Tag: Jammu and Kashmir

Pakistan’s information war campaign against India needs attention
30Jul By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

Pakistan’s information war campaign against India needs attention

Pakistan’s vicious information war campaign against India has been triggered by three incidents: The Balakot attack of February 2019, the return of the BJP government in the May 2019 elections and the August 2019 revision of Article 370.Pakistan’s longstanding assumption that the nuclear equivalence guaranteed that India would not retaliate against terrorist attacks was demolished by Balakot. The return of the BJP government to Centre signaled that India would continue to follow a muscular policy for the next five years. The abrogation of Article 370 demolished the centerpiece of Pakistan’s nationalism — “Kashmir banega Pakistan” (Kashmir will be Pakistan) — and raised apprehensions about India’s plans for Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK).These developments have forced Pakistan t
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India’s ruling party plans mega celebrations to mark first anniversary of Article 370 roll back in J&K
30Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

India’s ruling party plans mega celebrations to mark first anniversary of Article 370 roll back in J&K

The current ruling political party of India, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu and Kashmir has decided to mark the first anniversary of revocation of Article 370 with mega celebrations from August 5 for 15 days.The party leadership believes that the decision taken last year has helped restore peace in the region, however, the coronavirus pandemic has been a spoilsport as far as the development of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) union territory is concerned.BJP General Secretary Ashok Koul has said that a 15-day long program has been chalked out to celebrate one year of 2019’s August 5 decision - scraping the Article 370 and bifurcating the erstwhile J&K State into two Union Territories (UTs)— Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.“As far as the restoration of peace in the J&K UT is c
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How people sitting in cozy rooms provoke Kashmiris to pick up guns
29Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

How people sitting in cozy rooms provoke Kashmiris to pick up guns

On August 5 last year, the Central government in India took the decision to abrogate Article 370 of the constitution, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, bifurcating the valley into two Union Territories —Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.While on one side, the decision by the Narendra Modi-led government has paved the way for integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India, on the other side, it is alleged that many people, sitting in the far-off US, are using the abrogation of Article 370 to incite Kashmiris to pick up stones and guns.One such man named Tony Ashai, who describes himself as a “Kashmiri-American dedicated to Kashmir and its people” on Twitter, has been posting tweets to incite violence.“Why do I feel that Kashmiris living in Kashm
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In Imran Khan’s 18-point Kashmir plan for Aug 5, outreach to Turkey, Malaysia and China
29Jul By Grace TsoiNo Comments
World

In Imran Khan’s 18-point Kashmir plan for Aug 5, outreach to Turkey, Malaysia and China

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has roped in his country’s notorious spy agency accused of colluding with terrorist organization - Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - in his elaborate 18-point plan to commemorate the August 5 anniversary of India scrapping Article 370, sources said.Under the 18-point programme, Imran Khan is scheduled to visit Pakistan occupied Kashmir where he is supposed to address the assembly, a speech that is going to be beamed live. Then, before Khan reaches Muzaffarabad, Pakistan government intends a field trip for foreign journalists to the occupied territory, with the exception of terror training camps funded by the ISI – a behaviour observed in the past.On August 5 last year, India had tabled the law in Rajya Sabha to strip the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kas
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Indian education board adds scrapping of Article 370 to class XII syllabus
29Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

Indian education board adds scrapping of Article 370 to class XII syllabus

In the Indian political history, August 05, 2019 will now forever be remembered as the day which changed the fate of Jammu and Kashmir as the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has now revised a chapter in its Class 12 political science textbook to remove a portion on separatist politics in Jammu and Kashmir and add abrogation of Article 370.On August 5, 2019, the Government of India revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir through an amendment and also scrapped Article 35 A, and the state was bifurcated into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without a legislature. The bifurcation came into force on October 31, 2019.The NCERT textbook in which these changes have been ...
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Experts decry proposed 14th amendment in so-called AJK Interim Act 1974 by Pakistan
20Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia, Opinion

Experts decry proposed 14th amendment in so-called AJK Interim Act 1974 by Pakistan

Political activists and experts have condemned the proposed 14th amendment Bill to the 1974 Interim Constitution of so-called Azad Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) as it further restricts the freedom of expression and opinion among the people in the occupied territory, while strengthening the grip of the Pakistani state over the region even more.In a webinar organized by the Jammu Kashmir International People’s Alliance (JKIPA), Junaid Qureshi, the director of European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) said that Pakistan has over the years been duplicitously projecting itself as a strong votary of the now near-defunct 1948 UN Resolutions that specified a referendum in the entire erstwhile Princely State of J&K.“The reality, though, is that the onus of implementing the first stage
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Pakistan tries to heat up LoC, 41 militants killed this month in stepped-up J&K ops
9Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

Pakistan tries to heat up LoC, 41 militants killed this month in stepped-up J&K ops

As India continues its scuffle at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan has not seen any dip in ceasefire violations intensity this year, raising the threat of two active military fronts at the same time.In May alone, there have been 382 ceasefire violations (CFVs) recorded on the LoC and 302 in June so far, rising sharply from 221 and 181 CFVs recorded during these months last year. Along with those statistics, security forces have killed 41 militants in the month of June itself.Official data shows that there have been 2215 CFVs recorded on the LoC till June 25 this year. A total of 3168 CFVs were recorded in 2019, and 1629 in 2018.This sudden spike in CFVs can be attributed to the government’s decision last August to abrogate Article 370 in
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Awareness cum free Immuno-booster distribution camp held in J&K’s Pulwama
9Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

Awareness cum free Immuno-booster distribution camp held in J&K’s Pulwama

AYUSH Department of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in collaboration with Kashmakash Trust held an awareness cum Immuno-booster distribution camp in the city.District AYUSH Officer Pulwama on the directions of worthy Director ISM (J&K UT) Dr Mohan Singh, in accordance with Advisory issued by Ministry of AYUSH (Government of India), provided AYUSH Immuno Boosters to general public of Chattapora Pulwama.The camp was organized with the help by volunteers of Kashmakash “Polishing the Unpolished” Trust.The camp was inaugurated by District Ayush Officer Dr. Mir Shafiq, District Co-ordinator AYUSH Dr. Altaf Shah and Chairman Kashmakash Bhat Musaddiq Reyaz along with his team members Danish Mushtaq and Shahid Shabir.Addressing the public, Dr. Shafiq said that in order to combat the COVID-19 pandem
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Amendment in ‘Azad’ J-K’s Interim Constitution Act 1974 reeks of subjugation, occupation: EFSAS
8Jul By Yusara AskariNo Comments
Asia

Amendment in ‘Azad’ J-K’s Interim Constitution Act 1974 reeks of subjugation, occupation: EFSAS

An Amsterdam based think tank has said that the draft of the 14th Amendment Bill to the 1974 Interim Constitution of the Pakistan-occupied and the so-called ‘Free’ Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), has served as a grim reminder of just how suppressed and occupied J&K actually is."It is not, however, the proposed 14th Amendment that would be responsible for bringing this situation about. The major credit for that would go to the 1974 Interim Constitution promulgated during the period when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan," European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) said."This so-called Constitution, among other things, spelt out the contours of the future relationship between the Pakistani State and Pakistan-occupied J&K, and the picture that it presented f
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2Jul By Stuart WhiteNo Comments
Opinion

New domicile law in Jammu & Kashmir

In view of the removal of Article 370 of Indian constitution by the Indian parliament on August 5 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs recently issued an order that substitutes the term “permanent resident” with “domiciles of UT of J&K” (new Kashmir domicile law). This has become a matter of concern in both Jammu region and Kashmir valley, which are now constituent parts of the newly created Union Territory of J&K.The new Kashmir domicile law, effectively speaking, takes the power of defining “permanent resident” from the erstwhile assembly of the state of Jammu & Kashmir, and introduces a new category of “domiciles” of the Union Territory of J&K.The new law allows entry of nonresidents (defined by the now revoked Article 35A) into the state along with giving them access to t
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