Kashmir | News & Discussions.

[Lankan Ranger]

Kashmir curfew widens amid call for Friday protests

Security forces widened a curfew in Kashmir on Friday as hardline separatists urged residents to march to the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar. "Whenever the curfew is relaxed in any of the areas, people are requested to come out on the streets and continue with a peaceful sit-in," a statement by hardliners

Curfew was clamped to contain violent protests over the killing of locals amid fresh attacks that injured two policemen, officials said.

"We have widened the curfew to ensure a violence-free Friday," a police officer, who declined to be named, told AFP.

People living under the strictly enforced curfew in Srinagar since Tuesday evening, have been facing hardships, especially those who are in urgent need of healthcare and medicines.

Police arrested Shabir Ahmed Wani, one of the two activists of hardline Hurriyat Conference, allegedly involved in a conspiracy to engineer violence in Kashmir Valley and get at least 10 to 15 people killed in a procession.

Wani was booked under various provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code and may be charged under the stringent Public Safety Act, under which he can be detained for two years, they said.

Involvement of hardline separatists in engineering some of the violence in the Kashmir Valley was indicated by the intercepted conversation between the two of them during which they discussed killing of at least 15 people in a procession near Srinagar on July 7.

Towns such as Kupwara and Handwara in the north, Kakpora and Pulwama in south and Gandherbal in the east were placed under fresh curfew. Violent flashpoints such as Sopore, Srinagar and Anantnag remain restricted.

In Sopore, suspected Lashker-e-Taiba militants launched three gun and grenade attacks on security forces on Friday that left a policeman and a paramilitary trooper injured, a police spokesman said.

Police and paramilitary forces, who have been struggling to control the wave of protests in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, have been accused of killing 15 civilians in less than a month.

Each death has sparked a new cycle of violence since the first killing of a 17-year old student by a police teargas shell during protests June 11 in Srinagar.

Two men and a woman were killed in Srinagar on Tuesday.

The army was called in on Wednesday in Srinagar after residents defied curfew restrictions and held protests. Their presence brought calm to the streets.

No local newspapers hit the stands for the second day running amid tight restrictions on the local and international media.

"Due to the curbs imposed by the government on media, Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Uzma could not bring out their print editions for second consecutive day, Friday," said the website of the two leading local newspapers.

The state's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, under pressure to contain the violence, held a meeting with top police and intelligence officials on Friday, a police source said.

Top leaders in the ruling Congress party also met in New Delhi to be briefed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, Press Trust of Indian news agency reported.

Kashmir curfew widens amid call for Friday protests - Hindustan Times

 

[Neither Right Nor Wrong]

Hurriyat leader held for planning violence in Kashmir( updated)

7/9/2010 11:46:16 AM

The state police on Friday arrested one of the two activists of the hardline Hurriyat Conference who were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to engineer violence in Kashmir valley by planning the killing of 10 to 15 people during a procession.
The police swooped down at a place on Narbal-Magam Road and arrested Shabir Ahmed Wani, district president of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani after his conversation with another activist Ghulam Ahmed Dar was intercepted.
The two were allegedly discussing ways to foment trouble during a procession which was taken out in Budgam district of central Kashmir, official sources said.
Wani may be charged under the stringent Public Safety Act, under which he can be detained for two years, said sources, adding that a hunt was on to nab Dar, who had gone into hiding immediately after the conversation was made public.
Involvement of hardline separatists in engineering some of the violence in the Kashmir valley was indicated by the intercepted conversation between the two of them. The duo discussed the killing of at least 15 people in a procession near Srinagar on July 7.
A large procession had started in Budgam district on the outskirts of Srinagar on Thursday evening and two senior office-bearers of the hardline Hurriyat faction discussed how to utilise it to create casualties, according to the transcript of the conversation available with the home ministry.
According to the transcript, one of the office-bearers, Dar, was heard telling Wani, another office-bearer, that a procession of nearly 20,000 people had started from Magam and was going towards Budgam. At least 10 to 15 people should be 'martyred' as the crowd moved, Dar had told Wani.
However, the police had dispersed the procession with a mild cane charge and no untoward incident had taken place.

 

[GUNNER]

Scepticism in India over claim of Pakistan hand in Kashmir


By Cyril Almeida Friday, 09 Jul, 2010


NEW DELHI: As the latest spell of violence in Indian-administered Kashmir enters a second month and shows no sign of abating, the Indian government’s claim that the violence is being orchestrated by Pakistan and separatist elements in Kashmir is increasingly being met with scepticism inside India.

Countering the state-driven narrative is a tale of anger, hopelessness and frustration among a generation of Valley Muslim teenagers and young men and women barely in their 20s, a post-1990 generation that has been raised amidst the violence of the first Kashmir ‘intifida’, has few economic prospects and that does not identify with any of the political parties in Kashmir.

The idea of a poorly organised, youth-driven, apolitical struggle rooted in the bleak possibilities life has to offer for a certain segment of the Muslim population in Indian-administered Kashmir is at sharp variance with the claims of Indian officials that Pakistan or Pakistani-sponsored militants may be behind the latest round of violence.

The Indian Home Ministry has been particularly hawkish on the Pakistan connection, with senior officials, including Home Minister P. Chidambaram, regularly raising the issue of cross-LoC infiltration, militant training camps, and the possible role of the Lashkar-i-Taiba in the violence.

On Wednesday, Congress spokesperson, Jayanthi Natarajan, also waded into the issue, telling reporters, “Elements from across the border and the separatists inimical to the unity of our country are trying to create tension and violence in the Valley.”

A former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, G. Parthasarathy, was even more direct in a conversation with Dawn: “(APHC separatist leader) Geelani has the backing of the (Jamaat-i-Islami) guns, the Hizbul Mujahideen. Unlike Musharraf, Kayani and co are comfortable with the JI, so they’ve activated that link again.”

But that theory is largely dismissed outside official circles.
“Utter nonsense,” said Praveen Swami, a respected analyst on security issues and Kashmir.
“The protests have been going on since 2005. They are happening in very specific areas. Nine out of 10 incidents are in three cities (Sopore, Baramullah and Srinagar) and even within those cities, the violence is predominantly in the old parts of the cities.”

According to Swami, “Mr Geelani’s party may be handing out 100 rupee notes” but the real reasons for the violence is a generation of Valley youth who have “no leadership, no prospects”, “kids who are completely cut off from the economy and have a number of secular grievances.”

The rise of a new peasant elite dislodged the traders and artisans, predominantly Muslims, from their traditional position atop the social and economic pyramid, creating a vacuum that has been filled with anger and despair, Swami explained.

That view was echoed by Srinagar-based journalist Shamim Meraj, “Look at their (the protesters) footwear: they’re wearing slippers. They aren’t very well-to-do. There’s clearly frustration in the valley.”

With plenty of blame to go around, the young chief minister of the state, Omar Abdullah, grandson of Sheikh Abdullah, has come in for some stick.

“The vote (in state elections in 2008) was for bijli, pani and sarak (electricity, water and roads),” according to Sandeep Dixit, an editor with The Hindu, “but not much has changed.”

Abdullah is particularly criticised for his aloofness during the present crisis: “Omar should have gone to the trouble spots, been more visible, seen the dead and injured,” according to Shamim Meraj.

“As far as Delhi is concerned, Omar’s a great guy. He is married to a sardarni, his mother is British. He represents what Delhi would like a Muslim leader to be,” Shamim added. “But religious identity matters in the Valley. He can’t even speak the language.”

The religious angle is a tricky question, especially with the Indian state seemingly equating all forms of Islamist support with militancy/jihad.
Swami explained, “The areas in which violence has occurred have political Islam traditions… Islamist strength is undeniably growing… But the youth rage is unconnected to the Hurriyat and the (National Conference).”

What really makes the Valley a tinderbox, though, is perhaps the heavy-handed tactics of the local police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, which are responsible for maintaining law and order in the state.

According to Saeed Naqvi, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, “There are right-wing elements in the police” that are comfortable with, and even urging the use of, violent tactics for dealing with the stone-throwing protesters. Meraj, the Srinagar-based journalist, observed: “Twenty years ago it was a gun (that protesters were using), now it is a stone. And yet the response (of the state) has not changed.”

Swami lays most of the blame on the lack of any meaningful debate on autonomy or reform of the police: “The bulk of the killing is because of indiscipline and stupidity. (The police) aren’t trained and overreact.”

Important as it may be to rein in an under-trained, trigger-happy police force, there is a consensus that an end to the troubles in the Valley lies in a political solution.

Even the hawkish G. Parthasarathy, the former high commissioner to Pakistan, agrees: “The problem can’t be dealt with only by law and order means. There has to be a political approach.”

Iftikhar Gilani, a well-known Kashmiri journalist, urged that there is no time to be lost: “The problem is growing. We haven’t seen curfew in the north before, in places like Kapuwara. Almost the entire Valley, not just three districts is in trouble.”

For Gilani, the violence was “embedded in the political problem of Kashmir”. “If you give them (the protesters) political, democratic space, they can vent their anger.”

That space would include giving the Hurriyat, and even other hardliners outside the Hurriyat, the right to hold political meetings instead of placing the leaders under house arrest, according to Gilani.
“Look at Kashmir University. No professor is allowed to participate in politics there. But in Jammu University, professors are allowed to participate and the BJP hands out tickets,” Gilani observed.

In reality, though, with the army now being called in to patrol in parts of Srinagar, the already distant hopes for a political settlement anytime soon seem to be receding even further.

The speculation that Delhi is unhappy with Omar Abdullah and wants his administration to take a more proactive role to restore peace in the Kashmir Valley using local resources raises an equally vexing question: how can the discredited and controversial local police and CRPF be relied upon now to establish order when they helped disrupt order in the first place?

For G. Parthasarathy the answer is simple: “We’ll handle it. We’ve handled worse before.”

Praveen Swami was more circumspect: “None of the kids protesting are over 20. For the sake of the kids, J&K politicians need to unite. They’re just kids. Let’s not lose them.”

 

[jha]

i think the timing of terrorists could not be better to help this turmoil..Its time to give army a go ahead like '92..Inside pakistan Pak army will act against them and when they flee towards india our forces will be there to pack them off to heaven...

 

[PlanetWarrior]

This "matyr" concept is strange. The bigwigs sit at home watching the news of how their guys on the ground who are being paid Rs500 to do so throw themselves at flying bullets.

 

[Neither Right Nor Wrong]

Govt mulls dialogue in J&K after normalcy

7/9/2010 1:03:25 AM

New Delhi, July 08: In the midst of deterioration in law and order and taking the help of army, Government has not given up plans of holding a dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said that the thinking in the government that once normalcy restored and law and order is under control in the state, all shades of opinion could be invited for a dialogue to evolve a political solution.
Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai, who returned this morning from Srinagar after assessing the situation in Kashmir valley, briefed Home Minister P Chidambaram on the current situation.
During his interaction with the State Government officials, the message given to them that no one involved in violence or mischief mongers should be spared and they should put behind bars.
The State Government has been told to strictly enforce curfew and restore law and order as soon as possible.
Besides, there should be concentrated deployment of forces rather than spread thin and be vulnerable to attacks from stone pelters.
Army troops have been deployed mostly in three places outsides Srinagar city and engaged only in patrolling on the streets.
Sources said in the recent stone pelting incidents, more than 500 people, mostly security personnel, were injured in the Valley.

Govt mulls dialogue in J&K after normalcy - NorthLines Leading Newspaper Jammu Kashmir

 

[SpArK]

Government has to create more jobs and opportunities for people of Jam&Kashmr and initialise more developmental activities so that our countrymen from Jamm&Kshmr gets motivated and work towards the development of nation.

Also all the small stones in the streets has to be removed immediately so that nobody finds them to throw.

 

[jha]

Maybe the bigwigs should be pelted at...

 

[jha]

here you go...


176 kg of explosives found at LeT hideout in Kashmir

JAMMU: Security forces on Friday recovered a huge dump of explosives weighing 176 kgs from a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) hideout unearthed in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.

This is the biggest cache of explosives recovered in the state this year, an army officer said.

Acting on a tip-off, troops of 11 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Task Force launched a search operation in Chatroo in Kishtwar district and busted the LeT hideout, he said.

The troops recovered 176 kgs of explosives from there, which included 75 kgs of explosive material packed in two bags, six IEDs weighing 15 kgs each (90 kgs of explosives), 75 gelatin sticks, 23 grenades, 12 bore rifles and various other materials, the officer said.

176 kg of explosives found at LeT hideout in Kashmir - India - The Times of India

 

[Awesome]

The winds of change are blowing. You guys may be hard liners stuck in your old ways, but I think the current beating the Indian Security forces got, while trying to stop Anti-India protests, must've pierced the hearts and minds of at least a few of the Indians on the sub-continent that definitely no matter how many times they'd say it to themselves - all is not well in Kashmir.

 

[Awesome]

Power through, this just shows that the Indian establishment is falling powerless in front of the power of the people!

Girti hui dewaron ko, ek dhaka aur doh!

 

[Spring Onion]

How many Governor rules Indian Invaders will impose in Occupied Kashmir ??????

Not going to work. Please wake up and smell the coffee. The innocent Kashmiris will keep on struggling against Indian barbarism

 

[IndianArmy]

Power through, this just shows that the Indian establishment is falling powerless in front of the power of the people!

Girti hui dewaron ko, ek dhaka aur doh!

Obviously, this is a democratic Country... people are The Power , But People are not the final Aswell....

 

[warlock]

^^^ for outsiders all is well.
If something is in fact not so well, Its our internal problem and we will handle it.
You dont worry!

(the view of another Indian student)

 

[ek_indian]

I have to take a big laugh on this.

(1) IA was not in Kashmir. It is called into this mess. Nor it will remain forever. GoI has already given its verdict in this regard.

(2) The student was indeed critical about presence of IA But if question is twisted like succession of Kashmir from India (as many here dream on this forum), you will get some insight information about India. Also many would feel ok with JnK police which infact is full of local people.

(3) The population is more amazed than worried. People are now asking why army was not deployed in red corridor. Had army was given the task of flushing naxalites, the response would change a bit.