Guess who Vajpayee turned to negotiate peace during Kargil war? Dilip Kumar!

September 8, 2015

Lahore, Sep 8: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee complained to Nawaz Sharif after the outbreak of the Kargil conflict that he had been shabbily treated and made the Pakistan premier speak with Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar who pleaded for controlling the situation, says a new book.

Dilip KumarNarrating a startling anecdote recounted to him by Saeed Mehdi, the ex-Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Sharif at the time of the Kargil War in May 1999, former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri says, "According to Saeed, one day he was sitting with PM Sharif when the telephone bell rang and the ADC informed the PM that the Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee wished to speak with him urgently."

During their talks, Vajpayee expressed his grievances that he had been shabbily treated by Sharif after having been invited to Lahore, Kasuri writes in his book 'Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove'.

Sharif looked surprised at the words of Vajpayee, who complained that while he had been received in Lahore with such warmth, Pakistan had wasted no time in occupying Kargil.

Sharif said he was not aware of what Vajpayee was saying to him and promised to get back to him after talking to Chief of the Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf.

Before the conversation could end, Vajpayee told Sharif that he would like him to speak to somebody who was sitting next to him during their conversation, Kasuri writes.

Sharif was astonished when heard the voice of Dilip Kumar (Yousuf Khan originally from Peshawar), who said, "Mian Sahib, we did not expect this from you since you have always claimed to be a great supporter of peace between Pakistan and India", Kasuri writes in the book.

Let me tell you as an Indian Muslim that in case of tension between Pakistan and India, Indian Muslims become very insecure and they find it difficult to even leave their homes. Please do something to control this situation, Dilip, a recipient of Pakistan's highest civilian honour Nishan-e-Imtiaz, told Sharif.

Kasuri feels that he has made his point, "if even the great icon Dilip Kumar, as an Indian Muslim, felt insecure in case of tensions between India and Pakistan", it would not be hard to imagine the difficulties faced by ordinary Muslims in periods of tension between the two countries.

The former foreign minister says that he has seen first-hand that it is possible to have a meaningful peace process between the two countries and how quickly such a process could change the paradigm of relations between them.

He concludes with his conviction that peace is possible between two countries and that it would have a very positive impact on the status of minorities in both the countries.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Mumbai, Jan 9: Actor Juhi Chawla on Wednesday said instead of constantly criticising the government, one should reflect on own conduct and talk about uniting rather than dividing.

The actor attended an event which aimed to counter "Free Kashmir (narrative), anti-India slogans, false propaganda and clear the misconception."

Juhi said as artistes, it's unfair to be questioned about incidents "just for a reaction" when they should be given time to truly understand the situation.

"We are going to work, thinking how to execute our task, then some incident happens somewhere and suddenly the media asks, 'what do you think about this?' We haven't understood the matter, people haven't understood the matter but you need a reaction.

"Let people understand, whether it's NRC or CAA, and what's is it about, why is this being talked about," Juhi told reporters.

The actor said it is sad that people talk about division more than unity.

"Everyone is quick to talk about dividing. Why don't we talk about uniting? Why does everyone say 'what is the government doing, why is it doing this?' but I say if you point one finger there then three fingers are at you.

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News Network
April 3,2020

Washington, April 3: American actor Kristen discussed her experience being isolated with husband and their two kiddos.

According to Fox News, the 39-year-old actor discussed how she and Shepard are finding quarantine to be a little tough in a video chat to Entertainment Tonight.

Bell admitted: "We've gotten on each other's last nerve these last couple days. We're doing much better now because were laughing about it. But when we were not laughing about it for the first couple of days, that's the hard spot."

The 'Bad Mom' actor then shared her thoughts on why quarantining with loved ones can be so tough. She explained that she loves spending time with her husband and he loves spending time with her.

But what she thinks is different about this quarantine time is you have so much more time to think about the other persona and their actions and sort of replay what they said or attach a meaning to something that they did.
Bell added: "Nobody really needs time for that. That's useless."

The 'Frozen' actor also discussed having to make adjustments in regards to her kids, 7-year-old Lincoln, and 5-year-old Delta, and the schedule she tried to keep once the quarantine began.

She said that the biggest lesson she learnt, in the beginning, was that she wrote out the colour coded schedule, and noted about when will be their academic and academic time.

Kristen explained that by day five of schedule, she was making everybody miserable. About a week ago, she woke her kids up and encouraged her daughters to rip up the schedule, explaining that the kids "felt so good."

"I said the learning lesson here is that if you make a plan and it's not working, you pivot," said Bell.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Chennai, Jul 30: Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli on Wednesday said he and his family members have tested positive for coronavirus and are currently quarantined at home.

The director, best known for his epic fantasy hit Baahubali series, said they got tested after they developed mild fever recently which subsided by itself.

“My family members and I developed a slight fever few days ago. It subsided by itself but we got tested nevertheless. The result has shown a mild COVID positive today. We have home quarantined as prescribed by the doctors (sic)” he said.

In a subsequent tweet, Rajamouli said he and his kin are asymptomatic and “feeling better”. They are, however, following all the precautions and instructions.

“Just waiting to develop antibodies so that we can donate our plasma,” he added.

Before the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown was announced in March, the filmmaker was working on his upcoming period action drama Rise Roar Revolt.

The Telugu film, featuring actors Ram Charan and NTR Jr in the lead, is a fictional tale based on the lives of two freedom fighters in early 20th century.

Andhra Pradesh witnessed its worst single day spike of coronavirus on Wednesday, 10,000 plus cases, as the other southern states, including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also reported high daily numbers, although they saw a dip in the infections.

The cumulative tally of southern states — AP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry was 24,855 on Wednesday.

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