[🇮🇳] Jammu & Kashmir

[Saif]

Source : https://www.thedailystar.net/news/world/news/police-blame-pakistan-strife-killed-12-3633561

Blaming Pakistan won't help India to bring about peace and tranquility in Jammu and Kashmir. India has to stop its law enforcing agencies from committing crimes against humanity in Jammu and Kashmir if it seriously wants to bring peace in the region.

Police blame Pakistan for strife that killed 12
Dozens injured over the last three days

Police in India's territory of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday blamed arch rival Pakistan for a spurt in militant attacks that killed 12 people and injured dozens over the last three days, just weeks after a large turnout for general elections.

Pakistan claims the Himalayan region, which has been roiled by militant violence since the start of an anti-Indian insurgency in 1989 that killed tens of thousands, although violence has waned in recent years.

"Our hostile neighbour wants to damage our peaceful environment," Anand Jain, police chief of Jammu, told reporters in a reference to Pakistan, which India has accused of stoking violence in the region for decades.

A spokesperson for Pakistan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. It has denied such claims in the past, saying it has given only political and diplomatic support to the insurgency.

Gun battles in the area on Tuesday killed two militants and a paramilitary soldier while injuring a civilian and six security personnel, authorities said.

The incidents came two days after nine Hindu pilgrims were killed and 41 injured when militants attacked a bus taking them to a Hindu shrine on Sunday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third term.

The latest violence has prompted criticism of Modi by opposition parties demanding action against the perpetrators.

"Unless we talk to our neighbours we will not be able to solve the problem," Farooq Abdullah, a former chief minister of the region, told news agency ANI.

The sudden rise in violence comes after the region's director general of police, R R Swain, said the number of local militants was dropping, although 70 to 80 foreign militants continue to be active.

"We are moving from resident terrorism to foreign terrorism," Swain said last week.

Ties between the neighbours have been frozen since India ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir state in 2019, splitting it into two federally administered territories.

On Monday, the leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals engaged in diplomacy on X as Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his elder brother and former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif posted congratulations to Modi for his third term.​

 

[Saif]

Eight killed in gun battles in India’s Jammu & Kashmir

Two soldiers and six suspected militants were killed in two separate gun battles in Indian’s Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), police said yesterday.

www.thedailystar.net

Eight killed in gun battles in India's Jammu & Kashmir
Two soldiers among dead

Two soldiers and six suspected militants were killed in two separate gun battles in Indian's Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), police said yesterday.

Kashmir police inspector general Vidhi Kumar Birdi told AFP that authorities in the disputed territory had "carried out two different operations" in villages in the Kulgam district.

Birdi said two members of the security forces had been killed, with clashes continuing in Modergram and Frisal Chinnigam villages.

"We have retrieved the bodies of two terrorists from Modergram, and four others from Frisal Chinnigam," said Birdi.

This is the latest incident in an uptick of attacks in the disputed territory.

India and Pakistan both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.

In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.

Kashmir police inspector general Vidhi Kumar Birdi told AFP that authorities in the disputed territory had "carried out two different operations" in villages in the Kulgam district.

Birdi said two members of the security forces had been killed, with clashes continuing in Modergram and Frisal Chinnigam villages.

"We have retrieved the bodies of two terrorists from Modergram, and four others from Frisal Chinnigam," said Birdi.

This is the latest incident in an uptick of attacks in the disputed territory.

India and Pakistan both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.

In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.​

 

[Malang]

No Sir

Jammu and Kashmir is not India’s. It is was were will be part of Pakistan.

You should have kept the title of Jammu and Kashmir

 

[Saif]

No Sir

Jammu and Kashmir is not India’s. It is was were will be part of Pakistan.

You should have kept the title of Jammu and Kashmir

I have deleted 'India' from the title.

 

[Saif]

India’s strategic railway bridge closes the gap to Kashmir

The Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest of its kind in the world, has been hailed as a feat of engineering linking the restive Kashmir valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time

en.prothomalo.com

India's strategic railway bridge closes the gap to Kashmir
But its completion has sparked concern among some in a territory with a long history of opposing Indian rule, already home to a permanent garrison of more than 500,000 soldiers
AFP Reasi
Updated: 24 Jul 2024, 10: 00

Indian Railway conducts a trial run on the newly constructed world's highest railway bridge-Chenab Rail Bridge, built between Sangaldan in Ramban district and Reasi on 20 June. Rail services on the line will start soonANI

Soaring high across a gorge in the rugged Himalayas, a newly finished bridge will soon help India entrench control of disputed Kashmir and meet a rising strategic threat from China.

The Chenab Rail Bridge, the highest of its kind in the world, has been hailed as a feat of engineering linking the restive Kashmir valley to the vast Indian plains by train for the first time.

But its completion has sparked concern among some in a territory with a long history of opposing Indian rule, already home to a permanent garrison of more than 500,000 soldiers.

India's military brass say the strategic benefits of the bridge to New Delhi cannot be understated.

"The train to Kashmir will be pivotal in peace and in wartime," General Deependra Singh Hooda, a retired former chief of India's northern military command, told AFP.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is at the centre of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947, and the nuclear-armed neighbours have fought wars over it.

Rebel groups have also waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.


But, as well as soldiers, the bridge will "facilitate movement" of ordinary people and goods, he told AFP.

That has prompted unease among some in Kashmir who believe easier access will bring a surge of outsiders coming to buy land and settle.

Previously tight rules on land ownership were lifted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government cancelled Kashmir's partial autonomy in 2019.

"If the intent is to browbeat the Kashmiri consciousness of its linguistic, cultural and intellectual identity, or to put muscular nationalism on display, the impact will be negative," historian Sidiq Wahid told AFP.


'Biggest military logistics exercise'

India Railways calls the $24 million bridge "arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history".

It is hoped to boost economic development and trade, cutting the cost of moving goods.

But Hooda, the retired general, said the bridge's most important consequence would be revolutionising logistics in Ladakh, the icy region bordering China.

India and China, the world's two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia, and their 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) shared frontier has been a perennial source of tension.

Soldiers stand next to a vehicle after an attack by suspected militants on an Indian Army convoy in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, on 9 July, 2024Reuters
Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands.

"Everything from a needle to the biggest military equipment... has to be sent by road and stocked up in Ladakh for six months every year before the roads close for winter," Hooda told AFP.

Now all that can be transported by train, easing what Indian military experts call the "world's biggest military logistics exercise" -- supplying Ladakh through snowbound passes.

The project will buttress several other road tunnel projects under way that will connect Kashmir and Ladakh, not far from India's frontiers with China and Pakistan.

'Holy book'

The 1,315-metre-long steel and concrete bridge connects two mountains with an arch 359 metres above the cool waters of the Chenab River.

Trains are ready to run and only await an expected ribbon cutting from Modi.

The 272-kilometre railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army's northern command, and runs through the region's capital Srinagar.

It terminates a kilometre higher in altitude in Baramulla, a gateway trade town near the Line of Control with Pakistan.

When the road is open, it is twice the distance and takes a day of driving.

The railway cost an estimated $3.9 billion and has been an immense undertaking, with construction beginning nearly three decades ago.

While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe bridge in China.

Describing India's new bridge as a "marvel", its deputy chief designer R.R. Mallick, said the experience of designing and building it "has become a holy book for our engineers".​

 

[Saif]

India’s J&K votes in first regional polls in a decade

Voters queued outside polling stations in India’s Jammu and Kashmir yesterday to vote in the first provincial election being held in a decade in the Himalayan region that has grappled with years of militant violence.

www.thedailystar.net

India’s J&K votes in first regional polls in a decade

Voters queued outside polling stations in India's Jammu and Kashmir yesterday to vote in the first provincial election being held in a decade in the Himalayan region that has grappled with years of militant violence.

The nine million registered voters are choosing members for the region's 90-seat legislature in the three-phase election. Votes will be counted on October 8 and results expected the same day.

"I gave my vote for development. For the last ten years, we were unable to exercise our democratic right and I am happy that ... I am able to cast my ballot," said Mohammad Asim Bhat, a 23-year-old first-time voter.

Jammu and Kashmir is India's only Muslim-majority territory and has been at the centre of a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan since 1947. India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part, after having fought two of their three wars over the region.

Until 2019, Indian-ruled Jammu and Kashmir had a special status of partial autonomy that was revoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld the government's decision and set a deadline of September 30 this year for local polls to be held.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government has said that revoking the region's special status restored normalcy in the area and helped its development. "As the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections begins, I urge all ... to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy," Modi said on X.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

No Sir

Jammu and Kashmir is not India’s. It is was were will be part of Pakistan.

You should have kept the title of Jammu and Kashmir

Those who are unable to provide atta to the people of Kashmir says to the nation who has built most difficult roads, bridges and tunnel in the area to ease the life of people that Kashmir is not theirs.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

People of POK are more than willing to be a part of India. Baloch wants to be the part of India. Pakistan may cry Kashmir Kashmir and ultimately POK will be free from the occupation of Pakistan.

 

[Saif]

People of POK are more than willing to be a part of India. Baloch wants to be the part of India. Pakistan may cry Kashmir Kashmir and ultimately POK will be free from the occupation of Pakistan.

As per the rules of partition, wasn't Kashmir to be included in Pakistan? The majority of Kashmiri people are Muslims, right?

 

[Krishna with Flute]

As per the rules of partition, wasn't Kashmir to be included in Pakistan? The majority of Kashmiri people are Muslims, right?

Please read what were the rules. The king will decide with whom to joint with. King Harising signed the treaty to Joint India.

 

[Saif]

Please read what were the rules. The king will decide with whom to joint with. King Harising signed the treaty to Joint India.

Please read the rules: if a region is Muslim majority with a Hindu king the region goes to Pakistan. But if the region is Hindu majority with a Muslim king, the region goes to India.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Please read the rules: if a region is Muslim majority with a Hindu king the region goes to Pakistan. But if the region is Hindu majority with a Muslim king, the region goes to India.

You need to read it not me.

 

[Saif]

You need to read it not me.

You said: Please read what were the rules. The king will decide with whom to joint with. King Harising signed the treaty to Joint India.

Nizam (Muslim king) of Hyderabad did not want to join Indian union. Why did your country invade and annex Hyderabad then?

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Nizam (Muslim king) of Hyderabad did not want to join Indian union. Why did your country invade and annex Hyderabad then?

Now why do you quote the example of Nizam when you yourself said that a state should have joint with the country according to its population. You either choose one narrative,

 

[Saif]

Now why do you quote the example of Nizam when you yourself said that a state should have joint with the country according to its population. You either choose one narrative,

I brought up the Nizam example because of your false rules of partition.

 

[Saif]

National Conference-Congress alliance back to power in Jammu and Kashmir

BJP wins third successive term in Haryana

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National Conference-Congress alliance back to power in Jammu and Kashmir
BJP wins third successive term in Haryana

The National Conference-Congress alliance today stormed back to power in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority region, securing a majority.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party overcame anti-incumbency to form government for a third successive tenure in Haryana.

The NC-Congress alliance secured 48 of 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir assembly, while its nearest challenger, the BJP, bagged 29 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. Meanwhile, Congress was able to secure only six seats while the numbers lowered to three for the People's Democratic Party led by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti .

The polls, held in three phases in September-October, were the first of its kind since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, when the region was divided into two separate federally ruled territories.

NC vice president Omar Abdullah, who won from the Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies, said there should be no "fiddling" with the mandate of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Transparency should be there… If the people's mandate is against the BJP, then the BJP should not indulge in any 'jugaad' [machinations] or something else," he told reporters in Srinagar.

NC President Farooq Abdullah said his son Omar will be the new chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking about the party's performance, Farooq said, "After 10 years, people have given their mandate to us. It will not be a police rule here but the people's rule."

Promising efforts to release innocent prisoners, he said, "We have to develop trust between Hindus and Muslims. I hope India's alliance partners will fight with us to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood."

Mehbooba Mufti's daughter, Iltija Mufti, who made her debut in electoral politics, conceded defeat to NC leader Bashir Ahmad Veeri in Srigufwara-Bijbehara constituency.

Jammu and Kashmir Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Yusuf Tarigami said the trends showed the people's votes are against the central government and its policies.

"The writing is on the wall, and the vote of the people is against the BJP government and its policies," Tarigami said in his first reaction as the trends show NC-Congress alliance, of which CPI(M) is a part of, on the way to a clear majority.

"With a new secular government in place, the people of Jammu and Kashmir will surely heave a sigh of relief," he added.

In Haryana, BJP bagged 48 of the total 90 seats and was poised to form a government for the third time, while Congress secured 36 seats.

The victory in Haryana is likely to help the BJP in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra, India's most industrialised state, where it is caught in a bitter seat tussle with allies in Delhi and in Jharkhand in the next few months, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

In both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP's direct battle was against Congress. The saffron party ending on top is expected to give an added edge in national politics after it failed to get majority on its own in national elections earlier this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said BJP's win in Haryana was a "victory of the politics of development and good governance," while Congress described the defeat in the state as "totally unexpected".​

 

[Saif]

Kashmir assembly demands restoration of partial autonomy

Indian-administered Kashmir’s assembly passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding New Delhi restore the disputed Muslim-majority territory’s partial autonomy, cancelled in...

www.newagebd.net

Kashmir assembly demands restoration of partial autonomy
Agence France-Presse . Srinagar 07 November, 2024, 00:09

Chief Minister of India's Jammu and Kashmir state Omar Abdullah (R) attends a state legislative assembly session in Srinagar on November 6, 2024. | AFP photo

Indian-administered Kashmir’s assembly passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding New Delhi restore the disputed Muslim-majority territory’s partial autonomy, cancelled in 2019 by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

New Delhi cancelled Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, a sudden decision accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communications blackout.

It has been ruled by a governor appointed by New Delhi since.

But last month the territory also elected its local legislative assembly, with voters choosing a government in opposition to Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

‘This assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status,’ the resolution read, passed by a majority vote.

The 29 BJP members in the 90-seat house opposed the non-binding resolution, which requires the approval from the federally appointed governor.

‘The assembly has done its job,’ chief minister Omar Abdullah told reporters.

The resolution said it ‘reaffirms the importance of the special and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir’.

Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their partition at the chaotic end of British rule in 1947, and both countries claim the territory in full.

About 5,00,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including dozens this year alone.

The 2019 constitutional amendment imposing direct rule also downgraded Kashmir from a federal state to a ‘union territory’.

Modi has promised to restore that, without giving a timeline.​

 

[Saif]

Indian soldier, suspected rebel killed

An Indian soldier was killed in Jammau and Kashmir (J&K) yesterday, the army said, as troops battled gunmen in the disputed Muslim-majority territory.

www.thedailystar.net

Indian soldier, suspected rebel killed

An Indian soldier was killed in Jammau and Kashmir (J&K) yesterday, the army said, as troops battled gunmen in the disputed Muslim-majority territory.

The army said an operation had been mounted "based on specific intelligence" about the presence of suspected rebels in Kishtwar where gunmen last week shot dead two village defence guards.

The gunmen were from "the same group" behind the killing of the village defence guards. On Saturday evening the army killed a suspected rebel in a separate gunfight.​

 

[Saif]

Five killed as Indian soldiers battle rebels in J&K

Indian security forces in Kashmir yesterday killed at least five suspected gunmen in ongoing clashes, the army said, the latest outbreak of violence in the disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

www.thedailystar.net

Five killed as Indian soldiers battle rebels in J&K

Indian security forces in Kashmir yesterday killed at least five suspected gunmen in ongoing clashes, the army said, the latest outbreak of violence in the disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

"Five terrorists have been neutralised by the security forces in the ongoing operation", the Indian army's Chinar Corps said, adding that two soldiers had been wounded in the firefight.

Half a million Indian troops are deployed in the far northern region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including at least 120 this year.​

 

[Saif]

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/asia/more-than-20-killed-after-gunmen-open-fire-on-tourists-in-indian-administered-kashmir

More than 20 killed after gunmen open fire on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir
Published :
Apr 22, 2025 22:58
Updated :
Apr 22, 2025 22:58

At least two dozen people have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a group of domestic tourists visiting a popular beauty spot in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The attack took place in Pahalgam, a picturesque town in the Himalayas often described as the "Switzerland of India".

The region's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, said the attack was "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years". Reports suggest that there are a large number of wounded, with some in critical condition, UNB reports citing the BBC.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the perpetrators would "be brought to justice".

"Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakeable and it will get even stronger," Modi wrote in a statement on X.

Modi added that Home Minister Amit Shah would travel to Srinagar, Kashmir's largest city, to hold an emergency security meeting.

The region's Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, said the army and police had been deployed to the scene.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been a long-running insurgency in the Muslim-majority region since 1989, although violence has waned in recent years.

The attack took place in Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow three miles (5km) from Pahalgam.

Vehicles are unable to reach the area where the shooting occurred, Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Vidi Kumar Birdi told BBC Hindi.

A tourist from Gujarat, who was part of a group that was fired upon, said that chaos broke out after the sudden attack, and everybody started running, crying and shouting.

Video footage shared by Indian media outlets appears to show Indian troops running towards the scene of the attack, while in other footage victims can be heard saying that the gunmen had singled out non-Muslims.

Footage on social media, which has not been verified by the BBC, appears to show bodies lying on a meadow with people crying and asking for help.

Police said multiple tourists had been taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. The area has been cordoned off with soldiers stopping vehicles at checkpoints while a search is underway to find the perpetrators.

Since the 1990s, an armed separatist insurgency against Indian rule in the region has claimed tens of thousands of lives, including those of civilians and security forces.

The Himalayan region was divided following India's independence from Britain, partition and the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

The two nuclear-armed states both claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars and a limited conflict over it in the decades since.

Some 500,000 Indian soldiers are permanently deployed in the territory.

While fighting has decreased since Modi revoked Kashmir's partial autonomy in 2019, there are still incidents of violence.

The last major attack on civilians occurred in June 2024 when nine people were killed and 33 injured after militants opened fire on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims.

In 2019, a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir killed at least 46 soldiers and prompted Indian airstrikes on targets in Pakistan.

Pahalgam is a popular tourist destination, both domestically and internationally, and in recent years the government has attempted to encourage further tourism to the region.

Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, according to official figures.​