'The youth have given New Delhi a chance. Now it is up to the policy-makers in Delhi to respect their political choices.'
The election campaign finally ended on Friday, May 17. Arindam Majumder reveals what he discovered on the election front on a long rail journey.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came out with a Sunday night statement condemning the action of Indian security forces.
In the stone-pelting, SSP Doda, one SHO, one sub-inspector and two other police personnel were injured.
Students' organisations and political parties are participating in the bandh to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there.
On Wednesday, Bengal's own daughter she firmly pitched herself as, was sworn in as the chief minister of the turbulent state for the third successive term amid raging fires of political violence and a rampaging pandemic.
The Government of India has failed Kashmiri Pandits as they are still living as refugees in their own country. The state as well as the central government has not taken substantial measures till date for the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the valley, says Varad Sharma
The Asom Gana Parishad's fears relating to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill are not misplaced. But does the party still matter in Assam's politics?
The Old City of Nazareth in Israel is an ancient hub that is being rightfully revived, says Jael Silliman.
'It's pretty likely that Kissinger, Rice et al came bearing gifts (read Trojan Horses) from McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Grumman, Northrop, and all the other Military Industrial Complex stalwarts,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
"I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war," the 19-year-old Pakistani education activist, who survived a near-fatal attack by the Taliban, said in a Facebook post.
Saeed accused Rajnath Singh of being "responsible for the killings of innocent Kashmiris".
The list, which is a mix of seasoned political players and greenhorns, has 17 women candidates, five more than the last elections, constituting roughly 41 per cent of the candidates.
'The Pakistani military has encouraged and supported terrorist organisations, especially in Kashmir, as a means of waging proxy war against the Indian military and the country's superior economic resources.' 'The evidence is irrefutable with the recent killing of 46 paramilitary troops being just the latest example.'
Resettlement of refugees elsewhere is not the morally correct solution to the problem for it lets the perpetrators off the hook.
'The economy of Kashmir has collapsed.'
'The ISI doesn't trust the Kashmiris. They hate them...' 'We can never take Kashmir for granted, so there is that element of unpredictability. Anything can happen anytime.' 'The next chief minister will still be from the Valley. Even if a BJP chief minister or a BJP chosen candidate comes, he will be from the Valley. And he will be a Muslim.' A S Dulat, the former R&AW chief, on why he is perplexed by the BJP's Mission 44 plan for the J&K assembly election.
The Padma Vibhushan for this year has been awarded to a total of seven prominent personalities, while 16 have been given the Padma Bhushan, 118 have been given the Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day this year, they said.
'With Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the unemployed jihadis will certainly turn their gaze to India and Kashmir.' 'Despite this imminent danger to national security, defence preparedness does not find a mention in the ongoing electoral campaign,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'If somebody in your family listens more to your neighbour than you, then doesn't the fault lie with you also? This is what is happening in Kashmir.'
However, it was not clear on what basis most of the people were being held.
"We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat ... We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That's who we are," said the Facebook founder.
'There were 27 cases against me. I have obtained bail in all the cases. The judiciary has released me,' the freed Kashmiri separatist tells A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com
Election campaigning has picked up steam in Jammu and Kashmir which goes to polls on November 25.
Separatist leader Masarat Alam, who was invited for Pakistan National Day celebrations at the High Commission in Delhi on Monday, will not be attending the event.
As many as 20 more youths have joined the terrorist groups in the month of May which included Rouf from Ganderbal, a fourth-semester student pursuing a diploma course in government polytechnic, the officials said.
'In a war of guerrilla resistance from 1682 to 1707, the Marathas destroyed the foundations of the Mughal empire.' 'Shivaji was dead, but his example and ideals survived and were the main source for inspiration for the Marathas in their desperate struggle with the mighty Mughal empire,' notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), the well known military historian.
The Kashmir-based PDP's linkage with the BJP could even be a turning point, provided it is safeguarded against real possibility of miscarriage. So-called fringe elements on either side, more so in the Saffron parivar, can easily upset Modi-Mufti applecart. They have only to drag contentious issues into limelight to do that, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Major mosques and idghas, which see tens of thousands of people offering namaz on Eid and then embracing each other, remained mostly empty perhaps for the first time on the festival as the government has prohibited all kinds of religious gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
When he was chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was able to blunt inter-regional and inter-communal tensions which Farooq and Omar Abdullah could not do. Whether he can repeat it with the BJP by his side would have to be seen, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
The article also says that madrasas and the Muslim leadership in the country teach Muslims to disregard and hate Indian culture.
'Increasingly, there is a tendency to magnify 'victimhood' of the minority for electoral gains and vote bank politics.'
'There is no doubt that there is a worldwide rise in Islamophobia. There is a tendency amongst some in India to react to this in the Indian milieu,' says Colonel Anil A Athale(retd).
'Those leading the current political dispensation, whether at the central or the state level, must recognise the enormous risks that their divisive policies are creating for the national security and wellbeing of the country,' cautions former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Kashmiris are our own people," said HM Rajnath Singh in Rajya Sabha.
'One of R&AW's greatest achievements is in projecting itself as benign.' 'This work -- done in tandem with the Diaspora and the MEA -- sells a story of India as mostly the victim.'
A man of perseverance and great survivor, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had an astute political sense honed by decades of experience in Kashmir politics that has stood him in good stead in crafting a delicate alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party to return as chief minister for the second time.
Six men, including two Malaysian Air Force personnel and an Indonesian arms expert, were on Thursday charged with conspiring to plot Islamic State-led terror attacks in the Muslim-majority country.
