'Earlier this month, a resident of Aglar village (name withheld by request) in south Kashmir’s Shopian district received a call from an Army officer, asking him to deposit his private vehicle at the local Army camp by evening. The man did that, turning over the car’s keys to Army personnel. Next morning, he collected the car. It had been used during the night. His is not a one-off case. In at least two villages of Shopian, residents say it has become a regular practice for the Army to call owners of commercial and private vehicles, and use their vehicles at night — for free.
'Child rights activist P.P. Baburaj, who is among the advocates seeking to represent Nalini Balakumar in the sedition case, has been suspended by the Mysuru Advocates’ Association. Though the association’s decision was put up on its notice board in the Mysuru court complex, Mr. Baburaj, a former member of the Juvenile Justice Board, claimed he had not been informed the reason for it. Mr.
'SAYING THAT internet was just used to watch “dirty films (gandi filmein)” in Jammu and Kashmir, NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said on Saturday that suspension of services in the region, following the government’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status under Article 370 on August 5 last year, did not have a “significant” effect on the economy...'
'While limited Internet and mobile connectivity services have begun in certain parts of the Jammu and Kashmir Union territory, residents will only be able to access 153 government-approved websites. Details of this “whitelist” – which was first announced on January 14, when Internet service providers were ordered to install the necessary firewalls – have now become public.
'Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2020 here on Thursday, chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat pointed a finger at nations that sponsored terror and urged the international community to isolate them. But he also suggested a controversial remedy for dealing with Kashmiri children influenced by “radicalisation”: that they be “put in de-radicalisation camps”. “Terrorism is here to stay so long as there are states that will sponsor terrorism and use terrorists as proxies, make weapons and funding available for them.
Davinder Singh is a man with a past. He is a self-confessed torturer. Most famously, he tortured Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013 for the 2001 Parliament Attack. Singh's own words during a subsequent interview suggest that he probably tortured many others - this was essentially his job in the SOG (special operations group) at the time. Apart from torture, he was also accused of being directly involved in terrorism. In 2004 Afzal Guru had, in writing, accused Davinder Singh of making arrangements for the parliament attack, specifically of tasking him with taking one of the attackers to Delhi and arranging his accommodation. Remarkably, Singh's possible involvement in such a major terrorist atrocity was not investigated following this accusation.
'Without a doubt, the arrest in Kashmir of Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh as he was escorting two suspected militants in a car along the Srinagar-Jammu highway, en route to Delhi, has to be one of the biggest stories on the national security front in months, if not years. And as the man who advises the prime minister on national security, Ajit Doval, I’m sure, has been thinking of nothing else the past 48 hours
'Mysore Bar Association on Tuesday announced that they will not represent the woman who was holding a ‘Free Kashmir’ poster during a protest in Mysore against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Nalini Balakumar was booked for sedition days after she was photographed holding the poster during the protest on January 8. "Some members of our bar association wrote to us saying we must not represent the person who was involved in an anti-national activity. Even her lawyer has withdrawn from representing her.
'In one of the most sensational stories to have come out of Kashmir in recent times, a police officer was arrested on Saturday along with two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, one of whom is wanted for killing migrant workers. Davinder Singh is a deputy superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir police. He has served as a counterinsurgency specialist for nearly two decades and has been awarded a gallantry medal... Normally, a story of this import would be picked up by leading TV news channels on primetime, especially our nationalist news anchors.
'Afzal Guru had in an affidavit named J&K police officer Davinder Singh as setting him up to take a Parltt Attack accused "Mohammad" to Delhi, rent a flat & buy a car for him. Singh is now said to have been "caught with Hizbul terrorists on way to Delhi"... Davinder Singh admitted he tortured Afzal. Afzal was hanged for doing what Singh coerced him to do. Today Singh is said to be caught "headed to Delhi with terrorists". Who protected Singh? Who are Singh's shadowy bosses? Why wasn't Singh's role in Parltt Attack ever probed?...'
