“If these companies are really resistant to working with China, they would not make such decisions,” said Jiang, who is now president of the China Society of Industrial Economics, an academic organisation under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). “We must see China has grown to compete with otherContinue Reading
When translated, Martin’s pantun reads:
Going to the shop to buy vegetables,
Cooking tom yum as asked by mother,
Coldplay is now in Kuala Lumpur,
Treating you to your favourite song
The bit won over the crowd who have called it “one of their favourite moments” from the show. And the love appears to be mutual.
Before reciting the pantun, Martin told the Malaysian crowd that he “wished (Coldplay) came to Malaysia sooner” as they were “one of the best audiences in the world”.
Speaking in Malay, Martin added: “We’re so happy to be here. Let’s healing together.”
Coldplay’s Kuala Lumpur concert marked their final one for the year. They will be back on the road in January 2024 which will see them delighting audiences in the Phillipines and of course, Singapore.
SINGAPORE: A man who was a deputy director at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a former director at the Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD) was charged on Thursday (Nov 23) with cheating and voyeurism-related offences.
Foo Siang Chi, 53, was handed five charges including cheating, taking upskirt photos and videos and possessing obscene films.
Foo was previously a deputy director at the Office of Facilities Management at NUS. He later joined SUTD as a director at the Office of Campus Infrastructure and Facilities.
Foo is accused of cheating his then-supervisor between April and July 2015 by borrowing money that he did not disclose was to fund his gambling habits.
He deceived the victim into lending him at least S$205,500 (US$153,000).
Foo is also accused of taking upskirt photos and videos of women on at least 31 occasions between April 2018 and March 2020.
Between September 2019 and December 2020, Foo allegedly had two obscene videos on his mobile phone that he had downloaded from a pornographic website.
The penalties for cheating are a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine.
If convicted of insulting a woman’s modesty, Foo could be jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.
If convicted of voyeurism, he could be jailed for up to two years and fined. He cannot be caned as he is above 50.
For possessing obscene films, an offender can be jailed for up to a year, fined up to S$40,000, or both.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday (Nov 22) officially requested that China provide detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.
Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission held a press conference on Nov 13 to report an increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases in the country, the WHO said in a statement.
The global health agency said Chinese authorities attributed the increase to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection which typically affects younger children), respiratory syncytial virus, as well as the virus that causes COVID-19.
Chinese authorities stressed the need for enhanced disease surveillance in healthcare facilities and community settings, as well as strengthening the capacity of the health system to manage patients.
Both China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting on the earliest COVID-19 cases which emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019 and early 2020.
On Wednesday, WHO said groups including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China. WHO said it is unclear if these are associated with the overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities, or separate events.
The health agency said it has requested additional epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results from these reported outbreaks among children, through the International Health Regulations mechanism.
It has also asked China for further information about trends in the circulation of known pathogens and the current burden on healthcare systems. WHO said it is in contact with clinicians and scientists through its existing technical partnerships and networks in China.
Since mid-October, WHO said northern China has reported an increase in influenza-like illness compared with the same period in the previous three years.
It said the country has systems in place to capture information on trends in illness incidence and to report that data to platforms such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.
WHO said that while it seeks additional information, it recommends that people in China follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness, including vaccination; keeping their distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation; and regular hand-washing.
BEIJING: The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked China for more data on respiratory illnesses spreading in the north of the country, urging people to take steps to reduce the risk of infection.
Northern China has seen an increase in “influenza-like illness” since mid-October when compared with the same period in the previous three years, the WHO said. Clusters of pneumonia in children have been reported.
“WHO has made an official request to China for detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children,” the UN health body said in a statement on Wednesday (Nov 22).
China’s National Health Commission told reporters last week that the respiratory illness spike was due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens, namely influenza and common bacterial infections that affect children, including mycoplasma pneumonia.
The Chinese capital of Beijing, located in the north of the country, is currently experiencing a cold snap, with temperatures expected to plummet to well below zero by Friday, state media said.
Temperatures plummeted as the city “entered a high incidence season of respiratory infectious diseases”, Wang Quanyi, deputy director and chief epidemiological expert at the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media on Wednesday.
Beijing “is currently showing a trend of multiple pathogens coexisting”, he added.
At Beijing’s Capital Institute of Pediatrics’ Children’s Hospital on Thursday, AFP journalists saw crowds of parents and children dressed in winter clothes.
A parent surnamed Zhang accompanied her coughing nine-year-old son and said he had fallen ill with pneumonia.
“There are really a lot of children who have caught it recently,” she said.
Li Meiling, 42, had brought her eight-year-old daughter, who was suffering from mycoplasma pneumonia – a pathogen that can cause sore throats, fatigue and fever.
“It’s true that a lot of children her age are ill with this at the moment,” she told AFP.
But she said she was “not particularly worried” about the WHO announcement.
“It’s winter, so it’s normal that there are more cases of respiratory illnesses. It’s due to the season.”
On Nov 21, the media and public disease surveillance system ProMED reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China.
The WHO said it was unclear if ProMED’s report was related to the authorities’ press conference and that it was seeking clarification.
It has also requested additional information on “recent trends in the circulation of known pathogens, including influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV affecting infants and Mycoplasma pneumoniae, as well as on the degree of overcrowding in the health system”, the statement added.
WHO said while it seeks additional information, it recommends that people in China follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness.
These include vaccination, keeping their distance from people who are ill, staying home when ill, getting tested and medical care as needed, wearing masks as appropriate, ensuring good ventilation and regular hand-washing.
The WHO gave no indication of China’s response to the request for more information.
China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment from AFP on Thursday.
BEIJING: The head of China’s civil aviation regulator, Song Zhiyong, met with the US Ambassador in Beijing Nicholas Burns, and exchanged views on pushing for a substantial increase in flights between the two countries, the regulator said on Wednesday (Nov 22). The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) welcomes USContinue Reading
Getty ImagesNorth Korea has ripped up a five-year-old deal with Seoul aimed at lowering military tensions, in the latest escalation of a row between the two.
It all started when Pyongyang claimed to have successfully launched a spy satellite into space on Tuesday.
This led to South Korea part suspending the agreement, saying it would resume surveillance flights along the border.
Pyongyang is now vowing to fully suspend the pact and send stronger forces and equipment to the border.
“From now on, our army will never be bound by the September 19 North-South Military Agreement,” it said in a statement.
It promised to withdraw all measures “taken to prevent military conflict in all spheres including ground, sea and air”, and deploy “more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware” in the border region.
Pyongyang fired a rocket believed to contain its Malligyong-1 spy satellite late on Tuesday and hailed the launch as a “success”.
South Korea’s military later confirmed that the satellite had entered orbit but said it was too soon to tell if it was actually functioning.
Seoul strongly condemned the launch – and on Wednesday morning top officials agreed to immediately restart surveillance operations along the border, which would allow the South to monitor North Korean outposts and long-range artillery.
That is a breach of a no-fly zone established under the Comprehensive Military Agreement in 2018 – signed by both nations’ leaders in an attempt to de-escalate tensions between their two countries and prevent a conflict erupting.
A US official said the South Korean decision to suspend part of the agreement was a “prudent” response, citing the North’s “failure to adhere” to the pact.
The following morning, North Korea said it would restore all conflict-avoiding measures it had halted under the deal, and said Seoul would face the blame if a clash broke out.
Its statement came hours after it fired a ballistic missile into the sea east of the Korean peninsula – its first known weapons firing in more than two months. The South Korean military said the missile was likely to have failed.
Pyongyang insists the launch of the spy satellite is part of its “right to self-defence” – but it has been strongly condemned by South Korea, the US and Japan.
Developing a functioning spy satellite is a major part of North Korea’s five-year military plan, set out by its leader Kim Jong Un in January 2021.
The technology could in theory enable Pyongyang to monitor the movement of US and South Korean troops and weapons on the Korean Peninsula, allowing it to spot incoming threats. It would also allow the North to plot its nuclear attacks with more precision.
North Korean state media has claimed the country’s leader Kim Jong Un is already reviewing images of US military bases in Guam sent by the new satellite. The BBC has not verified this.
Chinese Ministry of Public Security The photographs released by Chinese police showed their officers holding a man and a woman in handcuffs in front of a border gate.
They had just been handed over from Myanmar, the latest in scores of arrests of those accused of running scam centres in a town on the north-eastern border with China.
The two were Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, son and granddaughter of one of the powerful warlords who have run the town of Laukkaing for the past 14 years.
A sudden escalation of the conflict in Myanmar has spelled the end of the Chinese mafia – the Godfather-esque “four families” – in this notoriously lawless border town.
At around the same time as the Chinese police released the photos of the handcuffed pair last Thursday, the official Myanmar military news published a photo of an apparent autopsy being conducted in the back of a van on the body of a 69 year-old man.
It was the warlord himself – Ming Xuechang – who, the military said, had taken his own life after being captured, an explanation greeted with scepticism by many.
It was an ignominious end to an extraordinary story that began in the days of war and revolution, but turned into one of drugs, gambling, greed and Machiavellian rivalry.
Ming Xuechang was a henchman of Bai Suocheng, who heads one of the families.
Under them the remote, impoverished backwater of Laukkaing was transformed into a rowdy casino hub of gaudy high-rise towers and seedy red-light districts.
Although powerful, the Mings were not a part of this coveted list of four – the other three families were headed by Wei Chaoren, Liu Guoxi and Liu Zhengxiang.
Initially developed to take advantage of Chinese demand for gambling, which is illegal in China and many other neighbouring countries, Laukkaing’s casinos evolved into a lucrative front for money laundering, trafficking and in particular for dozens of scam centres.
More than 100,000 foreign nationals, many of them Chinese, were estimated to have been lured to these scam centres, where they were effectively imprisoned and forced to work long hours running sophisticated online fraud operations targeting victims all over the world.
Ming Xuechang ran one of the most notorious of these scam centres, called Crouching Tiger Villa. He also reportedly ran the local police force, which, while it donned the regular uniform of the Myanmar national police, acted as little more than a private militia, one of several which enforced the rule of the four families in Laukkaing.
In September, as China ramped up pressure on all the groups running scam centres to shut them down and hand over those who worked there, the Ming family resisted. By some estimates the casinos of each family were processing several billion dollars every year. It was a huge business to give up.
The families also had close ties to the Myanmar military, and the Mings may have believed they were protected, even from the demands of China, which has long had a powerful influence in this border region.
In the early hours of the morning of 20 October, a group of scam workers was being transferred from Crouching Tiger Villa, probably in anticipation of a move against the scam centre by the Chinese police.
A number of workers, reported to be between 50 and 100, tried to escape, and the scam centre guards opened fire, killing several. Some accounts say there were undercover Chinese police officers among the dead.
That prompted a strongly-worded letter from the local government office in the neighbouring Chinese province – and the announcement of arrest warrants by the Chinese police for four of the Ming family.
It was China’s visible frustration over the unwillingness or inability of Myanmar’s ruling junta to rein in its allies in Laukkaing which encouraged three insurgent armies, calling themselves the Brotherhood Alliance, to launch their attacks against the military in late October.
China has in the past always urged restraint in order to keep the peace on its border, but its need to weed out the well-funded and well-armed families in Laukkaing appears to have changed its priorities.
The insurgents say their goal is to eliminate the scam centres, and to support the wider opposition campaign to overthrow the military regime which seized power in 2021.
But in Laukkaing the conflict is more like payback, in a vendetta which goes back to the days of the Cold War.
The four families owed their control of Laukkaing to none other than Min Aung Hlaing, the military commander who led the 2021 coup and still heads the junta.
Back in 2009, Min Aung Hlaing led a military operation to oust the then-dominant warlord in Laukkaing, a veteran fighter called Peng Jiasheng.
He wanted to install allies more compliant to the needs of the then-military government, which at the time was putting pressure on all of Myanmar’s ethnic insurgent groups to transform themselves into pro-government so-called border guard forces.
Most refused, including Peng, even though the military had promised in return that they would be allowed to continue making money from illegal businesses like narcotics.
Peng was part of a generation of warlords in Shan State who emerged in the chaos of the post-independence years in Myanmar, when the central government’s authority did not extend to most border regions.
Desperately poor, remote and infertile, Shan State’s only real economy was the cultivation of opium. It became the world’s largest producer, and funded the various insurgent groups.
Peng began as a commander in the China-backed Burmese Communist Party, but he mutinied in 1989 as Chinese support stopped, breaking the Burmese Communist Party up into several armed insurgent groups.
This was a time when the Myanmar military government was feeling vulnerable. It had just crushed a popular uprising in 1988 with great brutality – the uprising in which Aung San Suu Kyi first emerged as an opposition leader.
Worried about a possible alliance between the established ethnic insurgent groups and the opposition movement, the generals moved quickly to make peace with the insurgents, giving them a free hand to run their fiefdoms as they pleased.
Peng began developing Laukkaing as a gambling hub after being put under pressure to cut back on the narcotics business that was funding his operation.
But when in 2009 he rejected the military’s request to turn his forces into a border guard force, Min Aung Hlaing persuaded Bai Suocheng, Peng’s deputy-commander at the time, to rebel against him.
Peng was driven out into China. The casinos were left pockmarked by bullet-holes, although dedicated gamblers kept betting throughout the fighting. Bai and the other three families took over the casino economy.
With their close ties to the military they developed extensive business networks in Myanmar, with stakes in mining, energy, infrastructure and casinos in other countries like Cambodia. They established links with organised crime networks in Macao and south-eastern China.
Laukkaing took on the character of a Wild West boom town, where anything goes and anything can be bought and sold. There were occasional gun battles between rival scam centres, and powerful people kept lions and tigers as pets.
But much of Peng’s insurgent army, the MNDAA, remained loyal to him. In 2015 he tried, and failed, to retake Laukkaing from the four families.
The MNDAA then formed an alliance with other Shan armed groups. When Peng died last year at the age of 91, he was given a lavish funeral worthy of a mafia don, attended by most of the insurgent and warlord leaders in the region.
Even Min Aung Hlaing sent a senior military commander to pay his respects to his old adversary. Peng’s children took over command of the MNDAA, waiting for the opportunity to oust Bai, in their eyes the usurper.
With MNDAA troops now in control of the main border crossing and all roads to Laukkaing, they are poised to retake the casino capital, the engine-room of the “scamdemic”, as it has been dubbed by the UN.
What they do with it is anybody’s guess, but having promised China to end the scams, they will need to find another way to fund their insurgency.
Their expressed goal of helping overthrow the military junta has been welcomed by the broader opposition movement.
Over the past month, millions in Myanmar have been enthralled by the triumphant scenes of ethnic insurgents parading captured soldiers and equipment, while the drama of the mafia’s end has been playing out in Laukkaing.
After enduring nearly three years of a violent military dictatorship, the junta looks vulnerable and people can dare to dream that it might fall.
But, given the history of serpentine shifts of loyalty in this lawless region, the MNDAA’s stated aims must be viewed with caution.
At the time of writing Bai Suocheng’s whereabouts are unknown. It’s also unclear where two of the other warlords – Wei Chaoren and Liu Zhengxiang – are currently. The fourth, Liu Guoxi, died in 2020.
But many members of their families are now in Chinese custody; some have made remorseful confessions. Thousands of those working in the scam centres have already been handed over to the Chinese police. Governments in the region are trying to get hundreds more, still trapped in Laukkaing, out to safety.
The scamdemic in north-eastern Myanmar may now be over, although perhaps only to relocate to another lawless corner of the globe.
All photos copyright.
Nestled in Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains, the remote Kalash valley is a popular tourist destination. But a recent attack by Taliban militants has left people living there afraid for their future.
“It was 04:00 in the morning when we saw men coming down the mountain with turbans on their head, backpacks, weapons and belts of bullets around their bodies,” says a Kalashi shepherd, Michael (not his real name).
He was taking sheep and goats to a nearby pasture with his father, uncle and a friend when the militants attacked their valley.
“There were Taliban everywhere, behind every rock and every tree. One was just a few steps away from me. There must have been more than 200 of them,” Michael recalls. “We hid under big rocks and stayed there for 48 hours.”
The Pakistani authorities sent in forces and say five security officers and at least 20 Taliban militants were killed in the fighting that lasted two days.
“There was an unusual stillness. Everyone was worried and scared. It felt like a war zone,” says Shaira, a mother of two, as she recalls hundreds of troops, military vehicles, drones and attack helicopters hovering over the valley.
Attacks like this have become more frequent in Pakistan in recent months, and although this assault in September took residents by surprise, sources within the government have confirmed they received information and intercepted a phone call hinting at an imminent attack at least a week before it happened.
The Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, said they carried out the assault, reportedly from over the border in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan has consistently accused Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban of providing shelter to TTP members in provinces along its border with Pakistan and this is seen as one of the most significant cross-border attacks since the Taliban retook control in Kabul in 2021. The Taliban government denies the allegations it provides sanctuary to militants.
Authorities in Pakistan believe the aim of the assault was to take control of the strategically-important Kalash valley.
“Its capture would have given the TTP what they want, causing fear among people and a message to the world that they are strong,” says Muhammad Ali, the district’s deputy commissioner. But he points out: “Our security forces didn’t let that happen.”
The attack has left the indigenous Kalashi community, 400km (250 miles) from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, feeling tense.
The people in this valley – who claim they are descended from Alexander the Great despite evidence that they are indigenous to South Asia – are renowned for their culture, religion and traditions that are distinct from Pakistan’s Muslim majority.
But the joy they display in their dances and music has been overshadowed by a sense of fear, uncertainty and despair.
As Shaira cradles her one-year-old daughter, she explains that she came back to Kalash after finishing her university degree “to preserve their culture and unique religion”.
The community worships a pantheon of gods and goddesses, holding festivals to mark the seasons and their links with farming. At these times women may declare their love, elope or even end their marriages.
But living in a maze of tiny houses, the people here also face challenges and threats of forced conversions by both Muslim and Christian groups.
And they now fear the latest attack represents a new wave of threats that could spell the end of their community. Many, like Shaira, are wondering what their options are. Where should they go if the Taliban attack again?
“Everyone said the Taliban had come for us Kalashis. They’ll kill us or force us to change our religion,” she says. “We don’t have any resources to leave, so we have to stay in Kalash, dead or alive.”
They are worried that attacks like this could also affect their livelihoods. The Kalash valley attracts a significant number of visitors each year from Pakistan and beyond.
The clash brought both tourism and shepherding in the area to a standstill, as the valley was closed for days. Foreign tourists were evacuated, locals were instructed to stay away, and all roads leading to the valley were barricaded. Troops were deployed, and the pastures became no-go areas.
“Tourists benefit us all, and after this attack, we faced shortages of essentials,” says Kai Meera, a community leader. “We were also unable to take our livestock to the pastures, and there was a complete loss of income.”
After the attack, Pakistan announced the closure of two main border crossings with Afghanistan, which resulted in substantial losses in trade revenue. Thousands of people were stranded at the border crossings for days.
Michael managed to leave his hiding place under the rock after 48 uncomfortable and terrified hours. His body had been bent over for so long he couldn’t walk for a while.
Now back in his village, fear is a constant in his life.
“They [militants] used to cross the border in the past, but they would snatch our livestock at gunpoint and go back. This time they came to take our valley away. I think they’ll come again,” he says.
The deputy commissioner has tried to reassure Michael and the rest of the community, saying: “While it may take some time for the fear to subside, we have decided to fortify the border, increase the number of checkpoints, and bolster border security.”
Shaira shares a parting thought as she leaves her baby sleeping soundly and heads to the fields to gather crops before the winter falls: “War is war, whether it’s the Taliban or someone else. In the end, it’s us, the unarmed people, who suffer and die.”
TWITTERA controversial theory that some Hindu groups call “Love Jihad” – which claims that many Muslim men are taking part in a plot to seduce Hindu women and convert them – has circulated in India for years, despite lack of evidence. Now a reverse theory – that Hindu men are deliberately trying to seduce Muslim women – is going viral online. It’s called the “Bhagwa Love Trap”, and again, evidence for the claim is scant. But that hasn’t stopped it spilling over into real-world violence.
“It was extremely vile. I couldn’t believe my eyes,” says Maryam, a Muslim woman from northern India, recalling a string of abusive messages she received online.
Maryam – not her real name – was the target of a doxxing attack, having her personal details revealed online. Photographs of her standing beside Hindu men were copied from public social media accounts, and used to allege that she engaged in interfaith relationships – a huge taboo for those attacking her online.
The claims were untrue.
The men in the pictures were friends, not romantic partners, but that didn’t stop her accusers making false allegations. “They said I sleep around with Hindu men. They were abusing my parents, and questioning my upbringing”, she says.
Interfaith relationships are still a huge taboo among conservative Indian families.
Based on the identities of some of the accounts that doxxed her, Maryam believes Muslim men were behind the claims she had fallen victim to the “Bhagwa Love Trap”.
“Bhagwa” means saffron, a colour that has come to be associated with Hindutva. Hindutva is an ideology which – to its critics – promotes a kind of extreme rightwing Hindu nationalism. In this context, “Bhagwa” is being used as synonymous with Hindutva.
The “Bhagwa Love Trap” theory suggests men who believe in Hindutva are trying to seduce Muslim women, and lure them away from their communities. The idea is primarily being pushed by Muslim men, many of whom are fearful the practice is really taking place.
The BBC spoke to owners of accounts advocating this theory and reviewed the examples provided by them. We found no evidence to suggest a conspiracy is playing out on the ground. But the narrative has continued to spread on social media – the phrase has been used more than 200,000 times since March this year.
Its effect is spilling into the real world, too.
In May, a video filmed in Madhya Pradesh was posted online. It shows two medical students, a Muslim woman and a Hindu man, returning to their university on a scooter.
A crowd of seemingly Muslim men has encircled them, and the woman is being reprimanded for bringing shame on her religion. “No-one will allow you to let down Islam,” one of them shouts, while others assault the Hindu man.
The BBC has seen videos of more than 15 confrontations from across India that follow a similar pattern. Videos alleging the theory is real, featuring these and other incidents, have been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube, Instagram and X, accompanied by the hashtag #BhagwaLoveTrap.
The theory is a reversal of an older, and better known idea: “love jihad”. It puts forward the opposing narrative, claiming Muslim men are trying to seduce Hindu women, and has been pushed online by Hindu nationalists for many years. Like the “Bhagwa Love Trap” theory, these claims have spread in an absence of proof and have led to real world violence.
Interfaith marriages are still rare in India, with most people opting for arranged marriages.
Independent investigations by two Indian news organisations were unable to find evidence to support the theory.
Despite that, so-called “love jihad” has become a firm fixture in India’s political discourse. It has been discussed publicly by politicians from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, the BJP, and some of its members who subscribe to the Hindutva ideology.
The “Bhagwa Love Trap” theory has mostly been championed on social media, often by anonymous accounts, but a number of high profile Muslim leaders have amplified the theory as well.
Shoaib Jamai, an Islamic scholar and regular commentator on Indian news channels, credits himself with popularising the idea in national media, but says he doesn’t endorse the real-world harm the trend has led to.
“I don’t support the people from Muslim society who’re trying to take the law into their hands. This country runs by law,” he says.
But on the veracity of the theory itself, Mr Jamai is unequivocal. Hindu youths are being “brainwashed” by the “Hindutva brigade,” he claims, “to lure Muslim women into traps”.
Mr Jamai and other proponents of the theory are basing their claim on authentic videos circulating online, that show Hindutva leaders actively encouraging Hindu men to pursue Muslim women – just as the “Bhagwa Love Trap” theory suggests.
One of them shows Yogi Adityanath, a member of India’s ruling BJP party speaking at a political rally in 2007. If Muslims “take one Hindu girl,” he says, “we should take a hundred Muslim girls”. The crowd cheers.
Mr Adityanath has since risen to become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The BBC asked him if he still stood by the statement, but he did not respond.
We looked into 10 specific examples shared with us by Mr Jamai and other proponents of the “Bhagwa Love Trap” theory to support their belief that the phenomenon is real. These were instances of Hindu men who, the theory’s supporters said, had deliberately entered relationships or marriages with Muslim women to convert and harm them because of their religious identity.
While all the examples mentioned to us involved relationships between Hindu men and Muslim women, in two cases, the women did not undergo religious conversion.
In the six instances where it was claimed that the Hindu men had killed their partners because of their religious identities, four of the cases were related to financial or domestic disputes leading to murder, according to police statements. The reasons for violence in four other cases couldn’t be confirmed through news or police reports, but there was no proof that the Bhagwa Love Trap theory had anything to do with the incidents.
A further string of videos featuring claims about the “Bhagwa Love Trap”, have been debunked by the Indian fact-checking website Boom Live.
Hindutva groups deny the existence of the love trap.
“There is absolutely no evidence of such a trap being run by Hindus,” says Alok Kumar, head of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Hindutva organisation. The claims put forward by scholars like Mr Jamai “stand on thin ice”, he says.
Perhaps predictably, Mr Kumar believes “love jihad” is real. “There is a large section of Muslim men… who lure Hindu women into their trap,” he says.
Tempting as it is to view the two theories as equal rivals, battling for control of the narrative, some disagree.
“Love jihad has great political backing,” says Fatima Khan, one of the first journalists to write about the Bhagwa Love Trap, pointing to its support among members of India’s ruling party. “On the other hand, the Bhagwa Love Trap is a fairly nascent conspiracy theory. It’s something that doesn’t have political backing at all.”
Like so many debates in the country, the issue is clouded by political partisanship – but one thing seems clear. India’s religious divisions are proving fertile ground for theories like these to flourish online, and spill over into real world harm.
Maryam, the Muslim woman who was targeted in a doxxing attack, is a testament to that idea. She was so distressed by the messages she was receiving, she took time off work to avoid potential confrontations.
“For the first time I felt unsafe in my neighbourhood. I was really disturbed and scared to go out,” she says, issuing a challenge to the warped logic of her trolls: “You claim that you’re protecting women, by basically ruining their lives.”
Listen to BBC Trending: India’s latest ‘love trap’ on the BBC World Service. Download the podcast or listen online.
