Pak used fake pic to push a completely false narrative: India

Agencies
September 26, 2017

United Nations, Sept 26: India today slammed Pakistan for using a "fake picture" in the UN General Assembly to push a "completely false narrative", a day after its Permanent Representative presented an image of a girl from Gaza as a victim of pellet guns in Kashmir.

Exercising her right to reply hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj blasted Pakistan for its support to terrorism, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, in a major goof-up, held up a photograph of a woman whose face was peppered with alleged pellet gun wounds.

"This is the face of Indian democracy," Lodhi said of the picture which had no connection with Kashmir. The picture of 17-year-old Rawya abu Joma'a of Gaza, an alleged victim of an Israeli attack was actually taken by award-winning American photojournalist Heidi Levine in July 2014.

"The Permanent Representative of Pakistan misled this Assembly by displaying this picture to spread falsehood about India. A fake picture to push a completely false narrative," said Paulomi Tripathi, a junior most Indian diplomat at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations. Tripathi took the floor of the General Assembly to exercise India's right to reply to the blistering attack by Lodhi.

"The Permanent Representative of Pakistan, in her statement, yet again sought to divert attention from Pakistan's role as the hub of global terrorism. She did so by callously holding up a picture of an injured girl," Tripathi said.

"The picture was taken on 22 July 2014 by an American photographer Heidi Levine. This photograph was published by New York Times on March 24, 2015, under the caption 'Conflict, Courage and Healing in Gaza'," she said.

"In view of this cynical and misleading attempt by Pakistan, we are constrained to show this Assembly, a photograph that reflects the real picture of pain inflicted by the nefarious designs of Pakistan on India," she said showing a picture of Lieutenant Umar Fayaz.

22-year Umar, who was posted with 2 Rajputana Rifle, was picked up from his house at Harmein in Kulgam in May. The body of the young officer was later found three kilometres from his house.

"This is a real and not a fake picture of Lt Umar Fayaz. A young officer from the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir. Umar Fayaz was kidnapped at a wedding celebration. He was brutally tortured and killed by Pakistan supported terrorists in May 2017," Tripathi said showing the picture.

"This is a true picture. It portrays a harsh and tragic reality. A picture of terrorism emanating from across our borders that the people of India, especially in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have to struggle with, every day.

"This is the reality which the Permanent Representative of Pakistan sought to obfuscate. The true face of Pakistan is not hidden from anyone," Tripathi said as she displayed the two pictures again to the international community. Pakistan, meanwhile, continued with its fake narrative against India.

Speaking on behalf of Pakistan, Tipu Usman, a counsellor at Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN, claimed, "Kashmiris want the freedom to form brutal Indian occupation".

They will continue to rise again and again and again, he said.

"Kashmiris will take bullet after bullet; pallet after pallet but will never give up. The real issue is of human life, of human eyes, of children and infants blinded forever," he said.

Usman alleged that India's diversionary tactics will not change the situation on the ground. "It is the situation on the ground that India has to answer for. It is the call for legality, morality and conscience that it has to answer for," he said.

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Agencies
July 21,2020

Washington, Jul 21: Some half-a-dozen influential Republican lawmakers on Monday introduced a legislation in the Senate to allow Americans to sue China in federal court for its role in causing the coronavirus pandemic.

The Civil Justice for Victims of Covid Act gives federal courts authority to hear claims that China has caused or substantially contributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Introduced by senators Martha McSally, Marsha Blackburn, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Mike Rounds and Thom Tillis, the bill strips China of its sovereign immunity for reckless actions that caused the pandemic and creates a cause of action. It also authorises federal courts to freeze Chinese assets.

The legislation is closely modelled after the 2016 Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that gave more legal remedies to victims of terrorism, particularly the 9/11 victims.

“Americans who have been victimised by the lies and deceit of the Chinese Communist Party-to include those who lost loved ones, suffered business losses, or were personally harmed due to Covid-19-deserve the opportunity to hold China accountable and to demand just compensation,” McSally said.

As the death toll and financial losses of Covid-19 mount, China should be forced to pay the costs of these damages to the American people, he said.

Blackburn said that China's Communist Party must face consequences for concealing and now profiting off the Covid-19 pandemic they enabled.

“The costs are devastating: trillions of dollars in economic damage, millions of American jobs lost, and over a half million deaths worldwide – and counting. Business owners and families who have lost loved ones deserve justice,” he said.

By silencing doctors and journalists who tried to warn the world about the coronavirus, the Chinese Communist Party allowed the virus to spread quickly around the globe, Cotton said, adding their decision to cover up the virus led to thousands of needless deaths and untold economic harm.

Rounds said that China must be held accountable for its failure to contain Covid-19 and alleged that the country's delay in sharing the seriousness of the virus with the rest of the world isn't just negligence— it is criminal in nature.

“If China would have been transparent from the start, many more lives would have been saved in all parts of the world. Our legislation provides the tools necessary for American citizens to sue the Chinese Communist Party in federal court for financial losses incurred because of Covid-19,” he said.

Tillis alleged that the Chinese Communist Party lied to the world about Covid-19 and allowed it to become a global pandemic, causing many Americans to tragically lose their loved ones and face immense financial hardship.

“The American people deserve the right to hold the Chinese government accountable for its malicious actions, and I'm proud to join my colleagues in introducing this commonsense bill,” he said.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Mumbai, Jan 17: A 68-year-old convict of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, Jalees Ansari, went missing on Thursday morning while being on parole, officials said.

Ansari, a resident of Mominpura in Agripada here who is serving a life term, is suspected to be involved in many bomb blast cases across the country, an official said.

He was on parole for 21 days from the Ajmer Central Prison, Rajasthan, and was expected to surrender before prison authorities on Friday, he said.

During the parole period, he was ordered to visit the Agripada Police Station everyday between 10.30 am and 12 pm to mark his attendance, he said.

However, Ansari did not visit the police station on Thursday during the designated time, the official said.

In the afternoon, his 35-year-old son Jaid Ansari approached the police station with a complaint about his “missing” father, he said.

According to the complaint, Jalees Ansari woke up in the early hoursand told family members he is going to offer namaz, but did not return home.

On his complaint, the Agripada Police registered a missing case, he said.

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra ATS have launched a massive manhunt to trace him, he said.

Jalees, who is known as Doctor Bomb, was allegedly connected with terror outfits like SIMI and Indian Mujahidin and taught terror groups how to make bombs, he said.

He was also questioned by the NIA in 2011 in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in Mumbai, he said.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Paris, Apr 24: The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic crossed 190,000 on Friday, with nearly two-thirds of the fatalities in Europe, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources at 0740 GMT.

A total of 190,089 people have died and 2,698,733 been infected since the virus emerged in China in December. The hardest hit continent is Europe, with 116,221 deaths and 1,296,248 cases.

The country with the most deaths is the United States with 49,963, followed by Italy with 25,549, Spain with 22,157, France with 21,856 and Britain 18,738.

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