India’s foreign exchange reserves during the week that ended on October 21 fell to a new over two-year low of USD 524.520 billion, a drop of USD 3.85 billion from the previous week. During the week that ended on October 14, the country’s forex reserves were at 528.367 billion, RBI data showed.
According to RBI’s latest data, India’s foreign currency assets, which are the biggest component of the forex reserves, declined by USD 3.59 billion to USD 465.075 billion.
The value of gold reserves dropped by USD 247 million to USD 37.206 billion during the latest week. The value of India’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund, however, rose by USD 7 million to USD 17.440 billion during the week under review, the RBI data showed.
The forex reserves have been falling for months now because of RBI’s likely intervention in the market to defend the depreciating rupee against a surging US dollar.
Also, rising costs of imported items also necessitated the higher requirement of reserves for trade settlement.
The Indian rupee has been weakening over the past few weeks to hit fresh new all-time lows as the US dollar strengthened against major global currencies. Last week, the rupee breached the 83 mark for the first time in its history.
So far this year, the rupee has depreciated around 10-12 per cent. Typically, the RBI intervenes in the market through liquidity management, including through the selling of dollars, with a view to preventing a steep depreciation in the rupee.
India’s forex reserves had declined by around USD 100 billion ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February when imports of energy and other commodities got costlier globally.
Over the past 12 months, the reserves declined by around USD 115 billion on a cumulative basis.
SP leader and Rampur MLA Azam Khan was on Friday disqualified from the membership of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, as per the Office of UP Assembly Speaker, a day after he was sentenced to 3 years in prison along with a fine of Rs 2,000 in a hate speech case of 2019.
Khan has been sentenced to three years in prison in a 2019 hate speech case by the Rampur District court, and he lost his Assembly membership as his eventual imprisonment term is longer than two years.
The SP leader lost his MLA post because as per the 2013 Supreme Court judgment if an MLA, MLC or MP is convicted in a criminal case and gets jailed for a minimum of two years then he/she loses membership of the house with immediate effect.
Azam Khan won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Rampur (UP) but he vacated this seat after being elected to the UP-state assembly in March 2022.
The SP leader had won the 2022 assembly election from Rampur while being lodged in Sitapur jail.
Earlier on Thursday, the Samajwadi Party leader and two other accused were sentenced to three years in prison along with a fine of Rs 2,000 in a hate speech case filed against him over his speech against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
However, he has been granted bail and given a week’s time to appeal against the sentence. A case was registered against Khan in Rampur in April 2019 for allegedly making provocative remarks against the Uttar Pradesh CM and the then District Magistrate of Rampur, Aunjaneya Kumar Singh. During the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign, Khan had used provocative remarks against the then Rampur district magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Congress candidate Sanjay Kapoor.
Earlier this year, Azam Khan was released from Sitapur district jail, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in an alleged case of cheating. The SP leader was also granted bail in a cheating case lodged at the police station in Rampur.
Khan has been lodged in Sitapur jail since February 2020 as many cases are registered against him.
Earlier, in a big relief to the SP leader, the Allahabad High Court on October 1, 2022, had put his arrest on hold. The matter pertains to the disappearance of machines used for construction in 2017 for which a case was registered on September 19, this year. A person named Baqur Khan brought the case to the fore.
The missing machinery including bulldozers, carriers and other materials was later found on the premises of Muhammad Ali Jauhar University. The Allahabad HC also sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh government on this matter.
On May 10, 2022, the Allahabad HC granted interim bail to Khan in a case related to wrongful possession of Waqf Board property. Azam Khan began his political career by winning the 1980 assembly election on Janata Party (Secular) ticket from Rampur. He has served as a minister in both Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav governments.
Acting upon information of human trafficking being operational in the district, a police team from Budgam raided a place in Dulipora village and rescued 14 women including minors from the house of one Shamim Ahmad Bhat and other adjacent places.
Accordingly, Shamim Ahmad and the other two accused namely Shagufta and Asmat both residents of Dulipora Parthan were arrested.
An FIR under relevant sections of law was registered at Budgam police station, informed the Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday.
During preliminary investigation, it was found that the three arrested accused persons are involved in human trafficking by means of procuring the girls from different places and exploiting them in Budgam and other parts of the valley.
Further investigation into the case is going on and more arrests are expected.
Meanwhile, the rescued human trafficking victims have been shifted to Nari Niketan Rehabilitation Centre Chadoora and the process for their rehabilitation has been initiated.
In a strong warning to the country’s intelligence agency, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that “he could have exposed the ISI but refrained for the betterment of the country.”
“DG ISI (ISI Director-General Nadeem Anjum) open your ears and listen, I know a lot of things but I am quiet only because I don’t want to harm my country… I do constructive criticism for betterment otherwise there was a lot I could say,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said during the rally.
Imran Khan and other party members started off the much-anticipated “Haqiqi Azadi Long March” from Lahore’s Liberty Chowk to Islamabad. The rivalry between Imran Khan and ISI has been an upbeat issue since Imran Khan’s ouster from power.
Earlier, Imran Khan said that the then-opposition coalition was “afraid” that he would appoint former ISI chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed as the next chief of the army staff.
“They were afraid that I wanted to appoint Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed. They feared that if that would have happened then it would shatter their future,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman said.
Clarifying his stance, Imran Khan said, “I never thought of appointing someone as army chief. I have never taken a decision that is not based on merit.”
Imran Khan once again applauded India for its independent foreign policy and New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil in line with its national interests despite Western pressure amid the Ukraine war.
During his first speech, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said that India is able to import oil from Russia at its will however Pakistanis are a slave who failed to make decisions for the welfare of their country’s people.
“The decisions of this nation must be made inside the nation. If Russia is giving cheap oil and if I have the choice to save my countrymen, no one should ask us. No one should be able to tell us. India can take oil from Russia but slave Pakistanis are not allowed. I want to see a free country and justice must prevail and people should be provided safety and security,” Imran Khan said.
In the political struggle of 26 years, Imran Khan said this is the most crucial journey that he is starting. “My aim is only one. We were being freed from the Britishers and it is time we start the Haqiqi Azadi. This is my message to all Pakistanis. This march is not for politics and not for elections or for religion. There is only one motive for the rally that I want to make Pakistan free.”
He stressed that common Pakistanis are suffering. He warned that people will sacrifice everything for saving the country.
“Listen to this carefully. People are watching the drama. Inflation has engulfed the country. Imported thieves have done the blunder of inflation. But they (ruling party members) are acquitted of Rs 11 crore scam. Their handlers, if they believe, they will be accepted. listen carefully, this country will be able to sacrifice anything.”
This is however not the first time when he praised India. Earlier, Imran Khan lauded India for its independent foreign policy, as the leader slammed Western countries for being critical of India for buying Russian oil.
Since his ouster from power in April, Imran Khan has decried a US-led foreign conspiracy against him. While criticizing the Joe Biden administration, Imran Khan on many occasions lauded India for not giving in to the demand of the West and continuing to purchase Russian oil despite being a “strategic ally” of the US.
During a huge gathering in Lahore earlier, Imran Khan’s PTI party played out a video clip of India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar from the Bratislava Forum, held in June, where the Indian minister said that New Delhi will do what is best for their people.
“When the Indian foreign minister was asked not to buy Russian oil. He said who are they to dictate India’s foreign policy. Europe is buying Russia’s oil and people need it. He said that they will continue to buy it,” Imran Khan said while quoting EAM Jaishankar and added “Yeh hota hai aazad mulk.” (This is what an independent nation looks like) Drawing a comparison between the two countries, the PTI chief slammed the Shehbaz government for bowing down to US pressure on buying Russian oil.
“We had spoken to Russia about buying cheaper oil but this government has no courage to say no to US pressure. Fuel prices are skyrocketing, people are below the poverty line. I am against this slavery,” Khan said.
“If India which got independence at the same time as Pakistan and if New Delhi can take a firm stand and make their foreign policy as per the need of its people then who are they (Shehbaz Sharif government) who are toeing the line,” Imran Khan said at the gathering.
Jaishankar’s remarks which Imran Khan referred to was delivered at the GLOBSEC 2022 Bratislava Forum being held in Slovakia in June this year. During the forum held in June, EAM Jaishankar hit back at the unfair criticism against Indian oil purchase from Russia amid the Ukraine war that has created a knock-off effect on the world economy.
Moreover, lauding India for not buckling under the “US pressure” and buying the discounted oil from Russia, Imran Khan said that his government was also working on the same thing with the help of an independent foreign policy and slammed Pakistan Muslim League (N)-led government for “running around like a headless chicken with the economy in a tailspin”.
This comes after the Indian government reduced the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and Diesel by Rs 7 per litre. “Despite being part of the Quad, India sustained pressure from the US and bought discounted Russian oil to provide relief to the masses. This is what our govt was working to achieve with the help of an independent foreign policy,” Imran Khan tweeted while retweeting an information about reduction of the petrol and diesel prices in India.
Imran Khan said “Mir Jafars and Mir Sadiqs” bowed to the external pressure forcing a regime change, and “are now running around like a headless chicken with the economy in a tailspin.”
Earlier, lauding India as “khuddar quam” (very self-respecting people), Imran Khan has said that no superpower can dictate terms to the neighbouring country, admitting that both New Delhi and Islamabad do not share a good relationship.
“Indians are khuddar quam (very self-respecting people). No superpower can dictate terms to India,” he had said during his national address on the eve of a controversial no-confidence vote that looks certain to dismiss him.
Russia has special ties with India and they have always supported each other and will remain so in the future, President Vladimir Putin has said, as he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for pursuing an “independent foreign policy” in the interest of his country.
Putin’s remarks came at a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think tank on Thursday.
He said Russia and India continue to cooperate in the military and technical areas.
“We have special ties with India that are built on the foundation of really close allied relations for decades. We never had any outstanding issues with India, we have always supported each other and I’m positive that’s how it will remain in the future as well,” Russian state media RT quoted Putin as saying.
Putin’s comments came more than a month after Prime Minister Modi told him that today’s era is not of war as they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September.
India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
“PM Modi is one of those individuals in the world who is able to pursue an independent foreign policy in the interest of his country, and his people without any attempts to stop him,” said Putin.
Russia has been a major supplier of military hardware to India. In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defense missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite sanctions under the provisions of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Putin said India has walked a great development path from being a British colony to its modern state and this has yielded significant results for the country’s almost 1.5 billion people.
“It (India) attracts general respect from everyone in the world. A lot has been done in recent years under PM Modi’s leadership. He is a true patriot of his country. And this concept of his, ‘Make in India’, is a significant effort. (India) really has progressed in its development. A great future lies ahead of it,” Putin said, according to a translation of his remarks by the Russian Embassy in India.
“(India) is not only the largest democracy, in a good sense of this word, but it should be proud of its growth rate, that’s the basis of its progress and development,” Putin added.
The Russian leader said that the economic cooperation between Delhi and Moscow is growing as well. “Prime Minister Modi asked me to increase fertiliser supplies which is crucial for Indian agriculture and we have done that,” he said, adding that the supplies have been increased 7.6 times without giving details.
Putin said he believes that countries such as India not only have a great future ahead of them but are going to have a growing role in forming global policies.
His comments came ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Moscow on November 8.
The Congress on Friday said the Election Commission does not have the jurisdiction to regulate issues such as freebies, and urged the panel to focus on ensuring free and fair polls through proper implementation of Election Laws.
The poll panel on October 4 had proposed amending the model code to ask political parties to provide authentic information to voters on the financial viability of their poll promises, a move that came amid the freebies versus welfare measures debate that had triggered a political slugfest.
Such issues are part of the dialectics of a vibrant democratic system and depend on wisdom, discernment and analysis of the electorate which should never be taken to be less than acute, the opposition party said. “It is really something which is to be decided, be it pre-election or post-election, be it by way of electoral punishment or electoral acceptance and reward that the electorate decides the wisdom of such poll promises or campaign assurances and equally decides their breach and non-compliance,” Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh wrote to the Election Commission (EC).
“Neither the Election Commission, nor the government, nor indeed even the courts, have jurisdiction to justiciate and regulate such issues. It would therefore be best for the commission to desist from doing so,” he said.
The EC had also said that empty poll promises have far-reaching ramifications, adding it cannot overlook the undesirable impact inadequate disclosures on election promises have on financial sustainability.
In a letter to all recognised national and state parties, the commission had asked them to submit their views on the proposals by October 19. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told a press conference that the matter first came up when Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 16 raised the issue of “revris” (freebies), after which the EC took up the issue and wrote to parties seeking their response. She said the debate on the issue of “revris” in a democracy is distorted as it is the duty of any government to take care of the poor and oppressed classes, and evolve schemes for their upliftment. The Congress in its response to the EC proposal has said that “the issue does not fall under the poll body’s jurisdiction” and asked “how can the Election Commission decide on the definition of freebies”. “It should first implement the existing poll laws properly and there are more burning issues that need to be taken care,” she said.
Ramesh in the party’s response to the EC has noted that the commission has in the past demonstrated great wisdom and restraint in exercise of this power, choosing to circumscribe and limit campaign actions which tilt the field in favour of one party over the other. “However, such power has always been exercised and guided by the statutory context. In other words, electoral offences outlined in Chapter IXA of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, help the commission determine what is per se legal and illegal,” he said.
In fact, the specific bans on communal rhetoric, hate speech, undue influence, among others, all flow from these statutes, Ramesh noted. “Thus, if the ECI were to consider such a ban it would necessarily need to pass parliamentary muster first. Furthermore, even in Part VIII of the Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties and Candidates, 2015, the ECI puts forth general guidelines which essentially call for making campaign promises in a responsible manner,” he said.
Ramesh also insisted that the Congress be given an appropriate slot any time in the future so as to elaborate on these and other grounds before the commission.
After completing his USD 44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc, Elon Musk has said that he intends to replace Parag Agrawal as CEO of the social media platform and also intends to reverse the permanent ban on users, according to the reports.
Agrawal was fired along with other major executives upon completion of the takeover, Agencies on Friday reported citing a person familiar with the matter. The Tesla and Space X owner is expected to remain CEO of Twitter in the interim period but may eventually cede the role in the longer term, the report said.
According to multiple reports in US media, Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde its legal and policy executive as well as Ned Segal, its chief financial officer Ned Segal was asked to go. Musk ahead of his USD 44 billion Twitter acquisition deal had dismissed speculation about why he’d buy the micro-blogging platform and his thoughts on advertising.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is that it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence. There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
The Tesla founder said that Twitter should be “warm and welcoming to all” and enable users to choose the experience they want to have.
Further, Musk told advertisers that he wants the platform to be “the most respected advertising platform in the world.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday Musk walked into the headquarters of Twitter in San Francisco, carrying the bowl of a sink. This action was the object of several memes on the internet. Musk tweeted a video of himself carrying a kitchen sink and captioned it “let that sink in!” He also changed his Twitter profile to read “Chief Twit”.
In July, in a surprising turn of events, Elon Musk who had long been showing his interest to buy Twitter terminated the deal. The Tesla CEO did so by alleging that Twitter violated their mutual purchase agreement by misrepresenting the number of spam and fake bot accounts on its platform. After Musk put out the deal termination announcement, the market saw a sharp decline.
Later, Twitter sued Musk accusing him of using bots as a pretext to exit a deal. Again, last week, Musk confirmed that he would move forward with the Twitter buyout at the originally agreed price of USD 54.20 per share.
However, the Twitter deal legal proceedings had been put on hold by a judge overseeing the dispute until October 28.
The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has come under fire following the Centre’s announcement that the Tata-Airbus C-295 transport aircraft project would be set up in Gujarat, with the opposition seeking to know why the project that was supposed to come up in Maharashtra went to the neighbouring state.
Former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday accused the Shinde government of not being serious about the state’s progress and criticised it for “failing to protect the state’s interests”.
Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, a loyalist of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, claimed that the shifting of the project was an effort by the Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party government to ensure the victory of the BJP in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls.
The BJP, however, countered the allegations, saying that the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government did not do anything to follow up on the proposed project.
A consortium of Airbus and the Tata group will manufacture C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Vadodara in Gujarat, the Defence ministry said on Thursday, announcing the Rs 22,000 crore project where a military plane will be produced in India for the first time by a private company.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday lay the foundation stone for the manufacturing facility of the European defence major and the Indian conglomerate, in what is billed as a major boost to the domestic aerospace sector.
In September this year, CM Shinde’s loyalist Uday Samant, who is currently the Industries Minister, had said that the Tata-Airbus aircraft manufacturing project would come up near Nagpur in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
Last month, a blame-game had erupted in Maharashtra following the announcement that a joint venture semiconductor project of the Indian conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, proposed to be set up near Pune city earlier, would come up in Gujarat.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, all constituents of the MVA, have sought to corner the Shinde-BJP government over the Rs 1.54 lakh crore plant going to Gujarat.
Speaking to reporters in Shirur tehsil in Pune district, Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday asked, “Will the state government give answers to why these projects are going out? This (Tata-Airbus) is the fourth project which has gone away from Maharashtra since the traitor government has come to power in the state. They always boast that they have a double-engine government, but although one engine of the central government is working, the state government’s engine has failed.”
Thackeray was in Shirur to inspect the losses that farmers have suffered due to heavy rains. He added that the previous MVA government led by his father Uddhav Thackeray had managed to bring investment to the state even during the pandemic, but this government has failed to do so.
“CM Shinde goes to Delhi on a regular basis. But he goes there for himself and not for Maharashtra. I never heard him saying that the Tata-Airbus project should come to Maharashtra. Projects including Vedanta Foxconn, Bulk Drug Park, Medical Device Park, and now Tata Airbus have gone to Gujarat,” he alleged.
He said he was not sad because the project was going to some other state. “The question is why is it not coming to our state. Why this new government is not able to bring projects to the state? In the last few days, CMs from other states are coming to Maharashtra and interacting with the local industrialists here to seek investments, but our CM goes to Delhi, and he does so for himself,” he said.
The Worli MLA said that big and small projects used to come to Maharashtra because of merit. “But today, despite having the merit, these projects are going to the other state,” he said.
Due to the current state government, Maharashtra has lost one more project. The state government is not at all serious about Maharashtra’s progress, Thackeray alleged.
He also asked the state government to immediately announce a wet drought in the state and provide help to farmers. He visited farmers in Malthan village area in Shirur tehsil and inspected the crops that suffered due to the heavy rains.
“We have given a slogan – ‘Give or leave’, which means the state government should either provide help to farmers or step down,” he said.
Ambadas Danve criticised the state government over the project moving to Gujarat. “Does this ED (Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis) government belong to Maharashtra or Gujarat? This government shouted that the Vedanta-Foxconn project went to Gujarat due to the earlier MVA government. Now because of whom did this project (Tata Airbus) go to Gujarat?” he asked in a tweet.
“They (Shinde-Fadnavis) should stop raising the slogan ‘Jai Maharashtra’. Instead, the government should start saying ‘Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat’,” he added.
Danve claimed that it was an effort by the Shinde-BJP government to ensure BJP’s win in the Gujarat Assembly polls. Countering his allegations, BJP legislator Praveen Darekar said, “The deal (for Tata-Airbus project) was inked a year back, and one should find out who was in power at that time. The previous government did not do anything on it, including no correspondence with the Union government to facilitate this project in the state. The opposition should not make such baseless allegations.”
Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said, “PM Modi made an announcement of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, which was followed by the Airbus Defence and Space S.A. Spain entering into an agreement to supply 56 C-295 MW transport aircraft and it was approved by cabinet committee on security.”
On September 24 last year, the defence ministry also signed a contract with the Airbus Defence and Space S.A. for acquisition of aircraft with associated equipment, he claimed.
“Despite so much development, the then MVA government did not send a single letter to the Centre. That government did not even follow up the issue with the Union government. The MVA leaders should avoid diverting the attention despite being aware of the facts,” Upadhye said.
“I challenge them to release a letter they had addressed to Tata-Airbus in the past,” he said.
Abdul Sattar, Agriculture Minister, Maharashtra | Image: Twitter/@AbdulSattar_99
A video has surfaced in which Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar is purportedly heard asking Beed district collector Radhabinod Sharma if he drinks alcohol.
Sattar made the alleged comment while on a tour of Beed district in central Maharashtra to assess damage to crops caused by excessive rains in October.
He was in Gevrai taluka of the district on October 21 to inspect crop damage.
The video, which surfaced on Thursday, shows the minister sitting in a hall with collector Sharma, district officials and some other people.
When tea is served to Sattar and others present in the hall, Sharma declines to have tea. At this point, Sattar is purportedly heard asking the collector, “Do you drink alcohol?” As the video went viral on social media, the minister faced flak for his remarks. Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant took potshots at Sattar and tweeted to ask “whether it was rain damage tour or alcohol watching tour?”
Women continue to remain unsafe in Pakistan as numerous married women and Hindu girls have been abducted in the country, especially in Sindh region with a recent incident being that of a ten-year-old Hindu minor girl kidnapped and married off to an eighty-year-old Muslim man on October 22, local media reported.
As per media reports, the incident took place at Shaikh Bhirkio area of Sindh where Meena Bajani, a 10-year-old Hindu girl, was kidnapped from the washing ghat. She was abducted by unlawful means by the goons of Zamindar Mulla Rashid and was forced to convert to Islam and was later married off to Mulla Rashid, an eighty-year-old widower.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident from Sindh, a married Hindu woman name Shanti Meghwar was abducted by four armed men, namely Manzoor Sheikh, Sultan Sheikh, Gab Sheikh and Javed from her home in Sindh’s Tandu Muhamman Khan district on October 24, as per local media reports.
According to reports, the victim was forcibly converted to Islam and married off to Manzoor Sheikh.
The mother alleged that her FIR was not registered by SHO Irfan Dastikol because she could not give PKR 5,000/- as a bribe. She appealed to Sindh CM Murad Shah to intervene in the matter and direct the police to retrieve her daughter as the cases of abduction have been on the surge in Sindh.
Cases of Hindu girls being kidnapped and converted to Islam after being married to their abductors are on the rise with reports of four such cases being reported from Pakistan’s Sindh province for quite a long
