The Army today opposed any move to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from peaceful areas in Jammu and Kashmir, arguing that the current lull in violence could be deceptive. “There cannot be islands of peace,” senior army commanders were said to have argued at the Unified Command HQ meeting today. If Srinagar and Budgam are peaceful, it does not mean they can be separated from the larger situation...
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Special powers to act and evade by Muzamil Jaleel
When Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from certain areas areas in Jammu and Kashmir, it was a political move with many objectives. The government, however, had to put the plan on hold. Though the Home Ministry has been in favour of a withdrawal, the plan came under severe criticism from the Army, which argued that a withdrawal, even if partial, would hamper...
More »Gujarat 2002 massacre witness murdered near ATS Hqs
-Express News Service Nadeem Saiyed, a key witness to the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots, was brutally killed on the main street of Juhapura on Saturday. He was stabbed 25 times, just steps away from the anti-terrorism group headquarters. Two Juhapura residents, Firdos Mullah and Mushir Ahmed, have been booked for murder and conspiracy. Saiyed’s father named them along with several others, accusing them of ordering his killing. A police informer...
More »Global food prices drop to 11-month low in October, UN agency reports
-The United Nations Food prices dropped to an 11-month low in October, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, while adding that they are still higher than last year and very volatile. FAO’s Food Price Index averaged 216 points last month, down 4 per cent from September, the agency said in a news release. The index is a measure of basic food prices at the global level. “The drop was...
More »Dantewada's dilemma by Smita Gupta
The tribal people of Chhattisgarh are in an extremely dangerous situation, caught as they are between the state forces and the Maoists. THIRTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD Soni Sori, an Adivasi schoolteacher from Chhattisgarh, was arrested in Delhi on October 4 on charges of acting as a conduit between the Essar group and the Maoists, the former accused of giving “protection money” to the latter. On October 7, she moved the Delhi High Court to...
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