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  • Obama defends his decision not to use term Islamic terrorism

    US President Barack Obama has defended his decision not to use the term ‘Islamic terrorism’, saying it is a “sort of manufactured” issue and there is no religious rationale to associate Islam with those who have “perverted and distorted” it as an excuse for their barbarism.
    “The truth of the matter is, is that this is an issue that has been sort of manufactured, because there is no doubt that where we see terrorist organiasations like Al Qaida or ISIL, they have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death,” Obama said at a military town hall in Virginia.
    “These are people who kill children, kill Muslims, take sex slaves. There’s no religious rationale that would justify in any way any of the things that they do,” he said.
    Obama said he has been careful to make sure he does not lump these “murderers” into the billion Muslims that exist around the world, including in this country, who are peaceful, who are responsible, who in this country are troops and police officers and firefighters and teachers and neighbours and friends.
    “What I learned from listening to some of these Muslim families both in the United States and overseas is that when you start calling these organisations ‘Islamic terrorists’, the way it’s heard, the way it’s received by our friends and allies around the world is that somehow Islam is terroristic.
    “That then makes them feel as if they’re under attack.
    In some cases, it makes it harder for us to get their cooperation in fighting terrorism,” Obama said in response to a question.
    “If somebody uses the phrase ‘Islamic terrorism’ that it’s a huge deal? No There’s no doubt that these folks think that — and claim that they’re speaking for Islam. But I don’t want to validate what they do.”
    Obama said even some people “aspiring” to be president should refrain from such language. He said religious tests for immigration were a “slippery slope.”
    “The dangers where we get loose in this language, particularly when a president or people aspiring to become president get loose with this language, you can see in some of the language that we use — in talking about Muslim-Americans here, and the notion that somehow we’d start having religious tests in who can come in the country, and who’s investigated, and whether the Bill of Rights applies to them in the same way,” he said. (PTI)

  • Surgical Strikes Were Filmed, Troops ‘Went Deep, Returned Before Sunrise’

    Written by Barkha Dutt ,Vishnu Som
     
    NEW DELHI: The surgical strikes in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir that were carried out by India last night were recorded on cameras; the government will decide whether and when to release the footage, including some obtained through drones, said top sources. At midnight, India moved troops across the Line of Control to target seven different camps where terrorists had been placed to infiltrate India and carry out attacks within Kashmir as well as other major metros, said the army today. Pakistan was caught totally by surprise, said sources, crucial to “achieving full impact.” There were no Indian casualties. A huge number of terrorists were killed – each “launch pad” that was attacked held at least 10 terrorists and an equal number of guides and other assistants. The government had recognised “mass anger” among people after the terror attack at an army base in Uri earlier this month, said ministers who were present this morning at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s review of security. They added that recent moves by India to isolate Pakistan by “tinkering with its Most Favoured Nation trading status or recalling envoys was no longer enough to address the levels of anger.” Indian soldiers went at least two kilometres across the Line of Control to different parts or sectors, said ministers. “Our forces have gone deep in and come back before sunrise,” they said, adding that Pakistan’s denial of the strikes is expected. The strikes, which included para commandos and helicopters, are India’s first direct military response to the attack in Uri which left 18 soldiers dead. Four terrorists from Pakistan attacked the base on September 18 with AK-47s and grenades. Explaining the action, sources said that “Prime Minister Modi tried peace for two years, (but) Nawaz Sharif has decided to toe his army’s line.” Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj also told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday that PM Modi’s outreach to Mr Sharif, which included inviting him to the Prime Minister’s swearing-in and a surprise visit to wish the Pakistani premier for his birthday in December, has met with a series of terror attacks. The PM had warned that the Uri assault would be avenged and that the army would take action at an appropriate time. In recent days, as his government moved to isolate Pakistan diplomatically and to pressure it by rethinking crucial water-sharing and trade agreements, the PM was urged by some within his own party as well as opposition leaders to take strong action against Islamabad to prove terrorist attacks in India will not be tolerated.

  • ‘Notion of Surgical Strike… Is Fabrication of Truth,’ Pakistan Responds

    Srinagar: Pakistan on Thursday denied Indian claims of surgical strikes along the Line of Control (LoC) in “Azad” Jammu and Kashmir.

    “There has been no surgical strike by India, instead there had been cross border fire initiated and conducted by India which is existential phenomenon,” the military’s media wing ISPR said.

    The statement added, “As per rules of engagement same was strongly and befittingly responded by Pakistani troops.”

    “The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged militant bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by Indian to create false effects. This quest by Indian establishment to create media hype by re branding cross border fire as surgical strike is fabrication of truth. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, same will be strongly responded,” the statement said.

    Earlier today, India’s defence ministry military claimed it carried out “surgical strikes” along the de facto border with Pakistan in AJK to thwart a series of attacks being planned against major cities.

    “Some militant teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the Line of Control,” Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, the army’s director-general of military operations, said in reference to the unofficial border in divided Kashmir.

    “The Indian army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launch pads. Significant casualties have been caused to these terrorists and those who are trying to support them,” he told reporters in New Delhi, adding that he had called his Pakistani counterpart to inform him of the operation.

    Two Pakistan Army soldiers were killed on Thursday as Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC in Bhimber, Kel and Lipa sectors, ISPR claimed.

    The exchange of fire took place in the Bhimber, Hot Spring, Kel and Lipa sectors, and lasted about six hours early on Thursday, the Pakistani military’s press wing said in a statement. Pakistani troops mounted a fitting response to unprovoked Indian firing.

    India on Thursday announced that air links between Pakistan and India, which including direct flights between the two countries will be decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

  • India brands cross border fire as surgical strikes: Pakistan

    Srinagar: Pakistan on Thursday dismissed the Indian claims of any surgical strikes across  the LoC.

    “The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged terrorists bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by India to create false effects,” reports quoting Pakistan military statement said.

    “This quest by Indian establishment to create media hype by rebranding cross border fire as surgical strike is fabrication of truth. Pakistan has made it clear that if there is a surgical strike on Pakistani soil, same will be strongly responded.”

    Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the incident, according to Radio Pakistan. “Our intent for a peaceful neighbourhood should not be mistaken as our weakness,” the Pak PM said.

  • India Conducts Surgical Strikes Across LoC,’ says Defence Ministry

    SRINAGAR: “India conducted surgical strikes last night across the LoC (Line of Control) to safeguard our nation, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday. Significant casualties have been caused to militants and those trying to shield them. We don’t have a plan to further conduct such strikes. India has spoken to Pakistan,” DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said.

    “There were launch pads across the LoC where militants were present waiting to infiltrate the nation and attack areas in Kashmir and metros across the country,” the DGMO said.

    No Indian casualties occurred during the surgical strikes that were carried out last night by the Indian Army.

    “We have recovered items including GPS which have Pakistani markings. Captured militants hailing from PaK or Pakistan have confessed to their training in Pakistan or in Pakistan controlled region,” Singh said.

    “I spoke to the Pak DGMO, shared our concerns and told him that we conducted surgical strikes last night: DGMO Singh said.

    The press conference was jointly conducted by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan, in a statement issued has said: At least two Army men were killed as Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire over the Line of Control in “Azad Jammu and Kashmir”.

    The exchange of fire began at 2:30am, ISPR said, and continued till 8:00am. “Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on the LoC in Bhimber, Hotspring Kel and Lipa sectors,” the statement said.

    Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security to discuss the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control.

    Also present at the meeting were Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, NSA Ajit Doval, and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

    (The news story first appeared in The Indian Express.)

  • In service of humanity, a life ends of a sudden

    ANANTNAG: On the evening of September 12 when some injured policemen and civilians were rushed to district hospital Anantnag, the officials in the hospital laboratory on night duty started phoning their colleague, Bilal Ahmad Dar, who had left the hospital at 4pm as usual. After getting no response to their repeated calls they gave up calling him and started attending to the injured.Little did they know that their colleague was lying dead on a hospital bed.
    “One of his colleagues came rushing to me while I was standing in the hospital ward and asked about Bilal. As I pointed towards his dead body lying on a bed, he was shell shocked,” said Bilal’s elder brother, Dr Zahoor.Bilal was injured in a grenade attack hurled by unidentified persons on police station Sherbagh, a day before Eid-ul-Azha. He was pronounced “brought dead” at the hospital. Bilal was working as a laboratory technician in district hospital Anantnag for the past six-seven years. His temporary job had been confirmed only eight months ago.
    Survived by aged parents, wife, and two little daughters aged 7 and 3 years, Bilal, according to his brother, had served the injured people during the ongoing uprising with all his spirit. bilal-ahmad-dar
    “For almost the entire first week of the uprising, he stayed at the hospital round the clock. He was highly dedicated and God-fearing,” Zahoor said.
    Neighbours and colleagues remember him as a social worker. “He would devote his leisure time to social service. It was because of his spirit to serve the poor that he associated himself with a local ‘Syed-us-Saadat’ trust,” said his neighbour Showkat Ahmad. Ahmad said, “Besides being humble and dedicated, Bilal was also very intelligent. He was an ardent reader of Islamic literature and other subjects. He was living his life according to Islam.”
    Bilal’s brother Dr Zahoor said that such killings would continue to happen in Kashmir unless and until Kashmir issue is resolved. “India has been harsh in its approach to Kashmir. We appeal the world community to wake up and help in resolving this issue so that Kashmiris, too, can live their lives with peace,” Zahoor said. (Kashmir Reader)

  • Govt preparing 70,000 paramilitary men for winter

    Apprehending protracted unrest in Kashmir, the Centre has started preparation for providing winter logistics to central paramilitary forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.
    The Home Ministry has already approached the Army and supplying agencies to provide winter boots, socks, jackets, snow gloves and other warm clothing which would be required by around 70,000 paramilitary forces deployed in the state.

    A top Home Ministry official is personally monitoring the procurement process and trying to ensure that all required items are delivered before the onset of the “harsh winter” ahead.
    “We are really worried about the boys on the ground. We have to get all winter logistics well before the time as Kashmir is expected to have a harsh winter,” a senior official said.
    Unrest in Kashmir continues ever since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8 leading to huge deployment of paramilitary forces across Kashmir.

    “We have to be prepared in case the turmoil continues for a longer period, especially during winter,” the official said.(PTI)

  • We didn’t think we could whitewash West Indies: Sarfraz Ahmed

    Pakistan blanked the West Indies 3-0 in the T20 series with another dominating eight wicket win in the third and final match here on Tuesday.
    After beating Carlos Brathwaite’s men by nine wickets and 16 runs in the first two matches at Dubai, Pakistan, under Sarfraz, secured their first-ever 3-0 whitewash in a T20 series.

    “We didn’t estimate we would win 3-0,” said Sarfraz. “But I will give full credit to the boys for doing everything better than them and that’s why we have won the series.”
    The wicketkeeper-batsman believes the clean sweep over the world champions is the first step towards building a formidable outfit for the future.
    Sarfraz said the win will go a long way towards establishing a T20 team, struggling after being ousted in the first round of the World Twenty20 held in India in March-April this year that forced the then skipper Shahid Afridi to step down.

    Sarfraz, who was handed over the leadership, has won all four matches — also beating England at Manchester earlier this month.
    “Of course, this is the first step towards building a new team,” the 29-year-old said, adding, “If we want to become a good team then we have to bring consistency.”
    Sarfraz was pleased to see the players, regardless of their experience at the international level standing up to the task.
    ”Both junior and senior players are performing and contributing and that is the sign of a good team.”
    Left-arm spinner Imad Wasim, declared man of the series for his nine wickets in the series, rocked the West Indies’ top order with figures of three for 21.
    West Indies’ below par total of 103-5 was never a bother for Pakistan, who chased down the target in 15.1 overs for the loss of two wickets.
    All did not go well for the West Indies after winning the World Twenty20 title.
    World Twenty20 winning captain Darren Sammy was replaced by Carlos Brathwaite while successful coach Phil Simmons was sacked.
    Sarfraz said he was enjoying the captaincy.
    “It’s nice to see senior and juniors cooperating and contributing. It’s a combination of juniors and seniors and I am enjoying it as a leader.”
    Pakistan and West Indies will now play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) with the first game in Sharjah on Friday.

  • In Srinagar, all roads lead to Jio headquarters

    City residents throng Rajbagh to get free SIM cards

    With hundreds of bikes and dozens of cars parked outside its office, it seems all roads in the city are leading to Reliance Jio’s Kashmir headquarters in Rajbagh here.
    As the newly launched mobile company is offering free SIM cards with without charge local, STD and roaming, despite shutdown and curfews hundreds of people throng Jio’s local office for purchasing its postpaid connections.

    In Kashmir prepaid outgoing calls and mobile internet is barred for more than last 80 days now with intermittent ban on both postpaid and prepaid mobile services except for the state owned BSNL after the killing of Hizbul Mujahedeen Commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
    The rush of people for purchasing the Jio postpaid connections here which is visible from both outside office building as well inside office’s main waiting hall. At Rajbagh crossing, where the Jio office is located, three Traffic Police officials are managing the heavy rush of vehicles and customer say that despite coming early morning they have to wait for hours or even may have to come next day to get a mobile connection.
    Though across India the attraction towards Jio is its cheap internet packages but in Kashmir when the mobile internet is presently banned it is the free SIM card and voice calling through its ‘Jio Welcome Offer’ that has become the main reason for customers to go for its services.

    Customers say that above all the barring of prepaid outgoing calling in Kashmir has become the main reason for them to opt for the Jio postpaid.
    Jammu and Kashmir has about 98 lakh mobile subscribers with more than 90 percent of them with prepaid connection, according to TRAI records. The barring of outgoing on prepaid phones rendered majority of mobile users devoid of calling facilities forcing them to either apply for new postpaid connection or convert their prepaid SIMs into postpaid.
    “I was a prepaid user but I cannot call anybody from it, therefore, needed a postpaid SIM and would have gone for any postpaid which would be affordable with good connectivity. But when I saw Jio offer, I found it amazing. The company will not charge me for voice calls months and there is no monthly rent to be paid until December. So why should I bother about standing in a queue for few hours, when I am going to save lot of money,” says Waseem Wani of Habak. Wani had reached Jio office from the city outskirts at 8 0Clock in the morning and was able to get the SIM card at 3PM.
    Like Waseem, same tale is repeated by a number of customers, who are queued up for their turn to get the Jio connection.
    The rush of new customers was earlier witnessed by BSNL, as its postpaid services were not barred by government and Airtel for its reliable service quality. However, as soon as the Jio announced its offers on September 1 and started issuing SIM cards here, new customers turned en masse towards it.
    Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries of which Reliance Jio Infocomm is a subsidiary on its Annual General Meeting on September 1 announced that domestic voice calls to any network across India would be free for Jio subscribers even beyond the Jio Welcome Offer and domestic roaming services would also not be charged separately,. Besides, average data prices would be around Rs 50 per GB, which would be amongst the lowest in the world, he has claimed.
    Company officials based in Srinagar, who does not want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to media, though reluctant to share exact figures, say that they are witnessing unexpected response and are much ahead of their target with thousands of SIMs already provided to customers.
    “When we started, the present phase of unrest had already begun and internet and prepaid was banned, so we were very skeptical that there will be hardly any people buying our services but as the announcement was made about the free offers, people despite shutdown and curfews started to throng in, these are the best offers available presently in whole telecom sector here,” said the official.
    They also said that there is minimum documentation required for obtaining a Jio SIM. One needs to provide their Adhar No and thumb impression to verify the Adhar No and receives a SIM card within no time, which is activated then and there only.

  • WHO IS WINNING ?

    Khalid Tantray

    The current scenario in Kashmir is no different from that of a war. Three months of clampdown, more than 80 deaths and there seems no end to the conflict. These statistics are absolutely disturbing for the common masses, while for those at the helm of affairs it’s just a clash of “percentages”. But there are some alarming questions that we, the common Kashmiris need to ponder over, WHO IS WINNING ? Are we even getting close to achieving what we dream of? As far as the developments regarding the issue and the seriousness or to be apt, lack of seriousness, of those in the seats of power goes it doesn’t look like that we are! It’s high time to introspect whether the methods that we are using are effective or as it seems to me, counterproductive. I am compelled to say this having seen the horrific and worrying scenes almost at every place that I visited during these months. Kids, aged just 5 or 10 at the most, are out on the roads with hands full of stones. Not knowing what they are doing this for, they just stop every vehicle, hurl stones on every person irrespective of whether it’s a civilian or otherwise. But then, that is bound to happen, isn’t it? They are immature minds, but, at the same time, they are keen observers. They have been observing everything painstakingly. They are just emulating what they’ve been seeing all around. A quote popping up in my mind rightly describes the point – “Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate” It’s not an attempt to show the movement in bad light. We just need to think about this with an open mind. Are we going to ruin the future of the nation that we are fighting to free from the oppressors? Are we ready to pay this price having paid with our lives already? These young buds that should be enjoying this time of their lives and not caring about anything else have been pushed to the wall. Even at this time of misery and great sorrow, the parents are duty-bound to counsel their wards. We cannot let the situation make a dreadful impact on the minds of our gen-next. At the same time, those in control of the situation should ask themselves whether they’re really doing any good to this movement by creating such repercussions. “The children of any nation are its future. A country, a movement, a person that doesn’t value its youth and children does not deserve its future” – Oliver Tambo