A bizarre faux pas by the India Today group while reporting on the Taliban has triggered funny reactions on the microblogging platform Twitter. Rajdeep Sardesai while hosting a show on women rights under the rule of the Taliban accidentally showed a picture of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal under the question “Will Taliban ease its earlier curbs on women?”
The innocuous mistake was highlighted by a popular Twitter handle ‘Befitting Facts’. The netizens since then have been posting hilarious reactions mocking both Kejriwal and ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai.
One Twitter handle by the name Jagjeet said, “Taliban is also giving free electricity, so Rajdeep confuse ho gya hoga (Rajdeep must gave got confused).”
Taliban is also giving free electricity, so Rajdeep confuse ho gya hoga ?
Satyam Singh- another Twitter handle highlighted the humanitarian side of Hitler and Bin Laden. “Hitler also believed in Humanity, Kejriwal is working persistently for welfare of Delhi, Osama Bin Laden was philanthropist, Rajdeep Sardesai is doing Journalism,” he Tweeted.
-Hitler also believed in Humanity.
-Kejriwal is working persistently for welfare of Delhi.
Earlier this month, Rajdeep Sardesai was brutally trolled by netizens for his outlandish ‘rasgulla’ comment. Sardesai, when asked about not asking tough questions to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had said that had he asked Mamata Banerjee about Bengal post-poll pogrom, he wouldn’t have gotten to eat ‘rasgullas’ (a traditional Bengali sweet) as part of her victory celebration.
Despite trying their best to convince the world that they have ‘changed’ and holding a ‘press conference’, the Taliban’s true face is unravelling in the streets and towns of Afghanistan.
As per reports, the Taliban attacked and assaulted journalists in Jalalabad on Wednesday just because they were covering the protests in favour of the Afghanistan flag. A video went viral on social media platforms in which two journalists were seen crying after they were brutally assaulted by the Taliban. The video was shared by Hafizullah Maroof, journalist, BBC World Service.
It really heartbreaking to see journalists are crying-simply just for covering a protest in Jalalabad city. This is how journalists beaten up and are treated by the Taliban now in Afghanistan. Journalism is not crime. pic.twitter.com/H2bfMHUBfV
Maroof wrote, “It really heartbreaking to see journalists are crying, just for covering a protest in Jalalabad city. This is how journalists are beaten up and are treated by the Taliban now in Afghanistan. Journalism is not a crime.”
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 two were punished by the Taliban for working with foreign media.
OpIndia could not independently verify the authenticity or date of that video.
Taliban shoot at civilians for taking out a protest, kill unarmed people
The incident took place when Afghan nationals replaced the Taliban flag with the Afghan flag in Jalalabad and took out a protest. Irked by the protesters, the Taliban opened fire at the crowd and beaten up journalists present at the scene for giving news coverage to the protests. Reports suggest that three Afghanis were killed while ten others were injured in the shooting.
Taliban’s two-faced strategy
On the one hand, the Taliban is claiming that the “new version” of the Jihadi group wants to progress and would respect the rights of women and the press. However, on the other hand, they are attacking women, journalists and Afghan nationals who raise voice against the Islamic group.
As per reports, Shabnam Dawran, a famous Pashto news anchor was sent back home when she went to work. Dawran has stated that despite having her hijab on and showing her ID card, she was told by Taliban, “The regime has changed. Go home.”
Taliban didn't allow my ex-colleague here in @TOLOnews and famous anchor of the State-owned @rtapashto Shabnam Dawran to start her work today. " Despite wearing a hijab & carrying correct ID, I was told by Taliban: The regime has changed. Go home"#Afghanistan#Talbanpic.twitter.com/rXK7LWvddX
Recently, hours after the large promises they made about women rights during a press conference, they shot a woman dead just because she was not wearing a burka. Danish Siddiqui, an Indian journalist working for Reuters was also killed a few weeks back by the Taliban. Reports later emerged that he was shot multiple times and mowed down by the Taliban after they had confirmed his identity.
Once renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana is embroiled in yet another controversy for making objectionable comments on the Hindu religion and community by drawing false equivalents and rhetorics with the Taliban.
Rana has been going around defending the Islamist organisation in multiple media interactions. In a wrangled interview with TV anchor Deepak Chaurasia, Rana defended the Taliban tooth and nail.
Rana when asked about the Taliban, upheld his ecosystem’s narrative by calling them mere ‘aggressive fighters’ and not ‘terrorists.’ The infamous poet claimed that the Taliban are also Afghanis and they have simply freed their nation from foreign occupation.
Munawwar Rana’s interview with News Nation
When specifically questioned if he sees the Taliban as a terrorist organization, Rana dodging the query said, “Do we not have terrorists? One rickshawallah is beaten mercilessly in Kanpur, one politician says Munawwar Rana deserves to be encountered. You do not know the meaning of terrorist.”
Rana went ahead to make a dastardly metaphorical statement to defend the Taliban. “Valmiki became a God after he wrote the Ramayan, before that he was a dacoit. A person’s character can change. Similarly, the Taliban, for now, are terrorists but people and characters change,” exclaimed Rana. He further said, “When you speak about Valmiki you will have to talk about his past. In your religion, you make anyone the God. But he was a writer. Okay, so he wrote the Ramayan, but we are not in competition here.”
According to legend, Ratnakar, supposed to be born in a so-called low-caste, was renamed as Valmiki and given the status of Maharishi (great sage) and a great Brahmin by Narada Muni after Ratnakar performed tapasya (deep meditation). However, the Valmiki community, especially those living in Punjab, don’t like that part of the story that says that Maharishi Valmiki was any dacoit at any point in his earlier life. Repeating this portion can attract legal action. Earlier, a case was registered against Bollywood actor Rakhi Sawant for hurting the sentiments of the community under IPC 295 in 2017.
Launching an attack on the anchor, Rana giving unwarranted advice concluded by saying, “You should host debates on India’s problems. Why debate on what is happening in Afghanistan? Debate on the mob lynchings happening here.”
In yet another interview with the Navbharat Times, Rana claimed that the Taliban got freedom for its country just like how India fought for independence from the British.
Munawwar Rana’s interview with Navbharat Times
Dodging every single question on the atrocities and violence done by the Taliban, Rana claimed that the Islamist organization should not be called terrorists and that they should be given time to govern before reaching any conclusion.
He claimed that the Americans and Russians harassed Afghans and claimed that the behaviour of Taliban is not like a terrorist but they are just behaving aggressively.
Earlier this week, the Islamist organisation Taliban took over Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Since then, surreal scenes have emerged where Afghans have been falling off the sky as they hung on to the wheels of the plane as they tried to flee the country. Shocking visuals of Afghans trying to flee the country, some by hanging on to the planes leaving Kabul Airport have gone viral. They also held a press conference where they claimed that women will also have rights but under the Islamic Sharia. Soon, reports of women being beaten and killed and fed to dogs by Taliban went viral.
On August 18, a video emerged in which an amusement park could be seen burning down to ashes. This video has emerged just days after videos of Taliban fighters enjoying rides and go-karts in an amusement park after taking over Kabul went viral on social media.
As per reports, the burned down amusement park is not the same one from the viral videos. The burned park is from the Sheberghan, the capital city of the Jowzjan province in northern Afghanistan.
The Bokhdi Amusement Park was set on fire by Taliban insurgents in Begha, Sheberghan. The reason is that the statues/idols standing there are in Public access Idols are illegal in Islam, This is the logic of the Taliban’s brutal emirate. The homeland is occupied.#Afghanistanpic.twitter.com/MBuYsQQbxk
A Twitter user shared the video claiming that the amusement park that the Taliban burnt down to ashes is the Bokhdi Amusement Park at Begha, Sheberghan. The reason the Taliban had given for burning it down is that the park had statues and idols, and idols are ‘haram’ in Islam.
Earlier, it was reported that the Taliban destroyed the statue of Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari, who had fought against the Taliban during the civil war in the 1990s.
Taliban has a long history of destroying statues
Taliban has a long history of showing wrath against the statues. It was most stark in the destruction of much-revered 6th-century monumental statues of Gautama Buddha known as the Bamiyan Buddhas. In March 2001, the statues faced destruction at the hands of Talibanis. They continued for 25 days to completely raze them down to the ground using mines and rockets.
In its first flight out of Kabul, Afghanistan, amid rapidly deteriorating situation, the French government has also evacuated 21 Indian nationals. They 21 Indians were the Gurkhas who were guarding the French embassy. The information was shared by Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France to India.
He said that the French officials are actively coordinating with the Indian counterparts on the Afghanistan situation.
On the other hand, Canada had abandoned and not taken the 100 Nepalese Gurkhas who guarded their mission on their last flight out of Kabul.
Gurkhas had valiantly protected Canadians for years including during the embassy evacuation and many diplomats and military who I spoke to were livid they had not been evacuated too. PM said because they are Nepalese they did not qualify for special immigration status Afghans do.
They were not approved for the last flight out of Kabul on Sunday. However, on Wednesday, they were finally safely evacuated. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday had said that the Gurkhas are Indian and Nepalese citizens and hence did not qualify for ‘special immigration’.
Trudeau is asked about the Gurkhas who were guarding Canada’s embassy who were left behind when staff were flown out. He says the Gurkhas are Nepalese and Indian citizens so they don’t qualify for special immigration but they are working to have them air lifted. #cdnpoli
The situation in Afghanistan spiralled out of control after capital Kabul fell to Taliban on Sunday. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as Taliban took over Afghanistan. Shocking visuals of Afghans trying to flee the country, some by hanging on to the planes leaving Kabul Airport have gone viral. Afghans falling from the sky have also gone viral. Soon after, the Talibanis were seen having a good time at amusement parks and gyms. They also held a press conference where they claimed that women will also have rights but under the Islamic Sharia. Soon, reports of women being beaten and killed and fed to dogs by Taliban went viral.
Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has issued his first message after fleeing the country on 15th August after the Taliban captured the capital Kabul. In a video message issued on Facebook, Ghani alleged that he was forced to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban was planning to kill him, and denied reports of taking huge amounts of money with him.
Ashraf Ghani said that he wanted to transfer power to the Taliban peacefully. But he was evicted against his will, as he didn’t want to hang as the president of Afghanistan. He said that he was forced to leave Kabul as the Taliban was looking for him. He said that he decided to not cause bloodshed in the capital, and that’s why fled the country to avoid a huge disaster.
He said that he was in the presidential palace when the guards told him that a coupe-like situation was developing fast after the Taliban had entered the capital, and he decided to escape quickly. Refuting the reports that he fled with huge amounts of cash and luxury cars in a helicopter, Ghani said that his main assets are books, and he only managed to bring only a few books with him. He termed the accusations of fleeing with millions in cash as completely baseless and lies.
Ashraf Ghani added that he didn’t have the time to change from slippers to shoes, and fled in what he was wearing at that time. The former president confirmed that he is in UAE, and said that he will return to Afghanistan in near future. He added that some confidential documents were left at the Presidential Palace, which have fallen into the hands of the Taliban now.
The former president appreciated the efforts of former president Hamid Karzai and National Reconciliation chairperson Abdullah Abdullah in the smooth transition of power. However, he refrained from mentioning his vice president Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself the acting president and mobilising resistance against the Taliban in the Panjshir province in Afghanistan, the only province still not captured by the Taliban.
Ashraf Ghani said that he is consulting with others for the efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan and to return and fight for the sovereignty of his country.
Amid the speculations of possible destinations of Ghani after he fled Kabul on Sunday, today UAE had confirmed that they welcomed Ghani and his family on humanitarian grounds.
Khatera, 33, who had fled to India last October after being shot 8 times by the Taliban that eventually rendered her blind, recently made harrowing revelations about the terror outfit that has now suddenly pivoted on its stance on women, promising to respect the rights of women, although with a caveat that they should conform to the Islamic Sharia Law.
In her interview with News 18, Khatera said the Taliban not only tortured and killed women but even fed their dead corpses to dogs.
“After torturing us, the Taliban would discard our bodies as a part of inflicting punishment on us. Sometimes, they would throw our bodies at dogs. I was lucky that I survived their barbarity. One has to live in Afghanistan to understand the ordeal women, children and minorities suffer there,” Khatera said.
Khatera, who now lives in Delhi, talked about how the Taliban considered women as second-class citizens. “In the eyes of Taliban, women are not living, breathing human beings, but merely some meat and flesh to be battered,” she said.
The Afghan woman, who served as former police personnel, was mercilessly attacked by the Taliban last year in October when she was two months pregnant. According to Khatera, the attack was planned by none other than her own father, a former Taliban fighter. She was brutalised when she was on her way back from work. Three Taliban terrorists accosted her and after checking her ID, they shot multiple bullets at her. Khatera took eight bullets in her upper body and indiscriminate knife injuries all over her body. The Talibani terrorists gouged her eyes out with knives and abandoned her to die on the street.
Remembering the bloodcurdling incident, Khatera said she was fortunate and privileged enough to travel from Kabul to New Delhi for her medical treatment because she had the finances for it. However, she added that not everyone possesses this kind of fortune and women and others who defy or disobey the Taliban, die on the streets.
“Women are not allowed to visit male doctors, and at the same time, the Taliban proscribes women from studying and going out to work. So, then what is left for a woman? Left to die? Even if you think we are just reproductive machines, there is no common sense but pure hate,” Khatera continued.
Khatera lamented on the gains lost by the women after the Taliban retained power in Afghanistan. “How does a woman give birth to a child according to these gun-wielding monsters who don’t have any inkling of what medical care means?” she asked, holding her child. “It’s difficult for the world to imagine what we had built in the last 20 years. We built dreams. Now, they are all gone. It’s over for us.”
Khatera also said that women who worked with the government or police were specifically targeted and hunted down even before the Taliban had seized control of the country, adding that it has only gotten worse after they formally came to power.
“Now, the concern is no longer about allowing women to work. At this point, I am afraid if they would leave these women alive. They don’t just kill women, they make animals feed on their bodies. They are a blot on Islam,” the Afghan woman said.
Khatera further added that Afghan women had come a long way in the last 20 years, striving for a stable livelihood, getting a proper education, taking admissions in schools and universities etc. However, everything has been undone because of the ascendancy of the Taliban, she bemoaned.
“All went down the drain in just a week. I have en heard from my relatives in Afghanistan that distraught families have even burnt the education certificates of their daughters to protect them from the Taliban’s wrath,” Khatera said.
Taliban promises respecting women’s rights in accordance with Islamic Sharia, urge them to return to work
As a part of its broader campaign to provide a more moderate face and seek global legitimacy, the Taliban had recently announced that they have relaxed their stance on women and would respect their rights in accordance with the Islamic Sharia. The terror outfit had yesterday declared an “amnesty” across the country and urged women to return to work, in a bid to reassure the wary population fretting over their fate under the Talibani regime.
Panic and fear had swept across the country after the fall of Kabul on Sunday, following which a multitude of city residents flocked to the airport, in a desperate attempt to fly out of the country.
“A general amnesty has been declared for all…so you should start your routine life with full confidence,” a statement issued by the Taliban said.
Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, tried to allay fear among Afghan residents by asserting that the Islamic Emirate, the Taliban’s term for Afghanistan, doesn’t want women to be victims. “They should be in the government structure according to Shariah law,” he said.
Speaking on women’s rights under Taliban rule, the terror outfit’s spokesperson said, “The rights of women in Afghanistan will be respected in accordance with the Islamic Sharia law.”
The Taliban reportedly said that women were the main victims of the crisis in Afghanistan for over 40 years and they don’t want the women to be victims anymore. Samangani said the Taliban wants to provide women with an environment where they can work and study and even join the government “as per Islamic law and our cultural values”.
Contentious “fact-checker” and inveterate fake news peddler Alt News has a habit of dishing out clean chits and making presumptions based on flimsy evidence. It recently did so during the Congress toolkit fiasco when it presumptuously declared the document to be fake without offering substantial evidence to prove it.
Recently, it tried to pull off a similar stunt by unequivocally concluding that posters that were put up in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh and which bore incendiary quotes attributed to prominent Muslim leaders were not installed by the members of the Muslim community.
A controversy erupted after posters carrying pictures of eminent Muslim leaders with vitriolic messages for non-Muslims were found raised in many areas of Pratapgarh. Among leaders whose posters were put up in Pratapgarh included AIMIM leader and MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, 13th Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid, Azam Khan, founding member of the Samajwadi Party, Noor ur Rahman Barkati, former Shahi Imam in Kolkata and Islamic hate preacher Zakir Naik.
Soon after the posters were found to be installed on the boundary wall of Uttar Pradesh-based TP Inter College in Kunda, the Altnews rushed in to defend the Muslim leaders and paint them as victims of insidious propaganda. It cited tweets posted by random social media users to claim that Muslims were being unjustifiably vilified and accused of putting up the inflammatory posters.
It cited the police statement in the case to absolve Muslim leaders and members of the Muslim community of any culpability. The Pratapgarh police in its statement said that the investigation is still underway to locate the “mischievous elements” responsible for putting up the contentious posters. The Alt News used this police statement to opine that the claims that Muslims had erected the posters were baseless.
It is worth noting here that the police had not discounted the possibility that the posters may indeed have been put up by rabble-rousers belonging to the Muslim community. Yet, Altnews, in their bid to exculpate Muslims, jumped the gun and concluded that it is unlikely that Muslims will put up the posters and draw negative attention to the community.
relevant excerpt from an article published on Altnews
According to Alt News, Muslims would not make patently anti-Hindu comments on the posters because it would bring unfavourable attention to the community. If this is the case, then why do the prominent Muslim leaders in India don’t hesitate from hurling anti-Hindu slurs, rationalising the destruction of temples by Muslim marauders, and glorify the Islamic conquest of India in the medieval centuries?
Controversial statements made by prominent Muslim personalities glorifying Mughal marauders, Islamic plunderers and threatening to persecute Hindus
Two years back, Maulana Ansar Raza of Gareeb Nawaz Foundation, one of the influential voices among the Muslim cleric community, hailed Mughal ruler Aurangzeb on live television. In a news debate hosted by late Rohit Sardana, Raza said he is proud of being a follower of Aurangzeb and that the Mughal emperor should be praised instead of being denigrated as a plunderer and traitor.
A few years back, Maulana Ansar Raza had refused to denounce Mohammed Ibn Qasim, a Muslim ruler responsible for carrying out large-scale slaughter of Hindus. In a debate with Tarek Fatah on Zee News, Raza not only refused to decry Ibn Qasim, but he even hailed Mahmood Ghaznavi as his hero. Ghaznavi or Mahmud of Ghazni is infamous for raiding the Somnath temple 17 times and destroying its revered idol into four pieces, an affront meant to show Hindus their place and establish the supremacy of Islam.
Then there is Samajwadi Party’s motormouth leader Azam Khan who has often made controversial statements. In July 2019, Khan stirred a furore by asserting that the ‘mob lynching’ incidents are Muslims getting punished for not going to Pakistan in 1947. Khan, however, did not mention anything about scores of Hindus who have been killed by Muslim mobs in the country.
Islamic hate preacher Zakir Naik has a bunch of outrageous remarks against his name. Naik, who is regarded by scores of Muslims as a reliable authority on Islamic hadiths and the Holy Quran, had glorified Islamic terrorists, including Osama Bin Laden, and justified their jihad against non-believers. Naik had said that Islam is superior to all other faiths. He even said that non-Muslims should not be allowed to have places of religious worship in an Islamic country.
Naik cited Islamic verses to justify Muslim men’s right to have sex with their female slaves. He also advocated using violence against a disobedient wife, quoting Quranic verses to justify that wife bashing is not a sinful deed. Based on the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah, Naik said the killings of homosexuals is justified.
Delhi MLA Amanatullah Khan recently called for the decapitation of the chief abbot of Dasna Devi Temple Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati. He later brazened out his stand and defended his call for the beheading of the Hindu priest.
Akbaruddin Owaisi is another controversial leader known for his anti-Hindu tirades and incendiary speeches. In 2012, Akbaruddin Owaisi, the younger brother of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, made the infamous ’15-minutes provocative phrase’. In his highly inflammatory speech, Owaisi had asked the administration to remove the police for 15 minutes so that he could finish off 100 crores of Hindus. Cases of hate speech were registered against him but this did not deter him from making the same inflammatory remarks yet again in a public meeting in 2019.
By Alt News logic, either all the aforementioned instances are fake news or all the personalities mentioned above are not Muslims, since their generalised conclusion says that Muslims cannot make rash statements as it would draw negative attention to the community. Or perhaps, Alt News does not consider the statements made by prominent Muslim leaders listed above as inflammatory or condemnable.
When there are so many highly objectionable comments made by prominent Muslim leaders, a generalised conclusion that Muslims won’t make inflammatory remarks to attract unfavourable attention does not hold water. And since Muslim leaders have not shied away from making such threatening and disparaging remarks against Hindus, how could the Alt News conclude that Muslims were not behind installing the posters in Pratapgarh? Instead of waiting for the final outcome of the police investigation, the portal has already passed a verdict that Muslims are not behind the posters.
Dubious method used by Alt News to absolve Muslim leaders for making inflammatory remarks
Besides, Alt News also reached out to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to ask him if the quotes printed next to his picture on the posters found in Pratapgarh were indeed made by him. As expected, Owaisi rubbished them as fake and alleged that he would soon file a complaint with the cyber cell. The Alt News said they carried out searches of comments mentioned in Owaisi’s posters to claim that such instigators’ statements attributed to the AIMIM leader have been doing the rounds for the last many years. Similarly, the far-left “fact-checking” website conducted that searches of other posters to conclude that the remarks made in them were old and in circulation for a long time.
One of the posters that were found in Pratapgarh bore the image of Zakir Naik along with an incendiary remark made by him. Alt News, in its analysis, said it could not find the remark made by Naik in its online search and therefore, the remark was fake. A Twitter user who goes by @BefittingFacts pointed out that just because the google experts at Alt News could not find Naik’s controversial remarks doesn’t mean he did not make it. The user shared the gazette notification issued by the MHA which mentioned the provocative remarks made by Zakir Naik and which were printed on the posters.
This is Gazetted Notification from Ministry of Home Affairs. Just because your google expert didnt find anything that doesnt mean its fake. pic.twitter.com/Ix3Bimhrbe
By conducting a search of the comments, one can determine the provenance of the quotes. The method doesn’t prove that the statements were not made by the leaders in question. Neither does the search of posters yield information about the religious identity of people who may have put up the posters. And as we have seen in the above case, search engine searches are not entirely reliable and its result cannot be treated as gospel truth. Therefore, Alt News’ claim that Muslims may not have put up the posters is highly untenable.
Past instances when Alt News resorted to questionable methods to further its propaganda
In fact, Alt News has often resorted to using devious methods as a part of its modus operandi to give a boost to its propaganda of keeping the Muslim victimhood narrative alive. It has mastered several methods to further its narrative while disproving a contrarian worldview. Besides using reverse search images for its propaganda purposes, it has also emphasised nitpicking about petty and irrelevant details of an incident to muddle the readers and sow doubts about the narrative around the incident.
For instance, last year, when the videos of Muslim vegetable vendors applying saliva to their produce had gone viral, Altnews tried to water down the act by alleging that the video of a Muslim vegetable vendor spitting on the vegetables was not from April but from February, as if spitting on the vegetables in February was totally in accordance with the prevailing societal norms.
The question here was, on what basis did Altnews fact-check the article? Firstly, it is astoundingly ludicrous to premise one’s fact-check not on the event itself but on the date and timing of the event. They had no qualms if the person spat on the vegetables and fruits. They were primarily concerned with exculpating the Muslim vegetable vendor. Fact-check as to when and where the incident happened held more importance than the unscrupulous act committed by the man. The fact that the man may have applied saliva to the vegetables did not scandalise them. They were preoccupied with their propaganda of salvaging Muslims, regardless of their culpability.
The same continued with the Tablighi Jamaat episode where Altnews went on an overdrive to whitewash the hoodlums of the Muslim seminary, whose unhygienic practices powered the inexorable rise of coronavirus cases in the country during the period of March-April 2020. However, the slanted ‘fact-check’ website was then so engrossed in their Muslim salvation that they could not bring themselves to acknowledge the fact that the cases in the country had indeed skyrocketed because of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi.
The recent clean chit to Muslim leaders and members of the Muslim community and declaration that they had no role in putting up the inflammatory posters in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh is yet another shoddy attempt at Muslim appeasement even as the city police claims it is still investigating the case and the identity of the miscreants is not known yet.
A complaint has been filed against actor-activist Swara Bhasker over a tweet equating ‘Hindutva terror’ with the ‘Taliban terror’. She has been accused of promoting enmity between several groups on grounds of religion & committing acts that were detrimental to the maintenance of peace through her tweet.
Ashutosh Dubey, a practising advocate at the Bombay High Court, posted a tweet wherein he informed that he has filed a complaint against Swara Bhasker with Mumbai Police and Palghar Police. He further added that he will soon file a complaint against the actor at the local police station as well.
I have filed a complaint against her with @CPMumbaiPolice@MumbaiPolice & District SP @Palghar_Police for Promoting enmity between several groups on grounds of religion & doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of peace.
— ADV. ASHUTOSH J. DUBEY?? (@AdvAshutoshDube) August 17, 2021
The Palghar police responded to the complaint, stating that the case will be investigated and appropriate action will be taken.
Source: Twitter
Dubey also filed a complaint with the cyber cell. He took to Twitter to inform about the development in the case. Dubey said Palghar cyber police has forwarded his complaint about taking action in the case. He has been called to the SP office to register his statement. The Maharashtra Cyber cell has responded to Dubey’s complaint and asked him to approach the nearest police station with documents for redressal of his grievances.
— ADV. ASHUTOSH J. DUBEY?? (@AdvAshutoshDube) August 18, 2021
Swara Bhasker draws an unwarranted comparison between Hindutva and the Taliban
The complaint was filed against Bhasker because of a disparaging tweet she made against Hindutva. Earlier yesterday, Bhasker sullied Hindutva by likening it to the Talibani ideology. Bhasker used the opportunity of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan to spew venom against Hindutva and its followers.
“We can’t be okay with Hindutva terror & be all shocked & devastated at Taliban terror.. & We can’t be chill with #Taliban terror, and then be all indignant about #Hindutva terror! Our humanitarian & ethical values should not be based on the identity of the oppressor or oppressed,” Bhasker tweeted.
Source: Twitter
Soon after Swara Bhasker made the unwarranted comparison between the Taliban and Hindutva, Hindus and adherents of Hindutva ideology slammed the actor for making false allegations against Hindutva and for not having a spine to issue an unequivocal condemnation against the Taliban and instead relying on Hindutva for denouncing the Taliban. Several others pointed out how Hindutva ideology is radically different from the one espoused by the Taliban, given that Hindus have accepted and accommodated persecuted people from around the world, not just Afghanistan alone.
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 Taliban terrorists have been seen enjoying themselves as the amusement park as well in other surreal scenes.
While the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan after the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government, it seems ruling the country will not be easy for the Islamist group. Apart from protests in the country, non-recognition from most governments, one of the biggest problems the Taliban regime may face is the lack of access to the federal reserve. This was confirmed by Ajmal Ahmady, the governor of the Da Afghanistan Bank, the central bank of the country. The confirmation from the governor came after reports that the US has frozen around $9.5 billion of Afghan funds in the US, and blocked its access to the Taliban.
DAB governor Ajmal Ahmady wrote posted a thread of several tweets today on Twitter to clarify the location of Afghan federal funds and the possibility of the Taliban accessing them. He informed that he has been told the Taliban has been calling the bank staff to know the location of the federal assets. Emphasising how it shows the lack of economics by the Islamist group, Ahmady said that the Taliban should urgently appoint an economist. “If this is true – it is clear they urgently need to add an economist on their team,” he tweeted.
This thread is to clarify the location of DAB (Central Bank of Afghanistan) international reserves
I am writing this because I have been told Taliban are asking DAB staff about location of assets
If this is true – it is clear they urgently need to add an economist on their team
He then went to explain how federal assets are maintained. He said that the total DAB reserves were around $9 billion last week, but this does not mean the Da Afghanistan Bank has cash worth $9 billion in its vaults. He said that as per international standards, most national assets are kept in safe and liquid assets such as Treasuries and gold.
According to the DAB governor, of the $9 billion reserves of the bank, $7 billion are federal reserves, out of which $3.1 billion are in the form of US bills and bonds, $2.4 billion in The Reserve Advisory & Management Partnership (RAMP) of the World Bank, gold worth $1.2 billion, and $0.3 billion in cash accounts. Apart from it, reserves worth $1.3 billion are in international accounts, and an amount of $0.7 billion is with the Bank for International Settlements based in Basel, Switzerland.
Ajmal Ahmady denied claims that as the US has frozen the money, Afghanistan has lost access to it. He clarified that Afghanistan’s international reserves are not compromised, as they are kept in various bank accounts, which are easily audited. He said that they had a program with both IMF and Treasury that monitored assets, and no money was stolen from any reserve account.
However, the fund will not be accessible to the Taliban, as the group remains in the international sanction lists, Ahmady said. He said that he can’t imagine a scenario where the US Treasury Department or the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US govt will give the Taliban access to Afghan funds in the USA. Therefore, Ahmady estimated that the accessible funds to the Taliban are perhaps 0.1-0.2% of Afghanistan’s total international reserves, which is not much. He also speculated without the approval of the Treasury, it is unlikely that any donors would support the Taliban Government.
The DAB governor also said that the central bank has run out of Dollar bills, so there is not any dollar left in the country for the Taliban to use. As Afghanistan has a huge Current Account Deficit, which means it does not earn much foreign exchange from exports, it is reliant on physical shipments of foreign exchange cash every few weeks. At present, the amount of such cash is close to zero, as the latest scheduled shipment of Dollars was cancelled by the US.
He said that on Friday, he was informed that there won’t be any more shipment of USD banknotes from the USA, while the bank was expecting a shipment on Sunday. As the banks had bid for dollars in large amounts as people were withdrawing money from their accounts, President Ghani spoke with Secretary Blinken to request dollar shipments to resume, and the same was agreed in principle. But the scheduled shipment on Sunday never arrived, and the city fell on the same day.
Reportedly, the Biden administration cancelled the dollar shipment at the last moment to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Taliban, as the group was poised to capture Kabul.
It is very interesting to note that the US had decided to stop dollar shipments on Friday itself, because till that time the US was saying that Kabul will remain out of reach of the Taliban for some time. But the city fell on Sunday, and this led to speculate Ahmady if the US had good intelligence as to what was going to happen.
Now, Afghan banks have told their customers they can’t return their dollars because the DAB has not provided banks with dollars. Ajmal Ahmady asked the Taliban to note that the central bank or its staff can’t be blamed for this, as this is the direct result of US sanctions policy. He added that the Taliban and their backers should have foreseen this result.
Therefore, my base case would be the following: – Treasury freezes assets – Taliban have to implement capital controls and limit dollar access – Currency will depreciate – Inflation will rise as currency pass through is very high – This will hurt the poor as food prices increase
The DAB governor said that the assets will remain frozen for the Taliban, the group will have to implement capital controls and limit dollar access. He added that the value of Afghan currency Afghani will depreciate, and inflation will rise. This will hurt the poor as the food prices will rise due to inflation, Ahmady said. Without foreign currency reserves, the Taliban regime will also find it difficult to import essential items.
DAB governor Ajmal Ahmady left Kabul on Sunday, when the Taliban forces had arrived at the gates of Kabul city. He said that on Saturday he saw security analysis that the city will fall in 36 hours, and bought tickets for Monday as a precaution when his family told him that most of the government has already left the country. On Sunday, while he was working at the bank, he got the reports of advances made by the Taliban and left for the airport, where he found other government officials.
While several flights booked by officials and ministers were cancelled, he secured a Kam Air flight at 7 pm. But when President Ghani fled, and it was chaos everywhere as the employees and military left the airport. 300 people, including Ahmady, boarded the Kam Air flight with 100 seats, but it had no fuel or pilot. Therefore, he left the plane and spotted a military plane, which he boarded with the help of some colleagues. A day after he left, he was informed that the Taliban came looking for him.
13/It did not have to end this way. I am disgusted by the lack of any planning by Afghan leadership. Saw at airport them leave without informing others.
I asked the palace if there was an evacuation plan/charter flights. After 7 years of service, I was met with silence https://t.co/lBu3YksfWO
