Blog

Delhi implementing ‘Israel’s anti-Palestine model’ in Kashmir: Yasin Malik

‘United leadership mulling long-term protest program, can’t go for hartals throughout the year’

Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Sunday said the recent five-month-long uprising in Kashmir has showed people and pro-freedom leaders how to “defeat” moves aimed at changing the Muslim majority character of J&K. He also said it is time to reach out to victims of forces’ action and go for introspection to “overcome the weaknesses” so that Kashmir can “emerge as a strong nation to combat politics of deceit.” 

Addressing a Seerat Conference organised by Awami Action Committee (AAC) at Mirwaiz Manzil in Rajouri Kadal area of old Srinagar, Mirwaiz said the past five months of uprising in Kashmir “threw up many lessons for the leadership.” 

“We salute the resilience of people who remained steadfast despite the worst forms of oppression unleashed on them. Today, we are in a situation where there are a large number of victims who need to be taken care of,” Mirwaiz. “We should not leave the victims, who were blinded by pellets or injured during pro-freedom protests, to fend for themselves. We have some weaknesses at the internal level, which needs to be checked and addressed.”

He said people of Kashmir have given priceless sacrifices over the past 25 years. “In just past five months, more than 15000 people were injured and over 1100 of them being hit by pellets in their eyes. More than 13000 were detained with many of them slapped with Public Safety Act,” he said.

Quoting Quranic verses and sayings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), Mirwaiz said Islam teaches unity and calls for taking care of poor and needy. “It’s time for all of us to introspect and to pinpoint weaknesses so that we would overcome them and emerge as a strong nation,” he said. 

Mirwaiz said that “we need to make our Prophet (SAW) as our role model for achieving our goals.”

Referring to recent moves of issuance of “domicile” certificates to West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs), Mirwaiz said people and the leadership are ready to face every challenge posed by New Delhi. “We will confront those who want to change J&K’s Muslim character,” he said. “Issues like Sainik colonies, New Industrial Policy and separate townships for Kashmiri Pandits are designs of the government to break the will of Kashmiris. We will oppose these moves tooth and nail. 

He said sacrifices offered by the people of Kashmir won’t go waste and the leadership will put in its best efforts to protect them. He said united leadership is working on a proposal to give long term protest programs. “We are in touch with various sections of the society. We can’t have hartals throughout the year. Deliberations are on to shift from short term agitations to long-terms agitation modes,” he said. 

From the Hurriyat Conference (G) Peer Saifulah also spoke on the occasion and stressed on maintaining unity. “Victory is the ultimate destination of people but for that, unity is a must. We need to follow the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and leave rest to Almighty Allah,” he said. 

Senior Hurriyat (M) leader Moulana Abbas Ansari also spoke on the occasion. 

AAC leaders Muhammad Shafi Khan, Mushtaq Ahmad Sofi, Moulvi Yaqoob Masoodi, Advocate Nazir Ahmad Ronga, Advocate Yasir Ahmad Dalaal, Peer Ghulam Nabi, Farooq Ahmad Saudagar and dozens of other office bearers of AAC also participated in the Seerat conference. From Muslim Conference, Abdur Rashid Untoo attended it. 

The conference was moderated by Hurriyat (M) leader Syed Rehman.

Accusing New Delhi and the ruling PDP dispensation in J&K of implementing Israel’s anti-Palestine model in Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik on Sunday said efforts are on at multiple fronts to “convert Kashmiris into a tribal society” and “create a wedge in the united leadership.” He said the latest move of the Government to issue “domicile” certificates to West Pakistan Refugees will be defeated “come what may.”

Speaking at Seerat Conference at Mirwaiz Manzil here, Malik said New Delhi is raking up issues to test the patience and resilience of Kashmiris and their leadership. “Under a well-planned conspiracy, Kashmiri people are being divided into Sunis, Shias, Ahlihadiths, Jamaatis and Gujjars and Bakerwals. The base for this plan was laid by then Governor Girish Chandra Saxena,” he said. “The basic aim behind this move is to keep Kashmiris busy in various societal issues and convert Kashmir into a tribal society where unity would remain a distant dream.”

Referring to a non-Muslim scholar, Malik said he (scholar) got inspired by the way Prophet Muhammad (SAW) managed to bring various Arab tribes under one banner. “The key lies in the unity and I urge the people of Kashmir to protect the unity forged by the pro-freedom leadership. Efforts are on at the multiple fronts to break this unity. It’s the collective duty of people to ostracize those who want to create a wedge in the unity among the pro-freedom leadership,” Malik said. 

The JKLF chief said New Delhi with the active support of ruling PDP-BJP government in J&K is actually trying to implement “Israel’s anti-Palestine model” in Kashmir.

“Sometimes, they rake-up the issue of settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in separate colonies and establishing colonies for retired soldiers. Now they are talking of issuing domicile certificates to West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) which is against J&K’s State Subject Law,” he said. “We will prefer to spill our blood than allow government to settle WPRs in J&K.”

Malik urged the people to remain steadfast and defeat all designs aimed at diverting attention” from Kashmir.

The J&K government had banned the publication of English daily Kashmir Reader on October 2, calling it a threat to the “public tranquility”.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to revoke its ban on Srinagar-based daily Kashmir Reader and allow it to resume publication after shutting it down for three months.

“The newspaper had made a representation before the government seeking permission to resume its publication. The case was examined and the government was satisfied that there is no further need to disallow its publication,’’ Director Information, J&K government Shahid Iqbal Choudhary told The Indian Express. “A formal order in this case will be issued in a day or two”. In her interview with The Indian Express last week, JK Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that her government would lift the ban on the newspaper.

The J&K government had banned the publication of English daily Kashmir Reader on October 2, calling it a threat to the “public tranquility”. In a two page order, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmad Lone had accused that the newspaper contains “material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquility” and invoked section 144 of CrPC, Section 3 of Newspapers Incitement of Offences Act 1971 and Section 10 Press and Publication Act of 1989 to ban its publication. Though the government had made very serious allegations against the newspaper, its ban order hadn’t listed any specific content that the government thought caused breach of peace and public tranquility or incited violence. The government also hadn’t provided the newspaper with an opportunity to respond to the charges before shutting down its operations. In fact, the government had warned the newspaper of “forfeiture of its printing press and other properties used for the purpose” if it didn’t abide by the order.

The decision to ban Kashmir Reader, a newspaper that has carved a niche for fearless reportage and incisive editorial comments in its six years of publication, was widely condemned. The journalist fraternity in Kashmir came out on street to protest the ban while the body of the editors of the Srinagar based newspaper took up the case with the government. In fact, Editors Guild of India too had issued a statement questioning the ban. Ahead of the ban on Kashmir Reader, the J&K government had also stopped the publication of all the valley-based newspapers for several days, which was revoked after severe backlash.

Sources in the government told The Indian Express that the ban imposed on the newspaper has already lapsed. “Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmad Lone had invoked section 144 of CrPC, which was valid only for two months. He had written to the Home department to extend it further but the government decided to allow it to lapse,’’ an official said. “Technically, there is no ban on the newspaper any longer and they can resume publication forthwith”. He said that the Valley based Editor’s Guild is meeting the Chief Minister next week and the government will issue the orders to lift the ban ahead of the meeting.

Srinagar: A study has revealed that the Dal lake has lost has lost 24.49% of its area during the last 157 years due to unregulated change in Land use and land cover (LULC).

“An assessment of the multi-date and multi-source spatial data revealed that the lake has significantly reduced in size with the area having shrunk by 7.8sq.km from 31.85 sq.km in 1859 to 24. km in 1979; however, the lake area has remained more or less constant at 24 sq.km during the past 34 years,” states the  study ‘Linking Human-Biophysical Interactions with the Trophic Status of Dal Lake, Kashmir Himalaya’.

The study has been conducted by Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir as a research grant provided by the Space Application Centre (SAC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Ahmadabad for the project titled “Bio-optical characterization of Optically Complex Dal Waters”.

The study analyses the long-term biophysical and demographic changes in Dal lake using a repository of historical, remote sensing, socio-economic and water quality data.

“From the analysis of the multi-source and multi-date data, it is observed that the lake has lost 24.49% of its area during the last 155 years. The unregulated changes in the LULC within and in the vicinity of the lake showed significant changes in the built up area. This is corroborated by the census data which shows higher than national population growth rate. These changes in the land system and demography have adversely impacted the water quality of the lake as evident from the very high concentration of nitrate nitrogen and orthophosphate phosphorous,” states the study conducted by Prof Shakil Ahmad Romshoo Professor and Head, Department of Earth Sciences, Kashmir University besides Irfan Rashida ,Muzamil Amina , Shabir A Khanday, and Prakash Chauhan.

It states that the growth and expansion of the aquatic vegetation has reduced the open water spread of the lake to 10.5 sq.kms , a reduction of 50% compared to the water spread in 1859. “The proliferation of floating aquatic vegetation has severely impeded the transmission of sunlight into the lake subsurface, impairing photosynthesis and allied biogeochemical processes in the water column and thus accelerating the lake eutrophication. The analysis indicated that 32% of the lake falls under sever degradation, 48% under medium degradation while as 20% of the lake waters are relatively clean,” it states.

The study recommends installation at least six additional STPs to prevent the synergistic impact of land use and anthropogenic activities on water quality of the lake, as the three existing operational STPs are inadequate.

“Keeping in view the failure of the previous efforts by the lake managers to relocate the lake dwellers, whose livelihood is linked to services and products provided by the lake, the long-term efforts need to focus on densifying one or two human settlements within the lake by moving there people from less dense hutments, installing the wastewater treatment plants there, restricting the agriculture and olericulture activities within and in the vicinity of the lake and removing the post 1970s floating garden landmasses from the lake interiors by dredging it on scientific basis,” it states.

“These steps, if taken in the right earnest, have potential to substantially improve the health of this socio-culturally, economically and ecologically important lake ecosystem, inter alia, increasing the open water spread of the lake,” it states.

Prof Shakil Ahmad Romshoo said the study uses the multi-source data to look at the changes within the lake since 1859 and in the vicinity since 1960s and briefly explains the reasons for the changes observed during the last 155 years.

“The study suggests densifying a few hutments within the lake and removal of the floating garden land masses. We have identified about 10, 000 kanals of the lake area under built-up and floating gardens and some of it could be apportioned for various uses like built-up, tourist infrastructure, museums, parks and expansion of the open waters, This is a big idea for eco-tourism,economic driven self-sustaining model for lake conservation that needs discussion and scientific assessment at various levels,” Prof Romshoo said.

Pertinently, the Government in 2015 had taken the settlement record of 1895 by then settlement Commissioner Sir Walter Lawrence as yardstick for area of the lake. In his settlement record, Lawrence had recorded total area of the lake as 9.9846 Sq miles (25.86 sq. Kms) comprising water surface is 7,0346 sq miles 18.21 sq.Kms and 2.96 Sq miles (7.65 sq. Kms) as Land Mass, fixed cultivation, habitation dembs etc.

Srinagar: The minuscule Christian community in Kashmir is planning low-key celebrations this Christmas as a tribute to the civilians killed during the unrest.The Holy Family Catholic Church on Maulana Azad Road — one of the two churches in the Srinagar city — which is abuzz with activity during Christmas days will not be decorated this time, Shami Joseph, the church functionary, said.Joseph said carol singing and the parade had been cancelled while decorations would be limited to the interiors of the churches.“So many people have been martyred in the security forces firing this year. So how can we celebrate Christmas in a big way,” he said.Joseph insisted on referring to the civilians killed during the unrest as martyrs. “We are part of society and represent the political aspirations of the majority community,” he said.He added that the one-hour-long prayer would be held from 11 am on Sunday. Last year, we had an attendance of over 250 but this year it won’t be more than 150, he said.The Christian population in Kashmir is merely 11,857, but their contribution to the health and education sectors has been immense. The Christian community has over half a dozen major schools in the region, which have pioneered the introduction of modern education in the region.The most sought after educational institutions in Srinagar — Burn Hall School for Boys was founded in 1943 and the Presentation Convent for Girls was founded in 1936 — are Catholic-run institutions. Renowned people of Kashmir send their children to these schools.The celebrations have been cancelled in these schools as well in view of the prevailing situation in Kashmir. “We have no programme for Christmas this year because school is closed for the winter vacation. Also, it won’t look good to celebrate when the whole Kashmir is mourning,” said Rameez Ahmad, an official in the office of Principal Presentation Convent School.The Oklahoma-based academician Nyla Ali Khan, who did her schooling from Presentation Convent School, went nostalgic about her childhood in Kashmir and took to a social networking site. She posted on her Facebook wall: “Our winter break began with the opulent Christmas production, complete with ornaments that we staged at Presentation Convent, my alma mater. The auditorium resonated with carols sung in sonorous voices. The few churches and chapels in Srinagar, including the one at my alma mater, would be resplendent with beautifully set up nativity scenes. That was the culturally rich and pluralistic milieu in which my generation was raised.” “So, here’s to never-dying hope and new beginnings! Merry Christmas to those of my friends who celebrate the holiday, and Happy Holidays to the rest!” she said. (TNS)

Srinagar: In a waiting room outside an Operation Theatre at general specialty SMHS hospital here, Bashir Ahmad sits silent; his back leaning against the wall, waiting eagerly for his turn to be called in. The room is packed with boys, hit by pellets in their eyes—some of them as young as 12. All of them had reached the hospital on Thursday to undergo surgical procedures in their injured eye for ‘a chance’ to regain their vision.

“It will be my third surgery today. But I can’t see anything beyond a shadow in front of my injured eye,” sighs Ahmad.

Hailing from Krehshore area in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, Ahmad had completed his graduation and got admission in a diploma course in a government institute this year when he was hit by deadly pellets in his left eye on August 28 following clashes between protestors and forces.

“After my second surgery I had regained some vision but then I lost it again,” says 23-year old Ahmad. 

Confined to home for almost four months now, he says he often loses his calm.

This despair expressed by the Budgam boy is written on the face of every youth who has turned up for yet another surgery in their pellet hit eye (s) due to little or no improvement in their vision.

A team of surgeons at Ophthalmology Department, joined by world renowned vitreo-retina surgeon Dr S Natrajan, have performed a number of vitrectomies since Thursday. But with each passing day and after repeated surgical procedures “not yielding amazing visual outcomes”, these pellet-hit youth are slipping into despair and hopelessness.

One such case is Firdous Ahmad from Mazbugh Sopore who lost vision in both eyes after being hit by pellets on July 15. He has undergone two surgeries in his left eye and one surgery in his right. “I regained some vision but it faded away then,” says Firdous, who was writhing in pain after the latest surgery in his left eye.

“I can only distinguish the colors of my clothes and that too with great struggle,” says Firdous who used to drive a passenger auto to earn for the family including aged parents and three young siblings. Blinded, Firdous’s movement has now got confined to his home.

“At times he cries and says that he wants to run away,” says Asif Ahmad, cousin of Firdous, who was accompanying him. “Till few months back Firdous would not only take care of his parents but earn for schooling and fulfilling other needs of his two brothers and a sister. The reality that he is now dependent on family for entire life depresses him beyond imagination.”

But unlike Firdous, Fayaz Ahmad, a truck driver, seems to have resigned to the fate that he might not be able to see with his injured eye again. “Today was my fourth surgery but there is hardly any improvement,” says Fayaz, lying on a bed in Ward No 7. That he can’t go back to resume his work worries Fayaz.

“A week ago I went along with some laborers to try and earn few bucks but I ended up with infection and high pressure in my eye and had to be hospitalized,” recalls Fayaz.

Commenting on the condition of the injured persons, Dr Natarajan said: “We are facing the challenge of post vitrectomy adhesions in which the tissues in the eye during the natural process of healing get heaped up and form a lump over visual area which worsens situation after some progress in the eye.”

He said there was the problem of adhesion faced in at least 20 percent cases. “It is frustrating…there is a new challenge each time. A doctor might say operation is successful but it doesn’t translate into vision each time,” said Dr Natarajan.

A senior doctor, who is part of the surgical team, said badly damaged eyes need multiple surgical procedures before they start responding to treatment. “These (persons) who we have been examining/operating for past two days have all badly damaged eyes and need repeated vitrectomies,” said the doctor.

He said 11 such cases were operated upon yesterday and 25 others on Friday. “Except for one injured who has been operated upon since yesterday, all have positively responded and have in fact gained vision which would improve over a period of time,” said the doctor.

Srinagar: Terming Mufti Muhammad Sayeed as legend of 21st century, Senior PDP leader and Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today said the party will observe first anniversary of the former Chief Minister in Jammu on January 7.

Addressing party workers meeting at party headquarters Jammu, Zulfkar  said that Party will observe first death anniversary of Mufti Sayeed at Gandhi  Nagar Ground, Jammu besides in every districts and tehsils of Jammu & Kashmir to pay tributes.

In this regard, Sardar Rangil Singh Vice President of the Party has been assigned the job as Chairman of Organizing Committee of the programme while all Districts Presidents have been instructed to participate with delegates.

Jammu: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that “West Pakistan refugees deserve to be treated with dignity.” 

“The issue is not only uncivilized, but is also inhuman to make a political issue out of a simple provision for employment sought to be made for them through a document certifying proof of identity,” Dr JItendra said speaking on the sidelines of a function here today. 

Dr Jitendra lashed out at the “so-called mainstream opposition parties who have joined hands with the separatists to appease a certain constituency.” 

“For 70 years, this section of refugees has been languishing for want of livelihood, employment or jobs, while their counterparts who chose to settle in other parts of the country rose to occupy the highest government offices, with two of them, Inder Kumar Gujral and Manmohan Singh, becoming Prime Ministers of India

“The opposition parties which are opposing the issue of identity certificates to the West Pakistan Refugees seem to have no problem with the increasing number of foreign nationals who have, in the last few years, settled down in Jammu & Kashmir, particularly in the outskirts of Jammu. This itself is an indicator of who is playing politics of demographic change with sectarian motives,” he said.

He elaborated that with this in mind precisely, a mechanism has been evolved wherein in the absence of citizenship rights or the State subject certificate, the members of this section of refugees could produce some proof of identity to avail of Central Government jobs or recruitment in military or para-military forces. 

“This is something we should have been done many decades ago, but was not done by the previous governments and the credit goes to the Modi government that it has taken the initiative to correct this anomaly,” he said.

Denying the “mischievous propaganda” that this was the end of it and nothing more will be given to the refugees after Rs.2000 crore package, Jitendra said, “when the Prime Minister  and the Home Minister have said that this is not the end, it is surprising whom are these so-called activists quoting to say that this is the last and final amount paid and thus deliberately  provoking the innocent PoJK refugees.”