Day: January 2, 2022

Muzaffarabad, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): The President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry has expressed his hope that 2022 will be proved as the year of Kashmir’s freedom from illegal occupation of India. Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, while talking to his Adviser for Britain, Barrister Karamat Hussain in Muzaffarabad, said, “It (New Year) will be the beginning of a new era of prosperity and development in AJK and the year of salvation for the oppressed people all over the world.”

He said that now the Kashmir dispute had entered an important and decisive turning point so it was the responsibility of all of us to work together to achieve the ultimate goal of freedom from India. He urged the people of Kashmir to stand up against Indian atrocities and raise the Kashmir dispute aggressively at every international forum. “The dark night in occupied Kashmir will soon come to an end and it will soon be free from India’s occupation,” he remarked.

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Islamabad, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): The border town of Belagavi has been a bone of contention between two Indian states – Karnataka and Maharashtra since boundaries were demarcated on linguistic lines under States Reorganisation Act, 1956. A report released by Kashmir Media Service said, today, said tensions prevailed in Belagavi and Bengaluru, Karnataka after alleged activists of Maharashtra Ekikarana Samiti vandalized a statue of freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna and Shivaji Maharaj and uploaded video on social media.

It said, members of ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra staged a protest against BJP-led government in Karnataka and hit an effigy of its Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai over the alleged desecration of a statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Bengaluru.

The report said, Shiv Sena, legislator Sada Sarvankar, claimed the BJP seeks votes in the name of Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra and insults the warrior king in Karnataka. Shiv Sainiks beat up an effigy of CM Karnataka and shouted slogans condemning the alleged incident in the neighbouring state, it added.

Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde had alleged that CM Bommai termed the incident of desecration as “minor”. Sec 144 is imposed in Belagavi amid increase tensions in the state, the report maintained.

It said, on December 13 – the first day of Karnataka’s legislative session – the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) organised a protest against the session being held at Belagavi. It said, Pro-Kannada protesters subsequently threw black ink on MES leader Deepak Dalvi, following which MES supporters burnt a Karnataka flag in Kolhapur Tuesday. The MES also issued a bandh call in Belagavi.

The act of burning Karnataka’s flag led to the state legislative assembly passing a censure motion Thursday, with Opposition parties demanding action against MES, it added. The report said, in retaliation to the burning of the Karnataka flag, unidentified persons poured ink on a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in Bengaluru Friday. Suspected MES supporters then allegedly damaged a statue of freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna and indulged in stone-pelting on Karnataka government vehicles in Belagavi.

Condemning the incidents as “unruly”, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he has directed the Home Minister to take strict action against those trying to disturb peace and order following which some arrests have been made in connection with the incident, it maintained.

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Srinagar, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a Hurriyat delegation visited the residence of illegally detained Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik at Maisuma in Srinagar.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the delegation was comprised of Jameel Ahmad, Ajaz-ul-Haq, Merajuddeen Dar, Ahmed Rafiq, Dr Musaib, Khan Umar and and Ahmad Nowshad. They said that Indian regime has caged people of Kashmir by turning the territory it into a military garrison. The delegation members expressed concern over the upsurge in ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiris by Indian brutal forces.

The Hurriyat delegation also visited the residences of detained Hurriyat leaders Asadullah Parrey and Mehrajdeen Nanda in Hajin, Bandipore. At the end, they visited to the residence of APHC leader Engineer Hilal Ahmad War and expressed solidarity with the family on death of his nephew.

The delegation members called for the release of all political prisoners and reiterated the uncompromising commitment to the Kashmir cause. Meanwhile, APHC leader Yasmeen Raja during her visit to a family of a martyred youth in Pampore, today, said that martyrs’ sacrifices would not go waste. The youth was martyred by Indian troops two days ago in Srinagar.

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Srinagar, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT):The President of Indian National Congress chapter in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir,Ghulam Ahmad Mir has said that the house detention of National Conference President, Farooq Abdullah and other leaders is unethical and undemocratic.

Political leaders, including Farooq Abdullah, were detained ahead of a march by the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) to protest against the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission on Jammu and Kashmir. Besides Farooq Abdullah, who is the president of the alliance, his son Omar Abdullah and PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti, have been detained.

“Keeping under house arrest, prominent leader like Farooq Abdullah ahead of proposed sit-in protest against Delimitation Commission draft is a sham, unethical and against the basic foundation of the Indian democracy which stands guarantee to freedom of speech and freedom of expression to every citizen,” Ghulam Ahmad Mir said in a statement in Srinagar.

He said the house arrest was indeed a “gift” on the New Year’s occasion by the authorities and condemned the illegal house arrest of Farooq Abdullah and other leaders of the PAGD. The PAGD is an alliance formed by five Jammu and Kashmir-based political parties, including the National Conference and the PDP that seeks the restoration of special status of Jammu and Kashmir that was revoked by the Modi-led fascist Indian government in August 2019.

The Congress believes such an undemocratic move (detention of leaders) is bound to further disappoint the people of Kashmir, who have already lost faith in the present dispensation, he maintained.

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Jammu, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a large number of health employees staged a protest in front of Government Medical College, Jammu, demanding continuation of their services. The protesting employees were raising slogans in support of their demands. They said that they had put their lives at risk when COVID-19 hit the territory. “We were deputed to several GMCs and hospitals last year at the peak of the COVID-19 when no one wanted to leave their homes,” they added.

A girl protestor said that the LG Manoj Sinha also cheated them. “The LG had assured us extension in services and priority in regular posts but all the assurances were verbal and no written order was passed in this connection,” she said, adding they are 1600 in number but the authorities have advertized only 92 posts.

Meanwhile, the government employees, under the banner of National Old Pension Restoration Front, Jammu and Kashmir, held a silent protest in Jammu, demanding restoration of old pension scheme. They assembled near Press Club of Jammu and observed black day to mark their protest. These employees also launched a twitter campaign, demanding restoration of old pension scheme (OPS). They strongly opposed the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and demanded that it should be withdrawn.

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Islamabad, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): Pakistan has strongly condemned the extra-judicial killing of four more Kashmiris by Indian forces in Srinagar and Kupwara, Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The Foreign Office Spokesperson in a statement in Islamabad said, “Indian forces martyred the youth during staged cordon and search operations. Indian occupation forces have martyred at least 210 Kashmiris in fake encounters or so-called ‘cordon and search operations’ in 2021.”

The military crackdown and intensified extra-judicial killings in fake stage managed operations in IIOJK reflect the extremist anti-Muslim designs of the “Hindutva” inspired extremist BJP-RSS combine in India, he added.

The Foreign Office Spokesperson said the burial of the last remains of martyrs at unknown locations without the consent and presence of their families in many instances, was yet another abhorrent manifestation of India’s use of state-terrorism as a policy tool to suppress the just Kashmiri struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination.

He said Pakistan called upon the international community to take immediate notice of India’s relentless oppression in IIOJK. “India’s ongoing, systematic and widespread human rights violations in IIOJK warrant investigation by UN Commission of Inquiry (COI), as recommended by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in its Kashmir Reports of 2018 and 2019,” he maintained.

“Pakistan also urges the international community to play its role for a just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people for durable peace and stability in the region,” he said.

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New Delhi, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): Almost 31,000 complaints of crimes committed against women were received by the National Commission for Women (NCW) last year, the highest since 2014, with over half of them from Uttar Pradesh. There was a 30 per cent rise in complaints of crimes against women in 2021 as compared to 2020 when 23,722 complaints were received.

Of the 30,864 complaints, a maximum of 11,013 were related to the right to live with dignity that takes into account the emotional abuse of women, followed by those related to domestic violence at 6,633 and dowry harassment at 4,589, according to official NCW data.

The most populous state of Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of complaints of crimes against women at 15,828, followed by Delhi at 3,336, Maharashtra at 1,504, Haryana at 1,460 and Bihar at 1,456 complaints. According to the data, the highest number of complaints related to the right to live with dignity and domestic violence were received from Uttar Pradesh.

NCW chief Rekha Sharma had earlier said there has been a rise in the complaints because the commission has been making people more aware about its work. “Also, the commission has always made it a point to launch new initiatives to help women. Keeping in line with this, we have launched a round-the-clock helpline number as well to provide support services to women in need where they can also register a complaint,” Sharma said.

From July to September 2021, over 3,100 complaints were received every month, the last when over 3,000 complaints were received was in November, 2018 when India’s #MeToo movement was at its peak. As many as 1,819 complaints have been received regarding the offence of outraging modesty of women or molestation, 1,675 complaints of rape and attempt to rape, 1,537 of police apathy against women and 858 complaints of cyber crimes, according to NCW data.

Akancha Srivastava, the founder of Akancha Srivastava Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works towards imparting cyber safety knowledge, said when complaints rise it is a good thing because it means more women have the courage to speak up and there are platforms in place now and they are aware of where to report.

“People are reaching out now. Earlier women might not be coming forward to lodge their complaint, they didn’t know what they are going through is harassment but now they do, and they are coming forward to report which is a good thing,” she told media.

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Islamabad, January 02, 2022 (PPI-OT): Rising wave of hate crimes against Muslims is being witnessed in Modi’s India as Muslims suffer from hate speeches, physical attacks and Islamophobia in the country. A report released by Kashmir Media Service said, today, said that recently Hindu leaders called for genocide of Muslims at hate speech conclave in Haridwar, adding attacks by Hindu extremists against Muslims and other minorities have intensified under Modi-led fascist Indian government.

It said, hate speeches, crimes against Muslims and other minorities are motivated by Hindutva ideology. The RSS-BJP leaders are using hate speeches to demonize Muslims and other minorities in India, it deplored. The report said, discriminatory measures against Muslims are clear manifestations of Islamophobia in India as Hindu religious leaders are asking Hindus to take up arms against Muslims.

It added that seventy-six lawyers of the Indian Supreme Court have written to Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana and sought suo motu cognisance to be taken of the hate speech and calls for ethnic cleansing at two religious events held recently in Delhi and Haridwar.

The report maintained that five former chiefs of staff of the Indian armed forces and over a hundred other people, including bureaucrats, journalists and prominent citizens, had written to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi seeking immediate action against Hindu right-wing members for inciting violence.

The recent calls were made in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar and Delhi, where the group gave open genocide calls against Muslim citizens of India. The letter also mentions targeting other minorities like Christians, Dalits, and Sikhs of the country, it added. The report said, hate speeches by Hindutva leaders are posing a grave threat to lives of Muslim in India and Modi must be held accountable for his crimes against Muslims and other minorities in the country.

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