New Delhi: Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif pandered to India unilaterally and unconditionally, Abdul Basit, former high commissioner of Pakistan to India, said.
In an interview to The Wire, the retired diplomat said, “I make this assertion on the basis of what I have seen when Nawaz Sharif came for Modi’s inauguration [in 2014]…At the meeting in Delhi Nawaz Sharif kept silent on Kashmir. He did not mention Kashmir even a single time. He also did not seek a meeting with Hurriyat. I had suggested he should,”.
In the interview with journalist Karan Thapar, Basit discussed his book Hostility, a memoir of his three-year-long posting in India from 2014 to 2017, in which he raised some of these concerns.
He also told Thapar that Sharif’s senior advisors, Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi, kept him out of the loop while the prime minister was in Delhi and conducted secret talks with Modi through the help of Indian businessman Sajjan Jindal.
Aziz and Fatemi had “apologetic mind-sets” and were more keen to accept “Modi’s contentions” and work to assuage his concerns rather than stand up for Pakistan’s interests, Basit said.
In September 2019, the former diplomat had made headlines after retweeting a post of adult star Johnny Sins claiming he was a Kashmiri man who suffered injuries due to a pellet gun.
Also read: ‘Queen of Pashtun folklore’ lives in a tent, Modi’s tweet wishing Imran angers his minister
Bangladesh expats display posters of 1971 genocide at Eiffel Tower
Ahead of Bangladesh’s 50th Independence Day, on 26 March, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist and Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) of France organised a poster exhibition at Eiffel Tower square depicting the Pakistan Army-led genocide in 1971.
The posters at the exhibition illustrated the large scale violence and torture that the Pakistani Army inflicted on the Bangladeshi populace. There were also slogans raised against Pakistan.
On the night of 25 March 1971, the Pakistan Army launched a brutal campaign on unarmed civilians in its breakaway eastern province, Bangladesh.
A day later, Bangladesh was proclaimed as an independent nation by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, referred to as the “father of the nation”. The Bangladesh Liberation War took place later that year when the Indian armed forces moved into what was then East Pakistan to liberate it from Pakistan. Nearly three million people died in the war, which saw Pakistan concede defeat in Dhaka on 16 December.
Since 2017, Bangladesh has been commemorating 25 March as ‘Genocide Day’.
During the exhibition, members of BHBCUC also made calls for the international community and the United Nations to declare the killing of Bengalis in 1971 as ‘genocide’.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to travel to Bangladesh on March 25-26, his first trip abroad since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh Monday also expressed gratitude after India conferred the Gandhi Peace Award 2020 on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman posthumously.
Pakistan International Airlines official gets UN recognition for calming crying child
Pakistan International Airlines official Touheed Daudpota was honoured as the HeForShe champion by UN Women Pakistan Tuesday for calming a crying child during a flight.
Mr. Touheed Daudpota, crew of #PIA, whose photos of soothing a baby went viral, was declared by @unwomen_pak the #HeforShe champion for displaying empathy, gender sensitivity, respect & care to a women pax, upholding long traditions of '#GreatPeopletoFlyWith' #GenerationEquality pic.twitter.com/Gr76ZeRIeL
— PIA (@Official_PIA) March 22, 2021
Daudpota was honoured for “displaying empathy, gender sensitivity, respect and care to a women passenger,” tweeted the national carrier, along with a video of the crew member receiving the award.
Photos of Daudpota soothing a baby on board a flight went viral last week after it was shared online by several people, including singer Fakhr-e-Alam.
“A friend onboard PIA from Islamabad to Karachi early morning flight yesterday shared this. A baby was crying non stop, the mother was exhausted & stressed, she couldn’t comfort the child. So the head purser Mr. Tauheed helped the child sleep. Now that truly is GREAT people to fly with,” tweeted Alam.
A friend onboard @Official_PIA ISD to KHI early morning flt yesterday shared this. A baby was crying non stop, the mother was exhausted & stressed, she couldn’t comfort the child. So the head pursur Mr.Tauheed helped the child sleep. Now that truly is GREAT people to fly with. ?? pic.twitter.com/yM4aynPA1i
— Fakhr-e-Alam (@falamb3) March 12, 2021
“It was an honour for me to help a helpless mother,” Daudpota told SAMAA TV Wednesday. He said the child’s mother was travelling alone with her two children. He added that he had no idea about who posted photos of him soothing the crying child.
India-Pakistan T20I series a possibility, says report
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official has hinted at a Twenty20 cricket series between India and Pakistan in the near future, according to a report by Karachi-based newspaper Daily Jang.
The series would be the first bilateral cricket exchange between the two countries in over eight years.
The official quoted in the report said that although no one had spoken to him directly about the restoration of cricket ties, there is a possibility.
“We have been told to be prepared,” he said.
There are also speculations among Indian media that a short series between Pakistan and India could take place this year, according to Jang.
However, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said Tuesday that “no one has contacted us and we are not in talks with the Indian board”.
India and Pakistan’s cricket teams only meet in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments and have not played any bilateral cricket since January 2013 due to tense relations between the two nations.
The speculation about renewed cricket links comes on the heels of recommitment to ceasefire by both countries along the Line of Control this month.
(Edited by Rachel John)
Also read: Not going to jail, says singer Meesha Shafi, couple trolled for renting lion cub at wedding
please don’t talk here about what is wrtten in the wire. we don’t want to hear it.