Month: April 2018

Only in Kashmir protestors are being showered pellets, bullets and lathis: Aasiya Andrabi

Editor

Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) chairperson Syeda Aasiya Andrabi on Wednesday sternly condemned, what she said, the use of indiscriminate force against the peacefully protesting students across Valley. “While protests over the brutal Kathua rape and murder are held across the world, it is only in Kashmir that protestors are being showered pellets, bullets and lathis,” Aasiya Andrabi. “It is an irony that we are not allowed to mourn and protest against the brutal rape and murder of our own child. World is protesting but when we come out to protest, bullets and…

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Something wrong with our society: Mehbooba Mufti

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday lamented that something was wrong with a society where men indulge in rape and murder of a child who is a manifestation of the Mother Goddess. Referring to the shocking abduction, gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in January, the Chief Minister said: “How can someone do such a cruel thing to a small girl who is a manifestation of Mata Vaishno Devi? There is something wrong with the society.” Along with President Ram Nath Kovind, Mehbooba…

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Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: Another horror story of rape and intimidation

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For almost three months, a minor girl was drugged, raped and forced to be part of a sex racket. She has alleged that a Jammu cop and PDP MLA were party to the crime. The police is yet to file a chargesheet in the case. It took three months for the nation’s conscience to wake up to the grisly rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua, Jammu. Around the same time as when the Bakerwal girl’s body was recovered in January, another minor girl from Kulgam, Kashmir, came out…

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167% Increase in civilian deaths in Kashmir Valley

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The home ministry’s annual report for 2017-18 also showed a 2.44% decline in the number of security personnel deaths over the previous year. Civilian deaths in Jammu and Kashmir rose by a staggering 167% last year compared to 2015, official data released on Wednesday showed, underpinning the high price paid by the state while battling a surge in insurgency in recent years. The home ministry’s annual report for 2017-18 also showed a 2.44% decline in the number of security personnel deaths over the previous year. The report comes amid growing…

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Pravin Togadia slams Modi Govt over Ram Temple, Kashmir on 2nd day of fast

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Togadia slammed the BJP over its handling of the Ayodhya temple issue and asked what the party would do if the Supreme Court gives its judgement in favour of the mosque. On the second day of his indefinite fast, former VHP leader Pravin Togadia on Wednesday asked the Narendra Modi government to implement the BJP’s promises regarding the Ram Temple, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing his supporters at the fast venue here, he said the BJP government should honour the…

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Scores injured as protest turned violent in south Kashmir seeking justice for Kathua Rape & Murder victim

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At least fifteen persons, including several students, were injured after protests seeking justice for Kathua minor turned violent in Anantnag district of south Kashmir on Wednesday. Clashes triggered a shutdown in the town. The students carrying banners assembled at Khanabal-Pahalgam road and took out a protest march seeking justice for Kathua minor. Soon clashes between forces and students erupted leading to the closure of shops and other business establishments in the town. Police used tear gas and baton charged the protesting students, leading to injuries to fifteen people, mostly students.…

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Kashmiris are not Secessionists or Terrorists: Mohammad Shafi Pandit

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‘The people of the state can be won over by love, and not by swords’ Mohammad Shafi Pandit’s soft-spoken erudition flows through the telephone line from Srinagar. It is only later I learn that militants had tried to assassinate him in September 1995. He was then the additional chief secretary, finance, Jammu and Kashmir, and was visiting his sister’s home in Pampore, 12 km south of Srinagar. Once he entered, within minutes, the house was surrounded by 30 armed militants. One militant came in and demanded three things from the civil servant: A…

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Peace remains elusive in Kashmir as Valley remains on edge

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Kashmir is the biggest internal security challenge that successive state governments and the Centre have had to grapple with. Modi promised to take Vajpayee’s formula of Kashmiriyat, insaniyat and jamhooriyat forward, but peace remains a serious casualty. April 1 this year was not an ordinary Sunday. That day, 17 local Kashmiri men died. Of them, 13 were armed local militants and four were civilians — killed when they rushed to the encounter sites to protest against military action. The bloody Sunday was a reminder of the festering insurgency in Jammu…

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Churn in J&K BJP after Ministers’ exit

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Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Nirmal Singh was assigned two additional portfolios on Tuesday, which fell vacant after the resignation of two BJP Ministers in the wake of the Kathua rape-and-murder case. The decision has fuelled a rebellion within the party as BJP leaders insisted on “immediate reallocation of portfolios”. Party sources said all nine BJP Ministers have offered to resign before the State BJP president Sat Sharma, apparently miffed at the delay in reallocation. “No resignation was accepted and all leaders were asked to resume work,” said…

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How Kashmir’s women view the youth taking to guns

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In times of war, they say, truth becomes the first casualty. To say that women become the second-biggest casualty in a conflict zone like Kashmir will be an understatement. Catch looks at the many ways in which the conflict is impacting the lives of women in the restive Valley since 1989 on a daily basis. More often than not, the narrative of victimhood remains the main contention in restive regions. The sufferings of women cannot be underestimated by any stretch of the imagination. In Kashmir, though, many women have also stood up…

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