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Love in the Time of India-Pakistan Tensions: A Cross-Border Love Story Ends in Jail

Love in the Time of India-Pakistan Tensions A Cross-Border Love Story Ends in Jail

(CTN News) – An Indian guy was detained in January for assisting a Pakistani national in obtaining a false identity document and unlawful entry into the country.

His wife was the one he ended up assisting.

The 21-year-old Indian Mulayam Singh Yadav and the 19-year-old Pakistani Iqra Jeewani fell in love three years ago while playing the online board game Ludo. Nonetheless, they were realistic about the challenges of their relationship.

Since India was partitioned on independence and Pakistan was founded in 1947, ties between the two countries have been tense. This might make getting visas to visit loved ones more of a hassle.

Therefore, Mulayam and Iqra went to Nepal in September to tie the knot. They eventually settled in Bangalore, India (then known as Bengaluru), the state capital of Karnataka.

But in January, tragedy struck when Ms. Jeewani was imprisoned for entering India illegally, and Mr. Yadav was jailed on charges of fraud, forgery, and harboring a foreign citizen without valid documentation.

As Mr. Yadav remains in jail in Bangalore, she was deported to Pakistan last week.

The arrests deeply troubled members of Mr. Yadav’s family in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India. Some have said that the couple’s narrative is nothing more than a love story.

His sibling Jeetlal has clarified that the family wants everyone to return home. “We are aware of what is happening in Pakistan and India. Sadly, all they did was fall in love.”

The police force is on board with this theory.

An anonymous senior police official in Bangalore stated, “Besides the unlawful entrance and falsification, it looks like a love tale.”

When Did their Love Story Start?

In 2020, after the Covid system was shut down, the couple met and fell in love.

Mr. Yadav guarded an IT firm in Bangalore, India, while Ms. Jeewani studied in Hyderabad, Pakistan.

After meeting one another online, the couple decided to start dating long-distance. Nonetheless, Ms. Jeewani’s relatives kept putting pressure on her to settle down and get married.

Mr. Yadav suggested that she leave Pakistan and meet him in Nepal, so she did just that, going there through Dubai. According to the authorities, the couple traveled to India to get married in a Hindu ceremony at a local temple.

Police claim that Mr. Yadav arranged for a bogus Aadhar card (an Indian identification document) to be issued to Ms. Jeewani so that she could remain in India.

The police claim that while Ms. Jeewani stayed home caring for their children, Mr. Yadav worked every day.

The cops eventually tracked her out because of her frequent WhatsApp calls to her mother in Pakistan.

Authorities in Bangalore said they were on high alert last month in anticipation of the Aero India air show and the G20 finance ministers’ conference, which will take place in the city in February.

After additional inquiry, on January 20th, Ms. Jeewani was detained for unlawful entrance and turned over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. Back in February, she was shipped back to Pakistan after being deported.

S Girish, the deputy police commissioner for Bangalore’s Whitefield area, told the BBC, “As of now, there is no violation made out against her other than merely arriving into the country illegally.” Yet, “the probe is still active.”

Unfortunately for the BBC, neither Ms. Jeewani nor her family in Pakistan was available for comment.

Her father reportedly verified to the PTI news agency earlier this week that she had returned home but that they did not wish to “talk on this topic.”

Shanti Devi, Mr. Yadav’s mother, has expressed her desire for the governments of both nations to facilitate a family reunion.

“She’s our daughter-in-law, and we couldn’t care less if she’s Muslim or from Pakistan. We promise to treat her gently.”

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Bangladesh Supreme Court to Rule on Controversial Job Quotas Amid Nationwide protests

Bangladesh Supreme Court to Rule on Controversial Job Quotas Amid Nationwide protests

(CTN News) – The future of public service hiring regulations, which have provoked national conflicts between police and university students that have resulted in at least 133 fatalities so far, is set to be decided by Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Sunday, or today.

Later in the day, the nation’s highest court will meet to declare its decision about the controversial job quotas—either in favor of or against their elimination.

This week’s protests over politically motivated admission quotas for highly sought-after government posts turned into some of the worst instability during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s watch.

Due to the ongoing turmoil, a curfew has been in place since Friday. In addition, the government has declared a two-day holiday during which all offices and institutions would be closed.

After riot police were unable to restore order, soldiers are now policing cities throughout Bangladesh, and since Thursday, there has been a statewide internet blackout that has severely limited the flow of information to the outside world.

SEE ALSO: Nearly 1,000 Indian Students Return from Bangladesh Amid Deadly Unrest Over Job Quota System

Hasina made hints to the public this week that the plan will be abandoned, which comes after her opponents accuse her government of using the judiciary to further its own agenda.

However, a positive decision is unlikely to calm the nation’s simmering rage in the wake of the intensifying crackdown and growing dead toll.

Business owner Hasibul Sheikh, 24, told AFP, “It’s not about the rights of the students anymore,” while observing a Saturday street demonstration in the capital city of Dhaka against a statewide curfew.

“Our demand is one point now, and that’s the resignation of the government,” he stated.

A system that reserves more than half of civil service positions for particular groups, like as children of veterans of the 1971 war, is the driving force behind the upheaval this month.

Hasina, 76, has ruled the nation since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January following a ballot in which there was no real competition, according to critics who claim the program helps families who support her.

Rights organizations accuse Hasina’s government of abusing state institutions, including as the extrajudicial assassination of opposition activists, in order to strengthen its grasp on power and quell dissent.

Bangladesh’s 170 million people lack access to sufficient employment possibilities, therefore the quota system is a major cause of anger for recent graduates who are struggling to find work.

“The government’s actions have made the situation worse, rather than trying to address the protesters’ grievances,” Pierre Prakash, Asia director of Crisis Group, told AFP.

After a week of increasing violence, Hasina canceled her intentions to depart the nation on Sunday for a diplomatic trip to Spain and Brazil.

Source: The Indian Express

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Pakistani Government Plans to Ban PTI

Pakistani Government Plans to Ban PTI

(CTN News) – The Pakistani government has announced measures to outlaw Pakistan Terheek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar made the declaration on Monday, only days after the Supreme Court declared the PTI eligible for a share of reserved seats in national and provincial assemblies.

After reviewing all relevant information, the government has decided to ban PTI. “We will file a case to ban the party,” he said, citing claims such as inciting violent protests last year and leaking confidential information.

Tarar stated that the case would be moved to the Supreme Court.

He also stated that the government intended to file treason charges against Khan and two other senior party leaders, former President of Pakistan Arif Alvi and ex-Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri, as well as a review appeal against the Supreme Court’s ruling that the PTI should be allocated some assembly seats reserved for women and members of religious minorities.

According to Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a top PTI politician and party spokesperson, the government’s action “betrays their complete panic”.

“After realizing that they could no longer threaten, compel, or blackmail judges, they decided to make this move through the cabinet. “All of their attempts to stop us have been declared illegal by the courts,” he stated.

Last week, the Supreme Court recognized the PTI as a political party and confirmed that the party’s lack of an electoral emblem did not affect its legal right to field candidates.

The verdict was in response to the PTI being barred from competing in parliamentary elections in February using its party emblem, the cricket bat, forcing it to field candidates as independents.

Despite the setback, PTI-backed candidates emerged as the largest parliamentary bloc, winning 93 seats.

After Khan declined to cooperate with his political opponents, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) formed a coalition government with other smaller parties.

Ex-Governor Sindh Zubair, who formerly served in the PMLN, stated that the government’s action was in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week and warned of political upheaval ahead.

“The powers that be are trying to disenfranchise the largest majority of voters of the country, who voted for PTI,” he disclosed to Al Jazeera.

Khan was appointed prime minister in August 2018 but was dismissed from power in April 2022 after a parliamentary vote of no-confidence.

The cricketer-turned-politician has since faced a slew of legal issues, including charges of misplacing and leaking the contents of a confidential cable delivered to Islamabad by Pakistan’s then-ambassador in the US in 2022.

Khan has continually disputed the charge, claiming that the dossier contained evidence that his resignation as prime minister was orchestrated by his political opponents and the country’s powerful military, with assistance from the US administration. Both Washington and Pakistan’s army deny the accusation.

Despite multiple recent court verdicts in his favor, Khan has been in prison since August of last year.

Source: Aljazeera

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NAB Re-Arrests Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi After Iddat Case Conviction Overturned

NAB Re-Arrests Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi After Iddat Case Conviction Overturned

(CTN News) – Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were acquitted in the Iddat case by a sessions court on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the PTI in reserved seats.

However, their relief was short-lived when Imran Khan was detained by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for selling official goods. Bushra Bibi was also rearrested in this case while being released from Adiala Jail’s Gate No. 3.

According to sources, the NAB detained Bushra Bibi after the bureau’s chairman issued arrest warrants for her and Imran Khan. Both are to be investigated in Adiala Jail.

Opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan condemned Bushra Bibi’s imprisonment and criticized the Adiala Jail administration. He also cautioned the jail superintendent of the repercussions and announced that a privilege motion would be filed against him.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were acquitted in the Iddat case after Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Mohammad Afzal Majoka reversed their previous verdict, which sentenced them to seven years in prison on February 3, five days before the general election.

Imran Khan’s lawyers, Usman Gill and Zaheer Abbas, were in court when the verdict was pronounced.

In the 28-page ruling, Judge Majoka rejected Khawar Fareed Maneka, Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband,’s arguments that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s nikah was illegally performed and that Mr. Maneka was denied Buju (reconciliation rights) under religious law.

The court also rejected the allegation of fornication under provision 496-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), stating that no charge was filed under this provision against both Imran Khan and his spouse “because there was no evidence of a second witness”. The trial court heard only one witness, Mr Maneka’s domestic servant.

“In these circumstances, it cannot be said that the appellants committed fornication,” the judge wrote. Regarding the charge of contracting marriage fraudulently during the Iddat period, the judge found that in a video given as evidence during the trial, Mr. Maneka lauded his ex-wife, Bushra Bibi, and “deposed that his ex-wife is a pious lady.”

The magistrate inquired about “how this witness [Mr Maneka] can claim that the appellant No. 2 [Bushra Bibi] committed fraud with him” .

The court announced its decision: “From a perusal of Section 496 PPC and the above-mentioned esteemed citations, this court is of the view that the appellants have not gone through any marriage ceremony fraudulently or with dishonest intention because none of the parties claimed that nikah was not performed and fraudulently he or she was supposed to believe that marriage ceremony was solemnised.”

The court judgment added: “In the instant instance, it is the complainant’s case that the appellants’ nikah was done on January 1, 2018, followed by the second nikah in February 2018. By no stretch of the imagination, it was a marriage with dishonest or deceptive intentions.”

Regarding Mr. Maneka’s claim that he was denied reconciliation rights and so deceived by Imran Khan and Ms. Bibi, the court noted that during cross-examination, Mr. Maneka stated that he learned of the appellants’ marriage on the second day of their nikah.

Before submitting the complaint, the judge questioned why Mr Maneka had been silent on his reconciliation rights for six years.

The judge stated, “The complainant has failed to prove his case against the appellants.” As a result, both appeals filed by appellants No. 1 [Imran Khan] and No. 2 [Bushra Bibi] are accepted, the judgment of the learned trial court of February 3, 2024, is overturned, and both appellants are acquitted of the accusation.”

The court ordered their freedom unless they needed to be imprisoned in other cases.

Source: DAWN

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