The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has booked Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rehman Burq on charges of sedition, promoting enmity and hurting religious sentiments for his open support to the Taliban.
Uttar Pradesh becomes 1st state in India to book MP for allegedly espousing dreaded Taliban’s rise@myogiadityanath govt filed a criminal case against Samajwadi Party MP ShafiqurRahman for
— Rohan Dua (@rohanduaT02) August 18, 2021
1.Promoting enmity
2.Outraging religious feelings
“उनकाबयान भारत के शत्रुओं का समर्थन हें pic.twitter.com/S0VvYODuxm
The Sambhal MP was booked after he issued a statement on August 16 hailing the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and likening their offensive with India’s freedom struggle.
The police filed an FIR against the Samajwadi leader after a written complaint in this regard was lodged by BJP leaders Rajesh Singhal, Zonal Vice president and Omveer Khadagwanshi, BJP district president.
Barq has been booked under sections 124a (Sedition), 153a (Promoting enmity between groups) and 295a (outraging religious feelings).
Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq hails Taliban, compares them to India’s freedom fighters
On Tuesday, August 17, the SP MP, who remains in news due to his controversial statements, tried to legitimise the radical Islamist outfit as he opined that the Talibanis have only recaptured the land that originally belonged to them.
Drawing an equivalence between the radical Islamist outfit and India’s freedom fighters, the Samajwadi Party leader said that as our countrymen fought for freedom from the British, the Taliban also wants to free their country and run it. “When India was under British rule, our country fought for freedom. Now Taliban wants to free their country & run it”, the SP leader was quoted by ANI as saying.
Further heaping praises for the Jihadist outfit, Shafiqur Rahman Barq added, “Taliban is a force that did not allow even strong countries like Russia and America to settle in their country”.
Taliban takes over Afghanistan
After a month-long offensive against the Afghan army, the Islamist outfit Taliban finally reached the gates of Kabul on Sunday (August 15). They entered Afghanistan’s presidential palace hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Since then surreal scenes have emerged as people try to flee the country to save their lives. Visuals of Afghan people falling from the sky as they tried to escape while hanging on to the wheels of the airplanes have gone viral on social media.
Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan took a dramatic turn on Tuesday evening when Vice President of Afghanistan under the Ashraf Ghani government, Amrullah Saleh, staked claim to the presidency of the country as the legitimate caretaker president. He said that as per the constitution of Afghanistan, in the event of the escape, absence, resignation or death of the president, the Vice President becomes the caretaker president.
