News Analysis India

Tag: Pakistan

  • Four decades on, 63 Hindu families displaced from East Pakistan get land, houses in Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: After a four-decade-long wait, 63 Hindu families displaced from East Pakistan were given houses, agricultural land and residential plots by the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday.

    Each family was given two acres for agriculture purposes, a residential plot measuring 200 sq metres and a house in Kanpur Dehat district.

    Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held previous governments responsible for the plight of such families.

    All these families had migrated from East Pakistan, now called Bangladesh, in 1970s and were given jobs in a yarn mill in Hastinapur town of Meerut district, he said.

    The CM said the yarn mill closed down 1984 and some of them were rehabilitated while 65 families kept waiting for their rehabilitation.

    “Your 38-year-long wait is over today,” the CM said in the presence of Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh.

    “I am happy while granting two acres of land, 200 sq metres residential patta to each of the 63 families in the Rasulabad area of Kanpur Dehat district,” he said, adding that each family is being given a house under the chief minister’s housing scheme.

    Targeting previous regimes, Adityanath said people used to go to them but “insensitive” governments never took them seriously.

    He asked why their sufferings did not reach who talked about the poor and why they did not do any work for the people of Musahar (rat eaters) caste or why people from Vantangiya villages in eastern Uttar Pradesh had been left to fend for themselves.

    Citing achievements of his government, the CM said, “We converted 38 villages of Vantangiya into revenue villages and they voted for the first time in the Assembly elections after the Independence.”

    Originally brought from Myanmar for afforestation activities during the British period, the Vantangiya community has been living in forests since then without any modern development as their villages lacked the revenue village status that makes them eligible for welfare schemes.

    After becoming the UP chief minister in 2017, Adityanath had granted the revenue village status to many Vantangiya people.

    Elaborating on efforts of his government, he said, “When Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the order to give citizenship to the minorities migrating from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, we started searching for such people in UP also and traced the families.”

    He termed this as an unprecedented example of India’s service to humanity.

    The benefits are meant for 63 families but the population of 400 is going to be directly benefited by this, he said.

    Adityanath said so far 1.08 lakh houses have been provided such families.

  • SC agrees to hear plea seeking repatriation of Indian Army personnel held as PoWs by Pakistan

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea of the wife of an Indian Army officer seeking repatriation of her husband and other Army officers believed to be held under illegal detention as Prisoners of War (POWs) by Pakistan since the 1971 war.

    A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant issued notice to the Centre on the plea of Jasbir Kaur, wife of Major Kanwaljit Singh who is said to be among the POWs, and sought its response in three weeks.

    The plea sought a direction to the Centre to approach the International Court of Justice against Pakistan with appropriate judicial remedies, which are coercive and binding in nature for the release of all the Indian POWs held under the “torturous custody of Pakistan in violation of the Geneva Convention for Treatment of Prisoners of War”.

    The plea also sought a direction to the Centre to produce the court of inquiry proceedings, if held under the mandatory provisions of Army Rules, into the circumstances leading to the capture, torture and murder of Captain Saurabh Kalia by Pakistan during the Kargil war.

    Advocate Namit Saxena, appearing for petitioner Jasbir Kaur, contended that very little has been done on the issue of the POWs over the past 50 years.

    The plea sought a direction to the Centre for taking initiative aimed at setting up a domestic as well as an international mechanism for effectively enforcing the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the universal declaration of human rights and the Geneva Convention for treatment of Prisoners of War.

    “Petitioner herself is the wife of IC-14590 Major Kanwaljit Singh who has been evidenced and heard to be held under the illegal detention of the government of Pakistan”, the plea said.

    It said that the PIL is necessitated by the circumstances as admittedly 54 PoWs are “evidenced and heard to be held under the torturous detention’ of the Pakistan government since the 1971 war.

    The plea also urged the court to direct the Centre to procure from the International Red Cross, the list of POWs who were scheduled to be repatriated by Pakistan in years succeeding the 1971 war but ultimately “not repatriated as scheduled in the third train of POWs”.

    The PIL referred to four different cases which are pending before the top court including the one of martyr Saurabh Kalia who was murdered during the Kargil War along with five other soldiers.

    It said not one out of the 54 PoWs has been released despite the existence of a “specific bilateral agreement in force between the respondent Union of India with the detaining power of Government of Pakistan”.

    The plea said that the Government of Pakistan is also shielding the perpetrators of crimes against humanity committed upon Captain Saurabh Kalia and his men, besides many other PoWs/ soldiers whose names could not specifically be listed herein.

    The petition said, “in these matters respondent Union of India and specifically the Indian Army under them have not initiated any concrete steps for establishment of a mechanism for effective enforcement of provisions of Geneva Convention despite the lapse of more than 70 years, since the same first came into force”.

    It said that the “utmost suffering and trauma are evident from the overwhelming admitted reality that 54 POWs, narrated in the Gujrat High Court Judgement dated December 23, 2011, who are worthy soldiers of this great nation, are living a miserable life for almost 50 years now”.

    The plea said that the respondents in their replies and counter-affidavits have so far resisted availing coercive and binding remedies through the International Court of Justice and other international human rights organisations, on the pretext that mutual release of POWs had been covered under the bilateral agreement inter alia Shimla Agreement on July 3, 1972.

    “While late Smt. Indira Gandhi signed the said agreement and quite promptly fulfilled the obligation of repatriating 93,000 odd well-fed Pakistani POWs, yet she failed to have the same implemented for the Indian POWs torturously detained by Pakistan, thereby yielding all the possible power of bargain against an enemy well known for scanty regards for basic human rights,” it alleged.

    It said that the respondents have not made any reference to date to the court of inquiries, etc, if at all they conducted any, despite such a huge number of POWs in the 1971 war as determined in the Gujarat High Court judgement dated December 23, 2011.

    The plea also sought a direction to the Centre to produce the court of inquiry proceedings held if any under the mandatory provisions of Army Rules into the circumstances under which the frugal patrol of Captain Saurabh Kalia was deployed at Bajrang Post in May 1999 during the Kargil war, was taken POW, tortured inhumanly and murdered in cold blood and finally bodies with injury marks returned by Pakistan.

    “Alternatively directions be issued to said respondents to hold such inquiry and produce the report thereof before this court for further necessary actions,” it said, besides seeking other directions concerning PoWs.

  • Modi congratulates new Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif; says India desires peace in a region free of terror 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on his election as the Pakistani prime minister and said India desires peace and stability in a region free of terror.

    “Congratulations to H.E. Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on his election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” Modi tweeted.

    “India desires peace and stability in a region free of terror, so that we can focus on our development challenges and ensure the well-being and prosperity of our people,” the prime minister said.

    Shehbaz Sharif was sworn-in as the prime minister of Pakistan on Monday, bringing to an end the political uncertainty that had gripped the country since a no-confidence motion was introduced against his predecessor Imran Khan on March 8.

  • India repatriates 3 Pakistani prisoners after completion of jail terms

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Saturday repatriated three Pakistani prisoners through the Attari-Wagah border transit point after they completed their jail terms.

    The prisoners are Sameera Abdul Rehman, Murtaza Asghar Ali and Ahmed Raja, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

    “Three Pakistani prisoners, who had completed their sentences, were repatriated to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border on March 26,” the MEA said.  It said Sameera Abdul Rehman was accompanied by her four-year-old girl child Sana Fatima.

    The MEA also said India attaches highest importance to addressing all humanitarian matters, including early release and repatriation of all Indian prisoners and fishermen from Pakistan.

    “The government’s persistent efforts have succeeded in release and repatriation of 20 Indian fishermen and one civilian prisoner from Pakistan’s custody in 2022, so far,” the MEA said in a statement.

    An official at the Attari border said that in 2017 the Pakistani woman was arrested along with her husband Mohammad Shihab of Palakkad in Kerala.

    She had met him in Qatar. Shihab brought her to India without a visa in September 2016 via the Nepal border. She was arrested in May 2017 and was subsequently sentenced to three-year imprisonment. She was lodged in a Bangalore jail.

    The official said her husband was released from jail on bail and thereafter he went missing. Before crossing over to Pakistan, Sameera said, “I am extremely happy as I am finally going back to Pakistan along with my daughter born in India…the Indian authorities…treated me and my daughter well in jail.” “I am also thankful to Indian officials and the Home Ministry which helped me enormously to procure all relevant travel documents to cross over to Pakistan with my daughter,” she said.

  • Accidental missile firing into Pakistan: Probe finds ‘human error’ as likely reason

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Human error appears to be the likely reason for the accidental firing of a missile into Pakistan two weeks ago, people familiar with the ongoing probe into the incident said on Wednesday.

    The Court of Inquiry probing the incident is learnt to have been examining the role of a Group Captain and a few other officials for their alleged lapses, they said.

    There is no official comment on the matter yet. The incident had taken place on March 9, following which Pakistan had lodged a strong protest with India the next day.

    “Human error appears to be the reason for the incident in the ongoing probe,” one of the people familiar with the ongoing probe said.

    On March 11, the Defence Ministry said the missile was fired accidentally and it landed in Pakistan.

    The ministry described the incident as “deeply regrettable” and that it was caused by a technical malfunction in the course of the routine maintenance of the missile.

    The defence ministry said the government has taken a serious view of the incident and ordered a high-level probe into it.

    Separately, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament on March 15 that the standard operating procedures for operations, maintenance, and inspection of such systems were being reviewed.

    Following the incident, Pakistan summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad and conveyed its strong protest over the “unprovoked” violation of its airspace by the supersonic “projectile” of Indian origin.

    The Pakistan foreign office had said the “supersonic flying object” entered into Pakistan from India’s Suratgarh and fell to the ground near Mian Channu city, causing damage to civilian property.

    The Pakistan foreign office also called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident and demanded that its outcome be shared with Islamabad.

  • US Senator calls for release of Hindu teacher jailed in Pakistan for blasphemy

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: US Senator Marco Antonio Rubio has asked for the release of a Hindu teacher Notan Lal who was falsely accused of blasphemy and imprisoned for 25 years in Pakistan’s Sindh. 

    “Notal Lal was arrested for committing blasphemy based on false testimony and sentenced to 25 years in a Pakistan prison. We ask for his release. Pakistan is a country of particular concern for religious freedom violations,” Senator Rubio said in a tweet.

    Notan Lal has been languishing in a prison in Sukkur in Sindh since 2019. His sentence was announced last month, in which he was asked to pay Rs 50,000 as fine and serve a 25-year term in prison.

    Despite finding no evidence against Lal, he continues to be in prison. According to some media reports in Pakistan, his student (Mohammad Ihtisham) took to social media and confessed that he had cooked up the charges levelled against his teacher and even sought forgiveness.

    This arrest also led to communal violence, desecration of temples, and burning of shops owned by Hindus. The violence spread to towns like Mirpur, Mathelo, and Adilpur.

    According to a think tank based in Pakistan, the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan has reported a total of 1,415 cases of blasphemy in the country since partition in 1947. Out of this around 18 women and 71 men were extra-judicially killed over blasphemy.

    The think-tank also says that the actual cases would be much higher as not all cases are reported. More than 70 per cent of such cases were reported from Punjab. Meanwhile, last month the European Parliament had called for a resolution to review the Generalised Schemes of Preference Plus (GSP+) status granted to Pakistan due to an alarming level of increase in the use of blasphemy accusations across the country. Besides, they had taken note of rising number of online and offline attacks on journalists and civil society organisations.

    Pakistan is worried about this as it could mean temporary withdrawal of their status and benefits that come with it. EU’s GSP removes import duties from products coming into the EU market from vulnerable developing countries. This helps developing countries to alleviate poverty and create jobs based on international values and principles, including labour and human rights.

    During the 6th round of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue (held in Brussels in December), the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of European Commission Josep Borrell expressed concern over the human rights situation in Pakistan.

    The EU had maintained that Pakistan had failed to make meaningful advances iN protecting human rights, particularly in relation to the controversial blasphemy laws. 

  • ‘Deeply regrettable’: India says technical malfunction led to missile landing in Pakistan

    By PTI

    The Defence Ministry on Friday said a technical malfunction in the course of routine maintenance led to the accidental firing of a missile on March 9.

    The ministry said the missile landed in an area of Pakistan and noted that the “incident is deeply regrettable”.

    The Pakistan military on Thursday said that a high-speed projectile launched from India entered the Pakistani airspace and fell near Mian Channu in Khanewal district.

    The Defence Ministry said the Government of India has taken a serious view of the incident and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry into it.

    “On March 9, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile,” it said in a statement.

    “It is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident,” it added.

  • Shashi Tharoor’s retweet draws flak from Indian embassy in Kuwait

    By Express News Service

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor found himself in a spot after he retweeted a Pakistani national’s tweet which said Kuwaiti politicians had asked their government to ban the entry of BJP leaders from India following the hijab row.

    The Indian embassy in that Gulf country reacted quickly, saying the original tweet was from a Pakistani agent engaged in anti-India activities. “Sad to see an Hon’ble Member of Indian Parliament retweeting an anti-India tweet by a Pakistani agent who was recipient of a Pakistani Award ‘Ambassador of Peace’ for his anti-India activities. We should not encourage such anti-India elements,” the Indian embassy in Kuwait tweeted.

    Tharoor said he does not endorse the individual, but is concerned about the sentiment he (the Pakistani citizen) conveys on the hijab row and Muslim girls in India.

  • Regret hurting sentiments in India over unauthorised social media posts of Pakistani associates: Suzuki Motor

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation on Tuesday regretted “the hurt to sentiments” in India caused by unauthorised social media posts of its Pakistani dealers and business associates supporting separatists in Kashmir.

    The company, whose arm Maruti Suzuki is the largest passenger vehicles maker in India, asserted that it does not align with any political or religious inclination in any part of the world.

    In a statement posted on the Twitter handle of Maruti Suzuki India, its parent Suzuki Motor Corporation stated that it aims to be a company “trusted and counted upon by all throughout the world, through its products, services, ethical business conduct and social responsibility efforts towards sustainable development goals.”

    “We deeply regret the hurt to sentiments, that such insensitive communication has caused. It will be our constant endeavour to advise our business associates to comply strictly to our company policy in this regard,” the company added.

    As corporate policy, Suzuki Motor Corp said, “We do not align with any political or religious inclination in any part of the world. Such communication from our dealers or business associates on these topics represents neither our company position nor authorised by us.”

    Suzuki’s dealers and business associates in Pakistan had posted social media posts on ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’.

    Earlier in the day, in a separate statement, auto major Toyota stated that it is a global mobility company that aims to earn the respect and admiration from people in each community in which it operates.

    “We are an apolitical entity, and any political statements made by dealers or other associated stakeholders are not authorised by us and do not reflect our corporate stance. We regret any hurt this may have caused,” the company said in the statement posted on social media.

    The company works tirelessly to comply with the laws and regulations of the countries in which it operates, it added.

    “We would like to continue to produce happiness for all, achieving a safer and more environmentally-friendly society through mobility across the world,” it noted.

    Similarly, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor on Tuesday expressed regret for an “unauthorised” tweet by its Pakistani partner on Kashmir and has got the offending post deleted, but not before it faced calls for a boycott of its cars and the Indian government curtly telling it to be more forceful in its unequivocal apology.

    In further development, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong also “regretted the offence” caused to the people and government of India by the social media post on the so-called ‘Kashmir solidarity day’ by the Hyundai Pakistan, a day after New Delhi summoned the RoK envoy to express “strong displeasure” over the “unacceptable” post.

  • ‘Anti-India’ propaganda channels, websites banned

    By Online Desk

    NEW DELHI: India has banned 20 YouTube channels and two websites for allegedly running anti-India propaganda from Pakistan, a report said.

    Among the channels banned, 15 are owned by the Naya Pakistan group, while the others include ‘The Naked Truth’, ’48 News’ and ‘Junaid Halim official’.

    The total subscriber base of these YouTube channels is estimated to be 3.5 million and their content related to India has had more than 500 million views.

    I&B secretary Apurva Chandra, according to The Economic Times, wrote to YouTube and the Department of Telecom, directing them to immediately block the content as it “affects the sovereignty and integrity of India.”

    The online propaganda was allegedly being run with the aid of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

    The report quoting a senior official in the I&B ministry said, “this is for the first time that the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021 have been cited to ban anti-India propaganda websites.”