Congress endorses Kartarpur corridor opening, condemns Pak army cheif's rant
New Delhi, Sep 7 : Even as it condemned Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa for "vowing to avenge bloodshed on the border", the Congress on Friday endorsed Pakistans move to open Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims.
Reacting to General Bajwa's offensive, Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh wondered why the Modi government was not able to give a befitting reply to Pakistan's continuous rants.
"We condemn it (Bajwa's remarks) in strong words. Pakistan continues to make such statements, but one should ask the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) about the Government's response to these statements," Singh told the media.
"The government must give a befitting reply to Pakistan whenever it points fingers and tries to condemn the sacrifices of our soldiers and citizens," he said.
Addressing the Defence Day ceremony in Rawalpindi Bajwa said: "We will avenge the blood flowing on the border."
Reacting to Pakistan's opening the religious corridor, Singh said it was good move for the people of India.
"If Sikh pilgrims are allowed to visit the holy shrine, it is something which is very good for the people of India," said Singh.
Singh's remarks follow Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu thanking his "friend" Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for enabling the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor.
"I thank you Khan Saab (Imran Khan) a million times for doing this," Sidhu said on the opening of the corridor which will allow pilgrims from India to go to a gurdwara in Pakistan, close to the India-Pakistan border, which is associated with Guru Nanak Dev.
Sidhu, however, drew flak from the BJP, which said the praise was an "insult to India and Modi".
"This has become a habit with the Congress to insult our Prime Minister and praise that of the neighbouring country," BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
