Islamic apologist and columnist CJ Werleman, on Wednesday, November 24, tweeted: “Turns out the Taliban is far more progressive and democratic than Indian and Israeli governments.”
As an informed Hindu Indian, I am aware that there are numerous anti-Hindu elements outside my country who would go to any extent to vilify Hindus and slander my government; I have never given much weight to their propaganda-driven, misleading rants. Werleman is, as has been abundantly established before he tweeted this, just another hopeless apologist of Islam!
I had a hearty laugh when I read his tweet. Thinking the Taliban is progressive and democratic by any standard exposes Werleman’s mental derangement.
The reigning Indian government retained power by winning over 300 seats at the parliament in the 2019 general elections. Out of the 912 million eligible voters, over 67 percent turned out to cast their votes. This was not only the highest participation of voters ever, but also the highest-ever rate of participation by women voters. I have scoured the Internet and couldn’t find a word about any elections held in Afghanistan after the Taliban assumed power three months ago. Maybe Werlemen or his ardent followers could help me with those details.
I would also be interested in knowing how many women participated in electing the progressive Taliban, because as far as I know, women were tossing off their babies to the US soldiers to take them to a better life.
The Taliban is so progressive that female journalists from the West had to wrap themselves up in meters of black fabric as soon as the jihad group took control of Afghanistan, while Muslim journalists in India stroll around in short skirts and body-hugging blouses. When they get a spare minute from putting together an article reeking of Hindu hate, they use their photoshop skills to enhance their attributes. Nothing against them… I mean, what woman doesn’t want to look her best in pictures? Too bad the progressive Taliban got all the pictures of women whitewashed from their streets and windows of showrooms.
The Indian government has eleven women ministers in the Modi cabinet, the highest number in seventeen years. I don’t know how many women are in the progressive Taliban’s parliament. I searched online but found nothing about this. I did, however, stumble upon a video in which a woman journalist – covered in black – asked the Taliban if women will be allowed to vote in their regime. In response, the “progressive and democratic” Taliban fighters chuckled at the absurdity of the question.
After seizing – not being elected to – power in Afghanistan, the Taliban started shooting women for not covering up properly and taking unmarried and widowed girls in the 15-45 age group as sex slaves. They barred women from coming to Taliban’s offices and work in the group’s ministries, as the Sharia, under which they operate, does not allow women and men to work together. The Taliban spokesperson declared that “women are only for giving birth.” However, the miserable advocates of Islamic fanaticism may brazenly defend all these atrocities as the core elements of a progressive society in their blind, unreasoned, apparent, and evident hate for the Hindus.
Werlemen finds the Islamic jihad organization “democratic and progressive” because some top Taliban official “calls” Sunnis and Shias equal and “assures” rights of Hindus and Sikhs. There has been a proven surge in crime against the Shias since August in Afghanistan. The Islamic State had issued a statement saying it would target the Shias “in every way, from slaughtering their necks to scattering their limbs… and the news of [ISIS’s] attacks…in the temples of the [Shia] and their gatherings is not hidden from anyone, from Baghdad to Khorasan.” There have been suicide bombings at Shia mosques. The Taliban hasn’t stopped the Islamic State so far.
There has not been any population census in Afghanistan since 1979. As per the best estimates, there are about 1000 Hindus and 3000 Sikhs remaining in the country. The number of people from religious minorities in a small Indian town greatly surpasses that number.
After the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, hundreds of Sikhs and Hindus took refuge in Gurdwara Karte Parwan. Despite assuring their safety, Taliban jihadis stormed into the Gurdwara on October 5, ransacked it, and took people in custody. Another massive blast on the Gurdwara road was reported on November 26. Werleman fawns over the Taliban’s empty assurances of “right to the Hindus and Sikhs” while concealing how 240 Sikhs and Hindus were proscribed from entering the Kabul airport to embark on the last evacuation flight.
Though it’s been seven years since the much-hated Narendra Modi entered the prime minister’s office, not one Muslim or Sikh has tried to escape India. On the contrary, Muslims desperately protested the Citizenship Amendment Act so they could enter a “regressive and undemocratic” India and gain Indian citizenship. They can abuse Modi to their heart’s content, but not one of them jumped onto the wheels of an aircraft to escape India and ended dying in the process.
