The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that eight civilians were subjected to public flogging, receiving between 15 and 30 lashes each, for theft in Nimroz Province, reports Amu TV on May 21.
The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that two civilians were publicly flogged with 30 lashes each and sentenced to one year in prison for theft in Paktika Province, reports Amu TV on May 21.
On May 20, Ezatullah Zawab was released from Taliban captivity and reunited with his family in Kabul, reports Afghanistan International. Zawab had posted a poem on Facebook a few days before his arrest, which the Taliban interpreted as a protest against their policies.
On May 21, a Dhaka court sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader ATM Azharul Islam and 10 others to two years' imprisonment for torching vehicles during a hartal (protest) on November 13, 2010, in the Malibagh area in Dhaka District of Dhaka Division, reports The Daily Star. Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury fined BDT 2000 each and stated that the punishment for the 10 convicts who are currently in hiding will begin from the day they are arrested or surrendered. Earlier, Azharulwas sentenced to death for the offences against humanity, and 10 others were sentenced to six months for unlawful gathering and 18 months for torching vehicles during a hartal.
Security Forces (SFs) arrested 10 Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, including a rewarded Maoist, in the forest of Duled village in Sukma District of Chhattisgarh on May 21, reports ibc24.in. Police officials said that when the SFs were in the forest of Duled village, some suspicious people started running away after seeing the SFs. Later, the SFs laid siege and arrested the 10 suspects. Officials said that among the captured Maoists, there was one 'militia’ (people’s army of the Maoists) ‘commander’ identified as Madvi Buska (38), who has a reward of INR 100,000 on his head. The identities of the remaining nine cadres are yet to be ascertained. Many cases, including murder and attempts to murder, are registered against the arrested Maoists.
On May 21, Manipur Police arrested six cadres of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during a raid in Lamsang Village in Imphal West District of Manipur, reports Northeast Now. The arrested cadres were identified as Nandeibam Opendro Singh alias Rishikanta (49), Yumkhaibam Rakesh Singh alias Puri (32), Ngangom Lakhan Singh alias Nanao (24) Wangkhem Ratan Singh (47), Heisanam Deben Singh (41) and Moibungkhongbam Binu Meitei (49). One 9mm pistol along with one magazine, one .32 pistol along with one magazine and sixteen live ammunitions were recovered from their possession.
On May 21, Manipur Police arrested three active cadres of Kangleipak Communist Party — Taibanganba faction (KCP-T) who were involved in extortion activities, were arrested from Khongjom village in Thoubal District of Manipur, reports Northeast Now. The arrestees were identified as Konjengbam Akash alias Pari Meitei (33), Nongthombam Amujao Singh (25), and Amom Somendro @Kaleipung Meitei (28). Two pistols with two magazines and 19 live rounds were recovered from their possession.
On May 21, a joint operation conducted by Indian Army and Manipur Police led to the recovery of a cache of arms and ammunition in Mongjang Village in Churachandpur District of Manipur, reports Manipur Police on X. The recovery included one 12.5 Assault Rifle with magazine, one single shot bolt action rifle, two 9 mm pistol along with magazine, one magazine of 9 mm Colt Machine Gun (CMG), 15 live ammunitions, one short range mortar & six Anti-Riot shells.
On May 21, two Bangladeshi nationals identified as Nargis Akhter and Mehedi Hassan, both from Khulna district in Bangladesh, were arrested from Agartala Railway Station in West Tripura District of Tripurafor illegal entry into India, reports India TodayNE.
On May 21, National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a suspect, identified as Sohail from Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh in connection with Rameshwaram cafe blast at Bengaluru in Karnataka, reports Hindustan Times. The suspect was arrested with specific information from the probing agency for an alleged link with the terror act. He is a Software Engineer by profession.
On May 21, NIA conducted search operations at 11 locations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to uncover the act of terror conspiracy related to Rameshwaram café blast, reports NIA. The search operations were conducted on the premises of 11 suspects in the case. Out of the 11 suspects, individuals convicted in the 2012 Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) conspiracy case of Bengaluru and Hubli Districts of Karnataka were also included. NIA had already arrested two accused identified as Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Abdul Matheen Taha from Kolkata (West Bengal) for terror activity on April 12.
The Security Forces (SFs) discovered a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) camp and seized different materials belonging to the Maoists, including a country-made gun, 10 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), household items, and INR 400,000 in INR 2,000 denomination notes, from a forest area in Nuapada District of Odisha on May 21, reports odishabytes.com. The Special Operation Group (SOG) received reliable information that a group of 20-30 Maoists were camping in the forest of Shivanarayanpur under Komna Police Station in the district. The SOG personnel launched an operation in the forest to trace the Maoist camp.
Border Security Force (BSF) recovered one pistol of .30 calibre, five pistol magazines, 108 rounds of 9 mm calibre, three rounds of .30 calibre, 3.380 kilograms of heroin, and INR 3,03,000 as drug money in a house in Rajoke village in Tarn Taran District of Punjab on May 21, as stated by BSF on X (formerly known as Twitter). Earlier, related to this recovery a drug smuggler was arrested along with arms and ammunition by State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) in Amritsar District on May 19, 2024.
Border Security Force (BSF) also stated on X that troops recovered one packet of heroin (350 grams) in torn condition in Rajatal village in Amritsar District of Punjab on May 21.
On May 21, National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against Canada-based Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) terrorist, Arshdeep Singh Gill, alias Arsh Dalla, and his three associates, identified as Harjeet Singh alias Harry Maur, Ravinder Singh alias Rajvinder Singh alias Harry Rajpura and Rajeev Kumar alias Sheela, for being part of a conspiracy to unleash terror attacks in various parts of Punjab and Delhi, reports The Indian Express. Earlier, NIA arrested Maur and Rajpura on November 23, 2023, and Rajeev on January 12, 2024.
Kamran Dawar, a social activist, who was also associated with the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and ran a Facebook page Waziristan TV was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Tappi area of Miranshah in North Waziristan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 21, reports The Khorasan Diary.
A local cleric, identified as Maulvi Irfan, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Norar area of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 21, reports The Khorasan Diary. Another person accompanying him was injured. “We are investigating this case as a target killing”, said Police.
Unidentified assailants shot dead a young man, identified as Sarfaraz, in an incident of target killing in Haider Khel area of Mir Ali in North Waziristan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 21, reports The Khorasan Diary. “Our initial investigation shows that he was killed in a targeted attack”, said Police.
A personal security guard of Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) from Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who went missing on May 13, 2024 was found dead in Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 21, reports The Khorasan Diary. “He was kidnapped by militants in the area who suspected him of spying”, said Police.
A truck driver was killed and three others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants opened firing targeting trucks carrying coal to Punjab and set fire to at least six loaded trucks in the Sanjavi area of Pasara Tangi in Duki District of Balochistan on May 21, reports The Khorasan Diary. Though no groups has so far claimed responsibility of the attack, there were earlier instances of involvement of Baloch insurgent groups in such type of attacks.
A local journalist, Nasrullah Gadani, sustained serious injuries in gun attack by unidentified assailants in Mirpur Mathelo (revenue unit) of Ghotki District in Sindh on May 21, reports ARY News. The incident took place when Nasrullah Gadani was going from his home to Mirpur Mathelo Press Club. Armed assailants in a car opened fire at the journalist at Jarwar Road near Deen Shah and fled from the scene.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has feared that the imposition of taxes in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) will cause industrial relocation and unemployment in the region, leading to the resurgence of militancy, Dawn reported on May 21. During a Provincial Assembly (PA) session on the supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 here, Climate Change and Forestry Minister Fazal Hakim Khan warned that if taxes were imposed in the erstwhile FATA and PATA, businesses would relocate back to their original locations, causing economic and social instability in the region. He said people from Karachi (Sindh) and Lahore (Punjab) transported industrial raw materials to the Malakand division and merged Tribal Districts only because it was a tax-free region. The Minister wondered why anyone would do so if there is no price difference. He said unemployment was the only reason for militancy in the region in 2008. Minister complains in PA that centre didn’t clear province’s dues despite repeated requests. “People were unemployed and had nothing to do, so they took up arms. If this happens again, then only the Federal Government will be to blame,” he told the session chaired by Speaker KP Assembly Babar Saleem Swati.
Islamabad High Court's (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on May 21 said that the court has only objection to spy agencies' "unlawful work" and not the operations they perform lawfully, reports Geo News. "No one has any objection to the work of the [spy] agencies, the objection is [only limited] to the unlawful work," Justice Kayani said while hearing a case pertaining to the implementation of the recommendations of the commission on Baloch missing persons. Justice Kayani stressed that the court does not want to prevent judges, lawyers, journalists, parliamentarians and spy agencies from operating as per the law, but only objects to them working unlawfully. The judge's remarks come a day after he, while hearing a case relating to the recovery of missing Kashmiri poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad Shah, was irked by authorities' failure to recover the poet and had questioned whether spy agencies would run the country or the law. "Now the matter has gone beyond the jurisdiction of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI). They are talking about their failure," Justice Kayani had said in response to the Ministry of Defence's remarks saying that Shah wasn't in ISI's custody. The remarks then warranted a strong response from the Federal Government with Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar stressing that the court didn't have the mandate to drag senior military officers and Government officials to the court in the case of a missing person. "This is not the mandate of the court, the court is a platform for providing justice in line with the law and Constitution," Tarar had said during a press conference in Islamabad, as the rift grows between institutions.