Category: Community

August 9, 1953: When Sheikh’s arrest changed Kashmir for ever

Editor

People by and large believe that Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was dethroned and arrested on August 9, 1953, for resisting moves aimed at diluting the autonomy of the state. However, his colleague and member Constituent Assembly, Abdul Gani Goni, narrated an entirely different story in an interview with Kashmir Post some time before his death last year. According to him, Sheikh’s July 13, 1953, speech is very significant. Sheikh had said, “These martyrs have prepared us for bigger sacrifices to achieve our freedom and our right of self-determination. If required, our…

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Hizbul Mujahideen blames India for posters threatening Kashmiri Pandits

Editor

Days after posters threatening Kashmiri Pandits surfaced near their transit accommodations in south Kashmir, militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) on Monday blamed it on “Indian agencies to portray Kashmir’s freedom struggle as communal”. The outfit distanced itself from the unsigned posters, issued under the name of Lashkar-e-Islam, which had appeared in Pulwama and warned Pandits to leave the Valley. In a statement mailed to media organizations in Kashmir, deputy Ameer(deputy chief) of HM, Saifullah Khalid, claimed “Indian agencies are once again trying to play Pandit card to show that our…

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A ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ poster wakes world to pellet blind spot

Editor

Cartoonist uses Sharmila Tagore’s iconic image from Hindi film to highlight pain of blinded protesters. Sharmila Tagore and Shammi Kapoor’s musical shikara romance mesmerized audiences in Kashmir Ki Kali five decades ago. Today, the valley is troubled and cartoonist Mir Suhail decided to visualise the darkness of eyes blinded by pellet guns through the iconic poster of the film featuring the two stars. Thus, Sharmila Tagore gazes down, one eye hit by pellets, in the recreated poster. It is one more artistic protest to focus the world’s attention on the…

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SMHS hospital stats paint bloody picture of the unrest

Editor

SMHS hospital has been coping with avalanche of casualties. As many as 933 cases of injuries have been registered between July 9 and August 5 at the hospital with pellet injuries constituting 73 percent of the total injuries sustained by civilians in police and CRPF action. Ten civilian deaths have also been reported at the hospital which has received only six injured police personnel during this period. According to the data compiled by hospital authorities, 356 cases of eye injuries and 324 extra-ocullar injuries due to pellets have been registered…

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Avoid travelling alone, late in night: Hurriyat (M) tells people

Editor

‘There is pattern in Chattabal, Pulwama killings’ Hurriyat (M) Sunday expressed anguish and concern over the ‘new trend in which armed forces kill people travelling alone at night as was in the case of Riyaz Ahmed of Chattabal a few days back and now Bilal Ahmad Malik of Daferpora, Pulwama.’ In a statement a spokesman of Hurriyat (M) said Kashmiris are getting more and more vulnerable to the “atrocities and brutalities of forces which are on a mission to eliminate them.” He asked people to be extremely cautious in such…

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Separatists make it personal, name police officers for “Firing Pellets on Protesters”

Editor

In a first, Hurriyat Conference has named a police officer for “firing pellets on protesters” and called him a “butcher and criminal”. In what seems to be emerging as a new trend that spells grave personal danger for law enforcement officials in troubled Kashmir Valley, both separatist forces and locals in different areas have begun holding police officials personally responsible for deaths in the ongoing unrest and threatening them with dire consequences. In a first, Hurriyat Conference has named a police officer for “firing pellets on protesters” and called him…

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Pellet Guns come under scanner after killing 3 Persons, Blinding hundreds across Kashmir Valley

Editor

Are pellet guns the non-lethal means to control mobs? That’s the question rights groups are asking as hundreds have been blinded by pellets in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir. Earlier this week, a 20-year-old lost his life as 360 pellets were pumped into him. Two others have reportedly died from pellet injuries as well. Pellet guns were introduced as a non-lethal alternative after the 2010 Kashmir unrest, when 120 people died as stone-throwing mobs took to the streets. For 2016, the abiding picture will be blinded eyes. The Central Reserve…

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Records nail Centre’s claim; ‘378 eyes hit by pellets in 28 days’

Editor

In the past 28 days of Kashmir unrest, at least 378 eyes have been hit by pellets resulting in their loss of vision, hospital records revealed on Friday—the day the Centre told the Supreme Court that only 51 persons with eye-injuries were treated in the Valley hospitals. With no let-up in use of pellet guns and persisting police persecution of the victims, even in hospitals, doctors fear the worse: “more youth may lose eyesight.” The number of youth battling pellet injuries in one or both eyes—and results in loss of…

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Stop using pellet guns on Kashmiri protesters; Amnesty

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Rights group says pellet guns should be banned immediately, a day after third person dies from pellet wounds. Pellet guns have no place in law enforcement and should be banned immediately, human-rights group Amnesty International India has said, following the death of a third person due to injuries inflicted by the weapons in Indian-administered Kashmir. Amnesty’s comments on Thursday come a week after the Indian government promised to set up a panel to investigate the use of pellet guns as a method of crowd control in the region. Since July…

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Pellet in my Eyes

Editor

Bilkees Bhat Me: Oh my sight, oh my dear sight         You left me midway in an endless night Sight: oh my young beholder, how could I          Only You complete me, how could I Me: Then why is that I can’t see the way I used to be          And why is it so dark, please come to me Sight: Not my fault, I was unwilling to leave          Until an evil unleashed a savage heave Me:  How did it happen, I just seem not to know          Was…

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