Saturday, September 7, 2019

Pakistan science minister, army PRO Asif Ghafoor troll India on Chandrayaan-2 setback





Pakistan's Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain said that it was unwise for India to spend Rs 900 crore on Chandrayaan-2 and venture into unknown territory.

Pakistan Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain mocked India Saturday after ISRO lost contact with the Chandrayaan-2 lander minutes before its scheduled touchdown. He wasn’t the only one. The hashtag “#IndiaFailed” was trending on Twitter with many Pakistanis seeking to make fun of India even as uncertainty prevailed on the fate of the lander.
In a series of late-night tweets, Hussain questioned the wisdom of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government spending Rs 900 crore on the mission and said it was unwise to venture into unknown territory.
 Hussain was joined by others from the ruling party, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and the Pakistan army.
Faisal Javed Khan, a member of the Pakistan Senate, the upper house of the country’s legislature, called it a huge waste of money and suggested the money be used to build toilets. He likened the efforts for the Moon mission to India’s “futile” attempts at “aggression, killings, genocide and violence in Kashmir because Kashmiris will get freedom”.
In another tweet, he also equated it to the outcome of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 — the exact result of the war, which ended with a UN-mandated ceasefire, is a matter of much debate between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan armed forces spokesperson Asif Ghafoor tweeted from his personal handle and questioned whether the failure will be blamed on “innocent Kashimiris of “IOJK (India- occupied Jammu and Kashmir)” or on Muslim minorities in India or on “sane anti-Hindutva voices” or on the ISI, the country’s notorious spying agency. He went on to say that the policy of Hindutva will “take u nowhere let alone the moon”.
However, some Pakistanis questioned the progress of Pakistan’s space programme.

At the last minute

In a heartbreaking moment for Indians, India lost communication with the Chandrayaan-2 lander just moments before the landing, with ISRO chief K. Sivan making the announcement early Saturday to the millions tuned in to the live telecast from the space agency’s mission centre.
“Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed upto an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to ground station was lost. The data is being analysed,” Sivan announced.
Chandrayaan-2 was India’s first attempt at landing a spacecraft on the Moon. It had hoped to follow in the footsteps of the United States, China and the erstwhile USSR — who are, so far, the only other countries to have managed the feat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had joined ISRO scientists at the agency’s Bengaluru headquarters ahead of the landing. Following the communication breakdown, he consoled the scientists saying India was proud of their achievements.

No comments: