Year: 2020

Life inside the World’s longest Lockdown

Editor

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

Editor

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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“Access to the Internet not fundamental right”, J&K admin opposes the restoration of 4G Services in Supreme Court

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The right to access the internet is not a fundamental right and the state can curtail the freedom of speech and the right to trade through the internet, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has told the Supreme Court while opposing the restoration of 4G services in the union territory. The administration told the apex court that a very reasonable quantum of restrictions have been imposed by reducing the speed of internet to protect the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. “It is submitted that the right to access internet…

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‘Do not buy from Muslims Vendors’: BJP leader calls for social boycott

Editor

India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued a notice to one of its leaders after a video showing him asking people not to buy vegetables from Muslims surfaced amid a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. “Keep one thing in mind. I am telling everyone openly. There is no need to buy vegetables from ‘miyans’ [Muslims],” legislator Suresh Tiwari from Deoria town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was heard saying in the mobile phone video that went viral on Tuesday. Millions in India are facing unprecedented job losses and hunger…

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US Panel wants India on religious freedom blacklist

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A US government panel has called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a “drastic” downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi. In an annual report published on Tuesday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said India should join the ranks of “countries of particular concern” that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records. “In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault,” the…

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What GOI achieved in last 9 months, post scraping of J&K’s special status?

Editor

Taking the revocation of Articles 370 and 35A to be a fait accompli – since it may be a vain expectation that the Supreme Court will, at any time in the future, restore what the government has scrapped – the question that may now be asked is: nine months down the road, what has this revocation delivered? Politically, of course, the Hindutva right wing has succeeded in realising its long-standing “nationalist” agenda. It has stamped and sealed a message to Kashmiri Muslims that their decision to throw their lot in with a…

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#Lockdown: Apple industry in shamble, as millions of cartons are lying in cold storage waiting for buyers

Editor

The nationwide coronavirus lockdown has badly hit apple farmers in Jammu and Kashmir. As the farmers are not finding market for their produce, over three million cartons of apples are lying in cold storage. They are rather paying Rs 35 per box per month as storage charge, and Rs 100 as packing and grading fee to save their produce from rotting. They fear incurring more loses than the value of their produce if lockdown continues as there are no buyers due to the market conditions. The lockdown has added to…

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