Year: 2020

UN discusses Kashmir for third time since abrogation of article 370

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The UN Security Council discussed disputed Kashmir at Pakistan’s request on Wednesday for the third time since India’s Hindu nationalist government decided to end the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy a year ago. The United Nations’s most powerful body did not take any action or issue a statement after the virtual meeting held behind closed doors. Nonetheless, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said afterwards holding the meeting signified “that Jammu and Kashmir is an international dispute firmly on the agenda of the Security Council and has nullified, yet another time, the…

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Sajad Khandey, BJP sarpanch shot dead in Kulgam

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A day after the first anniversary of abrogation of Article 370, a BJP sarpanch was shot dead in Kulgam district on Thursday, officials said. They said Sajad Ahmed Khandey was shot at by gunmen outside his residence at Vessu, leaving him critically wounded. “He was shifted to hospital where doctors declared him brought dead,” an official said. Soon after the incident, security forces cordoned off the area to trace the attackers. A police officer said the sarpanch was staying in the Vessu migrant camp along with several sarpanches. “He left…

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Year after revocation of Article 370, Alienation grows in Kashmir, Frustration visible in Jammu

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A year after the BJP-led Central government revoked Article 370 and cut Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories (UTs) of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on August 5 last year, alienation in Kashmir has increased manifold while the economy and the polity lie in shambles. Frustration is also growing in the Hindu-majority Jammu as the people are beginning to feel the impact of the changes in the business atmosphere and polity of the region. Like in Kashmir, a sense of disempowerment has grown in the region, which has…

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India violates own law by altering Kashmir Status

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Tariq Kamal Qazi On August 5, 2019, India promulgated “The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019” radically changing the Article 370 that was to preserve a special status for the State of Jammu and Kashmir. India also promulgated the “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019”, bringing the very status of Jammu and Kashmir as a separate state to an end by splitting it into three Union Territories — Kashmir, Ladakh, and Jammu. Following is an analysis of the legal aspects of the changes, highlighting the historical and political…

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BJP can gather and celebrate, we can’t even meet in our lawn: Omar Abdullah

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Omar Abdullah, who is the vice president of the NC, said, “One year later the authorities are still too afraid to allow us to meet much less carry out any normal political activity. This fear speaks volumes about the true situation on the ground in Kashmir.” A meeting called by former J&K Chief Minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah at his residence on Wednesday could not be held due to strict restrictions put in place by the Union Territory’s administration, his son and former CM Omar Abdullah said on…

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Former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah calls for all-party meet on first anniversary of Article 370’s abrogation

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National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday called for an all-party meeting on August 5, on the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. Abdullah has called the meeting of many mainstream political parties at his residence to chalk out a political strategy on ‘lost’ Article 370. In 2019, Article 370 was scrapped in Jammu and Kashmir and two union territories–Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh came into existence. Abdullah, confirming the all-party meet, said, “What kind of government is it that…

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In one year, BJP’s political project sees J&K’s regional symbols vanishing

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The symbols promote a sort of collective sentiment of a distinct history and memory, says political expert If not fully meeting the agenda of development and progress, the political project of the BJP has seen most of the regional symbols vanishing in the past one year in J&K, which is bereft of any special status now, a political expert has said. “All the moves made [post August 5] were in line with what the BJP has been claiming that Kashmir needs to be fully integrated. Given the history of these…

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One year post Article 370 revocation from a Kashmiri’s prospective

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Nazir Masoodi It was the most tense and uncertain night of our life. Troops were in every nook and cranny to impose a tough curfew. Before midnight, a complete communication blockade was enforced. Mobile phones, the internet and even landlines were snapped. Ahead of that historic August 5 decision, all the security measures were in place to quell any public revolt. A massive troop buildup, contingency orders, the evacuation of non-locals, tourists and Amarnath pilgrims – for us locals, these were ominous signs. The worst fear was that the centre…

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India marks another day of erasure and insult against its Muslim Citizens

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Rana Ayyub On Wednesday, images and renderings of the Grand Ram Temple — which will be built on the the site of the Babri Masjid, an important mosque in Uttar Pradesh state demolished by right-wing Hindu nationalists— will be beamed across giant billboards in Times Square by a U.S. organization to mark the groundbreaking ceremony for the temple’s construction, which will feature Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying silver bricks as the foundation. Wednesday is also the anniversary of India’s decision to revoke the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir,…

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Internet Shutdowns, Pandemic have cost Kashmir Rs 40000 Cr and more than 5 Lakh jobs: Sheikh Ashiq President KCCI

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Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad said the 2G internet currently available in the region is not enough for many businesses. Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has claimed that the internet restrictions imposed in the region since 5 August last year, and then the Covid-induced lockdown, have caused an economic loss of Rs 40,000 crore in the Valley alone, and that more than five lakh people across sectors are now jobless. Ahmad told ThePrint the industries hit the hardest…

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