Feature
Pakistan looking to invite Narendra Modi to attend oath ceremony of Imran Khan
Islamabad: One of a top leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said today that the party has asked the Foreign Office to apprise it on whether heads of state, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, could be invited to Imran Khan’s oath taking ceremony, according to a media report.
PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said that Bollywood star Aamir Khan and cricketers Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar have already been invited by the party for the event.
PTI’s senior leaders Shireen Mazari and Shafqat Mahmood met Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and wished to know which foreign leaders it would be possible to invite for the event given the short period of time before the ceremony takes place, local news channel reported quoting sources privy to the meetings.
The sources said that the PTI leaders wished to invite the heads of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states – including Prime Minister Modi-as well as leaders of China and Turkey, the channel said.
The PTI leaders also asked the Foreign Office for suggestions on the issue. Members of the FO maintained that calling foreign leaders to the oath taking ceremony is a sensitive matter and all perspectives need to be taken into consideration, sources said.
“Initial arguments from the FO suggested that the office believes Pakistan would face a bigger embarrassment if the Indian PM declined the invitation,” the channel said.
PTI spokesperson Chaudhry said the party was awaiting a response from the FO.
On Monday, Prime Minister Modi telephoned Khan to congratulate him on his party’s victory in the general elections and hoped that “Pakistan and India will work to open a new chapter in bilateral ties”.
Pak wants Narendra Modi, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Aamir Khan to attend oath ceremony:
Khan thanked Modi for his wishes and emphasised that disputes should be resolved through dialogue.
The PTI, led by 65-year-old Khan, has emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly after the July 25 elections and it is likely to form the government with the support of its allies and independents.
The then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had travelled to New Delhi to attend Modi’s oath taking ceremony in 2014 and the Indian premier had in December 2015 made a brief stopover in Lahore to greet his counterpart on his birthday.
The India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place.
The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016 and India’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The sentencing of alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to death by a military court in April last year further deteriorated bilateral ties.
The two sides often accuse each other of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, resulting in civilian casualties.
In his victory speech, Khan had said that better relations between Pakistan and India would be “good for all of us”.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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