Pakistan will never start war with India, says Imran Khan as tensions mount

‘Both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers and if tension escalates the world will face danger,’ said Imran Khan

Pakistan will never ever start a war with India, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday, amid tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over Kashmir.

“We will never ever start the war. Both Pakistan and India are nuclear powers and if tension escalates the world will face danger,” Khan said while addressing a gathering of the Sikh community at the Governor’s House here. Khan said that war is not a solution to any problem. “I want to tell India that war is not a solution to any problem. The winner in war is also a loser. War gives birth to host of other issues,” he said.

India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together. Early this year, tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured Indian pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

Tension between India and Pakistan recently escalated after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Reacting to India’s move on Kashmir, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian High Commissioner…

Imran Khan considering closing Pakistan airspace to India: Minister

Pakistan closed its airspace on February 26 after Indian fighter jets struck an alleged terrorist training camp in Balakot.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering a complete closure of airspace to India and blocking Indian land trade to Afghanistan via Pakistan, Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Twitter.

#Modi has started we’ll finish!,” wrote Chaudhry, who handles the Science and Technology Ministry.

“PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting, legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration,” he wrote.

Pakistan closed its airspace on February 26 after Indian fighter jets struck an alleged terrorist training camp in Balakot in retaliation for an attack on paramilitary soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. The airspace was reopened for civilian flights on July 16.

Air India, the country’s flag carrier, operates around 50 flights daily through Pakistani airspace. Prime Minister Khan said on Monday he will protest India’s decision to end Kashmir’s autonomy at international forum, including at the UN General Assembly next month.

World Bank retains projections for India’s economic growth at 7.5%

For the current fiscal year, the growth is quite high, given the fact that India’s economy grew just 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, a five-year low

After the feeble total national output (GDP) information, India has something to cheer about. The World Bank has held projections for India’s monetary development at 7.5 percent for the current financial year even as it cut worldwide monetary extension by 0.3 rate focuses. In its Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank, be that as it may, pegged the development at a similar pace of 7.5 percent for the following two financial years.

For the current monetary year, the development is very high, given the way that India’s economy became simply 6.8 percent in 2018-19, a five-year low. Likewise, the development dove to 5.8 percent in the final quarter of the financial year, additionally a five-year base. Additionally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had prior sliced financial development of India to 7.3 percent from prior projection of 7.5 percent. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) pegged the development at 7.2 percent.

World Bank holds projections for India’s financial development at 7.5%

Without naming Pulwama fear assault and Balakot strike, the Bank made a reference to these episodes among India and Pakistan. “Engagements among India and Pakistan in February are an update that dormant geopolitical pressures can erupt whenever,” the Bank said. The Bank said venture rate in India was relied upon to develop at a slower pace in 2019 than in 2018. It, in any case, said speculation development was relied upon to stay strong as advantages of ongoing strategy changes additionally appeared.

“Private utilization and speculation will profit by fortifying credit development in the midst of progressively accommodative money related approach, with expansion having fallen underneath the Reserve Bank of India’s objective,” it said.

Pak military takes foreign media, diplomats on tour of Balakot seminary

According to reports, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot

International News: Pakistan military on Wednesday took a group of international media personnel and foreign diplomats on a tour of the seminary and its surrounding areas in Balakot, where India carried out a counter-terror operation on JeM’s biggest training camp 43 days ago. Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1. According to BBC Urdu, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot. They visitors trekked for about one-and-a-half hour to reach the madrassa on the top of a mountain surrounded by lush green trees.

The group, while going up, also saw a ditch on a hillside where India jets dropped its payload, according to Pakistan military. About 150 students, aged 12-13, were present inside the seminary building and were being taught Quran when the group reached inside the madrassa, they said. The visit by the group lasted for about 20 minutes and the participants were allowed to take pictures and even some of them spoke to the teachers present there. Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor held formal and informal chat with the reporters.

“This is an old madrassah and has always been like this,” he said, indicating that Indian claim of hitting it was not true. This was the first formal visit of foreign media and diplomats to the place about which India claimed that its strike killed scores of militants..

Pulwama attack: Imran speaking Jaish-e-Mohammad’s language, says Congress

Khan assured India that he would act against the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack if New Delhi shares “actionable intelligence”

Current Affairs: The Congress on Tuesday slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement on the Pulwama terror attack in which the cricketer-turned-politician warned against any “revenge” retaliatory action, saying he was speaking the “Jaish-e-Mohammad’s language”.

Khan on Tuesday assured India that he would act against the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack if New Delhi shares “actionable intelligence”, but warned against any “revenge” retaliatory action. Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

Also Read: Kulbhushan Jadhav was a ‘spy’, Pak responds to India’s arguments at ICJ

In a video message to the nation, Khan responded to the Indian allegations on Pakistan’s involvement in the attack in Kashmir last Thursday. “Regrettable and shameful — Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is still speaking Jaish-e-Mohammad’s language,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

“Do not forget that Mrs. Indira Gandhi and the Army in 1971 had broken Pakistan into two and liberated Bangladesh, as well as 91,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered to the Indian Army in Dhaka,” he tweeted.

Pulwama attack: Indian-Americans across US mourn soldiers’ death

Participants urged the Indian government “to take steps to severely punish” the JeM and other terrorist organisations

Current Affairs: Hundreds of Indian-Americans gathered in various US cities to mourn the killing of over 40 Indian soldiers in one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

At least 41 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on February 14 in a suicide attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group. The attack has heightened bilateral tensions with both New Delhi and Islamabad calling back their envoys.

Also Read: Pulwama attack: Indian-Americans across US mourn soldiers’ death

Expressing their outrage, hundreds of Indian-Americans gathered at the 9/11 memorial on the outskirts of Chicago on Sunday and urged that all nations need to stand together with India and the US in their fight against those carrying out such “heinous crimes”.

In a joint resolution read out on the occasion, the participants held peaceful candle light protest in Naperville, Illinois and called upon Pakistan to “end immediately” support to all terrorist groups operating from its soil.”We mourn the loss of 40 Indian security personnel at the hands of terrorists. This was an act of terror, an act of pure evil. We must be firm in the face of evil and terror,” said Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi in his address…

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Kashmiri students held on sedition charges for celebrating Pulwama attack

The students were booked under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act

Latest News: Four female paramedical students of Kashmiri-origin have been slapped with sedition charges after being suspended from a private institute here for allegedly celebrating the Pulwama terror attack by posting “anti-national” messages on an instant messaging app, officials said Sunday.

The second-year students of the National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Talveen Manzoor, Iqra, Zohra Nazir and Uzma Nazir, were suspended for posting on WhatsApp a picture in which they were purportedly seen celebrating the terrorist attack in Kashmir that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. The picture soon went viral, prompting the university administration to take action.

Also Read: Pulwama terror attack: Like you, fire raging in my heart too, says PM Modi

In the suspension order, the NIMS registrar said,”You have posted an anti-national message on your WhatsApp for celebrating killing of Pulwama terrorist attack martyrs. The university will not tolerate and strictly condemns such activities. The act is grave and serious in nature.”

Later, a case was registered against the four students following a complaint by the university administration, a police official said. The students were booked under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Senior officials are investigating the matter and appropriate action will be taken thereafter, SP (Rural) Harendra Kumar said. The Aligarh Muslim University has also suspended an undergraduate Kashmiri student for his alleged objectionable tweet in connection with the Pulwama attack.

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Pulwama terror attack: Like you, fire raging in my heart too, says PM Modi

=The security cover of six separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was withdrawn on Sunday

Current Affairs: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he shared the grief and outrage with the people of the nation in the wake of the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. The prime minister, who was in this north Bihar town to launch a slew of projects, began his speech with a few lines in the local dialect Angika and paid tributes to two jawans from the state who died in the Pulwama attack.

“I salute and pay my tributes to Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur. To the people who have gathered here, I would like to say the fire that is raging in your bosoms, is in my heart too,” Modi said, evoking a thunderous response from the crowds.

Also Read: Pulwama encounter : 3 soldiers, 1 Major killed; 3 terrorists trapped

J&K withdraws security cover of six separatist leaders: The security cover of six separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was withdrawn Sunday, a decision that comes in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror strike in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said. Besides Mirwaiz, the security cover of Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi, Fazal Haq Qureshi and Shabir Shah has been withdrawn, they said. While there was no categorisation of security for these leaders, the state government in consultation with the Centre had provided them ad hoc security, keeping in mind the threat to their lives from some militant groups.

Militants of Hizbul Mujahideen had killed Umar’s father, Mirwaiz Farooq, in 1990 and Abdul Gani Lone in 2002. According to the order, all security and vehicles provided to the separatists will stand withdrawn by Sunday evening. No security forces or cover will be provided, under any pretext, to them or any other separatists.

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Pulwama terror attack: 23 people with suspected links to JeM detained

India has demanded Pakistan close down the Jaish and other Islamist militant groups that operate from its soil, while Islamabad has rejected suggestions it was linked to the attack

Current Affairs: Forces have detained 23 men suspected of links to the Pakistan-based militant group that masterminded the bombing of a CRPF convoy that killed 44 paramilitary police, a top police official said on Sunday. The 23 men included members and sympathizers of Jaish-e-Mohammad, the militant group which has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack, the deadliest on Indian security forces in decades.

The attack has fuelled tensions between India and Pakistan. India has demanded Pakistan close down the Jaish and other Islamist militant groups that operate from its soil, while Islamabad has rejected suggestions it was linked to the attack.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan, but is ruled in part by both south Asian countries. Representatives of India’s National Investigating Agency (NIA) questioned the suspects about the bombing on Sunday, two security officials said.

“They are trying to reach out to the top commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad, including its Kashmir Chief,” one of the sources said. Mohammed Umair, the commander of the Jaish in Kashmir who is believed to have plotted the attack, is suspected to be hiding in the region where the attacks took place, the officials said.

The officials say Umair had “radicalized and motivated” the Kashmiri school dropout who rammed a car laden with explosives into the convoy on Thursday. Umair is thought to have entered Indian Kashmir from Pakistan in September to head the Jaish in the region. Security forces suspect he is in hiding in southern Kashmir, according to the officials, who could not be named as a matter of policy…

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Islamabad condemns Pulwama attack, rejects charge that Pakistan is involved

At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir

Current affairs: Pakistan has condemned the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district and said it is a matter of grave concern even as it rejected India pointing out Islamabad’s link to the incident without investigations. At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office, after keeping quiet for hours, issued a statement after midnight. The attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir “is a matter of grave concern,” it said. “We have always condemned heightened acts of violence in the Valley,” the FO said. Pakistan also rejected that it was in any way involved in the attack. “We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the State of Pakistan without investigations,” the FO added.

Also Read: Pulwama: Amit Shah urges rivals to rise above politics on national security

India on Thursday slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan. The White House asked Pakistan to immediately end “support” and “safe haven” to all terror groups as it strongly condemned the Pulwama terrorist attack…

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39 CRPF personnel killed in J&K’s Pulwama as Jaish militants attack convoy

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora

Current affairs: At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded, officials said.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

ALSO READ: Pulwama attack: Blast heard 10 km away, bodies scattered on highway

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar, officials said. Police identified the suicide bomber as Adil Ahmed, who officials said joined the Jaish in 2018. He was driving a vehicle packed with over 100 kg of explosives on the wrong side of the road and hit the bus, in which 39-44 personnel were travelling, head-on, an official at the spot said.

“There are no survivors from the bus,” he said, adding that they were yet to ascertain exactly how many people were on the bus.The powerful explosion, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron, was heard many kilometres away, including in some parts of Srinagar adjoining Pulwama district. Body parts could be seen strewn around the area. Officials said 42 CRPF personnel have lost their lives and some others are critical. They refused to give an exact number for those injured.

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Anantnag bypoll cancelled: Why have Kashmir's parties gone underground?

Public anger against PDP is mounting and unknown gunmen are knocking on doors of political activists

 

#LATEST | Less than a year ago, when you entered the town of Anantnag in South Kashmir, you were greeted with party flags. The pen and inkpot of the People’s Democratic Party, the plough of the National Conference, even the odd Congress hand fluttered in Khanabal Chowk, close to the government quarters.

As you drove deeper into Anantnag district, there were rival political rallies held in the main town and surrounding villages. And there was graffiti on walls and shopfronts, calling for a boycott of elections.

That was just before the bye-election to the Anantnag Assembly seat, which had fallen vacant with the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 2016. His daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who had succeeded him as chief minister, won that election in June. And as mandated by law, she quit her Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. Which meant another bye-election was due.

The polling was scheduled on April 12 this year, three days after the bye-election to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. But when eight people were killed in firing by security forces on protestors trying to disrupt the Srinagar bye-election, which saw a turnout of only 7.14%, the Anantnag election was postponed to May 25. On Tuesday, as the violence continued, the Election Commission cancelled the bye-poll .

Clearly, the political and security establishments could not take any chances, certainly not in South Kashmir. A season of unrest has swept through the district since last June, wrenching the flags off Khanabal Chowk. There is new graffiti, demanding “India Go Back”, declaring “Intifada 2016”, swearing allegiance to slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and Pakistan. Some such slogans have been painted over but many remain.| read more...