In a startling disclosure, a former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos revealed how a jihadi-turned-informant duped the US Intelligence Services to unleash a terror attack that left 7 CIA agents dead.
While speaking to CBS during the episode of ‘Intelligence Matters’, Marc Polymeropoulos talked about slain jihadi Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi who worked as a double agent for the Al-Qaeda as well as the CIA. Balawi, a doctor by profession, first came to the notice of Jordanian security agencies after he was found speaking against the West and hailing jihadist attacks on chat forums. Since Jordan is a counter-terrorism partner of the United States, Balawi was apprehended for exhibiting extremist tendencies by the agencies.
The Recruitment of Balwai to infiltrate Al-Qaeda
Marc Polymeropoulos stated that the Middle Eastern security agencies do not work like the CIA. “The Middle Eastern services are not necessarily like us in terms of our ability to kind of throw around a lot of money and it would almost be, using a different set of kind of motivations for recruitment. And a lot of it has to do with being a coercive threat against the family. It’s something that Middle Eastern services actually are quite effective at, especially the Jordanians,” he emphasised.
Polymeropoulos informed that Balawi was recruited by the Jordanian authorities to work for them and the CIA. He revealed, “It was relatively quick. I think it was probably not a lot of personal meetings. It was jailhouse recruitment and then it was some more meetings after his release and getting ready to deploy. Ultimately, it’s again, it’s not something unusual for a Middle Eastern service because the belief is always that they have leverage over an individual due to family members still being present.”
Balawi passes key information about Al-Qaeda
Balawi was then sent to South Waziristan in Pakistan in 2009 to infiltrate the Islamist terror outfit Al-Qaeda. He spent months growing his contacts with other jihadis so much so that the Pakistani Taliban invited him to stay with them.
The former CIA agent recounted, “He (Balawi) actually sends a video which shows him sitting next to a senior al-Qaeda member close to the leadership circles and in touch, this was pretty solid evidence. That one would hope to have received, that it had gained the trust of the rank and file, also of senior al-Qaeda.” Interestingly, Balawi had made an impact on the Al-Qaeda terrorists that there were chances of him treating Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian terrorist and leader of Al-Qaeda since 2011.
His inputs also corroborated with what the CIA and Jordanian authorities already suspected about Zawahiri’s medical condition. “Think about the hunt for Zawahiri was of such critical importance to the entire kind of global war on terrorism. And at that point, you start thinking that this is the best lead we’ve had to al-Qaeda’s senior leadership in years,” stated Marc Polymeropoulos.
Over-reliance and Security lapse on the part of CIA
However, over-reliance of Balawi proved fatal for the CIA. He turned out to be a double-agent. “The security protocols broke down and he was treated as almost a visiting dignitary,” the ex CIA agent remembered. As such, Balawi was successful in carrying out a suicide attack in Camp Chapman at a CIA base near Khost in Afghanistan on December 30, 2009.
“We let our guard down on this and how it happened is just something that I think we’ll never know. And I say this painfully, too, because I knew all the officers involved. There were top-notch people on the ground,” Marc Polymeropoulos emphasised. He added, “Right, so again, there were several rings of security where he should have been searched. He wasn’t. He comes up to a location in which I believe a dozen officers were present at that point. Our security team did ask for him to step out of the car and they were going to search him.”
Former CBI agent recounts the horror of 2009
“The problem is this was far too close to the kind of a team that was on the ground. And before they could disarm him in any fashion, he had a suicide vest on. He detonated himself and seven of them were killed. I’ve been to that location at coast base. In fact, I was there a year later and there was still shrapnel holes kind of in the car gated steel roof. I slept in a guest house right there on-site, which was certainly difficult psychologically for me. There was an attempt to search him at the last moment but it was far too late.”
The former CBI agent concluded, “He should have been searched by not only by U.S. personnel, frankly, by Afghan personnel in the outer ring of security. That should have been done far earlier and that was kind of normal protocols that for whatever reason, to this day, no one can really understand why they were not followed…”
As per unconfirmed information received by outgoing Trump administration in the United States in December last year, China had offered to pay non-state actors in Afghanistan to attack American troops in Afghanistan. According to CNN, the intelligence input was received by the President’s office during his daily brief on December 17. According to Axios, the information is been declassified by the Trump administration. The President’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien reportedly discussed the information with him. The information is uncorroborated as yet. Several agencies are reportedly working on corroborating these inputs.
Chins has denied the allegations as fake news
Spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin has dismissed the allegations as slanderous and had termed it ‘completely fake news’. He said that China had always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace and had never initiated a war to others and therefore funding non-state actors to attack other countries was not in question. “China supported the process of peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, and does not get involved in the internal conflicts in Afghanistan”, he said.
A Defense official quoted by CNN said , “Our teams will seek to learn as much as we can about these allegations from the outgoing administration, and this is another illustration of why we need full cooperation, including from Department of Defense”. The Defense official said this in context of the ongoing transfer power between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The relations between Washington DC and Beijing have not been well of late with respect to trade, intellectual property and other issues. The US had also accused China of committing human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims.
Earlier there were reports of Russia funding Taliban to kill US troops
Last year, there were similar reports of Russia funding Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan that has resulted in deaths of several US troops. The number of US troops targeted under the programme and the date of the alleged casualties was not specified.
The recent string of resignations has triggered speculations that Mamata Banerjee has lost the numbers in the Assembly, owing to which the demand for the CM to prove the majority on the floor of the Legislative Assembly of the state has started rising amongst some opposition parties in Bengal.
According to a report by TOI, CPM parliamentary party leader Sujan Chakraborty questioned the Mamata Banerjee government in a joint press conference on Thursday: “There are political rallies and meetings. Then why are restrictions imposed only in the case of an Assembly session? Is the government scared to face the Assembly because they do not have the numbers? Chakraborty asked.
“If the government lacks a majority, then why is the chief minister making public announcements?” said the CPM leader furthering that his party has written asking her to take a floor test, and if she fails to fulfil the demands, then they would be left with no other option but to go to the CM’s office in Nabanna, said Chakraborty.
Putting forward similar demands, Congress leader Abdul Mannan said: “We are hearing that many people have left Trinamool Congress and people are confused. Has the govt lost the majority? If they have enough MLAs they should go for a floor test immediately to win the confidence of the people”, opined the Congress leader, as per the TOI report.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh is certain about Mamata Banerjee not having the numbers
Certain that Mamata Banerjee has lost the majority in the house after many Trinamool leaders ditched her to join other political parties, BJP Bengal President Dilip Ghosh also opined that since Trinamool has lost the numbers they are shying away from an assembly session. “There are none in TMC. They know if they go for a floor test, they will be exposed. They will go for a vote-on-account in the budget session, said the BJP leader, furthering “let them test their strength in the Assembly, everything will be clear”.
Miffed by the mudslinging, TMC hit back at the opposition parties. Bengal minister of state for parliamentary affairs Tapas Roy said: “This again proves that CPM, Congress and BJP are hand in glove against the WB Government. They oppose not for a reason but because they have to do that, else they would lose their relevance. Let CPM and Congress first give their test of popularity and then they should demand things from us. We will prove our majority to people and not to them”, said the TMC leader.
Questioned on the issue, Bengal Speaker Biman Banerjee said: “I have not seen any notice so far. I cannot make a comment unless I have gone through the notice”.
TMC loses 5 leaders, gets one back amid exodus
Recently, Mamata Banerjee endured a string of resignation with as many as 6 MLAs resigning within 72 hours. Basically, the resignation of senior party leader Suvendu Adhikari had a domino effect with many other members exiting the party. Fortunately, Mamata Banerjee managed a save when one of them. Jitendra Tiwari had declared he was back in the party. However, reports suggest that many other resignations are taking place at lower tiers of the party.
The string of resignations, which comes ahead of West Bengal polls in April-May 2021, might bring in a lot of trouble for the chief of the ruling dispensation in West Bengal, who is eyeing at a third consecutive term. The political sphere is rife with rumours that the exodus of these TMC senior leaders are ascribed to Mamata Banerjee’s affinity towards election strategist Prashant Kishore and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Soumendu Adhikari, the brother of BJP leader Suvendhu Adhikari, on Thursday, filed a petition before the Calcutta High Court challenging his removal from the post of administrator of Contai Municipality in Purba Medinipur district.
According to the reports, Soumendu Adhikari in his petition has said that he was illegally removed by the West Bengal government’s Municipal Affairs Department from the post of administrator of the civic body.
Challenging his removal in HC, Soumendu in his petition said, “I was removed without any chance of self-defence. Thus it violated the principle of natural justice, for which I moved the HC. I wrote to the DM and SDO, but did not get any reply.”
He added, “I got the removal order on Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, I came to know that a gazette notification was issued by the state government.”
Soumendu Adhikari was removed the post of administrator
A week after Suvendu Adhikari joined BJP, Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal removed his brother Soumendu Adhikari from the post of Chairperson of Contai Municipality and replaced him with Siddhartha Maity. The decision was taken by Urban Development & Municipal Affairs ministry led by Firhad Hakim, who is a close aide of CM Mamata.
Adhikari was the chairman of Contai Municipality till the term of the board expired in 2019. He was then appointed as its administrator since elections were postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
It is being reported that Soumendu may follow his brother Suvendhu and join BJP in the coming days. It is interesting to note that just a few days ago, TMC MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee had taunted Suvendu for failing to shift his father and brothers from TMC to BJP. Suvendu Adhikari’s father and Kanthi MP Sisir Kumar Adhikari, his brother and Tamluk MP Dibyendu Adhikari, and Soumendu Adhikari are still leaders of TMC. However, now Soumendu will leave TMC and join BJP following his brother Suvendu.
Suvendu Adhikari quits TMC, joins BJP
On December 17, Suvendu Adhikari formally quit the Trinamool Congress and joined BJP in presence of Home Minister Amit Shah. Addressing his followers, Suvendhu Adhikari had written a letter blaming Mamata Banerjee for sidelining the party leaders and alleged that Mamata has betrayed the party ideals.
In his letter, he had said that a “deep rot and malaise” has set in the party, and asserted that “individuals in charge of the party currently are treating it as their personal fiefdom.
A Pakistan Army Colonel deployed in the central African nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for United Nations duties has been found trying to convert the UN mission employees to Islam.
Islam is the minority religion in Congo, where a majority of the population is affiliated to different sects of Christianity.
According to reports, Colonel Saqib Mushtaqi, a deputy commander of the Pakistani contingent of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), is accused of trying to convert the local employees into Islam. The Pakistani Army personnel official reportedly approached a few Christian UN mission employees, asking them to embrace Islam.
An inquiry has been launched against a Pakistani Army Colonel after allegations of proselytisation were levelled against him. The General Headquarters (GHQ) has launched an internal inquiry to ascertain the truth behind the incidents. However, it is not clear yet what action will be initiated against the official if he is found guilty of trying to proselytise UN employees into Islam.
Not just converting UN mission employees to Islam in Congo: Pakistani forces tasked with UN duties under scanner for their illicit activities
It is also pertinent to note that this is not the first time that the Pakistani peace-keeping forces for UN missions have been accused of wrongdoing. In the past, too, Pakistani Army officials, who were a part of the UN missions, were accused of gross violations. In 2012, two Pakistani officials were accused of repeated sexual harassment of a 12-year-old mentally challenged boy. The incident had forced Islamabad to initiate court-martial proceedings against the officials. They were sentenced a year in prison by a Pakistani tribunal for raping an underage boy in Haiti.
During this revelation, it also came to light that Pakistani forces have been involved in incidents of sexual exploitation since 2005.
Actress Deepika Padukone, who had earlier courted controversy in the Bollywood drug scandal, has now been the subject of speculation on social media.
In an unusual development, the actress has deleted all pictures from her Twitter and Instagram on New Year’s eve. This has left netizens wondering as to what might have gone wrong with her handles. It is important to note that Deepika has about 5.25 crore followers on Instagram and 2.77 crore followers on Twitter.
Screengrab of the Instagram profile of Deepika Padukone
As per reports, Deepika Padukone is starring in a multilingual film with Prabhas. She is also a part of the movie ‘Pathan’ featuring Shah Rukh Khan and ’83’ showcasing her husband Ranveer Singh as cricketing legend Kapil Dev.
Screengrab of the Instagram profile of Deepika Padukone
Netizens react after Deepika Padukone deletes all pictures
Social media is rife with speculations. Netizens are wondering whether this is one of the PR stunts employed by the actress ahead of her upcoming film projects. One user, Manali Gharat asked, “Happy New Year Guys! So Deepika Padukone’s all Twitter and Insta posts are deleted, do you think this is a PR stunt or just trying to have a new beginning?”
Others wondered whether the act is an attempt to begin the New Year with a clean slate or one of the social media strategies to hog the limelight ahead of her movie projects. “Maybe bolegi new year, new start.. some self-righteous PR n sh*t like that,” one user tweeted. Another user asked, “Deepika deleted all her posts on Instagram Something Related to Pathan??”
Maybe bolegi new year, new start.. some self righteous PR n shit like that
Several social media users wondered whether miscreants hacked Deepika’s Instagram and Twitter handles and deleted all her pictures. “IG account hacked or what? She deleted all posts??” one user asked while sharing the screenshot of her Instagram profile.
Others too were left speculating the same. Akanksha Mishra, another Twitter user, wrote, “Deepika Padukone has deleted all her post on Instagram and put India Today magazine cover photo as profile photo. Is her account hacked???”
In January this year, during film promotion of her film ‘Chhapaak’, based on an acid attack survivor Lakshmi’s real-life story, Deepika Padukone had visited the JNU campus amid the protests wherein leftist students organisations had taken the varsity on ransom not letting students register for the winter semester. The actress was found posing with leftist Kanhaiya Kumar and JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh. Deepika’s PR stunt was even hailed by the Pakistani army’s ex-spokesperson.
Earlier, former RAW officer NK Sood on his Youtube Channel had alleged that Deepika Padukone received two calls before she visited JNU. One call was from Karachi, and the other was from Dubai. He said that either Mussarat himself or one of his associates urged Padukone to visit the university. He further alleged that she was paid Rs 5 crore by Mussarat to go to JNU.
A Pakistani woman named Bano Begum who had come to India 35 years ago to attend a family wedding managed to get elected as the head of the village panchayat in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh. Begum, who came to India from Karachi, Pakistan, stayed back and married a person named Akhtar Ali. So far, she has got her long-term visa extended over and over again.
Bano Begum contested rural body polls
According to reports, Bano Begum contested the rural local body elections in 2015 and was elected as the member of the village panchayat in Gudau village under Jalesar tehsil. Apparently she enjoyed the support of people in the village and so she won the last rural body polls as well. After the pradhan of the village, Shahnaz Begum, passed away in January last year, Begum was appointed as the officiating village pradhan by Gudau village panchayat members.
This was brought to the notice of the District Panchayati Raj Officer (DPRO) Alok Priyadarshi by a local named Quwaidan Khan in December last year. Begum submitted her resignation from the post. However, the Priyadarshi raised the matter before the Etah District Magistrate Sukhlal Bharti who ordered an investigation and the filing of an FIR against Begum.
She had procured forged IDs
After the investigation, it was found that she was not an Indian citizen. She had procured fake voter ID and Aadhar card. It is alleged that Gagau village secretary Dhyan Singh had suggested the name of Bano Begum for the post of officiating village head. He has been shifted from Gudau village panchayat. An investigation is also reportedly being conducted against those who helped her procure the forged documents.
The controversy over the incident where a veteran of the Indian Navy was attacked by Shiv Sena goons in September this year had not yet died down that another similar incident has come to the fore from Maharashtra. A complaint has been filed by an ax-Army officer in Mumbai’s Wadala area, accusing an influential Shiv Sena corporator of threatening him with life and conspiring to commit aggravated assault on him. He has also alleged inaction by Mumbai police authorities.
The ex-army officer named Sujit Apte has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court after the Mumbai police refused to file an FIR against the Shiv Sena corporator Amey Ghole. The distraught ex-Army officer, speaking to OpIndia, reveals how he was compelled to knock the doors of the Bombay High court after Mumbai police remained nonchalant and unsympathetic towards the transgressions committed towards him by powerful and weighty politicians and their goons.
Sujit Apte mentions in his writ petition submitted in the Bombay HC that Mumbai police, pressurized by local politicians, have failed to take appropriate action in his case and he feels his and his family life is under threat. He has therefore sought the Bombay HC’s intervention in the case.
The Writ Petition filed by Sujit Apte in Bombay HC
For the unversed, Amey Ghole is an influential Shiv Sena member and a close aid of Maharashtra CM’s son and the state Tourism and Environment minister Aaditya Thackeray. He also holds important posts like that of the treasurer of the Yuva Sena and the health committee chief of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Divulging the details of the case, the former army officer Sujit Apte told OpIndia that the entire issue revolved around an illegal Sai Baba Mandir structure constructed on the footpath abutting his property.
As told by Apte, the problem started after the illegal construction was demolished by the Municipal authorities. The demolished temple was close to a slum area and was used for all sorts of illicit activities by the anti-social elements of the vicinity backed by the local powerful people who claimed to be leaders. They use to sit inside the illegal premises and freely consume alcohol and smoke drugs, without fearing any action from authorities.
It is pertinent to note here that complying with 2017 Bombay HC decision, which ordered that any illegal structure constructed on the footpath needed to be razed, the Sai Baba Mandir structure in Wadala was demolished once previously, but localities with the help of the municipal corporation had re-erected the temple.
Before the state went into lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus, BMC had once again issued a demolition notice to the temple trust. However, because of the lockdown, the demolition process was stalled. During the lockdown, the temple became a hub for all sorts of illicit activities. The locals from the nearby slum used to sit there and consume alcohol and smoke drugs, Apte informed. Owing to all this, Apte along with other local residents filed a PIL and based on it, the court-ordered BMC to immediately seal the temple premises until the lockdown was in place and once the lockdown was lifted BMC was instructed to immediately demolish the structure.
Since BMC did not comply with the court orders to seal the property, another resident filed a contempt petition against the civic body. The contempt plea was heard by the Chief Justice of Bombay HC who ordered BMC to immediately demolish the illegal structure and submit a report regarding the same to the court by December 15. Based on the HC order’s the Municipal corporation demolished the structure on December 11, 2020.
After the structure was demolished, the Shiv Sena corporator Amey Ghole came to Sujit Apte’s house on December 13, 2020. He was accompanied by another junior engineer, named Gulekar and other local goons. Holding Apte responsible for the demolition of the structure, the Shiv Sena goons threatened him with life. Ghole rebuked Apte by saying: “Aapke vajah see humara mandir toota hain, yeh mandir humare voters ka mandir tha. Woh usse kisi bhi kaam ke liye istamaal karen tum kaun hote ho kuch bolne wale”, roughly translated as “It is because of you that our temple has been demolished. That temple belonged to our voters. They could have used it to do whatever they wished to. Who are you to interfere”.
Ghole continued to threaten Apte by saying: “now my voters would sit on the footpath abutting your property and do charas and ganja or whatever they want”. Ghole ordered Apte to remove all the security installed on his property latest by December 16, as they would begin the re-erection of the Sai Baba Temple from that day. The Shiv Sena corporator further threatened Apte of dire consequences if he tried to impede the re-erection work.
‘Dekhe kaun rokta hain humme’, bragged the Shiv Sena corporator
Apte here wonders how on a Sunday, the Shiv Sena corporator managed to get BMC officials to accompany him. “Sunday ko kausa BMC offical kaam karta hain” (which BMC official works on a Sunday, wondered Apte.
After threatening the ex-Army officer, Shiv Sena leader purposely asked all his goons who had accompanied him to Apte’s house to sit there and drink, smoke or do whatever they wished to do. “Dekhe kaun rokta hain humme” (Let’s see who can stop us), cried out Amey Ghole.
Meanwhile, Sujit Apte’s councillor Dhrutiman Joshi told OpIndia that once the Shiv Sena goons left, the former Army officer approached the local police station with a complaint against the Shiv Sena corporator and his goons. He mentioned in the police complaint that Amey Ghole had threatened him with life. Sujit Apte also submitted CCTV footage as proof to validate his claims. However, his complaint went unheard.
Thereafter on the intervening night of December 17 and 18, one of the goons who had accompanied the Shiv Sena corporator to Apte’s house on December 13, trespassed Apte’s property. The masked goon was carrying an iron rod with him. He threatened Apte’s security guard and broke all the CCTV cameras in the complex. The goon was about to break into Apte’s house when police reached the spot and he fled.
Mumbai police refuses to file and FIR against the Shiv Sena corporator
Sujit Apte rushed to the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg police station to lodge a complaint against Amey Ghole and his goons, but the officer in charge refused to file an FIR against Ghole. The officer told Apte that since he was not harmed physically, an FIR cannot be filed in the case. Instead, the officer registered an NC on the name of Apte’s security guard who was threatened by the goon.
The Writ petition filed by Sujit Apte in Bombay HC
For the unversed, an NC complaint is taken for non cognizable cases. In such cases the police officer may receive a complaint and register it, but cannot investigate without a magistrate’s order, or make arrests without a warrant. He cannot even file an FIR without judicial permission. Such offenses are generally small in magnitude, involving public nuisance, mischief, minor fraud etc.
Apte revealed that he kept going back to the PS and insisted on them registering an FIR against the Shiv Sena corporator who he said was the mastermind behind the entire transgression. Apte revealed that also he submitted CCTV footage as proof of how Ghole had led the entire conspiracy against him but police, under the pressure of local politicians failed to take any action against Ghole.
Copy of Sujit Apte’s letter to RAK PS
Copy of Sujit Apte’s letter to RAK PS
Persistent on getting Ghole to pay for his wrongdoings, Apte wrote to senior officials. Finally on December 20, 2020, police did register an FIR but not against Amey Ghole but some Jagdish Shinde, who was also granted bail minutes after the FIR was registered, revealed Dhrutiman Joshi to OpIndia.
The Writ petition filed by Sujit Apte in Bombay HC
Authorities discouraged the former army officer to raise voice against Amey Ghole
In the writ petition submitted to Bombay HC, the petitioner- Sujit Apte wrote that when he approached the joint municipal commissioner- Narendra Ramkrishna Barde to discuss the issue, the latter requested him not to indulge with Amey Ghole. The joint municipal commissioner made Apte hear audio call recording where Ghole was heard openly threatening Apte in the presence of the commissioner.
It is important to note here that in the writ petition Respondent No.8 refers to joint municipal commissioner- Narendra Ramkrishna Barde and Respondent No.5 is Amey Ghole, the Shiv Sena corporator.
The Writ petition filed by Sujit Apte in Bombay HC
Ghole is extremely influential and has a stronghold over local authorities in his jurisdiction as he was not only a local corporator of the ruling party in the Municipal but also a leading partner in the Maharashtra alliance government. This was probably why he did not fear the law and had no respect for the same, opined Apte.
In these circumstances, Sujit Apte was left with no option but to approach the Bombay High Court by way of a writ petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India through which the petitioner has urged the court to direct the police to register an FIR against the Shiv Sena corporator Amey Ghole, the junior engineer Ghulekar and Wagmare under IPC sections 120(B), 34, 425, 426, 441, 442, 445, 446, 447, 448, 450, 451, 452, 455, 456, 457, 458, 504, 506 and section 110 and 117 of Bombay Police Act.
The Writ petition filed by Sujit Apte in Bombay HC
Secondly, Apte requested that a district committee is constituted to hear the grievances of ex-servicemen and under whose supervision such cases can be investigated.
The Bombay HC is scheduled to hear the case on January 13, 2021.
Maha government harassing citizens for their opinions and social media criticism
This is only one of the many instances where Shiv Sena goons have misused their party’s power and position to ill-treat common citizens in the state. Earlier, it was reported how a Navy veteran was brutally attacked by Shiv Sena goons for a satirical WhatsApp forward mocking Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi. CCTV footage of the incident had surfaced where the veteran could be seen being attacked by a bunch of goons. In December 2019, Sena goons had assaulted and shaved the head of a Wadala resident for criticising Uddhav Thackeray.
Recently, the Shiv Sena-controlled BMC had ordered the demolition of Kangana Ranaut’s office in Mumbai after her recent spat with the government in the state. Social media users like Sameet Thakkar and Sunaina Holey have also been harassed by the Maharashtra government.
Much has been written about Grooming Jihad (Love Jihad), a phenomenon involving the forced conversions of Hindu women to Islam. Even though the secular camp or the leftists have always dismissed the occurrence of such cases as a figment of the ‘right-wing imagination’, these are real and have, over time, gained a considerable foothold across many states in the country.
Several victims of Grooming Jihad have come forward with their stories. Their horrifying experiences include being deceived into a relationship or marriage by a Muslim boy disguised under a Hindu name, who only revealed later that he is a Muslim and forced the woman to convert. The pressurising tactics mostly include threatening to make viral their intimate photographs and videos, isolating the victim from her family, boy’s family members ganging up against the woman, beatings orthreatening them with physical assault,force-feeding beef, insulting Hinduism and Hindus etc.
Though this phenomenon is long-established and extremely deep-seated, the year 2020 has seen many states not only acknowledging the occurrences but also enacting laws to curb the menace of Grooming Jihad. This includes many BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
We at OpIndia have closely followed and reported many Grooming Jihad cases in the past. As the year comes to a close, let us look back at a few of the most gruesome Grooming Jihad cases of 2020.
Case 1: Ajmal Hussain Lashkar poses as Ashish Dubey to befriend, then rape minor girl and aunt
A 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped multiple times by one Ajmal Hussain Lashkar (26) as he blackmailed her with a sex-tape of her aunt on January 14, 2020. The accused also threatened to make the video public if the teenager did not give in to his demands. Mumbai Police had arrested Ajmal after the minor victim allegedly became pregnant. It was reported that Ajmal Hussain had befriended the aunt and her niece posing as one ‘Ashish Dubey’ and later raped the woman after promising to marry her and made obscene videos of her without her knowledge.
Ajmal, thereafter, allegedly used this recording to blackmail and rape the teenage niece multiple times until she got pregnant.
Case 2: In another ‘Grooming Jihad’ case, TikTok celeb murdered or turning down the proposal of ‘nikah’
A TikTok celebrity named Shivani, from Rohtak, Haryana, was brutally murdered in cold blood for turning down the proposal of ‘nikah’ by her friend and neighbour Arif on June 29. After allegedly killing her he hid Shivani’s dead body in her own beauty parlour in TDI City in Kundli, Haryana. Shivani’s family alleged unrequited love and obsession as the motive of the crime.
According to reports, when Shivani’s another friend and co-worker, Neeraj, opened the salon on June 28th morning, he smelt something unpleasant. On searching, he found Shivani’s dead body hidden inside a bed in one room.
Case 3: Another horrific tale from Meerut
At the end of the month of July, a story of the mummified and broken skeletons of one Priya and her young daughter had caused a shockwave across the nation. On July 26, disturbing videos had emerged showing how one Shamshad had buried the corpses of the mother-daughter duo in his own house.
The Muslim youth from Meerut had posed as Amit Gurjar to befriend the Hindu girl Priya. The Meerut police dug up Shamshad’s house to recovers decomposed bodies of Priya and her child tied and dumped in a plastic bag. Shamshad had allegedly killed the duo after his identity was revealed and hid the corpse in his own house.
Case 4: Sordid tale of a Hindu widow who was lured by Nizamuddin alias Goldie
On August 22 it was reported how a 25-year-old Hindu widow was targetted by a Muslim man named Nizamuddin, who concealed his identity to lure her to convert her religion to Islam before marrying and impregnating her. When the woman got to know that the man, who identified himself as Goldie, was a Muslim she resented.
Nizamuddin alias Goldie then started torturing her. He once stabbed her on the thigh and even tried to strangulate her. Goldie, along with his parents, threw the pregnant woman out of the house. The Hindu woman approached the police to file a complaint against her husband Nizamuddin and his family, in which she accused him of cheating.
Case 5: Horrifying case of Lakhimpur Kheri’s 18-year-old Dalit girl
Then another horrifying case of Lakhimpur Kheri’s 18-year-old Dalit girl emerged in the month of August. Her mutilated body was found dumped near a dried-up pond by one Dilshad. We had reported how Mohd Dilshad, who worked at a tailor shop where the girl used to get her clothes stitched, first befriended the 18-year-old Dalit girl. After he learnt that the girl’s family is planning her wedding, Dilshad forced the girl to change her religion and marry him instead. When the girl refused, Dilshad stalked her, brutally raped and murdered her with a sharp weapon, then dumped her mutilated body and fled.
Case 6: Another case of Grooming Jihad from Kanpur
The month of August witnessed another gruesome case of purported Grooming Jihad which OpIndia had reported extensively. This case was reported from Kanpur’s Govind Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, where a Muslim youth named Asif Shah alias Nafiz trapped an 18-year-old Hindu girl named Muskaan, brainwashed her with the help of occult practices, physically abused her, threatened and intimidated her to convert into Islam and marry him.
OpIndia had then spoken to Muskaan’s mother– Mamata Tiwari, Mamata’s employer – Deepti Tiwari and the Bajrang Dal activist – Ramji Tiwari, with whose help the distressed Hindu family recused their daughter on August 28.
Narrating the ordeal, the victim’s family confirmed that Muskaan had to withstand extreme mental and physical torture in Asif’s house. In fact, when she returned to her parents her mental condition was such that for a few days she did not even recognise her own family members. People familiar to the case had called it a typical case of ‘Grooming Jihad’ which has been on the rise in Uttar Pradesh.
Case 7: Shibu Ali becomes Sachin to lure victim, forces her to eat beef, engage in sexual activities with a cleric
In yet another case which came to the fore on September 13, the victim hailing from Kanpur had taken to social media to narrate her ordeal. In the viral video, the victim confessed that one Muslim youth named Shibu Ali befriended her posing as a Hindu named Sachin. The girl said that when his identity was revealed, he started torturing her. Shibu beat her up and pressurised her to convert to Islam.
He also forced her to consume beef, which is a sin according to Hindu customs and to engage in sexual activities with a cleric. The victim narrated how Shibu physically assaulted her when she refrained from doing what she was asked to. Tired of all this, the girl one day escaped and came back to her parents. On August 14, Shibu allegedly again called up the victim and pressurised her to give in to his demands. When she objected, Shibu attacked the victim with a knife.
Case 8: Congress leader engages in Grooming Jihad
In yet another case of Grooming Jihad, a Congress leader Sameer Khan aka Sikander hid his identity to sexually exploit a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district. The police confirmed that the Congress MP, arrested for the rape of a minor, used to click objectionable pictures and make videos of women and post it on porn websites. The Congress leader also used these pictures and videos to blackmail the victims for sexual favours and money.
It was reported that Sameer Khan had posed as Sameer Singh to befriend the minor on Facebook. He then called her to his farmhouse, where he had raped her and clicked objectionable pictures of her. The Congress leader, since the last three years, has been using the pictures to blackmail the girl and sexually exploit her. The victim, at last, approached the police and opened up against the Congress leader.
Case 9: The horrific Sonbhadra case
The horrific Sonbhadra case had sent a shockwave across the nation. We had reported how a 23-year-old Hindu woman has been brutally murdered by two Muslim youth after she refused to convert to Islam after marriage.
The police had nabbed the main accused Ejaz Ahmed and his accomplice Shoaib Akhtar, after the beheaded body of the Hindu girl Priya was recovered from the forest area near Preet Nagar under the Chopan police station area on September 21 (Monday).
OpIndia had learnt that prime accused Ejaz Ahmed, who was a part of an organised syndicate working to lure Hindu girls into marriages and forced conversions in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, was also eying at the girl’s fathers property. He informed us that after marriage, which was not solemnised as per law, instead was a just a notary marriage, the youth had started creating pressure on Priya to get her father to transfer the property in her name.
The girl succumbing to the pressure requested her impoverished father, who does menial jobs at an eatery in the locality for a living, to transfer his house- his only asset in her name, to which the father had firmly refused. Seeing his effort failing, Ejaz started pressuring her to convert to Islam if she wanted to be excepted in his family. Priya however, had refused to convert to Islam. Miffed by his failing attempts, Ejaz hatched the conspiracy of killing Priya.
Case 10: The case of Nikita Tomar, who was shot dead by her stalker in broad daylight
In a terrifying case of Grooming Jihad, which even gained a lot of media attention, a Hindu girl Nikita Tomar was shot dead in full public view by two men outside the Aggarwal college in Ballabgarh, Faridabad. Her family had alleged that he was forcing her to convert to Islam and marry him.
The shocking incident was caught on camera, visuals of which had gone instantly viral in the aftermath of the brutal killing. Touseef and his accomplice Rehan were arrested by the police.
These 10 cases mentioned above are only a few of the many such incidents which have occurred in the past year. There are many more cases which have been reported and many, many more which might have transpired in the remote areas of the country but could not make it’s way to the media.
In a recent survey conducted by US data firm Morning Consult, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the highest approval rating of 55% as compared to world leaders from 12 other nations.
A report by WION discussed the survey conducted by Morning Consult.
The data firm stated that the survey was conducted based on ‘seven-day moving average of adult residents’ in individual countries and that the data for 13 countries would be updated each week. In India, Morning Consult conducted the survey on 2,126 adults, with an error margin of +/- 2.2%, and found that PM Modi clocked 75% approval for his leadership while only 20% disapproved, as of December 21.
Screengrab of the data published by Morning Consult
Net approval of world leaders of 13 countries
The data, last updated on December 23, thereby puts PM Modi ahead of his counterparts such as Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Scott Morrison, Angela Merkel, Jair Bolsonaro and others on the scale of ‘net approval’. Morning Consult defined net approval as “the share of each country’s residents that approve minus the share that disapprove of their respective head of state.”
As such, PM Modi has a net approval rating of 55% while French President Emmanuel Macron had a net rating of -27%.
Comparison of Net approval rating of global leaders via Morning Consult
Morning consult had tracked the approval ratings of the current world leaders in India, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is important to mention that the survey was conducted in the official language of the countries where the respondents were given the choice to switch to English.
The US-based data firm conducts 11,000 daily interviews about leadership approvals across the globe. Using its propriety platform, Political Intelligence, Morning Consult provides real-time data for elected officials, voting issues and political elections.
Indians lauded the performance of PM Modi in August 2020
A year after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the India Today-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation poll was published in August 2020. The extremely significant survey, which came amidst the Coronavirus pandemic that had struck the country, reealed how Indians continued to be satisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the India Today-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation poll, almost two-thirds of people who participated in the survey were happy about the Modi government’s handling of the economic crisis. At least 71 per cent of the citizens had rated the Modi government’s handling of the economic distress caused by coronavirus pandemic as ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’.
The MOTN survey of India Today also stated that 43 per cent of the total respondents said that the Modi government had handled the economic crisis better than the previous Manmohan Singh government. The poll showed that at least 88 per cent of the respondents said that the Modi government was better or at par when compared with the previous government in handling the economic crisis.
