Shops, businesses and government offices closed across Indian-administered Kashmir yesterday as separatists called a general strike to mark the anniversary of the day Indian troops took control of the region in 1947, celebrated by India as Infantry day.
Thousands of Indian soldiers in riot gear patrolled the streets of Srinagar, the main city, and prohibited any gathering of more than five people, said police officer B. Srinivas said.
The ban was aimed at blocking a plan by Kashmiri lawyers to form a human chain to protest the presence of Indian troops in the region.
“It’s an irony that even forming a human chain is a threat to the Indian state,” said Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, a key separatist leader.
“This was supposed to be a symbolic protest reminding the world that India has militarily occupied this place,” he said.
In recent months, Indian Kashmir has seen some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades.
At least 48 people have died, most of them killed when Indian soldiers opened fire on Muslim demonstrators.
India says it sent troops to the region in 1947 at the request of Kashmir’s Hindu king, who decided to join India when the subcontinent was partitioned by British colonialists into India and Pakistan.
However, separatists say the Hindu king decided to join India only after Indian troops had landed in the region.
Yesterday’s strike was called by the Jammu-Kashmir Coordination Committee, a coalition of Kashmir’s Muslim separatist leaders and representatives of businesses, lawyers and government employees.
The protesters demand that Muslim-majority Kashmir either gain independence from India or merge with Pakistan.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the territory, which remains divided between India and Pakistan.
The longtime rivals both claim the region and have fought two wars over it.
Meanwhile, Indian troops shot dead five Islamic militants during a gun battle in the forests of Kishtiwar district, south of Srinagar, a statement from the army said.
“The five were members of Hizbul Mujahidin,” it said, referring to the region’s most powerful group fighting for Indian Kashmir to join with Pakistan.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS