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Residents of Mirzapur urge Uttar Pradesh government to rename the district as ‘Vindhyanchal Nagar’

OpIndia Staff
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Residents of Mirzapur urge Uttar Pradesh government to rename the district as ‘Vindhyanchal Nagar’

There has been a growing demand from the residents of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh to change the name of the district to ‘Vindhyanchal Nagar’.

According to the reports, Bharatiya Savarna Sangh recently passed a resolution to change the name of Mirzapur to ‘Vindhyanchal Nagar’. The organisation has also written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath urging the government to rename the city.

According to Avdesh Singh, the Vice President of Bharatiya Savarna Sangh said that the district gets its name from the Hindu deity Maa Vindhyavasini and added that it was befitting for the government to rename Mirzapur as ‘Vindhyanchal Nagar’. Singh said that the renaming of the district and developing it as a Vindhya corridor would boost the economic and cultural prospects of the region.

The BJP has also joined the chorus demanding the renaming of the city to ‘Vindhyanchal Nagar’. BJP MLA Ratnakar Mishra has appealed to the state government to change the name of Mirzapur. He said that the residents have been demanding it for a long time to change the name of Mirzapur to Vindhya Dham, however, the government has not taken any decision regarding the same, he said.

The demand to rename Mirzapur comes on the heels of the recent decision by the Zila Panchayat of Aligarh to rename the city as ‘Harigarh’.

Last week, the Zila Panchayat of Aligarh had passed a resolution seeking to rename the city as Harigarh. The proposal was unanimously ratified in the first meeting of the panchayat, with 50 out of 72 members in attendance.

Besides, a proposal was also passed to name the airport of Aligarh after BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who was the resident of the “Lock City” and the chief minister of the state during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement when the controversial Babri structure was levelled to the ground in Ayodhya.

In addition to Aligarh, the Zila Panchayat of Mainpuri also passed a resolution seeking to rechristen the town as Mayan Nagar, after sage Mainpuri, who founded the present day Mainpuri, members said. Earlier this month, a similar proposal to rename Firozabad to Chandra Nagar was passed by the Firozabad district panchayat. According to locals, King Chandrasen lived in Firozabad, and because it was earlier known as Chandravar Nagar till about 1560 AD, the city should be renamed Chandra Nagar.

USA: Senate Majority Leader spotted dancing around with comedian in public as trapped Americans in Afghanistan get beaten by Taliban

OpIndia Staff
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USA: Senate Majority Leader spotted dancing around with comedian in public as trapped Americans in Afghanistan get beaten by Taliban

On Saturday (August 21), the United States Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer sparked a controversy after he was seen dancing backstage with late-night show host Stephen Colbert in New York City (NYC). Schumer was attending the ‘We Love NYC’ concert at a time when thousands of US citizens are stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

The video of the United States Senate Majority leader, breaking into a dance, was shared by Bill Neidhart, who serves as the press secretary of NYC Mayor de Blasio. “Backstage antics,” he tweeted. Soon, netizens slammed Chuck Schumer on social media for his insensitivity and inability to comprehend the severity of the Taliban crisis in Afghanistan.

Jesse Kelly, the host of the ‘I’m Right’ show, tweeted, “10,000 American civilians trapped behind an army of barbarians in a foreign land. This is how much they care.”

“The pain Senator Schumer feels about Afghanistan is palpable,” remarked character actor Nick Seary.

Republican leader Lee Zeldin wrote, “Maybe once Senator Schumer is done dancing with Stephen Colbert, he can call Joe Biden& get him to sign the Pre-Landfall Emergency Declaration for our state. The current forecast is predicting a direct hit to Long Island by Hurricane Henri in hours. Stop clowning around & do something!”

Professor Tom Nichols tweeted, “I had no compunction about pointing out that Gov. Noem parading through a superspreader event during a national crisis was a symbol of an unserious nation. What Chuck Schumer did today was worse. He’s the Senate Majority Leader. An even greater symbol of utter unseriousness.”

Republican Candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania, Sean parnell, wrote, “10,000 plus Americans are stranded in Afghanistan, surrounded by the enemy & desperate for help & this is what Senate Majority Leader @chuckschumer is doing. Dancing in the street with celebrities. Just so tone deaf & embarrassing for our nation.”

Americans get beaten by Taliban

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin briefed members of the Congress that Americans in Afghanistan have been beaten by the Taliban. “The Taliban are roaming the streets, beating Americans, beating Afghans and beating our allies and that’s who we’re negotiating with to get our people out and putting our faith in — it’s insane,” one member of the House told the New York Post.

“There remains a massive gap between the message that President Biden shared with the American people and the reality on the ground. He says Americans are not having trouble accessing the airport, while the media is reporting of the Taliban roaming the streets beating Americans and our allies,” Representative Anthony Gonzalez from Ohio told NYP.

Taliban takes over Afghanistan

After a month-long offensive against the Afghan army, the Islamist outfit Taliban finally reached the gates of Kabul on Sunday (August 15). They entered Afghanistan’s presidential palace hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Since then surreal scenes have emerged as people try to flee the country to save their lives. Visuals of Afghan people falling from the sky as they tried to escape while hanging on to the wheels of the airplanes have gone viral on social media. The Talibs have been seen enjoying themselves as the amusement park as well among other surreal scenes.

While the Taliban has promised to preserve women’s rights and grant amnesty to everyone who had run afoul with the terror outfit, the situation on the ground tells a different story. There have been reports emerging from Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan that say the Taliban terrorists have been hunting down their adversaries and exacting revenge from those whom they perceive to have helped the United States and NATO forces. This has added to the panic among the people, who are now either going underground or rushing towards the airport to escape the country.

Tension in Muzaffarpur after Muharram and Suwariya mela at the same place, locals clash with police after pigs meant for sacrifice snatched by cops

OpIndia Staff
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Tension in Muzaffarpur after Muharram and Suwariya mela at the same place, locals clash with police after pigs meant for sacrifice snatched by cops

A major controversy erupted in Ramlila Gachi Bazar in Deoria in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar on Friday (August 20) over holding the Tazia procession as part of the Muharram celebration and celebrations of Suwariya mela wherein pigs are slaughtered as part of Hindu ritual on the last Friday of the month of Sawan. Incidentally, both the festivals fell on the same day.

According to reports, during the celebrations, police had arrived at the spot to stop the animal sacrifice at the Hindu festival. But the enraged Hindus used sticks and bamboos to attack police officers who arrived at the fair to stop them from sacrificing animals. The police too, retaliated by raining lathis at the crowd. Both, locals and the police personnel sustained injuries in the brawl.

While five police officers were reportedly hurt in the incident, including the SHO of Deoria, more than a dozen villagers were also hurt in the attack. Hundreds of locals who had gathered to celebrate the festival on Friday accused the police of taking unilateral action against the villagers.

According to reports, the people belonging to the Muslim community held a Tazia procession on the night of August 18 (Wednesday). Following this, the people of the Hindu community began constructing a pandal in the area to conduct the Suwariya mela. Reportedly, there was a lot of angst amongst some Muslim villagers regarding this. Fearing that the situation might deteriorate, Paru’s CO and SHO held a meeting with some locals and debarred the Hindus from holding the festival, to which they took strong objection.

Locals said that the police snatched the pigs from the hands of the Hindus who were carrying the animals to slaughter them as part of their ritual. This enraged the Hindu villagers, who then attacked the police with rods and sticks. The irate villagers started pelting stones at the police in an attempt to drive them away, in which, 5 police personnel including SHO Sanjay Swarup, Paru inspector Digambar Prasad reportedly sustained injuries.

The police too, resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the villagers, in which a dozen villagers were injured. According to the locals, four rounds of aerial firing was also done by the police to control the crowd. However, the police are denying all these allegations.

Speaking to ANI, Anil Kumar, the sub-divisional magistrate of Muzzafarpur said: On the last day of the month of Sawan, people offer prayers and sacrifice animals. In a meeting, it was decided that there would be a ban on animal sacrifice this year. In violation of the mutual agreement, some people were adamant about sacrificing animals and started pelting stones at policemen in which a dozen of policemen were injured. The situation is now under control and the miscreants are being identified”.

Meanwhile, there is significant tension in the area following the incident. A large contingent of police has been deployed to keep the situation under control.

Bullet train to connect Ayodhya, Varanasi to New Delhi, part of effort to put city of Shri Ram on international tourist map: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Bullet train to connect Ayodhya, Varanasi to New Delhi, part of effort to put city of Shri Ram on international tourist map: Details

Several projects are in the pipeline to put Ayodhya on the international tourist map. As per reports, National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC) has applied for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Airport Authority of India to start the Bullet Train project connecting Ayodhya to New Delhi. As per the plan, the high-speed Bullet Train will connect New Delhi to three major pilgrimage cities in Uttar Pradesh that are Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya.

Earlier, a detailed plan of 941.5 KM track was tabled to connect Delhi and Varanasi via Agra-Lucknow-Prayagraj. Now Ayodhya has been added to the circuit with a separate link track of 130 KM between Lucknow and Ayodhya. The Bullet Train connecting Delhi to Ayodhya will cover a distance of over 670 KM with speed ranging between 320 KM/Hour to 350 KM/Hour. It will cut down travel time between Delhi and Ayodhya to three hours.

To initiate the project, several meetings were held between NHSRC and district officials to finalize the land for the station. The state government has allotted the land for the station to NHSRC, and it will be built near the Maryada Purushottam Shree Ramchandra Airport that is being constructed near the Lucknow-Gorakhpur highway bypass. The work for the project will be commenced as soon as NOC is received from AAI.

Times of India quoted Anoop Kumar Agarwal, Executive director of National High-Speed Rail Corporation, saying, “there is a plan to directly connect city of Lord Ram with the national capital”. An aerial survey has been done and the plan has also been approved by the Centre. “National High-Speed Rail Corporation will begin work as soon as we receive a no-objection certificate from the AAI. It will take seven years for completion of the project.”

On this particular route, two pairs of Bullet Trains will run. The first will connect New Delhi to Ayodhya, and the second would connect New Delhi to Varanasi. The government will spend around 200 lakh crore on the project.

Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram International Airport

Apart from Bullet Train, an international airport is also coming up in the city, and the authorities are working on the project at a fast pace. 75-acres of land was acquired for the project from eight villages, including Januar, Ganja, Pura Hussain Khan, Dharampur Sahadat, Nandpur, Kushmaha, Firozpur and Sarethi in the district. Reports suggest that the displaced farmers have got a plot, a house under the PM Housing scheme and monetary compensation for the land they sold to the government for the project.

Multiple projects in Ayodhya to make it a tourist hub

Ayodhya has faced discrimination in terms of development projects from the previous governments. Since BJP formed the government in the state, several projects have been announced for the districts. After Supreme Court passed the judgement in favour of Ram Lalla Virajmaan, countless projects have been announced for the district to fast-track the development in the area.

In July 2021, CM Yogi Adityanath announced that the city is to be developed as a religious, Vedic and solar-powered sustainable city. Ayodhya has a historical, cultural and spiritual foundation and the Central and State government want to develop it as a global tourist destination while being a sustainable city.

CM Yogi had said, “Heritage lighting should be done in the city. The panch Kosi, chaudah Kosi and chaurasi Kosi parikrama pathways should be developed keeping their religious significance in mind.” He added that the work for the conservation of water bodies, intelligent traffic management system, animal protection, outer ring road and other road projects, solar projects, tree plantation and new employment opportunities are to be initiated on priority.

Later on August 5, the first anniversary of Bhumi Pujan of Bhavya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, he had announced that 17 projects worth Rs.138 crore had already been completed, and 54 projects worth Rs.3136 crore are under development.

150 Indian nationals feared ‘kidnapped’ by Taliban in Kabul evacuated and return safely to India

OpIndia Staff
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150 Indian nationals feared ‘kidnapped’ by Taliban in Kabul evacuated and return safely to India

A day after it was reported that around 150 Indians were allegedly kidnapped by the Taliban from outside the Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul, the stranded individuals were successfully rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday (August 22).

The development was confirmed on Twitter by News18 journalist Aditya Raj Kaul. In a tweet, he informed that an IAF C-17 aircraft, carrying 150 Indian nationals and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, took off from Kabul at 5:30 am in morning. “Good news. Over 150 Indian nationals & 23 Afghan Sikhs/Hindus have taken off from Kabul at 5:30 am in an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft & will be landing in India soon. This is the same group which was yesterday stopped and harassed by a Taliban group aircraft,” he said.

Here are the visuals of the IAF aircraft landing at Hindon Air Base.

Rishikesh Kumar of Sputnik reported yesterday that those abducted included a number of Afghan Sikhs and citizens but most of them were ordinary Indians. The people, including women and children, had reached the airport at 1 AM but could not enter. Kumar reported that soon after, Talibs came and thrashed some of them and took them all to Tarkhil, Kabul. Some managed to escape from the moving car, reported Kumar. According to those who had escaped, the Talibs told them that they were being taken inside the airport through another gate but it is not clear if they were indeed taken in or transferred to another location.

Two Afghan MPs, Narender Singh Khalsa and Dr Anarkali Kaur Honaryar amongst the 23 Sikhs rescued from Kabul

More than 20 Afghan Sikhs, including Afghanistan Member of Parliament Narender Singh Khalsa, were rescued from the Taliban in Kabul by the Indian Air Force on Saturday (August 21). Along with him, Dr Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, first Sikh woman MP of Afghanistan, was also rescued.

According to the reports, the Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft took off from Kabul with another 168 people, including 107 Indians and some 20 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus for Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad.

Afghanistan lawmaker Narender Singh Khalsa is among the 23 Afghan Sikhs who were rescued by the Indian government on Saturday. Speaking to the media, Afghan MP Narender Singh Khalsa thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Government, and the Indian Air Force for rescuing him and the Afghan Sikh minority community from the Taliban.

Other than the previous evacuation missions, three flights with as many as 390 Indians, Afghans and other nationals will land in India this morning. 168 people are evacuated from Kabul, 135 from Doha (brought by NATO forces from Afghanistan) and 87 from Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan.

Talibanis set an Afghan woman on fire for ‘bad cooking’, alleges activist

OpIndia Staff
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Talibanis set an Afghan woman on fire for ‘bad cooking’, alleges activist

An Afghan woman was reportedly set on fire by Talibanis for “bad cooking”, and many others are being forced into sex slavery.

Speaking to Sky News, Najla Ayoubi, a former Afghan judge and activist, revealed that the Talibanis set ablaze a woman because they were not satisfied with a meal she prepared.

Sharing the horrific details of her experience in the capital, Ayoubi said she had to “flee” for her life after promoting women’s rights.

“They are forcing people to give them food and cook them food,” said Ayoubi, adding, “A woman was put on fire because she was accused of bad cooking for Taliban fighters.”

The former judge said she was forced to escape Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country. She said that ever since the Taliban took over the country, she has received multiple reports of violence against women.

“There are so many young women in the past few weeks being shipped into neighbouring countries in coffins to be used as sex slaves. They also force families to marry their young daughters to Taliban fighters. I don‘t see where is the promise that they think women should be going to work when we see all of these atrocities,” she told Sky News.

Ayoubi added that many rights activists in Afghanistan are “in hiding”, fearing retaliation from the Taliban.

Door-to-door hunt for girls as young as 12, Taliban looking for sex slaves

Earlier, there were reports that the Taliban gangs are targeting children as young as 12 during their hunt for sex slaves since they took over Afghanistan. Women and girls are among the most at-risk Afghanis under the new Islamist regime after the Jihadist organisation launched a door-to-door search for sex slaves.

From demanding lists of women and girls in different regions to forcing marriages on young girls, reports of the Taliban’s atrocities are making headlines. The unmarried and widowed women and girls between the ages of 12 to 45 are termed as “qhanimat” or spoils of the war by the Taliban. They are reportedly being divided among the members of the group.

According to Shukria Barakzai, Afghan politician and journalist, the stories of the Taliban’s atrocities against women and girls are horrifying. She wrote in The Daily Mail, “The gouging of a woman’s eyes in front of her terrified family; girls as young as 12 wrenched from the arms of their weeping mothers to become sex slaves for Taliban ‘warriors’; men punished or even killed for ‘offences’ as simple as listening to the ‘wrong’ music, or for daring to be ‘educated’.”

She further said that in some villages, Taliban members conducted door-to-door searches looking for young girls to forcibly marrying them and pushing them into a life of sex slaves. She added, “So determined are they that no virgin will escape their clutches that they check drawers, wardrobes and even suitcases in homes where desperate mothers deny they have young daughters to ensure they are telling the truth.”

Afghanistan: 6 out of 9 Talibanis who surrendered before the resistance forces were Pakistanis

OpIndia Staff
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Afghanistan: 6 out of 9 Talibanis who surrendered before the resistance forces were Pakistanis

Two days after it was reported that the resistance forces in Afghanistan had liberated Pol-e-Hasar, Deh Salah, and Banu districts in the Baghlan Province from Taliban control, it has now come to light that several members of the radical Islamist outfit hailed from Pakistan.

The development was shared on Twitter by Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) commando Wazir Akbar Mohmand. He informed that 9 Taliban extremists surrendered before the resistance forces after they re-captured the Andarb district. “9 taliban terrorists surrendered to the Resistance in Andarab district. 6 of them were nationals from Pakistan,” Mohmand added.

On August 6, about 112 Talibs were neutralised and 31 injured in multiple airstrikes conducted by the Afghan Air Force in Lashkargah city in Helmand provincial centre of Afghanistan. The Afghan Defense Ministry stated that out of the 112 slain Talibs, there were 30 Pakistanis affiliated with Islamist terror outfit Al-Qaeda.

Accusations by the Afghan government

The Afghan government has repeatedly accused Pakistan of sheltering terrorists and supporting the Taliban’s terror attack on the Afghan forces. Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai informed that Afghanistan is willing to provide evidence before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that will expose Pakistan’s supplies and logistical support to the Islamist outfit. He stated that the injured Talibs were being taken to Pakistan for medical treatment. The Afghanistan envoy said that there were videos which showed how injured Taliban terrorists were treated in Pakistan and buried once they died.

In July, Afghanistan’s first Vice-President had tweeted, “Breaking: Pakistan air force has issued official warning to the Afghan Army and Air Force that any move to dislodge the Taliban from Spin Boldak area will be faced and repelled by the Pakistan Air Force. Pak air force is now providing close air support to Taliban in certain areas.”

Screengrab of the tweet

During the launch of the ‘Single National Curriculum’ in Islamabad earlier this month, Pakistan PM Imran Khan backed the Taliban’s actions by claiming that the Afghan population had broken the ‘chains of slavery’. He had also remarked that ‘cultural imposition’ (by the United States) was tantamount to ‘mental slavery.’ In July this year, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had described the Taliban as ‘normal civilians’ and conceded that it was not possible for the government to hunt them down.

‘Mera shav bhi BJP ke jhande mein lipat ke jaaye’ – Kalyan Singh wished to be wrapped in BJP flag on his final journey

OpIndia Staff
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‘Mera shav bhi BJP ke jhande mein lipat ke jaaye’ – Kalyan Singh wished to be wrapped in BJP flag on his final journey

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh passed away at the age of 89 at SGPGI, Lucknow, on August 21. Known as one of the main architects of the Ram Mandir movement, Kalyan Singh once expressed his desire to be wrapped in the BJP flag on his final journey after death. While addressing the public in an event, he had said, “The values of Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party are in every drop of my blood. I wish to be in BJP for the rest of my life, and when my life ends, I wish my body should be wrapped in the flag of BJP.”

He repeated his wish in an interview with senior journalist Rajat Sharma in his program Aap Ki Adalat. He had said, “I am part of Sangh, and I am proud of it. I have learned Principal based politics. I want to put an end to the question from your platform, when I will be on my last journey, I will be wrapped in BJP’s flag.”

Fondly called by the name Babu Ji, late Kalyan Singh spent his entire life strengthening BJP at the grass-root level. He is considered one of the main architects of the Ram Mandir movement. When he was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992, he refused to open fire at Karsewaks, who demolished the disputed structure often referred to as ‘Babri Masjid’ in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. As he refused to follow the order of the Central Government under Congress, the UP government was dismissed the next day.

Afghan MP Narender Singh Khalsa amongst the 23 Sikhs rescued from Kabul, thanks PM Modi for swift evacuation

OpIndia Staff
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Afghan MP Narender Singh Khalsa amongst the 23 Sikhs rescued from Kabul, thanks PM Modi for swift evacuation

More than 20 Afghan Sikhs, including Afghanistan Member of Parliament Narender Singh Khalsa, were rescued from the Taliban in Kabul by the Indian Air Force on Saturday.

According to the reports, the Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft that took off from Kabul with another 168 people, including 107 Indians and some 20 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus for Hindon IAF base in Ghaziabad. Afghanistan lawmaker Narender Singh Khalsa is among the 23 Afghan Sikhs who were rescued by the Indian government on Saturday.

Speaking to the media, Afghan MP Narender Singh Khalsa thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Government and the Indian Air Force for rescuing him and the Afghan Sikh minority community from the Taliban.

His father, Avtar Singh, was killed in a 2018 terror attack in Jalalabad. He was running for the elections in October that year. The Islamic State had taken responsibility for the same.

This group is the same group that was stopped and harassed by Taliban on Saturday.

Arindam Bagchi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, had earlier tweeted that two Nepalese citizens are also coming to India on board the Air India flight from Kabul with assistance and support of the Indian embassy.

Besides Indian Air Force, a special Air India flight carrying 87 Indians from Afghanistan’s Kabul also left for Delhi early on Sunday. The Indians were taken to Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe from Kabul on board a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday. 

Watch: Pakistan’s Jamia Hafsa organises event to celebrate Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, calls them ‘Khanjar hai Kafiro pe’

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Pakistan’s Jamia Hafsa organises event to celebrate Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, calls them ‘Khanjar hai Kafiro pe’

On August 21, a video of students in Jamia Hafsa, a seminary linked to Lal Masjid in Pakistan’s Islamabad, went viral in which they were seen singing praising of Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. According to a report published in Dawn, earlier, they hoisted Taliban flags on its rooftop.

The video was shared on Twitter by Roohan Ahmed, a journalist based in Pakistan.

He said, “Lal Masjid-linked Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad organised an event to celebrate Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.” He further said, “The students of Jamia Hafsa, a seminary linked with Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, are singing a song ‘Salam Taliban’ in an event celebrating the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.”

In the video, one can see the girls, wearing burqas and headscarves with Taliban flag in the background. The girls are singing ‘Salam Taliban’. “You are the symbol of ‘Din’, hail Afghan Taliban. You are the backbone of ‘Din’, hail Afghan Taliban, you are the storm, hail Afghan Taliban. Look at them, they have taken over, the symbol of ‘Din'”. Din is an Arabic word which means judgement, custom and religion.

The girls then sing how the Taliban in Afghanistan is like swords on ‘kafirs’ (non-believers of Islam) and how Taliban will ensure the law of Allah is implemented on people. “If you live as per Shariyat, you would survive, you will live if you submit to Allah,” the young girls sing.

Several reports of Pakistanis celebration takeover of Afghanistan

On Saturday, it was reported that the Taliban flag was seen on top of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) to celebrate the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Pakistani Daily Dawn quoted an officer of the capital administration saying that 4-5 flags were hoisted on the top of Jamia Hafsa. They claimed, “The flags were spotted after Zuhr prayers, and shortly the capital administration and police were informed about it.”

After the issue was brought to the notice of the Police, the senior officers issued orders to act according to the law. The officers went to the seminary and got the flags removed. The seminary officials refused to have any involvement in hoisting the flag and blamed students for the same. Reportedly, some senior officials of the Islamabad administration believe that hoisting any flag is not a crime, but some flags may spread unrest in the area.

Muhammad Hamza Shafqat, deputy commissioner of Islamabad, quoted a tweet pointing out hoisting of Taliban flags on Red Mosque and said, “Was removed there and then.”

Celebrations in Pakistan receive criticism

Such repeated incidents are facing severe criticism on social media platforms, especially from the Afghans. Habib Khan, journalist and activist from Afghanistan, said, “Let Pakistanis celebrate the invasion of Afghanistan, for now. Eventually, Afghans will liberate their land and expel them like the rest of the invaders. Remember, Pakistan will break into pieces.”

Aqil Shah, Associate Professor, David L. Boren College of International Studies at OU, said, “The Pakistani deep state can deny its support of the Taliban, but actions speak louder than words. This is a police report (in Urdu) of the arrest of nine Afghans for waving their country’s flag in Peshawar. Meanwhile, the Red Mosque in ISB raised Taliban flags without consequence.”

In July, videos emerged on social media platforms in which Pakistanis were seen holding Talibani flags and raising slogans in favour of the Jihadi group even before the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

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