Pakistan serves beef to Nepal earthquake survivors

April 30, 2015

Kathmandu, Apr 30: After experiencing major devastation and loss of lives in the April 25 earthquake, Nepal is left with an unsavoury taste in the mouth when it received packets of 'beef masala' as part of the relief package from Pakistan.

Since the majority-Hindu country treats cows as sacred and there is a blanket ban on slaughtering the animal, the development has the potential of triggering diplomatic acrimony between the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries.

pak

Indian doctors at Kathmandu's Bir Hospital told Mail Today that packets of 'beef masala' were sent by Pakistan on Tuesday as part of relief aid to the temblor survivors. These doctors - drawn from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) - are members of a 34-member medical team sent to Nepal for treating the survivors.

"When we reached the airport to collect the food items from Pakistan, we found packets of ready-to-eat meals, including packets of 'beef masala'. There were other food items too," Dr Balwinder Singh told Mail Today.

Perplexed, the doctors chose to have food from a hotel instead. "We did not touch the Pakistani aid," Dr Singh said.

"Most of the local people are not aware of the contents. When they understand, they avoid it," said another doctor on the condition of anonymity. He added: "Pakistan has hurt Nepal's religious sentiments by supplying the masala. Shockingly, it did not care about the sensitivity of the matter."

Exclusive photographs of the 'beef masala' packets supplied to Nepal are with Mail Today.

These pictures clearly show that the place of origin of these packets was Nowshera Cantt in Pakistan. These packets also prominently mention that these are not for sale and the contents include 'potato bhujia' and 'beef masala' (see photograph, right).

A top Nepal government official said: "The matter has been conveyed to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and the intelligence chief. We are also starting an internal inquiry to verify the facts. If the report is correct, we will raise the matter at the diplomatic level with Pakistan. India, being our key partner, will also be informed of the developments."

Tasneem Aslam, spokesperson for Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs, told Mail Today: "I am not aware of the issue... I am not responsible for the dispatch. The relief aid is sent by the National Disaster Management Authority."

A press note uploaded on the website of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Pakistan (http://www.ndma.gov.pk/new/), states: "(The) National Disaster Management Authority has dispatched the second of two sorties of C-130 aircrafts on April 28 in collaboration with Pakistan Army, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan Air Force. The relief goods include 250 tents, 200 food packs (2.6 tonne), 1,000 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), 1,000 blankets and 33 cartons of medicines. These relief goods have been provided from NDMA stocks...."

The food items have been manufactured by PANA Force Foods. The consignment was supplied after receiving orders from Pakistan's NDMA.

"PANA Force food processing centre aims at providing quality goods at affordable prices. Currently, the company is supplying two brands of products to Pakistan Army commonly known as Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) and Emergency Pack Ration (EP Ration or high-energy biscuits) whereas a plant for the production of dehydrated vegetables and fruits is under construction," the official website of PANA Force Foods mentions.

The website also states that the processing centre provides food to civil population during natural calamities, like earthquakes and floods.

According to Hindu belief, eating beef is a religious offence since cow is a sacred animal and treated on a par with one's mother.

In Nepal - for long the world's only Hindu state - the first royal order officially prohibiting cow slaughter stated that the punishments for the crime were death and confiscation of all property of the offender.

The first Civil Code of Nepal, the Muluki Ain of 1854, stated: "This kingdom is the only kingdom in the world where cows, women, and Brahmins may not be killed." It trumpeted Nepal as the 'purest Hindu kingdom' and simultaneously signaled to Nepalese citizens that Hindu religious creeds would be the law of the land.

But an amendment in 1990 to the Civil Code made cow slaughter punishable by 12 years in prison.

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Agencies
January 24,2020

Indore, Jan 24: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday said that he suspected that there were some Bangladeshis among construction labourers who worked at his house recently.

Their “strange” eating habits aroused suspicion about their nationality, the BJP general secretary said at a seminar in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) here.

When a new room was being added at his house recently, he found “eating habits” of some of the workers “strange” as “they were eating only `poha’ (flattened rice)”, he said.

After talking to their supervisor and the building contractor, he suspected that these workers were from Bangladesh, the BJP leader said.

When reporters questioned him later, Vijayvargiya said, “I suspected these workers were residents of Bangladesh. Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house. I have not filed any police complaint yet. I only mentioned this incident to warn people,” he said.

Speaking at the seminar, Vijayvargiya also claimed that a Bangladeshi terrorist was keeping a watch on him for the last one and a half years.

“Whenever I go out, six armed security personnel follow me. What is happening in this country? Will outside people enter and spread so much terror?” he asked.

“Don’t get confused by rumours. The CAA is in the interest of the country. This law will provide asylum to genuine refugees and identify intruders who are a threat to the country’s internal security,” he added.

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Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

Koopa Mandooka. illeterates. Do not bother about them.

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News Network
March 22,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 22: A video being circulated in the social media purportedly of a man infected with COVID-19 at a hospital here is fake, its authorities said.

The video which shows a youth, dressed in pink trousers and wearing a mask, struggling to breathe on a blue hospital bed, had gone viral after which the Wenlock hospital issued a clarification.

The video started circulating after Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner made public Sunday that a person has tested positive for coronavirus at the hospital.

Follow live updates of coronavirus cases in India here

"A video of a patient convulsing on a hospital bed is being circulated on social media. This video is not of Wenlock hospital. Besides, we do not use blue beds," the hospital said in a statement, adding that they will file a complaint with the police regarding the video.

The first COVID-19 case in the district was confirmed at the hospital on Sunday.

The 22-year old man who came here from Dubai was tested positive and is under treatment in the isolation ward.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 11: Heated verbal exchange between Minister K Sudhakar and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar in the assembly over disqualification of 17 MLAs last year, continued to disrupt the proceedings on Wednesday, with both opposition and treasury benches pushing for a privilege motion and demanding action.

Chaotic scenes and adjournments marked the House proceedings, with both sides not ready to budge.

As the House met for the day, around 11 am, senior Minister K S Eshwarappa accusing Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar of using "expletive" during a debate last evening, demanded his apology and that he be kept out of the proceedings.

Sudhakar, against whom expletive was allegedly used by Kumar, said, the words used were unpardonable and he should be heard, as he has given notice.

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah then demanded that he be allowed to speak first as he had given notice on Tuesday itself.

The Congress leader on his part has accused Sudhakar of breaching Kumar's privilege by allegedly making derogatory remarks against him.

Intervening, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said he has received breach of privilege notice from both sides and would allow it only after the question hour as per rules.

Though Congress expressed its agreement with the Speaker about letting them raise the matter after question hour, BJP legislators including Ministers said, Ramesh Kumar should be suspended.

Pointing out that Kumar was not inside the House, some ruling party MLAs even called him "escapist" and demanded action against him.

Strongly objecting to it, Siddaramaiah questioned the ruling party's intentions in running the house smoothly.

As this was followed by heated arguments between both sides, the Speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

When the house met after much delay at 12:55 pm, the chaos continued.

As the Speaker allowed Minister Jagadish Shettar to speak, who was requesting permission to raise a point, Siddaramaiah objected to it and said he had given notice first.

He said, "this is not correct, it looks like government doesn't want the House to function, they don't want discussion on the budget, they are purposely blocking the proceedings of the House".

However, some BJP MLAs reacted to this by shouting slogans "shame shame Ramesh Kumar".

As his repeated attempts to conduct the proceedings failed, the Speaker adjourned the House for lunch.

Sudhakar, while speaking during a special discussion on the Constitution on Tuesday evening had made critical remarks against the decision of Kumar, as speaker, to disqualify 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law, including him.

Angered by this Kumar, who opposed discussion on the subject, amid heated argument between BJP and Congress members allegedly uttered the expletive, which aggravated the situation and had resulted in pandemonium in the House last evening.

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