Category: Union Territory

‘Transporters’ from Kupwara stage anti-separatist protest

Srinagar: A group of people claiming to be the transporters from frontier district Kupwara Thursday staged a protest against separatist sponsored strike calls outside Press Enclave Srinagar.

The protesters said that they have become the worst victims of continuous shutdown and they are unable to earn a living. Bashir Ahmed who claimed to be the president Sumo Union Kupwara told news agency CNS that continuous shutdown calls from Syed Ali Geelani has been starving people in Valley. Another protester Ghulam Hasan said that they are against the strike calendar of Geelani and they don’t want to suffer anymore.

Raja Adil said that people have been suffering and separatists continue to issue protest and strike calendars. Ironically, the government cameramen were seen capturing the protest on their tapes while one of the protesters said that they arrived here in a Becon vehicle.

While one of the protesters was busy in talking to reporters, some youths suddenly emerged on the scene and thrashed a protester. The agitated youth claimed that it was a government sponsored protest and the protesters have been paid for what they termed as a ‘staged drama’.

Witnesses said that after beating the protester, they fled from the spot. Reports said that police arrested a contractor for allegedly assaulting the protester. The Contractor though pleading innocence was bundled into the police vehicle and lodged in police station Kothibagh. He was identified as Mushtaq Ahmed Maliq of Lasjan Bypass. (CNS)    

Srinagar: Unidentified persons set ablaze a Maruti van during the dead ofWednesday night in Veer Chatabal area of Srinagar city, police said.

They said that Maruti Van (JK01H-7081) parked outside the vehicle owner’s house was set on fire by unknown persons. The vehicle owner Mehrajuddin Kawa told CNS that the vehicle was set on fire at 2 AM.

“It was the only source of income for my family. I fail to understand why it was set ablaze,” he said.

A police official said that a case has been registered and investigation has been taken up. (CNS)

Jammu: At least four persons, including school students, died and around 35 were injured after a matador they were travelling on turned turtle near Barmeen area of Udhampur district in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner Udhampur Neeraj Kumar said: “Four people including minors died and 35 sustained injuries when an Udhampur-Barmeen route matador skidded off the road near Barmeen”.

Kumar, however, said that figures may change as some people have been critically injured.
Eyewitnesses said that the matador skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge, leading to death of four people and injuries to 35 others.
District administration launched an immediate rescue operation with the help of police and locals.

The injured were shifted to District Hospital Udhampur for treatment.

Srinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP), Kashmir unit, held its first meeting here today ever since the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 sparked widespread protests.The Valley unrest that entered its 89th day today, besides throwing normal life out of gear, has also affected political activities even as the BJP earlier claimed that 19 of its workers were attacked during protests.And as the BJP cadres held a meeting at its Rajbagh party office, they expressed hope that normalcy would return in a “few days.”“The situation is improving but still we have to trek a long distance and it will be normal in a few days…because public at large wants peace and development. People want to come out to lead a normal life but a few are still in a mood to disturb the normalcy on the instructions of their masters sitting across the border,” said senior BJP leader and MLC Ramesh Arora, who chaired the meeting.BJP, Kashmir media in charge, Altaf Thakur said they were meeting for the first time after the ongoing unrest and that they would be resuming normal party activities very soon.“The BJP cadres had to go through a tough time during the unrest as 19 of our workers were attacked. Now that things are improving, we held a first full-fledged party meeting today,” he said.Before the ongoing unrest, the BJP, Kashmir unit, was working to strengthen the party base and had claimed enrolment of over 3.3 lakh members in the Valley.Meanwhile, Arora appealed to the students to start their studies and not get “mislead by the slogans.” Stating that peace was the only solution for progress, he said: “Those who have burnt the autos of poor persons must be ashamed and the police must take strong steps to control such incidents.”“India is a big democratic country, it cannot allow any type of disintegration of land. Surgical strikes (across LoC) reflect the mindset and determination of the nation. People, especially students and teenagers, must understand that no power on the earth can deviate us from our determination to provide a peaceful atmosphere where each and every person can grow without fear and pressure,” he added. (Tribune News Service)

Srinagar: Joint Resistance Leadership issues Fresh Protest Programme

(From October 07, 2016 to October 13, 2016)

Friday, October 07
(No Relaxation)
UNMOGIP March
From 9 am, Marchone & all from the entire Jammu & Kashmir towards the UNMOGIP Office, Srinagar and handover a memorandum to the military observers regarding India’s recent attempts of creating war hysteria to deflect international attention from ongoing People’s uprising for freedom from forcible Indian occupation of Jammu & Kashmir and also asking UNO to impress upon Indiato shun the violence and respect and adhere to UN charter and implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir;
OfferFriday prayerPoloview ground, TRC ground and adjacent parks;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth Volunteers of Srinagar coordinate&ensure the arrangements

Saturday, October 08
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 6 am)
One Day Students’Resistance Convention
All the students, school to university level, from neighbouring villages and localities organise one day students’ resistance conventionfrom 11 am to 4 pmin respective areas;
Educate yourself and others about the  Indian occupation alternate history, freedom struggle and  real heroes of Jammu and Kashmir;
Educate yourself and others the ways and means to liberate our mind, soul, body and land form the shackles of Indian occupation and how to consciously make resistance our way of living;
Professors, Teachers, Research Scholars, and others professionals should actively participate in this one day teaching-learning program;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth Volunteers of these areas coordinate and ensure the arrangements

Sunday, October 09
(No Relaxation)
Azadi Prayer Day
Form Zuhrto Maghrib hold special prayer for the freedom form Indian Military Occupation in all Mosques across Jammu & Kashmir;
Offer QunootNazilah as our beloved Prophet Muhammad SallalahuAlaiheWassallam used to at times of calamity, difficulty and hardships of Ummah and beseech Allah SubhanahuwaTa’ala for His forgiveness, His mercy and the salvation of weak and oppressed people of Jammu & Kashmir form brutal military occupation and oppression;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth Volunteers ensure the arrangements

Monday, October 10
(No Relaxation)
Occupy all roads towards J&K Police Stations
Come out of your homes at 9 am andoccupy all the roads leading to your respective police stations till 4 pm;
Protest with the banners, placards and posters with the messages: “JK Police: Shame on You to Continue Taking the Side of Indian Occupying State”, “JK Police: Shame on You for Killing, Maiming, Arresting & Torturing Your Own People”, “JK Police: You are also WAR CRIMINALS as Other Indian Occupation Forces”, “JK Police:  Kashmiris Will Neither FORGET Nor FORGIVE Your Oppression to Crush Freedom Struggle”;
Offer Zuhr on roads

Tuesday, October 11
(No Relaxation)
Women’s Day
Assemble & Occupy local chowks and centres from Zuhr to Asr in the vicinity of your mohallas, villages and localities;
Protest with Flags, Placards and Banners with Freedom messages and slogans

Wednesday, October 12
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 6 am)
Langate, Zaingeer, Aloosa, B.K. Pora, Safapora, Hazratbal (Central), Dadsara, Imam Sahib,  Frisal, Qazigund Freedom March
From 9 am,March one & all from Kupwara to Langate, Baramulla to Zaingeer, Bandipora to Aloosa, Budgam to B.K. Pora, Ganderbal to Safapora, Srinagar to Hazratbal (Central), Pulwama to Dadsara, Shopian to Imam Sahib, Kulgam to Frisal and Islamabad to Qazigund;
Post Zuhr prayer, hold Freedom Congregation at the place identified and agreed upon locally and mutually;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth Volunteers of these Blocks coordinate and ensure the arrangements

Thursday, October 13
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 6 am)
One Day Azadi Convention
Neighbouring villages and localities organize one day Azadi conventionfrom 11 am to 4 pm in respective areas;
Deliberate and discuss ways and means to strengthen the ongoing People’s uprising for freedom from Indian occupation;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth Volunteers of these areas coordinate and ensure the arrangements

Directions For All Days
1.      Protests be held across Jammu & Kashmir.
2.     Shutdown across Jammu & Kashmir on all days except for the relaxation mentioned in the program.
3.     Public vehicular movement not to be stopped after 10 pm to 6 am on all nights.
4.     Lockdown all the routes entering your Mohallas, Villages and Localities by every means during night to protect people in general and youth in particular from the raids and arrests by Indian forces and J&K Police.
5.     Play Islamic and AzadiTaranas from Maghrib to Isha on all days.
6.     Paste this Protest Program Poster on the entrance of every mosque and in Market places, Mohallas & Local Chowks.

‘Cannot burn crops and fodder and destroy transformers and then expect peace and reconciliation’

Srinagar: National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the mass crackdown and unabated repression of civilians in Kashmir was unprecedented and seemed like an institutional effort to punish people for the current unrest.

In a statement, the former chief minister said it was imprudent for the State Government to expect that nocturnal raids, PSAs, burning crops and fodder and destroying electric transformers would somehow lead to sustainable peace and normalcy.

“Hundreds of electric transformers in rural areas have been damaged beyond repair in a clear attempt to persecute people en-masse by depriving them of essential services. People in rural areas are now trying to protect electric transformers in their areas with sand bags because security forces are firing bullets to damage them”, he said.

Omar said persecuting people of Kashmir based on a flawed assumption that such measures would somehow arm-twist people into peace and political adherence is a dangerous policy.

“You have to uphold the fundamental rights of the people in Kashmir as is done in all other parts of the country and the State’s intentional reluctance to do so fuels the perception of isolation and alienation in Kashmir.”

Omar said that treating all Kashmiris as hostile combatants who deserve to be persecuted into ‘discipline’ and coerced into ‘normalcy’ is a validation of those voices that question the State’s sincerity in dealing with the people of Kashmir fairly, humanely and in a just manner”.

Er Rasheed asks army not to indulge itself in staged dramas for BJP’s political dividends

Srinagar: AIP President and MLA Langate has accused Indian army and other state agencies of preparing fake footages at borders so as to put forward them as evidences for surgical strikes. In a statement issued today Er Rasheed said, “The very credible sources confirm that Indian army is engaged in filming videos in Nowgam and Leepa sectors, adjacent to borders showing as if army is carrying out covert operations in enemy’s territory, so that the same can be provided as evidences to satisfy Indian masses and world community. It is worth to mention that army had claimed to have carried strikes in this area as well. The issue of surgical strikes needs to be understood in light of Times of India story published in June this year, revealing that BJP will declare Rajnath Singh as its candidate for U.P CM, but before doing so, Rajnath Singh may claim to have carried out some big military operation in Kashmir, in order to gain sympathy among U.P voters. Any professional army needs not to fall in the trap of political establishment and Indian army should not do any misadventure or indulge in any fake propaganda just to help BJP for its political goals and also escalate tension at the borders. Unfortunately army and police have been staging managed dramas in the past from Pathribal to Machil and claims of surgical strikes and that of apprehending a Pakistani militant Bahadur Ali are the recent additions to these staged dramas. Any credible investigating agency or journalist can visit the Yehama village in Kupwara district where from Bahadur Ali was apprehended and find that how sensational and dramatic was the operation of apprehending Bahadur Ali. The culprit has been seen rooming free on a bike for three to four days before being apprehended and it is interesting that he was arrested by just two policemen, who had travelled a distance of 3Kms from the nearest police station for the job and brought him in a private vehicle to nearest police station at Qalamabad. Had he been a dreaded militant it would have been impossible to arrest him with the help of just two policemen. Ironically, next day army and task force went and photographed the area and informed locals that they had captured a Pakistani militant. Six days later, national media started claiming about Bahadur Ali’s arrest, plans and connections.” Er Rasheed further added, “First when Indian politicians praised Indian army over surgical strikes and now when they are raising questions about the same, it is obvious that they are more interested in getting political mileage over each other, rather caring about real story. The intelligence agencies on other hand want to divert attention from mass uprising in Kashmir but need to realise that even if Kashmiris call off strike, things will not change unless dispute is not resolved. However, they must all restrain from fighting battle of throne for New Delhi on streets of Kashmir. The claims and counterclaims being made by Indian politicians are enough proof to conclude that there is something serious wrong in all the claims whatsoever are being made viz-a-viz these so called surgical strikes. May one ask India army that if Pakistani’s facilitated world media to the sights where India claimed to have carried surgical strikes, why can’t India come out with concrete evidences to support its claim.”

New Delhi: The 12-nation Kabaddi World Cup kicks off this week in India, with a row over a decision to bar arch-rivals Pakistan from competing threatening to overshadow the tag-wrestling sport’s showcase event.

With the World Cup last staged nine years ago, teams are relishing the chance to compete in the two-week event being held in India’s western city of Ahmedabad.

However, International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) chief Deoraj Chaturvedi, who is from India, said Pakistan has been denied entry because of a spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, The Dawn.com reported.

“This is not the right time to engage with Pakistan,” Chaturvedi said.

“Pakistan is a valuable member of the IKF but looking at the current scenario and in the best interest of both the nations, we decided that Pakistan must be refrained from the championship.”

Pakistan accused the IKF of unfairly targeting the country, saying both rival nations should have been excluded if there were security concerns.

“We have called a meeting to discuss this issue but let me tell you that a Kabaddi World Cup is no world cup without Pakistan,” said Pakistan Kabaddi Federation secretary Rana Muhammad Sarwar.

“This is just like a football world cup without Brazil,” Sarwar said.

Pakistan captain Nasir Ali said his players had been favourites to clinch the cup after defeating India at the six-nation Kabaddi Cup held in Pakistan in May and last month’s Asian Beach Games in Vietnam.

“We were hoping to win the world cup in India by beating India,” Ali said, adding that fans were being denied matches between the top two sides.

Hostilities between the nations have flared after India said last week it conducted “military strikes along Line of Control” in Kashmir.

Srinagar: All Jammu and Kashmir Students Union (AJKSU) in a statement to media expressed dismay over the government’s decision to conduct final exams of 10th and 12th classes in next month. AJKSU President Syed Tajamul in a statement said the student examinations are not like state or parliamentary elections to which government will expect the normalization in political situation.
“At a time when there is political uncertainty in the Valley from the last 90 days, when Schools and Colleges remain totally closed and students were not able to attend the tuitions due to imposition of Curfew restrictions and strike calls, how could have students prepared themselves for the examinations,” the statement reads.
Tajamul said Govt should aware that examinations are directly linked with the bright future of students and as such students are neither mentally nor the situation presently allow them to sit in examinations, adding, the examinations are not like state or parliamentary elections to which government will expect the normalization in political situation.
Slamming a section of schools authorities who just uploaded syllabus on their school websites to act as they are fulfilling their responsibility, Tajamul said that it is unfortunate students are being asked by the school administration to download the content from website at a time when there is no possible internet facility to the students.
Tajamul said students are not only prepared academically, several students in nook and corner of the Valley are reportedly injured during the present turmoil in Kashmir. He said to go for examinations it will be compromise of the security of the students and in such case no parent will allow to their wards to go for examinations.
He appealed the government to go through the facts and read the writing on wall and see how students are protesting everywhere against the government’s decision to conduct the examinations. Tajamul hoped that government will look the matter seriously and will announce the postponement of annual examinations 2016.