Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma assures of 'keeping a watch' on Taliban sympathizers

After Assam Police arrested 14 people for supporting the Taliban, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that many more pro-Taliban people are on their watch list. While stating that Assam is a sensitive state, the CM said that the state government had earlier appealed to all to refrain from posting sensitive things on social media. "We didn't arrest all, some were counselled and sent back, but we are keeping a watch," Himanta Biswa Sarma added. 

Assam: Pro-Taliban sympathizers arrested for posting 'inflammatory posts' on social media

On August 21, the Assam Police had arrested 14 people across the state for supporting the Taliban's insurgence in Afghanistan. The accused were allegedly arrested for uploading social media posts that revolved around the Taliban and its takeover of Afghanistan. The Assam Police took notice of this and assured people that they would further monitor such activities and would take necessary action against such miscreants.

The accused were booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This included the Unlawful (prevention) Act, the IT Act and The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Assam Police while making the arrests said, "We were on alert and monitoring social media for inflammatory posts."

Facebook bans Taliban-related content

Earlier, Facebook confirmed that it will continue to ban Taliban content from its platforms as it considers the group to be a terrorist organisation. The company has a dedicated team of Afghan experts to monitor and remove content linked to the group A Facebook spokesperson told BBC, "The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under US law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organisation policies. This means we remove accounts maintained by or on behalf of the Taliban and prohibit praise, support, and representation of them." Facebook has informed, "We also have a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts, who are native Dari and Pashto speakers and have knowledge of local context, helping to identify and alert us to emerging issues on the platform."

Afghanistan Crisis: Taliban takeover

As US troops retreated after 20 years from war-ravaged Afghanistan, the Taliban launched an offensive taking over cities like Kandahar, Herat, and Lashkar Gah, gradually encircling the government in Kabul. Kandahar and Herat fell on Thursday, August 12, forcing government officials and their entourage to flee to the airport to escape the city by air, Mazar-e-Sharif fell on Friday, August 13, while Jalalabad and Lashkar Gah on Saturday, August 14, thereby strengthening the Taliban's stronghold. The long-standing war in Afghanistan reached a watershed moment on Sunday, August 15, when the Taliban insurgents closed in on Afghanistan's capital Kabul, entered the city and took over the Presidential palace, soon after which former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

With inputs from ANI

(Image: PTI, AP)