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THE INNOCENT SHAH RUKH KHAN

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ALI SUKHANVER

Ali display picWorld popular Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan is passing through the ever worst period of his life as an actor. His bad days started last November on his 50th birthday. Those were the days when countless writers, actors, professors and students joined hands together in protest against repeated incidents of religious intolerance against the minorities in India. Talking at a press conference at Mumbai he had said, “Religious intolerance and not being secular…is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot”. When the media-men asked him if he was ready to give up his awards in protest much like those over the past month, Shah Rukh Khan said he would, in a symbolic gesture if asked to. “Let me get a National Award, and then I will return it”, said he. The Hindu extremists expressed their worst reaction on this statement and started protesting all over India. On 14th February 2016 around 04.30 in the morning some members of Vishva Hindu Parishad started pelting stones at Shah Rukh’s car which was parked at hotel Hyatt Regency on Ashram Road, Ahmadabad. Police arrested three of the VHP members booked in this connection. According to the Press Trust of India the Gujarat unit of VHP claimed responsibility for the incident. The most positive aspect of the story is that the government of India has yet not dragged Pakistan into this pelting episode on Shah Rukh’s car because it has become a tradition in India that all official investigative agencies of India do nothing but simply focus all their efforts on finding the traces of Pakistan behind every troublesome activity.

Recently same thing happened when Kanhaiya Kumar, a left-leaning student leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University was arrested for leading a demonstration which was held to mark the anniversary of the 2013 execution of Afzal Guru. According to Indian media, massive protests paralyzed one of India’s top universities after the arrest of the students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar. In response to the protest over Kanhaiya Kumar’s arrest, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh said talking to the media-men, “I want to make it clear that the JNU incident has the support of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. We should also understand this reality that Hafiz Saeed has supported this incident and it is extremely unfortunate.” This statement of Rajnath Singh is being taken as a stupid joke even in India. When the media-men asked him about his source of information regarding involvement of Hafiz Saeed, he foolishly referred to a post on Twitter in which ‘Hafeez’ Saeed invited the JNU students to continue their Pro-Kashmiri, Anti-India Propaganda in Universities. The fact of the matter is that the said Twitter account is of Hafeez Saeed not of Hafiz Saeed; and a very responsible authority of the government of India the Home Minister Rajnath Singh made this fake Twitter account the whole basis of his allegations against Hafiz Saeed and Pakistan. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed is a very learned scholar and has a vast range of his religious followers not only in Pakistan but also in the whole world. He took this allegation simply as a stupid joke and responded in a tweet in a very lighter tone. He said ‘Alleging me for JNU protest based on a Fake account in my name is a prime example of how Indian government fools its own people. Kashmiri youth are not acting on anyone’s orders. The oppression and atrocities they have faced is enough to make them resilient. All allegations put forward by India are based on hatred and enmity towards Pakistan.’

Even in India, people are astonished rather puzzled at this childish statement of Mr. Singh’s .The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said commenting upon Mr. Singh’s allegation, “The charge is very serious. The Government of India will have to give foolproof evidence. A mere statement dubbing the students as anti-national and having the support of Hafiz Saeed or LeT or any other foreign organization, without any basis or proof, will prove disastrous for the government and the student fraternity across the country.” The crux of the whole matter is that the BJP government is not happy over the F-16 deal between Pakistan and US and her dejection and disappointment over the deal could be very easily felt through different statements of the BJP leaders. Moreover according to the media reports the US envoy in New Delhi, Richard Verma was summoned by the Indian authorities to convey displeasure regarding US’ decision of finalizing the sale deal of the aircraft with Pakistan. The JNU episode is also an expression of disappointment over this decision.

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