Month: May 2020

Policemen caught on camera vandalizing private property in Nasrullahpora Budgam

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By Tahaa Yaseen Policemen in a village in Jammu and Kashmir were caught on camera damaging shops and houses after one of their senior colleagues was attacked when he tried to stop the Friday prayers last week. The J&K top cop has asked the Budgam Police to submit a report amid allegations of vandalism and harassment by the villagers. According to the Sarpanch of Nasrullahpora Panchayat- represented by the BJP – many, including those struggling for basics during the pandemic, have been targeted during the recent raids by the police.…

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Jail for ‘Pregnant Lady’, Bail for ‘Gun Supplier’ in Delhi’s Communal Violence Case

Editor

Consider the case of two people arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the Delhi riots of February 2020. One is a pregnant Muslim woman, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia with no prior involvement in any criminal activity. She is taken into custody six weeks after the violence had ended. No arms and ammunition were recovered from her at the time of the arrest. The other is a Hindu man who the police claims has been supplying arms for the past two years, buying weapons and cartridges from Madhya…

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Kashmiris who received international recognition for their work in Journalism, Literature and Human Rights

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The announcement by Dana Canedy, the administrator of the Pulitzer prizes came late Monday via her youtube stream, being deferred by two weeks due to the COVD-19 crises. Two Kashmiri and one Jammu based journalists had bagged the 2020 Pulitzer for ‘the striking’ images of life in Kashmir after the scrapping of Article 370 which granted Kashmir autonomy. The news was broken online by another journalist who tweeted “Pulitzer is home”, and instantly, the tweet became viral. It was retweeted some hundred times and liked a few thousand times by…

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Kashmir continues to suffer as Mobile and Internet Services remained suspended

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Like the rest of the world, India is experiencing an especially difficult time in its national trajectory with the coronavirus pandemic taking a toll over the lives of people and the lockdown tossing the economy upside down. But imagine what it is like in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir where phone lines and internet connectivity has been taken away by the administration once again? Recently the security forces killed wanted Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo and ever since then, mobile internet connectivity has been snapped in the Valley.  All prepaid mobile…

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Clashes continue for the third day over the killing of top rebel commander Riyaz Naikoo

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Anti-India protests and clashes have continued for a third day on Friday in Indian-administered Kashmir following the killing of a top rebel leader by government forces. The Hizbul Mujahideen group’s commander Riyaz Naikoo and three other rebels were killed in a gunfight with Indian troops on Wednesday in southern Kashmir’s Pulwama district, leading to massive clashes in several places. Naikoo, 35, was the chief of operations of Hizbul Mujahideen, the disputed region’s largest rebel group, which has spearheaded an armed rebellion against the Indian rule. The clashes continued on Friday…

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Life inside the World’s longest Lockdown

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Just before the whole world went into lockdown, Kashmir was coming out of one. At the start of the year, before the coronavirus hit, the Indian government had been slowly lifting the restrictions on movement and communication that it had imposed in August 2019, when it stripped Kashmir’s long-held constitutional autonomy and imposed direct rule from Delhi. Here in India’s only Muslim-majority territory, residents were confined to their homes by soldiers patrolling the streets of the Kashmir Valley. The Hindu nationalist government in Delhi also cut phone lines and Internet connections. In late January,…

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Hizb commander Riyaz Naikoo trapped in Pulwama, Gunfight On, Mobile Internet snapped in Kashmir

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An encounter broke out between militants and security forces in the Beighpora area of Pulwama district, a police spokesman said. “Police last night launched an operation on a specific input at Beighpora. Senior officers are monitoring it since last night,” he said. The spokesman said a contact has been established with the militants and a “top militant commander” is trapped. “Exchange of fire is going on. Further details shall follow on due course,” he said. The search operation was launched in Beighpora last night with the security forces also moving…

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Kashmir after nine months lockdown

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Prof Upendra Kaul It is nine months since the demotion of Jammu and Kashmir to a union territory. This population has always been better than the national average in terms of education, employment, and wealth. A review of this period and the achievements by a frequent visitor could make a meaningful analysis. It all began from 1st August when I, along with a team went to the valley to conduct a medical camp organized through the local authorities in Kangan, a picturesque township with a mixed ethnic population on way…

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Army Colonel, Major, Two soldiers, a Police officer, and 2 Rebels killed in Handwara gunbattle

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Five forces personnel including a Colonel and Major-rank officers, a Police sub-Inspector, two other army men, and two rebels were killed in a fierce gunbattle at Chajimulla village in Handwara area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Sunday. A senior police officer said the cordon and search operation was launched Army, Police and paramilitary CRPF on Saturday following intelligence about the presence of rebels in the Village, surrounded by forests. Srinagar-based defense spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said the anti-militancy operation was launched based on the intelligence input that rebels were taking…

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India is using the pandemic to intensify its crackdown in Kashmir

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As the world remains consumed with containing the coronavirus pandemic and the severe economic fallout, India has spotted an opportunity for another round of repression against the population of Kashmir, which had already been reeling from the harsh aftereffects of last year’s six-month-long military lockdown. By initiating gunfights with guerrilla fighters, jailing people for going to buy food and medicine, bringing charges against journalists, and beating doctors, paramedics and municipal workers, India is tightening its grip on Kashmir, seizing on pandemic measures to prevent a surge of resistance to its…

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