SRINAGAR
The Commander of Srinagar based 15-corpse Lt Gen K J S Dhillonrevealed the arrest of two Pakistani residents, belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba. Identified as Mohammad Nazim and Mohammad Khalil, the commander played a video in which the two detained are confessing to be LeT recruits. He said Pakistan is desperately trying to infilitrate people into Jammu and Kashmir and the attempts are frustrated on daily basis at the Line of Control.
DHARMSALA
Part of the tourists who deserted Kashmir on the orders of the state government have shifted to Dharamsala, Tribune reported. “The famous restaurants and tea shops in Dharamkot are again buzzing with activity,” the newspaper reported. “Sanjeev Gandhi, a hotelier, said the number of Israelis coming here had increased since the situation in Kashmir turned worse. However, most of them are in a transit mode. Many are still trying to go to Leh via Manali, while others are planning to move back.”
DELHI
For a change, Jagmohan is back in news. Last week, Home Minister Amit Shah, J P Nadda and DharmendraPradhan visited the nonagenarian Jagmohan. The visit, reports suggest, was part of the BJP’s contact and public awareness programme to reach out to leading members of the society after the undoing of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. “Met ShriJagmohanMalhotraji, former Governor of Jammu & Kashmir as part of BJP’s nationwide Sampark and JanjagranAbhiyaan, to spread awareness about the benefits of abrogating Article 370 & 35A, a historic decision, by PM ShriNarendraModiji (sic),” tweeted Shah.
COLOMBO
Diplomats from India and Pakistan continue to create spectacle whenever and wherever they meet. First it was Maldives and then in Sri Lanka. Pakistani representatives raked up Kashmir during the South Asian Speakers’ Summit in the Maldives. Next, they met in Sri Lanka at the UNICEF South Asian Parliamentarian Conference on Children Rights Convention in Sri Lanka. These exchanges, though nothing new, will continue and the two countries offer their versions to Kashmir developments in UN General Assembly later this month. Premiers of both the countries are slated to grace the global audience.
KABUL
A former envoy who handled Northern Alliance warlord, Ahmad Shah Massoud, has claimed that he was supplied the arms that the counter-insurgent forces seized from Kashmiri militants. “Short of sending heavy equipment, India provided extensive assistance to the – uniforms, ordnance, mortars, small armaments, refurbished Kalashnikovs seized in Kashmir, combat and winter clothes, packaged food, medicines, and funds through his brother in London, WaliMassoud,” Bharath Raj Muthu Kumar, the former ambassador, was quoted saying by the Hindu. Massoud, the erstwhile lion of the Panjsher valley, fought the Taliban and US forces till hisassassination in 2001. The diplomat has cautioned India against placing Indian troops on Afghan soil.
SOURA
Asrar Firdouse Khan, a resident of Srinagar, who was seriously injured in police action on August 6, has died of his injuries on September 4. His demise led to the re-imposition of restrictions in most of the old Srinagar city. Police maintains that Khan had no bullet injury and was hit by a blunt object. His medical records suggest that he was hit by pellets. Khan was 18, and was being treated in the SKIMS at Soura. His family insists Khan was studying in ninth standard.
LONDON
The Scotland Yard have made some arrests in connection with the protesters attack on the Indian embassy. Last week, a group of people protesting against the scrapping of the autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir turned violent and threw stones towards the embassy. They smashed windows and even broke a window pane of the building. London Mayor, Sidiq Khan condemned the “unacceptable behaviour”. Police have detained four protesters and claimed recovery of a 4-ft long dagger from one of them.
UK”s Boris Johnson government, already bust in a Braxit war, has asserted Kashmir is a matter for India and Pakistan to resolve but the erstwhile colonial power is has ‘serious’ concerns about the state of human rights. “It is important that internationally recognised human rights are fully respected,” Hindustan Times quoted Foreign secretary Dominic Raab saying. “The dispute between India and Pakistan in relation to Kashmir is for them fundamentally to resolve as recognised in UN Security Council resolutions and the Simla agreement.”
MUMBAI
The restoration of the fixed line phones in Kashmir might have brought some solace to the people whose family members living outside the state. It might have also helped individuals to reconnect with their families back home. Actress Urmila Matondkar, whose was last seen in Blackmail, was in news last week for her husband’s failure to talk to his parents in Srinagar. The Congress politician who was also seen in Bewafa Beauty is married to model-businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir, a resident of Sonawar locality in Srinagar. “The question is not only about abrogating Article 370. It was done in inhuman manner,” Urmila was quoted saying. “My father-in-law and mother-in-law are diabetic, and have high blood pressure. Today is the 22nd day, neither me nor my husband have been able to speak to them. We have no clue if they have medicines available at home.”
Most probably, it might have helped British resident, Adeel, 33, whose Kashmiri wife of 18 months, was not traceable to him from UK. He told a British media outlet that last time he talked to her was when her brother drove her for three hours to reach a place where a telephone worked. He had said he will have to go against his parent’s decision and fly to trace his wife. “All I want to do is start a family,” Adeel was quoted saying. “I am close to tears even speaking about it.” Now, he can talk, most probably. On cell phone, however, officials say, some more time is required.
RAMBAN
In a classroom, when students asked their teacher to explain the undoing of autonomy, the teacher had said the central government followed proper procedure in scrapping it. He had also spoken about the potential benefits of the move. A day later, when the school reopened, a group of students barged into his classroom and attacked him. Indian Express reported that the students, from the higher classes, beat him and when he attempted fleeing; they tried to thrown his down from first level of the building. The teacher was driven to the hospital and sent home. “As the incident led to tension between two communities in the area, Ramban Deputy Commissioner NazimZai Khan constituted an inquiry committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner and Additional SP,” the newspaper reported.
PARIMPORA
Three gunmen, believed to be militants killed a shopkeeper in Parimpora, apparently for opening his shop. Identified as Ghulam Mohammad Mir, his family said they had pleaded before the assailants that the shop will never be opened but they did not listen and shot Mir dead. The killing apparently was aimed at enforcing a strike in Kashmir that people have been observing voluntarily without anybody’s call.
SRINAGAR
At least two of more than 40 political activists currently being held in detention in the 5-star Centaur Lake View Hotel have been bitten by rats, Telegraph reported. It identified the two rat victims as PDP’s NizamuddinBhat and NC’s MukhtarBandh. The latter is being administrated anti-rabies vaccine. Bhat a former journalist has been member of the now downgraded legislative assembly. Bandh whose father Mohammad Khalid migrated to NC days ahead of their arrest, belongs from Pulwama. The newspaper said the relatives of the two detainees revealed the rat-bite details.
