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A crisis that wasn’t for Indians in Doha

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A crisis that wasn’t for Indians in Doha

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A ‘panic’ reported widely in Indian media did not exist, according to the feedback from the ground.

Government of India’s announcement of additional flights from Doha to meet the rush of Indian passengers was interpreted as a move to airlift Indians out of Qatar. Some Gulf countries severed relations with it and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain closed their borders, prohibiting traffic to and from Qatar, giving rise to speculation about a crisis and shortage of essential supplies.

It so happened that the additional flights were meant only to meet the holiday rush.

The Government of India announced on Wednesday, June 21, that Air India Express would operate an additional flight on Thiruvananthapuram-Doha and Doha-Cochin sectors from 25th June to 8th July 2017. Earlier, Jet Airways, has announced two additional flights to Mumbai, India on June 22 and 23.

The announcement of additional flights came from Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju who tweeted: “We’ll operate addl. flights b/w Doha & Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Mumbai for our citizens not able to get tickets at Doha @SushmaSwaraj.”

He added: “All steps necessary for timely movement of our citizens from Doha will be ensured. I and @SushmaSwaraj ji are in touch on this issue.”

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier asked AG Raju to operate additional flights “to Doha for Indian nationals who were not able to get bookings but needed to reach the country back from Doha”.

These statements and decisions were preceded by media reports of shortage of commodities and steep rise in flight fares following the blockading of Qatar.

It all added up, to some in the media here. Only, it didn’t. A newspaper in Qatar, The Peninsula said some “leading Indian newspapers went overboard claiming that India is airlifting or evacuating its citizens from Qatar, when in reality these were just additional flights to address the holiday rush”.

These reports came as a surprise and shock to many Indians in Qatar who took to social media to slam the irresponsible reporting by the media houses, The Peninsula said.

“Very irresponsible of the media to write such misleading reports. Sitting in Delhi, they don’t know the ground reality. Without talking to people in Qatar they write something,” The Peninsula, quoted Indian Ambassador  P Kumaran as saying.

“These extra flights are to address the holiday rush as all Indian schools closed this week for summer holidays and it coincides with Eid holidays. Jet Airways is operating two flights and Air India Express another two, so there will be four extra flights to address the holiday rush,” he added.

Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Indian Minister of Civil Aviation also clarified saying, “The additional flights to Qatar are to cater to Eid / school vacation traffic. It shouldn’t be seen as evacuation as reported at some places.”

The Times of India had run a story saying “India to airlift its citizens stuck in blockade-hit Qatar from next week.” There were many comments by Indians in Qatar saying there is no problem in Qatar and the story is “completely fake”.

Some international Media organisations like BBC also got the news wrong and started reporting that “India to operate extra flights to Qatar for ‘stranded’ nationals”.

Indian Embassy in Qatar also took to twitter to clarify and reply to various queries from Indians that there is no evacuation from Qatar. The embassy also requested Indians to follow its social media channels for official communications and not to be misled by rumours. The officials also added that they will counter this fake news in Delhi today.

Executive Director at Qatar Stars League Khalifa Saleh Al Haroon, also popular as Mr Q, took to Facebook inviting Indian community to respond to fake media reports.

Meanwhile, producer cum announcer at FM 107 Qatar Obaid Tahir put up a video on Facebook. In the video he told Indians in Qatar that there is no panic situation and the additional flight service is being introduced temporarily to help those travelling during summer and Eid holidays to India. He concluded the video by wishing everyone a happy journey and Eid Mubarak.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

India News

Case against Flipkart, others for selling T-shirts idiolising Bishnoi, Dawood

During the online vigil, the cyber security officials found that several e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart, AliExpress, and marketplaces like TeeShopper and Etsy, had been selling T-shirts that glorify gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi and Dawood Ibrahim.

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The Maharashtra cyber crime branch has filed a police case against Flipkart, online marketplaces and other e-commerce platforms for selling T-shirts glorifying gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, officials said on Thursday.

According to the release, the state’s cyber wing has filed a case under various Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) and 353 (public mischief) and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

During the online vigil, the cyber security officials found that several e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart, AliExpress, and marketplaces like TeeShopper and Etsy, had been selling T-shirts that glorify gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi and Dawood Ibrahim.

The statement said the cyber unit has filed the case not only against the platforms that hosted these listings, but also against the sellers responsible for listing these objectionable products.

An official said, “The products, which idolise criminal figures, pose a significant risk to the society by promoting a distorted image (of values) which could influence young minds negatively.”

In its release, the cyber unit said it considers this as material harmful, as it attempts to corrupt the values of the youth by using seemingly casual apparel to spread messages that glorify criminal lifestyles.

Earlier, another popular e-commerce platform Meesho faced backlash from people for selling t-shirts branded with Bishnoi.

Filmmaker and journalist Alishan Jafri, taking to X, highlighted the issue and called it an example of India’s latest online radicalisation.

“People are literally selling gangster merchandise on platforms like @Meesho_Official and Teeshopper. This is just one example of India’s latest online radicalisation,” he wrote on X.

In a series of posts, he pointed out various concerning incidence that he came accrosed. “For much of October, I was following India’s online gangster fan groups. At a time when the police and NIA are struggling to stop youths from joining gang crime, social media influencers are making quick money by promoting gang content and glorifying gangsters,” he said.

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India calls out Canada’s move to ban Australia Today for airing S Jaishankar’s press conference

The MEA said that these actions yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech.

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India calls out Canada’s move to ban Australia Today for airing S Jaishankar's press conference

A few hours after Australia Today aired External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s press conference in Australia, Canada banned the outlet. The External Affairs Minister gave remarks on the India-Canada diplomatic standoff. 

Reacting to this, India on Thursday said it was surprised by Canada’s move to ban the outlet and emphasized that it highlighted Ottawa’s hypocrisy towards freedom of speech. Australia Today, which is an important outlet for the Indian community in the country, had aired the joint press conference of S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.

In a weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that they understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. He continued that this happened just an hour or a few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of S Jaishankar with Penny Wong. He called out the incident, mentioning that they are surprised, and the matter looks strange to them.

He further underlined that these are the actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech. He noted that the External Affairs Minister spoke about three things: Canada making allegations and a pattern had developed without any specific evidence, surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, which he termed as unacceptable, and  the political space which has been given in Canada to anti-India elements. 

With this one can draw conclusions, why Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada, the spokesperson said. Australia Today focuses on news and analytical pieces related to the Indian community in Australia and elsewhere across the world.

This incident follows days after devotees were attacked by pro-Khalistani at a Hindu temple in Canada’s Brampton, with S Jaishankar calling it deeply concerning. Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the attack and said that there were cowardly attempts to intimidate Indian diplomats.

The diplomatic standoff between India and Canada began in September last year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian government agents might have been involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a claim outrightly rejected by New Delhi.

Later in October 2024, ties between both the countries nosedived when Canada termed the Indian High Commissioner a person of interest in its investigation into Nijjar’s murder. Issuing a strongly worded statement, India dismissed the fresh charge and recalled the envoy and some diplomats, while expelling six Canadian officials, including Canada’s acting High Commissioner.

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Wikimedia Foundation says no notice from Indian government received

The government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary.

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The Wikimedia Foundation said on Thursday that it has not received any official notice from the Indian government pertaining to its content.

The statement from the Wikimedia Foundation comes days after reports citing government sources, reported that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued a notice to Wikipedia casting aspersions about bias and inaccuracies in its articles. However, there was no official communication from the Indian government on the matter.

According to the alleged notice, the Government of India questioned Wikipedia over multiple complaints about bias and inaccuracies on the platform. The government in its alleged letter to Wikipedia noted that a small group of editors appears to have significant control over the contents, particularly influencing its neutrality. 

The government also questioned why Wikipedia should not be classified as a publisher, rather than an intermediary.

In a statement, the platform spokesperson said: “The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, has not received any official notice from the Indian government regarding editing practices or the accuracy of content on Wikipedia in the last two days.”

The statement further noted that Wikipedia volunteers carefully curate information from reliable news sources and other reputable external publications and they don’t add original content to the site.  

It added that such an approach ensures that Wikipedia compiles information from credible sources. “All sources are cited on article pages, upholding our commitment to transparency,” said the spokesperson.

“More than 850 million Indians visit the site every month, the fifth highest in the world,” the statement said. “Globally, more than 260,000 volunteers contribute content to the site,” the statement added.

It also mentioned that Indian Wikipedia editors are constantly ranked as “one of the top number of contributing editors from a single country globally.

Furthermore, the statement said that the platform articles are required by its editorial policies to maintain a neutral point of view, adding volunteers from many backgrounds and political persuasions to edit Wikipedia.

“This model reinforces that Wikipedia articles present a broad view of knowledge about a topic, rather than any one perspective,” the spokesperson said.

This development occurs alongside ongoing legal proceedings involving WF in a defamation lawsuit filed by news agency ANI regarding its Wikipedia page, which describes the news agency as a “propaganda tool for the incumbent government.” In its lawsuit, ANI has requested the identities of three anonymous editors who made changes to the page. It’s important to note that WF has no physical presence in India.

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