Kashmir.Watch

Author: hamid

  • Pakistan gives ‘evidence’ to US on ‘human rights violations’ in Kashmir

     

    Pakistan has given evidence of “human rights violations” in Kashmir to the US, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
    Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani on Monday gave evidence of “human rights violations in Kashmir” to US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Olson, the Foreign Office said in a statement here.
    Jilani submitted a dossier containing evidence of Indian “atrocities” in Kashmir to Olson and called for the US to take action against “the human rights abuse” by Indian forces in the Kashmir Valley, Geo News reported.
    He urged the US to exercise its powers as a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council to put an end to the “atrocities”.
    Jilani said Kashmiri people should be afforded their right to self-determination and further called on the international community to send human rights organisations to Kashmir to monitor the situation there.
    Recalling Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent statement that Kashmiris and Pakistanis were inseparable, Jilani reiterated that “Islamabad would continue to extend all possible moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir for realisation of their right to self-determination”.
    The meeting with Olson comes a day after Pakistani political leaders during an ‘All Parties Conference’ resolved to raise the Kashmir issue at various international fora and said they stood united against Indian “aggression” and violation of human rights in Kashmir.
    The tension between India and Pakistan has been high since July 9, a day after top militant Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with Indian security forces. Islamabad has described Wani as a “martyr”.
    Relations between the two neighbouring nations further deteriorated after the September 18 attack at an Indian Army camp in Uri town of north Kashmir, which left 19 soldiers dead. IANS

     

     

  • Hema Malini appreciates Pakistani actors

    The Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association has decided to ban Pakistani artistes from working in Indian movies following an attack on Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir that left 19 soldiers dead.

    Veteran actress and politician Hema Malini says she appreciates the work of Pakistani actors but cannot say if they should work in India or not.
    Asked about her view on the ban on Pakistani artistes in India, Hema Malini, a BJP MP, said: “I don’t want to comment much on this controversial question. But all I can say is that we are artistes and so are those who come from there (Pakistan) to perform here.
    “As an artiste, I can appreciate their work. But whether they should stay here or not, I can’t comment,” she added. Hema Malini was launching a new campaign of the brand Kent RO.
    The Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association has decided to ban Pakistani artistes from working in Indian movies following an attack on Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir that left 19 soldiers dead. IANS

  • Two auto rickshaws set ablaze in Srinagar

    The auto-rickshaws were set on fire in Saida Kadal and Baba Demb localities of Srinagar.

    Two auto-rickshaws were set ablaze by unidentified persons in Kashmir capital Srinagar on Wednesday.

    The auto-rickshaws were set on fire in Saida Kadal and Baba Demb localities of Srinagar.

  • Mobile Internet Services Restored In Chenab Valley

    Srinagar: Authorities on Tuesday restored the mobile internet services in Chenab valley and Pir Panchal region of the state, sources said.

    The services were restored in Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri and Poonch districts.

    The decision in this effect was taken in a meeting held in Jammu, they said.

    The internet services in the said areas were suspended on August 5, 2016 after widespread protests in the region over the civilian killings in Kashmir.

    Pertinently, Kashmir valley is without mobile internet services since July 8 when militant commander Burhan Wani was killed.

  • 10 times more security men injured in Kashmir than civilians: CRPF

    Jamshedpur: The number of security personnel injured in the stone-pelting and hand grenade hurling incidents during the recent unrest in Kashmir is ten times more than the figure of civilians injured, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director General K Durga Prasad said on Tuesday.

    Besides the injured securitymen of Border Security of Force (BSF), Rashtriya Rifle and Jammu and Kashmir police, 3,000 CRPF jawans were wounded in the incidents, Prasad told reporters in Jamshedpur.

    Prasad, who laid the foundation of a barrack and residential quarter for the Rapid Action Force personnel here, said out of the 3,000 injured CRPF jawans, 125 were seriously wounded and many of them were still undergoing treatment in hospitals.

    A combined figure of injured securitymen was ten times more than the number civilians injured in the stone pelting, grenade hurling and mob firing during the unrest in the Valley, he said.

    Stating that the securitymen maintained maximum restrain, he said the forces did not fire even when groups of people hurled grenade and fired at them.

    “We had lost one of our Commanding Officers in Srinagar on the Independence day in the incidents,” Prasad said.

    Asked about the weapons being used by the paramilitary forces, Prasad, flanked by ADG CRPF Sudeep Lakhtakia and IG CRPF, Jharkhand Sanjay Lathkar, said less lethal weapons such as PAVA shells and plastic pellets were used to control mob.

    “We used pellet guns only when the situation was out of control,” he said.

    Referring to barracks and quarters, Prasad said, “We are constructing 10,330 units of quarter and 55 barracks in different locations across the country, which would help reduce the quarter problem from the existing 25 per cent to 16-17 per cent in the next two years. (PTI)

  • Congress leader Nirupam says surgical strikes a fake claim to draw political benefits

    Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Tuesday termed the “surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the LoC in Pakistan-administered Kashmir” (PaK) as fake and accused the BJP of making political capital out of it.
    “Every Indian wants Surgical Strikes Against Pakistan but not a fake one to extract just political benefit by BJP. Politics over national interest,” Nirupam tweeted.
    The Maharashtra Congress leader’s remarks came after India said that its soldiers carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control in PaK and destroyed “seven terror launch pads on September 28 night.” IANS

  • UAVs seen close to Indo-Pak border; tension prevailing: BSF

    The BSF today said “tension” prevails along the western front in the wake of “surgical strikes” and it has witnessed movement of UAVs very close to the Indo-Pak border in the recent past.
    As part of measures to beef up overall security, the border guarding force has also reviewed the preparedness of security mechanisms along the eastern front with Bangladesh so that terrorists are not able to use that country to sneak into India and launch attacks.
    “No doubt, the overall vigil has been increased (along western borders). All the defence and security forces establishments are on their highest alert. There is tension on the western border..we are having active engagement (with Pakistan) at the Line of Control and we are receiving shelling from the other side. However, we are in supportive role at the LoC (to army),” BSF Director General K K Sharma told reporters here.
    He said the BSF and their Bangladeshi counterparts Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), as part of the bi-annual talks that concluded here today, also did “touch upon” the security situation post the surgical strikes conducted by army across the LoC and that both the forces are on “high vigil.”
    “There is no new input (about Bangladeshi territory being used by terrorists)…however, vigil has been increased along the Indo-Bangla border too,” he said.
    Sharma added that while there is “tension” at the International Border (IB) that runs along Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujrat, there has been no ceasefire violation till now in these areas.
    “We have noticed UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) coming 100 meters upto the border…may be they (Pakistani forces) want to check our preparedness but I can assure you that we are fully capable of giving a befitting reply and we will not allow any nefarious design of terrorists to succeed,” he said.
    The BSF chief added the force has not issued any order for vacating villages on the border and such directives may have been issued by the respective civil administrations of the states.
    “We are even allowing Indian farmers to go to their farms which are beyond the Indo-Pak fence. We have never said vacate villages, people may have shifted out as precautionary measure. Now, people who had gone are coming back. There has been no untoward incident at the IB till now,” he said.
    Talking about a recent incident at the Attari-Wagah retreat ceremony, Sharma said an incident was reported where a “stone” was thrown towards the Indian side but it did not hit anyone and the matter was brought to the notice of their counterparts Pakistan Rangers. PTI

  • 80% bacteria in Kashmir hospitals resistant to last-resort antibiotics: DAK

    Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said that Kashmir hospitals have turned into breading grounds for deadly bacteria that are resistant to all antibiotics.
    Raising alarm President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said that even last-resort antibiotics do not work against these deadly microbes.
    Hospitals in Kashmir have become superbug factories.
    As per 2015 Antibiogram of SKIMS hospital, 80% of bacteria isolated from ICUs were resistant to imipenem which is the last-line antibiotic.
    The most common isolates were E coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter and they were found to have 100% resistance to ceftriaxone, another high-end antibiotic.
    An increasing trend over the years in the antibiotic-resistant strains was observed in a prospective study at SKIMS.
    The situation in SMHS hospital is horrible as it is flooded with dangerous drug-resistant microbes.
    Patients go to hospitals to get well, but instead contract hospital bugs and die.
    These bugs aren’t limited to hospitals, they are out in the community and anyone, even healthy people, can become infected.
    Lack of infection control measures and poor sanitation in hospitals provide favorable conditions for resistant microorganisms to emerge, spread and persist.
    Inappropriate and irrational use of antibiotics has helped the microbes to evolve into resistant strains.
    We are kind of back to the era of not having antibiotics.
    With no antibiotics, cancer chemotherapy and simple surgery will become impossible and we are facing a future where cough or cut could kill once again.
    It is estimated that more than 700,000 people die each year worldwide, and if the trend continues, the figure will go to 10 million by 2015.
    United Nations in its General Assembly last month signed a declaration to fight a war against superbugs that have evaded science’s last remaining defenses.

  • Closure of ‘Kashmir Reader’ a Setback to Free Speech, Says Amnesty International India

    Srinagar: Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir must revoke an order to stop the printing and publication of Kashmir Reader, a Srinagar-based English daily, Amnesty International India said today.

    The order, passed by the District Magistrate of Srinagar and served to the publication on 2 October, states that the newspaper “contains such material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquillity”.

    “The newspaper has extensively covered the violence in Kashmir in recent months, and reports of human rights violations by security forces. The Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) has described the ban as against the spirit of democracy and freedom of press,” said Aakar Patel, Executive Director, AII. “The District Magistrate’s order does not specifically mention any news items in Kashmir Reader that incited violence. This vaguely-worded shutdown order suggests that the newspaper is being targeted for its reporting.”

    “The media plays a crucial role in reporting human rights abuses. The government has a duty to respect the freedom of the press, and the right of people to receive information. It cannot shut down a newspaper simply for being critical of the government.”

    Under international human rights law, any restrictions on the right to freedom of expression on the ground of public order must be demonstrably necessary and proportionate.

    The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to which India is a state party – has said: “The free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues between citizens, candidates and elected representatives is essential. This implies a free press and other media able to comment on public issues without censorship or restraint and to inform public opinion.”

    In July, the state government shut down the publication of local newspapers in Kashmir for three days on vague grounds.

  • Look within

    Hilal Mir

    The perennial complaint of the state that the local media coverage is “biased, baseless, motivated” exists only because the state functionaries and its PR system have been largely unresponsive and unprofessional

    Why has been banned? This is the question I have been asked by several reporters, representatives of rights organisations, concerned colleagues and friends since Sunday evening, when a posse of policemen delivered at our office the Srinagar district magistrate’s gag order, intriguingly dated ‘30.9.2016’.
    The contents of the order are, more or less, self explanatory. It says the newspaper “contains such material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquillity”. Has the government pointed out such content to us or sought an explanation from us? No. The question therefore lingers. Why?

    There are no simple answers, although one can call it an assault on the freedom of speech and rest. A few days into the raging uprising, the state government asked newspapers to suspend publication for three days. The government spokesman said the government apprehended “trouble over the next three days and suspending publication was considered necessary”.
    And when it couldn’t handle the embarrassment triggered by international outrage, the chief minister’s advisor first denied that a ban had been imposed and requested the newspapers to resume the publication.
    When the government spokesman announces the ban and the CM’s advisor does the fire fighting, it shows the government’s capability to handle the fourth estate has taken a hit. A media gag at the peak of a mass uprising has far reaching consequences. The perfunctory manner in which the ban was announced should have spurred some introspection in the government.

    Instead, the ‘administration’ put the muzzle on Kashmir Reader. Only this time the gag order comes with legal armour, apparently to frighten the rest of the local media into submission.
    A day before the ban was imposed, one of our reporters called a senior police officer for information about a story. The officer told him that he should start looking for a job as Kashmir Reader would be shut down sooner or later. The officer labelled the newspaper as “Lashkar-e-Toiba’s own organ”. The conversation, which the officer would probably dismiss as a joke, is frightening. If a senior police officer perceives a newspaper as the property of a militant outfit, we naturally become the legitimate targets of a ‘surgical strike’.
    The same mindset is pervasive in the structure of the state. Hardly any official or minister expects a reporter to question him about a story in a detached, professional manner. The professional aloofness is considered an affront to the power.
    Media can function professionally in an atmosphere of mutual respect. A reporter’s job becomes easy when officials are available to answer to their queries. It becomes more important in emergency situations. Will a police officer’s belligerence help a young reporter grow professionally? Will it not colour his perception of the entire police force?
    The perennial complaint of the state that the local media coverage is “biased, baseless, motivated” exists only because the state functionaries and its PR system have been largely unresponsive and unprofessional.
    In a situation, where scores of events are occurring every day, isn’t it incumbent upon the government to proportionately strengthen its media outreach? Unlike Indian and international media outlets, the local media has to process a larger number of stories every day. Therefore, the state and its organs should be easily accessible for the local media so that the reportage is fair and balanced. No professional organisation would want to publish reports that do not carry as many sides of the story as possible.
    Now, Kashmir Reader has been accused of publishing content that “incites acts of violence and disturbs peace”. It would have been helpful if the gag order had made a mention of a specific report so that we could answer it.
    But in the absence of such communication, we assume that it is a generalised accusation. Newspapers were not published for three days but the ‘violence’ persisted. Who incited the violence during those three days? The government’s mishandling of the media springs from its wilful refusal to accept the reality on the ground. The state should take a hard look within to seek answers to who incites violence.
    It should ask itself whether the street is not further enraged when the chief minister makes a casual remark on the killing of children, rather than blaming the media which only reports her remark.
    The relations between the local media and the state government are complex. The masses are not familiar with such complexity. But the successive governments are fully aware of these dynamics. Suffice to say, it is unwise to hold media relations hostage to the whims of a few persons. While the media is always looking for self improvement, it would do the government good to reciprocate fairly and professionally.
    Author is editor Kashmir Reader.