The Foreign Office (FO) summoned the Indian Charge d’ Affaires on Friday and conveyed the government’s concern over the recent target killing of Muslims in the Indian state of Assam.
In the incident, two people were reported dead. It took place in the Sipajhar area of Assam’s Darrang district, where most of the residents are Muslims, reports Dawn.
In the video, several cops can be seen beating a man with sticks even as he lay motionless on the ground. It went viral on Twitter after which Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi came under fire.
Earlier, Pakistan’s federal minister Fawad Chaudhry condemned the incident, and said, “Today, Prime Minister Imran Khan will once again draw the attention of the United Nations to the atrocities taking place in India. #ModiFascism.”
Managing Trustee of Edhi Foundation Faisal Edhi, in a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has offered help to manage the deadly second wave of coronavirus in India.
“We, at the Edhi Foundation, have been closely following the current impact that the COVID-19 crisis has had on the people of India,” read the letter. “We are very sorry to hear about the exceptionally heavy impact that the pandemic has had on your country, where a tremendous number of people are suffering immensely.”
Faisal further wrote: “As a neighbouring friend, we sympathise with you greatly and during this strenuous time, we would like to extends our help in the form of a fleet of 50 ambulances along with our services to assist you in addressing, and further circumventing the health conditions.”
“We will arrange all the necessary supplies that our team needs to assist the people of India,” added the letter further.
“I, Faisal Edhi, Managing Trustee of the Edhi Foundation, am personally offering to lead and manage the humanitarian team from my organisation,” said Faisal.
He continued: “Importantly, we are not requesting any other assistance from you, as we are providing the fuel, food, and other necessary amenities that our team will require.”
“Our team consists of emergency medical technicians, office staff, drivers, and supporting staff,” stated Faisal further. “In order to implement our proposed service, we only request your permission to enter India as well as any necessary guidance from the local administration and police department.”
“We look forward to assisting you in managing the current humanitarian crises, and hope only to provide our help in whatever way that we can, for the benefit of the people of India,” he concluded.
On Thursday, India recorded theworld’s highest daily tally of 314,835 COVID-19 infections in a single day and hospitals in India are running out of medical oxygen. As per the Indian media news outlet, In the first wave of Covid-19, the demand for medical oxygen had increased from 700 metric tonnes per day to 2,800 metric tonnes per day. However, in the past few days, the demand has reached nearly 5,000 metric tonnes per day.
Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan — who was briefly captured after his aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot — has said he saw “no reason for us to continue with any kind of hostilities”.
“I see no reason for us to continue with any kind of hostilities,” Abhinandan said in a video message. “I do not know what we should do to achieve peace but I only know that there should be peace,” he added.
“I see no reason for us to continue with hostility i think India and Pakistan need peace” that was the message of Wing Commander #Abhinandan of IAF who was caught in Azad Jammu & Kashmir after his aircraft was shot down by PAF two years ago on Feb 27th 2019 pic.twitter.com/e2dyeSv4PS
During the video, Abhinandan said that neither he nor the Pakistanis know “what is happening to a Kashmiri”. “We must think with calm heads,” said the pilot.
“I saw both countries when I was coming down on a parachute, and I could not differentiate between the two countries from above,” the pilot said, adding that he sees no differences between the two countries.
“When I fell down I did not know whether I was in Pakistan or my own country India. To me, both countries looked the same, the people looked the same as well,” the pilot said in the video.
Speaking about his crash, he said he was badly injured when he was ejected from the plane. The pilot said that he was badly injured when he ejected from his aircraft and once he landed he was not able to move. He added that after landing, he tried finding out which country he was in.
“When it looked to me that I was not in my country, I tried running,” says the Indian pilot, adding that a “charged” crowd tried capturing him as well but he was saved by the Pakistan Army.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that Pakistan is fully committed to the ideals of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence as it is a peace-loving country.
He was addressing the graduation ceremony of 144th GD (P), 90th Engineering Course, and 100th AD courses held at Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Academy Asghar Khan, said a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The country has rendered great sacrifices for regional and global peace, said Gen Bajwa, adding that it is time to extend “hand of peace in all directions”.
The army chief also talked about the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Pakistan and India should also resolve the longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir and bring this human tragedy to its logical conclusion, the army chief emphasised.
“However, we will not allow anybody or any entity to misinterpret our desire for peace as a sign of weakness,” he added.
The army chief said that the armed forces were fully prepared to thwart any threat. The coordination and harmony displayed by all the three services in operations against the enemies of Pakistan had brought great improvement in the internal security environment, he said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday called on nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to “come together and seriously discuss their problems” stemming from the unresolved Kashmir dispute, saying his good offices are always available for mediation.
Replying to a question from APP correspondent Iftikhar Ali at his first press conference in 2021, the UN chief warned that there was no “military solution” to the decades-old conflict.
“It is clear when seeing Pakistan and India, any military confrontation between the two would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions for both countries and for the whole world,” he warned.
“I do believe that is absolutely essential to have a de-escalation of the situation, namely in the Line of Control” in the disputed Kashmir region, Guterres said, adding, “I think it’s absolutely essential for the two countries to be able to come together and seriously discuss their problems.”
“And,” he added, “I think it’s essential that human rights are fully respected in all territories that you mentioned,” referring to the question in which the correspondent highlighted the continuing rights abuses in the Indian occupied Kashmir.
He said he stood by his statement of Aug. 8, 2019, which called for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute based on UN resolutions and the UN Charter.
“Now, things have not moved in the right direction, our good offices are always available, and we will insist within it on finding peaceful solutions for problems that have no military solution.”
The Indian Army has deliberately targeted a United Nations (UN) vehicle carrying military observers along the Line of Control (LoC), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has said.
ISPR tweeted that the Indian Army resorted to unprovoked firing in Chirikot sector of the LoC and “deliberately targeted a UN vehicle with two military observers on board”. “The military observers were en route to interact with victims of the ceasefire violations (CFVs) in Polas village in Chirikot sector,” it added.
Indian Army resorted to unprovoked fire in Chirikot Sector of #LOC. Indian troops deliberately targeted a United Nations vehicle with 2 Military Observers on board, enroute to interact with CFV victims in Polas Village in Chirikot Sector. It must be noted that the UN (1/4) pic.twitter.com/9MB0uLpq6d
UN vehicles are clearly recognisable due to their distinct make and type and clearly visible markings, but they were still targetted. “While the vehicle was damaged, the two UNMOs luckily remained unharmed. They were safely rescued and evacuated by the Pakistan Army to Rawalakot,” the ISPR said.
According to the ISPR, “Such illegal and unlawful acts against all established international norms, signify malintent of the Indian Army to target not only innocent civilians residing along the Line of Control but also the UN peacekeepers.”
“This act only goes to show the Indian army’s complete disregard to principles enshrined in UN charter. It is indeed a new low for Indian Army,” it added.
The media wing said that Pakistan Army stands in solidarity with the United Nations Military Observer Group in India And Pakistan (UNMOGIP) officials and appreciates the selfless services rendered by all members of UNMOGIP in the discharge of their UN-mandated duties.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that India was planning to undertake a surgical strike against Pakistan to divert the attention of the world from its worsening domestic situation.
Addressing a press conference in Abu Dhabi, Qureshi had said that India’s irrational approach was driven by its frustration emanating from internal unrest due to the RSS-BJP regime’s policies.
“India is planning a false flag operation … we are well aware of the Indian designs. We have intelligence reports about a potential false flag operation,” the FM said. “I want to share all this information with the UAE government and the rest of the world,” Qureshi had added.
India’s Ministry for External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that New Delhi did not approach Pakistan with a dialogue offer, as he rejected claims made by Moeed Yusuf — the prime minister’s aide on national security– in a recent interview with an Indian media outlet.
“The statements made by him [Yusuf] are contrary to facts on the ground, misleading and fictitious. As regards the purported message that was referred to, let me make it clear that no such message was sent from our side,” Srivastava said at a weekly press briefing.
The spokesperson termed the statement “fictitious and misleading”, saying the claim was made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to “divert attention from domestic failures” and “mislead its domestic constituents by pulling India into headlines on a daily basis”. The Indian official advised Yusuf “to restrict his advice to the establishment and not comment on India’s domestic policies”.
PM’s Special Assistant on National Security Moeed Yusuf gave an interview to The Wire earlier this week, wherein he claimed that India approached Pakistan with a talk offer. This was the first time a Pakistani government official was interviewed by an Indian outlet since New Delhi annexed Kashmir in August last year.
During his interview with Karan Thapar, Yusuf set five pre-conditions for the resumption of “meaningful dialogue” with India to resolve all outstanding issues, including the longstanding dispute of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IoK).
While he said that Pakistan desired peaceful ties with India and wanted to resolve all issues through dialogue, Yusuf asserted that for any meaningful dialogue to take place between the two neighbours, India has to release all political prisoners in Kashmir, end inhuman blockade and restrictions, rescind domicile law that allows non-Kashmiris to settle in the disputed territory, stop human rights abuses and end state terrorism in Pakistan.
“My message is peace, my message is talk. But there is an intent and there has to be an enabling environment to talk, Karan. Create that and you will find us willing the next day. Just that one step, you will see my prime minister take two – that’s his promise, he stands by it,” Yusuf told journalist Karan Thapar.
