News update

The dispute over the Gyanvapi masjid-Shringar Gauri complex in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi took a new turn when the Hindu side claimed a few days ago that a 'shivling' had been found in the wazukhana area of the mosque complex. This claim was countered with the suggestion that the structure that was found was actually a defunct fountain in the wazukhana, and not a 'shivling'. Speaking on the issue, Lok Sabha MP Owaisi added that every masjid has such fountains. India Today's reporters visited mosques across the country to see how many wazukhanas have fountains. Here's what we found: BUT FIRST, WHAT IS WAZUKHANA? A wazukhana is an ablution pond where worshippers wash themselves before praying at the mosque. Wazukhanas in historical mosques date back to the time when there were no proper water pipelines. Hence, the wazukhanas were established as ponds with fountains to provide sufficient water for the purpose of washing. A number of people could make use of the p...

Speaking at the 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu in 2014, the last one of the grouping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “The future I dream (of) for India, is the future I wish for the entire region.” The 19th SAARC summit in Islamabad was put to sword by Pakistan based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which attacked the Uri Brigade headquarters and killed 19 Indian Army troopers and injured another two score on September 18, 2016. Except Nepal, the chair, all other SAARC countries walked out of the summit with India. Eight years after the last summit, Afghanistan is under the rule of a radical Islamist Taliban regime with total budget for the current year (as announced on May 18) a mere $2.6 billion. The country is on verge of famine and disease as the ISI-sponsored Haqqani Network led by global terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani fights for the control of Kabul with the Kandahar Taliban led by Mullah Omar’s son Yaqub. Economically ravaged, the country is on life-support, with jihad and drugs...