DELHI
On the very first day of the hearing (November 14) of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370, the 5-judge bench posted the matter to December 10. The bench led by Justice NV Ramana asked the lawyers to put together one common compilation of all the materials related to the pleas to ensure the proceedings are easier. There are more than 20 petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A. Two of them were admitted by the court on November 14, itself. The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, had earlier put an embargo on filing of any fresh writ petition challenging the abrogation, but permitted two fresh pleas as they had raised important issues.
Now, advocate S Prasanna will put together the material for the petitioners and AnkurTalwar will compile the data on behalf of the respondents. The Supreme Court also asked the Centre to file a counter affidavit on or before November 22.
Earlier, the MHA submitted a 61-page counter affidavit insisting the Article 370 was neither in the national interest nor in the interest of Jammu and Kashmir. “The militants and separatist elements, with the support of foreign forces inimical to India, were taking advantage of the situation and sowing discord, discontent and even secessionist feelings among the populace of the state,” the affidavit said. “What is more, the residents of the erstwhile state were also being denied all the benefits of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India to all other citizens of the country.” It said the government was spending three times more on a resident of Jammu and Kashmir than the rest of the India. The affidavit says Article 35A was ambiguous and a “serious obstacle” to the socio-economic development in Jammu and Kashmir. “It prevented investments in the State, impacted job creation…the women of the erstwhile State were discriminated against if they chose to marry a non-permanent resident”.
SAMBA
The UT of Jammu has turned down the proposal of Baba Ram Dev owned Patanjali Ayurved Limited for setting up a manufacturing unit worth Rs 1007 crore in Samba. Baba wanted to set up Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Private Limited over 1300 kanals of land at Meen Chakran. Baba had sought concession for paying the land premium of Rs 3.75 lakh per kanal in 10 years and also requested the government to waive off the lease rentals of Rs 32.5 lakh per annum.
SAMBA
In a tragic case of crime against the girl child, a six-year-old baby girl was raped and killed in the Samba’s Rakhamtali slum. The victim was from Bihar and the killer from Madhya Pardesh. Vishal, the 21-year-old rapist-killer has been arrested and stands booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under POCSO Act. The victim was the only child of their parents. The parents had gone to work at the neighbouring industrial estate when the incident took place. The couple found the kid missing from their shanty. Police intervention led to the recovery of the corpse and arrest of the accused. The girl was strangulated to death, police said.
DELHI
After drones, it is the time for robots to get into the Kashmir battle. The army is getting 550 robotics surveillance units with minimum 25 years of service life for counter-insurgency ops in Jammu and Kashmir. Media reports quoted senior officers saying that these robots should be capable of climbing stairs and negotiating obstacles apart from throwing grenades at terrorists in built-up areas. Besides, these robots must be capable enough for water fording with minimum 20-cm depth. The induction of robots is expected to get a new first line of defence to prevent casualties. Once inducted, these robots will be used in residential and commercial built-up areas for gathering real-time intelligence inputs prior to movement of troops. These robotics surveillance platforms will comprise a launch unit, surveillance camera to provide input in both day and night mode and transmission system, with range between 150 meters and 200 meters. Besides, these are expected to transmit visual data to a distance of about 150-200 meters across four walls, facility to rotate 360 degrees and pan and tilt.
DODA
Death was literally dancing on the rods in Chenab Valley for two days. Sixteen people, including five women and three children, died on November 12, when a passenger-stuffed SUV on way to Marmat skidded off the road and fell into a 700 ft deep gorge. The only survivor of the tragedy is still in danger. A day later, four persons, including a teenage girl, died and five others injured when the overloaded Eeco Van skidded off the road and rolled down into a deep gorge near Sarthal Temple in Kishtwar. Some of the critically injured passengers were flown to Jammu.
BRUSSLES
The controversial Kashmir visit of 27 right-wing EU parliament members has just got a new embarrassment. The EU DisinfoLab, a disinformation watchdog investigated the visit sponsors and found there were 265 fake media outlets and think-tanks spread across 65 countries allegedly promoting India’s geopolitical interests through republication of propaganda pieces and op-eds in US, Canada, Brussels, Geneva and other countries. The NGO found the fake media outlet, stealing data from Russian websites and repacking them to feed the target audience, mostly representatives. All these outlets carried similar or the same stolen data, almost on the same subject priority and had their sites hosted on the same server.
Using OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) techniques, the NGO probed one ‘media outlet’ that led to it to another and finally it emerged sort of chain. Delhi Times paved way to EP Today, which led the NGO to Times of Geneva and that to 4newsagency.com. “We also proved that the two influence networks (Brussels and Geneva) were interconnected by discovering links between website registration addresses, email addresses, and domain names,” the NGO said. The non-profit is planning a major report on the nexus between fake media outlets, specific think-tanks and the diplomacy in near future.
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan’s Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain Choudhary was roasted on twitter for his idea of offering internet services to Kashmir with the help of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), an executive and national space agency of the Government of Pakistan and a bilateral organisation of China National Space Administration. It got interesting responses. “Please don’t play game of satellite war… It would be worst for Pakistan… Hahahah,” one response read. “Is he technology minister?” another reacted. Yet another responded: “Panjgur main 1.5 mahiney se internet service band hay bagiar kisi reason, khudara phelay apney logon ko internet phr dosron k barey socho”. Kashmir has no internet service since August 5.
In yet another development, PAF has put a life-sized statue of Wing Commander AbhinandanVarthaman in an exhibit at a museum in Karachi. His fighter aircraft was shot down in a dogfight in Kashmir in February during clashes which brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of a new war. Abhinandan, who was released by Pakistan, has given highest military honour by IAF and recalled back to the service.
BARAMULLA
Kashmir train that chug between Baramulla and Banihal has resumed its operations after 100 days. However, the operations are restricted to Baramulla – Srinagar stretch only. The service is available only twice a day. The train services were suspended on August 5, hours before the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into two UTs. Railways’ estimation says the train is used by around 40 thousand commuters during summers and 25 thousands during winters.
PUNE
In public debates, there is a focus on the withdrawal of the special position that Jammu and Kashmir had since 1947. “I think this is an opportunity to transform Jammu and Kashmir. People in Ladakh have been celebratory about it and they have welcomed it in Jammu. Kashmir is taking time,” Jammu and Kashmir’s former state police chief SP Vaid was quoted saying in a seminar in Pune. “We can’t let a handful of people hold the population of the valley hostage…” Having an experience of handling Kashmir, Vaid said the government rightly snapped the Internet. “It was wise of the government to shut Internet in J&K while abolishing Article 370. Of course, banning Internet access has adverse effects when it is done long term. But at that time, it was necessary, otherwise there would be many more casualties in Kashmir,” Vaid said. “Pakistan has been using social media to spread anti-India propaganda and instigate the youth of Kashmir. They have also used it openly to recruit militants from the valley. That is why there is a strong need to filter the content that comes from Pakistan.”
Madhav Godbole, India’s former home secretary, who also spoke to the same function said the withdrawing Article 370 is not the end but beginning of the Kashmir story. “In fact, it’s just the beginning. We need to build a bridge, create emotional bonds with the people of Kashmir. This will be the most important thing to do in the coming months and years,” he was quoted saying. “We need to make Kashmiris and everyone aware that, if not for integrating with India, what the other alternative in front of them is.”
In Silchar, the Nagaland governor, R N Ravi told in a similar seminar: “What has happened in Jammu and Kashmir… the re-organization of the region… is essentially the correction of an old sin which was doing a lot of harm to us.”
AYODHYA
Kashmir is facing sort of state interventions in the religious affairs. Owing to the apprehension that the gathering may get into display of protest, authorities have not permitted gathering at shrines and the main mosques since August 5. While there has not been even a single Friday congregation at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar in last more than 100 days, authorities prevented a major gathering at the Hazratbal shrine on the occasion of the Prophet’s birth anniversary. It is being said that it happened for the second time in last 300 years. Officials, however, attributed the small gathering to the weather conditions and snow covering the major open spaces around the shrine. Earlier, the police denied Khuja Digger, a sufi tradition of offering late afternoon prayers at a particular shrine, once a year. Shrine gates were locked to prevent a gathering at the Khawaja Sahab shrine in the old city. Besides, authorities blocked all the roads leading to the shrine of Sheikh ul Aalam, Kashmir’s standard bearer saint, at Chrar-e-Sharief on his yearly Urs.
But this situation has nothing much to do with the silence that Kashmir exhibited over the Supreme Court verdict on the Babri Masjid. Kashmir has traditionally stayed away from the issues concerning the Muslims living in the Indian plains. On December 6, 1992, when the BabriMajid was demolished, Kashmir – despite being in the midst of peak militancy, remained non-committal. Like November 2019, Kashmir was also on strike then. At that time, Kashmir was mourning the assassination of Kashmiri Pandit trade union leader, HardayNathWanchoo. Despite being from the same faith, the two Muslims have retained their distinct spaces throughout. No Kashmir Muslim has ever become the leader of Muslims in the plains of India and vice versa.
DELHI
Central government wants the NAFED to move to the next level after “successful procurement of apple”. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked NAFED to extend a similar support to farmers of the UT for the sale of saffron, walnuts, peaches and other agricultural produce. She suggested the government will form 10,000 farmer producer organizations (FPOs) to help them get better price of their produce and help them access credit and other facilities.
REASI
Almost a fortnight after taking over as Jammu and Kashmir UTs maiden Lt Gov, G C Murmu said Assembly elections would be held soon. “J&K has a legislature and process for holding Assembly elections will be initiated soon,” Murmu said while speaking at the passing-out parade of the 14th BRTC batch of constables at the Subsidiary Training Centre, Talwara, Reasi. “The existing administrative arrangement will not last long. You (police) will have a key role to play for the smooth conduct of the elections.”
The assertion coincided with the joining of his two advisers – retired IPS officer Farooq Khan and former bureaucrat K K Sharma. The two were advisers to Kashmir’s last governor Satya Pal Malik. Khan, the founder leader of the anti-militancy Special Operations Group (SOG) is expected to take care of the security grid and Sharma will see the non-security issues, mostly development. Khan joined BJP a year after his retirement in 2013.
DELHI
There is somebody who admits the gag on phones is helpful. Yes, Sandeep Chatoo, the co-owner of Real Kashmir FC, said they arranged a phone for the entire team and that would ring round the clock as the players would talk to their families. “Sometimes the phone would ring at 3 o’clock in the morning, calls would come from Zimbabwe, England and Nigeria,” Chattoo was quoted saying about how the team managing communications gag in Kashmir. “I would like to believe that it (gag) helped us a lot because with internet they would waste a lot of time on net, spending too much time with their girlfriends. I am actually happy that all their concentration and energy were channelized towards our main goal and make sure that they win the league.”
Meanwhile, the club has decided to host all their home games at the TRC Ground in Srinagar for the upcoming season despite the ongoing lockdown in the valley. Chattoo has said the abrogation of Article 370 wouldn’t impact Srinagar’s ability to host I-League games. “We are expecting many fans of ours to turn up. Because of the current situation, we are looking at how to cut down on the number of fans coming into the stadium,” Chatoo said. The Club recently signed another British player Kallum Higginbotham. “I think it’s the most tight-knit squad I have been involved in and I think that’s because I have no phone to go and search the web whenever I want. It’s just that in this modern age we do not communicate anymore,” Higginbotham told Sports Star. “There is a stereotypical view of Kashmir and I myself had them, specially after watching the documentary (by BBC, which recently won a BAFTA award). Since I have come, I can safely say that it is completely different and I can imagine that’s what the majority of views outside are.”
PARIS
Kashmir has emerged as the major sore point between India and Pakistan. Wherever they meet, regardless of the subject, they fight a quick ‘Kashmir war’. The latest was in Paris where the two countries participated in the UNESCO General Conference. The media in India and Pakistan carry the news as per their requirements so the exact details are usually missing. Reports appearing in Delhi media suggest that Ananya Agarwal gave a “befitting reply” to representatives of the “cash strapped nation” that itself is “a DNA of terrorism”. Seemingly, she was responding. What Pakistani diplomats said is not known. “We condemn Pakistan’s disappointing misuse of UNESCO to spew venom against India and politicise it,” she was quoted saying.
