Pakistani journalist Matiullah Jan, who was kidnapped from outside a public school in the heart of Islamabad, was released after 12 hours on Tuesday.
According to the reports, Matiullah Jan, who is a critic of Pakistan’s military and judiciary, was released after some uniformed men had snatched him off an Islamabad street in broad daylight. Even though it was unclear who had abducted him but it was suspected that the kidnapping was the handiwork of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
CCTV footage of journalist Matiullah Jan being taken away. Enforced disappearances are used by Pakistan as a weapon to silence dissenters. From Saleem Shahzad, Umar Cheema to Matiullah, it continues with impunity. #BringBackMatiullahpic.twitter.com/lkdeFUD3gr
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) July 21, 2020
Matiullah Jan, who works as a freelance journalist with numerous local and foreign media outlets, was kidnapped and was taken after being forced into the back of a car on Tuesday afternoon outside a school in the capital, where he had come to see his wife.
Journalist abducted by uniformed men
The CCTV footage captured showed how several men force Jan into a sedan outside the main gate.
“There were more than five people, some in civilian clothes, others in black uniforms, who forcibly picked up my husband,” his wife Kaneez Sughra said to the media.
The abduction came a day before he was set to appear before Pakistan’s top court, where he is facing contempt proceedings over a tweet which was critical of Pakistan’s judges and military. His wife had stated that Jan was being pressurised not to attend the court hearing and plead for forgiveness.
However, he was later released on late Tuesday night. “I have talked to Matiullah Jan, he is safe, alright and on his way home,” his brother confirmed his release.
Public outcry over Jan’s abduction
Following his alleged abduction, there was a massive outcry in the Pakistan and people took to social media to start a campaign to free Jan.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had released a statement calling for Jan’s safe release. “We are deeply concerned at increasing attempts to control the media, suppress independent voices, and curb political dissent, thereby creating an environment of constant fear,” the commission said.
If you have spent any time on social media, you know there are certain red lines (pun intended) that you should never cross. One, you don’t question the Asaram Bapu trolls. The second; and I can’t stress this enough, you don’t question CPM’s “Kerala Model.”
Because once you step on the toes of this sacred article of faith, nobody can help you. Not even Asaram Bapu with his hotline to heaven. You must prepare for a lifetime worth of abuses and lectures within a short span of 24 hours. On everything from the glory of beef eating to foreign remittances to highest HDI (what exactly is that?).
By now, who hasn’t heard of the Kerala model of “hammering the curve flat”? The fanfare is captured by this fawning editorial from The Hindu, titled “The mark of zero.”
Kerala model on coronavirus
The story of this great victory was heard around the world, fueled by the patrons of the left liberal system: Washington Post, Al Jazeera and of course the BBC. In fact, Kerala’s Health Minister was so excited to speak to the BBC that she mixed up Goa with Puducherry and ended up telling foreign media that Goa does not have enough hospitals. Either way, it seems clear that Minister K K Shailaja was determined to show the BBC that she is better than the rest of us natives.
But amid all the fanfare and publicity, the data kept ticking. On July 20, Kerala reported 794 new cases from 13,495 tests, with a test positive rate of 5.88%. It may or may not be of interest that on the same day, Uttar Pradesh reported 1913 new cases from 43,401 tests, with a positive rate of 4.42%.
This was over two months after The Hindu wrote about “The mark of zero.” And over five months after the Kerala govt had successfully fought and contained the virus on Feb 14, 2020.
Kerala had contained coronavirus by 14th February 2020
And with that the elite media’s torrid love affair with the Kerala model, begun on Valentine’s day, came to an end. The BBC’s headline was the most cruel of all.
Ouch
Hear that? Talaq – Talaq – Talaq.
Let me state that I take no pleasure in this. I would never descend to the level of a Communist troll. I only want to take this opportunity to make a few observations.
Observation #1 First, like most BBC articles on India, this one on Kerala is unfair and hypocritical. Kerala has 3 crore people and so far about 14,000 confirmed cases of the virus and just 45 deaths. The BBC has some nerve going after Kerala when the UK, with its 6 crore people, has 3 lakh cases of the virus and 45,000 deaths.
That’s right. Kerala has seen 45 deaths. And the UK has seen 45,000 deaths. That we know of. In old age homes across the UK, literally thousands of people died from Coronavirus with nobody counting them in the death toll. That didn’t happen in Kerala. That did not happen anywhere in India.
Again, I take no joy in the plight of the UK. But as an Indian, I won’t take the insults to Kerala lying down.
Observation #2 Communist trolls should realize that BBC is not the friend of any Indian. Until now, their praise for the “Kerala model” was just a tool for them to take potshots at the rest of us, especially those who support the Hindu right.
So when the Communist minister went to BBC and started trashing the rest of India, the BBC was laughing at her just as much as it was laughing at the rest of us. Perhaps even more at her for being an Indian who is taking delight in making other Indians look bad.
And now that Kerala model has hit a rough patch, your imaginary friends at BBC have left immediately. And are laughing at *all* of us Indians as a whole. Again.
Dear Communist trolls, BBC is not your friend. No, they don’t think you are special. You belong with us, whether you like it or not. Incidentally, the same Soutik Biswas who wrote the article mocking Kerala wrote another fake news article years ago denigrating Gujarat’s GDP growth to make Modi look bad (and had to correct the headline and story when caught)
Soutik Biswas on Gujarat
Get it? Gujarat or Kerala, CPM or BJP : BBC is nobody’s friend. They don’t like India.
Observation #3 Like I said, you don’t mess with the Kerala model when you go online. And you sure don’t have to wait for a Karnataka based right wing Bengali from Jharkhand to defend it. The Communist trolls descend upon anyone who dares to question the “Kerala model.”
But what happened yesterday? How come the BBC was not stormed with internet storm troopers armed with HDI data?
How come? Communist trolls having an off day? On strike, perhaps against the gold scam?
This says something deep and unflattering about the mindset of the Communist troll. Deep down, there is no superiority complex. There is only an inferiority complex. Towards the West in general and the colonizers at BBC in particular. That inferiority complex showed when the Communist minister was trying to impress the BBC by explaining how she is doing better than other natives like us. Today, when the Communist trolls refused to take on the BBC, that complex showed even more.
Here is a word of advice from a BJP supporter to Communist trolls. You can hate me as much as you want. But I am proud of Kerala. I am proud of India. You should be too. And learn to be bold enough to say this to the BBC’s face.
The Enforcement Directorate has raided the premises of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s brother in connection with an alleged fertiliser scam. According to the sources, the raids were conducted at several places across the country in connection with the case.
The nationwide search in fertiliser scam started on Wednesday morning. These included searches in properties owned by Agrasain Gehlot. Agrasain is the elder brother of Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
The raids were conducted at six places in Rajasthan, including Jodhpur, two places in West Bengal, four in Gujarat and one in Delhi. The searches came at the time when the government in Rajasthan is teetering on the edge following the rebellion by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and MLAs loyal to him. Ashok Gehlot is struggling to keep his government afloat as the party is divided into factions after Sachin Pilot raised his grievances with the government’s functioning in the state.
Agrasen Gehlot in eye of “fertiliser scam”
In an exclusive report by OpIndia, Agrasain Gehlot, the brother of Ashok Gehlot, was accused by the Commissioner of Customs of selling Muriate of Potash (MOP) – a soil nutrient used in non-urea fertilizers – to a middleman who subsequently put fake labels on MOP and exported it to buyers in Malaysia and Taiwan. The order by commissioner stated that Gehlot was willingly part of this syndicate that operated between 2007 and 2009, when both Rajasthan and the centre were ruled by the UPA.
According to documents available, the scam largely took place when Ashok Gehlot was leading the state government in Rajasthan and Manmohan Singh was leading the central government at Delhi. It is alleged that Agrasain Gehlot, during the period 2007 to 2009, was part of a conspiracy to export tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MOP) against shipping bills by falsely declaring it mostly as Feldspar Powder or industrial salt; the total value was also falsely declared against the then correct actual value. This resulted in the diversion of items that were actually meant for the farmers.
The zonal unit at Ahmedabad of the Directorate of Revenue discovered that a firm was exporting MOP, which is a restricted commodity for exports, under the guise of feldspar powder or industrial salt to buyers in Malaysia and Taiwan. MOP, also known as or Potassium Chloride, is a soil nutrient used in manufacture of non-urea fertilizers.
There are no viable sources of MOP in India. Since India does not produce MOP, its demand is met by imports and the government provides subsidy on imports. Indian Potash Limited (IPL) is the company that imports the bulk of MOP catering to domestic demand. The demand, however, always tends to exceed the availability. The soil nutrient is meant for domestic consumption by the farmers and its export is subject to severe restriction including prior permission of Department of Fertilizers and forfeiture of the custom duty exemptions.
According to the ED, Ashok Gehlot’s brother, Agrasain Gehlot had sold the subsidised fertiliser “muriate of potash” or MoP to companies, who then exported it while it is banned for exports. As per the documents accessed by OpIndia, Gehlot made all payments in cash, an account of which was not proper in the books.
The person acting as the middleman in this whole syndicate was known to Agrasain Gehlot. Gehlot was the custodian of subsidised imported MOP and he knew that it was an offence to sell it to anyone other than farmers, but he manipulated sales document of his firm to show that MOP was being sold to farmers while in reality it was being subsequently exported.
Citing OpIndia report, BJP attacked Congress party over charges of corruption against Ashok Gehlot’s brother
Citing the above OpIndia report, BJP had then mounted an attack against Congress, calling it a party synonymous with corruption. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javdekar told reporters in Delhi today that Congress indulged in doublespeak over issues of farmers.
“On one side Congress and its leaders talk about farmers and their issues, but the relatives of their party’s Gujarat in-charge is stealing the farmer’s subsidy,” Javdekar said further asking if the Congress top leadership will take any action against Ashok Gehlot.
“This is a clear case of theft of subsidy and all this happened between 2007 to 2009, when Congress-led UPA was in power at the Center and during the period Gehlot had also assumed charge as the Rajasthan chief minister,” the union minister further said.
In Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man pretending to be a Hindu befriended a Hindu girl over Facebook. Both fell in love. The man lured her into marriage and the girl, Priya, who was divorced with a child, left with her two-year-old daughter to live with Amit Gurjar aka Dilshad in Meerut in 2013. After almost 5 years, Dilshad’s identity was revealed in front of Priya, after which their relationship became strained. The girl had in the past, also accused Dilshad of raping her.
Now, as per the Hindi daily, Live Hindustan, the mother-daughter went missing during the lockdown. Meerut police have taken Dilshad into custody after it was suspected that the latter has killed the mother-daughter duo. And later, the bodies of both the mother and the daughter were recovered from his house. The bodies were found buried in the house during the police investigation.
मेरठ ब्रेकिंग : दिलशाद ने प्रिया और उसकी मासूम बेटी को मार डाला। घर में ही दोनों की लाश दबाई। पुलिस ने दोनों शव बरामद किए। हत्यारोपी गिरफ्तार। https://t.co/q2OmfyyleD
— Sachin Gupta | सचिन गुप्ता (@sachingupta787) July 22, 2020
Dilshad, despite being married to someone else, had lied to Priya. Though being pestered innumerable times, this was probably the reason why Dilshad never took Priya to his house in the last first five years. He feared that his identity would be revealed.
According to the report, Priya who is originally from Ghaziabad, had in the past, lodged a rape complaint against Dilshad. According to Meerut SSP, Ajay Sahani, the case was later disposed of after the duo reached a mutual understanding. Dilshad had alleged that after Priya took back her complaint, she had started blackmailing him and had been extracting money from him since then. The SSP said that investigations are underway. Police teams have been sent to many relevant places to conduct inquiry and Sahani said he was hopeful that police would crack the case soon.
सनसनीखेज : गाजियाबाद की प्रिया की FB पर मेरठ के अमित गुर्जर से दोस्ती हुई। दोनों एक साथ रहने लगे। 5 साल बाद पता चला कि वो अमित नहीं दिलशाद है। अभी लॉकडाउन में प्रिया व उसकी बेटी अचानक लापता हो गई। शक है कि उन्हें दिलशाद ने मार दिया है। मेरी स्टोरी… pic.twitter.com/DtsT7B494b
— Sachin Gupta | सचिन गुप्ता (@sachingupta787) July 22, 2020
Priya’s friend Chanchal Choudhary, with whom she had been living after her divorce, said that she last spoke to Priya on March 28, 2020, after which her phone has been switched off. When Chanchal spoke to Dilshad, she was told that Priya had left and gone somewhere with her daughter. According to Chanchal, Priya and her daughter have been missing since March 28. She alleged that Dilshad had killed them and hidden their dead bodies somewhere.
According to the Live Hindustan report, on April 15, Chanchal Choudhary had lodged a police complaint against Dilshad in Partapur police station. The police, on June 2, forced Chanchal to take back her complaint. However, when Bajrang Dal activist Manish Lohia got to know about the incident, he apprised the Meerut SSP about the same, following which SSP Ajay Sahani started the investigation into the case and arrested Dilshad from his house in Meerut.
The Supreme Court of India took Suo Moto against Prashant Bhushan’s reckless behaviour on the social media and initiated contempt of Court case against him and Twitter India. The apex court issued a show-cause notice to the senior advocate asking him to explain why actions should not be taken against him on contempt of court charges. The court has also asked Attorney General KK Venugopal to assist the court, in the case, and a notice for the same has been issued to the AG. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra heard the suo moto case against Prashant Bhushan.
The court stated that the case been filed against Prashant Bhushan for his tweet on last 4 CJIs, and another tweet on CJI riding a bike.
Bhushan tweeted against CJI on 27th June and 29th June. Justice Mishra mentioned that these two tweets posted by Prashant Bhushan would be added as the base of contempt in the case. OpIndia is not publishing the tweet as reproducing something contemptuous is as good as contempt.
Justice Mishra said that the subject in the matter is the contempt case against Prashant Bhushan. His tweet was also carried out by Times of India. He said that a petition was filed in the court for contempt proceedings from the administrative side. They have checked the petition and allegations Bhushan made against CJI SA Bobde.
The court registered the case on 9th July 2020. A plea by Mahek Maheshwari, an advocate based in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, was filed against Prashant Bhushan on 2nd July seeking contempt proceedings against him and Twitter India for a tweet mentioning CJI SA Bobde riding a bike during his Nagpur visit.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Arun Mishra to shortly hear it’s Suo Motu contempt case against Advocate Prashant Bhushan and Twitter India#SupremeCourtpic.twitter.com/fiRnRq2zZL
In the plea, Maheshwari said that the tweet is of serious nature and he is questioning the sovereign functions of the CJI. “The remarks are too inhuman forgetting that how much Hon’ble CJI and the other justices are stretching themselves to ensure justice to the citizens that they allow hearing by Video Conferencing Mode and they are not even enjoying vacations properly,” Maheshwari added.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya who was appearing for Twitter India said that they had been impleaded incorrectly in the case. The correct party will be Twitter Inc of California. If the court passes an order to disable the tweets, they will oblige to it.
A correct notice will be sent out to Twitter Inc of California. Twitter India’s name as a party will be removed from the case. Twitter can file an application to present their side. Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya said that he would submit the reply in the next hearing.
Sajan Povvayya said that Twitter has nothing to defend in such cases, and they can disable the tweets if the courts order them to do so. To it the bench retorted asking why they can’t disable the tweets themselves after contempt proceedings have been initiated against them. The advocate said that they will intimate his client about the same.
The court has set 5th August as the next date for the hearing.
Bhushan is known for his PILs and controversial statements
This is not the first time Prashant Bhushan made such tweets. In March 2019, he admitted in front of the court that he made a mistake tweeting that the government appeared to have misled the Apex Court. He said he “accidentally” submitted fabricated minutes of the high-powered selection panel meeting for the appointment of M Nageshwara Rao as the interim chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In February that year, Attorney General KK Venugopal and Central government filed a contempt petition against Bhushan. However, AG later withdrew the petition stating Bhushan has agreed to accept his mistake in front of the court.
ANI’s tweet where they quoted Bhushan saying it is a sad day for Indian democracy after Yakub Memon was hanged.
Bhushan had been in the news many times for all the wrong reasons. He had appeared for terrorists like Yakub Memon and called the day of his execution a sad day for India. He tried to stop the deportation of illegal Rohingyas. He often files irrelevant PILs in the supreme court. The court recently raised concerns over such PILs.
A day after a survey reported that on an average over 23.48 percent of the Delhi’s citizens, which is 43.6 lakh, had IgG antibodies indicating that many people may have already infected with coronavirus, NDTV’s star-anchor Ravish Kumar released a video to express his opinion on the survey.
In the show, Ravish Kumar, expressing his shock over the prospects of so many people in Delhi already being affected by the Chinese pandemic, also took a dig at the Modi government by claiming that the government was changing the goalposts every time it faced challenges in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Attacking the Modi government over the increasing number of coronavirus cases, Ravish Kumar claimed that the government was initially in its defence was stating that the doubling rate of coronavirus was severely low despite an increase in the number of the cases, but later changed its argument by putting forward the recovery rate of the coronavirus patients to indicate the pandemic was under control.
Continuing his rhetoric, Ravish Kumar, in his show, then claimed that the government again changed its goal post by highlighting the decrease in the number of the cases when recovery rate fell.
In a hurry to attack the Modi government, the star-anchor went on to make a major goof-up by misinterpreting the ‘mortality rate’ of the coronavirus cases to claim that the ‘fertility rate’ of the coronavirus patients was low. Perhaps, Ravish Kumar was not at all aware of the technicalities between the ‘fertility rate’ and the ‘mortality rate’.
Delhi sero-survey results
According to the newly published survey conducted by the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) across Delhi, the prevalence of IgG antibodies is 23.48 percent, indicating that a large number of infected persons remain asymptomatic. The survey was conducted from 27 June 2020, to 10 July 2020.
Nearly six months into the epidemic, over 43 lakh people may have been affected in Delhi, which has several pockets of dense population. It is being said that the proactive efforts taken by the Modi government to prevent the spread of infection, including a prompt lockdown, effective containment and surveillance measures like contact tracing and tracking, addition to the citizen’s compliance to regulations has helped in limiting the spread.
In September 2007, the Central government run by Congress-led UPA1 had said that there is no historical proof of Lord Ram’s existence.
No historical proof of Ram
In 2007, an affidavit filed by the Congress-led government read “Valmiki Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas admittedly form an important part of ancient Indian literature, but these cannot be said to be historical records to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters and occurrences of events depicted therein.” The affidavit was filed to register the UPA government’s opposition to the demand to scrap the Setusamudram project as it would damage the Ram Setu.
Did you know Rahul Gandhi’s close aide and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal fought the Ram Janmabhoomi case for the Sunni Waqf Board opposing the building of a magnificent Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. And that he also employed dilatory tactics and asked the apex court to delay the decision in the Ram Janmabhoomi case till 2019 elections.
While Sibal may claim he is fighting against the construction of grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya in his ‘personal capacity’ only those with IQ lower than that of Rahul Gandhi would actually believe that. Another eminent Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had earlier claimed that no ‘good Hindu’ would want a Ram Mandir at Babri site. Tharoor urged that one should have the Ram Mandir in one’s heart. Tharoor, ironically, wrote a book titled ‘Why I am a Hindu’. Perhaps the book was rhetorical rather than introspective.
In November 2018, months ahead of 2019 general elections, Congress leader CP Joshi had proclaimed that only a Congress Prime Minister will build a Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.
CP Joshi on Ram Mandir in November 2018
Just ahead of 2019 elections, after years of denying the very existence of Lord Ram, Congress went into an overdrive in a bid to consolidate Hindu votes. Congress had suddenly promised Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, that too under a Congress government headed by a Congress PM. Rahul Gandhi’s posters where he was made to look like Lord Ram had appeared.
Rahul Gandhi as Lord Ram
The party went from denying existence of Lord Ram to portraying their PM candidate as Lord Ram (which by their own logic would not exist).
Rahul Gandhi when he realises Congress’ logic
Moving on.
It was not only Congress but its entire ecosystem that rooted against the construction of Ram Mandir. Remember how there were numerous op-eds where the self-proclaimed intellectuals who claim they speak truth to the power would write that BJP will never fulfil its promise of Ram Mandir. ‘It will run out of promises to make’ if it actually builds the temple, they’d say.
But guess what.
It is the BJP-led government which will ensure the construction of Ram Mandir. It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be present when foundation of the grand temple will be laid in a few days’ time. In less than a year after the Supreme Court gave a unanimous decision in favour of Ram Mandir.
The moment crores of Hindus have waited for is here. Lord Ram is finally coming home.
And what is Congress doing? Oh it is busy being upset that Ram Temple is being constructed at Ram Janmabhoomi.
As the deadline given to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to vacate her government accommodation in Lutyen’s Delhi is nearing the end, the Gandhi scion is all set to move out of the bungalow. According to reports, she will be shifting to a house in DLF Aralia, Sector 42, Gurugram, Haryana.
On July 1, Priyanka Gandhi was served a notice to vacate the government accommodation at 35, Lodhi Estate, which she was continuing to live in despite removal of SPG cover in November last year, by August 1.
According to sources, she would be temporarily shifting to Gurugram for the next few months. It is believed that Priyanka is likely to come back to Delhi, after, one of the two-three accommodations, which she has been looking at in the national capital gets finalised.
One of these houses, likely to be finalised, is located near Sujan Singh Park in New Delhi, where repair work is underway. According to sources the repair work will take about one or two months, till then the Congress leader will stay at the Gurugram house. Once the repair work is through, the Gandhi scion will shift to Delhi, added the source.
Meanwhile, most of her household goods have been shifted to the Gurugram house and security inspection process has also been completed.
Now that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has lost her Lutyen’s bungalow, it is undertood that she would in future, use her mother Sonia Gandhi’s official residence for conducting political meetings in Delhi.
Party believed Priyanka Gandhi would shift to UP to help revive the dying Congress
Until now, it was being speculated that the Gandhi scion would be moving to Uttar Pradesh and staying in Kaul House, the house owned by Priyanka’s grandmother Indira Gandhi’s maternal aunt, Sheila Kaul. Congress had believed that by shifting her base to Lucknow, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would probably ‘strengthen the base’ of Congress in Uttar Pradesh ahead of 2022 state elections, and as her grandmother did post-emergency, she too would blow life back into the dying Congress. But now those speculations have proved to be incorrect.
Priyanka had lived in the government accommodation at 35, Lodhi Estate since 1997, as she was an Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee. However, after the threat perception was downgraded and subsequent removal of the SPG protection, Priyanka, despite being a private citizen continued to stay in government accommodation even though she does not hold any official government position.
Recently, Union Minister Hardeep Puri had revealed, that a senior Congress leader requested 35, Lodhi Estate be allotted to another INC MP so that Priyanka Gandhi could stay on, a claim which was refuted by the Gandhi scion.
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday said that they had arrested three more accused in the Journalist Vikram Joshi murder case. One accused, Babu, is still absconding. Joshi was attacked outside his house in Vijay Nagar area of Ghaziabad on 20th July. He died on Wednesday morning in the hospital.
#Breaking | Ghaziabad journalist Vikram Joshi’s murder: Main accused has been arrested.
The names of the arrested accused are Shahnoor Mansuri alias Chotu (son of Kamal-ud-din), Akash Nath and Ravi. The other six who have been arrested in the case are Shakir, Mohit, Dalveer, Abhishek Saroj, Abhishek Janwal alias Balmiki and Jogendra.
ANI reported that police had recovered one pistol of .315 bore from Shahnoor. Joshi’s family had earlier alleged that Shahnoor was the one who shot the bullet in his head. Police also recovered one live cartridge and one empty case of the cartridge from him.
Journalist Vikram Joshi died while receiving treatment at the hospital on Wednesday morning. The doctors said that his head injury was too severe. His family said after his demise that they would not accept the body till the police arrest the main accused.
The Vikram Joshi murder case
Journalist Vikram Joshi had filed a complaint on 16th July against a few miscreants who were constantly harassing his niece. The family had filed one complaint around one and a half year ago but the police did not take any action. On 20th July, a few miscreants cornered Joshi while he was coming back from a party with his two daughters. They first beat him and punched him several times and then shot him in the head. He took his last breath on Wednesday morning in the hospital.
The doctors said that his head injury was severe. The police suspended the station in-charge and initiated an inquiry against him. Joshi’s family has alleged that the station in-charged helped the accused and neglected in taking action when they had complained.
An Afghan girl named Qamar Gul is all over the news for shooting and killing two Taliban terrorists when they entered her house to kill her family. The local officials said that the Taliban killed her parents for supporting the government.
On 17th July at around 1 AM, more than 40 Talibani terrorists had entered the Village of Geriveh located in central Ghor province. They entered Gul’s house, where she was living with her parents and brother.
The officials said that the terrorists knocked on the door of Gul’s house while looking for her father. Mohamed Aref Aber, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said that her mother went to the door to see who was knocking. When she noticed armed men, she refused to open the door. “Gul’s mother was immediately shot dead by the attackers, who then entered the house and shot at her father,” he added.
Qamar Gul saw them killing her parents and picked up his father’s AK-47 assault rifle. She shot dead the two terrorists first and continued defending herself and her brother. Gul and her 12-year-old brother, Habibullah, injured several others. Several Taliban terrorists joined the gun-fight, but the villagers and pro-government militiamen joined Gul’s side to throw them out of the village.
The Afghan officials took Gul and her brother to a safe place in the provincial capital. Aber said they both of them were in a state of shock for two days and did not talk much. However, they are recovering slowly. They kept on saying, “This was our right because we did not need to live without our parents.” The kids do not have many relatives in the village, and only half-brothers live close to them. Gul is aged between 14-16 years.
Praised by the Afghan government
The Afghan government praised her actions at a cabinet meeting. President Ashraf Ghani has invited them to the presidential palace. District governor Mohammad Rafiq Alam said, “When I saw them that night, they were shocked, but we’re feeling honoured. A photograph of Gul wearing a headscarf and holding a gun across her lap has gone viral on the social media platforms.
Long conflict in Afghanistan
In 2001 the US ousted the Taliban regime that controlled Afghanistan. Since then, the Taliban terrorists are killing villagers who they suspect of being informers. Till now more than 100,000 Afghans have lost their lives. In recent months the terrorists have increased their attacks on the security forces though there was an agreement to peace talks. Afghan forces and Taliban terrorists clash regularly to gain control of areas. The Afghan government also says that Pakistan is actively supporting Taliban terrorists to spread unrest in the region.
Recently, Taliban terrorists had also reportedly attacked an Afghan army base in Taktpol, Kandahar. Reports have stated that more than 63 Taliban terrorists, including dozens of Pakistanis, have been killed in the retaliatory response by the Afghan forces.
