--- Consider reading the article PDP leader Naeem Akhtar praises Taliban for ‘allowing women protests’, targets Indian govt over restrictions after Geelani’s death on OpIndia website ---

There is no end to Islamist politicians in India praising the Taliban after the group captured Afghanistan. The latest to do so is PDP leader Naeem Akhtar, who praised the Taliban for being ‘more tolerant’ to protests in comparison to the Indian government. In a recent tweet, Akhtar criticized the Indian government quoting visuals of the Women protest in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is the same protest where the protesters accused the Taliban of using tear gas shells against them.

Naeem Akhtar said, “Terrorist Sarkaar (government) looks more tolerant to protest than some celebrated democratic spaces. Even the apprehension of a funeral procession can imprison an entire region.” It is clear from the tweet that Naeem Akhtar finds the Taliban more tolerant than the Indian government because the Indian govt had imposed restrictions to prevent any violence following the death of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

The women protest in Kabul Afghanistan turned violent, after the Taliban stopped the protesters from entering the presidential place in the city. It is also alleged that the Taliban used tear gas shells against the protesters. The protesters had taken to the streets to demand women’s rights in Afghanistan before being attacked by the Afghanistan forces. Women with less or no rights after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan have been protesting against the Taliban for equal rights and opportunity for full political participation while the Jihadist regime looks set to implement the fundamentalist interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law in the country.

And with the tweet, Naeem Akhtar joins the list of Taliban sympathizers who openly defend Taliban operations. Earlier Jharkhand Congress MLA Irfan Ansari made similar comments when he criticized the US government and supported the Taliban. He had said, “They (Taliban) should be lauded as they chased the Americans away from Afghanistan. We all know the kind of excesses the American forces committed in Afghanistan.”

Naeem Akhtar, an aide to PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, was under house arrest after his release from 5-month preventive detention at the MLA Hostel in Srinagar. First detained in August 2019 and then booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), he was released on June 10 after 10 months of detention and then again taken into custody in December 2020.