The New Zealand police on Friday shot dead a man who stabbed six people in a supermarket in Auckland. Confirming the incident, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden called it a ‘terror attack’ and revealed that the perpetrator was inspired by Islamist terror group ISIS.
Addressing the media, Arden said, “This afternoon, a violent extremist undertook a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders in the New Lynn countdown in Auckland.”
#UPDATE An ISIS-inspired terrorist stabbed six people at an Auckland supermarket today before police who had him under surveillance shot him dead, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern says.
The attacker was a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011, Ardern says pic.twitter.com/JbItWhwpvZ
“What happened today was despicable and hateful. It (the attack) was carried out by an individual and not any faith or ethnicity, who was gripped by an ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community,” said Arden talking about the attacker following Islamic State ideology.
Divulging further information on the attacker, the PM informed, “The terrorist is a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in October of 2011. He became a person of national security interest from 2016.”
The man incidentally was under constant monitoring and had been under police surveillance. Reports suggest that the man was being monitored and was seen traveling from his home to the New Lynn supermarket, as he had done before. He entered the store, procured a knife from within the store and led an attack. The man was shot within 60 seconds of the attack taking place, informed Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.
“I want to acknowledge the six innocent people who have been attacked. This was a violent attack. It was senseless and I am so sorry it happened,” said Arden further.
Reportedly, three of the six victims have been grievously injured and are in critical condition.
Janata Dal (United) MLA Gopal Mandal was spotted roaming in his undergarments while travelling on a train on Thursday.
According to the reports, JDU MLA Gopal Mandal travelled from Patna to New Delhi on the Tejas Rajdhani Express when he was seen roaming in his undergarments in a train compartment.
JDU MLA Gopal Mandal captured in his undergarments/ Image Source: Twitter)
As the JDU MLA began to roam inside the train indecently without his clothes on, the co-passengers felt uncomfortable and asked him to wear his clothes. One of the co-passengers, Prahad Paswan, said he raised a complaint about Gopal Mandal when he saw him roaming on the train in his undergarments. Paswan said he was not aware that the man was an MLA in Bihar.
As co-passengers objected to his behaviour, Mandal rose in anger and allegedly created a ruckus on the train. The JDU MLA abused the passengers and also threatened to “shoot them”. Paswan alleged that Gopal Mandal abused other passengers who objected to his behaviour and even tried to beat them up.
As Gopal Mandal threatened to shoot the passengers, Paswan raised a complaint with the RPF officials. The JDU MLA was then shifted to another coach of the train, Paswan said.
JDU MLA defends his action, says he was suffering from stomach issues
Meanwhile, the Bihar MLA has defended his action, saying that his stomach was upset during the journey.
“I was only wearing the undergarments as my stomach was upset during the journey,” said Gopal Mandal, adding that he only speaks the truth.
#WATCH I was only wearing the undergarments as my stomach was upset during the journey: Gopal Mandal, JDU MLA, who was seen in undergarments while travelling from Patna to New Delhi on Tejas Rajdhani Express train yesterday pic.twitter.com/VBOKMtkNTq
Gopal Mandal’s friend Kunal Singh came to the rescue of JDU MLA, saying that Mandal is a diabetes patient and was travelling to Delhi for some “urgent business”.
Kunal Singh said Gopal Mandal could not go to the washroom in his clothes due to his weight, and hence, he wears lungi and gamchha when he uses the washroom.
“After boarding the train, he [Gopal Mandal] wanted to go to the washroom. He was in a hurry, so he went in his underwear. At this point in time, one passenger spoke with Mandal with rudeness. The MLA did not say anything at that time but spoke with the passenger after returning from the washroom,” Kunal Singh said.
Kunal Singh also rejected allegations levelled by Prahad Paswan, saying the MLA threatened to shoot the passengers.
Though the MLA’s justification was vague, it can be speculated that he might not have wanted the hassle of stripping out of his trousers each time he rushes to the toilet, as he claims of an upset stomach, but the exact details of the incident are unclear.
The situation was brought to control by the RPF and TTE officials, who persuaded both parties and pacified the matter, said CPRO East Central Railway.
The Moga police on Thursday got into a violent clash with the protesting farmers who stormed the national highway outside the new grain market where the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal was to address a public meeting.
Reportedly, the protestors broke the police barricades with tractors and forced their way to the venue of the SAD rally, forcing the police to use brute power. The police resorted to lathi-charge and used water cannons to turn the protesting farmers away.
The situation got violent after a set of alleged farmers pelted stones at the police.
At least five farmers and several policemen were injured, 15 vehicles damaged in the clash and 35 people were detained by Punjab police.
Sukhbir Singh Badal was scheduled to attend a program at Dana Mandi. Protesters attacked police personnel, some got injured. They also vandalized around 15 vehicles: Gurdeep Singh, SP (Headquarter), Moga pic.twitter.com/5a76Q31hqx
Incidentally, the farmers were already upset over the Moga police’s attitude after they raided the houses of local farm activists on Wednesday night to detain them to avert the protest.
‘Police action will not deter us’
Krantikari Kisan Union activist Baldev Singh Zira asserted that their protest will continue despite the police assault. We will continue our protests with determination as the Akali leadership had supported the BJP to introduce the three controversial farm laws,” Zira remarked.
Leader of the Kirti Kisan Union Nirbhay Singh in an interview to The Hindu said, “We have every right to seek answers from leaders, and today, we wanted to ask Mr Badal why his party supported the three farm laws when they (SAD) were an ally of the government at the Centre.”
“As we moved towards the venue, the police used water cannons and batons on us, leaving close to a dozen injured,” narrated Singh.
“Now, we have started a ‘pucca morcha’ and until the farmers, who have been detained are not released, we will not relent,” he said further resonating the sentiments of Baldev Singh Zira.
Warnings were issued said the police
SSP Dhruman H Nimbale informed, “We warned them several times. Some protesters pelted cops with stones after which the force was used to disperse them. They had also blocked the national highway near the spot which was later cleared.”
At least 35 protesters have been detained and the situation is now under control. We have also registered a criminal case under Sections 307, 332, 333, 353, 186, 148, 149, 120B of the IPC, Section 8-B of the National Highway Act, 1956, Sections 3, 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act at the City-I police station against unknown persons.” added the SSP.
Punjab CM had demanded ML Khattar’s resignation over police action on farmers
Interestingly Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh early this week had demanded the resignation of Haryana’s Chief Minister ML Khattar after the Harayan police had lathicharged farmers protesting in Karnal.
Calling it a ‘government-sponsored attack’, Singh had asked Khattar to compensate the injured farmers. “This is no way to treat our annadaatas (farmers),” remarked the Punjab CM.
He also demanded an apology from the Haryana CM and ironically had described the police action as “brazen brutality”.
Khattar, however, had asserted that strictness has to be maintained to ensure law and order.
A few days ago, a video of Prophet Bajinder Singh and a minor boy had gone viral on the internet. The video had sparked controversy and fuelled a meme fest on the internet.
In the video, which appears to be from a Christian missionary event, a minor boy was seen weeping profusely. Then, the pastor asks him if his sister could speak earlier. The boy answers in the negative. Then he is asked whether she could speak now, and this time he answers in the affirmative. The song that was playing in the background is “Mera Yeshu Yeshu”.
Late ….But still vibing on “Mera yeshu yeshu …Mera yeshu yeshu “?????Damn too hilarious ?? Behan bolne lagi ???? pic.twitter.com/CECearb9iv
The video not only kicked up a meme marathon on the internet but also ignited a series of debates on the grand intent and the strong motive that the Christian missionaries possess to convert gullible into Christianity forcefully.
Sadly, the internet is full of videos of such acts that show how Christian missionaries have been successful in trapping innocent people in their conversion mafia. The evangelical organisations, foreign Christian organisations, have left no opportunity in the last few decades to lure innocent Hindus into Christianity by church planting, organising mass evangelical camps, mass prayer and healing events, etc.
We see several videos of Christian events on social media platforms and mock these desi-evangelists for their stupidity. However, worryingly, these evangelical events have become major means of converting non-Christians into the fold of their religion in the last few decades. So, while we laugh at them, the evangelists have successfully lure gullible Hindus from heartlands, deep forests, rural areas, metropolitan cities without any shame or fear of action.
Here are some of such videos of Christian missionaries in the country, in which they fool people and convert innocent people into Christianity.
1. Pastor revives failed kidneys with the power of Jesus:
Pushpa Diwadkar, who hails from Santa Cruz, Mumbai, has been suffering from a failed disc and also both her kidneys do not work anymore. Well, Pushpa Diwadkar finally meets a Pastor, who uses the power of Jesus Christ to not only treats her disc issues but also revive her failed kidneys.
As the song – “Yeh Honsla” from the Dor plays in the background, Pushpa Diwadkar is brought onto the stage by two white-clad angel-like sisters. Pushpa, standing next to her husband Kamalakar, narrates her ordeal about how she has been enduring pain for the last few years.
Terrified by the pain, Pushpa says she gave up on medicines thinking that there was no point in consuming them as she would die anyway. Optimum utilisation of resources, right? Pushpa now says she was bedridden for years. To which, the Pastor, perhaps blessed by Jesus directly, asks Pushpa, “Are you ready?”
“Ohhhhhh Shakararararar Rararara,” the Pastor in the suit chants as the angel-like followers of Pastor roll on the stage. “Join your hands,” he asks, “Close your eyes,” he demands. Yet again, the chants of “Shakararararar Rararara” echoes as Pushpa loses her consciousness and falls on the stage, while Kamalakkar is pushed off by the Pastor’s angels-like supporters.
Now, Jesus-blessed Pastor asks one of his angels to places her hands on Pushpa’s stomach, a symbolic way to repair her damaged kidneys. “In the holy name of Jesus, both the kidneys be healed,” prays the pastor.
Two saree clad angels now pick up Pushpa and make her stand on her own foot. The miracle has worked on Pushpa, and thanks to Pastor, Pushpa can now stand on her own feet.
There seems to be no end to Jesus-blessed Pushpa’s excitement as she walks on the ramp after being cured. But now she wants more, she wants to run on the ramp just like a deer. The angels in the backdrop now jump, dance and cheer for the miracles that Yeshu had brought upon Pushpa.
2. Jesus healing blind girl:
This act of Bajinder Singh is beyond science. Prophet Bajinder Singh of Chandigarh, a messenger of Jesus on earth, uses the miraculous power granted to him by the beloved Jesus to heal a blind girl.
Prophet Bajinder Singh, who is once arrested for raping a woman, shows his rare quality of being an ophthalmologist in one of the evangelical events, where he prays to Jesus on behalf of a small blind kid.
The girl is blind by birth, says the Pastor. Prophet Bajinder now claims to help the blind kid to get her vision back by using his prophecy.
Well, the lord, unwilling to say no to his follower, blesses the young child with the vision. It is all a happy ending. The parents of the young girl are now indebted to the miracles of Jesus as they cry and chant, “Hallelujah”.
Word needs more Prophet Bajinder Singh to heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me, and the entire human race.
3. Jesus cures couple from AIDS:
Modern problems require modern solutions. Well, some say science is a panacea for all modern problems. However, certain things are beyond the realm of science. The viral disease of AIDS is one such thing. Several scientists worldwide have put decades of research to find a cure for this sexually transmitted disease. So far, nothing substantial has been achieved in finding a cure for HIV.
But, Pastor Bajinder Singh has a solution to AIDS. Yes, Pastor Bajinder Singh, the direct messenger of Yeshu, can cure almost every disease humanity has ever known. Well, this time, for the benefit of the poor human souls, Pastor Bajinder Singh finds ways to cure people contracted with HIV.
Pastor Bajinder Singh heals a husband-wife duo from AIDS. By tapping their head, rubbing their cheeks, chanting slogans of “Hallelujah”, Pastor Bajinder Singh – the blessed one saves the Punjabi couple from the satan called “AIDS”.
Amidst the chants of “Hallelujah”, the former AIDS patients, now fully recovered from their infection, happily cheers and dances along with the Pastor and his assistants.
There are some things science can’t do. But, for everything else, there’s Pastor Bajinder Singh.
4. Royal Rumble of Conversions:
Next up is a video that challenges Science in more than one way. Not just one disease, not just one patient, but the Pastor of the Geoffrey Ministries in Chennai heals several people at one stroke. Geoffrey Ministries in Chennai regularly conducts mass healing and claim to heal a lot of diseases.
During a mass gathering conducted by Geoffrey Ministries, the Pastor cures kidney, liver ailments and other chronic problems on the stage. The patients with such life-threatening diseases get cured by a miracle by a simple touch of the Pastor. The Geoffrey Ministries in Chennai perfectly mocks science and rationale and, in turn, exploit poor people in the name of healing through faith and prayer.
In the below video, one can see how women are on rolling on the floor due to the magic touch of the Pastor. The Pastor is seen controlling the minds of poor souls who have attended the event just by his hand movements. The video shows some people are being treated for their chronic illness on stage. Some disabled men can be seen dancing while women jump around as the Pastor waves his hand.
One cannot know whether this is a staged event or real.
One wonders if this is all true and real. If it’s indeed real, why cannot we employ Pastors from Geoffrey Ministry instead of spending so many resources on human health?
5. Young Jesus and his miracles:
It is not just grown men and women, even kids have been forefront at the of converting people into Christianity by indulging in fraudulent ways.
Here is Ankit Ram Babu, son of notorious evangelist Ram Babu. Ankit Babu has been in the conversion business for a very long time now. The below snippet shows how effective he is in luring innocent people by making them believe that he can cure diseases just like that in a snap of fingers.
The young evangelist cures a patient from his cancer on the live stage. “Thank you Lord for healing him and father, the work that has begun, bring it to completion,” prays Ankit Ram Babu, as he chants “, Amen, Amen”.
Ankit Babu, who is a much-experienced evangelist now, in his young avatar claims to have cured people with other disabilities as well. But, interestingly, the script is the same for almost every evangelist that operates in the country. They seem to have received magical powers from Jesus Christ to solve the deadliest disease just by their healing power.
6. Slow motion exorcism
Saved the best for the last.
In the above video, a woman who appears to be ‘possessed’ is likely being ‘cured’ or ‘exorcised’. All this is happening in slow motion. She slowly moves her hands around with her face contorted like she just hurt her toe on the stool amid the chants of ‘Hallelujah’. She gets up, shows of her tongue to the audience for reasons best known to her and makes strange hand gestures. It appears like she is tying herself in knots, literally. In more slow motion moves, she starts shaking vigorously before falling on the ground and rolling around.
The stunned audience then suddenly cheers as the slow motion woman is ‘cured’.
These are just a few videos that expose the conversion racket of the Christian missionaries. There are many such videos that shed light on several such events that take place across the country on a daily basis seeking to convert Hindus to Christianity.
Nobody knows whether these are real events or staged. However, what is worrying is that the gullible Hindus are being lured to these fraudulent events more than ever. Even though these videos look comical and utterly non-sensical for an average person, it is far more serious than what we perceive it to be.
The menace of conversion activities by these evangelists has only grown in the last few years, especially in tribal areas such as Telangana, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, and the northeast states. The missionaries have gone to those areas that are hitherto untouched by the state and have successfully enticed these gullible people. These people living in deep forests, rural areas without access to the bare minimum needs, easily fall prey to this missionary activity in exchange for monetary benefits.
One has to worry about the large number of crowds that these evangelical events attract. Several thousand people visit these events voluntarily in exchange for money given by these missionaries. Strangely, the state remains a mute spectator to these large-scale promotion events despite the missionaries are openly caught promoting superstition and fraud in the name of science. These crooked missionaries and evangelists are now emboldened without any fear of action and hence carry out their missionary activities with much vigour.
One can only hope that both the state and the Hindu community wake up from their deep slumber and recognise the threats it faces from the missionaries.
Nevertheless, one can always lighten up the mood by watching the below song after encountering the horrific videos of conversion activities that are taking place in the country.
A mysterious tunnel connecting the Delhi Legislative Assembly building to the Red Fort has been discovered.
A tunnel-like structure discovered at the Delhi Legislative Assembly. “It connects to the Red Fort. There is no clarity over its history, but it was used by Britishers to avoid reprisal while moving freedom fighters,” said Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel (2.09) pic.twitter.com/OESlRYik69
The distance between Delhi Legislative Assembly and the Red Fort is about 5 kms. The Delhi Legislative Assembly building was constructed in 1912 during the British rule and was designed by E. Montague Thomas to hold the ‘Imperial Legislative Council and later the Central Legislative Assembly till the new Parliament building was inaugurated. The Red Fort was build during Mughal era and was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1638, the fifth Mughal emperor.
We have managed to identify its mouth (origin) but won’t dig any further…Soon we will refurbish it and make it available for the public. Hoping the renovation work to be done by August 15 next year: Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel pic.twitter.com/4PctM4WW8V
According to Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, the authorities have been able to identify the mouth of the tunnel, but will not dig any further. They plan to refurbish it and make it open to public. Goel further said that the tunnel was likely used by the British “to avoid reprisal while moving freedom fighters.”
It is notable here that the existence of the tunnel beneath the Delhi assembly was first reported in 2016 when Speaker Ram Niwas Goel reportedly first found it. He had stated to BBC that there were always rumours about such a tunnel beneath the place. The reports of the tunnel extending till Red Fort has not been confirmed.
A couple of days ago, it was Chetan Bhagat’s lucky day on social media. As India vaccinated over 13 million people in a single day, social media users dug up his old tweets suggesting that India would achieve its vaccination target only by late 2024. Chetan responded with taunts, half-quoted Hindi proverbs and internet memes, asking people to have “thoda sa brain” and the like. He was careful enough to tailor his responses only to the trolling, instead of addressing any meaningful criticism.
Earlier that day, Chetan had tweeted expressing satisfaction at how his columns contributed to drawing attention to India’s slow vaccination program back in April-May. In other words, Chetan essentially courted the trolling himself. Mission accomplished, at least some marketers would say.
Chetan has a ready defense. Did he ever say that India could not achieve its target before 2024? Not exactly. He only said that at the “slow” pace of April-May 2021, vaccinating everyone would take 3 more years. This argument is common nowadays. It comes from liberal critics left red-faced by the now searing pace of India’s vaccination program. In February, an article in The Hindu suggested that India would reach barely 15% of its July end vaccination target, or 6 crore doses instead of the 40 crore doses. That article was widely mocked when India crossed 40 crore doses in mid-July itself.
The response from the journalist who wrote that article? Their article is “valid,” because the projection was based on the vaccination rate at that time in February. He also accused people of “mindless trolling.”
Do these people actually have an excuse? In a strict technical sense, yes. But that does not change the fact that they ignored the first, most basic common sense rule of data analysis. Garbage in, garbage out. If your assumptions are garbage, your projections will be garbage. Of course, when your projections are later exposed as garbage, you can come back and give the defense that your assumptions were garbage too. Like I said, these people are technically correct. Enough to fool the “fact-checkers,” if nobody else.
Why did liberals like Chetan Bhagat make those garbage assumptions in the first place? You might say politics, or sensationalism, but there could be a deeper reason here. It is the failure of their minds to understand non-linearity. If a car travels 50 kilometers this hour and the destination is still 500 kilometers away, the journey will take 10 more hours. Our minds can process this easily. Because it’s linear. And because linear is easy, whenever we try to understand something, we decide to pretend that it must be linear.
The problem is that not everything is linear. In fact, non-linearity is all around us. How well is the sun shining in your part of the world right now? Perhaps it is night and the sun is not shining at all. In any case, if the sun continued to be the way it shines on you right now, it would lead to catastrophe. In other words, the amount of sunshine you receive varies non-linearly. That is what makes life possible as we know it.
What about the rainfall pattern? It’s non-linear too. If a child grows a foot taller between the ages of 5 and 10, does it mean they will grow to be over 17 feet tall by the ripe old age of 90 years? If you can eat 1 burger in 5 minutes, does it mean you can eat 144 burgers in a 12 hour period? What kind of a person does projections like these?
What about economic growth? It is always non-linear. What about the manufacturing of cars, typewriters, airplanes or any other successful product? It starts off slow, then increases rapidly for a time, then hits a peak and gradually goes away. You can’t assume linearity just because it is easy to multiply things on a calculator. You must account for reality as well. By the way, the pandemic itself is the best example of non-linear growth. Remember when we had the first 100 or so cases in India? I think that took almost a whole week. How did that zoom to nearly 1 lakh cases per day?
Here is an example that may hit closer home for Chetan Bhagat. If his book sells 1 lakh copies on the first day, does it mean the book will sell 365 lakh copies in a year? Or 36.5 crore copies in 10 years?
Liberals have not just failed to understand non-linear growth, they have failed to even understand what growth means. Suppose the BSE Sensex is at 50,000 on June 30, at 49,000 on July 31, at 54,000 on Aug 31, and at 53,000 on Sep 30. So, is the market rising or falling? It’s actually rising. Because you have to see the trend, not the variation. That’s how things work in the real world.
Speaking of not understanding trend growth, The Hindu absolutely embarrassed themselves the other day with an editorial titled “The virtue of consistency.” If it is so great that India hit 1 crore vaccinations in one day, then why did the numbers fall to 79 lakh the next day? This happened earlier as well. After the Center took over the vaccination program on June 21, there were nearly 87 lakh vaccinations the first day, but it dropped off to 60 lakh per day or so over the following week. What kind of mind trick is Modi trying to pull off?
Did you see what actually happened? Vaccinations suddenly rose from 20 lakh a day to 88 lakh and then “fell” to 60 lakh! Recently, it rose to 1 crore and then “fell” to 79 lakh! The peaks are higher than the previous peaks. The troughs are also higher than the previous troughs. That’s trend growth.
But the folks at The Hindu cannot understand this. Their editorial appealing for “consistency” read nearly like a cry for help from a failing student. Give us one fixed number so we can multiply and be happy. Simplify the math for us, please. Because anything above a sixth grade level is blowing our minds.
There are a number of reasons our minds are often not ready to face non-linearity. You could blame the already much maligned school education system. They spend way too much time obsessing over linear equations. There is another way, though. You could learn now. You could become a lifelong learner, and discover new things each day. That includes a bit of humility, instead of telling others to use “thoda sa brain.”
One final thing. In this article, I keep referring to Chetan Bhagat as a “liberal.” How did that come to pass? He started off as the whiz from IIT, IIM and Goldman-Sachs. Then, Chetan brought his freshness into the stuck up world of literature and changed that forever. That’s not liberalism, that’s real enterprise. But the liberals eventually got to him. They looked down on him so much, that he finally came around to wanting to be like them.
This is what liberals excel at. Making people feel inferior with their consent. Now the liberals treat Chetan as an intern, and he sucks up to them in return. Congratulations, Chetan. You now have Sadanand Dhume defending your intellectual contribution. And doing it more eloquently than you ever could. Perhaps you have finally earned your merit badge of liberalism. Go celebrate.
After capturing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has made it clear that they will promote separatist activities in Kashmir. Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen on Thursday said that the Taliban have the right to speak out in favour of the Muslims in Kashmir.
In a video interview from the Taliban’s political office in Doha in Qatar through Zoom with BBC Urdu, Suhail Shaheen said that being Muslims, they have the right to raise their voice for Muslims in India, and any other country.
He said that just like the minorities like Hindus and Sikhs have the right to practice their religion in Afghanistan, Muslims also should have equal rights in other countries. Therefore, if Muslims are discriminated against in other countries, the Taliban will raise its voice for such Muslims. “We will raise our voice and say that Muslims are your own people, your own citizens. They are entitled to equal rights under your laws,” he said.
"Just like India speaks for rights of Hindu's/minorities of Afghanistan,we have right to speak for INDIAN MUSLIMS and KASHMIRIS if you don't give them RIGHTS.We have spoke for them before & will do in future"@suhailshaheen1 ? pic.twitter.com/zo8wInFBaN
However, the Taliban spokesperson added that the group will not conduct military operations against other countries, as they do not have a policy of raising arms against any country. He said that according to the Doha agreement signed with the United States, the Taliban will not allow any group or entity to launch attack against any country from Afghanistan.
Suhail Shaheen also said that there is no separate group named Haqqani network, as they are part of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This comment comes just days after the US State Department had said that the Taliban and Haqqani Network are separate entities. It is notable that Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is the deputy chief of the Taliban. The network has been given the responsibility of security of Kabul city by the Taliban.
Muhammad Suhail Shaheen is a member of the negotiations team of the Taliban, and the official spokesman for international media for the Islamic Emirates. He was the editor of the English language state=owned Kabul Times during the previous Taliban regime, and later was appointed as the deputy ambassador to the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan.
Three committees in West Bengal have collaborated for creating idols of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as ‘Goddess Durga’ ahead of the Pujo festivities.
West Bengal | 3 committees collaborate to make idol of Goddess Durga resembling CM Mamata Banerjee
“Every person in Bengal considers her as Goddess Durga. The benefits she provided to people haven’t been seen in world,” says Partha Sarkar, Vice Pres, Nazrul Park Unnayan Samiti pic.twitter.com/wZZzUlUTBc
As reported by news agency ANI, Partha Sarkar, Vice President of Nazrul Park Unnayan Samiti claimed that every person in Bengal considers her as Goddess Durga. “The benefits she provided to people haven’t been seen in world,” he claimed. Recently, Calcutta High Court ordered a court monitored CBI probe into the human rights violations in the large scale post poll violence that took place in the state after TMC’s Mamata Banerjee returned to power on May 2.
There have been allegations of gang rapes and murders across the state allegedly perpetrated by the workers and cadres of the ruling party TMC on the political opponents. The NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) report has detailed the victims’ allegation of torture and brutality inflicted upon them. The High Court has entrusted all the cases to the SIT for investigation which will be monitored by the court. The cases related to the murder and crimes against women mentioned in the NHRC will be probed by the CBI while other cases will be probed by the SIT.
The NHRC Panel in its report concluded that the current situation of the state, is a manifestation of ‘Law of Ruler’, instead of ‘Rule of Law’. It added that the loss of faith in state administration among victims is very evident. The statutory body added that a list of 57 complaints related to women was received from the National Women Commission.
At least three Palestinians died inside a smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt after the Egyptian army pumped toxic gas into the tunnel, according to reports by Israeli and Palestinian media. The tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border are used by the Palestinians to smuggle various items into the Gaza strip.
To bypass the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Gaza, the Palestinians use the tunnels to smuggle food, fuel, arms and ammunition into the Hamas ruled Gaza strip. The tunnel which was targeted by the Egyptian army stretches from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt to the Gaza Strip. The victims in the incident were workers working in the tunnel. Sources in Gaza said that they have lost contact with the workers in the tunnel.
However, this is not the first time the smuggling tunnels have been attacked by Egypt. In 2010, Egyptian forces had pumped gas into one of such tunnels, killing 4 Palestinians and injuring 9. In 2009, Egypt had started building a steel barrier along the 4 km border with Gaza to stop the smuggling tunnels.
Hamas maintains an extensive network of tunnels along the borders of Gaza strip, which are known as “Hamas Metro”. In May this year, Israel had bombed several tunnels on the Israel-Gaza border in retaliation to rocket bombings in Israel by Hamas.
On September 1, while denying bail [PDF of the judgement] to one accused of cow slaughter, the Allahabad High Court said that cows should be declared national animals of India and cow protection should be the fundamental right of the Hindus. The court further adds that when the culture and faith of a nation are hurt, the nation becomes weak. The court was hearing the bail plea of Javed, who was accused of stealing and slaughtering a cow.
The High Court said that Javed not only stole the cow but also killed it by slitting its throat. He was identified by the eyewitnesses when he and the other accused were collecting cow beef in the forest close to the home from where they stole the cow of Khilendra Singh. Javed and the other accused had slaughtered a total of three cows that day, as per the reports. The bail was rejected by a single judge bench comprising of Justice Shekhar Yadav. “This is not the first offence of the applicant. Earlier too he had committed cow slaughter which had disturbed the harmony of society,” Justice Yadav said.
Right to life is above all
The court said that beef eaters alone do not have fundamental rights. Those who worship the cows and whose livelihoods are based on the cows also have the right to lead a meaningful life. The court added that the right to live is above all. The right to kill a cow to eat beef cannot be placed above that.
Many religions understand importance of cows
The court said that the cow’s usefulness remains intact even if she gets old. Cow dung is used to make manure, and cow urine is used in medicines. The court also noted that the cow, even if it is old, is worshipped as a mother in the Hindu religion. The court observed that the cow is considered an important part of life not only by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists but also by many Muslims and Christians. Many emperors understood the importance of cows and declared cow slaughter a punishable offence. During the time of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, cow slaughter was an offence punishable by death, the court observed.
Government should consider naming cow a national animal
The High Court noted that the government of India should consider making cows a national animal. The court said that there are rules and regulations in place to save the cows. The court added that it is very said that those who once talked about cow protection have now started consuming beef. The court also pointed out the bad conditions of cow shelters. It is said that governments make cow shelters, but the caretakers are often negligent. The High Court objected to the death of cows in cowsheds due to hunger and disease.
The court said at times, cows are kept in a dirty environment, and they do not get enough food. They start eating polythene that leads to their death. The court also pointed out that how cows are abundant by their owners once their stop giving milk. The court added seeing all this, one may question the intentions of those who call themselves cow protectors.
