Month: July 2019

Tourists, Passengers, Truckers facing brunt due to highway restrictions

Editor

The restrictions on the Jammu-Srinagar highway is causing a lot of trouble to tourists and passengers alike besides hampering the movement of trucks laden with essential goods to a large extent. Tourist coming from various parts of India have complained that it takes hours to get permission while as the truckers remain stranded for days at many places with loaded ration and other essential commodities for Kashmir or Chenab Valley. Even as traffic department has been trying to clear the stranded trucks for smooth movement of traffic, passengers and tourists…

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How a Hindu pilgrimage became militarised in disputed Kashmir

Editor

The Indian government has come under criticism for taking advantage of a spiritual journey to meet political ends. From a distance, several Indian soldiers blow whistles and wave their right hands frantically while holding AK-47 assault rifles chained to their bodies on the left. This is an order for all vehicles to pull over and stop on the main highway that links India-administered Kashmir to the rest of the world. The ritual is familiar to the regular commuters, many of whom grow restive and start cursing the Indian state that…

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Kathua Victim’s father moves Punjab HC, seeks death penalty for convicts

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Just over a month after a Pathankot court convicted six of the seven accused in the Kathua rape-murder case, the victim’s father on Wednesday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the solitary acquittal and seeking death penalty for the convicts after describing it as “rarest of the rare case”. In the appeal filed through counsel Rajvinder Singh Bains and Utsav Bains, the victim’s father submitted that the trial court sentenced Sanjhi Ram, Deepak Khajuria and Parvesh Kumar to life imprisonment for “cold-blooded, planned brutal murder, without any provocation…

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Ice Stupas store hope for locals in Ladakh’s cold desert

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Ice stupas — the man-made mini glaciers — are solving the water problem in the remote and cold desert region of Ladakh where less precipitation during the crucial spring has resulted in lack of vegetation. Sonam Wangchuk, an award-winning innovator and scientist who conceptualised the ice stupa, said the mini glaciers were being increasingly adopted in Leh district of the region where people face an acute shortage of water during spring months. Wangchuk said the ice stupas were now being replicated by the locals themselves. The idea behind the ice…

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Civilian flights from Awantipora airfield got Defence Ministry node

Editor

In a significant development, the Union Defence Ministry has approved operation of civilian flights from Awantipora airfield, a strategically important airbase managed by Indian Air Force in southern Kashmir. “‘In-principle approval for civil flights operations from Awantipora airfield under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) has been conveyed to Ministry of Civil Aviation in June, 2019,” reads the written reply of Union Minister of State Defence Shripad Naik’s to a question by Member of Parliament from Anantnag constituency Hasnain Masoodi about the steps being taken by the Ministry to transfer Awantipora Airport…

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Al Qaeda chief, Ayman Al-Zawahiri threatens India over Kashmir

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Terror group Al Qaeda’s Chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has told “Mujahideen in Kashmir” to inflict “unrelenting blows” on the Indian Army and government in Jammu and Kashmir in a message released by the outfit’s media wing, as per the Foundation for Defence of Democracies’ (FDD) Long War Journal. He also brought to light Pakistan’s involvement in fuelling cross-border terrorism in Kashmir in the message titled “Don’t Forget Kashmir,” released by As Shabab. Thomas Joscelyn, in his article for the journal, wrote that Al Qaeda has been grooming an upstart group to…

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Tougher days ahead if military onslaught is not stopped: Syed Ali Geelani

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Commenting on the second report about human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir by forces, issued by United Nations Human Rights Commission, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani Tuesday said that although ‘Indian atrocities and barbarism’ has crossed all the limits and is continuing unabated for the last 71 years. “It is for the second time that UN has realized the gravity and severity of this grave and grim situation and recommended for the commission, to probe human rights violations,” Geelani said in a statement issued to Kashmir Post.…

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Pellets to Sound Cannon: BJP’s ‘Non-Violent’ methods to handle Kashmir Conflict

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Calling protesters “human obstacles”, media reports suggest that the government forces in Kashmir will switch to a sonic weapon – sound cannon or Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) – from shotguns used to shoot pellets at the protesters. On June 24, 2019, news about the use of the sound cannons appeared in a newspaper. The report said that Ministry of Home Affairs headed by Bhartiya Janata Party’s former president Amit Shah has approved the use of the sonic weapon in Kashmir to shoo the protesters away. Experts say that LRAD…

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California to Kashmir: How ready we are for 6.4 eventuality?

Editor

The San Andreas Fault, a major dextral strike-slip fault system in United States, is probably one of the most well-known structures to mankind. Yet, the moment magnitude (Mw) 7.1 and 6.4 earthquakes that have occurred in July-2019 have caused significant damage, which is worth billions (it may go up). These earthquakes have struck portions of California and have ruptured strike slip faults (where movement is along the strike of the fault; think of rubbing your right hand on your left hand). Both these earthquakes are smaller in size compared to…

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India could lose Kashmir in next 10 years, warns former interlocutor Radha Kumar

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A former interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir Monday warned that India could lose Kashmir in the next decade if serious efforts were not made to resolve the lingering dispute. Radha Kumar said that the situation in Kashmir has progressively deteriorated. “It hasn’t been as bad as this in a long time,” she said at the opening session – ‘Kashmir Today: Towards an Indian Future?’ during the second day of Times LitFest on Sunday. “The government doesn’t seem to be working, and little of the common minimum program has been implemented.”…

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