AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi urges ‘enter and stay’ strike on Pak, slams BJP on terror, census delay
Hyderabad, May 1 (PTI): In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said the Centre should take decisive action against Pakistan, suggesting that the response should go beyond cross-border strikes.
Speaking to reporters, the Hyderabad MP referred to a resolution passed by the Indian Parliament declaring that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is an integral part of India.
“If any action is taken this time, then it should be ‘ghar mein ghus ke baith jana’ (enter their house and stay). Earlier, it was said ‘ghar mein ghus ke maarenge’ (enter and kill), now it should be ‘enter and stay.’ That’s what should happen,” he said, responding to a question about media reports claiming that Pakistan soldiers are vacating border posts.
He added, however, that he was unaware of such reports.
Citing past terror attacks, including 26/11, Pulwama, Uri, Pathankot, and Reasi, Owaisi stressed that terrorism must be eradicated.
“All opposition parties are urging the government to end terrorism,” he said.
“You (BJP) are in power—you should put a stop to all this.”
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to determine the mode, targets, and timing of India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
On April 22, terrorists opened fire in Baisaran—a popular tourist spot in the upper reaches of Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district—killing 26 people, mostly tourists from other states.
Owaisi also announced that the AIMIM will contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections and claimed that the people of the Seemanchal region will “teach a lesson” to those who "stole" his party’s MLAs.
He said the party has already declared its candidate for the Bahadurganj constituency and that he will address public meetings in Bihar on May 3 and 4.
“We will fight strongly this time. You’ll see that our MLA candidates will be more successful than before. The people of Seemanchal will teach a lesson to those who stole our MLAs,” he said.
The AIMIM had seen moderate success in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, contesting 20 seats and winning five—all in Seemanchal, a region with a significant Muslim population.
However, in 2022, the party suffered a major setback when all but one of its MLAs switched to the RJD, the state's main opposition party.
Commenting on the Centre’s decision to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census, Owaisi said AIMIM had been demanding this since 2021.
He urged the BJP-led government to break the 50 per cent reservation ceiling and introduce a bill to that effect in the next monsoon session. “Opposition parties will support it,” he asserted.
Owaisi also said it is the BJP, the Prime Minister, and NDA allies who must answer when the census will actually begin, and whether the data will be made public before the 2029 Parliamentary elections.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
