kabul, Aug 17 :The Taliban Tuesday declared a general amnesty for all government officials and urged them to return to work, two days after taking power following a lightning sweep through the country.
“A general amnesty has been declared for all… so you should start your routine life with full confidence,” said a statement from the Taliban.
MIRPUR (AJK): , Aug 17 :In Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), Ashura, the 10th of Muharramul Haraam will be observed on Thursday with due reverence and solemnity to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of lives, offered by Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions for upholding the sanctity of Islam, righteousness and truth.
Observance of this day symbolises unique sacrifice of the grand son of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions who embraced martyrdom in the blazing deserts of Karbala.
Tazia, Alam and Zuljinnah processions to be brought out from central Imambargahs in all major cities and towns across the valley including Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Bagh, Bhimber, Sudhanoti, Haveili, Rawalakot, Hattiyan and Neelam valley districts.
The day will dawn with special prayers by the faithful at all mosques and imambargahs with Namaz-e-Fajr in all the districts of Azad Jammu Kashmir. Processions of Alam and Zul’jinnah will be taken out from imambargahs, which after passing through the already-determined traditional routes, will culminate at their fixed spots.
A number of social and political organizations as well as individuals will establish sabeels on the processions’ route to facilitate the faithful in each and every nook and corner of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Recalling the martyrdom of Hazarat Imam Hussain (AS), ulema and zakerin during the course of the procession would deliver special speeches to highlight the great essence of the day.
Like other parts of AJK, in Mirpur district, the local administration have made all necessary arrangements to maintain peace during the course of the main Zuljinnah and Tazia procession in the city, to be taken out from central Imambargah Sa’adat Colony on 10th of Muharram ul Haraam on Thursday, official sources said.
Exceptional security arrangements have been made across the district through the deployment of contingents of police which will remain alert till culmination of the Zul’jinnah processions, SSP Mirpur Raja Irfan Salim told APP here on Tuesday. He said adequate security arrangements have been given final touches to maintain peace during observance of the day in the district.
DNA
ISLAMABAD: Mawlawi Hibatullah is a hardline religious scholar and the leader of the Taliban. As of August 16, 2021, Akhundzada is said to be the de facto Military Leader/President of Afghanistan, due to the “official” president, Ashraf Ghani’s departure from Afghanistan’s presidential palace.
Akhundzada reportedly issued the majority of the Taliban’s fatwas, and was the head of the Taliban’s Islamic courts. Unlike many Taliban leaders, Akhundzada is believed to have remained in the country during the War in Afghanistan. He became the leader of the militant group in May 2016 following the killing of the previous leader, Akhtar Mansour, in a drone strike. The Taliban also bestowed upon Akhundzada the title Emir-al-Momineen (Commander of the Faithful) that his two predecessors had carried.
Akhundzada was born in 1959 in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar Province in the Kingdom of Afghanistan. A Pashtun, he belongs to the Noorzai clan or tribe. His first name, Hibatullah, means “gift from Allah” in Arabic. His father, Mullah Mohammad Akhund, was a religious scholar as well as the imam of their village mosque. Not owning any land or orchards of their own, the family depended on what the congregation paid his father in cash or in a portion of their crops. Akhundzada studied under his father.[citation needed] The family migrated to Quetta after the Soviet invasion and Akhundzada continued his education at one of the first seminaries established in the Sarnan neighborhood.
In the 1980s, Akhundzada was involved in the resistance against the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan.[6] When the Afghan Taliban captured the capital Kabul in 1996, one of religious scholar Akhundzada’s first jobs was in Farah Province as a member of the Department of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice paramilitary enforcers.[citation needed] He later moved to Kandahar and was made an instructor at the Madrasa, the seminary of about 100,000 students that Mullah Omar personally looked after.[citation needed]
Mawlawi Akhundzada was later appointed as Chief Justice of the Shariah Courts of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Rather than a warlord or military commander, he has a reputation as a religious leader who was responsible for issuing most of the Taliban’s fatwas and settling religious issues among members of the Taliban. Both Mullah Omar and Mullah Mansour are known to have consulted Akhundzada on matters of fatwa. Unlike his predecessors who were educated in Pakistan—and who were also believed to have moved permanently east across the Durand Line after the U.S. invasion in 2001 and during the resulting war—Akhundzada is believed to have lived in Afghanistan throughout the 2001–2016 period with no travel record, though he has close ties with the Quetta-based Taliban Shura.
After his promotion to deputy leader of the Taliban in 2015, Akhundzada put in place a system under which a commission would be formed under the shadow governor in every province that could investigate abusive commanders or fighters, according to Mullah Abdul Bari, a Taliban commander in Helmand.
khundzada was appointed as the Taliban supreme commander on 25 May 2016 as the replacement for Mullah Akhtar Mansour. Mansour and a second militant were killed when munitions fired from a drone hit the vehicle in which they were riding. The strike was approved by U.S. President Barack Obama. Akhundzada was previously a deputy for Mansour. According to sources from the Taliban, Mansour had already named Akhundzada as his successor in his will.
A Taliban spokesman stated that Sirajuddin Haqqani was named first deputy and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of former Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was named second deputy. Mawlawi Akhundzada leads a number of madrassas, or religious schools, in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. Analysts believe that there were differences among Taliban ranks on who should be appointed the new chief. The suggested names were Mullah Yaqoob and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the latter being the most prominent member linked with the Haqqani Network. Akhundzada, however, has sustained a neutral identity among the Taliban rank and file. To avoid conflict upon choosing Akhundzada as chief, the Taliban agreed that Yaqoob and Sirajuddin Haqqani will both work as his deputies.
Chaos in Kabul as people want to flee country; US forces help resume operations at the Airport
DNA/News Desk
KABUL: At least five people were killed in Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly enter planes leaving the Afghan capital, witnesses said.
One witness said he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle. Another witness said it was not clear whether the victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede. U.S. troops, who are in charge of the airport, earlier fired in the air to scatter the crowd, a U.S. official said. Officials were not immediately available to comment on the deaths. Later, all military and civilian flights had been halted at the Kabul airport because of the crowds of civilians who have surged out onto the runways, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
“US military forces are on the scene working alongside Turkish and other international troops to clear the area of people. We do not know how long this will take,” Kirby said.
Berlin, The US-led NATO operation in Afghanistan achieved less than planned, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday, adding that she shared the pain of families of soldiers killed in the mission “as it seems right now like it was all in vain”.
The mission managed to stop Al-Qaeda repeating its September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, but “everything else that has followed has not been as successful and has not been achieved in the way that we had planned,” Merkel told journalists.
DNA
UNITED NATIONS, A top Pakistani diplomat Monday denounced India, which as President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), again blocked Pakistan from participating in the 15-member Council’s meeting on Afghanistan, saying Pakistan has a vital stake in peace and stability of the war-torn country where the Taliban have now taken control of the government.
“It is most regrettable that Pakistan’s request to participate in the Security Council meeting was once again blocked by the Indian Presidency,” Ambassador Munir Akram told reporters after the conclusion of the council meeting, while also questioning the move to give the floor to the representative of Afghanistan’s defunct regime of Ashraf Ghani who has fled the the country.
The Security Council, he said, has been denied an “important perspective and vital input that could be helpful in restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region,” he said, noting that Pakistan was also blocked from participating in the Council meeting on Afghanistan on August 6, as well.
EU officials have been pleading with the bloc’s 27 capitals to give visas to Afghan workers at the bloc’s mission in Kabul and their families
Brussels: EU foreign ministers will hold emergency talks via videolink Tuesday on the situation in Afghanistan as European nations scramble to evacuate personnel from the country, officials said.
Member states and the EU executive in Brussels are frantically trying to pull their foreign and Afghan staff out of Kabul amid fears of reprisals after the Taliban’s takeover.
“Following latest developments in Afghanistan, and after intense contacts with partners in the past days and hours, I decided to convene an extraordinary VTC (video teleconference) of EU Foreign Ministers tomorrow afternoon for a first assessment,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted Monday.
“Afghanistan stands at a crossroad. Security and wellbeing of its citizens, as well as international security are at play.”
EU officials have been pleading with the bloc’s 27 capitals to give visas to Afghan workers at the bloc’s mission in Kabul and their families, estimated to number around 500, European diplomats said. The European Commission has no power to issue visas on its own behalf.
The spokesperson called on the Taliban to ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens
Monitoring Desk
BEIJING: China is ready to deepen “friendly and cooperative” relations with Afghanistan, a government spokeswoman said on Monday, after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Beijing has sought to maintain unofficial ties with the Taliban throughout the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, which spurred an advance by the hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
On Monday, China said it “welcomed” the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan, a country that has for generations been coveted for its geo-strategic importance by bigger powers.
“The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China’s participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
“We welcome this. China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop … friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan.”
Hua called on the Taliban to “ensure a smooth transition” of power and keep its promises to negotiate the establishment of an “open and inclusive Islamic government” and ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens.
China’s embassy in Kabul remains operational, Hua said, although Beijing began evacuating Chinese citizens from the country months ago amid the deteriorating security situation.
PM Imran directs that all possible facilities be made available to repatriate Pakistanis, diplomats, journalists and staff of international organizations
Special Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan aspires for peace in Afghanistan, the National Security Committee (NSC) reiterated Monday, as the Taliban took over the war-torn country after a lighting sweep.
The development came during the NSC meeting which was called to deliberate on the emerging situation in Afghanistan — with PM Imran Khan in the chair.
The NSC meeting was attended by senior cabinet members and services chiefs. Participants were briefed on the latest developments in Afghanistan and their possible impact on Pakistan and the region. The overall security situation in the region was also discussed.
The NSC noted that Pakistan was a victim of the decades-long conflict in Afghanistan and, therefore, desired peace and stability in the neighbourhood. It was emphasised that the world must recognise the sacrifices made by Pakistan over the last four decades.
Participants reiterated that Pakistan remains committed to an inclusive political settlement as the way forward representing all Afghan ethnic groups. It was reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue to work with the international community and all Afghan stakeholders to facilitate an inclusive political settlement in the country. Moreover, the meeting stressed that the principle of non-interference in Afghanistan must be adhered to.
The NSC noted positively that major violence had been averted thus far and called on all parties in Afghanistan to respect the rule of law, protect the fundamental human rights of all Afghans, and ensure that Afghan soil is not used by any terrorist organisation or group against any country.
Prime Minister Imran Khan directed that all possible facilities be made available to repatriate Pakistanis, diplomats, journalists and staff of international organisations seeking to leave Afghanistan. The Prime Minister lauded the ongoing efforts of the Pakistan embassy in Kabul and the state machinery in this regard.
The NSC reiterated Pakistan’s stance that the conflict in Afghanistan never had a military solution. The ideal time to end the conflict through negotiations might have been when the US/NATO troops were at maximum military strength in Afghanistan.
Continuation of foreign military presence for a longer duration now would not have yielded a different outcome. Therefore, endorsement by the Biden administration of the previous US administration’s decision of troops withdrawal is indeed a logical conclusion to this conflict, the NSC said.
It is now time for the international community to work together to ensure an inclusive political settlement for long-term peace, security and development of Afghanistan and the region.
