Author: LokMarg

A total of three terrorists have been killed in the encounter that began in the Nagbal area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian on Tuesday.

“One more terrorist killed. Total three killed till now. Search going on. Further details shall follow,” the Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.

Earlier in the day, two terrorists affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit were neutralised in the encounter.

The J-K Police and security forces carried out the encounter.

Further details are awaited.

Police had tweeted about the start of the encounter mentioning that the police and security forces were on the job. (ANI)

It looks like Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Sardar Udham’ was on a winning streak Tuesday night. The movie has won awards in five categories and going by the film’s big win, Vicky Kaushal fans are hopeful that the film will grab some more awards tonight!

Mansi Mehta and Dmitrii Malich won the first award for the film in the ‘Best Production Design’ category.
Next, Costume designer, Veera Kapur Ee was awarded for her work on the film’s costumes in the ‘Best Costume Designs’ category.

Celebrities are at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention centre witnessing the event.

Avik Mukhopadhyay won the award for the film’s cinematography in the ‘Best Cinematography’ category, followed by Shantanu Moitra who won the film an award in ‘Best Background Score’ category.

Next, SUPERB/BOJP MAIN ROAD POST NY VFXWAALA EDIT FX STUDIOS won the award for the film in the ‘Best VFX’ category.

Dipankar Chaki and Nihar Ranjan Samal who worked on sound design for ‘Sardar Udham’ won in the category ‘Best sound design’.

The film has also been nominated in the ‘Best film’ category – popular and critics.

Lead actor Vicky Kaushal has also been nominated in ‘Best actor in the leading role’ category – popular and critics.

‘Sardar Udham’ is a biopic of freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India in 1940, to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Vicky Kaushal played the titular character in the film. Produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, ‘Sardar Udham’ also starred Shaun Scott, Stephen Hogan, Banita Sandhu, Kirsty Averton and Amol Parashar.

Shoojit Sircar, the director of the film, recently bagged the prestigious Indian Film Festival of Melbourne award in the ‘Best Director’ category. (ANI)

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday said that the country is currently assessing the flood relief plan and has not decided on the resumption of trade with India.

He made these remarks at the “2022 Pakistan Floods Response Plan (FRP)” meeting which was jointly launched by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations (UN) on August 30.

Earlier on Monday, amid food security concerns due to catastrophic floods, Pakistan said that it could consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India,” according to a media report.

The country’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, while talking to media persons, said the country’s government “can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India” for the facilitation of the people in wake of the destruction of standing crops in Pakistan due to recent floods, Radio Pakistan reported.

In August 2019, relations between the two countries hit a new low after Pakistan decided to downgrade diplomatic ties with India, recall its high commissioner from New Delhi, expel the Indian envoy to Islamabad and suspend bilateral trade.

On August 4, Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said that there had not been any progress between India and Pakistan since 2019 regarding resumption of trade.

Asked whether there was any progress concerning the resumption of trade ties with Pakistan, the minister in a written response to the Rajya Sabha, said: “In August 2019, Pakistan announced the suspension of bilateral trade with India. Pakistan partially relaxed its ban on trade with India in September 2019 by permitting trade in certain pharmaceutical products.

There has not been any progress regarding resumption of trade with Pakistan since then.”

In June, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari emphasized the country’s interest in trade and engagement with India saying that Pakistan was isolated on the world stage due to past policies.

Over 5.7 million people have been affected in Pakistan as the country faces the worst rain-induced flooding in its history. The rescue, relief, and rehabilitation in the country continue.

At least 1,033 people have died while 1,527 have been injured since June 14 from the rains and floods, Geo News reported citing National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Cumulative data from June 14 from across Pakistan showed that 3,451.5 km of road has been damaged, 149 bridges have collapsed, and 170 shops were destroyed.

A total of 949,858 homes have been partially or fully destroyed. Out of the total, 662,446 homes have been partially damaged, and 287,412 have been fully destroyed. While 719,558 livestock has also been killed.

The floods affected the lives of millions of people after which the Pakistan government declared a “national emergency”.

Bilawal Bhutto delivered the keynote address at the launch event being hosted by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by a video message from Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, will also deliver remarks in his capacity as the Chairperson of the “Relief Coordination Committee” constituted by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Also speaking at the event were the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Islamabad, and the Assistant Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The FRP complemented the Government’s overall humanitarian response to the recent floods caused by unprecedented rains in Pakistan. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra’s biopic film ‘Shershaah’ received the Best Action and Best Editing awards at the 67th Filmfare Awards in Mumbai.

Action directors Stefan Richter and Sunil Rodrigues bagged the award for the best action sequences in the 2021 film. ‘Shershaah’ bagged the highest number of Nominations at the 67th Filmfare awards.

Apart from Best Action, the film also received the Best Editing Award.

Produced by Karan Johar, the film starred Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani in the lead roles was premiered exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

Directed by Vishnuvaradhan, ‘Shershaah’ is based on the life of Param Vir Chakra awardee Vikram Batra, who laid down his life in the service of the nation while recapturing Indian territories from Pakistani intruders during the Kargil War in 1999. The film, which was released on Amazon Prime Video on 12 August 2021, was hailed by everyone.

Set in the 90s, the film also shed light on the innocence of romance, bringing to screen the fresh and crackling chemistry of Kiara Advani and Sidharth for the first time.

The film stars Sidharth as Vikram Batra and Kiara as his girlfriend Dimple Cheema. The film was produced by Dharma Productions and Kaash Entertainment, with Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Shabbir Boxwala, Ajay Shah, and Himanshu Gandhi serving as producers.

In the film, Sidharth has portrayed two very distinct looks to showcase the younger phase of Vikram and his army phase, transforming himself completely to get the looks right. Apart from that, the actor will also be seen playing the role of Vikram’s twin brother Vishal Batra in the film. (ANI)

Deceased BJP leader Sonali Phogat’s daughter Yashodhara Phogat on Tuesday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged murder of her mother while also stating that the family is not satisfied with the probe conducted by the Goa Police.

She said that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had assured of a CBI investigation into the case.
The family of Sonali Phogat had met Khattar on August 27, after which the Chief Minister had assured of a CBI probe into the case.

However, according to the deceased BJP leader’s daughter, “no action has been taken as of yet”.

Speaking to ANI, Yashodhara said, “I demand a CBI probe as I’m not satisfied with the current probe. No action is being taken. The accused have been kept in Goa, they have yet not revealed their motive (behind the murder), so what are the police doing? It’s about justice for my mother, we won’t stand back until there is a CBI investigation. CM (of Haryana) said that CBI probe will happen but no action has been taken as of yet.”

She claimed that the murder of her mother “was planned”.

“My mother had told me that there would be shooting for nearly one week in Goa. But it comes to the fore that the resort was booked only for two days. It suggests that it was a planned murder,” she said.

Sonali Phogat’s aunt, Manoj Phogat said that the family had no information about the arrival of the Goa Police to Haryana for investigation, and had only come to know about it through the media.

“We do not know officially when the Goa Police will come. We are getting information about their arrival from the media. Officially, it is the local police who inform us about the arrival, but we have not been informed yet. The local police should have come earlier,” she said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday suggested that former associate Anna Hazare was being “used” by political rivals to target him as he dismissed the social activist’s criticism of his policies and style of functioning.

Earlier in the day, Hazare slammed Kejriwal saying that power induced intoxication had made him deviate from the ideology and ideals of the movement that led to the creation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He had also raised questions over the AAP’s liquor policy.
“They (BJP) have been saying there’s a scam in the liquor policy but CBI said there’s no scam. Public is not listening to them. Ab yeh Anna Hazare Ji ke kandhe pe rakh ke banduk chala rahe hain (Now there are using Anna Hazare as a pretext to attack me). This is common in politics,” said Kejriwal

He lauded Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s persistence throughout the raids on him by the investigative agencies.

“When we come into public life,we should always be ready for any probe. CBI completed all its probe; investigated Manish Sisodia for 14 hours. He answered their questions satisfactorily. They couldn’t find anything in his locker. So, an informal clean chit is given to him,” he added.

He further demanded a probe against the BJP and said, “Now that nothing came out of the CBI probe, there should be no politics in it. Now there should be an investigation on how they wanted to buy MLAs in Delhi for Rs 20-20 crores each. If we didn’t run from it, then why should they?”

Earlier in the day, social activist Anna Hazare wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal accusing him of being intoxicated with power and forgetting the ideology and values of the movement that created the AAP.

According to him, Kejriwal after becoming Delhi CM had deviated from their ideology.

Anna Hazare wrote, “This is the first time I am writing to you after you became Chief Minister. The recent news about the Delhi government on the liquor scam is disheartening. I have been inspired by Gandhiji and his ideology. Based on this, I have dedicated my life to the people, society and the country. For the last 47 years, I have been working towards the upliftment of society and corruption.”

Anna Hazare was the face of the massive anti-corruption that propelled Kejriwal to national spotlight.

“You had written the book titled ‘Swaraj’ where you wrote about ideals. There was a lot of hope from you then, but after going into politics and becoming the Chief Minister, you have forgotten the ideology. Just like alcohol intoxication, there is an intoxication of power also. It looks like you have drowned in the intoxication of power. (Aap Satta Ke Nashe Mein Doob Gaye Hain).”

Hazare also hit out against Delhi’s new excise policy, which he said encouraged the sale and consumption of liquor. “Liquor shops were being opened in every corner of the city and it is very bad for the general public.”

Hazare cited protests he had led over liquor policies in Maharashtra. “Had expected a similar policy (like Maharashtra’s). But you didn’t do it. People seem to be trapped in a cycle of money for power and power for money. It doesn’t suit a party that emerged from a major movement,” Hazare wrote.

The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

The Delhi government’s version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, and eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience.

The CBI had filed a case against alleged corruption in the 2021-22 excise policy. The excise policy was subsequently withdrawn by the AAP government.

Earlier this month, CBI raids on Manish Sisodia’s official residence in connection with the alleged corruption in the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy.

It was alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the Excise Policy and undue favours were extended to the license holders including waiver or reduction in licence fee, an extension of L-1 license without approval etc.

It was further alleged that illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties and made false entries in their books of accounts.

The raids have led to a political slugfest with BJP leaders including Union Minister Anurag Thakur hitting out at Kejriwal and Sisodia over alleged “liquor corruption”. AAP has termed the allegations as politically motivated. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed contempt petitions filed against some BJP leaders, the Uttar Pradesh government, and its officials arising out of the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

A three-judge bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka and Vikram Nath said that in view of the passage of time and the 2019 apex court’s judgement on the Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case in Ayodhya, the contempt cases don’t survive.
The contempt petition was filed by one Mohammed Aslam Bhure in 1992 against the Uttar Pradesh government for violation of the undertaking given to the court regarding the maintenance of law and order in the area.

The contempt case proceedings were initiated against Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sadhvi Ritambara, Vinay Katiyar and others.

Noting that the contempt petitioner Bhure had passed away in 2010, the bench said that in this backdrop, nothing survives in the matter. (ANI)

Former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress last week and has decided to float a political party, will hold a public meeting on September 4 at Sainik Colony in Jammu.

This will be his first meeting since he snapped his nearly 50-year-long association with Congress. The public meeting is scheduled for 11 am.

Azad has said that he will launch a new party soon and the first unit will be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls. Azad was Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008.

With Azad signalling that he will float a new party, several leaders have resigned from the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand is among 64 leaders who have resigned from the Congress.

In an indication of his political stock even as he has resigned from Congress, three party leaders who are members of Group of 23 met him at his residence in the national capital on Tuesday. Azad was also a member of G-23.

The leaders who met Azad were former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and former union minister Anand Sharma.

In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad had targeted party leadership, particularly Rahul Gandhi, over the way the party has been run in the past nearly nine years.

In the hard-hitting five-page letter, Azad had claimed that a coterie runs the party while Sonia Gandhi was just “a nominal head” and all the major decisions were taken by “Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs”.

Azad had said he was submitting his resignation with “great regret and an extremely leaden heart” and severing his about 50-year association with the Congress. He was earlier Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Recounting his long association with the Congress, Azad had said the situation in the party has reached a point of “no return.”

“Unfortunately, the situation in the Congress party has reached such a point of no return that now ‘proxies’ are being propped up to take over the leadership of the Party. This experiment is doomed to fail because the Party has been so comprehensively destroyed that situation has become irretrievable. Moreover, the `chosen one’ would be nothing more than a puppet on a string,” he said.

While Azad took potshots at Sonia Gandhi in the letter, his sharpest attack was on Rahul Gandhi and he described the Wayand MP as “non-serious individual” and “immature”. (ANI)

After boycotting some of the Bollywood biggies ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, ‘Raksha Bandhan’, ‘Dobaaraa’ and recently Vijay Deverakonda’s ‘Liger’, netizens are now eyeing a boycott of Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s upcoming sci-fi thriller film ‘Brahmastra: Part 1 – Shiva’.

Trollers are currently trending #BoycottBrahmastra on Twitter, asking the people not to watch the film.
Apparently, some netizens went through the archives and dug up actors Ranbir, Alia and Amitabh Bachchan’s previous portrayals in different films which have deeply affected their religious sentiments.

Talking about Ranbir, he made a guest appearance in Aamir Khan’s ‘PK’ as an alien, in which Aamir placed stickers of Hindu Gods on Ranbir’s cheeks for self-defence.

Along with this a clip from the ‘Saawariya’ actor’s film ‘Rockstar’ also surfaced on the internet in which he could be seen mocking a Hindu mantra, along with a decade-old clip from an interview where Ranbir stated that he loves to eat beef.

Meanwhile, Alia’s controversial advertisement for a clothing brand came into highlight once again during the #BoycottBrahmastra trend, in which, as per netizens, the ritual of Kanyadaan was portrayed as an oppressive practice.

Apart from that, Alia, in an interview, said that “if you don’t like me, don’t watch me”, which has triggered anger amongst netizens. The clip has gone viral on social media, with many Twitter users saying that they will boycott her upcoming film ‘Brahmastra’.

Along with this, Amitabh’s monologue “Aaj Khush to Bohot Hoge Tum” from yesteryear hit film ‘Deewar’, where he was seen talking to Lord Shiva’s idol is currently getting trolled by the netizens for disrespecting Hindu Gods.

Check out some of the tweets here:

In light of the cancel culture, Aamir Khan’s ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ failed at the box office along with Akshay Kumar’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’ and Vijay Deverakonda’s recently released film ‘Liger’.

Helmed by Ayan Mukerji, ‘Brahmastra: Part 1- Shiva’ is all set to hit the theatres on September 9, 2022, in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. (ANI)

The UPA MLAs on Friday arrived at Ranchi airport along with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Earlier CM Soren was seen spending quality time with his MLAs at the Latratu dam in the Khunti district of the state on Saturday.
This came soon after the meeting of Jharkhand’s ruling UPA coalition members, amidst speculation about Hemant Soren’s possible disqualification as an MLA in the state assembly for allegedly violating poll norms by extending a mining lease to himself. (ANI)