Hotmail's Sabeer Bhatia in intense online spat over X post on India-Pakistan hostilities: 'Price a country pays for…'
Hotmail's India-born founder Sabeer Bhatia is facing backlash over a pro-Pakistan news story he has shared on social media. The piece – titled 'How Chinese Missiles Routed India's Air Force Over Pakistan' – was published on May 8 in the American bimonthly magazine The National Interest.
In the controversial piece, author Brandon J Weichert claimed an 'unambiguous victory for Pakistan' in the India-Pak conflict. Weichert repeated the Pakistan government's claim of shooting down five Indian Air Force jets – including three Rafales – using Chinese-made PL-15 air-to-air missiles.
'Their [Pakistan's] successful engagement downing five IAF warplanes is a tremendous blow to the IAF, as well as to India's military,' read the piece.
Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia shared the piece on X with a caption suggesting critique of Indian leadership.
'This is the price a country pays for the sins of its leaders,' Bhatia wrote, indicating criticism of the Indian government for underestimating the China-Pakistan defence cooperation.
Chandigarh-born and San Francisco-based Bhatia has since engaged in multiple online spats defending his stance. His comments section has been flooded with Indians slamming him for his take on India-Pakistan hostilities.
'Have you gotten yourself checked? Sometimes dehydration causes this, and sometimes it could be a serious condition. Mental illness is no joke. The sooner you get yourself checked, the better. Rest well. May you recover soon,' commented X user Jaivardhan Vermaa, to which Bhatia replied: 'No joke.. I'm fine..Well hydrated too…'
X user Karan pointed out that the article is dated and requested the Indian-American entrepreneur to give further context. 'This article is from 8th May. A lot has happened since. Give the complete picture Sabeer. Don't edit stuff like a troll,' he wrote.
Bhatia replied to him with a short 'Thank you for your advice.'
Some wondered if he even held an Indian passport, with one person writing: 'Which passport do you have Sabeer ? Nonsensical tweets repeatedly from your handle at this time when the nation is at war.'
'World Passport,' Bhatia replied.
Others accused him of having become an 'American.'
Sabeer Bhatia was born in Chandigarh and grew up in Pune and Bangalore. According to a Times of India report, his father was in the Indian Army. He went to the US at the age of 19 on a Cal Tech scholarship.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
20 minutes ago
- The Print
Pak PM Sharif rakes up India's abeyance of Indus Water Treaty at international platform
'India's unilateral and illegal decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of the Indus Basin's water, is deeply regrettable,' Dawn reported quoting Sharif. Sharif was addressing a three-day International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe when he raked up the issue of India-Pakistan bilateral Indus Water Treaty (IWT). Islamabad, May 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday rejected the 'weaponisation of water' and warned that Pakistan would not allow India to cross the red line by holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and endangering millions of lives for narrow political gains. 'Millions of lives must not be held hostage to narrow political gains, and Pakistan will not allow this. We will never allow the red line to be crossed,' the prime minister told the conference attended by over 2,500 delegates from 80 UN member states and 70 international organisations. The event is being hosted by the Tajikistan government in collaboration with the United Nations, UNESCO, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the Asian Development Bank, and other key partners as a historic moment for climate ambition, glacier preservation, and international cooperation. Sharif's remarks came after India, soon after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, announced abeyance of the IWT among other punitive measures. The IWT was signed in 1960 by the two countries to address the water dispute between them and to share the waters of the six main rivers of the Indus basin. According to Dawn, Sharif also touched upon all relevant issues, including glacial preservation, Pakistan's climate vulnerability, the 2022 floods in Pakistan, global climate action and responsibility, scientific projections on glacial melt, weaponisation of water and call to protect nature and humanity's shared destiny. 'The world today bears fresh scars from the use of conventional weapons in Gaza that have left deep wounds. As if that were not enough, we are now witnessing an alarming new low—the weaponisation of water,' the prime minister observed. He added that Pakistan, being home to over 13,000 glaciers, was the most concerned as glaciers contributed nearly half of the annual flows in the Indus river system — 'the lifeline of our civilisation, culture and economy'. 'The five great rivers that shape our geographical landscape—Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej—all depend on the stability of glacial systems. This makes Pakistan one of the most vulnerable countries to any climatic changes that impact glaciers,' he continued. He told the gathering that Pakistan had faced the peril of glacial melt in the form of devastating floods in 2022 that destroyed millions of acres of standing crops, thousands of houses as well as infrastructure — despite the country contributing only less than half a per cent of the total world's emissions and yet being one of the 10 most vulnerable countries. PTI SH NPK NPK This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
United News of India
22 minutes ago
- United News of India
PM's address devoid of burning issues: GA
Patna, May 30 (UNI) Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not focusing the burning issues like corruption, unemployment, law and order, reservation, martyrs status to the soldiers and special package or special status to Bihar during his two day state visit, the Grand Alliance (GA) alleged that the PM's addressed was on the tune of his script writers. In a joint press conference of the GA, the RJD chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said here on Friday that the road show of the prime minister in the state capital was devoid of any show due to poor turnout. He alleged that instead of replying to the important issues raised by the RJD, the speech of the Prime Minister contained nothing new and was far from reality. The RJD leader alleged that the investments were being made in Gujarat, whereas Bihar was being used only as a political battleground. Speaking about reservation, Jha said that the Prime Minister did not utter even a single word for incorporating the 65 percent reservation facility provision of which was made by the previous GA government of Bihar, in the 9th schedule of the constitution. The Prime Minister also did not speak even a single word on the issue of either giving special status or a special package to Bihar, he quipped. Jha further alleged that the Prime Minister, who has raised fingers several times on corruption, did not disclose why the ED had raided and the charge sheet was filed against an officer under the double-engine government of the NDA in Bihar. The RJD leader said that the valour of Indian soldiers was being widely discussed, but the Prime Minister neither met the family members of any of the martyrs nor spoke even a single word to them. He said that the leader of the opposition in Bihar assembly, Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, had demanded to give kartut status to the soldiers sacrificing their lives during operations Sindhur but this too could not get a place in the speech of the PM during his Bihar visit. On this occasion CPIML leader K.D Yadav alleged that the Prime Minister was not paying attention to the demands for central university status to the most prestigious Patna University of Bihar. The NDA government was also not working in the interest of the farmers and rural women, he alleged. CPIM Central committee member Awdhesh Kumar, outlining the plights of the farmers asked the Prime Minister to tell the time frame by which the Swaminathan Commission report would be implemented in the interest of the farmers. Vikassheel Insan Party ( VIP) National vice president V K Singh said that the Prime Minister should explain why he did not go to Kashmir from Delhi and send the message that he would take revenge for Pahalgam. CPI leader Nivedita Jha said that the entire nation was aggrieved by the Pahalgam incident, but the Prime Minister was taking political mileage out of it. She said that the issue of distributing vermilion was being raised by the BJP, while everybody knows that it is sacred for Indian women who put it in the name of their spouse to honour them. UNI RS BD
India Today
25 minutes ago
- India Today
So much for being Mr Nice Guy: Trump slams China for 'violating' trade deal with US
US President Donald Trump on Friday accused China of violating its trade agreement with the United States amid the ongoing tussle over tariffs and counter-tariffs, saying that he has paid so much for being "Mr, Nice Guy!"Trump claimed that by sealing a trade deal with Beijing in order to save China from what was going to be a very bad situation after he imposed unprecedented 145 per cent tariffs on imports from Asia's largest a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, 'civil unrest.' I saw what was happening and didn't like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn't want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!"advertisement This came hours after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that trade negotiations with China were stalled and required direct involvement from President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to move forward. Speaking to Fox News, Bessent highlighted the complexity of the talks and said progress had slowed since the temporary 90-day truce reached earlier this this month, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Trump administration agreed to drop the 145 per cent tariff imposed last month to 30 per cent. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on US goods to 10 per cent from 125 per cent in two biggest economies agreed to roll back tariffs on each other's goods for an initial 90-day period in a bid to defuse the brewing trade war between announcement came on the back of the marathon trade negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, the first high-level talks between Washington and Beijing since Trump imposed steep tariffs on Chinese May 29, US Treasury Secretary Bessent said that the temporary deal helped calm markets but failed to address deeper US concerns about China's state-controlled economic model. Since then, the Trump administration has turned its focus to trade talks with other partners, including Japan, India, and the EU.
