Tag: Narendra Modi

  • ‘I would love to have a debate with Modi on TV’: PM Khan

    ‘I would love to have a debate with Modi on TV’: PM Khan

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, in an interview with Russia TV (RT) ahead of his visit to Moscow, said that the first thing his government did in 2018 was to reach out to India for a dialogue.

    “I told them [India] our only issue is Kashmir. Remember, I am the one who knows India better than anyone else. So I immediately reached out and then I discovered to my horror that this is not the India I used to know because this has been taken over by a mad ideology. It’s a racist ideology that was inspired by the Nazis,” said the premier.

    “I would love to debate with Narendra Modi on TV. It would be so good for over a billion people in the sub-continent if we can resolve our differences through a debate,” said PM Khan.

    The prime minister noted that greater cooperation between the United States, China, and Russia will benefit mankind much more than the conflict.

    Pakistan wants to strengthen bilateral relations with Russia and he looks forward to his Moscow visit, said the PM.

    The prime minister said, “Our North-South Gas pipeline has suffered a delay because of the US sanctions on the Russian company we were negotiating for the construction of the pipeline.”

    PM Khan said the western countries should frame laws as they have on terror financing to check the illicit flow of money from poor countries. 

    “My main emphasis is to remove poverty. No human society has achieved what China has done. So, therefore we learn from everyone. But we should be rooted in our culture, history, and religion.”

     “Pakistan wants to establish trading relations with all other countries to lift people out of poverty rather than becoming part of any bloc,” said the premier.

    It is pertinent to mention here that PM Khan, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will go on an official two-day visit to Russia from February 23-24.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Reforms Asad Umar,  Adviser for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, National Security Adviser Moeed Yousuf, and others will accompany the premier during the visit.

  • PM’s aide Razak Dawood encourages trade with India, calls it ‘need of the hour’

    PM’s aide Razak Dawood encourages trade with India, calls it ‘need of the hour’

    Adviser to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Commerce, Textile, Industry, and Production, and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood said that trade with India is the need of the hour and beneficial to both countries.

    Dawood said “As far as the ministry of commerce is concerned, its position is to do trade with India. And my stance is that we should do trade with India and it should be opened now.”

    “Trade with India is very beneficial to all, especially Pakistan. And I support it.”

    Earlier this month, business tycoon Mian Muhammad Mansha claimed that he is aware of backchannel diplomacy being pursued by India and Pakistan.

    Mansha further insisted that the two countries need to resolve their issues and increase trade.

    “If things improve between the two neighbours, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could visit Pakistan in a month,” said Mansha.

  • Indian court sentences 38 Muslims to death for 2008 bomb blasts

    Indian court sentences 38 Muslims to death for 2008 bomb blasts

    An Indian court sentenced to death 38 Muslims on Friday who were allegedly involved in the Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts, which took place in 2008. The court has ordered ‘prison in life’ to the other 11 convicts as well. Ahmedabad city is the commercial hub of the Indian state, Gujarat.

    Judge A R Patel announced the verdict and described the incident as a “rarest of rare case” in which innocent people were killed.

    More than 50 people were killed and 200 wounded in the deadly bomb blasts in 2008.

    Around 20 bombs were exploded within one hour across various public places including residential areas, market places, public transport, and hospitals in Ahmedabad.

    An Indian Muslim group, Indian Mujahideen, had claimed responsibility for the attacks on July 26, 2008.

    However, a defence lawyer said, “We had sought lenient sentences for the convicts as they have already spent more than 13 years in prison. But the court awarded death to the majority of them. We will definitely go for appeal.”

    The Ahmedabad attacks were said to be in retaliation to the religious riots in which thousands of Muslims were brutally killed in 2002 in Gujarat state. Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

  • After Karnataka, Hijab conflict begins in India’s Uttar Pradesh

    After Karnataka, Hijab conflict begins in India’s Uttar Pradesh

    The dispute concerning the banning of the hijab has reached India’s large and populous state, Uttar Pradesh. A group of young men distributed a memorandum to college officials on Monday.

    They insisted that the administration of Dharma Samaj College implement a complete ban on the hijab in its premises. The college is located in the Aligarh district.

    The College Chief Proctor, Mukesh Bharadwaj, while talking to Reuters said, “Two years ago the same issue was raised and it has been raised again. We do not allow any type of religious uniform and we have a civil code of uniform for everyone.”

    He further added, “There is a changing room for girls and they can change their dress there before attending class.”

    He said, “We are investigating the matter.”

    The tension arose when the Indian state, Karnataka, banned religious clothes in government schools and colleges in February amid a controversy over the hijab and saffron scarves.

    Various incidents have been reported in the state when hijab-clad students were denied entry to college campuses over a fear of clashes with people belonging to the Hindutva ideology.

    Recently, the Muskan Khan incident has grabbed attention from all over the world. Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai spoke out regarding the incident as well as various Pakistan government ministers.

    Scholar and Professor Noam Chomsky also condemned the growing hatred against Islam and compared the brutal situation of IoK to Israeli forces occupying Palestine and blamed Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist regime for it.

  • ‘I know India much more than rest of my own countrymen’: PM Khan

    ‘I know India much more than rest of my own countrymen’: PM Khan

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Sunday said that no one in Pakistan knows India better than him. PM Khan was talking to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria about Pakistan’s relations with India.

    “I understand and know India much more than the rest of my own countrymen or probably all over the world,” said PM Imran Khan, adding that he has many friends in India.

    Racist RSS ideology has taken over India: PM Imran Khan

    “The moment my government came into power, the first thing I did was reach out to India. I told them [PM Narendra Modi] if he took one step forward, I would take two. Our only issue is Kashmir, and we should solve it like good neighbours on the dialogue table,” said PM Khan.

    “Unfortunately Fareed, there is a tragedy unfolding in India. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology has taken over India. We are in this day of information technology. All we have to do is Google who are the founding fathers of RSS,” said the premier.

    “It’s a racist ideology which has taken over India. It’s an ideology that assassinated the great Gandhi. It’s very difficult to come to terms with the ideology,” said the prime minister.

    “We have made no headways. But my worry is Fareed that what is going on in India is much more damaging for India than for Pakistan,” added PM Khan.

    The only option the world has right now is to engage with the Taliban for things to move forward: PM Khan

     The premier further talked about Pakistan’s diplomatic relations with the new Taliban government in Afghanistan and the current state of the war on terror.

    PM Khan said that sooner or later, the Taliban will have to be recognised by the world as it is about the well-being and future of about 40 million Afghans.

    “Forty million people in Afghanistan are in dire straits because of the ongoing situation in the country,” the premier said, adding that the people of the United States (US) should understand that disliking the Taliban government is one thing but thinking about the welfare of the Afghans is another as they are facing “extreme difficulties”.

    “Afghanistan is on the verge of experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis,” PM Imran Khan said. “Considering the circumstances, is there any other alternative to the Taliban in Afghanistan? No, there isn’t.”

    “Therefore, the only alternative we have is to work with the Taliban government [for the sake of the Afghans] because turning the Taliban away would only lead to chaos in the country,” PM Imran Khan reiterated. 

    He went on to say that the US’ War on Terror (WoT) backfired and increased the number of terrorists worldwide, adding that because of the war, there had been extensive casualties in Pakistan as more than 80,000 Pakistani citizens lost their lives during the war.

    “Pakistan had to bear the brunt of the war in Afghanistan by witnessing numerous suicide attacks,” he said. “The US must reconsider its policy on carrying out drone attacks.”

    The situation in Xinjiang is not what the western media portrays: Premier

    When asked about China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, PM Khan said that Pakistan’s ambassador to China Moin ul Haq had visited Xinjiang and said that the situation over there is “not what the western media portrays”.

    The premier said that a comparison of Pakistan’s condemnation of India committing genocide of innocent people in occupied Kashmir and the issue of Xinjiang is not fair.

    “Occupied Kashmir is a disputed territory between Pakistan and India and India is ruled by an RSS ideology,” the premier said. “Until the Kashmir issue is resolved, the fear of war between the two nuclear powers will remain intact.”

  • ‘Modi could visit Pakistan in a month’: Mian Mansha hints at backdoor diplomacy with India

    ‘Modi could visit Pakistan in a month’: Mian Mansha hints at backdoor diplomacy with India

    Business tycoon Mian Muhammad Mansha claims that he is aware of backchannel diplomacy being pursued by India and Pakistan.

    Talking to the Lahore Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, Mansha said that there should be “no permanent enemies” and the two arch-rivals should work to resolve their differences.

    “If the economy does not improve, the country may face disastrous consequences. Pakistan should improve trade relations with India and take a regional approach to economic development. Europe fought two great wars but ultimately settled for peace and regional development. There is no permanent enmity.”

    He further insisted that the two countries need to resolve their issues and increase trade.

    “If things improve between the two neighbours, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could visit Pakistan in a month,” said Mansha.

  • Rahul Gandhi asks Twitter why his followers seem to be restricted, Twitter denies claim

    Rahul Gandhi asks Twitter why his followers seem to be restricted, Twitter denies claim

    Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to Twitter CEO Parag Aggarwal in December to inquire about the decrease of his followers and if it was due to the influence of the Indian government, reports Wall Street Journal.

    “I want to bring your attention to what I believe is Twitter’s unwitting complicity in curbing free and fair speech in India… I have been reliably, albeit discreetly, informed by people at Twitter India that they are under immense pressure by the government to silence my voice,” wrote Gandhi.

    “Since August, the average number of my new monthly Twitter followers has fallen to nearly zero. There is an inflection point after which my Twitter account seems to have been paralysed.”

    Co-founder of AltNews, Mohammed Zubair, analysed the Twitter account of Rahul Gandhi and compared it with the Twitter accounts of Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah and Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. It revealed that followers of Gandhi dropped drastically whereas Shah and Modi gained more followers since September 2021.

    Twitter also responded to Rahul Gandhi’s claims of restricting his followers, “Follower counts are a visible feature, and we want everyone to have confidence that the numbers are meaningful and accurate. Twitter has a zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and spam. We fight spam and malicious automation strategically and at scale with machine learning tools, and as part of those consistent and ongoing efforts to ensure a healthy service and credible accounts, follower counts can and do fluctuate.”

    Twitter also highlighted that they do remove accounts that violate its community policies.

    “We remove millions of accounts each week for violating our policies on platform manipulation and spam. You can take a look at our latest Twitter Transparency Center update for more context. While some accounts notice a minor difference, in certain cases the number could be higher,” Twitter said in response to Gandhi.

    Last year, Twitter temporarily suspended the account of Rahul Gandhi on August 8, 2021, when he uploaded a photograph with the family of a nine-year-old Dalit rape victim, which was taken down by Twitter later.

  • Watch: PM Modi’s slip of tongue of ‘beti patao’ makes him a Twitter meme

    Watch: PM Modi’s slip of tongue of ‘beti patao’ makes him a Twitter meme

    Addressing the World Economic Forum (WEF), Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi landed himself in some trouble. His slip of tongue moment went viral on social media, where he could be heard saying ‘beti patao’ instead of ‘beti padhao’.

    Modi ideally wanted to address the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao‘ initiative being adopted in India, but his faltered speech changed the entire meaning of the word and idea communicated.

    https://twitter.com/suryapsingh_IAS/status/1484051506932633601

    ‘Patao’ primarily is translated as ‘dating or flirting’ while the actual term ‘padhao’ means ‘educating or teaching’.

    Twitter is all pumped up as the recent subject of the meme world is Narendra Modi for his beti patao gaffe.

    https://twitter.com/AseemAn33925929/status/1484113301965803526

    https://twitter.com/ImOdd_MF/status/1484252506926743552
  • India kills Muslims for eating meat, allows import of pork products from US

    India kills Muslims for eating meat, allows import of pork products from US

    India, a country known for killing Muslims for meat, especially cow meat. Following Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s rise to power, extremist Hindu groups have led attacks across the country that have targeted Muslim and Dalit communities. These attacks have been carried out with the stated intention of protecting cows.

    The United States (US) announced on Monday that India would allow imports of US pork and pork products for the first time, welcoming the removal of an old block on US farm trade, reports Dawn.

    Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai made the announcement in a statement.

    “This new opportunity marks the culmination of nearly two decades of work to gain market access for US pork to India — and it signals positive movement in US-India trade relations,” Vilsack said.

    “We will continue working with the Indian government to ensure that the US pork industry can begin shipping its high-quality products to consumers as soon as possible,” she said.

  • ‘Real and present threat to peace’: PM calls on international community to take action against Modi

    ‘Real and present threat to peace’: PM calls on international community to take action against Modi

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Monday slammed the Narendra Modi-led Indian government for its continued silence on the “hate speech” conclave, which called for the genocide of Muslims in India.

    Last month, leaders from several far-right groups in India had issued calls for the ethnic cleansing of minorities in the country, especially targeting its 200 million-strong Muslim population.

    Prime minister in a series of tweets on Twitter said, “The continuing silence of Modi govt on the call at an extremist Hindutva summit in December for the genocide of minorities in India, especially the 200 million Muslim community.”

    He said the “extremist ideology” of the ruling BJP government was behind the provocations against India’s minorities.

    “The extremist agenda of the Modi govt is a real and present threat to peace in our region,” tweeted PM Khan.

    He urged the international community to take notice of the calls and act against them.

    As the premier tweeted, the Supreme Court of India decided to take up a case related to the hate speeches, including open calls for genocide made at the conclave, NDTV reported.

    “We will take up the matter,” Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said, as quoted by the media outlet.

    According to Time of India, as many as 200,000 Muslims gathered in the Bareilly city last week and offered themselves what they called “mass sacrifice” in protest against the hate speeches.