A case has been registered against NCP MLA Sunil Bhusara’s close aide Ramdas Ambu Korde for enslaving a tribal man for a mere Rs 500. Kalu Pawar, a tribal from Mokhada in Palghar district, fed up with harassment, died by hanging himself in the month of July.
Pawar in November last year had borrowed Rs 500 from Korde to buy a kafan (cloth used to wrap a dead body) for the last rites of his 13-year-old son Dattu. Pawar’s son, a class eight student was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a nearby village after he went missing around Diwali.
To repay this loan, Korde had been making Pawar work in his field for months. Pawar’s wife Savitra in her complaint revealed that Korde had been harassing her husband since the time he took the loan. Pawar was made to work in Korde’s field and take the cattle for grazing.
“After conducting Dattu’s last rites, my husband started working in Korde’s field, but no daily wages were fixed. He (Korde) would give my husband only one bhakhri in the morning and a meal at night. Whenever my husband would ask for wages, Korde would threaten him with harm,” Savitra informed further.
Pawar worked on and off at the field but was regular in the month of June and July this year. However, he could not report for work on July 10 and 11 as he fell sick. Reportedly, when Pawar went to the field on July 12, Korde humiliated him and even thrashed him. Unable to bear the humiliation and pressure, Pawar killed himself the next day.
The day Pawar hanged himself, his wife had gone to work in Bhiwandi while his daughters, Dhanashree, 16, and Durga, 12, had gone to their maternal uncle’s home.
Pawar’s body was hanging for almost 12 hours before he was buried. Surprisingly, Korde on hearing of Pawar’s death had visited his village but did not bother to inform the police.
Social activist fights for Pawar
Social activist Vivek Pandit, who has been fighting for the welfare of tribals in the state took cognizance of Pawar’s unfortunate demise. Taking up his case, Pandit forced the police to exhume Pawar’s body on August 04 to send it to J J Hospital in Mumbai for autopsy.
Social activist Vivek Pandit at Pawar’s village. Image Source: Mid-day
Pandit has levelled several allegations against Korde. “He (Korde) is also a tribal from Mahadev Koli Samaj but has been exploiting others in the area,” Pandit said about the accused who is a sub-contractor and owns a sprawling bungalow in the village.
Reports suggest that Pandit tirelessly spent a full month trying to get the accused booked.
MLA tries to shield Korde
Pandit, who is also the chairman of a panel appointed by the state government to check the status of tribal schemes, in an interview to Mid-day revealed, “Korde is the right-hand man of MLA Bhusara who had been mounting pressure on the police to not take action against his man.”
“Bhusara also called me to dissuade me from following the issue to get the FIR registered. Finally, after a month-long follow-up, the accused has been booked, but no arrest has been made yet,” he added.
On the other hand, MLA Bhusara has denied all allegations. “The FIR against Korde is fake. If such FIRs are registered, then a time will come when no tribal will be called to work in the field,” he claimed.
Refuting accusations of pressuring the police to withdraw the case, Bhusara said, “I instead told police to thoroughly conduct an investigation before taking any action against Korde.”
Speaking on the matter, Mokhada police station in-charge Satish Gavai said, “We have registered an FIR under Section 374 (unlawful compulsory labour) of IPC and Sections 17 and 18 of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act against the accused Korde.”
However, no arrest in the case has been made as yet.
Days after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, it has now come to light that an Afghan man who was earlier deported from India had joined the radical Islamist organisation.
As per reports, the Afghan national has been identified as one 30-year-old Noor Mohammed Ajiz Mohammed. He was found illegally staying in Nagpur in Maharashtra for over 10 years and was deported from the country in June last year. He had come to India in 2010 on a 6-month long tourist visa. Later, he sought refugee status from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) but his application and appeal were rejected. Thereafter, he began staying in India illegally.
Noor Mohammed was later nabbed by the police based on a tipoff on June 16 last year. The police had found gunshots wounds on his left shoulder. The cops discovered that he was following several terrorists, who had uploaded videos of gun firing on social media. He was then deported to his home country of Afghanistan on June 23, 2020. However, a picture of the illegal immigrant has now surfaced on social media wherein he could be seen brandishing a rifle. The development was confirmed by a senior police official.
In a statement to PTI, the cop informed, “The man, Noor Mohammad Ajiz Mohammad, 30, was found staying in Nagpur for the last 10 years illegally. He was living in a rented place in Dighori area of the city. Acting on a tip-off, the police had started keeping a watch on his activities. He was finally nabbed and deported to Afghanistan on June 23. After his deportation, he seems to have joined the Taliban and his photo holding a gun has emerged on social media”
Another police official emphasised that the real name of Noor Mohammed was Abdul Haque and that his brother was associated with the radical Islamist outfit. The accused had even posted a video on social media last year, where he was seen with a sharp weapon. “He was in the business of selling blankets and was unmarried. Police conducted searches at his rented accommodation but did not find anything suspicious. His call details are also under the scanner of the police,” he added.
ISIS terrorist Nimisha Fathima, other Keralites among 5,000 prisoners set free by Taliban
NBC News Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel on August 15 had shared a video of prisoners leaving Kabul jail after being freed by the Taliban. A Mathrubhumi report allegedly based on intelligence information has claimed that eight Keralites, who had left for Afghanistan to join ISIS, were also there among the released prisoners. After taking over the country, the Taliban broke open the jail to set free over 5,000 Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists from Badam Bagh and Pul-e-Charkhi jails in Kabul.
Reports suggest that Nimisha Fathima an ISIS bride from Kerala was also there among the released. As many as 21 Indians who had gone to join the Jihadi organizations were nabbed by the Afghan forces during a fight. Reacting to unconfirmed reports, Fathima’s mother Bindu who is awaiting her return said, “Came to know that was the intelligence report from Afghanistan. I don’t know the truth.”
Bindu further claimed that if the news is indeed true then it is nothing but divine intervention. She, however, is still awaiting the central government’s nod to reunite with her daughter and grandchild. In an interview with The Times of India, Bindu said that she will keep knocking the doors of the government and relevant authorities. The mother of the ISIS bride, while hopeful, is yet to receive official confirmation of her daughter’s release.
Controversial poet Munawwar Rana has been booked by the Uttar Pradesh Police for his derogatory comments against Hindus by drawing false equivalence with radical Islamic organisation Taliban that has captured Afghanistan.
According to the reports, a complaint has been registered against Munawwar Rana at the Hazratganj police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow for inciting religious feelings by comparing Maharshi Valmiki, the author of Ramayana, with the Taliban.
The FIR was registered against Rana on the complaint filed by PL Bharti, a leader of the Valmiki community, who accused Rana of hurting religious feelings by comparing Valmiki with the Taliban. In his complaint, Bharti said that Rana made obnoxious comments against Dalits.
#NewsAlert | Poet Munnawar Rana booked following his remarks comparing Valmiki community with Taliban that sparked controversy. pic.twitter.com/SIAYxSrT2j
The FIR has been registered under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc.), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 505(1)(B) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and the SC/ST atrocities prevention act, said the police.
A few days ago, Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, who has a history of making such Hinduphobic statements, had compared the Taliban with the Maharshi Valmiki as he defended the action of the radical Islamic organisation that has taken over Afghanistan.
In an interview with TV anchor Deepak Chaurasia, Munawwar Rana had claimed, “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”.
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.”
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.”
Glorifying the Taliban, Munawwar Rana referred to the Islamist fighters as “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.
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.
An FIR was registered against Munawwar Rana in November last year at Hazratganj police station on similar charges for allegedly defending the killings in France over a caricature of Prophet Muhammad.
A video of Bollywood actor Salman Khan has gone viral on the internet where he was stopped by a CISF officer to first complete the security check before entering the Mumbai airport. In the video, Salman Khan can be seen reaching the Mumbai Airport to reportedly leave for Russia for the shoot of his upcoming movie Tiger 3.
As he reaches the airport, Salman Khan tries to breezily walk inside the airport without completing the mandatory security check at the entrance. With photographers screaming at him for pictures, Salman Khan, with his entourage, shows paltry respect for the security check while others waited in line.
At this time, a young CISF officer is seen stopping Salman Khan from entering the airport, asking him to get in line and complete his security check first. While the CISF officer stopped Salman Khan and asked him to complete his security check, he was also seen asking the photographers to take a step back.
The video that has now gone viral was posted by celebrity Bollywood photographer Viral Bhayani. The video of Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif arriving at the airport has received over 88,000 views already.
As the video went viral, there was a slew of reactions from Netizens. While most hailed the CISF officer for doing his duty diligently and not getting starstruck, Salman Khan fans, who often live in their own bubble, like most other Bollywood fans, hailed Salman Khan for standing in line to complete the security check after the CISF officer stopped him.
Several Twitteratis pointed out how every citizen is equal when it comes to national security and one cannot compromise with it, applauding the officer.
We all citizens are equal. Thanks to the young CISF officer for the security checkup of Salman Khan at airport. pic.twitter.com/PSkFOhJqgE
The actor on Friday left for Russia along with his co-star and team for the shooting of Tiger 3. According to an IANS report, the actor will be shooting for 45-days non-stop for his upcoming movie. This segment is reportedly filled with action sequences and will see the duo shoot in at least 5 international destinations including Austria and Turkey.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya today took to Twitter to allege that his car was attacked by Shiv Sena party goons in the Washim district of Maharashtra.
Somaiya also shared a video on his Twitter page wherein his car could be seen sprayed with black paint along with police officials, who were probably trying to bring the situation under control.
Today ShivSena Gundas attacked My Car at Washim… Such attack can’t stop My Fight against Corruption.
I am sure actions against MP Bhavna Gavli, Milind Narvekar, Yashwant Jadhav, MLA Yamini Yashwant Jadhav, Anil Parab & Pratap Sarnaik will reach to logical end in few days. pic.twitter.com/aIeJumiQwV
The BJP leader said his convoy was attacked with stones and ink, adding that perpetrators belonged to the Shiv Sena party, although the identities of the attackers cannot be independently verified.
Somaiya said he was being attacked because of his anti-corruption crusade and hinted that actions against MP Bhavna Gavli, Milind Narvekar, Yashwant Jadhav, MLA Yamini Yashwant Jadhav, Anil Parab & Pratap Sarnaik will reach a logical end in the coming days.
In another tweet, Somaiya shared pictures of his ink-sprayed car, saying that three big stones and ink were hurled at him while he was in his visit to Washim.
Gundas of Shivsena Assaulted My Car, Thrown 3 Big Stone on My Car, which Heat Window/GlassScreen where I am Seating
Convoy had Police Vehicle also. Incident happened 12.30pm when My Car was Passing through MP Bhavna Gavli ₹100 Crore SCAM, Balaji Particles Board Karkhana, Washim pic.twitter.com/xTlecR2deF
Some people were detained in the case but subsequently released later, a police official said. A case has been registered against the miscreants for attacking the convoy of Kirit Somaiya.
Somaiya says Thackerays had land deal worth crores with late Anvay Naik’s wife
Somaiya has been at the vanguard of anti-corruption crusade waged again Shiv Sena leaders in Maharashtra. The BJP leader in November 2020 made a sensational claim that the Thackeray family had land deals worth crores with late Anvay Naik’s wife.
Somaiya had then said land records of Murud Raigad on the Maharashtra Government Website of Land Records suggest Uddhav Thackeray’s wife had a land transaction with Late Anvay Naik’s family. He has sent the concerned documents to SP and Collector.
Anvay Naik was the same man in whose suicide case journalist Arnab Goswami was arrested and lodged in Taloja Jail.
Then in December, Somaiya trained his guns on Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik. He convened a press conference in which he accused Sarnaik of cheating middle-class home buyers, alleging that the building constructed in Thane by Sarnaik’s Vihang group did not have permissions to increase its floors from nine to 13 and that the Thane Municipal Corporation had given orders to demolish the structure. He also added that the construction at Thane’s Vihang Garden by Sarnaik’s Group is illegal.
“TMC Declared Both Buildings illegal. In 2012, Thane Municipal Corporation ordered the demolition of 9 to 13 floors. However, no action has been taken till now. OC is not received till date,” he added.
Around 60 Sikhs who had taken shelter in a Kabul Gurudwara have been shifted to a safe place by the Indian embassy officials. According to a report by the Times of India, they have been shifted from the Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Karte-Parwan in Kabul to the safe place before their evacuation to India. The Sikhs claim that Hindus are also included in the contingent.
Since the Taliban started to take over Afghanistan, around 285 people have taken shelter in the Gurudwara. The people who have been shifted include two members of the Afghanistan parliament from the Sikh community, Anarkali Kaur Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa. Narender Khalsa is the son of Afghan Sikh leader Awtar Singh Khalsa, who was killed in the 2018 Jalalabad terror attack.
Most of the people staying at the Gurudwara however do not want to be evacuated to India, and they prefer to go to the US or Canada. Around a dozen Sikhs taking shelter at the Gurdwara had issued a video message a couple of days ago, where they had requested that they should be rescued from Kabul and evacuated to either Canada or the United States.
Afghan Sikh and Hindu community in Kabul have sent out an appeal to be rescued from the Gurudwara Karte Parvan where they have sought shelter.
They had said that the situation in Afghanistan is very bad and the future is uncertain. They had appealed to the Sikh organisations in Canada and the USA to help evacuate them to those countries. Although the Taliban had said that they will ensure the safety of Sikhs and other minorities, the minorities in Afghanistan are not willing to trust them. “A Taliban delegation came here and said they won’t harm our gurdwara. But there is no saying what will happen when their laws come into effect. We can’t trust the Taliban government,” a man staying at the Gurudwara had said.
These people don’t want to come to India as they feel that the condition of people who have been evacuated to India has not been good. They also say they don’t have any roots or connections with India now. Only around five Afghan Sikhs are willing to come to India as they have work and properties in the country, while the rest prefer shifting to Canada or the USA. “Most of the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus do not have any settlement in India and want to be evacuated to Canada or the US. Our first preference for evacuation is Canada and US, and not India,” a Sikh from Kabul told TOI over the phone.
The man added that officials had asked the people living in the Gurudwara to shift to a different place in batches of 50. He also alleged that the Gurudwara members ‘pressurised’ them to leave the premises, while they liked it or not. However, his name was not on the list of the first batch, hence he is still at the Gurudwara.
The Sikh mane also informed that the first group has been shifted to the basement of a building, which is considered a safe place, and they are likely to be evacuated to New Delhi. When asked why they don’t want to return to India, he said that some Afghan Sikhs were evacuated to India after the 2018 Jalalabad, and now they are living in miserable conditions. Fearing the same for them, they prefer to go to Canada or the USA instead.
The Zydus-Cadila ZyCoV-D Covid-19 vaccine has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Drug Comptroller General of India (DCGI) on the 20th of August. It is the world’s first DNA based Covid-19 vaccine and it has been developed indigenously in India. The Zydus-Cadila vaccine can be administered in children as well and is applicable for use for ages 12 years and above.
The Government said in a press release, “Developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India under the ‘Mission COVID Suraksha’ and implemented by BIRAC, ZyCoV-D has been supported under COVID-19 Research Consortia through National Biopharma Mission for Preclinical studies, Phase I and Phase II Clinical Trials and under the Mission COVID Suraksha for Phase III Clinical Trial. This 3 dose vaccine which when injected produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance. The plug-and-play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring.”
It added, “Interim results from Phase-III Clinical Trials, in over 28,000 volunteers, showed primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases. This has been the largest vaccine trial so far in India for COVID-19. This vaccine had already exhibited robust immunogenicity and tolerability and safety profile in the adaptive Phase I/II clinical trials carried out earlier. Both the Phase I/II and Phase III clinical trials have been monitored by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).”
The Government said that the Vaccine Technology Centre (VTC), vaccine research centre of the Zydus group, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Interactive Research School for Health Affairs (IRSHA), Pune, GCLP Lab set up under the Department of Biotechnology – National Biopharma Mission (NBM) also played a vital role in the development of the vaccine.
“It is a matter of great pride that today we have the EUA for the world’s first DNA COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D by Zydus developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology and supported through Mission COVID Suraksha. The Indian Vaccine Mission COVID Suraksha was launched under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat package 3.0 being implemented by BIRAC, is aimed at the development of safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines for public health. We are confident that this will be an important vaccine for both India and the world. This is an important milestone in our Indigenous Vaccine Development Mission and positions India on the Global Map for Novel Vaccine Development,” said Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT and Chairperson, BIRAC.
Chairman of the Zydus Group, Pankaj R. Patel. stated, “We are extremely happy that our efforts to put out a safe, well tolerated and efficacious vaccine to fight COVID-19 has become a reality with ZyCoV-D. To create the world’s first DNA vaccine at such a crucial juncture and despite all the challenges, is a tribute to the Indian research scientists and their spirit of innovation. I’d like to thank the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for their support in this mission of Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Indian Vaccine Mission COVID Suraksha.”
The ZyCoV-D is the second indigenously developed vaccine to have received the DCGI approval. It has become the sixth vaccine to have received the approval. Earlier in August, Johnson & Johnson’s single dose vaccine was granted approval.
The other vaccines already approved in India are Covishield developed by Astra Zeneca and Oxford University, Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, Sputnik V developed in Russia and the vaccine developed by Moderna in the USA.
Hospitals in the United States are turning down non-vaccinated people for critical operations, including organ transplants, a Washington state patient lamented during the ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ show on Fox News on Wednesday.
The patient, Derek Kovick, told host Tucker Carlson that the University of Washington Medical Center is striking down the names of the patients on transplant lists if they refuse to get Covid-19 vaccines.
Kovick said he has been on the transplant list for a third liver transplant since last fall. This past week, when he went to the University of Washinton in Seattle to have a procedure done, he was shocked to find his name removed from the transplant list.
“Before I came up, a nurse called me and said that the infectious disease team had met and decided that all of his transplant patients now have to have a vaccine, otherwise we will be placed ‘Status 7’ which means you aren’t going to be on the transplant list – you don’t have to requalify, but you basically have to adhere to the rules which including having a COVID vaccine,” Kovick recounted.
Kovick said he was informed about the decision at the “last minute” and was told by a hospital staffer he should be getting vaccinated as soon as possible to get his name back on the list.
“The conditions naturally changed because the issues that I had with my liver: a high fever and other side effects that are blatantly what some of my peers have experienced are a side effect from any of the COVID shots,” he said, adding that the symptoms of his liver condition are those of the coronavirus shots are exactly the same.
He said that taking COVID-19 shots to qualify for being on the transplant list could aggravate his conditions since he is already having the symptoms that patients suffer after taking the shots.
“I thought that maybe my medical freedom was starting to be challenged a little bit for myself: I’ve seen it happen through the whole United States, but nowhere it is in my kitchen.”
Tucker also patched in Seattle journalist Jason Rant, who said another man identified as Sam Allen had made a similar claim that hospitals were turning away patients that had not undertaken vaccine shots. Allen said he had received a letter to that effect after he told his doctor he wouldn’t take a vaccine shot because of the risks of cardiac problems for someone who is already ailing from a weak heart.
“Your name has been removed from the waitlist at the University of Washington Medical Center. This was done in follow-up to your recent conversation with providers regarding the heart transplant selection committee’s concerns about compliance with COVID-19-related policies and recommendations,” the letter issued by the hospital said, KTTH reported.
The letter also said that they would reconsider the application should the patient comply with the hospital mandate.
“We can re-assess you for reinstatement on the waiting list should the compliance concerns resolve in the future or, if you wish, refer you to another centre for evaluation in the meantime,” the letter read.
Tucker Carlson came down hard against such preconditions, describing the situation as “beyond belief” for essentially abandoning the patients to die just because they refused to comply with unrelated medical procedures.
Resistance forces in Afghanistan have liberated three districts from Taliban control, Republic has reported. Pol-e-Hasar, Deh Salah and Banu districts in the Baghlan Province have fallen to the anti-Taliban forces, reports say.
#Breaking Pol-e-Hesar, Deh Salah and Banu districts in #Baghlan provinces have been captured by the Public’s Resistance Forces, & a number of Taliban killed & injured. Local reporters from Baghlan pic.twitter.com/tW1ENliWOK
Photographs of alleged resistance forces are circulating on social media. Intense clashes were reported with heavy casualties on the Taliban side. A meeting is also reportedly underway between the Jihadist group and Ahmad Massoud, a prominent military commander in Afghanistan.
قیام اندراب
ولسوالی پلحصار از طالبان پس گرفته شد و جنگ به شدت در ولسوالهای ده سلاح و بنو جریان دارد. منابع محلی می گویند که از چندین منطقه بالای طالبان حمله انجام شده و تلفات سنگین داده اند. pic.twitter.com/MaF4C6Rj0t
Earlier, Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh had declared himself the caretaker president of the country. Citing constitutional provisions, he had implored others to ‘join the resistance’ against Taliban.
Earlier, it was reported that Saleh’s forces had recaptured the Charikar area in the Parwan province north of Kabul. Unconfirmed reports had suggested that remaining forces loyal to the Afghan government, under the command of Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Muhammad Nur Ata Noor, were linking up with the forces loyal to Saleh to take control of the entire Panjshir region.
Panjshir, the only province that remains outside the Taliban control, have reportedly hoisted the resistance flag of the Northern Alliance all over again. A resistance force, led by Ahmad Massoud, son of late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud – known as the “Lion” of Panjshir, were reported to be gaining in strength in the Panjshir valley, north of Kabul.
The Jihadist group managed to capture Afghanistan on the 15th of August. Chaotic scenes have been observed at the Kabul Airport since then. Reports of human rights violations have also emerged with journalists being allegedly hunted down and attacked by the outfit.
Taliban has taken over Afghanistan, again, after a futile pretence of an expensive and wasteful war by the USA was finally brought to an end and American troops just packed up and left, leaving the hollow Afghanistan ‘government’ to crumble and shatter. As expected, chaos ensued. People are so scared of the Taliban that they were clinging on to departing US C-17s, desperately trying to flee.
Shop owners are blackening or tearing away the pictures of women displayed on the front of their businesses, sales of burqas have gone up and thousands of Afghan nationals are flocking to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, every hour since August 15, in a desperate bid to escape from the Taliban rule.
Why are people flinging their babies over wire fences inside the airport into the hands of strangers? Why were thousands of people running away, why were they so desperate that they clung to the landing gear of a C-17, hoping against hope to escape their own homeland? Are those images a joke? Are all those people trying to flee from the Taliban just because they are misinformed? They are fleeing because the fear is real.
A certain group that calls itself ‘secular-liberal’ is on a mission, mission to mainstream, legitimise and hail the Taliban. We saw them praising the Taliban for holding a ‘press conference’. So what if they fling gay men from rooftops, they held a press conference. So what they stone women to death over vague allegations of adultery, they held a press conference. So what they killed Danish Siddiqui brutally, didn’t they say sorry?
The art of legitimisation is subtle. It takes time. It includes multiple steps. First, create an aura that they are ok, they are normal. Come Munawwar Rana and Shafiqur Rahman. Taliban are “freedom fighters” Taliban are heroes”. Hail them as better than democratically elected governments. “Wow, they held a press conference”.
Now, a dedicated bunch of “fact-checkers” are busy washing the Taliban’s laundry. They are sifting through the millions of images, videos shared on social media and trying to check whether the precise date, timestamp and geographical locations are in accordance with the current group of Talibani forces active in Afghanistan. The parameters obviously do not match, so the “fact-checkers” declare that X claim against the Taliban is fake, Y picture is from 2018, THAT image is not THIS Taliban at all. Here are some examples.
Recently, AP, Reuters and AltNews took it upon themselves to “clarify” that an image of where three women were seen with chains tied to their ankles and a man leading the chain was fake. It was apparently from Iraq and the chain was morphed. Fine. but does that mean Taliban atrocities against women were false claims? No.
Image via Twitter
Mainstream media is busy ‘fact-checking’ claims of Taliban atrocities. Those claims exist because the atrocities are real. No matter how many press conferences the Taliban hold, no matter how many “fact-checks” are done, no one can negate or deny what the Taliban did.
People are sharing information, images and videos not because they are a part of some political campaign against the Taliban, not because they don’t want the Taliban to win the next elections in Afghanistan or they just don’t want to vote for them (as if that was even an option). They are sharing images and videos because they are scared. The images and videos exist because the Taliban was, and continues to be a radical Islamist regime that ruled with utmost barbarity.
The following are legitimate images, one by Reuters and another by France 24. The images, if shared now by some social media user, may or may not correspond to an exact date, time or location to pass the stringent standards of these so-called “fact-checkers”, they may be representational in some news reports, but they exist because Taliban atrocities exist.
2010 news report by France 24, Incident happened in a village in Kunduz that was under Taliban controlReuters image from a 2015 incident, Taliban lashing a woman for ‘adultery’ A man and woman were given 100 lashes in public over allegations of ‘adultery’. The incident happened in Ghor, under Taliban control2015 News: Afghan woman was stoned to death by a group of men in Ghor, under Taliban control
The images of women displayed in posters before beauty salons being blackened, torn are real too. Taliban atrocities and the fear in the minds of people who do not conform to their regime of radical Islam and stringent Sharia law are as real as the footage of two men falling from the C-17.
The people who are sharing the images of horror, past and present, do not need to check the date, time and individual facial identities of Taliban radicals inflicting those horrors. They do not have to. Because that horror has been lived and experienced by the millions in Afghanistan.
Terror is terror, whether it happens in Pakistan or Afghanistan
A video was shared by many including ANI’s Smita Prakash, where a group of terrorists were seen dancing to a western song holding assault rifles. Prakash had shared the video with a jovial comment, “What is this Taliban, no shame or what”. Alt News “fact-checked” it so diligently that they reached out to one of those people brandishing assault rifles at a wedding, who apparently lives in Pakistan, and claimed that the video was from a wedding at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Their “fact-check” was that crazy men dancing with assault rifles are not “recent”, they were dancing in March 2021 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Image via Twitter
All those so-called “fact-checks” are of the same format. This murder happened in that year, This Taliban atrocity happened X years ago, how can you say it is recent, etc etc. Twitter had even flagged Prakash’ tweet as ‘out of context’.
Alt News clarifying on behalf of the Taliban that the video of Mujahideen threatening India and Modi is from 2 years ago.
A video of AK rifle-wielding terrorists issuing threats to Modi and India is apparently from 2 years ago, Alt News has informed us. Oh, that horrible image of a woman brutally mob lynched to death? that is not now, come on, that happened in 2015, Alt News has announced to reassure the world.
अफ़गानिस्तान की महिला पायलट साफ़िया फिरोज़ी की हत्या के दावे के साथ एक तस्वीर वायरल हुई. दरअसल, ये तस्वीर 2015 की है जब काबुल में कुछ लोगों की भीड़ ने पत्थर मार-मारकर फ़रखुंदा मलिकज़ादा की हत्या कर दी थी. पढ़िये #AltNewsFactCheck | @Priyankajha0https://t.co/HkrJE52shS
Just because Islamists killed THAT particular woman X years ago, the Taliban did that horrible thing in X location, and the exact date of the Y brutality is wrong, does not mean that Taliban has changed. They are still radical Islamist terrorists.
They fired bullets at unarmed civilians in Jalalabad just 2 days back. They dragged an injured Danish Siddiqui from a mosque and riddled him with bullets just a few weeks back. While the “fact-checkers” add more detergent to wash their laundry, the Taliban have already started killing people and attacking journalists. No amount of press conferences or fact checkings are going to convert them into fluffy little bunnies, because they are radical Islamist terrorists who kill people, blow up centuries-old monuments and impose barbaric laws. Because that is who they are.
Not just Alt News, many international media organisations, even Twitter, are busy “fact-checking” whether the videos and images of the Taliban’s atrocities are accurate in terms of a dozen different parameters or not. They need to understand that the date, time, precise geographical locations, facial features, the colour of garments, manufacturing year of those assault rifles, pixel qualities, etc of those images do not matter at all. People are not sharing them out of malicious intent, or political motivations. They are being shared because the fear is real. The fear is real because the tales of brutalities are real. The Taliban are, and always have been a brutal, radical Islamist organisation and even after 1000 whitewashing attempts, they are going to stay the same.
