25 AUG. 2019:
23 ZilHajj 1440:Vol: 11, No:275
INDIA:J&K ISSUE
‘Anti-national to silence people’: Priyanka Gandhi jabs
Centre on Kashmir
New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra lashed out at Centre for the restrictions in Kashmir and accused
it of being anti-national by silencing the people of the valley, a day after
her brother and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other opposition
leaders were sent back from the Srinagar airport.She re-tweeted a small video
clip of a Kashmiri woman telling her Rahul Gandhi on board an aircraft from
Srinagar how the restrictions are throttling the people and how unsafe they
feel about their children.“How long is this going to continue? This is one out
of millions of people who are being silenced and crushed in the name of
“Nationalism”.There is NOTHING more ‘political’ and ‘anti national’ than the
shutting down of all democratic rights that is taking place in Kashmir. It is
the duty of every one of us to raise our voices against it, we will not stop
doing so,” Priyanka tweeted. hindustantimes
Kashmir: People are Dying, Say Doctors as Valley
Runs Out of Lifesaving Medicines amid Lockdown
Srinagar: With the prescription of his diabetic
mother placed carefully in a handbag, Sajid Ali went to over a dozen pharmacies
in the Valley on Tuesday in the hope of finding the medicine. All shops in the
town, except the medicine shops, are shut. But Ali’s search yielded no results.
Kashmir is fast running out of medicines.Since August 5—the day Union
government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status— Kashmir is under a
lockdown. All markets remain shut and the supplies of essential commodities are
badly affected.Ali’s mother, Suraya Begum, 65, had only two days of medicine
left. The gravity of the situation can be understood by the fact due to no
public transport available, Ali travelled to Srinagar after boarding an
ambulance from a local hospital.But the medicine couldn’t be found even in the
Srinagar, despite a massive search of over three hours. Angry and perturbed by
the situation, Ali went to the Srinagar Airport, booked a ticked to Delhi and
fetched the medicine from there.Ali, 30, took the flight back the next day and
reached his home with dose that would last his mother a month. His parents had
been worried about his well-being and were relieved on his return.When Ali, who
is a businessman, narrated the story to his mother she broke down. “I managed
to buy the medicine this way but what will poor people do?” Ali wonders.News18
'This is not 1970s': IAS Officer quits in anguish
over Kashmir 'emergency'
New Delhi:An officer of Indian Administrative
Service from Kerala, Kannan Gopinathan, has resigned from the prestigious
service in order to be able to speak freely about the virtual ‘Emergency’ that
he says has been imposed on the people of Jammu and Kashmir ever since the
Centre announced it was ending the state’s special constitutional status.“This
is not Yemen, this is not the 1970s, that you can deny basic rights to an
entire people and nobody will say anything about it,” Gopinathan told The Wire.“It
has been 20 days since there has been a lockdown on a whole region with all
kinds of restrictions. I cannot remain silent over this even if this means I
have to resign from IAS in order to speak freely and that is what I have
done.”The irony is that Gopinathan, who joined IAS in 2012, is attached to Arunachal-Goa-Mizoram-Union
Territory cadre, and might eventually have gone as an administrator to J&K
now that the state has been demoted to the status of a UT.He is currently
attached to the government of Dadra and Nagar Haveli but sent in his
resignation on Wednesday.“I did not intend to say anything publicly till after
my resignation was accepted,” said Gopinathan, but word leaked when colleagues
with whom he shared the news in a social media group informed the media in
Kerala. Gopinathan said that the constitution allows for the imposition of a
state of emergency (and the suspension of freedoms) if there is external aggression
or armed rebellion, but in Kashmir, people’s freedoms have been curtailed on
the grounds that if they are not, then there could be an internal disturbance.
In any case, after 44th amendment to the constitution, an ‘internal
disturbance’ is no longer grounds for the imposition of emergency.“Of course,
unlike the Emergency, there has been no [formal] proclamation. Everything has
been left to executive orders by IAS officers! And though people are not barred
from seeking judicial remedies, the courts do not appear keen to act”.thewire
Pakistan Foreign Minister dials UN chief over
Kashmir
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
has called UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to apprise him about the
"evolving and delicate situation" in Jammu and Kashmir.Addressing the
media here to provide details of his conversation with Guterres, Qureshi said
it was responsibility of the international community to play a role in
addressing the Kashmir situation.Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked
after New Delhi abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to
withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated the State into two
Union Territories on August 5. India has categorically told the international
community that the scrapping of Article 370 to revoke the special status of
Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept
the reality."I highlighted the delicate situation that exist at the moment
in Jammu and Kashmir during my conversation," he said.Guterres said he was
ready today as he was before to defuse the tension and will also probably meet
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow in France on the sidelines of the
G7 Summit to discuss the issue, he said.Qureshi said he also thanked Guterres
for the Security Council meeting as the UN officials briefed the members during
the meeting.He said Pakistan wanted peace but it was important to address the
suffering of the people in Kashmir who are reeling under day and night curfew
for last 20 days.The foreign minister said he told the Secretary-General that
some people in Kashmir who wanted to go to UN office were not allowed to do so.
Qureshi said he also highlighted the arrests in Kashmir as well as shortage of
food and medicines in his conversation with Guterres. The foreign minister said
he asked Guterres to brief P-5 leadership about the gravity of the situation in
Kashmir.Pakistan demands that UN Human Rights Commissioner will continue
efforts to highlight Kashmir.PTI
J&K state flag removed from civil secretariat
building, only tricolour seen after Article 370 move
New Delhi: J&K state flag has been taken off
the civil secretariat building in Srinagar. It is only the national flag that
remains on the civil secretariat building after the momentous decision of
abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution, thus stripping the state of its
special status. Official sources in Jammu and Kashmir administration have
confirmed to India Today TV that only the national flag will be seen at all
government offices in the state from now on. However, not all government
offices have taken off the Jammu and Kashmir state flag yet. Till last week
both the flags were seen at the civil secretariat building."The removal of
flag is in continuation of abrogation of Article 370 and not dependant on
official bifurcation from Oct.31," said a top source in the J&K
government."Access by Parliament is already given (on abrogation) and the
national flag is expected to take precedence at all government offices,"
confirmed another top source in the administration. indiatoday
Communication blockade underway:
‘Assalam-u-Alaikum papa, are you okay?’
Hadiya’s father left home, in Mazhama village
near Srinagar, on July 18 for Haj. Less than a month later, came the abrogation
of Article 370, stripping J&K of special status, followed by a complete
communications clampdown in Kashmir. He had been speaking to his family almost
every day on video call since July 25, telling them to “stay safe” as troops
mobilisation in the Valley led to all kinds of rumours. The last call was on
Aug.4, when he promised Hadiya, the youngest of his three children, that he
would call her again the next day. Then, the phones went dead.Mother Yasmeena
says as Eid approached, on Aug.12, Hadiya, a Class 9 student, became more and
more quiet, seeking to talk to her father. “She didn’t even celebrate Eid,”
says Yasmeena, who said she didn’t want her family to be photographed or her
husband named. On Aug. 19, there was the first ray of hope. A neigbour told
them that the government had set up facilities at a police station at Parimpora
in Srinagar for people to make calls. But the police station was 13 km
away.Despite restrictions, Yasmeena says, “We didn’t wait a minute…Hadiya took
out her Scooty, I sat pillion, and we started for Parimpora. All three of my
daughters ride the Scooty but since Hadiya is closest to her father, she
went.”Yasmeena remembers Hadiya’s face shining as they approached the police
station and saw the people making phone calls from there. “We waited for some
time. But, when we handed over the telephone number to the officials, they
apologised saying they can’t make an international call.” Dejected, the two
started back, when a policeman told them they could make an international call
from Deputy Commissioner’s office in Srinagar. “Since it was late, we decided
to go back home and return the next day,” Yasmeena says. Next day, Hadiya and
Yasmeena started for Srinagar again, on her Scooty.They thought they were
early, covering 13-km distance by 8.30 am.But when they reached the office,
there was already a long queue.“We didn’t know that people would arrive earlier
than us. Many had been waiting for more than 2 hours. We were told our serial
number was 253,” Yasmeena says.For the next 7-and-a half hours, they waited
inside the hall, almost not budging.“But there were more than a hundred people
ahead of us. At 4 pm, we left.” They didn’t want to risk returning home in the
dark. indian express
In Valley town, VHP man pleads his detained
Kashmiri friend’s case
Handwara:Outside the Government Guest House in
this north Kashmir town, an improbable scene was unfolding. Rakesh Khanna, a
member of Amritsar VHP, lamenting the absence of “insaniyat”, was pleading with
the guards to let him go past the black iron gates. Because inside was his
friend, Aijaz Ahmed Sofi, president of the Handwara market association, now
under detention. Since the night of Aug.4, ahead of the revocation of the special
status of J&K, mainstream politicians, social activists, trade association
leaders, and stone-pelters have been detained in preventive swoops across the
Valley. Nobody has a count of the number of detentions. Sofi, the market
association president, and son of a former MLA, was detained on Aug.9. Standing
at the gates of the guest house, Khanna, a former president of the Amritsar
market association and a member of an organisation that had been most vocal in
demanding the abrogation of Article 370, said Sofi was “a friend of 29 years”
and almost “a family member”.Khanna, a kirana and textile trader with family
business links in Kashmir from his father’s time, took out his mobile phone to
show pictures of himself at an RSS shakha, campaigning for BJP in Lok Sabha
elections, and dismantling a Pakistan stall at a textile fair in Amritsar a
couple of years ago. “Everything was going well. I camp in a rented house in
Srinagar for months at a time because of my business. Things had become
peaceful. Tourists had started coming. Ab saara kaam phir se kharab…,” he said.
Khanna said he was all for revoking Article 370. “But this was not the way.
They should have tried to reach out to some important people. There are leaders
other than mainstream politicians. Now they have arrested everyone. Desh ko
mazboot zaroor banao, mein iske khilaaf nahin hoon. Par insaaniyat se kaam lena
chahiye na. Why put innocent people in jail? Yeh najaayaz hai. Phir phone bhi
kaat diye,” he said.indianexpress
Kashmiri Students Sacrifice Eid To Help Maharashtra
Flood Victims
Pune: Despite facing a financial crunch away from
home, around 100 Kashmiri students decided to forego Eid celebrations this year
and instead pooled in their savings to help victims of the recent floods in
south-west Maharashtra districts, earning the admiration of the local
villagers.Through NGOs 'Sarhad' and 'Gadzunjar Mawle', team of Kashmiri youth
led by Zahid Bhatt, Firdaus Mir and Yunus Bhatt made a daylong trip to one of
the worst-hit Bubnal village in Kolhapur, said 'Sarhad' President Sanjay
Nahar."The students felt that in view of the massive damage wreaked by the
natural calamity, they should not celebrate the Bakri Eid festival this time
and instead divert all their savings to the noble cause of the flood victims.
Its a truly admirable gesture," Nahar told IANS.Last week, they carried a
truckload of clothes, foodstuffs and domestic article's kits and donated it to
100 families in Bubnal.IANS
OTHERS
Hindus trump Muslims in forging documents to find
way into NRC
Guwahati: With the hugely contentious NRC
exposing communal faultlines in Assam, it has emerged that more Hindus than
Muslims forged documents to find their way into the National Register of
Citizens, sources with close knowledge of the exercise said on Sunday. The
final NRC list, which will identify bonafide citizens of Assam, is set to be
published on August 31. The exercise of updating the NRC, unique to Assam, is
being conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court. "The
interesting fact is that forgery is being committed by a very large number of
doubtful Hindu applicants. In fact, more than 50 per cent of the documents that
have been forged are by them," sources said. "Now this is very, very
surprising because we had the impression that only suspected illegal Muslim
immigrants were indulging in wrongdoing to have their names included in the
NRC. But with so many doubtful Hindus being detected, it can be assumed that a
huge number of such immigrants are also present in Assam," one of the
sources told PTI. Assam's BJP government had recently claimed that more Hindus
than Muslims were excluded from the draft NRC, and placed in the state assembly
a district-wise list of exclusions, ignoring an apex court directive of
secrecy. The court had said all such information be submitted to it in sealed
covers. The state government had claimed the data reflected that more people
were excluded from the list in districts inhabited by indigenous people than
those on the India- Bangladesh border, implying that the NRC draft was flawed
as illegal Muslim immigrants were more likely to be present in the frontier
districts. When reached for comments, a senior RSS Assam region functionary and
its 'Bouddhik Prachar Pramukh' Shankar Das said the updated NRC will be
"wrong" and that it will be challenged. "Nobody has given
correct data. The SC is acting only as per Prateek Hajela's (the NRC State
Coordinator) information. So, we don't believe any of the leaked data till now,
whether it's about Hindus or Muslims. We know that this NRC is going to be
wrong and it will be challenged," he told PTI. "There are places
where (state) authorities said even they cannot go despite security. Then how
could NRC verification take place there? Hajela couldn't give any satisfactory
answer to that. Then how can one say that Hindus did more forgeries? We don't
believe that at all," Das said. People residing in the state since March
24, 1971 have a legitimate claim to Indian citizenship. Assam has witnessed a
huge influx of people from Bangladesh, both Hindus and Muslims, for decades,
and one of the clauses of the Assam Accord of 1985 was expeditious
identification and expulsion of illegal migrants. Sources involved in the
updation of NRC cited the example of Nikhil Das, who had applied for inclusion
of his name and those of this family members--father Nitai das, mother Bali
Das, brother Nikhindra Das and sister Ankhi Das. "During the checking of
the papers, it was found that except for the applicant, all his family members
still live in Kachua village of Sunamganj district in Sylhet division of
Bangladesh. During the investigation, Nikhil confessed that he had entered
India illegally in October 2011," the sources said, insisting it was not
an isolated case. Interestingly, Nikhil Das possessed a number of forged
documents including voter I-card, an Indian birth certificate and even a PAN
card. There were many such instances, they said. While delivering its judgement
in the case of Nibaran Biswas alias Nibaran Mandal vs State of Assam in August
2017, a Foreigners' Tribunal in Morigaon had observed that many suspected
illegal Hindu immigrants have settled in the state after 1971. "As it was
a policy adopted by the Government of India...that Hindu Bengalee Migrants
willing to settle down in India permanently are ushered as Indian citizens...
Thereafter, many migrants illegally sneaked into Indian territory without
recording their entry in Transit Points or at Government Relief camps for
better livelihood. "...they have either forged the Certificate of
Registration or the voter list for enjoying the privilege of being Indian
citizen which have come to surface before me on trial," the Tribunal had
said in its order. An applicant seeking Indian citizenship in Assam can submit
a host of documents for inclusion in NRC. On compilation of 6 crucial
documents, it was found that around two lakh of them from one crore were
forged. These documents are refugee registration certificate, citizenship
certificate, government employment certificate, land and tenancy records, birth
certificate and certified copies of pre-1971 electoral rolls from Tripura.
Apart from the forged papers, NRC authorities have discovered that no back-end
source of around 1.5 lakh documents submitted by applicants were available and
an additional about 2.5 lakh papers were illegible. Back-end source of the six
documents are supporting papers available with authorities who originally
issued them. "Though we cannot directly term the documents without
back-end as forged, but obviously these are doubtful," sources said. NRC
State Coordinator Prateek Hajela had told the Supreme Court on October 4, 2018,
that many crucial papers submitted by the applicants were photoshopped. Sources
said that legacy data, the main document to trace the family tree in
determining whether a person is a genuine Indian citizen, are being misused by
the applicants. They said multiple people are using identical legacy data
contained in the NRC published in 1951 which had the names of bonafide Assam
residents or electoral rolls prepared uptil March 1971 to back their claim to
Indian citizenship. "Stringent verification of family trees unearthed many
cases of wilful misuse of legacy data," they said. PTI
Man in Kheroni loses all valid NRC related
documents after fire broke out in his residence
Kheroni: At a time when more than 41 lakh people
excluded from Assam’s NRC has been suffering from extreme mental torture
because of the fear of being marked as a foreigner and its consequences, here’s
a story of a man who lost all his valid and important documents related to NRC,
Voter ID, Land papers, Bank passbooks, etc, after a major fire broke out in his
village in the wee hours on Saturday.The fire broke out in the residence of one
Lekh Bahadur Mishra at Thakubari village of Hawaipur area under Kheroni Police
Station in West Karbi Anglong.Sources also informed that apart from important
documents, all necessary items starting from jewelry, clothes, freeze, almirah
were completely destroyed in the fire incident.Meanwhile, the minority
students’ body on Saturday made an appeal to Prateek Hajela to ensure that
there are no discrepancies in NRC process.AMSU leader Azizur Rahman also
appealed to NRC officials not to exclude any genuine citizens from NRC.Rahman
addressing the media said that no persons who entered the country after the
deadline date should be included in NRC. He also claimed that the minority
communities of Assam have been affected worst by NRC. sentinelassam
Rajasthan Has a New Anti-Lynching Law, But Do
Cattle-rearing Meo Muslims Feel Any Safer?
Alwar: 74-year-old Hasbi is sitting all alone in
a desolate house. Two weeks ago, Iqbal, her 26-year-old grandson, was accused
of slaughtering a cow. Faced with two choices — up to 10 years in prison if
convicted or violence at the hands of cow vigilantes — all the men in her
large, joint family fled. Hasbi has been left to fend for herself.“He is a good
boy. We are a good family. He has never done a wrong thing,” she
insists.Hasbi’s words will fall on deaf ears. Stories like hers are common in
Alwar, the heart of Rajasthan’s Mewat region. For Meos – the Muslim
cattle-rearing community that’s spread across the region, being targeted is a
daily occupational hazard. After the alleged killers of Meo dairy farmer Pehlu
Khan were acquitted by a local court, the fear in the community is
palpable.Sher Mohammed, the head of Meo Panchayat, says it’s not just brutal
attacks from ‘gau rakshaks’ that these Muslim dairy farmers risk, but also
harassment by the police using the state’s stringent cow protection law to
intimidate them.“Hindutva extremists only pretend to love cows, but we actually
care for them. People who depend on the cow are the ones who love the cow. We
can’t live without animals, cows included. You should ask all these people that
come on live television, how many cows they take care of. If I sell you a cow,
they will book you for cow slaughter and they will book me for cow smuggling.
Both are made accused,” he says. Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill,
enacted by the Congress government on August 5, makes mob lynching punishable
by a life sentence. The law is a welcome move, but justice hasn’t been served
in the state’s most infamous lynching case. On August 14, all six men accused
of murdering Meo Muslim dairy farmer Pehlu Khan in April 2017, were acquitted.
Khan was lynched when he was taking a cow from Jaipur to his home in Haryana.
Despite the fact that the crime was recorded on mobile phone cameras and seen
by the entire country, the accused have been let off.At the Alwar district
court, Pehlu Khan’s lawyer Akhtar Hussain says his battle for justice will
continue. “The laws moves slowly, but it works. I am certain Pehlu’s family
will get justice eventually, they should trust the law,” says the red-haired
legal crusader.The anti-lynching law, he says, is futile. “The anti-lynching
law will make a difference only if the investigation is carried out properly
and the evidence is collected properly,” he says, pointing to how the Rajasthan
police bungled the probe in Pehlu Khan lynching case.news18
Police Constable Assaulted in Gujarat Because of
His ‘Muslim Identity’
A police constable was beaten on Friday evening
in Vadodara city allegedly by the religious hardliners of the majority
community.Sanjay Kharat, DCP, Zone-3 of Vadodara City informed NewsClick on
Saturday that an FIR has been registered. “We have taken cognisance of the
matter…we are investigating,” said Kharat. However, he had no idea about the
arrests made in the case.The victim, Arif Ismail Shaikh (44), said that he was
attacked without any provocation when he was travelling back to home at around
8.30 pm. “I made a mistake by not covering my face this time,” said Shaikh,
adding that he usually covers his face while stepping out of his home. Shaikh
is a constable with the Gujarat Police.A copy of the FIR was accessed by
NewsClick. However, R S Baria, the investigating officer as well as in-charge
of Panigate Police Station (PS), could not be reached for a comment.The FIR was
registered under Sections 323, 143, 147, 504 and 506 (2) of the IPC. In his
complaint, Shaikh said: “As I was heading back to my home after concluding my
day duty scheduled at Pratapnagar headquarters, an unknown young person
crossing the road near Shiv Shakti Mohalla locality waved his hand to me. After
I asked him calmly to cross the road, he came towards me and started addressing
me with the words targeting my religion.”newsclick
Terror suspects held in MP used app that keeps no
record
Bhopal: Technology is throwing a new challenge at
curbing terror every minute. Five persons arrested in Madhya Pradesh's Satna
for suspected links with a terror funding racket managed by Pakistani
operatives have been found to have communicated with their handlers using an
app which does not keep any record of the messages it sends, police said. The
Anti-Terror Squad of the Madhya Pradesh Police had on Wednesday arrested five
people, three of whom -- Balram Singh, Sunil Singh and Shubham Mishra -- were
later brought to Bhopal. Police withheld the names of the two suspects.
According to the police, the five arrested were spying and sharing strategic
information and funds for terror activities with operatives based in Pakistan.
"13 Pak SIM cards which were used to make calls to foreign countries and
account details used for making transactions in different bank were recovered
from their possession," said Riyaz Iqbal, Superintendent of Police, Satna.
"But what came as a surprise to the police was that these people used to
communicate with their handlers through an app on which a message can be read
by the person it is intended for while it is being typed on the mobile phone.
One does not have to 'send' the message," Chanchal Shekhar, IG, Rewa Zone,
told IANS. "So while records of video calls and WhatsApp message can be
recovered, there is no record of messages 'sent' from this app," said
Shekhar. "This app is similar to Team Viewer software through which
activities on one computer can be viewed on another. These are third party apps
through which any activity can be released, and are used by hardened criminals
to escape scrutiny," cyber expert Prashant Pandey, who is also the
whistleblower in the Vyapam scam, told IANS.IANS
Veteran Journalist Ausaf Vasfi Passes Away at 82
New Delhi:Veteran journalist and former deputy
editor of Radiance Viewsweekly Syed Ausaf Saeed Vasfi passed away on Friday. He
was 82.He was buried in Saheenbaug graveyard in Okhla.He is survived by two
sons and a daughter. All his children are married and well-settled.His elder
son Syed Tauqeer Ausaf-is an IT engineer working in Saudi Arabia. The younger
son Syed Tausief Ausaf-is a journalist working with Arab News in Jeddah. His
daughter- Uzma- is married to well-known journalist Zia-Us-Salam working as a
senior editor with the Frontline.Vasfi was suffering from multiple diseases for
quite a long time. He also had a heart stroke some time ago. He was recently
admitted to Max Hospital in Patparganj for severe infection but was shifted to
Al Shifa Hospital in Abul Fazal Enclave. But he could not survive and breathed
his last Friday morning. His namaz-e-janaza was performed by his elder son
Tauqeer in the Ishaat-e-Islam Trust mosque in Abul Fazal Enclave. He was born
in Ashta in Madhya Pradesh in 1937. His maternal ancestors hailed from Lucknow
and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. He did his graduation from the Government
Hamidia College, Bhopal and master's in English literature from from Vikram University, Ujjain. He did his Ph.D.
in English on ``Imagery in Robert Browning's Poetry''.He joined the Radiance Viewsweekly in 1963, the same
year the magazine was launched from Delhi.India Tomorrow
Flash:
NEWS,views,Articles
Review by Mahmood Farooqui : Begunah Qaidi by
Abdul Wahid Sheikh
Kashmir-related protests and discussions stopped
at the University of Hyderabad:MIDHUN MOHAN
Stop wailing and tell us how to resolve the
Kashmir issue:Virendra Kapoor
Compiled and edited by Anwarulhaq,(Released at: 2:07 PM)
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