News Kashmir Magazine

Return of BJP
What it means for JK Politics ?
News Kashmir Desk
The Bhartiya Janta Party has achieved an emphatic victory in the General elections 2019 and the victory has been resounding with BJP bagging more than 300 seats on its own.

BJP victory will definitely have an impact on the politics of Jammu and Kashmir as well.

BJP is certainly in the agressive mode without doubt clearly hinting the impacts of its victory on JK politics.
Analyst state that in wake of this huge victory the onslaught on the special status of Jammu Kashmir might be matter of time.

Rattled and unnerved by the massive (46%) mandate received by Bharatiya Janata Party, the leadership of National Conference has begun its ugly campaign of lies and falsehood to mislead the people, as a prelude to its campaign for the assembly elections likely to be held in the near future, stated Brig Anil Gupta, State Spokesperson of BJP.
Tearing apart the arguments placed during the press conference addressed by its provincial president at Jammu, Brig Gupta reminded the NC that much water has flown in Jhelum and Tawi rivers since 1996 including the massive floods which washed away the NC from the political scene of the state. The party was blinded by power to such an extent that its declining vote share, which reached its lowest 7% in 2019, went unnoticed by the dynastic hierarchy of the party. Consequently, the party failed to field its candidates in Jammu and Ladakh regions. With mere 7% percent vote share how can the party claim to be a voice of the majority, questioned Brig Gupta?

Muzamil Maqbool, Life Skills Specialist stated :” The rise of Bhartiya Janta Party BJP has without a doubt got landslide victory in the General elections 2019 and it would have it’s series of impacts on the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. The special status in form of article 35 a would be under special stress by the politics of BJP as it would be on the front foot mode. BJP will most likely follow tough policies and more till assembly ejections. The polarised verdict would create more problems for the state especially Kashmir. I hope the promise of “Sab Ka Saath, San Ka Vishwaas” would be implemented by PM Modi and his party everywhere and especially in Kashmir to settle down tensions which had massive negative impact on Kashmiris and the economy of state of J&K. Ground realities scream Peace on top of their voices. Ground realities scream empowerment, end to blood shed on top of their voices. We must be heard. Is someone listening at central level?

BJP Tsunami: Opposition Decimated

The NDA lead by
BJP has created history in the Indian elections by bagging
349 seats with BJP on its own as a party winning majority mark seats.
This victory of BJP is exemplary.
“Every Cell Of My Body Dedicated To Nation,” Sated PM Modi After Big Win.
In 2014, the BJP won 282 seats, the NDA had won 336. It was the first time in more than three decades that a single party won majority on its own.

And in 2019 verdict the achievement has been more pronounced and huge.
As a matter of fact ,
BJP crossed the 300-mark just three hours into counting.

PM Modi congratulated people, said party’s win “victory of democracy”
Will work non-stop to ensure nation keeps moving forward, he added.

The BJP’s performance has exceeded its tally of 2014 , crossing the previous tally. Overall, the NDA has won nearly 350 seats .

The party’s victory, the Prime Minister said, has created a new narrative. “All parties have to introspect” he said.

targeting the caste-based politics practised in large swathes of the country, he said, “There are only two castes left. These are… the poor. The second – those who remove poverty”.

Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal BJP decimated opposition everywhere with clean sweeps — the state after state saw saffron blooming to full extent . In eastern part politics for decades BJP struggled but this time it too has given a huge mandate to the BJP .
Despite Challenges BJP shined in Uttar pradesh too.
In 2014, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal had won 73 of the 80 seats in the state. This time, in face of a challenge from the Grand Alliance of Mayawati and Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav, the BJP has won in 61 seats.

Even NC leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had to admit the shinning performance of BJP.
He tweeted :” So the exit polls were correct. All that’s left is to congratulate the BJP & NDA for a stellar performance. Credit where credit is due PM Modi Sahib & Mr Amit Shah put together a winning alliance & a very professional campaign. Bring on the next five years.”

“We had gone to the people to know about their decisions… today, crores of people have filled this fakir ki jholi (poor man’s bag)… this is democracy’s biggest incident,” PM Modi said, addressing hundreds of workers at the party headquarters in Delhi.
Political analyst Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikandar stated :” These huge number of seats gained by BJP is a huge surprise. The coming of NDA to power for the second term is decisive in many respects. The opposition has failed to wean away the masses from voting for the BJP. Despite the failure of BJP to deliver on its promises of constructing Ram Mandir and revoking Article 370, people have granted them another chance to perform. Now they will be under huge pressure to perform in the second term. But for the moment they have decimated the opposition. State after state has been swept by the BJP which shows the strong influence of Modi. We have entered an interesting era. “

Kasmir: No more a Raeshvaer’
News Kashmir Desk

Recently members of Shia-Sunni Coordination Committee (SSCC) held a crucial meeting to discuss the deliberate upon the rape of a three-year-old girl at north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on May 08 that has brought down the heads of every citizen in shame, made a collective appeal to the people of Kashmir to put an end to protests and give police a chance to probe the incident transparently so that guilty is given an exemplary punishment.

Kashmir has been on the edge since past few days as massive protests were witnessed from nook and corner of the Valley with students, traders, religious scholars, youth, women and others hitting streets in protest to demand exemplary punishment to the guilty of rape of three year old girl of Sumbal Bandipora with another rape allegation surfacing from Ganderbal district.

The heinous crimes are now happening regularly in the valley of Kashmir raising question marks over our overall moral health as society and indicating that we are no longer following the teachings preached to us by Sufis and Rishis who bestowed Kashmir greatness.
Mushtaq Ul Haq Sikandar, writer and activist stated :
The Kashmiri society is in doldrums, neither is it ready to accept modernity nor is it comfortable with traditional conventions. The rape culture that is gaining ground is a result of the fact that men are yet to accept the women as equal citizens. The women now are present in every field of life and most of them are economically independent. But men are yet to accept women in these roles. Add to it the toxic masculinity that Patriarchy creates and is reinforced by our traditional and media notions about women being meek, weak and docile. So women are supposed to endure the unwanted glances, uncomfortable touches and oglings. So once these are accepted as normal rapes are bound to happen. What are being reported is just tip of an ice berg. Our religious, family and educational institutions are ill equipped to provide any type of gender sensitivity learning to our young boys and girls.
The common voices also stand aghast over these growing horrible crimes.

Bashir Ahmad, commoner stated :
” The people in the Valley of Kashmir have forgotten over simple and pious past. We have lost touch with the moral path as we do not give importance to moral values now. The hunger for grabbing more and more, materialism is the basic reason behind our overall degradation. It is the need of the hour that before further clamity falls on us we repent and follow once again great Sufi teachings taught to us. Tragically by our deeds we make ourselves look no longer the land of great Sufis and Rishis. ”
The overall realities urge us to once again follow the Sufis and Rishis teachings in letter and spirit and get in touch with moral path to save Kashmir from further destruction.

Srinagar Parliamentary Seat: Subtleties and Surmises
Rameez Makhdoomi

The prestigious Srinagar Parliamentary constituency comprising of district Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal went to polls on 18th April.
The contest for the seat is triangular with National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah, People’s Conference leader Irfan Raza Ansari and People’s Democratic Party leader Agha Mohsin.
Low turnout, National Conference having upper hand, clashes, voting machine defaults at some places defined the election.

At 9.30am in the morning we found voting machines developed default in the beginning at Hakabazar were 198 votes were cast.
Total votes 626 pandan eleven
Male 318 female 308 . Voting Machines were being rectified there when we reached.
An aged voter gave important inputs.
Mohammad Sidiq, a 72 year old voter waiting for his turn at Pandan Nowhatta stated ” I have voted number of times and would like to make it clear that here only national conference rules the roost with competition at all. We vote NC for progressive and peaceful Kashmir. ”
On the other hand of the spectrum, Farooq Abdullah & Omar Abdullah cast their votes at a polling station in Munshi Bagh Area in Srinagar LS constituency. Omar Abdullah stated : “Now that LS polls are due to conclude, we can only hope that Centre together with EC give people of J&K and elected govt which is their right.
He Criticized the BJP’s choice of giving ticket to Sadhvi Pragayi .
The turnout at the end of the day was about 14 percent which was seven percent more than the bi election of 2017 but twelve percent less than 2014 polls.

Although in some pockets voting was strong, at Bemina G we saw 232 votes polled out of 958 just within three hours of polling.
Young Political analyst Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikandar stated :” The election for Srinagar parliamentary seat will witness a strong fight. With parties like PDP and PC fielding candidates like Agha Mohsin and Irfan Raza Ansari, the Shia vote is bound to get divided particularly in district Budgam, among PDP, PC and NC. But given the traditional network of National Conference, Dr Farooq Abdullah seems to emerge victorious. Further NC has campaigned on the issue of safeguarding the special status of Kashmir, while decrying and alleging that any vote cast in favour of PC or PDP is synonymous to be going in the kitty of BJP. So the chances of win are tilted in favour of Dr Farooq Abdullah.”

News Kashmir Exclusive

Recently, three civilian died on the Sadhna Top route, located at 10,269 feet, on Tuesday in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district in a snow blizzard . At least six civilians were caught in a snow blizzard at Khuni Nallah on the way to Sadhna Top, connecting the Tanghdar-Karnah belt with the Kashmir valley, on Monday night. Six people were on the way from Kupwara to Karnah on foot when they were caught in a snow storm. The locals terming the road as a death trap during winter.
All this gave rise to anger with scores of members from Sadhna tunnel coordination committee on Tuesday holding a protest here in Srinagar demanding construction of Sadhna tunnel connecting Karnah to the rest of Kashmir. The members were accompanied by the locals of Karnah who assembled at Press Colony here amid slogans in favour of their demand. The members of the tunnel coordination committee raised slogans: “Karnah ke saath na-insaafi na manzoor na manzoor.
It is worth mentioning sometime back a top Beacon official had stated : A detailed project report (DPR) for construction of 6.12 kilometer tunnel at Sadhna Top on Kupwara-Karnah road is being formulated. The tunnel will provide an all-weather access to border region of Karnah.
The 78-km long Kupwara-Karnah road, passing through high mountains, is maintained by Beacon. “We are preparing a DPR for the tunnel and once the study is completed, we will take up it with Union Government,” the official had said.
R & B has stated that the Tunnel is proposed on the road from Chowkibal-Chamkot. It takes more than an hour to complete this 14 km dangerous stretch, but once the tunnel is constructed it will reduce the travel time to just 15 minutes,
Socio Political activist Inaam Un Nabi while expressing his disappointment over the loss of three precious lives in a Snow blizzard at Khoni Nallah forests of North Kashmir Kupwara district demanded immediate construction of Sadhna tunnel .
while taking to micro blogging website Twitter he tweeted: “Any human lost is a loss to humanity. Sad to know 3 people have lost lives near Sadhna Top. The long pending & due demand for KARNAH TUNNEL has only been a political hogwash. High time there is a serious administrative approval and implementation. Cries on LOC anyways go unheard”.
While talking to the News Kashmir Inaam un Nabi stated : “ It is the need of hour to uplift neglected Karnah and Sadhna tunnel should be build so as to save precious lives . Those at helm need to ensure construction of all weather tunnel connecting Karnah so that precious lives and time is saved .Billions are spend on futile projects while nothing is being done to ease the journey of commuters at dangerous mountainous roads of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The need of the hour is to protect precious human lives and build a mega Sadhna Tunnel for Karnah residents.

NEWS KASHMIR EXCLUSIVE

Recently in a big development, the Central Government banned the popular organization Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir for a period of five years citing reasons that the outfit was in “close touch” with militant outfits. Pertinently, The Jamaat-e-Islami was banned under anti-terror laws with the Centre aiming at preventing any “escalation of secessionist movement” in the state.
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued the banning order a few days after the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested around 100 people, including the Jamaat-e-Islami chief, and claimed that the outfit was involved in activities intended at disrupting India’s integrity.
Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir is a socio-political and religious organisation that was founded in 1945 as a chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind during the Independence movement.
Jamaat-e-Islami was separated from its parent organisation in 1953 over differences in political ideology.

From political parties to masses all sections of the society in the state are aghast over the ban. Researcher and writer Mushtaq ul Haq Sikander on social media wrote :”
We all need to stand against the unjust ban on Jamaat e Islami Kashmir (JeIK). JeIK since last two decades has assumed the role of socio religious and educational organization instead of being a political one. The victimisation of its leaders, cadres, educational network and properties needs to be resisted by one and all. The centre today has declared JeIK as illegal, tomorrow it will be hurriyat, then National Conference, then PDP, and in the end only Hindutva led BJP will be allowed to survive and be imposed on us. The career and economic prospects of hundreds of thousands students, teachers and families is at stake, as schools and personal properties of jamaat cadres is being attached too. This move is sheer condemnable.”
The ground pulse is quite angry over the ban . Writer Showkat Dar , while talking to The News Kashmir stated :
“The Mantra of Proscribing of Jamaat-e-Islamia in Jammu and Kashmir has led to cessation of various Philanthropic activities in the state, Jamaat-e-Islami is a socio-religious political organisation active in Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir branch broke away from Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and was founded in 1953. As a matter of fact, this is the third time in its history that Jamaat-e-Islami has beenbanned. In 1990, after militancy broke spread, the organisation was banned for the second time for allegedly encouraging unlawful activities.
It has been part of the electoral process in the state in1971, 1975, 1977, 1983 and 1987. It is only after mass rigging of elections in 1989 that Jamaat abandoned the electoral process.
All here acknowledges the gross root network of social service support system provided by Jamaat-e-Islami, J&K for the victims of conflict, and livelihood to orphans and widows in the state. It offers education through its vast network of schools having over 1, 00, 000 enrolled students. Jamaat has done a remarkable job after 2005 earth quake and 2014 Kashmir floods, which broke humanitarian crisis in the region.”
Clearly the ground sentiment is expressing anger against the ban imposed on Jamaat e Islami.

India Pakistan tensions
News Kashmir Exclusive
India and Pakistan tensions are still in escalation mode, With India targeting terror camps and Pakistan capturing Indian pilot during downing of Indian aircraft the tensions between these two important countries touched heights. With Pakistan Prime Minister declaring that Indian pilot would be released as a gesture of peace the tensions eased a bit .
But on the holistic paradigm, the India Pakistan relations have touched a new dangerous lows and situation looks heading from bad to worse. The powerful nations of the world from USA to China, Saudi Arabia to France are in top gear efforts trying to mediate the worsening situation and urging both nations for restraint.
Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, an eminent political analyst stated :

“India and Pakistan bear the burden of British and subsequent partition legacy in the form of Kashmir Dispute. Both the countries never had the strong political will to resolve the dispute. Kashmir is the victim of apathy of these two nations. It continues to bleed both of them. The current escalation of tensions among the two countries is again a manifestation of the fact that Kashmir dispute has the potential to flare a war between the two sovereign nations. We as Kashmiris have always been opposing the violence and war, as we are aware and experience the tragedies of violence in our daily lives through a low intensity war that has been imposed on us. We shoulder coffins of our youth daily, our mothers mourn the loss of their sons daily and our families bear the brunt of state and non state violence regularly. We as Kashmiris will never intend that India and Pakistan witness the same loss of lives, property, dignity and honor in case of a war. In the contemporary world there are no winners or Heroes of War. Let pragmatism and peace prevail with the resolution of Kashmir Dispute. “
On the otherhand, Three service representatives of the nation gathered at the heart of Delhi on Thursday evening to spell out the armed forces’ position on the escalation of tension with Pakistan and yesterday’s dogfight with its Air Force. Pakistan, they said, had escalated matters by targeting military installations in response to the Indian Air Force strike on a terror camp.
The officers had come with evidence — wreckage of missiles the Pakistani F-16s had used against the IAF jets that confronted them. The jagged, bent piece of metal, they said, was the casing of a missile that had gone wide and fell in the east of Rajouri.
Undoubtedly the India and Pakistan tensions are on sky high and saner voices need to prevail to ease the situation and achieve long lasting peace.

Hounded Kashmiris
News Kashmir Exclusive

Kashmiris all across India from North to South ,East to West are feeling threatened as the threats and attacks against them have risen drastically post the Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF jawan .
The political temperatures are running hot with Indo Pak relationship on verge of collapse . The Kashmir based parties are aghast over ill treatment meted to kashmiris . Former Chief Minister and NC Leader Omar Abdullah appealed for better central leadership on Thursday as he decried the targeting of Kashmiris across India in the wake of last week’s terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah said it appeared that those targeting Kashmiris had the blessings of the establishment, pointing out that one state governor had called for a boycott of the community.
Neither the prime minister nor the minister for home affairs spoke of tough action against the perpetrators, Abdullah said, adding that even the leading opposition party — the Congress — was silent on the issue.
Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and PDP Leader Mehbooba Mufti also cautioned that mischievous elements must not be allowed to use the Pulwama terror attack as “an excuse to persecute or harass people” from the state, saying the pain of the killings of CRPF personnel must not fuel “such diabolical plans”.

“Understand the pain & (and) anguish. But we musnt (must not) allow such mischievous elements to use this as an excuse to persecute / harass people from J&K. Why should they suffer for somebody else’s action? We need to be united instead of letting people exploit our fears,” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.
An estimated 4000 Kashmiri students, businessmen and labroures from Jammu, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Delhi and other outer states had reached back home safely in the wake of threats made to them after the Pulwama attack.
On the otherhand, AIP members led by Engineer Rashid holding banners and placards that read “Stop targeting Kashmiri people living in India”, “Give protection to Kashmiri people in Jammu”, “Solve Kashmir issue by self-determination”, “Don’t celebrate killings” and raised slogans against Jammu police and its administration for not preventing attacks on Kashmiris.
While talking to media, Engineer Rasheed appealed the administration of Jammu to discharge its duties towards the masses and take stern action against those who are involved in arsenic and violence against Kashmiri community and damaging their property.
Pertinently, the role played by the Sikh community in undertaking relief and rescue measures for the grief struck Kashmiris have been praised by one and all.

On ground many eminent Kashmiri voices like Editor in Chief News Kashmir Farzana Mumtaz and Journalist Nasir Khuehami played wonderful role in ensuring the safe return of hounded kashmiri community .

Awantipora Mayhem
News Kashmir Exclusive

In an unprecedented violent and militant attack in the three decade violence hit history of Kashmir more than 40 CRPF men lost their lives in what has been described as suicide attack at Awantipora.
It seems mayhem has reached new levels in Kashmir .Suicide bombing after two decades is huge surprise.

Police in its press release stated that in police district Awantipora today attended a gruesome terror crime spot at Ladhu Mode Lethpora at about 1515 hours following an explosion by terrorists targeting a security forces’ convoy travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. One vehicle which was part of the convoy carrying CRPF Personnel bore the brunt of the blast resulting in multiple casualties. Exact number of casualties is being ascertained, sofar 33 fatal causalities have been confirmed. Injured have been shifted to hospitals for medical treatment.

Police has registered a case in the matter. Officers investigating this terror crime are at work to establish the full circumstances which led to the blast.
The press release further stated :

We condemn this gruesome terror attack and stand by the families of martyred and injured jawans at this critical juncture.
The man who carried out Thursday’s terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama that left 40 CRPF jawans dead has been identified as Adil Ahmad Dar.
Condemnations poured in from everyone.
Governor Satya Pal Malik too has strongly condemned the attack on a CRPF convoy at Pulwama in which many CRPF personnel lost their lives.

He conveyed his grief and sincere sympathy to the families of the brave soldiers who had lost their lives in this attack and prayed for early recovery of all those injured in this gruesome attack.

Expressing serious concern about the terrorist attack on security forces Governor observed that the Forces responsible for insurgency in J&K are desperate and frustrated and they just want to prove their presence. Visibly it seems to be guided from across the Border as Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed the responsibility.
What important personalities stated on huge attack in Pulwama

Today’s dastardly attack on crpf in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured: HM Shri Rajnathsingh
Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly : PM Narendra Modi

“We won’t be discussing politics today because of the Pulwama attack. We shall now maintain two minutes of silence for the martyrs, Priyanka Gandhi said.
Condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones in today’s attack. Conflict has consumed immense number of lives. It is time for all the parties to initiate serious dialogue. #Time4Dialogue : Mehbooba Mufti, ex Chief Minister and PDP head
I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved: Former JammuAndKashmir former CM , NC head Omar Abdullah on Pulwama attack.
This is unprecdented attack in thirty years of violence of Kashmir conflict.

Undoubtedly the violence has touched new dangerous levels in Kashmir.

Kashmir: Uncontrolled Prices
News Kashmir Exclusive

The phenomenon of ever-increasing prices is badly impacting the life of general masses in the state of Jammu and Kashmir especially kashmir valley . Weather vagary this winter has compounded the price rise problem in Kashmir.
As a matter of fact, the monster of inflation is since long badly impacting every sphere of life in our state . Pertinently, Inflation means paying extra for goods than what you were paying previously. Off late, not only necessary goods have seen a price hike, non-essential items have also seen this hike. In other words inflation is making a big dent in the pocket of common man of our valley. One needs to bear in mind that Inflation doesn’t have an effect on everything evenly. Gas prices can double while your home may loses value
The worrying fact is that rising food prices have far outshined the growth rate and overall income rise of masses. Basic vegetables like Tomatoes, Potatoes, onions, eggs and many types of pulses are costing twice as costly as they were about a year or two years ago.
This winter Kashmir has seen inflation problem often due to closed Jammu – Srinagar Highway .

The often closures of Jammu Srinagar Highway has compounded the inflation menace . It is the only prominent road link connecting the valley of Kashmir with rest of country. As a matter of fact, All essentials of life are routed into the landlocked Kashmir Valley through this highway. To add to woes of masses in Kashmir the Hoarders and profiteers hike prices of essentials by creating artificial scarcity each time the highway remains closed for a longer period.
This year too owing to heavy snowfall in all winter, the highway in the most of times especially in the month of January has remained closed giving rise to multiple issues . Despite the promises made that rail link from Srinagar to Jammu would be operational soon the dream has remained so far elusive and will that remain functional during heavy snowfall also remains to be soon. Despite tunnels built the Jammu Srinagar highway has remained a weak point with landslides, blockades wrecking havoc every winter. All this has resulted in goods being scarce in kashmir and consequently food prices hitting.

Expert opinion is that this manic inflation in India has hit the common man the most. Kashmirs logistical handicap has another reverse effect – its exports lose their competitiveness due to the relatively high transportation costs.

Naveed Ahmed, a student states : “ Inflation is a very serious issue in our state especially in landlocked areas like Kashmir and Ladakh. inflation always hurts basic standard of living and worst hit is the man on street. This winter highway closures due to snowfall has resulted in increased prices. Rising prices means you have to pay more for the same goods and services. If your income increases at a slower rate as compared to inflation, your standard of living declines even if you are making more and the same has been clearly seen in kashmir . The departments checking the price rise and hoarding should work in more effective coordination so as to check the evil of inflation.”

. The need of the hour is that the concerned authorities wake up more seriously to the challenges posed by the inflation and draft a farsighted mechanism to tackle this evil of inflation as soon as possible.