News Kashmir Magazine

News Kashmir Exclusive

Cracks in the prominent political party of the Jammu and Kashmir state especially the Kashmir valley the People’s Democratic Party are with every passing moment getting more bigger and entire party looks in utter disarray.

From one top leader to the other we are now coming across frequent statements from the PDP leaders expressing displeasure over the manner party was being run and also expressing anger towards former  Chief Minister and Party head  Mehbooba Mufti.

‘The storm was kicked by senior leader and former minister Imran Raza Ansari who has almost  existed  the party.

“I have been telling Mehbooba Mufti for a while that I feel suffocated in this party. From the time she has joined PDP, she keeps thinking about benefits of her relatives. Nepotism has destroyed this party and the entire Kashmir,” Former minister and PDP leader Imran Raza Ansari told media here.

“I told Mehbooba Mufti some time ago that ‘humne aapko khuda-hafiz kar diya hai’. We are stuck for now as we are MLAs, but we are ready for elections. We want to work for public even if we have to change 50 parties for this purpose,” Imran Raza added.

His thoughts were echoed by People’s Democratic Party MLA Gulmarg Muhammad Abbas who  said on Monday he would follow in the footsteps of his party colleague Imran Raza Ansari who has openly criticisedMehbooba Mufti and her policies.

Abbas told a local news agency that he endorsed Ansari’s statement against the party leadership and blamed “a few” for hijacking the party.

Nasir Khuehami,  a young journalist reflecting on the issue of Cracks in PDP,  while talking to the News Kashmir stated :” We are certainly and surely seeing many cracks in the People’s Democratic Party which was just few weeks back the ruling party. Many are saying that nobody wants to be part of the sinking ship as we live in day and age when political opportunism rules the roost. It looks divisions and cracks in coming days will get widened and the rebellious elements from PDP might come handy to BJP in its dream of forming the government on its own .The biggest loser at this juncture of time seems to be PDP which seems to be with every day shrinking with its top leaders clearly expressing the dissent and dismay. Next few weeks would be thus also crucial to know as to whether we are heading for another unique government formation or we are heading for the elections. How far will the anti defection related things come into play would also be an interesting point to note,  but one thing is clear that cracks in PDP are now clearly far and wide. ”

Several other senior leaders too have joined the rebellious tone and definitely PDP looks a house totally out of order.

News Kashmir Exclusive

On June 14, the Office of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights released a first of its kind report documenting alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.

The 49-page report has strongly recommended UN-supervised inquiry commission to probe into the alleged atrocities against civilians by both Indian armed personnel and the militants.

Eminent Human Rights Activist Mir Imran, while talking to the News Kashmir stated : “The Indian state  is in denial about the civilians it’s killing in Kashmir. Civilians have been killed on a horrific scale. The report of UNHRC sheds light on how Indian security forces are responding to demonstrations that started in July 2016. It says, “Indian security forces used excessive force that led to unlawful killings and a very high number of injuries. Civil society estimates are that 130 to 145 civilians were killed by security forces between mid-July 2016 and end of March 2018, and 16 to 20 civilians were killed by armed groups in the same period. One of most dangerous weapons used against protesters during the unrest in 2016 was the pellet-firing shotgun.” Under international law, States must investigate and prosecute gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law. People in Kashmir are made to suffer and hope ‘UNHRC’ will use its good office and influence to persuade all the parties of the conflict to solve Kashmir issue once for all. The welfare of the people of Jammu & Kashmir should be overriding interest and all the parties of the conflict should respect the views and opinions of the people.

The political dimension of Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan has long been at the centre stage, but this is not a conflict frozen in time, Commissioner of the United Nations’ Human Rights Zaid Ra’ad Zedi Al Hassan told a press briefing in Geneva after the launch of UNHRC’s first-ever report on politico-military situation in both parts of Kashmir administered by India and Pakistan.

Recalling recent incidents of protests crushed under security jeeps, Zaid said, “Given all that we have learned, the current serious tensions including those stemming from a series of recent incidents in Srinagar, I urge the  security forces to exercise maximum restraint, and strictly abide by international standards governing the use of force, when dealing with the future protests.”

NEWS KASHMIR EXCLUSIVE

This week was quite dramatic, unpredictable, sensational  for the Jammu and Kashmir State .Nobody had thought that PDP BJP Government would end in such a quick manner . ON 19 JUNE 2018,  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to pull out of the alliance with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Described by the political pundits as  The ‘unholy’ alliance was formed on 1st March 2015 led by Late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. On January 2016, following the demise of Mufti her daughter Mehbooba Mufti took charge of the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

With this development , the Jammu and Kashmir state seems to have gone back to square one with governor rule being imposed  . Many say the state will now have to start once again from the blank slate.

After BJP ended its alliance with PDP and chief minister Mehbooba Mufti resigned, President Ram Nath Kovind has imposed the Governor’s Rule in the state. This is the eighth time the state has been put under the Governor’s Rule.

In an interesting  development in this context, Former Chief Minister and Vice President of National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah  termed the breakup of the PDP-BJP alliance was a “well-planned game”.

Taking on social media site twitter Omar shared a clip from the 1977 political satire movie ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’.and wrote The PDP & BJP have been watching Bollywood movies for political strategy. This is how they have crafted their “divorce”. Brilliant fixed match, scripted to perfection except the audience aren’t fools & neither are the rest of us

The former chief minister called for immediate dissolution of the state assembly, saying keeping it in suspended animation encourages ‘dalals’ (brokers).

PDP’ Srinagar District President and MLC Mohammad Khurshid Alam said the reasons that the BJP gave for pulling out of the support from the PDP are worth to hail and that the party feels proud for such reasons.

“The reasons are demands made by Mehbooba Mufti for talks with Pakistan and separatists, withdrawal of the cases against the stone pelters, implementation of the ceasefire on ground and measures to be taken for successful dialogue and reconciliation,” Alam said.

He stated that since assuming office in the state, Mehbooba Mufti as the chief minister remained in the forefront to ensure in every way that the people of Kashmir are accorded due rights and a dignified living. He added that from protecting the state subject law to punishing the rapists of Kuthua, Mehbooba Mufti remained as a wall to protect people of Kashmir from the insurmountable predicament and the conspiracies being hatched against them far from the state.

On the otherhand, asking NC and PDP to show even a single achievement on political or human rights front since 1996, AIP Supremo and MLA Langate Er. Rasheed has said that both the parties have given New Delhi a free hand from time to time to bulldoze the sentiments, rights and aspirations of people of Jammu & Kashmir and it is obvious that they have a silent understanding while compromising everything. Addressing an overcrowded press conference in Srinagar Er. Rasheed  reiterated that no doubt end of collation is victory of people’s resistance but the way BJP took everyone especially PDP by surprise is not less than a slap on the face of regional parties who have been making tall but false claims of fighting for protecting the special status and other interests of state

Whatever be the political rhetoric, the state of Jammu and Kashmir with this development seems to have slided once again backwards and one hopes the situation does not get uglier.

Horror at Home

News Kashmir Exclusive

The monster of domestic violence against women in Kashmir has been constantly growing over the past few decades in entire valley of Kashmir. In past few years, even the Urban Police Stations have registered hundreds of cases of domestic violence showing the grim nature of the issue. Sometime back the Data compiled by the Jammu & Kashmir Police Crime Branch revealed  that in the past two years, it had registered over 4,000 cases of crimes against women.

In a latest unfortunate case it is learnt that Mehnaz Siddiqui came to Kashmir from Karachi, Pakistan, in July 2009 when she married Abdullah Danish Shervani, whom she met on social networking site Orkut. She was 25 at the time. Nine years later, she has publicly alleged that her Kashmiri husband has “assaulted and tortured” her, since right after marriage.

The said case has generated serious debate in Kashmir in both online and real world. On the larger paradigm the issue of domestic violence has remained a serious issue in our part of the world.

The Former President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented Nari Shakti Puruskars for the year 2015 at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan  (March 8, 2016) on the occasion of International Women’s Day had aptly highlighted the grave nature of this serious issue.

Speaking on the occasion, the former President had said we must remind ourselves most emphatically and as often as we can, that every member of our society male or female has, equally, the right to live in security, peace and dignity. It is intolerable that in this day and age, women are still being exposed to barbaric brutality and violence because they are women. Violence or fear of violence reduces the freedom and development of everyone, particularly our women and children. But more than that, it diminishes our society when it allows such inhuman treatment of its women rather than guarantee their safety, security and equal rights. On this day, let us all, Government, civil society and public at large, pledge to work together for developing relevant legal, administrative and other measures to ensure the safety and security of our mothers and sisters

The expert pulse on the ground is that Women can no longer be driven like cattle; hence they are termed rebellious and responsible for breaking up the family. Women must sacrifice; kill their dignity and ego to save the family, as if men are not part of a family. For patriarchal Muslims women must undertake every obligation, duty and hardship but men should enjoy every right and authority. They stress on shunning such outdated mentality.

Way Ahead

As the number of silent sufferers of  Domestic violence goes up, it becomes increasingly difficult to track the problem. Strengthening  the Women Commission, increasing awareness in women to resist the menace of domestic violence are the some steps to be taken immediately to wipe out the menace of domestic violence.

The authorities need to act soon and book all the culprits responsible for the monstrous crimes like Domestic violence.