Latest news with #ComicalAli
India Today
15-05-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Pakistan's only gain from war with India — a Comical Ali
In 2003, when American coalition forces invaded Iraq, and guns boomed in Baghdad, one person was shooting from the lips. It was Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's Information Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, nicknamed the Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali for his outlandish claims. Cut to 2025, General Asim Munir's military in Pakistan might lack the bombs, but not the bufoons. In Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), it has found its very own Comical is only Lt Gen Chaudhry, a Pakistani three-star general, who can match al-Sahhaf in bluffs and outright lies in times of war aren't harmless. If Saddam's cousin, Colonel General Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti, nicknamed Chemical Ali, killed 5,000 Kurds with mustard gas and sarin, Comical Ali got hundreds of Iraqis killed with his Ali kept repeating that US forces were far off, even when they reached Baghdad, with Iraqi civilians getting caught and killed in the al-Sahhaf told mediapersons the US was airdropping booby-trapped pencils in Iraq, and that citizens had been asked not to touch them. Such was the entertainment that international mediapersons attending his press conferences branded it -- the Al-Sahhaf the Saddam regime fell, the Al-Sahhaf Show ended, only to emerge two decades later, 3,700km to the host was Lt Gen Chaudhry, the DG of ISPR, who dished out disinformation with the use of digital tools, something unavailable to press conference at a time, Lt Gen Chaudhry, a three-star general, claimed his status as the Comical Ali of comedy of terrors was on full display as he used digitally altered clips to spread disinformation during his briefing on Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos on May comedy is his forte while terror runs in his family. Chaudhry's father, nuclear scientist Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, met al-Qaida chief Osama bin Ladenand tried to hand over nuclear weapons technology to sleuths exposed Chaudhry's attempt at cheap thrills, using doctored clips of Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, removing mentions that Pakistan targeted Indian civilian areas and that the Indian military neutralised all Chaudhry matched the OG Comical Ali after he sent Pakistani drones as far as Delhi. Of course, the drones "hovering over Delhi" were only a figment of his imagination."All through Operation Bunyanun Marsoos dozens of Pakistani armed drones hovered over major Indian cities and sensitive political and government facilities, including their capital New Delhi," said had a field day on social All Pakistani drones flying over Delhi have been captured by Zomato," tweeted Abhishek Asthana from his popular Gabbar Singh handle."Bro if any drones land in East Delhi, they would get stuck in all the faulty wires," wrote another bemused person on business is serious, and war is the most serious business of all. Lives are at stake and comic relief from a three-star general like Lt Gen Chaudhry is what people expect the least."That's why no one takes these jokers seriously!" said Indian Army veteran Major Manik M Jolly (retired) on leaders, including Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, have made amusing claims and counter-claims, but none have come close to Chaudhry, the DG of Saeed al-Sahaf, the OG Comical Ali, vanished into thin air as Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed. Reports said he killed himself. But he surprised the world by appearing on Abu Dhabi TV as a commentator speaking on the trial of his former boss, of the last lies of al-Sahaf as Saddam's information minister was denying that the US-led coalition troops were even close to Baghdad while news TV cameras caught Iraqi troops fleeing right across the Tigris al-Sahaf misled his countrymen about the enemy at the gates, Lt Gen Chaudhary sent drones to as far off as Delhi. Though Pakistan has almost nothing to show from its armed conflict with India -- it can hold up its very own Comical Ali as a rare InTrending Reel
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Tories have suffered the worst fate of all: irrelevance
On what otherwise looks set to be a miserable day for the Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch can take heart that she still has one fan. Sky News asked Nigel Farage for his message to the Tory leader. Flushed with Reform UK's Runcorn and Helmsby success, he was effusive: 'Kemi Badenoch, please stay. Please don't resign. We want you to stay on as leader. I'll out some money if you want to keep you there'. Not, perhaps, the endorsement Badenoch was looking for. But Farage's enthusiasm is understandable. Across the country – Northumberland, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, and elsewhere – the story is the same: Reform usurping the Tories in areas where once the party's vote was weighed, not counted. Even if Runcorn was gained from Labour's expense, the Conservative vote halved. As the days draws on, the news will only get worse. These elections were in Tory heartlands – rural, provincial, and won with stonking majorities by Boris Johnson back in 2021. But now the Conservatives are besieged on all sides – by Labour in the Brexit-voting North and Midlands, by the Lib Dems in the leafy South and South-West, and by Reform everywhere. Farage's grin will get wider and wider. If there is any great Tory success in these results, it will be one of expectation management. With various suggestions circulating in the last few days that the Tories might lost all the 19 councils they had, to even hold one will be treated as a triumph. suggest Paul Bristow has won the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty: expect him to become CCHQ's poster boy. Yet even as unfortunate Shadow Cabinet members do the Comical Ali routine on the morning media round – always going to be difficult, party under new leadership, nothing to see here – reality cannot be fooled. Andrea Jenkyns may not have been the greatest loss to the Tory ranks. But the ex-MP's victory for Reform in Greater Lincolnshire is a totem of the ongoing loss of previously safe Tory areas. Repeating Boris Johnson's stonking 2021 success in these elections was an impossible task. Since then, we've had Partygate, Trussonomics, and Toryism's worst defeat since James II's exile. But Badenoch has now been leader for six months. Under her, the Conservatives have only gone further backwards. Her approval ratings are dire and getting worse. The more voters see of her, the more they dislike her. Farage cuts through because he articulates a vision that speaks to the frustrations voters have with our broken political system. By contrast, Badenoch has nothing to say. The public aren't interested in her Potemkin policy commissions. They want solutions, but this Tory Party has no interest in providing them. They are an irrelevance: yesterday's party, loathed, ignored, and moribund. Even with a government as shocking as this – releasing criminals early, cutting winter fuel payments, hiking taxes, and surrendering the Chagos Islands – the Conservatives aren't landing any blows. The stark reality is that politics is the Farage vs Keir Starmer show, with no room for Badenoch. She has little appeal to voters lost to Reform, Labour, or the Lib Dems. Tories are becoming disillusioned. However bad today is, expect MPs to give Badenoch the benefit of the doubt. Too many, having kept their seats at the last election, suffer from survivorship bias, and want to deny how bad the situation is. But they can't fool themselves forever. The party is dying on its feet. The buck stops with Badenoch. It's now not a case of if she goes, but when. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Tories have suffered the worst fate of all: irrelevance
On what otherwise looks set to be a miserable day for the Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch can take heart that she still has one fan. Sky News asked Nigel Farage for his message to the Tory leader. Flushed with Reform UK's Runcorn and Helmsby success, he was effusive: 'Kemi Badenoch, please stay. Please don't resign. We want you to stay on as leader. I'll out some money if you want to keep you there'. Not, perhaps, the endorsement Badenoch was looking for. But Farage's enthusiasm is understandable. Across the country – Northumberland, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, and elsewhere – the story is the same: Reform usurping the Tories in areas where once the party's vote was weighed, not counted. Even if Runcorn was gained from Labour's expense, the Conservative vote halved. As the days draws on, the news will only get worse. These elections were in Tory heartlands – rural, provincial, and won with stonking majorities by Boris Johnson back in 2021. But now the Conservatives are besieged on all sides – by Labour in the Brexit-voting North and Midlands, by the Lib Dems in the leafy South and South-West, and by Reform everywhere. Farage's grin will get wider and wider. If there is any great Tory success in these results, it will be one of expectation management. With various suggestions circulating in the last few days that the Tories might lost all the 19 councils they had, to even hold one will be treated as a triumph. suggest Paul Bristow has won the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoralty: expect him to become CCHQ's poster boy. Yet even as unfortunate Shadow Cabinet members do the Comical Ali routine on the morning media round – always going to be difficult, party under new leadership, nothing to see here – reality cannot be fooled. Andrea Jenkyns may not have been the greatest loss to the Tory ranks. But the ex-MP's victory for Reform in Greater Lincolnshire is a totem of the ongoing loss of previously safe Tory areas. Repeating Boris Johnson's stonking 2021 success in these elections was an impossible task. Since then, we've had Partygate, Trussonomics, and Toryism's worst defeat since James II's exile. But Badenoch has now been leader for six months. Under her, the Conservatives have only gone further backwards. Her approval ratings are dire and getting worse. The more voters see of her, the more they dislike her. Farage cuts through because he articulates a vision that speaks to the frustrations voters have with our broken political system. By contrast, Badenoch has nothing to say. The public aren't interested in her Potemkin policy commissions. They want solutions, but this Tory Party has no interest in providing them. They are an irrelevance: yesterday's party, loathed, ignored, and moribund. Even with a government as shocking as this – releasing criminals early, cutting winter fuel payments, hiking taxes, and surrendering the Chagos Islands – the Conservatives aren't landing any blows. The stark reality is that politics is the Farage vs Keir Starmer show, with no room for Badenoch. She has little appeal to voters lost to Reform, Labour, or the Lib Dems. Tories are becoming disillusioned. However bad today is, expect MPs to give Badenoch the benefit of the doubt. Too many, having kept their seats at the last election, suffer from survivorship bias, and want to deny how bad the situation is. But they can't fool themselves forever. The party is dying on its feet. The buck stops with Badenoch. It's now not a case of if she goes, but when.
