INDIA

As the Police continued their flag marches in various areas of Punjab on Sunday afternoon, a pin-drop silence is being observed in the state. Though there are reports of protests from a few places, people have mostly restricted themselves to their homes even as internet and SMS services remained snapped for the second day. On Saturday, Punjab Police launched a massive cordon and search operation to arrest the head of Waris Punjab De, Amritpal Singh, however, he managed to evade arrest. Later in the day, several reports emerged stating that Amritpal had been arrested. "Amritpal Singh has been booked under Arms Act. The crackdown will continue till his arrest," Amritsar SSP said. During the cordon and search operation at least eighty seven including a senior leader of SAD A, an ...

BJP national executive member Sunil Jakhar Sunday termed the Punjab government’s crackdown on Waris Punjab De during G20 meetings in Amritsar as “belated, ill-timed, unplanned, unsuccessful and botched” and said it “ended up doing what the ISI had not been able to achieve for its separatist agenda”, Indian Express reported. Jakhar told the newspaper that the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had “ended up doing what the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence) had not been able to achieve for its separatist agenda through many of their minions; whether it is people sitting in Canada, America, Germany or England”. Amirtpal’s supporters stormed the Ajnala police station near Amritsar on February 23 to free one of his associates from custody. The former Punjab Pr...

Waris Pujab De leader Amritpal Singh has been declared a fugitive and his vehicles have been seized, Punjab Police said. Police also claimed that a massive cordon and search operation has been launched to arrest Amrirpal Singh who was last seen speeding away on a motorcycle last evening in Jalandhar. As per news reports, Police have arrested 78 persons from Punjab, who are members of 'Waris Punjab De,' while several others have been detained for questioning, officials said. A research scholar Makhan Singh who is pursuing his Ph.D from Punjabi University Patiala has also been picked by Punjab Police from his home. https://twitter.com/PunYaab/status/1637295872382779393 The father of Amritpal Singh has appeared on the media and said the Police searched their house for three-fou...

A fraudster from Gujarat claiming to be a senior official of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO Official) in Jammu Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir) has been arrested by the police. The fraudster identified as Kiran Bhai Patel visited Srinagar twice earlier this year. He held a series of meetings with the officials on this occasion. Apart from that, he got all kinds of facilities including Z-plus security, bulletproof Mahindra Scorpio SUV, an official accommodation in a five-star hotel. He was acting as Additional Director for Strategy and Promotion in the Prime Minister's Office. Apart from that, he traveled to different places in Jammu Kashmir under the escort of Government forces. He also discussed with the officials about making Doodhapatri a tourism destination. But the police ...

In Haryana’s Palwal city, cow vigilantes followed and beat up a Muslim truck driver on suspicion of carrying animals. The violent cow vigilantes are the self-declared guardians of cows. The episode serves as a crystal-clear illustration of the harmful effects of such vigilantism, reported Muslim Mirror. https://twitter.com/HateDetectors/status/1635511083090817026/video/1 The clumsily produced video that went popular on social media makes the situation even more nasty and unsettling. The cow vigilantes can be seen in the video pursuing and “rescuing” animals from the young Muslim truck driver. According to media sources, the video also has text that includes the incident’s date and the cow vigilante squads engaged. Recently, several incidents of cow vigilante attacks on innocent...

Tension prevailed in Karnataka’s Haveri district on Tuesday as an incident of stone pelting by Hindutva supporters on a mosque led to people of the two communities coming into a confrontational position. Police have made elaborate security arrangements and are making an all-out effort to rein in the situation. Hindutva men, who pelted stones on the mosque, alleged that when they had taken the procession of Sangolli Rayanna (an Indian freedom fighter), a section of Muslims had pelted stones on them and disrupted the procession. Stones were pelted at a similar programme last week. On Tuesday when their rally was disrupted, the Hindutva supporters pelted stones on the mosque, houses of Muslims and also damaged their vehicles, police sources said. Locals said that Hindu activists had ...

Leaders of various national parties supported the demand for the restoration of Jammu Kashmir's statehood, and elections in the erstwhile state, without any further delay, reported NDTV. They have also decided to visit Srinagar in May to express their support to the people of Jammu Kashmir. An all-party delegation from Jammu and Kashmir led by Farooq Abdullah held a meeting with the opposition leaders in Delhi before they visited the Election Commission of India to submit a memorandum demanding assembly elections. Shard Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party said that leaders from all opposition parties will be visiting Srinagar to share the pain of the people of Jammu Kashmir, and also give them assurances of support, as per the NDTV report. After meeting with the ECI, Farooq...

The Delhi Police has denied permission to host a public meeting on “media blackout” in Kashmir at Gandhi Peace Foundation, citing the possibility of law and order concerns. Speakers at the event scheduled at 3 pm on Wednesday (March 15) included Delhi University professor Nandita Narain, Hussain Masood — retired Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge, CPI (M) leader MY Tarigami, filmmaker Sanjay Kak, Mir Shahid Saleem — United Peace Alliance chairperson, and senior journalist Anil Chamadia, reported Indian Express. The order sent by the station house officer of IP Estate police station to the Gandhi Peace Foundation said, “Information/local input has been received that some anonymous group is planning/ organising public meeting on ‘Media Blackout in Kashmir’ at 3 pm on March 15, 2023, at...

The Jammu Kashmir Police have arrested a government employee for allegedly posting 'hateful' comments on social media in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, a statement from the police said. According to the police, the accused identified as Amrik Singh, a resident of Beoli Doda, who is posted as class- IV employee in the office of Chief education officer Doda was found to have uploaded hateful posts/comments on his Facebook account and consequence of which there was every apprehension of the eruption of law and order problem in the District, a statement said. "Sensing the sensitivity of the matter and to prevent the situation from turning into a law and order problem, Doda Police swung into action and a Police Party of Police Station Doda led by Inspector Arun Parkash Sharma, SHO Pol...

India is one of the “worst autocratisers” in the last 10 years, Sweden-based Varieties of Democracy Institute has said in a report. The report stated that the Modi-led government of India continues to suppress religious freedom in the country. Titled “Defiance in the Face of Autocratisation”, the report was released on March 3. It said that India is among the countries “witnessing the most dramatic increases” in political polarisation. The others are Afghanistan, Brazil and Myanmar. The think tank ranked India at the 108th spot globally for electoral democracy, below countries such as Tanzania, Bolivia, Mexico, Singapore, and Nigeria. “Toxic levels of polarisation hinder cooperation among elites and induce citizens to abandon democratic principles to keep their leader in power and...