#Mehbooba Mufti criticizes the Center

[lollipoplollipopoh]

Kashmir lockdown: Is India denying basic freedoms? | UpFront (Full) by Al Jazeera English In this episode of Upfront, we ask Gaurav Bhatia, BJP national spokesperson, whether human rights are being denied in Indian-administered Kashmir. And in the Arena, we debate the political turmoil in Bolivia following the resignation of President Evo Morales and ask, was it a coup d'etat? Will India's lockdown in Kashmir ever end? Tensions in Indian-administed Kashmir remain high since the government stripped the region of its semi-autonomous status in August and placed it under lockdown. Tens of thousands of troops were sent to the region, internet and phones were cut, and a curfew imposed. Critics have questioned whether the eight million residents of the Muslim-majority region are being denied basic human rights, and whether behind the crackdown is a Hindu-nationalist ideology steering the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Gaurav Bhatia, national spokesperson for the BJP, says there's broad support in India for the change of Kashmir's status. "The entire nation has applauded the historical decision taken by [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi,'' he said. According to Bhatia, restrictions placed on people are done in accordance with Indian law, and are only temporary to ensure safety. "Life of a citizen definitely is far more important than the civil liberties," he said. Rights groups say thousands have been arrested and detained in Kashmir since August, most without charge. When asked about Mehbooba Mufti, one of three detained chief ministers, Bhatia said Mufti's arrest was due to a "highly inflammatory" statement she made that incited violence. He said detentions like her's are legal and are "for the greater good of the country and the state." Bhatia also hailed a Supreme Court ruling allowing the building of a Hindu temple on a site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims in the city of Ayodhya. At the heart of the bitter dispute is the 16th century Babri mosque, which was torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992, triggering riots that killed nearly 2,000 people. Hardliners among India's majority Hindus believe that Lord Ram, the warrior god, was born at the site where the Babri mosque existed. Bhatia, who is also a Senior Advocate for the Supreme Court of India, said the verdict does "complete justice to all sides." "I think it was heartening to see that justice was also given to the members of the Muslim community and they were also provided an alternate site of five acres." This week's headliner is national spokesperson for India's BJP government, Gaurav Bhatia. Is Bolivia's Evo Morales the victim of a coup? Evo Morales made history in Bolivia when he became the country's first indigenous president in 2006. He was hugely popular and introduced sweeping social reforms and economic growth. But it all ended for the 60-year-old this week when he resigned and fled to Mexico, following weeks of protests and a request from the military for him to step down. Morales and his supporters say he was the victim of a coup. Critics say he was forced out by his own people because of a fraudulent election. Ian Vasquez, a Latin America expert at the Cato Institute, is adamant it was not a coup. "This is the story of an authoritarian regime that people in Bolivia got sick of, and they did what they could to get their democracy back," Vasquez said. Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research who studies Bolivia, says Morales was clearly the victim of a coup because he was a democratically-elected president who was asked to resign by the military. At the centre of the debate is the October election. The Organization of American States (OAS), which had observers on the ground, expressed concern over irregularities, manipulation and security flaws. That includes a nearly 24-hour pause in results, ending with a surge of votes for Morales, enough to avoid a runoff-election. Weisbrot rejects the claims that the election was fraudulent. He says results from pro-Morales regions simply took longer to come in than other areas. He also casts doubt on the OAS, saying they are not neutral actors. "I think the OAS misrepresented it deliberately because they said it three times, they never offered any evidence of that story," said Weisbrot. In this week's Arena, we debate the political crisis that led Bolivia's President Evo Morales to resign. - Subscribe to our channel: https://ift.tt/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://ift.tt/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: https://ift.tt/2lOp4tL

[adminnewstrust24]

If Ambedkar were alive, BJP would have termed him as pro-Pakistan too: Mehbooba Mufti

If Ambedkar were alive, BJP would have termed him as pro-Pakistan too: Mehbooba Mufti

Mehbooba Mufti / File Pic Amid criticism from Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for his remarks on Article 370, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that if the architect of the Indian Constitution, B R Ambedkar, was alive today, the BJP would have dubbed him a pro-Pakistan. Mehbooba said Article 370 was recognized by the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar but the Center destroyed it.…

[global-news-station]

NEW DELHI: Police arrested former Indian finance minister P. Chidambaram late on Wednesday in relation to alleged corruption and money laundering, a day after the Delhi High Court rejected his application to seek exemption from arrest.

Chidambaram was arrested by federal police on a warrant issued by a competent court, a spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said.

The CBI and Enforcement Directorate – India’s financial crime fighting agency – have alleged that Chidambaram abused his official position while he was finance minister. Officials have also alleged Chidambaram was involved in money laundering and conspired around the approval of a telecommunications deal in 2006.

Chidambaram denied any wrongdoing, speaking at a news conference hours before his arrest.

Read More: Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah arrested by India forces after abrogation of Article 370

Chidambaram, who served twice as finance minister in the previous Congress party-led coalition that ran India for a decade, has approached India’s top court seeking to appeal the High Court ruling rejecting his application to prevent an arrest.

The Supreme Court is due to hear his petition on Friday.

After the press conference, in dramatic scenes televised across Indian media, police officers reached Chidambaram’s residence and jumped over the wall to enter the premises.

He was then taken away in a car that his party supporters tried to stop briefly, local media reported.

The allegations in the case center around the role of Chidambaram, who is a senior leader of the Congress party that is now in opposition, his son Karti Chidambaram, and several former government officials, in approving the acquisition of telecoms firm, Aircel Ltd, by a Malaysian firm, Maxis Bhd.

The individuals accused in the case face charges of “abuse of official position and criminal conspiracy in giving illegal approval,” a CBI official told reporters last month.

Chidambaram, 72, a Supreme Court lawyer, has been a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies.

The post Former Indian finance minister Chidambaram arrested in corruption case appeared first on ARYNEWS.

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[whittlebaggett8]

Confidence building that LoC trade made possible between India, Pak now gone

Srinagar: The Indian government’s purchase to suspend trade across the Line of Handle has undone a single of the significant Self confidence Constructing Actions amongst India and Pakistan given that the 1947 partition. The trade, which runs on the archaic barter procedure, has presently 229 bonafide traders actively exchanging items with their counterparts throughout the LoC considering that 2008, when two routes — Uri-Muzaffarabad and Pooonch-Rawalakote — were officially thrown open up. The suspension order has most afflicted these traders as they have huge liabilities pending for goods obtained from the industry and also with their counterparts across the LoC. Hilal Turki, who is primary the Salamabad Cross LoC traders association, suggests the order has strike them economically and it would be demanding for them to yet again trade merchandise in the long term if the suspension persists. The figures of very last decade advise that it has developed exponentially making a beeline of work opportunities for far more than 1.7 lakh persons straight and indirectly. Aside from, 70,000 vehicles ended up engaged in the trade resumed on the Valley’s erstwhile Jehlum valley street in the Uri-Muzaffarabad and Jammu’s Poonch-Rawalakote additional than 60 several years right after the 1947 partition. The trade as a result of the two the trade facilitation centres stood at Rs 8,476 crore. Citing “misuse” of LoC trade routes by Pakistan-dependent traders, the federal government of India states the routes are becoming made use of for unlawful inflows of weapons, narcotics and currency. Even though the allegations are legitimate as unlawful consignments have been seized in past but traders have been not consulted right before buying the suspension. Turki, a trader himself, suggests that the trade need to be built transparent by putting in total physique truck scanners, which can halt influx of any illegal consignment by the route. He also issues that unlawful consignments are seized across the earth at airports. “Even at Pathankot (the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir) narcotics are seized as nicely,” he claimed. “At minimum they ought to have presented us time so that we could have cleared the liabilities.” The trade was already suspended for extra than a month as the Kaman bridge about Neelam river along the LoC, which connects Kashmir with Pakistan administered Kashmir, sustained hurt. “We are currently suffering losses of crores owing to damages to the bridge for which we apprised the authorities to pace up function. But now this get will break our back as we will undergo further losses,” Turki said. The get has come underneath sharp criticism from previous point out main ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. They blamed Key Minister Narendra Modi of dismantling the legacy of previous NDA Primary Minister AB Vajpayee. Even though the CBM of LoC trade was initiated for the duration of the NDA routine but the route was formally thrown open up in October 2008. The trade can take area 4 times a 7 days at two trade facilitation centres at Salamabad in Baramulla district and Chakkan-da-Bagh in Poonch. It is centered on barter procedure and zero responsibility.

  anti-Kashmir guidelines, BJP, Vital materials, Governor rule, Jammu-Srinagar highway, Kashmir President Rule, Kashmiri people, LoC Trade, Modi Govt

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Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — India’s governing party ended an alliance with a powerful regional party in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, leading to the resignation of a top official and plunging the disputed mountainous territory into fresh turmoil over its leadership.

Ram Madhav, the general secretary of the governing party, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said that it was severing a three-year alliance with the top political group in Kashmir, the Muslim-majority Peoples Democratic Party.

“Terrorism, violence and radicalization have risen, and the fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Kashmir Valley,” Mr. Madhav told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that the alliance had not helped to curb a deteriorating security situation in Kashmir. He said power in the area would be passed to the state’s governor.

Shortly after the announcement, Mehbooba Mufti, the top official in Jammu and Kashmir and the head of the Peoples Democratic Party, resigned from her post as chief minister.

Ms. Mufti said that giving control to the governor would enable the Indian central government to exert more influence in Jammu and Kashmir, further alienating locals who were already suspicious of Indian security forces.

“We tried our best for dialogue and reconciliation,” she said at a news conference in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. “Unfortunately, we did not get an appropriate response from the other side.”

Kashmir has been at the center of a decades-long conflict between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which both claim parts of the Himalayan territory. Three wars over the claims have killed thousands of people.

In recent months, clashes in the area have worsened as protests bring Indian security forces and Kashmiris into conflict almost every day.

A cease-fire announced by the Indian government last month for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan failed to catch hold. And in the past week, at least four civilians have been killed, including Shujaat Bukhari, the editor in chief of Rising Kashmir, an English-language daily, who was gunned down by assailants outside his office. It was the first time a journalist had been murdered in Kashmir for several years.

Last week, the United Nations released its first report on atrocities committed in Kashmir by India and Pakistan. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the global organization’s high commissioner for human rights, called for an international investigation into reports of sexual violence and torture, sharply criticizing Indian security forces as using excessive force on protesters, including firing blinding pellet guns into crowds.

Within minutes of the report’s release, the Indian government rejected the contents, calling them “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.”

The 2015 alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Peoples Democratic Party created a state government in Jammu and Kashmir to try to bring peace to the region.

The two parties came together after months of negotiations over their different views on key issues, including whether to repeal a law that gives Indian soldiers broad immunity from prosecution in civilian courts, including in cases involving the suspected rape and murder of Kashmiris.

Elections held in 2014 drew record turnouts, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning 25 seats, all in districts with big Hindu populations, and the Peoples Democratic Party winning 28, the most in the Legislative Assembly. At least 44 seats are required for a majority.

But the alliance was always an uncomfortable one, with many Kashmiris characterizing the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to govern with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a betrayal. In the years since the alliance took shape, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become highly polarized along religious lines. The Jammu part of the state is a political base for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu stronghold, while the Kashmir part is a Muslim-majority area.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, a lawmaker in Kashmir, said, “Instead of reconciliation and coming together or narrowing the gap between two regions and two communities, the facts remain that the divide has become deeper.”

Still, the end of the alliance surprised many in India, with some observers saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party had left to skirt responsibility for recent atrocities in Kashmir and that the party’s decision could lead to fresh violence.

Noor Ahmad Baba, a professor of political science at Central University of Kashmir, said the Bharatiya Janata Party might have abandoned the alliance for tactical reasons before elections in 2019, when Mr. Modi will run for re-election.

Free from the alliance, the central government could have broader authority to exert force in Kashmir, he said. That may help to deliver votes from people living in other parts of India, who often view separatist militant groups in Kashmir as being armed and backed by Pakistan.

“New Delhi will push forces to wipe out Kashmiri militants in the woods and sell the killing of militants as its tough stance on separatists,” Mr. Baba said. “In India, the Kashmir problem is not seen through the prism of a political issue, but as a Muslim problem in Hindu India.”

Sameer Yasir reported from Srinagar, and Kai Schultz from New Delhi. Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.

The post Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down appeared first on World The News.

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[dragnews]

Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — India’s governing party ended an alliance with a powerful regional party in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, leading to the resignation of a top official and plunging the disputed mountainous territory into fresh turmoil over its leadership.

Ram Madhav, the general secretary of the governing party, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said that it was severing a three-year alliance with the top political group in Kashmir, the Muslim-majority Peoples Democratic Party.

“Terrorism, violence and radicalization have risen, and the fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Kashmir Valley,” Mr. Madhav told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that the alliance had not helped to curb a deteriorating security situation in Kashmir. He said power in the area would be passed to the state’s governor.

Shortly after the announcement, Mehbooba Mufti, the top official in Jammu and Kashmir and the head of the Peoples Democratic Party, resigned from her post as chief minister.

Ms. Mufti said that giving control to the governor would enable the Indian central government to exert more influence in Jammu and Kashmir, further alienating locals who were already suspicious of Indian security forces.

“We tried our best for dialogue and reconciliation,” she said at a news conference in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. “Unfortunately, we did not get an appropriate response from the other side.”

Kashmir has been at the center of a decades-long conflict between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which both claim parts of the Himalayan territory. Three wars over the claims have killed thousands of people.

In recent months, clashes in the area have worsened as protests bring Indian security forces and Kashmiris into conflict almost every day.

A cease-fire announced by the Indian government last month for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan failed to catch hold. And in the past week, at least four civilians have been killed, including Shujaat Bukhari, the editor in chief of Rising Kashmir, an English-language daily, who was gunned down by assailants outside his office. It was the first time a journalist had been murdered in Kashmir for several years.

Last week, the United Nations released its first report on atrocities committed in Kashmir by India and Pakistan. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the global organization’s high commissioner for human rights, called for an international investigation into reports of sexual violence and torture, sharply criticizing Indian security forces as using excessive force on protesters, including firing blinding pellet guns into crowds.

Within minutes of the report’s release, the Indian government rejected the contents, calling them “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.”

The 2015 alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Peoples Democratic Party created a state government in Jammu and Kashmir to try to bring peace to the region.

The two parties came together after months of negotiations over their different views on key issues, including whether to repeal a law that gives Indian soldiers broad immunity from prosecution in civilian courts, including in cases involving the suspected rape and murder of Kashmiris.

Elections held in 2014 drew record turnouts, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning 25 seats, all in districts with big Hindu populations, and the Peoples Democratic Party winning 28, the most in the Legislative Assembly. At least 44 seats are required for a majority.

But the alliance was always an uncomfortable one, with many Kashmiris characterizing the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to govern with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a betrayal. In the years since the alliance took shape, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become highly polarized along religious lines. The Jammu part of the state is a political base for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu stronghold, while the Kashmir part is a Muslim-majority area.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, a lawmaker in Kashmir, said, “Instead of reconciliation and coming together or narrowing the gap between two regions and two communities, the facts remain that the divide has become deeper.”

Still, the end of the alliance surprised many in India, with some observers saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party had left to skirt responsibility for recent atrocities in Kashmir and that the party’s decision could lead to fresh violence.

Noor Ahmad Baba, a professor of political science at Central University of Kashmir, said the Bharatiya Janata Party might have abandoned the alliance for tactical reasons before elections in 2019, when Mr. Modi will run for re-election.

Free from the alliance, the central government could have broader authority to exert force in Kashmir, he said. That may help to deliver votes from people living in other parts of India, who often view separatist militant groups in Kashmir as being armed and backed by Pakistan.

“New Delhi will push forces to wipe out Kashmiri militants in the woods and sell the killing of militants as its tough stance on separatists,” Mr. Baba said. “In India, the Kashmir problem is not seen through the prism of a political issue, but as a Muslim problem in Hindu India.”

Sameer Yasir reported from Srinagar, and Kai Schultz from New Delhi. Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.

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[cleopatrarps]

Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — India’s governing party ended an alliance with a powerful regional party in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, leading to the resignation of a top official and plunging the disputed mountainous territory into fresh turmoil over its leadership.

Ram Madhav, the general secretary of the governing party, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said that it was severing a three-year alliance with the top political group in Kashmir, the Muslim-majority Peoples Democratic Party.

“Terrorism, violence and radicalization have risen, and the fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Kashmir Valley,” Mr. Madhav told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that the alliance had not helped to curb a deteriorating security situation in Kashmir. He said power in the area would be passed to the state’s governor.

Shortly after the announcement, Mehbooba Mufti, the top official in Jammu and Kashmir and the head of the Peoples Democratic Party, resigned from her post as chief minister.

Ms. Mufti said that giving control to the governor would enable the Indian central government to exert more influence in Jammu and Kashmir, further alienating locals who were already suspicious of Indian security forces.

“We tried our best for dialogue and reconciliation,” she said at a news conference in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. “Unfortunately, we did not get an appropriate response from the other side.”

Kashmir has been at the center of a decades-long conflict between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which both claim parts of the Himalayan territory. Three wars over the claims have killed thousands of people.

In recent months, clashes in the area have worsened as protests bring Indian security forces and Kashmiris into conflict almost every day.

A cease-fire announced by the Indian government last month for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan failed to catch hold. And in the past week, at least four civilians have been killed, including Shujaat Bukhari, the editor in chief of Rising Kashmir, an English-language daily, who was gunned down by assailants outside his office. It was the first time a journalist had been murdered in Kashmir for several years.

Last week, the United Nations released its first report on atrocities committed in Kashmir by India and Pakistan. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the global organization’s high commissioner for human rights, called for an international investigation into reports of sexual violence and torture, sharply criticizing Indian security forces as using excessive force on protesters, including firing blinding pellet guns into crowds.

Within minutes of the report’s release, the Indian government rejected the contents, calling them “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.”

The 2015 alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Peoples Democratic Party created a state government in Jammu and Kashmir to try to bring peace to the region.

The two parties came together after months of negotiations over their different views on key issues, including whether to repeal a law that gives Indian soldiers broad immunity from prosecution in civilian courts, including in cases involving the suspected rape and murder of Kashmiris.

Elections held in 2014 drew record turnouts, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning 25 seats, all in districts with big Hindu populations, and the Peoples Democratic Party winning 28, the most in the Legislative Assembly. At least 44 seats are required for a majority.

But the alliance was always an uncomfortable one, with many Kashmiris characterizing the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to govern with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a betrayal. In the years since the alliance took shape, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become highly polarized along religious lines. The Jammu part of the state is a political base for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu stronghold, while the Kashmir part is a Muslim-majority area.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, a lawmaker in Kashmir, said, “Instead of reconciliation and coming together or narrowing the gap between two regions and two communities, the facts remain that the divide has become deeper.”

Still, the end of the alliance surprised many in India, with some observers saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party had left to skirt responsibility for recent atrocities in Kashmir and that the party’s decision could lead to fresh violence.

Noor Ahmad Baba, a professor of political science at Central University of Kashmir, said the Bharatiya Janata Party might have abandoned the alliance for tactical reasons before elections in 2019, when Mr. Modi will run for re-election.

Free from the alliance, the central government could have broader authority to exert force in Kashmir, he said. That may help to deliver votes from people living in other parts of India, who often view separatist militant groups in Kashmir as being armed and backed by Pakistan.

“New Delhi will push forces to wipe out Kashmiri militants in the woods and sell the killing of militants as its tough stance on separatists,” Mr. Baba said. “In India, the Kashmir problem is not seen through the prism of a political issue, but as a Muslim problem in Hindu India.”

Sameer Yasir reported from Srinagar, and Kai Schultz from New Delhi. Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.

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[newestbalance]

Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — India’s governing party ended an alliance with a powerful regional party in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, leading to the resignation of a top official and plunging the disputed mountainous territory into fresh turmoil over its leadership.

Ram Madhav, the general secretary of the governing party, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said that it was severing a three-year alliance with the top political group in Kashmir, the Muslim-majority Peoples Democratic Party.

“Terrorism, violence and radicalization have risen, and the fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Kashmir Valley,” Mr. Madhav told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that the alliance had not helped to curb a deteriorating security situation in Kashmir. He said power in the area would be passed to the state’s governor.

Shortly after the announcement, Mehbooba Mufti, the top official in Jammu and Kashmir and the head of the Peoples Democratic Party, resigned from her post as chief minister.

Ms. Mufti said that giving control to the governor would enable the Indian central government to exert more influence in Jammu and Kashmir, further alienating locals who were already suspicious of Indian security forces.

“We tried our best for dialogue and reconciliation,” she said at a news conference in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. “Unfortunately, we did not get an appropriate response from the other side.”

Kashmir has been at the center of a decades-long conflict between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which both claim parts of the Himalayan territory. Three wars over the claims have killed thousands of people.

In recent months, clashes in the area have worsened as protests bring Indian security forces and Kashmiris into conflict almost every day.

A cease-fire announced by the Indian government last month for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan failed to catch hold. And in the past week, at least four civilians have been killed, including Shujaat Bukhari, the editor in chief of Rising Kashmir, an English-language daily, who was gunned down by assailants outside his office. It was the first time a journalist had been murdered in Kashmir for several years.

Last week, the United Nations released its first report on atrocities committed in Kashmir by India and Pakistan. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the global organization’s high commissioner for human rights, called for an international investigation into reports of sexual violence and torture, sharply criticizing Indian security forces as using excessive force on protesters, including firing blinding pellet guns into crowds.

Within minutes of the report’s release, the Indian government rejected the contents, calling them “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.”

The 2015 alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Peoples Democratic Party created a state government in Jammu and Kashmir to try to bring peace to the region.

The two parties came together after months of negotiations over their different views on key issues, including whether to repeal a law that gives Indian soldiers broad immunity from prosecution in civilian courts, including in cases involving the suspected rape and murder of Kashmiris.

Elections held in 2014 drew record turnouts, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning 25 seats, all in districts with big Hindu populations, and the Peoples Democratic Party winning 28, the most in the Legislative Assembly. At least 44 seats are required for a majority.

But the alliance was always an uncomfortable one, with many Kashmiris characterizing the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to govern with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a betrayal. In the years since the alliance took shape, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become highly polarized along religious lines. The Jammu part of the state is a political base for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu stronghold, while the Kashmir part is a Muslim-majority area.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, a lawmaker in Kashmir, said, “Instead of reconciliation and coming together or narrowing the gap between two regions and two communities, the facts remain that the divide has become deeper.”

Still, the end of the alliance surprised many in India, with some observers saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party had left to skirt responsibility for recent atrocities in Kashmir and that the party’s decision could lead to fresh violence.

Noor Ahmad Baba, a professor of political science at Central University of Kashmir, said the Bharatiya Janata Party might have abandoned the alliance for tactical reasons before elections in 2019, when Mr. Modi will run for re-election.

Free from the alliance, the central government could have broader authority to exert force in Kashmir, he said. That may help to deliver votes from people living in other parts of India, who often view separatist militant groups in Kashmir as being armed and backed by Pakistan.

“New Delhi will push forces to wipe out Kashmiri militants in the woods and sell the killing of militants as its tough stance on separatists,” Mr. Baba said. “In India, the Kashmir problem is not seen through the prism of a political issue, but as a Muslim problem in Hindu India.”

Sameer Yasir reported from Srinagar, and Kai Schultz from New Delhi. Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.

The post Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down appeared first on World The News.

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[party-hard-or-die]

Kashmir Government in Turmoil as Coalition Breaks Down

SRINAGAR, Kashmir — India’s governing party ended an alliance with a powerful regional party in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, leading to the resignation of a top official and plunging the disputed mountainous territory into fresh turmoil over its leadership.

Ram Madhav, the general secretary of the governing party, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said that it was severing a three-year alliance with the top political group in Kashmir, the Muslim-majority Peoples Democratic Party.

“Terrorism, violence and radicalization have risen, and the fundamental rights of the citizens are under danger in the Kashmir Valley,” Mr. Madhav told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that the alliance had not helped to curb a deteriorating security situation in Kashmir. He said power in the area would be passed to the state’s governor.

Shortly after the announcement, Mehbooba Mufti, the top official in Jammu and Kashmir and the head of the Peoples Democratic Party, resigned from her post as chief minister.

Ms. Mufti said that giving control to the governor would enable the Indian central government to exert more influence in Jammu and Kashmir, further alienating locals who were already suspicious of Indian security forces.

“We tried our best for dialogue and reconciliation,” she said at a news conference in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. “Unfortunately, we did not get an appropriate response from the other side.”

Kashmir has been at the center of a decades-long conflict between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, which both claim parts of the Himalayan territory. Three wars over the claims have killed thousands of people.

In recent months, clashes in the area have worsened as protests bring Indian security forces and Kashmiris into conflict almost every day.

A cease-fire announced by the Indian government last month for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan failed to catch hold. And in the past week, at least four civilians have been killed, including Shujaat Bukhari, the editor in chief of Rising Kashmir, an English-language daily, who was gunned down by assailants outside his office. It was the first time a journalist had been murdered in Kashmir for several years.

Last week, the United Nations released its first report on atrocities committed in Kashmir by India and Pakistan. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the global organization’s high commissioner for human rights, called for an international investigation into reports of sexual violence and torture, sharply criticizing Indian security forces as using excessive force on protesters, including firing blinding pellet guns into crowds.

Within minutes of the report’s release, the Indian government rejected the contents, calling them “fallacious, tendentious and motivated.”

The 2015 alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Peoples Democratic Party created a state government in Jammu and Kashmir to try to bring peace to the region.

The two parties came together after months of negotiations over their different views on key issues, including whether to repeal a law that gives Indian soldiers broad immunity from prosecution in civilian courts, including in cases involving the suspected rape and murder of Kashmiris.

Elections held in 2014 drew record turnouts, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning 25 seats, all in districts with big Hindu populations, and the Peoples Democratic Party winning 28, the most in the Legislative Assembly. At least 44 seats are required for a majority.

But the alliance was always an uncomfortable one, with many Kashmiris characterizing the Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to govern with the Bharatiya Janata Party as a betrayal. In the years since the alliance took shape, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has become highly polarized along religious lines. The Jammu part of the state is a political base for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu stronghold, while the Kashmir part is a Muslim-majority area.

Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, a lawmaker in Kashmir, said, “Instead of reconciliation and coming together or narrowing the gap between two regions and two communities, the facts remain that the divide has become deeper.”

Still, the end of the alliance surprised many in India, with some observers saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party had left to skirt responsibility for recent atrocities in Kashmir and that the party’s decision could lead to fresh violence.

Noor Ahmad Baba, a professor of political science at Central University of Kashmir, said the Bharatiya Janata Party might have abandoned the alliance for tactical reasons before elections in 2019, when Mr. Modi will run for re-election.

Free from the alliance, the central government could have broader authority to exert force in Kashmir, he said. That may help to deliver votes from people living in other parts of India, who often view separatist militant groups in Kashmir as being armed and backed by Pakistan.

“New Delhi will push forces to wipe out Kashmiri militants in the woods and sell the killing of militants as its tough stance on separatists,” Mr. Baba said. “In India, the Kashmir problem is not seen through the prism of a political issue, but as a Muslim problem in Hindu India.”

Sameer Yasir reported from Srinagar, and Kai Schultz from New Delhi. Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.

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Kashmiri woman challenges state's 'discriminatory' assets law

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Kashmiri woman challenges state's 'discriminatory' assets law

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A woman from India’s Jammu and Kashmir country is challenging a contentious regulation that denies women the proper to personal belongings in the country if she is married to someone from outdoor the kingdom, saying it is discriminatory and violates her citizenship rights.

The petition with the aid of Charu WaliKhanna, a Kashmiri Hindu belonging to the Pandit network, questions the validity of an editorial of the constitution that presents everlasting residents in Kashmir special rights and privileges.

Those who are not permanent citizens do not have the proper to shop for property in Kashmir, paintings for the kingdom authorities or vote in neighborhood elections.

Kashmiri ladies who are everlasting citizens lose the proper to very own belongings within the nation if they marry citizens of different states; their kids also lose they declare over the belongings.

But a Kashmiri man who’s a permanent resident can very own property and bequeath his assets to his kids although he’s married to a lady who isn’t always a permanent resident.

“The regulation is growing a scenario of discrimination and deprivation for Kashmiri women in their personal kingdom,” WaliKhanna said.

“It questions my identity as a Kashmiri and denies me my right as an Indian citizen and an Indian girl,” she advised the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The Supreme Court remaining week requested the critical authorities to respond to the petition on Aug. 14.

WaliKhanna, whose family fled the nation a few decades ago, has visited numerous times for holidays, she said. She appeared into shopping for a domestic there a couple of years returned.

But officers stated she could not due to the fact she isn’t always a permanent resident, and that even if she were capable of showing her Kashmiri ancestry, her marriage to a non-Kashmiri makes her ineligible.

A legal professional herself, WaliKhanna said she determined to report the petition because of the thing, passed by using a presidential order in 1954, runs counter to India’s inheritance legal guidelines giving girls same rights, and the constitutional right to equality.

She is joined in her petition by way of a Kashmiri female who’s a permanent resident and turned into married to a non-resident. Her husband has died, but she is still denied the proper to own belongings.

Only some thousand Kashmiri Hindus, in the main Pandits, nevertheless stay in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Thousands of households fled the many years-lengthy violence, leaving behind their houses and lands.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday defended the legal guidelines of the nation, announcing any trade would now not be perfect.

“As a lawyer and as a lady, I locate it abhorrent that this article nonetheless stands,” WaliKhanna stated.

“And that the nation is the usage of it to deny me the right to buy a home in the land of my ancestors.” NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Cable channel HBO said on Monday that hackers had stolen upcoming programming, and Entertainment Weekly said that the theft covered a script for an unaired episode of the hit delusion show “Game of Thrones.”

HBO, a unit of Time-Warner Inc, declined to touch upon the specific programming stolen within the hack.

“As the maximum of you’ve got likely heard by now, there has been a cyber incident directed at the corporation which has led to some stolen proprietary data, which include a number of our programming,” HBO Chairman Richard Plepler wrote in a message to personnel, which the employer shared with reporters.

The organization declined to comment on reviews that unbroadcast episodes and scripts have been a number of the facts hacked, citing an “ongoing investigation” by means of unspecified cops.

Entertainment Weekly suggested that hackers stole 1.Five terabytes of facts and had already posted online unbroadcast episodes of “Ballers” and “Room 104,” together with “a script or remedy” for subsequent week’s episode of “Game of Thrones.”

Reuters additionally obtained an email on Sunday from a person claiming to have stolen HBO information, consisting of “Game of Thrones.”

The display is now in its 7th season and because of wrap up the subsequent year.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of Tesla dropped three.Five percent on Monday after Chief Executive Elon Musk warned that the electric carmaker would face “manufacturing hell” because it ramps up production of its new mass-marketplace Model 3 sedan.

At a launch occasion on Friday, Musk said clients had made over 1/2 a million strengthen reservations for the Model 3 as he passed over the primary 30 motors to worker shoppers, putting the stage for a major test of Tesla’s approach to end up a profitable electric powered car maker.

Tesla is counting on the Model 3 to assist turn the cash-losing employer right into a worthwhile one and rework it from a gap participant to a heavyweight inside the automobile industry.

Investors already skeptical of Tesla’s aggressive growth goals centered on a caution by way of Musk that early manufacturing might be difficult.

“We’re going to undergo as a minimum six months of manufacturing hell,” Musk advised reporters ahead of the event. He later made comparable feedback on the degree.

Investors may additionally get a concept of the way “production hell” will affect Tesla’s rate of coins burn whilst the organization posts its quarterly consequences on Wednesday. The Palo Alto, California agency has spent over $2 billion in cash to this point this year beforehand of the launch.

Also on Monday, a collection of workers at the Fremont, California manufacturing unit in which the Model 3 is made despatched an open letter to the independent participants Tesla’s board. The employees, who’re seeking to start a union, asked to get entry to company protection plans and statistics on reimbursement.

Tesla’s stock has gained fifty-three percentage in 2017, although it is down from a report high in June.

The $35,000 Model 3 is designed for clean production, with output focused to reach 20,000 in step with month by way of December. Tesla’s ultimate release changed into the luxurious Model X SUV in 2015 which had several manufacturing troubles and a price tag starting around $80,000.

Tesla has promised to reinforce general vehicle manufacturing to 500,000 motors subsequent year, close to six times its 2016 output, a goal that many auto industry experts accept as true with is unrealistic. It bought seventy-six,230 cars an ultimate year.

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Kashmir, Pulwama, and Pakistan: Navigating Islam and Citizenship in India

For segments of the country’s Hindu populace, Muslim loyalty to the country has normally been suspect.

By Aman Madan and Hari Prasad for The Diplomat

April 17, 2019

On February 14 this calendar year, a car or truck bomb struck a convoy of the Indian Central Reserve Police Pressure in Pulwama, Kashmir, declaring virtually 50 life. While considerably of the global news coverage focused on geopolitics, the assault at Pulwama represents but an additional info point in the bigger history of contested Muslim citizenship in India. Indian Muslim responses to the assaults at Pulwama expose a considerably more substantial and more sophisticated method by which Indian Muslims not only mediate their very own citizenship but carve place for on their own within just the nation.

This historical inequity has arguably existed due to the fact the inception of the Indian condition, but the consequences of this phenomenon are more plainly pronounced less than Key Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. In Modi’s India, Muslims are known as on to verify their fealty to India. In some strategies, their existence hinges on proving that they are not faithful to India’s western neighbor, Pakistan. The concern is not so considerably equality, as considerably as it is fairness — Hindus are born and regarded as to be Indian Muslims are born and regarded as to be overseas topics who have to become Indian.

The systematic marginalization of Indian Muslims results in the perpetual ‘performing Muslim,’ a effectiveness that gets to be essential in occasions of geopolitical conflict with Pakistan, India’s historical adversary. Just a person working day following the Pulwama assault, Muslims in Mumbai took to the streets as part of an structured demonstration from Pakistan. As they burned Pakistani flags and effigies of Pakistani Primary Minister Imran Khan, Mumbai’s Muslims not only sought to appease the nationalist need of championing the trigger of the country in moments of crisis, but by means of this overall performance, sought to demonstrate that they way too have been similarly infuriated by Pakistan’s assistance of terror, and hence were being equally Indian. Just a mere three times following the attack in Kashmir, the All India Muslim Unity Entrance printed a memo in which they wrote “there is no place for terrorism inside Islam.” To be obvious, there is nothing at all improper with this kind of a statement, nor is there just about anything mistaken with Indian Muslims expressing their agency in truth, this is urgently demanded. What is problematic, nevertheless, is the nationalist expectation positioned on Indian Muslims to confirm loyalty, without the need of which any declare on “Indian” as a marker of id is prohibited.

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Yet another example that is equally revealing is the India Nowadays posting titled “Agra Muslims aid ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, condemn Mehbooba Mufti’s opinions.” Pursuing the attacks at Pulwama, the federal government moved to ban the Kashmir-based Islamist social firm Jamaat-e-Islami, prompting solid criticism and outcry from the previous main minister of the condition, Mehbooba Mufti Omar Abdullah, also a former chief minister of the contested state and Muslim Kashmiris, who perspective the banned group as a social and cultural group as opposed to an outfit that engages in militancy.

The strategic use of Agra Muslims as opposed to the Muslim main minister’s criticism of the Modi governing administration not only propagates the duality of “good Muslim” and “bad Muslim,” but further more cements the idea that the “good Muslim” is one who not only acquiesces to the ruling regime, but enthusiastically champions it, positioning his aspirational nationhood more than his religion. The opposition of Agra Muslims to the previous main minister’s opinions also reveals the degree to which Indian Muslims have internalized proper-wing nationalist rhetoric. Agra-based mostly social activist Amir Qureshi, himself a Muslim, chastised the minister for supporting so-known as “anti-nationals,” a loaded phrase now assigned to those people who both query the ruling regime or act in methods that are deemed anti-Hindu.

Just after the Pulwama attack, documented instances of discrimination and assault on Kashmiris came to the forefront. Regardless of common condemnation from India’s liberal elites, Modi took virtually 10 times to condemn violence versus Kashmiris residing in India, leading a lot of to believe that that the prime minister was not anxious with blocking violence against primarily Muslim Kashmiris. The failure to directly condemn violence was read as element of a much larger political technique which involves staying silent in the experience of communal violence in purchase to satiate the country’s Hindu correct wing. In some perception then, today’s political climate generates a perception of urgency inside of Muslim consciousness to eagerly confirm to the nation that they much too are element of the nationwide material.

For segments of the country’s Hindu populace, Muslim loyalty to the nation has often been suspect. Among the appropriate-wing Hindus, the dominant check out retains that genuine inhabitants of the subcontinent are Hindus (and followers of other religions birthed in India these as Sikhs and Buddhists). Via this schematization, religious identities like Christianity and Islam come to be ‘foreign’. With regard to Islam, the motion for Pakistan and the subsequent partition of British India embedded inside of the Hindu imaginary that the Indian Muslim subject was ‘secretly’ loyal to Pakistan. The notion of India’s Muslims as a fifth column carries on to this day as accusations and conspiracies regarding the demographic groups’ assistance for every little thing from the Pakistani cricket crew to Pakistan as a principle — and so for an Islamic Republic — flow into among appropriate-wing Hindus, and increasingly between the mainstream Hindu population.

This psycho-social anxiety positioned on India’s Muslims has in some means been exacerbated by Pakistani elites, who typically make use of the cure of Indian Muslims as talking points from the Indian point out. Pakistani leaders from Pervez Musharraf to Imran Khan often endeavor to criticize India’s cure of minorities and act as the spokespeople for India’s Muslims, frequently for domestic reasons of legitimizing a Sunni Muslim hegemony co-opted by the country’s deep condition. A symbiotic hijacking of the Indian Muslim voice by proper-wing Indian Hindus and Pakistani elites arrives at the cost of Indian Muslims, who come across them selves trapped amongst ideal-wing Hindu chastisement and insincere displays of solidarity by fellow coreligionists, placing supplemental strain on Indian Muslims to ‘perform’ rituals of loyalty to the nation.

The function of this write-up is not to suggest that Indian Muslims are insincere in their condemnation of terrorism or even of Pakistan. What is important to glean from our argument is the visceral result majoritarianism typically, and significantly, Hindu nationalism specially, has on Muslim habits, and a lot more broadly, Muslim promises on Indian citizenship. Whilst Muslim citizenship in submit-colonial India has usually been a traditionally tumultuous difficulty, the newfound prominence of the proper-wing BJP and its extrajudicial allies in the Sangh Parivar insert a layer of urgency on the Indian Muslim — fueled in element by panic ­— to establish his appropriate to belong in the nation.

As the Modi-led government prepares for a contentious election, it will depend on a tried out and tested coverage of communal politics, an intrinsic part of which is demanding citizenship checks for Muslims and other minorities. A important portion of north India’s Hindu center course strongly supports the ruling government, so a turn to communal politics is a sound strategy in light-weight of floundering economic guidelines. Undoubtedly statements of citizenship by Indian Muslims have constantly been considered tenuous by a phase of India’s Hindu populace, but as a new and increasingly horrifying period dawns in democratic India, there is an urgent will need to protect Indian democracy and with it, the aspirational secularism it developed. In light-weight of previously contested statements to Muslim citizenship, secular activists, spiritual leaders, and policymakers ought to not only enthusiastically champion the trigger of inclusivity, but should really not hope — or demand from customers — performative displays of nationalism from a population that continues to be institutionally marginalized throughout all fronts. Anticipating as these would be catastrophic for a democratic polity with growing illiberal tendencies.

Aman Madan is an independent observer of politics on the Indian Subcontinent. He was formerly a journalist for the Pultizer Centre for Disaster Reporting. Hari Prasad is an unbiased researcher of Middle East and South Asian politics and security.

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JK parties make special status key poll issue

Srinagar, Nationwide stability and corruption have emerged as some of the principal problems in the Lok Sabha elections but regional get-togethers in Jammu and Kashmir have stored safety of the state’s particular standing under the Structure of India as their critical poll plank.

The Countrywide Meeting, its arch rival Peoples Democratic Bash (PDP) and new entrant People’s Convention led by Sajad Gani Lone have been speaking about protection of Articles or blog posts 35A and 370 of the Structure in their rallies in the operate-up to the polling which is scheduled to start off on April 11, latching on to BJP main Amit Shah’s remarks that Posting 35A will be repealed by 2020.

“Protecting the exclusive standing of Jammu and Kashmir as confirmed in the Constitution of the country, is 1 of the key cornerstones of our campaign for these elections,” Nationwide Convention vice president Omar Abdullah told PTI.

The previous main minister dismissed tips that six Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir have been numerically insignificant in case the particular provision similar to the state ended up to be scrapped via a laws in Parliament.

“It is not a numerical argument, it is an argument centered on information. Certainly we only have 6 seats but Jammu and Kashmir bats considerably over its rankings normally. The smallest detail in Jammu and Kashmir gets worldwide news, very large issues in other states are generally overlooked. So, I assume 6 members in Parliament can do a lot more than 60 from one more point out,” he claimed.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is using the distinctive status of the state and the excitement bordering it to stage a comeback following her party’s coalition govt with the BJP fell past yr.

She has adopted a much more hardline posture than any of the regional events on the challenges related to Article 35A and Post 370.

“The partnership among our point out and the nation is based mostly on our distinctive constitutional situation that legitimises it. If we remove, what legalises this romance, it will switch into an occupation and colonisation,” she explained.

Mehbooba, even though reacting to Shah’s remarks on Article 35A, mentioned the relation of Jammu and Kashmir with India will stop if the terms and problems of state’s accession to the Union had been changed.

“2020 will also be a deadline from Jammu and Kashmir to the nation. If you remove these terms and situations on which Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India, our relation with the nation will also finish,” the previous chief minister, who is contesting from Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, reported.

Lone, who was a minister in the PDP-led coalition governing administration in the state from the BJP quota, has also vowed to defend the state’s special status.

“Article 35A is a matter of faith and dignity for the men and women of the J&K by means of which the Constitution of India assures to safeguard the exclusive identity and unique standing of Jammu & Kashmir. In matters of satisfaction and identification, earnings and decline is immaterial. Can a state permit a overseas nation to undermine its sovereignty and nationwide pleasure just for the sake of some financial gains,” Lone asked.

He mentioned Jammu and Kashmir was not the only condition with specific residency rules.

“All northeastern states and even Himachal Pradesh have legal guidelines prohibiting non-locals from buying land. Why are politicians in New Delhi only from J&K’s particular standing? What are their views on Art 371-A to 371-K which ensure provisions like 370 as applicable to the northeastern states,” he mentioned.

Whilst Congress leaders in their marketing campaign have focussed extra on difficulties dominating the discourse at countrywide stage, the neighborhood leaders have designed it a position to elevate the issue of shielding the specific position in electioneering in the valley.

“No electrical power in the globe can revoke Write-up 370 and Posting 35-A,” condition Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who is contesting from the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, claimed.   PTI

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