Blog

Last rally was held in 2009, since then all Govt’s always disallowed congregational fateh prayers, says AAC, Mirwaiz placed under house detention, curbs in downtown

Srinagar, May 21 (KNO): The ban on holding a rally at the martyr’s graveyard Eidgah today completed a decade as last procession led by Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to pay tributes to his father Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq and other martyrs of Kashmir struggle was allowed in 2009.

Today, amid a complete shutdown in Srinagar to mark the day of “martyrdom (Shahadat)” of Mirwaiz Farooq and Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone, the authorities imposed strict restrictions in several parts of downtown Srinagar to foil the Joint Resistance Leadership’s Eidgah march to commemorate the day.

Witnesses told KNO that since early morning, police and paramilitary forces were deployed in strength in the old city. “Barricades using concertina wires were laid on roads and all routes leading to Eidgah, which houses the martyrs’ graveyard of Srinagar, were sealed,” they said. According to AAC sources, last rally to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of Mirwaiz Farooq was held in 2009 and since then all the regimes have been disallowed the procession even though “we have been giving guarantee that rally will remain peaceful.”

Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq was killed on May 21, 1990, while Abdul Gani Lone was killed on May 21, 2002, both of them by unidentified gunmen.
The district administration formally imposed restrictions in areas under the jurisdiction of Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, MR Gunj and Safa Kadal police stations. Witnesses told KNO that huge contingents of forces on roads to ensure no major rally or protest takes place.

“At many places, barbed wires were placed on roads to ensure no major gathering or a protest march takes place,” eye-witnesses told KNO. “All roads leading to martyrs graveyard Eidgah were sealed by the government forces and nobody was allowed to move towards it.”

Witnesses said that all markets and private offices in Srinagar remained shut and public transport was off the roads as part of the shutdown to commemorate the day. Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house arrest on Monday evening to prevent him from leading a protest march to Eidgah. Other Hurriyat (M) leaders Engineer Hilal War and others were also placed under house detention.

On May 21, 1990, Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq was killed, a huge procession carrying his coffin was fired upon by Border Security Force (BSF) troops at Hawal in Srinagar. The firing killed 61 civilians. Dozens others suffered injuries. The fate probe ordered into the killing of Mirwaiz continues to hang in balance. (KNO)

SRINAGAR, MAY 21: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recovered information related to Islamic State (IS) activities in Kashmir from a man who was allegedly planning suicide attacks in Kerala.

The NIA found the information on the phone of the accused, Riyas Aboobacker. According to sources, the NIA who are analysing the information may apply for Riyas’ custody again to investigate the case further.

The NIA had recently filed a petition in court opposing Riyas’ plea. It is alleged that Riyas had been following speeches and videos of the mastermind of the Sri Lankan blasts Zahran Hashim for nearly a year.

The National Investigation Agency arrested a Palakkad native, for allegedly planning a suicide bombing on April 29. The accused, Aboobacker Siddique, confirmed the NIA’s suspicion when he confessed that he intended to carry out a suicide bombing in Kerala.

On April 28, the NIA had conducted a raid at Siddique’s house in Palakkad and Ahamed Arafat’s house in Kasaragod.

The NIA special court will consider the plea of BA Aloor, who has filed a bail petition for Riyas. Aloor states that the original case in which Riyas was arraigned was registered in 2016 and that he had no links with the persons who left for Syria and Afghanistan to join the IS. The court will hear the plea on Wednesday. (PTK)

SRINAGAR, MAY 21: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said that his party, Janata Dal (United), is not on the same page with NDA ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the contentious issues of Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Ram Mandir.

Speaking to reporters, the JD (U) chief, however, stressed that there is no contradiction between his party and that of the BJP, while adding that his party’s views on the issues are the same since the two forged an alliance.

“There’s no contradiction. We’ve always maintained Article 370 shouldn’t be scrapped, Uniform Civil Code shouldn’t be imposed, Ayodhya dispute should be resolved through mutual agreement and court’s intervention. We’ve maintained this since we first forged an alliance with BJP,” he said.

He reiterated that all key issues are discussed when two parties form an alliance and that the BJP has its own stand.

“BJP’s stand is not new. A party has its own stand but when there is an alliance, all of this is discussed. So there is no problem there,” Kumar added. (PTK)

New Delhi, May 21 : A man was arrested for raping cows at a shelter in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.

The accused, identified as Rajkumar, was caught red handed by volunteers of the shelter, run by Kartaliya Baba Ashram.

The volunteers were keeping a vigil on the shelter after they came across CCTV footage showing the man raping several cows.

The accused was caught when he returned to the shelter and attempted to rape cows again. Rajkumar was reportedly beaten up by those who caught him before being handed over to the police.

The man has been arrested and booked under sections 376 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code for cruelty against animals, Ayodhya SSP Jogendra Kumar said.

The Kartaliya Baba Ashram’s priest Ramdas is inconsolable.

“CCTV footage shows the man doing unspeakable acts with seven cows one by one. We have caught him and brought to the police station. The act has left us distraught, we are unable to understand this,” the teary-eyed priest said.

The accused, who hails from Gonda in Nawabganj, claims that he was under the influence of alcohol.

“I was drunk, I don’t know what I did, I only remember that I was beaten by both, people who caught me and the police” Rajkumar told India Today TV.

SRINAGAR: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday hit back at BJP leader Vijay Goel, who had said the CM should have the personal security officer of his choice if he doubts him, saying it is “Modi Ji who wants to get me killed, not my PSO”.

Kejriwal on Saturday claimed he will be assassinated by his personal security officer, like former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party is after his life and will kill him one day.

“BJP would get me murdered by my own PSO one day like Indira Gandhi. My own security officers report to BJP,” Kejriwal had told a news channel in Punjab.

SRINAGAR — The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has quashed the 37th detention order under PSA of Muslim League chairman Masrat Alam Bhat and directed his release him from the preventive custody “if not required in connection with any other case.”

Holding Alam’s detention illegal, a single bench of Justice Rashid Ali Dar quashed the detention passed by District Magistrate Baramulla.

“The respondents are directed to release the detenu (Masrat) from preventive detention, provided he is not required in connection with any other case,” said a bench of Justice Rashid Ali Dar.

“It is well settled law that when the detention order is quashed by the Court, grounds of the order so quashed should not be taken into consideration, either as whole or in part, even along with fresh grounds of detention for drawing subjective satisfaction to pass fresh detention order,” the court said.

It is to be appreciated that once the Court sets-aside the detention order, it nullifies the entire order, the court said.

“The Detaining Authority, therefore, cannot make use of the grounds that were relied upon to pass the earlier detention order(s) or activities that were detailed in such grounds. No such recourse is available where the earlier detention order is struck down by the Court as it sets at naught not only detention order but the grounds on which the detention order is based.”

The court referred to the law law laid down in Masrat Alam Bhat’s case by the Supreme Court in 2008.

The court observed that the Constitution of India – Article 22(5) and Section 13, J&K Public Safety Act 1978, guarantee two important safeguards to the detenu – first that the detenu is informed of grounds of detention that prompted the detaining authority to pass the detention order and second that the detenu is allowed to represent against his/her detention immediately after the detention order is made or executed.

“The Constitutional and Statutory safeguards guaranteed to the detenu are to be meaningful only if the detenu is handed over the material referred to in the grounds of detention that lead to subjective satisfaction that the preventive detention of detenu is necessary to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State of public order and further it is ensured that the grounds of detention are not vague, sketchy and ambiguous so as to keep the detenu guessing about what really weighed with the detaining authority to make the order.”

The court observed that past history and activities of the detenue have been narrated in the grounds of detention but reference of the documents in the grounds of detention and the order of detention would suggest that it was imperative for the detaining authority to supply copies of the documents to the detenue. “This has not been done which in turn deprived the detenue of his right of making an effective representation against his detention. Infringement of such right as guaranteed under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India would render the order of detention as illegal.”

Earlier, Masarat was detained and booked under the PSA following the 2010 unrest that left over 100 people dead in the Kashmir valley.

On October 30, 2012, Aalam was booked under PSA for running the 2010 mass agitation. He was released on March 1, 2015. However, his release sparked political storm after Indian media hyped his release, terming him as “threat to peace.”

Alam was detained under PSA for the first time on October 2, 1990.

He was released in November 1991. He was detained for second time in 1993 and released in February 1997.

On September 1997, he was detained third time for nearly three years and released in May 2000. He was detained for the fourth time in January 2001 and released in August 2003.

He was detained for the fifth time and was in detention till July 2005. Since 16 January 2008, he has been detained on nine occasions under the PSA.

Srinagar, May 20 (GNS): Torture is used as a matter of policy by the Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir in a systematic and institutional manner and “all the institutions of the State form a part”, said Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) in the first comprehensive report on torture in Jammu and Kashmir.

The report, titled Torture: “Indian State’s Instrument of Control in Indian Administered Jammu and Kashmir”, focuses on “torture in Jammu and Kashmir by the State since 1990, and provides a contextual understanding of various phases of torture being perpetrated in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947.”

Using 432 case studies, the report charts out trends and patterns, targets, perpetrators, sites, contexts and impacts of “torture” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Due to legal, political and moral impunity extended to the armed forces, it says, not a single prosecution has taken place in any case of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Despite global attention and condemnation of torture following exposés of indiscriminate torture practised in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons, torture remains hidden in Jammu and Kashmir, where tens of thousands of civilians have been subjected to it. It says.

“Torture is used as a matter of policy by the Indian State in Jammu and Kashmir in a systematic and institutional manner, as all the institutions of the State be it a legislature, executive, judiciary and armed forces form a part,” it says. The widespread use of torture continues unabatedly in Jammu and Kashmir.

“As recently as 19 March 2019, a 29-year-old school principal, Rizwan Pandith was killed due to torture after being illegally detained in the Cargo camp of the Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police.” Three days later, it says, the Police filed a case against deceased Rizwan, alleging that he was trying to escape from the Police custody while no case was filed against police officials under whose custody he was killed.

This report gives a brief understanding of the historical background in the use of ‘torture’ in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 to curb any dissenting voices, a practice which attained an unprecedented magnitude post-1990.

The report categorizes the eras after 1990 during which “torture and other human rights violations,” while still being carried out by the Indian armed forces and Jammu & Kashmir Police, were also outsourced to different formations like Ikhwan and Village Defence Committees (VDCs).

This report establishes that the number of methods of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment as set out in the UN OHCHR Istanbul Protocol, and continues to be perpetrated in Jammu and Kashmir, according to a statement issued to GNS.

The forms of torture that have been documented in this report include stripping the detainees naked (190 out of 432 cases studied for this report), beating with sticks, iron rods or leather belts (326 cases), roller treatment (169 cases), water-boarding (24 cases), dunking detainees’ head in water (101 cases), electrocution including in genitals (231 cases), hanging from the ceiling, mostly upside down (121 cases), burning of the body with hot objects (35 cases), solitary confinement (11 cases), sleep deprivation (21 cases), sexual torture (238 cases) including rape and sodomy, among others.

The report points out that a predominant majority of the torture victims are civilians: 301 out of 432, which include women, students and juveniles, political activists, human rights activists and journalists. “Entire populations have also been subjected to collective punishments like cordon and search operations (CASOs) during which torture and sexual violence have been common.”

This report provides an insight into how torture has ruined the lives of survivors with a multitude of them suffering from chronic ailments resulting from torture.

Apart from the physical ailments, people who have been tortured or even witnessed it, have suffered from psychological issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

49 of the 432 victims of torture died post-torture, 40 of them as a result of injuries received during torture. “Since many deaths due to torture-related injuries are not immediate but may occur after years or even decades, accurate figures of such fatalities and morbidity are extremely hard to estimate.” (GNS)

SRINAGAR, MAY 20: Subreen (Name changed) has been filmed apparently being beaten by her in-laws and her husband for giving birth to a girl. While speaking to News Agency Press Trust of Kashmir the victim said, “In 2004 i married to Khursheed Ahmad resident of Nowhatta Srinagar. He is beating me for giving birth to a girl”. She said that from last 15 years she has faced lot of harassment and physical violence.

She added, “Before marriage, the family of Khursheed said that he is well educated but after marriage i came to know that he is illiterate”. She said that her husband did nothing for their baby girl and now i am struggling for everything. She said right from the first week of the marriage, her husband began mistreating her. “He would beat her and ask her to get money from her family so that he can start his business”, she said.

She added that later after the birth of baby girl they left me adding, “I am living in a single room and take care of my children”. She alleges that her husband’s family had treated her with violence and always demand for dowry and much more. She added that the in-laws would also beat her regularly but I never uttered a word and hoped that things might change. “That was my biggest mistake. I should have informed about this to my family”.

She added that she was tortured both physically and emotionally. She only told us when it was unbearable for her.” She further added “In the beginning, I just used to receive jibes from my in-laws for not bringing enough dowries. Then they started beating me up every day,” victim says. She added that her husband and his family been beaten her number of times.

“She lived with the abuse and mental torture for 12 years, but this did not stop her husband to throw her out of his house with her daughter and now she is living in a single room in Nowhata” she added. She added, “My daughter is my son she is doing well now and she is studying and will do respectable jobs in future. I know she will take care of me”. She added i want to tell everyone that daughters are not a burden, they are a blessing. (PTK)