20-years-old Samaniya Bhat is the youngest female Radio Jockey of North Kashmir. She has recently completed her Bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication, after which she secured a job at Radio Chinar, 90.4 FM located at Sopore, Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir. While some are showering praises for her achievement, Islamists have found a new target in her.
Since the news broke that she got appointed as the youngest Radio Jockey and a few of her photographs hosting a show went viral on social media platforms, Islamists and fundamentalists are attacking her under the posts that announced her appointment on social media networks. The majority of the attacks were related to her attire and her job being at a Radio station backed by CRPF.
One Yasir said there was a time when Baramullah was called Chota Pakistan. It is a shame that western culture has gripped the region. One Aasif Raja questioned if removing Dupatta was necessary to become an RJ. Javaid echoed him and tried to teach Bhat “moral limits”. One user name Prince Aashu sent “laanat”, saying she should have talked about Deen. A user named Gashu noted, “we Kashmiri people still condemn her success” as she worked in CRPF backed Radio Station.
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While talking to ANI, Samaniya said, “Journalism was my passion from childhood. I have been working with ‘Kashmir dispatch’ for three years and worked on the ground. When I got to know Radio Chinar will have its first radio station in north Kashmir, I thought of giving it the first try. I never thought I would be a Radio Jockey or I will work in a radio station ever.”
She produces a show on Radio titled “Halla bol with RJ Samaniya” to engage with the listeners. Sahil Muzzafar, the Head of Radio Chinar, Baramulla, said, “She is the youngest team member over here when we talk about Sopore or Baramulla, she is the first female RJ.” In a message to girls, she said, “Do not fear and keep doing if you have spark nobody can stop you.”
Radio Chinar – Army’s first community radio in Kashmir
In March 2021, the Indian Army launched its first community radio station, “Radio Chinar”, in Sopore, Baramulla, North Kashmir. The aim was to bridge the gap between the Army and the people of Kashmir. It covers important locations like Handwara, Watlab, Sopore, Bandipora, Manasbal, Pattan, Delina and Baramullah.
In a bizarre incident, a 25-year-old man from Gujarat allegedly died after using an epoxy adhesive instead of a condom during sexual intercourse.
According to the reports, Salman Mirza, a resident of Fatehwadi, Ahmedabad’s Juhapura, died due to complications after using a strong epoxy adhesive similar to Fevikwik to seal his genitals while performing sex with his partner.
Salman Mirza, along with his former fiancee, had checked into a local hotel on June 22. According to Salman’s friends, Salman and his fiancee were drug addicts and were intoxicated when they decided to use adhesive instead of a condom. As the couple was not carrying protection, they decided to use a strong adhesive to seal off Salman’s genitals parts to avoid pregnancy.
A day later, on June 23, Salman was found unconscious in shrubs near the hotel in Juhapura. His friend, Firoz Shaikh, found him and brought him home. Salman was later admitted to Sola Civil Hospital, where his condition deteriorated, and he died.
Senior officer Premsukh Delu said that the viscera samples of the deceased have been sent for forensic examination. The police officer investigating the case said that the couple used to abuse a drug that involved a whitener and the adhesive, which is inhaled to get a kick.
They used the adhesive to avoid pregnancy. Unfortunately, the adhesive damaged Salman’s organs, and he died due to multiple organ failure, the police officer said. The police have recovered the CCTV footage of the hotel that shows Salman entering the premises with his ex-fiancee.
Reportedly, Salman was the sole breadwinner for his family, including his elderly parents and two sisters. The family has filed a complaint in the Vejalpur Police Station on June 25. Mirza’s family members have accused the former fiancee of killing Salman by applying the adhesive to his private parts.
Meanwhile, Salman’s friends allege that he may have lost consciousness due to heavy use of drugs which affected his health, and the epoxy adhesive just added to the complications that lead to Salman’s demise.
On August 24, Defence One reported that Security officers at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar had detected at least one Afghan evacuee from Kabul Airport with potential links to Islamic State (ISIS). As per reports, the Automated Biometric Identification System of the Defense Department flagged close to 100 Afghans evacuated as possible recipients of Special Immigration Visas or SIVs. These individuals are potential matches to the watch lists of the Intelligence Agency.
The US has evacuated at least 6,000 Afghans to Al Udeid who wanted to escape the country after the Taliban takeover. Thousands of others have been moved to other temporary bases across the Middle East and Europe. According to officials, the Customs and Border Patrol screeners are evaluating these evacuees and checking their IDs and biometric data against the databases of law enforcement agencies.
The thousands of Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan will be housed at military bases in the US, including Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Lee in Virginia. Officials said that during screening, several evacuees triggered alerts, after which they were pulled aside by the security personnel. At least one of them looked like a potential member of ISIS, the official said and added, “They’re still working that through.”
A senior administration official managing the screening process of Afghans evacuated to a third-party country said in a statement on Tuesday that the evacuees are going through “robust security processing” before they are allowed to enter the US.
He said, “That process involves biometric and biographic security screenings conducted by our intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals who are working quite literally around the clock to vet all these Afghans before they’re allowed into the United States.”
Till August 24, the US military has evacuated 63,000 Americans, Afghans and allied partners from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country. Reportedly, it is one of the fastest and largest air evacuation operations in US military history.
A large number of evacuees is a challenge
Security officers told Defence One that a large number of Afghan evacuees is a challenge for the screeners. The agents are struggling with the old vetting systems and could not process all the information required, including the biometric database information of the Defense Department. An official said, “CBP on the ground has the old tech, and they don’t know how to use it, integrate it, and there’s not enough people to process all the evacuees.”
Reports suggest that the system screeners are using may take up to an hour to crunch all the data and inform the screener if a person is okay to let go or should be detained under the pretext of a potential security risk. In such a situation, a large backlog of evacuees is being created at the screening centres across temporary military bases. An official said, “The bottom line is the system is working but slow in the process.”
On Tuesday along, US military and civilian aircraft operation evacuated 21,600 people from Afghanistan. The US is pacing up the evacuation operations as it is not in the mood to extend the deadline of August 31 to get all the troops out of the country. With a large number of evacuees spread over different bases, it is possible that red flags would be raised on other bases as well.
Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra in an interview with Times of India revealed that on the day he won the gold, he was taken a bit off guard after he could not locate his javelin.
Neeraj Chopra on his javelin being with Arshad Nadeem
Chopra revealed that he was searching for his javelin at the start of the final round and was not able to locate it. Suddenly he saw Pakistan’s athlete Arshad Nadeem moving around with his javelin. Chopra asked Nadeem to return his javelin as he had to throw it. Nadeem gave it back after which he proceeded to participate. Chopra said that because of this, he appeared slightly hurried in the first throw.
This clip shows Chopra taking the javelin from Nadeem:
One can see Chopra reaching out to Arshad Nadeem and taking back his javelin which was with him. Neeraj then took a close look at his javelin and went for the throw. He runs for the throw and from his body language it appeared like he was slightly disappointed that he perhaps did not give his best. This clip, however, is too short to give a clear picture of what might have actually transpired and why Arshad Nadeem had Neeraj Chopra’s javelin.
This, however, led to a lot of speculation on social media on what exactly was Pakistani athlete doing with the javelin of an Indian athlete. That too just before the finals.
Many wondered if Nadeem was perhaps tampering with the javelin in a bid to hurt Neeraj’s chances at Olympics.
Pakistani athletes, especially cricketers have often been accused of tampering with the ball. Hence, the fears of netizens were not unfounded.
There are high chances that Arshad Nadeem was just having a look at Neeraj’s javelin, awestruck by the efforts Indian government put in for Chopra. Perhaps he was anxious because of lack of support from government and felt extremely underprepared competing with athletes like Neeraj Chopra who had the government supporting him.
Soon after Neeraj won a gold medal at the Olympics, Pakistanis had expressed how Neeraj was given the best training while his Pakistani counterpart got no support from the government.
Earlier this year, Chopra had said how Indian government made sure he gets trained abroad.
As far as preparations for @Tokyo2020 are concerned, all my requirements have been taken care of in the best possible way. I’m training in Europe currently and am thankful for the efforts made by the government and the Indian embassy, despite the tough visa rules.
He had said that he was in Europe getting trained and how Indian government ensured he got there despite strict visa and travel restrictions due to COVID pandemic. An article in Arab News, states how Nadeem lamented over lack of facilities and support from Pakistani government for athletes.
“With the given facilities, we can only win hearts, not medals,” he had told Arab News from Tokyo on how the government showed very little support. He said how Pakistan government is obsessed with cricket and hence very little attention is paid to other sports.
Dr Asad Abbas Shah, secretary of the Medical Commission of the Pakistan Olympic Association, in conversation with Arab News claimed that Arshad was suffering from anxiety especially because he came from humble background. Dr Shah was also surprised at how well prepared Indian contingent was. “They had brought with them an osteopath, physiotherapist, sports psychologist, doctor, orthopedic surgeon and even neurologist. They have an orchestra. What do we have? Nothing,” he had told Arab News.
OpIndia has reached out to Chopra as well as Arshad Nadeem for their comments on what could be the possible reason for Arshad to be roaming around with Neeraj’s javelin. We shall update the report once we heard back from them.
Ex-UP CM Kalyan Singh’s son Rajveer Singh in an emotional social media post thanked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for standing by the family as an ‘elder son.’
Rajveer Singh in a Facebook post praising the CM said that Yogi Adityanath in a bid to fulfil his duties towards the state amidst the pandemic did not attend his own father’s funeral, but stood by Kalyan Singh’s family to attend and help during all the rituals till the cremation.
Rajveer Singh’s Facebook Post praising UP CM Yogi Adityanath
Expressing deep gratitude on behalf of himself and family members towards the CM, Rajveer Singh said that Yogi Adityanath acted as an ‘elder son’ to the family of former BJP leader and UP CM Kalyan Singh.
CM Yogi Adityanath could not attend his own father’s last rites due to Covid lockdown
In the month of April in 2020, CM Yogi Adityanath was attending a meeting on the coronavirus situation in his state when the news of his father’s demise reached him. The CM, however, unmoved by the news continued his meeting and got up only after the meeting ended.
After concluding the meeting, Adityanath had released a heartfelt letter expressing his anguish and apologized for not being able to attend his father’s funeral. He expressed that it was his dire wish to see his father for the one last time, however, he had the responsibility of protecting 23 crore people of his state from the raging pandemic. Respecting the mandate of a nationwide lockdown, he had not attended the cremation of his father.
The UP CM had only visited his family home and met his mother after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. It is notable here that UP CM Yogi Adityanath had renounced the bonds of family and birth when he was ordained as a monk of the Nath Sampradaya at Gorakhpeeth. So as per Hindu traditions, he could not be a part of the death rituals and is only allowed to attend the events.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, known as the architect of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir movement had breathed his last on Saturday, 21 August.
The internal rift within the Congress Punjab widened further on Tuesday after nearly 30 MLAs, including four cabinet ministers, openly revolted against Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and declared that they no longer have faith in his ability to deliver on election promises.
Ahead of the assembly elections in Punjab, the Congress party is in deep trouble in Punjab as some of its MLAs have now reportedly expressed their discontent against Captain Amarinder’s leadership. At least 30 MLAs, including four powerful ministers, have now dissented against the Chief Minister saying that they do not trust him anymore.
The dissenting MLAs had gathered at Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa’s residence in Chandigarh on Tuesday seeking change in the party leadership just ahead of the crucial polls. The majority of the rebel MLAs are believed to be supporters of Navjot Singh Sidhu in his ongoing leadership battle against Singh.
The rebel MLAs said that the Chief Minister has failed to resolve the issues in Punjab and accused him of not fulfilling poll promises made during the 2017 state election.
Interestingly, the rebel MLAs has also met Navjot Singh Sidhu, who later in the day, tweeted that he held an emergency meeting with Tript Rajinder Bajwa.
Got a call from Tripat Bajwa ji asking for an emergency meeting… Met him along with other colleagues at the PPCC office. Will appraise the high command of the situation. pic.twitter.com/n98QacvQhd
The rebel camp has accused Captain Amarinder Singh of being “hand in glove with Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal. It is being said that the full-scale revolt against Amarinder Singh has intensified after Navjot Singh Sidhu was made the state Congress chief.
A five-member committee representing the dissenting camp is scheduled to meet the Congress high command in New Delhi to seek Amarinder’s removal, just six months ahead of assembly polls in Punjab. Interestingly, the rebel camp has not yet named their choice for the alternate leader if Captain Amarinder Singh is replaced.
Jails and Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Technical education and Industrial Training Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Revenue minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh joined Bajwa in demanding Amarinder’s removal. The rebel MLAs fear that they might be dropped from the cabinet in the reshuffle as they are in Sidhu’s camp.
Currently, Congress has 80 MLAs in the 117-seat Punjab assembly.
“If the high command does not listen to us, we will decide the next course of action,” Bajwa threatened the party leadership on Tuesday. Responding to the question on the alternate leader, Bajwa said it was the high command’s decision to pick a new CM. His colleague Channi said, “We are not getting solutions to our problems from this chief minister.”
Questioning Amarinder’s ability to lead the government, Randhawa, who was once very close to the CM, said, “Wars cannot be fought by sitting in a drawing-room or just by tweeting. Wars are fought on the ground. Day by day, SAD and AAP are attacking Congress on the Bargari sacrilege issue. People ask us about the cancellation of the power purchase agreements and other unfulfilled promises.”
The rebel MLA also alleged that Amarinder would not meet his cabinet colleagues, but always found time to be part of gatherings in Amritsar and other places.
Sidhu vs Captain tussle escalates
The tensions between Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Navjot Singh Sidhu have been building up since the last few weeks. A few days back, the tussle took another turn after the later slammed Singh-led government in Punjab and hailed BJP-ruled states for higher State Assured Prices(SAP) for Sugarcane.
Navjot Sidhu on Monday had posted a tweet calling for an increase in State Agreed Price (SAP) for sugarcane in Punjab, asserting that despite the higher cost of cultivation in the state, the SAP is lower than that received by farmers in BJP ruled states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
“The sugarcane farmers issue needs to be immediately resolved amicably…Strange that despite the higher cost of cultivation in Punjab the state assured price is too low as compared to Haryana/UP/Uttarakhand. As a torchbearer of agriculture, the Punjab SAP should be better!” Sidhu tweeted.
Sidhu’s tweet came in the wake of indefinite protests carried out by thousands of farmers and sugarcane producers affiliated to nearly 32 farmers’ organisations demanding the clearance of pending dues of sugarcane and enhancement in the State Agreed Price(SAP).
As many as 20,000 farmers participated in the protests on the first day of the agitation on the Dhanowali Road on the Jalandhar-Phagwara highway on Friday. Many farmers sat on dharna on rail tracks also.
The latest fight once again brought to fore the infighting within the Punjab Congress unit, with Sidhu and Singh allegedly involved in a perpetual tussle to exert their dominance over the party.
Union Minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane, who was arrested over a statement against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray was granted bail at midnight by a Raigad Magistrate Court. The Court directed the Minister to furnish a bail bond of Rs 15,000 after which he was released.
Court has directed Rane to furnish bail bond of Rs. 15,000 with surety of like amount.
Rane has now reached Mumbai and his lawyer Aniket Nikam while speaking with CNN News18 hinted at a further legal recourse with respect to multiple FIRs filed against him.
Narayan Rane’s criticism of Uddhav Thackeray
Union Minister Narayan Rane while speaking at the ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ in Raigad district of Maharashtra, had condemned the Maharashtra CM for his sheer ignorance.
“It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given him a tight slap,” Rane had remarked, triggering multiple FIRs, and arrest orders against him by the Shiv Sena-led MVA government.
Shiv Sena gets violent
Almost instantly, the Shiv Sena launched multiple attacks on the BJP leader. Several FIRs were filed against Rane demanding immediate arrest of the Minister.
To protest against the ‘slap remark’, Shiv Sena goons pelted stones and bricks at BJP’s Nashik office.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: A group of Shiv Sena workers pelt stones at BJP party office in Nashik & raise slogans against Union Minister Narayan Rane.
The Union Minister and BJP leader had given a statement against CM Uddhav Thackeray yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Y3A3cWZbTa
A BJP corporator in Ulhasnagar was thrashed brutally and his had face blackened by the Sena goons to avenge Rane’s statement against their leader.
What on earth? BJP corporator beaten by Shiv Sena workers in Ulhasnagar. Allegedly, because they were angry over Narayan Rane comment. Members of ruling party running amok? pic.twitter.com/ZPv6lW4BBV
A huge crowd amassed outside Rane’s home in Juhu to protest against him shortly after CM Uddhav Thackeray cancelled Hindu festival celebrations claiming ‘saving lives is a priority amidst the pandemic.’
The Minister had approached the Bombay High Court to seek interim relief from arrest and other or any coercive action. However, a Bench comprising Justices SS Shinde and N J Jamadar refused to hear his petition asking the advocate to follow due ‘procedure.’
Narayan Rane arrested
Rane who was addressing a yatra under BJP’s Jan Ashirwad campaign in Ratnagiri’s Chiplun was arrested by Ratnagiri police while he was having food. Visuals of Rane being surrounded by police force and detained while eating resulted in a huge uproar.
As per reports, Rane was handed over to Nashik police by Ratnagiri police later.
Union Minister Narayan Rane has been sent to judicial custody (in connection with his alleged statement against Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray): BJP MLC Prasad Lad pic.twitter.com/asDqtG4aen
BJP leader Prasad Lad also revealed that the Minister was ‘manhandled’ by police. “Rane was arrested while he was having lunch. The arrest is illegal. We are afraid that he may be harassed by the police if kept inside the police station overnight. He was manhandled by police while he was having his lunch. The cops did not even allow doctors to complete his check up,” informed Lad.
Another BJP leader Pramod Jathar alleged that the Ratnagiri police was under ‘immense pressure’ to arrest the BJP leader.
State Minister seen giving instructions for Rane’s arrest
In a shocking revelation, BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua shared visuals where State Transport Minister Anil Parab was caught giving instructions to arrest Rane.
The visual captured by TV9 Digital shows Parab taking instructions of Rane’s arrest from someone on phone. He can be heard saying that he will speak with the police and get Rane arrested.
Minister Parab giving instructions for Rane arrest.
Parab then dials to someone and instructs him to detain Rane using ‘police force.’ He also says that both the High Court and Sessions Court have rejected Rane’s bail plea and that they can go ahead with the arrest.
As Parab was sitting with his microphone on, his conversations were audible. He asks why Rane has not been arrested yet. Then he is asked for updates by a Sena legislator sitting next to him. Parab was seen telling that Police is there and Rane will be brought out now. But when the media asks Parab about Rane, he was seen telling that he does not have all the details.
JP Nadda says ‘arrest unconstitutional’
National President of BJP JP Nadda in a Twitter post claimed that Rane’s detention was unlawful and unconstitutional. “The arrest of Union Minister Narayan Rane ji by the Maharashtra government is a violation of constitutional values. We will neither be scared nor suppressed by such action. These people are troubled by the immense support the BJP is getting in the Jan-Aashirvad Yatra. We will continue to fight democratically, the journey will continue,” Nadda said in a Tweet.
महाराष्ट्र सरकार द्वारा केंद्रीय मंत्री नारायण राणे जी की गिरफ़्तारी संवैधानिक मूल्यों का हनन है। इस तरह की कार्यवाही से ना तो हम डरेंगे, ना दबेंगे। भाजपा को जन-आशीर्वाद यात्रा में मिल रहे अपार समर्थन से ये लोग परेशान है। हम लोकतांत्रिक ढंग से लड़ते रहेंगे, यात्रा जारी रहेंगी।
Leader of Opposition and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis slammed the Maharashtra government for using police force against Rane.
“We do not support Narayan Rane’s statements. But looking at the way the government is using police force to act in a lawless manner, we will support Rane as an individual and the whole party is with him,” said Fadnavis while addressing the media.
“This is ‘policejivi’ government. It is state-sponsored violence just like in Bengal,” he said further.
Sena mocks Rane
Going berserk over Rane’s statement, Shiv Sena through its official handle mocked the Union Minister.
The hospitals in the United States are struggling to manage the ongoing Delta wave, stoking a fresh health crisis in the country. The Covid-19 cases have soared well over to 1.5 lakh infections on an average day, even as the health authorities in the United States are struggling to inoculate its population with the vaccine.
With large swathes of the country unprotected against the deadly virus, there has been a surge in infections in the United States. On Tuesday alone, the US recorded 2.66 lakh fresh Covid-19 infections, the highest in the last month.
America’s delta-driven surge of Covid-19 has entered a deadlier phase in the last week. The fresh infections have risen in 42 of the 50 states, while deaths are now increasing in 43 states – the worst tally since December, before America’s deadliest month of the pandemic.
Daily cases in the US are at an average of 1,50,000-mark per day since the last month, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CD) issuing a warning to health authorities about a possible wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Rising Covid-19 cases in the United States/ Image Source: Google/NYT
Despite the high number of Covid-19 cases in the United States, the US media outlets seem to have found no courage at all to question the authorities over their failure to manage the pandemic in the country. The media outlets that were extensively reporting on the pandemic outbreak in other countries, especially India by predicting doomsday scenarios, have chosen silence over the failure of the “superpower” United States to handle the pandemic effectively.
So far, the USA has recorded over 3.8 crore cases and over 6.3 lakh deaths due to the Covid pandemic.
USA tope health expert Anthony Fauci, who had earlier claimed the country will have good control over Covid by the fall of 2022, has now corrected his stand. Speaking to NPR, the chief medical advisor to the White House stated that if an ‘overwhelming population’ gets vaccinated, they can ‘start to really get a good control over’ Covid by the fall of 2022.
Western media that predicted doomsday scenario for India, remains silent over Covid-19 disaster in the US
As India battled the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, western media outlets had unleashed a concerted campaign to discredit the Indian government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic. In an effort to humiliate and discredit the country, the western media had come up with dubious research to imagine higher deaths in the country.
The foreign liberal media displayed a strange attitude while reporting on India. The Indian government was scrutinised to the most over its management of the pandemic, and India became the centre of attention for media worldwide. The western press focused on the deaths and captured images of funeral pyres to proclaim that India was one of the worst affected countries globally, thus creating a wave of “shock” among their non-Indian audience.
New York Times coverage over India’s Covid–19 crisis/ Image Source: NYT
India, which put up a brave fight against the Chinese pandemic, also had to cope with a massive misinformation war initiated by the global left-liberal establishment.
A few months back, controversial left-wing US media outlet New York Times had come up with imaginary numbers, claiming that India’s actual Covid-19 death numbers are exponentially more than the officially published numbers. The NYT had predicted that India’s death numbers range between 6 lakh to 42 lakh, against the official number of 3 lakh.
However, the Indian government swiftly took on the misinformation warfare being propagated by a certain section of western media by providing them factual and logical explanations.
Here is a similar sinister campaign by the Washington Post against India during the pandemic:
Image Source: Washington Post
However, it looks like all the ridicule and criticism of the western press over the mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic is limited to only ‘brown’ countries. As the United States struggles to cope-up with the Covid-19 pandemic, the US media that claim to speak ‘truth to power’ have chosen to ignore to mention that the world’s alleged “superpower” has failed to control the Chinese pandemic in its own country.
No coverage by the Western media on US Covid disaster
In contrast to their extensive coverage over the second wave of the pandemic in India, the US media has almost zero coverage on the US Covid-19 disaster. Even as the US records over 2.5 lakhs cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, not a single media outlet has made it their primetime story to hold authorities in the country accountable. The very same media that was humiliating Indians by displaying dead bodies and funeral pyres has not even reported on the raging Covid-19 infections in the country.
Not a single publication that was predicting doomsday for India a few months ago suggesting that the country would record over a million deaths due to Covid-19 is reporting the looming threat of Covid-19 in the United States. Instead, the foreign press is trying to cover up for the humiliating loss of the Biden administration at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan by over-emphasizing on plain rhetorics.
Hence, most of the media space in the left-wing publications such as Washington Post, New York Times or CNN is being reserved for defending Biden’s administration’s Afghan disaster rather than reporting on the Covid-19 disaster in the country.
Here are the screenshots of landing pages of prominent news websites in the US that have absolutely ignored the reportage on the US’s Covid-19 disaster:
The Washington Post that reported widely on India has not even reported on the increasing Covid-19 cases on its front page, in contrast to its aggressive tweets and reports on India’s Covid-19 story.
Well, the same goes with the New York Times. There is not even a single report on the rise in Covid-19 cases in the United States. Instead, most of the media space is dedicated to cover up the US disaster in Afghanistan.
CNN, accused of being a mouthpiece of the Democrats, has also chosen silence over its Covid-19 reportage ever since Joe Biden became the president of the United States. No images of graveyards or dead bodies have been posted on their website that shows the abysmal handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.
Well, it seems like all the heroics of the western ‘liberal’ media are limited to trying to malign and humiliate the so-called ‘third world’ countries, spread misinformation while completely ignoring the situation in their own countries.
On August 24, Surat Police arrested a man identified as one Rahul Gandhi for creating ruckus on the road under the influence of alcohol. A resident of Panas Gam, Gandhi was held after he caused a disturbance in the Khatodara area, Surat. He had reportedly consumed alcohol in his car. Notably, alcohol is banned in the state of Gujarat.
As reported by online portal Loktej, ‘Rahul Gandhi’ reached police station and barged into the cabin of Police Inspector Tarun Patel. He then introduced himself as Rahul Chandrakant Gandhi. He was in an inebriated state because of which the police officer asked for a case to be registered against him under the prohibition law. On hearing that, Gandhi got upset and created a ruckus in the police station. Report suggests he had come to file a complaint to police station after having discussed same over a phone call. However, he ended up being a criminal himself.
The World Bank has suspended financial aid to Afghanistan and stated it is deeply concerned about the situation in the country, especially women’s rights since the Taliban took over. Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a World Bank official saying, “We have paused disbursements in our operations in Afghanistan, and we are closely monitoring and assessing the situation. We are deeply concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the impact on the country’s development prospects, especially for women.”
World Bank ‘deeply concerned,’ pauses aid to Afghanistan: AFP news agency quoting an official
The World Bank did not release the statement earlier as its personnel were in the country. The evacuation process was completed on Friday, which was then followed by the process of suspending the aid. The spokesperson added the World Bank would continue to consult with the development partners and international community. He said, “Together with our partners, we are exploring ways we can remain engaged to preserve hard-won development gains and continue to support the people of Afghanistan.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also announced the suspension of its operations with Afghanistan, including the existing loan program worth $370 million. It also suspended the funds under Special Drawing Rights (SDR) worth $340 million that Kabul was supposed to receive on Monday.
Reportedly, the US has decided to stick to its plan to withdraw the forces completely by the previously announced deadline that is August 31. Last week, the US government had announced that the Taliban would not have access to the gold and cash reserves that are mostly held overseas.
There are over two dozen development projects underway in Afghanistan under the World Bank. According to reports, the lender has provided over $5.2 billion for development projects, mostly in grants since 2002.
Taliban takeover in Afghanistan
Amidst the ongoing withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban swiftly took over power by taking control of the majority of the large cities in the country. It resulted in people trying to flee the country, including women who feared a return of 1990s-type Taliban rule where they had to stay at home, entertainment was banned, and public executions as punishments were common.
Since the Taliban took over, though they promised to grant some rights to women under strict Sharia law. Women have been told to wear a burqa. Female employees were told to leave business premises, including radio stations. A woman was killed for not wearing a burqa, while another was reportedly killed as she did not cook well. Reports also suggested that the Taliban has been conducting door-to-door search operations hunting girls and women between the age of 12 to 45 to use them as sex slaves.
