Pak army rejects report on Bajwa's 'read book on India' advice

February 20, 2017

Islamabad, Feb 20: After days of silence, Pakistan Army today dismissed as "disinformation" a media report that said army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa urged officers to read a book about how India succeeded in keeping the military out of politics.

PakarmyThe Nation newspaper reported on February 12 that Bajwa addressed a gathering of senior army officers of Rawalpindi Garrison in the General Headquarters in December and recommended 'Army and Nation: The Military and Indian Democracy Since Independence' written by Steven Wilkinson.

The book provides details of changes made in the structure and recruitment pattern of the Indian Army to suit the fledgling democracy in the new country.

Army Spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor issued a brief statement to reject the contents of the report. "News/comments quoting COAS' address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Army and Nation' is a disinformation," he said in the statement posted on Facebook.

It had been reported that Bajwa in the address dwelt on the thorny issue of civil-military equation in the country where the army has ruled for almost half of the history since independence in 1947.

The report said the new army chief in a poised manner communicated it to his officers in unequivocal terms that there should be cooperation and not competition between army and civilian leadership of the country.

"The army has no business trying to run the government. The army must remain within its constitutionally defined role," Bajwa was quoted as saying. He also urged officers to read Wilkinson's book, according to the report.

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Agencies
February 17,2020

Islamabad, Feb 17: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday warned that Pakistan may face another refugee crisis if the international community failed to take notice of the current situation in India.

Speaking at the two-day refugee summit in Islamabad on 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in Pakistan, he said India’s "ultranationalist ideology going unchecked could lead to destruction and the region could become a flashpoint", The Express Tribune quoted him as saying.

Khan said if the international community does not take notice of this situation, it will create another refugee crisis for Pakistan as Muslims of India will move to Pakistan.

"This is not the India of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. The United Nations (UN) must play its role otherwise it will become a very big problem in the future," Duniya News quoted Khan as saying.

He said said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that India can destroy Pakistan in 11 days is not a responsible statement by a premier of a nuclear state with a huge population, the paper reported.

Khan made the statement in the presence of visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who was also attending the summit.

He said because of the "Hindutva" ideology, Kashmiris have been lockdown for over 200 days. He alleged under the same ideology, the BJP-led government passed two discriminatory nationalistic legislations, targeting 200 million Muslims in India.

Khan was referring to India's Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the revocation of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The new citizenship law passed by the Indian Parliament in December 2019 offers citizenship to non-Muslim persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The Indian government has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.

India revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5. Reacting to India's move, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian High Commissioner.

India has always maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is its integral part and ruled out any third party mediation, including either from the UN or the US, saying it is a bilateral issue with Pakistan.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Tokyo, Feb 26: Two more Indians onboard quarantined cruise ship -- Diamond Princess -- were tested positive for novel coronavirus, the Indian embassy here said on Tuesday, adding that those Indians not infected by the virus will be repatriated to the homeland on February 26.

A total of 16 Indian nationals onboard the luxury ship -- quarantined off the coast of Japan since February 5 -- have been tested positive for coronavirus so far, the embassy informed.

"A chartered flight is being arranged to repatriate Indian nationals onboard #DiamondPrincess, provided they have (a) consented; (b) not tested positive for #COVID19; (c) cleared by the medical team. An email advisory to this effect, with details, has been sent to them," the embassy tweeted.

The repatriation of the Indian nationals will be facilitated by the Indian government.

"PCR test results for ALL Indian nationals declared-02 more Indians tested positive to #COVID19, taking the total to 16. Those fulfilling conditions and consenting to repatriation to India on 26 Feb being facilitated by the Indian Government. Details shared with them," the following tweet read.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the luxury cruise ship which was quarantine off Japan on February 5 after it emerged that a former passenger had tested positive for the virus.

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News Network
May 1,2020

Washington, May 1: The United States on Thursday recorded 29,625 new coronavirus cases, and 2,035 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The total number of coronavirus cases has reached 1,069,534 and the death toll stands at 63,001, CNN reported.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 3.2 million people and killed at least 233,000 globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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