'Landlides, rains did not impact wildlife in Kerala'

Agencies

August 23, 2018

Kochi, Aug 23: Landslides and heavy rains unleashed in Kerala forests causing flooding in downstream did not have any major impact on its precious wildlife including elephants, tigers and leopards, a top state forest official said today.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests P K Kesavan said generally animals have got a "strong sixth sense" and they become "alert" at the time of any unusual changes in the nature helping them escape to safety at the time of its fury. "As of now, no serious issues," Kesavan told PTI.

He said there were instances of landslides in forests due to heavy rains but no cases of deaths of animals have been reported so far. Kesavan further said the king cobra, a venomous snake species found in moist forests of the state, were also largely safe.

The world's longest venomous snake has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010 as it was threatened by habitat destruction. Some deaths of wild animals including a 14-year-old tiger in Thekkady in Idukki district and three elephants--two in Wayanad and one in Vazhachal--were reported during this period but these were not related to flooding or rains, he said. Western Ghat region of Kerala contains a huge natural forest area covering 24 per cent of state's landmass. These forest regions house numerous protected conservation areas including Tiger Reserves and Wildlife sanctuaries hosting major fauna such as elephant, tiger, leopard and Nilgiri tahr.

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‘Pakistan has no moral right to question India’s military operation’: Pak Islamist lawmaker exposes own country’s hypocrisy

News Network

December 23,2025

A Pakistani lawmaker has called out the hypocrisy of his country's leadership, drawing a parallel between Islamabad's military actions against Kabul and India's 'Operation Sindoor'.

Condemning the Pakistan army, led by Asim Munir, for strikes on Afghanistan - which resulted in civilian casualties - Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman questioned the consistency of Islamabad's logic. He argued that if Pakistan's cross-border attacks are considered justified, then the country has little ground to object when India enters Pakistani territory to eliminate terrorists.

Rehman was addressing the 'Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Ummat' conference on Monday in Karachi's Lyari. The town recently gained international attention as the setting for the Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar, which depicted the intersection of informants and operatives within the Lyari underworld.

"If you say that we attacked our enemy in Afghanistan and justify this, then India can also say that it attacked Bahawalpur, Muridke, and the headquarters of groups responsible for the attack in Kashmir," Rehman said, referring to India's retaliatory strikes. "Then how can you raise objections? The same accusations are now being levelled against Pakistan by Afghanistan. How do you justify both positions?"

The JUI-F chief's remarks specifically referenced 'Operation Sindoor'.

On May 7, Indian armed forces carried out pre-dawn missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base in Muridke.

Pak-Afghanistan Tension

Fazlur Rehman has been a consistent critic of the Pakistani government's policy towards Afghanistan. In October, during a peak in bilateral tensions, he offered to mediate between the two nations. According to a Dawn report, he stated, "In the past, I have played a role in reducing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and I can still do so."

Rehman is known to wield significant influence within the region and remains the only Pakistani lawmaker to have met with the Taliban's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada.

Recently, India condemned Pakistan's fresh strikes on Afghanistan. "We have seen reports of border clashes in which several Afghan civilians have been killed," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a weekly media briefing.

"We condemn such attacks on innocent Afghan people. India strongly supports the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan," he said.

A spokesperson for the Taliban regime claimed Pakistan initiated the attacks and that Kabul was "forced to respond".

The two countries have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring terrorists - a charge that the Afghan government denies.

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