Imran Khan turns to recommend books to Pakistan youth; suggests treatise on 'divine love'

Amid facing criticism and embarrassment at the global level for violating human rights, sponsoring terrorism and consistently persecuting its ethnic and religious minorities, 'Naya' Pakistan's PM Imran Khan has now turned to recommend books to the youth of the nation. For the month of October, Khan recommended Elif Shafak's "The Forty Rules of Love" for the youth of Pakistan in an attempt to "bring them close" to Islam.

'I read it a few years back...'

In an Instagram post on Saturday, the Prime Minister said that the book had deeply inspired him as it was about divine love. "This October I suggest our youth to read 'The Forty Rules of Love' by Elif Shafak," he said. "An inspirational book about divine love, Sufism, Rumi and his Murshid Shams Tabriz. I read it a few years back and was deeply inspired," added Khan.

In May, amid the COVID-19 lockdown, Imran Khan had recommended that the youth read the famous book ‘Lost Islamic History’.

India responds to Pak's Gilgit-Baltistan election bogey

According to ANI, the United Nations Human Rights Office, last Tuesday, expressed its concern over the increasing instances of threats of violence against journalists and human rights activists in Pakistan. "We have followed with increasing concern numerous instances of incitement to violence - online and offline - against journalists and human rights defenders in Pakistan, in particular against women and minorities. Especially worrying are accusations of blasphemy - which can put accused individuals at imminent risk of violence," said a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville in a briefing.

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Meanwhile, India came down heavily on Pakistan for its decision to hold general elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and said any action to alter the status of the militarily-occupied region has no legal basis. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said the Government of India has conveyed its strong protest to the Government of Pakistan and reiterated that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of so-called Gilgit and Baltistan are an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947.

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"The Government of Pakistan has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it," the statement reads. The Government of India has also completely rejected the recent actions such as the so-called "Gilgit-Baltistan (Elections and Caretaker Government) Amendment Order 2020” and continued attempts by the Pakistan establishment to bring material changes in areas under its illegal and forcible occupation. Pakistan has announced that elections for the legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan will be held on November 15.

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