Kulgam:

One soldier died in an encounter out today in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir between security forces and terrorists. The confrontation unfolded after a joint operation launched by the CRPF, Army, and local police upon receiving intelligence about terrorist presence in Modergam village.

The situation escalated quickly as the forces descended upon the village, swiftly establishing a cordon to trap the militants. In the initial gunfire, one soldier sustained injuries.

Officials said that an Army soldier, injured during the encounter between the security forces and the hiding terrorists in a village of Kulgam district, succumbed to critical injuries in the hospital.

Kashmir Zone Police, in a post on social media platform X, said, “Encounter started at Modergam Village of Kulgam District. Police and Security Forces are on job. Further details shall follow”.

The region has recently seen a surge in terrorist activities, with several encounters reported across different districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Just last month, security forces successfully neutralized three terrorists in the Gandoh area of district Doda.

At least three people were killed and six others injured when security forces opened fire on protesters during clashes with paramilitary Rangers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s capital Muzaffarabad which has been rocked by protests against high prices of wheat flour and inflated electricity bills, a media report said on May 14

The paramilitary Rangers, which were called in to maintain law and order in the disputed region, came under attack while moving out of the region, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Instead of exiting via Brarkot, the village bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the 19-vehicle convoy, including five trucks, chose to exit the region from Kohala, it said.

As the convoy reached Muzaffarabad in a “charged atmosphere”, it was pelted with rocks near Shorran da Nakka village, to which they responded with teargas and firing, the report said.

After entering the city through the Western Bypass, the Rangers were welcomed with rocks again, prompting them to use teargas and bullets. The shelling was so intense that the entire neighbourhood reeled from it, the report said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on May 13 approved a Pakistani rupee 23 billion subsidy for immediate release to the region after the negotiations between the protesters and the regional Government ended in a deadlock.

However, the Government’s decision to dole out the subsidy failed to pacify the region, the report said.

The disputed region also witnessed clashes on May 11 between the police and activists of a rights movement, leaving at least one police officer dead and injuring over 100 people, mostly Policemen. A complete strike has also been observed in the territory since May 10, bringing life to a halt.

Shortly before the violence, Prime Minister Sharif and the disputed region’s ‘Prime Minister’ Anwarul Haq after a meeting had approved the release of Pakistani Rs 23 billion for the region on account of power and wheat subsidies.

The subsidised rate for 40kg flour will be Pakistani Rs 2,000, down from Pakistani Rs 3,100. The electricity tariff was reduced to Pakistani Rs 3, Rs 5 and Rs 6 per unit for up to 100, 300, and more than 300 units, respectively, the Dawn reported.

The protest is led by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has traders at the forefront in most parts of the region, who have been seeking the provision of electricity as per hydropower generation cost in the region, subsidised wheat flour and an end to the privileges of the elite class.

A long march led by the JAAC left for Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, on May 13 as the wheel-jam strike entered its fourth day.

The movement announced its march on Muzaffarabad after the talks between the JAAC core committee and Chief Secretary of the region Dawood Bareach ended in a stalemate.

Expressing deep concern over the violent clashes between the Police and the protesters, Prime Minister Sharif on May 12 said that there should be “absolutely no tolerance for taking the law into one’s own hands”.

“I urge all parties to resort to a peaceful course of action for resolution of their demands. Despite the best efforts of detractors, the matter will hopefully be settled soon,” he said.

As part of his efforts to calm down tensions, President Asif Ali Zardari urged all the stakeholders to exercise restraint and resolve the issues through dialogue and mutual consultation.

Dhar:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he wanted the 400-seat mandate for the BJP-led NDA to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a “Babri lock” on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He also hit out at RJD leader Lalu Prasad over his remarks favouring quota benefits to Muslims, saying the INDI alliance wants to snatch all reservations of SCs, STs and OBCs and give them to the “vote bank” as part of a deeper conspiracy.

Addressing a rally at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi said Congress has mentioned in the poll manifesto that it will ensure the participation of minorities in contracts, which means the opposition party will give contracts on a religious basis.

He claimed the Congress has also talked about giving priority to minorities in sports and wondered whether the selection of players in the cricket team will be based on his religion.

PM Modi accused Congress of belittling Babasaheb Ambedkar by claiming he had a very little role in framing the Constitution compared to Pandit Nehru.

“The truth is that the Congress parivar (family) deeply hates Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he said.

Accusing Congress of spreading rumours that the BJP government will change the Constitution if it wins 400 seats, Modi said it seems the intelligence of Congress people is focused on their vote bank.

“It is important for the country’s people to know the BJP-led NDA already has 400-plus seats in Parliament. We used this number to scrap Article 370 (which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir),” the PM said.

PM Modi wants 400 seats so that the Congress won’t bring back Article 370 to spoil the game and put a Babri lock on the Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said.

The PM said that about 14 days back, he challenged Congress to give in writing to the country’s 140 crore people that it will not give reservation based on religion.

“Secondly, I asked them to give in writing that they will never snatch reservations being given to SCs, STs and OBC and thirdly, to give in writing that they will never give reservations to Muslims through dacoity on the existing OBC quota, but they are not responding and put a lock on their mouths,” he said.

PM Modi claimed the Congress has also talked about giving priority to minorities in sports.

“I wanted to ask Congress, if it wanted to do so, why it divided the country in three parts after 1947. At the same time, the entire country would have been made Pakistan and at the same time, India would have been erased,” he said.

The PM said he wants 400 Lok Sabha seats to prevent Congress from “dacoity” of the OBC quota to benefit its vote bank.

Lashing out at Congress for claiming that BJP will alter the Constitution in the third term, Modi said, “We have also used these 400 plus seats to extend SC/ST quota for 10 years, appoint a tribal woman as the country’s President for the first time and to provide reservation to women, PM Modi said.

“Modi is asking for 400 seats so that the Congress does not hand over the country’s vacant land and islands to other countries, it does not take away reservation given to SC/ST/OBCs and give it to its vote bank and does not declare all castes of its vote bank as OBC overnight,” he said.

Without naming Lalu Prasad, PM Modi said a big alliance partner of the INDIA bloc has endorsed what he used to say about their plan to end the reservations for SC, ST and OBCs.

“Their leader who has eaten the animal’s fodder (alluding to Lalu Yadav’s conviction in fodder scam) and convicted by the court, even by the Supreme Court in the corruption case and out on bail due to health..” “Congress is making him dance on their head. He is saying not only Muslims should get reservations but all the reservations should be given to Muslims. Means they want all the reservation to Muslims by snatching it from SC, ST and OBC,” PM Modi said.

He alleged the Congress had stabbed Ambedkar, who had opposed the religion-based reservation, and the Constitution in the back.

“The Congress has started saying that he (Ambedkar) had a very little role in framing the Constitution and Pandit Nehru made the most significant contribution,” he said and pointed out that Ambedkar was given the Bharat Ratna when Congress was not in power.

He said if Congress has its way, it will say its vote bank has the first right to live in India and asserted “till Modi is alive, he will foil attempts to erase India’s identity in the name of fake and pseudo-secularism”.

The Congress, which gave the Gareebi Hatao slogan for 50 years, is angry with facilities being given to the poor now, Modi alleged.

“Congress leaders are saying they will discontinue the free ration and free medical treatment schemes,” he said, adding Congress has opposed all our works related to “viraasat (legacy) and aastha (faith).

PM Modi said the Opposition was defeated in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, “destroyed” in the second phase, and whatever is left of it in the third phase today will also collapse. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Iran President Ebrahim Raisi met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to Islamabad on Monday and discussed strengthening bilateral ties. However, the Pakistan PM’s attempt to secure Ebrahim Raisi’s support on Kashmir during their joint press conference failed. The Iran President’s refusal to engage with the topic indicates Iran’s delicate balancing act as the country pursues cordial relations with India. This is underscored by recent talks between India and Iran on Palestine, besides diplomatic and trade ties.

Iran President Raisi arrived in Islamabad Monday for a three-day visit. During their joint press conference, Shehbaz Sharif sought to link Iran’s stance on the situation in Gaza with that in Kashmir. Thanking President Raisi, he said, “I thank you and the people of Iran for raising your voice for Kashmir.”

However, Raisi did not acknowledge the comment and refrained from bringing it up during his own speech, instead focusing on Iran’s support for those fighting against oppression, especially in Palestine.

His silence was a snub to Mr Sharif, who failed to secure Iran’s support on the India-Pakistan dispute.

On Tuesday, New Delhi pointed out that Iran and India share a long history of meaningful relations. A press statement put up by the Indian Embassy in Tehran said: “India and Iran share a millennia-long history of interactions. The contemporary and relationship draws upon the strength of these historical and civilisational ties, and continues to grow further marked by high-level exchanges, commercial and connectivity cooperation, cultural and robust people-to-people ties.” The note also detailed bilateral relations and high level visits between the two nations.

In January, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian hosted Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar in Tehran. Their discussions covered the violence in Palestine, as well as bilateral and multilateral ties with BRICS nations. Since Iran has bilateral ties with both India and Pakistan, maintaining a neutral stance on Kashmir is crucial.

The Iran President’s state visit to Pakistan comes months after Iran and Pakistan carried out retaliatory strikes against alleged terrorist hideouts on each other’s lands. It marks an active effort by both nations to mend their fractured ties. President Raisi is the first foreign leader to visit Pakistan after the country held its controversial general elections on February 8.

Banihal/Jammu,:

Vehicular movement was suspended on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Sunday following landslides, triggered by overnight rains, at a few places in Ramban district, officials said.

A traffic department official said road clearance work at Kishtwari Pather and Mehar-Cafeteria Morh has been going on since morning to ensure early restoration of traffic on the 270-km-long highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.

A massive landslide hit Kishtwari Pather near Nachalana in the Banihal area around midnight, while a mudslide and shooting stones from a hillock blocked the road at Mehar-Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town, the officials said.

The traffic department official said that following the landslides, the Srinagar-bound vehicles were stopped at Nagrota in Jammu and at Jakhani in Udhampur this morning. Vehicles heading towards Jammu were not allowed to go beyond Qazigund in south Kashmir.

A truck was damaged after being hit by a rock that rolled down a hillock at Panthiyal in Ramban late on Saturday evening. The truck driver and his helper escaped unhurt, the officials said.

The road is still blocked and people are advised to avoid travelling between the two capital cities till the road is cleared, they said.

The stranded vehicles will be cleared on priority once the restoration work on the route is complete, they added.

The traffic department has said that no heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) will be allowed on the highway from 4 am on Monday to 7 am on Tuesday in view of urgent repairs and upgradation of the airstrip stretch near Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

“Light motor vehicles (LMV) shall be diverted to the old national highway alignment between Alistop and Doonipora, including Wanpoh, Khanabal, Batengoo, Padshahi Bagh and Bijbihara. Truck drivers are advised to avoid their journey on the highway from 4 am on April 1 (Monday) to 7 am on April 2 (Tuesday),” the department said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The Security Council meets to talk about the situation in the Middle East at United Nations headquarters on October 24, 2023
| Photo Credit: AP

India has said it will treat a reference by Pakistan to Kashmir during a Security Council meeting on the Israel-Gaza situation with the contempt it deserves and will not dignify it with a response.

The remarks by India’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, Ambassador R. Ravindra, came on Tuesday after Pakistan’s UN envoy Munir Akram made reference to Kashmir at the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

“Before I end, there was a remark of habitual nature by one delegation referring to Union Territories that are integral and inalienable parts of my country,” Mr. Ravindra said.

“I would treat these remarks with contempt they deserve and not dignify them with a response in the interest of time,” Mr. Ravindra said.

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Security Council meeting that all acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable, whether they are carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terror outfit, or by Hamas, targeting people in Mumbai or Kibbutz Beeri.

“We must affirm the right of any nation to defend itself and to prevent such horror from repeating itself. No member of this Council, no nation in this entire body could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people,” Mr. Blinken said.

“As this Council and the U.N. General Assembly have repeatedly affirmed, all acts of terrorism are unlawful and unjustifiable. They’re unlawful and unjustifiable, whether they target people in Nairobi or Bali… Istanbul or Mumbai, in New York or Kibbutz Be’eri,” Blinken told the UN Security Council.

“They are unlawful and unjustifiable whether they’re carried out by ISIS, by Boko Haram, by Al Shabaab, by Lashkar-e-Taiba or by Hamas. They are unlawful and unjustifiable whether victims are targeted for their faith, their ethnicity, their nationality or any other reason,” Mr. Blinken said.

He stressed that the Security Council has a responsibility to denounce member states that arm, fund and train Hamas or “any other terrorist group that carries out such horrific acts.”

Mr. Blinken’s remarks appeared to make a reference to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.

United Nations:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the issue of Kashmir during his address to world leaders at the high-level 78th session of the UN General Assembly session here.

“Another development that will pave the way for regional peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia will be the establishment of a just and lasting peace in Kashmir through dialogue and cooperation between India and Pakistan,” Erdogan said in his address to the General Debate Tuesday.

“As Turkiye, we will continue to support the steps to be taken in this direction,” he said.

His comment comes weeks after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi during which both the leaders discussed strengthening trade and infrastructure relations.

Erdogan said it was a matter of pride that India was playing a role at the United Nations Security Council. He said he favoured making five permanent and 15 “temporary” members as permanent members of the UN Security Council.

“Those 20 (5+15) should be permanent members of the UNSC in rotation. But as you know, the world is bigger than five. When we say the world is larger than five, what we mean is that it’s not only about the US, UK, France, China and Russia,” he said.

In recent years, the Turkish leader has referred to the issue of Kashmir in his address to world leaders at the high-level UN General Assembly session.

Last year, Erdogan raked up the issue of Kashmir during his address to world leaders at the high-level UN General Assembly session here.

“India and Pakistan, after having established their sovereignty and independence 75 years ago, they still haven’t established peace and solidarity between one another. This is much unfortunate. We hope and pray that a fair and permanent peace and prosperity will be established in Kashmir,” Erdogan had said.

In 2020, Erdogan in his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate had made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir. India had at that time termed it as “completely unacceptable”, saying Turkey should learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Srinagar:

Leave out Global Karolina Bielawska on Monday arrived in Kashmir on a day-long excursion for an match.

Poland’s Bielawska, together with alternative festival winners, together with Leave out Global Republic of India Sini Shetty, loved breakfast with alternative dignitaries at a five-star resort right here.

For the day-long excursion, Ms Bielawska and Ms Shetty shall be joined via Leave out Global The usa Shree Saini and Julia Morley, chairperson and CEO of the Leave out Global Organisation.

#WATCH | Srinagar, J&Okay: Leave out Global Karolina Bielawska visits Kashmir. Leave out Global Republic of India Sini Shetty and Leave out Global Caribbean Emmy Pena also are accompanying her at the talk over with. pic.twitter.com/LImKjrKdnu

— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2023

Rouble Nagi of Rouble Nagi Artwork Substructure and Chairman PME leisure in Republic of India Jamil Saidi have been additionally provide on the breakfast assembly.

Ms Bielawska’s talk over with to Jammu and Kashmir, a primary for a world good looks festival winner, comes forward of the 71st version of the Leave out Global 2023 festival, to be held in Republic of India next this pace.

Republic of India, which has received the distinguished name six occasions, is internet hosting the festival then just about 3 a long time. The ultimate presen the rustic hosted the development was once again in 1996.