Author: Abdullah Mamoon

With a muted video of Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) going viral, netizens, especially Indians, have taken to social media, calling out Pakistan for “muting” the Indian representative’s speech.

A social media user on X (formerly Twitter) named A Waheed Murad wrote, “State TV in Pakistan muted the address of the Indian Foreign Minister at the SCO summit in Islamabad.”

While Murad wasn’t the only one to highlight the muted video, Journalist Iftikhar Firdous also took to X to explain that all in-camera sessions were bound to be muted on PTV and the same goes for SCO.

“It’s an in-camera session. I haven’t heard any of the speeches on TV, even the Pakistani premier is live and it’s muted. I also inquired why I couldn’t hear them”, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter)

Meanwhile, Information Ministry also stated that according to standard operating procedure (SOPs), except for the SCO initial ceremony, all addresses were bound to mute.

Islamabad and New Delhi, in their national statements, have avoided taking indirect jabs at each other through the SCO platform.

“While the international community must extend the needed assistance to help Afghan Interim Government in staving off the humanitarian crisis and preventing an economic meltdown, it must also demand from the Afghan Interim Government to take concrete measures to promote political inclusivity, as well as to ensure that its soil is not used for terrorism against its neighbours, by any entity,” maintained PM Shehbaz Sharif during his address at SCO.

“Projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and International North-South Corridor (INSC) can be expanded to improve connectivity, focusing on roads, railways, and digital infrastructure,” he said.

Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, while addressing the SCO summit, congratulated Pakistan for hosting such a high political union of countries. “We must respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and this cooperation should be based on genuine partnership, not unilateral agendas,” he asserted.

According to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister M. Ishaq Dar, the last time Pakistan hosted a diplomatic event of this magnitude was 27 years ago, marking what he called the country’s “return to the international stage.”

In 1997, Pakistan held the first Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to celebrate its 50th year of independence.

The SCO bloc claims to represent 40% of the world’s population and about 30% of its GDP.

Previously, Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday arrived in Pakistan to attend the SCO meeting, as well as for a four-day bilateral visit. His visit is the first by a Chinese head of government to Pakistan in 11 years, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office said.

As Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa comes close ro retirement on October 25, 2024, a video has begun circulating on social media, showing an employee of Crusteez Donuts filming the top judge without his consent at Blue Area Islamabad.

The person recording can be heard being rude to Qazi Faez Isa.

The video was reportedly shot in August, after the Mubarak Sani case ruling, but it appeared on social media yesterday after the first tweet by journalist Ehtesham Ali Abbasi, a BOL NEWS-associated crime reporter.

He allegedly claimed that the boy who shot the video, along with his family, had been kidnapped after the incident.

He further alleged that on Isa’s order, many branches of this particular bakery were sealed, which is a false claim.

A number of visitors can be seen in a video enjoying donuts at the shop.

However, on September 11, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad sealed a Crusteez Donut branch after larvae was found at the premises.

Journalist Waseem Abbasi clarified, “This branch was never sealed. The owner confirmed it, and the other branch was sealed only because of Dengue larvae.”

Another journalist, Ali Hamza of The News, declared that the video was old.

On X (formerly Twitter), he said, “The video is from last month after Mubarak Sani case judgement.”

Senior journalist Mansoor Ali Khan stated on his YouTube channel that when the incident occurred, some journalists mentioned that a well-known figure had been misbehaved with but did not disclose his name.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhary Fawad Hussain tweeted, “He (video maker) belongs to an extremist group and has a license to humiliate even CJP and evade Law; this is the State we have built in 76 years… sad, very sad.”

He further wrote, “CJP was embarrassed by an extremist while he was with his wife, I have hundreds of reasons to disagree with CJP, but I must condemn such extremism.

The propagation of such disinformation raises serious concerns about extremism in a country where the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan is not even safe in public and can be labelled a non-Muslim simply because of his verdict on minority rights.

Meanwhile, Crusteez Donut clarified that the employee’s actions do not reflect company values.