PAKISTANTV — broadcast 20261012 033000 UTC 467 transcript segments Google Speech-to-Text API Automatic Transcription (Chirp) Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive. Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record. [00:00:00] online conflict [00:00:01] has been declared of an active war, active [00:00:04] war, so we know [00:00:08] this, what we don't [00:00:10] of know is whether there's a way to [00:00:14] solve the [00:00:15] of problems, [00:00:17] of and I again, do you want a kinetic [00:00:23] of of solution, that is missiles, firing across lines, or do you want [00:00:26] a diplomatic solution, and that's up to both. [00:00:30] governments India [00:00:32] and and Pakistan to lay aside and [00:00:35] persistent historical enmities and suspicions [00:00:39] if possible and certainly [00:00:42] of I'm I'm not privy to any [00:00:46] diplomatic overtures, I went on one track to [00:00:49] assignment to um New [00:00:52] Delhi um and both sides [00:00:57] of at the lunch table that I was at. indian [00:01:00] general um was was optimistic, [00:01:04] but that [00:01:06] of of never happened, um, obviously never happened, [00:01:10] of so if there's a way to solve these [00:01:14] issues without [00:01:15] of more people being killed, that would be [00:01:18] wonderful. um, how would you, [00:01:21] i understand, yeah, but [00:01:25] would you in, if you if you look back at history and in terms of you, [00:01:28] of how things are when we look at the [00:01:30] of landscape overall with Modi's India at this time, how would [00:01:34] you rate [00:01:35] of diplomatic success between Pakistan in India [00:01:38] on such such a for example trading of evidence on such [00:01:42] a you know sort of sitting across the table in terms of some [00:01:46] kind of serious solution, how [00:01:48] of would you rate it? because we've also [00:01:50] of seen of what happened in the the war [00:01:53] recently [00:01:55] of between Pakistan and India in which of course we saw the role [00:01:58] of the US president also, so so there is you know a certain [00:02:02] background to what happened, so so what are your thoughts at this time of [00:02:06] that kind of [00:02:06] a diplomatic success of of that kind of [00:02:10] of a diplomatic effort? [00:02:15] one% uh at [00:02:19] first, but then you bring [00:02:22] of in the the um global powers, including the global south, [00:02:26] including the western powers [00:02:28] of and you start to make progress. um and the [00:02:31] Vietnam settlement uh, years were [00:02:35] spent debating the size [00:02:38] of the table that diplomats would set sit at [00:02:41] and how many people would be at that [00:02:43] of table, so it's a slow [00:02:47] painstaking process that requires [00:02:50] patience uh, which [00:02:52] you know maybe in two years we'll say it's a 30% [00:02:56] chance, maybe in five years we'll say it's [00:02:58] a 50% chance. "I'm not number one [00:03:02] mathematician, but I [00:03:03] of do know these things take time uh, [00:03:07] and I would, I think the world would [00:03:10] celebrate if India and Pakistan came [00:03:14] to some sort of [00:03:30] With us [00:03:31] of joining Tarushi Aswani who is an [00:03:35] independent journalist based in New Delhi, [00:03:37] of India of joining us. Tarushi, you've been [00:03:41] reporting from the ground since yesterday, what have you witnessed, how [00:03:45] would you describe the atmosphere in Delhi at this time, as of [00:03:49] course these protests continue, what are you [00:03:51] witnessing? as somebody who's [00:03:55] been on the ground for the last two days, I [00:03:58] of have seen that I "a lot of protesters are being brutally [00:04:02] detained, but that is not stopping their courage from protesting [00:04:06] against the government, and apart from this, you also have to [00:04:10] know that we are currently [00:04:13] of facing [00:04:13] of a crackdown of sorts in the heart of Delhi, so this place that we read about [00:04:17] the jantar mantar enclave and [00:04:20] of how it's situated in kanot place, which is like the heartbeat of [00:04:24] Delhi, which has our Supreme Court of India, which also [00:04:28] has the [00:04:29] of president's house, the pr'. minister's house, the parliament of [00:04:32] India, [00:04:41] we also have with us Tania Bazai who's in human [00:04:45] rights lawyer joining us. Tanya, in terms [00:04:48] of the Delhi crackdown, is it is, is is in your [00:04:52] opinion, quite frankly is peaceful descent being [00:04:56] criminalized, of course thousands of people are reportedly being [00:05:00] detained in Delhi, of course, as these reporters [00:05:04] are wanting to demonstrate against the chief election [00:05:07] commissioner and of course electoral revision, the CGP [00:05:11] leaders, CGP leaders so detained upon arriving [00:05:14] in the capital, is it is the response in your [00:05:18] opinion proportionate and what is it reveal about the Modi [00:05:22] government and of course their tolerance of peaceful [00:05:25] protesting? see the [00:05:29] if we go through the laws and constitution the [00:05:33] India, they have given right to assemble and this give them [00:05:37] protection to protest peacefully when it comes to article 19 subsection [00:05:40] one and article 19 subsection section two, they have given them all the [00:05:44] right to protest peacefully, and on [00:05:47] the other hand, the Supreme Court has also emphasized that the protester [00:05:51] doing protest are is the fundamental right of all the citizens [00:05:55] and the unreasonable restrictions can lead to constitutional [00:05:59] crisis, so if it come to the mass [00:06:02] disfranchisement, they can also invoke the sections [00:06:06] of section 21, 22, 23, 24 [00:06:09] the representation of people's act 19. 50, so [00:06:13] they have all the sections, all the provisions, even the [00:06:16] constitution the India has given them all the rights [00:06:20] to do the peaceful protest, even the supreme court has the [00:06:24] rulings that they can protest peacefully unless and until they don't breach [00:06:28] the law, so I think that there is no criminality in [00:06:32] all this process, if we go through the provisions of [00:06:36] India and the constitution, they have given them all the right under article [00:06:39] 191 and 192 the constitution of India Yeah, how [00:06:43] would you look at the practical sort of [00:06:47] practicality these rights in terms of how are they practically being [00:06:50] imposed, are they being imposed the way that the [00:06:53] constitution sort of [00:06:55] foresees? I think [00:06:58] practically they they should be, I [00:07:02] think more peaceful and has there are a lot of sanction already [00:07:06] imposed on them, lot them are detained already, even [00:07:09] the the the [00:07:11] the the head of... 'the cockro janata party has been detained and even [00:07:15] detention itself is a crime in law, you cannot detain [00:07:19] someone for more than 24 hours and you have to produce them before the [00:07:22] magistrate as soon as possible, so practically i think they are very [00:07:26] influential, if you see the opposition leaders are also in their [00:07:29] favor and the opposition leaders, according to article [00:07:33] 84 and 102 the constitution allow them to join them [00:07:37] and promote their [00:07:47] what are the processors demanding? Why has the revision of [00:07:51] electoral roles become such major flash point [00:07:55] when we look at the demonstrators calling for chief election [00:07:57] commissioner Kumar to resign. Is it is it what is [00:08:01] behind this this kind of protest that we are [00:08:05] looking at? [00:08:08] Essentially we have to look a lot of factors here because there was a st. [00:08:12] done by an Indian newspaper on September 24, after [00:08:16] which there was a wide spread protest across India demanding that [00:08:20] 13 crore votes which have been deleted be taken back [00:08:24] and the election commission must take accountability for it, [00:08:27] however [00:08:28] what is coming to notice of protesters, citizens and opposition [00:08:32] leaders is that there is no acknowledgement on the part of Gnyanesh [00:08:36] Kumar who is the chief election commissioner of India and neither has there [00:08:39] been any accountability on part of the BJP on [00:08:43] part the Modi government that there is deletion of 13 [00:08:47] crore voters across India. What they are saying is is that [00:08:50] procedures going on and these dissions happened. [00:08:54] However, we must also understand that there is an [00:08:58] overwhelming sentiment that these voters were deleted in fact, there [00:09:02] is an allegation that these voters were deleted in fact to make Mr. [00:09:06] Modi win in these states where the elections happened with [00:09:09] deleted voters, for example Bihar where. the BJP has [00:09:13] won in coalition and also in West Bengal where the BJP [00:09:17] has won, so there are a lot of questions that the protesters are [00:09:20] asking about how this is happening and India [00:09:24] is one the largest democracies in the world, we [00:09:28] have around 970 million registered [00:09:31] voters, out these such a big deletion [00:09:35] is [00:09:38] tarushi, when you like you said India is one the largest [00:09:42] democracy. in the world, but as you know we just spoke to Tanya [00:09:45] Bazai also, and there are some constitutional freedoms that are [00:09:49] granted to the citizens of India, in terms of [00:09:53] detention, are they being followed, are they being [00:09:56] you know in terms of are they being abused, are they being followed? when we look at the [00:10:00] rules regarding detention, the time periods, as far [00:10:04] as [00:10:04] you know the leaders are concerned, the opposition parties are, those that are protesting from [00:10:08] the opposition parties also, so so on the ground what is [00:10:12] situation with regard to those constitutional [00:10:15] freedoms, [00:10:21] so on the ground the sentiment is like about detention. [00:10:25] I will give you very official figure which is 7000 protesters [00:10:29] were detained yesterday, this includes former chief ministers, this [00:10:33] includes lot of members the opposition party and also [00:10:36] includes youth organizations, however many [00:10:40] them were released, almost all them in fact were released late [00:10:43] night yesterday and even early morning today Sunday on [00:10:47] October 11, so regarding rules and regulations, the [00:10:51] Indian Constitution has stipulated sections which talk about the [00:10:55] freedom to protest, the freedom of expression and the freedom for peaceful [00:10:59] assembly and expressing one in terms of writing in [00:11:02] posters, using photographs, however these rights [00:11:06] in section 19 the Indian constitution are [00:11:09] being massively overlooked when it comes to these [00:11:12] protests which actually point massive [00:11:15] fingers at the modi government, and [00:11:19] what is also come to notice is that while the Supreme Court [00:11:23] of India has intervened, while they also said that internet must not [00:11:27] be shut down in the Indian capital, while the Supreme Court also [00:11:31] said that you must not use excessive sports while battling [00:11:34] protesters, all of this was ignored by the Ministry of Home [00:11:38] Affairs under Mr. Amit Shah, all these orders were [00:11:41] ignored. I was reporting from the ground yesterday from [00:11:45] 8 am till 8 pm in the night, we did not have internet the [00:11:49] whole day and wherever we had internet it was very [00:11:52] patchy, so the whole age area the [00:11:56] capital, as I explain to you, the cannot place area where this is happening, it [00:12:00] is the heartbeat of Delhi, you have the parliament of India there, you have the prime [00:12:03] minister house, you have the president house, you have the [00:12:07] Supreme Court of India situated there, imagine having no internet there for [00:12:11] 24 hours, how would people move around, and this would [00:12:15] especially being done to [00:12:16] you know nullify or zero five protesters, however [00:12:20] protesters still gathered in massive numbers and in front of my eyes [00:12:24] protesters were thrashed, they were beaten, they were dragged, their clothes were [00:12:27] tone and the police was stuffing them into detention vans like one [00:12:31] stuff cattle into vans, this is what was happening today as well as [00:12:35] yesterday. right, [00:12:41] it doesn't seem like those constitutional freedoms, those constitutional rights when [00:12:45] you talk about detention are being upheld, when we look at [00:12:48] what Tarushi is telling us about what's happening on the ground, but [00:12:52] in terms the election commission's independ and accountability, [00:12:56] these demon demonstrations demanding [00:13:00] that the CEC of C [00:13:04] Kumar's resignation, when we look at the opposition parties questioning the [00:13:07] transparency the electoral role division, how do you look at [00:13:11] this, because when an institution of course is responsible for ensuring free and fair [00:13:15] elections, is and it's facing these kind of [00:13:19] allegations of political bias, what legal [00:13:22] mechanisms exist to... hold it [00:13:25] accountable, does the current [00:13:28] controversy weaken India's constitutional [00:13:32] freedoms, institutional safeguards? what reforms in your [00:13:35] opinion would help restore the public [00:13:39] confidence at this time? if I talk [00:13:42] according to legal perspective, they have very good legal [00:13:46] framework that comes under article 32 and 226 the [00:13:50] constitution that they can hold the commission accountable for transparency and [00:13:54] fostering. the public engagement and on the other side, if you [00:13:58] see the the this this entire battle is the [00:14:01] transparency and fostering the public opinion and public [00:14:04] engagement, so they have that article 32 and [00:14:08] article 226, they can invoke any time, the protesters and [00:14:12] voters, they can go before the high court, they can go for the the [00:14:16] courts can go for the su moto cognisence, so [00:14:19] they have all the legal you can say framework in front [00:14:23] them and they can adopt them, they can invoke them. on the [00:14:27] other hand, as you know that the India is also [00:14:31] signatory to the ICCPR, article 21 [00:14:35] and 25, but after the invention intervention [00:14:38] the United Nation or you can say the international [00:14:42] convenient, even India, India [00:14:46] just you can say said that we don't want any internal [00:14:50] interference in our country, whereas it is already signatory to [00:14:53] all the these, laws and they have to abide [00:14:56] by, let me interject here, when we look at, you [00:15:00] know, on the [00:15:01] one hand, constitutional rights versus state [00:15:05] restrictions, how would you look at the situation at [00:15:09] this time? on the one hand, of course, like you are saying, there are all these [00:15:12] statutes in place, there are all these constitutional [00:15:16] provisions that and constitutional safegards, [00:15:20] also legal safegards that you are talking about, but when we look at [00:15:23] practically the situation. on ground, how do you [00:15:27] look at things? let's talk about the practicality [00:15:31] versus whatever checks are [00:15:34] procedurally in place, because we are looking a state [00:15:37] placing restrictions, we are looking a state that seems [00:15:41] according to what Tarushi is saying [00:15:45] that is ignoring what are frankly constitutional [00:15:49] safegards. i think Modi government must [00:15:53] engage constructively rather than dismissively. when it comes to [00:15:56] reasonable restrictions, yes it is mentioned in article 19 subsection two [00:16:00] the constitution, there are some reason restrictions when it comes [00:16:04] freedom of speech, when it comes to right to assemble. but on the [00:16:08] other hand, supreme court is very clear and the supreme court ruling is very [00:16:11] clear that there are some reasonable restrictions, but that [00:16:15] restrictions can become dis proportionate when [00:16:19] they suppress lawful descent. if they are like protesting [00:16:22] legally and peacefully then these provisions and [00:16:26] these restrictions do not apply and they cannot impose these [00:16:30] restrictions because they are suppressing lawful [00:16:32] descents. fair enough, let me come back [00:16:36] to you. see, when we look at the government's response, the [00:16:40] Modi government, the authorities justified their handling the [00:16:44] protests, they've you in terms of [00:16:48] what they've said at this time, in terms of officials directly addressing [00:16:51] protesters concerns, have they really [00:16:55] addressed these concerns, have the response focused [00:16:58] primarily on maintaining public order or or does the [00:17:02] state look like it's in a mood to listen to what is [00:17:06] being said on on such huge scale at this [00:17:09] time the state is not ready to [00:17:13] listen at all, even as i am speaking to you at the moment, there are [00:17:17] protesters, men, women, children, elderly, they are all [00:17:21] in connot place right now as we speaking, some them are [00:17:25] climbing buses, some them are [00:17:26] you know walking on the road, some them are demanding that the others be released to have been [00:17:30] detained at three pm today, but what it seems like [00:17:34] is that the Modi government is using the create [00:17:37] machinery to very conveniently protect the chief election [00:17:41] commissioner Mr. Kumar and it appears as though they are not in mood [00:17:45] to comment or cater to any the demands the protesters have [00:17:49] laid forward, while the protesters have always maintained, [00:17:53] even back in July when we had mass protest here led by the Cookroad Janata [00:17:56] party, protesters maintained that please [00:18:00] understand that these protests are going to be peaceful, we are the [00:18:04] believers of Gandhi and we want to have peaceful protests here. [00:18:07] however, in my opinion, the government is ready to [00:18:11] make the experience of protesting in India very humiliating [00:18:15] activity, they want to humiliate protesters, journalists who are [00:18:19] covering this to the extent that we do not feel [00:18:22] like covering the protests ever again, because the way the police [00:18:26] has been dealing with protesters is inhuman [00:18:30] by the max, they have been detaining protesters, journalists and [00:18:34] they are not releasing them even when people are showing them press cards, [00:18:38] so that says a lot about where the orders are coming from, what the state [00:18:42] orders are, and even currently when I am moving in Delhi at [00:18:46] the moment, there is section called 163 in place [00:18:50] which forbids the assembly of more than four people, so we [00:18:54] are basically a state of undeclared emergency [00:18:58] and rights of people are being trampled just because they are daring to question the [00:19:01] Modi government, what happens next [00:19:05] in your opinion, are the... testers preparing to continue [00:19:09] these demonstrations, what is the government's response like you [00:19:12] said, in terms of are they going to be continuing to [00:19:16] confront, like you said they're even confronting and making things [00:19:20] difficult for those that that want to cover these protests, you of course [00:19:24] journalists like yourself, journalists who really have only one interest [00:19:28] to tell what tell everyone [00:19:29] you know what's exactly happening, tell it like it is, in your [00:19:33] opinion is civil liberties, democratic accountability [00:19:37] under Modi's leadership, how how is it [00:19:40] taking, of course it's taking a blow, but what happens [00:19:44] next in your [00:19:45] opinion? so [00:19:49] today also a protest was foiled, protesters were not allowed to move beyond the [00:19:53] point in the central location where the protest was planned, [00:19:56] however protesters are not backing down, they have one goal which [00:20:00] is the resignation of Gnyanesh Kumar, and the [00:20:04] other thing is that we also have a protest to... tomorrow in the [00:20:08] morning led by Rahul Gandhi who is marching [00:20:11] in the same area, is going to be marching tomorrow, so we are waiting to see what [00:20:15] happens next, because frankly at this moment it is very [00:20:19] difficult and unpredictable to tell what [00:20:21] the next step is going [00:20:23] to be, however one thing remains certain is that the protesters are not [00:20:27] backing down, whether it's the corporate Janata party, whether it's normal [00:20:31] citizens, whether it's people who are engaged in politics, [00:20:34] youth activists or opposition leaders. chief ministers, former [00:20:38] people who have been associated with the government, lot of IAS, Indian [00:20:42] administrative service officers have also written to the Supreme Court of India [00:20:46] asking for clarity about whatever has happened with the... [00:20:50] role, so what we are seeing is basically [00:20:54] pointing of fingers, opposing of questions [00:20:57] and all this is unanimously [00:21:00] questioning what the Modi government has been doing and planning to do in [00:21:04] the last 12 years, why has it become so [00:21:08] important for you know for for [00:21:12] not to sort of lay off as far as this CAC, [00:21:16] the chief election commissioner is concerned, why is it become such huge? [00:21:20] deal for the current government in your [00:21:22] opinion? [00:21:27] i think what one must observe, i [00:21:30] think people who watch India globally must understand that there is [00:21:34] pattern that the government follows, so the pattern is to never accept [00:21:38] its mistakes, so while we saw the resignation of [00:21:42] education minister of india Dharmendra Pradhan's designation we saw in July [00:21:45] itself when the protesters were all over Delhi again asking for his [00:21:50] resignation because lot of exam government exam medical [00:21:54] papers had been lead and that had led to the suicide of 25 [00:21:57] students who were under pressure of giving the reexams [00:22:01] government's because failure to contain the confidentiality of exam [00:22:04] papers, this man who is the CEC cannot be [00:22:08] sacrificed this time, dharmendra Pradhan could have been [00:22:11] sacrificed because it was about education, but what we are [00:22:15] seeing is a man who has been alleged to have [00:22:19] rigged election. which made the BJP win in two [00:22:22] states, so the moment if and when Gnyanesh Kumar [00:22:26] resigns, questions will now surface on Modi and [00:22:30] all the elections, state elections he has won in the last 12 years, so I [00:22:33] do not think that the Modi government is ready to face the floor when it comes to [00:22:37] accountability over all the state elections we have [00:22:41] had, like we just had elections in three states this year, we [00:22:45] also have elections in two to three other states the next year, so what [00:22:49] is com? is greater for them than what has gone by, so in [00:22:53] order to hold to the power they have had since 12 years, [00:22:56] they will not let gyanesh Kumar resign, because once he resigns [00:23:00] he will also have to answer who are the people who [00:23:04] you know, if he has actually rigged votes, who were the people who made him [00:23:08] rig those votes, so that's like very complicated [00:23:11] calculation we have right now, a quick [00:23:15] question, tanya, when we look at detention of journalists for example, activists, [00:23:19] politically... you know when what what [00:23:23] Tarushi is saying, making it difficult for those journalists like [00:23:26] herself who want to cover what's happening, you want to tell the [00:23:30] world, you know, of course, what is happening at this time, what [00:23:34] legal protections exist or should apply, when reporters [00:23:38] document public protests, what remedies are available, [00:23:42] if individuals are detained without adequate legal grounds, [00:23:45] and what message lastly does this response send to the civil society? [00:23:50] and ordinary citizens who want to challenge these this [00:23:54] kind of inequality, this kind of injustice that is at [00:23:57] play. illegal detention [00:24:01] itself is unlawful and it's not allowed in law [00:24:04] and for illegal detention you have to go before the high court in the [00:24:08] rit of hebious corpus and you have to file a rit and you have to [00:24:12] produce [00:24:13] the the [00:24:16] whosoever the protester or voter is you have. have [00:24:20] to be appear before the court within 24 hours, so you cannot [00:24:24] detain someone more than 24 hours, it [00:24:28] illegal in Pakistan, even otherwise, and what I [00:24:32] see that the journalists, they have freedom of speech, right to [00:24:35] assemble, I told you under article 19 subsection one, [00:24:39] and they have all the right, and Supreme Court of Pakistan is [00:24:43] very, sorry, supreme court of India is very clear on this that [00:24:46] the protest is the fundamental right and the un' able [00:24:50] restrictions can lead to the constitutional crisis and you cannot [00:24:54] stop them from protesting when it comes to peaceful [00:24:57] protest, so illegal detention cannot go [00:25:01] beyond 24 hours, you have to present that person before the [00:25:05] magistrate within 24 hours. right, fair [00:25:09] enough, thank you so much for being with us, thank you for updating us, tarushi, thank you for [00:25:12] letting us know exactly what's happening, thank you for [00:25:16] joining us, when we look at what's happening in India of course, under the Modi [00:25:20] rule, things seem to be in shambles when we look at democracy, [00:25:24] when we look at right to peaceful protest, when we look at accountability, when [00:25:28] we look at the right to assembly, the government seems [00:25:32] to be coming down on all those rights, a country that calls [00:25:36] itself the greater democracy, greatest democracy in the world, [00:25:39] seems to be flagrantly [00:25:43] abusing all sorts of human rights, the right of [00:25:46] journalists to cover the events, making it difficult l [00:25:50] like Tarushi said even report what's happening on the [00:25:54] ground, one certainly hopes that some sort of [00:25:58] sanity will [00:28:22] we saw earlier, the exchange rate has become considerably more stable, the [00:28:26] external account has become more manageable, the interest rate on on [00:28:30] treasury bonds or the yield in treasury bonds. is uh is going [00:28:34] up for the first time in in [00:28:37] Canadian history [00:28:39] in regional countries and globally that America can be a friend, but if there [00:28:43] is a choice between Israel and any particular country then America would always prefer [00:28:46] Israel. the the atrocities or the crimes committed against the [00:28:50] Palestinian people have started long before 2023. [00:28:54] after the embarrassing debackle that India faced after [00:28:58] Mark last year, this could help ' [00:29:02] you know attempt to repair the moral the armed [00:29:06] forces, it has been clearly indicated from the Russian side [00:29:10] that peace cannot be pushed forward, it can be [00:29:14] softly and smoothly promoted, so it [00:29:18] should be treated in very careful way. um, the [00:29:21] economic, the clock for economic collapse and [00:29:25] political collapse collapse, these are really two different class, by [00:29:29] presenting my tribute and salute to the shodaya of Pakistan, [00:29:32] considering the importance of today [00:29:35] and and the sacrifices which they made for our beautiful country. [00:29:38] Ukraine isn't not NATO member, but it's affects [00:29:42] to the NATO and the European security. is the conflict, because I think under the [00:29:46] current circumstances it's virtually impossible [00:29:50] to end the Ukraine [00:29:52] war. [00:30:22] Good morning, assalamualaikum, you're watching Pakistan TV, with the news [00:30:26] at this hour, Naim Farok Fayaz, let's begin with the [00:30:29] headlines. [00:30:48] a Pakistani resident has been killed and 11 others wounded in a fresh [00:30:52] hoothi strike on Riyadh's international [00:30:54] airport.