Year: 2019

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

Editor

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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Probe human rights violations in Kashmir: UN Report

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The United Nations has accused India again of human rights violations in Kashmir and has called for the formation of a commission of inquiry into the allegations. A 43-page report released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Monday also called out Pakistan for detaining Kashmiri separatists in its portion of the disputed region. The Muslim-majority region of Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars so far over the Himalayan territory. The two countries came…

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India slams UN rights body over ‘False Narrative’ report on Kashmir

Editor

India on Monday lodged a strong protest with the UN rights office over its report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and asserted that it is merely a continuation of the earlier “false and motivated” narrative and ignores the core issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Last year, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released its first-ever report on Kashmir and in an update of that report it claimed on Monday that “neither India nor Pakistan have taken any concrete steps to address…

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Allegations of land grab leveled against IPS officer Munir Ahmad Khan

Editor

A week after top cop of Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) Munir Ahmad Khan was granted one-year extension as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, allegations of land grab have been levelled against him over a prime property in Srinagar. Munir Ahmad Khan and his wife Gulshareen had recently acquired a property in Srinagar. Trouble mounted for Munir Ahmad Khan after his Gupkar neighbour Bashir Ahmed Mir raised objections over the construction on the land and claimed it to be a “custodian land”. Bashir Ahmed Mir had…

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Committee framed to bring Kashmiri Pandits back: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

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In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind initiative, the separatist Hurriyat Conference (HC), led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and a four-member team of Kashmiri Pandits have come together to facilitate the return of Pandits who fled the Kashmir Valley by the thousands after militancy erupted in the state in 1989. A committee, comprising members from the separatist Hurriyat and Kashmiri civil society as well as migrant Pandits and those still living in the Valley, is being set up to coordinate the process, Mirwaiz said, “The return of Kashmiri Pandits is…

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Metropolitan development authorities meet to roll out Srinagar, Jammu Metro projects

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For a planned growth of twin capitals, the State Administrative Council has approved the areas to be included for the setting up of the Metropolitan Region Development Authorities for Jammu and Srinagar. The SAC, which met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik, also approved the Mass Rapid Transit Corporations for Jammu and Srinagar. The MRDA Act had been enacted in December 2018. “These Metropolitan Region Development Authorities are expected to serve the purpose of coordination, besides supervising proper, orderly and rapid development of the areas…

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Unknown Gunmen: Another reality of Kashmir

Editor

The encompassing proclivity of the armed conflict since decades has engulfed every corner of life in Kashmir. It is that part of the world where gunfights, strewn bodies of soldiers, mutilated militants—interminable wails in-between—and everything that tends to wrench a human heart transpires daily. The adamant duo, India and Pakistan, the nuclear-heads stakeholders of Kashmir conflict aren’t coming on the negotiating table, has only dragged the situation to a dead end in the Valley. During the 1990s, with militancy rising to a peak, the number of disappearances and unknown/unmarked graves…

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At 32.5 Srinagar records highest temperature of the season, Jammu at 41.0 continues to struggle with heat wave

Editor

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Wednesday recorded the season’s highest temperature at 32.5 degrees Celsius while the heatwave prevailed in Jammu, the metrological department said. The day temperature in Jammu settled at 41.0 degrees Celsius, around 4 degrees above normal. At 30.1 degrees Celsius, the night temperature in Jammu was up by around 4 degrees above season’s average. Jammu had recorded the season’s highest day temperature on June 10 when the mercury touched 44.4 degrees Celsius, while June 12 night was the hottest of the season at…

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