Year: 2020

Lockdown 4.0: Ongoing countrywide lockdown has been extended till May 31

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By: Tahaa Yaseen • Public spaces, flight ops, shopping malls to remain shut• Offices, shops to reopen with conditions• States to decide Red, Green, Orange Zones The ongoing countrywide lockdown has been extended till May 31, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) announced on Sunday. In an order, the NDMA said lockdown measures need to be implemented for a further period of 14 days in the country to contain the spread of COVID-19.The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to…

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Like 2002 Godhra riots, Pulwama terror attack too was BJP conspiracy: Shankersinh Vaghela

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Former Gujarat chief minister and NCP leader Shankersinh Vaghela Wednesday alleged that the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed was a BJP conspiracy like the Godhra riots in 2002. “The vehicle with RDX which was used in Pulwama attack was bearing the registration initial of Gujarat — GJ. Godhra was a conspiracy,” news agency ANI quoted Vaghela as saying. He further alleged that terrorism was being used by the BJP government to win elections. “No one was killed in Balakot air strike. Even none of the international agency was able to prove…

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COVID19: With 30 new cases, J&K crosses 1000 mark

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By: Tahaa Yaseen J&K has crossed the mark of a thousand cases as 30 more patients tested positive for coronavirus including 21 in Kashmir on Friday that took JK’s infection tally to 1013. The coronavirus testing lab of Chest Disease (CD) Hospital Srinagar today tested 537 samples of which 12 returned positive. Only two of these cases are from Kashmir valley. Nodal Officer for COVID-19 measures, GMC Srinagar, Dr M Salim Khan said today’s cases include six admitted at Lakhanpur including one from Punjab and one from Rajasthan. He said…

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Indian media blaming Muslims for the spread of the coronavirus

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“During this lockdown, why does every crowd gather only near mosques?” journalist Arnab Goswami recently asked on the Indian news channel, Republic TV. The well-known anchor was referring to a crowd that had gathered last month near a railway station that happens to be near a mosque in Mumbai, the capital of the western state of Maharashtra. Local media reports said they were migrant workers desperate to get back to their towns and villages after a nationwide lockdown was imposed to try and combat the spread of the coronavirus. The…

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Youth shot dead by forces for jumping checkpoint, family denies police version

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By Tahaa Yaseen * Protests on* Internet suspended One civilian was killed and another injured when paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force Wednesday opened fire on them in Budgam district of central Kashmir, leading to protests and clashes in the area. The injured is a police officer and uncle of the deceased youth. The police and CRPF said the two, travelling in a car, didn’t stop at a checkpoint and were fired upon. The authorities snapped cellular internet service in the district to stop any further protests. The incident took place…

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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

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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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