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India and Russia will talk face to face on Taliban issue: Invitation accepted
India has accepted a Russian invitation to join the Afghanistan talks in Moscow on October 20.
The Taliban, who captured power two months ago, have also been invited to the talks and this will bring them face-to-face with India, which evacuated its diplomatic staff from the country after the regime change there.
Confirming the Indian participation, Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said Thursday: “We have received an invitation for the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan on October 20. We will be participating in it.”
It is likely that the MEA will send a Joint Secretary-level officer to the meeting – a final decision is yet to be made.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Moscow had invited representatives of the Taliban to international talks on Afghanistan on October 20.
The talks follow a G20 summit on Afghanistan — it was held on October 12 — to help the country avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the wake of the power shift there.
India’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, had met Taliban representatives in Doha towards the end of August, and the meeting in Moscow will be the second for the Indians.
Explained
A seat at the table
The US exit from Afghanistan has had Russia, China and Pakistan seeking larger roles there, even as India calibrates its position. The Russians had indicated earlier that India could play a role “post-conflict” — a term they reserved for the US departure.
After Kabul’s fall in August, India raised questions on the lack of inclusivity in the new Taliban regime, rights of minorities, women and children, and also voiced concern on terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
In March this year, Moscow hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in which Russia, United States, China and Pakistan released a joint statement, calling on the then-warring Afghan sides to reach a peace deal.
The statement also asked the Taliban not to launch offensives in spring and summer. But as the US and its allies began withdrawing their troops after 20 years on the ground, the Taliban seized power in a lightning advance that led to the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.
Russia is concerned about the impact in the wider region. Moscow has moved to engage the Taliban, but has stopped short of granting recognition to the group which is banned as a “terrorist” organisation in Russia.
Unlike Western countries that rushed to evacuate diplomats following the fall of Kabul on August 15, Russia has kept its embassy there open.
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What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story
The court, generally, considers a person who commit a crime and the one who destroys the evidence, as criminals in the eyes of law. But what if an animal destroys the evidence of a crime committed by a human.
In a peculiar incident in Rajasthan, a monkey fled away with the evidence collected by the police in a murder case. The stolen evidence included the murder weapon (a blood-stained knife).
The incident came to light when the police appeared before the court and they had to provide the evidence in the hearing.
The hearing was about the crime which took place in September 2016, in which a person named Shashikant Sharma died at a primary health center under Chandwaji police station. After the body was found, the deceased’s relatives blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway, demanding an inquiry into the matter.
Following the investigation, the police had arrested Rahul Kandera and Mohanlal Kandera, residents of Chandwaji in relation to the murder. But, when the time came to produce the evidence related to the case, it was found that the police had no evidence with them because a monkey had stolen it from them.
In the court, the police said that the knife, which was the primary evidence, was also taken by the monkey. The cops informed that the evidence of the case was kept in a bag, which was being taken to the court.
The evidence bag contained the knife and 15 other important evidences. However, due to the lack of space in the malkhana, a bag full of evidence was kept under a tree, which led to the incident.