This was disclosed by Indian Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy in response to a written reply to Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

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Balbir Singh speaking at two public meetings organised at Chadwal and Budhi in Kathua district referred to the BJP rulers and said, “They are good for nothing. They have received votes to rule us without considering our demands.”

In these two meetings, the people were aggressively against the new land laws and condemned BJP for their insensitivity towards the threat to the survival of the local culture in Jammu. “Without fear, we have to raise our voice and oppose the BJP attempt to divide Jammu into different sections to rule us,” he added. “There is resentment and people will come on roads, if their demands for revocation of new land laws are not accepted,” he warned.

“The BJP should know that Dogras will not tolerate downgrading of their Royal Dogra State into a Union Territory. We have heard Union Territories becoming States, but it was the first time in the history of the country that a historic State with such a huge population and geographical areas has been deprived of their rights,” he said.

He said the BJP is victimizing the innocent people of Jammu with their hollow slogans. “They have given nothing except putting the young generation’s future to uncertainty. The domicile certificates being given to the outsiders. Why is Jammu land put on sale for outsiders,” asked Thakur Balram Singh.

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Devinder Singh Behl in a statement issued in Jammu said that India wanted to change the demography of IIOJK. He deplored that last year in August, the Bharatiya Janata Party Indian government led by Narendra Modi repealed the special status of the territory and impose military siege to further its Hindutva agenda in the territory.

He said that under these laws India wanted to settle RSS and BJP goons in IIOJK to change the population ratio but the Kashmiri people would never surrender to India despite its cruel acts and fascist tactics.

Devinder Singh Behl said that the Indian rulers were using different tactics to prevent the Kashmiri people from carrying forward their liberation movement. He said that India had also targeted Hurriyat leaders, journalists, welfare organizations and human rights activist, Khurram Pervez, in Srinagar, adding that India would never succeed in its nefarious designs.

APHC leader termed these illegal moves as frustration of India and said the time is not far when Kashmiris will get freedom from Indian yoke. He said Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory, therefore, India could not enforce any law in the region. He urged the international community to play role in resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people so that lasting peace could be established in the region.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Islami Tanzeem-e-Azadi, Abdul Samad Inqilabi, in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the people of IIOJK were being deprived of their lands.

He said that the dream of sustainable peace and development in South Asia could not be realized until the Kashmir dispute was resolved according to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

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Tehsildar Jammu, Ravi Shankar has been suspended and attached in the office of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu.

The reason given for the suspension and attachment of the officer, Ravi Shankar, is “the dereliction of duties involving disobedience and very poor performance in the issuance of the Domicile Certificates to the applicants causing huge suffering and inconvenience to the general public.”

Principal Secretary to the government Revenue Department Dr Pawan Kotwal said the Deputy Commissioner Jammu shall hold inquiry into the conduct and performance of Ravi Shankar under rules and furnish a report accordingly to the government within a period of 15 days.

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The KCCI spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that despite full cooperation extended by the general public and the business community, the authorities appeared to be running around in circles since the previous five months and seem oblivious to the fact that the business community of Kashmir is presently in the 13th month of a disruption which has wiped out enterprises and devastated the economy.

He said, students stand deprived of quality education due to the non-availability of required internet speed, popularly referred to as 4G. What prevented the authorities from providing broadband connections to the students or parents? he questioned.

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Srinagar, August 09 (KMS): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, one year has passed since the Modi-led Indian fascist government repealed Kashmir’s special status and divided it into two union territories, but it has been 12 months without any business and the private sector and tourism are in a shambles.

There is no tourism for the past one year and this year too due to the pandemic, there are no signs of revival.

A KCCI report says that the total losses since 5th August 2019 till date are over Rs 45,000 crore and job losses in a small place like Kashmir amount to 4.54 lakh.

Thousands of families in IIOJK have no means of income due to the continued siege. The common refrain on the streets is that the Indian government was doing nothing for the people’s economic revival.

“There is zero development, zero jobs and zero control on situation. In the past one year, they have been lying to people and the media in New Delhi has been unfair to us,” said Aqib Ahmad, who was working with the private communication network before the siege of 5th August, last year.

“It seems that the IIOJK administration is hiding behind coronavirus to cover up its failures,” a shopkeeper in Lal Chowk said.

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Yousuf Jameel, a Srinagar-based prominent journalist, wrote in an article published on Voice of America-Urdu.com that when the Indian government abolished Article 370 on August 5, 2019, it was not only regional but also big news globally. He wrote that complaints about detention of journalists, who were critical of the Indian government, had been common over the past one year, while communication restrictions and the closure of the Internet had made it difficult for them to continue their journalistic duties.

He wrote that several journalists, who opposed the Indian government’s measures, were charged with sedition and many are still imprisoned, while, the Indian government has claimed that there are no restrictions on expression in the Valley and that journalists are not being harassed.

On the other hand, the international human rights organization, Amnesty International, called for the immediate release of journalists, the lifting of restrictions on the media and the necessary steps to ensure the protection of freedom of expression in the occupied territory. Amnesty has also said that the authorities’ measures are tantamount to media censorship which are undemocratic.

The article said that Amnesty International had also released a documentary on “Freedom of the Press and Media in Jammu and Kashmir” highlighting the plight of Kashmiri journalists and the steps taken by the Indian government after August 5, 2019. Journalists have mentioned the steps taken by the Indian agencies, especially the police, against journalists.

Earlier in April, New York-based Human Rights Watch had expressed concern over registration of criminal cases against three local journalists and described such measures as a violation of press freedom.

One year of the Indian move, the Asia Federation Solidarity Network, along with the International Federation of Journalists and the Alliance of Journalists’ Associations in South Asia, issued a joint statement calling for the restoration of high-speed internet. The statement also expressed concern over the difficulties faced by journalists and media outlets due to the continued ban on high-speed internet and called for the immediate restoration of the facility.

Yousuf Jamil wrote that according to statistics, 18 journalists have been killed, so far, in the last three decades and many have been tortured over the past year. He wrote that after August 5, 2019, although phone and low speed 2G internet services were restored but high speed 4G internet services still remained suspended. He wrote that over the past year, journalists had been harassed and summoned to appear before police stations or police officers to present their reports and news.

Journalists were also pressured to reveal their sources of news, which led to complaints of torture. In April this year, police arrested three Kashmiri journalists, Gohar Geelani, Pirzada Ashiq and photojournalist, Musarat Zuhra.

He wrote that in June this year, Indian authorities introduced a new media policy that gave them the power to take action against a journalist or news organization that published news that does not go well with the authorities.

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Khurram Parvez in an article in US-based Time magazine wrote that the consent of the governed, which is essential in a democracy, is not at all a concern for the Hindu nationalist government of India when it comes to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which includes the Kashmir Valley.

Khurram Parvez, who is coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society and chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, wrote that IIOJK was under a lockdown long before COVID-19. “For weeks last year, all phone lines and internet services were cut off by the Indian government. Basic mobile-phone connectivity took months to be restored and a ban on high-speed 4G internet continues till this day,” he pointed out.

The rights activist wrote that the Indian government has made full use of coronavirus lockdowns by passing the domicile rule, which has caused alarm because of its potential to change the demography of the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir, he maintained. “In just more than a month, around 400,000 people have already acquired domicile certificates. It could alter the results of any referendum seeking people’s opinion for the resolution of the larger, international dispute over control of the territory, he added.

Khurram Pervez wrote that the first attempt to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir came in 1947 when the Muslim-majority district of Poonch in Jammu faced a siege, which resulted in a massacre of Muslims across Jammu. It is unclear exactly how many people died, but estimates put the casualty count between 20,000 to even more than 200,000 – with half a million being forced to migrate to Pakistan, he added.

He wrote that elections have been rigged and laws have been imposed by twisting the local government’s arm; anyone who opposes the Indian government’s writ was jailed or killed. “There has been absolute lawlessness as structures of accountability have been rendered dysfunctional. Not one armed forces’ personnel has ever been prosecuted in civilian courts for their involvement in human rights violations,” he maintains.

Khurram Pervez wrote that promises of a referendum allowing Kashmiris to decide the territory’s fate, made by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947, had been buried and replaced by a new narrative that “Kashmir is an integral part of India”. He said, with every passing day, India’s stand on Kashmir has grown more rigid – and violence against people of Jammu and Kashmir has become a norm. He said that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power in 2014, the policies of aggression became even more crude. He pointed out that the only difference was that the deceptive sophistication of the secular Congress government was replaced by the brazenness of the Hindu-majoritarian BJP.

Khurram Pervez maintained that the unilateral and undemocratic changes governing Jammu and Kashmir, unabated human rights violations, denial of basic facilities and land-grabbing due to militarization are all in violation of international law, UN resolutions, India’s own constitutional framework and India’s commitment to the Kashmiris. India can only feel encouraged to continue its violent policy because of the lack of international moral leadership, he concluded.

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Srinagar, August 07 (KMS): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference has welcomed the new map approved by Pakistan which shows the occupied territory as part of Pakistan.

The APHC General Secretary, Molvi Bashir Ahmad, in a media interview in Srinagar said that the new map of Pakistan reflected the Two-Nation Theory and the ground reality. He said the Kashmir dispute is a reality and Jammu and Kashmir was a natural part of Pakistan but India had illegally occupied it in 1947. He said that the Kashmiris were able to liberate one part of Jammu and Kashmir, which was named as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and they were still continuing their struggle to free another part from India’s illegal occupation. Molvi Bashir Ahmad also welcomed Pakistan’s announcement to confer Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest Civil Award of the country, on the veteran Kashmiri Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani.

Meanwhile, the APHC spokesman in a statement in Srinagar welcomed the 5th August UN Security Council session that discussed the Kashmir dispute and the prevailing situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He termed the development as an eye-opener for India and said that New Delhi should realise that the world didn’t support its illegal stance on Kashmir and disapproved its unilateral actions in the territory.

Senior Hurriyat leader, Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, addressing a Juma congregation at Botingoo in Sopore area of Baramulla said Kashmir dispute is a harsh reality which needs resolution through result-oriented dialogue process. He thanked the people and government of Pakistan, particularly Prime Minister Imran Khan, for effectively highlighting the Kashmir dispute at the international level.

On the other hand, Indian government has shifted scores of Panchs and Sarpanchs, mostly affiliated with Bharatiya Janata Party, to secure locations in the occupied territory after a series of attacks on BJP activists.

Former Indian minister, Manoj Sinha, was sworn in as the new lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir, today. Sinha succeeds former Indian Administrative Service officer Girish Chandra Murmu, who resigned on Wednesday night and was appointed Comptroller and Auditor General on Thursday.

Speakers at a webinar organized by Kashmir Institute of International Relations strongly condemned the abrogation of special status of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the Modi-led Indian fascist regime and termed its division into two union territories as a flagrant violation of the international law. The webinar was hosted by Kashmir Institute of International Relations and the speakers included Ambassador (retd) Aizaz Ahmed Chudhary, Ambassador (retd) Ishtiaq Indrabi, Justice (retd) Shah Khawar, noted lawyer and expert on international law, Ahmer Bilal Sofi, Ahmed Qureshi, Muhammad Farooq Rehmani, Syed Yousuf Naseem and Altaf Hussain Wani.

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The Modi government on August 5 last year scrapped the special status of IIOJK and put it under military siege.

It has been a year of loss for Parvaiz Ahmad, a resident of Rainwari in Srinagar. A tourist taxi driver by profession, he has been left jobless since August 5 last year. “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has added to my sufferings and miseries,” says Parvaiz, who has been in his home after being rendered jobless first in wake of lockdown in August last year and then the pandemic.

“I don’t know how long we will survive like this, as this year’s tourist season is also over with another lockdown,” he says, “I have exhausted all my savings. Even my wife and my two daughters have spent their little savings as well to survive the military siege.”

Furkaan Ahmad, another tourist taxi driver from Dalgate, said he has fallen into depression as he is unable to meet the needs of his family. He said his sister was getting married this year but his worsening economic condition has prompted his family to postpone it. “I am the sole bread earner of my family and my earnings depend on the arrival of tourists. Neither tourists arrive nor the authorities are allowing us to ply on roads in the face of COVID-19,” he added.

The Chairman of Kashmir Tourist Taxi Transporters Federation, Abdul Rashid, said the transport sector is the worst hit since August 05, 2019. He said they approached the officials several times in the past few months and sought economic help but to no avail. “Our drivers don’t have enough money to buy even essentials as they have been out of work since August last year,” he added.

According to the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the economy has suffered a loss of about Rs 400 billion since August 2019. The KCCI in its earlier report released last year claimed that 496,000 jobs had been lost in 120 days post August 05 move.

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