Kashmir News Weekly Roundup: 11/1-11/5
India giving away Kashmir’s resources to outsiders, lone apple juice plant to be outsourced
The imposed administration in Jammu & Kashmir has set the ball rolling for outsourcing Kashmir’s lone apple juice plant, which was founded nearly four decades ago.
The move is yet another blow for the apple industry of Kashmir, which is already facing the brunt of the Indian-imposed embargo on the apple industry.
The J&K Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (JKHPMC), which owns the plant, has floated a tender for its operation, maintenance and commercialization.
The plant was made operational in 1985 with a capacity of producing 10,000 metric tonnes of concentrates per year.
Resistance leader Shabir Shah’s house seized in Srinagar
India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has seized the private house of jailed resistance leader Shabir Ahmad Shah under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002.
The Indian Government has been targeting resistance leaders and their families for decades by booking them under draconian laws and seizing their properties.
Shah is lodged in Tihar jail along with many other resistance leaders and activists in New Delhi.
Four resistance fighters were killed in two military attacks in South Kashmir
On Tuesday, three resistance fighters, including an alleged foreign fighter, were killed in a military attack at the Khandipora area of Awantipora in Pulwama district. Another fighter was killed at Semthan village of Bijbehara in Anantnag (ASA Islamabad) district of south Kashmir, police added.
The onslaught on the education of Kashmiri students continues
Under the imposed administration of J&K, the school education department has kept the posts of five principals, six headteachers, and 30 lecturers in Gurez vacant, adversely affecting the functioning of schools in the region. The move is in line with the Hindutva agenda of denying education to Kashmirs, keeping top positions vacant to render the department defunct which paves the way for future employment of non-local Indian Hindus in the place of the native Muslim population.
According to residents, the absence of school staff is forcing many students from economically weaker sections of society to either drop out or get admitted to private schools.
Many parents said there were no subject-specific teachers in the several schools. “Our children enrolled in school are facing immense hardships, “said Mushtaq Ahmad, a parent, adding that many parents have so far decided to enroll their children in private schools.
India continues to use tourism to present an illusion of normalcy in Kashmir
India has continued to use tourism to show to the world that everything is normal in Kashmir. However, the reality could not be further from the truth. While Indian tourists are welcomed and given special treatment at most tourist resorts, Kashmiris living along these routes are pushed off the road and denied freedom of movement within their own country. At the same time, the imposed Indian administration has denied local hoteliers the ability to extend the lease for their properties, which people fear may result in these hotels going into the hands of outsiders, thus depriving natives their livelihoods.
Pertinently, the tourist spot of Sonamarg was closed down during the past winters as the heavy snowfall and avalanches from Gagangeer to Sonamarg led to road closures. The heavy militarisation of the ecologically fragile region has majorly led to the vulnerability of its climatic conditions.
Indian occupying forces launch massive search operation along LoC in Poonch
On Thursday, a massive search operation was launched by the occupying Indian Army in the areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector.
Our sources said that Indian Army troops noticed suspicious movement along LoC in the Poonch sector. Soon after the ‘suspicious movement’ was noticed, a massive search operation was launched in the area. Typically, during these operations many trees are chopped down in these areas. Besides the population living close to these areas, wildlife also faces the brunt of these so-called ‘search operations’.
Kashmiri Apple Growers suffer significant losses under the imposed administration of India
To dent Kashmiri apple production, India flooded the market with smuggled Iranian apples and forcefully stopped trucks carrying Kashmiri produce.
Growers say that they have already suffered huge losses since 2019 due to the months long post-August 5th lockdown and blackout. The losses were compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, hailstorms, climate change, early snowfall, outbreak of diseases, and general restrictions of travel and repression. They said that if the same conditions continue for another year, they could be left with no options than switching to another crop and cutting down the current Apple trees.
