Kashmir News Weekly Roundup: 9/10-9/17
Exclusive:
Asiya Nilofer Case: Lawyer’s family being harassed, witnesses turn hostile
In a new low, Indian Occupation Authorities, regime agents have been harassing the family of the deceased lawyer who argued the case of rape victims Asiya and NIlofer. “He has been dead for a long time now, but the agents of occupation have been harassing the family and asking them to prove that he has died,” a neighbor told us on condition of anonymity.
In 2009, two women, Asia and Nilofer, were found dead in a stream outside an army camp in Shopian. Doctors who examined the bodies reported that Asiya had been brutally raped and killed. The report said Asiya died due to violent sexual assaults. The assaults were so violent that she sustained severe injuries, resulting in bleeding of various body parts and subsequent death.
However, the Indian Occupation agencies took over the case investigation and submitted a report that the two had instead drowned in ankle-deep water. Kashmir valley erupted in protests against the sexual assault perpetuated by Indian forces and the subsequent cover-up by Indian agencies. Indian troops fired at the protesters, killing more than 50 people.
The medical doctor who gave the report is also being threatened. Sources revealed that while the doctor has been terminated from her services and stares at a possible trial under anti-terror legislation, she has lost all hope of justice. Witnesses in the case have all turned hostile after being intimidated and threatened.
Exclusive:
Undercover Israeli groups trekking mountain ranges across Kashmir
Amid the imposed information vacuum in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir, tribals and tour guides across Kashmir have spotted unusual groups of Israeli trekkers accompanied by Indian guides visiting different mountain ranges. According to tour guides based in Pahalgam, the Israeli groups have been trekking across various mountain ranges starting from Pahalgam.
A local tour guide from Pahalgam remarked, “The Israeli groups weren’t this consistent before 2019, and in the past two years, their groups have been visiting every other week carrying types of equipment we’ve never seen.” He said, “They keep their distance from the locals so much that they don’t even talk to us.”
Another resident from the Kupwara district of north Kashmir reported that trekking groups would not frequently visit the mountain ranges in their area. However, during the past few years, the nomads have seen outsiders with foreign equipment virtually weekly.
According to a native from Kupwara who works for the Forest Department, “the movement of Hebrew-speaking trekkers accompanied by the Indian guides in the past three summers have been constant, and what amazes everyone is the equipment they carry in the name trekking kits and camping gear.” Both countries hold fascism, apartheid, and majoritarian ideologies. It is noteworthy that India-Israel ties have been thriving under the Modi regime. India uses Israel as a model for maintaining tyranny and bloodshed in Kashmir. In this regard, Israel has established a vital military facility in Srinagar’s Harwan neighborhood following the repeal of Articles 370 and 35A.
Residents claim that once Article 370 was repealed, Israeli agents began to visit the region and work on a project. Secret military equipment has been brought into the structure, and the workers claim they were told to leave after unloading. Israeli enterprises have opened “Centres of Excellence” close to the Kashmir ceasefire line, fostering deeper military, commercial, and defense ties between India and Israel.
News Updates:
Canada advises its citizens to refrain from traveling to Kashmir due to the ‘risk of civil unrest’
Busting India’s fake claims of normalcy in the Kashmir region, the Canadian government has asked its citizens to avoid travel to the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir “due to the unpredictable security situation.”
“Avoid all travel to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir due to the unpredictable security situation. There is a threat of terrorism, militancy, civil unrest, and kidnapping. This advisory excludes traveling to or within the Union Territory of Ladakh,” Canada stated in the advisory for India, marking it in a category of “Exercise High Degree Of Caution.”
Notably, the Indian government has been organizing international “tourism” conferences and other propaganda events in the area under the pretext of “peace and development” to fabricate a story of normalcy and justify its settler-colonial rule of Kashmir.
India and Canada have recently been in a diplomatic stand-off after Canada blamed the Indian Government for being involved in extra-judicial killings on their soil. Canadian Premiere Justin Trudeau recently said that his government had “credible inputs” about how agents of the Indian Government carried out Canadian citizen Nijjar’s assassination.
Police report that Uzair Khan, a Resistance commander, lost his life during a military operation in Kokernag
According to Vijay Kumar, Additional Director General of Police in Kashmir, two resistance fighters, including leader Uzair Khan, were killed during the Gadole military operation in the Anantnag region of south Kashmir. Last week, an ambush by resistance fighters resulted in many casualties for the occupying Indian army. An Army colonel, a Major, two soldiers, and a deputy superintendent of police were killed.
Earlier this week, occupying soldiers attacked the home of Uzair and abused the family members as payback for losing their officers. Following their son’s participation in armed resistance last year, Uzair’s family, like many others, has been subject to the fury of the Indian army.
Mirwaiz Kashmir allowed to enter Srinagar’s historic Jamia Masjid after four years
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the acclaimed religious and spiritual head of Kashmir’s Muslim community, was permitted to go to the famed Jamia Masjid on Friday and preside over the Friday congregational prayers in a moment that was both eagerly awaited and emotionally tense. The Indian government had placed Mirwaiz under house arrest for the previous four years and forbade him from leading 212 consecutive Friday prayers since August 2019. He could not leave his residence in the city’s Nigeen district.
The religious leader was also forbidden from speaking to the media or meeting with the public. Earlier in August, Manoj Sinha’s government in Jammu and Kashmir received a formal notice from Mirwaiz. In the notification, he demanded to be released from custody and was warned that if the government did not act favorably, he would pursue legal action.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court sent a notice to the government of the Union Territory in September, requesting an explanation for Mirwaiz’s prolonged house detention. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s return to the grand mosque to lead Friday prayers is a poignant moment in the complex political and social landscape of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Parts of Kashmir with India, China, and Pakistan should be united for a solution,” Mirwaiz claims
After his release from House Arrest, Mirwaiz Kashmir said that it is unfortunate that despite advocating for peace, he has been labeled as anti-national, anti-peace, and separatist. On Friday, Mirwaiz Kashmir, the chairman of the Hurriyat Conference (M), said that while JK may be a territorial issue for some, it is a humanitarian issue for us and must be resolved through dialogue.
Mirwaiz stated that following the death of his father, the four years he spent in house confinement were the hardest of his life since he was unable to express his feelings. “After 212 consecutive Friday sermons, I was granted permission to preach from the pulpit of the Jamia Masjid. People are aware that after August 4, 2019, I was placed in house detention and was not permitted to leave my home, which prevented me from carrying out my responsibilities as Mirwaiz, he stated.
He asserted that since August 5th, 2019, people have had hardships since J&K’s unique identity was stolen and the region was split into two Union Territories. “As a Mirwaiz, I raise the people’s voice. Since the Hurriyat Conference continued to raise its voice, the media stopped using our statements. I want to tell my people that it is the time to be patient, to keep faith in the Almighty,” he stated. Mirwaiz said that Hurriyat believes that one part is in India while the other two are in Pakistan and China, and by merging them fully, J&K will be complete, which it was on August 14th, 1947.
Civilian arrested for allegedly sharing videos of martyred resistance fighters
A resident of the south Kashmir region of Pulwama was detained on Thursday for reportedly posting images and videos of rebel fighters who had just been slain during military operations in Kokernag Anantnag. FIR No. 98/2023 has been created under the pertinent sections. The arrested civilian has been identified as Ashiq Ahmed Khan, son of Bashir Ahmed Khan, a resident of Niloora.
Numerous Kashmiris have been accused and detained by the police and Indian agencies for allegedly spreading “anti-India” or “pro-resistance” information on social media platforms during the past five years. The Indian State has been stifling all dissenting voices in Kashmir by censoring it in all spheres, including the media. Academics and the general public have been subjected to unprecedented censorship by Indian agencies. At the same time, Occupation Authorities have been promoting and patronizing individuals and organizations that propagate its version of “normalcy” and “development” in the region.
“Our kids are on the verge of killing themselves,” say families of Kashmiri students assaulted at DBU Punjab
Families of Kashmiri students who were first duped and then physically abused by employees of the Deshbhagat University in the Punjab region of India demonstrated on Monday in Srinagar’s press colony to demand justice for their children.
The families claim that because of an injustice done to them, their daughters are on the point of killing themselves. The four-year nursing program students enrolled in 2021 claim they were misled. The university recently decided to transfer Kashmiri students outside the university to another campus, which the students say is unrecognized and hampers their employment opportunities.
Intimidation, character assassination, physical violence, and even life threats were used against Kashmiri nursing students last week at Deshbhakt University (DBU). Students were also brutally lathi-charged and imprisoned inside a university building for speaking out against an unfair university decision. When they learned that a First Information Report (FIR) had been filed against the young students, who had been demonstrating for more than a week, they suffered another setback.
Three civilians booked under PSA in Kishtwar district
In the Jammu region’s Kishtwar district, the occupying Indian troops detained three civilians on Monday under the fictitious designation of over-ground workers (OGWs) under the Public Safety Act (PSA). The citizens were identified as Dachan’s Riyaz Ahmad, Kishtwar’s Zahoor Kamal, and Touseef-Ul-Nabi from Main Kishtwar.
Notably, hundreds of innocent Kashmiris are being kept inhumanely in various jails in India by Indian agencies and the army who have charged them under pretenses. The majority of them have been imprisoned in these facilities for more than five years without having been tried.
