The decision of the Jharkhand assembly to officially notify a specious room of the assembly as a prayer room for Muslims has emboldened an MLA of Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh assembly Irfan Solanki to demand a separate room for namaz at Uttar Pradesh assembly building too.
The MLA wrote to Uttar Pradesh assembly Speaker Hridya Narayan Dixit and demanded to allot a prayer room for Muslim MLAs. He stated that attending assembly sessions and offering worship both are for him. He claimed that in Bihar a separate room was provided for prayer. Besides, he added that similar demand is being made in Maharashtra also. He said that he is an MLA from the past 15 years and he had a problem in offering namaz during the session of the assembly.
The SP MLA has made this demand ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly election scheduled the next year. This move comes days after the Jharkhand Assembly made a separate room for offering namaz.
The Jharkhand assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato is still unapologetic that by issuing an official notification to allot a room (TW-348) at the new assembly building for namaz, he might have grossly violated the Indian Constitution. The constitution prohibits any discrimination on the religious line.
The Speaker is defending the indefensible stating that in the old assembly building, too, there used to be a room meant for offering namaaz. Previously, the assembly was operating on the Russian Hostel building of the HEC. But the Speaker has the tough time to substantiate that in the past a space on the assembly premise was officially allocated through the notification. Now the Speaker insists that one should not go to the notification part.
Speaking to the OpIndia Jharkhand assembly’s first Speaker, Inder Singh Namdhari who remained in chair from November 2000 till 2006 said that no room was allocated to offer namaz till he was the Speaker. The utterly unconstitutional act of the Jharkhand assembly is being backed by Hemant Soren led JMM-Congress-RJD government. Now this has snowballed into a political and legal controversy.
Ranchi resident Bhairav Singh on Tuesday filed a PIL at the Jharkhand High Court. Lawyer Rajiv Kumar appearing on the behalf of Singh confirmed the development stating that they have cited provisions of Indian Constitution to set aside the order of the assembly Speaker.
Soon after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) constituted an ‘agitation committee’ to run protests against the Bhartiya Janta Party and the union government, it is now being said that Congress plans to rope civil society organisations, activists and intellectuals to implement this new toolkit.
As per an Economic Times report, apart from mobilizing its own party, the Congress party could simultaneously reach out to anti-BJP social activists, NGOs and intellectuals who have been perturbed by the Modi regime.
The source-based report says that Digvijay Singh who has been appointed as the Chairman of the ‘agitation committee, is known to network with civil society organisations and activists opposed to the Sangh Parivar.
One cannot ignore the fact that Singh, soon after the formation of the panel had Tweeted cheering the alleged farmers protesting against the three Farm Bills.
Reportedly, AICC insiders have hinted at a long-drawn agitation strategy to trigger the citizens on varied issues. This includes monetisation (of national/public assets), inflation and unemployment with a fair chance of going hammer and tongs at Sangh parivar outfits.
The agitation committee which is to hold its first meeting in the next week will be working with a laser focus to make the best of the ongoing farmers’ protest. Congress is likely to call for nationwide protests against the Centre from September 20 to 30 hand in glove with 18 ‘like-minded’ opposition parties. A Bharat Bandh is also being planned for September 27.
With Priyanka Gandhi as a part of the agitation committee and general secretary from poll-bound UP, the agitation committee could look at exercises to stir dissent against the BJP regime.
Congress has been in the doldrums in almost every state governed by it causing massive embarrassment to the party. It has also been criticized severely for its flailing role as a national opposition.
In a bid to resurrect itself as a strong national opposition, Congress has been forced to bank on the andolanjeevis, dubious NGOs and outdated activists.
Congress party leaders like Uttam Kumar Reddy, Manish Chatrath, BK Hariprasad, Ripun Bora, Udit Raj, Ragini Nayak and Zuber Khan have already been activated to fuel the Kisan Andolan further under this panel.
Congress leader Ragini Nayak Re-Tweets several posts on Kisan Andolan
Congress-Soros-Andolanjeevi trio
What one should worry about is George Soros– a Hungarian American businessman and a self-proclaimed philanthropist’s plausible involvement and role in causing an upheaval in India using various networks funded by him comprising of NGOs, media, intelligentsia, etc.
Soros who has vowed to dismantle every ‘nationalist government’ globally has spent two decades lay his ‘democracy death trap’ in India.
The Media Gang
Journalists like Ritu Sarin, Shyamlal Yadav and P Vaidyanathan Iyer of the Indian Express, Rakesh Kalshian – a former IANS editor who now works for German Channel Deutsche Welle (DW), Murali Krishnan and Yusuf Jameel of the Asian Age are all a part of the Soros media network through the International Committee of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Amartya Sen- a Congress brand promoter, along with George Soros, is part of the advisory council of NGO Namati (funded by Open Souce Foundation) that works for ‘environmental justice’ in India.
Another controversial individual who has done more harm to India than any other person in recent times is none other than Harsh Mander. Harsh Mander, known for his close ties with the first family of the Congress party, has been associated with Open Society Foundations.
His role in instigating the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots, particularly the violence around the Jamia Millia Islamia campus in December 2019, has been under scrutiny for some time now.
The Andolanjeevi Gang
One of the ambassadors of the ongoing farmers’ protest in India Yogendra Yadav also reportedly has Soros links. Yadav, who, as a professor at the Centre for Study of Developing Societies in 2006, had presented a State of Democracy in South Asia (SDSA) study in front of Soros, who was visiting India for the first time.
Soros and his gang were also severely critical of India’s revised citizenship norms. Some of these anti-Modi activists to have flared the anti-CAA riots include John Dayal, Usha Ramanathan, Umar Khalid and Teesta Setalvad.
Congress-led Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and its links to Soros-funded organizations are not new either.
Unearthing the network
One need not go far back in history to map Congress’s role as an opposition. The party’s unwavering support to the anti-CAA protests and now to the Kisan Andolan (especially from Punjab, a Congress-ruled state) has unmasked their toolkit.
From creating vaccine hesitancy to gawking on the dead as the nation battled the second wave of the pandemic, the Gandhi party has simply added to the woes of the nation.
Not to forget the farce cases it tried to rake up using its network including the Pegasus snoopgate to the Ghaziabad ‘Jai Shri Ram’ fake crime on which the tallest of Congress leaders tried to gain brownie points.
Every one of the aforementioned incidents that created a hindrance in India’s growth (or fight against the pandemic) seemed like a well-woven web stitched making use of the extensive network of andolanjeevis, intellects and the media.
With the network already there, it will be interesting to see how Congress misuses it to push the nation off-track.
The New York Times, an American daily newspaper based out of New York City, recently published an article hailing the Taliban, the terror group that toppled the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan on August 15, and made a spectacle out of the USA’s humiliating loss in the 20-year-war.
In an article published on September 7, 2021, after the Taliban formed an interim government in Afghanistan, the New York Times referred to the members of the new government, almost all of whom are global wanted terrorists, as ‘stalwarts’.
The title of the article read: “Taliban Appoint Stalwarts to Top Government Posts”. Here’s the snapshot of the article published by the New York Times.
Source: The New York Times
The American media organisation, long known for pandering to the leftist ideology, understated the Taliban as a “movement” and not a terror outfit against whom their own country was engaged in a 20-year war.
The article also sought to legitimise the interim government formed by the Taliban after months of a military offensive that catapulted it to regain control over the country it lost in 2001 after the United States-led waged a war on terror. It said the new government empowered many of the “stalwarts” of the “movement” from their regime in the 1990s.
Although the article, in its body, mentions that several members of the Talibani government are designated as terrorists by the United States and United Nations, it does not take away the fact that the American news daily appeared to grant legitimacy to the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Taliban announces 33-member all-male cabinet of the Afghan government; several of them among UN-designated list of terrorists
The Taliban had yesterday announced a 33-member cabinet of the Afghan government, headed by Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, who was named as the prime minister. Hassan is a radical Islamist who was in a leadership position in the terror group’s council in recent years and who also served as the deputy prime minister of the first Taliban government. Hassan is also on the blacklist of the United Nations for participating in terrorist activities.
Perhaps, the most eyebrow-raising appointment made by the Taliban was that of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the new acting interior minister, who heads the terror group known as Haqqani Network and is on the FBI’s most-wanted list. The terror group is said to have close ties with the Taliban, which the appointment of Haqqani had confirmed. They have been behind some of the deadliest attacks in the country’s two-decade-long war – including a truck bomb explosion in Kabul in 2017 that killed more than 150 people.
Unlike the wider Taliban, the Haqqani network has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US. It also maintains close ties to al-Qaeda.
As per the FBI website, “Sirajuddin Haqqani is wanted for questioning in connection with the January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed six people, including an American citizen. He is believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Haqqani also allegedly was involved in the planning of the assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2008.”
Besides, the Taliban cabinet also includes four members who were held at the Guantanamo Bay, the American detainment camp, for 13 years before being exchanged in 2014 for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier kidnapped by the Taliban.
Past incidents when western media outlets had whitewashed Islamic terrorism
However, such storied history of terrorism did not stop the New York Times from glorifying the Taliban. It is also worth noting that this is not the first time that the media organisation has acted as an apologia for Islamic terrorism. For a long time, the New York Times has published reports and opinion columns that sought to water down the atrocities committed by terrorists in the name of Islam.
In one of the worst cases of Islamic terrorism denial, the News York Times blamed aeroplanes for the 9/11 terror attacks in an article. On the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the terror attacks on the United States, i.e on 11 September 2019, published an article titled “Remembering Those Lost 18 Years Ago on 9/11”. In the second paragraph, the article said, “Eighteen years have passed since aeroplanes took aim at the World Trade Center and brought them down.” In fact, the words ‘terrorism’ or ‘terrorist’ were not even mentioned in the article, except for in the subheading, before the article was updated following outrage on social media.
NYT article on 9/11 anniversary
Then in 2020, the New York Times, hallowed in the leftist circles as the holy grail of journalism, provided its platform to the terror outfit Taliban itself, allowing it to whitewash its crimes and provide an intellectual argument justifying its propensity for brutal savagery. The article was published in the wake of an agreement deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February 2020. The author of the article was none other than Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is listed among the most-wanted terrorists by the FBI.
In the opinion editorial, Haqqani proceeded to whitewash the crimes of his brethren and said laughable things such as “I am convinced that the killing and the maiming must stop.” The terrorist also said, “Our negotiation team, led by my colleagues Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Sher Mohammed Abas Stanekzai, has worked tirelessly for the past 18 months with the American negotiators to make an agreement possible.”
While the reputation of the New York Times is nosediving at a breakneck speed because of its proclivity to humanise Islamic terrorism and justify its cruel practices, it is not the only western media outlet that is involved in providing an intellectual cover-up to the terrorists. Another prominent publication, the Washington Post, also has a history of downplaying Islamic terrorism and glorifying the terrorists.
In October 2019, after reports of the head of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi being killed by the NATO forces started surfacing online, the Washington Post published an article declaring the slain terrorist as an ‘austere religious scholar’, suggesting that his austerity was the real issue here. As expected, the headline caused a huge uproar on social media, following which Washington Post changed its headline.
The above-mentioned instances reveal the enthusiasm with which the western media outlets proceed to underplay Islamic terrorism and provide a humanising account of the terrorists. This is a typical modus operandi adopted by the left-leaning western media portals, which rush to sweep under the carpet the sins committed by terrorists and use ennobling epithets such as ‘stalwarts’ to describe them.
This approach entails hiding the gory details such as the attacks and blasts carried out by the terrorists and instead focuses on highlighting trivial and mundane details about the terrorists such as their family background, educational qualifications etc. to generate a wave of sympathy among the readers for the dead terrorists and create an impression that they were victims of oppression.
In the recently submitted charge sheet against Sachin Vaze in the Antilia Bomb case and Mansukh Hiren murder case, National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that the dismissed Mumbai Police officer had formulated the conspiracy to place Genatine sticks (explosives) and a threat note in a Scorpio close to the house of RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani to prove himself as “an ace detective”. Notably, he was famous as a top detective before he got suspended due to his alleged involvement in the custodial death of Khwaja Yunus. Yunus died in custody in 2003, and Vaze was suspended from the service in 2004. He was reinstated to the service in 2020 by the Uddhav Thackeray govt even though the case again him was still going on.
The charge sheet further added that the whole conspiracy was formulated for monetary gains by putting pressure on wealthy and prosperous individuals. The aim was to allegedly extort money by threatening them with dire consequences. Vaze was head of the CIU department of Mumbai Police, and a number of sensitive cases came under his jurisdiction. It was mentioned in the charge sheet that his office was allegedly collecting huge amounts of money by extorting individuals and he used a part of the money collected to hatch the said conspiracy.
The agency said in the charge sheet, “He (Vaze) wanted to regain his clout as an ace detective/encounter specialist. Thus, he hatched a conspiracy to place the Scorpio laden with Gelatine sticks (explosives), and a threat note addressed to Chairman of a major business group near his residence”. NIA further added that Vaze was instrumental in placing explosive-laden Scorpio in close proximity of Antilia in the intervening night of February 24-25, 2021. The vehicle was found to be in the name of Mansukh Hiren, who was believed to be an acquaintance of Vaze.
Vaze had convinced Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hirento to file a false complaint of theft of his vehicle through Vaze himself took it, said the agency. The charge sheet further explained that Vaze “falsely projected” the incident being committed by “Jaish-Ul-Hind”, which is a designated terrorist organization. After the case got transferred to CIU Mumbai from Gamdevi Police Station, Vaze became the investigating officer for the case.
When Vaze realized there was a lot of noise about the detection of an explosive-laden vehicle, he allegedly pressurized Hiren to take the responsibility of placing Scorpio outside Antilia, to which the businessman refused. The charge sheet added, “Thus he conspired with other co-accused Sunil Mane, Pradeep Sharma to eliminate Mansukh Hiren. He persuaded Mansukh Hiren to go into hiding till the matter gets settled and assured to facilitate the same.”
While explaining the conspiracy further, the charge sheet stated that the accused Mane picked Mansukh and handed over him to other co-accused Santosh Shelar, Anand Jadhav, Satish Mothkuri, and Manish Soni. They killed the businessman and dumped his body which was later recovered by the Police.
The charge sheet said, “For the commission of this heinous crime, accused persons had used exclusive mobile phones, Benami SIM Cards provided by Vinayak Shinde and Naresh Gor. Sachin Vaze had also conspired with Riyazuddin Kazi to destroy the evidence collected during the investigation being conducted by him while being IO of the case in CIU Mumbai, in order to avoid detection.”
The charge sheet was filed by the investigating agency on September 3 against ten persons in connection to the three cases in a special court in Mumbai under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, sections 3 and 25 of Arms Act, section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act and sections, 16, 18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The ten accused arrested in the case are Sachin Vaze, Naresh Ramniklal Gor, Vinayak Balasaheb Shinde, Riyazuddin Hisamuddin Kazi, Sunil Dharma Mane, Santosh Atmaram Shelar, Anand Pandurang Jadhav, Satish Tirupati Mothkuri, Manish Vasantbhai Soni and Pradeep Rameshwar Sharma.
The first case included in the charge was filed on February 25 at Gamdevi Police Station in Mumbai regarding the detection of Scorpio loaded with explosives on Carmichael Road near Antilia. A threat note was found with 20 sticks of gelatine addressed to Mukesh Ambani.
The second case was registered at Vikhroli Police Station in Mumbai, linked to the theft of Scorpio. The third case was registered at Mumbra Police Station, Thane, linked to the recovery of the dead body of Mansukh Hiren from Mumbra creek on March 5.
The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that the decision to induct women into the National Defence Academy has been finalized. The Government of India, however, has requested the Court to exempt the current academic year to admit women candidates, citing the need to make infrastructural changes.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati made this submission before a bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said, “There’s a good news. A decision has been taken at the highest level of forces and government that girls will be inducted for Permanent Commission through NDA.”
ASG Aishwarya Bhati: There’s a good news. A decision has been taken at highest level of forces & Govt that GIRLS WILL BE be indicted for Permanent Commission through National Defence Academy. Decision was taken late evening yesterday. #SupremeCourt
“Please grant status quo in this exams as this needs procedure and infrastructural changes”, the ASG submitted seeking time to make the required procedural changes.
The court was additionally informed that the decision had been taken following requisite consultation with the three Service Chiefs.
The bench has now asked the ASG to place the developments on record through an affidavit.
“Armed forces are respected forces of this country. But on gender equality they have to do more”, observed Justice Kaul.
“We are extremely glad to know as ASG submits that Armed Forces have taken a decision to induct females in NDA and other issues are being examined…We complement the ASG for taking a pro-active approach in persuading Armed Forces to take a gender-equal approach,” said the Bench further.
The Court had passed an interim order on August 18 for allowing women to appear in the NDA exams on a provisional basis. The order was basis a writ petition filed by Kush Kalra, who argued that the exclusion of women from NDA was arbitrary, discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Currently, women are recruited in the defence services as short service commission officers.
On September 7, the Taliban announced Mohammad Hasan Akhund would be the head of the new Taliban government in Afghanistan. Akhund is on the UN sanctions list, where he is described as a “close associate and political advisor to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the first leader of the Talibani movement. American intelligence records describe his career as “one of the most ineffective and unreasonable Taliban leaders.”
Prime Minister of Islamic Emirate of Taliban in Afghanistan Mullah Hassan Akhund was a close associate of Mullah Omar. He sanctioned the destruction of Bamiyan Buddha. Hates west and Northern Alliance (Mujahideen) to the core. From Kandahar but has studied in Pakistani Madarsas.
He was previously the foreign minister and deputy Prime Minister during the Talibani regime in the country from 1996-2001. Since allied forces took control of the country in 2001, Akhund was head of the Rehbari Shura or the leadership council that was responsible for all the decisions of the radical group. Because of his position in the group, he had a say in military affairs during the 20-year long war with allied forces. Notably, the Rahbari Shura council of leaders, or Quetta Shura, was formed after allied forces under the US’s leadership took control of the country in 2001.
His name was announced as the Prime Minister by Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson, Taliban. He had further named Abdul Ghani Baradar as the Deputy Prime Minister of the country. According to reports published in Reuters, Akhund is often known to be highly respected by fellow Talibs, especially by Haibatullah Akhunzada, the third head of Taliban.
Believed to have been born in the village of Pashmul, in Kandahar province’s Argandab, Hassan Akhund reportedly studied at a seminary in Pakistan before joining the Hizb-e-Islami’s Khalees faction during the anti-Soviet Union resistance.
Akhund was born in the village of Pashmul, Argandab province, Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban. He reportedly studied at a seminary in Pakistan. Later he joined the Khalees faction of Hizb-e-Islami during the anti-Soviet Union resistance. Akhund is believed to be linked to the Pashtun lineage from Ahmad Shah Durrani, who was the founder of modern Afghanistan from the 1700s. Some experts suggest that Akhund is in his mid-60s or maybe older. He is considered more of a religious figure rather than a military or political one.
Akhund is believed to be one of the original 30 members who founded the Taliban. He was the person who had sanctioned the destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas, as per reports.
Abdul Ghani Baradar was also in the race to become the Prime Minister as he was head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha. He led talks with the United States leading to the deal between the two nations and finally the withdrawal of allied forces from Afghanistan.
Rang De Basanti actor Siddharth on wee hours of Wednesday tweeted how he was missing the Indian cricket which has now become ‘toxic’. He was speaking about cricket before the emergence of the IPL and cricketers like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
My favourite cricketer since I was 14 and he 20 was Dravid. Followed him his whole career. First ball to last. I miss you so much Rahul Dravid. Can't wait for you to come back to dignify Indian Cricket again. It's coming. ❤️
In two tweets, he claimed that with the “new generation of demi god worship mixed with administrative and PR power”, it is not the cricket he ‘worshipped’ and now ‘toxicity reigns’. He later added how he missed the time when Rahul Dravid played cricket and wished for him to come back and “dignify Indian cricket again”.
Fans give befitting reply
However, Indian cricket, IPL, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and cricket fans in general were not too happy with the tweet.
Some pointed out how the actors, whose also endorse products and are part of the same PR rung, should not really be pontificating on sportspersons.
tru ?? ye log ka moral supremacy kuch zyada hi chal raha
Some pointed out how the cricketers Siddharth was being nostalgic about were also part of advertising and PR game.
In 2002, Indian players were earning 60% of their revenue from endorsements & 40% from Cricket match fees. These negotiations were getting played out before the 2002 Headingley Test. It's better to know history before making Dravids & Tendulkars the Gods, which they were not
Twitter user Vijay Arumugam recalled how in 2002 cricketers like Dravid, Tendulkar and others did not agree with ICC’s ambush marketing clause and were not in a mood to let go of revenue. He pointed out how in 2002, the Indian cricketers made about 60% of their earnings through endorsement deals.
However, as he pointed out as well, there is nothing wrong in an individual securing their income.
The "era" before ipl was the time when fans burned stadium , blocked roads because their favourite cricketer was dropped , conducted mock funerals for cricketers. Anyone remember the 1996 World Cup semi final ? https://t.co/rHvoPPoa9j
Three weeks after Kabul fell at the hands of the Taliban, the newly appointed Minister for Higher Education Sheikh Molvi Noorullah Munir rejected the relevance of higher education in Afghanistan.
In a video that has now surfaced on social media, Munir claimed that Mullahs (Islamic clerics) are the greatest of all despite having no higher education degrees. “No PhD degree, master’s degree is valuable today. You see that the Mullahs and Taliban that are in the power, have no PhD, MA or even a high school degree, but are the greatest of all,” he emphasised.
This is the Minister of Higher Education of the Taliban — says No Phd degree, master’s degree is valuable today. You see that the Mullahs & Taliban that are in the power, have no Phd, MA or even a high school degree, but are the greatest of all. pic.twitter.com/gr3UqOCX1b
On Tuesday, the Taliban announced the names of cabinet members of the interim government, which will rule the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ till a permanent government is constituted. It will be led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund (Prime Minister) and two of his deputies, namely, Mullah Abdus Salam and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The acting Prime Minister was chosen by the supreme leader of the Taliban aka Maulvi Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Ban on co-education, segregation of classes on the basis of gender
Earlier, it was reported that the Islamic fundamentalists banned co-education in Herat, which is the third-largest city of Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The Talibs had described co-education as the ‘root of all evils in society. This was, in fact, the first ‘fatwa’ issued by the Taliban after its takeover. Further, it was decided that women lecturers would be allowed to teach only female students and not male students. The decision was taken after a meeting was held between professors, owners of private institutions and Taliban leaders.
As the focus of the global intelligence community remains fixated on Afghanistan, two top officials from the USA and Russia visited India for discussions on security issues. CIA Chief Bill Burns arrived in India on September 7 to have a discussion on key security issues with Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser, and India’s security establishment amidst the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Following the visit of the US NSA, Russian NSA Nikolay Patrushev also visited New Delhi for talks with Indian NSA Doval.
Reports suggest that the conversation between Burns and Doval was centred on Terrorism from Pakistan and the situation that is unfolding in Afghanistan. Burns will go to Islamabad on Wednesday.
There is growing security concerns for both India and the US at regional and global stage as the Taliban has taken back control of Afghanistan. Burns’ visit seems to be highlighting these security concerns. Notably, protests broke in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Zaranj against the Jihadi regime as it announced Panjshir had fallen. It is believed that the attack on Panjshir was with support from Pakistan. The neighbouring country has also believed to have brokered a deal between various Taliban factions in the presence of Faiz Hameed, ISI chief who was in Kabul on September 6.
Sirajuddin Haqqani has been named as the interior minister of the Taliban government. Notably, he is a designated global terrorist, but he is not the only one in the Taliban’s new cabinet who has been named on the list of terrorists. Several other Talib leaders who are going to hold key positions in the government have their names on the global list of terrorists. UNSC committee chaired by India will soon decide on the Taliban sanctions in the next few weeks.
Security expert Nitin A. Gokhale while discussing India visit of the Security Agencies’s heads, said in a tweet, “What does it say about New Delhi’s role in the region that both the CIA Chief and Russia’s powerful security czar are in India at the same time.”
What does it say about New Delhi’s role in the region that both the CIA Chief and Russia’s powerful security czar are in India at the same time. Discuss
The prime concern for India at the moment is the spike in Pakistan’s infiltrations into India. As Burns visit wrapped up, Nikolay Patrushev, Russian NSA, arrived in India to have consultations on Afghanistan with Doval. By the time this report was written, a high-level meeting between Doval and Patrushev had already started in Delhi.
Earlier, Chief of British MI6 Richard Moore also visited India to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. Gokhale wrote, “One more visitor to New Delhi may have gone unnoticed in the past week: the Chief of British MI6, Richard Moore. It is anybody’s guess what he wanted in India after the UK appears to have blatantly sided with Pakistan over the situation in Afghanistan.”
One more visitor to New Delhi may have gone unnoticed in the past week : the Chief of British MI6, Richard Moore. It is anybody’s guess what he wanted in India after the UK appears to have blatantly sided with Pakistan over the situation in Afghanistan.
India has already exchanged noted on Taliban-ruled Afghanistan with the security chiefs from the US and UK, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet General Nikolay Patrushev, often called the right-hand man of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is going to be a follow-up of the conversation between PM Modi and President Putin over the telephone on August 24. Gen Patrushev came to India at the invitation of NSA Ajit Doval. Reports suggest he is also scheduled to meet Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar. As per reports, issues related to Pakistan, China and Afghanistan would be in focus during the meeting.
NDTV quoted an official saying, “Like any other country, even Russia wants an inclusive government in Afghanistan and has made it clear that they also hope that Afghan soil would not be a source of terror emanating to the other countries of the region.”
Russia still maintains an embassy in Kabul, however, it is seriously concerned about long-term security concerns in the Jihadi group-led regime in Afghanistan. On Monday, Kudashev had expressed his concerns over terrorism stemming from Afghanistan spreading to Kashmir after the Taliban took over the nation. He said India and Russia shared concerns over terrorism and Afghanistan should not become a source of spreading terrorism.
On September 7, unknown miscreants hurdled three crude bombs outside the house of BJP MP Arjun Singh in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Notably, when the bombs were hurdled at night on Tuesday, security personnel were present outside the premises.
West Bengal: Security personnel present near the residence of BJP MP Arjun Singh in North 24 Parganas
“Bomb explosions outside the residence of Member of Parliament Arjun Singh this morning is worrisome,” tweeted West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar pic.twitter.com/Gg2XzhQmsr
The bombs were allegedly thrown by three men on a bike at the home of the BJP MP at Jagatdal, around 100 km from Kolkata. The incident took place around 6.30 am. State BJP BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has said the assailants are most probably from Trinamool Congress.
Singh was not at his home at the time of the attack and was in Delhi. However, his family was present in the house. The police have reached the spot and scanning CCTV footage to identify the miscreants. As of now, the motive behind the attack is unclear, as per the reports. The additional police force from Barrackpore Commissionerate has been deployed outside his residence.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed his anguish over the attack. He said in a tweet, “Wanton violence in WB shows no sign of abating. Bomb explosions as this morning outside the residence of Member Parliament Arjun Singh are worrisome on law and order. Expect prompt action, West Bengal Police. As regards his security, the issue has earlier been flagged.”
Wanton violence in WB shows no sign of abating.
Bomb explosions as this morning outside residence of Member Parliament @ArjunsinghWB is worrisome on law and order.
Expect prompt action @WBPolice. As regards his security the issue has been earlier been flagged @MamataOfficial.
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) September 8, 2021
West Bengal BJP has claimed that the ruling party Trinamool Congress was behind the attack. On the other hand, TMC has refuted the claims and said it was due to the internal quarrel between Bengal BJP.
Singh was also attacked in April by a mob in Belgachia, North Kolkata. He had deemed it as a planned incident. He also alleged that when his security personnel tried to disperse the mob, someone fired gunshots.
