On September 2 (Local Time), Magistrate K Thomson’s Parramatta LC Court 13 ordered the release of Vishal Jood, the Indian student lodged in a jail in Australia, on October 15, 2021. As per reports, in a plea bargain, NSW’s Department of Public Prosecutors dropped eight charges that included the racial hate crime charges against Jood. OpIndia has confirmed with Jood’s lawyer about his release.
Vishal reportedly pleaded guilty to three minor charges of altercations that happened between September 16, 2020, and February 14, 2021. During the final hearing, Vishal’s lawyer presented video evidence to prove that Jood was provoked by a group of Khalistanis that led to the altercation. For the charges he pleaded guilty to, Jood was sentenced to six months in Jail starting from the day of his arrest, April 16, 2021. His sentence would be over on October 15, 2021.
The Vishal Jood Case
24-year-old Vishal Jood hails from Haryana and currently pursuing higher studies in Australia. He was arrested for his alleged involvement in three crimes in Sydney on April 16. Reports suggest that he was picked by the Australian Police after a group of Indian nationalists clashed with Khalistani elements in Australia. He was charged with damage to property, affray, and assault.
Interestingly, in all three cases, Khalistanis were named as victims. These Khalistani elements are believed to be Indian-origin, however, they do not identify themselves as Indians but prefer being identified with their religious identity and support the idea of Khalistan. OpIndia talking to a few Indian nationalists who said that hostilities between the Indian diaspora and the Khalistani extremists existed for a long time but took a violent turn on August 28, 2020. The fight started after Jassi, a Khalistani, started posting pro-Khalistani and anti-India content on TikTok.
The matter got escalated to the point where both groups gathered at Harris Park and indulged in a gang fight. Jassi, the main culprit in the case, was badly injured. However, Jassi did not back down and continued to threaten Hindus, suggesting he would thrash Haryanvis if he comes across them alone. The tension further escalated between Indians and pro-Khalistani elements once again after the passing of farmer bills in the country and the subsequent protests that began in Punjab in September last year. The protests led by rich farmers and arhatiyas (intermediaries), instigated by Khalistani elements, reached Australia too.
While farmer protests were happening in India, Khalistani elements held similar protests in Australia and used abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A few months later, on January 26, the alleged farmers camping at the Delhi border, joining hands with Khalistani elements, had unleashed violence on the streets of New Delhi and desecrated the national flag at Delhi’s Red Fort. The incident sent shockwaves across the world, and the Indian diaspora across the world, including in Australia, condemned the incident.
Reportedly, an Indian flag was also burnt at a Gurudwara in Sydney, but OpIndia could not verify the details. As a retaliation, a Khalistani flag was burnt by Indian students that irked the Khalistanis further. A Tiktok video went viral from a pro-Khalistan account that showed many Khalistanis beating someone up brutally. Soon, they declared they had bashed an individual named Vishal Jood who had ‘insulted their flag’. However, a day later, it came to light that the Khalistanis had ended up beating some random guy, not Vishal.
On February 28 this year, the Khalistanis entered the localities near Sydney’s Harris Park, where Indians live and vandalised cars and properties. On April 16, a few weeks after the alleged crime, Vishal was arrested from his house in Sydney. The Australian police stated that there is an outstanding warrant against him since 2018 for “other crimes”. Family accused Australian police of deliberately delaying to please Khalistanis and alleged that Indian High Commission was not helping them too.
On September 1, Jood’s lawyer came to an agreement with the prosecutors, and Vishal pleaded guilty in two cases that included charges of minor altercation. Rest of the charges were dropped. The Australia Today quoted Vishal’s brother saying, “By the grace of Bajrang Bali Vishal will be with us soon, we are looking forward to his release from Sydney Prison.”
Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani passed away in Srinagar on Wednesday evening. The former Hurriyat Conference leader died at around 10.35 PM at his residence in Hyderpora in Srinagar at the age of 92 years.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti shared the news of death of Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Twitter. “Saddened by the news of Geelani sahab’s passing away. We may not have agreed on most things but I respect him for his steadfastness & standing by his beliefs,” she tweeted.
Saddened by the news of Geelani sahab’s passing away. We may not have agreed on most things but I respect him for his steadfastness & standing by his beliefs. May Allah Ta’aala grant him jannat & condolences to his family & well wishers.
Born in Sopore Baramulla in North Kashmir in 1929, Geelani had served as the chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of pro-Pakistan separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir. In June 2020 he had left the Huriyat. He had founded Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and was previously associated with Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir. He had won the assembly elections to became MLA from Sopore in 1972, 1977 and in 1987.
Geelani was a key hardliner separatist leader in Kashmir, who had played a major role in the increase in separatist activists in the region. He was slapped with sedition charges in 2010 for his anti-India activities.
Geelani is survived by his two sons and four daughters. At present, it is not confirmed whether the burial will take place at Sopore or Hyderpora. Reportedly, his family is wishing to bury him at Hyderpora.
On September 1, Islamist-sympathiser who was profiled by Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint, CJ Werleman, shared an undated video on his Twitter profile and claimed that a group of Hindu men desecrated and destroyed a Muslim Graveyard in Nathan, India. He wrote, “Hindutva radicals desecrate and destroy a Muslim graveyard in Nathan, India.”
Tweet by CJ Werleman
Several Islamists picked up the video to defame Hindus. Bibi Sajeda wrote, “Are these bhakts agents of urbanism? Which authority has given them this assignment?”
Reaction tweet by Bibi Sajeda
Aidarouss Ahmed Hirsi said,” #HinduvtaTerrorist militias destroy a #Muslim cemetery in Nathan, #India”
Tweet by Aidarouss Ahmed Hirsi
Abdul Hameed Lone said, “Hindutva radicals desecrate & destroy a Muslim graveyard in Nathan, India. This is a question mark for the international community as to where India is heading in the South Asian subcontinent & u are all silent.”
Tweet by Abdul Hameed Lone
Kamaal Khan, who appeared to be associated with Tipu Sultan Party, wrote, “Hindutva radicals desecrate and destroy a Muslim graveyard in Nathan, India.”
Tweet by Kamaal Khan
News Agency MuslimMirror wrote, “Hindutva radicals desecrate and destroy a Muslim graveyard in presence of police in Nathan village, Naggar Tehsil in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.”
Tweet by Muslim Mirror
Fake claim by The Print journalist
All the claims made by CJ Werleman in his tweet were wrong. First, the incident is not from Nathan as claimed by him. OpIndia reached out to Kullu Police, under which Nathan village in Naggar Tehsil is located. SHO Ashok Sharma, Kullu Police, said that the video is not from the Kullu district and no such incident took place in the area.
The video is from Nahan, the headquarters of Sirmaur District in Himachal Pradesh, and it does not show a Muslim Graveyard destroyed by ‘Hindutva radicals’ as claimed by Werleman. Actually, the video shows an illegal majar being demolished by some Hindu activists with the cooperation of the administration. If one watches the video carefully, a couple of policemen can be seen present at the spot. This indicates that it was not some vandalism, but had the support of the administration.
Kamal Gautam, the General Secretary of Hindu Jagaran Manch in Himachal Pradesh had already posted the same video yesterday on Twitter. In his tweet, he had informed that the Sirmaur unit of Hindu Jagaran Manch had “uprooted an illegal majar constructed by Islamic jihadis under their land jihad agenda at Nahan.” He added that “Jihadis were trying to encroach this precious prime land near medical college Nahan”.
A report by Punjab Kesari confirms this incident, which says that the municipal board demolished the illegal majar with the cooperation of HJM members. The report states that some unknown people had set up the illegal majar on government land near the Dr Y S Parmar Medical College in Nahan. The organisation had informed the urban body about the illegal construction, after which it was demolished and the construction material stocked at the site were removed.
HJM state secretary Manab Sharma said that some unknown people had gathered construction material to build the illegal majar in the night. After they informed the authorities about the same, the illegal construction was removed in the presence of administration and police officials.
Therefore, the video shows an illegal majar being demolished by Hindu Jagaran Manch with the full cooperation of the administration and police, and it was not a Muslim graveyard destroyed by ‘Hindutva radicals’ as claimed by The Print journalist.
CJ Werleman has a history of making false claims
This is not the first time Werleman has published a fake report to claim there is Islamophobia in India. On several occasions, he had made false allegations that the Indian government is suppressing Muslims. In August 2018, he took to Twitter to wrongly claim that the BJP had banned the slaughter of livestock during Eid. Werlemen also claimed that the Police Officer was forcing an Imam to declare “Qurbani is a punishable crime” to his followers in the video that he had attached. In the same year, he posted a video of claiming ‘Hindutva fanatics’ destroying 25 Muslim owned businesses and properties in Aurangabad on 25th March’.
CJ Werlemen appears to have a particular grudge against Uttar Pradesh, probably because a saffron-clad monk is the Chief Minister of the state. In several tweets, he had mentioned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as a ‘Hindutva terrorist’.
In 2018, Kasganj Police had to refute his allegations after Werlemen accused them of teaming up with ‘Hindu extremists’ to target Muslims. In a separate instance, this time not involving Uttar Pradesh, Werlemen used a video depicting the violence during the Bhima-Koregaon clashes in Maharashtra and claimed that it, in fact, showed Hindus destroying Muslim property.
Note: Earlier this article identified CJ Werleman as columnist with ThePrint. However, it turns out, he was only ‘profiled’ by Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint and has not written any article for them. We have updated the copy. Error is regretted.
Less than a month after the Modi government at the centre decided to drop the name of Rajiv Gandhi from the Khel Ratna award, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government has decided to drop the name of the former prime minister from one of the major national parks in the state. In the weekly cabinet meeting held in Guwahati, the Assam government decided to rename the Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park to just Orang National Park.
Assam cabinet decided to drop Rajiv Gandhi from the name of the national park after several organisations had submitted demands to the state government for the same. In last month, Aranya Suraksha Samiti Assam, a nature organisation from the state, had submitted a memorandum to the chief minister urging to rename Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park as Orang National Park. The Adivasi and tea tribes living in the area were also demanding to drop Rajiv Gandhi from the name.
The national park located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river in Darrang, Udalguri and Sonitpur districts is known for various wild animals like Indian rhinos, royal Bengal tiger, pygmy hog, wild elephant, wild water buffalo etc. Covering an area of 79.28 km2, it was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1985, and was upgraded to a national park in 1999.
Orang Wildlife Sanctuary was originally named after Rajiv Gandhi in 1992. However, due to massive protests from the public at that time, this decision was put on hold. However, after it was declared as a national park in 1999, the then Tarun Gogoi led Congress government had again renamed it Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park in 2001. Despite protests from the public and environmentalists, this decision remained in force.
Even though the official name of the park had Rajib Gandhi in it, people in the state never used it, it is always known as Orang National Park. Moreover, when the park was also declared as a tiger reserve in 2016, it was named as Orang Tiger Reserve only.
Bronze medalist Sharad Kumar was deflated and dejected a night before competing at the Paralympics T42 high jump owing to an acute problem in his knee. He was even contemplating pulling out his name from the competition but a phone call to his family and reading Bhagwad Gita helped him allay his apprehensions and participate in the event.
Kumar had suffered meniscus dislocation, a type of knee injury, on Monday and cried all night over the anxiety of not being able to participate in the competition. But he ultimately took part in the event and jumped 1.83 metres to win a bronze medal for the country.
Just as at Rio 2016, #IND have 2️⃣ athletes in the podium places in Men’s High Jump T63 Final! ??
“I felt accomplished to have won a bronze for the country because I had suffered an injury on my leg during training on Monday. My meniscus was dislocated last night. I the cried whole night and thought of pulling out of the event,” Kumar said after the event.
After coming third in the competition, Kumar reminisced how talking with his family a night before the event and reading Bhagavad Gita instilled the lost confidence in him to give his best in the next day’s event.
“I spoke to my family and my father told me to read Bhagavad Gita and focus on the variables that are under my control and forget about those over which I can have no control,” said the 29-year-old athlete from Patna, who suffered paralysis of his left leg after being administered a spurious polio drug during a local eradication campaign at the age of two.
“So I forgot about my injury and considered each jump as a war. The medal is the icing on the cake,” Kumar said.
Kumar, a double Asian Para Games (2014 and 2018) high jump champion and world silver medallist (2019), said it was a difficult situation for him during the event as he had to give his best as well as bear in his mind that his jump does not have an adverse impact on his already injured knee.
“I was two tasks at the same time—jumping as well as trying to keep my knee secure. And that amidst a ferocious downpour,” Kumar remembered.
When asked how hard it is to compete in the rain, Kumar said, “Competing in the high jump in rainy conditions is incredibly difficult for us. We have one leg to balance ourselves and we wear spikes on the other leg. I tried to speak to the officials, persuading them to call off the event. But the Americans had spikes for both the legs, this did not help us in our argument and the competition continued as per schedule.”
On August 30, Kathavachak Bhai Davinder Singh (Sonu Veer Ji) of Goindwal, Punjab, hailed Taliban while preaching at Gurudwara Nanak Piao, Mahingapur, Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. He said, “Some white men brought military in Afghanistan. At that time, there were 52 Singhs of Taliban. Now you will ask why am I calling them Sikhs. I am calling them Sikhs because if a person is fighting for his rights, which shows manhood, who does not agree to become someone’s slave? Who is he?”
There is no radic@lization in #Punjab ??? Really ??? Is he a ma_l_vi sitting right??? What more u gonna expect now ??? Why ur not opening the pigeon eyes??#Punjab_Un_heardpic.twitter.com/qKC61dpiWl
He further added, “When America attacked Afghanistan, the intelligent people, those who were fighting to save their rights, were only 52 in number. It is our misfortune that mothers of our 11-year-olds are getting a haircut for their children. Not even boys, even girls, are chopping off their hair. On the other hand, the Taliban gave their 11-year-olds loaded pistols. When the children asked them what to do when someone enters their home, their parents asked them to shoot the intruders. They started with a group of 52, and now they defeated 2,75,000 American troops with 74,000 men. This is the power of weapons.”
He further added that it is the misfortunes of the Sikhs that they welcome victory with flowers. On the other hand, the Taliban raised their weapons. He alleged that a video got leaked in which Talibs were seen worshipping their weapons before entering Afghan parliament.
Using the example of the Taliban, Davinder Singh said that Sikhs are requesting the Modi government not to torture them. “But for how long? I have told you before if a dog becomes mad, there is no way other than killing it. It is up to you if you kill the dog with the power of vote or with the power of agitation, but you have to kill the dog,” he said.
Davinder Singh further added, “My Sikh brothers, if you do not kill the dog, he will put his knee on your neck. I am giving you an example. The sons of Adani and Ambani only need ½ litre of milk, but the Modi government is serving them 5 litres and not providing anyone else anything. It is not fair. It should be the other way around. You should get 5 litres and give them whatever is left. Now, if you want to take your share, you have to take action. Remember, Khalsa, do not eat leftover.”
Explosive allegations against BJP members
Davinder Singh made some explosive allegations against BJP leaders as well. He said, “If someone supports BJP, ask them about the gang rape of a young woman in the hands of 13 BJP workers who not only raped her but inserted a rod in her private parts. Ask them how they can support such people? If you ask this question, they will back off.” He not only urged his followers to keep the farmer protests alive but also to remove the Modi government from power by any means whatsoever.
Gurudwaras are being used to spread fake information
This is not the first time a Gurudwara has been used to radicalize Sikh youth or spread misinformation about the Union Government or Agriculture laws. In December 2020, it was reported that the Sermons of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib spread misinformation about the Agriculture laws. Katha Vachak Baba Banta Singh made several false claims which were completely opposite to what is in the laws.
An Afghan interpreter who saved Joe Biden in Afghanistan 13 years ago, pleaded with the US president to rescue him and his family. “Hello Mr President, Save me and my family,” begged Mohammed who chose to not give out his full name while speaking with Wall Street Journal.
While the US troops have completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Afghan who had worked with them as an interpreter was left behind in the country, like thousands of others who now fear punishment from the Taliban.
“Don’t forget me here,” urged the Afghan who had stood guard with Afghan soldiers and US troops for 30 hours in freezing temperatures to protect Biden roughly a decade ago. Mohammed who is scared for his life and currently in hiding with his wife and four children, was part of a team that helped rescue a three-member US delegation.
In 2008, the helicopters carrying then-Senator Biden and former Sens. Chuck Hagel, and John Kerry, were forced to land in a snowstorm, stranding them in a remote valley in Afghanistan. That is when Mohammed who was a part of the US troop risked his life for Biden.
“We will get you out”, saus White House
White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to Mohammed’s plea on Tuesday saying, “We will get you out.”
“We will honour your service, and we’re committed to doing exactly that,” Psaki further said assuring the interpreter.
Reportedly, Mohammed’s visa application has been delayed after the defence contractor he worked for lost all the records required for his application. Mohammed even reported to the designated airport gates at Kabul to flee the country but was asked to leave his family behind.
“I can’t leave my house. I’m very scared,” remarked Mohammed uncertain about his evacuation.
Mohammed, like countless other Afghans, is still waiting to be rescued.
After successfully taking over Afghanistan, the Taliban has launched a door-to-door hunt in search of every Afghan who helped the US and Afghan troops. The Jihadi organization has killed hundreds of interpreters to date.
Declaring that the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan is complete, Biden assured, “For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline.” However, with the US troops pulling out completely from the war-torn country, uncertainty continues to loom especially for those who stood by the US and await help.
The National Security Advisor of the United States, Jake Sullivan, was seen saying “It is hard to put a label on Taliban” when asked about US relations with the Taliban after the Afghanistan takeover.
??: Jake Sullivan refuses to call the Taliban an enemy, saying “it’s hard to put a label on it.”
The Taliban helped facilitate 9/11, and the National Security Adviser won’t call them an enemy. This is the Biden administration. #Afghanistanpic.twitter.com/tSmrg9LK2U
When an MSNBC anchor asked Sullivan about US relation with Taliban, and that whether Taliban is an ‘adversary’ or ‘enemy’ Sullivan responded by saying, ‘It is hard to put a label on Taliban in part because we are yet to see what they are going to be now that they are in physical control of Afghanistan’.
The thought process and the statement made by Sullivan, NSA of the United States, is morally conflicting and opportunistic in nature and against all the sacrifices made by the US Army. Thousands of American lives have been lost in Afghanistan during a war that was fought for two decades against the Taliban to supposedly ensure the safety of Americans and Afghan nationals. And after all that, Sullivan finds it difficult to even admit that the Taliban is an enemy.
The current political stance of the NSA on the Taliban reflects the possibility of a change in the US Taliban relationship under the current scenario with the total occupation of Afghanistan by the Talibani radicals. Sullivan makes a subtle indication of the prospect that under the changing circumstances and the developments taking place in Afghanistan, to expect a US-Taliban partnership to manifest in the near future cannot be ruled out, or that such a partnership may already exist.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren must be feeling politically worried and embarrassed as Jharkhand High Court has ordered a CBI inquiry of suspected suicide of Jharkhand Police Sub Inspector Rupa Tirkey. It may land his very close associate and assembly constituency representative Pankaj Mishra in trouble.
This is not the only bad news emerging from the courtroom as the High Court has also ordered to start criminal proceedings against Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan and Additional Advocate General Sachin Kumar for allegedly scandalizing the court during the hearing of Rupa Tirkey case.
The single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi of Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday delivered the much awaited judgment of this case while hearing criminal writ petition 139/ 2021 filed by Devanand Oraon who had demanded a CBI inquiry of the death of his daughter.
Now as per the court order Jharkhand police will hand-over documents and evidences of this case to the CBI and the central agency will lodge an FIR.
“The justice has neither been delayed nor denied. However, the government went to extreme level to stop judiciary from discharging its duty. Unverified and wrong allegations were leveled to delay proceeding of the court. We pray for the soul of Rupa Tirkey,” Rajiv Kumar, the senior lawyer of Jharkhand High court said who appeared on behalf of Oraon.
Rupa Tirkey, a native of Ranchi was posted as officer in-charge of Mahila police station in Sahebganj district in Santhal Pargana division. On May 3 she was found hanging at her official quarter in Sahebganj.
Deceased SI was being threatened right after she lodged an FIR against Pashupati Yadav for allegedly assaulting a woman. Pashupati’s son Dahu Yadav is local criminal. Besides, she had also arrested a close associate of Dahu in this case. Dahu Yadav and Pankaj Mishra and closely associated and Pankaj Mishra being close to chief minister controls enormous power.
The lady refused to either release Dahu’s associate and to withdraw the name of Pashupati from the FIR. It is alleged that after this incident she was being heckled and abused even publically.
As the alleged suicide came to light district police quickly formed a five member Special Investigation Team.
“From the very first day police was playing a doubtful role as the police had decided to close it as a case of FIR. We have information that after suicide Pankaj Mishra was regularly talking to DSP. Even a close associate of chief minister was frequently calling the deputy commissioner of the district. Police refused to lodge FIR on the basis of written complaint of mother of the deceased. One month after the incident, district converted it as a regular case and booked her colleague sub inspector S.K. Kanaujia and her father for abetment of suicide. But the chargesheet was filed only against Kanaujia. While district police was pretending investigation state government appointed a retired High Court judge to carry a judicial inquiry into the whole matter,” said lawyer Rajiv Kumar.
The kind of investigation was going on the family suspected Jharkhand Police is acting under unseen commands. For instance the photographs show her feet touching the floor which is not possible in the case of suicide by hanging. There was bottled water lying on the floor of the room where the body was found. Police did not collect that bottled water for sample to ascertain possible poisoning. Instead it took water sample from kitchen. The investigating officer of this case was frequently changed.
Further, the case diary was also incomplete and full of errors. For instance, the doctor who conducted postmortem on the deceased refused to give any statement to police. The viscera was also not preserved. Police apparently did not preserve bed sheets and other clothes for forensic test to verify whether she was sexually victimized.
The hearing of the petition witnessed an unsavory situation when during hearing of the petition on August 13 the Advocate General told the court that this case should be transferred to other court. Advocate General said after the end of one such hearing of this petition held on August 11, he had heard Rajiv Kumar; counsel for the petitioner, stating that the 200% the court will refer this case to the CBI.
Justice Dwivedi refused to recuse himself from hearing of this suicide case but he referred the matter to Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan on administrative side for administrative decision on whether or not he should hear this case. Justice Dwivedi had commented that “merely on such submission of the learned Advocate General, the Court is not required to recuse from the case as nothing should come in the way of dispensation of justice or discharge of duty as a Judge and judicial decision-making.” In the meantime the petitioner filed a criminal contempt notice against Advocate General and his junior.
On August 26 Jharkhand Chief Justice directed Justice Dwivedi to continue hearing.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren heads JMM-Congress-RJD government and even MLAs are unhappy with Pankaj Mishra and Soren’s excessive weakness for Pankaj Mishra. “In order to save this man chief minister miserably put the credibility of the government on stake. Pankaj Mishra has been behaving like super CM. Now he will have enough time for introspection,” said a member of the ruling combine.
Even after twenty years of long-drawn-out war, Afghanistan remains at the cusp of a crisis as the US forces unceremoniously pull out of the country, leaving helpless Afghans at the mercy of their radical Taliban rulers.
The situation came to pass after Kabul fell to the Taliban on the 15th of August as President Ashraf Ghani made a run from the country. In a blitzkrieg, the Taliban managed to capture the whole of Afghanistan in a matter of few weeks following the US president Joe Biden’s announcement that he would honour the withdrawal agreement signed by his predecessor Donald Trump. The speed at which the Afghan Government collapsed came as a shock to many, with Afghan soldiers leaving the force to join the ranks of the Taliban.
With the president having already fled to the United Arab Emirates and scores of Afghan soldiers either surrendering or joining the Talibani ranks, it seemed like the Taliban wouldn’t face any credible resistance in overthrowing the last vestiges of the Afghan government and establishing its supremacy in the country.
Panic and chaos gripped the country, with thousands of people streaming to the Kabul airport fearing the return of the oppressive rule reminiscent of the Taliban rule in the late 90s. Just when it appeared that the Taliban rule is imminent and unchallenged, the Vice President of Afghanistan under the Ashraf Ghani government, Amrullah Saleh, stepped up to the plate and decided that he would not go down without giving a fight to the fundamentalist group.
On August 17, just two days after the Taliban stormed Kabul, Saleh staked claim to the presidency of the country as the legitimate caretaker president. He cited the constitution of Afghanistan and said, in the event of the escape, absence, resignation or death of the president, the Vice President becomes the caretaker president.
Amrullah Saleh said that since he is still in Afghanistan, he is the legitimate caretaker president and therefore, he is reaching out to leaders to secure their support and consensus. He announced that he was in Panjshir Valley — the last anti-Taliban bastion in government’s control, and would continue to put up a brave front to oust the Taliban. As Saleh, along with Ahmad Massoud and other key leaders mobilised a resistance force to fight against the Taliban, he quickly became the face and the leader of the Afghan resistance against the Taliban onslaught.
The Afghan soldiers and warlords, who are now being hunted by the Taliban, are reportedly headed to the Panjshir Valley to join the resistance group. Saleh has indicated that he is determined to fight the Taliban to the last bullet and has praised the Afghan soldiers for taking arms against the terror group. He has also invited commandos and special forces, to join the resistance movement against the Taliban.
Amrullah Saleh, Vice President of Afghanistan and Ahmad Massoud, son of Ahmad Shah Massoud spotted in Panjshir.They are bringing all Anti-Taliban commanders together in Panjshir. This province is still free from Taliban. pic.twitter.com/bgb8hUdfwi
In his recent interview, Saleh said the Taliban rule in Afghanistan has its days numbered. He asserted that the fundamentalist laws of the Taliban are unacceptable to the people of Afghanistan, adding that the group won’t last long in the country. Saleh said the Taliban neither has external nor has internal legitimacy and they would soon face a “deep military crisis” as areas besides Panjshir would start mounting resistance against them.
Who is Amrullah Saleh?
Amrullah Saleh, 48, belongs to the Tajik ethnic group and was born in October 1972 in Panjshir Valley, 150 km north of the capital Kabul. Right from a young age, Saleh harboured deep aversion towards the USSR for their meddling in Afghanistan and joined the Northern Alliance during the civil war in the 1990s that culminated in the 1992 ouster of Mohammed Najibullah, Afghanistan’s USSR-backed ruler. He had even travelled to Pakistan where he received mujahideen training to fight against the Soviet-backed Afghan army.
Later in the 1990s, the Northern Alliance, of which Saleh was a part, was embroiled in fighting against the Pakistan-sponsored Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Taliban terrorists in 1996 conducted a manhunt to find Saleh but instead, they got hold of his elder sister Mariam, who was tortured and subjected to unspeakable atrocities. She later managed to escape the Taliban and fled Kabul with her family. Nevertheless, the incident had a lasting impact on Saleh and it completely changed his view about the Taliban.
In 1997, Saleh was appointed to the Northern Alliance’s liaison office in Tajikistan. There he handled contacts with international NGOs and agencies. India had then refused to acknowledge the Taliban rule over Afghanistan over the intelligence assessment that the group was backed by Pakistan’s ISI.
As per reports, it was also Saleh, who had coordinated contact between Indian officials and Ahmed Shah Massoud, facilitating India’s help in medical supplies, arms and ammunition to the Massoud-led resistance against Taliban through the Tajikstan town of Farkhor.
His journey from being a spy to Afghan politics
Then in 2004, three years after the US-led NATO forces toppled the Talibani regime in Afghanistan, Saleh entered into the field of espionage. He was then appointed as the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency and served in the office for 6 years until 2010. While in office he was considered a key asset to the CIA. During his time in office, he was also reportedly censorious of President Hamid Karzai’s moderate stance on the Taliban and his undue dependence on Pakistan. In 2011, Saleh established the Basej-e Milli political party to oppose the Taliban.
Six years later, in 2017, Saleh joined hands with President Ashraf Ghani and was subsequently made Interior Minister the following year. Then in February 2020, he was elevated to the post of country’s vice president.
Saleh has continued to be the thorn in the side of the Taliban and there have been several attempts to assassinate the former vice president of Afghanistan. In September 2020, an attempt was made to kill Saleh. Although he emerged unscathed from the attack, 10 bystanders were killed. The attack took place on September 9, 2020, two days before 9/11 and on the anniversary of the killing of Ahmed Shah Massoud.
Saleh’s stand on Pakistan and its symbiotic relationship with the Taliban
Over the years, Saleh has not minced his words in voicing his acerbic and forthright assessment of Pakistan. He has remained one of the most trenchant critics of Pakistan, accusing them of assisting the Taliban and deceiving its western allies by using the alms and grants it receives from them in arming the terrorists. In his recent interviews following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Saleh has blamed Pakistan for helping the Taliban fool the international community by participating in Doha talks, while using that time to prop up military powers.
“Pakistan was not only a safe haven for the Taliban terrorists but the entire country was under the service of the terror group. The US tried to persuade Pakistan into cooperation, often by offering them incentives, but the more they paid, the more it emboldened the Pakistanis to extend their support to the Taliban tacitly. Therefore, the issue of a nuclear state facilitating and promoting terrorism and insurgency against western allies in Afghanistan was never really addressed,” Saleh opined.
In an interview with the Indian Express in September 2019, Saleh said the Taliban gets its arms and ammunition from the Pakistani ISI and the army. He alleged that Pakistan’s interference in Afghanistan has become so crystal clear and transparent that the Taliban can no longer hide behind any masks to claim that their rebellion is organic.
Saleh had also famously likened the Taliban with Khmer Rouge, stating that the former was worse than the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) that wreaked havoc in Cambodia between 1975 to 1979.
“All their politburo are based in Pakistan and are not showing their faces. They can’t face the reality of new Afghanistan which is no longer buying the notion of armed struggle to solve political issues. Without Pakistan’s support, the Taliban would fade away in six months,” Saleh said while highlighting how Pakistan is the reason behind the Taliban’s survival.
Regarding Donald Trump’s strategy on Afghanistan, Saleh said it is an acknowledgement of the fact that Pakistan has been playing a deleterious and dubious role in providing support and safe haven to terrorists and agents of chaos. He urged Washington to pressurise Islamabad and its powerful army until they mend their ways and stop nourishing the Taliban and other terrorist groups.
In his 2011 interview with CBS News, a small clip of which is now going viral on the internet, Saleh called Pakistan a treacherous ally and exhorted the United States to literally bomb the terror hideouts in Pakistan to end the menace of the Taliban permanently.
“The amount of pain Pakistan has inflicted on the United States in the last twelve years is unprecedented. No other country has meted out that amount of pain on your nation(The United States)…We had numbers of senior Talibani leaders hiding in Pakistan’s Quetta, their locations as well. The US could have taken them down in no time. But they chose to sit on the intelligence because they were labouring under the delusion that Pakistan is an ally and it is extending cooperation to them in their fight against terrorism,” Saleh said.
“If you look at the problems that the United States faces in the central Asia region, they will realise that all of those will lead them to Pakistan. Be it shoring up the terrorists, the attacks in Afghanistan by the Taliban, nuclear proliferation or any other issue, Pakistan has been the hub of the problems,” Saleh said.
Saleh’s criticism of the US for consistenly ignoring his warnings and leaving Afghanistan in the lurk
Amrullah has also been severely critical of the United States for pursuing a mercurial and severely damaging policy with respect to eliminating the Taliban. On August 31, as the US drawdown of its forces came to an end amidst the Taliban take over of the country, Saleh posted a scathing tweet against the United States, asserting that Afghanistan was not packed in the bag of the last US soldier.
It is worth noting that ever since the United States decided to pull out from Afghanistan in the late 2010s, Saleh has been warning them against it, reminding them that the enemy is far from defeated and their allies like Pakistan have been providing a conducive environment to their enemy for recuperation and recovery. But, Saleh’s warnings had fallen on deaf ears as Washington refused to take into account his advice and dug its heels in pursuing a disastrous approach to the Afghan crisis.
“We failed in persuading them to reverse their decision. I had been issuing warnings to them of these kinds of ramifications for two years. But they did not heed to my alarm. They are now paying the price. This was a political decision, not a military or intelligence one.. one political misjudgment by the US has brought this situation to Afghanistan today. It wasn’t the Taliban who won this war, it was the lack of a political will in Washington that led to this,” Saleh recently said in his interview with CNN News 18.
On Tuesday this week, Saleh reiterated his position on the US pullout from Afghanistan. He quoted a tweet posted by Tarek Fatah that carried an interview clip from 2009 where he expressed his views on the prospect of the United States leaving Afghanistan midway, without completely eliminating the threat of the Taliban.
Afgh wasn’t packed & put in the bag of the last US solider The country is here. D rivers are flowing & d mountains are majestic. Talibs R an unpopular proxy force & hated that is why the whole country wants to escape from them. A super power decided to be mini power that is OK. https://t.co/5cDR1lTNz3
In his tweet, Saleh said, “Afghanistan wasn’t packed and put in the bag of the last US soldier. The country is here. The rivers are flowing and the mountains are majestic. Talibs are an unpopular proxy force and hated. That is why the whole country wants to escape from them. A superpower decided to be mini power that is OK.”
“If the US decides to leave tomorrow, we have no influence on that. All we can do is to tell them our story, remind them of our common objective, our common goal and our common enemy. But if they decide to go, it will be their decision. We tell them, the enemy is not defeated, their slated objectives and aims have not been met, their promises have not been fulfilled. But if they still wish to leave, it is their decision,” Saleh says in the video clip shared by Tarek Fatah.
Back in 2007, when Saleh was the intelligence chief of Afghanistan, he had shared the whereabouts of the United States’s bete noire, Osama Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda chief, who was responsible for America’s war in Afghanistan. Saleh said he had received intelligence inputs of Bin Laden staying at a safe house in Mansehra.
However, the United States did not take his input seriously. Saleh also approached Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to tell him about Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts in Pakistan. Musharraf got so offended with Saleh that he reputedly lunged at him and only after intervention from the then Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai he backed off.
Four years after Saleh informed the US intel agencies of Osama’s presence in Mansehra, in May 2011, the US special forces hunted down Osama Bin Laden at a safe house in Pakistan’s Abbottabad. As it turned out, Mansehra was just 12 miles from where Osama Bin Laden was located by the US intelligence agencies.
The Panjshir Valley is resisting. Amrullah Saleh and Ahmed Massoud are continuing the fight against Afghanistan, reportedly joined by other warlords and many former members of the Afghan military.
