BRICS must intervene as terror infra very much active in Pakistan, says Birla
'Pakistan has failed to take concrete action against the terrorist infrastructure operating from its territory,' Birla said during a bilateral meeting with the President of the Federal Senate of Brazil, Davi Alcolumbre.
Referring to the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, Birla said: 'The recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India, in which 26 innocent civilians were brutally killed, has shaken not only India but also the conscience of the entire world.' He added that India had exercised 'its right to respond, to prevent such cross-border attacks in the future, and to defend itself.'
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News18
an hour ago
- News18
In Bihar, Rahul lets Tejashwi be in the driving seat
Patna, Aug 17 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday made it clear that in Bihar, where his Voter Adhikar Yatra was kicked off, he would like Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD to be in the driving seat. At one point of the rally, Yadav drove a jeep with Gandhi on the passenger seat. Yadav, the INDIA bloc's de facto chief ministerial candidate in the elections due later this year, joined Gandhi at Sasaram where the Yatra was flagged off and the two leaders were together till they retired for the day in Aurangabad. In his speeches, Yadav, a former deputy CM of Bihar, referred to the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha as 'hamare bade bhai (my elder brother)". For most part of the day, the two leaders sat together atop an open vehicle, waving at the crowds that stood on both sides of the road. However, at one place, Gandhi decided that they move forward in a jeep with Yadav behind the steering wheels. The picture was complete with junior alliance partners, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and Vikassheel Insan Party president Mukesh Sahni, settling on the rear seat. The sight was reminiscent of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which passed through Bihar last year, barely a month before the Lok Sabha polls. Yadav, on his part, seemed pleased with the way things were going. He shared a picture of himself driving along his allies, all of them his senior in terms of age, on his X handle. 'Let's take Bihar on the path of justice, economic equality, industralisation and inclusive development", wrote the RJD leader, by way of caption. PTI NAC NN view comments First Published: August 17, 2025, 21:15 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
We aren't afraid of you, will show you people's strength: Rahul Gandhi to poll body
Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a massive gathering at Aurangabad, Bihar on Sunday, accused the Election Commission and the BJP of conducting a major electoral fraud and claimed that the constitutional rights of the citizens were being snatched away. Gandhi was addressing the people as part of the ongoing Vote Adhikar Yatra in am not afraid of the Election Commission. Tejaswi (Tejaswi Yadav) is also not afraid of the Election Commission. Bihar is not afraid, we have to fight for votes, we have to fight for the constitution," said Rahul Gandhi during his at the rally, Rahul Gandhi said that while interacting with the people, many complained that their names were deleted from the voter EC EC , - EC CCTV Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 17, 2025 "The rights that you get from the Constitution are being snatched away. We are going to show you the real picture of Bihar. Bihar has always shown the way to the country," he told the Congress leader also questioned the credibility of the Election Commission following its press conference earlier today."When you made the CCTV law, why did you change it? Do you know that no one can file a case against the Election Commission? This law was made by Modi and Amit Shah so that votes can be stolen. But we will not let votes be stolen," Gandhi Congress leader also condemned police action at the venue, where barricades were set up to restrict crowds. "The police put up barricades so that you could not come forward. But we reached the barricades and so did you. This is the power of Bihar," he said, drawing loud COMMISSION ASKS RAHUL GANDHI TO SUBMIT PROOF OR APOLOGISEIn a sharp response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'vote chori' allegation, the Election Commission of India on Sunday gave him a seven-day deadline to either submit an affidavit with evidence or issue a public apology, stating that in the absence of proof, all such charges are false.'An affidavit will have to be given or an apology will have to be made to the country. There is no third option. If the affidavit is not received within 7 days, it means that all these allegations are baseless,' Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said while addressing a press meet in New Delhi this Chief Election Commission rejected as baseless the allegations of double voting and "vote theft" and asserted that all stakeholders are working to make Special Intensive Revision (SIR) a success in a transparent while calling Gandhi's remarks an 'insult to the Constitution,' the commission said terms like 'vote chori' undermine democratic institutions. Kumar also accused political parties of using the Election Commission as a platform to target voters for political gain.- EndsTune InMust Watch
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
185 people crossed a line
Outside his weathered bhunga, a circular mud hut with a thatched roof, on the outskirts of Zura camp — a sparse, sunbaked stretch of land in Gujarat's Kutch district — Sooroji Kanji Sodha, 70, exhales as if releasing 16 years of apprehension. 'This feels like a second birth,' he says, his voice steady but sombre. He and his wife, Taju Kaur, were recognised as Indian citizens on July 25, along with 183 other Pakistani nationals in Gujarat. In 2009, Sooroji left behind his janmabhoomi (the land of his birth) in Tharparkar district of Pakistan's Sindh province. The decision cost him nearly 40 acres of land, his livestock, and a way of life his family had known for generations. With his wife and eight children, he boarded a train to India in search of dignity and a better future, he says. 'Leaving my watan (country) was never easy,' Sooroji, who now earns ₹300 a day as a daily wager, says. 'But I did it for my children. Especially for my daughters.' The Sodha couple and others received Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). The CAA Rules were notified in March 2024, just before India's Lok Sabha elections. The CAA provides a pathway to citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist, and Christian) – both documented and undocumented – from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014. Across Rajkot, Morbi, and Kutch districts, many say the wait for citizenship stretches well beyond a decade, forcing families to live in a constant state of legal and social limbo. A man in Morbi who also got Indian citizenship says, 'There we were a minority. Here, until we get our citizenship documents, we are no one.' Just before COVID-19 regulations came into force in March 2020, anti-CAA protests took place across India, claiming that it was discriminatory in nature against Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata Party that leans towards Hindutva and its allies were in power then. The same party is in power now, both at the Centre and in Gujarat. Minority report It was not just religious persecution and looting, Sooroji explains, but the limitations placed on their future as a minority that drove his decision. In his native region, most Rajput families bore the Sodha surname, making it difficult to find suitable matrimonial matches for his children, due to norms that discourage marrying within the same extended clan. 'In Pakistan, there were no Jadejas, no Parmars, no Nadodas for us to marry our children to,' he says, wrapping his yellow turban around his head. 'Those families are in India, not in Pakistan.' Zura camp, where Sooroji lives, was initially set up shortly after Partition in 1947 to accommodate Hindu refugees from the Sindh province. Over time, it has become home to those who migrated during later periods of unrest, especially around the 1971 Indo-Pak war. For many like Sooroji, life in the camp has meant living in limbo — waiting for citizenship, waiting to belong. Clutching his certificate, he says, 'I can now say I am Indian — not just in my heart, but on paper too. Now, I hope my children also get their citizenship based on my documents and can work in this country with pride.' Data accessed from the Directorate of Census Operations, Gandhinagar, reveals that 1,050 Pakistani nationals settled in Gujarat — 537 men and 513 women — are covered under the Act between July 2, 2024 and July 22, 2025. All of them are Hindus, with the highest number in Ahmedabad (433), followed by Rajkot (271), and Patan (133) districts. In addition, separate data from the Gujarat government shows that since 2018, up to 1,386 Pakistani nationals have been granted Indian citizenship through the discretionary powers given to District Collectors. Most of them travelled to India on a visit visa, with no intention of returning. They booked one-way tickets on the now-suspended weekly Thar Express, an international passenger train that ran between Bhagat Ki Kothi in Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Karachi Cantonment in Pakistan. Immigration and customs facilities were located at Munabao railway station on the Indian side. The service was suspended in August 2019 following a deterioration in diplomatic ties between the two countries, after the Indian government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status and reorganised the State into two Union Territories. Caste consciousness A six-hour drive from Zura camp, in Rajkot, Savitha Fufal, 44, a mother, is getting ready to head out for her wedding anniversary dinner with her husband Vishan and their son Jignesh, 12, on August 5. It is a quiet celebration, a far cry from the life she left behind over a decade ago, she says. In May 2013, just nine months into their marriage, Vishan, now a hotelier, decided to leave Karachi and move to India with seven family members, including Savitha, his mother, sister, and four relatives from his brother's family. Savitha's four siblings still live in Pakistan, and she keeps in touch with them regularly through video calls. Sitting in the small living room of their rented home, Savitha recalls the emotional weight of leaving her country. 'It was hard to leave,' she says, 'but living there wasn't easy either.' The couple initially came to India on a tourist visa and later applied for and kept renewing their Long-Term Visa (LTV). 'Things weren't safe there, especially for women. We lived in fear of theft, religious persecution and general insecurity. That's when we decided it was time to leave.' Savitha is one of four people who were granted citizenship under the discretionary powers of the District Collectors. 'I'm proud to call myself an Indian now,' she says with a smile. She adds that her husband's brother and his family eventually returned to Karachi after spending some time in India. 'They weren't comfortable here. They felt more connected to their relatives back home,' she says. Savitha remembers that she was not able to attend her father's funeral in 2015. 'I could only go in 2017, after we managed to get a visa for my son too,' she says. Her husband has never gone back. The family belongs to a community in India classified as a Scheduled Caste (SC). However, due to the absence of documentation, her son will not get any of the social welfare benefits that the community can claim. Another migrant-turned-citizen, Manoj Parmar, 49, who works at a petrol station in Rajkot, says he became aware of the caste system — and that his community falls under the Scheduled Castes — only after arriving in India. His great-grandfather had migrated from Botad to Karachi in search of work following a severe drought, and eventually settled there. Before moving to India in February 2012, Manoj worked at the Karachi Electric Supply Company. 'There, even my subordinate would refuse to follow my work instructions and insult me because of my religion. I thought, 'If this is my condition despite being educated, what will happen to my children?' The situation was only going to get worse, so I came to India,' he says. 'Now, my children want reservation rights.' Rules and regulations The CAA Rules authorise Central government officials stationed in States — including those from the Directorate of Census Operations, India Post, Railways, National Informatics Centre (NIC), and Intelligence Bureau (IB) — to handle and process citizenship applications. Once an application is submitted online, the applicant is required to appear before a District Level Committee headed by the Superintendent of Post Office as the designated officer. The committee also includes representatives from the NIC, IB, Railways, and the district administration. 'The process is usually completed within a couple of weeks, including antecedent verification by IB, but if there are errors in the application — such as mismatched names or issues with supporting documents — applicants are informed and asked to make the necessary corrections before resubmitting,' says an officer from the India Post in Bhuj. According to the official, 18 people from the Kutch district have been granted citizenship under the CAA so far, and another 97 applications are in the pipeline. 'District officials have informed us that now only 115 Pakistani nationals are in Kutch, including the 97 whose applications are currently pending. The rest have not applied yet,' the official adds. Waiting for the gates to open For the children of those who have waited for citizenship, life means growing up in a country they call home, yet don't belong. They cannot take admission in government schools, and have no access to reservations in education and jobs. Sending children abroad is complex. Sooroji's younger brother, Laxmansinh Sodha, 53, a graduate of Karachi Medical College with an MBBS degree, who now runs a clinic in Morbi, says he had hoped to send his son Mehtabsinh, 17, — who qualified for NEET — to Russia to study medicine, after facing issues with admission in India due to incomplete documentation. 'But that too didn't work out because he doesn't have an Indian passport.' His education shows he is from India, while his passport is from Pakistan. 'Now, we've enrolled him in an LLB programme at a private university here. His citizenship is still pending.' Laxmansinh migrated to India in November 2012 and was granted citizenship earlier this year. His first visit to India was in 1971, he recalls, when he was just six months old. During the Indo-Pak war, his parents fled to India and took shelter in the Zura camp for nearly three years. However, due to limited facilities at the camp and a lack of livelihood options, the family eventually returned to Tharparkar in Pakistan. 'I practised medicine there for nearly 10 years, and left everything behind and came to India, fearing forced conversions and attacks on Hindus,' he explains. Sitting beside him is Netsinh Sodha, 56, who once worked as a patwari (village accountant) in Tharparkar district. He left his government job and migrated to India with his wife and seven children in May 2014. Now settled in Morbi, he runs a cloth shop and is among those who have been granted Indian citizenship. While Netsinh welcomes CAA, he raises concerns about the implementation process, alleging that staff involved in handling applications often harass applicants. 'The Act clearly states that even a single document or visa entry stamp is enough to apply for citizenship under CAA, yet many officials lack clarity on the provisions. As a result, many migrants are facing unnecessary hurdles,' he says. 'Applicants are being forced to submit their forms five to 10 times over minor issues. This is something the government must urgently address.' He says many Hindus are still 'stuck' in the neighbouring country and are waiting for the authorities to start issuing visas again. In April 2025, after the Pahalgam attack, India suspended visa services to Pakistani nationals. Edited by Sunalini Mathew
