Month: July 2020

Kashmir observed shuts down on Burhan Wani’s 4th death anniversary

Editor

Shutdown was observed in many parts of Kashmir on the fourth death anniversary of militant commander Burhan Wani, who was killed in a gunfight in south Kashmir in 2016. The shutdown was observed despite that the J&K Police on Tuesday registered a case under stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and for public mischief under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) claiming that the strike call by Syed Ali Geelani was fake as per his family sources. In Srinagar, shops mostly remained shut. The private traffic, however, plied normally. The attendance of…

Read More

Since August 5, 2019, the UN made its third communication on J&K public

Editor

Four Special Rapporteurs express ‘grave concern over alleged excessive use of force, ill-treatment during arrests and detentions’ United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs have made public their third communication forwarded to India since the August 5, 2019 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, expressing “grave concern over alleged excessive use of force, ill-treatment during arrests and detentions”. Four UN Special Rapporteurs on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions; on minority issues; and on freedom of religion or belief —…

Read More

BJP’s Bandipora leader, his brother, father shot dead

Editor

Bandipora, July 08 (KNO): Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bandipora leader, Sheikh Waseem Bari, his father and his brother were on Wednesday shot dead by the unidentified gunmen outside their residence in Muslimabad area of Bandipora district. Official sources told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that Bari, his father Bashir Ahmed and brother Umar Bari were shot at by the suspected militants outside their residence in Bandipora. The residence of Bari’s is located just opposite of Bandipora Police Station. Hospital sources also confirmed to KNO that all three were declared dead on…

Read More

A photo of a dead Kashmiri and the making of a macabre narrative

Editor

An officially staged photo-op involving a dead Kashmiri and a toddler demonstrates another level of depravity in India. By Mirza Waheed Perhaps it does not require a moral compass to feel outrage and fury over the image of a three-year-old Kashmiri child sitting on his slain grandfather’s chest in the middle of a street. You probably need only one of the two to feel something: A pair of eyes or a heart. The 65-year-old man, Bashir Ahmed Khan, was killed after a shootout between militants and Indian paramilitaries in the…

Read More

Eight lakh Indians may be forced to leave as Kuwait approves expat quota bill

Editor

A total of eight lakh Indians could be forced to leave Kuwait as its National Assembly committee has approved a draft expat quota bill seeking to reduce the number of foreign workers in the Gulf country. The National Assembly’s legal and legislative committee has determined that the expat quota bill is constitutional. According to the bill, Indians should not exceed 15% of the population. This could result in 8,00,000 Indians leaving Kuwait, as the Indian community constitutes the largest expat community in the country, totalling 1.45 million, the Gulf News…

Read More

Tourism Sector all set to reopen in J&K dates to be announced soon: Govt

Editor

The tourism sector in Jammu and Kashmir is all set to re-open, and the government is in the process of finalising and announcing a date soon. The government has started preparing the blueprint that would be made public soon to revive the critical service sector in J&K. The hospitality sector sustains the livelihoods of tens of thousands of J&K residents. Several families have been connected to the hospitality industry for generations. “This sector, seen along with Handloom, handicrafts and horticulture sectors forms the core of the J&K economy, as all…

Read More

Istanbul declaration on Kashmir

Editor

KASHMIR: REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONALDIMENSIONS CONFERENCE Declaration Two-days International Kashmir Webinar was organized by Faculty of Letters, Department of Urdu, Istanbul University on June 29 – 30, 2020. The participants unanimously adopted the following declaration at the end of the conference: 1. That there must be an early, just and durable resolution to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. 2. The United Nations Security Council had clearly enunciated that on the basis of the agreement concluded between India and Pakistan, “the final disposition…

Read More

Naseema Bano, Kashmiri Women who has been booked under UAPA for posing with her slain son holding an AK47

Editor

By Quratulain Rehbar Jammu and Kashmir ― On 28 June, the Jammu and Kashmir Police announced the arrest of Naseema Bano under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or UAPA, the first case in recent memory that invokes India’s anti-terror law against the mother of a slain militant. In its statement, the J&K Police said Naseema had been arrested under an FIR that was registered two years earlier in 2018. They accused her of “recruiting at least two youth into terrorist ranks, arranging arms and ammunition, communication and logistics for terrorists…

Read More

Restore JK’s Special Status with Dignity, Won’t beg for It’: Congress to BJP

Editor

‘Why did you (BJP) take away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir? Why did you bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir in the first place?” the Congress leader asked. A day after the BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said that the BJP wants to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, Congress party on Saturday said the ruling party should restore it without “beating around the bush”. “First of all, they should tell us why they took away statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. If they want to restore it, restore it…

Read More

Why GoI is planning Amarnath Yatra in the middle of the Pandemic?

Editor

Amarnath Yatra 2020: The annual pilgrimage will begin on July 21 and end on August 3, thus making it the shortest ever Yatra till date. According to some reports, the yatra might be carried out by helicopters. Will the Indian government go-ahead with Amarnath Yatra (pilgrimage) 2020 despite the global pandemic? The annual Amarnath Yatra draws more than 600,000 people to the Kashmir Valley but critics have questioned why is India going ahead with annual pilgrimage? Due to the recent surge in COVID-19, an increasing number of health experts have…

Read More