Kashmir.Watch

Category: National

  • Nobody going to revoke article 370 Don’t take the issue seriously: Dulat

    Srinagar: Former chief of India’s premier Intelligence agency and track two diplomat, Amar Singh Dulat Wednesday asked people and politicians of Kashmir not to take statements about the revocation of Article 370 seriously. “There is nothing serious about it and nobody is going to revoke this article,” he told CNS adding that matter is being blown out of proportion.

    “I am telling you that it is not a serious issue and nobody is going to revoke it. Modi only talked about having a debate on this issue when he was Jammu. Article 370 is there and it is not going to be revoked,” Dulat said.

    Replying to a question, Dulat said that as a Kashmiri, Omar Abdullah’s reaction was up to the mark. (CNS)

  • ‘I Have Lost 11 Years of My Life,’ Says Man Acquitted in Akshardham Terror Attack Case

    Ahmedabad: Mohammad Saleem, 45, has spent the last 11 years of his life being labelled a ‘terrorist’ by some officials of the Gujarat police, who allegedly falsely accused him of being involved in the 2002 Akshardham terror attack case.

    On May 16 this year, the Supreme Court acquitted all the six accused in the case – three of them had earlier been sentenced to death — and slammed the Gujarat police for its shoddy investigation. 

    Saleem, a tailor, had just returned from Saudi Arabia in August 2003, when sleuths from the Ahmedabad Crime Branch picked him up, alleging he had furnished ‘fake’ details in his passport application. 

    He was then allegedly asked to choose which terror case he would be implicated in.

    “I was told to choose between Godhra (train burning case), Haren Pandya (murder) case or the Akshardham case. I pleaded to them that I had been out of India for 13 years, why should I own up to something that I was not involved in.” he recounted.

    In 2006, a POTA court sentenced Saleem to life imprisonment.

    Three other accused — Mufti Abdul Qayuum, Adam Ajmeri and Chand Khan — were awarded the death sentence. 

    The other two accused, Abdul Miyan Qadri and Atlaf Hussain, were awarded a ten-year jail term amd five-year jail term respectively 

    While his mother fell ill right after his arrest, his 15-year-old son had to drop out from the English medium school he was studying in and join a municipal school.

    “My children got punished for no fault of theirs,” rues Saleem.

    Saleem’s brother Irfan was on the verge of completing his graduation. With the family’s only breadwinner behind bars, he was forced to give up his studies and drive an auto-rickshaw to earn a living.

    “I have spent most of my life in courtrooms, police stations and jail,” lamented Irfan.

    The lawyers of the acquitted men are now contemplating moving court against the policemen involved in the case, including D G Vanzara, the then chief of the Crime Branch.

    Vanzara has been behind bars for over seven years for his alleged involvement in a spate of encounter killings.

    But all Saleem and his family members want today is to get their lives — derailed after fighting false charges and injustice for years — back on track.

  • What will Hurriyat lose if they talk to Modi, asks Dulat

    SRINAGAR: Asking Hurriyat leadership in Kashmir to shun dogmatic approach and come across the table with the Government of India as Narendra Modi has declared that it will follow the line of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

    “I fail to understand why Hurriyat leadership is reluctant to hold a dialogue with the Government of India. Now the Government in India has changed and Modi has already assured that he will pursue the policies of Vajpayee, so it is high time for Hurriyat leaders to get engaged with New Delhi,” former chief, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) A.S. Dulat told CNS adding that Narendra Modi will maintain close ties with neighbouring country Pakistan.

    Dulat said that the emergence of Modi and new government in New Delhi has provided a new opportunity to the separatist leadership in Kashmir. “Hurriyat leadership should understand that there is nothing wrong in holding dialogue with the Modi government. They have nothing to lose and it is right time for them to share the table with Narendra Modi,” he said.

    Replying to a query, Dulat said that he did not meet any Hurriyat leader during his recent stay in Kashmir.

  • Indian man builds mini Taj Mahal for late wife

    Uttar Pradesh: Stories about the marble wonder Taj Mahal have inspired millions over the years. It’s a tale of exemplary love and unflinching loyalty the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan had for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Now, many centuries later, 78-year old Faizul Hasan Qadri has done something similar for his wife. The retired postmaster has built his own version of “Taj Mahal” in memory of his late wife. After the death of his wife, Tajamulli Begum, in December 2011, Faizul Hasan Qadri, who has earned a sobriquet of modern-day Shah Jahan in his village, decided to build a replica of the iconic tomb for his beloved wife in Dibai village of Bulandshahar district in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The original Taj Mahal at Agra took 22 years to build and was completed in 1653. With little resources and manpower, Qadri has managed to construct this mini Taj over 5,000 square-feet land in just 16 months in the back garden of his house. Every day, people from nearby villages flock to Dibai to visit the mini Taj. Barely able to walk, Qadri spends most of his time in his 10×12 feet room, peeping through iron grilled window at the monument where he wants to be buried next to his beloved wife.

  • Sharif rings Modi, invites him to Pak

    Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Friday congratulated BJP leader Narendra Modi for winning the Indian election and invited him to visit Pakistan. Sharif telephoned Modi and expressed his best wishes to the BJP leader, Radio Pakistan reported. Sharif said he had followed the Indian elections closely.

  • 88-year-old Indian Congress leader gets married

    Veteran Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari married Ujjwala Sharma, retired lecturer and the woman whose son he recently accepted as his own, Ujjwala said Thursday.

    The wedding was held Wednesday night at his official residence in Mall Avenue area here in the presence of family members from both the sides, she said.

    Ujjwala is mother of Rohit Shekhar, whose biological relation with the 88-year-old former Uttarakhand chief minister was settled by the Delhi High Court recently.

    Tiwari was dressed in traditional wedding attire and Ujjwala wore a bright coloured saree and the ‘pichauda’ (odhni) gifted by Tiwari’s family, she said.

    Tiwari spoke about the wedding to her a few days back and discussed it later with their ‘kul purohit’ (family priest) and the day of Budh Poornima on Wednesday was finalised for the occasion, Ujjwala told IANS.

    “I am happy that a social sanctity has been given to this relationship,” Ujjwala said, looking happy after the wedding.

    She said their son Rohit also wanted this to happen.

    Tiwari’s office Thursday said the legal process, including registration of the marriage, would be completed after a formal announcement of the marriage. Tiwari’s first wife passed away years back.

    Ujjwala was locked in a protracted legal battle with Tiwari over accepting Rohit as his son and the two sides settled the matter out of the court after a DNA test ordered by the Delhi High Court proved that Rohit was Tiwari’s biological son.

    She was not allowed recently to enter into Tiwari’s house in Mall Avenue area. She lodged a complaint with Lucknow police against security personnel and the officer on special duty to Tiwari, Bhawani Bhatt. Police intervened and Tiwari allowed her inside the house.

    Agreeing to the “live-in” relationship, the two started living in the same house a week back.

    The former union finance minister, who has also served as governor of Andhra Pradesh, Tiwari has now settled the matter for all.

  • Article 370 impediment in development of J&K: Gadkari  

    ‘BJP for peace with Pakistan, China but zero tolerance for terrorism’

    Srinagar: BJP former president Nitin Gadkari on Friday said Article 370 is an impediment in development of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Talking to KNS, Gadkari said that the Article 370 is responsible for alarming unemployment, poverty, increase corruption and lack of modern technology. The former president BJP said the traditional political parties in the state believe in dynasty rule and have been exploiting peoples’ sentiments for their political gains.

    Asked if PDP is playing role of a B team of BJP, Gadkari said that BJP has no relation with PDP and those who level such allegations are spreading lies. “Those who spread such rumors are exploiting people for their political interests,” he added.

    In a veiled reference to Congress, Gadkari said those who claim to be secular are actually communal to their core. “These political parties who claim to be so called secular are actually communal to their core. We made A.P J Abdul Kalam as president of the country. Our mission is to free our country from corruption and poverty and bring at the zenith of modern technology,” he said, adding that a fear psychosis is being created that BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi are against the minorities in the country.

    Criticizing boycott policy of the separatists, Gadkari advised the pro freedom leadership to take the situation of Pakistan into consideration before following their policies, Gadkari said: “Pakistan suffering from poverty and starvation. They have been defeated thrice by India. The separatists should keep all these factors into consideration.” Earlier, while addressing a press conference, Gadkari said that BJP is committed to peace, prosperity and development in Jammu and Kashmir and wants peaceful relations with Pakistan.

    “We want peaceful and dignified relations with our neighbouring countries China and Pakistan. But we have a zero tolerance policy for terrorism,” he added.  He said after coming to power in Delhi, BJP will prioritize Jammu and Kashmir’s development and the party would not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, language and religion. “We want to address poverty, hunger and unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

  • Blocking Porn Sites Would Cause ‘Greater Harm’, Says Indian Government

    Blocking all websites with pornographic content in the country is not possible and it would cause more harm as literary content containing such words would also not be available for public on Internet, the Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court.

    Appearing before a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan, Additional Solicitor General K V Vishwanathan submitted that blocking all such websites would cause greater harm.

    “Everything would be blocked and even good literature would be blocked and it would cause greater harm,” he said.

    He submitted that a software has to be installed in every computer for blocking such websites and a direction has to be passed for all computer manufacturers to install software.

    The court was hearing a petition filed by Indore-based advocate Kamlesh Vaswani who pleaded that although watching obscene videos was not an offence, pornographic sites should be banned as they were one of the major causes behind crime against women.

    The petition filed through advocate Vijay Panjwani says that the absence of Internet laws encourages people to watch porn videos and over 20 crore porn videos or clippings are freely available in the market, which have been directly downloaded from the Internet or copied from video CDs.

    The petition states, “The sexual content that kids are accessing today is far more graphic, violent, brutal, deviant and destructive and has put entire society in danger and also poses threat to public order in India. Most offences committed against women/girls/children are fuelled by pornography. The worrying issue is that the severity and gravity of such images is increasing. It is a matter of serious concern that prepubescent children are being raped,” the petition added.

    The apex court had on November 18 issued notice to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) seeking its response as to how to block websites with pornographic content in the country, particularly those featuring child pornography.

     

     

  • BSNL aims to double post-paid users in one year

    As it aims to double its post-paid mobile customer base to 10 per cent in one year, BSNL has launched a facility wherein bills can be paid at over 5 lakh of its franchises or retailers all the seven days in a week.

    The State-owned telecom firm has been citing bill payment problem as one of the issues for decline in its high revenue post-paid customer base.

    “One of the reason for our declining post-paid users was the problems related to bill payment. But with the launch of this new facility from May 1, we are targeting to double our post-paid users to 10 per cent by May next year,” BSNL Director (Consumer Mobility) Anupam Shrivastava toldPTI.

    Currently, 5 per cent of BSNL’s users are post paid as most of them prefer pre-paid due to hassles in bill payment.

    Customers had to pay the bills on BSNL’s counters and billing centres during working hours only, which used to be a problem for working professionals.

    The state-run company had 9.48 crore wireless subscribers at the end of February 2014.

    “The average revenue per user (ARPU) for post-paid is around Rs. 400 whereas for pre-paid, it is in the range of Rs 90-100. It will be good for BSNL’s profitability, if we can increase the post paid users,” Mr. Shrivastava said.

    He added the company has attractive post-paid plans but most of the people prefer pre-paid due to bill payment.

    BSNL has a network of around 5 lakh franchisees and retailers across the country. The new facility will allow users to pay bills all the seven days and also during government holidays.

    No additional amount will be charged from customers for using this facility.

    BSNL has been logging losses since 2009-10. The company’s profits started declining after 2004-05, when it had made net gains of Rs. 10,183 crore.

    The government had also constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) for revival of BSNL and MTNL.

     

  • ‘Bullets for stone not justifiable’Killing was avoidable, CRPF didn’t follow SOP: Radha Kumar

    New Delhi: Condemning the killing of Srinagar youth, Former woman interlocutor Professor Radha Kumar Thursday said that the unfortunate killing could have been avoided if armed men would have followed standard operating procedures (SOP).
    “This is a tragedy and whosoever are responsible for this killing should be booked and punished. There was no need to pump bullets in the body when they could have easily dispersed the protestors by resorting to aerial firing,” Kumar told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS adding that bullets for stone is not justifiable.
    “I fail to understand why they (CRPF) shoot to kill. Were protestors so much violent that CRPF personnel had no alternative but to kill a teenager. This is not the way and it augments alienation,” she said.
    Radha Kumar alleged that CRPF did not follow SOP while dealing with the protestors in Kashmir. “The top brass of CRPF always claim that its men follow standard operating procedures (SOP) while rendering operational duties in the Kashmir Valley. But things are different as they never follow these procedures,” she said.
    She told CNS that it is the right time for the government to instill confidence amoung people by going for a time bound inquiry and book the culprits. “People in Kashmir don’t believe in probes and commissions as they are never made public. This is the high time that the report about this killing should be made public and guilty be punished without any consideration,” she said. (CNS)