SRINAGAR: A home-made bomb set off the insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir 30 years ago, but “new age” fighters using social media assaults alongside guns are taking the battle to new heights of bitterness.
The explosion at the Srinagar telegraph office doorway on July 31, 1988 caused no casualties but lit the fuse on a conflict that rights groups say has since left more than 70,000 dead.
Public support for the act surprised the attackers and India, which has struggled in Kashmir ever since it was divided with rival Pakistan in 1947 in the turmoil of independence.
But while Kashmir remains one of the world’s most heavily militarised zones, the 500,000-plus Indian troops in Kashmir are now also fighting a social media war.
Hundreds of young men post images of themselves with AK47 guns on Facebook and other social media sites after joining underground groups, seeking to build large, sympathetic followings and attract new recruits.
When the army surrounds militant hideouts, they are often impeded by crowds of civilians rallying to the separatists’ cause, ready to risk their lives in a hail of bullets.
Indian police respond by hauling in people who make pro-militant social media comments and by blocking mobile Internet during demonstrations. Social media sites were blocked for a month last year.
Abdul Ahad Waza, 50, who clandestinely organized some of the first groups to get arms training in Pakistani Kashmir, said the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which planted the first bomb, had not expected such support.
“All we wanted was to let the world know that Indian rule of Kashmir was not acceptable,” Waza, who spent 11 years in jail, told AFP. He now lives a quiet life with his wife and two children.
“That explosion in Srinagar quickly turned into an explosion of public support for our cause.”
Waza said “new age militancy” was now carrying on the fight.
A case in point is Manan Wani, a PhD scholar who went missing in January having abandoned geology research at an Indian university to join the banned Hizbul Mujahedeen group.
In a recent letter sent to Kashmir media justifying his move, Wani said: “There was a time when the fight was between an armed militant and a thousand Indian troopers but now Indian army has to get through thousands of unarmed freedom fighters before getting the gunman.
“The people who come to rescue the militants at encounter sites, unarmed, without caring about their lives give us an idea about the aspirations and emotions of the people.”
For more than a decade after the 1988 bomb, Kashmir convulsed with street protests. An Indian military crackdown left tens of thousands dead, mainly civilians.
Separatists say they want independence or a merger with Pakistan.
The JKLF ended its armed struggle in 1994. But other armed groups with thousands of fighters took their place. Indian peace initiatives and a 2001 India-Pakistan summit on Kashmir failed.
Kashmiris then turned to peaceful self-determination protests that brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets between 2008 and 2010. Another 300 civilians were killed as security forces countered the protests.
The rebellion seemed to be waning when in July 2016, Indian troops killed a renowned militant commander. The death of 23-year-old Burhan Wani, who had built up a big following on social media, acted as a new fuse.
Now Indian troops find entire communities at the scenes of their sieges of rebel hideouts, hurling stones at soldiers to help militants escape.
According to D.S. Hooda, a retired lieutenant general who served in Kashmir for more than two decades, it is this public anger that is now the real “challenge” for the government.
“This militancy is not a problem. Civilian killings, and this confrontation, sustains a vicious cycle. Social media is reinforcing hardened views and positions,” Hooda said.
“The middle ground has disappeared.”
Wani’s death sparked months of protests that left nearly 100 dead and at least 10,000 injured. Some 500 militants have been killed across the territory since 2016.
A top police officer, part of the Indian counterinsurgency campaign for many years, said it is “infinitely more difficult” for India now than at any time in the past.
“People coming to rescue militants is a huge new development. None of it is planned or orchestrated, it’s all spontaneous,” the former police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The mood on the street is also hardening.
“It feels like we’re back to the ‘90s, even worse. What we have seen and what has been done to us, it is now a point of no return,” said Bashir Ahmed, a businessman.
30 years on, ‘new age militancy’ stokes Kashmir conflict
30 years on, ‘new age militancy’ stokes Kashmir conflict
- Hundreds of young men post images of themselves with AK47 guns on Facebook and other social media sites after joining underground groups
- Indian police respond by hauling in people who make pro-militant social media comments and by blocking mobile Internet during demonstrations
Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Sheikh Hasina’s family
- Sheikh Hasina fled to India after being toppled by a revolution in August
- Key allegations are connected to the funding of the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant
Along with Hasina, the now-former prime minister who fled to India after being toppled by a revolution in August, those subject to the inquiry include her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and niece, Tulip Siddiq, a British lawmaker and government minister.
The allegations were raised by a writ seeking an investigation filed in the high court by Hasina’s political opponent, Bobby Hajjaj, chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement party.
“We seek justice through our court,” Hajjaj said on Monday.
Key allegations are connected to the funding of the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant, the South Asian country’s first, which is bankrolled by Moscow with a 90 percent loan.
A statement Monday from the commission said it had launched an inquiry into allegations that Hasina and family members had “embezzled $5 billion” from the Rooppur plant via “various offshore bank accounts in Malaysia.”
It said its investigations were examining “questionable procurement practices related to the overpriced construction” of the plant.
“The claims of kickbacks, mismanagement, money laundering, and potential abuse of power raise significant concerns about the integrity of the project and the use of public funds,” the commission said.
Graft allegations also include theft from a government building scheme for the homeless.
Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter on August 5 into exile in India, infuriating many Bangladeshis determined that she face trial for alleged “mass murder.”
It was not possible to contact Hasina for comment.
Siddiq has “denied any involvement in the claims” accusing her of involvement in embezzlement, according to a statement from the British prime minister’s office.
Joy, who is understood to be based in the United States, was also unavailable for comment.
US president Joe Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Biden had faced growing calls to commute the sentences of those on death row
- There had been no federal inmates put to death in the United States since 2003
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of 37 of 40 federal inmates, taking action ahead of the return of Donald Trump who oversaw a sweeping number of lethal injections during his first term.
With less than a month left in office, Biden had faced growing calls from death penalty opponents to commute the sentences of those on death row to life in prison without parole, which the 37 will now serve.
The move leaves only a handful of high-profile killers who acted out of hate or terrorism facing the federal death penalty – for which there has been a moratorium under Biden.
“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said in a statement.
“I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole,” he said.
The three inmates who will remain on federal death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist who in 2015 shot and killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.
Robert Bowers, who killed 11 Jewish worshippers during a 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, will also remain on death row.
Those commuted included nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience...I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” he added.
Biden campaigned for the White House as an opponent of the death penalty, and the Justice Department issued a moratorium on its use at the federal level after he became president.
During his reelection campaign, Trump spoke frequently of expanding the use of capital punishment to include migrants who kill American citizens and drug and human traffickers.
There had been no federal inmates put to death in the United States since 2003 until Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020.
He oversaw 13 by lethal injection during his final six months in power, more than any US leader in 120 years.
The last federal execution – which was carried out by lethal injection at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana – took place on January 16, 2021, four days before Trump left office.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while six others – Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee – have moratoriums in place.
In 2024, there have been 25 executions in the United States, all at the state level.
Indian police kill three Sikh separatist militants
- The campaign for Khalistan stirred a diplomatic firestorm last year after Indian intelligence operatives were linked to the killing of a Sikh leader in Canada
- The three men belonged to the Khalistan Zindabad Force militant group, police have recovered two assault rifles, two pistols and ammunition , official says
Lucknow: Indian police said on Monday they had killed three Sikh militants fighting for a separate homeland known as “Khalistan,” the struggle for which sparked deadly violence in the 1980s and 1990s.
The campaign for Khalistan was at the heart of a diplomatic firestorm last year after Indian intelligence operatives were linked to the killing of a vocal Sikh leader in Canada and an attempted assassination in the United States — claims New Delhi rejected.
In the latest incident, the Khalistani rebels were killed after a gunbattle in Pilibhit district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The men were wanted for their alleged involvement in a grenade attack on a police outpost in Punjab state this month.
Pilibhit police superintendent Avinash Pandey said officers had surrounded the men after a tip-off, with the suspects launching “heavy fire.”
“In the retaliatory action, all three were critically injured and later died in hospital,” he said.
Police recovered two assault rifles, two pistols and a large cache of ammunition.
The three men belonged to Khalistan Zindabad Force, a militant group, Punjab police chief Gaurav Yadav said in a statement.
The Khalistan campaign dates back to India’s 1947 independence and has been blamed for the assassination of a prime minister and the bombing of a passenger jet.
It has been a bitter issue between India and several Western nations with large Sikh populations.
New Delhi demands stricter action against the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India, with key leaders accused of “terrorism.”
Australia approves extradition of former US Marine over alleged training of Chinese military pilots
- Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition on Monday
- Daniel Duggan has been in a maximum-security prison since he was arrested in 2022
NEWCASTLE, Australia: Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan will be extradited from Australia to the United States over allegations that he illegally trained Chinese aviators.
Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition on Monday, ending the Boston-born 55-year-old’s nearly two-year attempt to avoid being returned to the US
Duggan, who served in the Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia and giving up his US citizenship, has been in a maximum-security prison since he was arrested in 2022 at his family home in the state of New South Wales. He is the father of six children.
Dreyfus confirmed in a statement on Monday he had approved the extradition but did not say when Duggan would be transferred to the US
“Duggan was given the opportunity to provide representations as to why he should not be surrendered to the United States. In arriving at my decision, I took into consideration all material in front of me,” Dreyfus said in the statement.
In May, a Sydney judge ruled Duggan could be extradited to the US, leaving an appeal to the attorney general as Duggan’s last hope of remaining in Australia.
In a 2016 indictment from the US District Court in Washington, D.C., unsealed in late 2022, prosecutors said Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for an appropriate license.
Prosecutors say he received payments totaling around 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
If convicted, Duggan faces up to 60 years in prison. He denies the allegations.
“We feel abandoned by the Australian government and deeply disappointed that they have completely failed in their duty to protect an Australian family,” his wife, Saffrine Duggan, said in a statement on Monday. “We are now considering our options.”
South Korean opposition threatens to impeach Han over martial law counsel
- Prime Minister Han Duck-soo took over from the suspended Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached on Dec. 14
- Yoon accused of hampering the Constitutional Court trial by repeatedly refusing to accept court documents
SEOUL: South Korea’s main opposition party threatened on Monday to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo if he failed to proclaim a law to launch a special counsel investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed bid to impose martial law.
Prime Minister Han has taken over from the suspended Yoon, who was impeached on Dec. 14 and faces a Constitutional Court review on whether to oust him.
With a majority in parliament, the opposition Democratic Party passed a bill this month to appoint a special counsel to pursue charges of insurrection, among others, against the conservative Yoon and to investigate his wife over a luxury bag scandal and other allegations.
The party, which has accused Han of aiding Yoon’s martial law attempt and reported him to police, said it would “immediately initiate impeachment proceedings” against the acting president if the legislation was not promulgated by Tuesday.
“The delays show that the prime minister has no intention of complying with the constitution, and it is tantamount to admitting that he is acting as a proxy for the insurgent,” Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae told a party meeting, referring to Yoon.
Han is a technocrat who has held leadership roles in South Korean politics for 30 years under conservative and liberal presidents. Yoon appointed him prime minister in 2022.
Han’s office could not immediately be reached for comment. He has previously said he had tried to block Yoon’s martial law declaration, but apologized for failing to do so.
Park also accused Yoon of hampering the Constitutional Court trial by repeatedly refusing to accept court documents.
“Any delay in the investigation and impeachment trials is an extension of the insurrection and an act of plotting a second one,” Park said.
A joint investigative team including police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has made a second attempt to call Yoon in for questioning on Dec. 25, though it was unclear whether he would appear.
Woo Jong-soo, investigation chief of the national police agency, told parliament on Monday that police had tried to raid Yoon’s office twice but the presidential security service denied them entry. Woo said his team sent a request to preserve evidence, including a secure phone server.
