#Jammu and Kashmir terrorist arrested

[mariacallous]

Five years since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomous status, the central government’s iron-fisted approach to the region has left it more vulnerable to regional and geopolitical threats.

While Kashmir Valley, which has withstood the brunt of armed insurgency since 1989, continues to simmer with militancy-related violence, the theater of terrorism has now extended into the otherwise peaceful province of Jammu. Since 2019, at least 262 soldiers and 171 civilians have died in more than 690 incidents, including the February 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack. The unsustainable and disproportionate loss of lives underscores the risks to both regional stability and India’s national security.

In 2019, the Modi government revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted the state of Jammu and Kashmir its special status, annihilating the contested region’s symbolic autonomy. Concurrently, the central government also imposed an indefinite curfew in the region and used internet shutdowns and arrests to control and suppress the local population. The result was a transformed landscape. Already scarred by militarization, Kashmir became enmeshed in barbed wire.

This undemocratic exercise, though later stamped and endorsed by India’s Supreme Court, has since spurred further legal changes. For example, the local population no longer has access to exclusive protections that previously allowed only permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir to apply for government jobs and buy property in the state.

In March 2020, the government repealed 12 and amended 14 land-related laws, introducing a clause that paved the way for a development authority to confiscate land and another that allowed high-ranking army officials to declare a local area as strategically important.

Local residents are appalled at the ease with which government agencies can now seize both residential and agricultural lands in the name of development and security—enabling mass evictions and the bulldozing of houses that are disproportionately affecting Muslim communities and small landowners.

Meanwhile, the ecological fallout from introducing massive road and railway networks, coupled with the addition of mega hydroelectricity projects, is polluting riverbeds and causing villages to sink. Since 2019, there has been a lack of local representation which could act as a buffer against massive development projects, most of which now fall under New Delhi’s governance. Meanwhile, the region’s unemployment rate, as of 2023, remains high at above 18 percent, as compared to the national average of 8 percent.

Over the last few years, the Modi government has also squashed dissent in the region by redirecting the military to maintain surveillance and control of the civilian population. According to the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, over 2,700 people were arrested in the region between 2020 and 2023 under India’s contentious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Public Safety Act. Those arrested include journalists like Fahad Shah and Sajad Gul, human rights defenders like Khurram Pervez, and prominent lawyers like Mian Qayoom and Nazir Ronga.

Modi’s repressive policies have deepened the trust deficit between Kashmiris and the Indian government. The top-down administration has further sidelined local bureaucrats and police officers, further widening the gap between the central government and local ground realities.

All of this has not only pushed the local population into distress, but also jeopardized India’s already fragile relations with its two nuclear neighbors, Pakistan and China.

The Kashmir conflict, rooted in the 1947 partition of India, has led to three major wars and several military skirmishes between India, Pakistan, and China. And though the region has always been contentious—India controls more than half of the total land, while Pakistan controls 30 percent, and China holds the remaining 15 percent in the northeast region near Ladakh—Modi’s aggressive handling has further provoked its neighbors.

Following the revocation of Article 370, the region was split into two separate union territories—Jammu and Kashmir forming one and Ladakh forming another, with both falling under the central government’s control.

This redrawing of the region’s internal borders, which signaled New Delhi’s assertions of reclaiming the Chinese-occupied territory near Ladakh—as well as India’s increasing tilt towards the United States—resulted in a deadly clash between India and China in 2020 and another one in 2022. Despite diplomatic efforts to resolve tensions over the disputed Himalayan border, New Delhi has accused Beijing of carrying out “inch by inch” land grabs in Ladakh since 2020.

Meanwhile, Pakistan-administered Kashmir has been rocked by mass protests of its own this year, owing to the country’s political and economic crisis, exacerbated in part by the abrogation of Article 370. Those living in Pakistan-administered Kashmir fear that Pakistan may similarly try to dilute the autonomy of the region.

With refugees flooding in from Afghanistan on its west amidst Imran Khan’s standoff with the Pakistani Army, Islamabad has been on edge and looking for diversionary tactics. The deepening of Pakistani-Chinese relations, including military ties, has contributed to a volatile mix.

But Kashmir’s vulnerability has worsened partly because of India’s own tactical blunders, too. The last decade witnessed a spurt in home-grown militancy, but since 2019 the landscape has been dominated by well-trained militants from across the Pakistani border who have access to sophisticated weapons and technology.

Indian security forces, including paramilitaries and the local police, have turned a blind eye to these emerging threats, especially in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch along the border with Pakistan. It is in this area that the impact of terror attacks has been most felt.

The region is home to the nomadic Gujjar-Bakerwal communities and the ethnolinguistic Paharis. These groups are parts of divided families straddling the India-Pakistan border, and this shared cultural linkage between the Indian and Pakistani sides has been weaponized in the past by intelligence networks of both countries.

The Indian armed forces have historically relied on the Gujjar-Bakerwal communities for intelligence gathering in part because of their nomadic lives and deep knowledge of the region’s topography. However, since 2019, the evictions of nomads from forest lands, following the amendment of several land-related laws, as well as affirmative actions for Paharis, a rival ethnic group, have led to the disenchantment of the Gujjar-Bakerwals—and an eventual loss of traditional intelligence assets for India.

Another blunder has been the redeployment of troops from Jammu to the border with China in the northeast, following China’s incursions in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in 2020. This has left Jammu dangerously exposed to militants who have been infiltrating the region from across the line of control on the western side and carrying out their operations with a fair degree of success.

In 2024 alone, Jammu has witnessed numerous attacks which have resulted in the deaths of 16 soldiers and 12 civilians. In June, for example, the region experienced one of its deadliest attacks when militants opened fire on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, killing nine and injuring over 30.

Kashmir’s internal politics has the potential to spill over and push the region into disaster. While India has made some significant strides in international diplomacy under Modi, it tends to neglect the neighborhood where the risks to India’s national security remain the highest. Its diplomatic engagement with China comes in fits and starts but diplomacy with Pakistan remains nonexistent, despite the resumption of a ceasefire in 2021. And while India considers the removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status an internal matter, Pakistan sees it as a provocation. All in all, there is a dangerous lack of engagement between the two nuclear rivals in South Asia.

In theory, the ongoing regional elections in Jammu and Kashmir provide a glimmer of opportunity for the people to choose their own local government for the first time in a decade. However, irrespective of who wins the elections, the local leaders will lack the power to enact meaningful change, given that the region remains under the control of New Delhi following its demotion from a state to two union territories.

For instance, Ladakh does not have a legislative assembly, and while Jammu and Kashmir have an elected assembly, the real powers are vested in the hands of a governor, who was appointed to lead the region by the Modi-led central government. As recently as July, the Indian government ruled to further expand the governor’s oversight powers, delivering a blow to local politicians and voters.

Much more needs to be done to change the status quo. Though it remains unlikely, New Delhi must consider meaningful solutions that could assuage some of the political wounds inflicted by the complete erosion of Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy, including, for example, the restoration of statehood to the region. In order to win back the trust of Kashmiris, the Indian government must reinstate civil liberties and deliver on its promise to provide economic development and jobs.

To improve the region’s safety, Indian agencies must acknowledge their security lapses and repair their broken intelligence networks. And while the Indian security forces must not lower their guard against terrorist activities, terrorism should not be proffered as an excuse when it comes to the normalization of relations in the neighborhood.

Neither Pakistan, nor India can afford the war which is looming over their heads. Diplomatic negotiations, including over Kashmir, must begin with a sense of urgency.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.27 (after 1940)

1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14. 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies. 1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men. 1943 – The Holocaust: In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest. 1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified. 1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated. 1962 – Vietnam War: Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm. 1963 – The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo. 1964 – The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over. 1971 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions. 1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government. 1976 – The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. 1988 – Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom. 1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated". 2001 – Loganair Flight 670A crashes while attempting to make a water landing in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. 2002 – Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport causing minor injuries. 2002 – Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims. 2004 – A bombing of a SuperFerry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills more than 100 passengers. 2004 – Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack. 2007 – Chinese stock bubble of 2007: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest daily fall in ten years, following speculation about a crackdown on illegal share offerings and trading, and fears about accelerating inflation. 2008 – Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later. 2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggers a tsunami which strikes Hawaii shortly after. 2013 – A shooting takes place at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland, in which five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured. 2015 – Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow while out walking with his girlfriend. 2019 – Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

[xtruss]

Kashmir, Five Years On

Fascist, Hindu Extremist, The Butcher of Gujrat And The World’s Most Wanted Criminal Modi’s Iron-Fisted Approach To The Disputed Region Has Left It More Vulnerable To Local And Geopolitical Threats.

— By Anuradha Bhasin | September 19, 2024

Indian security personnel patrol along a street in Srinagar, in Jammu and Kashmir, on August 15, 2024. Tauseef Mustafa/AFP Via Getty Images

Five years since The Fascist, Hindu Extremist, The Butcher of Gujrat and The World’s Most Wanted Criminal Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomous status, the central government’s iron-fisted approach to the region has left it more vulnerable to regional and geopolitical threats.

While Kashmir Valley, which has withstood the brunt of armed insurgency since 1989, continues to simmer with militancy-related violence, the theater of terrorism has now extended into the otherwise peaceful province of Jammu. Since 2019, at least 262 soldiers and 171 civilians have died in more than 690 incidents, including the February 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack. The unsustainable and disproportionate loss of lives underscores the risks to both regional stability and India’s national security.

In 2019, the Modi government revoked Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted the state of Jammu and Kashmir its special status, annihilating the contested region’s symbolic autonomy. Concurrently, the central government also imposed an indefinite curfew in the region and used internet shutdowns and arrests to control and suppress the local population. The result was a transformed landscape. Already scarred by militarization, Kashmir became enmeshed in barbed wire.

This undemocratic exercise, though later stamped and endorsed by India’s Supreme Court, has since spurred further legal changes. For example, the local population no longer has access to exclusive protections that previously allowed only permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir to apply for government jobs and buy property in the state.

In March 2020, the government repealed 12 and amended 14 land-related laws, introducing a clause that paved the way for a development authority to confiscate land and another that allowed high-ranking army officials to declare a local area as strategically important.

Local residents are appalled at the ease with which government agencies can now seize both residential and agricultural lands in the name of development and security—enabling mass evictions and the bulldozing of houses that are disproportionately affecting Muslim communities and small landowners.

Meanwhile, the ecological fallout from introducing massive road and railway networks, coupled with the addition of mega hydroelectricity projects, is polluting riverbeds and causing villages to sink. Since 2019, there has been a lack of local representation which could act as a buffer against massive development projects, most of which now fall under New Delhi’s governance. Meanwhile, the region’s unemployment rate, as of 2023, remains high at above 18 percent, as compared to the national average of 8 percent.

Over the last few years, the Modi government has also squashed dissent in the region by redirecting the military to maintain surveillance and control of the civilian population. According to the Forum for Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir, over 2,700 people were arrested in the region between 2020 and 2023 under India’s contentious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Public Safety Act. Those arrested include journalists like Fahad Shah and Sajad Gul, human rights defenders like Khurram Pervez, and prominent lawyers like Mian Qayoom and Nazir Ronga.

Modi’s repressive policies have deepened the trust deficit between Kashmiris and the Indian government. The top-down administration has further sidelined local bureaucrats and police officers, further widening the gap between the central government and local ground realities.

All of this has not only pushed the local population into distress, but also jeopardized India’s already fragile relations with its two nuclear neighbors, Pakistan and China.

The Kashmir Conflict, rooted in the 1947 partition of India, has led to three major wars and several military skirmishes between India, Pakistan, and China. And though the region has always been contentious—India controls more than half of the total land, while Pakistan controls 30 percent, and China holds the remaining 15 percent in the northeast region near Ladakh—Modi’s aggressive handling has further provoked its neighbors.

Following the revocation of Article 370, the region was split into two separate union territories—Jammu and Kashmir forming one and Ladakh forming another, with both falling under the central government’s control.

This redrawing of the region’s internal borders, which signaled New Delhi’s assertions of reclaiming the Chinese-occupied territory near Ladakh—as well as India’s increasing tilt towards the United States—resulted in a deadly clash between India and China in 2020 and another one in 2022. Despite diplomatic efforts to resolve tensions over the disputed Himalayan border, New Delhi has accused Beijing of carrying out “inch by inch” land grabs in Ladakh since 2020.

Meanwhile, Pakistan-administered Kashmir has been rocked by mass protests of its own this year, owing to the country’s political and economic crisis, exacerbated in part by the abrogation of Article 370. Those living in Pakistan-administered Kashmir fear that Pakistan may similarly try to dilute the autonomy of the region.

With refugees flooding in from Afghanistan on its west amidst Imran Khan’s standoff with the Pakistani Army, Islamabad has been on edge and looking for diversionary tactics. The deepening of Pakistani-Chinese relations, including military ties, has contributed to a volatile mix.

But Kashmir’s vulnerability has worsened partly because of India’s own tactical blunders, too. The last decade witnessed a spurt in home-grown militancy, but since 2019 the landscape has been dominated by well-trained militants from across the Pakistani border who have access to sophisticated weapons and technology.

Indian security forces, including paramilitaries and the local police, have turned a blind eye to these emerging threats, especially in the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch along the border with Pakistan. It is in this area that the impact of terror attacks has been most felt.

The region is home to the nomadic Gujjar-Bakerwal communities and the ethnolinguistic Paharis. These groups are parts of divided families straddling the India-Pakistan border, and this shared cultural linkage between the Indian and Pakistani sides has been weaponized in the past by intelligence networks of both countries.

The Indian armed forces have historically relied on the Gujjar-Bakerwal communities for intelligence gathering in part because of their nomadic lives and deep knowledge of the region’s topography. However, since 2019, the evictions of nomads from forest lands, following the amendment of several land-related laws, as well as affirmative actions for Paharis, a rival ethnic group, have led to the disenchantment of the Gujjar-Bakerwals—and an eventual loss of traditional intelligence assets for India.

Another blunder has been the redeployment of troops from Jammu to the border with China in the northeast, following China’s incursions in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in 2020. This has left Jammu dangerously exposed to militants who have been infiltrating the region from across the line of control on the western side and carrying out their operations with a fair degree of success.

In 2024 alone, Jammu has witnessed numerous attacks which have resulted in the deaths of 16 soldiers and 12 civilians. In June, for example, the region experienced one of its deadliest attacks when militants opened fire on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims, killing nine and injuring over 30.

Kashmir’s internal politics has the potential to spill over and push the region into disaster. While India has made some significant strides in international diplomacy under Modi, it tends to neglect the neighborhood where the risks to India’s national security remain the highest. Its diplomatic engagement with China comes in fits and starts but diplomacy with Pakistan remains nonexistent, despite the resumption of a ceasefire in 2021. And while India considers the removal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status an internal matter, Pakistan sees it as a provocation. All in all, there is a dangerous lack of engagement between the two nuclear rivals in South Asia.

In Theory, the ongoing regional elections in Jammu and Kashmir provide a glimmer of opportunity for the people to choose their own local government for the first time in a decade. However, irrespective of who wins the elections, the local leaders will lack the power to enact meaningful change, given that the region remains under the control of New Delhi following its demotion from a state to two union territories.

For instance, Ladakh does not have a legislative assembly, and while Jammu and Kashmir have an elected assembly, the real powers are vested in the hands of a governor, who was appointed to lead the region by the Modi-led central government. As recently as July, the Indian government ruled to further expand the governor’s oversight powers, delivering a blow to local politicians and voters.

Much more needs to be done to change the status quo. Though it remains unlikely, New Delhi must consider meaningful solutions that could assuage some of the political wounds inflicted by the complete erosion of Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy, including, for example, the restoration of statehood to the region. In order to win back the trust of Kashmiris, the Indian government must reinstate civil liberties and deliver on its promise to provide economic development and jobs.

To improve the region’s safety, Indian agencies must acknowledge their security lapses and repair their broken intelligence networks. And while the Indian security forces must not lower their guard against terrorist activities, terrorism should not be proffered as an excuse when it comes to the normalization of relations in the neighborhood.

Neither Pakistan, nor India can afford the war which is looming over their heads. Diplomatic negotiations, including over Kashmir, must begin with a sense of urgency.

— Anuradha Bhasin, Managing Editor of Kashmir Times and Author of A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After 370. (Argument:

An Expert's Point of View on a Current Event.)

[tfgadgets]

8 held in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kathua for alleged terrorist support - The Times of India

8 held in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kathua for alleged terrorist support  The Times of India 9 ‘Jaish sympathisers who facilitated terror infiltration’ arrested in J&K, booked under Enemy Act  ThePrint Jammu and Kashmir: Police release sketches of four terrorists in Kathua  Hindustan Times Kingpin Of OGW Network, Eight Others Held For Providing Logistic Support To Terrorists In Kathua  Daily…

[kimskashmir]

Policeman gets bail in 'fake encounter' case after 18 years in J&K

JAMMU — The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has granted bail to a policeman arrested for allegedly killing an “innocent” man and dubbing him a “terrorist” 18 years ago. Justice Atul Sreedharan passed the order on July 3, saying, “This is a clear cut case of violation of Article 21 on account of delayed trial.” The case was heard through videoconferencing. Bansi Lal (56), lodged in the…

[kupwaratimes-fan]

Terror module in Plot to Target Off-Duty Officers busted; 3 arrested DGP RR Swain

Terror module in Plot to Target Off-Duty Officers busted; 3 arrested DGP RR Swain Trio were involved in Bemina attack, arms ammo recovered Srinagar, Dec 17 : Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday said that it busted a terrorist module by arresting three terrorists connection with Bemina attack in which a police man was injured, and the trio were tasked to kill the off duty Police officials within…

[blogynews]

Unveiling Corruption: Arrested Jammu-Kashmir DSP Caught Red-Handed in Shocking Bribery Scandal to 'Shield' Alleged Terror-Funds Criminal

Jammu & Kashmir home department has taken the decision to suspend deputy superintendent Aadil Mushtaq of the J&K police. Aadil was arrested on September 21 on charges of aiding terrorists, corruption, and tampering with evidence. The arrest followed surveillance on Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives Umer Adil Dar and Muzamil Zahoor, which led to the recovery of terror funds worth Rs 32 lakh earlier this…

[blogynewz]

Unveiling Corruption: Arrested Jammu-Kashmir DSP Caught Red-Handed in Shocking Bribery Scandal to 'Shield' Alleged Terror-Funds Criminal

Jammu & Kashmir home department has taken the decision to suspend deputy superintendent Aadil Mushtaq of the J&K police. Aadil was arrested on September 21 on charges of aiding terrorists, corruption, and tampering with evidence. The arrest followed surveillance on Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives Umer Adil Dar and Muzamil Zahoor, which led to the recovery of terror funds worth Rs 32 lakh earlier this…

[blogynewsz]

“Unveiling the Elusive Network: Exclusive Arrests Reveal Shocking Arms Smuggling Ring in Troubled Jammu and Kashmir”

SRINAGAR: Security forces have arrested a terrorist and eight terror associates, including two women, involved in cross-border smuggling of arms and ammunition in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, according to police reports on Tuesday. The arrests were made as two terror modules were unearthed. The terrorist associates were operating under the direction of Pakistan-based terror handlers,…

[amn-group]

Baramulla Success: Two terrorists arrested, Weapons seized by security forces.

[thedailyexcelsior]

2 Associates Of Terrorists arrested in Anantnag

Two associates of a terror group were arrested by the security forces today (June 22) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Official sources said that a joint team of the army, CRPF and local police made the arrest and recovered ammunition and cash from their possession.

[all-about-news24x7]

Security Forces Nab Lashkar-e-Taiba Terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir

Two LeT Terrorists Were Arrested with Arms in Baramulla District Earlier, on June 1, two individuals associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were apprehended by security forces in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. Acting on reliable intelligence regarding the presence of terrorists in Frestihar Kreeri village, the police had established a Mobile Vehicle Checkpoint (MVCP) at the Frestihar…

[newnewz]

Families Of Jammu Twin Terror Attack Victims Block Highway, Demand Justice

The victim families sought identification and arrest of the culprits behind the attack without any further delay, officials said.

Rajouri/Jammu: The family members of the seven civilians killed in a terror attack in Dangri village of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district in January this year blocked the Jammu-Poonch National Highway on Monday.

Demanding justice, hundreds of villagers marched in a procession from Dangri and blocked the busy highway near Muradpur, half-a-km away from the scene of the terror attack in Rajouri district.

The victim families sought identification and arrest of the culprits behind the attack without any further delay, officials said.

Terrorists had struck Dhangri village on January 1 and targeted villagers before fleeing the scene, leaving behind an improvised explosive device (IED).

While five people were killed in the firing by terrorists, two others died in the IED explosion the next morning. As many as 14 villagers were injured in the twin attacks.

On May 6, the army killed a terrorist during an anti-terrorist operation in the forested Kandi area of Rajouri. Some locals later identified the terrorist as one of the Dhangri village attackers.

Carrying pictures of the killed civilians and chanting slogans in support of justice, the villagers staged a sit-in on the highway around 9 am on Monday and also burnt tyres, leading to traffic jams.

Senior civil and police officials rushed to the scene and are trying to persuade the protesters to disperse, officials said.

Saroj Bala, who lost her two sons in the terror attack, said she had been waiting for justice for the last six months. "We have been hearing that the case has almost been solved, but there is no trace of the terrorists involved in the attack. The terrorist supporters, who facilitated the attack, are also yet to be identified," Ms Bala, who was leading the protest, said.

She had addressed a press conference in Jammu on June 5 and said "I simply want justice for my children". Ms Bala's two sons -- Prince and Deepak -- were killed in the terrorist attack, leaving her the only survivor member in the family as she had lost her husband to a disease sometime back.

"Six months have passed since the attack happened, but no solid action has taken place till date," she added.

[humanrightsupdates]

India: Human rights defender and Kashmiri Journalist Irfan Mehraj arrested by the National Investigation Agency under India’s anti-terror legislation

On 22 March 2023, the Patiala House Court in New Delhi remanded human rights defender and journalist Irfan Mehraj in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) until 1 April 2023. Irfan Mehraj was arrested by the NIA under several charges including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on 20 March 2023. In the evening of 20 March 2023, he received a ‘routine telephone call’ from the NIA and was asked to report to their office in Srinagar. Subsequently, he was arrested under a case registered by the NIA in October 2020, alleging non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of serious offences including criminal conspiracy, raising funds for, and supporting terrorist organisations. Irfan Mehraj’s arrest is part of the ongoing consolidated attacks on journalists in Kashmir and on one of the most prominent NGOs, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS).

Irfan Mehraj is a journalist based in Srinagar, Kashmir. He is the founding editor of the online Wande Magazine and also contributes towards editorial work of the media outlet TwoCircles.net. He wrote extensively about issues of human rights violations in Kashmir including fake encounter killings, attacks on Kashmiri Pandits, and the situation in Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. He also contributed to prominent national and international media houses such as The Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Himal Southasian, and Deutsche Welle. In 2016 Irfan Mehraj previously worked with JKCCS as a researcher.

On 22 March 2023, Irfan Mehraj was bought before a special NIA judge at the Patiala House court in New Delhi and remanded in NIA custody for 10 days until 1 April 2023. The NIA had sought 12 days of custody for the human rights defender. On 20 March 2023, after Irfan Mehraj was called to the NIA office in Srinagar for an informal conversation, he was arrested in First Information Report (FIR) No RC-37/2020, registered in October 2020, under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (inciting disaffection towards government through words, signs, etc.) of the Indian Penal Code and UAPA sections 17 (fund raising for terror activities), 18 (conspiracy to commit terror act), 22A & 22C (relating to offences committed by registered companies), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation), 39 (supporting a terrorist organisation) and 40 (raising funds for a terrorist organisation). On 21 March 2023, the local magistrate approved the transit remand for Irfan Mehraj to be taken to New Delhi and subsequently he was transferred to New Delhi by an evening flight.

Irfan Mehraj has previously been interrogated by the NIA on multiple occasions in Srinagar and New Delhi with respect to the same case. In October 2020, under the same case in which the human rights defender is now arrested, the NIA had raided the offices of JKCCS and homes of prominent Kashmiri human rights defenders, including Khurram Parvez. The NIA also seized documents and electronic devices, including those of Irfan Mehraj. A press release by the NIA on 21 March 2023 stated that Irfan Mehraj’s arrest was the first in their investigation in this case. According to this NIA press release, he was a close associate of human rights defender Khurram Parvez who is arbitrarily detained in another similar case under UAPA by the NIA since 22 November 2021.

Front Line Defenders was reliably informed that the NIA interrogated Khurram Parvez for two consecutive days in the Rohini High Security Prison in New Delhi during the last week. They had threatened him with arrest in relation to this case from October 2020, and with arrests of his other colleagues and associates. Khurram Parvez has now also been arrested under the case filed against Irfan Mehraj, after being produced before a court in New Delhi. Khurram Parvez’s arbitrary arrest and detention in November 2021 has been widely condemned by UN experts and human rights organisations. He was recently awarded the prestigious Martin Ennals Award in February 2023.

Irfan Mehraj’s arrest is the latest in the attempt to silence and intimidate human rights defenders and journalists in Kashmir. Besides human rights defender Khurram Parvez, journalists Fahad Shah, Sajad Gul and Asif Sultan remain imprisoned and face reprisals for their legitimate human rights work and investigative reporting.

Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the arrest of journalist Irfan Mehraj and believes it to be a part of a larger attempt to target the human rights defenders associated with JKCCS. Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the increasing harassment of activists and journalists in Kashmir and calls on the authorities in India to immediately and unconditionally release Irfan Mehraj and quash the fabricated charges against him.

Front Line Defenders calls upon the Indian authorities to:

1. Immediately drop all charges against Irfan Mehraj as it is believed that they are solely motivated by his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights;

2. Immediately and unconditionally release Irfan Mehraj, as Front Line Defenders believes that he is being held solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;

3. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the arrest of Irfan Mehraj, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards.

[rnewspost]

Jaish module busted in J&K's Kulgam, six terrorists arrested

A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered, including a hand grenade, a pistol and other incriminating materials.  Kulgam,UPDATED: Feb 3, 2023 19:19 IST Security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition (India Today photo) By Ashraf Wani: Security forces on Friday busted a Jaish-e-Mohammad module and arrested six people in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam. A huge cache of arms and…

[arun-pratap-singh]

56 Pakistanis among 186 terrorists killed, 159 arrested in J&K in 2022: DGP | India News

56 Pakistanis among 186 terrorists killed, 159 arrested in J&K in 2022: DGP | India News

JAMMU: A total of 186 terrorists, including 56 Pakistani nationals, were killed and 159 arrested in 2022 which proved to be the most successful in recent years, director general of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbagh Singh said on Saturday.He also said the police and other security agencies are moving in the right direction to achieve “zero terror” activities in the Union Territory.At the year-end…