Home Blog Page 3950

No democracy, only Sharia: Taliban spokesperson clarifies that Afghanistan will be run exactly as it was 20 years ago

OpIndia Staff
-
0
No democracy, only Sharia: Taliban spokesperson clarifies that Afghanistan will be run exactly as it was 20 years ago

Following the forcible takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the country will now be ruled by a council headed by Islamist leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, reported Reuters. The development was confirmed by senior Taliban commander Waheedullah Hashimi.

According to him, the current Taliban rule in Afghanistan will be similar to that of its earlier run between 1996 to 2001. Back then, the Islamist outfit ran the nation through its council while the supreme leader Mullah Omar remained on the sidelines. Waheedullah Hashimi said that the Head of the Council will operate as the President of the nation. He added that the position held by ‘supreme leader’ Haibatullah Akhundzada will be above the position of the Council Head. “Maybe his (Akhundzada’s) deputy will play the role of ‘president’,” Hashimi emphasised.

Although Hashimi conceded that there were issues regarding how the country would be run, he clarified that Afghanistan would not remain a democracy. “There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country. We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it,” he stated. He informed that a meeting would be held soon by the top leaders of the Taliban to discuss and decide the course of future governance.

Taliban to recruit pilots, soldiers of Afghan armed forces

Taliban will also try to convince pilots and soldiers in the Afghan armed forces to join them. This is despite the fact that the extremist group has killed 1000s of US-trained Afghan soldiers in the past 20 years. Hashimi had pointed out that the radical Islamist outfit has plans to set up a national force, which will include existing members of the Taliban and those who defect from the Afghan army.

“Most of them have got training in Turkey and Germany and England. So we will talk to them to get back to their positions…Of course, we will have some changes, to have some reforms in the army, but still, we need them and will call them to join us. We have contact with many pilots. And we have asked them to come and join, join their brothers, their government…We called many of them and are in search of (others’) numbers to call them and invite them to their jobs,” Hashimi added.

Taliban Supreme leader has 3 deputies, wants Uzbekistan to return choppers and planes of Afghan army

At this point, the Taliban has no pilots to fly the helicopters and fighter aircraft that they seized from various airfields. According to Hashimi, he was expecting Uzbekistan to return 24 helicopters and 22 military aircraft that landed in Uzbekistan since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. It must be mentioned that the current supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has three deputies, namely, Mawlavi Yaqoob, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Abdul Ghani Baradar. Yaqoob is the son of Mullah Omar while Haqqani is the supremo of the Haqqani network. Baradar is of the Taliban’s founders and runs the Islamist outfit’s office in Doha.

Afghans march through Kabul with national flag to protest against Taliban

On the occasion of Afghanistan’s Independence Day on August 19, scores of citizens of the war-torn state took to the streets of the capital city, Kabul. They marched across the city carrying hundreds of meter-long Afghanistan flags, to protest against the Taliban’s takeover of the war-ravaged country. Videos of the protest are now being widely shared on social media platforms.

According to reports, soon after the Islamist outfit officially declared Afghanistan as an ‘Islamic Emirate’ on the country’s 102nd Independence Day from British control in 1919, Afghan nationals, comprising of men, women, and children hit the streets of Kabul. Amidst loud cheers of ‘Long Live Afghanistan’ and ‘Our flag, our identity’, these protestors have been marching through the city with the national flag.

Besides Kabul, the Afghans showed their dissent against the now ruling Talibanis by hoisting their national flag in various other places in the country. In videos of Abdul Haq Square flooding the social media space, two men were seen climbing twin flagpoles to unfurl the national flag. People were also seen cheering as they wave tiny, plastic replicas of the Afghan flag.

Union Minister says Owaisi should be sent to Afghanistan after AIMIM chief says Govt should focus on women in India instead

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Union Minister says Owaisi should be sent to Afghanistan after AIMIM chief says Govt should focus on women in India instead

Asaduddin Owaisi stirred a controversy after claiming that the Indian Government should focus on women in India instead of trying to help Afghans under the Taliban regime. He made the comments during an event on Thursday.

Asaduddin Owaisi said, “As per a report, one out of nine female children dies before the age of 5 years in India. There are atrocities and crimes against women here. But, they (Centre) are worried about what is happening to women in Afghanistan. Isn’t it happening here?”

The AIMIM supremo has been saying that the Indian Government should hold a dialogue with the Taliban. “Now that Afghanistan is in complete control of Taliban, we have no communication, no dialogue with them. All international and security experts have said talks should have been done. But, for last seven years Central government has failed to read what is happening,” Owaisi added.

Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje has shot back at Owaisi, saying that he should be sent to Afghanistan. “It is better to send Asaduddin Owaisi to Taliban to protect their women and community,” she said.

Islamists in India have been cheering for the Taliban ever since the group took over Afghanistan following the exit of US forces. A Delhi riots accused said, “Let me give you guys a piece of good news – Ashraf Ghani has resigned. Thanks to Allah! Slowly and gradually, it will lead to the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (governed by the Taliban). We need to take inspiration from them and learn how to struggle in the pursuit of ‘freedom movement. (Azadi)’.”

Since the takeover, 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 aeroplanes have gone viral on social media. The Talibs have been spotted enjoying themselves as the amusement park as well in other surreal scenes.

India anticipated Afghanistan crisis: Planned exit 6 months in advance, evacuated Indians only after Kabul fell as it wanted to be last to leave

OpIndia Staff
-
0
India anticipated Afghanistan crisis: Planned exit 6 months in advance, evacuated Indians only after Kabul fell as it wanted to be last to leave

Did India foresee the crisis currently unfolding in Afghanistan? Probably yes as the sources involved in India’s evacuation efforts say a contingency plan for this eventuality had been hashed out almost six months before the Taliban stormed the Afghan capital and formally declared their rule over the country.

With the peace talks in Doha going sideways and the Taliban not holding up to its end of the bargain, the Indian authorities anticipated that there would come a time when New Delhi will have to decide whether to stay put or extricate itself from Afghanistan.

“Our overriding concern was the security of our officials on the ground. So we prioritised it in our plan to exfiltrate them from Afghanistan should the Taliban gets hold of the country,” TOI quoted a senior official as saying, who wished to remain anonymous because of being unauthorised to speak on the issue.

The official further added that while drawing out a plan to withdraw or reduce the number of its officials in Afghanistan, it was acutely aware of the message it would send to the Afghans.

India has fostered a unique relationship with Afghans over two decades and has a very different standing in the eyes of Afghans. At the UNSC, The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke about the dynamic that the two countries share with each other. India is involved in infrastructure development projects in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Therefore, its pullout had to be different from the ones planned by the western countries.

Indians were plagued by primarily two concerns. Firstly, it didn’t share a contiguous border with Afghanistan, which meant that the evacuation had to be carried out at a broader level with an all-embracing approach. Secondly, India had no security footprint in Afghanistan.

“India did not want to be the first ones to flee the country,” said sources, who added that it wanted to be last to leave—which would take place only if push came to shove and remaining in the country became untenable and fraught with danger.

A close group of officials monitored by NSA Ajit Doval and foreign minister S Jaishankar conducted a continuous and detailed assessment of security for the past 3 months.

As Talibani started its offensive, gaining control of one city after another, the Indians activated its plan to rescue Indians. The Taliban first seized the northern provinces but India stepped up its activities after the key provinces in the south started falling to the Taliban.

When the Taliban took control of districts around Kandahar, the Indian authorities took the decision of closing the Indian consulate in Kandahar and remove the Indian officials.

Likewise, when Sheberghan fell to the Taliban, the Indian officials proceeded to clear out from Mazar-e-Sharif. However, according to the sources, even then, Indians were among the last to leave. For example, the Russians left in January. Turkey also pulled out in January. In the end, among those left were India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The security assessment changed dramatically after the Taliban walked into Kabul without facing any resistance. The security forces had vanished from the scene, allowing the Taliban to take control of the capital without even firing a bullet. This was the time when India decided to evacuate the Indians.

India flew in an Air India aircraft and brought the first lot of people back to India as the Taliban was taking control of the city. The second Air India flight did not land at the airport as pictures of aeroplanes being swarmed by panic-stricken Afghans started doing the rounds on the internet. India did not want its aircraft to face such a predicament. So, over the next couple of days, the Indian authorities undertook a complex manoeuvre to rescue the stranded officials.

As the situation in Kabul evolved over the course of time, India remains steadfast in its commitment to get all other Indians repatriated back to the country in the coming few days.

Twitter has agreed to 70% of the conditions, ban to be lifted by year-end when all conditions are met: Information minister of Nigeria

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Twitter has agreed to 70% of the conditions, ban to be lifted by year-end when all conditions are met: Information minister of Nigeria

Nigeria is looking forward to lifting the ban on Twitter by the year end, as the micro-blogging site has complied to most of the terms and conditions, and is expected to comply with the rest soon. Nigerian Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Thursday that the government is expecting to lift the ban on Twitter before the end of the year. Nigerian govt had suspended the social media platform in June after it had deleted President’s tweet warning secessionists against violence.  

The minister said that Twitter has agreed to comply with 7 of the 10 requirements set by the government, and the govt is waiting for the company’s response on three pending issues. “Twitter has met almost 70% of the government’s terms and conditions, many of them quite fundamental and important,” the minister told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. The remaining terms include setting up a local office, paying taxes in the country and cooperating with the government to regulate content and harmful tweets on the platform.

Mohammed said that he hopes that Twitter will comply with the terms soon, so that the ban can be lifted by the year end. “We certainly want to put this behind us before the end of the year,” he said. The minister said that Twitter officials met with the officials of the Nigerian govt last week, and it was quite encouraging. However, Twitter has declined to comment on the development.

The minister also said that contrary to the reports, Twitter was suspended not for deleting president Buhari’s tweet, but for becoming the platform of separatists. Her said that Twitter’s use by the banned group Indigenous People of Biafra was the reason of the ban. The Bukhari govt had banned the IPOB as a terrorist organisation because it wants to establish an independent nation in south-eastern Nigeria. The group has been held responsible for several attacks on the security forces by the govt.

“Twitter became the platform of choice for a group that was targeting policemen, killing policemen, killing the military and promoting the interest of one ethnic group against another. For national security, we suspended the operations,” Mohammed said. He added that Twitter made their platform the platform of choice for separatists, and it was suspended because it threatened national unity.

On June 4th, Nigeria had banned Twitter from the country for interfering in the country’s politics, hours after the platform had deleted a tweet by president Muhammadu Buhari warning against secessionist movements. In the tweet, Buhari had made a reference to the country’s 30-month civil war in 1967-1970, and had warned “those who wanted the government to fail” to desist from fomenting trouble.

‘Humanity always wins over terrorism, Lord Shiva helps creation sprout even from ruins’: PM Modi launches key projects at Somnath

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Humanity always wins over terrorism, Lord Shiva helps creation sprout even from ruins’: PM Modi launches key projects at Somnath

On Friday (August 20), Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of several projects in Somnath in the Saurashtra district of Gujarat. The event, organised via video conferencing, was attended by Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Union Home minister Amit Shah and MoS for Tourism Shripad Naik.

During the virtual event, PM Modi emphasised that the Somnath Temple represents the identity of new India. He said, “We need to strengthen religious tourism. This will also provide employment to youth. They (youth) will also get knowledge about our past. Faith can’t be crushed from terror. We should learn from the past. I express my sincere gratitude to all members of Somnath trust and Somanth devotees across the world who made this possible.”

It must be mentioned that PM Modi is the Chairpersom of the Somnath Temple trust. PM Modi laid the foundation of four projects in Somnath including a promenade, an exhibition centre, and two restored temples namely Ahliya Bai temple and Parvati temple.

Reportedly, the Parvati temple construction in Sompura Salats Style has a proposed budget of ₹30 crores. A Garbha Griha and a Nritya Mandap will also be built along with the temple premises. It will be spread over 1650 square meters and will have a height of 71 ft.

The proposed Parvati temple at Somnath, image via Ahmedabad Mirror

Reportedly, the Somnath promenade has been built at a cost of ₹47.55 crores under the PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive) scheme. The promenade is a 1.48km long walkway that stretches along the seacoast. It will also help in the protection of the temple walls. It must be mentioned that devotees can experience the beautiful landscape, children’s games, ancient religious paintings, and the decorative lights that will dot the promenade.

The Somnath Promenade, image via Ahmedabad Mirror


Besides the Parvati temple and the promenade, one of the four key projects includes an exhibition gallery/museum. It has been built at a cost of ₹1.3 crores and will provide historical insights into the glory and beauty of Somnath. The museum will also exhibit dismantled parts of the old Somnath temples and sculptures with Nagar style temple architecture.

The Somnath Museum, image via Ahmedabad promenade

The reconstruction of the old Somnath temple, which was developed by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar in 1783 AD, has been done at a cost of ₹3.5 crores. Reportedly, the temple premises also houses about 15 shops. Also referred to as Ahilyabai temple, it was constructed by Queen Ahilyabai Holkar after discovering the temple in ruins. The redevelopment by Shree Somnath Trust, headed by PM Modi, has been done to increase the capacity of the structure and to ensure the safety of the devotees.

The reconstruction of Ahilyabai temple, image via Ahmedabad Mirror

Many prominent personalities like former Gandhinagar MP, and veteran BJP leader LK Advani, Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and others also attended the virtual event.

PM Modi hails the symbolism of Somnath Temple

Speaking at the event, PM Modi added that the Somnath Temple had been attacked and destroyed many times in the past, but no matter how many times the invaders tried to demolish it, it was raised again and again. He highlighted that the powers that break, the terrorist elements that think that they can establish an empire by forcing the world into submission, can never succeed. Human faith and humanity always triumph over atrocities, the PM added.

Image via Twitter

Shiva always lets creativity rise from ruins, Shiva is eternal: PM Modi

Hailing the cultural and religious significance of Somnath and the 12 Jyotirlings of India, PM Modi stated that it is Lord Shiva who lets the seeds of development sprout and grow even from the ruins of destruction. It is Shiva who nurtures creation in the midst of destruction, and hence, Shiva is indestructible, he is beyond the limits of time and life cycles.

Equating the rise of the Somnath Temple with the characteristic of Lord Shiva himself, PM Modi added that our faith in Lord Shiva lets us realise that our consciousness has an existence beyond the limitations of time. Our faith in Lord Shiva lets us brave the challenges of the current time and continue to exist, like our faith.

Son of Khalistani Bhindranwale’s nephew and former Jathedar of Akal Takht arrested in Punjab by NIA: Details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Son of Khalistani Bhindranwale’s nephew and former Jathedar of Akal Takht arrested in Punjab by NIA: Details

The son of Jasbir Singh Rode, the nephew of Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, has been arrested last night by the NIA from Punjab, reports say. According to reports, Gurmukh Singh, the son of Jasbir Singh Rode, was receiving tiffin boxed loaded with explosives from his uncle, Lakhbir Singh Rode, in Pakistan and distributing within Indian territory.

NIA raided the house of Jasbir situated at a village in Jalandhar. Jasbir is a former Jathedar of the Akal Takht. The NIA recovered tiffin bombs, pistols and RDX from the home. Subsequently, Gurmukh Singh was taken into custody. Jasbir was present at home when the raid occurred, he is reported to be suffering from poor health.

Jasbir Singh Rode had played a significant role in the anti-farm law agitation on the 26th of January that turned violent. He was summoned for questioning earlier by the NIA on the 18th of January but the former Jathedar had claimed that it was a move to crush the agitation.

Lakhbir Singh Rode is the chief of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF). There has been no confirmation from the NIA yet. There are reports that the Intelligence Bureau was also involved in the operation. Further investigations into the matter are reported to be underway.

It is pertinent to mention that the involvement of Khalistani elements in the ‘farmer protests’ has long been obvious, with leaders from both, the BJP and Congress party, raising alarm bells over the development.

‘Journalist’ justifies Taliban killing those trying to escape Kabul, says they colluded with USA in killing Muslims, had earlier celebrated Kamlesh Tiwari murder

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Journalist’ justifies Taliban killing those trying to escape Kabul, says they colluded with USA in killing Muslims, had earlier celebrated Kamlesh Tiwari murder

Panic and fear gripped Afghanistan after the fall of capital Kabul over the weekend, following which a multitude of city residents flocked to the airport, in a desperate attempt to fly out of the country. Chaotic scenes emerged from Kabul airport as wary Afghans scrambled to get a flight out of the country, with some of them clinging to the fuselage of planes, from which they fell to their tragic deaths.

Amidst this tragedy and humanitarian disaster underway in Afghanistan, some Islamists in India were found gloating over the misfortune and adversity faced by the Afghans wanting to escape the impending Talibani rule. Not only they revelled in the miseries of the fleeing Afghans, they even justified the atrocities committed by the Taliban, alleging that people who were making a run from the country deserved to die because they were “guilty” of helping the United States.

Ever since the Taliban formally seized Kabul and declared its rule over Afghanistan, ‘journalist’ Ali Sohrab, who had made objectionable remarks after the brutal killing of Hindu Samaj Party leader Kamlesh Tiwari by Islamists, has been showering praises on the organisation for toppling the Ashraf Ghani government and seeking to establish Sharia law in the country.

Recently, he took to his social media accounts to allege that most of the people who fled to Kabul airport were those people who had helped the United States in killing Muslims in Afghanistan. Justifying atrocities against them, the ‘journalist’ said people who were fleeing to Kabul airport committed crimes that did not deserve “pardon”.

Source: Twitter

Sohrab called for the murder of those people citing the conquest of Mecca when people were executed even after they tendered an apology. Sohrab says such people know that their crimes do not qualify for a pardon and therefore there is a mad rush among them to fled the country. He mentions that the comments were from someone called Tanveer Aalam Shah.

And there were many social media users who concurred with Sohrab on his assertion that those who are rushing to the Kabul airport deserves to die because they were responsible for colluding with the United States and killing Muslims in the country.

Source: Twitter
Source: Twitter

As such, soon after the Taliban managed to capture Kabul and declare its supremacy in Afghanistan, many apologists and sympathisers of the Jihadist outfit in India have celebrated their takeover and tried to accord legitimacy to the group, arguing that it is an insurgent group.

The depraved attempt to intellectualise the rise of the Taliban was visible on Sunday itself when Kabul fell to the outfit and Islamists on a Twitter space heralded their return to power with unbridled glee and joy.

The participants on the Twitter Space included one accused in the Delhi Riots case and another who has been to jail for problematic posts on social media. The riots accused remarked in the space, “Let me give you guys a piece of good news – Ashraf Ghani has resigned. Thanks to Allah! Slowly and gradually, it will lead to the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (governed by the Taliban). We need to take inspiration from them and learn how to struggle in the pursuit of ‘freedom movement. (Azadi)’.”

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 aeroplanes have gone viral on social media. The Talibs have been spotted enjoying themselves as the amusement park as well in other surreal scenes.

Facebook and Instagram remove Rahul Gandhi’s post where he had disclosed the identity of minor rape victim

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Facebook and Instagram remove Rahul Gandhi’s post where he had disclosed the identity of minor rape victim

Instagram and Facebook have removed the post where Rahul Gandhi shared photographs with the parents of the minor girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi, thereby revealing her identity.

Earlier, NCPCR had issued summons to Facebook’s Head of Trust and Safety Department Satya Yadav for failing to take action against the post that compromised the identity of the minor victim.

The child rights body had said in a letter dated 13th of August, “The Commission had taken cognisance upon a video posted on the Instagram portal of Shri Rahul Gandhi wherein the identity of minor girl victim’s parents has been disclosed…The matter had been forwarded to Facebook Inc. for removal of post and taking action against the Instagram profile of Shri Rahul Gandhi within 3 days. However, no reply/action taken report has been received by you even after the lapse of 03 days time.”

Rahul Gandhi had shared the photographs on Twitter as well, following which his account was locked. However, his account was restored later. The Congress party had claimed that they had received consent from the parents to share the photographs, however, the mother of the victim denied ever giving them any consent.

After their leader’s account was locked, numerous Congress leaders and accounts started sharing the photograph and dared the platform to lock their accounts too.

Maharashtra teenager Diksha Shinde’s claims were false, ANI withdraws story after NASA said she used fake credentials

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Maharashtra teenager Diksha Shinde’s claims were false, ANI withdraws story after NASA said she used fake credentials

This article was originally published on 20 August 2021. It has been updated on 26 August with the latest developments.

Almost regularly, news of some young prodigy from India getting selected for some coveted NASA program appears in Indian media. However, almost every time, such claims are found to be false later. Therefore, when another story of a teenage girl getting selected for a NASA fellowship programme appeared on media, people started expressing doubt about the same.

On Friday, August 20, news agency ANI had reported that a 14-year old girl named Diksha Shinde has been selected as a panellist on the Minority Serving Institution (MSI) Fellowships Virtual Panel of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The class 10 student has claimed that she was selected for the 2021 MSI Fellowships Virtual Panel in June after the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research accepted her research paper on ‘We Live in Black Hole?’ in May 2021.

As per the report, Diksha Shinde said, “I accepted the offer and will start working soon. My job involves reviewing proposals submitted by researchers and describing a collaborative approach to conduct research with NASA and understanding the connection between proposed research area and academic discipline pursuit of the students.”

She said that earlier two of her papers were rejected, which she wrote after reading “many books by Stephen Hawking.” However, her research article on black hole was accepted by NASA in December 2020. ANI also quotes her saying that she “provisionally discovered the ‘Main Belt asteroid’.”

However, many people in social media have expressed doubt about this report, as there are too many unbelievable details, and it looks similar to many such ‘selected by NASA’ story earlier. After the doubts were raised, ANI posted screenshots of alleged correspondence of NASA and IJSER with Diksha. But these correspondences also do not clarify the doubts, and instead create more questions.

Diksha Shinde has claimed that she has been selected in the MSI Fellowships programme of the NASA. The US space agency does have such a programme, but the requirements for the fellowship are much higher than the current qualification of the girl. According to NASA website, to be eligible to even submit a proposal, must have already attended an MSI, must be U.S. citizens or a national who hold a bachelor’s degree earned before Aug. 31, and they must enrol in a master’s or doctoral degree program before Sept. 1, 2021. This clearly shows that a class 10 student is not eligible for this program.

The teenager claimed her paper on black hole was accepted by the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research. However, the website of the IJSER has no paper published in her name. According to such a message from IJSER, her paper was selected for publication on Volume 12, Issue 5, May 2021. But when we went through the May edition of the journal, we didn’t find any paper by Diksha Shinde.

Moreover, this is an open-access journal where anyone can publish papers by paying an amount. Almost all reputed journals do not need any payment for publishing papers, but they need payments for accessing the papers.

According to the website, the cost of publishing a standard paper is €65, however, the rate for students and research scholars is €45. This means even if Diksha’s paper was published somewhere by the journal, she had to pay around ₹4000 for the same.

A certificate allegedly issued to Diksha by NASA is also doing the rounds with the ANI logo on it. It has the signatures of NASA CEO and President James Bridenstine and Department Chair James Frederick. However, the organisational structure of NASA does not have the designation of CEO, and the names of the persons are also doubtful. NASA is headed by an administrator, and the post is currently occupied by Bill Nelson. While the two current chairs in the advisory groups are General Lester L. Lyles and Dr Patricia Sanders.

James Frederick Bridenstine was the administrator in NASA from 2013 to 2018, and some netizens believe this name was split into two to create the ‘certificate’ issued to Diksha Shinde.

The two current chairs in the advisory groups are General Lester L. Lyles and Dr Patricia Sanders.

Another ‘certificate’ issued to the teenager was found made using a stock template, which questions its authenticity. NASA is not known for using stock templates available online.

We also found a LinkedIn account named Dr. Diksha K Shinde, which is believed to belong to the same teenager, who claims to be “Scientific Researcher” at NASA, a very vague designation. Moreover, she has used the Dr. with her name, but the reports say she is a class 10 student. In that account, she posted a certificate, which again was made using a stock template.

With all these, it was initially apparent that Diksha Shinde fell victim to some online fraud, where she was contacted by fraudsters in the name of NASA to extract money. This was seen by many as a story similar to the story of journalist Nidhi Razdan, who had left her job to join Harvard University, only to find later that the offer was fake.

Latest update: NASA clarification, the girl had used fake credentials. Not employed, never paid by them

However, with the clarification by NASA on August 26, things looked different.

US space agency NASA had answered the queries made by OpIndia and other media portals. NASA stated that Diksha had used fake credentials to be selected as a panellist for the selection of proposals under the MSI program. In their statement, NASA said that Diksha was neither paid nor employed by them. Since her credentials were fake, NASA added that they have never published her ‘research paper’ and have never given her any certificates.

As the girl had used fake credentials for applying to be a panellist, NASA said they have started reviewing their verification process for the selection of panellists. They also added that NASA is not funding her trip to the USA.

NASA reply to OpIndia editor

This was a direct debunking of the girl’s claims as she had claimed before media that she is being paid by NASA, has been selected as a panellist, have written a research paper for NASA and is working for the organisation. She had also shown fake certificates.

Following NASA’s reply, ANI had informed that the teenager had not only duped NASA, but had also duped ANI and many other media organisations. ANI chief Smita Prakash stated that while the claim of being selected as a panellist to review proposals under MSI was correct, which was technically not a fake claim per se, that selection was obtained with the help of fake credentials.

Smita Prakash added that in the light of new information, ANI is withdrawing the story and the error is regretted.

Even as Indian ‘journalists’ hail the Taliban for holding a press conference, this is how they mercilessly killed the relative of a journalist: Details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Even as Indian ‘journalists’ hail the Taliban for holding a press conference, this is how they mercilessly killed the relative of a journalist: Details

At a time when Indian liberals and journalists are hailing the Taliban for its ‘moderate’ outlook and for its public relations of holding a “press conference”, the Taliban continues to do unleash violence against journalists, intellectuals, non-Muslims.

In yet another attack on journalists working in Afghanistan, the Taliban fighters have shot and killed a relative of a journalist working with German outlet Deutsche Welle. The Islamists were conducting a house-to-house search for the DW journalist when this incident occurred.

As per the report, another relative of the journalist was seriously injured in the attack, but others were able to escape. The Taliban had raided the homes of at least three other DW journalists, the broadcaster said.

Meanwhile, DW director-general Peter Limbourg has condemned the killing, which he said showed the danger to media workers and their families in Afghanistan.

“The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves,” he said.

Peter Limbourg said that it is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. “We are running out of time”, he said.

Following the attacks against the journalists, the DW and other German media organisations have called on the German government to take swift action to help their Afghan staff.

Besides foreign journalists, the Taliban has carried out attacks on local journalists as well. Nematullah Hemat of the private television station Ghargasht TV is believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban, and Toofan Omar, the head of the private radio station Paktia Ghag Radio has been shot dead by Taliban fighters.

Attacks on journalists continue in Afghanistan

Ever since the Taliban took over Kabul from the Afghan forces, there has been increased attacks on journalists, independent intellectuals in the country. On Wednesday, the Taliban attacked and assaulted journalists in Jalalabad for covering the protests in favour of the Afghanistan flag.

A video had gone viral on social media platforms in which two journalists were seen crying after the Taliban brutally assaulted them. The video was shared by Hafizullah Maroof, journalist, BBC World Service. In another video that has been widely shared on social media, also reportedly from Jalalabad, a Taliban man was seen kicking and standing over a female journalist who is writhing in pain.

Another journalist is slapped and beaten multiple times by armed Taliban radicals. Social media users said that the Taliban punished the two for working with foreign media. Similarly, reports have emerged that Taliban fighters attacked CNN journalists on Wednesday.

Indian Journalists hail Taliban for their press freedom

Ironically, the attacks on journalists by the Taliban comes at a time when senior leaders of the Jihadist organisation are trying to project a ‘moderate’ image by its PR blitzkrieg. In fact, the propaganda of the Taliban has achieved limited success, with left-liberal journalists across the world, including from India, have fallen into their trap.

It is worth mentioning that the Indian “secular-liberal” had hailed the radical Islamic group for holding the press conference to address a few questions raised by the journalists working in Afghanistan.

On August 17, following the capture of Kabul from the Afghan government, the Islamist group Taliban had held a press conference. The “liberal-secular” establishment in India was so “impressed” by the conference that they used it to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following the footsteps of toolkit-creators, a series of posts popped up on social media platform Twitter shaming PM Modi for not holding a press conference since he resumed office in 2014. Rather than questioning the Taliban over killing one of its colleagues Danish Siddiqui, the Indian liberals were taking a dig at the Indian Prime Minister for not holding a press conference in the last seven years.

1...3,9493,9503,951...7,595Page 3,950 of 7,595