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			<title>Hindu group toughens stance on India's mosque-temple disputes</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2454587/hindu-group-toughens-stance-on-indias-mosque-temple-disputes</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jan 24 13:29:17 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
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				<![CDATA[RSS asserts mosques in India built over razed Hindu temples, deepening sectarian tensions]]>
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				<![CDATA[A powerful Hindu group said several mosques in India were built over demolished Hindu temples, apparently hardening its stance in a decades-long sectarian dispute just days after a huge temple was inaugurated on the site of a razed mosque.

The comments from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s Hindu-nationalist party, come after Modi and the RSS chief led Monday&#39;s consecration of the temple on the site of a 16th-century mosque demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992.

The fight over claims to holy sites has divided Hindu-majority India, which has the world&#39;s third-largest Muslim population, since independence from British rule in 1947.

Four days after the temple was inaugurated in the northern city of Ayodhya, a lawyer for Hindu petitioners said the Archaeological Survey of India had determined that a 17th century mosque in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, in Modi&#39;s parliamentary constituency, had been built over a destroyed a Hindu temple.

The Archaeological Survey did not respond to a request for comment.

Read also:&nbsp;India court allows survey of centuries-old mosque to look for Hindu relics

Late on Friday, senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar questioned whether Varanasi&#39;s Gyanvapi mosque and three others, including the razed one in Ayodhya on the site where many Hindus believe Lord Ram was born, were mosques at all.

&quot;Whether we should consider them mosques or not, the people of the country and the world should think about it,&quot; Kumar told Reuters in an interview, referring to the sites in Gyanvapi, Ayodhya, one other in Uttar Pradesh state and one in Madhya Pradesh. &quot;They should stand with the truth, or they should stand with the wrong?&quot;

In the group&#39;s first reaction to the Gyanvapi findings, Kumar said, &quot;Accept the truth. Hold dialogues and let the judiciary decide.&quot;

Raising questions about the mosques does not mean Hindu groups comprise &quot;an anti-mosque movement&quot;, he said. &quot;This is not an anti-Islam movement. This is a movement to seek the truth that should be welcomed by the world.&quot;

&#39;Nothing political&#39;

Muslim groups are disputing the assertions of Hindu groups in court.

Zufar Ahmad Faruqi, chairman of the Sunni Central Waqf Board in Uttar Pradesh, said the group &quot;have confidence in the judiciary that it will do what is correct.

&quot;We want to live in harmony and peacefully while protecting the monuments as they are,&quot; he said. &quot;Nothing political about it, we are in the court and facing it legally.&quot;

The Modi-led opening of the Ayodhya temple fulfilled a 35-year-old pledge of his Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of a general election due by May. He is expected to win a third straight term, the longest stretch since India&#39;s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Read:&nbsp;Hindus throng Ram temple in India&#39;s Ayodhya as it opens to the public

The razing of the Ayodhya mosque sparked riots across India that authorities say killed at least 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. Hindu groups have for decades said that Muslim Mughal rulers built monuments and places of worship after destroying ancient Hindu structures.

Indian law bars the conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of places of worship as they existed at the time of independence - except for the Ayodhya shrine. The Supreme Court is hearing challenges to the law.

The court this month halted plans for a survey of another centuries-old mosque in Uttar Pradesh, the country&#39;s most populous and politically important state, to determine if it contained Hindu relics and symbols.

The RSS&#39;s Kumar, who is also the chief patron of the group&#39;s Muslim wing, said Islamic law requires mosques to be constructed on undisputed land, or the land should be donated by someone who has bought it or the people building the mosque should buy it.]]>
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			<title>Hindutva terror goes global</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2448034/hindutva-terror-goes-global</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2448034/hindutva-terror-goes-global#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 26 Nov 23 06:00:43 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Hammad Sarfraz]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[FATF remains silent as mounting evidence links a complex network of transactions, in India and abroad]]>
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				<![CDATA[Earlier this month, a team from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) visited India to conduct evaluations, assessing the country&#39;s implementation of the legal framework against money laundering and terrorist financing.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu-centric Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership might take solace in delivering a satisfactory report card to the global watchdog on terrorism financing and money laundering, mounting evidence suggests that Hindutva groups, operating with state patronage, are involved in systematic and organized acts of terror, particularly targeting religious minorities.

A complex network of transactions, disguised as charitable endeavors, interwoven with a web of extremist organizations operating at home and abroad, and the covert funneling of financial support to Hindu supremacist and religious groups, now, collectively cast a dark shadow over India&#39;s stance against terrorism before the global audience it has been trying to charm for decades.

Since the 2014 victory of the BJP, the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organization committed to turning India into a Hindu nation, marginalization of minority communities, particularly Muslims, has become more pronounced. In the last decade, the RSS and its Hindu nationalist ideology, known as Hindutva, have experienced a significant surge. Advocacy groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch contend that the escalation of Hindutva-related violence and discrimination against religious minorities coincides with the rise of Modi&#39;s BJP and has exacerbated further with each successive electoral triumph for the right-wing party.

According to Hindutva Watch, an independent research project that documents hate crimes and hate speeches against religious minorities in India, an overwhelming 205 (80%) of such events in 2023 occurred in BJP-ruled states and union territories. Furthermore, a majority of the hate crimes were orchestrated by entities affiliated with the RSS, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) designated as a religious militant organization by the World Factbook of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Bajrang Dal, also a declared militant religious organization by the World Factbook, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, and the ruling BJP itself. The growth of these groups, and their involvement, the watchdog suggests, is directly linked to their financial resources, which plays a crucial role in scaling up their operations.



Details gathered by the Express Tribune reveal that Hindutva groups in India have relied on various legal and illegal methods, globally as well as domestically, to raise funds for their activities against religious minorities.

Data released by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), a federal agency supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs, reveals five organizations with documented connections to Hindu supremacist groups were granted COVID-19 relief funding totaling $833,000. These funds were then used to sponsor various activities and campaigns at home in India.

As detailed in a report by Al Jazeera, the SBA disbursed funds through its Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act&#39;s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance (EIDLA), Disaster Assistance Loan (DAL), and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). These initiatives were designed to offer economic relief to struggling businesses and maintain their workforce during the COVID-19 crisis in the worst-hit nation in the world.

Under several of these initiatives, the Massachusetts-based Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA) received over $150,000, along with an additional $21,430. Since its establishment, the VHPA&#39;s Indian counterpart, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has been committed to establishing an ethnic Hindu-majority state in India. VHPA alone runs more than 20 chapters across the United States, with its membership surging in the late 1980s following heightened efforts by right-wing Hindu groups in India to construct a temple dedicated to Lord Ram at the specific site where a Mughal-era mosque stood in the North Indian town of Ayodhya.

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (EVF) of the USA, an organization affiliated with the RSS, known for its network of schools primarily situated in India&#39;s rural regions, received more than $71,000. The foundation stands accused of disseminating the RSS agenda of Hindu supremacy and promoting anti-minority sentiments among young children. SBA data further reveals that the Infinity Foundation, another Hindu nationalist organization with known connections to the RSS, secured over $51,000 in US federal funds in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

Founded by Rajiv Malhotra, a right-wing author, the organization has faced accusations of targeting academics and scholars critical of right-wing Hindu groups, along with issuing divisive statements.

According to Al Jazeera, Malhotra&#39;s foundation extends grants to researchers and universities with the aim of promoting the Hindu nationalist ideology endorsed by the RSS within academic spaces. Similarly, Sewa International, a longstanding affiliate of the RSS, was allocated $150,621. The organization actively finances various projects under the RSS in India, and at one point, its publications showed that it was housed within the RSS headquarters in New Delhi. Among the five organizations, the Hindu American Foundation secured the largest portion, receiving over $380,000 from the US government as part of the pandemic relief initiative. Co-founded by former VHPA activist Mihir Meghani, the Washington-based advocacy group, as reported by Al Jazeera, allocated substantial funds to lobby for BJP leader Narendra Modi and his brand of politics at home and abroad.

&nbsp;



The origin

Originating in the late 1920s, the Hindutva philosophy centers on the perceived racial superiority of Hindus, with the ultimate goal of establishing India as a Hindu nation-state. At the forefront of this ideology is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, founded in 1925, which describes itself as &quot;firmly rooted in genuine nationalism&quot; and criticizes what it sees as an erosion of the nation&#39;s integrity in the name of secularism and excessive appeasement of the Muslim population. Locally, the RSS has expanded its influence by forming numerous affiliates representing students, trade unions, tribals, and women, including prominent groups like Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Seva Bharti, and Bajrang Dal.

In 1951, on the political front, the RSS established the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), renamed as Bharatiya Janta Party roughly three decades later. While these affiliated organizations maintain formal separations on paper, they collectively advocate for a Hindu nation and support each other in their shared cause.

Now, the RSS&#39;s influence extends beyond India, including in the United States, where equivalent sister organizations operate under the guise of charity units and other entities. For instance, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), although legally an independent, nonprofit, tax-exempt entity, is functionally considered an offshoot of the VHP in India, sharing the same values and ideals. The Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, based in Frisco, Texas, collaborates with Bajrang Dal and the VHP, while the Bajrang Dal, known for its militant approach, maintains VHP as its parent body.

At home in India, these Hindutva groups employ violent methods to instill fear and terror. Similar to other ethnic-racial terror groups, they seek to marginalize, subjugate, exclude, and, if necessary, eliminate minorities, particularly Indian Muslims. Employing tactics such as hate speech, lynching, and inciting mob violence, these outfits utilize a diverse range of actors, from lone wolves to local militias to faith-based charities. All these affiliate organizations are known under a common banner of Sangh Parivar (the Sangh family).

&nbsp;



Dual standards and global role

While India maintains a diplomatic charm offensive on the global stage, positioning itself as a crucial ally of the United States against its arch-rival, China, a contrasting scenario unfolds domestically. According to advocacy groups, the government in New Delhi seemingly grants a carte blanche to the RSS and several of its affiliates engaged in receiving foreign funding through diverse channels.

&ldquo;The West has consistently employed different standards when it comes to dealing with violations of human rights and other norms by India &ndash; primarily because the United States has been positioning India as an opposing force to China,&rdquo; said Dr. Talat Wizarat, former chairperson, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.

Highlighting the anti-Muslim propaganda propagated by both elected and unelected leaders in India, Dr. Wizarat said: &quot;The BJP and its RSS affiliates have conducted killings and acts of violence against minorities with impunity. The unabashed Hindu-first messaging by BJP politicians has emboldened Hindutva groups, leaving the country&#39;s Muslim and Christian minorities in a perpetual state of fear and alienation.&quot;

&quot;The activities of these Hindutva groups clearly fall under ethnically or racially motivated terrorism, a growing threat that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) itself has recognized in the past,&quot; the expert emphasized.

In response to a question regarding FATF&#39;s lack of action on the situation in India, Dr. Wizarat remarked that the Paris-based global body, established to combat terrorism financing and money laundering, is jeopardizing its credibility by overlooking India&#39;s persistent violations and its failure to curb the funding of terrorist activities through RSS affiliates. &ldquo;When you have one rule for Pakistan and another for India, it clearly makes FATF look very dubious and less credible as a watchdog.&rdquo;

According to a South Asian Citizen Web (SACW) report on Hindu non-profits in the US, platforms promoting dialogue on South Asia, millions of dollars from charity groups in the US were directed to RSS-affiliated organizations from 2001 to 2014. In the period spanning 2001 to 2012, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation and VHPA contributed $27 million and $3.9 million, respectively, to RSS and its affiliated groups. In the same timeframe, SEWA International allocated $3.3 million to various activities of right-wing groups across India, and the Infinity Foundation provided $1.9 million in grants to universities and researchers supporting the Hindu supremacist agenda.

Highlighting the findings of the SACW report, Wizarat emphasized that these financial operations linked to the RSS have been ongoing for a considerable period. &quot;It is shocking to see how FATF or other international bodies can ignore them,&quot; Wizarat added.

While media reports suggest that Hindutva groups are actively perpetrating acts of terror through tactics such as threats of genocide, mob lynching, and hate crimes against minority communities within the country, Wizarat believes that their operations are expanding beyond India&rsquo;s borders. &ldquo;The activities of Hindutva groups demonstrate a well-organized approach, backed by a coordinated and sophisticated resource pool encompassing both financial support and human resources. Historically known for being based in India, Hindutva groups have now expanded their operations globally, playing a significant role in spreading hate speech and even divisive politics in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada,&rdquo; she explained.

In September this year, Wizarat pointed out that India&rsquo;s government was exposed by Canada&rsquo;s Prime Minister, who accused the Modi administration of playing a pivotal role in the assassination of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia.

Despite New Delhi denying the allegation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted that his government had sufficient evidence to suggest that &ldquo;agents of the government of India&rdquo; had carried out the shooting of the Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen.

Fast forward to November, India faces similar allegations, this time from Washington. While the US government has not raised the issue officially, the Modi government is facing questions about whether it was involved in an assassination plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a vocal advocate of the cause of Sikh separatism and a dual US-Canadian citizen.

Commenting on the Pannun case, CJ Werleman, a US-based journalist, highlighted the dual standards of the US, emphasizing one set of rules for allies and another for adversaries.

&ldquo;One doesn&rsquo;t need to be an expert in geopolitics to recognize that the US Government&#39;s response would have been markedly different had China executed a political assassination of a US citizen on North American soil. There would have been widespread condemnations of the Chinese Government, along with calls for economic and diplomatic sanctions. However, because India, a crucial strategic ally, is implicated, the alleged criminality is met with almost total silence,&rdquo; observed Werleman, known for his meticulous monitoring of India, particularly Modi administration&rsquo;s actions in Kashmir.

&ldquo;This silence has not only allowed Narendra Modi to get away with murder, but also it has given his increasingly authoritarian government a free hand to commit the worst kind of human rights abuses imaginable in India and Kashmir,&rdquo; he cautioned.



Washington is silent

When President Biden assumed office, he was initially vocal about human rights abuses, cautioning the Indian leadership. However, like his predecessor, Donald Trump, Biden also adopted a more muted stance towards India.

CJ Werleman suggests that Washington&#39;s silence on the questionable fundraising tactics of the RSS and its affiliates is due to the deep infiltration of Hindu nationalist groups within both major political parties, the Republican Party and Democratic Party.

&quot;Since both parties see the Hindu nationalist project as intertwined with the politics of the Indian Government, the space for vocal opposition to Hindu nationalism is limited and shrinking. This is especially true as both Democrats and Republicans consider India an indispensable partner in the new Cold War against China,&quot; the US-based journalist explained.

Werleman, who often faces criticism from trolls loyal to the RSS ideology on social media platforms, highlights the active involvement of the Hindutva lobby in channeling tens of millions of dollars into mainstream US politics. &quot;The Hindutva lobby is financing candidates from both Democrat and Republican parties across all levels of politics, from gubernatorial races to city, state, and federal elections. This not only helps sanitize the Hindutva ideology but also suppresses potential criticism of it.&quot;

Reflecting on the time when Modi was barred from entering the US, Werleman remarked, &quot;One only has to observe how leaders of both political parties welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States, a man who was once denied a US visa over concerns about his role in the mass murder of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.&quot;

He further pointed out that both President Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, during Modi&#39;s visits, have been tight-lipped about calling India out over its human rights abuses in Kashmir and against the religious minorities in general.

&ldquo;Trump did not raise concerns about the Indian Government&#39;s treatment of religious minorities in their Texas meeting in 2019. In contrast, President Biden claimed to have &lsquo;privately&rsquo; addressed the issue during Modi&#39;s visit to the White House earlier this year,&rdquo; Werleman said via email.

&nbsp;

Can these violations be overlooked? 

The muted stance on Hindutva groups and their intricate global financial networks is seen by experts as potentially empowering their actions within India. If not addressed, there are concerns that the Indian government may start taking this lack of scrutiny for granted, potentially escalating actions against religious minorities more brazenly. Earlier this month, Amnesty International accused the Indian government of prosecuting, intimidating, and harassing human rights defenders, activists, and non-profit organizations under the pretext of countering terrorist financing.

According to the UK-based advocacy group, the Modi government has been misusing the recommendations of FATF to target civil society groups and activists, intentionally obstructing their work. Aakar Patel, Chair of the Board at Amnesty International India, criticized the Indian government&#39;s actions, stating, &quot;Under the guise of combating terrorism, the Indian government has leveraged the Financial Action Task Force&rsquo;s recommendations to tighten its arsenal of financial and counter-terrorism laws, which are routinely misused to target and silence critics.&quot;

Responding to a question about India&rsquo;s actions to curb terror financing, CJ Werleman said the broader silence over New Delhi&rsquo;s mistakes is emboldening the administration. The US-based journalist emphasized that this silence has given the Modi regime and BJP-ruled states the green light to use false foreign funding and terrorism charges to target, intimidate, harass, and silence critics, including journalists, academics, and activists. This, Werleman argued, is having a chilling effect on all forms of dissent in the country.

While activists, international advocacy groups, and journalists are frequently targeted in the name of implementing FATF recommendations on terror financing, Hindutva groups in India, according to Dr. Wizarat, have employed various legal and illegal methods to procure funds for their terror and genocidal activities. &ldquo;Despite ample evidence indicating global and domestic financial support for Hindutva groups, the Indian government seems more focused on targeting advocacy groups and activists to silence them,&rdquo; she explained. These actions, Wizarat believes, will adversely affect India&rsquo;s global ambitions in the long run. &quot;It has already become the greatest mockery of democracy now,&quot; she remarked during the interview.

India&rsquo;s reputation 

For the fourth consecutive year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended adding India to a list of countries perpetuating systemic and egregious violations of the right to freedom of religion, stating that conditions for religious minorities in the country &quot;continued to worsen&quot; throughout 2022. &quot;Religious freedom conditions in India have notably declined in recent years,&rdquo; said USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper.

Most recently, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues conveyed to the USCIRF that the situation in India can be summarized in three words - &quot;massive, systemic, and dangerous.&quot; He cited a study noting a 786% increase in hate crimes against minorities between 2014 and 2018. He emphasized, &quot;India risks becoming one of the world&rsquo;s main generators of instability, atrocities, and violence, due to the massive scale and gravity of the violations and abuses targeting mainly religious and other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others. It is not just individual or local; it is systematic and a reflection of religious nationalism.&quot;

Many independent observers believe that much of these acts would not have been possible without excessive foreign funding and a free hand from the right-wing BJP government in New Delhi. &quot;The government in India is an equal partner in propelling these actions. Above all, it is very much responsible for allowing the free flow of funds from RSS affiliates all over the world to fund ethnically or racially motivated terrorism against religious minorities at home,&quot; said Dr. Wizarat.

&ldquo;Narendra Modi, India&rsquo;s populist leader, and his right-wing party are complicit in all such activities. Failing to implement norms on terror financing, only make the Financial Action Task Force a weaker and ineffective entity,&rdquo; the Karachi-based expert emphasized.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>India sliding into an abyss under RSS</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2433770/india-sliding-into-an-abyss-under-rss</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2433770/india-sliding-into-an-abyss-under-rss#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Sep 23 19:53:02 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Adeela Naureen]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[An India Today survey found Modi’s support remains unwavering with less than a year until the Lok Sabha elections]]>
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				<![CDATA[With Chandrayaan 3 landing on the moon, PM Narendra Modi appears to have got a third life where the opposition will find it very difficult to turn the tide and stop him from getting a third term in the office. Meanwhile there are saner voices is in India who are warning that Modi&rsquo;s third term would allow RSS to establish Hindutva Republic in 2024. 

An India Today survey found that Modi&rsquo;s support remained unwavering with less than a year until the Lok Sabha elections. About 52% of those surveyed supported Modi winning a third term. Some godi media outlets suggest that that Modi may win a two-thirds majority with relative ease; and is likely to hold sway in the cow belt comprising Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Maha-gathbandhan of dozens of parties is likely to win in Eastern seaboard, North East and the Dravidian monolith of Southern India, also called the Dravida Nadu. As reported by The Indian Express last year, Andimuthu Raja, the DMK MP from Nilgiris, had said in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin that if the central government did not give Tamil Nadu greater autonomy, the DMK could be &ldquo;compelled&rdquo; to revive the demand for a &ldquo;separate&rdquo; homeland. 

Along the Eastern seaboard, Mamta Banerjee has a strong hold on West Bengal. Similarly in Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as well as some states along Western seaboard like Kerala and Karnataka, the opposition or regional parties have an upper hand. 

While ISRO put the Indian spacecraft on to the moon, common man is suffering heavily under the pressure of inflation and increasing class gap between haves and have-nots. As pointed out by Frontline magazine, a consortium of UN organisations &mdash; including the Food and Agriculture Organization, Unicef, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization (WHO) &mdash; had jointly published a report titled &lsquo;The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World&rsquo; on July 12,2023.

This report shed light on a disconcerting nutritional trend in India, where a staggering 74.1% of the population cannot afford food. This means that more than one billion people in India are compelled to consume crumbs with insufficient nutrition.

But these figures don&rsquo;t bother the Western friends of India as they only see India through the prism of Ambanis, Adanis, Mittals and Tatas.

Population Medicine research published this year suggests that India has the third highest absolute burden of HIV in the world with an estimated 2.3 million PLHIV in 2021 of which 63 thousand were newly infected, while 42 thousand annual deaths were attributable to the disease. HIV/AIDS severely undermines health, and social and economic development.

Oxfam International report card published last year tells a very alarming story about disparity within India. While the Indian government barely taxes its wealthiest citizens, its spending on public healthcare ranks among the lowest in the world. In the place of a well-funded health service, it has promoted an increasingly powerful commercial health sector.

As a result, decent healthcare is a luxury only available to those who have the money to pay for it. While the country is a top destination for medical tourism, the poorest Indian states have infant mortality rates higher than those in sub-Saharan Africa. India accounts for 17% of global maternal deaths, and 21% of deaths among children below five years.

Akansha Deshmukh, while writing for feminisminindia.com, described the femicide epidemic in India as a result of deep-seated misogyny. The report graph shows a total of 7,739 female adult victims being murdered in 2021. The crime against women have seen a constant surge with approximately 430,000 cases registered in 2021, the unreported cases may run into millions every year.

Regular reports have been published by think-tanks and research groups on female infanticide in India. Even the figures quoted a decade ago have not shown any improvement in 2023. Females are routinely killed in India in the cruelest way possible, even before they get the chance to get birth. In India, female feticide &mdash; the deliberate termination of female fetuses &mdash; kills up to a million girls every year, with tragically wide-reaching repercussions. The ratio of females to males has gotten as low as 40:60 in some places in the cow belt. 

The BJP&rsquo;s advocacy of sectarian separation is despised by more civilised segments of society. Intellectuals and critics have criticised the BJP&rsquo;s racial politics. The BJP was behind the Gujarat pogrom (2002), Delhi riots (2020), current communal disturbances in parts of Haryana, and the ongoing civil unrest in Manipur where the minority Christian population is under attack. The BJP supports actions that victimise India&rsquo;s Muslim community and attack Pakistan. In an effort to appease Sangh Parivar and win over voters, BJP has a history of launching false-flag operations to defame Pakistan.

Former IIOJK governor, Satya Pal Malik, revealed in an interview with Karan Thapar that Modi permitted the Pulwama tragedy (February 2019) in which more than 40 members of the CRPF were killed in a suicide assault. Malik admitted that Modi had little interest in what had transpired in Pulwama and had refused to let him ask some important questions. The manner in which the attack was carried out suggests that Modi was aware of the imminent attack. 

In a recent interview, Indian Supreme Court attorney Parshant Bhushan stated unequivocally that Modi will become desperate if he suffers an electoral defeat. Such an occurrence would undoubtedly disrupt regional peace and have wider effects between two nuclear neighbours.

Unfortunately, the mob lynching of Muslims prevalent on the streets of villages and towns in India are now happening inside schools where Muslim kids are being harassed and slapped by their Hindu colleagues under the supervision of Hindu teachers. 

In a nutshell, the RSS agenda of Hindutva has put India on a slippery slope, where a poisonous narrative against Muslims has created a suffocating environment for minorities. Can the Indian voter stop this hate train?

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2023.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>India at 75: Hindu faith bottled and home-delivered</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2387406/india-at-75-hindu-faith-bottled-and-home-delivered</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2387406/india-at-75-hindu-faith-bottled-and-home-delivered#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 22 12:48:18 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2387406</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Buyers sparingly use holy water to bless important occasions, from births, weddings, and funerals to festivals]]>
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				<![CDATA[High in the Himalayas, where the mighty Ganges is still a frigid glacial stream, labourers fill jerry cans with its holy waters to be distributed to Hindus all over India.

Buyers sparingly use the precious liquid to bless important occasions, from births, weddings, and funerals&nbsp;to festivals such as Diwali or the purchase of a new car.

&quot;This is for every faithful Hindu who can&#39;t get here personally,&quot; said one of the workers in the pilgrimage town of Gangotri, giving his name as Ramesh.

&quot;It feels blessed to be part of a project that reaffirms our Hindu faith and delivers this divine water to all corners of the country,&quot; he told AFP.

The scheme is run by the Indian postal service and is one example of a raft of initiatives, from the symbolic to the gargantuan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoting Hinduism in the country 75 years after independence.

The water is considered purest closest to its source so is collected in Gangotri, where the Ganges starts its roughly 2,500-kilometre (1,550-mile) journey across India, and trucked to a bottling plant 100 kilometres downstream.

After being left to settle for three or four days, it is filtered in tanks before workers decant it by hand into 250-millilitre plastic bottles.

Bought over the counter at post offices around India, they cost just 30 rupees ($0.37) each &mdash; customers can also order them online for home delivery at 321 rupees for a pack of four.

Millions of the little containers have been sold since the scheme launched six years ago.

Since winning elections in 2014, Modi has put Hinduism front and centre of his government in the officially secular nation of 1.4 billion.

The core tenet of Modi&#39;s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its militaristic ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is&nbsp;that Hinduism is India&#39;s original religion.

This&nbsp;worries India&#39;s 210 million Muslims and other minorities. Social media is rife with hate speech and attacks on Muslims and Christians have risen, activists say.

Modi&#39;s biggest religious construction project is a grand temple being built in the ancient city of Ayodhya.

Hindu zealots destroyed a centuries-old mosque there three decades ago, triggering sectarian violence that killed more than 1,000 people &mdash; most of them Muslims.

The government has also pushed a $1.5-billion highway project in the northern state of Uttarakhand, which will make it easier for Hindu pilgrims to reach Gangotri and three other Himalayan temples.

The sites already receive hundreds of thousands of devotees each year, and environmental activists are concerned about building grand highways and tunnels in the ecologically sensitive region.

Modi&#39;s government has made clear it will not let up on its vision, however, channelling money into researching the properties of cow urine &mdash; a sacred animal in Hinduism &mdash; and finding &quot;proof&quot; of legends in Hindu scriptures.

Some school textbooks have been rewritten to airbrush the role played by Muslims in Indian history, while Islamic-sounding names of cities have been changed.

These &quot;dramatic initiatives... create an ethos of a majoritarian nation and sublimely reinforce the feeling that we now see ourselves as a de-facto Hindu country,&quot; said Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of The Caravan, an Indian English-language magazine.

&quot;Modi knows exactly what he&#39;s doing,&quot; he added.

&quot;If critics now raise concerns about minorities or injustice, they can be labelled as someone who&#39;s against such schemes delivering holy Ganges water &mdash; and shut them up.&quot;

Recipients of the precious liquid, though, have no such concerns.

New Delhi postman Rupesh Kumar, 23, has made several deliveries of the holy water, including during the current auspicious festive period.

He feels &quot;additional responsibility&quot; whenever he is carrying it to a customer for their ritual needs, he told AFP.

&quot;We also used Ganges water in the family for all special and religious occasions,&quot; he said.

&quot;People are often very thankful and polite after I deliver these bottles to their homes.&quot;]]>
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			<title>BJP has spread kerosene all over India, all it needs is ‘one spark’: Rahul</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2357677/bjp-has-spread-kerosene-all-over-india-all-it-needs-is-one-spark-rahul</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2357677/bjp-has-spread-kerosene-all-over-india-all-it-needs-is-one-spark-rahul#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 21 May 22 14:11:10 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2357677</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Congress leader says country isn't in 'good place', stresses need to bring religious communities closer]]>
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				<![CDATA[Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India&#39;s main opposition party, on Saturday took Modi government to task for its consistent approach of spreading hate in the country, and said &quot;India is not in a good place.&quot;

&quot;India is not in a good place,&quot; Rahul, Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s arch-rival,&quot; said while at the &#39;Ideas for India&#39; conclave in London on Friday.

The congressman further observed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had spread kerosene all over the country. &quot;You need one spark and we&#39;ll be in big trouble,&quot; Rahul said and termed it a responsibility of the opposition, the Congress to bring people, communities, states and religions together.

The statement invited stern backlash from the ruling party spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia who accused the Congress leader of &quot;hurting India&quot; with his anti-Modi stance.

Also read: US panel says India religious freedom worsens &#39;significantly&#39;

According to Times of India, Bhatia went on to accuse the opposition leader of &quot;betraying&quot; the country with his remarks made on a foreign land.

The spokesperson advised Rahul to be &quot;cautious&quot; when &#39;speaking ill&#39; about India when sitting in a foreign land.

Late last month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom once again said that religious freedom had deteriorated &quot;significantly&quot; in India under the Hindu nationalist regime, and recommended targeted sanctions over abuses.

It was the third consecutive year that the commission asked that India be placed on a list of &quot;countries of particular concern&quot; &ndash; a recommendation that angered New Delhi.

The commission had pointed to a &quot;culture of impunity for nationwide campaigns of threats and violence by mobs and vigilante groups&quot; and arrests of journalists and human rights advocates.]]>
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			<title>Indian opposition parties voice concern over rising hate speech, violence</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352900/indian-opposition-parties-voice-concern-over-rising-hate-speech-violence</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352900/indian-opposition-parties-voice-concern-over-rising-hate-speech-violence#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 16 Apr 22 16:17:10 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Anadolu Agency]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2352900</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Leaders of 13 parties say they are shocked at silence of PM Modi against those who 'propagate bigotry']]>
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				<![CDATA[Top leaders of India&#39;s opposition political parties on Saturday voiced concern over the rise in hate speech incidents in the country and condemned recent communal violence across several states during the holy Hindu festival.

Leaders of 13 opposition parties, including Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, issued a joint statement, expressing their outrage at how issues such as food, dress, faith, festivals, and language &quot;are being deliberately used by sections of the ruling establishment to polarize our society.&quot;

In recent weeks, right-wing groups in the southern state of Karnataka have launched anti-Muslim campaigns, including the exclusion of Muslim traders from fairs near Hindu temples and a push to ban halal meat.

The state where a number of Muslim schoolgirls were first prohibited from entering the classroom wearing the hijab, or headscarf, earlier this year, has now snowballed into a campaign against Muslims.

Concerned about recent communal violence in various states, opposition leaders said &quot;reports indicate that there is a sinister pattern in the areas where these incidents have occurred.&quot;

Also read:&nbsp;WATCH: Hindu hardliner openly calls for Muslim genocide in India

They added: &quot;We are extremely concerned with the growing incidents of hate speech in the country by people, who appear to have official patronage and against whom no meaningful and strong action is being taken.&quot;

Of late, there has been an increase in attacks on minorities in India, particularly Muslims. Communal clashes were witnessed earlier this week during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami in a number of states.

In the Khargone city in the central Madhya Pradesh state, the authorities demolished the houses of many Muslims after they were accused of stone-pelting a Hindu procession.

This week, a number of videos surfaced on social media showing a procession of Hindu men during the festival stopping in Muslim neighbourhoods, playing provocative songs against Muslims, and raising hate slogans.

The leaders expressed shock at Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s silence for failing to &quot;speak against the words and actions of those who propagate bigotry and those who, by their words and actions, incite and provoke our society.&quot;

This silence, they said, is &quot;an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage.&quot;

Also read:&nbsp;&lsquo;India heading towards genocide of Muslims&rsquo;

The statement also noted that social media and audio-visual platforms are being &quot;misused with official patronage to spread hatred and prejudice.&quot;

&quot;We reiterate our collective resolve to work together to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that have defined and enriched India for centuries,&quot; these leaders stated, arguing that the country will prosper only if it respects, accommodates and celebrates its diversities.

&quot;We reiterate our commitment to combat and confront the poisonous ideologies which are attempting to entrench divisiveness in our society,&quot; they declared.

The top political opposition leaders also appealed to the people to maintain &quot;peace and foil the sinister objective of those who wish to sharpen communal polarisation.&quot;

They called on &quot;all our party units across the country to independently and jointly work for maintaining peace and harmony.&quot;

When asked for a comment on the opposition party leaders&#39; joint appeal, ruling Bhartiya Janata Party spokesman Syed Zafar Islam said he will respond soon.]]>
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			<title>WATCH: Hindu hardliner openly calls for Muslim genocide in India</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352887/watch-hindu-hardliner-openly-calls-for-muslim-genocide-in-india</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352887/watch-hindu-hardliner-openly-calls-for-muslim-genocide-in-india#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 16 Apr 22 13:22:23 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2352887</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In a video posted by writer Ashok Swain, the zealot tells Muslims they 'won't be spared']]>
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				<![CDATA[As the Narendra Modi government continues to turn a blind eye towards the increasing calls for Muslim genocide in India, Hindu zealots have found yet more courage to launch a fresh threat to target the community.

In a similar attack, a hardline Hindu leader can be heard hurling threats at Muslims and warning them of dire consequences for reason not known.

The video, posted online by Ashok Swain, a professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, captioned, &quot;A Hindu Right religious leader in India openly calling for genocide of Muslims! India on a dangerous path and the world has gone into silence&quot;.



A Hindu Right religious leader in India openly calling for genocide of Muslims! India on a dangerous path and the world has gone into silence. pic.twitter.com/aLVDskfCFz
&mdash; Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) April 16, 2022


&quot;Well we have begun a dharam yudh (battle based on faith) and we will not spare you,&quot; the man clad in traditional saffron robe can be heard saying in the video.

&quot;It will be them (Muslims) who will start it but it will be us who will end it,&quot; he added, pointing at the intensions of the hardliners towards the minority community.

Towards the end of the video, another man can be heard saying that there is no &quot;dead nation&quot; more than the Hindi nation, in an apparent gesture to provoke the community against others.

The video validated the stance of those who urge PM Modi to take timely action amidst rising calls for genocide.

Also read: Pakistan condemns vandalism against Muslims in India

Earlier this momth, Hindu zealots belonging to BJP-RSS dispensation vandalised and burning of more than 40 houses of Muslims in the Karauli area of Rajasthan with the connivance of local security authorities.

The incident drew strong condemnation from the foreign office, saying, &quot;equally alarming is the apathy of state machinery which wantonly looked the other way and failed in its basic duty of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens.&quot;

It had noted that the minorities in India, especially the Muslims, continue to live under fear and intimidation.

The foreign office had further pointed out the BJP-RSS combine had enabled the perpetration of senseless violence against minorities as part of its &ldquo;Hindutva&rdquo; agenda marked by hate and majoritarianism.]]>
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			<title>Ideology of Gandhi’s assassin finds support in India</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2341051/ideology-of-gandhis-assassin-finds-support-in-india</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2341051/ideology-of-gandhis-assassin-finds-support-in-india#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 29 Jan 22 18:46:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Anadolu Agency]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2341051</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Right-wing Hindu Mahasabha plans organising gathering to remember Gandhi's killer]]>
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				<![CDATA[As India commemorates Martyrs Day on Sunday and 74 years since Mahatma Gandhi was killed, right-wing Hindu organisations plan to observe it as Remembrance Day for Nathu Ram Godse, who killed the freedom icon.

Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, said programmes that glorify his grandfather&rsquo;s killer suit the ruling dispensation.

&quot;It&#39;s not new. It has been happening ever since the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. Earlier, it used to be organised secretly. Now it is out in the public and garnering more and more support,&rdquo; Gandhi told Anadolu Agency.

Mohandas Gandhi was shot dead by Godse on Jan. 30, 1948. Godse believed that Gandhi was responsible for the partitioning of India in 1947.

In the past, the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha installed a bust of Godse in Gwalior, a city in central India. But it was later confiscated by authorities.

Also read: &#39;Five-alarm fire&#39;: Genocide unfolding in India

Hindu Mahasabha will organise a programme this year to remember Gandhi&#39;s killer. &ldquo;We will be organising various programmes in memory of Nathuram Godse,&rdquo; Vice President Jaiveer Bhardwaj told Anadolu Agency.

Emboldened by the political rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the party&#39;s success in the 2014 national elections, the Mahasabha has been pressing ahead with its agenda.

&ldquo;Such programmes are more apparent in states ruled by the BJP. This is the agenda of the Mahasabha as well as the ruling dispensation. It&rsquo;s absolutely a part of their agenda and it is being implemented like that. It is not a one-off thing. Mahasabha has been carrying out an orchestrated, well-planned strategy that has been in place ever since the murder of Mahatma Gandhi,&rdquo; said Tushar Gandhi.

Asked why the government was afraid of taking action, Gandhi said: &ldquo;They don&#39;t want to. Why should they act against their own people? When those people are doing just what is an official policy of the BJP. BJP doesn&#39;t want to go against them.&quot;

&ldquo;It converts into votes for the ruling party. Because BJP gains politically by encouraging the Hindu Muslim divide and in the same way they want to gain by promoting Hindutva ideology by glorifying Godse,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Hindu Mahasabha has been propounding the theory that Gandhi was the original supporter of Muslims and that&#39;s why Hindus must unite against him.&rdquo;

Also read:&nbsp;Calls for Muslim genocide could spark civil war, warns ex-Indian naval chief

&ldquo;All this is not going to change but if the ruling BJP is voted out of power then Mahasabha may become subdued but their activities are definitely not going to stop,&rdquo; he added.

Another Gandhian, Chinmay Mishra, told Anadolu Agency that &quot;the present political class (BJP) has nothing to offer to the public. They have found a way to further their agenda and Mahasabha has proved helpful in it. It is necessary for their survival.&rdquo;

Mishra said the ruling dispensation cannot survive except by creating social and communal discord and the biggest disadvantage of this is that it is corrupting an entire generation.

He said the biggest culprit is the media. The believers of Godse were there from the beginning but the media has projected those people in such a way that people are going toward them.

More than Mahasabha&#39;s ideology, the role of the media is wrong, said Mishra. At the same time, he believes that by the time it is fixed, it will have done a lot of damage.]]>
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			<title>Muslim groups oppose prayer ban in open space in Indian state</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2333727/muslim-groups-oppose-prayer-ban-in-open-space-in-indian-state</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2333727/muslim-groups-oppose-prayer-ban-in-open-space-in-indian-state#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 21 19:47:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Anadolu Agency]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Muslims have been offering prayers on govt-owned land at 37 locations in the country]]>
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				<![CDATA[Muslim organisations have opposed the decision of the chief minister of the northern state of Haryana to not allow Muslims to offer Friday prayers in open spaces in Gurugram, adjacent to New Delhi.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, India&#39;s largest socio-religious Muslim organisation, said offering prayers is a fundamental right of Muslims.

&ldquo;We do not offer Namaz (prayers) in the open because we like to do so. We are compelled to offer prayers in the open. It is the responsibility of the government to give us the facility to offer prayers at places which had been earmarked earlier by the administration for this purpose,&rdquo; said Secretary Niaz Farooqui. &ldquo;And the government is kneeling before those who want to go against the law and forcefully deprive Muslims of their basic right. The government should not bow down to such people.&rdquo;

The Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) Haryana, zonal organiser Asad Ahmad said: &ldquo;We are utterly dejected by Haryana CM (Chief Minister) Manohar Lal Khattar&#39;s remarks. It&#39;s unfortunate that the administration is caving in from the pressure by a handful of Hindutva goons who should have been put behind bars for disrupting the prayers and communalizing the society.&rdquo;

Also read:&nbsp;In Indian cities, Muslim prayers and meaty snacks squeezed out

&ldquo;The administration is instead punishing law-abiding Muslims, who have always cooperated with the administration and their fellow residents,&rdquo; Ahmad told Anadolu Agency.

&ldquo;We demand that until alternate sites are allotted for prayers, the Muslims should be allowed to pray at previously designated sites. The administration should resolve disputes and remove encroachments on various Waqf lands in Gurugram so that the devotees are not forced to offer prayers in public,&rdquo; he added.

Waqf Board is a statutory body established for the management of movable or immovable properties, including mosques, dedicated for religious, pious or charitable purposes as recognised by Muslim law. But in Haryana most of such properties are heavily encroached.

Khattar in a statement Friday said: &ldquo;All previous sanctions given for public prayers stand nullified and the state government will now work out an amicable solution that will uphold all rights and ensure no encroachment or exploitation.&rdquo;

The state is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi&rsquo;s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Khattar said prayers would not be offered in public places.

Also read:&nbsp;Hindu group threatens to install idol in Indian mosque

&ldquo;We have no issues with anybody practicing their religion at their religious places but the use of open spaces is not acceptable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We will help the (Haryana) Waqf Board to get their spaces free of encroachment. Till then, people should offer prayers at their legal sites, homes etc. We won&rsquo;t infringe on any rights but nobody&rsquo;s allowed to bully.&rdquo;

Protests by right-wing Hindu groups along with residents have been going on for several weeks.

Muslims had been offering Friday prayers on government-owned land at 37 locations designated by the local administration in Gurugram.

But right-wing groups, along with residents, said Muslims should not be allowed to offer prayers on the land as they may create security problems.

Several rounds of meetings between the administration and residents failed to solve the issue.

Muslims who offer prayers in government-designated land believe only two mosques exist in the area and it is not possible for all to offer prayers in just two mosques.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan condemns RSS chief’s ‘delusional’ remarks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2331313/pakistan-condemns-rss-chiefs-delusional-remarks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2331313/pakistan-condemns-rss-chiefs-delusional-remarks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Nov 21 09:27:19 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Dangerous mindset aims to completely marginalise, dispossess minorities in India, says FO]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the highly provocative and irresponsible remarks made by Mohan Bhagwat, chief of India&rsquo;s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling for &ldquo;undoing&rdquo; of Partition.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the RSS issued a statement on Thursday quoting Bhagwat as saying that the India of 2021 was not the same as the one in 1947 while speaking at a book launch event.

&quot;Partition has happened once, it won&#39;t happen again. Those who think that way will face partition themselves,&quot; he said.

The RSS chief said if India wanted to contribute to the world, it would need to become &quot;capable&quot;, adding, &quot;the only solution to the pain of Partition lies in undoing it.&quot;

In a statement, the Foreign Office said that it was not the first time that the RSS chief had publicly indulged in such delusional thinking and historical revisionism.

&ldquo;Pakistan has repeatedly highlighted the threat posed to regional peace and stability by the toxic mix of the extremist &lsquo;Hindutva&rsquo; ideology [Hindu Rashtra] and expansionist foreign policy [Akhand Bharat] being pursued by the ruling RSS-BJP dispensation in India,&rdquo; the Foreign Office statement said.

Read India establishing new agency in IIOJK to &lsquo;terrorise Kashmiris&rsquo;

&ldquo;In the internal context, this dangerous mindset aims to completely marginalise and dispossess the minorities in India. In the external dimension, it poses an existential threat to all of India&rsquo;s neighbours in South Asia.&rdquo;

The statement said that the world was witness to the systematic usurpation of the rights of minorities, especially Muslims, in India and the unabated repression of Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

&ldquo;Pakistan has consistently opposed India&rsquo;s hegemonic impulses and demonstrated a firm resolve to thwart any aggressive designs. While committed to peace, the people and armed forces of Pakistan are fully capable of defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,&rdquo; it added.

&ldquo;Those belonging to the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS would be well-advised to refrain from making such provocative and irresponsible statements, accept the established realities, and learn to follow the imperatives of peaceful coexistence,&rdquo; the statement concluded.]]>
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			<title>Indian journalists investigated over tweets on anti-Muslim violence</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2328631/indian-journalists-investigated-over-tweets-on-anti-muslim-violence</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2328631/indian-journalists-investigated-over-tweets-on-anti-muslim-violence#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 09 Nov 21 18:28:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Authorities open criminal investigation into the owners of 102 social media accounts]]>
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				<![CDATA[Lawyers and journalists are among dozens of people being investigated by police in India over posts on social media about anti-Muslim violence, in a case that has stoked concern about freedom of speech in the world&#39;s largest democracy.

Authorities on Sunday opened a criminal investigation into the owners of 102 social media accounts under strict anti-terrorism legislation for allegedly sharing &quot;fake news&quot; about mob attacks on Muslims in the remote northeastern state of Tripura last month.

They include several prominent Indian journalists, an Australian journalist and a law professor based in the United States. The majority of those under investigation are reportedly Muslims.

It follows violence targeting at least four mosques and Muslim-owned homes and shops in Tripura as Hindu groups rallied against the killings of minority Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Police said the owners of the Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts were being investigated for allegedly aiming to instigate further violence by sharing misleading visuals and text on social media.

Also read:&nbsp;India hunts &#39;fake news&#39; spreaders after anti-Muslim attacks

A case has been opened under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), vaguely worded legislation that allows people to be held for six months without charge.

Most of the offending posts had been removed by Sunday. Those that remained online largely appeared to be highlighting the plight of Muslims targeted in the attacks.

CJ&nbsp;Werleman, the Australian journalist, had tweeted that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not condemned the unrest and that Muslim protesters against the violence had been detained.

&quot;27 confirmed attacks by Hindutva mobs on mosques, and Muslim owned properties in Tripura during the past week,&quot; Werleman, a reporter with Byline Times, tweeted on October 30.

Indian journalist Shyam Meera Singh, another of those being investigated, said he had tweeted &quot;Tripura is Burning!&quot;

He shared screenshots of an email from Twitter that said the social media giant had received a request from Tripura police to take action against his account.

Also read:&nbsp;Dozens detained in India for disrupting Muslim prayers

Reporters Without Borders said Monday it &quot;firmly condemns&quot; the investigation against the journalists whose &quot;only crime was to cover recent attacks against mosques in the northeastern state of Tripura&quot;.

The Editors Guild of India demanded an investigation into the riots &quot;instead of penalising journalists and civil society activists&quot;.

Tripura is ruled by Modi&#39;s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Critics say there has been an increase in attacks on the 200-million Muslim minority community in India under Modi&#39;s government. The government denies the allegations.

The Tripura police&#39;s investigation also drew criticism from Modi&#39;s political opponents including main rival Rahul Gandhi from the Congress party.

&quot;Pointing out that #Tripura_Is_Burning is a call for corrective action. But BJP&#39;s favourite cover-up tactic is shooting the messenger. Truth can&#39;t be silenced by #UAPA,&quot; he tweeted.]]>
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			<title>Modi’s Kashmir blunder</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2314029/modis-kashmir-blunder</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2314029/modis-kashmir-blunder#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 05 Aug 21 10:44:36 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Zamir Akram]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Indian premier only intensified Kashmiri struggle; escalating a two front threat to his country’s security]]>
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				<![CDATA[On August 5 this year, it will be two years since the BJP-RSS fascist government of Prime Minister Modi revoked articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution which, in theory at least, granted a special autonomous status to the Indian occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi&rsquo;s objective has been to forcibly incorporate this disputed Muslim majority state into the Indian union and suppress the indigenous popular movement for Kashmiri freedom.

Instead, he has only managed to further intensify the Kashmiri struggle while generating widespread international condemnation as well as escalating a two-front threat to his country&rsquo;s security.

As such, Modi&rsquo;s machinations have back-fired, creating a blowback that makes India&rsquo;s Kashmir problem worse than ever before.

This is nothing short of a monumental blunder. When Indian Prime Minister Nehru took the Kashmir dispute to the UN in January 1948, he expected the international body to endorse the fraudulent &ldquo;instrument of accession&rdquo; signed by Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir under duress of Indian occupation.

However, the UN accepted Pakistan&rsquo;s argument that the people of Kashmir must decide their own fate and called for an impartial plebiscite.

At first, Nehru accepted the UN&rsquo;s decision but when he realized the plebiscite would not go in India&rsquo;s favour, he resiled from this commitment.

Relying on Kashmiri quislings like Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference, Nehru offered local autonomy and special status to occupied Kashmir in return for Abdullah&rsquo;s acceptance of Indian sovereignty.

Read Qureshi asks UN to take note of India&#39;s illegal steps in Kashmir

Rigged elections in 1949 ensured that only the National Conference won seats in the Kashmir Constituent Assembly, enabling Abdullah to become Prime Minister with autonomy over all matters except foreign affairs, defence and communications.

This arrangement was incorporated in the Indian constitution as Article 370. Under another article, 35A, Nehru assured that no Indian could permanently settle in Kashmir or buy property there, so as to preserve the Muslim majority demography of the occupied state.

By 1953, however, when Indian control had been entrenched, Nehru dismissed Abdullah&rsquo;s government, withdrew the post of prime minister and appointed another Kashmiri sycophant, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, as a figurehead chief minister while the real power was exercised by the governor of Kashmir appointed by the government in New Delhi. Article 370 had been reduced to a fig-leaf for Kashmiri autonomy.

Only article 35A survived as its withdrawal would have completely alienated all Kashmiris making control of the state extremely difficult.

Subsequently, this fiction of autonomy was maintained even as every state election was rigged to ensure that only those acceptable to India were elected. At times, even this engineered arrangement was dispensed with, and the state was put under direct central control.

Such Indian cynical manipulation eventually led to the popular Kashmiri uprising in January 1990 following yet another round of rigged elections.

This uprising continues to this day despite massive and brutal Indian repression. Under Modi&rsquo;s &ldquo;muscular&rdquo; policy, such repression has been taken to deeper depths of depravity.

Thousands of helpless Kashmiris have been killed, tortured, or imprisoned. Hundreds have gone missing, while others have been buried in mass unmarked graves.

Rape has been used as an instrument of policy, with women being especially singled out for persecution. Not even children have been spared, subjected to firing by pellet guns deliberately meant to maim them and many have lost their eyesight if not their lives.

More than 700,000 Indian Army and paramilitary troops have been deployed in the small Kashmir Valley whose number was further increased by Modi in 2019.

Given immunity under draconian laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and others, Indian troops have the license to kill and have unleashed a reign of terror on the Kashmiri people.

When even this massive use of brutal force to bludgeon the Kashmiris into submission failed and the Kashmiri freedom movement continued to gain strength, Modi resorted to further intensifying his repression.

Revoking articles 370 and 35A on&nbsp;August 5, 2019, he imposed a statewide lockdown and curfew, enforced through an increased number of troops. Over 400 more Kashmiris were killed, including through fake encounters and extrajudicial killings. Nearly 4000 Kashmiris have been tortured and over 15,000 civilians have been arrested, including political figures, lawyers, teachers and civil society activists.

Even pro Indian political leaders have not been spared. All communications within and from the occupied state, including internet and social media services, have been withdrawn.

Modi has claimed that his objective is to fully absorb the disputed state into the Indian union. He has divided up the state in 3 union territories &ndash; Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh &ndash; to be administered directly by New Delhi.

His more ominous objective, by withdrawing article 35A, is to change the Muslim majority demography of occupied Kashmir by allowing Indians to buy a property and settle in Kashmir.

In this way, Muslim Kashmiris would be reduced to a minority in their own land, much as Israel is promoting Jewish settlements in Muslim Palestinian lands.

This is nothing short of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Modi&rsquo;s actions are clear violations of India&rsquo;s bilateral commitments such as the Simla agreement with Pakistan and of the UN&rsquo;s resolutions, which require that the ground realities in Kashmir not be changed.

These actions are also violations of international laws. As such India is culpable under the Genocide Convention, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and the Conventions on Torture, Involuntary Disappearances, Extra-Judicial Killings and Women&rsquo;s Rights among a number of others.

After the passage of three years, Modi&rsquo;s objectives in occupied Kashmir are far from being achieved. In fact, his actions have backfired, heightening India&rsquo;s Kashmir blunder.

Within the occupied state, the alienation with India is now complete and universal, including even among those who have collaborated with India in the past.

This was clear from Modi&rsquo;s meeting with these pro-India Kashmiris in June 2021 when all of them rejected the withdrawal of articles 370 and 35A and stated they felt &ldquo;humiliated&rdquo; before their people.

Meanwhile, the pro-freedom Hurriyat leaders have gained even more support for their struggle even as they remain incarcerated.

Consequently, Modi&rsquo;s objective of overcoming the Kashmiri freedom struggle has been dealt a fatal and irreversible blow.

The already tense relations with Pakistan have further exacerbated, eroding any possibility of resuming a bilateral dialogue.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who declared himself as Kashmir&rsquo;s ambassador, has outrightly rejected any dialogue until India reverses its August 5 action.

The Prime Minister has also spearheaded an international campaign to project the Indian perfidy and highlight Indian violations of international law including massive violations of Kashmiri human rights.

Apart from raising the issue in the UN General Assembly and its Human Rights Council, his government has vigorously taken up the matter in bilateral contact with all key countries and major world leaders.

Read more FM asks India not to put region&rsquo;s peace at stake

Consequently, Modi&rsquo;s blunder has focused renewed international attention on the Kashmir dispute between three nuclear powers, India, Pakistan and China &ndash; especially since China, which claims parts of Ladakh, has forcefully rejected the Indian action of August 2019.

As a result, Pakistan and China have jointly raised the Kashmir dispute thrice in the UN Security Council, for the first time since 1965.

The UN Secretary-General has also expressed his concern over developments in Kashmir several times since August 2019.

Similarly, the High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as several Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council have highlighted Indian human rights violations in Kashmir, as has been done by a number of international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The European Union, the British Parliament and the American Congress apart from a number of other western legislators have also severely criticized the Indian action and called for resolution of the dispute and urgent respect of Kashmiri human rights.

The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) as well as a number of Muslim leaders, particularly of Turkey and Malaysia, have joined Pakistan in condemning the Indian action, reiterating the demand for a solution of the Kashmir dispute and immediate steps to respect human rights, including the right of self-determination.

The international media has devoted widespread coverage to the developments in occupied Kashmir as&nbsp;well, highlighting violations of human rights, denial of fundamental freedoms and Indian atrocities against the Kashmiris.

Perhaps the most dangerous outcome for India resulting from Modi&rsquo;s belligerent Kashmir policy is the simultaneous confrontation with Pakistan and China.

Even before the Indian action of August 2019, a crisis erupted with Pakistan in February following a Kashmiri freedom fighter&rsquo;s attack on an Indian military convoy.

In the resulting military confrontation, Pakistan&rsquo;s resolute rebuff forced India to back down in order to avoid a major conflict.

Thereafter, from June 2020 to the present, India has been embroiled in military clashes with China in the Galwan area of Ladakh.

Here too, India has been compelled to back down against an assertive Chinese response. Consequently, India is now confronted with a dangerous two front security challenge, on the Line of Control with Pakistan and the Line of Actual Control with China.

Even though Indian military planners have boasted of being able to fight on two and a half fronts &ndash; Pakistan, China and the Kashmiris &ndash; the reality is that they have failed to even manage the half front with the Kashmiris.

Taken together, these developments demonstrate that Modi has badly blundered in Kashmir, further alienating the entire Muslim majority of occupied Kashmir, invited widespread international opprobrium and provoked both Pakistan and China into a dangerous confrontation.

These are conditions that India will not be able to sustain. Not surprisingly, therefore, the Indians are now seeking a dialogue with the Kashmiris, with Pakistan and with China. But such a dialogue without practical changes on the ground, especially reversal of the August 5 action, is not going to be possible.

This has been made amply clear by the Pakistani leadership. It is now for Modi to decide on his next move to find a face-saving solution and reduce the challenges for his country. Over the long term, nothing short of resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people would suffice.

(The writer is a former Ambassador of Pakistan)]]>
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			<title>Pakistan concerned over jailed Kashmiri leaders’ health</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2277721/pakistan-concerned-over-jailed-kashmiri-leaders-health</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2277721/pakistan-concerned-over-jailed-kashmiri-leaders-health#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 Dec 20 10:25:21 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[news.desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Foreign Office says Delhi making illegal arrests over malicious, fabricated charges under draconian laws]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan on Monday expressed &ldquo;deep concern&rdquo; over the continued incarceration and deteriorating health conditions of the Kashmiri leaders, who have been imprisoned after India&rsquo;s scrapping of the special status of the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmr (IIOJK) in August last year.

The Foreign Office statement comes after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday in his hometown that the Indian occupation forces have been spreading fear among the unarmed and innocent people of IIOJK through continuous oppression and persecution.

Many senior Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, are also under house arrest, while other prominent leaders, such as Asiya Andrabi, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Yasin Malik, Masarat Alam Bhat, Mohammad Ashraf Sehraie, are in New Delhi&rsquo;s infamous Tihar jail and others.

&ldquo;These Kashmiri leaders have been illegally arrested over malicious, false and fabricated charges by the Indian government through invoking draconian laws promulgated in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu &amp; Kashmir (IIOJK),&rdquo; the Foreign Office said in a statement.

&ldquo;Imprisonment and torturing of Kashmiri leaders on the basis of their political ideology and struggle against illegal Indian occupation is a true reflection of the extremist mindset of the RSS-BJP regime which has no respect for the human rights of the Kashmiri people,&rdquo; the statement added.

The Foreign Office urged the international community, particularly the UN, and human rights and humanitarian organisations to take notice of the Indian government&rsquo;s &ldquo;inhuman treatment of the Kashmiri leaders and raise voice for their immediate release from illegal Indian detention.&rdquo;

Meanwhile, addressing a ceremony in the Multaniwala Union Council, Qureshi said that the Indian occupation forces were spreading fear among the unarmed and innocent people of IIOJK through continuous oppression and persecution.

&ldquo;Unarmed Kashmiri youth are being subjected to state terrorism in fake encounters,&rdquo; he said in reference to the recent case filed in an Indian court against an army captain and his two accomplices for killing three local labourers by declaring them as &lsquo;militants&rsquo;.

In a charge sheet filed in a local court, police said the captain had staged a gunfight in South region of the Valley on July 8 to make it appear like a clash with &lsquo;militants&rsquo;. He said these &ldquo;young Kashmiris are being presented as terrorists and fake cases are registered against them to misguide&rdquo; the world.

The foreign minister said India had earmarked billions of rupees to damage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. Similarly, he added that India was also sabotaging the peace process in Afghanistan.

&ldquo;Disinfo Lab had exposed India&rsquo;s conspiracies. Due to inhuman measures by the [Narendra] Modi government, the voices are also being heard against the fascist regime from inside India. [And] Instead of addressing its issues, the Indian government is bent upon conspiring against Pakistan.&rdquo;

He warned that India&rsquo;s nefarious designs could create law and order situation in the region and the consequence would be disastrous. &ldquo;Pakistan is taking practical as well as diplomatic steps to foil conspiracies of the enemy.&rdquo;

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)]]>
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			<title>28 years after razing of Babri Mosque, persecution of Muslims continues in Modi’s India</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2274848/28-years-after-razing-of-babri-mosque-persecution-of-muslims-continues-in-modis-india</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2274848/28-years-after-razing-of-babri-mosque-persecution-of-muslims-continues-in-modis-india#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 06 Dec 20 06:28:57 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Since Modi came into power the lynching of Muslims on any pretext has become a norm]]>
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				<![CDATA[Its been 28 years since the day a frenzied mob of Hindu extremists razed to ground the historic Babri mosque in Ayodhya, fuelled by venomous instigation of the RSS-BJP ideology, and with each passing day the hatred against minorities in India continues to grow unchecked.

Violence against Muslims, the country&rsquo;s largest minority, is nothing but routine in the world&rsquo;s largest democracy, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who continues to aggressively pursue the Hindutva ideology, which sees India as a &ldquo;Hindu nation.&rdquo;

Though exact figures are unavailable, but a sifting through long list of riots in India, the death toll of Muslims killed by Hindus exceeds 10,000, a figure strongly contested by Muslims who believe actual numbers are far higher.

Since Modi came into power the lynching of Muslims on any pretext has become a norm. The recent New Delhi riots saw death of around 55 Muslims and losses running in millions.

But the Muslims in India are not the only target. In 1984 around 3,000 Sikhs were killed in New Delhi after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and another 8,000 around the country.

The demolition of Babri mosque alone triggered some of the deadliest religious riots against the Muslims, with deaths exceeding 2,000. The total losses of property touched billions across India.

According to records the Babri Mosque was built when the first Mughal king, Babur was in power in 1528. However on December 23, 1949, it turned into a &lsquo;disputed property&rsquo; as idols of the Hindu deity Rama were placed inside the mosque. Police locked the gates and no Muslim was allowed to offer prayers.

From 1950-61, four civilsuits were filed in the court by both the Hindus and the Muslims for seeking possession of the site. A Hindu temple committee in 1984 was formed by Hindu groups, to begin construction of a Hindu temple.

In 1990 the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LK Advani, led a nationwide campaign to build a Ram temple in the place of the mosque. The fury generated by RSS-BJP eventually led to the tearing down of the historic building on December 6, 1992 as Hindu religious extremists reduced the mosque to rubble.

Three judges of the Allahabad High Court ruled that the disputed site should be shared by Hindus and Muslims in September 2010. The court said two-thirds of the 2.77-acre (1.12-hectares) site belonged to Hindus while the rest to the Muslims.

However, in May 2011, the ruling was suspended by India&rsquo;s Supreme Court as appeals were filed by both Hindu and Muslim groups.

The Indian supreme court increased the bench from three to five judges on January 25, 2019 and a mediation panel was set up, which failed to settle the issue on August 6, 2019.

After a day-to-day hearing on the dispute the Supreme Court on November 9, 2019 ruled that the land must be handed over to a trust to oversee the construction of a Hindu temple, while a separate piece of land in Ayodhya would be given over to Muslim groups.

On Sept 30, a special court in India acquitted all the 32 surviving accused in the Babri Mosque demolition case, which was immediately slammed by Pakistan as a &ldquo;shameful&rdquo; verdict.

&ldquo;Pakistan strongly condemns today&rsquo;s shameful acquittal of the criminals responsible for demolishing the centuries-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992,&rdquo; the foreign ministry said in a statement.]]>
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			<title>Minority complex plagues India’s Hindus: Guha</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2271142/minority-complex-plagues-indias-hindus-guha</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2271142/minority-complex-plagues-indias-hindus-guha#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 20 09:23:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[HAMMAD SARFRAZ]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2271142</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Gandhi’s biographer says countries that make religious beliefs central to their national identity do not prosper]]>
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				<![CDATA[India&rsquo;s Hindu majority under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party suffers from a minority complex. According to Ramachandra Guha, a well-known historian and Mohandas K. Gandhi&rsquo;s biographer, all aspects of public life in India are dominated by the Hindu majority, but the community continues to claim that they get the short end of the stick.

&ldquo;Hindus dominate everything in India: politics, economics, culture, and society. And yet they speak and act as if they are hounded and persecuted,&rdquo; the scholar said, warning that countries that make religious beliefs central to their national identity do not prosper.

In December 2019, Guha was among thousands detained for opposition to the contentious citizenship law, which convulsed much of India.&nbsp;The historian was talking to a reporter in Bengaluru that afternoon during the protest, when police officers wielding bamboo sticks gripped him and forced him into a van full of detainees.


The RSS believes in demonizing minorities. They believe in establishing a Hindu Rashtra. They believe that Hindus were always perfect

Ramachandra Guha, Historian of modern India, biographer of Gandhi


Guha, who is known as a prominent historian of modern India, said the country&rsquo;s founding father would have openly opposed the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) introduced by the ruling Hindu nationalist government.&nbsp;

Gandhi, he said, would have protested against the CAA, which accelerates the pathway to citizenship for all communities but excludes Muslims.&nbsp;The writer believes Gandhi would have never supported a law that discriminates on the basis of religion.

&ldquo;The CAA is a spiteful act aimed to discriminate against Muslims. It is immoral and illogical, and should not be there,&rdquo; said Guha, who was detained briefly for protesting against the law last year.

Quoting Friedrich Schiller, a German poet and philosopher, Guha said: &ldquo;The first law of decency is to preserve the liberty of others.&rdquo; In India, he said, there is a special responsibility on the Hindu majority to preserve the decency of minorities in the country.&nbsp; The writer cautioned that majority communalism is dangerous for India.&nbsp;

Israel, he said, is widely quoted as a successful example of majoritarian democracy. &ldquo;If we have to learn anything from Israel, which is protected by US money and arms, it shouldn&rsquo;t be majoritarianism or how to beat the Muslims.&nbsp;Let&rsquo;s learn the independence of the judiciary and press from them,&rdquo; the author of India after Gandhi said.

Talking about the current situation in India, Guha said: &ldquo;It is a bleak period in our history.&rdquo; He said the Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the conflicts and schisms in the country. &ldquo;The demonization of India&rsquo;s minorities has intensified during the pandemic,&rdquo; he said.


The CAA is a spiteful act aimed to discriminate against Muslims. It is immoral and illogical, and should not be there

Ramachandra Guha, Historian of modern India, biographer of Gandhi


During the discussion with Deccan Herald&rsquo;s online opinion editor, Aarthi Ramachandran, which lasted more than an hour, Guha spoke candidly about a wide variety of issues.&nbsp;On the state of India&rsquo;s democracy, he said the country is on a slippery slope to authoritarianism.

&ldquo;It is not just bad politically, morally and socially, but also economically,&rdquo; the scholar cautioned.&nbsp;

Referring to Gandhi&rsquo;s ideology, Guha said, he would have opposed the centralization of power in the hands of the state that is now visible in India.On the reawakening of the Hindu right wing, he said, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party&rsquo;s ideological fountainhead, has always opposed everything India&rsquo;s founding father stood for.&nbsp;

&ldquo;The RSS believes in demonizing minorities. They believe in establishing a Hindu Rashtra. They believe that Hindus were always perfect and that India is destined to become a Vishwa Guru or a leader in innovation and knowledge. But look at the state of our schools and hospitals,&rdquo; the writer quipped.

Responding to a question about limited tolerance for dissent in India, Guha said, &ldquo;It is a very dangerous sign.&rdquo;]]>
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			<title>President, PM reiterate Pakistan's unwavering support for the Kashmiri people</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2270088/president-pm-reiterate-pakistans-unwavering-support-for-the-kashmiri-people</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2270088/president-pm-reiterate-pakistans-unwavering-support-for-the-kashmiri-people#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 20 06:59:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[news.desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Azad Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2270088</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Alvi says solution to Kashmir dispute is possible only through Security Council resolutions]]>
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				<![CDATA[On the occasion of the Kashmir Black Day, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday reiterated Pakistan&#39;s unwavering support to the people of Kashmir.

In a series of tweets, President Alvi said the people of Kashmir have been subject to 73 years of torture by the Indian armed forces, but their resistance continues.

He reaffirmed Pakistan&#39;s support with the Kashmiris until their right to self-determination is recognised and said the solution to the Kashmir dispute is possible only through the Security Council resolutions.




آج کشمیری جموں و کشمیر پر بھارت کے غیر قانونی قبضے کے خلاف یوم سیاہ منارہے ہیں۔ 73 سال سے ہندوستانی افواج نے کشمیر کو ایک کھلی جیل، کشمیریوں کو محکوم، قتل، زیادتی اور بہیمانہ تشدد کا نشانہ بنایا ہوا ہے لیکن ان کی مزاحمت جاری ہے۔ پاکستان ان کے ساتھ کھڑا ہے۔
&mdash; The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) October 27, 2020



In a video message, the premier condemned the gross human rights violation by the Indian armed forces in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&amp;K).

&quot;The Kashmir Black Day represents a dark chapter in the human history when, 73 years ago, Indian forces landed in Srinagar to forcibly occupy the territory and subjugate people of Jammu and Kashmir,&quot; read a statement shared on Twitter from the official account of the Prime Minister&#39;s Office.

Highlighting India&#39;s draconian rule in the region, including extra-judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris, unprecedented restrictions in freedom of speech, fake encounters, cordon-and-search operations, custodial torture and deaths, enforced disappearances, incarceration of Kashmiri leadership and youth, use of pellet guns, destruction and burning of houses to inflict &lsquo;collective punishment&rsquo; on the Kashmiri communities, the premier reiterated that India has failed to break the will of the people.

&nbsp;




Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI&#39;s Message on #KashmirBlackDay, 27th October 2020. pic.twitter.com/c9djkTVWof
&mdash; Prime Minister&#39;s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) October 27, 2020



&nbsp;

He urged the international community to play its part to stop India from using state-terrorism as a tool to destabilise the region and to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people.

The prime minister restated that Pakistan will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Kashmir and extend all possible support until they realise their right to self-determination.

&nbsp;




Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI&#39;s Message on Kashmir Black Day (27th October 2020)

&quot;We are observing this day to condemn Indian illegal occupation and to reiterate our unwavering support to the Kashmiri people.#KashmirBlackDay pic.twitter.com/F3oYsYs7lC
&mdash; Prime Minister&#39;s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) October 27, 2020



&nbsp;

Earlier this week, the prime minister said that the 75th anniversary of the United Nations was a stark reminder of unfulfilled promises to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, for the fulfilment of their right to self-determination.

He reminded the world body of the unresolved dispute of Jammu and Kashmir despite being on its agenda for over seven decades and called for the implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

&ldquo;I urge the international community, especially the Security Council, to exercise its moral, legal, political and diplomatic authority to implement UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir,&rdquo; he stated.]]>
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			<title>'RSS, ISIS forming front against Pakistan'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2267941/rss-isis-forming-front-against-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2267941/rss-isis-forming-front-against-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 20 16:26:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[news.desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[FATF should blacklist India for money laundering, says Rehman Malik]]>
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				<![CDATA[Former interior minister Senator Rehman Malik has said that there are Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant&nbsp;(ISIS) camps in the Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala, stating&nbsp;that 40 banks in the neighbouring country are involved in money laundering but the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is yet to take any notice.

Talking to the media in Islamabad on Sunday, Malik demanded that the FATF should blacklist India. &quot;The world has seen that India and the Modi government was financing ISIS.&quot;

He advised the incumbent government that there is ample amount of evidence against India and it should go to FATF against India as being silent won&#39;t serve anyone.

&quot;India has started proxy war and we should not forget this. RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] and ISIS have become a front against Pakistan,&quot; the senator said.

India, he said, is committing state-sponsored terrorism and money laundering. &quot;I am also writing to the government, the FATF and the United Nations about this. India should not be in grey but blacklisted.&quot;

He said that ISIS and RSS&nbsp;are forming a front against Pakistan and China.

Earlier, US Foreign Policy magazine published an incriminating report, tracing some of the deadly terrorist attacks in different countries to India.

On Thursday, Pakistan told the UN General Assembly that India was pushing terrorist groups &ndash; Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA ) &ndash; in cross-border terrorist attacks against the country&rsquo;s military and civilian targets.

While addressing in Pakistan&#39;s Right to Reply at the Sixth Committee General Debate during the 75th UN Session in New York, Diplomat Jehanzeb Khan said India was financing and organising secret mercenary terrorist organisations based outside the country&rsquo;s borders to conduct attacks in Pakistan with the objective of impeding the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

&ldquo;Over the last decade, thousands of Pakistanis have been killed or injured as a result of these Indian-sponsored terrorist attacks,&rdquo; he said.

Khan added that India had used terrorism as an instrument of its coercive policies against every one of its neighbours, especially Pakistan and against its own Muslim population particularly in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

&ldquo;The reign of state terrorism in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has done little to frustrate the indigenous and legitimate struggle of Kashmiris for their inalienable right to self-determination,&rdquo; he added.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM DNA)]]>
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			<title>AJK president urges global community to declare BJP, RSS terrorist outfits</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2266370/ajk-president-urges-global-community-to-declare-bjp-rss-terrorist-outfits</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2266370/ajk-president-urges-global-community-to-declare-bjp-rss-terrorist-outfits#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 20 14:15:53 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Azad Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2266370</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[If both outfits not stopped, peace, security and development would be jeopardised across the world, warns Masood]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has stressed that Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) should be declared international terrorist outfits for promoting fascists thoughts based on hatred and aggression.

Speaking as the chief guest at a webinar organised by the Centre for Global and Strategic Studies on Wednesday, he warned that if both the outfits were not stopped from playing the dangerous game, the peace, security and development of the world would be jeopardised.

The AJK president said that introduction of the new domicile certificate in Occupied Kashmir was a sheer violation of the UN resolution 122, and the UN Security Council should refer this law to the International Court of Justice for advice. &quot;Muslims and Hindus have been living in South Asia together for centuries, but the BJP-RSS provocative and hate policies have made it almost impossible for them to continue to live together,&quot; he added.

President Masood asserted that the Foreign Office of Pakistan should step forward to muster diplomatic support while the political parties should approach parliaments and civil societies across the globe to gain political support for the Kashmiri people.

&quot;Although international media, civil society, world parliaments and human rights organisations had raised their voice against the Indian actions of August 5 last year, and informal UN Security Council sessions were also held, but these sessions did not prove to be result-oriented, and the world powers having trade interests in India, remained unmoved,&quot; he lamented.

Sardar Masood Khan said that the international community will have to impose economic sanctions on India to prevent the carnage of Kashmiri people.

He regretted that India had spurned the proposals of UN Human Rights Commission in 2016 and the subsequent reports to form an inquiry commission to examine the human rights situation in the occupied valley. India did not care about even the reservations expressed by the US Congress about the ill-treatment being meted out to minorities in India, he added.

The issue of human rights violations being perpetrated in Occupied Kashmir, he said, should be raised in the International Criminal Court and lauded the role of migrants in projecting the Kashmir issue in its true perspective at the international level.

The webinar was also addressed among others by Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, Lord Nazir Ahmed, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, Maj Gen Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery and Martia Tarana.

Earlier during his meeting with Secretary-General of Jamiat Ahal Hadith Azad Kashmir, President Masood highly appreciated the role of Ulema in maintaining interfaith harmony in the region, promoting real teachings of Islam based on tolerance and peaceful co-existence.

Describing the religion of Islam as a binding force, the president said around two billion followers of the faith spreading across the globe are one Ummah and their religion binds them together despite the difference of their colour, races and ethnicities. He urged the religious parties and groups to promote interfaith harmony to strengthen the concept of one and united Muslim Ummah.

Masood also called upon the Ulema to play their role in awareness-raising of the atrocities being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces, India&rsquo;s move to transform demography of IIOJK, genocide and ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims in the occupied territory.]]>
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			<title>Modi’s Hindu supremacism</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2262166/modis-hindu-supremacism</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2262166/modis-hindu-supremacism#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 20 08:28:39 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Dr Talat Shabbir]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2262166</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[India will most certainly go down a “divisive path” and for any Indian, that should not be a desired outcome]]>
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				<![CDATA[What has transpired in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) following the unconstitutional move on August 5, 2019, and elsewhere in India since 2014 when the BJP formed government is &ldquo;Hindu supremacism&rdquo;. The key objective of this Hindu supremacism drive appears to be 200 million Muslims who form 14% of India&rsquo;s 1.3 billion people. Hindu supremacism has been central to Modi&rsquo;s political ideology and his party&rsquo;s aspiration of Hindu nationalism. Hindutva, considered to be &ldquo;unfinished business of Partition&rdquo; happens to be the principal driver of BJP&rsquo;s manifesto and is the core ideology of the RSS. According to BJP-RSS leading proponents of Hindutva philosophy, Hindu nationalism must triumph over the broader concept of Indian nationalism. Interestingly, the term coined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923 in his essay described Hindutva in &ldquo;ethnic, cultural and political terms&rdquo; and not in the religious terms. To him, the concept of Hindutva is related to ancestry and ethnicity and Hinduism as a religion is only a derivative of the larger concept of Hindutva. This politically driven ideological friction caused primarily by pursuit of Hindutva resulted in a dangerous communal divide and the Muslim community across India has become the principal victim of this &lsquo;us and them&rsquo; line of thought.

With the kind of politics PM Modi and his cohorts are trending, the political landscape of India continues to become murky and treacherous where communities find themselves at odds with each other and rifts between them deepens. Modi and his cronies act contrary to the principles of secularism and democratic values enshrined in the Indian constitution. On one hand, no one in India seems to assert a national view on how one could keep India from turning into a fascist state and on the other hand, the supremacists are fast expanding their sphere of influence. 

Ever since PM Modi formed the union government, the BJP broke with its relatively softer past where the likes of Lal Krishna Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee were in the lead and admired as empathetic and soft-spoken leaders by political parties and the civil society across India. Modi&rsquo;s 2019 victory that was the result of his Muslim-focused rhetoric reaffirmed his belief that Hindutva ideology bagged him support of the larger segment of population who voted for the BJP. Though saner voices in India and across the world showed concern over this bigotry and prejudice, unfortunately, rhetoric against Muslims across India does not sound discriminatory to BJP&rsquo;s obstinate followers.

While there is a constricted space for Indian minorities, Jammu and Kashmir is no different. Modi&rsquo;s administration revoked Articles 370 and 35(A) to unilaterally change the status of the disputed territory. Those wishing to see the status of J&amp;K reverting to the pre-August 5, 2019 position might want to understand BJP&#39;s aggressive posturing which is neither aimed to be secular nor democratic. Following the gross unconstitutional action, the Indian government unleashed the worst of atrocities on hapless Kashmiri Muslims. In the garb of detention of Kashmiri leaders, communication blackouts, abductions of Kashmiri youth, rapes, pellet guns and tortures unfold PM Modi&rsquo;s intentions. In IIOJK, an important project of supremacism, Hindutva runs amok and the civilised world turns a blind eye to the horrific state of Kashmiris in occupied territories.

Modi and his colleagues must realise that their divisive rhetoric will potentially have far-reaching consequences not only for the minorities in the country but for the country as a whole. India&#39;s strength lies in secularism, democratic values and diversity. By creating a perilous class divide, the inclusivity, pluralistic traditions and national identity that India bragged for long shall be hit hard. If Modi&rsquo;s Hindu supremacist project succeeds, India will most certainly go down a &ldquo;divisive path&rdquo; and for any Indian, that should not be a desired outcome.]]>
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			<title>Voicing concerns of Islamophobia at every international forum: FM Qureshi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2259353/voicing-concerns-of-islamophobia-at-every-international-forum-fm-qureshi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2259353/voicing-concerns-of-islamophobia-at-every-international-forum-fm-qureshi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 20 10:47:48 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Urges rights groups to take notice of recent violence in Bengaluru, India]]>
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				<![CDATA[Islamabad is raising the issue of Islamophobia at every international forum, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a statement on Thursday.

Directing all his comments towards India and the current BJP government&#39;s anti-Muslim sentiments in the neighbouring country, Qureshi said that Pakistan has the right to voice this concern at every international forum.

He referred to the recent incident of violence in Bengaluru, which left at least three dead in clashes triggered by a post on social media offensive to Muslims.

The violence began late on Tuesday, with mobs pelting stones, burning vehicles and setting a police station on fire, and lasted until the early hours of Wednesday. Dozens of people were wounded.

&quot;Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s government has buried the secular state of India and instead is giving rise to a Hindu state,&quot; said Qureshi. &quot;This is not an internal matter, it is a humanitarian issue,&quot; he said. Muslim minorities are not safe in India, insisted Qureshi.

The foreign minister urged Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other global rights groups to take notice of the incident.

Qureshi further condemned the act of constructing a temple after demolishing a mosque - referring to the historic Babri Masjid site where a Hindu temple is now being built.

The foreign ministry took up the matter with officials of the Indian High Commission yesterday and will raise the issue of Islamophobia at every international forum as well, said Qureshi. He also mentioned Prime Minister Imran Khan&#39;s speech at the United Nations General Assembly session last year, where the premier raised the matters of Kashmir, climate change, money laundering and Islamophobia as central issues for the global community.

On Wednesday, Islamabad lodged a strong protest with India on a derogatory social media post against Islam in Bengaluru, the ministry of foreign affairs said.

&quot;Pakistan has conveyed its strong condemnation to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on the reported incident involving a derogatory social media post against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by an extremist from the majority Hindu community in Bengaluru, Karnataka,&quot; the statement read.

It said that the offensive post against Islam has hurt Muslims and reflected the rising Islamophobia and targeting of minority communities in India.

The ministry said that the rising incidents of religious hate crime in India are a direct and inescapable consequence of the RSS-BJP&#39;s combined extremist ideology of &lsquo;Hindutva&rsquo;.

&quot;The incident has been viewed with concern and the civil society in Pakistan has called for justice for the minority Muslim community in India,&quot; the statement added.

Pakistan called upon the government of India to investigate the incident and take immediate action against the perpetrators of religious hatred.]]>
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			<title>AJK president calls for declaring RSS a terrorist group</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2238341/ajk-president-calls-declaring-rss-terrorist-group</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2238341/ajk-president-calls-declaring-rss-terrorist-group#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 20 14:58:13 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2238341</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Masood Khan urges Pakistani and Kashmiri expatriates to keep the Kashmir cause alive]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has called upon the global community to initiate "boycott, divestment and sanctions" campaign against India to prevent it from carrying out genocide in Occupied Kashmir and persecution of minorities in India.

"The Hitler of 20th century, Narendra Modi, has imposed the latest model of Nuremberg Laws under the label of domicile law, and it is high time that the international community take its notice and stop India from playing this heinous game," he said while addressing participants of All Party's International Kashmir Unity Conference hosted by Global Pakistan and Kashmir Supreme Council through a video link.

The Kashmir Conference, co-hosted by Raja Sikander Khan and Kala Khan in London, proposed a campaign for imposing sanctions on India to stop its atrocities and colonisation in IOJ&amp;K and declaration of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a global terrorist organisation.

‘Kashmiri children victims of India's worst barbarity’

The session also was addressed by Punjab Governor Chaudhary Mohammad Sarwar, Leader of Opposition in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, Senator Lt-Gen. (retd) Abdul Qayyum, Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner in UK Mohammad Ayub, UK MPs and Shadow Ministers including Afzal Khan, Khalid Mehmood, Yasmin Qureshi, Mohammad Yasin, Tahir Ali, Lord Nazir Ahmad, Member of Kashmir Committee Naureen Farooq Ibrahim, senior AJK Minister Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Chairman Public Accounts Committee Abdur Rashid Turabi, All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders Ghulam Mohammad Safi, Faiz Ahmed Naqshbandi and others, and Jamaat-e-Islami Azad Kashmir Amir Dr Khalid Mehmood.

President Masood said that some Middle Eastern states have banned import of non-Halal meat from India, which is a "good development". Terming the one million-strong diaspora communities as Pakistan’s asset, he urged Pakistani and Kashmiri expatriates to keep the Kashmir cause alive and double their efforts to highlight the happening in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that the UK and the European Union MPs are playing an excellent role to project the Kashmir issue in its true perspective. Explaining the situation in IOJ&amp;K, he said that people of the disputed territory have been living under double lockdown. "The first lockdown was imposed by India on August 5 last year and now the corona lockdown since March this year."

Pakistan urges world leaders to act as India completes 10-month lockdown in IOJ&amp;K

"Unfortunately, the Indian government did not take any steps to protect the Kashmiri people from the novel coronavirus because it considers the Kashmiri people as its enemy," he said, adding that personal protection equipment (PPEs), face masks and sanitisers are not being provided to common people and doctors in the occupied valley.

Commenting on actions taken by the government in New Delhi on August 5 last year and introduction of new domicile laws this year which were in clear violation of United Nations resolutions, ICC laws and the fourth Geneva convention, the AJK president urged the United Kingdom to help facilitate urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss Kashmir situation.

He also urged the UN Human Rights Council to immediately set up an independent investigation commission to probe human rights violations as recommended by the UNHCHR’s two reports on Kashmir.

He appreciated the EU parliamentarians and the UK MPs for raising Kashmir issue, and hoped that the UK lawmakers will once again raise this issue in parliament, and convince the UK government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson to talk to the Indian government for the implementation of the UN resolutions.

President Masood expressed his gratitude to Raja Sikandar and Kala Khan for hosting the  transcontinental conclave of lawmakers, Kashmir advocates and human rights defenders. He also thanked the eminent participants for their forceful contributions.

The Punjab governor and other speakers paid glowing tributes to the UK MPs for actively working for the Kashmir cause, and strongly condemned the recent actions of the Modi regime.

In his written statement Raja Zafarul Haq said that the Pakistani people and the expatriates are at the back of the Kashmiri people who are valiantly resisting Indian oppression.

Afzal Khan suggested outreach to young men and women residing in the UK and also emphasised the need to simplify the Kashmir issue.]]>
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			<title>How is India changing the demography of Occupied J&amp;K?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2221589/india-changing-demography-occupied-jk-opinion</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2221589/india-changing-demography-occupied-jk-opinion#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 15 May 20 05:41:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Dr Moonis Ahmar]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2221589</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The BJP government cannot hold the land and the people for good]]>
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				<![CDATA[Taking advantage of the global pandemic, on March 31, the Indian Union Home Ministry quietly amended the Jammu &amp; Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019, and redefined permanent residents by introducing a policy of issuing domicile certificates.

The new domicile policy replaces the 1954 law which had empowered state governments to define “permanent residents” of occupied Jammu and Kashmir (J&amp;K) and reserve certain rights and privileges. Till the promulgation of J&amp;K Reorganization Act, the term permanent resident covered those who were state subjects of J&amp;K in 1954 and their descendants. It also included those who had lived and owned land in J&amp;K for at least 10 years in 1954. Various rights — such as the right to own land, have government jobs and get state scholarships — were only restricted to these permanent residents.

Now, according to the March 31 policy, “anyone who has resided for a period of 15 years in the Union Territory (UT) of J&amp;K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10th/12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT of J&amp;K” is eligible for permanent residence status. The children of such individuals would also be counted as domiciles. The order expands the definition of permanent resident further, to include the “children of those Central government officials, All India Services officers, officials of PSUs [public sector units] and autonomous body of central government, public sector banks, officials of statutory bodies, officials of central universities and recognised research institutes of Central government who have served in Jammu and Kashmir for a total period of 10 years”.

The implications of the new policy are not difficult to gauge, particularly in the Muslim-majority occupied valley of Kashmir. Now, Indian nationals and their children residing in J&amp;K are eligible for permanent residence which means they can apply for local jobs and scholarships. Earlier, the J&amp;K Reorganization Act had ended the special status of J&amp;K enabling Indian nationals to buy property and cast their vote in elections there. Now, the domicile policy has further curtailed the rights of Kashmir’s local population and will inundate the bureaucracy and semi-government bodies with non-locals. It doesn’t end here but the Home Ministry order also amended the Jammu and Kashmir Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Act. References to “permanent residents” were deleted from the law, making it easier for non-local slum dwellers to gain property rights in J&amp;K.

Predictably, all Muslim Kashmiri leaders, regardless of their political affiliations, have rejected the policy of the Indian Home Ministry and termed it an attempt to transform the demographic status, particularly of Kashmir to the advantage of non-Muslims. Said Junaid Azim Mattoo, spokesperson for the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference, which was once allied with the BJP, lamented that “the presidential order defining the domicile law issued at the depth of night while the world is under the grip of a deadly pandemic falls way short of expectations even for those who expected some relief, some reconciliation process,” and the order reflected the government’s “patience to script a disaster of its own. There seems to be a clear intent of conveying yet another serving of humiliation and insult to the people of J&amp;K after what transpired on August 5. During the Covid-19 battle, the people of J&amp;K didn’t deserve more humiliation.”

According to Hindustan Times, J&amp;K Congress president Ghulam Ahmad stated that “this is an insult to the people of J&amp;K. By this order the Centre has made lakhs of people eligible for jobs and other things which were reserved for the people of J&amp;K.”

Since October 31, 2019, when the Union Territory of J&amp;K came into force and the Indian flag replaced the flag of J&amp;K from the Central Secretariat in Srinagar, the Indian state relegating its secular and democratic face exposed its real intentions by transforming the Muslim characteristic of Kashmir with the promulgation of the domicile policy.

Former chief minister of IOK and a key leader of National Conference Omer Abdullah termed the domicile act as humiliating, “adding insult to injury”. Lamenting that “at a time when all our efforts and attention should be focused on the #Covid outbreak, the government slips in a new domicile law for J&amp;K.” The fate of petitions challenging the J&amp;K Reorganization Act in the Indian Supreme Court is well known because the case has been lingering for the last eight months. Challenging the domicile act may end up with similar results.

For now, India may have been able to get away by ending J&amp;K’s special status and enforcing other administrative measures to promote the influx of outsiders, but the BJP government cannot hold the land and the people for good because of two reasons. First, despite the lockdown in IOK since August 5, 2019, the Kashmiri Muslims have totally refused to accept ruthless, arbitrary and humiliating acts which tend to make them an insignificant minority in their own land. Replicating the model of Palestinian territories of Occupied West Bank by Israel, India hopes to completely absorb J&amp;K through such arbitrary and brutal measures by grabbing land and establishing non-Muslim settlements. The Indian military can kill Burhan Wani and Riaz Naikoo on fake charges of terrorism but cannot liquidate the popular uprising of Muslim Kashmiris.

India has not been able to create a wedge among the Muslim population of J&amp;K as their defiance against the occupation of the Indian military and constant lockdown tends to further weaken the position of the Hindu nationalist regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Second, despite its slow reaction against ending the special status in J&amp;K, the world has refused to accept India’s unilateral measures since August 5, 2019, and severe human rights violations. The BJP government tried to kill two birds with one stone by taking advantage of the pandemic by silencing those protesting against the citizenship act of December 2019, which is fundamentally directed against its Muslim minority; and by further consolidating its occupation over J&amp;K by imposing the domicile policy. Since the attention of the world is focused on the Covid pandemic, New Delhi thinks that this is the right time to neutralise all protests against the Indian citizenship act and J&amp;K Reorganization Act.

What the BJP regime has failed to take cognisance of is that the pandemic will not remain forever and once it loses its intensity, the above-mentioned issues will resurface. But realistically speaking, despite the severe defiance of Kashmiri Muslims and opposition from Pakistan, the Modi regime has been able to implement J&amp;K Reorganization Act and domicile policy. The growing confidence of New Delhi in seeking total control of J&amp;K means that the resistance by Kashmiris is a stark reality as attention has been diverted because of the global pandemic. Yet, growing repression in the valley is further augmenting hatred against the occupation forces and brutal measures of New Delhi to forcibly change the demography by transforming the Muslim majority into a significant minority.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2020.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>Baseless Jadhav claims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2219321/baseless-jadhav-claims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2219321/baseless-jadhav-claims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 12 May 20 05:27:54 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The Foreign Office has, for the umpteenth time, rejected “baseless and inaccurate” claims by India]]>
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				<![CDATA[India continues to attempt to repaint the ICJ judgement in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case as something very different from what the court wrote. The Foreign Office has, for the umpteenth time, rejected “baseless and inaccurate” claims by India, in this instance by Harish Salve, a former solicitor general of India who also served as the country’s legal counsel in the Jadhav case before the ICJ. Last week, Salve made a series of claims during an online lecture, including that India has been trying to use back-channel diplomacy to convince Pakistan to release Jadhav. The more controversial claim, however, was that Pakistan had refused to respond to how it would follow through on the ICJ judgement. Salve claimed India had written four letters to Pakistan seeking information on the progress in implementing the judgement, and Pakistan was refusing to answer them. He also claimed Pakistan had delayed the grant of consular access, and India might go back to the ICJ to get the judgement enforced, specifically the review of Jadhav’s case.

The Foreign Office countered over the weekend by noting that Pakistan “fully complied” with the judgement. The FO clarified that Pakistan granted India consular access and is “processing measures for effective review and reconsideration as per the guidelines provided by ICJ in its judgment”. Salve’s statements were “regrettable and a misrepresentation of facts”, according to the FO. But why would the otherwise well-reputed Salve lie? An answer may be in his audience. The lecture was organised by Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, the lawyers’ wing of the RSS. Obviously, admitting Pakistan was following the law would have probably gotten him in trouble. After all, this is the lawyers’ wing of a body that did not even accept the Constitution of India for decades and has been involved in domestic terrorism. But why Salve would have even chosen to speak to them is still not clear. Just imagine if a top Pakistani lawyer had given a lecture to the Taliban.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2020.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>Prepare for what BJP-RSS regime plans to do in future, AJK president tells Kashmiris</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2216305/prepare-bjp-rss-regime-plans-future-ajk-president-tells-kashmiris</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2216305/prepare-bjp-rss-regime-plans-future-ajk-president-tells-kashmiris#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 20 15:13:53 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2216305</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[BJP-RSS regime's vile repertoire includes false flag operations and attack on Azad Kashmir, warns Masood Khan]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that Indian like bifurcation of Kashmir and its merger with its union territories, claim over AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan and grants of domicile of Kashmir to millions of Indian Hindus are far more dangerous than the action of August 5 and "these will lead to a horrible future of Kashmiri people".

“Prepare for what the BJP-RSS regime plans to do in future. Its vile repertoire includes false flag operations, attack on Azad Kashmir, proxy wars. They can also try to drive a wedge between Arabs and Pakistan,” he said while addressing a group of Kashmiri doctors from across the world including Pakistan through a video link from Aiwan-e-Saddar in Muzaffarabad on Thursday.

He said that the Modi government is trying to manufacture a new political elite/class in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&amp;K) so they can use them to brutalise Kashmir. They will be rejected by Kashmiris like the previous puppets were. A new political party has been launched in IOJ&amp;K to get the Kashmiris killed by the Kashmiris and to consolidate India's illegitimate occupation of the disputed region.

AJK PM assails UK Labour Party chief for pro-India remarks

"We are to inculcate unity in our rank and file and fight India inside Kashmir as well as every forum and every capital in the world," President Masood said, adding that India had waged a religious war which will not remain confined to Kashmir and India, but it will be fought in other countries.

Saying that there is no magic wand for winning freedom for Kashmir, the AJK president said, “It’s a game of political power, strategic leverage and economic prowess. Diplomacy will work but to an extent harking back to power dynamics."

He urged to breach communication barriers to put across and broadcast Kashmir’s true story.

The people of IOJ&amp;K, he said, are living a miserable life under the worst siege and lockdown for the last nine months, and now India had clamped another lockdown under the garb of coronavirus to cause more problems for them.

"The Indian government had not adopted any strategy to save the lives of people in Occupied Kashmir from coronavirus pandemic."

The AJK president went on to say that the BJP-RSS regime had first declared a war against the Kashmiri people, and later took this war to the Muslims throughout India, and the Muslim world particularly the Arab nations have expressed sharp reaction over it. "Now voices have started rising from Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and other Muslim states in support of the Indian Muslims and Kashmiri people."

8m people in IOK under harsher lockdown since August, says AJK president

The Arab awakening against Hindutva now includes solidarity with the Kashmiri Muslims who are being killed like sacrificial animals by predatory Indian occupation forces, he added.

While expressing thanks for the Pakistan Foreign Office for aggressively and effectively raising voice in support of the Kashmiri people amidst coronavirus, the AJK president said, "Our efforts on the global level should more intensify, and we must not let the UN Security Council to hold one or two informal sessions, and then to remain silent."

Saying that bilateral process with India has never produced desired results, he called for the involvement of Kashmiris and inclusion of the UN in diplomacy, even  in third party mediation.

“If all stakeholders sit around a peace table, there could be conflict resolution and peace,” he added.]]>
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			<title>Indian allegations of infiltration across LoC baseless: PM Imran</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2215491/indian-allegations-infiltration-across-loc-baseless-pm-imran</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2215491/indian-allegations-infiltration-across-loc-baseless-pm-imran#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 06 May 20 10:51:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2215491</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Premier says India continues to look for a pretext to launch a false flag operation against Pakistan]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday termed Indian allegations of infiltration from Pakistan's side of the Line of Control (LoC) baseless and said it is a "continuation of a dangerous agenda".

The premier's remarks come after senior Indian government officials, including the defence minister and the army chief, alleged the presence of "terrorist launch-pads" on the Pakistani side of LoC.

He added that he has been warning the international community regarding New Delhi's continuing efforts to find a pretext for a false flag operation targeting Pakistan.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1257962802653913088

"Latest baseless allegations by India of "infiltration" across LoC are a continuation of this dangerous agenda.The Indigenous Kashmiri resistance against," said the prime minister in a tweet.

The premier further said that occupied Kashmir's indigenous resistance against New Delhi's is a direct consequence of New Delhi's brutal oppression of the Kashmiri people.

Reiterating his earlier warning to the international community, the prime minister said the world must act before India's recklessness becomes a threat to the peace and security of the South Asian region.

"The fascist policies of the RSS-BJP combine are fraught with serious risks."

Last week, the premier had reminded the international community of its responsibility to act against the war crimes and genocide being perpetrated against the Kashmiri people in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

The occupied valley is under lockdown since August 2019, when India, in a unilateral and illegal move, revoked IOK’s special status. The following draconian crackdown on civil liberties continues till today and the region has been neglected during the current Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the world.

The prime minister had said the right-wing Indian government, under the cover of the pandemic, has continued its Hindutva supremacist agenda, driven by the fascist RSS ideology.]]>
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			<title>New wave of fascism rising in BJP-led India: AJK president</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2214724/new-wave-fascism-rising-bjp-led-india-ajk-president</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2214724/new-wave-fascism-rising-bjp-led-india-ajk-president#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 05 May 20 11:53:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2214724</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[AJK president categorically rejects British Labour Party leader Starmer’s argument that Kashmir is a bilateral issue]]>
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				<![CDATA[President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan, replying to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accusation at the Non-Aligned Movement moot that “some countries are spreading other deadly viruses such as terrorism, fake news and doctored videos”, said that these allegations are what Modi and the RSS specialise in.

He added that “no one would dare poach on your [Modi-RSS] territory”.

While commenting on the recent remarks of Modi through numerous tweets from his official Twitter handle, the AJK president said that the current fascist regime can come to an end if a truly democratic force rises in India.

He further said that rising fascism in a the garb projected by the current BJP-RSS government must be stopped in its tracks.

President Masood Khan in another tweet, while responding to India’s strong protest with Pakistan over moves to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, said “India should vacate Occupied Jammu and Kashmir without caveats and qualifications. The people and the land are not part of the Indian Federation. End the occupation forthwith”.

He added that as an occupier, India has occupied an internationally recognised disputed territory and has illegally called it an “integral part” of the Indian Union.

The president also in a tweet categorically rejected British Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s argument that Kashmir is a bilateral issue.

While referring to a Kashmir conference held last year in the House of Commons, hosted by Conservative MP Paul Bristow, said that the conference was attended by 50 MPs and peers, majority Conservatives, followed by Labour, Lib-Dems and S&amp;P.

“Kashmir is a cross-party issue (in the UK)”, he added.

Masood Khan also extended his felicitations to Associated Press’s (AP) photographers Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand who have been awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for extraordinary photojournalism of the crisis and military lockdown in IOJK.

“Bravo! … they put their lives at risk to cover brutal lockdown in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir."]]>
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			<title>Modi 'virus' more dangerous than coronavirus for Kashmiri people: AJK president</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2211617/modi-virus-dangerous-coronavirus-kashmiri-people-ajk-president</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2211617/modi-virus-dangerous-coronavirus-kashmiri-people-ajk-president#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 20 17:28:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent ​]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2211617</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Masood Khan says 570 branches of BJP, RSS in 39 countries with more than 6 million activists are promoting violence]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Friday said that Indian Army martyred 33 Kashmiri people and injured 150 others in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&amp;K) during the month of April, while only nine Kashmiri people had lost their lives because of coronavirus during the same month.

"This suggests that Modi virus is more dangerous and disastrous than coronavirus for the people of Occupied Kashmir," he added.

President Masood said that 570 branches of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 39 countries including Muslim states with more than 6 million activists are promoting violence and hatred.

8m people in IOK under harsher lockdown since August, says AJK president

He said that hooligans of both the fanatic groups are targeting Christians, Dalits, Sikhs and Muslims in India itself. "There is a need to keep watch on the network of both the groups abroad which provide financial resources for violent activities."

Reacting over the statement of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy regarding the resettlement of half a million pundits in IOJ&amp;k, the AJK president said that that "we welcome the pundits who are Kashmiri subjects".

"Will Swamy talk about 200,000 Muslims of Jammu who were ruthlessly martyred by the RSS, Indian National Army and Dogra Army in November 1947," he questioned.

While describing Swamy's statement a "plethora of lies", President Masood went on to say that butchers like him cannot hide the ongoing repression, barbarity, and terrorism in Kashmir behind the pundits' issue.

India using Covid-19 to 'mow down' Kashmiris: AJK president

The Kashmiri Hindus, he said, were evacuated at the behest of the then puppet governor of Occupied Kashmir Jagmohan in 1989-91 under a strategy designed to give a religious colour and to malign the Kashmiris movement for the right to self-determination.

"The fact is that the Kashmir movement has nothing to do with Hindu-Muslim divide because both have been peacefully living here over the centuries. However, the BJP and the RSS have now brought both the nations eyeball-to-eyeball against each other."

The AJK president expressed concern over the statement of a British Labour party leader Keir Starmer in which he had said that "we must not allow issues of the subcontinent to divide communities in the UK, and that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India".

"Kashmir is not a bilateral issue between Pakistan and India, but it is an international issue which is still on the agenda of the UN Security Council," President Masoos said, adding that Britain owes dual responsibility because this issue had erupted during the English government in the subcontinent, and at the same time, it is on the Security Council agenda, and being a permanent member of the Security Council, it is the moral and legal responsibility of Britain to play its role in the peaceful resolution of the issue.]]>
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			<title>PM Imran urges int’l community to act against Indian war crimes in IOK</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2210467/pm-imran-urges-intl-community-act-indian-war-crimes-iok</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2210467/pm-imran-urges-intl-community-act-indian-war-crimes-iok#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 20 06:48:21 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2210467</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[India is violating the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian laws, says premier]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday reminded the international community of its responsibility to act against the war crimes and genocide being perpetrated against the Kashmiri people in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

The occupied valley is under lockdown since August 2019, when India, in a unilateral and illegal move, revoked IOK's special status. The following draconian crackdown on civil liberties continues till today and the region has been neglected during the current Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the world.

The prime minister said the right-wing Indian government, under the cover of the pandemic, has continued its Hindutva supremacist agenda, driven by the fascist RSS ideology.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1255725745533526019

He further said that the BJP-led government is continuing its genocide of Kashmiris in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The premier added that New Delhi is attempting to change the demography of the disputed region.

"The international community has a responsibility to take note of &amp; act against these war crimes by India in violations of 4th Geneva Convention &amp; int humanitarian laws," said the prime minister in a series of tweets.

World is now realising agonies of living under siege

Earlier, the prime minister had said that perhaps now the international community can understand the suffering being endured by the people of IoK as protests erupt in various parts of the world against coronavirus-related lockdown.

He had further said that under the inhumane political and military lockdown, the people of occupied Kashmir have been without provision of medical, financial, communication or food assistance.

On April 3, India approved the “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Order 2020” which gives non-Kashmiris the right to become permanent residents of the valley.

Under the new law, those who have resided for a period of 15 years in the IOJK or studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10/12 examinations in educational institutions located in the region are now eligible to become permanent residents.]]>
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			<title>Pakistani, Kashmiri diaspora urged to highlight human rights abuses in IOK</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2210076/pakistani-kashmiri-diaspora-urged-highlight-human-rights-abuses-iok</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2210076/pakistani-kashmiri-diaspora-urged-highlight-human-rights-abuses-iok#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 20 20:19:06 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent ​]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2210076</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[India is planning to turn Kashmir into RSS headquarters in order to eliminate the Muslim culture, says AJK president]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has prevailed upon federal government officials, leaders of national parties and the Kashmiri community settled abroad to gear up their efforts to apprise the international community of the fast deteriorating human rights situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&amp;K) and India.

Talking to Pakistani nationals and the community leaders through a video link conference on Wednesday, he said that India is promulgating law to facilitate the Hindus to purchase lands in Occupied Kashmir and expel the Kashmiri people from their own homeland.

He said that India has been speedily implementing a plan since August 5 last year under which vast areas of state lands in Kashmir are being allotted to fanatics of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) under the label of construction of hospitals and setting up of industrial units.

This strategy, he maintained, is actually part of India's plan to turn Occupied Kashmir into the headquarters of RSS in order to eliminate the Muslim culture and the Islamic entity of the region.

Indian 'cowardly acts' aim at hiding crimes against Kashmiris: AJK president

The AJK president regretted that only the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had protested against the heinous anti-Muslim plan of India, while regrettably six international human rights organisations have just demanded the release of political activists languishing in Indian prisons and they have not taken any notice of the domicile law imposed by New Delhi in IOK.

Expressing concern over the double lockdown being faced by the Kashmiri people in the occupied valley, President Masood said that the Indian army has already killed many Kashmiri men, women and children under the garb of lockdown imposed in August last year, and now under the lockdown enforced because of coronavirus, medical treatment and other facilities are being denied to the people so that they die of the infectious virus.

"The lives of all Kashmiri political prisoners detained in the Indian jails are in danger because of unhygienic conditions there."

AJK president praises NDMA role in combating Covid-19

He said that the Modi government has turned Kashmir issue into a clash of civilisations expanding to Indian Muslims. However, the Gulf states have now "risen up to protect the rights of Indian Muslims now".

The AJK president appealed to the federal government and the Kashmiri community abroad to write direct letters to the UN Secretary General, UN human rights council and the International Committee of Red Cross, and send messages through social media to inform the world community about the plight of Kashmiri people.

About the coronavirus situation in Azad Kashmir, he said that due to timely measures, effective lockdown and cooperation of the various strata of life, the situation is under full control by the government, and special attention is being paid to the treatment of infected people. "That is why no life has been lost in the liberated territory so far."]]>
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			<title>Covid-19: RSS cadres in Gulf exposed</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2201734/cvoid-19-rss-cadres-gulf-exposed</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2201734/cvoid-19-rss-cadres-gulf-exposed#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 20 05:12:12 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Adeela Naureen]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2201734</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Covid-19 has somehow exposed RSS's nefarious designs as well as anti- Muslim sentiment in the Arab world]]>
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				<![CDATA[While the entire world is busy fighting the coronavirus, Indian mainstream media as well as factions in the RSS and the BJP continue playing the hate card against the 200 million-strong Muslim community in India. This hate campaign against Muslims spread from mainland India to North America and Europe as well as into the Gulf, where almost five million Indians work and remit billions of dollars to their impoverished families back home.

While this sinister campaign was already going on during protests against the Muslims-centric National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), it picked up momentum after the Tableeghi Jamaat in India – and thereby, the Muslim community – was singled out as the main cause of the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Indian diaspora working in the Arab Gulf states started fanning the hate speech and went to the extent of blaspheming Islam and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

An article published in Gulf Newson April 13 under the title “COVID 19: And now it is ‘Corona Jihad’ in Modi’s hate-filled new India”, Swati Chaturvedi highlighted that in contrast to the entire world struggling with the pandemic, India is communalising the coronavirus crises. Actually, the BJP government was publishing separate figures for the infection caused by Tableeghi Jamaat and by the rest of India. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) ticked India for communalising the narrative. Some Sarkari Muslamansin India also served to promote the hate narrative, like BJP’s Muslim showboy Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said, “The Tableeghi Jamaat spread of virus is a Talibani crime not negligence.”

It is unfortunate that such communal stigmatising of the Indian Muslim community – sponsored and proliferated by the RSS/BJP leadership as well as the mainstream Godi media – has transformed into hate crime against Muslims. The RSS has unleashed its goons against Muslims, many of whom have been lynched brutally. A number of Muslim families had to take shelter in a river bed. Chaturvedi mentions that Muslims across India are bearing the brunt of these communally-charged statements as the Panna Pramukh television channels are now acting as force multipliers using incendiary headers like ‘Corona Jihad’.

As mentioned earlier, the hate train run by the RSS in India found some eager passengers in the Gulf region as well. According to a Gulf Newsreport on April 9, Rakesh B Kitturmath, an Indian working as a team leader at Emrill Services in Dubai, is facing police action after being fired for blaspheming Islam on social media. Kitturmath joins an ever-growing list of Indian expats who have landed in trouble during recent days for Islamophobic messages. Last week, Mitesh Udeshi, an Abu Dhabi resident, was sacked for posting a sacrilegious cartoon about Islam on his Facebook page while a police complaint was filed against Sameer Bhandari of Future Visions Events &amp; Weddings in Dubai after he asked a Muslim job-seeker from India to “go back to Pakistan”.

While many in the Arab Gulf region may not know, RSS cadres have spread their wings in the Arab world through business and Bollywood. As reported by Business Todayin August 2018, an old Jan Sangh member, BR Shetty, had expanded his business empire in the UAE through a healthcare system called NMC Health. Jan Sangh was the predecessor of the RSS and the BJP and supported Hindutva ideology. More recently, BR Shetty – who has reportedly defrauded billions of dollars through the fake and deceptive system – has landed back in India to avoid legal action in the Gulf. As reported by Arabian Businessmagazine on March 19, Carson Block of Muddy Waters Research wrote a damning report accusing NMC Health of fraudulent asset values and theft of company assets. In a matter of just three months, NMC’s shares were suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange and two weeks ago it announced that its debt levels have risen to nearly $5 billion, with over $2.7 billion in facilities that had not been disclosed to or approved by the board.

BR Shetty has also been in the forefront of support for Modi’s election campaign and pledged to invest billions of dollars on Modi’s Nazi agenda in Occupied Kashmir and building a film city, despite knowing full well that Occupied Kashmir is an internationally-recognised dispute territory.

RSS cadres and tycoons working in the Gulf region have always followed the agenda of hate against Muslims. There is nothing new in that. Abdul Majid Zargar has been regularly writing for Kashmiri and international newspapers. He had exposed the RSS nexus in the Gulf in his article published in Kashmir Watchmagazine in 2018. Extracts from the article are posted in the succeeding paragraphs:

Business and service sectors are dominated by nationalist Hindus based in oil-rich Gulf countries. Most of them are South Indians, Gujaratis and Mahrashtrians, including BR Shetty, the Managing Director of the UAE-based NMC group of companies; Sudhir Kumar Shetty, the President of UAE Exchange; N Balakrishna, the Chairman &amp; Managing Director of Prakurti Nest Builders, a company dealing in real estate business. Furthermore, the jewellery and diamond trade in the whole Middle East is controlled by Gujarati Hindus. These are the same people who form the backbone of the RSS and its tributaries which have spread their tentacles in these countries with the overt and covert support of these nationalist Hindus and are continuously on the lookout for shoring up their presence there.

Every year, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat holds a closed-door meeting with these Hindu business tycoons operating in Dubai, UAE and other Middle East countries. Such meetings are held at unsuspecting and nondescript places beyond the media glare. For instance, in 2016 such meeting was held at Thantra Vidya Peetham at Aluva, near Kochi, Kerala. Besides the above-named business tycoons, Managing Director of JR Aero Liink, Dubai Anil Pillai; CEO of UAE Exchange Pramod Mangat and Chief Operating Officer of NMC group Prasant Mangat attended these meetings taking instructions from the RSS chief. These instructions mainly pertain to finances, recruitment and furtherance of the RSS agenda in their respective places of work.

The RSS holds regular shakhas– Hindu theological classes – in at least five countries in the Middle East. In places where outdoor shakhasare not permitted, these are held at homes of prominent workers with signature uniform comprising black pant and white shirt. It needs to be mentioned here that to conceal its identity, these dubious groups assume different names overseas. In some places, it is Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and in a few others Hindu Seva Samiti. In Dubai, it has another branch by the name of Indian People’s Forum. Since 2014, this forum has even been getting regular support from the Indian consulate general.

While the RSS has been using the cover of business and Bollywood in the Gulf region, Covid-19 has somehow exposed its nefarious designs as well as anti- Muslim sentiment in the Arab world.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The writers are freelance journalists and can be reached at adeelanaureen@gmail.com]]>
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			<title>Modi poised to eliminate non-Hindu communities: AJK president</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2200411/modi-poised-eliminate-non-hindu-communities-ajk-president</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2200411/modi-poised-eliminate-non-hindu-communities-ajk-president#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 20 19:17:18 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[For BJP, India belongs to Hindus alone while Muslims and other faith followers are foreigners, says Masood Khan]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan on Friday said that abolition of the disputed status of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&amp;K), making it part of the Union of India, change of domicile policy and introduction of many new laws are part of the ruling BJP party's plan designed to cleanse India from the followers of other religions particularly Muslims and to materialise the dream of Akhand Bharat (undivided India).

Under this plan, the AJK president said in an interview with an English monthly, non-Hindus would be eliminated in a systematic ethnic cleansing, and India would be turned into an absolute Hindu state.

"Although the civil society of India is raising its voice against the plan of the BJP and the RSS, it is helpless to block the Hindu fanaticism."

AJK govt's timely measures kept coronavirus at bay: President Masood

The AJK president said that the civil society of India needs support and practical help of the international community particularly the civil society of neighbouring countries.

He said that the actions of the incumbent Indian fanatic regime have led to a grave human tragedy and it has become necessary to create awareness in the Western countries, and "mounting pressure on the governments of these countries, they are prevented from appeasing India".

At present, he maintained, that the Western governments are busy in appeasing India in different forms. "Despite voices being raised by media, parliaments and the human rights of the West, these governments are trying to hide the crimes against humanity being committed by the Indian government in Occupied Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Assam," he said, adding, "They are doing all this because they consider India a big market and have executed several trade and investment agreements with the country.

AJK president urges students to shake world’s conscience on Kashmir

President Masood went on to say that to the BJP and the RSS, India belongs to Hindus alone while Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and followers of other religions are foreigners or "non-Indians".

"The Indian rulers hate untouchables particularly the Dalit community who are considered as under-privileged Hindus in the Indian system."

Hindutva is designed to establish the supremacy of privileged Hindus and some people believe that this obsolete ancient concept can be defeated in the present age only through an international human rights campaign and the media, he added.

The AJK president also said that the Modi's party BJP, which is the flag bearer of Hindutva philosophy, enjoys the unconditional support of the RSS.

The RSS, he said, is the world largest paramilitary militia with more than 6 million members and volunteers, and being the so-called champion of religious, political and cultural rights of the Hindu community, it believes in achieving its objectives through violent extremism and terrorism.]]>
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			<title>US commission demands India act after religious riots in New Delhi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2165146/us-commission-demands-india-act-religious-riots-new-delhi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2165146/us-commission-demands-india-act-religious-riots-new-delhi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 27 Feb 20 04:39:51 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[US Commission for International Religious Freedom voices 'grave concern' over New Delhi violence]]>
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				<![CDATA[ A US government commission on Wednesday faulted India's response to deadly communal riots in New Delhi and urged the government to take swift action to protect the Muslim minority.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises the US government but does not set policy, voiced "grave concern" about the violence which broke out as President Donald Trump was visiting.
"One of the essential duties of any responsible government is to provide protection and physical security for its citizens, regardless of faith," said chairman Tony Perkins, a conservative Christian close to the Trump administration.
"We urge the Indian government to take serious efforts to protect Muslims and others targeted by mob violence," he said in a statement.
Anurima Bhargava, a commissioner appointed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voiced alarm at reports that Delhi police "have not intervened in violent attacks against Muslims."
"The brutal and unchecked violence growing across Delhi cannot continue," she said. "The Indian government must take swift action to ensure the safety of all of its citizens," she added.
The criticism stands in contrast to the reticence of the Trump administration.
Trump, asked at a news conference in New Delhi about the violence, said the issue was "up to India" and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "incredible" statements on religious freedom.
The two leaders of the US Senate's pro-India caucus, Republican John Cornyn and Democrat Mark Warner, in a joint statement voiced support for the close US ties represented by Trump's visit but added: "At the same time, we are alarmed by the recent violence in New Delhi."
Representative Pramila Jayapal, an Indian-born left-leaning Democrat who has been outspoken in her criticism of Modi, called the developments "horrifying."
"Democracies should not tolerate division and discrimination, or promote laws that undermine religious freedom. The world is watching," she wrote on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/RepJayapal/status/1232419023025057793
The clashes in Delhi, which have left at least 27 people dead, were triggered by protests against a citizenship law seen by critics as anti-Muslim and part of Modi's Hindu nationalist agenda.
Modi has called for calm, although witnesses said police did little to stop Hindu mobs.
His government has previously vowed to weed out "infiltrators" from India, with Home Minister Amit Shah likening undocumented immigrants to "termites."
The government says the citizenship law does not target minorities but instead ensures protection for non-Muslims persecuted in neighboring countries.
The Indian foreign ministry previously reprimanded the US Commission for International Religious Freedom for denouncing the citizenship law.
The commission also plans a public hearing next week on how citizenship laws, including in India and Myanmar, are used to target religious minorities.]]>
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			<title>Indian threats necessitate war preparations: AJK president</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2162355/indian-threats-necessitate-war-preparations-ajk-president</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2162355/indian-threats-necessitate-war-preparations-ajk-president#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 20 17:45:45 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Youth should not wait for any Mohammad Bin Qasim to liberate Kashmir, says Sardar Masood Khan]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has asserted that the youth of AJK, instead of waiting for any Mohammad Bin Qasim, should become great commander themselves, and liberate the besieged brethren of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&amp;K).

Addressing a Kashmir conference in Gahl Syedan village of Mohri Farman Shah area of Bagh on Saturday, he said that the Kashmiris have always faced oppression, but now the time appears ripe to take the oppressors to task.

Urging the international community to ensure peace and security and prevent fascism in the region, the state president said that if the world does not stop India from oppression, the Kashmiris will have no option but to pick up guns to fight the Indian repression and fascism.

“In view of what India is presently doing, jihad has become obligatory for all the Muslims particularly the Kashmiris,” he maintained.

Sardar Masood said the Indian rulers are publicly threatening to capture Azad Kashmir and disintegrate Pakistan. "Therefore, the youth of AJK should be prepared for the defence of their motherland as well as Pakistan, if needed."

AJK president warns India against aggression on Pulwama incident

Referring to Kashmiris as a nation of determined and valiant people, President Masood said they have the capability to brave all storms.

"The youth of Azad Kashmir and the Pakistani people must keep in mind that if they could not defend their territory, they would not be able to play any role for the liberation of Occupied Kashmir," he added.

Regretting that big powers are silent over the worst brutalities in IOJ&amp;K, AJK president said that they are not ready to support the oppressed.

“The goons of BJP and RSS do not care about any law and morality, and they can take any action against Pakistan and Azad Kashmir," he warned.

Addressing the conference, Member of Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly and Chairman Public Accounts Committee Abdur Rashid Turabi said that the state president was playing an unprecedented role on the diplomatic front to muster support for the Kashmiri people, and at the same time, he is also playing an active role in framing strategies for the policy making institutions.

"It is time that Azad Kashmir becomes the base camp of liberation movement in the real sense, and its youth prepare themselves for an armed struggle,” he asserted.

In his address, Director General Kashmir Institute of Management, Brig (retd) Syed Akhtar Hussain Shah paid high tributes to the people of Bagh and adjoining areas for valiantly fighting the liberation war in 1947, and later in 1965 and 1990.

The conference was also addressed by public opinion leaders Amir Gardezi Advocate, Imtiaz Ahmed Shah Advocate and Maulana Imtiaz Ahmed Siddique among others.]]>
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			<title>Hindutva threatens regional peace: Malik</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2159667/hindutva-threatens-regional-peace-malik</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2159667/hindutva-threatens-regional-peace-malik#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Feb 20 04:03:21 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Senator says BJP, RSS want to undermine the Muslim community and other minorities in India]]>
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				<![CDATA[Hindutva is a major threat to the peace of South Asia as India wants to expand under this ideology, Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Abdul Rehman Malik said at the launch of his book Bleeding Kashmir.

“Hindutva is the main ideology which resisted the partition and independence of Pakistan,” said the ex-interior minister at the book launch ceremony held at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS), Islamabad.

“Both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) want to undermine the Muslim community and other minorities living in India under the Hindutva ideology,” he said at the ceremony which had commenced with recitation from the Holy Quran and the national anthem.

Malik said that the contentious and discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are part of BJP’s plan to implement the RSS’ ideology of Hindutva.

Where would Hindutva steer 21st-century India?

“In fact, BJP and RSS wanted to extend the Hindutva ideology to other countries of the region including Iran and Afghanistan but Pakistan is the main obstacle for them to achieve their malicious aim,” Malik said.

He added that February 18 marked the 198th day of Indian imposed curfew in Kashmir turning the whole valley into the world’s largest jail. However, the international community including the United Nations (UN) and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are silent spectators to the Indian brutalities.

He said that Indian forces under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are committing unprecedented brutalities in terms of mass murdering, blinding through pelleting, rapes, tortures, forced disappearances, political repression and suppression of freedom of speech.

Malik urged the government to file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court under the Rome Statute against Modi for his crimes against humanity and genocide in occupied Kashmir.

He advised the government to follow the precedent set by Gambian Minister of Justice Abubacarr Marie Tambadou who gathered the courage and presented the case of the Rohingya massacre before the ICJ based on the report of Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

He asked the government to request the UN to appoint a Plebiscite Administrator in Kashmir and fix a date for the referendum as per the Resolutions of UNSC.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in his speech highly appreciated the tireless efforts of Senator Malik for his contributions in documenting the Kashmir issue. He said that Kashmir is the most sensitive and important topic to be undertaken as the subject of his book.  The senator said that during their meeting with UN Secretary-General, Senator Rehman Malik was vocal and emotional in raising the Kashmir issue.

Senator Javed Abbasi while speaking at the ceremony expressed gratitude to Senator Rehman Malik for documenting the facts in a highly precise manner. He said that in his earlier book ‘Modi’s war doctrine’, Malik predicted that just after winning the elections, Modi would be more aggressive for the implementation of RSS agenda on Kashmir and today I applaud him for his farsightedness. He added that unfortunately Malik’s voice went unheard and authorities in government could not formulate the pre-emptive.

Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Syed Fakhar Imam praised the contents of the book and Senator A. Rehman Malik for knitting the historical facts with ground realities. He mentioned that since he has taken charge of the Kashmir Committee, it is the first ceremony of its type that he has attended wherein the voice of oppressed Kashmiris has been raised and documented in diligently. He said that this book contains ample knowledge for students of geo-politics and Kashmir affairs.

All Parties Hurriyat Conference senior leader Dr Farooq Rehmani said that Kashmiris are looking forward to the people of Pakistan especially the government for their constant support. He hoped that the combined efforts of Pakistan and Hurriyat leadership will lead to the freedom of Kashmir.

In the forward, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani writes “‘Bleeding Kashmir’ exposes readers to an authoritative, accurate and analytical consolidation of historical and legal perspectives of the Kashmir issue with a special focus on emerging realities, new dimensions and the role played by Pakistan’s people, leadership and armed forces in this regard”.

India under the shadow of RSS

He has termed the book as an excellent reference guide for both policymakers and legislators, readers of history, human rights advocates and students of political science, international relations and strategic studies.

‘Bleeding Kashmir’ has been dedicated to all the Shuhada of Kashmir and the victims of Indian brutalities especially Insha Mushtaq who lost her eyes as a result of the injuries sustained due to the pelleting by Indian Armed Forces in IOK; yet continued her education.

In his book, the author Senator Malik has shed light on Modi’s anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan mindset, Hindutva ideology and exposed the motives behind his recent series of actions regarding Kashmir. He enlightens his readers about the inaction of the UN vis-à-vis the implementation of UNSC Resolutions on Kashmir and also elaborates the Indo-Pak fifth Generation warfare dimensions. He discusses how the Indian PM is liable for trial under the Rome Statute for his heinous crimes against humanity. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2020.]]>
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			<title>'India neither democratic nor a secular state'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2144691/india-neither-democratic-secular-state</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2144691/india-neither-democratic-secular-state#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jan 20 17:48:10 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Mamir]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[AJK president also calls upon international community to move forward instead of relying on hollow statements]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Sunday said that India's claims of  being the world's largest democratic state stood nullified to the entire world.

"India is neither democratic nor a secular state where minorities and non-Hindu people are being denied their right to live," said Masood in a video message aired by media on the occasion of India's Republic Day.

“People who love freedom across the world – particularly people of Pakistan and Kashmir – are observing black day today to expose India's hegemonic and fanatic designs, especially the oppressive face of ruling Bharatia Janata Party (BJP) and its ally RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh],” he added.

Lamenting on the fact that even after 72 long years, India continues to occupy the Muslim majority state of Kashmir, the AJK president said that now under a satanic plan New Delhi is ousting Kashmiri people from their homeland.

"The plan is designed for ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri people and the turn the Muslim majority of Kashmir into a minority,” he added.

On August 5, India had stripped Occupied Kashmir of the special autonomy it had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order.

By repealing Article 370 of the constitution, people from the rest of India are now have the right to acquire property in the Himalayan valley and settle there permanently.

&nbsp;

While pointing out at the several attempts the Modi regime made to impose its fascism on the Indian Muslims and other minorities, the AJK president said that whole of India had risen up against the BJP and the RSS, and "thus the extremist approach of Narendra Modi paved the way for Kashmir-like uprising in the length and cranny of his own country".

Army chief reassures AJK president of full military support to Kashmir cause

"We convey to India to lift its occupation of Kashmir, pull back its troops, end the siege and grant right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people," President Masood said, adding that Indian rulers and military chiefs must stop threatening to wage war on "Azad Kashmir and Pakistan, otherwise, the brunt of even minor mistake will have to be borne by coming generations".

He added: "Today is certainly the blackest day because the people of Occupied Kashmir are faced with the Indian brutalities and barbarity.”

The AJK president also called upon the international community particularly the United Nations to move forward, and instead of relying on hollow statements, take concrete steps to prevent ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri people.

He also paid glowing tributes to detained Hurriyat leaders and hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri people for offering resistance and sacrifices amidst Indian brutalities in the disputed valley.]]>
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			<title>Incendiary threats</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2136449/incendiary-threats</link>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jan 20 03:54:18 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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				<![CDATA[India has in recent days seen a series of strikes against the decision-making of the central government]]>
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				<![CDATA[There was a time when Indian army chiefs would avoid politicising their posts and would stick to their jobs. Despite heading an opposing army, it created a high degree of respect for those occupying the position. But no longer. Previous army chief, General Bipin Rawat, set the tone with regular incendiary comments meant to support the ruling BJP’s talking points. Still, at least he took a few months to start with his grandiloquence. His successor, Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, has decided to hit the ground running with balderdash. Barely two weeks on the job, he has already threatened Pakistan with “preemptive strikes” and now with invading Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

But Gen Naravane appears to have let the media attention get to his head. While recklessly threatening Pakistan is routine for Indian leaders, they are usually more cautious when China comes up. But the new chief appeared even to be threatening China, which is more than ironic considering last week also marked the anniversary of Sino-India diplomatic ties. Within hours though, Pakistan’s chief military spokesperson responded, accusing India of attempting to stage a false-flag operation. He referred to Indian reports of a decorated Indian police officer being arrested for helping “Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists” in Srinagar.

All this begs the question: why is India upping the rhetoric? Pakistan has not directed any threats at India in recent times, and India has not brought up any genuine concerns regarding cross border-terrorism threats being higher. But what India has seen in recent days is a series of strikes against the decision-making of the central government. The strikes have only grown as the government used the police and goons from the RSS to attack protesters. Recent reports on India’s economy have also been gloomy, which is terrible for the self-proclaimed economic mastermind that occupies 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

Could this simply be an attempt to change the news cycle? If so, it is a dangerous game being played. In recent days, we have seen President Donald Trump try to deflect from domestic failures by starting a war with Iran. Look where that got us.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2020.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>Extremist ideology RSS has taken over nuclear-armed India: PM</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2135062/rss-extremist-ideology-taken-india-pm</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2135062/rss-extremist-ideology-taken-india-pm#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jan 20 10:13:47 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Imran says RSS ideology is based on racial superiority and hatred of Muslims, other minorities]]>
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				<![CDATA[Amid an escalation of belligerent rhetoric by the military brass of Narendra Modi’s India, Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned the international community about the dangers of a nuclear-tipped country ruled by the “extremist ideology” of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

“An extremist ideology RSS has taken over a nuclear-armed country of over a billion people,” the prime minister wrote in a tweet on Saturday while sharing an article in the London-based British daily newspaper, The Times.

“It [RSS] is an ideology based on racial superiority and hatred of Muslims and all minorities. Whenever this genie has come out of the bottle, it has always led to bloodshed,” Imran said further said in the tweet.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1215922870343303168

The Times’ article – headlined “India is a Hindu state now – we are second-class citizens” – talks about the predicament of the Muslim minority in India following the promulgation of the highly divisive and controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which threatens to leave millions of Muslims without citizenship.

Critics say the law is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) agenda to marginalise Muslims, who form 15% of the country’s population. It has sparked off massive protests across India which the Modi administration has failed to quell despite a brutal police crackdown.]]>
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			<title>More India protests as Hindu hardliners flex muscles</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2125541/india-protests-hindu-hardliners-flex-muscles</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2125541/india-protests-hindu-hardliners-flex-muscles#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Dec 19 15:45:28 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Several thousand baton-wielding volunteers from a Hindu hardline group held rally in support of govt]]>
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				<![CDATA[Indians took to the streets again on Thursday in yet more protests against a citizenship law, a day after pro-government Hindu hardliners staged a show of force complete with horses, drums and batons.

https://twitter.com/suchitrav/status/1210052646440095744?s=20

Two weeks of at times violent demonstrations have killed at least 27 people as anti-government protesters have vented their anger nationwide in the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he stormed to power in 2014.

Modi denies accusations that the law, which eases naturalisation procedures for non-Muslim minorities from three nations, is part of a master plan to reshape India as a purely Hindu nation.

But coupled with plans for a national register of citizens, it has stoked fears at home and abroad, including in Washington and at the UN rights office, about the marginalisation of India's 200 million Muslims.

On Wednesday several thousand baton-wielding volunteers from a Hindu hardline group -- of which Modi is a lifelong member -- held a rally in the southern city of Hyderabad, in a show of support for the government.

Modi could do anything along LoC to divert world’s attention from mass protests: PM

Members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a militaristic group that has long espoused "Hindutva" or Hindu hegemony, marched through the streets beating drums and blowing horns.

https://twitter.com/TelanganaMaata/status/1209810034634285056?s=20

The parade, organised before the protests began, saw volunteers ride horses, sing songs, and perform group exercises using lathis -- bamboo batons deployed by Indian riot police.

The protests against the citizenship law meanwhile show no signs of going away, although in recent days numbers have been smaller.

Around 2,500 people rallied against the government in the financial capital Mumbai on Thursday, police told AFP, with demonstrators waving flags and carrying banners calling for a boycott of the citizenship law.

Protesters also took to the streets in the eastern city of Kolkata while hundreds of Muslim women demonstrated in the southern state of Karnataka where two people were shot dead by police in protests last week.

While many of the protests have been peaceful, demonstrations have sometimes turned violent with police also accused of a disproportionate response.

In India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh -- where 19 people have been killed -- the authorities have arrested thousands and sought damages from more than 100 people accused of rioting and destroying public property.

Around 130 people have been ordered to pay nearly 5 million rupees ($70,000) within a week, with officials warning that their properties will be confiscated and auctioned to recover the amount if necessary.

Authorities were bracing for further protests on Friday in Uttar Pradesh, home to a large Islamic minority, and in parts of New Delhi following Muslim prayers.

Mobile internet, which was cut across large parts of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere last week, has been restored, although the cities of Agra -- home to the Taj Mahal -- and Bulandshahr remain offline.]]>
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			<title>WATCH: Students re-enact Babri mosque demolition at Indian school</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2119067/watch-students-re-enact-babri-mosque-demolition-indian-school</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2119067/watch-students-re-enact-babri-mosque-demolition-indian-school#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Dec 19 12:53:19 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Social Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2119067</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Video of incident sparks outrage on social media]]>
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				<![CDATA[Footage has emerged of students of an Indian school India's Karnataka re-enacting the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu extremists.
The video was initially shared on Twitter by Indian politician Srivatsa YB.
As can be seen in the video, students run at a giant poster of the mosque placed in ground's centre.
Prime witness in Babri Mosque demolition recalls horror
Jubilant students tear the poster down to great joy of the onlookers.
The poster of the mosque is then replaced by one of a Hindu temple.
The extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) flag can be seen brandished in the backdrop.
It is believed that RSS leader Kalladka Bhat owns the school question.
Srivasta said there would be serious consequences for politicising the children.

"This is the future of education in India when the RSS-BJP takeover of society is complete, This is why it's our duty to resist," he wrote.

Violent protests broke out in India this year after the country's top court handed out a controversial judgement in the 1992 mosque demolition case.

https://twitter.com/srivatsayb/status/1206447730811232256]]>
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			<title>India's RSS imparting military training to youth to target Muslims: AJK president</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2117850/indias-rss-imparting-military-training-youth-target-muslims-ajk-president</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2117850/indias-rss-imparting-military-training-youth-target-muslims-ajk-president#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 14 Dec 19 17:55:40 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[​ Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Jammu &amp; Kashmir]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2117850</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Abrogating IOK special status conspiracy to convert Muslim majority in to minority, says Sardar Masood Khan]]>
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				<![CDATA[Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan said on Saturday that India's RSS was imparting military training to hundreds of thousands of young men and women to target Muslims.

"Instead of declaring these threats from India as mere apprehensions, there is a need to prepare the nation particularly youth, to deal with any eventuality," he told an event on the theme 'Kashmir Needs Attention' at Ayub Medical College in Abbottabad, organised by Jammu and Kashmir Student Welfare Organisation.

Khan said India's illegal action of abrogating Indian Occupied Kashmir's (IOK) special status on August 5 was part of a conspiracy to convert the Muslim majority of the region into a minority.

"The people of occupied Kashmir have been struggling for 72 years for the realisation of the right to self-determination," he said, adding that thousands of Kashmiri youth as well as political leaders in IOK had been arrested.

The AJK president acknowledged the role of the international community and media in highlighting the plight of Kashmiris, saying "global media is highlighting the true picture of occupied Kashmir and influential world parliaments continue to raise their voice for the rights of Kashmiris and have condemned Indian atrocities in the occupied territory".

He, however, lamented that United Nations and some major capitals of the world were still silent, and their inaction over occupation forces' atrocities was disappointing.

"The followers of Hindutva policy desire to crush the Muslims not only in Pakistan and Kashmir but also in the entire South Asia," he added.

The AJK president said Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, continuing with his war hysteria, was threatening to disintegrate Pakistan and invade Azad Kashmir. "We must never treat these statements as hollow threats," he said.

Khan urged students to reach out to the global community, especially their peers in order to change their perceptions and make them aware of the atrocities taking place in Indian IOK.]]>
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			<title>India engaged in state terrorism for over 30 years, Pakistan tells UN</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2068067/india-engaged-state-terrorism-30-years-pakistan-tells-un</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2068067/india-engaged-state-terrorism-30-years-pakistan-tells-un#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 29 Sep 19 07:22:53 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2068067</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In UNGA rejoinder, Islamabad says India's brutalities in Kashmir driven by RSS-inspired Hindu supremacist agenda]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan on Sunday warned the United Nations that India is pursuing a Hindu supremacist agenda under Narendra Modi's Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-inspired government, reported Radio Pakistan.

In a rejoinder to India's response to Prime Minister Imran Khan's powerful speech, Pakistan maintained that New Delhi has been pursuing a policy of state terrorism and the premier's speech exposed India's reality before the world.

"It is strange that a country that has been engaged in state terrorism for over 30 years has the temerity to accuse others of terrorism.

May I remind the Indian delegation that repression of people under occupation amounted to the gravest form of terrorism and should be denounced as such," said Zulqarnain Chheena, a member of Pakistan's mission to the UN.

https://twitter.com/Zchheena/status/1178137173612216320

He reiterated Pakistan's stance that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is carrying forward the RSS agenda, saying that the killers of Mahatma Gandhi were ruining the secular face of India with their actions at home and in occupied Kashmir.

IOK jubilant at PM Imran's UNGA address

Chheena said the world had applauded PM Imran for revealing the brutalities faced by the people of Kashmir.

"When my prime minister spoke here yesterday, he put a spotlight on what the Indian government is desperately trying to hide from the world.

India neither wants to face the truth of its policies nor does it want others to see it," he added.

Referring to India's response to PM Imran's speech, the diplomat said, "What we heard in response was deception and an attempt to divert attention from the ugly ground realities. We are not surprised."

He added that the Indian representative failed to mention the lockdown in the occupied territory or the plight of the innocent Kashmiris.

"53 days without information on the well-being of family and friends, 53 days of total darkness and abiding fear of the unknown."

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Pakistan fears 'worst-ever human tragedy' in occupied Kashmir: PM Imran</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2065628/pakistan-fears-worst-ever-human-tragedy-occupied-kashmir-pm-imran</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2065628/pakistan-fears-worst-ever-human-tragedy-occupied-kashmir-pm-imran#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Sep 19 07:00:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[PM says India may stage false flag operation, rubbishes claims that terrorists from Afghanistan have entered IOK]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan fears the "worst-ever human tragedy" will be witnessed in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) as New Delhi pursues its nefarious agenda of changing the occupied region's demography.

This was stated by Prime Minister Imran Khan during a meeting with Human Rights Watch (HRW) Executive Director Kenneth Roth on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York.

PM Imran apprised the director about India's brutalities against the people of occupied Kashmir and said the world must act to end the ceaseless human rights violations in IOK.

He briefed the HRW official on India’s plan to change the demography of occupied Kashmir and said more than 15,000 Kashmiris have been arrested by Indian forces.

Modi made ‘historic blunder’ in IOK: PM

In a separate meeting with the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, PM Imran said Pakistan wants to focus on developing itself and lifting its people out of poverty but the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed Modi government was following an agenda rooted in racial supremacy.

The premier said racism is often rooted in arrogance and arrogance can lead to people making mistakes – referring to Modi’s decision to revoke the special status of IOK.

He said that India’s illegal annexation of the occupied valley will affect the entire world, particularly the Muslim community, adding that the international community does not realise the severity of the situation.

The premier reiterated his support for peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the United States to resume.

"The world should not fear that a peace deal in Afghanistan would take us back to 2001. Peace is the most important goal and we should all pursue it," he said.

PM Imran also met his Norwegian counterpart on the sidelines of the UNGA and discussed matters of mutual interest, including bilateral, regional and multilateral issues.

[caption id="attachment_2065671" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PID[/caption]

The premier briefed Prime Minister Erna Solberg about the brutalities faced by the people of Kashmir.

He warned the prime minister of New Delhi’s attempt to stage a false flag operation to further escalate tensions, while rubbishing Indian claims that terrorists from Afghanistan have entered IOK and India’s southern regions.

He urged the international community to take a stand against the Indian armed forces to alleviate the suffering of the Kashmiri people and to resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully.

The two leaders also discussed the Afghanistan issue and the desire to strengthen bilateral and investment ties.

&nbsp;
The Prime Minister of Pakistan and Norway expressed satisfaction at the current trajectory of bilateral relations.
PM Imran Khan noted that a vibrant Pakistani diaspora in Norway played an important role in strengthening friendship between the two countries. #PMIKinUSA #UNGA pic.twitter.com/mhuRWJBRrb

— Govt of Pakistan (@pid_gov) September 25, 2019]]>
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			<title>India’s Nazi regime</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2055897/indias-nazi-regime</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2055897/indias-nazi-regime#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 14 Sep 19 04:11:03 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Osama RIzvi]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2055897</guid>
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				<![CDATA[As the largest democracy in the world has given a mandate to these racist, fascist and extremist clique]]>
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				<![CDATA[The India-Occupied Kashmir (IOK) is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises ever. It has been more than 40 days since the lockdown. The list of atrocities is infinite. From rape, sodomy to other torture techniques, the Indian regime has left no stone unturned in causing distress to the innocent people of Kashmir. The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35(A) has deprived the Kashmiri population of autonomy, and is an act fueled by religious discrimination. An expansionist agenda, with a vision of a puritanical Hindu state, backs these actions, which are on a par — in its disregard for international law — with the 2013 capture of the Crimean peninsula by Russia.

The ideological inspiration of the current Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a party whose ideologue is none other than MS Gowalkar who openly eulogised Hitler’s ideas and therefore his pogroms. In his book, We or Our Nationhood Defined, he openly endorses, rather exemplifies Hitler’s purging of the “Semitic races — the Jews”. He said that by carrying out the pogroms, “national pride at its highest has been manifested here”. For a political party that is based on such ignominiously narrow-minded doctrines, and that support the actions of a tyrant such as Hitler, the aforesaid human rights abuses come naturally. It is both shocking and lamentable to see that the largest democracy in the world has given a mandate to these racist, fascist and extremist clique (one may question the merits of democracy but that is another debate).

The doctrine of Hindutva finds a parallel to Hitler’s obsession with the mistaken idea of Aryan superiority. Ever since the BJP has come to the fore, mob lynching and religious hatred is on the rise. Tahir Mahmood, a European Advisory Scientist, says, “Modi suffers from narcissistic syndrome. It is clear from his actions that he believes in caste system and racial superiority, and this complex is often aggravated into a higher level when it takes the form of oppression. In my research there were clearly indicators, which point towards Modi suffering from a rationale disorder. By analyzing four main functions of mind i.e. how to understand, how to make reasoning, how to conclude something, how to take responsibility, when all these four functions are in disharmony we call that the person is mentally radicalized. His actions so far give support to the findings.”

We don’t have to go far back in history to see the neo-Nazi inclinations of the current Modi regime, as tens of millions of people can end up losing their citizenship in Assam. Thirty million people in Assam had to prove that they were citizens of the region before March 1971. Many have questioned the process that is going to follow and the inherent and obviously expected discrimination that Muslims are going to be subjected to. The BJP has endorsed the project and has promised to carry it out across the country. Muslims could be an easy target in this seemingly anti-immigrant drive.

Mob lynching, from forcing (or rather beating) a person to chant religious Hindu verses to setting a child on fire upon refusal to do the same; blatant racism and shameful misogynistic remarks coming from government officials; the discrimination against and hostility for Muslims in general and Kashmir’s in particular; stand stark in post-Modi India.

With both Pakistan and India possessing 130 to 150 nuclear weapons, the geographic contiguity, the demographic heft and the growing nationalist fervour on both sides shouldn’t be ignored or taken for granted by the international community. There should be more than just soothing words, hollow assurances and formal treaties. There should be a concerted action by the global comity of nations to first, save the innocent people of Kashmir from this recent curfew, and second, to bring both parties to the table and resolve the issue for good.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2019.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>India under the shadow of RSS</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2051050/india-shadow-rss</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2051050/india-shadow-rss#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 07 Sep 19 04:14:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Rustam Shah Mohmand]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2051050</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In conflict with the philosophy and wisdom of the founding fathers of India’s freedom movement]]>
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				<![CDATA[Many believe that the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh (RSS) is riding the crest of a wave of Hindutva. Those who are used to observe things in a perfunctory manner are happy that the right-wing nationalist ideology has triumphed and that the future belongs to those religious bigots who are driven by a bizarre, perverted doctrine of the inevitable ascendance of Hindutva.

This is not only contrary to the objective realities but also in conflict with the philosophy and wisdom of the founding fathers of India’s freedom movement.

India has prided itself on its unique ability to unify a host of ethnicities — Rajputs, Tamils, Bengalis, Assamese, Muslims, Christians , Parsees, and speakers of dozens of languages and peoples of many more diverse cultures into a single, unified nation under a democracy that has thrived on principles of tolerance, secularism and protection of minorities. No other country with such huge diversity in faiths, cultures and languages has succeeded in bringing under one system a nearly one-fifth of humanity and that system was India’s democracy.

Now for the first time that system is under threat. India’s core values which have sustained the Indian unity in diversity is under attack. The bedrock of India’s unity was its commitment to pluralism, democracy and protection of the rights of its minorities. Indeed the greatest Indian leader of modern India, Mahatma Gandhi, laid down his life for the cause of safeguarding lives and properties of Muslims. He was assassinated by an RSS zealot for his fast unto death that he was observing to stop the communal violence that had erupted in both India and Pakistan in the wake of the partition.

The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rekindled hopes in rank and file RSS members that finally their time has come. Those long-cherished ambitions of transforming India into an exclusive Hindu state would, they believe, be realised now. All over the country, after the BJP’s stunning victory in the polls, there are clear signs of a reinvigorated Hindu nationalism manifesting itself in the RSS activists chasing, humiliating and beating Muslim youth on the slightest pretext.

This attitude could spawn more communal hatred if it continues unchecked. All over the country, religious frenzy will take hold.

Could this spiraling ethnic sentiment and its accompanying elements of hatred, acrimony be checked? There is some hope that India’s opposition parties led by Congress would sooner or later realise the gravity of the situation and launch a robust campaign to restore some sanity to the Indian politics and rid it of the terrible influence of organistaions like the RSS. The Congress party which won freedom for India and is a guarantor for such values and norms as secularism, democracy, protection of the rights of minorities, bears a responsibility to defeat forces which are out to dismantle the foundations of India’s governance systems, shattering its core values and making it vulnerable to insidious forces of disruption. It is for people who cherish India’s acclaimed values of “unity in diversity” to wake up to the grim reality of a monstrous effort to induct the ideology of Hindutva in the body politics of the country.

Not only Muslims and other minorities in the country but also all those millions of Hindus across the country, who espouse moderation and support the cause of communal harmony, have to extend support to any endeavour that seeks to restore the core values of India’s democratic governance.

The RSS’s goal of making India an exclusive Hindu state is laughable given the long history of the existence of multiple faiths and cultures in South Asia. Hindus are not the only ethnic group in the vast cultural mosaic of the sub-continent although they constitute a significant component of its huge population. One would not object to the basic goals that the RSS sought to achieve when it was created in 1925. One of its fundamental aims was ‘’ the revitalization of the Indian value system based on universalism and peace and prosperity to all ‘’. Nor would one disagree on the group’s emphasis on ‘Hindu renaissance that would build an egalitarian society and a strong India that could propound this philosophy ‘.

But when the RSS goes beyond its declared mandate and targets muslims with a view to sidelining them and eventually forcing them to abandon India as their home , it generates hatred, hostility and a severe backlash.

If the RSS current agenda of making India an exclusively Hindu state is implemented it would be the beginning of the end for the Indian Union. There are strong movements for autonomy all over India –the Nexal rebellion, the Mao movement, the struggle for autonomy in east Indian states, the Tamil’s revolt etc. Those movements will get a boost and indeed new dangers would arise that would threaten India’s unity and its institutions of democracy and its adherence to the principles of secularism.

The time to act to stop the RSS juggernaut is now –before it causes more institutional or structural damage to the country and indeed to South Asia’s stability and prosperity. A massive effort is needed to make India conform to the vision, ideals and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Dr Radha krisnan, Maulana Azad and Dr Zakir hussain.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2019.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>India's Hindu supremacist ideology is a threat to world peace: PM Imran</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2046748/western-world-needs-understand-indias-hatred-supremacist-ideology-pm-imran</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2046748/western-world-needs-understand-indias-hatred-supremacist-ideology-pm-imran#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 01 Sep 19 05:36:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2046748</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PM Imran says world must realise that nuclear-armed India has been taken over by Hindu supremacist group RSS]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again urged the international community to recognise the grave threat to regional and world peace posed by a nuclear-armed India "taken over by the Hindu supremacist group, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)".

In his address via video link to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Houston on Sunday, the premier said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were devout followers of the RSS ideology of hatred and racism.

https://twitter.com/ISNAHQ/status/1168005643128725504

He said this extreme ideology was the basis of India's illegal annexation of occupied Kashmir. “Kashmiris have been under siege for the past 28 days. This is the same RSS philosophy which led to the massacre of Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat."

PM Imran said the whole of India is in the grip of an extremist ideology that is threatening the very fabric of Indian society.

"We are talking about a country of over a billion people with nuclear weapons taken over by an extreme ideology. All minorities are now being systematically targeted in India."

&nbsp;

Shadow of nuclear war hovering over South Asia, warns PM Imran

The premier reiterated that India had lost its secular outlook as the Modi government had made clear its intent to change the demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing of Muslims.

“Indian forces have detained the Kashmiri leadership and thousands of Kashmiris have been arrested. The citizenship of nearly two million people in the Indian state of Assam has also been revoked. This is all in line with the RSS belief that there should only be Hindus in India,” said PM Imran.

He added that India might try to pull off another false flag attack on the lines of Pulwama to divert the world’s attention from occupied Kashmir. “If India does anything like that, we will give them a befitting response,” said the PM.

He urged the international community to fulfill its responsibility of ensuring a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. "India's illegal Kashmir move has brought two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of confrontation. We have requested the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to play its role and I will now raise the issue at the upcoming UN General Assembly session in New York," he said.

Speaking about the global surge in Islamophobia, the prime minister said it was unfortunate to link any religion with terrorism. "Islam is a religion of peace and has nothing to do with terrorism. Rather, terrorism has nothing to do with religion. People in the West need to be sensitised on how to differentiate religion from individual acts," said PM Imran.

He said that after 9/11 every Muslim in the West was viewed with suspicion, adding that the term 'Islamic terrorism' was to blame for the Islamophobia rampant in today's world.

"Islamophobia is to blame for the attacks on Muslims in Europe and around the world, including the recent attack on a mosque in Christchurch," said the premier, while urging ISNA members to use their platform to address misconceptions in the Western world about Islam and Muslims.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>After Kashmir, Nazi-inspired RSS will suppress Muslims in India, target Pakistan: PM Imran</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2033036/kashmir-nazi-inspired-rss-will-suppress-muslims-india-target-pakistan-pm-imran</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2033036/kashmir-nazi-inspired-rss-will-suppress-muslims-india-target-pakistan-pm-imran#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 11 Aug 19 08:23:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[News Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2033036</guid>
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				<![CDATA[India wants to change demography of IoK through ethnic cleansing, says PM Imran]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said New Delhi was attempting to change the demography of Indian-occupied Kashmir "through ethnic cleansing".

In a series of tweets, the premier said that India's brutal actions in IoK were "unfolding exactly acc to RSS ideology inspired by Nazi ideology".

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1160460575454957568

&nbsp;

PM Imran went on to express the fear that after brutalising IoK the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) would turn on Muslims in India and then eventually target Pakistan.

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1160460578017742848

Terming it the "Hindu Supremacists version of Hitler's Lebensraum", he questioned whether the global community would "watch &amp; appease as they did Hitler at Munich?"

The prime minister's comments are a continuation of the stance he conveyed during his address to a joint session of parliament earlier this week.

In his speech on Tuesday, PM Imran had vowed to take on the “racist” ideology of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the wake of its government stripping occupied Kashmir of its special status and also promised to raise the issue on every international forum including the UN Security Council.

“What they [BJP] did in Kashmir is in accordance with their ideology. They have a racist ideology,” the premier said while delivering his policy statement in the joint session of parliament – giving a forceful rebuke of Prime Minister Narenda Modi-led government’s decision to revoke Article 370 of the Indian constitution that has paved the way for outside to buy land and settle in the occupied valley.

Imran vows to confront BJP's 'racist' ideology

“I fear that the Indian government will now [after] will resort to ethnic cleansing in Kashmir,” he added.

Warning that India’s move could provoke conflict in the region, the prime minister said he would also raise the issue with heads of state and take the matter to the International Criminal Court.

PM Imran demanded action from the global community as he accused Modi of violating international law in pursuit of an anti-Muslim agenda in India.

“If the world does not act today… (if) the developed world does not uphold its own laws, then things will go to a place that we will not be responsible for,” he added.

“The Indian government has violated its own constitution to promote its ideology and deprived occupied Kashmir of its special status.”

The premier went on to warn that “there will be a reaction” from Kashmiris if India tried to “crush them”, likely leading to more violence in the region which in the past has brought the nuclear-armed rivals close to conflict.

“The BJP does not consider Kashmiris as their equals. They will try to crush them leading to a reaction that could be a Pulwama-like incident,” he noted. “Then they will blame us [Pakistan] for it.”

PM Imran reiterated that the armed forces of Pakistan would retaliate if India pursued its aggressive designs against the country.

He added that India’s decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution was planned all along and part of Modi’s election manifesto.

“Pakistan wants better ties with neighbouring countries but the incumbent Indian government is following the RSS’s [Indian right-wing outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] fascist ideology.”

Referring to his earlier move to extend an olive branch to India, the prime minister said the country had conveyed to New Delhi that it was not involved in the Pulwama attack.

“But they used Pakistan as a scapegoat,” he said, adding that Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan, was also returned to the neighbouring country as a goodwill gesture and send a message that Islamabad bore no ill will.]]>
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			<title>Amit Shah could reap big reward from BJP election victory</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1979060/amit-shah-reap-big-reward-bjp-election-victory</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1979060/amit-shah-reap-big-reward-bjp-election-victory#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 19 10:16:49 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1979060</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Shah has long been Modi's backroom strategist, helped him run one of India’s most divisive election campaigns]]>
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				<![CDATA[With India’s ruling Hindu nationalists headed for a stunning election victory on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s powerful right-hand man, Amit Shah, could reap his reward as a potential home minister, an analyst and a party official said.

Shah, who has long been Modi’s backroom strategist, helped run one of India’s most divisive election campaigns over the past six weeks to rouse the Bharatiya Janata Party’s nationalist base and overcome the loss of key state elections in December.

Their efforts blunted voter discontent at lack of jobs and farm distress by portraying the opposition as weak and indecisive at best and at worst, appeasing minority Muslims and arch-foe Pakistan, to deftly exploit national security fears.

“Modi and Shah work in tandem,” said a BJP official who has worked closely with the steely-eyed 54-year-old Shah.

“There is no doubt that Modi is India’s most popular leader and national figure. Translating his personal popularity into a political victory...requires planning and execution to the last detail. Shah has done that to near perfection.”

Vote-counting trends suggest Modi’s ruling alliance could win an even bigger parliamentary majority than in 2014, showing that the BJP not only held the northern heartland but made huge gains in the east, a political strategy that Shah launched.

Now his reward could be a top government post, probably the federal home, or interior, ministry, bringing vast powers over security forces and domestic intelligence, said political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.

“From a backroom guy who was a bit diffident about all the charges pending against him, Amit Shah’s transition is complete. He is now the legitimised inheritor of Modi’s legacy.”

Modi ran the government for five years with unquestioned authority while Shah, a Hindu hardliner who also hails from the prime minister’s home state of Gujarat, presided over the BJP with an iron hand, as its chief.

For more than a year, he focused propaganda efforts on the eastern state of West Bengal, which is ruled by a firebrand regional leader supported by the state’s Muslims.

Shah fuelled nationalist sentiment by accusing his rivals of appeasing Muslims with funding for clerics and religious schools that turned the state into a replica of neighbouring Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country and source of illegal immigrants.

“The BJP may just have cracked open the formula to winning over Bengali votes, and the credit is Shah’s,” said Sandeep Shastri, pro vice chancellor of Jain University in the southern city of Bengaluru.

Shah kicked off a campaign last month against Muslim immigrants, likening them to termites while backing citizenship measures for Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs from neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Then he mocked Rahul Gandhi, the chief of the biggest opposition Congress party, for choosing to run from a Muslim-dominated constituency in Kerala.

“When a procession is taken out there, it is difficult to make out whether it is an Indian or a Pakistani procession,” he said, sparking renewed accusations that Muslims were not seen as citizens.

Critics have long accused the BJP of a deep-seated hostility against India’s 180 million Muslims. The party denies any bias but says it opposes appeasement of any community.

“Amit Shah represents the sinister face of muscular politics that has zero respect for communal harmony, institutional integrity and fair play,” said Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha.

Shah’s office did not respond to a request for an interview or comments. But party spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao said the opposition had built its campaign on charges against Shah that had not stuck.

“The election is a slap for the abusive opposition that made baseless charges and spread lies,” he added.]]>
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			<title>Poor boy Modi becomes India's nationalist powerhouse</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1976129/poor-boy-modi-becomes-indias-nationalist-powerhouse</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1976129/poor-boy-modi-becomes-indias-nationalist-powerhouse#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 19 07:30:56 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1976129</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The 68-year-old makes much of his humble roots while unashamedly portraying himself as the tough guy]]>
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				<![CDATA[Stern, sharp and shrewd, Narendra Modi fought his way off the streets to become one of India's most popular and polarising prime ministers.

There is no middle ground between admirers and adversaries of the man - now running for a second term - who helped his father run a railway station tea stall before launching his career in nationalist politics.

The 68-year-old makes much of his humble roots while unashamedly portraying himself as the tough guy protecting India's national security and Hindu values, pressing its claims to be the world's rising power.

Doubts have been expressed over his economic reforms and businesses still complain about the sudden cancellation of high-value banknotes in 2016 in a bid to combat the black-market economy.

Modi meditates as India mega polls near end

But little mud has stuck and few dispute that "NaMo", as he is known, drives India's national agenda while expertly baiting neighbouring Pakistan and the opposition Congress party, especially its leader Rahul Gandhi.

And audiences love the Modi spectacle. His Twitter following of more than 46 million makes him one of the world's most-tracked leaders.

With his neat white beard and a vast collection of headgear, Modi regales rallies with stories of how he is "a son of soil", contrasting himself with Gandhi as a spoiled member of the dynasty that has dominated India since independence seven decades ago.

"They dislike me because of my humble origins. Can a party stoop so low?" he said at one event.

"Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become prime minister. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact. Yes, I sold tea, but I did not sell the nation."

Narendra Damodardas Modi is said to have joined the Hindu hardline Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) nationalist group at the age of eight and left home as a teenager, abandoning a marriage arranged by his family, to become an RSS activist.

An assiduously hard worker, Modi rose through the ranks of the RSS and its partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to become chief minister of his Gujarat home state in 2001.

Bolstering the Gujarat economy and espousing outspoken nationalist causes provided the launchpad for him to lead the BJP into the 2014 general election. The country was seduced by his story and the party won the biggest landslide in India's history, decimating Congress.

Modi proclaims a cleaner India, but the reality may be more murky

Modi is not without shadows in his history and chinks in his communications defences.

After a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire killing about 60 people in 2002, riots broke out that left at least 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, dead. Modi was accused of complicity in stirring up the riots but two courts found there was no case to answer.

Sometimes Modi's comments come back to haunt him.

While campaigning in 2014 he claimed to have a 56-inch muscle man's chest to make tough decisions. His opponents and comedians still mock him as "Mr 56 inch".

Journalists have a difficult time as Modi has never given a press conference as prime minister and critics say his rare television interviews are carefully stage-managed.

Rahul Gandhi regularly hits out at what he calls Modi's "autocratic backlash" since taking power.

"Mr Modi believes that he is the lord of India, just like the British believed," Gandhi said.

"He can brush aside the Supreme Court, he can extort any amount of money he wants from any corporate, he can go and brush aside the Election Commission."

Modi's personalised politics will be the "defining" issue of the Indian election, even his party admits, while many experts say that Modi is carrying his party through this election.

After Rahul Gandhi trolls Indian premier, Oxford Dictionaries denies 'Modilie' is a word

"Take away Modi and 90 percent of the speeches of the opposition leaders would be over," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Indian Express in an interview.

Modi can be compared to India's founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in his ability to dominate the conversation, according to Harsh Pant, an international relations professor at King's College in London.

"Modi dominates the message in an extraordinary way," said Pant. "The young follow him because of his story, 'If I made it, then so can you'. He has the Nehruvian touch."

"Normally there is a strong anti-incumbency side to Indian politics, but there is no sign that people are withdrawing from him."

Pant and others say, however, that Modi's real impact will only be revealed if he can secure and complete a second term in power.]]>
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			<title>The wounded fight on in India's political 'killing fields'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1956273/wounded-fight-indias-political-killing-fields</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1956273/wounded-fight-indias-political-killing-fields#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 19 06:08:31 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1956273</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[As the southern Indian state of 35 million people votes in the latest round]]>
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				<![CDATA[P Jayarajan slowly raised his left hand and pointed to a gap where a thumb had been hacked off before flagging a deep scar on his other arm - proud war wounds from a past Indian political campaign.

"They tried to kill me in front of my wife and family but I survived," said the soft-spoken communist, a symbol of Kerala's status as a hotbed of political violence in India, where violence between rival parties is common.

[caption id="attachment_1956334" align="alignnone" width="625"] In this photo taken on April 19, 2019, P. Jayarajan, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) electoral candidate and who was a target of political violence in 1999, holds up his thumbless hand during an interview with AFP at Vadakara in the southern Indian state of Kerala. PHOTO: AFP[/caption]

"I lost the thumb and my arm was cut too. It was fixed but there is no feeling," the 67-year-old electoral candidate told AFP during a break from campaigning in India's marathon election.

Indian man amputates finger after voting for wrong party

The southern state of 35 million people votes in the latest round on Tuesday.

But Jayarajan is not just a victim of what Caravan magazine has called "the killing fields of Kerala", where dozens have died in political battles in the past two decades.

Attacked two decades back, Jayarajan has since been accused by rival parties of instigating similar attacks. He denies the charges.

But Jayarajan's candidacy in the Vadakara constituency, in the north of the state, has put a national spotlight on another bloody campaign in Kerala.

In February, just before the six week long election was announced, two activists for the opposition Congress party were killed.

Workers from Congress and the rival Left Democratic Front alliance - led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which rules the state - have fought fierce clashes.

The left wing parties have also fought activists from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata party, according to political writer Ullekh N P.

Fighting has intensified since the RSS and BJP started trying to make inroads in Kerala, said Ullekh, who wrote "Kannur: Inside India's Bloodiest Revenge Politics" about a district near Vadakara.

Ullekh said the bloodshed was "a big blot" for Kerala.

The violence was first started by the Congress party, according to Ullekh, which has dominated India's politics since independence in 1947.

"Congress did to other protest movements and rivals what the colonial British did to them before independence. The Communists became militant in response," he added.

Indian poll watchdog stops web series on Modi

"This has now become an issue of political one-upmanship between rival ideologies."

Villages have now become fervent loyalists of one party, and tensions and fights flare between villages that support rivals in an endless cycle of death and destruction. Each side keeps a tally of its wins and defeats, and villages have memorials to party workers who died for the cause.

[caption id="attachment_1956330" align="alignnone" width="625"] In this photo taken on April 20, 2019, a worker dusts memorial portraits of party workers killed in political violence hanging at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office at Thalaserry in the southern Indian state of Kerala. PHOTO: AFP[/caption]

"Ninety-three of our workers have been martyred in my district," A N Shamseer, a communist state lawmaker for Thalassery, told AFP.

The local RSS unit keeps its own tally of its activists lost in battle on an office wall.

Praveen K K, a carpenter, has been an RSS activist in Thalassery for years. He suffered life changing injuries after being cornered on his motorbike in a "Communist village."

"I tried to escape but fell. Eight men attacked me with knives and cleavers. The first blows were to my head. My helmet split," he told AFP.

"They then went for my leg," added Praveen, who now walks with a limp, as he showed the scarred skin.

"The attack was relentless and no one from the village came to help. Some passers-by on the road took me to a nearby hospital. I spent eight months in bed."

[caption id="attachment_1956332" align="alignnone" width="625"] In this photo taken on April 20, 2019, Praveen K.K., 36, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and a political attack victim, shows his leg that was injured in political violence, during an interview with AFP at Thalaserry in the southern Indian state of Kerala. PHOTO: AFP[/caption]

Many locals put him in the "living martyr" category used for those who get away with scars, injuries or perhaps an amputation.

B N Leela was 19 when her husband became one of the first RSS workers in the state killed in inter-party violence 1969.

"I feel sad and helpless for others who suffer now," she said, looking at a black and white photograph of her dead husband.

[caption id="attachment_1956328" align="alignnone" width="625"] In this photo taken on April 20, 2019, B.N. Leela, the widow of Vadekkal Ramakrishnan, who was one ot the first Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members killed in political violence, sits beside the portrait of her late husband during an interview with AFP at Thalaserry in the southern Indian state of Kerala. PHOTO: AFP[/caption]

Congress spokesperson quits citing misbehaviour of male members

"I am not sure what can happen to change this," added Leela, who has never remarried.

Now one of the most senior RSS leaders in the region,  C Chandrashekar joined the RSS in 1942 and has seen many elections and endless ideological wars.

[caption id="attachment_1956335" align="alignnone" width="625"] In this photo taken on April 20, 2019, C. Chandrasekaran, 84, a senior member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), gestures during an interview with AFP at Thalaserry in the southern Indian state of Kerala. PHOTO: AFP[/caption]

"The attacks still involve the same weapons - the knives and cleavers. But now, over the last three decades, there are bombs too," he said.

"The only way it could change is if the police and administration become impartial. Until then there is no hope."]]>
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			<title>Hindu leader gunned down in IoK hospital</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1946784/hindu-leader-gunned-iok-hospital</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1946784/hindu-leader-gunned-iok-hospital#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 09 Apr 19 13:32:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1946784</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Chandrakant Sharma was part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]]>
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				<![CDATA[Unknown gunmen burst into a hospital in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) and killed a regional leader of a Hindu group linked to the ruling party, police said on Tuesday, days before general elections at which security is a major concern.

Authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in the town of Kishtwar, after the killing of Chandrakant Sharma, 48, and a bodyguard.

Sharma was a leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the influential parent organisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

India's Modi-led alliance closes in on majority, survey shows ahead of vote

“Sharma’s personal security officer died on the spot and he was critically injured,” a senior police officer, Kishtwar Angrez Singh Rana, told Reuters.

He was flown to a hospital at the Government Medical College in Jammu, but succumbed to his injuries, Rana added.

An indefinite curfew was imposed in the town, with more Indian troops deployed to the area to deter sectarian violence, Rana added.

“He was the centre of hope and trust for a patriotic society that is against terrorism,” said Manmohan Vaidya, general secretary of the RSS. “His sudden demise is an irreparable loss for the Hindu community.”

The killing is the second of a Hindu leader in the town since November, when a BJP leader, Anil Parihar, 52, and his brother, Ajeet, 55, were killed. Sharma was a close associate of Parihar.

India begins general elections on Thursday at which the issue of Kashmir looms large after the Pulwama attack suicide attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary troopers which provoked hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbours.]]>
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