Gaycation, is a documentary series which is hosted by Ellen Page and Ian Daniel, wherein they cross countries to know more about the LGBTQ culture in the country and understand the deeper intricacies involved. They travel extensively to understand the culture and how the people of such communities strive to carve out their own space, midst the societal conceived normed which either can be progressive or regressive.

It’s no surprise that they came to India to document the experiences of such community. We have since long tried to demolish or ‘cure’ the homosexuality in people, being unable to accept different sexuality we have driven such people outside the jurisdiction of a normal society and have forced them to live in recluse.

After the Delhi Court progressive judgment in 2009, wherein it decriminalized homosexuality and found Section 377 to be against private, adult, consensual and non-commercial same-sex relationships to be in direct violation of Fundamental Right that is bestowed to us by our Constitution. The people rejoiced with gay parades happening in almost all the metropolitan cities. However, sadly, the freedom was short lived.

Soon after such progressive approach, the same was challenged by Supreme Court, as the decriminalization of same-sex relationship was found to be irrelevant considering the amount of population considering such community. The move was a huge setback for all those who ‘came out’ while celebrating the freedom to express their sexuality, and were forced to again hide themselves while compromising their individuality.

Section 377, is a gift we got from our colonial rules and its relevance in the modern time is astounding.

Surprisingly, more than the wrath that has to be faced by LGBTQ  by our very own society, huge amount of hindrance comes from their parents who often find the occurrence of homosexuality to be ‘unnatural’ in nature. There have been cases wherein the people are given shock therapies in the hope that such a thing could be thwarted by pressure, either physical or emotional.

They are ostracized by society at large, the unwillingness to accept homosexuality is palpable and is considered a shameful occurrence. Many leaders like Baba Ramdev, the yoga guru, believe that with right emotional guidance, such a thing can be avoided as it is a sickness that can be altered.

However, there are many people who outshine such dark, stormy clouds and go on their way to express their individuality unabashedly, without the support of the government, the society or the family. The bravery and resilience is astounding.

Saddening is the fact that we constantly fail our people in such a manner, wherein expressing someone’s sexuality or likeness becomes a public and national issue. The tabooed presence of homosexuality and the LGBTQ community has haunted many orthodox people whether educated or not. The reluctance is out there, plaguing us like some virus trying to shun away humanity in exchange of prolonging the decaying presence of medieval stink of our country.

This Diwali let’s lighten up everyone’s life by accepting their choices, decisions and sexuality. Let us not force everyone to conform to the ‘natural sexuality’, let us accept people the way they are. It’s long overdue, isn’t it?

Yugansha Malhotra

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The Viewspaper

Branding people with tags, not providing them with a non-judgmental space to express them, dictating whom to love and when to love, interfering in the personal space of people, questioning the patriotism of people, bullying people in the name of humanity, the ever-increasing adamant persuasion of the goony culture; this is the country we live in.

The ego and the offensive streak of people is at peak, when one tweet or instance can challenge it, one can imagine the sort of limited perceptive majority our society is entailed with.

The country is currently obsessing and getting entertained over a reality series called Bigg Boss, this series promises a dose of entertainment, tinted or filled with human emotions that define us, rule us and somehow betray us too. Amidst many controversies that have reigned in the house for this season, one has stuck a hurt chord with me.

So, there was this contestant who got annoyed and blasted others just because they guessed that her mother might be a laborer and belong to a poor family. How can a family which is not lavish can be bullied or toned down with respect? Why are just the powerful, the rich are respected whereas the others doing a laborer jobs are not?

Does respect come with the materialistic aspect of it when it should come because of an individual? Is the individual not respected but only the works, the lavishness or the wealth is?

These are the sorry state of affairs in our society currently, wherein we boast about our country’s ethics, culture, sanskaars in general, while not thinking twice before hitting a poor person, or rebuking someone because of their family background, or just disrespecting people for their genders or their non-conformity.

Why can we not respect someone, or be polite to someone and say please or thank you when deemed fit? Where have the ethics gone when it comes to treating people in our everyday life? How many times do we feel fortunate enough to have a life comprised of all the riches and necessary goods when people are just struggling for a piece of bread?

How many times do we thank our mothers or our fathers for living their lives for our benefit? How many times do we thank or be polite to our maids who washes our dirt and cleans our house, or that old rikshaw-puller who carries your weight for some specific journey?

Have we forgotten as to how to respect an individual without judging them first, have we forgotten to be polite to people because they fail to conform to our mind-set or our class in the society?

We should respect everyone, be it of any gender, or economic class or religion, or for their viewpoints. It doesn’t take much to be polite, let’s give our rebuking-everything tendency a rest and learn to understand someone before boycotting them. Let’s be non-stereotypical and non-judgmental towards the workings of the society.

Let us just breathe and let others do the same freely, without any terms and conditions latched.

This Diwali, let’s relearn on how to respect an individual for the deeds they do. Let us just give humanity a chance, and do efforts to understand someone’s perspectives rather than just brand them with controversial tags, let us not generalise people and force them to conform to our societal ideals, let us be a bit more perceptive this Diwali, shall we?

Yugansha Malhotra

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The Viewspaper

We are land of culture, of conservative thoughts, of orthodox ideologies that somehow doesn’t take us back to our rotten regressive thoughts but promises bright and progressive future. Apparently.

The truth is we are a land that is still clinging on to misogyny, sexism, patriarchy, untouchability, all in the name of culture. We have allowed our apparent ‘Indian culture and norms’ to dictate our lives leading us into an abyss, an abyss that blocks progressiveness and better treatment for all, while still clinging blinding to our faith of having the best culture in the world.

Moving on from such a rant, recently, there was this video that was making the rounds of major social media handles and sparked another controversy altogether. No one can evade the power of social media, and no matter how much I undermine its essence, it comes to haunts someone or another, for some it haunts their lives and endangers their future, for me it haunts my thoughts.

This video, which has now been taken down, showed a couple much in love displaying public affection and obviously oblivious to the prying eyes of strangers whose sanskaars were tarnished because of their hugging or kissing. All soaked in love, the couple in question had no qualms about expressing their affection in public much to the displeasure or discomfort of others.

Their apparent obscene acts couldn’t evade the intrusiveness of our moral police. Yes, this police force comprises of an informal neighbourhood that enforces fundamentalist Hindu views and takes it upon themselves to uphold our now-diminished or deteriorating cultural values. Obviously, showcasing love in publics shuns our cultures whereas a rape by a husband on his wife is nothing but his control over the property he has attained by our traditions.

A guy teasing a girl, making fun of her, harassing her or forcing her to marry him in the name of liking or love is nothing but harmless fluffy portrayal of love or the intense love that she is being showered with and remains acceptable even if the girls’ consent has gone to the drain Whereas a girl consensually kissing another man who doesn’t force her to sleep with him, is something to be scowled at. Isn’t our culture hypocritical in such a stance, or has it always been like that?

We know there is always the choice to look the other way when a man gropes a woman while using public transport or goes about leering, drooling, even using force on her. But this one cannot be ignored. It has to be watched and carefully recorded. Not just that, it has to be released on social media to shame the “besharam ladki”.

A very high-on-principles man had the courage to record them, question the girl’s upbringing and justify the rape culture, and many men and women followed suit on social media. They went to the extent of saying she deserved to be been beaten up. Obviously, there’s nothing to be worried about as far as infringement of privacy is considered.

The taboo against kissing persists in some segments of Indian society. Section 294 of the Indian penal code outlaws “any obscene act in any public place,” a provision some have argued prohibits kissing in public, though Indian courts tend to disagree. Moral policing is mostly about defending traditional control over women and not so much about public decency- and when it comes to their politics, not all of them kiss and tell.

India is not like other countries where kissing, hugging et al in public is absolutely normal. If you feel affectionate towards your partner, better keep it to yourself. The public is not interested.

Our problem with PDA (Public Display of Affection) is that it threatens a man’s control on the world he’s come to believe as his. Policing and punishing, women for it is nothing but one more way to puncture her will, make her feel like the lesser gender, or make her feel dignified.

This Diwali, let us light our hearts with love than bring someone down in the name of culture. Our Indian values are beautiful and appreciated worldwide, our values teaches us to respect another individual, to support them, to spread love and let us do exactly that this Diwali, shall we?

Yugansha Malhotra

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The Viewspaper

Since the inception of human kind the one thing that has remained constant is progress. From eating raw meat to eating cooked food, from living in caves to living in houses, from wearing naturally available material like leaves, animal skin to wearing man made material like cotton; we have progressed a lot. We have also progressed in our thoughts and perceptions: from treating colored people as slaves to considering all races to be equal, from aiming for superiority through wars to aiming for equals status and friendly relations, from organizing child marriage to abolishing child marriage, from restricting women to housework and raising children to encouraging the education of women and their development in all fields; we indeed have come a long way.

Yet, why is it that we continue to maintain a regressive mindset and attitude towards certain social issues? One such social issue that bugs me down is the stigma around rape victims.

The Allahabad High Court has recently observed that the ‘character’ of a rape victim was still not an ‘absolutely irrelevant’ circumstance in a rape trial. Justice Ranjana Pandya observed as follows:

“Law recognises that a woman even of easy virtue, or even a whore for that matter, has personal dignity and honour. She cannot be violated. It must however be conceded that immoral character would still not be an absolutely irrelevant circumstance. It may render the story itself as incredible. It may take away probative force of the story, told as it is by a woman with no scruples or morals.”

As per the Judge, the conduct of the victim during the alleged ordeal is also unlike a victim of forcible rape and betrays somewhat submissive and consensual disposition.

Thus, the character of woman of ‘questionable nature’ can be put forth to decide for punishment and its severity. How far are we when it comes to sensitization towards victim, who has just faced the worst the life has to offer? How is questioning of a woman’s character in relation to the crime that has been committed? How long are we going to blame the women for inviting sexual assaults?

According to the Oxford English dictionary, the definition of rape is, “The crime, committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with him without their consent and against their will, especially by the threat or use of violence against them.”

A rape victim suffers physiologically after the incident takes place. The victim has anxiety attacks, spells of crying, hysteria, vomiting, nausea, pronounced internal tremor and much more. The victim might also have an unwanted pregnancy. After the initial stage, the victims begin to resume their daily routine while still going through emotional turmoil which they cope with through various defense mechanisms like suppression, explanation, dramatization, for instance. In the final stage the primary focus is to not make the rape the central focus of their lives and to move on.

However, after going through all the stages, there is one crucial component which doesn’t let the victim forget about the incident and that is the society. As if the victims haven’t already suffered enough from the incident, the society shames and condemns them, often publicly. Not only that; the society also starts questioning the character of the victim implying how the person’s “working late at night” or “wearing inappropriate clothes”, were the causes of the rape. Victim blaming is another aspect of the stigma associated with rape. Here, the victim is made to believe that the incident was his or her fault and not that of the rapist, that it was the victim who seduced the rapist into committing the act. Victims of rape have difficulty in getting jobs. They aren’t considered to be suitable for marriage alliances by a major portion of the society.

However, there are certain institutions concerned with the rehabilitation of rape victims in the society. Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAIIN), After Silence, Stop Rape Now are some of the organizations in which work towards the sensitization of rape victims is done. Still, the government hasn’t taken any significant actions to help rape victims rehabilitate in the society and to end the stigma.

Rape is a crime which hurts the victim physically and emotionally. It isn’t the victim’s mistake that the unfortunate incident took place. Then why blame them? After coming through the whole incident, a rape victim should be applauded for their courage and should be treated sensitively. They shouldn’t be mislabeled, looked down upon or blamed for it. After all, it’s not their fault. It never is.

Priyanka Joshi

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After centuries of struggles and protests, we can finally witness the wave of feminism getting amalgamated into one’s consciousness. Nowadays, with the rising prejudices against women and the awareness created by them to be treated equally, has led to a new required boost to the vocal chords of almost an entire generation. Surprisingly, even today when the idea of feminism is at par, being a feminist is still considered as a taboo.

Feminism is defined as the advocacy of women’s right on the grounds of the equality of the sexes. It’s a term that defines the status of women which is not at par with that of the men. After facing severe biasness for centuries, it is an urgent requirement of the society to treat all the sexes with equal and indistinguishable respect, opportunities, laws, wages and the treatment.

Feminism is not a concept that can be altered via change in the laws or providing quotas to the subordinate gender, it can be altered by challenging the stereotypes and perception of the society at large.

However, all feminist movements tend to be centered with development of women, making the opposite gender feel biased. The interpretation of feminist actions as against men which tends to increase the hatred towards them, is termed as misandry. Misandry is the inverse of misogyny, and lately all the feminist talks are being culminated with them being misandrists in nature.

When the internet speculates feminist jokes of them being misandrists, they are instigating the misguided popular notion that they are man-haters. The fight for women is mostly considered for being fight against men. “Misandry”, literally, the hatred of men, is an accusation that’s been flung at feminists since the dawn of the women’s movement, by empowering women, critic debates that feminists are really oppressing men.

We are not men-haters. Period.

Nevertheless, there have been few stances when their acts are considered as misandry, thus leading to general disappointment and huge speculation as per the ironic standards wanting to be achieved by them. Instances where there has been a domestic violence act exclusively for women, ignoring even the consideration of men to be impacted by such crime, is clearly an act against men and not just for the empowerment of women. Feeling ignored and disappointed, the branding of feminists with misandry has taken an effective route in the minds of majority of the population. Also, the lack of interest shown by some feminists while addressing the qualms faced by men further instigates the opinion.

What feminists really hate is the patriarchy, the web of institutions that systemically oppress women. Developing rumours and playing along with such unwanted amalgamation, is not a way to achieve goals of feminism. Feminism is still very much engaged in the battle for hearts and minds, and creating such synergized ideas as an ironic humour by feminists as well, appeals to a small minority while alienating the rest.

What matters is that feminism, distilled down to its absolute core, is about gender equity, and one’s individual gender plays no hindrance in achieving the required.

Yugansha Malhotra

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The confused-state of affairs in the state of Uttar Pradesh compelled me to just sort out the mess and vent my opinions on this portal. Now, the more I read about the situation of Samajwadi Party and their all public outrage, the more I realize that this is nothing but a family quarrel gone horribly wrong.

On one hand, we have Shivpal Yadav, brother of the patriarch of the family Mulayam Singh Yadav, and on the other hand we have Akhilesh Yadav the sole heir to his father’s fortress that is the Samajwadi Party. Both of them are at loggerheads, while Mulayam Singh Yadav is immersed in his own Karan Johar inspired family dream, wherein, no matter how heated the squabbles are, all is well in the family.

The differences between Shivpal and Akhilesh have been at an all-time high after Akhilesh once fired Shivpal as Minister after he tried to force a merger with a political outfit headed by a former gangster. Akhilesh challenged the proposal but was eventually forced into submission by his father. Soon after such a revoked dismissal, Shivpal rose higher in the clan as Chief of the Party in the state which gave him large agency in deciding the candidates for the approaching election, replacing Akhilesh Yadav. Rebuked by such a dismissal, Akhilesh Yadav dismissed Shivpal again, and all hell broke loose.

Struggling in such a feud is a brother and a father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the reigning patriarch of the Party. Mulayam Singh removed his son as head of the party in Uttar Pradesh; Shivpal replaced him, which meant that it was not Akhilesh but his uncle who would largely decide the party’s candidates for the approaching election. Time and again Mulayam Singh Yadav has rebuked his son over inefficiency of his administration and apparently, he favours his brother at this point.

The Yadav community has accepted their Akhilesh bhaiya as a leader who understands their development needs and is seemingly willing to work to that effect rather than pander to Mulayam and Amar Singh’s whims. It takes courage to stand up to Mulayam in the SP, and events of the past few weeks have made Akhilesh a hero for some, though it doesn’t make Mulayam a villain.

However, for now, Akhilesh Yadav is the Chief Minister for the state, but the same selection for the future election has been put on hold.

What happens within the Party or for the Party remains to be seen, what is known is that such a family turf which should have been fought in the solitude of the Yadav fortress is out for the public to see and to ponder on. If no one, the rival BJP Party has surely basked in the glory of such an opportunity, and sure seems like a great contender in the forthcoming Assembly Polls.

Taking opportunity of such a rift do we see an alliance between SP and Congress, Mayawati swinging the votes in her direction, or BJP profiting from the family feud, especially after our Prime Minister sympathised with Muslim women over their valid woes of triple talaq recently?

With all the major parties trying to hog the Muslim votes from the hands of currently conflicted Samajwadi Party, the upcoming Assembly Polls in Uttar Pradesh won’t be any less than the situation inside the Bigg Boss house or the usual Game of Thrones politics. This poll, everyone will want the best for themselves, while inflicting the worst on others; with one family broken down, how will the other Parties survive in the land of rowdiness and the apparent ‘goony-ness’ palpable in the state?

Yugansha Malhotra

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The Viewspaper

A woman named Pinki was relentlessly stabbed and killed in the morning hours near MG Road Metro Station by her stalker, who stabbed her and without any reluctance without any fear; he stabbed to kill. The incident is a heinous follow-up of a woman being stabbed in Burari 30 times by her alleged lover.

Delhi has no dearth of stalkers, and such a phenomenon that is rising with every passing day is disgusting. It is sad how women are killed, murdered, stabbed in full public view for what these morons call love.

This a repulsive phenomenon, and it’s finally come into being in the capital city of our country.

Due to the fear of being stalked, some women don’t like to even venture out alone in public. Thus, if nothing stops a woman from living her life, stalk her, force her unnecessarily and she will be home forever. Because, the stalkers won’t stop, and in the end life does matter, even if the officials won’t bat an eye for it.

Some of them insist on male company while others dress modestly in an attempt to avoid unnecessary attention. Thus, stalking does what patriarchy couldn’t. They make sure that women conform to the ideal norms of the society and behave in a manner that fans the patriarchy in our society.

Stalking thrive where patriarchy couldn’t.

In 2013, Indian Parliament made amendments to the Indian Penal Code, introducing stalking as a criminal offence. It is a crime, either in name of love or obsession, nevertheless a crime. Stalking has been defined as a man following or contacting a woman, despite clear indication of disinterest by the woman, or monitoring her use of the internet or electronic communication. A man committing the offence of stalking would be liable for imprisonment up to three years for the first offence, and shall also be liable to fine and for any subsequent conviction would be liable for imprisonment up to five years and with fine.

However, there are two kinds of stalkers who prey on their victim. One, whose lust ends with a stint and they move on, and then there are rulebook-oriented stalkers. They are those who are hardened psychotic types for whom such a jail term is nothing but a part of their obsession and something that gives them further lust, or may be just aggravate it more.

Twisted lust and vengefulness makes a deadly combo, a lethal cocktail, just a very regressive amalgamation and yes a deadly one too. That’s what stalking is. The opinion of girl doesn’t matter in such a scenario, as long as your lust is burning, such acts are acceptable and when you get tired of your lust and do not get what you want, you turn vengeful, vengeful enough to kill.

Women who are being stalked can complain to the National Commission for Women (NCW) online, or go to their headquarters and the Commission will take the matter up with the police. Any woman, in any part of India, can file this complaint. The Commission asks the police to then expedite the investigation. In serious cases, the commission forms an inquiry committee, which makes a spot inquiry, examines witnesses, collects evidence, etc. The Commission also has powers to summon the accused, the witnesses and police records, to facilitate the inquiry.

If a woman is being stalked in Delhi, she can call 1096. For women in rest of India, the NCW can be contacted by calling 0111-23219750. I beseech every of our readers to file a complaint against such mongrels who carry a knife for a rose to portray their love.

If you feel anger, devastation, sadness and hopelessness, keep it alive. Keep it alive for the pain Pinki endured, let your brain and heart fool you no more that this is a rare case and might not happen to us. With the ever-increasing rise in stalking which has culminated its presence into a disgusting phenomenon in the name of love, no one is safe. And honestly, no one ever was.

There’s a fine line between crushing on someone and stalking and let’s all stay on the right side of that.

Yugansha Malhotra

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The Viewspaper

So, furthering the vehement disregard for Monday, here’s a trailer review of a movie that has gripped the audience by large, and puts forth a way for nostalgia as much as it treads on the road of mystery and unanswered questions.

The new Wolverine trailer, Logan just got released and it hasn’t fanned the curiosity of the audience, but has rather instigated it to a point wherein the trailer discussion became an important one. The third Wolverine movie, which will be Hugh Jackman’s last outing with the claws, is called Logan and it seems to be only very loosely based on the Old Man Logan comic by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.

Logan will release on March 3’ 2017 and is helmed by James Mangold.

“What did you do?” – Professor X.

Logan has the shakes. This not the same Wolverine we have seen all the years. Set in the post-apocalyptic phase, things don’t look good. The world has gone to hell. There is clearly some destruction but who is the one to repair? The trailer suggests that the movie goes in route to the comics with Wolverine being responsible for the death of his teammates which might explain the above saying.

“The world is not the same as it was”– Logan

Mutants are gone; this suggests that the X-men are gone. More importantly it suggests that all the X-men are killed and somehow, Logan and Charles Xavier are able to escape the disaster. Logan is older. His healing power that suppressed his ageing is no longer working as it once did. Logan’s hands are bloody and scarred from using his claws. Normally, as the claws burst through his skin, his hands would heal immediately. In the comics, he vowed not to use his claws again. Logan may have decided to live a life of solitude but something changes that.

“What is she?” – Logan

Professor X tells Logan she’s a lot like him. As seen in the after-credits scene in X-Men Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister (or the Essex Corporation) got a hold of Logan’s blood and in probability it could be that it took all these years to create the perfect clone in the form of that little girl.

“She needs our help.”– Professor X

Logan is reluctant to get involved despite Professor X’s pleading. Logan says someone will come along, but it appears whoever is chasing her are the ones that are coming.

“Logan, you still have time.” – Professor X

This question furthers the many thoughts for this new movie. Logan has time for what; time to become whole again, or is it to redeem himself? If Wolverine was responsible for the death of the X-Men, saving her could be his path to redemption.

I don’t think any of us want to see Hugh Jackman stop playing Wolverine, but if this is his last shot at the character, I can think of no better way for him to go out. Jackman’s Wolverine will embark on one last mission in what looks to be an epic send-off for the character, and a goodbye to the actor who originated the role.

Parag Upadhyay

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Being involved in the lala land, much more than usual, I can’t take this Monday without any false-reality dimension to suck me into. So today, it’s about comics.

Comics have demonstrated a form of communication that marries the linear sequence of typography with the global perception of an internet-like matrix of simultaneous parts. It is important for some, while very important to many. It is another world for people to immerse themselves into.

So today, moving on from the SP (Samajwadi Party) shift, the reigning intolerance, sexism, our biasness, our hatred, and many other turbulent topics; I would want many of us to indulge into the world of Comics and have an experience worth experiencing. After all, political scenario of our country is currently altering itself with the speed of culture, and there’s no point of getting into the mayhem of things.

So, let’s start the ever-blue Mondays with the review of Batman V Superman, the failure of which still stumbles me.

With all those marketing tactics being followed up, for instance the teasers, the launch of merchandise and introducing the new iconic superheroes just till the end of the trailers; it’s not only for a fan like me but for film critics who could finally shared their thoughts on what was the most anticipated movie of the year.

Penultimately, the premier and the response had been as split as the current US Presidential elections. It was an event, a blockbuster showdown between two iconic superheroes, and one of the most expensive marketing vehicles of all time, a sense-numbing, joy-bludgeoning, soul-deadening 152-minute trailer. The trailer was designed to kick-start for DC Comics the kind of malignant, obscenely lucrative superhero empire that Iron Man, Captain America, and the Avengers have gifted Marvel and Disney.

Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman isn’t packed with spoilers so much as it is stuffed with teasers, the kind of cameos and set pieces clearly designed to entice customers so that they pay to see the next three or four Justice League films while not helping them enjoy this one. It was one of the most teaser-dense movie to be ever-made.

For a film that’s supposed to play on the heart strings of the main characters, Lex, Diana, and Alfred were the only ones who came across as authentic. Batman was probably the most maligned, from his awkward opening monologue to the grunting one-liners. Of course, the Batman we see here is pulled right from the pages of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns — and this isn’t a Batman most moviegoers are used to.

Overall I did love Batman V Superman. It’s not the flawless movie I was hoping for, but I still enjoyed the heck out of it. I am thinking Snyder’s 3 hour version of this movie will make up for a lot of the problems he had while editing and pacing this piece, which should have given us some longer character moments, but at the end of the day, there simply was too much happening in this movie.

BvS isn’t a movie for die-hard comic fans. It isn’t a film for critics. Batman v Superman was made for the everyday, action-loving movie goer. Too bad I’m not that person.

Parag Upadhyay

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The Viewspaper

It has long been known if not acknowledged that Pakistan protects, nurtures and supports the terrorists on their land. They have always refuted such claims, and have always turned the table right towards India who seems to be the only one ferociously asking Pakistan to curb terrorism that happens on its lands.

Post the Uri attack, many have come forth and have branded Pakistan as a terror country and have asked the country to deal with it so as to safeguard the neighbouring nations and also to attain the goal of global peace. After the surgical strikes happened, India has indulged in full blow of Pakistan and has condemned its actions for the first time in public space. From boycotting Pakistan at all diplomatic fronts to reviewing their Most Favored Nation status, India is finally acting up on its nerves and giving a strong answer to Pakistan’s ‘terrorism-nurturing’ activity.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has defended its position and after much protest at PoK over terrorist camps, (bursting the bubble of Pakistan’s not-so-ruined reputation), Pakistan has finally called out the Army Chief over the incapability to tackle terrorism which has led to sour international diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the other nations. Nawaz Sharif has played a clever game by putting the blame on Raheel Sharif and has bought the internal conflicts to the forefront exposing its vulnerabilities while excusing himself from the whole ‘mothership of terrorism’ image.

Though Nawaz has a weak and limited hand, he sure has the public support which was pretty evident at the recent BRICS Summit in Goa.

The Summit was attended by Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa and was hosted by India. Though the attendees clearly condemned terror, China remains the only one to not condemn Pakistan for its inactivity towards tackling terrorism from within the state. China’s statement that the international community needs to recognise Pakistan’s “great sacrifices” and that it was opposed to “linking terrorism to any one country or religion”, has again portrayed China’s bluff.

China with great constancy has upheld its ‘all-whether’ friendship with Pakistan and has always come to its defence when the opposite was required. Yes, both the countries India and Pakistan, have suffered at the hands of terrorism, however not acting towards terror camps or Hafiz Saeed who runs anti-India campaigns in the nation definitely calls for some stern action.

China has also blocked India’s calls for the United Nations to designate Masood Azhar, Pakistan-based leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed group, as a terrorist. Isn’t it ironical to condemn terrorism yet support the nation which houses many terror organisations?

Had China been concerned for violations of Human Rights, the story would have been different. However, China is busy looking out for its ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This is an ambitious $51 billion project that will pass through a restive Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK), which definitely gets impacted by sour ties between India and Pakistan and hence is a huge blow to their project.

Also, China has been noncommittal on India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a club of nuclear-trading nations, while strengthening the nuclear deals with Pakistan.

China is caught between its geopolitical interest in Pakistan and its desperate dependence on the Indian market for its exports. China has been playing a duplicitous role in India-Pakistan tension, and its high time its’ called out for the same.

Terror should be condemned, whether it comes from within or from your apparent best-friend. Terrorism shouldn’t be excused for or defended against and it should always be acted upon. Always.

Yugansha Malhotra

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