Srinagar shut down as NIA court sentences JKLF chief Yasin Malik to life imprisonment

News Network
May 25, 2022

Srinagar, May 25: A spontaneous shutdown was observed in parts of Srinagar on Wednesday to protest the NIA court’s verdict to sentence JKLF chief Yasin Malik to life imprisonment in a terror funding case.

Reports and eyewitnesses said from shops and business establishments remained shut from early morning in Maisuma and its adjoining areas near Lal Chowk, once considered the bastion of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

An uneasy calm descended in the city as reports of Malik's sentence spread. Shops were shut in old Srinagar by noon. However, transport plied normally throughout the city during the day and government offices also remained open.

People throughout the day were waiting anxiously and keeping a close watch on the news channels to know about the latest developments in the case. No organisations or outfits had called for it but the spontaneous shutdown took the security establishment by surprise. For the last two years, the police have not allowed shopkeepers to observe any shutdown.

It was after a long time that there was a strike in support of a separatist leader in the Valley. Till August 2019, separatists would issue strike calls frequently. However, since the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 in August 2019 and subsequent crackdown on separatists, no such strike calls were issued.

Even the local media doesn't publish any statements coming from separatist groups. Most of the separatist leaders have been jailed or have gone into hibernation in the last three years.

Moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had on May 21 called for a strike in Kashmir to pay tributes to Moulvi Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone on their death anniversary on May 21. However, there was no response to the shutdown call.

A NIA court in Delhi has convicted Malik in a case related to alleged terrorism and secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley in 2016-17. The JKLF chief had told the court on May 10 that he was not contesting the charges against him that included Sections 16 (terrorist act), 17 (raising funds for terrorist act), 18 (conspiracy to commit terrorist act) and 20 (being member of terrorist organisation) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and a few sections of IPC. 

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Union minister Amit Shah on Friday, November 15, said PM Narendra Modi will amend the Waqf Act despite opposition from leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.

"Modi ji wants to change the Waqf Board law, but Uddhav ji, Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule are opposing it," Shah said, addressing a rally at Umarkhed in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district.

"Uddhav ji, listen carefully, you all can protest as much as you want, but Modi ji will amend the Waqf Act," he said. Shah said there are two camps in the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, one of 'Pandavas' represented by the BJP-led Mahayuti and the other of 'Kauravas' represented by Maha Vikas Aghadi.

"Uddhav Thackeray claims that his Shiv Sena is the real one. Can the real Shiv Sena go against renaming Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar? Can the real Shiv Sena go against renaming Ahmednagar to Ahilyanagar? The real Shiv Sena stands with the BJP," Shah said.

"Rahul Baba used to say that his government would credit money in the accounts of the people instantly. You were unable to fulfil your promises in Himachal, Karnataka, and Telangana," he said.

Shah said the Mahayuti alliance has promised that women will get Rs 2,100 per month under the Ladki Bahin Yojana. "Kashmir is an integral part of India and no power in the world can snatch it away from us," Shah said.

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News Network
November 17,2024

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An Israeli airstrike on the office of Syria’s Baath party in Lebanon’s capital Beirut has killed the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah's Media Relations Officer, Mohammad Afif, reports say.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Israeli raid struck the Ba'ath party’s building in central Beirut district of Ras Al-Naba'a on Sunday, adding that the strike was an attempt to assassinate the leader of the resistance media front.

According to Baath Secretary-General Ali Hijazi, Afif was having a meeting in the Baath Party headquarters when Israel carried out the attack.

"Afif did not fight with weapons and did not lead a military unit in Hezbollah. Rather, he led a media unit," he said.

Reuters, Sky News, Al Jazeera and a number of Henrew-language media reported that Afif was killed in the Israeli strike.

However, Hezbollah has not yet confirmed Afif’s death or whether he was present at the site or not.

Earlier, the Lebanese Health Ministry said at least one person was killed and three others injured after an Israeli strike targeted a central district in Beirut.

Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television network reported that five people were killed in the attack.

The latest development came after Afif said Hezbollah was behind the Caesarea operation and targeting Netanyahu’s home during a speech at the Ghobeiry area in the southern suburbs of Beirut on October 22.

This was the second assassination attempt on Afif in the last two months, after he survived an attack on the Hezbollah media relations office several weeks ago.

Israel launched a ground assault and massive air campaign against Lebanon in late September after a year of exchanging fire across the Lebanese border in parallel with the Gaza war.

At least 3,287 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past year, with the vast majority in the past seven weeks. Another 14,222 have been wounded, mostly women and children.

In response to the ongoing aggression, the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has been staging hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories and the Israeli forces trying to advance on southern Lebanese areas.

The movement has vowed to sustain its strikes until the regime ends the escalation.

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