankot incidents.

    The leaders have also demanded that the Afghan Taliban should respect human rights, and the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

  • Documentary on Modi’s role in Gujarat riots to be screened in US

    Documentary on Modi’s role in Gujarat riots to be screened in US

    A documentary focused on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s time as Chief Minister of Indian state Gujarat, during the 2012 riots will be screened in the United States.

    “India: the Modi question,” is a two party documentary, based on Modi’s role as the CM during the riots which killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.

    The private screening has been scheduled for June 20 by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, two days before Modi’s official state visit, where he will be hosted by US President Joe Biden. Human Rights Watch said it wanted the screening to serve as a reminder that the documentary had been banned in India.

    The Indian government has termed the documentary as a “propaganda piece”.

  • ‘Fashionable now to hate on Muslims’: Naseeruddin Shah slams Modi on Islamophobia

    Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah spoke to Indian Express about growing Islamaphobia under the rule of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its influence on Bollywood.

    “Oh sure, these are worrying times absolutely,” the veteran actor said. “The kind of stuff that’s pure, undisguised propaganda is being lapped up and it’s a reflection of the zeitgeist of the times. Muslim hating is fashionable these days, even among educated people. It’s what the ruling party has very cleverly tapped into this nerve. We talk about secular this, democracy that, so why are you introducing religion into everything?.”

    The actor is well known for his out-spoken critique on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the spread of fascism in India, especially on the Indian Premier’s silence on growing hate speech in India.

    “I mean how spineless is the election commission of ours? Who doesn’t even dare utter a word. If there had been a Muslim leader who had said, ‘Allah Hu Akbar bol ke button dabao’, sh*t would have hit the fan. But here our Prime Minister goes ahead and says things like this and yet he loses. So, I have hope that this will wear off. But it’s definitely, at the moment, at its peak. It’s been a very clever card played by this government, and it has worked. Let’s see how long it continues to work.”

    Speaking on the rise of state propaganda films like ‘Mission Majnu’ and ‘Kashmir Files’, Shah said that the best thing that actors can do in these times is stay quiet and not participate in any propaganda, because artists these days are scared to raise their voice or fear their movies will be boycotted by the masses.

    Further addressing the role of art in influencing society, Shah urged all artists to raise the right questions, but also stressed on the need to come from a place of fearlessness. He further said that words and no action will not resolve the issue, but one has to practice what they preach.

  • China will not attend G20 meeting to be held in Indian-Occupied Kashmir

    China will not attend G20 meeting to be held in Indian-Occupied Kashmir

    China has said that it is opposed to a G20 tourism meeting next week in the disputed Himalayan territory in Indian-Occupied Kashmir, confirming that it will not attend, handing a significant diplomatic victory to Pakistan.

    “China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

    India, which holds the chair of G20 this year, has organised a series of meetings across the country in the run-up to the summit in New Delhi in September.

    Srinagar, the capital of the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir, will host a meeting of the tourism working group for G20 members on May 22-24.

    Despite backlash for holding the meeting in disputed territory, the Modi-led government has not backed off from its plans to do so.

  • Modi says want normal and neighbourly relations with Pakistan

    In an interview with a Japanese news media outlet, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he wants “normal and neighbourly relations” with Pakistan.

    “However, it is incumbent upon them to create a conducive environment free from terrorism and hostilities. The onus is on Pakistan,” he added.

    While talking about Indian’s relation with China, Modi said, “Peace and tranquility in the border areas are essential for normal bilateral ties with China”.

    He said that future development of India-China relationship can only be based on mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

    He added that “normalising” the ties would benefit the wider region and the world.

  • US urges India to condemn religious violence

    US urges India to condemn religious violence

    The State Department of the United States on Monday released an annual report on religious freedom which listed attacks against religious minorities including Muslims and Christians in India, AFP has reported.

    According to the State Department study, Muslims in Gujarat have had their homes demolished and have been publicly flogged by police after being accused of hurting Hindus. The department collected this information from both direct research and reports from media and advocacy groups.

    “Regarding these concerns, we’re continuing to encourage the government to condemn violence and hold accountable (those) who engage in rhetoric that’s dehumanizing towards religious minorities,” a senior US official said while talking to AFP.
    The official said they will talk directly to Indian officials. “We’ll continue to work very closely with our civil society colleagues on the ground (and) with courageous journalists that are working every day to document some of these abuses.”

  • ‘Of course’: Bilawal confirms he shook hands with Indian FM but no bilateral engagement held

    ‘Of course’: Bilawal confirms he shook hands with Indian FM but no bilateral engagement held

    Pakistani Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who just wrapped up his visit to Goa, said that he did shake hands with his Indian counter partner S. Jaishankar at a dinner that was held in an unofficial capacity.

    During an interview with India Today, Bilawal said, “In all our unofficial engagements we always shake hands and we had dinner conversations amongst other foreign ministers but we did not hold a bilateral engagement.”

    Earlier, when both ministers greeted each other in front of the media they didn’t shake hands and this created headlines in India.

    Clearing up the confusion, Bilawal said that his aim to visit India was to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). “Unless India reviews the action it took on August 5, 2019 (abrogation of Article 370), Pakistan is not in a position to engage bilaterally with India.”

    When pointed out by a journalist that “Pakistan can’t sponsor terror directed against India”, the minister, taking a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said “This wolf whistling around the word terrorism which is ultimately an Islamophobic wolf whistle not only to whip up Hindu sentiment in India but also to brow beat Pakistan, that might be election strategy for some but not effective terrorism strategy”

    The Pakistani foreign minister said the country wishes to quell terrorism “not because India said it or the Indian government said so, but because we want to end this menace”. He said terrorism has caused the “largest number of casualties” in Pakistan among any of the other SCO countries.

    “India will have to explain what Kulbhushan Jadhav, a state actor, a navy commander, was doing in Pakistan carrying out terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil. Does that not come under cross-border terrorism?” he asked.

    Bilawal also reminded Indian Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai that Pakistan is the only country on Earth that has completed two Financial Action Task Force (FATF) objectives.

    He said that it is not productive for India to continue accusing Pakistan of sponsoring terror activities.

    Pointing out that India violated bilateral agreements and international agreements on Aug 5, 2019, by revoking the special status of Jammu Kashmir, Bilawal Bhutto also mentioned the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing where around 70 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed. “We are yet to see any justice,” he reminded Sardesai.

    He repeatedly said that both India and Pakistan have different perspectives on terrorism, adding that Pakistan is “willing to engage with any concerns that India might have but India will also have to address our concerns.”

  • ISPR says Bajwa’s statement that Pak isn’t ready to fight India is taken ‘out of context’

    The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has clarified that former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s statement about Pakistan army not being fully compatible to fight against India has been taken out of context.

    “To this end, views of the former army chief on the future threats to Pakistan, which he shared with media persons in an off-the-record interactive session, have been quoted out of context,” ISPR said.

    It added that the army “always took and will continue to take pride in our operational preparedness and utmost combat worthiness.”

    Earlier, Senior Journalist Hamid Mir said that Bajwa had told journalists in 2021 that the Pakistan Army is not capable of getting into combat against the rival country.

    He claimed that immediately after the ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had to visit Pakistan in 2021 but the then-Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi and former PM Imran Khan weren’t aware of it.

    When Khan demanded that details regarding Modi’s visit should be given to Foreign Office (FO) “Bajwa came to the FO with his entire convoy and gave a lecture”.

    “This was the same lecture that he gave in front of us once too that army tanks are not capable of running and there is no diesel for troop movement,” the journalist said.

    The journalist’s claims were picked up by Indian media and reported by major news outlets.

  • ‘Ill-informed, ignorant, wanted to blame Pakistan for Pulwama’: Former Indian Governor on Modi

    ‘Ill-informed, ignorant, wanted to blame Pakistan for Pulwama’: Former Indian Governor on Modi

    Satya Pal Malik, the last governor of the now Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) before it was divided has claimed that Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi is extremely “ill-informed’.

    Malik, who was governor during the Pulwama terror attack of February 2019 and during the scrapping of Article 370 in August the same year, said that Modi is “ignorant” about Kashmir and told him [Malik] not to speak about the Union home ministry’s lapses which led to the killing of dozens of paramilitary troops in India-held Jammu and Kashmir.

    He said removing Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood was a mistake and it should be restored immediately. He said, “Modi mast hain apne mein – to hell with it! This is his attitude.”

    Conversing with acclaimed Indian journalist Karan Thapar, Malik said during the interview with The Wire, that he immediately realised that Modi wanted to use the Pulwama attack to blame Pakis­tan for the benefit of his government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    The former Indian governor said, “Mein safely keh sakta hoon Prime Minister ko corruption se bahut nafrat nahin hain” (‘I can safely say the PM has no real problem with corruption’). 

    He further revealed that the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama was a result of “incompetence” and “carelessness” by the Indian system, specifically the CRPF and the home min­i­­stry. Malik gave details of how the CRPF had asked for aircraft to transport its personnel, but was refused by the home ministry.

    He said all of these lapses were raised by him directly when Modi called him from outside Corbett Park, shortly after the Pulwama attack. He said the prime minister told him to keep quiet about this and not tell anyone.

  • 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.