News Analysis India

Tag: Pakistan

  • Uttarakhand High Court reverses Pakistani national’s acquittal in espionage case

    By PTI

    NAINITAL: Setting aside the acquittal of a Pakistani national of the charge of spying in India, the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday held him guilty and ordered his arrest.

    The Pakistani national had been acquitted by a sessions court and was residing in Roorkee.

    He could not go back to Pakistan as he did not have the required travel documents including a passport.

    Hearing a petition by the state government challenging his acquittal by the sessions court, Justice Ravindra Maithani said there is enough evidence against Pakistani national Abid Ali alias Asad Ali alias Ajit Singh, a resident of Lahore, for espionage in India.

    His bail bonds should be cancelled and he should be taken into custody, Justice Maithani said.

    The Pakistani national had been arrested by the Uttarakhand police in Roorkee on January 25, 2010 during the Mahakumbh under the Official Secrets Act, Foreigners Act and Passport Act.

    Maps of military institutions located in Meerut, Dehradun and Roorkee besides many suspicious and confidential documents, pen drives etc were recovered from him.

    Boards of electrical fittings and a dozen SIM cards were also recovered from his residence.

    After the registration of an FIR and trial in the case, a magisterial court found him guilty on several counts and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment.

    An appeal was filed on behalf of the accused against the sentence, after which the Additional District Judge (II) Haridwar acquitted him of all charges in July 2013.

    However, due to his passport and other formalities, he could not go to Pakistan.

    The government, meanwhile, challenged the sessions court’s order in the high court, arguing that the lower court had wrongly ordered his acquittal.

    Concurring with the prosecution’s argument, the high court set aside his acquittal and cancelled his bail bonds, ordering his rearrest.

  • BJP uses Taliban, Afghanistan, Pakistan to garner votes: Mehbooba Mufti

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Accusing the BJP of playing politics over the issues of Taliban, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to garner votes, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday alleged that the seven-year rule of the saffron party has brought miseries to the people of the country and left Jammu and Kashmir “destroyed”.

    She claimed that it is not Hindus but the democracy and India which are in danger under the BJP rule, which has undone all the “good work” of the past 70 years of the Congress and started selling national resources and raising the prices of essentials to fill its coffers to “buy or intimidate” opposition legislators.

    The former chief minister taunted her critics and said the mere mention of Taliban or the party’s vision of self-rule makes her “anti-national” and triggers debates and discussions even as the focus should have been the ongoing agitation of the farmers, inflation, and other issues of public importance.

    “Jammu and Kashmir are in trouble and so is the entire country…they say Hindus are in danger but they are not in danger and the fact it is India and the democracy which are in danger because of them (BJP),” Mehbooba said addressing a rally organized by the youth wing of her party here.

    Mehbooba reached Jammu late on Saturday after a five-day tour of Poonch and Rajouri districts, facing a small protest by a group of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal activists who attempt to stop her cavalcade near Dogra chowk in the city was foiled by police.

    As the elections in different states come nearer, the BJP will start cashing on the god-given opportunity of Taliban and Afghanistan and if it would not work, they will bring Pakistan and drones into the picture, the Peoples Democratic Party chief said.

    “They will not talk about China which has intruded into Ladakh because they do not get votes by talking about that country. If you want to frighten people, talk about Taliban, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and do something here and there and seek votes,” she said.

    Referring to the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Mehbooba alleged that the BJP’s incumbent state chief minister failed to provide jobs, roads, and schools, while as the river Ganga which is considered sacred by the people of the country was made a dumping ground for human corpses because people do not have money to perform the last rites of their relatives.

    “…They do not have anything to sell to the people and therefore they will use Pakistan and J-K to garner votes. They have destroyed J-K and are using sticks to oppress the people who are not allowed to speak openly for their rights,” she said.

    Mehbooba said the BJP is watching what she is saying to trigger a debate in media.

    “The farmers’ agitation, growing unemployment, inflation, and other issues facing the country should have been the focus of our debates but there is no discussion on these important issues. Since the elections in UP are drawing closer, there will be more discussion on Taliban and Afghanistan,” she said.

    She alleged that the BJP government is using crores of rupees on the self-projection and taxing people by rising petrol and diesel prices to fill its coffers and use the money to “buy MLAs of other parties and use government agencies to intimidate those who reject its offer”.

    Mehbooba said there are debates on the oppressive measures adopted by the Taliban against women in Afghanistan but nobody is talking about the women of India who are facing rapes and dowry deaths.

    “I know unemployment is such that we cannot provide jobs to everyone. Mufti had a plan to address this problem but if I name the plan which is self-rule, I will be dubbed as anti-national and it will trigger debates and discussions,” she said.

    Explaining self-rule, she said Jammu and Kashmir are holding a strategic position and can be a gateway to central Asia if all the cross-border traditional routes are opened and all the neighboring countries allowed to open bank branches which will generate employment.

  • Won’t let India become Pakistan or Taliban: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that she will not allow the country to turn into Pakistan or the Taliban.

    Alleging that the saffron party has claimed the Bhabanipur constituency in south Kolkata will become Pakistan if the TMC wins the by-poll from there, Banerjee accused the BJP of practising divisive politics.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo is contesting the by-election from Bhabanipur.

    “I don’t like the policies and politics of the BJP. They only follow the politics of dividing people on religious lines. In Nandigram, they had said it would become Pakistan (if the TMC wins). In Bhabanipur too, they are saying it will turn into Pakistan. This is shameful,” Banerjee said while campaigning.

    Banerjee lost to Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP from Nandigram during the assembly election held earlier this year.

    She has to win this by-poll to retain her chief minister’s post.

    “I want my country to be strong and will protect my motherland with all my might. We don’t want India to become another Taliban (ruled state). I will never allow my country to turn into Pakistan,” she said while talking to the voters in the area.

    Criticising the state BJP leadership for taking exception to her recent visit to a mosque in the area, Banerjee said the saffron camp has a problem with her visiting a Gurudwara too.

    “I have visited a mosque; I have visited a Gurudwara also; and the BJP has a problem with both.

    I don’t bring religion into politics, unlike the BJP leaders who only understand the language of divisive politics,” she said.

    On the sizeable Hindi-speaking population of the Bhabanipur constituency, the TMC boss said she would stand by them through thick and thin.

    “I never differentiate among communities.

    It is the BJP which destroys brotherhood and social fabric among communities,” she said.

    To woo the area’s business community, Banerjee said she was the first politician in the country who had opposed demonetisation in 2016.

    “I was the first to oppose demonetisation. I know the kind of harassment the business community has gone through during demonetisation. I used to regularly visit Burrabazar (the business hub of Kolkata) and talk to the business community members,” she said.

    Hitting out at the saffron camp over its “ploy” to sell off the country’s assets, she said those were not personal property of the BJP.

    “The government is trying to sell off the entire country. Railways, airports and ports. They want to sell everything off. Can you sell the soil of the country?” Banerjee said.

    Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in August announced a Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline that will look to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways.

    Banerjee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure that Covaxin is recognised so that those who availed that vaccine against Covid-19 can travel abroad.

    Later, Banerjee visited the Laxmi Narayan Temple in the area and offered puja.

    She was also seen offering ‘Arati’.

    A metropolitan constituency, Bhabanipur is home to a large number of Gujaratis and Sikhs, mostly into business, living alongside Bengalis.

    Banerjee, who is herself a resident of Bhabanipur constituency, had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016 but shifted to Nandigram, to dare her former protege and now a BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in his home turf.

    Though Banerjee powered the TMC to a resounding win for a third straight term in office, she lost in Nandigram.

    Banerjee is required to win a seat in the state assembly by November 5 in conformity with the constitutional provisions to continue as chief minister.

    After her defeat in Nandigram, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabanipur Sovandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the seat to allow Banerjee to contest from there.

    Banerjee is pitted against the BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal and CPI(M)’s Srijib Biswas for the September 30 by-poll.

    Congress has decided not to field a candidate against her.

    The votes will be counted on October 3.

  • India calls out Pakistan, OIC for K-anard at UNHRC session

    By Express News Service

    India on Wednesday gave the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) a piece of its mind for raising Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Commission, calling it out for allowing itself to be held hostage by Pakistan.

    Exercising its rights to respond to comments made by Pakistan and the OIC on Kashmir at the ongoing session of the council, India said Pakistan has been globally recognised as a country openly supporting, training, financing and arming terrorists as a matter of state policy. 

    The stinging response came from Pawan Badhe, first secretary in India’s permanent mission in Geneva. “India, as not only the world’s largest democracy but a robustly functional and vibrant one, does not need lessons from a failed state like Pakistan which is the epicentre of terrorism and worst abuser of human rights,” he acidly said.

    Pakistan, he added, has failed to protect the rights of its minorities, including Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyas. “Pakistan has been engaged in systematic persecution, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination against its ethnic and religious minorities,” he said. 

    Turning his attention to the OIC, Badhe said it has no locus to comment on Kashmir. “The OIC has helplessly allowed itself to be held hostage by Pakistan…. It’s for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interest to allow Pakistan to do so.”

  • ICG apprehends Pakistani boat with 12 crew members off Gujarat coast

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Wednesday said it has apprehended a Pakistani boat with 12 crew members off Gujarat coast during a surveillance.

    ICG’s surveillance boat apprehended the Pakistani boat on Tuesday night despite rough and adverse weather conditions, it said.

    “On the night of September 14, Indian Coast Guard ship ‘Rajratan’, while on a surveillance mission apprehended a Pakistani boat named ‘Allah Pawawakal’ in Indian waters with 12 crew,” it said in a release.

    The boat was brought to Okha in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat for further joint investigation by appropriate agencies, it added.

    In a separate development, the ICG rescued seven fishermen from a grounded boat that was about to sink off Vanak Bara in Diu on the night of September 13.

    The ICG deployed its advanced light helicopter from Porbandar in Gujarat to conduct the rescue operation and airlifted seven crew members from the boat that was grounded due to machinery breakdown, it said in a release.

  • Geelani’s sons behaved differently hours after father’s death, allege Police; release ablution video of late leader

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: Hours after former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the last will of deceased separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani should have been respected and body of a person has to be treated with respect, the J&K police released series of videos about ablution of the deceased leader, who passed away at his Hyderpora residence on Wednesday evening.  

    Police also claimed that three hours after Geelani’s death, both his sons were under “pressure from Pakistan and miscreants, behaved differently and wrapped dead body in a Pakistani flag, made loud sloganeering in favour of Pakistan while instigating neighbours to come out.”

    Police in a series of tweets on Monday evening released the videos about ‘Ghusul’ (ablution) of Geelani.

    The 92-year-old, who was under house detention since 2010, passed away at his residence on Wednesday evening. After his death authorities imposed restrictions in the Valley and snapped mobile and internet services barring BSNL postpaid and broad services.

    Geelani’s body was buried quietly in a graveyard near his residence at Hyderpora before the sunrise on Thursday. The separatist leader’s family had alleged that police forcibly took away the body and buried it in the graveyard with none from the family attending the burial.

    Police in a series of tweets today evening stated that after the death of Geelani, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar along with SP & ASP met both of his sons at their residence at 11pm.

    “They consoled them and requested for burial in the night for the larger interest of general public due to potential major L&O situations. Both agreed and asked to wait for two hours until relatives reach. IGP Kashmir personally spoke to a few relatives and ensured them of safe passage,” police said.

    Police alleged that three hours later, probably under the pressure from Pakistan and other miscreants, they behaved differently and started resorting to anti-national activities including wrapping dead body in Pakistani flag, making loud sloganeering in favour of Pakistan and instigating neighbours to come out.

    “After persuasion, the relatives brought the body to the graveyard and performed last rites with due respect in presence of members of Intizamia Committee and local Imam,” police said adding, “The refusal of both his sons to come to graveyard indicated their loyalty to Pakistani agenda rather than their love & respect for their departed father.”

    The videos of Geelani’s body wrapped in Pakistani flag and commotion in a room where his body was lying had gone viral on social media.

    Geelani’s son Naeem Geelani had alleged police stormed into their house at around 3 am, misbehaved with people present inside including women and forcibly took away Geelani’s body. “The women were dragged out of the room and threatened they will be fired at.”

    He said police did everything themselves – from digging the grave, giving the last bath to Geelani, funeral prayers and burying the body. “All this was done in our absence and none from family attended his burial or funeral prayers.”

    He said IG and SSP Budgam visited their home and they told them that Geelani’s last wish was that his body be buried in martyrs graveyard at Eidgah, which is about 10-12 kms from his residence.

    “They said it is not possible. We told them to give us permission to bury the body quietly in martyrs graveyard Eidgah. However, they did not agree and said they have orders to get the body buried before dawn,” Naeem said.

    The authorities, meanwhile, today restored mobile internet in 8 out of 10 districts in the Valley.  However, the mobile internet was not yet restored in Srinagar and Budgam district in central Kashmir.

  • Madhya Pradesh man, missing since 23 years, returns to India from Pakistan

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: A 57-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh, who went missing from his native place in Sagar district 23 years ago and was later jailed in Pakistan after inadvertently crossing into the neighbouring country, has returned to India, a police official said on Tuesday.

    Prahlad Singh Rajput, a resident of Sagar’s Ghoshi Patti village, was handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) by Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border in Punjab around 4 pm on Monday, Sagar Superintendent of Police Atul Singh told PTI.

    “He was later handed over to a Sagar police team and his brother went there to bring him back.

    Rajput and the police team are likely to return to Sagar by Tuesday evening,” the official said.

    ALSO READ | Pakistan hands over two Indians jailed for 8 years to India at Wagah Border

    According to Rajput’s family members and other residents of the village, located about 46 km from the district headquarters, he went missing in 1998, the official said, adding that how and when he crossed over to Pakistan could not be known.

    Rajput was initially jailed in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and then shifted to a jail in Rawalpindi, the SP said as per information available so far.

    “The duration that he spent in Pakistani jails is not known,” he said.

    The official said Pakistani authorities in 2015 informed the Indian government about 17 “mentally weak” people lodged in their jails, saying they were not able to inform about their residential addresses.

    “Prahlad Singh’s name was also mentioned in this list, but his identity could not be ascertained at that time.

    Last year, his brother gave an application at the Sagar SP’s office in this regard.

    On the basis of the application, the facts were corroborated and his identity was ascertained,” the official said.

    The information and documents were sent to the Foreign Ministry and his release could be subsequently ensured, he said.

    Two constables from Gourjhamar police station in Sagar and Rajput’s brother Vir Singh, who went to the Wagah border to bring him back, were on their way to Sagar, police officials said.

    Earlier, a 40-year-old mentally unstable man, who had inadvertently crossed into Pakistan in 2019, returned to his village in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district in June this year.

  • Man held for protesting against bangle seller incident has links with Pakistan: Madhya Pradesh government

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has found “evidence” that shows one of the men arrested in connection with a protest and for spreading inflammatory messages after the bangle seller incident in Indore has links with Pakistan through social media, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Monday.

    He also claimed the arrested person, identified as Altamash Khan, is associated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

    Police arrested four persons, including Altamash Khan, on charges of spreading inflammatory messages on social media and conspiring to trigger riots in Indore city, on Saturday.

    “As per the evidence found (during the investigation), one of the arrested persons, Altamash Khan, who staged a protest at a police station (in Indore) after the bangle seller incident, has links with Pakistan through Whatsapp and Facebook,” Mishra told reporters.

    He said objectionable material, including videos and audios, were found from Khan which the latter had planned to release gradually.

    Mishra also said Khan is associated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) of Asaduddin Owaisi.

    “The objectionable material found with Khan was enough to disturb the peace in Madhya Pradesh. Interrogation of these four arrested people is underway,” he said.

    Police had said the arrested accused, identified as Altamash Khan, Mohammad Imran Ansari, Javed Khan and Syed Irfan Ali, all in the age group of 20 and 30 years, are inspired by a radical ideology.

    They spread inflammatory messages on social media related to a conspiracy to trigger communal riots at different places by creating a sense of discontent among people over some recent incidents in Indore city, police said.

    A case was registered against them under section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code, police said.

    The bangle seller, Taslim Ali, was thrashed in Govind Nagar of Indore on August 22 for using a ‘fake” name while selling bangles to women in the locality.

    Four persons were arrested in connection with the assault.

    Ali was later arrested for allegedly touching a minor girl inappropriately and also for forgery, police had said.

  • Runaway Madhya Pradesh man lodged in Pak jail to return home after 30 years

    By PTI

    SAGAR: A 57-year-old man, who was lodged in a Pakistani jail after inadvertently crossing into the neighbouring country, will return to his home in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district next week, a senior police official said on Saturday.

    Prahlad Singh, a resident of Ghoshi Patti village under Gourjhamar police station, about 46 km from here, will be handed over to India at Wagah border on August 30, Sagar’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Atul Singh said.

    The man had gone missing from his home 30 years ago, and in January, 2014, the Madhya Pradesh government found out that he was lodged in a jail in Pakistan, the official said.

    The police initiated the process of identification and correspondence for bringing him back from Pakistan in 2014, he said.

    The SP said that he received information on Friday that Pakistan will be handing Singh over to India, and a police team and his family are leaving for Amritsar to bring him back.

    It is yet to be ascertained how and when the man crossed over to Pakistan, the official said.

    Meanwhile, Singh’s family has claimed that he was mentally weak and they came to know that he was lodged in a jail in Pakistan after identifying his face on a television programme in 2014, Gourjhamar police station in-charge Arvind Singh Thakur said.

  • Pakistan objects to Kiru hydro plant design; India says project fully complaint with Indus treaty

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Pakistan has raised objections to the design of India’s Kiru hydroelectric plant, a mega 624 MW project over the Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir, but New Delhi asserts that the project is fully compliant with the Indus Water Treaty, officials said on Tuesday.

    Confirming this development, India’s Indus Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Saxena told PTI that his Pakistan Indus Commissioner Syed Muhammad Meher Ali Shah raised the objections last week.

    Saxena, however, asserted that the design of the project is fully compliant with the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty.

    It has been certified by the Central Water Commission, an apex organisation of the country in the field of water resources.

    This run of river project is being implemented by Chenab Valley Power Projects Limited, a joint venture of the National Hydropower Company and Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC).

    “As a responsible upper riparian state, India is committed for full utilisation of its rights and believes in an amicable resolution the issues raised by Pakistan side in letter and spirit of the treaty.

    “Pakistan’s objections on this project may come up for discussions in the next meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission scheduled this year in Pakistan. In the forthcoming meeting, the Indian side will explain its position and hope that Pakistan will appreciate the same and its apprehensions will be addressed through discussions,” Saxena said.

    The treaty provides Pakistan the right to raise objections on Indian design within three months of the receipt of the information.

    India has supplied the information on this project in June to Pakistan.

    Under the IWT signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of the eastern rivers — Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi — amounting to around 33 million acre-feet (MAF) annually is allocated to India for unrestricted use.

    The waters of western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — amounting to around 135 MAF annually has been assigned largely to Pakistan.

    According to the treaty, India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation.

    The treaty also gives the right to Pakistan to raise objections to designs of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers.

    India is permitted to construct the run of the river plants on western rivers with limited storage as per criteria specified in the treaty, Saxena said.

    Earlier this year, during the meeting between the Indus Commissioner of India and Pakistan, Shah also raised objections on the designs of Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir.

    To this, India said the designs are fully compliant with the treaty.

    Pakistan has also raised objections on hydropower projects in Chilling (24 MW), Rongdo (12 MW) and Ratan Nag (10.

    5 MW) are in Leh; while Mangdum Sangra (19 MW), Kargil Hunderman (25 MW) and Tamasha (12 MW) are in Kargil.

    India had said the designs of these projects are also fully compliant with the treaty.