Taliban kills Saleh's brother: 'Let his body rot, you shall not
bury,' they told his nephew
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Former Afghanistan Vice-President and leader of the Northern
Alliance of Panjshir valley, the only province still holding out,
Amrullah Saleh's elder brother Rohullah Saleh has been captured
and brutally killed by Taliban fighters in the Valley's Roca
district, according to unconfirmed reports. |
KABUL, Sept 11: Former Afghanistan Vice-President and leader of the Northern
Alliance protecting the Panjshir valley province against invading Taliban fighters,
Amrullah Saleh's elder brother Rohullah Saleh Azizi was tortured and killed
by Taliban fighters on Thursday as, reportedly, he was proceeding to Kabul alongwith
people leaving the province in the face of an escalating battle.
Rohullah Saleh, various social media reported, was captured and tortured
to death when he was identified from among a group of common people leaving
the valley.
“They killed him yesterday and would not let us bury him. They kept saying
his body should rot,” Ebadullah Saleh, his nephew, told Reuters in a text message
on Friday. "They executed my uncle." They pleaded to let them bury the body.
Another report identified his nephew as one Shuresh Saleh.
The news of Rohullah’s death was first reported in a Twitter post by a website.
It said Saleh's brother was killed in the Roca district of Panjshir.
Many residents of Panjshir were allowed by both the Resistance Front and the
Taliban to leave the valley as the clashes were intensifying. Reports said Rohullah
was found among them and was captured.
Meanwhile, contrary to Taliban's claims, ousted Afghan Government's Ambassador
to Tajikistan said earlier that both Ahmad Massoud, leading the Resistance Front,
and Amrullah Saleh are in Panjshir and have not fled to Tajikistan.
The Afghan Government was ousted by invading Taliban fighters on August 15
as they entered Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. After the
fall of the Government Vice-President Amrullah Saleh went to Panjshir, a non-Pashtun
stronghold, and proclaimed himself as caretaker President quoting Constitutional provisions. The anti-Taliban Resistance Front was set up with Ahmad Massoud, son of the
murdered mujahiddeen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, and former Defence Minister
Bismillah Khan Mohammady. Amrullah Saleh is a critic of Pakistan too.
"Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh have not fled to Tajikistan. The news that
Ahmad Massoud has left Panjshir is not true; he is inside Afghanistan. I am
in constant contact with Amrullah Saleh, who is currently in Panjshir and running
the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's Government," Zahir Aghbar, the envoy of
the ousted Afghan Government to Dushanbe, was quoted as saying.
Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Mujahideen commander who fought the Soviets in the
1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, was revered as the 'Lion of Panjshir', who
protected the Panjshir Valley against any intruders. Panjshir has never fallen
to any outside forces, partly because of the geographical advantage. Only a
narrow passage opens up the valley to the rest of the country. He had led the
Northern Alliance based here. He was killed in 2001 by Al Qaeda, the assassins
posing as documentary film makers. All through he fought mainly the Sunni Pashtun
group that constitutes much of Taliban. Panjshir is a valley tucked in the Hind
Khush mountain range, 150 km north-east of Kabul, inhabited mostly by Shia and
Tajik ethnic Muslims. Ahmad Shah Massoud's son Ahmad Massoud leads the newly
formed Northern Resistance Front in association with Amrullah Saleh, who
was a great admirer of his father. Both have vowed not to give up.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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