As the United States commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks and pay respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day, they are also celebrating the end of the nearly two-decade-long US war in Afghanistan.

During the most audacious terrorist attack on American soil, Al-Qaeda killed approximately 3,000 people when hijackers who flew into the iconic twin towers of World Trade Center and Pentagon. Soon, the then-president George W Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, where the Taliban had sheltered Al-Qaeda’s leadership and provided them safe haven, treating the Taliban as essentially indistinguishable from Al-Qaeda.

Differentiating Taliban from Al-Qaeda

Though Taliban and Al-Qaeda are two sides of the same terrorist coin, it is quite amusing to see United States and United Nations putting together their intellectual prowess to make a rather fine distinction between the two and help Taliban form a legitimate government in Afghanistan.

In July 2011, the UN Security Council modified the sanctions regime to distinguish al-Qaeda from the militants of the Taliban, who were sanctioned only as threats to the peace and security of Afghanistan rather than as international terrorists. The initial steps the Taliban proposed before entering into political negotiations with USA involved their recognition as a political movement rather than a terrorist organization.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs & Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, tweeted, “I met with the leadership of the Taliban to reaffirm United Nation’s commitment to deliver impartial humanitarian assistance and protection to millions in need in Afghanistan.”

Government Formation in Afghanistan

Taliban has now announced a temporary cabinet, with at least 17 of the 33 members falling on the UN designated terror list. This will put the American president and his senior colleagues in the most ignominious position of having to rub diplomatic shoulders with their counterparts in the Afghan government, consisting of terrorist leaders from Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Haqqani network. Already, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had to plead with the Taliban to allow at least four chartered evacuation flights of Americans and Afghans with dual citizenship to fly out of Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s ISI and Pakistani military had created Taliban in 1994 and have been giving them financial, logistical and military support since then. Now they want the Taliban to establish a regime in Afghanistan which would be favorable to Pakistan, as they are trying to gain strategic depth.

The western media has been downplaying the villainous role of Pakistan in the government formation by including its terrorist leaders of Haqqani and Al-Qaeda networks. South Asian expert Christine Fair hit out at the BBC in an exclusive conversation with WION’s Palki Sharma, by accusing the BBC of gobbling up Pakistani propaganda and shutting down critics of Islamabad.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which epitomizes the vision and aspirations of millions of citizens who made the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of sovereignty, democracy, freedom, and independence of their country, condemned the announcement of government formation by the Taliban. According to them, this decision goes against the will of the absolute majority of the people of Afghanistan and undermines the national interests of Afghanistan, including security, stability, unity, and prosperity of the country and its people.

Dismantling Global Hindutva

Is it a remarkable coincidence that during this 9/11 commemorative week another worldwide event that also causes hatred, anger, hostility, and revulsion is being hosted on American soil? A 3-day online conference entitled ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’, cosponsored by Departments/Centers from 45+ Universities including Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley is taking place from 10-12 September.

This is a more treacherous and insidious activity than terrorism because an international group of Indians and foreigners are coming together to spew venom and hatred against Hindu Dharma (Hinduism) as a religion and Bharat (India) as a country. This group of mercenaries essentially consists of paid activists and media personnel from Bharat and abroad. They have been doing this work for many years by brainwashing and indoctrinating bright students from universities and academia of good standing.

Now this group is trying to make a fine distinction between Hindu Dharma and this nebulous concept called ‘Hindutva’ by saying that the former is inclusive, whereas the latter is selective. Consequently, this conference is aimed at sabotaging the efforts of the Bharatiya Government and its majority 80% Hindus to build a more inclusive Bharat and a peaceful world by bringing together people of all religious denominations under a common patronage.

Bharat’s ancient culture has nurtured Hindu Dharma as an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious and spiritual phenomena originating and based on certain Sanatana (eternal) principles. It has encouraged the growth and development of a plethora of religious belief systems and Gods of diverse types. As a result, at around 500 BCE, several new belief systems formally evolved from Hindu Dharma, most significantly Buddhism and Jainism.

Waging War Against Bharat

A nexus is trying to alter the political realities the world over. There are the regular media houses such as Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, BBC etc which profit by regularly publishing false, biased, and misleading news and reports about Hindu Dharma and Bharat – its Prime Minister, its democratic government, its ruling political party BJP, its economy, and its business.

Then there are human rights organizations like Amnesty International which have a visceral hatred against Bharat, Hindu Dharma, and Modi. These organizations, in the guise of upholding lofty principles like human rights improvements, justice reforms, furtherance of democracy, bettering education programs, etc carry out subversive work in the villages and urban centers by supporting and financing fringe groups, urban guerrillas, and opposition political parties to overthrow democratically elected government. To top them all is George Soros, a billionaire of malicious intentions, out to manipulate the global order through his Open Society Foundation.

Bharat and Hindu Dharma have long been under the assault of the western media for several centuries. This conference planned by anonymous organizers in the US and Bharat, is a politically-motivated and agenda-driven event designed to malign an ancient religion and its followers. Bharat is today an emerging power under the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Bharat’s dharmic traditions including the Vedas, Ayurveda, Yoga, and Sanskrit are gaining global recognition and posing a new challenge to anti-Hindu forces.

Conclusion

All religions, and especially Hindu Dharma that evolved in ancient Bharat more than 5,000 years back as a way of life for its people, should help in the character building of a person and for instilling values like love, empathy, respect, and harmony.

By distorting religious principles, pronouncements, and practices and using them for violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims, should be a punishable offense. Acts of terrorism, whether blatantly and physically committed by fanatics, or stealthily and insidiously perpetrated by certain anti-Hindu forces, should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Such subversive and urban guerrilla acts should not and cannot be associated with any religion.

By – N T Unnikrishnan

(The author was a Scientist working on Bharat’s space program. He has led efforts on establishing and implementing the latest mapping, GIS, and Information technologies in a variety of Government departments and private establishments in Bharat and abroad.)

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