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Uttar Pradesh: 5 Hindu women seek right to worship Hindu Gods inside Gyanvapi mosque that used to be Kashi Vishwanath temple

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: 5 Hindu women seek right to worship Hindu Gods inside Gyanvapi mosque that used to be Kashi Vishwanath temple

On August 18, a Varanasi court sought a reply from Uttar Pradesh Government, Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust and Gyanvapi Mosque Management committee as five Hindu women filed a plea seeking restoration of their right to worship of deities inside the old temple complex.

In the plea, it has been mentioned that the temple complex was converted into a mosque during Mughal rule in the region.

Justice Ravi Kumar Diwakar, Senior Civil Judge, Varanasi Court, sought the response of the commissioner of police and District Magistrate Varanasi on the suit filed by the women. The plea is led by a Hindu woman Rakhi Singh. Advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain argued in Court that the devotees have the right to worship the deities, visible or invisible, inside the complex of Old Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The original Kashi Vishwanath temple complex was destroyed by Aurangzeb during his regime.

Jain further added that the defendants should be ordered not to interfere in the fundamental religious rights of the plaintiffs’ which included decorating idols of Bhagwan Ganesh, Bhagwan Hanuman, Devi Gauri and Nandi in the temple. He requested the Court to pass a temporary injunction directing defendants not to damage the idols.

The Judge set a date for resolution of objections on September 10 and said, “In the present case, the government of UP has been made a defendant by the plaintiffs. Therefore, it is necessary to hear the defendant. The plaintiffs should plead for notice on the defendants within three days.”

Centre and UP government asked to file reply on a petition challenging ASI survey

In another news, the Allahabad High Court directed the state government and Centre to file their responses to a petition challenging the order of a Varanasi court that directed ASI to conduct a comprehensive survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex to find out if a temple was destroyed to build the mosque. Justice Prakash Padia issued the direction over a petition filed by Anjuman Intazamia Masjid, Varanasi and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board. The court will hear the case on September 29.

Attempts to reclaim temple land

The fight to reclaim the temple land on which Gyanvapi Mosque stands has been going on for decades. However, in recent times, there has been notable progress. In February 2021, a suit was filed to restore the worshipping of deities in the mosque complex. In April 2021, Court allowed an ASI survey of the mosque. A 5-member team including two Muslims were appointed for the same. A petition seeking a stay on the survey was later filed in Allahabad High Court.

Taliban defaces women pictures outside Kabul salon, sales of burqas skyrocket after Islamist group takes over Afghanistan

OpIndia Staff
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Taliban defaces women pictures outside Kabul salon, sales of burqas skyrocket after Islamist group takes over Afghanistan

Days after Taliban pledged to respect women’s rights as part of a publicity blitz following a lightning offensive across Afghanistan, the Islamist organisation is back to doing what it has been known for. Pictures of women on streets, billboards have been covered up or vandalised by the Islamist group.

Today, social media is rife with pictures of the facade of a beauty salon with images of women defaced with spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul. AFP News agency took to Twitter to share the images.

Another image surfaced on the microblogging site also showed a gun-wielding Talibani walking past the same salon with the images of the defaced women in the background.

Earlier, a picture of a man whitewashing the posters of women models in Kabul had gone viral. According to reports, the images of women were painted on the walls of a salon in the Afghanistan capital. This image had been widely shared across social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with netizens expressing shock at how the picture depicts the “literal erasure of women” in the war-ravaged country.

As Taliban recaptures power, burqa sales skyrocket in Afghanistan

Meanwhile, as Taliban recaptured power in Afghanistan, reports suggest that the sale of burqas have skyrocketed in the country. With the Afghan women staring at the resurgence of atrocities and oppression under Taliban rule, the burqa prices have reportedly surged tenfolds in the country.

As per CNN journalist Clarrisa Ward, people are buying more and more burqas as they are afraid with the resurgence of Taliban in the country. She spoke to the burqa shopkeeper who said that the sales have surged with men buying burqas for their wives, daughters and other women of the house.

During the earlier Taliban rule, women were required to cover their bodies and faces in a burqa, and were barred from school, work or leaving the house without a male relative. However, Taliban had recently claimed that women need not compulsorily wear burqa but a hijab (head scarf) is must be worn.

Afghan woman shot for not wearing burqa after Taliban vow to act ‘moderate’ and give women their rights

The group, on Tuesday, had reportedly shot dead a woman in Afghanistan for not wearing a burqa. The incident surfaced on the same day the Taliban announced to act ‘moderate’ and give women their rights in accordance with Islamic Sharia.

A photo of the deceased woman lying in a pool of blood with her loved ones crouched around her sent shock waves in the already distressed country. As per reports, the woman was shot by the Taliban in Takhar province for not wearing a burqa while in public.

Ironically, on the same day, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid held a press conference to say that the Islamist group would honour women’s rights and also urged women to return to school and work. 

Saudi Arabia releases Karnataka man arrested over ‘blasphemous’ post 2 years ago, was falsely implicated by Abdul brothers for supporting CAA-NRC

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Arabia releases Karnataka man arrested over ‘blasphemous’ post 2 years ago, was falsely implicated by Abdul brothers for supporting CAA-NRC

The Karnataka technician, who languished in a jail in Saudi Arabia for 604 days on false charges of posting ‘blasphemous’ messages on social media has finally been set free. Harish Bangera, arrested over a Facebook post regarding the Muslim pilgrimage site of Mecca, flew back to Bengaluru from Dammam in Saudi Arabia on August 17. The release was granted after he was exonerated from the accusation of blasphemy.

Bangera was working as an air-conditioner technician in a company in Saudi Arabia since 2014. He originally hails from Beejady village near Kundapur in Udupi district in the state of Karnataka.

Harish Bangera arrested in Saudi Arabia for ‘blasphemy’

Bangera was arrested in December 2019, after a ‘blasphemous’ post was shared from a Facebook account created in his name. The post was captioned: “Next Ram Temple in Mecca. Be ready for a fight”. A picture of Kaaba in Mecca was also uploaded along with the aforementioned caption.

As soon as the post went viral, a case was registered against Harish and the police in Saudi Arabia had arrested him within a few hours. Bangera’s employers also terminated him from the job.

Back in India, Harish’s wife, Sumana also registered a complaint with the Udipi police. She expressed suspicion in her complaint that her husband might have been subjected to some conspiracy.

Fake Facebook account created by two Muslim youths to implicate the Karnataka man

During the investigation, it was revealed that Bangera’s Facebook profile, which was deleted after the ‘blasphemous’ post went viral, was created on December 20, 2019, a day before the post was shared from that account. It was also revealed that there was another account that Harish had been using for years to post messages about his family and friends. There are also speculations that Bangera’s name could have been used by someone else to create a new Facebook profile to land him in trouble.

In October 2020, Udipi police arrested Abdul Huyez and Abdul Thuyez, brothers from Moodbidri, after the probe revealed that the duo had created a fake Facebook account in Harish’s name to implicate him in false charges of blasphemy.

The police located Huyez by tracing the phone that was used to create the fake Facebook account. The phone belonged to Thuyez and the fake account was created in Dec 2019, and two days later the blasphemous post was uploaded by Huyez in Bangera’s name.

Police revealed that the duo had posted the blasphemous content, impersonating Harish, as an act of revenge. Speaking to the Indian Express, Bangera had revealed that in December 2019, he had once shared a post in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) through his Facebook account while in Saudi Arabia. He was castigated severely for supporting the Act, after which he removed the post.

According to a 2019 report by The New Indian Express, Bangera had shared a video related to the Mangaluru riots. Subsequently, he felt that the video was unwarranted and deleted it from his Facebook account. He also posted a video apologising for his ‘unwarranted’ post. Further, he deactivated his Facebook account.

However, after few hours, a new account was created in his name and incendiary content was posted. While Harish’s original Facebook account had his family picture on the profile, the fake one had his own photograph.

“Harish deactivated his account but after few hours a new account in his name emerged and it was full of hate posts. It is possible that someone may have used the photographs from Harish’s previous account and used the same to spread hate. The original social media account of Harish had his family picture on profile, unlike the fake one which has his photograph. Hence we have complained to the local police seeking their intervention and another complaint was filed with Cyber Police of Udupi,” a family member was quoted by TNIE as saying.

Now, after spending more than 2 years in jail, Harish Bangera reached Bengaluru on August 18 morning. He was received at the airport in Bengaluru by his wife, Sumana and other family members. The family left for Kundapur by road.

UP Model: 53 districts report zero new Covid-19 cases, 17 districts have zero active cases

OpIndia Staff
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UP Model: 53 districts report zero new Covid-19 cases, 17 districts have zero active cases

On August 18, the state of Uttar Pradesh reported 35 new Covid-19 cases. Out of 75 districts in the state, 53 districts reported zero cases. According to a government spokesperson, 17 districts in the state are free of Covid-19 cases as of August 18.

Additional chief secretary (health) Amit Mohan Prasad informed that the state has carried out 6.97 crore Covid-19 tests so far. As per the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the state has administered over 6.14 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. 5.18 crore people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while close to 96 lakh people have received both doses of the vaccine.

Prasad said, “As of Wednesday, there were 419 active cases in the state. There were 35 new cases identified on Wednesday, while 34 patients recovered. One Covid death was reported in the state, which took place in Meerut. Till now, 16,85,819 persons have recovered from Covid in the state.”

17 districts have zero active cases

As per the data provided by the Health Ministry, there are 17 districts in Uttar Pradesh that have zero active cases as of Wednesday. These districts are Aligarh, Amethi, Budaun, Ballia, Chitrakoot, Deoria, Farrukhabad, Firozabad, Hamirpur, Hardoi, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Mahoba, Sant Kabir Nagar, Shamli and Shrawasti.

The districts that reported cases on Wednesday included Prayagraj with a maximum number of new cases (6), followed by Agra (3). The rest of the districts reported either one or two new cases. 53 districts, including Moradabad, Aligarh, Ballia, Sonbhadra, Hapur, Sitapur, Rampur and Basti etc., reported no new cases.

Source: Covid19india.org

Though the number of new and active Covid-19 cases have gone down substantially in the state, Prasad said that the people must follow the protocols as the virus might be weak, but it has not been totally eliminated. He further added that the recovery rate in the state is 98.6%, while the positivity rate is 0.01%.

So far, the state has reported 17,09,025 Covid-19 cases. 16,85,472 people have recovered, while 22,787 people died of complications associated with the disease. There are 419 active cases in the state.

The country has over 3.5 lakh active cases, out of which as many as 1.78 lakhs are from Kerala alone, which means the southern state has half the active cases in the country. Maharashtra is next with 58 thousand active cases.

Poet Munawwar Rana can go to jail over derogatory comments on Maharishi Valmiki, earlier Rakhi Sawant was in a soup in similar case

OpIndia Staff
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Poet Munawwar Rana can go to jail over derogatory comments on Maharishi Valmiki, earlier Rakhi Sawant was in a soup in similar case

In a recent interview, poet Munawwar Rana tried to defend the Taliban by comparing it with Maharishi Valmiki.

In the interview with News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia, he said, “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.”

While, it is one of the most repeated stories of Indian history, and there is a possibility that most of us have heard it at some point in time, the Valmiki Samaaj is quite sensitive about it. The story states that Maharishi Valmiki was once a dacoit named Ratnakar before he became a sage and wrote Ramayana.

The legend says he was born in a so-called low-caste and later attained the name of Valmiki and given the status of Maharishi (great sage) and a great Brahmin by Narada Muni after Ratnakar performed tapasya or deep meditation.

The Valmiki Samaaj, especially those who live in Punjab, disagree with the part of the story that he was a dacoit at any given time. If someone repeats it, that means he is disrespecting the Maharishi, who is worshipped as a God by the community. Repeating the story on a mass media platform can even attract the wrath of the activists from the community. By narrating the sensitive story in an interview, Rana possibly has offended the members of the Valmiki community.

Rakhi Sawant had gotten into soup for her comments on Maharishi Valmiki

In 2017, TV actress and host Rakhi Sawant had gotten into soup for repeating the story and sensationalizing it. She turned the ‘dacoit’ part of the story into a ‘murderer’. She was making a point how someone who once indulged in criminal activities can turn into a great sage but ended up offending members of the Valmiki community. A case was registered against her under Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code for offending religious sentiments.

Joe Biden says, “That was 5 days ago” when asked about Afghans falling off from airplanes in a desperate bid to escape Taliban

OpIndia Staff
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Joe Biden says, “That was 5 days ago” when asked about Afghans falling off from airplanes in a desperate bid to escape Taliban

The President of the United States of America Joe Biden was seen making insensitive remarks over the plights of Afghans after the hasty US withdrawal in an ABC News interview on the Taliban issue. 

Biden in an exclusive interaction with the news network remarked, “that (video of Afghans falling off airplanes) was four to five days ago,” when asked about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

The anchor was left flabbergasted by the statement. A snippet of the interview has now gone viral with netizens registering their protest over Biden’s insensitive remark. 

In a teaser of the one-on-one interaction uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the media network, the anchor George Stephanopoulos threw some intense questions at the POTUS. 

Stephanopoulos asked the reason behind a quick takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan when Biden had gone on-record to say that such a coup was highly unlikely. In a flailing response, Biden said that they had expected the takeover to not take place before the end of this year, thereby, contradicting his ‘unlikely’ claim. 

Joe Biden’s interview (trailer)

When counter-questioned if the US intelligence had failed, Biden quickly agreed and also dumped the blame on the troops trained to fight such a situation. 

Stephanopoulos then went on to ask about the hundreds of people packed in a C-17 waiting to be rescued and Afghans hanging on to outer parts of the US Air Force carrier, only to fall off and die after take off. However, Biden in a poor justification interjected and claimed, “That was 4 days ago, 5 days ago.”

Biden also claimed that there was no way to handle the situation any better and there was “no leaving without chaos ensuing.” “I don’t know how that happens,” exclaimed Biden. 

ABC in its trailer claimed that some reports leaked from the US intelligence suggested that a coup was predicted but Biden outrightly denied any knowledge of this information.

The full interview is yet to be televised. Meanwhile, Biden is being trolled for his callous remarks about the dire situation thousands of Afghans have been left in. 

West Bengal post-poll violence: Calcutta High Court orders CBI, SIT probe, orders state govt to proceed compensation for victims

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal post-poll violence: Calcutta High Court orders CBI, SIT probe, orders state govt to proceed compensation for victims

The Calcutta High Court has 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.

There have been allegations of gang rapes and murders across the state allegedly perpetrated by the workers and cadres of the ruling party TMC. 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 SIT will be comprised of three IPS officers, Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranbir Kumar, reported Bar and Bench. A report by Live Law states that the court has also directed the West Bengal state government to immediately process the compensation for the victims of the post-poll violence. The court also rejected state government allegations of bias against the NHRC.

The CBI and the SIT to submit their reports within six weeks.

The bench had earlier ordered the NHRC chairman to constitute an inquiry committee to probe accusations of human rights violations during the post-poll violence. The 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.

The state government has, however, opposed the NHRC report and questioned the impartiality despite the victims’ testimonies on the barbarism perpetrated on them.

Watch: India Today shows Arvind Kejriwal’s picture while speaking about Taliban, triggers jokes

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: India Today shows Arvind Kejriwal’s picture while speaking about Taliban, triggers jokes

A bizarre faux pas by the India Today group while reporting on the Taliban has triggered funny reactions on the microblogging platform Twitter. Rajdeep Sardesai while hosting a show on women rights under the rule of the Taliban accidentally showed a picture of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal under the question “Will Taliban ease its earlier curbs on women?”

The innocuous mistake was highlighted by a popular Twitter handle ‘Befitting Facts’. The netizens since then have been posting hilarious reactions mocking both Kejriwal and ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai.

One Twitter handle by the name Jagjeet said, “Taliban is also giving free electricity, so Rajdeep confuse ho gya hoga (Rajdeep must gave got confused).”

Another user congratulated Rajdeep for showing the truth.

One netizen by the name Alok Sharma suspected it was probably just another advertisement by the Delhi Chief Minister.

Satyam Singh- another Twitter handle highlighted the humanitarian side of Hitler and Bin Laden. “Hitler also believed in Humanity, Kejriwal is working persistently for welfare of Delhi, Osama Bin Laden was philanthropist, Rajdeep Sardesai is doing Journalism,” he Tweeted. 

Earlier this month, Rajdeep Sardesai was brutally trolled by netizens for his outlandish ‘rasgulla’ comment. Sardesai, when asked about not asking tough questions to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had said that had he asked Mamata Banerjee about Bengal post-poll pogrom, he wouldn’t have gotten to eat ‘rasgullas’ (a traditional Bengali sweet) as part of her victory celebration.

Reality behind ‘press conference’: Taliban brutally assault journalists for covering protests, prevent woman anchor from entering office

OpIndia Staff
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Reality behind ‘press conference’: Taliban brutally assault journalists for covering protests, prevent woman anchor from entering office

Despite trying their best to convince the world that they have ‘changed’ and holding a ‘press conference’, the Taliban’s true face is unravelling in the streets and towns of Afghanistan.

As per reports, the Taliban attacked and assaulted journalists in Jalalabad on Wednesday just because they were covering the protests in favour of the Afghanistan flag. A video went viral on social media platforms in which two journalists were seen crying after they were brutally assaulted by the Taliban. The video was shared by Hafizullah Maroof, journalist, BBC World Service.

Maroof wrote, “It really heartbreaking to see journalists are crying, just for covering a protest in Jalalabad city. This is how journalists are beaten up and are treated by the Taliban now in Afghanistan. Journalism is not a crime.”

In another video that has been widely shared on social media, also reportedly from Jalalabad, a Taliban man was seen kicking and standing over a female journalist who is writhing in pain. Another journalist is slapped and beaten multiple times by armed Taliban radicals. Social media users said that the two were punished by the Taliban for working with foreign media.

OpIndia could not independently verify the authenticity or date of that video.

Taliban shoot at civilians for taking out a protest, kill unarmed people

The incident took place when Afghan nationals replaced the Taliban flag with the Afghan flag in Jalalabad and took out a protest. Irked by the protesters, the Taliban opened fire at the crowd and beaten up journalists present at the scene for giving news coverage to the protests. Reports suggest that three Afghanis were killed while ten others were injured in the shooting.

Taliban’s two-faced strategy

On the one hand, the Taliban is claiming that the “new version” of the Jihadi group wants to progress and would respect the rights of women and the press. However, on the other hand, they are attacking women, journalists and Afghan nationals who raise voice against the Islamic group.

As per reports, Shabnam Dawran, a famous Pashto news anchor was sent back home when she went to work. Dawran has stated that despite having her hijab on and showing her ID card, she was told by Taliban, “The regime has changed. Go home.”

Recently, hours after the large promises they made about women rights during a press conference, they shot a woman dead just because she was not wearing a burka. Danish Siddiqui, an Indian journalist working for Reuters was also killed a few weeks back by the Taliban. Reports later emerged that he was shot multiple times and mowed down by the Taliban after they had confirmed his identity.

Poet Munawwar Rana likens Taliban to Maharishi Valmiki, claims they fought for ‘freedom of their land’

OpIndia Staff
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Poet Munawwar Rana likens Taliban to Maharishi Valmiki, claims they fought for ‘freedom of their land’

Once renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana is embroiled in yet another controversy for making objectionable comments on the Hindu religion and community by drawing false equivalents and rhetorics with the Taliban. 

Rana has been going around defending the Islamist organisation in multiple media interactions. In a wrangled interview with TV anchor Deepak Chaurasia, Rana defended the Taliban tooth and nail. 

Rana when asked about the Taliban, upheld his ecosystem’s narrative by calling them mere ‘aggressive fighters’ and not ‘terrorists.’ The infamous poet claimed that the Taliban are also Afghanis and they have simply freed their nation from foreign occupation. 

Munawwar Rana’s interview with News Nation

When specifically questioned if he sees the Taliban as a terrorist organization, Rana dodging the query said, “Do we not have terrorists? One rickshawallah is beaten mercilessly in Kanpur, one politician says Munawwar Rana deserves to be encountered. You do not know the meaning of terrorist.”

Rana went ahead to make a dastardly metaphorical statement to defend the Taliban. “Valmiki became a God after he wrote the Ramayan, before that he was a dacoit. A person’s character can change. Similarly, the Taliban, for now, are terrorists but people and characters change,” exclaimed Rana. He further said, “When you speak about Valmiki you will have to talk about his past. In your religion, you make anyone the God. But he was a writer. Okay, so he wrote the Ramayan, but we are not in competition here.”

According to legend, Ratnakar, supposed to be born in a so-called low-caste, was renamed as Valmiki and given the status of Maharishi (great sage) and a great Brahmin by Narada Muni after Ratnakar performed tapasya (deep meditation). However, the Valmiki community, especially those living in Punjab, don’t like that part of the story that says that Maharishi Valmiki was any dacoit at any point in his earlier life. Repeating this portion can attract legal action. Earlier, a case was registered against Bollywood actor Rakhi Sawant for hurting the sentiments of the community under IPC 295 in 2017.

Launching an attack on the anchor, Rana giving unwarranted advice concluded by saying, “You should host debates on India’s problems. Why debate on what is happening in Afghanistan? Debate on the mob lynchings happening here.”

In yet another interview with the Navbharat Times, Rana claimed that the Taliban got freedom for its country just like how India fought for independence from the British. 

Munawwar Rana’s interview with Navbharat Times

Dodging every single question on the atrocities and violence done by the Taliban, Rana claimed that the Islamist organization should not be called terrorists and that they should be given time to govern before reaching any conclusion. 

He claimed that the Americans and Russians harassed Afghans and claimed that the behaviour of Taliban is not like a terrorist but they are just behaving aggressively.

Earlier this week, the Islamist organisation Taliban took over Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Since then, surreal scenes have emerged where Afghans have been falling off the sky as they hung on to the wheels of the plane as they tried to flee the country. Shocking visuals of Afghans trying to flee the country, some by hanging on to the planes leaving Kabul Airport have gone viral. They also held a press conference where they claimed that women will also have rights but under the Islamic Sharia. Soon, reports of women being beaten and killed and fed to dogs by Taliban went viral.

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