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Genocide in Kashmir

Mangus Ortus Novem

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Pakistan says Indian President Ram Nath Kovind's plane can't enter airspace: report
Decision comes at a time of high tension between nuclear-armed neighbors over J&K

Published: September 07, 2019 15:15 Last updated: September 07, 2019 19:14PTI, AFP

President Ram Nath Kovind

President Ram Nath KovindImage Credit: PTI


NEW DELHI: Islamabad has denied President Ram Nath Kovind permission to use its airspace for flying to Iceland amid tensions with New Delhi after it scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status last month, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said today.

According to news agency AFP, Qureshi attributed the reason for its decision to India's "recent behaviour" on bilateral issues.
India, however, contends that its decision on Jammu and Kashmir was a strictly internal matter that Pakistan has no right to question it. Indian Ministry of External Affairs' Raveesh Kumar said: "We regret the decision of Government of Pakistan to deny overflight clearance."

Ram Nath Kovind will embark on a tri-nation trip to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia from Monday, during which he is expected to brief the top leadership of those countries on issues such as cross-border terrorism.

According to Qureshi, the unusual decision to deny President Kovind permission to use the country's airspace was approved by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in view of the Kashmir situation.

Pakistan had closed its airspace to Indian traffic after an aerial dogfight following the Pulwama terror attack in February ratcheted up tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.

However, it reopened its skies in July, ending months of restrictions that affected major international air routes




Wow... just wow... after 34 days of PakKashmiris being tortured, killed and raped by GanguTerroristArmy in IoJK... GoP/SMQ got a newsbeat!

Why is our airspace still open to the rest of gangu flights? This tamasha needs to just end.

PakState cann't afford any weak politicoz at this stage in OurStruggle against FacistModiRegime.

GoP is in total paralysis. PMIK can still hop on the plane and go on whirlwind tour of the SCO, EU, AU and entire ME.... but he is heading cabinet meetings of MirJaffarz...
 

TsAr

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Indian army, media preparing grounds for false flag operation: ISPR

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RAWALPINDI: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday said the Indian media and army are preparing grounds for a false flag operation and rejected reports of two Pakistanis crossing the Line of Control (LoC).

In a press release, the military’s media wing said, “On August 21, 2019, two local farmers of AJK Muhammad Nazeem s/o Arif Hussain, 21 yrs old and Khalil Ahmed s/o Abdul Aziz, 30 yrs old, inadvertently crossed LoC near Hajipir while they had gone for grass cutting.”

“On August 27 the incident was discussed by military authorities during weekly hotline contact. Indian authorities had acknowledged and informed that routine legal formalities are taking place and they shall get back on that account,” ISPR said.

They added, “Later, on September 2 Indian media fabricated the facts and declared both innocent individuals as members of a proscribed organisation.”

ISPR further said on September 3, Indian authorities were once again informed during weekly hotline contact regarding false Indian media story despite prior exchange of information and facts. “It was assured by Indian side that due legal process was in place and outcome will be shared with Pakistani authorities,” ISPR said.

In complete disregard to formal sharing on the incident a false and fabricated story was presented by Indian Army during a presser on September 4 portraying the individuals as terrorists, ISPR added.

“The apprehended inadvertent crossers had also been forced to give confessional statement under duress of Indian Army that they were trained in Pakistan and belonged to Rawalpindi. It is to note that both individuals are inadvertent crossers, local farmers and resident of Village Terraban (Hillan) along LoC and not Rawalpindi,” ISPR said.

The attempt is another Indian effort to prepare grounds for a false flag operation. Pakistan is taking up formal case based on evidence to expose Indian lies, it added.
 
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Beijing 'paying close attention' to Kashmir, says Chinese FM to Pak leadership

ISLAMABAD: China was "paying close attention to the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir", Beijing's foreign minister told the Pakistani leadership during meetings between the two countries' representatives.

According to a joint press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday.

China's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Luo Zhaohui, Beijing's Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Planning Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, and other senior Pakistani and Chinese officials were also present at the meeting in Islamabad.

"Both sides further exchanged views on the situation in Jammu & Kashmir," the joint press release said. "The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the situation, including its concerns, position, and urgent humanitarian issues.

"The Chinese side responded that it was paying close attention to the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir and reiterated that the Kashmir issue is a dispute left from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.

"China opposes any unilateral actions that complicate the situation," it added.

The Chinese foreign minister also met President Arif Alvi, FM Qureshi, and Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa wherein "both sides had an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest".

During the meeting, "both sides reiterated that the time-tested All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between China and Pakistan is an anchor of peace and stability in the region and beyond.

"This partnership remains unaffected by any adverse regional and international development and continues to move from strength to strength. Both sides reaffirmed that China-Pakistan relationship is a priority in their foreign policies, and committed to build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era."

Further, China and Pakistan focused on enhancing "strategic mutual trust and [improving] all-round cooperation so as to jointly promote regional peace, stability and prosperity".

The statement added: "The Chinese side reaffirmed its support for Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and national dignity, in choosing its development path in light of its national conditions, in working for a better external security environment, and in playing a more constructive role in regional and international issues."

On the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the two countries agreed that the pioneering project "has entered a new phase of high-quality development".

They "agreed to continue to firmly push forward the construction of CPEC, complete its on-going projects in a timely manner, and realize its full potential by focusing on socio-economic development, job creation and better livelihood and accelerating cooperation in industrial parks and agriculture.

"Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and support for multilateralism, free trade and win-win cooperation. Both sides agreed to strengthen coordination and cooperation on regional and international affairs. The two sides underlined that a peaceful, stable, cooperative and prosperous South Asia is in the common interest of all parties."

With regard to the regional situation, the two ally nations noted: "Parties need to settle disputes and issues in the region through dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and equality."

As for Afghanistan, they agreed to "support the ‘Afghan-led, Afghan-owned' peace and reconciliation process" and "welcomed the positive progress achieved in the negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and the US, and called on all Afghan political stakeholders, including the Afghan Taliban, to start intra-Afghan negotiations to form a future political structure acceptable to all parties and achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan at an early date".

A day earlier, delegation-level talks between Pakistan and China were held between officials from the two countries discussed regional and bilateral matters,

The delegations had an in-depth exchange of views on the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and regional matters, particularly the current situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.

The two sides had also exchanged views on the Afghan peace process.

Qureshi had stated that Pakistan was grateful for China's support in the aftermath of India's illegal and unilateral actions. He had stressed that Pakistan and China were to continue their close coordination and consultation to ensure that peace and stability in the region is maintained.

The Chinese state councilor had reaffirmed China's support and reiterated opposition to any unilateral action as well as the measures that could further complicate the situation.

FM Qureshi had said Pakistan would continue to support China on all issues of its core interest, including Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong.

The CPEC added a new dimension to bilateral ties and contributed immensely to the revitalisation of Pakistan's economy, FM Qureshi had highlighted, reiterating Islamabad's commitment to the timely completion of the projects, especially those in Gwadar.
 

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As Pak, China Talk Kashmir, India Raises Concern Over 'Corridor' In Pakistan Administered Kashmir
China voiced its "serious concern" after the government's move to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate it into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
All India | Edited by Anindita Sanyal | Updated: September 10, 2019


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Following a request by Pakistan, China has asked for a closed door UN meeting


Highlights
  1. India today rejected the remarks of Pakistan and China on Kashmir
  2. Pakistan and China said Kashmir is a "dispute left from history"
  3. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, foreign ministry said


New Delhi: India today rejected the remarks of Pakistan and its all-weather ally China on Kashmir, where they contended that Kashmir is a "dispute left from history" and the issue should be "peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements."

"We reject the reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement issued by China and Pakistan after the recent visit of Chinese Foreign Minister. J&K is an integral part of India," foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

India, he said, has consistently expressed concerns to both China and Pakistan on the projects in so-called "China Pakistan Economic Corridor", which is in the territory of India that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947.

China voiced its "serious concern" after the government's move to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate it into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Last month, following a request by Pakistan, China has asked for a closed door UN meeting. But it stood isolated with Pakistan as all member nations - including UK and the US - agreed that the change in Jammu and Kashmir's status was an internal matter for India.

Over the next weeks, India had taken a tough stand. Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said bilateral talks with Pakistan, if any, would be on Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, the territory under Pakistan's control since it invaded the state in 1947.

"If talks are held with Pakistan it will now be on PaK (Pakistan-Administered Kashmir)," Mr Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

And during a visit to China, foreign minister S Jaishankar had sent out warning signals, saying the two nations should "ensure that it was important that differences between us, if any, should not become disputes".

Today, reflecting the government's stand, Raveesh Kumar said, "India is resolutely opposed to any actions by other countries to change the status quo in Pakistan occupied J&K. We call on the parties concerned to cease such actions."

India and Pakistan are expected to face off today over Jammu and Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Switzerland. Pakistan, which has so far been unsuccessfully flagging the government's move on Jammu and Kashmir at various international forums, has announced that it will speak on the matter.

SOURCE
 

Mangus Ortus Novem

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Indian media: loves the military, blind to truth of Pakistan conflict?
Sohini C
Published: 7:06pm, 5 Mar, 2019
Updated: 9:50am, 6 Mar, 2019


On the same day of India’s strikes on Balakot, NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan tweeted: “Can we all just calm down. An escalation does not help either country. To begin with, stop watching TV and seeing Twitter on both sides. We will all be saner.”

Legacy media in India made a fool of themselves reporting this major story. D’Souza and Razdan were the only journalists brave enough to acknowledge this; theirs was remarkable behaviour in the context of the Indian press fraternity, which is largely impervious to introspection and apology.

In the hours after the February 26 air strike, established print publications and television channels reported that 200 to 300 terrorists had been killed in the attack, and that the largest training camp of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohamed (JeM) had been hit. The news outlets attributed these statements to “sources”, even though the government had not officially signed off on these claims.

By the next day, Reuters had reported on the ground from Balakot that the attack wounded one man, damaged one house, formed four craters and felled some trees. On February 28, Al Jazeera confirmed Reuters’ details, and added that the person wounded had been struck on his forehead by shrapnel.

Reporters were not allowed to visit the site of the so-called training camp, but journalists from both organisations checked with local hospitals nearby who said they had received no dead bodies. The reports also quoted local residents and diplomats posted around the
area as saying the training camp had not existed for some years, the site housed a madrassa (school) with some affiliation to the JeM.

An update from Reuters, also on February 28, carried word of a fatality: a crow had died.

On March 3, S.S. Ahluwalia – an MP from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – put up a Facebook video in which he said there were no human casualties in the attack, adding that the point of the air strike was not to have human casualties but to demonstrate to Pakistan that India has the capability to hit them inside their territory despite their surveillance and security.

Why, then, did the media roll out the figure of up to 300 killed, and attribute it to “sources”? The question is even more relevant because something similar happened in September 2016.

At the time, the Indian government had carried out what they called a “surgical strike” in Pakistan in retaliation for a terrorist attack in Uri that killed 19 Indian soldiers. The Indian media then reported that the “surgical strike” resulted in 35 to 80 casualties. A BBC ground report mentioned that two Pakistani soldiers had been killed, and an Economist report said no Pakistani soldiers were killed but there were about a dozen dead on their side, far fewer than the casualties mentioned in the Indian press.
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A photo made available by the Pakistani military Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shows trees damaged after the Indian Air Force dropped their payloads near Balakot, Pakistan on February 26. The ISPR said there were no casualties in the wake of the air strikes. Photo: EPA

“In any military conflict, there is great uncertainty about what has happened – the “fog of war”. The very fact that the government did not claim any numbers in official briefings, including the first one, should have given [the Indian media] pause,” said Srinath Raghavan, professor of international relations and history at Ashoka University. “But concerns about being left standing alone when everyone else [in the media] was making a headlong dash may have triggered a race to the bottom.”

The Indian media also appears to have a crush on the armed forces. This may be especially evident under the right-wing government led by the BJP – such governments are typically strong on national security – but it has been palpable even under past governments. The Indian media has long been reluctant to criticise the armed forces, even when reports of serious human rights violations have emerged.

On July 15, 2004, 12 women in the state of Manipur took off their clothes in public and raised a banner with the words “Indian Army Rape Us” to protest the rape and murder of a young woman called Thangjam Manorama by the Assam Rifles military unit.

In the Human Rights Watch report on Manorama’s death, the only mainstream news publication referenced is the Press Trust of India agency, which carried no mention of her rape and only fleeting mentions of her “alleged” killing. No major newspapers were referenced, an illustration of how the story was mostly ignored by the media.

In the book Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora?, five women recount the events and aftermath of two nights in February 1991 when more than 50 women were raped by an army unit in Kashmir. The book notes the role of the Press Council of India, which carried out a probe on behalf of the army and dismissed the local medical officer’s account of treating vaginal lacerations, injuries, multiple abrasions over thighs, buttocks and chests as “worthless”.

In recent years, the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora have become names that come up in television news discussions, but are rarely (if ever) the topic of debate – although rape and sexual violence have been a significant topic of public conversation.

Then there is the nature of reporting in heavily militarised zones such as Kashmir and several states in India’s northeast, and in war and conflict zones. Access to these spaces is controlled by the armed forces, creating a dependency on the army, a need to maintain goodwill.

When permission is granted, the army also provides or facilitates travel, living and logistical arrangements for reporters. It is also not irrelevant to point out that several influential television journalists are from armed forces families.

“Indian news organisations recruit children of privilege. You have children of senior bureaucrats and politicians and high-level defence forces officers reporting on government and the army and politics. When you are close to power, related to it, it is even more difficult to be critical of it,” said Suchitra Vijayan, executive director at The Polis Project, a New York-based hybrid organisation that bridges research and reportage.

“As it is in India, we are not taught to be critical of authority. This hiring of privilege creates a situation where even journalism 101 is not followed.”

 

Shazam

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Pakistan needs to dent Indian exports of Pakistani origin rock salt by raising the price of its rock salt export 200% to India and earn billions of dollars by exporting the same salt to Western Countries as finished product of Pakistan itself.

India has been importing Himalayan Pink rock salt from Pakistan at mindlessly low rates, as low as 35 Paisas per kg and has been selling it abroad after packaging and marketing the same as finished natural/ mineral produce from Himalayas, as high as 20 Euros per kg. This literally amounts to Pakistan letting India make billions of Dollars worth of exports at its own expense which it can make itself while denting a huge blow to Indian exports at the same time.

India according to an agreement in, 1947 will be continuously supplied by Pakistani salt despite war or peace. Similarly, they also agreed not to block Pakistani waters, though they are continuously building dams on our water thus breaching the agreement. Following post Pulwama escalations, India put all its efforts to sabotage Pakistan’s economy by taking certain antipathic steps such as raising 200% custom duties on our items almost banning them to get entry in their country.

India resells our salt by naming it as Indian brand (Himalayan salt) to rest of the world at very expensive rates. Why India is not raising tax on our salt and still importing it? There are multiple factors underlying this cause. Firstly, the salt mined from famous Khewra (Pakistani Punjab) mines is very unique and portrayed as one of the purest and most expensive salt in the world. It is also called as white or pink gold.

In the year 2016 India bought 625 metric tons of pink salt from Pakistan at price of 2.98 rupees per Kg and exported 15.09562metric tons salt to Korea, USA, UAE, Canada, Somalia and Spain at a price of average 125PKR/kg with its own wrapping and product name. Thirdly, India makes multiple other products from our salt and sells it to rest of the world. One more thing is also very important our salt is being sold by Israel and France as well as their product.


Pakistan needs to stop this mindless theft of its natural resource at such an abysmal rate and put a ban on India from buying Himalayan salt from Pakistan at such a low price. This natural resource can then be sold by Pakistan and reap the same benefit of billions of dollars in exports itself instead of letting India make billions of dollars on Pakistan's product while we stand to earn peanuts on exporting huge Himalayan Rock boulders for such a measly price.

The extraction of salt from Khewra Salt Mine was 389,134 tons, as reported in 2018 by ministry of commerce. The predictable reserves are between 82 million tons and 600 million tons. At this speed, the mine is likely to produce salt for another 350 years. So we can earn a handsome foreign exchange from our salt industry to help our economy and elevating the standards of our people.

Forget Oil and even precious metal mines that require millions of dollars if not billions of infrasturcture and development to get access to those metals, we are already blessed with PINK GOLD in the form of our own Himalayan Pink Salt. The Government of Pakistan needs to put a stop to this mindless theft of its PINK GOLD by India right under our noses and invite investors itself to export this everyday use commodity to every household in the world as PRODUCED IN PAKISTAN.
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How geopolitics enabled India’s gambit in Kashmir
Why We Wrote This
India’s decision to strip Kashmir’s special status is the kind of move you expect to get global pushback. But that hasn’t been the case – which highlights significant shifts in big-power politics.

0815-KASHMIRDIPLO.jpg
Akhtar Soomro/Reuters People chant slogans to observe a "Black Day" protesting India's decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, on Aug. 15, 2019. Overall, however, India has faced muted global backlash for the move.
August 15, 2019

Two ways to read the story
India's decision last week to revoke a decades-old constitutional provision granting the Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir a degree of autonomy comes at a particularly fortuitous moment in global politics.

A resurgence of respect for national sovereignty and waning interest in multilateral solutions for territorial disputes work in India’s favor. Western powers are less prone to defend the democratic rights of regional minorities than they might have been following the Cold War. Moreover, a return of global big-power competition means that none of the heavyweights (the United States, China, and Russia) wants to do much of anything to alienate an emerging economic and security player in a critical geopolitical region.

For example, “the United States is basically saying, ‘Kashmir is an issue for India and Pakistan to figure out, but it is not something for us to get involved in,” says Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute. “India is gaining importance for the United States as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy and as one of the most important bulwarks against a rising China. ... It is not about to let an issue like Kashmir stand in the way of that priority.”

To India, its decision last week to revoke a decades-old constitutional provision granting the Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir a degree of autonomy is no one else’s business.

Indeed, sensitivity to even a whiff of international interference shone through in a jab at a rather bland response from the Chinese government. India “does not comment on the internal affairs of other countries,” the foreign ministry sniffed in a statement, “and similarly expects other countries to do likewise.”

Despite such protestations, it seems clear that India knew such a unilateral move on an issue that has stoked regional tensions for decades would not simply slip by as if New Delhi had just raised the domestic price of rice. The action in effect nullified a 1972 agreement with Pakistan that any revision of the disputed territory’s status would be decided bilaterally between the two nuclear-armed archrivals.

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The reality is that India made its move to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy – something the country’s Hindu nationalists have demanded since shortly after independence in 1947 – at a particularly fortuitous moment in global politics.

A resurgence of respect for national sovereignty and waning interest in multilateral solutions for territorial disputes work in India’s favor. Western powers are less prone to defend the democratic rights of regional minorities than they might have been following the Cold War. At the same time, international sympathies for autonomy movements are nowhere near as robust as they once were – especially if they harbor any element of terrorist ideology.

India rising: Can a giant democracy become an economic colossus?
Moreover, a return of big-power competition to the world stage means that none of the heavyweights (the United States, China, and Russia), not to mention lesser powers, wants to do much of anything to alienate an emerging economic and security player in a critical geopolitical region.

The muted American response to the move is a case in point.

President Donald Trump caught India off guard when he chose a Washington visit last month by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to offer to mediate the Kashmir conflict. He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently asked him to consider playing such a role – a claim Indian officials quickly denied.

But now, “The United States is basically saying, ‘Kashmir is an issue for India and Pakistan to figure out, but it is not something for us to get involved in,” says Sadanand Dhume, a resident fellow focusing on South Asia at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington.



“What that tells me is that India is gaining importance for the United States as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy and as one of the most important bulwarks against a rising China,” he adds. “It is not about to let an issue like Kashmir stand in the way of that priority.”

And then there’s China.

In another era, India’s giant neighbor might have come down harder against unilateral action in a region where it, too, has a territorial dispute with India. And initially Beijing did issue statements supportive of Pakistan’s “legitimate rights and interests” in Kashmir, to the satisfaction of Pakistani officials.

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But China has its own issues with restive territories – look no further than the recent turmoil in Hong Kong – and is not inclined to condemn another country’s action to deal with such trouble spots, some regional analysts say.

“The all-weather friend of Pakistan – by which of course I mean China – might have been expected to come out more forcefully on this, but to use an expression from cricket, it also finds itself on the back foot,” says Waheguru Pal Sidhu, a clinical associate professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and an expert in the role of India and other emerging powers in an evolving global order.



“China has the issue of Xinjiang [region], and even Hong Kong, so for it to become the champion against this kind of action by another country – its credibility would be incredibly low to say the least,” says Dr. Sidhu.



Xinjiang is home to 10 million Muslim Uyghurs and, though to a lesser degree than Kashmir, harbors resistance to central-government efforts to fully integrate the province politically and culturally into the nation. Some 1 million residents of Xinjiang are believed to have been detained in guarded reeducation centers, though China claims most have been released.

Pakistan’s initial aim was to press for what experts describe as an “internationalization” of the Kashmir issue, first by having it taken up in the United Nations Security Council. Lack of enthusiasm among council members initially made that step seem unlikely, but by Thursday a closed-door consultation on the issue was set for Friday morning. It would be the first council discussion of Kashmir in decades.

Dr. Sidhu notes that Russia, one of the Security Council’s five permanent members, has come out in support of India’s move in Kashmir – “payback,” he says, for India’s quiet response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

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Even major Muslim countries have indicated either outright support for India’s action on Muslim-majority Kashmir, or have shown they do not intend to let it stand in the way of their relations with New Delhi.

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Manish Swarup/AP

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Feb. 20, 2019. Saudi Arabia’s response to the Kashmir situation is complicated by its close ties with both India and Pakistan, but like many countries, it appears reluctant to jeopardize ties with India's much larger economy.

Mr. Dhume of AEI points to Monday’s announcement by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco of a $15 billion investment in one of India’s largest companies.

“Saudi Arabia has traditionally been close to Pakistan, but over the past several decades India and Pakistan have diverged economically to where India’s economy is now about eight times larger than Pakistan’s,” he says. “The Saudis can’t ignore that” for the sake of Kashmir.

New Delhi has experience braving international opposition, with some regional analysts noting that India weathered decades of harsh reaction to its nuclear program and nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, the muted responses to Kashmir can’t help but elicit a sigh of relief from India’s government, Mr. Dhume says.



“Round One of the diplomatic maneuvering on this has clearly gone India’s way,” he says.

While that may be true, some say the real test of international tolerance will come over the coming months, as India shifts from the current lockdown to implementing Kashmir’s new status and relationship with the central government. One key element to watch: how India handles Kashmir’s transition as the anticipated U.S. withdrawal from nearby Afghanistan plays out.

While most experts concur that India’s decision to act now on Kashmir reflects domestic politics, such as Hindu nationalists’ victory in May elections, some believe advancing U.S. talks with the Taliban over U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan precipitated India’s action.

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Pakistan could move to activate its proxies in Kashmir (and in Afghanistan) to disrupt any political transition in the territory, Dr. Sidhu says, but that would likely only reduce whatever sympathies India’s rival has mustered over Kashmir, and “provide India justification for a much more muscular crackdown.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include new reports that the Security Council plans to discuss Kashmir
 

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GENOCIDE WATCH: INDIA: KASHMIR





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

On August 5, 2019, the Indian President revoked the Special Autonomous Status of India Administered Jammu and Kashmir under 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.

GENOCIDE Watch: INDIA: ASSAM STATE

Genocide Watch has issued a Genocide Watch for Assam State, India, where millions of Bengali Muslims face losing citizenship status. A Genocide Watch is declared when early warning signs indicate that a genocidal process is underway.

Over seven million people in Assam State, mostly Muslims of Bengali descent, may lose their Indian citizenship and risk imprisonment in special “foreigner detention centers.” A process is now underway to “verify” the citizenship of all 32 million inhabitants of Assam state, which requires each person to affirmatively prove that they are Indian and not an “illegal migrant.” Beginning in colonial times, millions of ethnically Bengali Muslims settled in Assam. The 2011 Indian census put their number at 10.6 million in Assam state.

At the urging of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist central government, Assam is updating its master list of “citizens.” Those classified as Indian citizens will receive new Indian identity cards, symbolizing their classification. Anyone not on the final “citizen” list will be presumptively declared a “foreigner,” subject to statelessness and indefinite detention.

Assam’s Muslims are especially likely to be excluded from the “citizen” list as part of a decades-long pattern of discrimination. The word “foreigners” is a common term of dehumanization used to exclude targeted groups from citizenship and the exercise of their fundamental civil and human rights. The Home Minister of India has repeatedly referred to the Bengali Muslims as “termites.” Anti-Muslim propaganda has polarized the Assam population.

Assam’s Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, has requested additional Indian government troops and police to arrest “foreigners.” The Assam state is constructing ten new “foreigner” detention centers to add to the six prisons already in existence.

These are the classification, symbolization, discrimination, dehumanization, organization, and polarization stages of the genocidal process.

Like the Rohingya of Rakhine State in Myanmar, Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam have faced constant discrimination. Assamese ethno-nationalist independence movements culminated in the Nellie massacre of between 1,800 and 3,000 ethnically Bengali Muslims in 1983.

At least 4.8 million citizenship applicants, mostly poor Muslims, do not have documentation -- which in many cases is missing after several generations. Another 2.9 million Muslim women can only provide a marriage certificate from their local government, which the authorities often dismiss as inadequate. The proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill would offer relief to some “foreigners,” but not to Muslims, blatant evidence of discrimination, which should be struck down by the Indian Supreme Court.

Anyone left off the “citizen” list will automatically be classified as an illegal “foreigner.” The Chief Minister of Assam has declared that “[t]he people who are declared foreigners will be barred from all constitutional rights, including fundamental and electoral.”

Muslims classified as “illegal foreigners” can challenge their classification before Indian government administrators and, ultimately, special “foreigners’ tribunals” – but they will be denied due process and will have no right to legal counsel. Those adjudged to be “foreigners” will be imprisoned in special “foreigner” detention centers.

This is a classic case of denial of citizenship in order to deprive a minority ethnic and religious group of its rights. It could become a prelude to another genocide like Myanmar’s genocide against its Rohingya Muslims. The parallels to the build-up to the Rohingya genocide are shocking.

Genocide Watch is issuing this Genocide Watch as an Early Warning of potential genocide. In Genocide Watch’s Ten Stages of Genocide the situation of Bengali Muslims in India’s Assam State is now at Stage Seven: Preparation. When Bengali Muslims in Assam are imprisoned in “foreigner” detention centers, the situation will move to Stage Eight: Persecution, the stage immediately preceding full genocide.

In July 2018, Genocide Watch petitioned the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, who is overseeing the citizenship verification process, to order that lists of citizens and “non-citizens” be classified as State Secrets never to be released to the public. Despite this warning, the lists have been made public. Numerous suicides have ensued.

Roundups of “foreigners” are likely to ignite genocidal massacres and a massive refugee crisis. If India imprisons Bengali Muslims in Assam, it will be violating its obligations under the UN Refugee Conventions. If it expels them from India, it will be perpetrating “forced displacement,” a crime against humanity. If genocidal massacres occur, India will violate its obligations to prevent genocide under the Genocide Convention.

Genocide Watch calls upon the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and key UN member states to warn India not to strip citizenship from, imprison, and forcibly displace millions of Bengali Muslims, many of whom have lived their entire lives in Assam state, India.

 
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There has been some confusion over Russia's official position on Article 370. The answer is it hasn't changed, because Russia views article 370 as an internal matter that does not affect the Kashmir dispute. The statement by Russia's ambassador at around 0.37 cannot be clearer.
 

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There has been some confusion over Russia's official position on Article 370. The answer is it hasn't changed, because Russia views article 370 as an internal matter that does not affect the Kashmir dispute. The statement by Russia's ambassador at around 0.37 cannot be clearer.
Shame Shame Shame...
Is Indian Nation So Lame???

Talk about honour, talk about being great, talk about giving your word to Kashmiri people...

Lame indeed that India has turned out to be just a fascist country no better than Hitler's Nazis.

View attachment 9899
 

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It doesn't matter what GanguDasehFacists try or flaunt their economy or present themselves as counter weight to China... regardless, when the entire world stands with the FacistGanguRegime or whitewash Crimes Against Humanity of GanguTerroristArmy in IoJK... what matters is as long as 220million Paks decide what they want to do with IoJK.

This is the only thing that matters. The daydreams of having PakState sanctioned or blacklisted or designated... is the most dangerous fantasy for those who entertain it or those who might be egging GanguFacistRegime to push it further.

For in the end ... it NEVER the UN which decides the conflicts in the world.... it never has... so, all those investments or juicy sales pitches of Gangunomics and fuddged figures of the FacistHorde ....

Pak needs a reason.... and we have NO doubt that FacistGanguRegime is going to provide us this sooner than later... and this time GanguMedia wailing on FalseFlag doesn't going to help...

We do so very much wish that these hordes to our East remain high on golden drink... a daily fresh doose at that...

We are coming!
 

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Pakistan demands UN probe of India actions in Kashmir, fears ‘genocide’





Tonga’s prime minister, who nurtured democracy, dies at 78

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  • Pohiva died at the Auckland City Hospital at about 9 a.m. after being medically evacuated to New Zealand a day earlier
  • He had been hospitalized in Tonga for two weeks suffering from pneumonia before his condition turned critical
Updated 12 September 2019
AP
September 12, 2019 04:07
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, who helped wrest power from the royal family and bring greater democracy to the small Pacific island nation, died Thursday. He was 78.

Pohiva died at the Auckland City Hospital at about 9 a.m. after being medically evacuated to New Zealand a day earlier, political adviser Lopeti Senituli told The Associated Press. Prior to that, he had been hospitalized in Tonga for two weeks suffering from pneumonia before his condition turned critical, Senituli said.

“He will be remembered as the champion of democracy and being primarily responsible for the democratic reforms that were incorporated into the country’s constitution in 2010,” Senituli said.

Pohiva was also known for his fight against global warming. Archipelagos like Tonga, which is made up 171 islands and is home to 106,000 people, are particularly vulnerable to rising seas.

Pohiva spent more than three decades in office after he was first elected to Tonga’s parliament in 1987. In 2013, he became the first Pacific Islander to win the Defender of Democracy Award, presented by New York-based nonprofit Parliamentarians for Global Action.

“His political career has been marked by battles with the Tongan monarchy over democracy, transparency and corruption,” the nonprofit wrote, noting that he was imprisoned in 1996 for contempt of parliament before the Supreme Court ordered he be released. On another occasion, he was charged with sedition.

“He was an immensely significant figure,” said Graeme Smith, a research fellow at Australian National University. “As Prime Minister, he was very influential in the region and a really strong voice for Tonga. Regionally, and globally, he will be tremendously missed.”

Smith said it may be too early to tell if Pohiva has created a permanent legacy of strong democracy in Tonga, because there continues to be pushback from vested interests including the royal family and the nobility.

For now, lawmaker Semisi Sika is Tonga’s acting prime minister.

Before becoming a politician, Pohiva taught history and sociology at the University of the South Pacific. His wife Neomai Pohiva died last year. The couple had seven children.

Pohiva spoke at a 2006 pro-democracy rally in the capital Nuku’alofa shortly before rioters destroyed much of the downtown. After that, the country borrowed money from China to rebuild and now owes $108 million to China’s Export-Import bank, equivalent to about 25% of GDP, a level of indebtedness that worries many observers.

Pohiva was first elected prime minister in 2014 and won re-election three years later. His recent tenure was marked by bouts of ill health.
Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama wrote on Twitter that Pohiva “inspired the world with raw emotion” last month at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu. Bainimarama said Pohiva attended despite his poor health because he recognized the urgency of climate change: “We must honor his legacy by continuing this fight.”


 

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My son is one of Kashmir’s ‘disappeared’. When will India tell the truth about their fate? | Parveena Ahangar
Parveena Ahangar



The Eid this year was like no other. We could not even offer the obligatory sacrifice because of the total siege by India of Kashmir.
When my son Yasir went to fetch bread in the morning and didn’t return promptly, I started pacing with worry outside the house. What if the security forces manning every corner had roughed him up, or even worse? My fear is the fear of every single person living in shock in Kashmir and wondering “What next?” Eventually he returned, explaining that the delay was due to long queues at the only bakery open in the entire area. But unlike Yasir, my son Javaid has never returned.

Nothing can make you used to the terror of nocturnal raids by security forces. It was 18 August 1990, and we were living in Srinagar, at the height of an uprising against the Indian occupation. In the early hours of the morning, a neighbour came to tell us that my son Javaid, only 16 years old, had been taken away by the National Security Guard – one of many paramilitary forces operated by the Indian government in the valley. At first I wasn’t fearful, as I knew this was a case of mistaken identity. My son had never quarrelled with anyone, let alone been part of any armed uprising.
As the day passed, my anxiety increased as efforts to trace him failed. I ran from one police station to another, from one known torture centre to another detention camp to be told, “Do not worry, he will be released”. He did not return.

From 1997 until today, Javaid’s file, along with those of all Kashmiri victims of armed forces in the India-administered region, has remained secret. Not a single permission has been granted by the central government to prosecute any official facing allegations of grave human rights abuses.
They threatened me, they tried to buy me, they suggested I was a bad mother for neglecting my other children and for taking my infant daughter with me to wait endlessly in front of police stations and the courts, they spread rumours about my motives, they harassed me, they raised false charges against me – they wanted me to give up. But I never stopped asking “Where is my son?”

Between 8,000 and 10,000 Kashmiris have been victims of enforced disappearance. I was never a political person but the fire of my own suffering and the anguish of other parents prompted me to start the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). I started visiting the families of the disappeared in every part of Kashmir to listen, offer support and encourage action.

Ours is not a conventional organisation of activists but a community of sufferers who share pain, support each other and live with hope that our disappeared children will be returned. From informal gatherings to hunger strikes in public, from vigils in parks to seminars at educational institutions in both Kashmir and India and visits to universities and the UN, we are seeking the answer to our questions – Where have you taken our sons? Where are our husbands?

I am not a leader, I am a sufferer. I will not give up the hope of seeing my son, who has been disappeared for 29 years. But this is not my struggle alone. If the government assured me that Javaid would return today, I would say no. First bring back the disappeared sons and husbands of other Kashmiris. Bring Javaid last.

We do not trust India. The oppression that has been inflicted upon us since the August lockdown of the region is not new – and yet there is something very different this time since the loss of autonomy for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. We have no way of communicating with each other, we have no way of knowing who is ill, who has been picked up by security forces, who has been injured or killed. There is no livelihood for the many who cannot go out to work. Many of the members of the APDP are poor and elderly women and we provide regular medical help to them: we no longer know what their needs are and whether they have essential medicines or not. We will die and no one will know; we all are in a collective prison.

The only term that comes to my mind is trath – loosely translated as calamity. This is a calamity not of visible violence or even of fear, because those who have justice and right on their side do not fear. It is one of terror: the enforced silence in Kashmir today makes my heart palpitate in the same way as the terror of knowing since August 1990 that my son Javaid was a victim of enforced disappearance.

Every other day in Kashmir is an anniversary of a massacre or state violence or betrayal by India of its promises. We have lived through many nights of terror and days of oppression. We speak out, but the question is whether civil society in India and the international community ignore us or listen?
Every year, the families of APDP come together on 30 August, the UN Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance. This is our way of reassuring each other that we are not alone in our grief. Yet this year we have been strangled, and there was no coming together because through its siege, India has denied us even the right to mourn.

I want every single mother in Kashmir and other places whose sons have been forcibly disappeared to get answers to the questions that haunt them: where is my child? Where did you take them? Bring the dead body if you killed them – but for God’s sake bring them back.

• Parveena Ahangar is a human rights defender and chair of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in Indian-administered Kashmir. She was talking to Prof Dibyesh Anand of University of Westminster



 
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After UNSC, SAARC countries also support India on Kashmir. This is important when viewed in light of India's neighborhood first policy.

Maldives MFA Statement on phone call with SMQ clearly states article 370 is an internal matter:

Bhutan: Kashmir is India's internal matter

Sri Lankan PM's statement on Article 370 revocation and bifurcation:

Bangladesh calls Article 370 India's internal matter:
 
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