No knowledge of any meeting with Indian officials in Doha: Taliban
others, according to the BJP.
The BJP also claims that 12 of its karyakartas were “murdered” in Coochbehar and Barrackpore. These two organisational districts recorded the highest number of murder incidents over the last two months. Both these two places, which are also Lok Sabha constituencies, have BJP MPS. While Nishith Paramanik is the MP from Coochbehar, Arjun Singh is MP from Barrackpore.
The other organisational districts that the party claims have witnessed more than one “political murder” following the election results in Bengal include Kolkata South (5), Malda, Diamond Harbour, Bankura, Ghatal (2 each), Burdwan (4) and Birbhum (3).
The list of post-poll incidents of violence prepared by the party also documents around 4,000 incidents of party workers being beaten up, attacked, threatened and families receiving death threats in different parts of the state.
The BJP claims that these incidents have all been perpetrated by “state sheltered” TMC “goons” for not supporting their party in the recently concluded West Bengal elections. The document also lists about 7,000 incidents of violence where its karyakartas’ properties were damaged, vandalised, burnt down, or destroyed. Some of the incidents which involved property destruction include burning down of houses, shops, loot and arson, destruction of cultivated land by farmers, pouring of poison in fish-ponds, among many others.
The party claims that they are still documenting reports of violence, though scattered, from the interiors of the state, where their ground workers are still living in constant fear of life and safety of their families.
Q: How much of Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban as of today?
A: As of now, more than 80% of the territory of Afghanistan is under our administration.
Q: When can the world expect violence to end in Afghanistan? A: As soon as we reach a political solution to the issue, the violence will immediately cease and we will have a new dispensation acceptable to the majority of Afghans. Q: India is also deeply involved in the Afghanistan peace process. Has the Taliban team met Indian officials in Doha?
A: I have come across this news report on social media, but I don’t have knowledge about the meeting.
Q: Mutlaq bin Majed al-qahtani, the Special Envoy of Qatar’s foreign minister for counterterrorism and conflict resolution has stated that Indian officials had visited Doha to speak to the Taliban.
A: Please ask him, I myself have no knowledge of that. Q: Does the Taliban believe that it will be able to make decisions independent of what Pakistan desires once the Taliban leadership assumes power in Kabul? A: Our leadership takes decisions independently, taking into account our national and Islamic values and interests. It is mere propaganda that we are not taking our decisions independently. We totally reject this allegation.
Q: One of the main concerns among international observers is that the status of women will deteriorate once the Taliban takes over. How would you respond to this concern?
A: We acknowledge basic rights of women, which is access to education and work. We believe they will be more secure and happy in a new Islamic government than they are today. We are victims of our opponents’ propaganda. They have made us larger than life figures in a negative manner. What they say and claim is not true.
Q: Is the Taliban leadership ready to transform itself from a “terror” group to an entity that will run a country and send representatives to international forums?
A: We were never a terrorist group. We are an Islamic national liberation force, struggling against foreign occupation. If what you say is true, then all your leaders who struggled against Britain were terrorists. Please don’t see us from your angle of bias, hostility and political expediency.