Pakistani Hindu woman may lose son on short-term visa
JAISALMER: Radha Bheel, a 27-year-old Pakistani national living near Jaisalmer, is faced with the prospect of being separated from her toddler son just days after their emotional reunion.
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And the cause of her despair is India's decision to revoke Pakistani visas with immediate effect in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, with all Pakistani nationals ordered to return to their country by April 27.
Radha's plight is shared by many Pakistani Hindu families in Rajasthan who are on short term visas (STVs). In Jaisalmer alone, a pall of gloom has descended over 1,200 Pakistani citizens on STVs.
As for those on long term visas (LTVs), ASP (CID) Narpat Singh, who's also the Foreign Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), said his office is awaiting orders from home ministry and assured that long-term visa holders need not be concerned for now.
Radha, her husband Raju Ram (30), and their two daughters, aged 8 and 7, arrived in India on an LTV in Feb 2023. However, the couple's son, Ghanshyam, who was then less than two months old, was denied a visa, as were Raju Ram's parents. It took two years for Ghanshyam and his grandparents to finally arrive in India on an STV on April 6.
"I waited for two years to hold my baby but will have to bear parting with him once again," she told TOI, tears streaming down her face.
In Jaisalmer, Dilip Singh Sodha, a refugee who fled Pakistan to escape religious persecution, said, "You may as well shoot us here. If we die here, at least our ashes will be scattered in Haridwar."
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First Post
39 minutes ago
- First Post
FATF can salvage its counter-terrorism credentials by cracking down on Pakistan
With the second meeting of the FATF scheduled to commence today, countries interested in the fight against terrorism and its financing need to re-evaluate Pakistan's role in failing to crack down on terrorism from its soil read more Should the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) take a sharper and closer look at Pakistan's counter-terrorism reality? With the second meeting of the FATF scheduled to commence on 10 June 2025, like-minded countries invested in the fight against terrorism and its financing need to re-evaluate Pakistan's role in failing to crack down on terrorism from its soil. Pakistan has thrice been listed on FATF's Grey List in the past, from 2008-2010, 2012-2015 and 2018-2022. The third time around, it landed on the list after the motion was initiated by the United States and supported by the United Kingdom, France and Germany due to Pakistan's glaring deficiencies in counter-terrorist financing (CFT). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The recent events around the conduct of Operation Sindoor are a stark reality check on the complicity of the Pakistani state in supporting, funding and participating in terrorism. If the world needed any further proof, Pakistan did not hesitate to provide it in full glare of the world media. Shortly after the successful precision strikes, senior military commanders stood in solidarity at the funeral prayer meeting, led by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist commander Hafiz Abdul Rauf. Pakistani military personnel went a step further by carrying the coffins of terrorists to reinforce their support and backing for UN-proscribed terrorist groups and their leaders. Terrorist leaders from the LeT and JuD have since been seen openly galvanising support for terrorism from Pakistan and collecting funds to provide an impetus to their 'jihad'. The Pakistani 'establishment' and terrorist handlers are confident that, having escaped the FATF clutches, they can continue to support terrorism as a state policy. Pakistan has been at pains to highlight Kashmir as the point of contention with India. On the contrary, it is Pakistan's employment of terrorism as an instrument of hybrid war that should remain the focus of attention of world capitals. And the best way to curb Pakistani adventurism is to retain strict control over the proliferation of terrorism by organisations like the FATF. There is no better way to ensure stability in the region and restrict the export from the terrorism factory of the world, and curbing its funding. The FATF is a 40-member, inter-governmental, multinational body that acts as a 'watchdog' against money laundering and terrorist financing. India is a member of the grouping. 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This does not come as a surprise, given the country's record of nurturing and sheltering UN proscribed terrorist groups and their commanders. The evaluation report noted that 'Several UN-listed organisations continue to operate openly in Pakistan, including holding fundraising events.' Pakistan has mastered the art of obfuscating reality and window dressing the true face of its parallel terror economy. The appeasement of major powers by handing over selective terrorist leaders and promising to safeguard economic interests like the CPEC corridor is not a guarantee against the spread of the contagion. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If the FATF does intend to expose Pakistan's age-old strategy of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, then its record of fighting terrorism deserves closer scrutiny. Member countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany that have been victims of Pakistan's terror factories should support India's attempt at stabilising the region by curbing the funding of terrorism in Pakistan. The international community must realise that the Pakistani establishment's repeated claims of being a victim of terrorism are inherently flawed. It is not the West that is responsible for Pakistan's terror woes, unlike Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's repeated assertions. It is Pakistan's strategy of promoting extremist thought and sowing jihadi ideology that is hollowing its social fabric. Pakistan has been fooling the world by selectively fighting terrorism and equally selectively sharing figures of terrorists prosecuted and acted against. If this continues, little change can be expected. It is time to reintroduce the motion in the FATF to at least place Pakistan on the Grey List. This is despite the reality of mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the blackest of them all? Pakistan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Col Vivek Chadha (Retd) is a Senior Fellow at Manohar Parrikar IDSA. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Hindi teacher for English, science taught via YouTube: In these Haryana schools, almost nobody cleared board exams
In these Haryana schools grappling with a severe teacher crunch, the writing was already on the wall when class XII exams came. While their peers did the customary whoop, jump in the air and celebratory group hug — hallmarks of result season — they retreated into anonymity as class 12 board scores were published last month; away from probing questions, the scorn of family members, inquest of neighbours, and commiserations of friends who had done better. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now At 18 schools, all students who took the Haryana class XII board exams this year failed. At 82 more, the pass percentage was below 35, an outcome anomalous with the 85.7 overall, which was an improvement from 85.3 in 2024 and 81.6 in 2023. No forensic investigation is needed to explain their poor showing. In one school, for example, the Hindi teacher was also taking the English class. At another, science lessons came from YouTube channels, supervised by a teacher from the humanities section. Students, principals and parents TOI spoke to also referred to strict measures against cheating that were taken this time as a factor that had 'spooked' some of them. The risk many of the failed students run is dropping out of the education system. Girls resisting pressure from families to get married fear they will no longer be able to do so. And for boys under pressure to add to the family income, it's the inevitable path into low-paying informal jobs. 'In such circumstances, the community questions the value of further schooling, with remarks like, 'will he or she become a lawyer, or DC?'. This leads to parents not re-admitting their children after they fail,' says Kusum Malik, science teacher at a govt school, underlining the need to reach out to students and their families and rebuild confidence through special classes. 23 appeared, 22 failed At Govt Girls Senior Secondary School in Nuh's Shikrawa, only one student from the whole batch had a pass score in all subjects. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'A great shame' is how sarpanch Azhar Shikrawa described the feeling, pointing out that 'this village has given our justice system two judges and some police officers'. In principal Amar Singh Beniwal's practical analysis, this was a result foretold. The school is without dedicated teachers for history and political science and has had severe problems in the science stream. Last year, of the six girls who had taken science, three failed and three received a compartment. The school introduced the science stream three years ago, but has been struggling to find teachers. At present, says Beniwal, it has teachers for physics and chemistry, but not biology. And yet, students did relatively better in biology — which was taught by the chemistry teacher — than in chemistry itself, confounding the principal. Isha, who failed in chemistry, blamed it on a 'lack of revision'. Nasreen said English questions 'were out of syllabus' and has made stoic peace with the result, calling it ' kismat ki baat (a matter of fate)'. Farzana referred to a sudden drop in performance after class 11 'as the medium of teaching changed to English from Hindi'. Farzana's father had a different take — he felt the results were affected by 'strict checking and presence of exter0 nal observers during the exams, which had made the children nervous'. Beniwal told TOI , 'Absence of leadership in the past caused teachers to become complacent. The core issue is staff shortage. Our teachers are overburdened and have to teach subjects beyond their expertise. It's true that many students are transitioning from Hindi medium. This year, we also implemented stricter measures to prevent cheating.' 13 appeared, all failed Since Govt Senior Secondary School in Autha, also in Nuh, started its higher secondary section in 2022, very few have cleared the boards. This year, none did. The school hasn't had a specialist English teacher since 2022. It's the Hindi teacher who stands in. Political science has just one teacher for junior and senior classes. There were, however, two Sanskrit teachers till this Feb. Azhar, who didn't clear his boards this year, says there was an all-round crisis of teachers. 'The physical education teacher sometimes came and took science class. The principal, who has been at the school for around a year-and-a-half, taught us history and political science. But the principal also has other things to do,' he said. Apparently, the exams were also marred by confusion. One student said the English paper started 60-90 minutes late in some rooms at the exam centre. Another said there was confusion about allotment of rooms. Shri Krishan, the school's principal, said, 'The primary cause of poor performance is the lack of specialised subject teachers. Our students rely entirely on the school for learning; if they don't receive proper guidance here, they don't study at all.' 105 appeared, 95 failed The All Boys Senior Secondary School in Nuh's Punhana did not have teachers for chemistry, physics and biology, its principal Abdul Nafe told TOI . 'A teacher for chemistry joined in Nov, but the batch had little time left for preparations,' he says, adding that science teachers have not been available for two years. It did not, therefore, come as a surprise that just three students had pass marks in physics. 'Since we didn't have subject teachers, we tried to learn from material on the web. Teachers in the classroom would play YouTube videos for us. We could understand the material to some extent, but it was difficult to clear doubts in this manner,' a student said. Marks in humanities subjects were better, even though geography and home science had no teachers. 'But the overall result was affected by students failing in specific subjects despite passing others (like passing history but failing in Hindi or political science),' says Nafe, adding that many students came to class 11 with very weak foundational knowledge, struggling even with basic reading and writing (the school identified 28 class 9 students who cannot write Hindi or English). 25 appeared, 21 failed K Ramniwas minces no words. 'We are very ashamed of the result,' says the principal of Govt Senior Secondary School in Khanda, Sonepat. The school had no shortage of teachers. 'It's even more shameful that despite having all teachers available in our school, only four students passed,' says Ramniwas, identifying poor attendance as the main culprit. Most of the students in this rural school belong to farming families and economically weak sections, and so have to 'regularly engage in work with their family to earn some extra money', according to the principal. The results are a reality check for the school, which needs a course correction in political science and history, two subjects in which most of the current batch failed. 'The previous years were fine. This time, results were affected by these two subjects,' says Ramniwas. This session, the school will have a bigger batch in class 12 (34 students). 15 appeared, 10 failed Govt Senior Secondary School at Kaurali in Faridabad has not had a full-time principal since Suparna Trikha retired on Aug 31 last year. Neither does it have teachers for social sciences, science, Hindi, English and Sanskrit. It's, therefore, somewhat a matter of surprise that five from the batch of 15 that appeared in the boards this year actually cleared it and will move to college. 'How can students be expected to study when there are no teachers for even the main subjects? The condition of govt schools must be improved. Students are suffering,' says , the sarpanch of Kaurali. An officer at the education directorate in Panchkula, told TOI , 'Out of the 18 schools where all students failed, only three are govt schools. In Nuh, the poor performance of schools is largely due to a shortage of teachers. The situation is expected to improve following a teacher transfer drive, which aims to address this issue.' Kusum Malik says the 'class readiness programme' in the months of April and May needs to be strengthened with a focus on improving basic skills in Hindi, English and maths. 'To address social factors, parent-teacher meetings need to be held regularly. Teachers can explain the benefits of education and use success stories from the community as role models to inspire them,' she says.
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Pakistan to give its military more money, ignoring its real tension: Economy, not India
Despite facing record-high debt and a struggling economy, Pakistan plans to raise its defence budget by nearly 18 per cent in 2025–26, taking it over Rs 2.5 trillion (around $14 billion). The move comes after its military setback in a recent four-day conflict with India read more Pakistan has never come out of the notion that by spending more on military, it can eventually be able to counter India in the battlefield. Reports from Pakistani media say that the country is set to increase its defence budget by nearly 18 per cent in the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year. This would raise its defence spending to over Rs 2.5 trillion (about $14 billion), despite facing its highest-ever public debt and deepening economic challenges. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The decision to hike military funding comes against the backdrop of the battering the Pakistani forces received during the f our-day conflict with India in May in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were massacred by Pakistan-backed terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in April. The decision also follows multiple bailout fundings by international loan agencies to aid Pakistan in dealing with its fiscal and economic challenges. That came under stringent conditions. And those agencies would be monitoring Pakistan's military budget hike as historically such moves have meant more funding to terror outfits. Budget increase and security context Media reports from Pakistan say that the coalition government, led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has agreed on the significant defence outlay increase. They cite a 'war-like situation' with India. The 2024-25 defence budget stood at Rs 2,122 billion, already up nearly 15 per cent from the previous year. This year's budget hike would mean close to 35 per cent incremental hike in two years. Reports quoting sources also said the actual defence spending may rise even higher in the final quarter of the current fiscal year due to heightened military activity. Pakistan's Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal confirmed the hike, linking it to India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and 'water aggression' through upstream dam projects. He also said work on the $14 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam — a strategic infrastructure project with the help from China — would be expedited. Soaring debt and fiscal risks This comes against a ballooning public debt that reached a record level of PKR 76 trillion — the highest for Pakistan — as of March, according to its Economic Survey. It has nearly doubled from Rs 39.8 trillion in 2020-21 and increased five-fold over the past decade. The debt includes PKR 51.5 trillion in domestic liabilities and Rs 24.5 trillion in external borrowings. The Economic Survey warns that excessive debt and poor management pose serious risks to fiscal sustainability and economic security. Despite securing a $3.5 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year, Pakistan faces skepticism from international observers, including India, which questions whether IMF funds might indirectly support military spending rather than economic recovery. Pakistan's finance ministry officials argue that the defence budget increase was communicated to the IMF and Asian Development Bank (ADB) before the bailout and that the government is balancing security needs with fiscal responsibility. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan's real tension: Economic and social challenges Economists warn that the rising defence expenditure, combined with ambitious infrastructure projects like Diamer-Bhasha, could crowd out social spending and derail economic reforms. Inflation remains high, threatening to touch 40 per cent (over 38 per cent), and Pakistan continues to struggle with unemployment and poverty. Pakistan observers have been cautioning against diversion of funds for defence establishment. They argue that diverting funds to defence and megaprojects risks leaving ordinary citizens to bear the economic burden, potentially exacerbating social inequalities. Pakistan's upcoming 2025-26 budget clearly reflects a mis-prioritisation of the military establishment in the name of security while leaving concerns about fiscal prudence and long-term economic stability unaddressed. India and international financial institutions will closely monitor Pakistan's budget execution and debt management in the coming months. Pakistan's argument has been that its security threat emerges from India, a narrative that suits its military establishment to corner a huge chunk of the country's national budget while keeping the population in abject poverty. But if Pakistan's narrative is accepted, its defence spending would still be no match to India's. While Pakistan is pushing more money into its military establishment, the core backer of terrorism for decades, India remains the world's fifth-largest military spender at around $86 billion annually — nearly nine times Pakistan's outlay. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan's defence spending surge is bound to cause more economic strain on its social welfare programmes and fuel regional tensions as India would definitely take into account the growing military push in its neighbourhood, which is also the source of terrorism on its land.
