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It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

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    It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister (OP)


    Salaam

    Change in Pakistan, wonder if he will make a difference?

    here's what we can expect of him

    Even a genuinely reformist candidate in the state has to find some kind of accommodation with the military – but that appeasement also carries the risk that the occupant of the presidential palace will find his middle class followers disillusioned


    It is tempting to see the rise of Imran Khan in Pakistan as a sort of counterpart to the En Marche! phenomenon in France that propelled Emmanuel Macron to power. As Mr Khan enjoys a surge in support for his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice, or PTI), and every chance of winning the elections this week, there are some parallels between the young French president and the youthful (though 65-year-old) Mr Khan.

    Mr Khan enjoys a legendary charisma, mostly born of his cricketing prowess, as if Gareth Southgate or Harry Kane were running to be prime minister of Britain. We know him in Britain too as the former husband of Jemima Goldsmith, and thus brother-in-law to her brother Zac.

    He has glamour, then, and a common touch that has seen his party make inroads in the populous Punjab, without which none can rule in Pakistan. Mr Khan has also made radical, reformist noises, pledged to rid his land of endemic corruption, and, more predictably, attacked the United States from its drone powered incursions into the Islamic Republic’s territory.

    Mr Khan, in other words, promises much, and, like Mr Macron, founded and still leads his own political party, which at times is not much more than a fan club for its handsome head. (Though the basically populist PTI is much older than En Marche!)

    Mr Khan and the PTI has done well in recent years in building support, mainly at the expense of two older parties, the vaguely progressive Pakistan Peoples Party, currently led by another member of the Bhutto dynasty, and the more conservative Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), whose ex-leader, and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was recently jailed on corruption charges.

    All, however, is not what it seems. Mr Khan is widely regarded as being an ally of what remains the most powerful institution in the country and the only one, according to Mr Khan, that functions effectively – the army.

    The generals, a ruthless though stabilising force in Pakistani society, are reportedly “pre-rigging” the election in Mr Khan’s favour, including the arrest of Sharif (which is not to say that the move was unjust). It seems that the PTI has suffered less from electoral violence than some of its rivals, including a terror attack at a rally in Baluchistan that killed 149 people.

    Condemning corruption is not consistent with being cosy with the Pakistani army, a body that controls substantial chunks of the economy and has plenty of money and the muscle to get its way, on a national scale and by way of kickbacks and petty corruption and abuse of power. The army has frequently intervened in Pakistani politics, subverted democracy, and collaborated with religious extremists, including the Taliban in the 1980s, when young men such as Osama bin Laden were based there to fight America’s proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

    The legacy of that haunts Pakistan to this day. The result is that even a genuinely reformist candidate in the state has to find some kind of accommodation with the military; but that appeasement also carries the risk that the occupant of the presidential palace will find his middle class followers disillusioned. If he chooses instead to challenge the army, then, like Mr Sharif, he may find himself more or less gently deposed.

    Pakistan’s endemic problems with graft and corruption go a long way to explaining its long-term disappointing economic performance, despite a recent spate of growth. That matters in a predominantly young nation of some 200 million, and which must look with envy at what its neighbours India and China have been able to achieve in recent decades.

    If Mr Khan is unable to do much about the corruption, then he will find the economy works way below its potential, and foreign investors, already wary of political instability and the backwash of violence from Afghanistan, will prefer to put their euros, yen and dollars into India.

    Without economic growth, better public infrastructure, and opportunities, unemployment, health and education are harder to come by. Pakistan’s severe social problems, including the treatment of women and human rights generally, will remain intractable without money, something Mr Khan, a prominent philanthropist, at least shows awareness of.

    Last, Mr Khan is no better placed to deal with tribalism than his rivals. He too enjoys a regional base of support in Punjab, and has had to rely on old-school defecting politicians from other parties and prominent families to bolster his support. He optimistically describes these mercenary politicians as “electables”, though corruptibles might be a better sobriquet.

    Pakistan, then, may change under Mr Khan, and for the better, but it will take formidable skill to make this happen. Mr Khan has won for Pakistan many times on the cricket pitch; he will find his new job a much stickier wicket.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/imran-khan-pakistan-election-prime-minister-muslim-league-army-macron-en-marche-zac-goldsmith-a8460436.html

    An old interview.


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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

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    Salaam

    Lots of comment.



    A harder stance. (Ex - military)







    A cautious stance.







    Another Ex-military, perspective.







    Reaction from the UK





    Protests from Bangladesh.

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-06-2019 at 09:08 PM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    I wish Bangladesh had a more conservative, anti-indian government. I would definitely have volunteered for military service against India.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    I think Pakistan and Bangladesh should attack India from both sides... let's fix those cow worshippers once and for all
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    format_quote Originally Posted by Ahmed. View Post
    I think Pakistan and Bangladesh should attack India from both sides... let's fix those cow worshippers once and for all
    Bangladesh government is an Indian proxy.

    As I said the government would need to change, if Bangladesh had someone like Erdogan I would honestly enlist in the military without a doubt.

    Anyway I don't think Pakistan will invade Kashmir without Chinese cooperation. If Pakistan and China both attack, then India would be royally screwed.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update.


    Humiliating Kashmir is part of Modi’s plan to remake India


    The brutal abolition of the region’s special status is another stage in the prime minister’s Hindu nationalist project

    On Valentine’s Day this year, Narendra Modi went on a date with Bear Grylls. As the two men set off on an “adventure of a lifetime” in India’s Corbett national park, 500 miles to the north in the valley of Kashmir a suicide bomber drove a truck laden with explosives into a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian paramilitary forces. Forty troops were blown to bits in the blast. It was the bloodiest single atrocity suffered by Indian security personnel in the savage history of the Kashmir conflict.

    A trailer for Grylls’ programme Man vs Wild, released last week by Discovery, shows the duo wandering the wilderness that afternoon, sniffing animal excrement and sharing laughs and survival techniques. Opposition politicians have seized on the film to accuse the Indian prime minister of not interrupting his escapade with Grylls immediately on news of the atrocity – a charge the government has denied.

    Either way, Modi, a consummate method actor, was playing “the conservationist”. He added this role to an extensive repertoire – poet, sage, statesman, he-man, yogi – that he has deftly deployed to craft a cult of personality unrivalled in the democratic world, not least for a man who was once widely castigated as a Hindu supremacist. Within two weeks of the shoot, Modi, campaigning for re-election, ordered Indian jets to breach Pakistan’s airspace and bomb targets deep inside enemy territory. That decision, drawing south Asia’s nuclear-armed adversaries to the precipice of an all-out war, helped to seal Modi’s victory even before a vote was cast. And in the two months since his triumph, Modi has moved aggressively to consolidate his grip and establish himself as the father of what his worshippers call “New India”.

    The solidification of the cult of Modi has been accompanied by an aggressive erosion of the legal and constitutional foundations on which the Indian republic stands. Last week the government arrogated to itself powers to designate individuals as terrorists. Presumption of innocence, legal representation and the right to judicial appeal – everything that distinguishes a civilised democracy from an autocracy – is severely restricted. Muslims and other minorities, favoured quarry of the lynch mobs emboldened by the regime, will be the principal targets of the new measures.

    Lest there was any doubt, Amit Shah, Modi’s dreaded enforcer and the minister responsible for law and order, clarified in parliament that “urban Naxals” – a label that encompasses everyone from leftwing intellectuals to rootless cosmopolitans sceptical of the Modi regime – “will not be spared”.

    Organised political opposition to Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata party is being meticulously wiped out. July ended with the collapse of a coalition government in Karnataka, one of the few states where the BJP was not in power, after opposition legislators dramatically switched sides and joined Modi’s party.

    Now August has begun with the partition and abolition of the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir – which acceded to India in 1947 on the assurance that it would be granted special constitutional safeguards – by a presidential decree. Kashmir is now under the thumb of the union government, and the region’s elected leaders have been thrown in jail. Communications, including land lines, have been cut off. Ordinary Kashmiris have no means of speaking to the rest of India. The most monumental redesign of Delhi’s constitutional arrangement with India’s sole Muslim-majority state, hatched in secrecy, occurred without a debate in parliament.

    Modi’s willingness to take the risk was no doubt dictated by the reward. He has in one stroke ground down and humiliated Kashmiris, and held them up as an example to other Indian states, a demonstration that nobody is immune from his untrammelled authority. The termination of Kashmir’s special status is simultaneously a culmination of a longstanding Hindu nationalist yearning to domesticate the region’s dissenting Muslim majority and a successful test case for the project to remake the entirety of India in accordance with Modi’s ideology. What has happened there will be repeated elsewhere. A spike in militancy or even an outbreak of hostilities with Pakistan can only boost the fortunes of a leader who, presiding over a decelerating economy, has little to offer besides demagogy.

    “One country, one system,” Modi’s acolytes cry with sadistic glee at Kashmiris who are curfewed and cut off from the world. Next week India will mark 72 years of independence from British rule. For many Indians, forced suddenly to pledge allegiance to a de facto one-party state under one supreme leader, it will be the beginning of an inquisition – not an occasion for celebration.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...special-status

    Hindutva ideology in action.



    Good to know









    Sri Lanka and Maldives support Indias decision.



    And of course the Zios



    Taliban response.



    The harsh reality



    Its not all bleak





    I wasnt expecting this.

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-08-2019 at 08:41 PM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    More analysis.

    Heating up all over


    It looks increasingly as if the world wants war, despite the social mood metric of the stock market being at an all-time high.
    New Delhi has declared it is revoking a decades-old constitutional provision that granted special powers to the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir. The move comes amid ongoing flare-ups between India and Pakistan over the region.

    The majority-Muslim region that became part of India in the times of decolonization, and has been a point of dispute between India and Pakistan ever since, has enjoyed broad autonomy under the Indian constitution. It is the only Indian state that was allowed to have its own constitution.

    All laws passed by the Indian parliament, except for those regarding defense, communications, and foreign policy, had to first be ratified by the local legislature before coming into force in Kashmir. Apart from that, only local residents could purchase land or property in the state or hold office there.

    This will no longer be the case starting Monday, New Delhi has announced. A resolution to revoke Kashmir’s special status was introduced on Monday by Home Minister Amit Shah and enshrined in a decree signed by President Ram Nath Kovind, the ceremonial head of India.
    Translation: The Hindu nationalists are intending to crack down hard on India's Muslims. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were large-scale population transfers in the cards. Remember, we're living at the end of one of the greatest global peacetime expansions in human history. The correction will therefore likely be of similar scale and scope.

    http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/08/h...-all-over.html
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update



    This triumvirate of evil has turned its sights on Kashmir


    Russian revolutionary leader Lenin once said, “Show me who your friends are, and I will tell you what you are.” If we apply this to Narendra Modi and India, we can see that the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy counts among his closest allies both Israel and Myanmar. That speaks volumes, and does nothing for his carefully nurtured uncle-ji image.

    It cannot be lost on anyone that Israel and Myanmar have appalling records for riding roughshod over international human rights and UN sanctions whilst enforcing brutal occupations, committing war crimes and carrying out ethnic cleansing. That’s why the world should not be too surprised that India has delivered a dream scenario to the extremist Hindu nationalists in its ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by stripping Indian-controlled Kashmir of its decades-old special status which gave the Muslim-majority state unique levels of autonomy.

    However, the disputed land of Jammu and Kashmir appears to be in danger of being ethnically cleansed by Modi, who has repeatedly demonised the region and its people by labelling it as a hotbed of religious extremism and terrorism. That’s the well-worn terminology used by various tyrants around the world when they want to crush and oppress ordinary people.

    Modi’s next move may well be to ethnically cleanse the Kashmiris from their land in a scorched earth policy like the one conducted successfully by the military in Myanmar in 2015 against the Rohingya people. Both may have taken their cue from the Nakba in 1947 when Palestinians were driven from their lands at gunpoint by Zionist terror gangs and the nascent Israel Defence Forces.

    At the time of writing, 48 hours have passed and not one word has come out of Washington where Donald Trump, the so-called leader of the free world, remains uncharacteristically mute about what India has done. In Britain, home to the world’s largest diaspora Kashmiri community, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also remained silent, as has new Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Even the opposition Labour Party has been slow to condemn the unfolding drama. The extremely active pro-BJP political lobby has invested heavily in ways to infiltrate and influence political parties of all stripes on both sides of the Atlantic, and is clearly starting to reap the benefits.

    It is quite clear that India spurred on by its close friends, will be emboldened to continue its military campaign. As Modi was putting the final touches to this treachery last weekend, he and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu were playing footsie on Twitter in “honour of Friendship Day”.

    “Happy #FriendshipDay2019 India!” tweeted the Israeli Embassy in India. “May our ever strengthening friendship & #growingpartnership touch greater heights.” Modi responded in Hebrew: “Thank you. I wish a happy Friendship Day to the wonderful citizens of Israel and to my friend [Benjamin Netanyahu].” India and Israel proved their friendship throughout the ages, he continued. “Our relationship is strong and everlasting. I wish that our countries’ friendship will grow and bloom even more in the future.” The love-in between Tel Aviv and New Delhi continued with another tweet from Netanyahu: “Thank you, my friend, India PM @narendramodi. I could not agree with you more. The deep connection between Israel and India is rooted in the strong friendships between Israelis and Indians. We cooperate in so many areas. I know our ties will only strengthen in the future!”

    Netanyahu apparently intends to visit Modi next month, no doubt to offer more advice on how to make friends and influence people while crushing any resistance to occupation; in other words how to get away with murder in full view of the international community. Modi was probably given similar advice by Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing who visited Delhi last month, when India and Myanmar signed a defence cooperation agreement. The Indian leader invited Hlaing to visit India right after the US announced a visa ban on him visiting America due to the Rohingya genocide.

    The key players in this triumvirate of evil are all passionate about their brutal occupations of Kashmir, Palestine and Rakhine State, where most of the remaining Rohingya live. The three have spent billions supplying and exporting weapons to each other over the past decade and their police forces have also traded information and training on how to conduct “anti-terror” operations against Kashmiris, Palestinians and Rohingya.

    The objective of self-determination held dear by millions of Kashmiris and Palestinians has been thwarted and diminished by the post-9/11 “war against terror”, a euphemism for attacks on “Islamist terrorism”, a term that has gained a lot of currency in Myanmar these days. Written off and demonised as so-called Islamist extremists, this toxic label has made the rest of the world less willing to challenge the cultural, physical and brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, Rohingya and now, I have no doubt, Kashmiris.

    As the UN once again proves to be a toothless organisation in the face of this latest act against the Kashmiris and their rights, it will be down to global solidarity movements to come together and demand justice. Sadly, there are few crumbs of comfort for the people of Kashmir; not for nothing are its people known as the forgotten Palestinians.

    As Israel, Myanmar and India gloat in their solidarity, mutual support and friendship, one can only guess what will be the next stage in what could prove to be the final chapter of Kashmir’s bloody story since 1947 when India and Pakistan became locked in conflict over the Muslim-majority region in the northernmost part of India. It will not be lost on Narendra Modi that Myanmar has ethnically cleansed more than a million Rohingya in recent years without a single prosecution in the international courts. Thanks to Modi’s new best friend Benjamin Netanyahu and his ilk, the plight of Palestinian refugees has, if anything, worsened year by year over the past seven decades. In short, Modi knows that India is more than likely going to be able to get away with murder, as Myanmar has, and Israel has. This triumvirate of evil has innocent blood on its hands, and things are about to get worse.

    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...ts-on-kashmir/

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-09-2019 at 11:52 PM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    More analysis.

    How to combat nationalism

    Indian Prime Minister Modi is attempting a bold political stroke intended to extinguish the spirit of Kashmir's independence and is utilizing some strategies that might strike the American observer as being more than a little familiar:

    Internally, Modi’s bold re-designation of Kashmir as a union territory with a legislature is a dream fulfilled for Indian nationalistic sentiment which never accepted the compromise provisions in the Indian Constitution under Articles 370 and 35A, wherein Muslim-majority Kashmir had been allowed a parallel Constitution with a flag of its own. State governments in Kashmir had powers over law enforcement, residence and property rights. Central laws had no validity in Kashmir unless the local legislature approved them.

    In effect, the autonomous status turned Kashmir into a ghetto with a mentality of uniqueness and distinctness from the rest of India. It strengthened the nearly seven million Kashmiri Muslims’ feeling that they are not Indians but a different nationality who deserve to keep Indians out of their paradisiacal enclave except as visiting tourists....

    Over time, the halfway house existence of Kashmir as a state within India and yet a nation that does not emotionally belong to India failed to meet both India’s objectives and Kashmiri Muslims’ aspirations. Waves of anti-India uprisings and insurgencies, supported from across the border by Pakistan, kept Kashmir burning. Autonomy had become a slippery slope for separatism, jihadist extremism and alienation of Kashmiri Muslims from the rest of India.

    Modi’s bet is that by corralling Kashmir under tighter central government control, he will marginalise the secessionist politicians there, open Kashmir up for the return of Hindu Kashmiri minorities who had been ethnically cleansed by jihadists in the late 1980s, and alter the demographic mix in Kashmir through settlement of Indians of all religious and ethnic backgrounds.

    Since autonomy backfired, Modi is saying ‘enough with appeasement’ and aiming for assimilation and complete integration of Kashmir. Demographically, the idea is to dissolve Kashmiri separatism in a sea of Indian nationalism through the intermixing of populations, blunting the sharp edge of separatism that comes from lack of ethnic heterogeneity in the Kashmir Valley, where 97 percent of the population is Muslim.... Modi’s determined push for total absorption of Indian Kashmir into India proper presents an existential challenge to the long-entrenched Pakistani strategy of fanning alienation of Kashmiri Muslims against India. If Kashmiri Muslims are reorganised and no longer grouped together as an exclusive ethnic entity, Pakistan will find it a lot harder to foment the flame of self-determination.

    Modi is redefining the very meaning and identity of ‘self’ in Kashmir, a process that will take years and decades, but whose endpoint will be dilution of pro-independence and pro-Pakistan affiliations in the reshuffled Kashmiri society of the future. Kashmiri Muslims may become further alienated from India as a result of this makeover, but Modi is calculating that, in years to come, they will no longer be numerically so dominant as to stymie Indian sovereignty.
    Demographically dissolving a nation through the intermixing of populations and ethnic heterogeniety just sounds so very... 1965?

    Anyhow, this strategy will almost certainly lead to war in Kashmir. And elsewhere.

    http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/08/h...tionalism.html
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update.

    Blurb

    India revoked Articles 370 and 35A which granted Jammu and Kashmir special status. The significance of this move is little understood, Bilal Abdul Kareem explains it's dangerous implications in OGN Perspective.



    Blurb

    India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a bright new future for the state of Kashmir that he's had in total lockdown for the past four days.

    In a national address he pledged new jobs, new infrastructure and cultural development.

    But with more than 500 people reportedly arrested in Indian controlled Kashmir and anger growing in neighbouring Pakistan, tension continues to rise.




    A heated debate.

    Blurb

    Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan. India has just made things worse, by revoking the Indian-administered region's autonomy. Although Islamabad says not to the point of it considering military action, for now.
    Pakistan's government is looking to challenge Kashmir's disputed status politically and legally. It's downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi, suspended trade and shut down an express train service to its neighbour.

    India has urged Pakistan to review what it's doing, in retaliation to what it says is an 'internal affair'. Despite the escalation, Pakistan says war is not an option.

    But can an armed conflict be averted?




    Before we forget.



    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-09-2019 at 06:05 AM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    More comment and analysis.

    Reconquista: Jammu and Kashmir under direct Hindutva supremacist rule

    The Hindutva “reconquest” of Jammu and Kashmir has begun, and the subcontinent’s Muslims now face a powerful and fascist India, writes Jahangir Mohammed.

    On the 5th of August, the Indian Parliament repealed Article’s 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution, which granted Jammu and Kashmir (JK) a special status. These laws have been in place since 1949, confirming JK as an accession state, giving hope to the people of the region that they would one day be given the right to self-determination. JK had the ability to have its own flag, own constitution and assembly, and determine its own laws. Article 35A also prohibited those outside of Kashmir from purchasing property and taking residency in JK so the Muslim majority demographic could not be altered by a huge Hindu population in India.

    Article 370 provided some smokescreen of autonomy to JK and allowed its politicians to nurture relationships with India. The belief was that through this arrangement JK would become a permanent part of India. The “special status” was a myth. The region has never been free of Indian military control, but it allowed India to claim JK was “Indian administered” rather than Indian occupied – the latter being the reality. With the repeal of these articles and the arrest of Kashmiri leaders, the notion of an “Indian administered” Kashmir is dead. India has made JK part of India by force. JK is now officially occupied by India, in violation of the Indian constitution, the JK constitution and UN resolutions.

    Why has India acted now?

    At partition of India, JK leaders and some Muslim leaders in India, had pro Indian nationalist sentiments, and a deeply held belief that it was better for Muslims to be part of a united India. They believed that a secular democracy would grant Muslims their rights and protection. The view of the two-state Pakistan Movement was that Hindu majority rule would ultimately lead to Hindu dominance and oppression, and that Muslims could only be safe in a separate Muslim majority state. When it came to Kashmir, an autonomous Princely State, a Muslim majority population were prevented from choosing to become part of India or Pakistan, or remaining independent, by its Hindu ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, who was pro India and signed a treaty with India. After two wars between India and Pakistan, with Chinese involvement, Kashmir became partitioned. China took the Aksai Chin region and Pakistan controlled what became Azad (free) Kashmir whilst India maintained control of Jammu Kashmir including the Buddhist region of Ladakh.

    India had always hoped that with economic success, the majority Kashmiri Muslims would become pro India at some point, a referendum could then be held (in accordance with United Nations resolutions) and India would be chosen. However, over time this has not happened and Kashmiri masses unlike many of its leaders have inclined towards Pakistan or increasingly independence.

    Uprisings for freedom by Kashmiri’s in 1987 led to direct military occupation of the region by up to 500,000 Indian troops, now 32 years on. During this time, nearly 100,000 Kashmiri’s have been killed, thousands raped or tortured, and held without due process as political prisoners.

    The latest uprising among Kashmiri youth started three years ago with the death of resistance leader Burhan Wani in July 2016. It has led to thousands of Kashmiris being blinded by Indian troops firing pellets. This makes a mockery of the notion that JK is being “administered” and not militarily occupied by India.

    The spirit unleashed by a young Kashmiri population demonstrating for freedom from India, has showed no signs of ending. With a Hindutva fascist movement and government in India (with Muslims in India also being a target of anti-Muslim hatred), there was no prospect that the Kashmiri people would ever become part of India by choice. So, the BJP rulers decided to make Kashmir part of Hindutva rule by force and change its demographics, so it will no longer be a majority Muslim region.

    The rise of Hindutva fascist India – A global challenge


    At the heart of the problem for Muslims in India, Kashmir, Pakistan and the rest of the world is the rise of a virulent Hindutva (‘Hinduness’) supremacist political and religious ideology that now rules India. Its political wing, the BJP has been democratically elected twice and is becoming stronger every day. Its paramilitary wing, the RSS (Rastriya Svayamsevaka Saṅgha), of which Modi was a member, has permeated all facets of Indian society. The RSS has done this as leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (the “family of the RSS”). This includes the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council) a militant organisation which promotes Hinduisation of India, the Hindu Sena (Army of Hindus) and Shiv Sena (Army of Shivaji). The BJP is now the largest political party in the world whilst the umbrella RSS is the largest social voluntary organisation in the world. The RSS was banned under British rule and by early independence Indian governments.

    Hindutva supremacist ideology seeks to create a Hindu identity society by restore Hindu rule, by cleansing India of what it considers foreign alien elements; including Muslims and Christians, their culture, language, heritage, religious beliefs and places of worship. It seeks a return India to its pre-Muslim times, including the forced conversion of Muslims to their pre-Muslim Hindu beliefs. For the last decade at least, this propaganda has been pumped out at all levels of mainstream Indian society.

    The problem for Muslims of Kashmir and Pakistan is that the re-conquest of land is also an integral part of the Hindutva vision. It views the historical Indus valley/river civilisation as part of Hindu India. The historical centres of this civilisation are claimed to be Mohen je daro and Harappa in Pakistan. Whilst in Kashmir, the priestly Kashmiri Hindu Pandit caste (or Kashmiri Brahmins) claim to have a pre-Muslim historical claim and pre-independence right as Hindu rulers with Muslim subjects.

    In the context of the rise of this Hindu supremacist ideology, the forced integration of Kashmir into “Hindu rule” in India was inevitable. What happened a few days ago will be viewed by the Hindu supremacists through the lens of a ‘Hindu Reconquista’ of Kashmir.

    Pakistan and Imran Khan’s miscalculations

    Whilst the BJP government has made the current move for its own ideological reasons, the decision has been calculated at a time when Pakistan is politically and economically weak and dependent on debt finance. Not just from the IMF, but more importantly from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who Modi has successfully courted. Any reaction from Pakistan will be curtailed by pro-Modi Gulf rulers whose economies are being managed mainly by Hindu Indian businessmen and workers.

    It also comes at a time when Pakistan’s political leader, Prime Minister Imran Khan, has made a major plank of his government’s policy, anti-war, pro-peace, and political settlement of conflicts and disputes. Peace is a noble human goal, but you have to understand the psychology of the enemy you’re dealing with.

    His constant talk of peace, to try and shed the image of Pakistan as a “terrorist supporting” state, was bound to be seen as a weakness by the militant Hindutva ideologues in India who are prepared to achieve their political goals militarily. As such it was short-sighted. His constant appeals to international diplomacy and settlement are also a miscalculation about the realities of achieving peace through international agencies and the US – another sign of undeniable weakness.

    Practically, Pakistan will be unable to act, and may have to accept as a reality that Jammu Kashmir is part of India, which would mean that de facto Azad Kashmir would become part of Pakistan, unless India decides to take that too. Temporary lines of control have a habit of becoming permanent. This would be the very betrayal that Kashmiris have long predicted.

    The people of both sides of Kashmir will be unhappy with such an arrangement, and the Kashmiri quest for self-determination and resistance will continue, regardless of what India or Pakistan do or don’t do.

    Of all the conflicts affecting the Muslim Ummah, the Kashmiri cause has been the most neglected by Muslim activists and masses. What is now required for the rest of the Muslim masses is to stand with the Kashmiri people and against the rise of Hindutva fascist rule, if only in their own interests. The rise of Hindutva fascism will affect many Muslims around the world, and silence is no longer an option.

    https://5pillarsuk.com/2019/08/07/re...remacist-rule/

    Another random example fo the current ruling ideology in action.



    Like to share, unexpected from the Sauds (though it is from a 'liberal' viewpoint).

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-09-2019 at 11:57 PM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    The Zio influenced New York Times chimes in with their opinion. Probably privately happy that Pakistan has been manoeuvred into a tight spot.

    Pakistan Runs Out of Options as India Tightens Grip on Kashmir

    The dispute over Kashmir has long been a flash point between India and Pakistan, with each nuclear-armed country holding the threat of retaliation over the other. But when India stripped the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir of its autonomy this week, Pakistan’s reaction appeared to be limited to high-level hand-wringing.

    As Pakistan marks its independence day next week, it increasingly feels like a nation with its back against the wall, with few options to protect its existential interests. Its economy is teetering on the brink of collapse, and its international allies have either stayed silent over Kashmir or defected in support of India.

    A conventional military reaction is probably too costly as Pakistan seeks to shore up its finances. And one of the most effective strategies Pakistan has traditionally employed — using an array of militant groups as proxies to keep neighbors in check — has become a liability, amid the threat of international sanctions. (Pakistan has denied that it uses militant groups to achieve its foreign policy objectives.)

    “The economy is hindering Pakistan’s options. As economic growth slows, can they really afford a war right now?” said Arif Rafiq, the president of Vizier Consulting, a consulting firm on South Asian political and security issues. “Their capacity to bear the cost of a full-fledged conflict with India over Kashmir, whether via insurgent networks or conventionally — there just are not a lot of options Pakistan has.”

    Even Afghan Taliban leaders, who have long been sheltered in Pakistan, seem to have turned their backs on their ally of late.

    Last year, in an effort to end its global isolation, Pakistan agreed to help the United States end its war in Afghanistan by delivering the Taliban leadership to the table for peace talks. In doing so, Pakistan employed one of its greatest sources of leverage with the United States. Those talks are now nearing a conclusion, with American negotiators sitting across the table from their Taliban counterparts and aiming to reach a settlement soon.

    In recent days, several Pakistani government officials have demanded that their country end its cooperation in the peace talks to protest American silence over India’s elimination of Kashmir’s autonomy. But the Taliban on Thursday issued a forceful statement warning against any meddling.

    “Linking the issue of Kashmir with that of Afghanistan by some parties will not aid in improving the crisis at hand because the issue of Afghanistan is not related, nor should Afghanistan be turned into the theater of competition between other countries,” the Taliban statement read.

    The outcome of the peace talks and Pakistan’s role in them will likely influence whether the country finds itself blacklisted internationally over its continued support of terrorist organizations, a move that could save or break its faltering economy. The Paris-based group that monitors terrorism financing, the Financial Action Task Force, will vote in October on whether Pakistan has done enough to crack down on militant networks at home.

    Pakistan hopes to make the case that it has moved against militant groups and should be taken off the gray list on which the watchdog placed it last year. Pakistan deeply fears it could be blacklisted and denied access to international financial markets at a time when it desperately needs loans to stay afloat. If Pakistan is blacklisted, that could tip its economy into recession.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan seemed worried about the lack of options to force India to renounce its new Kashmir policy.

    Meeting with Pakistani journalists on Thursday, Mr. Khan dismissed using “jihadi organizations” against India in Kashmir. “There are more disadvantages than advantages,” Mr. Khan said, according to Amber Rahim Shamsi, a reporter for Samaa TV who attended the meeting.

    The possibility of international sanctions also seemed to weigh on Mr. Khan.

    “Pakistan has taken every step to get itself out of the baggage of the past,’’ the prime minister told the group of journalists, according to a second account of the meeting.

    He said the government had undertaken “a complete cleansing operation” against terrorist groups. “My government has ensured there is a complete and sincere effort to bring Pakistan out of FATF,” Mr. Khan added, referring to the Financial Action Task Force.

    Pakistan’s foreign minister has said he would raise the issue of Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council for a vote. But so far, the country’s closest allies have remained silent on the matter.

    Muslim nations have usually supported Pakistan’s claims on Kashmir. But with their own economic and political troubles at home, many have tilted toward India, looking to secure lucrative deals with the ascending economic power.

    The biggest blow came from the influential United Arab Emirates, which stated that Kashmir was an internal matter for India, withdrawing any support to raise the issue internationally.

    India has long maintained that Kashmir is an internal issue; the disputed territory chose to join India rather than Pakistan during partition in 1947, based on assurances that its autonomy would be maintained. Pakistani forces invaded part of Kashmir and now control that part of the territory.

    When Pakistan agreed after the September 11, 2001 attacks to help the United States fight terrorist groups, it asked for a favor in return — American help mediating on Kashmir and pressing India to make concessions. When the United States refused, Pakistan felt betrayed.

    Just last month Pakistanis felt more upbeat about their country’s prospects. Mr. Khan had returned from a visit to the White House where he met with Mr. Trump, who promised to intervene on Kashmir. But India’s swift action days later to strip Kashmir of its autonomy plunged Pakistan back into isolation.

    “The U.S. has again let us down, and those who were starry-eyed about the American trip have got a wake-up call,” Senator Mushahid Hussain said in a speech this week.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/w...-pakistan.html

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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update

    Missed this, Jeremy Corbyn speaks




    Kashmir on the Edge of the Abyss


    In an unsettled world, amid violent wars and imperial occupations, with all norms ruthlessly cast aside, did Kashmir really have a chance to be free? As unrest spreads, India, the vaunted “world’s largest democracy,” has imposed a total communications blackout. Kashmir is cut off from the world. With even the most conciliatory and collaborationist political leaders now under house arrest, one can only fear the worst for the rest of the region’s population.

    For almost half a century, Kashmir has been ruled from Delhi with the utmost brutality. In 2009, the discovery of some 2,700 unmarked graves in three of the region’s twenty-two districts alone confirmed what had long been suspected: a decades-long history of disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Torture and rape of both women and men has been reported, but since the Indian Army is effectively above the law, its soldiers have impunity in perpetrating these atrocities and nobody can be charged with war crimes.

    By way of contrast, in India’s far north-eastern state of Manipur, the local women constantly subjected to rape by Indian Army personnel reacted in 2004 with one of the most striking and memorable of public demonstrations—a group of twelve women and girls, aged from eight to eighty, stripped bare and paraded outside the local Indian Army headquarters carrying placards with the tauntingly sarcastic slogan “Come and Rape Us.” They were protesting the mutilation and execution, following her suspected gang rape, of thirty-two-year-old activist Thangjam Manorama by paramilitaries of the 17th Assam Rifles. Their Kashmiri peers, subjected to similar abuses and worse, have been too fearful to do the same.

    Many women in Kashmir are scared to tell their own families of their ordeals at the hands of the Indian military, for fear of patriarchal reprisals at home in the name of “honor.” Angana Chatterji, then a professor of social and cultural anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (and now a program co-chair at UC Berkeley), has described one appalling episode, uncovered by her fieldwork from 2006 to 2011 researching human rights abuses in Kashmir:

    Rest of article here.

    https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/0...-of-the-abyss/ Like to share.

    Like to share.


    Blurb


    India removed a law that granted special status to Indian-administered Kashmir alongside enforcing a curfew, cutting off all means of communication and sending massive troop deployment to the region. Bilal Abdul Kareem interviews a Kashmiri activist about the topic. The activists identity had to be hidden in order to protect his and his family’s safety.




    Blurb


    India’s government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently announced its decision to scrap the Article 370 of the Constitution, This move marks a major shift away from a decades-long policy and breaks a fragile equilibrium



    Blurb

    Stay tuned till the end of the video. My aim is not to leave your feeling sad and hopeless, rather it is to ignite a flame of healing within yourself and others.


    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-16-2019 at 10:24 AM.
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  17. #53
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Protests.











    This is from Sikhs, some of them want to separate from India and create their own independent state.





    Not just them either.







    UN PC Comment.

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-17-2019 at 08:58 AM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update



    Armed forces in Kashmir are detaining children and molesting women and girls amid a state-wide blackout, report claims

    • Kashmir is in its 11th day of a state-wide curfews and a total internet and phone blackout.

    • A group of economists and activists published a report Wednesday saying that security forces in the region have abducted hundreds of boys in midnight raids and detained them.

    • Officials also molested women and girls during those raids, the report said. Forces have also been firing pellet guns at civilians, the researchers said.

    • The report was compiled using conversations with hundreds of people in and around Kashmir state, all of whom were too afraid to speak on camera for fear of Indian government persecution.

    • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that his government's actions in Kashmir are liberating women, girls, and marginalized communities.


    Security forces in Kashmir have abducted hundreds of boys in midnight raids and molested women and girls amid the state's 11-day blackout, a group of Indian economists and activists said in a new report.

    Regional police, army, and paramilitary forces have raided hundred of homes around the region and arbitrarily snatched "very young schoolboys and teenagers" from their beds from as early as August 5, the investigation — titled "Kashmir Caged" and published Wednesday— said.

    Those officers also molested women and girls during these nighttime raids, the researchers said, without specifying exactly what their actions were.

    The report doesn't explicitly say whether those officers were employed by the Kashmiri regional government or the Indian government. However, most police, paramilitary, and army officers in Jammu and Kashmir work under the Indian government.

    Though the researchers spoke with hundreds of ordinary people — from students to shopkeepers to local journalists — around the state from August 9 and 13 for their report, nobody was willing to speak on camera for fear of persecution from the Indian government, the economists said.

    Parents were afraid to tell them about their sons' abductions as they didn't want to arrested for disrupting state security. Some worried that their boys would be "disappeared" — killed in custody — because their family had spoken out, the report said.

    There are no formal records of these arrests, one civilian said, so if someone was killed in custody the police could claim that they were never taken in the first place.

    One 11-year-old boy in Pampore, a town in western Kashmir, told the researchers he was beaten up during his detention from August 5 to 11, and that there were boys even younger than him in custody.

    The researchers also said that Kashmiri security forces have been indiscriminately firing pellet guns against civilians, leaving them hospitalized and bleeding internally.

    The report comes as Kashmir remains under heavy lockdown and a communications blackout. Thursday marks the 11th day of phone and internet lines being cut.

    Journalists in Kashmir have reported being prohibited from moving around the region, and local TV channels and news websites are unable to function.

    Some local journalists have been able to continue file stories either with a satellite phone or giving USB sticks of their work to people flying out of the region, but they remain a minority.

    People in the city of Srinagar have also been able to organize large-scale protests despite the communications ban.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/kash...19-8?r=US&IR=T

    Related article.



    Hindutva ideology in action.

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-17-2019 at 08:57 AM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Like to share, the Kashmir segment starts at approx. 40 min.

    Blurb

    Join us this week on our Unscripted podcast with Adnan Rashid.

    They give a much needed background to the current Kashmir crisis, Hindu extremism, the importance of learning our history and preparing Muslims to lead the world once again.





    Hah!



    Oh dear.

    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-19-2019 at 10:35 PM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update.

    Narendra Modi to visit UAE, Bahrain, UAE, Modi in UAE

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay his third visit to the UAE on August 23-24, and receive the Zayed Medal, India's Ministry of External Affairs has announced.

    Modi is also scheduled to visit Bahrain from 24 to 25.

    During his visit, the prime minister will meet His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to discuss bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

    "Prime Minister Modi would receive the Order of Zayed, the highest civil decoration of the UAE which was conferred earlier in April 2019 in recognition of the distinguished leadership of Prime Minister Modi for giving a big boost to bilateral relations between the two countries. The award in the name of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, acquires special significance as it was awarded to Prime Minister Modi in the year of the birth centenary of Sheikh Zayed," read the statement.

    The ministry said India and the UAE enjoy warm, close and multi-faceted relations underpinned by cultural, religious and economic linkages which, during the prime minister's previous visit to the UAE during August, 2015, stood elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

    In February 2018, Modi visited UAE as chief guest at the World Government Summit. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed has visited India in February 2016 and again in January 2017 as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

    "With robust flow of bilateral investments and an annual bilateral trade of about $60 billion, the UAE is our third-largest trade partner. Also, the UAE is the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil for India. A 3.3 million-strong vibrant Indian community in the UAE nourishes the vibrant people-to-people contacts between our two friendly countries. The visit would further strengthen our friendly bilateral ties with the UAE."

    Visit to Bahrain

    Modi's visit to Bahrain on August 24 and 25 will be the first ever by an Indian prime minister to the Gulf state.

    During the visit, the prime minister will address the Indian community. The Indian embassy in Bahrain in a tweet on August 17 asked Indians to register to attend Modi's public address.

    The prime minister would also be holding talks with Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, to discuss bilateral relations and also regional and international issues of mutual interest. His Majesty King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain will be hosting a banquet dinner in honour of the prime minister.

    Modi would also launch the renovation of Shreenathji (Shree Krishna) temple in Manama.

    India enjoys close and friendly relations with Bahrain, rooted in ancient trade and cultural links and people to people contacts and underpinned by regular exchange of high level visits. India-Bahrain bilateral trade has been on the rise for the last few years, reaching about $1.3 billion in 2018-19. Further about 3,50,000 Indian nationals, the largest expatriate community in Bahrain has been contributing to the development of Bahrain. The presence of over 3,000 Indian-owned/joint ventures in Bahrain indicates the intense economic engagement between the two countries. The visit will provide an opportunity to further cement our mutually beneficial bilateral ties with Bahrain.

    https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/abu...e-on-august-23

    Comment



    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-20-2019 at 12:21 AM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update.



    Fear and uncertainty around Kashmir's future

    Last week in a controversial move, India revoked the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, allowing India greater authority over the state's affairs.

    The announcement fanned tension with Pakistan, which also claims the region and has fought India over it for more than seven decades. At least 28000 Indian security forces have been deployed; in the capital city Srinagar, a lockdown has been implemented that suspended communication and internet links, and a strict curfew has been imposed. The militant presence raises serious concerns for the health, safety, and freedoms of the Kashmiri people.

    Since the insurgency of Kashmir in 1989, the state has experienced bloody conflict from both sides, resulting in more than 50 000 deaths. According to a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, published last month, gross human rights violations by state security forces and armed groups have occurred, including cross-border firings, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and acts of terrorism.

    The report emphasises continued use of excessive force against civilians—for example, the use of pellet-firing shotguns has led to 1253 people being blinded between 2016 and 2018. Both India and Pakistan have largely dismissed the report's recommendations to end the abuse.

    Despite decades of instability, developmental indicators suggest that Kashmir is doing well compared with the rest of India. In 2016, life expectancy was 68·3 years for men and 71·8 years for women, which are greater than the respective national averages.

    However, the protracted exposure to violence has led to a formidable mental health crisis. A Médecins Sans Frontières study in two rural districts affected by conflict stated that nearly half of Kashmiris rarely felt safe and of those who had lost a family member to violence, one in five had witnessed the death firsthand. Therefore, it is unsurprising that people in the region have increased anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi vows that his decision to revoke autonomy will bring prosperity to Kashmir. But first, the people of Kashmir need healing from the deep wounds of this decades-old conflict, not subjugation to further violence and alienation.

    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...el=tw-27013292



    If you recall approximately a decade and a half ago the Lancet was attacked by the British govt for highlighting the excess deaths caused by the invasion of Iraq.
    Last edited by سيف الله; 08-21-2019 at 05:27 AM.
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update. Hmmmmm.

    Pakistanis angry over Twitter's Kashmir 'censorship'

    Catholic officials, activists concerned about freedom of expression after critics of India have accounts suspended


    Church officials, Pakistani activists and journalists have accused microblogging website Twitter of censorship and bias for shutting down accounts tweeting about India’s decision to strip Kashmir of its autonomy.

    The Indian move on Aug. 5 sparked a war of words among netizens of Pakistan and India on social media platforms.

    Both Pakistan and India claim the disputed Himalayan region in its entirety and have fought at least three wars since winning independence from British rule in 1947.

    In recent days, there has been a spike in suspension of Pakistani accounts mentioning Kashmir or responding to the situation in the valley. Among them are some very prominent journalists, Pakistani officials and pro-government and pro-military accounts.

    Imran Khan, the host of current affairs show Clash on satellite TV GNN, had his account suspended for tweeting about Indian-administered Kashmir.

    “Twitter suspended my account. My crime? Responding to Indians on Kashmir issue. Pakistan has no representatives on Twitter. However, Twitter has one of its headquarters in India. Indians are getting Pakistanis suspended at will,” Khan wrote from his new Twitter handle.

    Kamran Yousuf, a journalist who writes for Pakistani English daily newspaper Express Tribune, was forced to delete his tweet on the Indian defense minister’s statement about the country’s nuclear policy.

    “It is totally incomprehensible that Twitter has suspended my account only because I commented on the Indian defense minister's statement on ‘no first use.’ It's a shame I had to delete a harmless tweet to be back on Twitter,” Yousuf said.



    Australian journalist and Middle East Eye columnist C.J. Werleman has been very vocal about the suspension of accounts highlighting rights abuses in Kashmir and Palestine.

    “Twitter, and particularly its CEO @Jack [Jack Dorsey], has demonstrated its sympathy towards India, Israel and white nationalists over Kashmir, Palestinians and anti-racists,” Werleman tweeted.

    According to Pakistani officials, around 200 Pakistani accounts have been suspended by Twitter and most of these have been recent and come in the wake of complaints by India.

    Pakistan Telecommunication Authority lodged an official complaint with Twitter’s regional office on Aug. 19, but Twitter has denied claims that it is biased against Pakistan.

    Pakistani English daily Dawn quoted a Twitter representative as saying that it was enforcing policies judiciously and ensured the impartiality of all users regardless of their political beliefs and country of origin.

    Catholic Church officials have condemned the curbs on freedom of expression.

    Father Morris Jalal, executive director of Catholic TV, condemned all attacks on civil liberties, freedom of expression and media independence amid increasing tension between the nuclear-armed neighboring nations.

    “This is a big violation by Twitter; people will ultimately find other platforms to voice their concern against the unilateral and illegal move by the Indian government. Social media is the lifeline of any society; people cannot be silenced whether in good or bad times,” he told ucanews.com.

    Michelle Chaudhry, president of the Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation, described Twitter’s actions as a cover to hide gross violations of human rights in Kashmir.

    “Such censorship is not acceptable in today’s era. We demand resumption of nonpartisan media coverage both on social and electronic media. Kashmiris have a right to self-determination,” she said.

    However, Father Nasir William, director of the Commission for Social Communications in Islamabad-Rawalpindi Diocese, said Kashmir cannot be won through Twitter feuds.

    “The U.N. Security Council debated the Kashmir issue on August 16 for the first time in 50 years. A more responsible response should be to support such efforts,” he said.

    https://www.ucanews.com/news/pakista...nsorship/85912
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  24. #59
    سيف الله's Avatar Full Member
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Interesting.



    The parallels between Zionism and Hinduvata (as if it could be anymore obvious)

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  26. #60
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    Re: It looks like Imran Khan is about to become Pakistan's prime minister

    Salaam

    Another update

    Teens swept up in night raids in Kashmir clampdown

    Ali Mohammad Rah sat on the pavement outside a police station in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar on Tuesday, waiting to see his teenage sons, who were swept up in government raids overnight.

    "Soldiers violently banged windows of our home while we were sleeping," Rah told AFP, saying his sons -- aged 14 and 16 -- were taken away before dawn in the Srinagar neighbourhood of Mehjoor Nagar.

    "They just barged in and dragged my two sons away."

    Government sources say at least 4,000 people have been detained in Kashmir since India revoked the restive Himalayan region's autonomy on August 5 and imposed a massive security lockdown on the restive region.

    Protests have broken out frequently, prompting raids by police and paramilitary forces.

    In Nowshera, in an old quarter of the city, residents said several young men were taken away and detained by police on Sunday night.
    Locals from other neighbourhoods reported similar blitzes.

    To try and stop the raids, residents in Srinagar's Soura area have erected barricades and dug trenches in roads that lead to their cluster of homes.

    Sitting outside the police station alongside Rah on Tuesday were dozens of other locals who said their relatives were also in custody -- among them 21 boys from the most recent night raid.

    They say soldiers used ladders to scale the walls of their compounds.

    Widow Rozi, who only gave one name, said a gun was put to her head and she was told to "keep quiet" by soldiers as they led her 20-year-old son Suhail Mohiuddin from the house.

    Another woman, Mubeena, said a soldier "sprayed something on my face" when her brother was seized.

    "I fell down in pain and couldn't see for a while. When I gathered myself my brother had already been taken away," she told AFP.

    Nearby, Ulfat cradled her one-month-old son as she waited to find out about her breadwinner husband Mushtaq Ahmad, who she said was taken away by police.

    "I don't have money to buy medicines for myself and other things for my baby," she told AFP.

    Officials at the station did not respond to a request for comment.

    Authorities have declined to speak on the numbers of people behind bars. Those picked up include local politicians, activists, business leaders and lawyers.

    https://news.yahoo.com/teens-swept-n...rcVGT1AbtRvpIJ
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