In a hilarious twist of fate, Pakistani terrorists threw a China-made hand grenade at Barari Pora Chowk in Srinagar, which failed to explode. It is said that the grenade was hurled at a Central Reserve Police Force party. A bomb disposal squad was immediately rushed to the area, which defused the device. No casualties have been reported and further details are awaited on the same, according to a report by the Financial Express.
Twitter, meanwhile, is exploding with hilarious comments pertaining to the incident. Ahead of Diwali, this seemed to be more of an obvious scenario for Chinese-made products. While India is boycotting these products due to its political alliances with Pakistan, the latter might now be feeling embarrassed by its own choice of political inclination.
He he he! Let's pray China made hatf ghori ghaznavi atom bomb etc also fail in the event of a future war with Pak. God's favours the just
— PRASADBNS (@shamprasadbn)high time. it is deepavali. not china-made atom bomb-vali!
— stockshiva (@stockshiva)..oh! so i guess a russian or a china made bomb is more palatable! ..... is this a newspaper or a tabloid?
— oceanbiru (@oceanbiru)China made some bomb ass drinks 😩🙌🏾
— ..... (@___Jazzzzz)Pak has a china made Nuke
And in Pak "China " is the opposite word for " Original" Don't scare other with Fake bomb 😂😂 https://t.co/v2pUB53xnh
However, that is not the only reason why India is boycotting Chinese products. The standoff between the armies of both the countries in the north-eastern state of Sikkim has also triggered differences between the two countries. And India believes that if it boycotted Chinese products, China would be economically pressurised. Nevertheless, there are reasons not to trust their products, especially when they do not come with any guarantee and fail to perform at the right time (like in the case of the Pakistani attack).
According to a study by ASSOCHAM-Social Development Foundation (ASDF), sale of Chinese goods may drop by 45% this Diwali as compared to last year. People, indeed, are cutting down on the purchase of Chinese bulbs and firecrackers. Gifts, lamps, wall hanging and other products are also being deliberately boycotted.
J&K: Terrorists threw a Chinese grenade at Barari Pora Chowk in last evening; but it did not explode pic.twitter.com/WjLgmBdcHF
— ANI (@ANI)While political standoff is one reason, Indians are wary of the quality of the products too. None of the shopkeepers provide any guarantee on Chinese products, even though they come cheap. ASSOCHAM also noted that fire crackers made in Sivakasi are preferred over Chinese crackers, given the uncertainty of their quality. According to an estimate, published by the Business Line, the value of Chinese goods sold in 2016 during Diwali was around Rs 6,500 crore. Out of the total, over Rs 4,000 crore was Diwali-related items such as toys, fancy lights, gift items, plastic ware, decorative goods.
If that is not reason enough for Pakistan to learn a lesson, nothing else can be.