News Analysis India

Tag: Afghanistan

  • 3 Islamic clerics, MBBS student among 14 arrested in Assam for supporting Taliban

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Assam Police arrested 14 people, including an MBBS student, for supporting the Taliban through social media.

    The persons were arrested from Kamrup, Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri, Hailakandi, Cachar, Karimganj, South Salmara, Goalpara, and Hojai districts.

    The police said the accused had posted “adverse/objectionable” comments on social media supporting the Taliban. They were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Information Technology Act, and CrPC.

    #assampolice are taking stern legal action against pro #Taliban comments in the social media platform that are harmful to the National Security. We’re registering criminal cases against such persons. Please inform the police if any such thing comes to your notice
    — Violet Baruah IPS (@violet_baruah) August 21, 2021

    The arrests were made since Friday night. Special Director General of Police GP Singh confirmed one of the persons arrested is an MBBS student. Three others are Islamic clerics.

    ALSO READ | Sedition case against Samajwadi Party MP, two others over pro-Taliban remarks

    Special Director General of Police GP Singh confirmed one of the persons arrested is an MBBS student. Three others are Islamic clerics.

    @assampolice has arrested 14 persons for social media posts regarding Taliban activities that have attracted provisions of law of the land.People are advised to be careful in posts/likes etc on social media platforms to avoid penal action @CMOfficeAssam @DGPAssamPolice @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/iQaKTXP74x
    — GP Singh (@gpsinghips) August 21, 2021
    Deputy Inspector General of Police Violet Baruah tweeted: “#assampolice are taking stern legal action against pro #Taliban comments in the social media platform that is harmful to the National Security. We’re registering criminal cases against such persons.”

    She appealed to the people to inform the police if they come across any objectionable posts on social media.

  • Centre must step up outreach in Kashmir amid Afghan crisis: Ex-COAS General Shankar Roychowdhury

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The government needs to step up its outreach in Jammu and Kashmir, reassuring the people that India will continue to be a secular democracy as the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is likely to trigger a renewed offensive by Pakistan-based terror groups in the region, former Army chief General Shankar Roychowdhury said.

    Gen Roychowdhury, who commanded the 16 corps in Kashmir at the height of the militancy in the early 1990s, said that buoyed by the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Pakistan “will make a fresh bid on Kashmir”.

    He said that India needs to reach out to former Afghan government forces rallying around Ahmad Massoud, son of late legendary anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, in Panjshir Valley, besides the factions within the Taliban that are friendlier to India. “We have to step up our outreach to Kashmiris, we also have to re-assure them that India will continue to be a secular democracy,” he told PTI in an interview.

    The 1999 hijack of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar by Pakistani terrorists is believed to have been with active cooperation of the earlier Taliban regime. India had to exchange top terrorists, including Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar, for the passengers and the crew.

    “We need to understand that the (Taliban) victory in Afghanistan is being seen (by terror groups) as a Pakistani victory and India’s defeat…We have to organise ourselves for a renewed offensive by elements like the JeM,” said Gen Roychowdhury, a veteran of the 1965 and 1971 wars, besides several counter-insurgency operations.

    “We have to be prepared for Pakistani intentions (covert operations), supported by radical elements here,” he added.

    A study by French think-tank Centre d’ analyse du terrorisme (Centre for Analysis of Terrorism) published last week warned of the possibility of “more operational coordination between Pakistan-supported groups like the Lashkar e Toiba and JeM, and the Taliban”.

    India steadfastly refused to do business with the Taliban regime of the 1990s, which it saw as a proxy for Pakistan’s military. India continued to support the remnants of the Afghan government and later the Northern Alliance, aiding them with training and supplies.

    Gen Roychowdhury, who at present heads think-tank Research Centre for Eastern and Northeastern Studies, said India’s role in Afghanistan should revolve around providing training, relief materials and above all giving refuge to those who seek shelter. “People of Afghanistan remain our friends and we must be willing to give them refuge,” he said.

    He also warned that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina are on good terms, opposition forces in Bangladesh, which include “the entire radical set-up”, would be re-invigorated by the Taliban take over and they “may not let this chance slip by”.

    There has been a disquiet in India’s security community about the possibility of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh drawing upon released Bangladeshi Taliban fighters, increasing their activities in bordering Indian states.

  • 13 Islamic clerics, MBBS student arrested in Assam for supporting Taliban

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Assam Police arrested 14 people, including an MBBS student, for supporting the Taliban through social media.

    The persons were arrested from Kamrup, Darrang, Barpeta, Dhubri, Hailakandi, Cachar, Karimganj, South Salmara, Goalpara, and Hojai districts.

    The police said the accused had posted “adverse/objectionable” comments on social media supporting the Taliban. They were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Information Technology Act, and CrPC.

    #assampolice are taking stern legal action against pro #Taliban comments in the social media platform that are harmful to the National Security. We’re registering criminal cases against such persons. Please inform the police if any such thing comes to your notice
    — Violet Baruah IPS (@violet_baruah) August 21, 2021

    The arrests were made since Friday night. Special Director General of Police GP Singh confirmed one of the persons arrested is an MBBS student. Three others are Islamic clerics.

    ALSO READ | Sedition case against Samajwadi Party MP, two others over pro-Taliban remarks

    Special Director General of Police GP Singh confirmed one of the persons arrested is an MBBS student. Three others are Islamic clerics.

    Deputy Inspector General of Police Violet Baruah tweeted: “#assampolice are taking stern legal action against pro #Taliban comments in the social media platform that is harmful to the National Security. We’re registering criminal cases against such persons.”

    She appealed to the people to inform the police if they come across any objectionable posts on social media.

  • 14 arrested in state for posting content supporting Taliban on social media: Assam Police

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Fourteen people were arrested from across Assam for alleged social media posts supporting the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, police said on Saturday. The arrests were made since Friday night and they have been booked under different sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IT Act and CrPC, a senior police officer said.

    “We were on alert and monitoring social media for inflammatory posts,” the officer said. Two people each were arrested from Kamrup Metropolitan, Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj districts, police said. One person each was arrested from Darrang, Cachar, Hailakandi, South Salmara, Goalpara and Hojai districts, they said.

    #assampolice are taking stern legal action against pro #Taliban comments in the social media platform that are harmful to the National Security. We’re registering criminal cases against such persons. Please inform the police if any such thing comes to your notice
    — Violet Baruah IPS (@violet_baruah) August 21, 2021
    DIG (BTAD) Violet Baruah said the Assam Police is taking stern legal action against pro-Taliban comments on social media that are harmful to national security. “We’re registering criminal cases against such persons. Please inform the police if any such thing comes to your notice,” she tweeted.

  • Special Afghanistan Cell set up by ministry working overtime on repatriation

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The Special Afghanistan Cell, which was set up by the Ministry of External Affairs a day after the Taliban seized power in Kabul, has been working round the clock to ensure that the requests of Indian nationals and Afghans wanting to return are being processed.

    The cell is being managed at any given point in time by around eight-nine young foreign service officers. In total, this cell comprises a team of 20 Indian Foreign Service officers. After the formation of a special cell to ensure repatriation of Indians during the pandemic, this is the second special cell that the ministry has constituted to deal with emergency requests from Afghanistan. 

    According to officials, the cell coordinated with different divisions of the ministry to ensure that the processing of requests is not delayed. Officials said that a few hundred Indians are still in Afghanistan.Last week, India evacuated around 200 nationals, including the Indian envoy to Afghanistan Rudrendra Tandon, after the Taliban forces reached the gates of Kabul. Following the fleeing of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the takeover  of the war-torn country by the militia, the MEA constituted the cell.

    “MEA’s 24×7 Special Afghanistan Cell has been reinforced. UPDATED contact details: Phone numbers: +91-11-49016783, +91-11-49016784, +91-11-49016785WhatsApp number: +91-8010611290 Email: [email protected],” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had tweeted.

    Following the change of power, for the first time India has started an e-visa system for Afghans wanting to come to India. The visa would be given for a period of six months after scrutiny of the application.New Delhi has also been in touch the Sikh and Hindu community leaders and has assured them of repatriating the community members once commercial operations of flights begin from Afghanistan. A number of them have taken shelter in a gurdawra near the capital of Afghanistan.

  • Two Indian consulates ransacked by the militia

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Indicating a hardline on the Taliban wresting power in Afghanistan at a time when the foreign office is reaching out to the militia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those who try to establish an empire on the basis of terror may dominate temporarily, but their existence is not permanent and they cannot suppress humanity forever.

    Afghans who worked with Spanish agenciesarrive in Dubai along with familiies,prior to flying to Spain | AFPHe said the idea of vanquishing terror was as valid hundreds of years ago when invaders demolished the Somnath temple multiple times, as it is today, when the world is apprehensive of such ideologies. Modi’s remarks came during the foundation stone laying ceremony for multiple projects in Somnath. India has always criticised terror unequivocally, saying there is no such thing as good Taliban and bad Taliban. However, given the situation on the ground, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had recently indicated India is engaging the Taliban, adding: “It is time to take things forward.”

    But in further evidence of Taliban’s double-speak, while one of its leaders had urged New Delhi to not to evacuate its diplomats, two Indian consulates in Afghanistan were ransacked by the Taliban on Wednesday. The closed Indian consulates in Kandahar and Herat were searched by the militia for documents. Taliban leader Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai has urged India to retain its diplomats, a request that was overlooked as security assessments suggested his words could not be taken on face value. 

  • Afghan man deported from Nagpur has joined Taliban, say cops as his gun-wielding snap surfaces

    By PTI

    NAGPUR: An Afghan national, who was deported to his country from Nagpur in June this year after he was found staying here illegally, has apparently joined the Taliban and his picture holding a rifle has surfaced on social media, a senior police official said on Friday.

    The Taliban has seized power in Afghanistan as it swept into capital Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

    “The man, Noor Mohammad Ajiz Mohammad, 30, was found staying in Nagpur since 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,” he said.

    “After his deportation, he seems to have joined the Taliban and his photo holding a gun has emerged on social media,” he added.

    During the probe earlier, police had found that he had come to Nagpur in 2010 on a six-month tourist visa.

    Later, he had applied to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking a refugee status for himself, but his application was rejected.

    His appeal was also turned down by the UNHRC. Since then, he stayed in Nagpur illegally, the official said.

    Another police official said that Noor Mohammad’s original name is Abdul Haque and his brother was working with the Taliban. Last year, Noor had floated a video on social media with a sharp-edged weapon.

    After he was nabbed, police found that he had “entry and exit wounds” from a gunshot near his left shoulder, he said, adding that when his social media accounts were checked, it was found that he was following some terrorists whose videos of gun firing were available on social media.

    “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,” the official said.

  • AIMPLB distances itself from its member’s endorsement of Taliban

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Many Muslim leaders in India have made statements endorsing the Taliban and then withdrew them too swearing support to India’s policy over the issue.

    A day after a member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Maulana Sajjad Nomani, praised the Taliban for its takeover of Afghanistan, the board sought to distance itself from Nomani’s statement terming it as one made in ‘personal capacity.’ It clarified that it was not the official stand of the Muslim body.

    In a statement issued from the official Twitter handle of the AIMPLB, the board said: “All India Muslim Personal Law Board has neither expressed any view nor given any statement on Taliban and recent political situation of Afghanistan.

    Opinion of some board members has been portrayed as the board’s stand by few media groups and wrong things are being attributed to it. These practices are against the spirit of journalism. Media groups must refrain themselves from such acts and no news regarding the Taliban should be attributed to the AIMPLB.”

    Earlier on Wednesday, spokesperson of AIMPLB Maulana Sajjad Nomani had issued a statement on his personal YouTube channel praising the Taliban. “We salute the Taliban fighters, they have defeated the strongest army. An unarmed nation has defeated the strongest army. They entered the palace of Kabul. The whole world saw how they entered Kabul. There was no pride or arrogance in them. There were no big words. Those young men are kissing the soil of Kabul.

    ALSO READ | Uttar Pradesh: AIMPLB moves Allahabad HC over demolition of Gareeb Nawaz Masjid

    Congratulations, this Hindi Muslim salutes you. I salute your courage. Salutes your spirit,” Nomani had said. Moreover, the Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, Shafiqur Rahman Barq had also endorsed the Taliban on Tuesday. He had equated them with Indian freedom fighters.

    Barq had said that the Taliban was a force that did not allow even strong countries like Russia and America to settle in their country.

    However, after UP Police registered an FIR against the Samajwadi Party MP under non-bailable Sections 153A, 124A, and 295A of the IPC, he denied having given any such statement. He said that his statement was misinterpreted.

    Meanwhile, senior clerics of Darul Uloom Farangi Mahal rushed to condemn the statements made in favour of the Taliban. Darul Uloom believed that the Taliban should not be endorsed in a hurry. As per the sources, the biggest Islamic seminary backed the view that the Taliban should be watched if they followed what they claimed this time. The Darul Uloom said remarks should be made in consonance with the foreign policy of India and how things evolved between the two nations.

    Meanwhile, noted Urdu poet Munawwar Rana on Thursday again kicked up a row by refusing to recognize the Taliban as a terrorist organization and instead called them an aggressive group.

     “The Taliban has done the right thing. So, possession of your land can be done by any means. If the Taliban liberated their country, Afghanistan, then what is the problem with that? This cannot be seen from an Indian point of view. If you want to understand, then you have to think of India under British rule,” Munawwar Rana said while talking to media persons.

    He also said that he did not consider the Taliban a terrorist organization. “If they are fighting for their country then how can they be a terrorist? There is no particular definition of a terrorist, how can we say who is a terrorist and who is not,” he added.

    Munawwar Rana is known to have a penchant for making controversial statements. Recently, he had threatened to leave Uttar Pradesh if Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister again in 2022, after which he had to face criticism from a section of people.

  • Govt has to tell people there’s evacuation plan, says journalist Kanika Gupta

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI:  Kanika Gupta was reporting from Kabul when the Taliban took over on August 15. An independent journalist who writes human stories from conflict zones, Kanika was airlifted in a special aircraft by the Indian government on Tuesday. In a telephonic interview, she tells TNIE about Kabul’s fall, the commotion, evacuation and  the distraught Afghans.

    When did you think Kabul’s fall was imminent?

    Sunday morning, we heard that Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, has fallen. It is not very far from Kabul. We kept getting updates. After a couple of hours, we heard the Taliban were within the city limits. When they reached places like Paghman, we knew they were basically inside the city. The news was declared on radio, triggering commotion. People started running in panic. It only took an hour or so for President Ghani to step down.

    How did you all prepare?

    I was scared. The Indian community I was in touch with were relatively calmer, based on assurances from the Taliban that none would be hurt. We were in touch with each other. I was trying to get in touch with the Embassy, but they were inundated with phone calls. They did not have an idea what to do and instructed us to stay put. At that point, officials did not have an evacuation plan. We were basically banding together as a community and figuring out what is the best to avoid panicking. As journalists, we put a lot of pressure on the Indian government to put us on an evacuation flight.

    ALSO READ: Taliban asks India to finish infrastructure projects 

    How helpful were the Indian authorities?

    Ever since the evacuation process began and till I was brought back to India, officials were helpful and careful. For that part, I will commend them. But, my beef with the government was, I had to pull a lot of strings to get us there. Without that our evacuation would not have been possible. As of now, there are 500 civilians stuck in Afghanistan. Many of their passports are with their employers. This is crisis upon crisis.

    Are you getting SOS requests?

    I am flooded with calls. People are asking to somehow make the help reach them. I am asking for details and telling them I will do what I can. As a civilian journalist, I am trying to help as much as I can. But, the government is not responsive, at least till I left. At least, they have to tell people a plan is in place. This will give them confidence. Till the time I left, there was radio silence from the government, whose priority was to evacuate diplomats.

  • Taliban’s moderate face aimed at legitimacy: Experts

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:   Ever since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the widespread feeling was it would impose strict Sharia law. However, in a surprising turn of events, the Taliban has seemingly presented a moderate face. Their spokesperson was seen interacting with a woman journalist on live TV and they also announced general amnesty for government officials.

    Experts are still divided over this so called new avatar of the Taliban. While a few say the change is genuine and a bid for legitimacy, others say the group’s association with extremism and human rights violations cannot be ignored.

    “The Taliban’s commitment to extremist frameworks is well known. The scale of human rights violations in the run-up to the takeover of Kabul cannot be brushed under the carpet based on a few statements. Therefore, the talk of Taliban softening stand is premature,” said Sanjay Pulipaka, senior fellow at Delhi Policy Group.

    ALSO READ: Ashraf Ghani says ‘in talks to return’ to Afghanistan after fleeing to UAE

    Russia-based analyst Andrew Korybko, however, had a different take. He said the gradual change in the group’s functioning was not taken seriously. “But its latest press conference shows it is at least very serious about signalling its intent to change. The optics certainly help to build the case for its legitimacy as Afghanistan’s de facto rulers, but there’s also a pragmatic dimension to it. The group knows it can’t sustain its rule if it doesn’t change its style. Its prior history of leadership over 90 per cent of Afghanistan for half a decade taught it some valuable lessons in this respect,” he said.

    A researcher at Jawaharlal Nehru University, who did not wish to be named, pointed out the Taliban is wary of social media because any atrocity it commits would be out in the open through these platforms. “Hence, they are careful about what they are doing or at least about what they are portraying to the world, especially at a time when their legitimacy is at stake. It is very plausible that the Taliban could go back to its old ways once it is recognised by powerful nations,” said the researcher.

    Korybko is of the opinion that the militant group is also showing a new avatar in a bid to integrate Afghanistan into the region. “To this end, the Taliban must present themselves as respectable and responsible leaders in order to not scare away regional partners like Russia, China and Iran. It must convince them it will respect minorities’ and women’s rights and will not do anything that could potentially threaten their trade and investments through and within Afghanistan,” he added.