Tariq Khan is a 150-Territorial Army recruit who is deployed with 37 Rashtriya Rifles in Mendhar. Last week, he walked out of his garrison in full battle gear and reached home. He was looking for his wife who had taken refuge in his neighbour’s home.
Khan dragged her out, took her in open and fired at her. While she was injured, two women trying to protect her were killed. Well before he could kill himself, he was overpowered. Before trying to commit suicide he had set his house afire. Initial police investigations suggest Khan was suspicious of his wife’s activities in his absence and wanted to punish her. Interestingly, one of the slain woman was the mother of the man who is accused of being Mrs Khan’s paramour.
MUMBAI
Bollywood is back to Kashmir. A trickle of producers and actors to Kashmir has revived the link. Last week, newspapers reported Farah Khan and Karan Johar were in Kashmir. Ms Khan actually had come to shoot Johar’s Student Of The Year. She returned blue with cold but apparently happy. “I haven’t shot a romantic song for such a long time now. It’s one of the best love songs I have shot. I have been only choreographing item songs and dance numbers for so long now,” she was quoted saying. Even singer Kailash Kher who came with his Kashmir origin wife Sheetal to Kashmir says he was mesmerized.
RAJOURI
For three days, J&K’s sensitive border district of Rajouri was under curfew. There were clashes and a lot of police action. It started Sunday last when Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Parveen Togadia spoke to a gathering allegedly uttering certain things that hurt the sentiments of Muslims. There were protests and clashes. Three days later, a religious procession was allegedly attacked. Police imposed curfew and made massive deployments. Police registered a case against Tagodia but did not arrest him. The BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) is accusing government of failure in protecting a procession and PDP is seeking a formal statement on the situation.
LONDON
Romantic Novelists’ Association has adjudged ‘The Kashmir Shawl’ as the best epic romantic novel. It was authored by Rosie Thomas. It is a multi-generational story of a family that moves from the life of newlywed Nerys as she is posted to Kashmir, to that of her granddaughter Mair as she uncovers family secrets. The couple, Welshwoman Nerys Watkins and her husband, discover a happy and remote world where people live on wooden houseboats and talk their days away. They are actually on a missionary posting but when the men of the community resent to war Nerys gets entangled in a dangerous friendship. The novel is a tale of lost innocence.
DELHI
Lt Gen Bikram Singh will finally be the new chief of the Indian army. New Delhi was convinced that there is nothing against him that should prevent his ascendance to the coveted position. While the J&K police have issued a certificate in his favour, General Singh will still have to contest the case pending against him in the J&K High Court. A housewife Zaituna Begum and her daughter Jana of Machil Kupwara have alleged that March 1, 2001 encounter at Junglat Mundi in Islamabad in which the then Brigadier Singh was injured was fake. The petitioners alleged that Zaituna’s son, 70-year-old Abdullah Bhat, was killed in the alleged fake encounter by army and Ikhwanis and dubbed as Mateen Chacha, a foreign militant.
CAMBODIA
Little known 20 individuals from both sides of LoC spent 10 days in Cambodia to interact with survivors of the Cambodian conflict. The participants representing diverse backgrounds such as academia, media, advocacy and development sector are currently travelling through different parts of Cambodia to learn experiences of resilience from the Cambodian people, who suffered three decades of civil war and genocide. The tour includes workshops, interactions with survivors and visits to exemplary civil society institutes on a short duration fellowship with Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in Phnom Penh, a Cambodia-based NGO. Participants said though the two are entirely different stories, there are enormous commonalities of human sufferings and lessons for moving towards a peaceful, progressive and pragmatic society.
