Author: hamid

Srinagar: Former Indian spymaster AS Dulat has claimed that Pakistan has given up on Kashmir and the message coming out from Kashmir is that the stakeholders want peace and a dialogue with New Delhi, Tribune India reported.

Stating that the Kashmir problem cannot be solved by force because it is not an military issue but a political one, Dulat said the only way forward is to engage and talk with the stakeholders.

“Today we have a situation where a former Norwegian Prime Minister goes to Kashmir and speaks to the Hurriyat, but the Hurriyat cannot speak to the Pakistani High Commissioner or to New Delhi’s special representative in Kashmir. However, the message from the Hurriyat is clear that they want peace and dialogue,” he said at a session on “Kashmir Quandary: Diagnosis and Remedy” at the Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh.

“While we continue to exaggerate the role of Pakistan in the Kashmir issue, today the Kashmiri has no interest in Pakistan. It was only till about 1994-95 that Pakistan was a real player and was behind virtually everything that happened,” Dulat, who headed India’s external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing, in 1999-2000, remarked.

“Today things are in control, but the political process has to start. The question, however, being raised in several quarters is how to start the political process as they don’t have any political workers on the ground level,”

Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee (retd), former Chief of Staff, Central Command, said.

Things in Kashmir were fine till about 1989 and thereafter, the military created a situation four or five times where the political or ideological process could have been started, but it was never done and the situations were abandoned for the armed forces to handle, he added.

He also said the Kashmiris know that they can never get separated from India but they act in a rebellious manner because it has become a culture due to a societal breakdown. A social and political transformation process has to be initiated.

Stating that the situation in Kashmir is more dangerous today than it was earlier, Lt Gen MC Bhandari (retd) said Kashmir is not a security problem but an amalgamation of historical, political, ideological issues and a clash of egos on both sides. The military can only be a part of the solution, he added.

Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (M) chairperson Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that former Norwegian Prime Minister to Kashmir had a go ahead from New Delhi.

In an interview to New Delhi based Hindustan Times, Mirwaiz while responding to a question whether “centre had given him the go-ahead”, he said: “Definitely, there has been some interest on Kashmir recently in the international arena, especially after the UN (human rights) report on Kashmir. We hope the initiative will continue and there is some movement forward.”

Mirwaiz said that it was after 5-6 years that a visit by any foreign dignitary happened. “Mr Bondevik and particularly Oslo Center (founded by Bondevik) have some experience in conflict regions. He came here, went to Delhi, and went across to Islamabad. The important thing is that he talked about involvement of Kashmiris and secondly that there can be no military solution. Definitely his visit must have the blessings of certain powers; otherwise he would not have been allowed to come here.”

He said that there has been a change in policy as far as New Delhi is concerned as compared to the policy adopted by then NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government under Vajpayee.

“I think the basis of that engagement then was the realisation that Kashmir is a humanitarian problem. That is why Mr Vajpayee said we are willing to engage within the ambit of humanity. That opened a way for us to engage with Delhi and also go to Pakistan… This was a triangular approach where every party was talking to the other party. That approach is totally missing now. We have seen hardening of stand and extreme repression. That Vajpayee doctrine has been replaced by Doval doctrine. Now the state is engaging people through cordon-and-search operations. While Vajpayee was talking about peace, Mr Modi and his team are talking about war.”

Mirwaiz also brushed off the presence of Al-Qaeda or Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir.

“As far as the Kashmir militant movement is concerned, you can’t label it as al-Qaeda or any other thing. There is absolutely no trace of that. Even parties like Hizbul Mujahideen and others, they have been very clear about what their goal is. They are limited to Kashmir. There are certain aberrations, certain youth; when you are pushed to the wall, there is a possibility that certain sections tend to see things from a different picture. As a Mirwaiz, as a religious head, we have always maintained that it is a political problem. We have never said that it is Hindu India versus Muslim Kashmir.”

Says, ‘excessive use of salt makes people prone to stomach cancer’

Srinagar: The medical experts Tuesday said that the excessive use of salt can cause stomach cancer, saying that Kashmir and Ladakh province in Jammu and Kashmir are witnessing more such cases as compared to Jammu division.

Noted gastroenterologist, Prof (Dr) Showkat Ali Zargar said that the places where excessive salt is being used are much prone to stomach cancer.

He said that besides slat, bacteria called H Pylori present in any human body can also cause cancer but everybody is not prone to the disease, saying that those who are genetic can get affected.

Dr Showkat said that like other places of the country, H Pylori is also found rampant in Kashmir but the bacteria can’t cause cancer to ever patient but those can get affected easily who are genetic.

He said that the stomach cancer is found in Kashmir and Ladakh province in the state that causes due to the food and other things.

Dr Showkat said that the peptic Ulcer is also found in Kashmir and according to the study, 10 per cent of people are affected due to the H Pylori and excessive use of salt.

Authorities at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) have postponed the examinations slated for Monday (10 December 2018).
The spokesman of the varsity said the new dates will be notified later separately. He further said the class work will also remain suspended on Monday.

Srinagar: The eighteen hour long gunfight in Mugund area in the outskirts of Srinagar ended Sunday morning with the killing of three militants.
Reports said the government forces launched a cordon and search operations Saturday evening following which a gunfight broke out in the area with militants firing from their hiding place of residential house and forces retaliating. The heavy exchange of fire was suspended late in the evening hours on Saturday and resumed Sunday morning. During the heavy exchange of fire between the militants and the government forces, three militants are reported to have been killed and five residential houses have been damaged. A police official said the identity of the slain militants is yet to be ascertained.
Clashes in the area had broken out Saturday evening and again on Sunday morning but calm has been restored in the area by now.

India conducted the “surgical strike” on September 29, 2016 across the Line of Control as a response to attack on an Indian Army base in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir earlier that month. Nineteen Indian soldiers were killed in the attack.

Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Devraj Anbu has said the security forces would not hesitate to launch another surgical strike if the need to do so arises.
“The surgical strike on militant launchpads across the border was a show of strength by our armed forces and we won’t hesitate to do it again if the enemy challenges us,” Lt Gen Anbu said in reply to a question by reporters on the sidelines of the Indian Military Academy’s Passing Out Parade (POP) in Dehradun on Saturday.

India conducted the “surgical strike” on September 29, 2016 across the Line of Control as a response to attack on an Indian Army base in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir earlier that month. Nineteen Indian soldiers were killed in the attack.
On Friday, Lt Gen (retd) D S Hooda, who was the Northern Army commander when the surgical strikes were carried out, said the constant hype around the precision operation was unwarranted. He, however, said it was natural to have initial euphoria over the success of the military action.
Responding to a question from the audience during a panel discussion in Chandigarh, Lt Gen Hooda said in hindsight, it would have been better had “we done it (surgical strikes) secretly”.
On the plans to give women combat roles in the armed forces, Lt Gen Anbu said different aspects of the proposition are being examined as conditions along the borders with Pakistan and China are different from the rest of the country.
In July this year, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said the process to allow women in combat role, currently an exclusive domain of men, is moving fast and initially women will be recruited for positions in military police.
In November, he said the Indian Army is not yet ready to have women in combat roles. He said there are several other fields where the Army was thinking of inducting women and there were plans to have women as interpreters.
Lt Gen Anbu was in Dehradun to address the POP at IMA as the reviewing officer.
The POP saw a total of 427 gentlemen cadets including 80 from seven friendly foreign countries graduating from the academy.

SRINAGAR: The military can only have a limited role, with solutions critical for resolving the larger Kashmir issue lying in the realm of politics — good governance, and political engagement as witnessed during the Vajpayee years, according to the Army’s Valley chief, Lt Gen A K Bhatt.

“The military can only create conditions of normalcy. Beyond that, the initiatives have to be at levels of good governance, politically talking to people. During the Vajpayee era, it has happened, and similar initiatives the government will take at the right moment. I am sure they will,” General Officer Commanding (GoC), 15 Corps, Lt Gen Bhatt said in an interview to The Sunday Express.
“One of the main things is to find the methods and means to convince the youth that the path of violence will not deliver anything. And second, more importantly, is to work in the psychological space with the populace of Kashmir, to tell them that their future is far better in India than in Pakistan… that they are only being used as tools by the Jamaat, by the separatists and Pakistan,” he said.
About the Army’s role, Bhatt said, it was to ensure that peace was maintained. “Of course long-term solutions, the government has to look at them.”

Admitting that different people could have different interpretations about what a political solution should comprise, he said, “I don’t want to get into that realm because it not mine.”

Admitting the challenge posed by social media in the Valley, the Lt General said it is being used to radicalise youth as well as to mobilise crowds to sites of counter-terror operations. “Social media is the biggest concern for me. This, which is a privilege we have in a democratic nation… why I am calling it a privilege in a democratic nation… you see how China handles it, how other countries handle it and have tight control over social media. Here, social media is entirely free. And the freedom has resulted in this being used very actively by our adversaries.” Creating an “indigenous social media platform” could be the solution, according to Bhatt.

Calling elements based in Pakistan the “instigators”, he said “all stone-throwing groups in Kashmir have Pakistani numbers”.

Noting that attempts at infiltration had increased, Bhatt said 50 militants had been eliminated this year trying to cross the Line of Control. “About hundred have been able to infiltrate. Every day and night, at some place or the other on the LoC, an attempt is being made to infiltrate… They try and use new methods.”

The other worry for the Army has been “larger number of local recruitments”. “It has gone down in the last two months. But in the early months of April, May and June, this slightly increased. That is why, despite us neutralising about 200 (militants), the number is still the same.”(Inputs from Indian Express).

Srinagar: The gunfight which broke out last evening in Mujgund area on the outskirts of Srinagar is still on with a militant, believed to be a foreigner, firing at the forces from different locations.
A police official said that heavy firing is going on at Mujgund.

“One foreign militant is giving tough time to the forces by changing locations,” he said.
The gunfight broke out last evening after the forces launched a cordon-and-search-operation in Mujgund following inputs about the presence of militants. Several forces’ personnel were injured in the initial exchange of fire with the militants.
Last night, news reports said that two bodies, believed to be militants, were lying at the gunfight site. However, there was no official confirmation.
“Due to poor visibility, it is not clear whether any militant has been killed,” said SSP Srinagar SP Pani, adding that things will be confirmed after the site is cleared.
Meanwhile, authorities have suspended mobile Internet service in Srinagar.