Tag: pak india

  • Are cricket lovers staying in hospitals in Ahmedabad instead of hotels?

    Are cricket lovers staying in hospitals in Ahmedabad instead of hotels?

    Reuters: Cricket fever has gripped Ahmedabad ahead of Saturday’s World Cup group stage clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan and a visit to hospitals near the venue of the match in the western Indian city clearly shows the degree of excitement.

    Quite a few of the hospitals have seen a sudden influx of patients booked in for check-ups involving a night’s stay to coincide with the most anticipated match of the World Cup.

    Several doctors told local media the rush for check-up ‘packages’ was an ingenious way to find affordable accommodation as hotel costs have soared up to 20-fold ahead of the match.

    “We have come across some cases of people coming to watch the India-Pakistan match also taking an appointment for health check-ups and staying in hospitals,” Tushar Patel, President of the Ahmedabad Medical Association, told Reuters.

    The Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association has discouraged its members from accommodating such fans.
    “We have asked our members not to entertain such requests. Hospitals are not meant for non-patients,” its president Bharat Gadhavi told Reuters.

    THREE WARS

    The Asian neighbors have fought three wars since becoming separate countries in 1947 and the relationship further soured after gunmen killed 166 people in Mumbai in 2008, which India blamed on a Pakistani militant group.

    While bilateral cricket became a casualty of geopolitical realities, it also whetted the appetite for a clash between neighbours who play each other only in multi-team events.

    India and Pakistan head into the showdown having both won their opening two matches at the tournament.

    The first batch of tickets for Saturday’s game were sold out within an hour of going on sale in August, prompting the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to release another 14,000 earlier this month.

    Ahmedabad resident Hemish Patel and his friends, after several days of failed attempts, grabbed four tickets, each costing 6,000 Indian rupees ($72.15).

    “We logged into the site with multiple devices,” he said.

    “We constantly kept on refreshing the site and were able to book within 10 minutes after the sale of tickets began.”
    Patel was one of the lucky few.

    Tickets are fetching up to 25 times face value on resale and city police arrested four youths on Tuesday for selling fakes.

    Airfare has surged up to four times and Indian railways will run a pair of super fast trains linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

    PERFECT VENUE

    The 134,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, which hosted former US President Donald Trump in 2020 and Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this year, looks a perfect arena for cricket’s fiercest rivalry.

    The city has been declared a ‘no-drone zone’ on Saturday, and 11,000 security personnel will be deployed for the high-profile match, Ahmedabad police commissioner GS Malik said.

    On their first tour of India since the 2016 T20 World Cup, Pakistan were accorded a warm welcome in Hyderabad, where they played their first two matches.

    India have a perfect 7-0 record against Pakistan at ODI World Cups and while the rivalry assumes the Orwellian concept of serious sport — “war minus the shooting” — players from both sides share good relations.

    During the Sri Lanka leg of the Asia Cup last month, Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi gave Jasprit Bumrah a gift for the Indian’s newborn baby and the video went viral.

    It will be a special occasion for Indian Liyakat Khan, whose daughter Samiya is married to Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali.
    “My wife went to Pakistan in 2021 when my daughter was expecting her first child. We will meet again … I can’t wait to hold my grandchild,” Khan told the Indian Express newspaper.

  • ‘Today’s India is changed’: Bilawal on getting no flood aid from India

    ‘Today’s India is changed’: Bilawal on getting no flood aid from India

    Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in an interview with France 24, said that Pakistan is grateful for the global assistance it has received however the country does not want aid, it wants justice.

    He said, “Our message is that we don’t want to beg, we don’t want aid, we want justice. This is a global catastrophe as a result of global action and it requires a global situation.”

    When asked if India had offered any help and whether Pakistan had asked for any, the minister termed Pakistan-India relations as “complicated”.

    “We have a long and complicated history. unfortunately, India today is a changed India and is no longer the secular country promised by its founding fathers for all its citizens,” he said.

    He, further added that the country “is increasingly becoming a Hindu-supremacist India at the expense of its Christian and Muslim minorities not only within India but unfortunately in the disputed region of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).”

    He said Pakistan is seeing multiple challenges in the future such as health catastrophe, disease epidemics, crop shortage, livestock loss, food security, and more. However, he expressed hope saying, “Every crisis creates an opportunity and in this crisis, the opportunity is that we must build back in a more resilient way and greener way.”

    On Afghanistan and its tough rules and regulations on women, Bilawal said Pakistan had still not officially recognised the Afghan government.

    He said it would be in the Afghan government’s favour to fulfil its promises to the international community and its nation to gain legitimacy and a path to international recognition.

    When asked about the recent protest happening in Iran over a young woman’s death allegedly because of the morality police, Bilawal said he had seen the Iranian foreign minister’s response on the issue and said he trusted the neighbour to “keep to their word” for an incident inquiry despite “living in extremely difficult circumstances”.

  • Adnan Siddiqui refuses to attend event with Indian artists

    Pakistani star Adnan Siddiqui refused to attend an event in the United States (US) after he learnt that some Indian artists have also been invited.

    “In solidarity with countless Muslims around the world, I won’t be attending APPNA event in US where some Indian artists are invited too. Nothing against the artistes but my conscience doesn’t allow me to overlook the humiliation of revered Prophet (PBUH) by Indian leaders.”

    Read more- ‘World should severely reprimand India’: Muslim countries condemn BJP’s derogatory remarks about Holy Prophet (PBUH)

    Adnan Siddiqui has refused to attend the event because of the derogatory remarks made by BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. India’s ruling party suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal. The two also issued public apologies. The Biden administration in the United States (US) had also condemned the derogatory remarks made by BJP spokespersons.

  • Maria B slam authorities for allowing Indian Ad shoot in Pakistan

    Fashion Designer Maria B has questioned authorities for allowing Indian ad shoot in Pakistan.

    Sharing the video from an ad shoot of a famous Indian designer, Abhinav Mishra, in Pakistan, Maria wrote: “This is an Indian designer shoot happening in Pakistan! Whoa!”

    “Umm, if this is happening in Pakistan, why aren’t we allowed to do this in India?” questioned the designer.

    She asks further: “Shouldn’t we as an industry be reacting the same way as India is towards our designers and our creators in their country rather than a one-sided relationship?”

    She finds this polarizing considering she as a Pakistani designer cannot shoot in India.

    “And what about our PM’s directives about Kashmir?”

    In a different Instagram story Maria added, “About time we [should] start raising these important issues”

    In 2020, the acclaimed designer received severe online backlash from netizens for mishandling her covid’19 positive servant by sending him back home through public transport. She later clarified her side of the story in a video message.

  • Arjun Kapoor praises Pakistanis for offering help to India

    Actor Arjun Kapoor who’s movie Sardar ka Grandson has been recently released talked about Pakistan and India’s relationship in a recent interview with Bollywood Hungama. He praised Pakistan and also mentioned gestures of love India had received from the people of Pakistan during the current COVID-19 crisis.

    “You should not forget that in the time of need [Covid-19 crisis], there was a helping hand and that should be respected in the bigger picture,” Arjun said.

    “This is one such time when emotions have resonated and people are coming together and leaving aside borders and whatever the political scenario might have been, one or two years back,” he added.

     “Except for cricket, we have friendship and I just hope that friendship is kept alive and maintained,” he said while talking about the relationship between both countries.

    He continued by saying, “Today, the obstacles are more; I hope some obstacles get eradicated. I can just hope and pray that the distance and vacuum that has been created go away and we are able to co-exist in peace.”

    Sardar ka Grandson also stars Rakul Preet Singh and Neena Gupta alongside Arjun Kapoor in lead roles and was released on May 18. It is “a story of a romance that spans seven decades and two countries, a story of sub-continental hustling and earthy ingenuity, a story of victory against impossible odds.”

  • ‘Desire peaceful relations’ – Khan replies to Modi’s letter

    ‘Desire peaceful relations’ – Khan replies to Modi’s letter

    Prime Minister Khan has responded to the letter written by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Pakistan Day, telling Modi that the Pakistani people “also desire peaceful, cooperative relations with all neighbours, including India”. The letter is dated March 29, a week after PM Khan received the letter from Modi.

    PM Khan started the letter by saying, “I thank you for your letter conveying greetings on Pakistan Day. The people of Pakistan commemorate this Day by paying tribute to the wisdom and foresight of our founding fathers in envisioning an independent, sovereign state where they could live in freedom and realise their full potential,” clearly stating that Pakistan is a place where people live in freedom.

    Letter written by Imran Khan to Narendra Modi

    PM Khan said Pakistan was convinced that “durable peace and stability in South Asia is contingent upon resolving all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, in particular the Jammu & Kashmir dispute” . He also added that the “creation of an enabling environment is imperative for a constructive and result-oriented dialogue.”

    “Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration,” PM Khan concluded, after conveying his best wishes to the Indian people in the fight against coronavirus.

    It should be noted that in Modi’s letter to Khan, the same phrase was used to end the letter.

    In the letter that Modi wrote to Khan, Modi stated that, “an environment of trust, devoid of terror and hostility” was necessary if both countries were to move forward.

    Social media was abuzz after the news of the letter broke, with details emerging that Pakistan and India were going to resume trade.

    Others were hopeful that maybe this time Pakistan and India might commit to a new peace.

    While some are apprehensive.

    A separate message was also sent by President Ram Nath Kovind to his Pakistani counterpart Arif Alvi. Indian government officials have told the Indian press that it is a routine letter sent every year.