Many of such visitors either stay with their relatives or are scattered in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat among other places.

CHANDIGARH: Facing religious persecution, over 30,000 Pakistani Hindus arrived in last five years of which a large number of them are still in India either on Long Time Visa (LTV) or are overstaying illegally.  

Sources in the intelligence agencies point out that the Pakistani Hindus arrived on a 25-day visa issued for religious visit through road and rail link via the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab and Munabo border in Rajasthan’s Barmer district.

Many of such visitors either stay with their relatives or are scattered in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat among other places.

“Many of them applied for a long term visa to stay back in India on health grounds or by giving any other solid reason so that they are granted LTVs and many of them got,’’ said a senior officer.

The LTV holders are allowed free movement within the state where they live and can transfer the same documents from one state to another, said sources.  

Many Pakistani Hindus are staying illegally as they have reportedly not got visas, the official said. 

But what concerns the intelligence setup is the possibility of Pakistani agencies sending their operatives in the garb of persecuted minorities.

Sources said that last year about 100 groups of Hindu devotees came to India from Pakistan and each group had about 50 members. This year, the sources said, at least 70 to 80 such groups may arrive in India for religious visits.

Sources said that agents in Sindh and Lahore in Pakistan charge about Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per devotee in Pakistani currency and get papers prepared so that such visitors get an Indian visa for their visit.

With reports suggesting that three Hindu girls were abducted in Pakistan in last few days, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) will take up this issue with the Ministry of External Affairs, DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that three Hindu girls, including two from Sindh and one from Jacobabad, had been abducted in the last 48 hours. 

Sirsa claimed that the Pakistan Police was not helping the parents of these abducted girls despite their repeated appeals requesting the Central government to take up this matter with Pakistan, he also urged the UN Human Rights Council to look into the matter and restore the dignity of the minorities in Pakistan.  

Sirsa said that he had already brought the matter to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday displayed his grasp on social media and said he wants his ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ interaction with students to be without any filter – a terminology often used on platforms to denote unedited posts and candid conversations.

“We start our conversation. Today’s trend is #withoutfilter. We will have talk like you (students) talk to your friends. We will talk in a light environment,” the Prime Minister said during the event here.

“We may even make mistakes. And, in my case, if I make a mistake the friends in the media will love it too,” joked Modi.

He said that the ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ event is the closest to his heart, more than any other programmes he has attended.

“As Prime Minister, one gets to attend numerous types of programme. Each of them provides a new set of experiences. But, if someone asks me what is that one programme that touches your heart the most, I would say it is this one,” Modi said.

“Pariksha Pe Charcha is the event closest to my heart. Thousands of schools from the entire country participate in this and I feel how the youth of the country think and what they want to do,” he added.

The Prime Minister said he also loves attending Hackathons where they showcase the power and talent of India’s youth.

He also emphasised on the importance of this decade and said: “This new year and decade are equally important for you and the entire country. Whatever happens in this new decade will be directly related to the students that are currently studying in Class X and XII.”

The third edition of Prime Minister’s interaction programme with school students ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020’ is being held at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi.

During the programme, Prime Minister Modi will answer the questions and interact with selected students about how they can beat examination stress.

Around 2,000 students are participating from all over India in the programme.

“The HRD Ministry in partnership with MyGov launched a ‘short essay’ competition on five different themes for students of classes IX to XII for the programme, a government press release said.

The first edition of Prime Minister’s Interaction Programme with school and college students ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha 1.0’ was held at Talkatora Stadium on February 16, 2018.

Actors, directors and musicians have come together in a video against the CAA and the NRC, asserting that they would not show any document.

KHODAMBARI: BJP’s West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh said on Saturday that civil society members who are saying that they won’t show papers if the government asks for proof of citizenships will soon shy away from showing their faces.

A day after terming eminent personalities opposing the CAA and the proposed nationwide NRC “parasites”, Ghosh fired the fresh salvo while addressing party men at Khodambari after police stopped him from visiting Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district.

“These days there are so many intellectuals in West Bengal giving ‘gyan’ to people throughout the day and creating a cacophony. CPI(M) created these intellectuals by bringing them on to the streets and now, ‘didimoni’ (CM Mamata Banerjee) has created a factory to produce them. These days whoever is taking to the streets are been considered intellectuals,” Ghosh said.

“They (intellectuals) are saying that they will not show the papers. But I am saying that days are not far away when they will not be in a position even to show their faces.

Actors, directors and musicians have come together in a video against the CAA and the NRC, asserting that they would not show any document if there is a bid by the Centre to submit fresh proof of citizenships.

“Kagoj amra dekhabona (we won’t show papers),” actors Dhritiman Chatterjee, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Konkona Sen Sharma, Nandana Sen and Swastika Mukherjee, director Suman Mukhopadhyay and singer Rupam Islam are among the 12 personalities who are heard saying the line in the clip.

Ghosh on Friday had described them as “creatures”, “devils” and “parasites”.

“Some creatures called intellectuals have come out on the streets of Kolkata. These parasitic intellectuals, who live and enjoy out of other’s pockets, where were they when our predecessors were tortured in Bangladesh? These devils live on our food, and oppose us,” the state BJP president had said during a rally in Howrah.

Sarangi said people should be thankful to PM Modi to bring the CAA, the act which grants citizenship to non-Muslim minorities facing religious persecution in neighbouring countries.

SURAT: Accusing Congress of spreading misinformation about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union Minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi on Saturday said that those who do not accept India’s freedom, unity, and Vande Mataram, have no right to stay in the country.

“Those who set the country on fire are not patriots. Those who do not accept India’s freedom, unity, Vande Mataram, have no right to stay in the country,” said Sarangi here in a press conference.

Sarangi said people should be thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring the CAA, the act which grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians facing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Continuing his tirade against the Congress, the Union Minister further said that the CAA was a way to “atone for the sin of Partition” committed by the Congress.

“The CAA should have implemented 70 years ago. The act is a way to atone for a sin committed by our forefathers. Congress committed the sin, and we are atoning,” he said.Last year in September, Sarangi gave a similar remark in wake of the protests erupted against the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir by the central government.

“When the staunch opposition parties of BJP have supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision of scrapping Article 370, the Congress objected it. Amit Shah has made it clear to Congress leaders that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Siachen are also part of India. Those who do not accept Vande Mataram have no right to live in India,” he had said at the Jan Jagran Sabha in Odisha.

The 17-year-old duo studies in New Sainikpuri Public School and aims to pursue engineering at Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay or Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Delhi boy Nishant Agarwal who scored a perfect 100 in Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Mains shared his success with his twin brother Pranav who bagged a score of 99.93 in the examination.

The 17-year-old duo studies in New Sainikpuri Public School and aims to pursue engineering at Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay or Delhi.

“It’s great to get the perfect score, it’s even more great when you can share the same happiness and goals,” Nishant said.

His twin brother Pranav said, “Wish to get the same in the advanced exam and the board exams. Yesterday night, we just congratulated each other and got back to studying.”ADVERTISING

The results for the examination were announced by the Human Resource Development Ministry’s National Testing Agency on Friday night.

Nine candidates from across the country bagged the perfect score.

Other toppers for the engineering entrance exam include Nisarg Chadha from Gujarat, Haryana’s Divyanshu Agarwal, Landa Jitendra and Thadavarthi Vishnu Sri Sai Sankar from Andhra Pradesh, Akhil Jain and Parth Dwivedi from Rajasthan, Rongala Arun Siddardha and Chagari Koushal Kumar Reddy from Telangana.

A total of 8.69 lakh students, including 6.04 lakh males and 2.64 lakh females, and three transgenders had appeared for the exam conducted in six shifts from January 7-9, a senior official said.

While JEE Mains is conducted for admission to engineering colleges across the country, JEE-Advanced is for those seeking admission to IITs.

It is mandatory to clear JEE Mains to be eligible for JEE-Advanced.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has convened a meeting over the issue at the state secretariat in Mumbai on Monday.

SHIRDI: Shops, eateries, various other commercial establishments and local transport remained shut in the Shirdi temple town of Maharashtra on Sunday in response to the bandh called over a controversy on the birthplace of 19th-century saint Saibaba.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has convened a meeting over the issue at the state secretariat in Mumbai on Monday.

The bandh began here at midnight, but the Saibaba temple remained open with devotees being allowed to offer prayers, officials of the temple trust and Ahmednagar district administration said.

The ‘prasadalaya’ and the temple kitchen were also open to ensure devotees were not inconvenienced, they said.

Long queues of devotees were seen in front of the ‘prasadalaya’, breakfast centre and ‘laddoo’ sale centres of the temple, according to sources.

Terming the bandh as “successful”, local BJP functionary Sachin Tambe Patil, who is former trustee of the Saibaba temple, said, “Commercial establishments, shops, restaurants and local transport (autorickshaws and other private vehicles) are closed and a complete shutdown is being observed in the town as well as in 25 villages around Shirdi.”

“However, the temple is open and devotees are coming to offer prayers,” he said, adding that a rally has been organised here on Sunday.

Devotees who made pre-bookings at hotels were allowed to stay and taxi services from the airport to the temple were also unaffected, the district administration official said.

The state transport buses from other locations were being allowed to come to the town, he added.

Former Maharashtra minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who is the local BJP MLA, on Saturday said he supported the bandh call.

The controversy began after Chief Minister Thackeray announced a grant of Rs 100 crore for development of facilities at “Sai janmasthan” (birthplace) at Pathri in Parbhani district.

Local residents and leaders in Shirdi took exception to the chief minister’s announcement, saying the birthplace of the famed saint was not known, and Pathri cannot make a claim to being his birthplace.

They are demanding that Thackeray withdraw his official statement where he described Pathri as Saibaba’s birthplace.

It was at Shirdi in Ahmednagar district where Saibaba, whose devotees cut across religious lines, spent much of his life.

Driver Kamlesh Kamath, who sustained minor injuries in the incident, was apparently trying to overtake another vehicle when Azmi’s Tata Safari car rammed into a truck.

MUMBAI: An FIR has been registered against the driver of veteran actor Shabana Azmi for rash and negligent driving, after her car met with an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in Maharashtra, police said on Sunday.

Azmi (69), who was injured in the accident which took place on Saturday, is undergoing treatment at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in suburban Andheri and is “stable”, the hospital’s Executive Director and CEO Dr Santosh Shetty said.

Driver Kamlesh Kamath (38), who sustained minor injuries in the incident, was apparently trying to overtake another vehicle when Azmi’s Tata Safari car rammed into a truck near Khalapur, about 60 km from here in neighbouring Raigad district, a local police official earlier said.

Azmi’s husband, lyricist Javed Akhtar, was travelling in another car, Raigad Superintendent of Police Paraskar said on Sunday.

“We have booked driver Kamlesh Kamat under Indian Penal Code Sections 279 and 337 for rash and negligent driving and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. He is not yet arrested,” Paraskar said.

The car will be sent for an inspection to RTO (regional transport office) to ascertain if there was any fault in the vehicle or if the mishap took place after the driver lost control, he said.

After the incident, Azmi was first rushed to MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai and later shifted to the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital here.

“We will collect Azmi’s medical report from the MGM Hospital where she was initially taken. The driver’s medical examination was also conducted and he was not found under the influence of alcohol,” Paraskar said.

Meanwhile, Dr Shetty at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital said the actor’s health condition is “stable”.

“Azmi is recuperating. She is stable and under observation. No surgery, operation was performed during the night…she is undergoing medical treatment,” he said.

Azmi is known for her path-breaking roles in films like “Arth”, “Ankur”, “Paar”, “Masoom” and “Godmother”.