NATIONAL NEWS
Indians detained on way to Kabul airport, released later: reports
For 150 Indians it was an anxious and a nervous wait to return home since the Taliban took over the reins in Afghanistan leaving the country in chaos and mayhem. As developments of the day brought the news that they had been picked up by the Taliban, they were released eventually. It is learnt they are inside the Kabul airport waiting to be airlifted out of the conflict zone. As they were being taken to a nearby police station for verification of their travel documents, local media reported that they had been abducted by the Taliban. The news came hours after an Indian Air Force transport aircraft managed to evacuate around 85 Indians from Kabul; the plane has landed safely in Dushanbe in Tajikistan. As the Government doubles up its efforts to bring in, and that includes setting up of a special cell to address and expedite visas for Indians, sources said that the government is trying to bring as many Indians as possible into the airport at Kabul to keep them safe while it works out the evacuation logistics. India has evacuated all embassy staff but an estimated 1,000 citizens remain in several cities in the war-torn country, and ascertaining their location and condition is proving to be a challenge, a Home Ministry official had said, since not all of them registered themselves with the embassy. Among those are around 200 Sikhs and Hindus who have taken refuge at a gurudwara in Kabul. A spokesperson for the Taliban – since the takeover of the nation the dreaded organisation has gone on a PR offensive convincing the world that the outfit has changed with the times — released a video statement of the gurudwara head saying he had been assured of their safety. Meanwhile, Reuters, reported an official of the Islamist group as saying that the Taliban will be accountable for its actions and will investigate reports of reprisals and atrocities carried out by members. The organisation will be also coming out with a model to govern the country.
Militants killed in Pulwama
Three unidentified militants were killed in an encounter in a forest area of Pulwama’s Tral in South Kashmir in the morning taking the toll of militants killed in the last 24 hours to five in the district. An official said the militants, associated with the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), were encircled in Nagbaeran area of Tral in Pulwama. On being encircled by the security forces, the militants opened fire and were killed in the subsequent encounter, the police said, as reported in The Hindu. The encounter with militants poses a concern for India as terrorists of banned outfitsLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed, who had been fighting alongside the Taliban against the U.S led forces in Afghanistan for the past several years, may soon intensify efforts to infiltrate into the Indian territory, according to the latest assessment of security agencies. As reported in The Hindu, a government official told the newspaper, Carrying out terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir has been the primary goal of these outfits. Over the years, they have extended active support to Taliban. JeM has been deploying senior commanders and trained cadres for Taliban operations. LeT has also been a major source of armed men fighting along with Taliban and Haqqani Network. They share the same ideology. The official said: However, after things settle down a little in Afghanistan, their focus would again shift to their main objective. Among the hundreds of prisoners released from Afghan prisons, many were from LeT and JeM. Since January, 95 terrorists have been neutralised in Jammu & Kashmir and 18 of them were Pakistani nationals, officials claimed. JeM has an organic link with Taliban. In the past, it has also provided refuge to their cadres following Taliban takeover, the JeM chief on August 16 congratulated his followers through a message titled ‘Manzil Ki Taraf (Towards the Goal)’, he said. This apart, as per a UNSC report in June, based on the Monitoring Team’s observations, Taliban and Al-Qaeda continued to be closely aligned. Al-Qaeda elements were said to be residing in at least 15 Afghan provinces.
Supreme Court nod for ‘equivalent qualification’ for jobs
In an important decision the Supreme Court veering away from the norm that an aspirant should have the requisite qualification at the time of notification of job vacancy, said an equivalent qualification at the time of application will do equally well. The judgment was based on appeals filed by two applicants to the posts of High School Assistants in Kerala. The question before the court was whether their B.Ed. degrees were in the subjects fulfilling the eligibility criteria for the job notified by the State Public Service Commission in 2012. The job required a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree in the subject of Natural Sciences. The principle of service jurisprudence that a candidate must possess the requisite qualification for a post on the date of issue of employment notification cannot be applied in the appellants’ cases, as in our view, they possessed equivalent qualifications when they applied for the posts, a Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose said in a recent judgment. The appellants, Praveen Kumar and P. Anitha Devi, represented by advocate Sarath S. Janardanan, had B.Ed degrees in Biological Science from the University of Mysore and the Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, respectively. Their degrees in Biological Sciences were considered equivalent to Natural Sciences’ degree from a varsity in Kerala. They were both shortlisted and even allowed to participate in the job interview. However, their candidatures were put on hold after an objection came up on the ground that they were not qualified in the concerned subject for which the job was notified. The judgement is likely to inform decisions on eligibility of candidates for jobs in the future.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Taliban co founder in Kabul for talks to form government.
Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks on establishing a new inclusive government in Afghanistan, a senior official said. It comes after other senior Taliban leaders were seen in the capital in recent days, including Khalil Haqqani – one of America’s most wanted terrorists with a $5 million bounty on his head. A senior Taliban official said that Baradar would meet jihadi leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up. Hours later, pro-Taliban social media accounts showed Haqqani announcing that Ahmad Massoud the son of Afghanistan’s most famed anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah for talks at the country’s second-biggest city Kandahar – the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace. Within hours of his return, the group announced its rule would be different this time. But they have given few details about who would form their government. Arrested in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar was in custody until pressure from the U.S. saw him freed in 2018 and relocated to Qatar. He was appointed head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, where he oversaw the signing of the agreement last year that led to the withdrawal of U.S. forces and an end to their 20-year campaign. On Friday, Haqqani – the uncle of Taliban deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani wasseen leading prayers at a mosque in Kabul.
Hundreds held in Australia after clashes over lockdown.
Hundreds were arrested after violent clashes between anti-lockdown protesters and police in Australia’s two largest cities on Saturday as the country recorded its sharpest rise in daily COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Sydney’s State of New South Wales posted 825 infections – a record for the entire country – a day after authorities extended the city’s lockdown until at least September to try to head off the Delta variant. No matter how hard we work, no matter if 99% of people are doing the right thing, there’s an element of Delta that nobody can control, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told media. The best way we can look forward to freedom is by making sure that we get vaccinated. An increasing outbreak in Melbourne’s State of Victoria also prompted stay- at home orders to be extended across the State on Saturday. But Melbourne’s public health orders didn’t deter thousands from venting anger in a march against the lockdown rules, with police using pepper spray in violent clashes with protesters. Seven officers were injured and more than 200 people were arrested in the violent and unlawful protest, Victoria Police said in a statement. While there were some peaceful protestors in attendance, the majority of those who attended came with violence in mind, they said. In Sydney more than 1,500 police flooded the city, setting up roadblocks and making dozens of arrests as around 250 gathered there, NSW Police said. Large crowds were also reported at an anti-lockdown rally in Brisbane. Sydney’s outbreak has also been linked to a case that sparked a national lockdown in New Zealand.
