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Tag: India

  • Right wing Indian leader says there was love triangle involving Trudeau and Nijjar

    Right wing Indian leader says there was love triangle involving Trudeau and Nijjar

    In a surprising twist amidst the ongoing diplomatic standoff between India and Canada, Tejinder Pall Singh Bagga, the national secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), has made a sensational claim regarding the late Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Bagga asserts that Nijjar was gay and suggests a personal connection between him and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    The assertion by Bagga comes at a critical juncture in the strained relations between the two nations. The dispute erupted when Trudeau accused the Indian government of being involved in Nijjar’s killing, prompting a swift response from India.

    Meanwhile, the US has urged India to cooperate fully with the Canadian investigations, as was reiterated following the meeting between Minister of External Affairs of India S. Jaishankar and counterpart Antony Blinken.

    Canadian MP from Surrey, Sukhminder aka Sukh Singh Dhaliwal, has meanwhile rubbished allegations of him being close to Pakistani intelligence organisation ISI, saying that as a member of the Parliament, he would not be close to any member of a foreign spy agency.

    Some Indian right wingers have suggested that ISI was behind Nijjar’s killing, but Canada has maintained that the “foreign agent” involved in the killing was from an “Indian agency”.

    Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed outside a Surrey gurudwara on June 18 by unidentified gunmen. India had, in 2020, designated him as a terrorist. Nijjar was involved in networking, financing, and training the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) module, India alleges.

  • Earthquake predicted in Pakistan hits India, Nepal

    Earthquake predicted in Pakistan hits India, Nepal

    An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale has jolted New Delhi and parts of Nepal late on Monday afternoon.

    However, according to the Solar System Geometry Survey, the magnitude of the earthquake was 5.7 while its depth was 7km.

    The earthquake is said to have lasted for more than 40 seconds, as reported by Hindustan Times.

    Simultaneously, as per the NDTV, two earthquakes shook Nepal with magnitudes of 4.6 and 6.2 in a time span of 25 minutes.

    The tremors were also felt in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, Hapur, and Amroha along with parts of Uttarakhand.

    On October 1, a Dutch research organisation predicted that a severe tremor that may hit Pakistan in the coming days.

    But the scientific community did not pay much heed to Solar System Geometry Survey (SSGS) of the Netherlands because scientifically, it is impossible to actually predict an earthquake.

    As per the predictions, nonetheless, the earthquake was to hit along the Chaman fault line, in Balochistan.

  • Want a phone on instalments? The govt has good news for you

    Want a phone on instalments? The govt has good news for you

    The Caretaker Federal Minister for IT, Dr. Umar Saif, has said in a conversation with Samaa that by January 2024, people will be able to buy Pakistani-made mobile phones in installments.

    Dr. Saif pointed out that Pakistan has the fifth largest population and the seventh largest telecom industry in the world; 33 national companies have made 57 million low-cost mobile phones, of which one crore 20 lakhs have been exported.

    Made-in-Pakistan phones will be less expensive and will cost an average of 15 thousand rupees.

    He added that having 1.5 million cell phone users in the country is a big deal; and despite the lack of foreign exchange, most mobile phones are imported, asserting that there is no reason why mobile phones cannot be assembled and manufactured within the country.

    He questioned that if India can manufacture iPhones, why can’t Pakistan too. According to Dr. Saif, Pakistan’s IT exports are 2.6 billion dollars while India’s is 150 billion dollars because there is a lack of trained manpower since only 120 thousand people are available here.

    He asserted there is a need to train students in universities and he aims to upskill two lakh people as well as establish e-employment centres for five lakh freelancers in the next two years.

    The caretaker IT minister is also determined to take IT exports to 10 billion dollars.

  • Journalist corrects Indian media spreading misinformation about Pakistan

    Journalist corrects Indian media spreading misinformation about Pakistan

    Naimat Khan, a journalist working with Arab News, pointed out false news being widely circulated by Indian media.

    Indian news platforms have been reporting that Maulana Qaiser Farooq has been shot and killed in a target attack in Karachi, alleging that he was one of the prominent leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba and was a close associate of Hafiz Saeed.

    Khan, however, fact checked and corrected the outlets by stating that Maulana Qaiser Farooq, killed by unknown assailants in Karachi, was associated with Gulshan-e-Umar, a branch of Binori Town, a top Deobandi seminary in Karachi. He pointed out that this institution has no connection with Hafiz Saeed.

  • ‘This is no boarding house’; German Ambassador fact checks Indian ad

    ‘This is no boarding house’; German Ambassador fact checks Indian ad

    Dr Philipp Ackermann, German Ambassador to India and Bhutan, was forced to fact check an advertisement printed in an Indian newspaper on X (formerly Twitter).

    The ad was of a boarding school fair, complete with a picture of an impressive building. And while India does have numerous buildings built on European architecture styles, the one in the ad, however, was actually Schloss Bellevue — residence for the German Federal President’s principal official in Berlin.

    Ambassador Philipp factually corrected the advertiser as well as the newspaper with humour, directing the post to “Dear Indian parents” stating, “this building is no boarding school! It is the seat of the German President in Berlin. Our Rashtrapati Bhavan as it were.”

    Rashtrapati Bhavan is the official residence of the President of India in New Delhi.

    “There are good boarding schools also in Germany – but here, no child will be admitted”, he said, jokingly.

    Dear Indian parents – I found this in today’s newspaper. But this building is no boarding school! It is the seat of the German President in Berlin. Our Rashtrapati Bhavan as it were. There are good boarding schools also in Germany – but here, no child will be admitted

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  • ‘Overwhelmed with the love’: Pakistani cricket team thanks Indian fans for Hyderabad welcome

    ‘Overwhelmed with the love’: Pakistani cricket team thanks Indian fans for Hyderabad welcome

    Pakistani Twitter users were howling in delight on Wednesday when viral videos showed the glowing reception the Pakistani cricket team received in India. Tweeps were delighted with hilarious Indian paparazzi who seem to have adopted Babar Azam, calling him ‘Babar bhai’. Now, Pakistani cricketers have responded to the warm welcome they received from Indian fans, thanking all those who showed up to support them.

    Captain Babar Azam shared a picture of the reception, and wrote: “Overwhelmed with the love and support here in India.”

    Batsman Mohammad Rizwan thanked fans for the welcome, and said he was looking forward to the next month as the competition begins.

    Prodigious fast bowler Shaheen Afridi said he was happy with the welcome the cricket team had recieved

    Batsman Imam ul Haq shared a picture of his arrival in Hyderabad on Instagram, writing: “Thankyou for the warm welcome Hyderabad.”

    The ICC ODI World Cup will begin in India in October 5, with the first match to be played between defending champions England and finalists New Zealand in Ahmedabad. Pakistan’s first match will be against the Netherlands on October 6.

  • Great-grandmother, 92, goes to school in India

    Great-grandmother, 92, goes to school in India

    A 92-year-old great-grandmother from India goes to school for the first time in her life.

    Salima Khan, a resident of Bulandshahr in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said that there were no schools in her village when she was a girl.

    Born around the year 1931, Khan got married at the age of 14.

    She always longed to read and write but her dream could not come true for the longest time.

    In 2023, six months ago, Salima Khan started school alongside classmates eight decades younger than her. Her grandson’s wife accompanies her to classes.

    Her story came to light when a video of her counting from one to 100 made rounds on social media.

    Speaking to Times of India, she said, “My grandchildren used to trick me into giving them extra money as I couldn’t count currency notes. Those days are gone.”

    School headmistress Pratibha Sharma stated that the teachers were initially “hesitant” but they realised how much “passion” the nonagenarian had for studying.

    “We didn’t have the heart to refuse her,”she said.

    According to Sharma, Khan’s story has inspired 25 women from her village to enroll in classes including two of her daughters-in-law.

  • Karachi ranked most polluted city in world, second day in row

    Karachi ranked most polluted city in world, second day in row

    Karachi has been at the top of the list of the world’s most polluted cities for the past consecutive two days.

    Dawn newspaper quoted ‘IQAir.com’, an air quality monitoring website, stating that Karachi topped the chart, followed by New Delhi.

    The concentration of 2.5 particulate matter (pm) in Karachi is 20.3 times higher than the annual air quality guideline value of the World Health Organization (WHO) as last night it recorded an air quality index of 175.

    Air quality index readings in the range of 151 to 200 are considered unhealthy, while air quality index readings between 201 and 300 are dangerous and severely harmful to health.

    According to the annual report released by ‘IQ Air’, the level of pollution in Karachi has not improved over the past few years, in fact it has increased.

  • ‘Will die here but not go back’: Indians seek asylum in Pakistan

    ‘Will die here but not go back’: Indians seek asylum in Pakistan

    Two Indian citizens who illegally travelled to Karachi last week have asserted that they would rather go to jail in Pakistan than go back to their own country.

    Identified as Mohammad Hasnain and Ishaq Ameer, the father and son want to seek asylum as their lives are threatened in India with increased religious extremism and Islamophobia, Karachi police have said.

    Dawn spoke with Karachi Deputy Inspector General of Police (South) Asad Raza who stated that the two are not suspected spies, “but were considered victims of religious bias and persecution in India”.

    For now, both the Indians have been sent to an Edhi Shelter home. According to IGP Raza, they seem to want to seek asylum here.

    The duo also protested outside Karachi Press Club on September 25 against the Indian government and its persecution of Muslims.

    “We are ready to go to jail but not back to India,” the police quoted them in a statement. “We will be killed as soon as we step on Indian land if we are deported.

    “If you want to kill us, kill us in Pakistan. At least we will get some land (for burial). In India, we won’t even get that,”

    The father-son also spoke with the media.

    The two left New Delhi on September 5 for the UAE and approached Afghanistan embassy for a visa. They then travelled to Kabul followed by air travel to Kandahar where they spent a night.

    Shedding light on the atrocities committed in India against Muslims and the lack of media coverage, Hasnain states that they are not the first ones to flee the country, stressing that many others have left before them but they could afford foreign citizenship in Europe, America, Britain, Germany, or Canada.

    “Those who are well off migrated to Turkey, Azerbaijan, or Malaysia. I did not have that stature. I had less money,” he added.
    They were not allowed to check in a hotel room in Karachi since they did not possess an identification card.

    Hasnain’s son Ameer said that they directly went to the office of IG Sindh on reaching Orangi Town, Karachi.

    “As soon as we reached there, we kept our baggage on the side, raised our hands, and said we are here to surrender.”

  • At least six men involved in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder

    At least six men involved in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder

    Latest CCTV evidence reveals that at least six suspects came to kill Hardeep Singh in two cars.

    The Washington Post has reviewed the video and gathered accounts of witnesses that suggest that it was a “larger and more organized operation than has previously been reported”.

    According to Washington Post, Nijjar’s gray pickup truck was by strewn bullets. While Bhupinderjit Singh, first person to visit the site, described the scene: “It was blood and shattered glass everywhere,”

    The community members state that investigators told them that the assailants fired about 50 bullets out of which 34 hit Nijjar.

    On the other hand, the Sikh community protested outside the Indian High Commission in Canada against the killing of Hardeep Singh, raising slogans against Modi. Canada’s defence minister says there are credible intelligence reports pointing towards Indian interference, and it will not back down.

    Nijjar’s murder

    Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh leader, was shot outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. As per the police’ evaluation, it was a “targeted” attack.

    The world reacted after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement citing suspicion towards India in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder case.

    “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,”, said Trudeau.

    On the other hand, in a tit-for-tat move, India ordered a senior Canadian diplomat to leave the country, keeping in view the “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”.

    India’s foreign ministry has rejected all allegations, deeming them as “absurd”.