July 2021 | Page 5 of 7

PDP in Trouble over ED Summons, Notices to Leaders to vacate Govt Housing

July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Editor

PDP President Mehooba Mufti addressing media during a press conference

With ED summons to Mehbooba Mufti’s mother over financial irregularities and eviction orders to PDP leaders living in official housing, the party is caught in a bind. The troubles for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) chief minister Mehbooba Mufti are far from over with the J&K administration asking a young PDP leader to vacate his official accommodation in the capital Srinagar. A former legislator from south Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Mir, was asked on Wednesday by the J&K’s estates department to vacate his accommodation…

Is Kashmir becoming a new combat zone of global powers?

July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Editor

By Kemal Pasha As the deadline for the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan looms, there is news of reshuffling of some U.S. military bases in the Middle East, speeding up the American administration’s efforts to repair its democratic values at home, and abroad. For years, the U.S. has been exporting its own style of democracy around the world, and unfortunately, that has lost its real meaning at home. Henry Farrell writes both U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson “agreed to protect democracy and open societies”…

‘Conversion Row’ won’t back down, ‘Will fight to get my wife back’; Muslim Husband reiterates

July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Editor

Shahid Nazir Bhatt, 29, has been accused of forcefully converting a Sikh woman. But he claims she converted to Islam and married her of her free will. As Shahid Nazir Bhatt walked out of jail on 2 July, all he wanted was to start a new life with his wife, his love of six years — Manmeet Kaur. He rushed home, expecting to see her, but as he switched on his phone on the way, it was flooded with photographs of her wedding with another man, a Sikh, like her…

OIC Chief meets India’s envoy in Saudi Arabia, offers mediation on Kashmir

July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Editor

The last such engagement between India and OIC took place in 2019 when the then Indian EAM Sushma Swaraj was invited as the “Guest of honor” at the OIC meet. In a rare development, India’s envoy to Saudi Arabia Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen held a meeting on Monday (July 5). The meeting, which is being described as a “courtesy visit” in a release by OIC, took place at its headquarters in Jeddah. According to the OIC release, during the meeting, Secretary-General…

Resolve Kashmir issue to end the cycle of killing: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

July 10, 2021July 10, 2021 Editor

Hurriyat leader flags geopolitical changes in the region to call for early solution Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday called for a resolution to the Kashmir problem to bring an end to the cycle of killings. Meanwhile, a spontaneous shutdown was observed in parts of the Kashmir valley on the fifth death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ Burhan Wani. “The recent rise in killings of Kashmiris in J&K is a grim reminder of the need to resolve the Kashmir conflict urgently and prevent the region from getting consumed by…

This Password Manager just put users in a fix; You may need to take this action

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 Editor

The Password Manager was generating weak passwords putting you at risk; so, if you have been using it, you might want to change some of your passwords. A recent report has revealed that Kaspersky Password Manager was using an insecure method of generating passwords for many years that could be brute-forced by hackers in just a few minutes. Some of the people who were using its services now need to change their passwords. Passwords should ideally be easy to remember while being difficult for a computer to guess, but in…

Why did India open a backchannel to the Taliban?

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 Editor

Recent developments in the region forced India to rethink its approach to the armed group. Abdul Basit In a crucial policy shift, India recently acknowledged that it entered into backchannel communications with the Taliban in Afghanistan. In early June, the Indian media reported that New Delhi has started talking to certain factions and leaders of the armed group against the backdrop of the withdrawal of the United States forces from Afghanistan. A few days later, India’s Ministry of External Affairs all but confirmed these reports, stating that “we are in…

Kashmir hospitals see a rise in Post-COVID complications: Experts

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 Editor

Even as Covid-19 cases are declining, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday said hospitals in Kashmir are witnessing a rise in the number of patients with severe post-Covid-19 complications.“We are getting many Covid patients with severe neurological complications weeks after recovery,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr. Nisar ul Hassan. Dr. Hassan said recovered Covid patients come with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune disorder of the peripheral nervous system in which the body’s immune system attacks the healthy nerve cells. “Patients with GBS manifest with weakness of all four…

Tourists attack doctors, medical staff in Tangmarg

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021 Editor

A group of tourists from Mumbai allegedly attacked two doctors and two other government employees on covid-19 duty for not giving them a “negative report” for the covid-19, purportedly underhand, in Sub District hospital Tangmarg on Wednesday. Official sources told GNS that at least sixteen tourists comprising seven male and nine female members entered Sub-District Hospital Tangmarg and sought covid-19 negative without undergoing the required test for visiting some tourist destination in the area. On refusal by the staff on duty, they said, seven male tourists attacked the staff, injuring…

Kashmir interfaith marriage row: For politics of ‘Hate’ and ‘Honor’, a woman must perish

July 7, 2021July 7, 2021 Editor

Women are invisible in the narrative as the larger demons of ‘community and ‘honor’ take over. And nothing has changed in the last 70 years. By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal A Kashmiri Sikh woman, allegedly forcibly converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man, was retrieved to her parents on June 27 after she submitted a statement in a court in Srinagar. There are still layers of mist about what she said in court and how the custody of an adult woman was given to her parents. Some reports have…