Pakistan minister shares stage with Hafiz Saeed at an event in Islamabad, photo goes viral
Pakistan: Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri shared a stage with militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba’s chief Hafeez Saeed at an event in Islamabad, reports said on Monday. Saeed is believed to be the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 160 people were killed.
The development comes days after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the United Nations that the Imran Khan-led administration has “turned the tide against terrorism”.
A photograph of the two men sharing the stage went viral on Monday, a day after they reportedly participated at a conference organised by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council. In the photo, Qadri and Saeed are seen on the dais with a banner that says the conference is being organised to discuss the “defence of Pakistan” and the Kashmir dispute.
Several Twitter handles, believed to be run by supporters of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawah organisation, quoted Qadri as saying that Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed him to attend the event as the council’s agenda represents the “sentiments of the whole Pakistani nation”, theHindustan Times reported.
Qadri reportedly told the gathering of around 40 religious and extremist groups that Pakistan is an atomic power that will respond to India’s “mischief” in a befitting manner. “Our military is ready, do not be under the impression that there will not be any response to a surgical strike,” the minister was quoted as saying.
On September 24, Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat said there was a need for another surgical strike against Pakistan, India Today TV reported.
On Saturday, Qureshi claimed that India had chosen “politics over peace” by calling off a scheduled bilateral dialogue “on flimsy grounds”. “Pakistan continues to face terrorism that is financed, facilitated and orchestrated by our eastern neighbour,” Qureshi said.
#Breaking
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) October 1, 2018
Imran khan's minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Noor-Ul-Haq Qadri participated in a conference with 26/11 terrorist #HafizSaeed and Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, Head of Difa-e-Pakistan (father of the #Taliban)@ForeignOfficePk @SushmaSwaraj @IndiainPakistan pic.twitter.com/kZuZwtKZoP
Courtesy: scroll.in
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
