Shocking emails obtained by US Right to Know reveals that in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of Chinese scientists lobbied through US Professor of the University of North Carolina Ralph Baric to rename ‘SARS-CoV-2’ given by the Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy (ICTV) to 2019-nCoV.

In the correspondence, the Chinese scientists feared that the virus would become known as ‘Wuhan Coronavirus’ or ‘Wuhan Pneumonia’.

In an email dated 13 February 2020, Professor Shi Zhengli wrote to Ralph Baric. The subject of the email was ‘Virus Name’. The email stated, “We heard that the 2019-nCoV was renamed as SARS-CoV-2. We had a fierce discussion among Chinese virologists. We have some comments on this name, I’m wondering if the CoV study group would consider a revision.”

The document from Prof Shi Zhengli to Prof Ralph Baric states: “A unique and unified name is needed for the novel coronavirus identified from Wuhan. An outbreak of unusual pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China, was first reported in December 2019. By 5 January 2020, Chinese scientists had quickly identified the causative agent a new type of coronavirus (CoV) belonging to the Beta Coronaviruses genus of the Coronavirdae family that also includes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV.”

It continued, “On 12th January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) temporarily named the virus as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). On 30th January, WHO recommended naming the disease as “2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease.”

On 8 February 2020, the China National Health Commission (CNHC) announced naming the disease as “Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia” (NCP). On 11th February 2020, WHO renamed the disease “coronavirus disease 2019” (COVID-19).

On 7 February 2020, the Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy (ICTV) posted a manuscript at bioRxiv and suggested designating the novel coronavirus as “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), based on the phylogenetic analysis of related coronaviruses, the letter said.

Zhengli says, “lt goes without saying that the effects of the epidemic on all aspects of Chinese life are devastating and, possibly, irreversible. Consequently, appropriately naming the virus and disease becomes a matter of importance to the Chinese people, in general, and virologists, in specific, and the issue has been fervently discussed and debated among scientists with the outcome, so far, as noted above. We fully agree that the new virus and SARS-CoV belong to the same virus species by classification, However, the consensus opinion of Chinese virologists is that none of the currently proposed names reflects the uniqueness and characteristics of the novel virus and that more consideration is needed for naming the virus. Based on the following reasons, we propose giving a unique and unified name to the new virus.”

Prof Shi Zhengli, also known as the ‘Batwoman’, continues to impress upon Ralph Baric on behalf of the group of Chinese scientists. She says, “All proposed names are either too generic, or too similar, to previously well-known viruses, or contain an Arabic number. This makes it hard to remember or recognise, leading to a tendency among the general population and scientists alike to use a shorthand term such as “Wuhan Coronavirus” or “Wuhan Pneumonia” This has, in fact. been the case since it was named as 2019-nCoV. This practice would, however, stigmatise and insult the people in Wuhan, who are still suffering from the outbreak.”

The document sent by Prof Zhengli to Ralph Baric, further states, “The new virus is still evolving, and it is still too early to predict the outcome of the current outbreak. However, it is already clear that the infection of the new virus has diverse symptoms, from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia and even death. It has less case-fatality rate and higher transmissibility than SARS-CoV, indicating its clear difference from SARS-CoV. Again, therefore, it is not appropriate to designate the new virus as SARS-CoV-2 before we know more properties of the virus.”

When India decided to pull out around 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Kandahar in Afghanistan on Saturday, in view of the Taliban gaining ground in new areas around the southern Afghan city, India once again found itself at a crossroads in what is believed to be the “graveyard of empires”. What has added to the already complex scenario is the eagerness of China to jump into the Afghan melee once the last of the Americans pack their bags on 11 September 2021.

The presence of the Dragon has made the situation more alarming in Afghanistan. A senior MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) official said that New Delhi has to reorient its Afghan policies. “We just can’t afford to sit back and let the situation slip away to the advantage of the forces inimical to us. Sensing an opportunity in the Afghanistan crisis, China has become super active in the region. Its close ally Pakistan too must be elated with the development.”

There’s a serious churn going on in the MEA on how to bite the Afghan bullet, especially on the issue of the Taliban. There was a time when a section of the Indian establishment wasn’t too averse to talking to the Taliban, but the Kandahar hijacking episode in 2001 changed all that. New Delhi just couldn’t be seen dealing with the Taliban. But now with the Dragon in the Afghan picture, and Taliban knocking on the Kabul doors, the consensus seems to be building up in India about the inevitability of talking to the Taliban. “Just that we should not be seen as too desperate for talks,” advised an official in the know of the situation. “Taliban know very well that India’s nod is necessary for their legitimacy in Afghanistan and have therefore in recent times made several overtures to Delhi through third-party contacts,” he added.

As per media reports, the Taliban have reached out to India at least two dozen times and even tried to come clean on their Pakistan connections. In fact, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen went to the extent of saying that his organisation never took part in the Kashmir jihad!

Sources say that there has also been softening in Delhi’s stand vis-à-vis Taliban. In 2018, India, for instance, sent a “non-official” delegation comprising two retired diplomats to the Moscow peace conference on Afghanistan. Two years later, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar himself participated in the intra-Afghan talks in Doha where he said in no uncertain terms that the peace process must be “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled”. He also emphasised that no part of Afghanistan is “untouched” by India’s “400-plus development projects” in that country.

No doubt, India has been a big part of the Afghanistan development story, with investments worth $3 billion. It may not be the biggest investment, but each project undertaken by India, including the construction of the parliament building, the Salma dam and the Zaranj-Delaram highway project, has won goodwill among the public in that country. As Jaishankar himself had said while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, “In the last 20 years, we have demonstrated, through our actions and projects on the ground, what our real feelings are for Afghanistan… I think, in all the 34 Afghan provinces, we have development projects of some kind.”

It is because of these investments and stakes that India can’t leave Afghanistan. This is also the reason why Indians stationed in Afghanistan find themselves in the line of jihadi fire. No wonder, about a week before the Kandahar evacuation, the Indian embassy in Afghanistan had issued a strongly-worded advisory for Indian nationals, asking them to exercise “strict vigilance and caution” with regard to security at workplace, place of residence and also during movement in the city. The advisory said that the security situation in Afghanistan is “highly volatile, unpredictable and dangerous”.

So, what should India do to deal with the Afghan quagmire? Unlike the US, it just can’t pack its bags and vanish, being in the immediate neighbourhood, and with Pakistan and China trying to turn it into their strategic depth vis-à-vis India. “India needs to follow a very fine diplomatic line,” said a senior MEA official, adding that Delhi must keep on supporting President Ashraf Ghani and yet should not be averse to talking to the Taliban. “The Taliban are a reality. The US has accepted it, and the sooner we accept it, the better placed we would be in dealing with the Afghan challenge. But this doesn’t mean we should give up on President Ghani. In fact, India’s active diplomatic role may hold the key to democratic forces retaining some of their hold in the Afghan administration,” he said.

Now that’s where the crux of India’s new Afghan policy lies. Delhi may not have a military presence in Kabul, but it has a strong hold over the hearts and minds of people there. India’s active role in rebuilding Afghanistan has given people there a semblance of normalcy amid violence and killings. This explains why the Taliban have been reaching out to India. This also explains why India is being invited to diplomatic high tables while discussing the fate of Afghanistan.

This doesn’t mean that the Taliban have cut their ties with Al Qaeda or even the mother of all terrorism—Pakistan. If anything the links have become deeper and would turn even more menacing, especially in the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan which many in the Islamist world would see as an affirmation of jihadi victory. The real problem, however, is on the eastern side of the Durand Line in Pakistan, which just refuses to give up on its terror aspirations. With Taliban in power, Pakistan would achieve, in Steve Coll’s words in Ghost Wars, General Zia-ul-Haq’s dream: “A loyal, Pashtun-led Islamist government in Kabul.”

India’s—and for that matter world’s—problem resides in Pakistan, which called for “guns rather than butter” weeks after its independence. Where every general, liberal or otherwise, “believed in the jihadists, not from personal Islamic conviction, in most cases, but because the jihadists had proved themselves over many years as the one force able to frighten, flummox, and bog down the Hindu-dominated Indian Army”, as Coll writes again. In Pakistan, jihad is not a calling for the otherwise liberal generals, but a professional imperative. “It was something he (general) did at the office. At quitting time he packed up his briefcase. Straightened the braid on his uniform and went home to his normal life.”

The Americans would have saved themselves from this embarrassment of leaving Afghanistan like a loser had their President listened to former CIA operative Bruce Riedel, who had told President Barack Obama right at the beginning of his first term to shift focus from Afghanistan to Pakistan, for the latter has a “convoluted relationship with terrorists in which it was the patron, the victim and the safe haven—all at the same time”, as former Ambassador Rajeev Dogra recalls in his book, Where Borders Bleed.

The Americans failed to act, despite knowing the real force behind the Taliban surge in Afghanistan. Maybe they fell under the trap of Pakistan being a nuclear weapons state, an argument which the Pakistanis would use generously vis-à-vis India till Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the bluff after the Balakot air strikes in 2019!

Be that as it may, India will have to play the Great Game, with or without the US. For, its stakes have risen further with the Dragon all set to play the Afghan tango with Pakistani generals and Taliban leaders. With Taliban at Kandahar gates and China checking in on Kabul, it’s time India reoriented its Afghanistan policy.

After the arrest of two suspected Al Qaeda terrorists in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, new revelations are emerging about the terrorist module in the state. Maps of many major places have been captured from the terrorists by the UP ATS. ATS sources told The Daily Guardian that the target of Al Qaeda terrorists was the grand Ram temple being built in Ayodhya. 

Apart from this, the religious places of Mathura and Kashi were also on target of these terrorists. Sources have said that maps of religious places of Mathura, Kashi and Ayodhya have been recovered from the Al Qaeda terrorists caught in Lucknow. According to ATS sources, the maps of recce around Ram temple of Ayodhya have been found from the terrorists. The maps of religious places of Kashi and Mathura have also been received by the ATS from the terrorists. 

The maps are marked with different points. UP ATS has also recovered the details of an area of Gorakhpur from the terrorists. Along with this, the details of public and religious places of many big cities of the state have also been received from both the arrested terrorists. After busting the Al Qaeda module, the ATS has detained more than a dozen suspects in the last 24 hours, whose interrogation is currently underway. 

Significantly, in the capital Lucknow, the UP ATS has foiled a major terrorist conspiracy by exposing the Al Qaeda module. On the previous day, UP ATS arrested two terrorists Minhaj Ahmed and Naseeruddin in Lucknow. 

ADG (Law and Order), Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Kumar told reporters on Sunday, “UP ATS has uncovered a big terror module. The team has arrested two terrorists linked with Al Qaeda›s Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.”

The suspects were plotting terror attacks across Uttar Pradesh ahead of 15 August (Independence Day), said ADG Kumar. He added that agencies have reason to believe that the suspects were planning to carry out attacks, including «human bomb» attacks in crowded places.

The manner in which the Government of India has been engaged in strengthening the political process in Jammu and Kashmir, it has made the Pakistani Army and ISI furious and they have hatched a new conspiracy, as per an intelligence agency report sent to the Union Home Ministry. In the report, it has been said that the Pakistan Army is giving fresh training to terrorists to spread unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. It has been said in this report that terrorists will target the Jammu region more.

To implement this terror plan, the Pakistani Army has recently conducted an exercise with new terrorist recruits in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The exercise is named Taskheer-e-Jabal, meaning “capture a hill”. War and weapon training have been given. At least 100 terrorists have been involved in this.

The intelligence agency report states that on the instructions of ISI, terrorists are trying to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir from Poonch, Samba, and Rajouri sectors.

The terrorists have been specially trained by the Pakistani Army to infiltrate into the Jammu division. They have been taught to use state-of-the-art navigation equipment, including GPS. Special clothing and equipment have been provided to enforce the cordon. These clothes are insulated, so that there is no effect of electric current. There are about 100 terrorists on the launching pad located in PoK.

At present, about a dozen terrorist pads are fully active across the international border at Hiranagar, Saba in Kathua and Akhnoor in Jammu. Across the Line of Control, senior ISI officers and terrorist leaders are constantly being seen at the launching pads at Lunia Dhok, Degwar Tarewa, Chirikot Naban, Thandi Kassi, PP Nala, Samani and Dadal.

The ISI is disappointed with the way terrorists are being eliminated, and has hence hatched a conspiracy to prove at the international level that Jammu and Kashmir is violence-prone. That is why it is fuelling violent activities in the Jammu division as well. According to intelligence sources, terrorist commanders operating in Kashmir have also received instructions from Pakistan to expand their cadre and OGW network in Jammu division and increase their activities. According to intelligence agencies, out of about 210 active terrorists in the Valley, about 90-100 are foreigners.

Most are active in North Kashmir. They have adopted the tactics of throwing grenades, snatching weapons and attacking patrol parties and naka parties and running away. In a conversation with The Daily Guardian, a top official of the Union Home Ministry said that keeping in mind the changed strategy, Indian security agencies are fully alert and ready to deal with any situation.

Former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar may soon receive senior organisational positions in the BJP.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is soon likely to announce new positions for the senior former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, sources said. These leaders may get national general secretary or vice president position in the party, sources told ANI.

Also, major responsibilities will be given to them for the upcoming Assembly poll pound states. BJP president J.P. Nadda will soon make an announcement regarding the same, sources added. Nadda on Sunday called for a meeting of national secretaries at BJP headquarters in the national capital at 3 pm. According to sources, the upcoming Assembly polls strategy is expected to be part of the agenda of the meeting.

As many as 43 leaders took oath on Wednesday in the first Union Cabinet reshuffle and expansion after Prime Minister Modi returned to power for a second term in May 2019.

The swearing-in ceremony came days ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament. Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar were among the 12 Union Ministers who had resigned from their posts of Council of Ministers ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion on 7 July. ANI

Delhi Jal Board has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Haryana government seeking due supply of the national capital’s “legitimate share” as already determined by the apex court in 1995.  

He alleged that Haryana has been withholding 120 million gallons of water a day (MGD) meant for Delhi and that the raw water being discharged into the Yamuna by the neighbouring state is at an “all-time low”.

Delhi Jal Board vice chairman Raghav Chadha took to Twitter on Sunday to announce the board’s decision that DJB filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Haryana government for withholding Delhi’s share of water.

Chadha said that DJB has now filed the petition in SC seeking discharge of Delhi’s legitimate share of water by Haryana which was decided by SC itself in 1995-96. “Tough times in Delhi because Haryana has withheld Delhi’s water in an outright contempt of SC’s existing order,” he said.

Chadha also said that water levels in the Yamuna river were at an “all-time low”, as Haryana was not releasing Delhi’s “legitimate share” as per a 1995 ruling of the Supreme Court. 

“Raw water discharge through Yamuna by Haryana is at an all-time low. Even 1Ft decline can cause havoc in the city but currently the pond level has fallen from 674.5 Ft to 667 Ft. Delhi’s legitimate share is withheld by the Haryana government,” he added. 

On Saturday, Chadha had said that the Haryana government was solely responsible for the water crisis in Delhi as it had been supplying 120 MGD less water against the legally prescribed amount.