#The Kashmir Files quotes

[egsoon]

The Kashmir Files (2022)

The Kashmir Files (2022) “شاهد الآن The Kashmir Files (2022) “، هو عمل درامي يجمع بين الإثارة والتشويق، حيث يروي قصة شخصية رئيسية تسعى لتحقيق أحلامها رغم التحديات. يتميز بقصته الجذابة وأداء الممثلين المميز، ما يجعله وجهة مثالية لمحبي الدراما. يمكن مشاهدة المسلسل عبر السيرفرات المختلفة، مما يسهل على المشاهدين متابعة The Kashmir Files (2022) في أي وقت. Continue reading The Kashmir Files (2022)

[all-about-news24x7]

MeT Predicts Warmer Days In J&K

KO File Photo Srinagar- Amid prediction for mainly dry weather and warmer days, night temperature in Jammu and Kashmir continued to hover below normal despite an increase on Monday. Quoting a meteorological department official, news agency GNS reports that Srinagar recorded a low of 11.3°C against 9.8°C on the previous night and it was below normal by 2.1°C for the summer capital. Qazigund, he…

[janetsnakehole02]

so someone wrote the following tags on this post of mine (a story about my great grandmother and colonialism) and the tags have nothing to do with the original goal of the post. but since i was singled out for some reason, i’ll respond.

i’m sorry to break it to you but hinduphobia IS real. last navratri bangladeshi hindus had their temples demolished and their houses burned down. it is estimated that in 30 years there will be no more hindus left in bangladesh. 

and there WAS a hindu genocide in kashmir. regardless of whether you’re left or right wing it should not be hard to discern that the exodus of kashmiri pandits in january 1990 was caused by a threat of genocide. they were told to flee, convert, or die. and so callously putting hindu genocide under quotes erases their trauma and experience. that’s why i defended the kashmir files. it did what it set out to do - give a voice to the kashmiri pandits once and for all. if you want to talk about the politics of the movie then find someone else. i don’t know much about indian politics to talk about it so i’d rather not say anything than say something damagingly ignorant, but i do know enough about kashmiri pandits and have seen enough of their survivor accounts to say that it was very clear that this was ethnic cleansing. my beauty parlor aunty herself is a refugee.

LASTLY as someone who has herself experienced bullying because of her hindu identity in america, it is incredibly ignorant, dare i say privileged, of you to say that hinduphobia is not a “genuine phenomenon.” i was made fun of for my bindi and was taunted by a classmate to eat beef. one time a white girl in preschool refused to play with me because i was both brown skinned and hindu. and there was a fucking GANG in jersey in the 1970′s called the dotbusters that SPECIFICALLY TARGETED HINDU WOMEN. please do not forget that even if hindus are a majority in india, they are ethnic, racial, and religious minorities in the rest of the world. so yes, hinduphobia is real. damn i wish it weren’t. but it is. and it is a desi issue. so i WILL tag this as hinduphobia AND desiblr. that’s all

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

House Sets Impeachment Vote to Charge Trump With Incitement (NYT) House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday for his role in inflaming a mob that attacked the Capitol, scheduling a Wednesday vote to charge the president with “inciting violence against the government of the United States” if Vice President Mike Pence refused to strip him of power first. As the impeachment drive proceeded, federal law enforcement authorities accelerated efforts to fortify the Capitol ahead of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The authorities announced plans to deploy up to 15,000 National Guard troops and set up a multilayered buffer zone with checkpoints around the building by Wednesday, just as lawmakers are to debate and vote on impeaching Mr. Trump. Federal authorities also said they were bracing for a wave of armed protests in all 50 state capitals and Washington in the days leading up to the inauguration.

National Guard inauguration deployment (Military Times) The Defense Department has authorized as many as 15,000 troops to be deployed to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. National Guard Bureau chief Gen. Daniel Hokanson said that there will initially be a deployment of 10,000 troops—an increase of about 4,000 from those in D.C. now. That figure is twice the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. The general declined to specify whether the guardsmen will be armed, stating that “we will work very closely with the federal agency, the FBI and law enforcement to determine if there is a need for that.” A D.C. National Guard spokesman told Military Times on Sunday that while some troops came to town with their weapons, carrying them on the streets had not yet been authorized.

Companies cutting off Trump and GOP (Yahoo Finance) Marriott and Blue Cross Blue Shield are just a few of the companies that are halting donations to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Joe Biden as president, while other businesses move to cut ties with President Trump directly. The actions come on the heels of Friday’s permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s Twitter account and Amazon’s move to cut off social media platform Parler’s servers. (NYT) The backlash is part of a broader shunning of Mr. Trump and his allies unfolding in the wake of the assault on the Capitol. Schools stripped the president of honorary degrees, some prominent Republicans threatened to leave the party and the New York State Bar Association announced it had begun investigating Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, which could lead to his removal from the group. And the P.G.A. of America announced it would strip Mr. Trump’s New Jersey golf club of a major tournament.

Virus deaths surging in California, now top 30,000 (AP) The coronavirus death toll in California reached 30,000 on Monday, another staggering milestone as the nation’s most populous state endures the worst surge of the nearly yearlong pandemic. Newly confirmed infections are rising at a dizzying rate of more than a quarter-million a week and during the weekend a record 1,163 deaths were reported. Los Angeles County is one of the epicenters and health officials there are telling residents to wear a mask even when at home if they go outside regularly and live with someone elderly or otherwise at high risk. California has deployed 88 refrigerated trailers to use as makeshift morgues mostly in hard-hit Southern California, where traditional storage space is dwindling.

A never-ending scandal (Bloomberg) Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35, the fighter jet already being flown by the U.S. and eight allies, remains marred by 871 software and hardware deficiencies that could undercut readiness, missions or maintenance, according to the Pentagon’s testing office. The Defense Department’s costliest weapons system “continues to carry a large number of deficiencies, many of which were identified prior to” the development and demonstration phase, which ended in April 2018 with 941 flaws, Robert Behler, the director of operational testing, said in a new assessment obtained by Bloomberg News in advance of its publication.

Pompeo Returns Cuba to Terrorism Sponsor List (NYT) The State Department designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism on Monday in a last-minute foreign policy stroke that will complicate the incoming Biden administration’s plans to restore friendlier relations with Havana. In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited Cuba’s hosting of 10 Colombian rebel leaders, along with a handful of American fugitives wanted for crimes committed in the 1970s, and Cuba’s support for the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. Mr. Pompeo said the action sent the message that “the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of U.S. justice.” The action, announced with just days remaining in the Trump administration, reverses a step taken in 2015 after President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba, calling its decades of political and economic isolation a relic of the Cold War.

Brexit sandwich problems (BBC) A Dutch TV network has filmed border officials confiscating ham sandwiches and other foods from drivers arriving in the Netherlands from the UK, under post-Brexit rules. Under EU rules, travellers from outside the bloc are banned from bringing in meat and dairy products. The rules appeared to bemuse one driver. “Since Brexit, you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff,” a Dutch border official told the driver in footage broadcast by TV network NPO 1. In one scene, a border official asked the driver whether several of his tin-foil wrapped sandwiches had meat in them. When the driver said they did, the border official said: “Okay, so we take them all.” Surprised, the driver then asked the officials if he could keep the bread, to which one replied: “No, everything will be confiscated—welcome to the Brexit, sir. I’m sorry.”

Merkel sees coronavirus lockdown until early April: Bild (Reuters) Chancellor Angela Merkel has told lawmakers in her conservative party that she expects a lockdown in Germany to curb the spread of the coronavirus to last until the start of April, top-selling Bild daily cited participants as the meeting as saying. “If we don’t manage to stop this British virus, then we will have 10 times the number of cases by Easter. We need eight to 10 more weeks of tough measures,” Bild quoted Merkel as saying.

‘A Stalin with double meat’ (Foreign Policy) A Moscow kebab shop named after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin has closed after just 24 hours of opening after a string of complaints from angry residents. In its brief existence Stalin Doner served items like “Stalin with double meat” and “Beria with tkemali sauce”—a reference to Stalin’s notorious secret police chief. The shop’s owner, Stanislav Voltman, was interviewed by police for three hours following complaints. “They asked me if my head was screwed on straight,” Voltman told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “It’s not like I had Hitler as the face of my brand,” Voltman said. Despite public outcry about the kebabs, support for Stalin is on the rise in Russia. A Levada Center poll in 2019 found that 70 percent of Russians think Stalin played a completely or relatively positive role in the life of the country.

In Kashmir, Hopes Wither (NYT) Kashmir, the craggily beautiful region in the shadow of the Himalayas long caught between India and Pakistan, has fallen into a state of suspended animation. Schools are closed. Lockdowns have been imposed, lifted and then reimposed. Once a hub for both Western and Indian tourists, Kashmir has been reeling for more than a year. First, India brought in security forces to clamp down on the region. Then the coronavirus struck. The streets are full of soldiers. Military bunkers, removed years ago, are back, and at many places cleave the road. On highways, soldiers stop passenger vehicles and drag commuters out to check their identity cards. Conflict in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region, has festered for decades. And an armed uprising has long sought self-rule. Tens of thousands of rebels, civilians and security forces have died since 1990. India and Pakistan have gone to war twice over the territory, which is split between them but claimed by both in its entirety. Now, as India flexes its power over the region, to even call Kashmir a disputed region is a crime—sedition, according to Indian officials. Many say that the political paralysis is the worst it has ever been in Kashmir’s 30 years of conflict, and that people have been choked into submission.

India’s top court suspends implementation of new farm laws (AP) India’s top court on Tuesday temporarily put on hold the implementation of new agricultural laws and ordered the formation of an independent committee of experts to negotiate with farmers who have been protesting against the legislation. The Supreme Court’s ruling came a day after it heard petitions filed by the farmers challenging the controversial legislation. The court said that the laws were passed without enough consultation, and that it was disappointed with the way talks were proceeding between representatives of the government and farmer leaders. Tens of thousands of farmers protesting against the legislation have been blocking half a dozen major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi for more than 45 days. Farmers say they won’t leave until the government repeals the laws. They say the legislation passed by Parliament in September will lead to the cartelization and commercialization of agriculture, make farmers vulnerable to corporate greed and devastate their earnings. The government insists the laws will benefit farmers and says they will enable farmers to market their produce and boost production through private investment.

First came political crimes. Now, a digital crackdown descends on Hong Kong. (Washington Post) HONG KONG—The police officers who came to take away Owen Chow on national security grounds last week left little to chance. Determined to find his phones, they had prepared a list of mobile numbers registered to his name, even one he used exclusively for banking, said the 23-year-old Hong Kong activist. Officers called each number in succession, the vibrations revealing the locations of three iPhones around his apartment. By the end of their operation, police had amassed more than 200 devices from Chow and 52 others held for alleged political crimes that day, according to those arrested, as well as laptops from spouses who are not politically active and were not detained. The digital sweep showed how Hong Kong authorities are wielding new powers under the national security law, introduced last summer, far more widely than the city’s leader promised. Since the Jan. 6 raids, authorities have blocked at least one website, according to the site’s owner and local media reports, raising concerns that Hong Kong is headed for broader digital surveillance and censorship akin to that in mainland China. Hong Kong police have begun sending devices seized from arrested people to mainland China, where authorities have sophisticated data-extraction technology, and are using the information gleaned from those devices to assist in investigations, according to two people familiar with the arrangement who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their safety.

26 missing, at least 13 dead in Indonesia landslides (AP) Rescuers are searching for 26 people still missing after two landslides hit a village in Indonesia’s West Java province over the weekend, officials said Tuesday. At least 13 people were killed and 29 others injured in the landslides that were triggered by heavy rain on Sunday in Cihanjuang, a village in West Java’s Sumedang district. Some of the victims were rescuers from the first landslide.

Leading human rights group calls Israel an ‘apartheid’ state (AP) A leading Israeli human rights group has begun describing both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single “apartheid” regime, using an explosive term that the country’s leaders and their supporters vehemently reject. In a report released Tuesday, B’Tselem says that while Palestinians live under different forms of Israeli control in the occupied West Bank, blockaded Gaza, annexed east Jerusalem and within Israel itself, they have fewer rights than Jews in the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. “One of the key points in our analysis is that this is a single geopolitical area ruled by one government,” said B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad. “This is not democracy plus occupation. This is apartheid between the river and the sea.” That a respected Israeli organization is adopting a term long seen as taboo even by many critics of Israel points to a broader shift in the debate as its half-century occupation of war-won lands drags on and hopes for a two-state solution fade.

Uganda bans social media ahead of presidential election (Reuters) Uganda banned social media on Tuesday, two days ahead of a presidential election pitting Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, against opposition frontrunner Bobi Wine, a popular singer. Internet monitor NetBlocks said its data showed that Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Skype, Snapchat, Viber and Google Play Store were among a lengthy list of sites unavailable via Uganda’s main cell network operators. Campaigning ahead of the vote has been marred by brutal crackdowns on opposition rallies, which the authorities say break COVID-19 curbs on large gatherings. Rights groups say the restrictions are a pretext for muzzling the opposition. At 38, Wine is half the age of President Yoweri Museveni and has attracted a large following among young people in a nation where 80% of the population are under 30, rattling the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

Coronavirus-spurred changes to global workforce to be permanent (Reuters) Sweeping changes to the global labour market caused by the coronavirus pandemic will likely be permanent, policy makers said on Tuesday, as some industries collapse, others flourish and workers stay home. The pandemic, which has so far infected at least 90.5 million people and killed around 1.9 worldwide, has up-ended industries and workers in almost every country in the world as tough lockdowns were imposed. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that the impact of huge job losses worldwide is creating a fiscal gap that threatens to increase inequality between richer and poorer countries. The ILO estimated that global labour income declined by 10.7 per cent, or $3.5 trillion, in the first three quarters of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019, excluding government income support. India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the pandemic had created an “accidental challenge” under which the government delivered food on a regular basis to 800 million people and provided sustained business funds. Philippines central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said it was clear some industries will not survive, others will not be as dynamic as before, and yet others will be boosted by the massive changes. The need for a more nimble and innovative approach to education will remain long after the pandemic ends, said Helen Fulson, Chief Product Officer at educational publisher Twinkl. “How many children today will be doing jobs that currently don’t exist?’ she said at Reuters Next on Monday. “We don’t know how to train for these jobs.”

[znewstech]

Kaali poster row: Vivek Agnihotri takes a dig at filmmaker Leena Manimekalai for calling Goddess Kaali queer | Hindi Movie News

Kaali poster row: Vivek Agnihotri takes a dig at filmmaker Leena Manimekalai for calling Goddess Kaali queer | Hindi Movie News

‘The Kashmir Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri seemingly took a dig at filmmaker Leena Manimekalai, for her comments about the Goddess Kaali. The independent filmmaker is courting controversy for depicting the goddess smoking a cigarette. Sharing Leena’s quote from an interview to a publication in which she called Kaali a ‘queer’ and ‘free spirit’, Agnihotri in turn called the director a ‘crazy…

[nasiknews]

More Central Forces Being Deployed In Kashmir: Report

More Central Forces Being Deployed In Kashmir: Report

KO File Photo New Delhi- The government of India has decided to deploy additional central forces in Kashmir Valley following a spurt in militant attacks, especially after the killing of a Kashmiri Pandit employee in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district last week, reports said Thursday. Quoting sources, New Delhi based IANS reported that around 15,000 additional para-military force personnel will be…

[breakingnewsstorytoday]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lauded “The Kashmir Files”, a movie focusing on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, for “unearthing the truth”. The PM also came down heavily on those criticising it saying they are part of the “eco-system” around and don’t do justice to the self-espoused concept of freedom of expression.

The movie has been made tax-free by eight BJP-ruled States — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana.

Written and directed by Vivek  Agnihotri, the film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in the 1990. Starring Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others, the movie has stirred a running debate on the Kashmiri Pundits ouster from the valley. Many in the social media has demanded a probe into the what they called “ethnic cleansing”.

Modi, who was addressing the Parliamentary party meeting first time after BJP’s thumping election victory in four of the five State Assembly elections, praised the film saying “truth should be unearthed”.

A day before, director of the film Agnihotri along with the cast of the film met Modi at the latter’s residence.

The Prime Minister strongly hit out at those who he said were “criticising the film” and blamed it on what he said was the  “eco-system” around, saying liberal voices are not doing justice to the concept of  freedom of expression.

Modi said “no one could do a film on the Emergency or the partition of India. There is no authentic film ...now a film on Kashmir and people are creating ‘hangama’ …the flag bearers of freedom of expression discrediting the film…”

“Truth should be placed before the people…critics could make their own film if they don’t like this,” he was quoted as saying.

[eagle-eyez]

Just two years ago, under our present Central government, Parliament had reported record-breaking productivity. The first Parliament session after the 2019 elections comprised 281 hours in all, in which 36 important bills were discussed and passed.

These included the repealing of Article 370, the triple talaq bill, the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill, among others. This was a new record for the maximum number of bills passed in one session in 67 years. There were several days when Parliament functioned right up to midnight or beyond.

With this session, the government had clearly tried setting a dynamic parliamentary agenda; it was committed to optimising parliamentary efficacy.

Opposition’s obsessive 'Khela Hobe' mindset

If two years later, Parliament has faced endless disruptions over the last three weeks leading to one of the most unproductive sessions, the blame squarely lies upon the Opposition’s ‘khela hobe’ mindset.

There is no doubt anymore about ‘khela hobe’ being a veiled messaging for violence and anarchy. While the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has presided over the worst crimes against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters in Bengal, it seems that the TMC MPs were clearly asked to extend the mindset inside Parliament.

Hence, when TMC MP Santanu Sen snatched away papers from IT Minister Ashwini Vaishaw even as he was making a statement on the Pegasus row, the attack was clearly premeditated.

In fact, exuding anarchy and snatching papers has been an old TMC habit; Derek O Brien having demonstrated it at least twice before inside Parliament, including once under the UPA government when the bill for the creation of Telangana state was introduced.

The Congress itself has been pursuing a milder form of 'khela hobe'; the most glaring example being the Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi flying paper planes inside Parliament in January 2019, when the then Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, was speaking. Rahul Gandhi was himself seen winking during the Minister’s response on the Rafale debate.

Hence, disrupting Parliament this time has been a pre-decided 'khela hobe’ strategy.

Pegasus Enquiry

In the Indian context, the information available on Pegasus is flimsy and inadequate to initiate a formal investigation. Moreover, the MoS Defence, Ajay Bhatt, has explicitly stated in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that the Ministry of Defence has had no transaction with NSO Technologies.

This should firmly put the onus on individuals who suspect snooping to come forth and file an FIR. This, in fact, was also advised by the Supreme Court to the petitioner who had approached the court with the plea for a court-monitored enquiry.

What is it that stops the likes of Rahul Gandhi or MK Venu to file an FIR with the cybercrime cell?

No equivalence with Arun Jaitley’s past statement

The Opposition is gleefully quoting Arun Jaitley, out of context, in order to justify their anarchy inside Parliament. This is what Arun Jaitley had said on 26 August, 2012: “There are occasions when an obstruction in Parliament brings greater benefits to the country… Our strategy does not permit us to allow the government to use Parliament (for debate) without being held accountable… we do not want to give the government an escape route through debate.”

It is worth reminding at this point that Arun Jaitley’s comment was in the context of three of the biggest scams that India has witnessed — the CWG scam, coal scam and the 2G scam, on which the then government was repeatedly stonewalling discussion. As against that, Pegasus, at least based upon the information available so far, is largely a vague speculation. To use this issue to thwart discussion on all relevant issues affecting the common man is extremely irresponsible.

Today, the brazen hypocrisy of the Opposition stands exposed: during the peak of the COVID-19 wave, they were gunning for an emergency session of Parliament. Now when they had the opportunity to raise relevant issues, they squandered it away, inflicting a loss of nearly Rs 150 crore on the government.

The Way Ahead

The government would want all bills to be passed after adequate discussion and inputs. This is a government on the move that can’t be held hostage to the Opposition’s destructive antics. Hence important bills like Justice Juvenile Bill, Inland Vessels Bills and The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021, among others, had to be passed, notwithstanding the opposition drama.

It is sad that these bills were deprived of qualitative inputs that would have potentially emerged had the Opposition been better behaved. Now the onus is upon the Opposition to behave well in the next session of Parliament and press for amendments, if any, in the bills already passed.

The writer is an author and a BJP spokesperson. Views expressed are personal

from Firstpost Politics Latest News https://ift.tt/2VyLKW1

[all-about-news24x7]

MeT Predicts More Rains As Mercury Drops Below Normal In J&K

[] A man rows a boat in Dal Lake amid rainfall in Srinagar. KO file photo by Abid Bhat Srinagar- Weather department on Friday forecast “fairly widespread to widespread intermittent light to moderate rain, thunder and lightning with possibility of hailstorm and gusty winds” during next 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir. Quoting a meteorological department official, news agency GNS reported that…

[filmystarr]

Asif Basra's Death: Vivek Agnihotri Says Late Actor Was A Bit Bitter About Bollywood  Actor Asif Basra known for films like Kai Po Che!, Krrish 3, Jab We Met and web series like Paatal Lok, was found dead in a private guest house in McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, on Thursday (November 12, 2020). His untimely demise came as a shocker to his colleagues and fans. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri who teamed up with the late actor in the 2019 film Tashkent Files, reacted to the news of his death while speaking with a leading tabloid. Vivek Agnihotri Was Planning To Cast Asif Basra In His Upcoming Film The director-producer revealed that he was going to cast Asif in his upcoming film Kashmir Files, and was quoted as saying by Times of India, "But destiny had other plans." Vivek who also directed Basra in his thriller TV show Saturday Suspense, revealed that the news of Basra's death is yet to sink in. "I am in shock and it is yet to sink in that he's no more. I last met him when we had a party to celebrate the completion of the 100-day run of Tashkent Files. We had a blast. He was a personal friend," he was quoted as saying. Vivek Says Asif Was Bitter About Bollywood The filmmaker said, "I found him quite fine when he did Tashkent Files, he was a bit bitter about Bollywood but then I guess many of us are, even I am." Elaborating further, he continued, "Well, I have nothing sensational to reveal here. We simply used to talk about how we don't take good actors seriously in our industry. He used to say yahan ya to phir star hota hai ya everybody else hota hai. Supporting actors are not supported. He had issues about that," and added, "But that's true. I agreed with him." Vivek Agnihotri On Why He Has A Problem With The Star System "Stars are allowed to waste money to the tune of 60-70 per cent of a film's budget. Someone should research this and see- so many film with stars in the lead are so pathetic- no content, star kuch bhi bol raha hai, kuch bhi pehan raha hai. And why is this being tolerated? Because people can be fooled with PR campaigns and absolute lies. I have worked with stars who smoke and drink but they paint an image in public that they are teetotallers. Time is not spent on craft and talent is not respected. And let me tell you I am not bitter per se. Mere se koi bhi kaam karta hai main wahi baat karta hoon that how we can make our film industry better. So I can't really say whether Asif was indeed bitter or not, but he wasn't talking about great experiences in the industry," the filmmaker told the tabloid.

[srinagarkashmir]

Kashmiri in New Delhi faces Hatred beaten by landlady “You are a terrorist, you spread terrorism”: Kashmiri student alleges harassment in Delhi A Kashmiri woman living in New Delhi has alleged that she was called a terrorist by her landlady during an argument over a rent dispute over the apartment in south Delhi’s East of Kailash neighbourhood. The woman has also alleged that the landlady trespassed into and vandalised her apartment in her absence. The 22-year-old woman from Srinagar, Noor Bhat, told , over the phone from New Delhi, that it was the second time in a month that she was harassed. “Last month, the landlady sent a man to harass us,” she said. “We were harassed by an elderly man who also tampered with our [electricity] metre. We had filed a complaint against him in the police station [but] the man was elderly and had sought forgiveness, so we forgave him.” Ms. Noor, who recently graduated from the Amity University and lives with her sister, also alleged that the landlady had barged into her flat in her absence and took out her furniture and other belongings, including her passport and clothes. “I was at my cousin’s place in Kalkaji at that time,” she said, perceivably distubed. “When we reached home we found that the door had been broken.” The landlady, according to Ms. Noor, had come with a police constable and an unknown male. “We told her you are our landlady, we would speak with you only. Send this man away first,” Ms. Noor said, adding that this had agitated the landlady who, then, allegedly resorted to racial, political and ethnic slurs. “You are a terrorist, you spread terrorism. Your father is a terrorist. Mulle Kashmiri,” Ms. Noor quoted the landlady having shouted at her. The landlady, according to Ms. Noor, also grabbed her by her shoulder and inflicted injuries on her body and pulled her by her hair. “I was deeply hurt by this behaviour,” she also told Clarion India, alleging, “It looked like a hate crime.” The Delhi Police has now registered a case under sections 448, 380, 457, 323, and 509 of Indian Penal Code on the complaint made by the Ms. Noor. The landlady also filed a written complaint. #kashmir #srinagar__kashmir https://www.instagram.com/p/CGXI4NNFveP/?igshid=pfpfjsccs4e4

[xtruss]

ANALYSIS SECURITY

LAC Standoff: Indian Options Are 'Bad, To Worse To Downright Ugly'

A paper by two US strategic affairs experts says that if such a fait accompli like China has presented India in Ladakh is not quickly reversed or resisted, it becomes more difficult to do so over time. India’s options to vacate the occupation of large portions of its territory by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, vary from ‘bad, to worse to downright ugly”, claim two US strategic affairs experts.

— By Rahul Bedi | September 18, 2020 | TheWire.In

Army trucks move towards Ladakh amid LAC border tension, at Manali-Leh highway in Kullu, Friday, July 31, 2020. Photo: PTI

Chandigarh: India’s options to vacate the occupation of large portions of its territory by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, vary from ‘bad, to worse to downright ugly”, claim two US strategic affairs experts.

According to a paper recently authored for the MIT Centre for International Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts jointly by assistant professors Vipin Narang of MIT and Christopher Clary of Albany University in New York state, this ominous triumvirate of choices India faces to reverse the territorial fait accompli presented by China, are ‘difficult to achieve in practice’.

Their paper cautions that “the best time to resist a (territorial) fait accompli is before it is fully completed’. To support their thesis, they quote Dan Altman of the US’s Georgia State University who focuses on issues of international security and territorial conquest, that if such a fait accompli like China has presented India in Ladakh is not quickly reversed or resisted, it becomes more difficult to do so over time.

This is primarily because the aggressor consolidates and fortifies its position, establishing a ‘new normal’, which is exactly what the ground situation in Ladakh is turning out to be, with China ‘using talks to schedule further talks’. And, in the interim it is gaining time to consolidate its defences at tactically important spots, making it even more difficult to be removed or pushed back, argues the analysis entitled ‘India’s Pangong pickle: New Delhi’s options after its clash with China’.

Of the 59 land grabs around the world where the aggressor held territory at the end of a militarised international dispute, for instance, the MIT paper states that Altman finds 47 where the attacker or antagonist has continued to hold that territory for the next decade. “Those are enviable odds for China’s ability to retain its new real estate in the Himalayas,” the report portentously declares, in what could be a prescient new reality for India.

File photo of Indian and Chinese soldiers. Photo: PTI

The First Alternative

Meanwhile, the first ‘bad’ alternative open to India, according to the MIT analysis is to try and expel the PLA directly from the territory it occupies. But this would mean amassing additional troops and materiel, that has inbuilt tactical and strategic drawbacks. After all, the paper says, time is on China’s side and the PLA is concomitantly consolidating its new positions presently. This, in turn, would make it more difficult for India to ‘undertake limited co-ordinated offensives at any one point, let alone all of them’, notwithstanding the boasting and braggadocio of some of its military commanders.

Furthermore, Ladakh’s vertiginous terrain benefits the defender. According to Indian Army estimates offensives in the plains impose a 1:3 ratio of three attackers to one defender. In the mountains, this ratio more than triples to 1:10 and, in some instances at higher altitudes, can even go higher, a grim feature the Indian Army horribly experienced in the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan at forbidding Himalayan heights.

The second ‘worse’ possibility for India, according to the report, would be to generate external leverage by seizing Chinese territory elsewhere, and using it as a trade-off to enforce an eventual PLA pullback in Ladakh. And though the Special Frontier Force (SFF) had seized dominating heights on the southern banks of Pangong Tso or lake in late August, senior Indian Army officers believe it was on its own territory and would not be enough to ‘persuade’ the PLA to disengage and withdraw and restore the military status quo ante that prevailed along the LAC in April.

In the maritime domain, however, though the Indian Navy matches the PLA Navy (PLAN) in the Indian Ocean Region, its punitive options in areas like the South China Sea and the Western Pacific are’ extremely limited’, the MIT report cautioned. Besides, ‘the track record of naval pressure achieving results on land is not inspiring” it declared.

Economically, too the bilateral trade balance favours China, especially in the critical pharmaceuticals and electronic microchips sector, both of which are not easily replaceable. And though India may attempt to reduce economic activity with China in the long term, its ability to do so in a time frame that compels withdrawal from Ladakh is limited, if non-existent the report states. And while diplomatically, India may also seek to strengthen its alignments with the Quad-Australia, Japan and the US-such an alliance would not adequately ‘incentivise China into relinquishing valuable territory it now holds’.

The ‘Ugliest’ Option

The third, ‘ugliest’ option according to the report, may leave India with no choice but to accept China’s fait accompli (of seized ground) and anaesthetise the domestic (political) fallout by exploiting the ambiguity around the definition and non-delineation of the LAC, claiming that it is not Indian territory. But the report warns that such a path may “further embolden China to be more aggressive towards India, or seize additional territory”.

It goes on to add that ‘faced with few military, diplomatic or economic options to reverse Beijing’s fait accompli, Delhi may have no choice but to quietly accept them’. However, to prevent future land grabs by China, India will need to mobilise a much larger military force along the border, rendering it, like many Indian analysts too have presaged, akin to the Line of Control with Pakistan in Kashmir. Besides, attempting such deterrence would be challenging during good times, and virtually impossible in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant ruinous economic crisis it has triggered.

India’s Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Mukesh Gupta

The report also points out that at some point, India will have to “determine how it could have allowed China to surprise it and execute faits accomplis in multiple places and what the strategic and operational warning signs were that it missed or failed to act upon”. But for now, India’s immediate task is to ‘stop the bleeding’ which, in its execution, has the inbuilt potential for a long and escalatory standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

In international politics, possession (of territory) is not just nine-tenths of the law; it is the law, the MIT report concludes.

Even though this study presents three possible options that India can pursue to deal with the menacing Chinese threat in the north – and now increasingly in the northeast – the first two choices, the bad and the worse, are somewhat a non sequitur. But above all, Indian military planners and security czars need to wake up and realise that strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory; conversely, tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

[loyallogic]

Punishment against rape in different jurisdictions

This article is written by Aarzoo Guglani, a student at ILS Law College, Pune. This article briefly tries to take an overview of the situation regarding the crime of rape, by discussing various cases from past, statistics and laws in different countries. 

Introduction

“You save yourself or you remain unsaved.” this quote by Alice Sebold, a bestselling author and a member of the National Leadership Council for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), explains a lot about the current justice system. Rape is one of the most heinous crimes of mankind, but are the punishment against rape, around the world, do justice to the nature of the act? This article will discuss various historical instances of rape cases, the prevalent statistics and punishment against rape in not only India but in other countries as well. 

Historical rape instances 

Sexual assault and rape can nearly be found in every document of history, be it in 1995, during World War II by Soviet soldiers admit the genocide in Rwanda or be it during the India Pakistan partition when around 75,000 to 100,000 women were kidnapped and raped. Sharon Block, professor of history at the University of California said: “(many) women are erased (from history)”, which clearly means that though many assaults in the past were protested, still many remain erased rather than not accounted for, at all. 

With the understanding of the fact that no list can comprehend the number of rape cases which raised questions and changed the history, but here are some to start with: 

The rape of Recy Taylor, this case is counted under the cases which changed the history”. Recy Tylor, a 24-year-old black woman from Abbeville, Alabama, in 1944, while walking from the church was abducted and was gang-raped. Later, even though one of the six men confessed his crime, the two white juries refused to indict the accused. This instance in history is now remembered as a galvanizing moment for the civil rights movement. Rosa Park later was sent for the investigation of the case and a Committee was established for the Equal Justice for Mrs Recy Taylor. After six decades of the incident, in 2011 the Alabama State Legislature officially apologised to Tylor for its lack of precautions.

The rape of Joan Little: Joan Little was a black prisoner in the Beaufort County jail, North California in 1974 during the Anti-slavery movement, in America. She was attacked and raped by the white jailer, Clarence Alligood. Joan in order to save her life, herself attacked the jailor with an ice pick, leading to his death and then broke free from the jail. She was eventually charged with murder. Angela Davis represented Joan and led the national outcry to bring justice to Joan Little. With Angela’s efforts and the public support, Joan was finally acquitted from all the charges. This incidence extended the anti-slavery movement into the famous anti-rape movement of the 1970s.

The Kushan and Poshpora rape case: Kushan and Poshpora are the twin villages in Kupwara which is the border district of Kashmir. On 23rd February 1991, the two villages witnessed the most disgraceful event, 40-100 women of the twin villages were raped in quiet hamlets by the armed personnel of the 4th Rajputana Rifles. Though the State Human Rights Commission found all the charges to be true, the three courts in which the case was filed didn’t give any judgment even after 29 years of the incident. The file for this case has just been transferred from one court to another but still, there’s no justice for those 40 women.

Mount Rennie Rape Case: This was the first and only case of gang-rape in Sydney during the 1880s that led to a full conviction of all the accused in the crime. On 9th September 1886, while walking to the state registry office, Mary Jane Hicks, a 16-year-old girl, was offered a lift by a cab driver, who instead took her to Mount Rennie (now Moore Park) and attempted to molest her in the cab, when she screamed for help two young men approached and pretended as if they are rescuing Mary, but instead took her to another isolated place where along with several other men (around 10) they gang-raped her, she was falling in and out of consciousness. This attack is often called the “Mount Rennie Outrage” or “Waterloo Push”. This case was a significant point in New South Wales history, coming after a history of failure of the gang-rape trials in that period. 

Apart from these heinous historical rape cases, many following cases have shocked people to their most. Nirbhaya and Kathua gang-rape cases in India created a new wave of protests for justice in rape cases. The present justice system around the world provides punishments of different levels, but the fact of punishment being for deterrence, are the present punishments successful in creating a sense of fear? Therefore it’s important first to know the different punishments given in different jurisdictions. 

Statistics and studies of rape instances all over the world

While studying the rape cases around the globe, we see that only name changes, of the place, of the victim and of the perpetrator(s) but the brutality of the act doesn’t change. 

Where India disgracefully tops the chart of “Most dangerous places for women”, Africa reports the highest number of rape cases in a year with a rate of 132.40% per 100,000 people that is 66,196 cases. There are different studies ranging from the number of cases reported and unreported to the conviction rates of the accused. 

Rate of unreported cases: Worldwide there’s a rate of 91.6% of cases being unreported. A comparative study between India and the USA shows that only 10 per cent of the total rape cases in India are reported whereas in the USA around 26 to 46 per cent of the cases are reported. Reasons like fear of retaliation, offender intended to harm or family pressure and lack of trust in the legal system; are associated with this rate.

Perpetrator an acquaintance: According to a study done by the RAINN, it was observed that 8 out of 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. And only 19.5% of the total cases are committed by a stranger. And the major of 33% of the rapes are committed by a current or former spouse or partner.

Conviction Rate of the perpetrators: In the USA only 230 out of 1000 cases are reported, where only 46 leads to arrest, only 9 will be referred to the prosecution and only 4.6 accused will be convicted. In the EU the conviction rate scales from 2 to 46 per cent, whereas India shows only 27% conviction rate in rape cases. 

No. of cases every 100,000 people: Top 10 countries 

Country

Rate 

Incidents

Population 2020

South Africa

132.4

66,196

59,308,690

Botswana

92.90

1,865

2,351,627

Lesotho

82.70

1,777

2,142,249

Swaziland

77.50

849

1,160,164

Bermuda

67.30

43

62,278

Sweden

63.50

5,960

10,099,265

Suriname

45.20

223

586,632

Costa Rica

36.70

1,685

5,094,118

Nicaragua

31.60

1,829

6,624,554

Grenada

30.60

32

112,523

 Punishment against rape in different jurisdictions

India

A lot of changes in the legislation pertaining to rape laws have taken place in India after the Nirbhaya case. From extending the definition from “penetration by penis” to “penetration by a penis, or any object or any part of the body to any extent” into the vagina, mouth, urethra or anus of a woman; to specifying the death penalty in most extreme cases. In 2013, after the Anti-rape Bill (The Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2013) was passed, Section 376A of Indian Penal Code (IPC),1860 was revised and mandated minimum punishment in certain cases. If the sexual assault inflicts an injury which causes death or causes the victim to be in a persistent vegetative state, then the convicted rapist must be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of at least twenty years and up to the remainder of the natural life or with a death penalty.” In the case of “gang rape”, the same mandatory sentencing is now required by law. The convict is also required to pay compensation to the victim which shall be reasonable to meet the medical expenses and rehabilitation of the victim, and as per Section 357 B in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Death penalty for the most extreme rape cases is specified. 

United Kingdom (UK)

In the UK, rape is penalised under Chapter 19 of The Crown Prosecution Service, any man guilty of rape in the UK is giving life imprisonment or any shorter term which is decided by the judge. A judge decides the sentence for the convict, the prosecution which is the lawyer of the victim, does not have powers to ask for a particular sentence. But if they are not satisfied with the sentence given, an appeal can be made within 28 days through the Attorney-general. The Judiciary of the UK strongly believes that male rapes are as serious as those between a man and a woman, all types of rapes are equally serious. 

United States of America

In many states of America, the degree of punishment is in proportion with the degree of the crime (first degree, second degree). For example, in Washington rape is penalised under Chapter 9A.44 Revised Code of Washington (RWC). It depends on the vulnerability of the victim, the nature of the force used, whether the rape caused serious bodily injuries or death. Sentences differ from one year to life imprisonment (depending upon specified laws of different states, while in some states the sentence is given on discretion of the judge). Apart from this, compulsory treatment is given to sex predators inside or outside the prison or as a condition of probation. 

France

In France, rape is penalised under Article 222-23 of the Criminal Code of France, it ensures a maximum of fifteen years’ of criminal imprisonment, a maximum of twenty years in aggravated cases where the victim is below the age of 15, also a maximum of thirty years’of criminal imprisonment in the cases where the rape has caused the death of the victim, and a maximum of life imprisonment when the rape is followed by acts of brutality or torture. 

China

Article 139 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, subscribe punishments for rape in China. The punishment for rape in China is death. Mostly execution of the accused is done without any trial. Castration which is the method of removal of the testicles of the male accused. There are instances in China where many convicted rapists who were executed were found innocent later. 

North Korea

Just like China, in North Korea the penalty for rape is death. The dictatorship orders a firing squad to open fire on the accused. This is often done publicly. 

Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the firsts countries to recognize and marital rape in 1992, and in 2004 it was declared to be prosecutable ex-officio that is even if the wife doesn’t complain the person can be prosecuted. Apart from this any person if found guilty of committing rape shall be sentenced to one to ten years under Article 190 of the Swiss Criminal Code, 1937. Recently in 2018, the Swiss legislature has tried to strengthen rape law in their country. 

                 Click Above

Australia

Sentences for sexual assault can range from a good-behaviour bond or a suspended sentence to a full-time jail sentence. The maximum jail sentence for sexual assault in New South Wales Consolidated Acts (NSW) is 14 years. The maximum penalty for aggravated sexual assault is life.

Laws for the punishment against rape in different territories represent different strategies to curb this crime, for example in countries like the USA where reformation is preferred over deterrence, the punishment is mainly of imprisonment is inclusive of therapy of the convict for their mental reformation. But in countries such as North Korea and China, deterrence that is fear against the crime is their top priority, and thus the punishment for rape is nothing but death. 

Conclusion

With above-discussed cases and penalties across the globe, explains that nowhere the societal conditions are successful in keeping its citizens safe from this heinous crime of rape. The laws of different countries all around the world have a different definition of “rape” and this tells us that in how many ways this crime can take place. In India every hour there are 3 cases of rape while in the USA the no. is 26 in an hour, the mere study of statistics is enough to realize the situation worldwide. These statistics only show the count of victims, but what is most worrisome about the situation is that the victim, in most of the cases, is unable to live a normal life. Their pain cannot be measured, their sorrows cannot be counted. Therefore, it’s important for us as a society to help the victims, which is necessary for them to lead a peaceful and fearless life ahead. 

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[stirfriedoctopus]

IndiaVsAnti-Nationals

“Hindustan ke itihaas me jab bhi yahan koi kila fatah hua, darwaaze hamesha andr se khole gye- quoting Major Gaurav Arya”.

So this has been a bitter truth in our country and even very popular in today’s culture. Its just that “Dhokha wahi, chaal nayi- quoting myself :P”.

To begin with, rather than making this article politics centric, which would flush down the whole idea of putting this topic and leaving behind the thought of whether the writer is right or left winged. I’ll just try to confuse you all with some vague scenarios, because that’s what academics are meant to do :P.

Also, since this is a sensitive topic, so, definitely I’ll not point fingers or take names of any particular person or organization, because that would be morally wrong (LOL, I'll not take names because any false or vengeance complaint will potentially cause me trouble, although I’m of the opinion that such people/organizations should be exposed with names).

So, broadly I'll classify these people into two. First kind are the ones who promote fake propaganda of our enemy nations against our country. And second are the ones who quietly hinder the development of our country in the name of human rights or environment protection or wildlife or anything that seems fit.

The first kind generally includes the so called intellectuals, writers, TV channels, journalists, politicians, international awardees, professors, their students and so on. One of the recent demonstration as a result of their work was seen in the Shaheen Bagh protests, followed by the planned Delhi Riots. Although I agree that protesting is a right in democracy. But you need to make sure you do not cause problems to the common people. Most of the people in this group are inspired by monetary benefits, others on the other hand, are radicalized. Supported by ISI, PFI, China, Middle-East and so on. Be it on Kashmir, or religion or minorities or anything the government does for the betterment of the country, these people always have a problem and speak the words of Pakistan or China. Mostly because now a days negativity easily becomes sensation. You wanna be famous or get into spotlight again after your career is ruined? If yes then, C'mon… speak ill about the country, speak ill about the government, use religion as a weapon, and the magic begins. You might even land getting an election ticket from some political party. The easiest and fastest trick to a short-lived fame. Remember “Bharat tere tukde honge, insha-allah insha-allah”?   These are the most venomous snakes who after being fed, bite the person feeding them.

Coming to the second category. These are the silent killers. They bite you repeatedly, yet many times you do not realize you’ve been bitten. These are the people funded by the foreign agencies again, ISI or even CIA for instance, whoz main agenda is to stop any development in India as a part of their non-tactical warfare. Against nuclear power plants, damns, industries, mining, construction of Airports, Railways or any other necessity, these people suddenly wake from their sleep and start their funded protests to save the environment, climate, wildlife and what not. Legal suits are readily filed by the so called saviors of the society. Mostly these are NGOs, social activists, lawyers etc. The largest copper smelter plant in India was shut down by one such protest, resulting India to turn from a copper exporter country into a copper importer. Numerous other such cases are in the North-Eastern states of India hindering the growth of the whole North-East. And the most hilarious fact it that these activists do not have any source of income, still live a lavish lifestyle. No wonder where the money comes from. Try detailed research on Narmada Bachao Aandolan.

Now, what is the way out of this? In my opinion, the government rather than tolerating them in the first scenario or bowing to their demands in the second, should make strict laws to counter such anti-national elements or activities. The judiciary needs to be a bit more far sighted before taking such cases about what long term impacts will their judgement make on the path to success for this country. Common people should be more aware about these kind of people & organisations and not fall prey by supporting their false narratives on social media or otherwise. India has been extremely tolerant to such people for far too long, its high time we take necessary steps to ensure stability, peace and prosperity in our country. Ultimately its our motherland and its our duty to pass on a better India to the future generations. Jai Hind.