Month: March 2022

The Pakistan Army’s top brass, led by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has reportedly asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign after the conference of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled for this month.

Pakistan media reports stated that the decision to oust Imran Khan was taken by General Bajwa and three other senior Lt. Generals in a meeting which took place after Bajwa and the country’s spymaster Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum met Imran Khan.

It was reported that all four military leaders decided not to give any escape route to Imran Khan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), incidentally, is hoping that its trump card of former Army Chief Raheel Sharif’s meeting Bajwa at the behest of Imran Khan will save the government.

However, Raheel Sharif also failed in his mission, noted the local media in its reports. Amid the looming no-confidence motion against his government, Imran Khan met Army Chief Bajwa on Friday.

The meeting is being speculated to have revolved around the recent political developments in the country, with the local media reporting that the agenda could have included the upcoming OIC summit in Pakistan, the ongoing unrest in Balochistan and the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government.

The majority of PTI leaders are waiting for the outcome of this meeting amidst the fragile political situation in the country, Capital TV, a Pakistani media channel reported.

The meeting is also being seen as an attempt by Imran Khan to get back in the good books of the Pakistani establishment, which is the Pakistani Army, to save his government.

The fissures between Imran Khan and the Army establishment became visible when the former in his profanity-laced speech on March 11 had rebuffed Army Chief Bajwa’s advice to not use derogatory remarks against Opposition leaders.

“I was just talking to Gen Bajwa (Chief of Pakistani Army) and he told me not to refer to Fazl as ‘diesel’. But I am not the one who is saying that. The people have named him diesel,” Khan reportedly said referring toJUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. (ANI)

Accusing the United States of developing components of biological weapons in labs in Ukraine, Russia on Friday supported China’s demand at the UNSC asking the Americans to disclose information about the activities of 360 labs in the world that are allegedly controlled by the country.

“Over the past week, we have discovered new details indicating that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukraine,” said the Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vassily Nebenzia, adding later that, “we fully support China’s demand to the United States to disclose information about activities of 360 US-controlled labs in the world.”

The Russian representative gave details of financial aid channelled to select labs in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and said that the Ukrainian authorities were in cahoots with the Americans to carry out dangerous biological experiments on Ukrainian territory.

“Simply speaking, Ukrainian authorities gave Pentagon a carte blanche and let them carry out dangerous biological experiments on the territory of Ukraine,” Permanent Representative Nebenzia said.

“We would not be surprised should similar facts come to light regarding the activity of US-sponsored labs in other parts of the globe. We call on states who provide their areas to Pentagon for such experiments to read carefully contract documents regarding their cooperation with the United States in the biological area,” Nebenzia further said.

The Russian representative went on to allege that the US and Ukraine had violated the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), adding that, the implications of the dangerous biological research “could have ‘spilled’ beyond the borders of Ukraine and even the entire region at any point.”

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in the US had demanded that the United States must immediately disclose information about its military biological activities in Ukrainian laboratories.

“We demand that the US Side disclose information about military biological activity in laboratories on the territory of Ukraine as soon as possible. What kind of peaceful research we are talking about if the Pentagon stands behind these projects,” the embassy wrote on its Telegram channel.

India had noted the remarks made by the UN Under-Secretary-General of Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu regarding biological activities relating to Ukraine and said that “India attaches high importance to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) as a key global and non-discriminatory disarmament Convention, prohibiting an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.”

R Ravindra, Deputy Permanent Representative at UNSC briefing said, “It is important to ensure full and effective implementation of the BTWC in letter and spirit. We also believe that any matter relating to obligations under the BTWC should be addressed as per the provisions of the Convention and through consultations and cooperation between the parties concerned.” (ANI)

Earlier in March, the Russian Defense Ministry unveiled new findings after analyzing documents obtained from experts from Ukrainian laboratories.

Igor Kirillov, the chief of the Russian armed forces’ radiation, chemical, and biological defence, said that Pentagon created a network of over 30 biological laboratories in Ukrainian territory.

According to Kirillov, the United States removed all materials necessary for further research from Ukraine after the beginning of Russia’s special military operation. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow may launch a consultation mechanism under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) to discuss Washington’s non-compliance with the document.

However, a US Defense Department official denied the accusations saying the United States is not assisting Ukraine with biological weapons in its war with Russia and there are no indications that biological weapons are being used by Ukraine.

Russia had started a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to calls from the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation was only targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population was not in danger. Moscow has repeatedly said it has no plans to occupy Ukraine and only seeks to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country.

Western nations have imposed severe sanctions on Russia following the invasion and have raised an outcry over Russian “war crimes” and the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, at least 6,623 people have been evacuated via humanitarian corridors from besieged Ukrainian cities on Saturday, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, CNN reported.

Among the besieged cities, Mariupol is witnessing some of the most severe fighting with almost constant bombardment and increasing civilian casualties.

A theatre sheltering civilians was bombed in Mariupol a few days ago which drew widespread condemnation. The bombing led to more than 1300 people getting trapped under debris, and one person receiving severe injuries.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Saturday (local time) that Russia continues to make “incremental gains” in Ukraine’s south and has used “brutal, savage techniques” in the way it has targeted civilians, CNN reported. (ANI)

Sanjay Kapoor and Maheep Kapoor’s daughter, Shanaya Kapoor, who is already started making it to the headlines after the announcement of her debut film ‘Bedhadak’, is giving pure glam vibes in an alluring green ensemble.

Taking to her Instagram handle on Sunday, the debutant shared a series of photographs as she posed on a rooftop of a building. In the pictures, she can be seen donning an attractive green slit dress with her hair left open. Her makeup was minimal and she wore strap-on heels.

She dropped a green heart emoticon in the caption.

Recently, she attended Apoorva Mehta’s birthday bash with her ‘Bedhadak’ co-stars Lakshya Lalvani and Gurfateh Pirzada. Shanaya opted for an all-white look for the party and her photos went viral on social media.

Talking about her debut movie, ‘Bedhdak’ is directed by Shashank Khaitan and produced by Dharma Productions. (ANI)

Karnataka High Court judges, who passed the hijab verdict, will be given ‘Y’ category security after they received death threats, informed Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday.

“We have decided to give ‘Y’ category security to all three judges who gave the Hijab verdict. I have instructed Director-General and IG to probe the complaint filed in Vidhanasoudha Police station thoroughly in which some people gave life threats to the judges,” Bommai said while speaking to media persons outside his residence in Bengaluru.

The three judges also include Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi. Besides the Chief Justice, the three-judge bench also comprised Justices Krishna Dixit and Khazi M Jaibunnisa.

Bommai called for strict actions against three accused of threatening the judges.

Condemning the incident, Bommai said, “Being in favour of community is not secularism, that is communalism. I condemn this, we all should stand together. The government will condemn this.”

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed various petitions challenging a ban on Hijab in education institutions and said that wearing a Hijab is not an essential religious practice of Islam.

In Tamil Nadu, three Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) functionaries were booked for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Karnataka high court’s verdict on the hijab row. (ANI)

Uttarakhand BJP chief Madan Kaushik on Sunday informed that all newly elected members of the Legislative Assembly will take oath in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday.

Kaushik also informed that the name for Uttarakhand Chief Minister will be decided after today’s Legislative Party meeting. “All newly elected members of the Legislative Assembly will take oath at 11 am in Vidhan Sabha, tomorrow,” he said.

“The meeting of Legislative Party will be held in the evening. Thereafter, the Chief Minister’s name will be announced,” Kaushik added.

Earlier today, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Kaushik, and former Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in the national capital to discuss government formation.

BJP President JP Nadda and party leaders BL Santhosh and Uttarakhand minister Satpal Maharaj were also present at Shah’s residence.

Meanwhile, Dhami said that the procedure for government formation is underway and the BJP central leadership will take a decision on the next leader of the legislature party in the state.

“The procedure for government formation is underway…the BJP central leadership will take a decision (on CM face),” said Dhami, at Uttarakhand Bhawan in Delhi.

Notably, BJP MLA and former minister Rekha Arya has supported Dhami as the next Chief Minister.

Several MLAs, including Ganesh Joshi and Arvind Pandey, have given their consent for the name of Dhami as the leader of the legislature party.

Till now six MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party have announced their willingness to vacate their Assembly seats to help Dhami get elected to the House. Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes. Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 per cent as against Kapri who got 48,177 with a huge vote share of 51.89 per cent.

The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, bagging 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly. (ANI)

In Bhopal Central Jail, the prisoners, who are sentenced for heinous crimes, are taking lessons to perform various Vedic rituals so that they can become purohits (priests) and earn an honourable living when they are released from the jail.

Gayatri Shaktipith Bhopal, an organization is giving training of ‘Yug Purohit’ to about 50 prisoners for a month.

The prisoners who were interested in Vedic rituals and want to give a good message to society after completing their sentence were selected for the training.

Sadanand Amrekar, a member of the Gayatri Shaktipith, an institute that is proving training prisoners, told ANI, “We are training these prisoners as they are cloistered from society. They are being taught the rituals so that they can work for the well-being of the people. We want them to go back to society as humane and virtuous people. The priest training has been conducted with the aim of establishing oneself as a good person in the society and the meaning of Purohit is taking care of others.”

“There are 50 prisoners as of now, to whom we have selected after the talking to them. We have selected them on their eligibility, ability to learn and keen interest to learn rituals. The training session will end on March 28,” he added.

Bhopal Central Jail Superintendent Dinesh Nargave said that in the past also the Gayatri family has been doing a lot of work for the spiritual, intellectual and moral upliftment of the inmates.

“Prisoners in jails are either in depression or in aggression. Most of them are semi-literate and poor. We felt the need of training prisoners so that they feel the positive energy around themselves. 50-60 prisoners who were willing to learn are being trained,” he added.

Sandeep Pawar, prisoner, who is convicted of murder said that through this session he wants to awaken the divinity in human beings and the message of Param Pujya to the masses.

“I’m imprisoned for murder. We are being taught to propagate virtues of love and camaraderie along with spiritual education and rituals. Earlier we used to be stressed but after the training, there’s a sense of calmness and we do feel like a part of the society,” he said.

“I am feeling very good, earlier the mind used to be restless and it seemed that negativity was there in the jail, but ever since I have been associated with the session, now it is very peaceful and we feel that we are also a part of the society,” said Sandeep. (ANI)

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed delight over his first scheduled official visit to India on April 2 this year at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, an Israeli government press release informed on Saturday.

“I am delighted to pay my first official visit to India at the invitation of my friend, Prime Minister Modi, and together we will continue leading the way for our countries’ relations,” Prime Minister Bennett said.

The purpose of the visit is to advance and strengthen the strategic alliance between the countries, and to expand bilateral ties. In addition, the leaders will discuss the strengthening of cooperation in a variety of areas, including innovation, economy, research and development, agriculture and more,” the Press release by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of Israel informed.

The Israeli PM will meet Prime Minister Modi and other senior government officials, as well as visit the Jewish community in the country.

This visit will reaffirm the important connection between the countries and the leaders and will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Israel and India, the press release further said.

The leaders first met on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow last October, at which Prime Minister Modi invited Prime Minister Bennett to pay an official visit to the country.

“The relations between our two unique cultures — the Indian culture and the Jewish culture — are deep, and they rely on deep appreciation and meaningful collaborations. There are many things we can learn from the Indians, and this is what we strive to do. Together we will expand our cooperation to other areas, from innovation and technology, security and cyber, to agriculture and climate change,” Bennett said while crediting PM Modi with “restarting relations between India and Israel.” (ANI)

As Pakistan Prime Minister faces uncertainty ahead of the no-confidence vote this month, a Pakistan analyst has argued that Imran Khan is fighting what increasingly appears to be an “unwinnable war.”

Opposition political parties have sought a no-confidence motion in Parliament to remove Imran Khan.
The ruling party has responded by threatening violence and briefly detaining two members of parliament (MPs).

akistan’sopposition leaders have threatened to stage a “sit-in” in the lower house and disrupt the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit, if the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan is not presented in the national assembly on Monday, the deadline for tabling the resolution.

In an editorial piece in the Dawn newspaper, Fahd Husain, said the pre-power days Imran Khan was riding high on a wave of popularity fuelled by factors that were partly organic, and partly not. The incumbents did not stand a chance.

In the post-power days, he has been surfing on a wave of expectations fuelled by hope and ignited by the spark of state machinery, he said. The final outcome of what could be Khan’s last stand is still 10 days away, as the date of the no-confidence motion against Khan inches closer.

According to Husain, what is fairly clear to those not blinded by partisan rage is that the events we see around us today — the vote of no-confidence, betrayal by own members and dithering of allies — all these happenings did not break out like a cloudburst.

The Opposition parties submitted the no-trust motion against Imran Khan in the National Assembly secretariat on March 8. While the ImranKhan government has exuded confidence to defeat the no-trust motion, the opposition is sure that they will oust Khan.

Notably, the opposition parties have rejected the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s offer for withdrawing the no-trust motion against Prime Minister and has made it clear that the resolution will only be withdrawn if the premier announces his resignation.

If Imran Khan is voted out through the motion, it would create history as a vote of no-confidence has never been carried against the prime minister in Pakistan. (ANI)

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting with his party MLAs from Punjab via videoconference on Sunday.

The meeting of the AAP MLAs will be held in Mohali and Kejriwal will join it via video conferencing from Delhi at 12 noon.

The AAP recorded a landslide victory in the recently concluded Punjab Assembly polls winning 92 seats in the 117-member House. The AAP leader and the party’s face for recently held Punjab Assembly polls Bhagwant Mann took oath as the Chief Minister of the state on March 16. On March 17, Punjab’s newly-elected MLAs, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, took oath as members of the Legislative Assembly.

Ten AAP MLAs, including a woman, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab on Saturday. Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 10 ministers at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh. (ANI)