BENGALURU – Lies have become the order of the day, says an Indian professor who recently landed in troubled waters for praising Pakistani prime minister for his peace overtures to Modi-led government.
Sandeep Wathar, a professor of civil engineering at a college in southeastern Indian state of Karnataka, questioned the BJP government at the Centre for creating a war-like situation in the country in a Facebook post. The academic also praised PM Imran Khan in a Facebook post for his continuous peacemaking motions while accusing the Modi-led government of escalating the tensions between the two countries for their personal electoral gains.
“Who sounds more intelligent in all this? You bhakts. You will [be] the reason for the destruction of millions of lives if this tension escalates. BJPabsolutely zero shame,” Warthar is said to have shared in a second post on Facebook.
The posts were eventually deleted.
Members of Indian Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Saturday forced the professor to kneel and apologise over an alleged “anti-India” message on social media, according to media reports.
The incident occurred at Vachana Pitamaha Dr PG Halakatti College of Engineering and Technology in Vijayapura district of Karnataka. Even though the incident took place in the presence of police constable, no case has been filed as of now, reported NDTV.
Despite the professor not filing a complaint against the activists, the members had been prompting the police to register a suo moto complaint against him.
The institution where the incident occurred is run by Bijapur Lingayat Development Education Society, which is owned by Karnataka Home Minister and Congress leader MB Patil.
Indian media reported that the professor was persuaded by the college management to apologise. Over a hundred activists belonging to a right-wing group surrounded the professor and physically forced him to kneel down when he came out to apologise.
The activists also demanded the suspension of the professor. According to NDTV, the principal assured the activists that action would be taken against the professor once the college reopens on Tuesday.
In a video that went viral, the professor can be seen on his knees mumbling “sorry”, as activists raised slogans around him. A few policemen were also among the crowd, added the publication.
Following the attack, Mr Wathar in an interview said “it is not just my freedom of speech which is being threatened. This is about India’s freedom to exist as a democratic polity and society in the future. Everyone and everything which goes against the BJP’s policies and positions are at risk”.
“I am certain many will agree with me that I am not exaggerating. Lies have become the order of the day but I still hope truth will prevail,” he told Vikalp.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/journalists-being-pressurized-to-conform-to-official-narrative-on-pakistan-says-ravish-kumar/
India and Pakistan came to the brink of war last week as tensions escalated following the Feb 14 suicide car bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-occupied Kashmir. India accusing Pakistan of harbouring the Jaish-e Mohammad group behind the attack, which Islamabad denied.
The two nuclear-armed countries then engaged in an air battle and India lost jets in it after carrying out an air strike on what it said was a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad, considered a terrorist group both by India and Pakistan.
Pakistan also captured Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman after his MiG-21 fighter jet was shot down during a dogfight near the Line of Control (LoC) on February 27. He was released by Islamabad on Friday night as a “peace gesture”.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/indian-surgical-strike-in-pakistan-a-botched-operation-us-think-tank/
While India has accused Pakistan of supporting the militants and having a “direct hand” in the incident, Pakistan, in turn, has rejected the allegations, accusing India of being responsible for human rights violations taking place in Kashmir.
