Two killed in fierce gunbattle in Kashmir capital

SRINAGAR: Indian troops shot dead two separatist militants on Thursday in a fierce nine-hour firefight on outskirts of Kashmir’s main city, where popular protests against Indian rule have mounted in recent months.

It was the fourth such clash in the disputed Himalayan region in a week and comes amid fears of an escalation in rebel violence after a period of relative decline.

The spike in violence, security agencies suspect, may also signal a new rebel strategy to back popular street protests with increased militant attacks on Indian forces that they accuse of trying to put down the demonstrations with a heavy hand.

Police evacuated hundreds of residents immediately after a firefight erupted between troops and three members of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group in a populated area on outskirts of Srinagar, Himalayan region’s summer

China urges anti-Japan protesters to stay within law

BEIJING: China called on its people on Sunday to keep within the law in their “understandable” anger at Japan, a day after protesters in both countries rallied to claim sovereignty over disputed islands.

Relations between Asia’s top economies worsened sharply last month, when Japan detained a Chinese fisherman whose boat collided with Japanese patrol ships near the disputed islands — called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The islands are near potentially huge oil and gas reserves in the East China Sea.

“It is understandable that some people expressed their outrage against the recent erroneous words and deeds on the Japanese side,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website early on Sunday.

“We maintain that patriotism should be expressed rationally and in line with law. We don’t agree with

Bar-Bench scuffle mounts as Punjab’s lower court judges resign

Staff Report

LAHORE: The ongoing scuffle over the transfer a Sessions Judge Zawar Ahmed Sheikh between Lahore Bar Association (LBA) and judges of Punjab has mounted as all lower court judges have gone on strike after tendering their resignations in protest of the humiliating attitude of lawyers.

The ban imposed on rallies and gatherings in Lahore High Court and its surrounding areas has been extended to one month under Section-144.

The lawyers are observing a countrywide strike today for their demands, including the transfer of Sessions Judge Zawar Sheikh. LBA continues its meeting to finalize the next move amid a ban on rallies.

A conflict between lawyers and judges continues. After the violent agitations in Lahore, no solution has been come up with to reconcile the disputed matters.

Earlier on Saturday, LBA imposed a ban on the entry of

Eight people killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Indian security forces killed eight militants on Friday in two separate gunbattles in Indian Kashmir, an army spokesman said, adding some of them were trying to enter the Indian territory from neigbouring Pakistan.

Indian army spokesman Vineet Sood told Reuters a policeman was also killed in one of the gun battles.

The clashes occurred amid mounting protests against New Delhi’s rule in the disputed Himalayan region, which has been in a siege-like state of strikes, protests and curfew for months.

India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir while ruling it in parts.

More than 100 people have been killed and scores arrested in protests since June — among the biggest since an armed separatist rebellion broke out in Kashmir in 1989.

Five militants were killed in the north of Kashmir as they tried to cross into the Indian side from Pakistani

Babri Mosque case: Disputed land to be divided

Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court announced its judgment on the Ayodhya Babri Mosque case, apparently ruling in favour of the Hindus. According to the verdict, the disputed site would be divided into three parts; two parts of which would be used for the temple while a mosque can be built on the third part.
Ramlala idol will not be removed from disputed site in Ayodhya. The court also called upon both the rival parties to decide the matter through negotiation. Earlier, more than 200,000 police officials were deployed across India and temporary jails were set up as the government prepared for possible Hindu-Muslim riots. The government had also appealed for calm once the court gave its verdict. From the capital New Delhi to the financial hub Mumbai, many Indians stayed home ahead of the decision and stocked up on food in apprehension of the verdict. However, commentators said the verdict is unlikely to spark widespread riots that hit Mumbai and other cities in 1992.Political parties had also called for calm and there is little electoral headway to be made in egging on religious riots in post-economic reform India. Armed police set up checkpoints across Ayodhya, which had a deserted feel, guarded Muslim homes, a roughly 3,000 people minority in the town of 70,000 inhabitants.Wary of these two sides being provoked into fighting, the government had banned bulk mobile text messaging nationally to prevent the spread of rumours and religious extremism.
The detailed verdict on this case can be viewed at www.allahabadhighcourt.in.
Timeline of Ayudhya crisis
Since the 16th century when the mosque was built, this site has been the focal point for religious riots. Here’s a timeline of the disputed holy site
1528: A mosque is built on the site which some Hindus say marks the spot where one of the most revered deities in Hinduism, Lord Rama, was born.
1853: First recorded incidents of religious violence at the site.
1859: British colonial administration erects a fence to separate the places of worship, allowing the inner court to be used by Muslims and the outer court by Hindus.
1949: Idols of Lord Rama appear inside mosque allegedly placed there by Hindus. Muslims protest, and both parties file civil suits. The government proclaims the premises a disputed area and locks the gates.
1984: Hindus form a committee to liberate the birth-place of Lord Rama and build a temple in his honour, spearheaded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad party (VHP).
Then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani, now home minister, takes over leadership of campaign.
1986: District judge orders the gates of the disputed mosque opened to allow Hindus to worship there. Muslims set up Babri Mosque Action Committee in protest.
1989: VHP steps up campaign, laying the foundations of a Rama temple on land adjacent to the disputed mosque.
1990: VHP volunteers partially damage the mosque. Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar tries to resolve the dispute through negotiations, which fail the next year.
1991: BJP comes to power in Uttar Pradesh state, where Ayodhya is located.
1992: The mosque is torn down by supporters of the VHP, the Shiv Sena party and the BJP, prompting nationwide rioting between Hindus and Muslims in which more than 2,000 people die.
1998: The BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
2001: Tensions rise on the anniversary of the demolition of the mosque. VHP pledges again to build Hindu temple at the site.
Jan 2002: Mr Vajpayee sets up an Ayodhya cell in his office and appoints a senior official, Shatrughna Singh, to hold talks with Hindu and Muslim leaders.
Feb 2002: BJP rules out committing itself to the construction of a temple in its election manifesto for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. VHP confirms deadline of 15 March to begin construction. Hundreds of volunteers converge on site. At least 58 people are killed in an attack on a train in Godhra which is carrying Hindu activists returning from Ayodhya.
Mar 2002: Between 1,000 and 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, die in riots in Gujarat following the train attack.
Apr 2002: Three High Court judges begin hearings on determining who owns the religious site.
Jan 2003: Archaeologists begin a court-ordered survey to find out whether a temple to Lord Rama existed on the site.
Aug 2003: The survey says there is evidence of a temple beneath the mosque, but Muslims dispute the findings. Mr Vajpayee says at the funeral of Hindu activist Ramchandra Das Paramhans that he will fulfil the dying man’s wishes and build a temple at Ayodhya. However, he hopes the courts and negotiations will solve the issue.
Sept 2003: A court rules that seven Hindu leaders should stand trial for inciting the destruction of the Babri Mosque, but no charges are brought against Mr Advani, now deputy prime minister, who was also at the site in 1992.
Oct 2004: Mr Advani says his party still has unwavering commitment to building a temple at Ayodhya, which he said was inevitable.
Nov 2004: A court in Uttar Pradesh rules that an earlier order which exonerated Mr Advani for his role in the destruction of the mosque should be reviewed.
July 2005: Suspected Islamic militants attack the disputed site, using a jeep laden with explosives to blow a hole in the wall of the complex. Security forces kill five people they say are militants, and a sixth who was not immediately identified.
June 2009: The Liberhan commission investigating events leading up to the mosque’s demolition submits its report – 17 years after it began its inquiry.
Nov 2009: There is uproar in parliament as the Liberhan commission’s report is published and it blames leading politicians from the Hindu nationalist BJP for a role in the mosque’s razing.
Sept 2010: Supreme Court clears way for Allahabad High Court to issue final ruling on whether the land should go to Hindus or Muslims. Government appeals for calm.

India says will review Kashmir security deployment

NEW DELHI: India will consider scaling back security forces in the disputed Kashmir region, the government said on Saturday, aiming to calm months of protests in which more than 100 people have been killed, most of them in police firing.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the government would also soon announce a team to begin a dialogue with a broad section of Kashmir, including political parties and groups.

The decisions are the latest effort by the government to reach out to Muslim-majority Kashmir, where an air of defiance unseen for years has threatened to undermine India’s rule over a region also claimed by its rival and neighbour, Pakistan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been accused of not taking seriously enough the largest pro-independence protests in two decades in Kashmir this summer. Saturday’s announcement comes after a delegation of

Babri mosque case: verdict to come out on Sep. 24

Paramilitary forces have been deployed at various sensitive areas after a special meeting was called in provincial capital Lucknow on Tuesday (September 14) to heighten security all over the state.
With less than a week to go for the verdict on the Babri mosque demolition case, security has been beefed up in Ayodhya city of northern Indias Uttar Pradesh state.
The Allahabad High Court is expected to pronounce on September 24 its judgment on the title suits for the disputed site in Ayodhya town where Hindu fanatics demolished the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992.
SSP Ayodhya, A.K Rathor said, We are enhancing the security arrangements. We have the force ready with us. The CRPF (Central Reserve Security Force), PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary), Civil Police, are being deployed, and with the help of the people, we have conducted meetings, the people have cooperated, there is a good security arrangement and harmony.

Four die in new Kashmir unrest as India seeks solution

SRINAGAR: Violence spread to new areas of Indian occupied Kashmir on Wednesday, with four more protesters shot dead by police, as the government held crisis talks in New Delhi to tackle the escalating unrest.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm and said he was “shocked and distressed” by the demonstrations engulfing the disputed Himalayan area, where 18 people died on Monday in the bloodiest day in three months of protests.

On Wednesday, police opened fire on an angry crowd in the previously quiet town of Mendhar, a Muslim settlement in a Hindu-dominated area in the south of the region, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) from the town of Jammu.

“Four youths have been killed in the firing and several government buildings … were attacked and burnt down by the angry protesters,” top local government official Pawan Kotwal told reporters.

For

India deploys more police to Kashmir after protests

SRINAGAR: Indian authorities deployed thousands more federal police across occupied Kashmir to enforce a curfew on Tuesday after one of the worst single days of violence in two decades of separatist protests.

Eighteen Kashmiris were killed, nearly all of them in Indian police firing, during anti-India and Quran demonstrations in the disputed region, increasing the pressure on the government to tackle the protests that have simmered through the summer.

Heavily-armed police patrolled the streets of summer capital Srinagar on Tuesday, and loudspeakers mounted on police vehicles asked residents to stay indoors in a bid to head off more protests.

In the northern town of Baramulla stone-throwing protesters battled police early on Tuesday, according to police. But otherwise most of the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley was quiet.

All flights to Srinagar, the

Police firing kills 13 protesters in Indian Occupied Kashmir

At least 13 protesters have been killed in clashes with police troops in Indian Occupied Kashmir that have been partly fueled by a report of a Quran being desecrated in the United States.
The death toll Monday was the highest since separatist protests broke out in June against Indian rule in the disputed region.
Tens of thousands of violent anti-Indian demonstrators ignored a curfew and flooded the streets, burning government buildings and throwing rocks at police stations.
A police officer said security forces shot at some of the crowds, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with media.

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