Genocide in Kashmir

[Shazam]

GENOCIDE WATCH: INDIA: KASHMIR
​

Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Alert for India Administered Kashmir.

On August 5, the Indian President revoked the Special Autonomous Status of India Administered Jammu and Kashmir under Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India. India has over 600,000 troops in Kashmir. Movement of people and freedom of the press are restricted. India has cut off internet communications.

At the time of Indian and Pakistani independence in 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was a princely state with a majority of Hindus in Jammu and a majority of Muslims in Kashmir. During Partition, its Hindu Maharaja chose to remain independent. When Pashtun militias invaded from Pakistan, the Maharaja acceded to the Union of India and India airlifted in troops.

Fighting between Pakistani militias and Indian troops ensued. India took a dispute with Pakistan to the UN Security Council, which passed Resolution 47 of 1948. It called for withdrawal of Pakistani fighters and reduction of Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir. It also called for a plebiscite to determine Jammu and Kashmir’s future. The plebiscite has never been held. India and Pakistan both assert sovereignty over Kashmir. They divide the territory along the “line of control.” They have fought three wars since independence. Both nations have nuclear weapons.

In 1984, Kashmiri Muslim youth began demonstrations for Kashmiri indigenous self-determination that were crushed by Indian armed forces. Riots destroyed Hindu properties in 1986; armed Muslim insurgents targeted Hindus in 1989; and in 1990, over 100,000 Hindu pandits fled from Kashmir. Human Rights Watch reported that 50,000 people were killed in Kashmir from 1989 to 2006. The Kashmir State Human Rights Commission has evidence of 2,730 bodies buried in 40 mass graves. The Commission reported over 8000 disappearances. The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society said that by 2016, there were over 70,000 killings, most by Indian forces. Amnesty International reports that disappearances, torture and rape by Indian Army units against Kashmiri Muslims are common.

Applying Prof. Barbara Harff’s risk factors for genocide, the following are early warnings of massacres in Kashmir:
1. Prior genocidal massacres and continuing impunity for such killings;
2. Continued armed conflict between India and Pakistan over border areas in Kashmir;
3. An exclusionary ideology of “Hindutva” – India as Hindu nation – by Modi’s ruling BJP;
4. Authoritarian military rule without legal restraints imposed by civilian Indian officials;
5. Rule by a minority military force (Hindus and Sikhs) over majority Muslim citizens;
6. Cut-off of communications and outside access by internet, media, and trade;
7. Widespread violations of basic human rights – torture, rape, 2-year detentions without charge, arbitrary arrests and deportations of Muslim political and human rights leaders.

Genocide Watch’s Ten Stages of the genocidal process are also far advanced:
1. Classification: Hindu and Sikh Indian Army “us” vs. Kashmiri Muslim civilian “them;”
2. Symbolization: Muslims have Muslim names (on ID cards), Kashmiri language, dress, mosques;
3. Discrimination: Hindu pandits were economically dominant until 1990; BJP reasserted Hindu power;
4. Dehumanization: Muslims are called “terrorists”, “separatists,” “criminals,” “insurgents;”
5. Organization: 600,000 heavily armed Indian Army troops and police dominate Kashmir;
6. Polarization: Modi and the BJP incite anti-Muslim hatred; social media spread falsehoods;
7. Preparation: The Indian Army occupies Kashmir; BJP leaders speak of the “Final Solution” for Kashmir;
8. Persecution: Kashmiri Muslims are locked down, subject to arrest, torture, rape, and murder;
9: Extermination: Genocidal massacres occurred during Partition; since 1990, there have been at least 25 massacres with death tolls over 25: 10 of Muslims by Indian troops; 15 of Hindus by Muslim militants;
10. Denial: Modi and BJP say their goals are to “bring prosperity” and “end terrorism”; they deny any massacres. No Indian Army troops or police are ever tried for torture, rape or murder. Modi’s takeover is popular in India.

Genocide Watch calls upon the United Nations and its members to warn India not to commit genocide in Kashmir.

 

[Shazam]

Here is a tweet from DW News about atrocities from inside India:

 

[Mangus Ortus Novem]

IoJK is now the Biggest Concentration Camp in History....

Genocide has been going on for last 80 years... in Jammu, in Valley, in Ladahk... for GanguDaesh it is a piece of land sans Kashmiris... We must not wait for the world concious to wake up... There is NO such thing a world concious.

Almost a million Gangu occupational forces are now legitimate target for the FreedomFighters. Pakistan has not only responsibility but necessity to Save Kashmir.

War is the last option...but slowly War is becoming the Only option.

 

[PakSword]

Kashmiris struggle to meet relatives in detention


Afroza is a mother from Srinagar who has a heart-wrenching daily routine over the two weeks. She visits a local police station in the capital to meet his young son who was arrested as part of massive detentions in India after the scrapping of special status of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
"Two weeks ago, police raided our house at 2 a.m. local time [2030GMT] and they picked my son. Since then he has lodged in the police station. My husband and I have been coming almost every day to meet him,” the 41-year-old mother told Anadolu Agency outside a local police station in Raj Bagh neighborhood.
“You can understand how difficult it is for a mother and father to stay away from their son,” she said woefully.
“We are just praying that he will be released soon,” said Afroza, who refused to name her son, 19, due to legal and safety concerns.
She said that her son was once arrested on the charges of stone pelting, but he never got involved in such a crime again.
“This time, we haven’t been informed about the reason of detention,” Afroza said.
Her son is among hundreds of people detained in Jammu and Kashmir recently without informed about the legal charge behind their detention.
Abdul Majeed, 39, a resident of the Soura area in Srinagar’s north, is the uncle of another 19-year-old detainee, who visit the local police station constantly to meet his nephew held in detention since Aug. 17.
"For the first week, they [police] were not allowing us to meet [the nephew]. But we have started meeting him and he is fine. But we are trying to know under what charges he has been in detention," said Majeed.
Police officials told Majeed that his nephew was detained as a “precautionary measure” as they feel he can incite violence, said the uncle.
“They have told us they will not register any case against him,” Majeed said.
Recently, most of the police stations in Srinagar have witnessed a rush outside of family members and relatives coming to meet the detainees.
They had to wait for hours before allowed to meet the detainees.
The same rush is outside Srinagar's Central Jail -- located in the old part of the city -- where a large number of people gather to meet their beloved ones.
“I am just praying that Public Safety Act is not slapped on my son. His career will get ruined. I met him twice recently, and I told him not to worry and he will be released soon,” one of the parents just outside the jail, who requested to be anonymous due to security reasons, told Anadolu Agency.
Since Aug. 5, when the Indian government revoked the special provisions under which the disputed region enacted its own laws, the authorities have made hundreds of detentions, including political leaders, across the Muslim-majority region.
Among those arrested were two former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who have been lodged in the Centaur Hotel in Srinagar, which is currently housing dozens of mainstream Indian leaders under arrest.
Shabir Ahmad, cousin of Waheed Para, a top leader of Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir told Anadolu Agency outside the hotel: “I just met him (Waheed) and he is fine. I don’t know when he will be released.”
Bilal Ahmad, who met Imran Ansari, a prominent Shia leader and senior leader of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference party said after his visit: “He [Ansari], too, is not aware why he has been placed under arrest inside the hotel.”
While Jammu and Kashmir government spokesman Rohit Kansal and the authorities in the region have not disclosed the total figure of the detentions since Aug. 5, sources in the Jammu and Kashmir police told Anadolu Agency that the number of arrests are “officially” almost 2,000.
Police officials in Srinagar also claimed that they are also releasing the youth who were put under detention.
Sources also said that arrests have been made under controversial Public Safety Act and many people have been sent to jails in various part of India.
The Public Safety Act is a draconian law under which authorities can arrest a person above the age of 16, without trial for a period of two years.
A media report had recently claimed that 4,000 people have been arrested in the region since Aug. 5, but Kansal denied the report terming it as “baseless” during a press briefing.
Mohammed Amin, a resident of Srinagar’s old city, was furious over the recent arrest of his son as well: “Do you think my son will be happy inside? The detention inside the police station will only make him more angry and furious.”
Amin was sure of his demand from the Indian government: “They should release all the young boys immediately.”

 

[PakSword]

With meticulous planning then mass arrests and ‘torture’, Kashmir’s autonomy was lost

When Jammu and Kashmir’s governor addressed the world in a press conference on 4 August, people in the Muslim-majority valley were worried.
After decades of bubbling unrest in the most highly militarised region on the planet, they knew the signs were there that something big was happening. But when the governor was asked, he told the media that it was simply “unnecessary panic” created by “rumour mongering”.

He had lied. The next day, the Modi administration announced that Kashmir’s constitutionally enshrined autonomy was being unilaterally withdrawn, and the state was being downgraded and split into two “union territories”.

The news sent shockwaves across India and the region – but in Kashmir itself, a carefully orchestrated communications and travel lockdown allowed the government to claim that the situation remained “normal”.

Now, as the first detailed allegations emerge of torture and abuse by the security forces maintaining the lockdown in the region, The Independent can trace the events that led to the end of Kashmir’s special status.

Rewind to 26 July, and the first sign of the groundwork being laid by the Indian government was a redeployment of an additional 100 companies – around 10,000 soldiers – to a region already saturated with security forces.

The move was issued under the pretence of countering the militancy in the region, even though the number of militant attacks had come down in recent months.

After a few days, another 180 companies were sent to the valley, but this time home secretary Shaleen Kabra gave the excuse that there was specific intelligence of an imminent terror attack around the annual Hindu pilgrimage to Amarnath Temple in the Himalayas.

The order was followed by another advisory notice, issued by the Modi government and again citing the terror threat, asking tourists and pilgrims to leave the valley immediately for their own safety.

Meanwhile, the influx of troops was creating panic and confusion on the streets of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital.

Footage obtained by The Independent shows worried students turning up at their college buildings and accommodation only to discover that they had been commandeered by the army to house the security forces.

Part-time students who attend the Indira Gandhi National Open University on Sundays travelled for hours to reach college on 4 August only to find the gates shut.

Shabana Wani, a 28-year-old woman who travelled almost 70km to attend college that day, said she called her professor. “I asked him about shutting the college, he said they didn’t have any proper orders, they just received the call to close immediately as forces we supposed to take the college.”

At the same time, doctors say, the authorities ordered all major hospitals to conduct an immediate stock-taking exercise. Hospital employees told The Independent they were largely unable to give an accurate count of their supplies in the short span of time provided.

The preparations led to a climate of hostility towards non-locals. Videos show migrant workers from the rest of India flocking to taxi ranks leaving Srinagar with only the luggage they can carry, while non-local students at the National Institute of Electronics and Information and Technology were picked out and taken away from a hostel by forces – possibly for their own safety.

The communications lockdown, in force since 4 August, meant that the scale of the preparations was not appreciated at the time, and only official statements such as those from the governor, insisting everything was OK, were widely circulated.

The announcement on 5 August, that the government was reading down Article 370 of India’s constitution, meant the worst nightmare of many Kashmiris had come true.

An angry backlash was expected. But visiting the most restive districts of southern Kashmir, The Independent heard allegations from residents that security forces resorted to extreme brutality and public humiliation in order to snuff out any unrest at source.

People in Nadapora Parigam, an area of the Pulwama district where a deadly suicide bombing killed 40 paramilitary officers in February, said that local boys were tortured by the security forces on the night of 5 August, hours after the Article 370 announcement was made.

Mohammad Yasin Bhat, 22, said he was dragged out of his bed at midnight by soldiers and brought out of his home to the main road, where he was made to stand naked in line with 11 other civilians.

It became apparent that security forces passing through the neighbourhood had been pelted with stones earlier in the day, and the troops were rounding up youths – seemingly at random – to find the culprits.

The officer in charge began by asking Yasin about his views of the Article 370 decision, he said. “I could sense the tension around, so, for my own safety, I said ‘we are happy – it is a good decision’. But I knew he didn’t trust my words,” said Yasin.

Yasin said he and the others were asked to remove their clothes, and then beaten with canes, gun butts and kicks. He says there was no one to help them – the whole village was cordoned off, and troops were at every corner.

During the beating, “many of us fainted”, Yasin said. “They would give electric shocks in our private parts, and start the torture again.”

The family showed pictures of severe bruising on Yasin’s backside and thighs, while other families provided images of other youths who had suffered injuries.



During the beating, one man who asked for water was made to drink muddy drain water from the side of the road, Yasin said. And the final indignity came when, at the end of the beating, the naked men were made to “lie face-down on top of each other in a pile”. “It was harassment, making us feel violated,” he said.

Neighbours gave similar accounts of the incident. One man in his eighties, who asked not to be named, said he watched the beatings from beginning to end and, when the security forces left, came out onto the street to help “rescue all of the victims”.

Yasin’s is not the only allegation of torture by the security forces to have emerged since the current crisis in Kashmir began, and representatives for the Indian army have strongly denied the claims.

In a statement to the BBC, which reported on alleged beatings in Pulwama on Friday, a spokesperson said the Indian army was “a professional organisation that understands and respects human rights” and that all allegations “are investigated expeditiously”.

On the same night of 5 August, at around 2am, armed forces arrived at the residence of Mohammad Maqbool Khan in the New Colony area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

Soldiers started banging on the door. Maqbool’s daughter in-law, Shazada Bano, said she rushed to open it in a panic.

“They ordered all of us to come in the courtyard. All of us gathered and they started asking our names,” she said. As soon as they heard the name of Amir Khan, a 27-year-old man who runs an electronics shop, they dragged him outside.

“We tried to stop them, but they said they want him to guide them in locating a few houses for searches, and we believed them. But that wasn’t true at all,” said Shazada.

The next morning when they reached the nearest police station, they found Amir in lockup. Maqbool asked officials the reason for his detention and they replied simply that he “will be released after 15 August” (India’s Independence Day, when a spike in unrest was expected).

That never happened, and on 18 August when Maqbool went to see Amir, the commanding officer told him he had been moved to the central jail in Srinagar.

The family travelled to the city and asked after Amir. They were told he and three other men from their village had been booked under the Public Safety Act – an emergency law that allows the authorities to imprison a person for up to two years without charge or trial.

One of the other youths detained was Shahid Ahmad Bhat, a 25-year-old boy whose father Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat is a pharmacist who lives a few metres away from Maqbool.

But unlike Maqbool, Mushtaq doesn’t even know where his son is being held. “For some time he was in the police station, later they said he has been shifted to Srinagar. At central jail, officials said he is not there. I have no idea where my son is, or if he is dead or alive,” Mushtaq said.

Government officials would not comment on specific cases, but they were not shy about the scale of the arrests carried out since 5 August decision. An official told The Independent that more than 4,000 people have been detained since the announcement, though they could not give an exact number. Many, like Shahid and Amir, face the prospect of potentially years in jail without any recourse to justice.

 

[PakSword]

Fearing Arrest, Youth in Srinagar Avoid Hospitals, Treat Pellet Injuries Themselves

Residents of the Anchar locality have dug up roads and created makeshift barricades to stop security forces from coming in.

Srinagar: In Anchar, a volatile Srinagar neighbourhood and the epicentre of ongoing protests, local boys used forceps to take pellets out their wounds, fearful that a trip to the hospital could land them in jail.

The upscale locality in the city is aghast over reading down of Article 370, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

According to locals, around 200 youth have been wounded in teargas shelling and pellet firing by the security forces since August 5, the day the government of India stripped the state of its autonomous status. Under Article 370, J&K had a separate flag and constitution.

In recent clashes on Friday (August 30), over two dozen youth were injured in the locality, residents said.

“The injured men fear that stepping out for treatment will bring them in the radar of the security forces,” said a local. “The J&K police have a network of men in the city hospital to keep an eye on every visitor.”

Thirty-two-year-old Najeeb (name changed) is one of the young men wounded in pellet firing by the forces.

“I was hit by pellets on Friday, during clashes in the locality,” Najeeb said, near a shrine in the area. “After I was hit, my entire body was bleeding
profusely.”

Multiple pellets wound can be seen on his chest, shoulders, stomach, arms, legs, head, forehead and right ear.

The Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), the premier health institute in the state, is less than one kilometre from Anchar.
“I choose not to visit the hospital and stay at home, knowing full well that if I go there I will be arrested,” said Najeeb.

A group of young men took the “risk” to travel to the hospital from behind the locality, in the dark, to get a paramedic to treat Najeeb.

“He (the paramedic) removed pellets from all over my body, more than 20. He told me that many pellets have gone deep inside and would need a minor surgical procedure,” said Najeeb, a labourer and father of two children.

“My entire body is in pain, but I am getting used to it now,” the young man said.

The entire neighbourhood looks ravaged. Most of the houses have broken windowpanes, allegedly because of the security forces. These windows have now been replaced by tin sheets, ply boards and blankets to prevent teargas from entering homes.

The roads are dotted with broken bricks and walls are painted with pro-azadi and pro-Pakistan graffiti.

The roads leading to the area have been dug up to prevent the forces from coming in. Residents have also barricaded roads with tin sheets, steel rods and wooden logs. At some spots, steel mesh restricts access to the locality, described in the foreign media as “Kashmir’s Gaza”.

A man who owns a shop in Anchar and identified himself as Mumtaz said that a group of boys have “developed expertise” in removing pellets from injured people with forceps and tongs.

Mumtaz said an unusual fear of reprisal from the police pervades, to the extent that patients from the area are accompanied only by womenfolk to hospitals.

His nephew Arif (name changed), a Class 12 student, is among those with pellet injuries. On Sunday afternoon, the young boy sat on the verandah of his house, applying antiseptic cream on the injuries on his legs.

“It keeps the injured tissues soft,” said Arif, who until now has avoided the hospital. “I am lucky that my eyes are safe.”

According to him, there are many others like him nursing their wounds themselves.

The security forces, including J&K police and paramilitary CRPF, have tried unsuccessfully to breach the barricades on several occasions since August 5, locals said.

“They (forces) have stepped up the offensive after locals gave interviews to the foreign media about the situation and humanitarian crisis in the area,” said another young man.

On August 9, BBC reported that thousands had taken to the streets in the area to demonstrate and forces resorted to firing to quell the protests.
This was, however, denied by the government, following which the BBC released footage of the protest.

An elderly man collecting teargas canisters in Anchar.

Since then, the area, with a population of around 25,000, has been witnessing frequent protests, which are often joined by the elderly and women.p
Many young boys defended the protests, saying people have the right to raise their voices against the “zulm (oppression)”.

“Today they (New Delhi) have snatched our identity. Tomorrow they can come for our land. This is not the time to sit silent,” said one of the boys, his face masked.

As dusk begins to descend, the young men take turns to maintain a vigil at key road junctions, to prevent security forces from entering the locality behind Nigeen Lake.

“They (the forces) have tried to come in on at least four occasions in the past week, but we pushed them back,” said a young man from Dar Mohalla. “We have hardly slept all these nights, even when we are not out to keep a watch. You never know when situation could turn ugly.”

According to him, three youth from the locality were arrested on August 9, after the protest. “Since then, our boys have stopped moving out, fearing arrests.”

Though the last clash between locals and the forces took place on Friday, the air is still filled with tear gas smoke and pepper gas.

“I will show you the quantum of ammunition they (forces) fired in the locality that day,” said another young.

Behind the local mosque, they have piled up the shells and canisters which were allegedly fired by the forces.

“Here it is,” he said, pointing towards the heap of canisters. “They are all kinds of shells – teargas, pepper gas, chilli grenade and PAVA shells. You will find such collections in every locality here.”

Locals have collected canisters of teargas shells and other ammunition allegedly fired by the forces in the locality.

According to the residents, the elderly and children have now developed “health issues” owing to the tear smoke shelling that frequently fills the air.
“It is becoming very difficult to live here,” said Manzoor Hussain, a middle-aged man. “But we know that moving out is too risky. They (the forces) are waiting for us to take one wrong step. This fight is about patience, too.”

 

[PakSword]

 

[PakSword]

 

[Mangus Ortus Novem]

GanguDaesh has been committing Crimes Against Humanity in IoJK for last 73 years.

With mass graves, rape as weapon of war and forced disappearances... and in the past 30 days more than 15000 PakKashmiris from the Valley have been transported out of IoJK...

Childeren are being held and tortured...and still there is NO outrage in the so called civilised world...

Kashmir shall gain freedom through HybridStruggle alone... as we live in the HybridWorld.

 

[Mangus Ortus Novem]

@Shazam yes, this illegal annexation is the result of deep planning and the ensuing KashmiriGenocide is well planned...with RSSTerrorists sent there in GanguTerroristArmy uniforms....

It is beyond doubt that FacistModi had the go ahead from certain western powers... otherwise, it couldn't dare for such a step....

Pak response has been still appologatic... we require HyperAgressiveDiplomacy... still no action on that front.

 

[Shazam]

Defiant Kashmiri Mothers. India thought they would take over Kashmir with little resistance after a few days of protests. They underestimated the resolve of Kashmiri mothers who have prevailed and instilled even more yearning for Freedom in the next generation of Kashmiri youth than ever before despite ruthless oppression of a million strong armed to the teeth occupation force full of rapists, murderers and human rights criminals:

 

[Shazam]

Children are being abducted by Indian forces more and more methodically in Kashmir since the start of August and abrogation of article 370.

 

[Dubious]

Nirupama Subramanian, an Indian Express journalist who has recently come back from Kashmir said that the situation in the Valley is far from being normal

NH Web Desk
Published: 4 Sep 2019, 4:54 PM


Nirupama Subramanian, an Indian Express journalist who has recently come back from Kashmir said that the situation in the Valley is far from being normal.
Subramanian has shared her experience on Twitter on Tuesday, and in a series of tweets, she has narrated how people of Kashmir are angry with the government of India.

Disapproving claims made by the mainstream media and by the Modi government, Subramanian said, “All assertions to the contrary, whether by officials or media, are from la-la land. True, no violent uprising, but life, even the post-2016 one that people had got used to, is paralysed.”
With the arrest and detention of all mainstream politicians, no politicians left in the Valley who can sell Delhi’s scheme to the people, concluded Subramanian after her interaction with the people of Kashmir.

Expressing her apprehension that “virtually the entire population of the Valley has now turned anti-India,” Subramanian added: Anyone who offers themselves as Delhi’s face in Srinagar would have to be high on courage. People said: “Good all these leaders and politicians have been put in jail. They feathered their own nests by selling our fate to Delhi. They had it coming.”
According to Subramanian, though private vehicles were seen on the roads, public transport remained shut since August 5 – the day when Article 370 was made null and void by the BJP government.
She said people have imposed “civil curfew” and efforts to win the heart of the Kashmiri people have become more difficult now. Here are some of the btweets from the long thread she has tweeted:

Nirupama Subramanian

✔@tallstories
· 18h

Replying to @tallstories
There is no curfew in any part of Kashmir. There are restrictions under Sec 144 but these are loosely enforced. Except Fridays, no restrictions on mobility except for movements of large groups of people and gatherings.

Nirupama Subramanian

✔@tallstories

On the highways, there were plenty of private cars on the roads. But no public transport. Markets were shut.People said it was because of a “civil curfew”, a bandh, self-imposed because there was no call for it, as the leaders who normally do that are all detained.

407
10:26 PM - Sep 3, 2019
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Nirupama Subramanian

✔@tallstories
· 18h

Replying to @tallstories
Because it has great resources, the government may eventually find a politician or two, or even create a new lot of leaders in the manner it found candidates to run for the 2018 panchayat elections, to take the plan forward.But the going for them will hardly be easy.

Nirupama Subramanian

✔@tallstories

At the moment, Kashmir is anything but normal and all assertions to the contrary, whether by officials or media, are from la-la land. True, no violent uprising, but life, even the post-2016 one that people had got used to, is paralysed.

470
10:23 PM - Sep 3, 2019
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Nirupama Subramanian

✔@tallstories
· 19h

Long overdue, long thread from #Kashmir from my visit to the Valley from Aug 20-25.

It's surprising how many people believe India's Kashmir problem is solved.The reality on the ground is entirely different, & once the fog of celebration clears,the challenges may become apparent.

Nirupama Subramanian

✔@tallstories

For one, India has no friends left in Kashmir. Even those who called themselves “moderates”, those who pushed India's case in the Valley, are angered so much that they say they have to rethink everything they stood for.

1,126
9:39 PM - Sep 3, 2019
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No, Kashmir is not normal; Indian Express journalist Nirupama Subramanian shares her experience on Twitter

Nirupama Subramanian, an Indian Express journalist who has recently come back from Kashmir said that the situation in the Valley is far from being normal

www.nationalheraldindia.com

https://twitter.com/tallstories/status/1168926471844499456

 

[Dubious]

Dawn.com
September 04, 2019

The mayor of occupied Kashmir's biggest city Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu, was put under house arrest on Tuesday. — Photo courtesy Junaid Azam Mattu Twitter
The mayor of occupied Kashmir's biggest city Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu, was put under house arrest on Tuesday for criticising New Delhi's decision to revoke Article 370 and for saying that many people were unable to communicate with their families due to the lockdown, Indian news website The Quintreported.

According to NDTV, Mattu was placed under house arrest after returning from Delhi, where he had gone for medical treatment. The report added that the mayor's movement had previously been restricted following the Indian government's decision to unilaterally revoke Article 370 of its constitution, which granted special autonomy to occupied Kashmir.

Prior to being placed under house arrest, in an interview with NDTVon Monday, Mattu had said that "while there may not be any bodies littering the streets of Kashmir", it would be "highly unrealistic" to assume that it had returned to normal.

"Containing a sentiment in the aftermath of a radical decision by enforcing a clampdown doesn't mean that the situation is normal. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's policy of detainment seems to be a purely operational one," he was quoted as saying.

"There are still a lot of families that haven't been able to communicate with their loved ones," the mayor added.

According to NDTV, Mattu had said that repealing the special status of occupied Kashmir had caused an "existential crisis because it formed the very basis of its [the region's] identity".

"We have always lived with a very palpable threat of violence, that's not a new scenario. But to use that to justify the withdrawal of fundamental rights [...] that's at the very core of alienation in Kashmir," he said in the interview.

Before India's ruling BJP stripped Kashmiris of the special autonomy on August 5, the Indian government had imposed curfew-like restrictions in the restive region while sending in tens of thousands of additional troops. Former Indian-occupied Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were also placed under house arrest.

Hours after the revocation, Abdullah, Mufti, as well as Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference leaders Sajjad Lone and Imran Ansari, were arrested.

The crippling lockdown in the region has now entered its 31st day.

Srinagar mayor placed under house arrest following comments on occupied Kashmir

 

[Dubious]

Thousands march to Indian High Commission in London as occupied Kashmir lockdown enters 30th day
Atika Rehman | Dawn.comUpdated September 03, 2019
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Protesters chant slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendera Modi in London on Tuesday. — Photo by Atika Rehman
Thousands of protesters took out a rally in London to express solidarity with the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir, as a crippling lockdown imposed by the Indian government in the occupied region since revoking its special status entered its 30th day on Tuesday.

A protester carries a placard inscribed with a slogan equating Modi with Hitler. — Photo by Atika Rehman

More than 5,000 protesters assembled at Parliament Square in the British capital and marched to the Indian High Commission to protest Kashmiris' oppression at the hands of Indian security forces.
A number of local and Kashmiri organisations had called on activists and supporters from all over England to come to London and join the protest against the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted special autonomy to occupied Kashmir.
Protesters carrying placards and waving Kashmir flags chanted slogans of "Terrorist terrorist, Modi is a terrorist!" and "Hum chheen kay lain gay — azaadi!" (We will take by force — freedom!). Some protesters also reportedly hurled eggs and tomatoes at the high commission's building.


A heavy contingent of police was deployed at the scene to prevent any violence.
Geo News' reporter in London Murtaza Ali Shah said on Twitter that today's protest drew a bigger crowd than the demonstration on August 15, when thousands had protested outside India House on what was also India's independence day.

Murtaza Ali Shah

✔@MurtazaViews
https://twitter.com/MurtazaViews/status/1168884189057441792

It’s insane. Thousands have reached outside Indian high commission for #kashmirfreedommarch and more pouring in from all sides. This protest is bigger than 15 August protest when 15K had protested in London at India house #Article370Scrapped



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6:51 PM - Sep 3, 2019
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The Indian government had imposed a strict security lockdown and communications blackout in occupied Kashmir just before it repealed Article 370 of the constitution on August 5. Extra troops were posted in the region, which is already heavily militarised, and Kashmiri leaders and activists were arrested.
The lockdown and communications blackout is still in place a month later, despite the Indian government's claim of having eased some restrictions.
According to The Indian Express, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah today told a delegation from Harvan in Srinagar district that mobile phone services in the region will be restored in 15-20 days.
On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal had claimed that 93 per cent of restrictions had been lifted from Jammu and Ladakh and that mobile services had also been restored in all 10 districts of Jammu, the Indian publication reported.

Thousands march to Indian High Commission in London as occupied Kashmir lockdown enters 30th day

People of Pakistani, Kashmiri and British origin take out Kashmir freedom rally from Parliament Square to Indian HC.

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