Indian police arrest SP leader for 'raising pro-Pakistan slogan'

E-Paper | October 10, 2026

Indian police arrest SP leader for 'raising pro-Pakistan slogan'

Dawn.com Published June 30, 2014

LUCKNOW: A member of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in India was booked on Monday for raising pro-Pakistan slogans, reported Indian media.

The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh's (UP) Shamli district, where Mehmood Alam of SP was taken into custody.

According to the local police, Alam was found drunk and extorting money from passers-by.

"The SP leader started shouting on top of his voice 'Pakistaan Zindabad' and 'Narendra Modi Murdabad' after which local officials booked him for breach of peace," an official said.

Officials ordered a strict inquiry, whereas sedition charges were filed in an initial police complaint.

The police have been advised to follow the case as per the law.

Last week, a report published in the Hindustan Times said that workers of SP and the ruling BJP broke into a fight when SP workers protested against the hike in rail fares. At least half a dozen people, including a policeman, sustained injuries in the clash.

An effigy of Narendra Modi was also burned during the protests.

Reportedly, Modi-led BJP and SP were at loggerheads after the latter fell behind in the elections in UP this year. The BJP along with its allies had grabbed 73 of the 80 seats while SP could secure only five.

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raghu

Jun 30, 2014 02:24pm

alam is good muslim

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mimi sur

Jun 30, 2014 02:29pm

"Alam was found drunk and extorting money from passers-by" --This is the actual work of UP's SP leaders . Nobody cares about them .

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nik

Jun 30, 2014 02:32pm

Gr8 news for the Pakistani media.

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Moiz Omar

Jun 30, 2014 02:33pm

Even though historically we are big and bitter rivals, I don't think it should be a criminal penalty to express positive sentiments about each other in either country.

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Indian

Jun 30, 2014 02:49pm

It's not that he may have actually meant this, rather these were said sarcastically to evoke a response from Modiji. 'Pakistan Zindabad' has been used in the negative sense because he knows that no one will like him shouting this slogan, thereby, eliciting an automatic reply from the government. Not to mention, a person often tries to choose bitter words in the heat of the situation to put forth his/her point.

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ishan chauhan

Jun 30, 2014 02:52pm

And how does that concern you

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ProudtobeanINDIAN

Jun 30, 2014 03:02pm

Please take him to your land and provide some space there.. if that is his wish let him enjoy his life in your land... we are pleased to give him...

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A S Rao

Jun 30, 2014 03:04pm

Police is under state govt. Modi govt has no role. SP party which rules state of UP is sympathetic to Muslims. No need to suspect motive.

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Omar

Jun 30, 2014 03:05pm

@ProudtobeanINDIAN no mate you keep him in your land, we dont need them

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ansh

Jun 30, 2014 03:08pm

hahaha chalo at least someone is interested in finding refuse at Pakistan pls accept him with open heart we Indians will support

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ansh

Jun 30, 2014 03:47pm

@ansh typo please read "refuge"

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Sikander Bakht Abbasi

Jun 30, 2014 03:53pm

He's the real man :D

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baakhlaq

Jun 30, 2014 04:02pm

He is a true picture of Manto's " Toba Tek Singh."

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Anwar kamal

Jun 30, 2014 04:09pm

@raghu ...Definition of a good muslim ...drunk and extorting money ?

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sato fernando

Jun 30, 2014 04:24pm

I thought India is world's largest democratic nation.

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zoro

Jun 30, 2014 04:28pm

I was wondering if the same instance would have happened in Pakistan ... Someone shouting Hindustan Zindabad !!! He would have been dead the next minute ... The SP leader knew he would be alive even if he shouts sedulous slogans... India is a democracy though chaotic ...

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Indian, Delhi

Jun 30, 2014 05:01pm

@sato fernando Of course... It is... And, it does not require a certificate from you and Pakistan.

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Saad

Jun 30, 2014 05:03pm

Misleading title, no connection to Pakistan what so ever, and absolutely pointless piece of information which cannot be justified in a newspaper like Dawn.

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khan

Jun 30, 2014 05:04pm

Slogans made him famous across the two nations..its totally a political slogan..just for grabbing one's attention..

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sandy

Jun 30, 2014 05:21pm

@ProudtobeanINDIAN well said. No offences to anyone, but if he wants to go across border let him go

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Raj Patel

Jun 30, 2014 05:28pm

Nobody pay attention to the quote "The SP leader started shouting on top of his voice 'Pakistaan Zindabad' and 'Narendra Modi Murdabad' after which local officials booked him for breach of peace," an official said. He was booked him for breach of peace and not for treason or anything else. Simple thing you don't have right to breach peace of other people.

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G. Din

Jun 30, 2014 05:47pm

@Raj Patel The news item says he was additionally booked for "sedition" which is another term for "treason".

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zaheer

Jun 30, 2014 06:10pm

Nawaz sharif....This is what happens if you raise a slogan for Pakistan.....still wanna try to be friends with the enemy who never wants to be our friend?

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rashid siddiqui

Jun 30, 2014 06:29pm

Why do so many people like Pakistan? Kashmiris, Biharis, Hyderabadis..... What is the matter with them? We are supposed to be the bad guys, remember!

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dv1936

Jun 30, 2014 07:21pm

It has been a very good attempt by the leaders of two countries to improve relations. Some individuals like Alam are sowing the seeds of hatred. This is bad and such people should be denounced by all.

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Qamar

Jun 30, 2014 07:31pm

This a good example of India's democracy and the 'freedom of expression'.

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Ravi Dallas TX

Jun 30, 2014 07:34pm

He was drunk. You should put that in the title.

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Mustafa

Jun 30, 2014 07:47pm

Once again the false claims of freedom of speech are exposed, if there really are any democratic nations in this world, India certainly isn't one of them. There is more to democracy than elections.

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Mustafa

Jun 30, 2014 07:50pm

We should trade this guy for all those Modi loving anchors on our media.

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Pune-Nagpur

Jun 30, 2014 07:58pm

What else new news here?? In every Indian there is one Pakistani and in every Pakistani there is one Indian. Only the difference that nobody have dare to chant anti-Pakistan slogan in Pakistan.

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ghumman

Jun 30, 2014 08:01pm

Pakistan is still a symbol of Freedom for Muslims of sub-continent. I hope we become a force which could protect Muslims Interest in PK and around world

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Pramod

Jun 30, 2014 08:22pm

@Moiz Omar Saying good about Pakistan and shouting Pakistan Zindabad are two different things.

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Akram

Jun 30, 2014 08:22pm

@zoro Why on earth would any person in Pakistan be shouting Hindustan Zindabad?

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Pramod

Jun 30, 2014 08:25pm

@rashid siddiqui Even OBL was a bad guy remember but he found lot of supporter in your country.

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HARVINDER SINGH

Jun 30, 2014 08:40pm

the law of the land must be enforced. can this happenen in Pakistan

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Tablabshab

Jun 30, 2014 08:45pm

Pakistan Zindabaad!

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Tablabshab

Jun 30, 2014 08:47pm

@ghumman Havnt we learnd something from the failure of Caliphate movement? Why are we the custodians of Islam and for all muslims. First we need to make our homeland stable, thats atleast a decade long job. We ll think next when done with this

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Agon

Jun 30, 2014 09:14pm

@Pune-Nagpur Pakistanis are not insecure like you guys. In 2004 series of Ind vs Pak. Pakistanis were cheering for India and noone cared.

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Pramod

Jun 30, 2014 09:26pm

@ghumman Are you not the people who wants Afghan to go back to their country or havent accepted the Migrated Muslims(Forget about the Minority community who stayed in Pakistan) from India during Partition. The word Mohajir comes from Pakistan. But if you are so concerned about Muslims In India then those Muslims who wants to go can leave and we are happy to take Hindu, Christians , Sikh and even Ahmediyas from Pakistan in equal number. I hope you ll get your answer if it happens.

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Saad Zafar

Jun 30, 2014 09:33pm

@Moiz Omar Its not criminal in Pakistan. India seems to be stuck in the past and loves war and destruction than peace and prosperity

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Agon

Jun 30, 2014 09:42pm

I understand Kashmiri Students shouting Pro-Pak slogans in India, they are outsiders and they don't know any better but an Indian should know that he/she has no freedom of expression in India.

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Blau

Jun 30, 2014 09:48pm

@mimi sur That is not the only work of SP leaders. They also issue statements supporting r@pe and murder of girls. They also look the other way when Muslims are murdered in riots. They are just a bunch of criminals in power. It was the old caste calculus that brought them to power. Now the calculus is failing as India gradually becomes more literate, even in UP. They are masters of polarisation and actually the party that would love to keep Ayodhya simmering. But people are now interested only in their own personal advancement and not so much in identity politics in India. SP is in deep trouble and they know it.

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Blau

Jun 30, 2014 09:49pm

@Indian I don't think anyone takes anything that the Samajwadi Party people say literally in India. They are just a bunch of criminals in power.

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Ahmer

Jun 30, 2014 10:04pm

Is it a sin to wish a neighbouring country well?

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Gp65

Jun 30, 2014 10:07pm

@Moiz Omar indeed his crime is not saying Pakistan Zindabad but getting drunk and extorting money.

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Gp65

Jun 30, 2014 10:11pm

@sato fernando it is and people who extort money are usually punished. The state government in UP is with Modi led BJP's opponent SP. it is the state overnment who police reports to and would have arrested the man, so it is completely unlikely that it was because of anti-Modi slogans.

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Gp65

Jun 30, 2014 10:14pm

@Qamar SP who is in charge of police is a political opponent of Modi. The man was arrested because of extortion and also because he was drunk and causing breach of peace.

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Gp65

Jun 30, 2014 10:16pm

@Mustafa hos does it expose anything? Is extortion legal in your country? Is getting drunk and causing breach of peace legal in your country?

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Anwar Amjad

Jun 30, 2014 10:23pm

@nik Indian police made it news by charging him for sedition. Apparently there is a political motive and the charges are cooked up. As charging Muslims for treason is very easy in India.

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Ayesha

Jun 30, 2014 10:37pm

Pakistan should also take appropriate actions against this crazy behavior of Alam. He was found drunk, and asking for money from the passers by. They never leave an occasion to brink a bad name of their country. Chanting anti slogans for the Indian Prime Minister and pro slogans for his own country, clearly shows what his intentions were. If the same thing would have happened in Pakistan, how the Pakistani government would have reacted. Shame on this SP Alam.

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dinga khan

Jun 30, 2014 10:45pm

Lol, so shouting for Pakistan is a crime worth mentioning when the criminal was actually Extorting Money from passers by.

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sanjeev yadav

Jun 30, 2014 10:52pm

And they will say Muslims are oppressed in India.

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Mehr

Jun 30, 2014 11:47pm

Countrymen, lets ignore such people. How does it make us better or how does it help us? These are all traps!

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Anjum Naveed

Jun 30, 2014 11:50pm

@ansh There are many people in Pakistan who openly say that India is doing better no one objects on that statement. I am from Pakistan and believe that India is doing very good. We should see the things in bigger perspective rather than picking on each other.This is the time of regional progress and we two nations are busy in pulling legs of each other.

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Abarandeep singh ghumman

Jun 30, 2014 11:54pm

@ghumman boy for a country that can barely protect its own citizens, you do have some grandiose aspirations!! Please learn to walk before you dream of beating Usain Bolt.

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Jul 01, 2014 12:45am

@Anjum Naveed, very well said Anjum. We need to look at bigger picture for good of both countries.

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MARIA Muree

Jul 01, 2014 01:27am

One can be sure the BJP put something in Mehmood Alam drink and blame him for his actions so they could have an excuse to arrest him. So what if he's so thrilled with our country and exclaimed Pakistan Zindabad! It's truly pathetic how Indians cut down Pakistan for its blasphemy laws and yet don't go after those who practice fascism by arresting a politician who was simply espousing freedom of speech in a so called "democracy." India SHINING - oops meant India CORRODING at its best!

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Adil Jadoon

Jul 01, 2014 01:57am

@ProudtobeanINDIAN you take Altaf Hussain in turn:)

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Adil Jadoon

Jul 01, 2014 02:00am

@zoro why would he be dead???? Altaf bhai is still alive and kicking

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Tariq K Sami

Jul 01, 2014 02:48am

@rashid siddiqui : I am a Bihari. Bihar is the cradle of civilisation in the Subcontinent. Lalu Prasad Yadev and Nitish Kumar : Welcome to Karachi.

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coolie

Jul 01, 2014 03:07am

So sad.

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sidharth

Jul 01, 2014 03:29am

Samajwadi party is going to be an extinct party in the upcoming election very soon BJP will destroy SP in 2016

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Shahryar Shirazi

Jul 01, 2014 03:29am

He was drunk, give him a break :)

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Rizwan

Jul 01, 2014 03:52am

@ansh Will take him any day. In fact all Muslims there are Pakistanis as well, soon or later they along with the land will become such...

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Rizwan

Jul 01, 2014 03:55am

@sato fernando On paper that is, in reality they are hindu theocratic state....E.g., A man shouts Pak zindapad, or Kashmiri students support Pakistani team, or express freely then you are sent to jail or banned from colleges.

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Rizwan

Jul 01, 2014 03:59am

@dinga khan That is funny Indian Justice...

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khurram

Jul 01, 2014 05:42am

A person who is not sincere to his own country will never be sincere to anyone. Pak has already lots of angry Uzbiks, Tajiks, Afghans.... to say Pakistan Zindabad and kill innocent people too. I strongly believe that Muslims and Kashmiris in India should show full sincerity and love to their motherland as it should be stopped using innocent people sentiments to achieve personal designs. India should fix people like Alam who try to achieve cheap popularity buy using people's sentiments.

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Huzaifa

Jul 01, 2014 08:32am

@Rizwan, very well said. This is the inevitable.

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rehan

Jul 01, 2014 09:45am

so much for the biggest democracy in the universe !

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Omer

Jul 01, 2014 11:59am

@Ahmer Its same like.... Get well soon Mamoo.......

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yasin

Jul 01, 2014 01:32pm

hi dear friends, very good comments. @@ProudtobeanINDIAN, Ansh and many others we Pakistani are ready to accept all of such people with land to reside. i think you can give us indian Punjab, Rajisthan, Gujrat, Indian occupide Kashmir, Himachal perdesh, Dehra Dun, Uttar Perdesh,Madiha Perdesh, and mharashtra at-least. :-)

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Kanwaljeet singh

Jul 01, 2014 02:03pm

alam is a good muslim. he was just drunk and that justifies his act..he must have been booked for extortion and muslim like behaviour. Raising "pakistan zindabad" slogan is not a crime..

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voodokid

Jul 01, 2014 02:17pm

@Yasin. Stop day dreaming man. First learn the correct spelling of the places. Your diction is pathetic and the command of grammar is mediocre.

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arun

Jul 01, 2014 07:46pm

@Rizwan will you bear a person who publicly support INDIA on your media or even talks positively about INDIA....we know what is done to GEO news, whom u accuse of being RAW agents and blah blah...see INDIAN population(don't know abt PAK) is not mature enough to accept the fact that some1 shout Pro-PAK slogans and that to in a sensitive state like UP....so i guess here is the case of trying to come to lime light when guys Like of SP in UP are on the verge of demise and they are not in a position to rectify that...personally there's a difference between shouting PAK ZINDAABAD & speaking good abt PAK...

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rana1

Jul 02, 2014 07:11am

@ProudtobeanINDIAN ......no we do not need him here, because if this is how he behaves,then in his state of drunkeness he may do the same in pakistan using the opposite terms, 'India zindabad and pakistan murdabad' so please keep him there,perhaps some jail air will sober him up or ban alcohol.

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rana1

Jul 02, 2014 07:14am

@Raj Patel ......he never said INDIA murdabad but cursed Modi. So people Modi is not India and does not own India.

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hindustani

Jul 02, 2014 09:51am

@Moiz Omar He was drunk and extorting money from the people. That is the reason for arrest. The headline is misleading

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hindustani

Jul 02, 2014 09:52am

@sato fernando we are

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hindustani

Jul 02, 2014 09:56am

@Mustafa Apne gireband mein dekho

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A K Tiwari

Jul 02, 2014 10:27am

He is free to go and settle in Pakistan

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Devendra

Jul 02, 2014 01:11pm

@ghumman Protecting interests of Muslims? What a joke.

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gopal

Jul 02, 2014 01:12pm

@raghu I bet he is.

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gopal

Jul 02, 2014 01:14pm

@Omar We can take Hasan Nisar and Najam Sethi, you can take Javed Naqvi and Mr.Noorani instead. We can give Shahrukh Khan as a bonus if you agree.

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gary

Jul 02, 2014 01:17pm

@zaheer ''But for India, Pakistan is not that important. There

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gary

Jul 02, 2014 01:46pm

@Rizwan Better than yours any time.

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Sandeep Singh

Jul 02, 2014 01:58pm

@sato fernando Go America and Shout Long Live Russia...you will get your fate......Democratic doesn't mean shouting anything

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Sandeep Singh

Jul 02, 2014 02:00pm

@Saad Zafar So much peace n prosperiry in pakistan..huh!

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Lakhkar Khan, Pekhawar de gulu khar

Jul 02, 2014 06:46pm

@gary It is mutual. For most Pakistanis India is irrelevant. Pakistanis don't love India more than Indians love Pakistan.

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Jul 02, 2014 11:19pm

@Moiz Omar He was arrested for "Breach of Peace" (since he was shouting and extorting money from passers-by)

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Jul 02, 2014 11:24pm

@Agon like one person in the stadium, who was found dead later?

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Riazullah Baig

Jul 04, 2014 12:14am

@Moiz Omar I saw many Pakistanis shouting "Hindustan Zindabad" when there were cricket matches between India and Pakistan in Lahore, Multan and Karachi, and no one called them "traitors"!

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Insaan

Jul 05, 2014 07:45pm

@Mustafa Just because Pakistan has had bad time with democracy (with so many coups), does not mean that you should cry foul with other working democracies. They are not perfect, but they ARE democracies including India. The man has been booked for not shouting pro-Pakistan slogan but anti-PM slogan. Nobody in India is going to arrest you if you say "Pakistan and India jindabad" You should try to understand the difference between your freedom and right to peace for others.

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