Must read:
@USAID
told
@SecBlinken
Israel was deliberately blocking delivery of food & medicine to Gaza,
@stateprm
came to similar conclusion.
Yet
@SecBlinken
told Congress otherwise.
Pakistan's
#EdhiFoundation
- built by the great Abdul Sattar Edhi - writes to Indian PM with offer to send fleet of 50 ambulances to help fight
#COVID19India
@Rezhasan
Laskar do you really believe that you can fool the World again?The Cobras you have raised would bite you to death. Even if you break the FANGS regularly still chances are there you will make mistake & the bite will be fatal for Pakistan.Size the Army to save Pakistan. Will you?
Qatar's foreign ministry summoned Indian envoy Deepak Mittal & handed him official note expressing disappointment, total rejection & condemnation of controversial remarks made by official in India’s ruling party against Prophet Mohammed.
Those who think the Serum Institute story is murky/crazy/too many twists and turns so far, wait a few more hours & it'll get a whole lot more interesting. In fact, about 5 more hours.
India condemns killing of civilians at Bucha in Ukraine at UN Security Council & backs call for independent investigation - first time New Delhi has publicly censured actions blamed on Russian forces.
I don't know which
@ImranKhanPTI
speech people are talking about when they use words like "statesman" to describe it. All I saw was 50 mins of rambling where he tried to pass himself off as a leader of all Muslims (certainly none I know) & talked about nuclear war.
*A national capital on its knees
*Many of these people won't survive the night
*Probably the most harrowing 3 mins of footage you'd have seen in the recent past
Supremely ironical that today's detention in Pakistan of 44 people with links to banned groups announced by minister Shehryar Afridi - wasn't he the guy who said no "mai ka laal" could harm jihadis as long as his party is in power?
France's
@Dassault_OnAir
has handed over the first Rafale combat jet to Qatar. The only catch? The first lot of pilots trained for Qatar in France are "Pakistani exchange officers".
Prime Minister
@ImranKhanPTI
quoting 11 August 1947 speech of Jinnah & Ashtiname(Covenant) of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) with christians.
“We must protect, give equal rights to our minorities & ensure they are free to practice their religion and not treated as second class citizens”
As someone who was part of media teams that travelled with both PMs Vajpayee & Manmohan Singh on foreign tours:
*officials such as foreign secy, NSA, principal secy interacted with media on flights. Result - media was much better informed, reporting was better.
Maneka Gandhi threatening voters that she will watch booth wise votes to decide whom to be helped once she wins.
Sakshi Maharaj says as a ‘Sanyasi’ he’ll curse people if they won’t vote for him!
BJP is a Party with a Difference 😁
Decided tonight to tell off a former colleague who would greet me every time he saw me for the past 10+ years with the words "Hello Lashkar-e-Taiba". Enough's enough. Stupid joke that became stale ages ago.
Singapore's health ministry dismisses Delhi CM's remarks about new Coronavirus strain, says strain prevalent in many Covid-19 cases in Singapore is "B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India".
सिंगापुर में आया कोरोना का नया रूप बच्चों के लिए बेहद ख़तरनाक बताया जा रहा है, भारत में ये तीसरी लहर के रूप में आ सकता है।
केंद्र सरकार से मेरी अपील:
1. सिंगापुर के साथ हवाई सेवाएं तत्काल प्रभाव से रद्द हों
2. बच्चों के लिए भी वैक्सीन के विकल्पों पर प्राथमिकता के आधार पर काम हो
UN Security Council consultations on Kashmir - the Dominican Republic, the US & France sought to block the matter but Russia (India's long-standing ally) backed move for open & formal meeting, per multiple sources.
Irony just died - especially coming from someone who studied in 3 institutions established by "Britishers" - Atchison College, Royal Grammar School Worcester & Keble College.
The meeting between
@ImranKhanPTI
&
@realDonaldTrump
was supposed to be about Afghanistan & resetting US-Pakistan, but given that it's Trump, the unexpected happened - attention shifted to Kashmir & India.
ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hamid hosted meeting of intelligence chiefs of China, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan in Islamabad. Meet apparently arranged to discuss security situation in Afghanistan & cooperation for ensuring peace & stability.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is led by Pakistan-based Masood Azhar, released by India in exchange for passengers of hijacked airliner & whose designation as terrorist at UN Security Council has been blocked by China for years.
A little birdie tells me
@realDonaldTrump
's remarks about Indian role in
#Afghanistan
wouldn't pass a basic fact check: India has built dams, schools, the parliament building and hospitals in Afghanistan but no library.
Saudis trolling Taliban bros. Saudi representative has woman note taker during bilateral meeting with Taliban "foreign minister" on margins of Moscow Format meet in Kazan, Russia. (Saudi Arabia was observer at Moscow Format talks.)
Several aspects of this accidental firing of a missile are absolutely crazy, given that it involved 2 nuclear armed states.
*missile reportedly travelled 124 km into Pakistan
*was in Pakistani airspace for 7 min
*passed several civilian airliners
Miracle things didn't escalate.
Amazing how many people fell for this - this is just a basic green screen kind of thing of two different pieces of footage merged together. The giveaway - the lady's shadow disappears at the joint line.
Una mujer hizo su clase de aerobic sin darse cuenta de que estaban dando el golpe de Estado en Myanmar. Y pues puede verse como el convoy de militares llega al parlamento.
Senior Oman foreign ministry official meets Indian ambassador to raise remarks by former BJP spokespersons, says such statements do not serve relations of peaceful coexistence.
India has given Sri Lanka:
*$400 mn currency swap from SAARC facility.
*$500 mn line of credit for fuel purchases
*deferred payment of $515 mn to Asian Clearing Union
There's also $1 bn credit facility in pipeline for food, medicines, essentials.
Has nothing to do with Pakistan.
After Pakistan decided to give Colombo a $200 million loan for the purchase of rice and cement, Indian reports say Delhi gives SL $500 million loan for urgent oil purchases.
Taliban spox
@suhailshaheen1
on India:
*no country will be allowed to use Afghan soil against others
*India can complete its incomplete reconstruction & infrastructure projects in
#Afghanistan
At a time of growing pressure on Pakistan to act against terrorists, why is the chief military spokesman visiting a seminary tied to Daniel Pearl's killing?
*India-Qatar cooperation in diverse sectors steadily growing in excellent framework provided by historically close ties
*There are over 700,000 Indian nationals residing in Qatar.
Pardon us folks in India if we react to this crackdown in Pakistan & detention of 44 people with links to banned groups, incl JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, with scepticism. We have seen similar actions before.
BIG BREAKING: Per sources, Indian Army colonel and two soldiers killed in action during a clash with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley, Ladakh, last night.
Am perplexed by the use of honorifics like Maulana & Mufti for terrorists like Masood Azhar & Abdul Rauf Asghar. These are tags I'd use for learned men of the faith, not scumbags.
China is building reinforced bunkers & underground facilities in Aksai Chin, 70 km from LAC, experts say move aims to ensure survivability of crucial assets & command posts. Reporting with new satellite images from
@Maxar
Pakistani fighter pilots have served with the air forces of several Arab states, incl Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar & Saudi Arabia. One who served with the Syrian Air Force in the 1970s shot down an Israeli jet in combat.
Not only
@VirginAtlantic
are very kindly flying the Oxygen Concentrators free of charge to
#India
for
@Khalsa_Aid
but our own Jaspal Singh is flying the plane ✈️!!! Jaspal has been involved in KA since 2010 & is a close friend. This is amazing !
@richardbranson
Just hearing of loss of an aunt in Assam, where the health minister was insisting a few days ago there was no need to even wear masks.
#COVID19
#MaskUp
BTW some 600 Islamic State-Khorasan fighters & their families surrendered after a campaign by Afghan security forces in Nangarhar in Nov 2019. Among them were Pakistans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Iranians, Maldivians & Indians. Guess who freed them jails in Kabul recently?
Just leaving this here: When I broke the story about India-Taliban informal contacts in June, some of the greatest interest shown was by folks in Islamabad. A journalist in Islamabad sent me a DM saying: "I wish it were true."
End of story.
Key takeaways in this bizarre new twist in l'affaire Rafale - Even before India gets its first Rafale, Pakistan Air Force familiar with capabilities of French jet, probably knows how Indian pilots will be trained & French Air Force &
@Dassault_OnAir
knew & opted to stay quiet.
From Chinese foreign ministry’s readout on the phone conversation between foreign ministers of India & China: "The Indian side must not misjudge the current situation and must not underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard territorial sovereignty."
UK High Court upholds India's claim to Hyderabad Nizam's funds worth £35 million held in a London bank; court also rejected Pakistan's claim to the funds.
My friend Kalyan Barooah
@kalyanbarooah
, a terrific newshound, one of the kindest & most helpful persons who helped me survive when I moved to Delhi, passed this morning of Covid-19. Yesterday his wife Nilakshi passed. They leave a young daughter. This is just too much.
The greatest disservice that Pakistani intellectuals do is pretending to be saviours of India’s Muslims. You aren't. You can't be. Our ancestors chose and we will handle our problems.
Development comes on a day when vice president Venkaiah Naidu is in Qatar & met top Qatari leaders,
including Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani & Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani.
UK PM
@BorisJohnson
announces £1 bn in new trade with India ahead of summit with Indian PM.
Centerpiece: £240 mn investment by Serum Institute of India in UK into vaccine business & new sales office to create large number of jobs.
Here's the thing - when was the last time you saw photos/near instantaneous reports of foreign visit by any country’s spy chief? The ISI chief's decision to appear in a Kabul hotel lobby & speak to media was all about signalling who holds the big stick in Afghanistan.
France to support India's
#COVID19
response with:
*8 oxygen generators, each capable of uninterruptedly supply for 250-bed hospital
*5 oxygen containers capable of catering for 10,000 patients a day
*equipment incl 28 ventilators & 200 electric syringe pumps.
Considerable surprise (even more so among some Western diplomats I spoke to today) on position taken by Russia, which backed China's move for an open & formal meeting.