SRINAGAR: In Indian-administered Kashmir, many people boycotted elections for decades in protest against Indian rule. But in the run-up to the local election beginning Wednesday, many are willing to buck that trend and use their vote to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party the power to form a local government in the disputed region.
The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special status and downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in the region as an assault on its identity and autonomy.
“Boycotts will not work in this election,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident in southern Kashmir’s Shangus village. “There is a desperate need to end the onslaught of changes coming from there (India).”
The election will allow residents to have their own truncated government and a local parliament called an assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi’s direct rule. The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for the first time ruled the region in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party.
But the government collapsed in 2018 after BJP withdrew from the coalition. Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.
This time, New Delhi says the polls are ushering in democracy after more than three decades of strife.
However, many locals see the vote as an opportunity not only to elect their own representatives but also to register their protest against the 2019 changes.
Polling will be held in three phases. The second and third phases are scheduled for Sept. 25 and Oct. 1. Votes will be counted on Oct. 8, with results expected that day.
Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. Since 1947, the neighbors have fought two wars over its control, after British rule of the subcontinent ended with the creation of the two countries. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
In 2019, the Indian-controlled part of the region was divided into two territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, ruled directly by New Delhi. The region has been on edge since it lost its flag, criminal code, constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs.
Multiple pro-India Kashmiri parties, many of whose leaders were among thousands jailed in 2019, are contesting the election, promising to reverse those changes. Some lower-rung separatist leaders, who in the past dismissed polls as illegitimate exercises under military occupation, are also running for office as independent candidates.
India’s main opposition Congress party, which favors restoration of the region’s statehood, has formed an alliance with the National Conference, the region’s largest party. Modi’s BJP has a strong political base in Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu that largely favor the 2019 changes but is weak in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion.
“Our main concern is governance through local representatives. It will be good for us if the BJP forms the government here as it’s already in power at the center,” said Chuni Lal, a shopkeeper in Jammu city.
The vote will see a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, with a chief minister at the top heading a council of ministers. But Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — a region directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament remaining its main legislator.
The elected government will have partial control over areas like education, culture and taxation but not over the police. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states in India. However, it will not have the special powers it enjoyed before the 2019 changes.
Last year, India’s Supreme Court endorsed the government’s 2019 changes but ordered New Delhi to conduct local polls by the end of September and restore Kashmir’s statehood. Modi’s government has promised to restore statehood after the polls but has not specified a timeline.
Elections in Indian-held Kashmir have remained a sensitive issue. Many believe they have been rigged multiple times in favor of local politicians who subsequently became India’s regional enforcers, used to incrementally dilute laws that offered Kashmir a special status and legitimize New Delhi’s militaristic policies.
In the mid-1980s, the region’s dissident political groups emerged as a formidable force against Kashmir’s pro-India political elite but lost the 1987 election widely believed to have been rigged. A public backlash followed, with some young activists taking up arms and demanding a united Kashmir, either under Pakistani rule or independent of both.
India insists the insurgency is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting, which most Kashmiri Muslims consider a legitimate freedom struggle.
Noor Ahmed Baba, a political scientist, said the outcome of the polls “is not going to change the dynamics of the Kashmir dispute” since it will end with a largely powerless legislature, but will be crucial for optics.
“If local parties win, it is going to put some pressure on the central government and perhaps delegitimize from a democratic perspective what has been done to Kashmir. But a BJP win can allow the party to consolidate and validate 2019 changes in the local legislature,” Baba said.
India’s ruling BJP is not officially aligned with any local party, but many politicians believe it is tacitly supporting some parties and independent candidates who privately agree with its stances.
The National Conference party says Modi’s BJP is trying to manipulate the election through independent candidates. “Their (BJP’s) concerted effort is to divide the vote in Kashmir,” said Tanvir Sadiq, a candidate from the National Conference.
The BJP’s national secretary, meanwhile, says his party’s former ally, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the National Conference are being supported by former militants. Ram Madhav said at a recent rally that they want to return the region to its “trouble-filled days.”
For residents whose civil liberties have been curbed, the election is also a chance to choose representatives they hope will address their main issues.
Many say that while the election won’t solve the dispute over Kashmir, it will give them a rare window to express their frustration with Indian control.
“We need some relief and end of bureaucratic rule here,” said Rafiq Ahmed, a taxi driver in the region’s main city of Srinagar.
Large turnout expected in crucial vote for local government in Indian-administered Kashmir
https://arab.news/c4mky
Large turnout expected in crucial vote for local government in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Polls are first in a decade and first since Modi’s government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special status
- Many locals see the vote as opportunity to elect their own representatives and register their protest against the 2019 changes
Man with Palestinian flag arrested after scaling London’s Big Ben
- Negotiators indicated concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there was “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes were not warm enough
London: A man who scaled London’s Big Ben, and spent the day perched on the historic clock tower with a Palestinian flag, was arrested shortly after he came down after midnight Sunday, police said.
Pictures from the scene showed a cherry picker transporting him to waiting emergency crews on the ground.
London’s Metropolitan Police force, which was first alerted to the climber around 0700 GMT Saturday, said the man was arrested after the “protracted incident.”
The man spent the day perched barefoot on a ledge several meters up the landmark, even as emergency crews urged him to come down from the Elizabeth Tower in central London, more commonly known for its clock bell, Big Ben.
Negotiators had boarded a fire truck lift and used a megaphone to speak with the man, but footage on social media showed the figure in a hoodie and baseball cap saying: “I will come down on my own terms.”
In the footage, negotiators indicated concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there was “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes were not warm enough as temperatures dropped after nightfall.
AFP journalists at the scene earlier said the man appeared to be bleeding from his foot.
Crowds gathered from behind a police cordon, with supporters chanting “Free Palestine” and “you are a hero.”
Police had closed off the surrounding area, including Westminster Bridge, while the Houses of Parliament canceled tours.
Westminster police later said all roads in the area had been reopened.
“Every day in Parliament I see dozens of armed police officers patrolling Portcullis House and the parliamentary estate. Where were they today?” Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty posted on X.
“On Monday there needs to be a full explanation to MPs and staff as to how this protester was able to evade security so easily.”
On Friday night, pro-Palestinian protesters sprayed “GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE” in huge white letters on the lawn of US President Donald Trump’s golf resort in Scotland.
The Palestine Action group said it was a “direct response to the US administration’s stated intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza.”
Police Scotland told AFP it was investigating after receiving a report of damage.
Protesters rally on International Women’s Day, fearing far right
- Many of the women marching in European capitals said they feared the growing strength of reactionary political forces, including a resurgent far right
PARIS: Protesters took to the streets across the world Saturday to mark International Women’s Day, demanding equal pay, political representation and an end to gender-based violence while voicing fears of rising repression.
In eastern Ukraine, scores of demonstrators held a minute’s silence to honor women killed defending the country from Russia’s invasion. Many carried banners bearing the faces of the deceased.
“Women are half of our society and we need to talk about what they do, what they are like, how they protect and what they do to make our country free and independent,” activist Iryna Lysykova told AFP in Kharkiv.
Many of the women marching in European capitals including Paris, Berlin and Madrid said they feared the growing strength of reactionary political forces, including a resurgent far right.
“It is coming now and we’re taking backwards steps,” said Dori Martinez Monroy, 63, in the Spanish capital. “We have to reclaim what has already been won, because women are the first to be targeted.”
In Jakarta, one activist, Ajeng, accused the Indonesian government of budget cuts that were “making women lose their rights.
“Women are killed, impoverished, criminalized,” she said, as nearby protesters held up placards reading “This body belongs to me” and “Glory to the women of the working class.”
“Indonesian woman are fighting against the state for these reasons,” she said.
Some demonstrators directed their ire at US President Donald Trump.
In Paris, women from the Femen activist group marched topless with either the US or the Russian flag, marked with a swastika, painted on their chests.
The Republican has been accused of sexual abuse by multiple women, and his administration has been blamed for pushing through policies hostile to women.
“This is a battle, it’s not over,” said 49-year-old Sabine, who was marching with her seven-year-old son in Paris, where organizers put turnout at around 250,000. Police gave a figure of 47,000.
“We’re going in the right direction: Trump, the masculinists, they make lots of noise but they’re not as strong as we are,” she told AFP.
In Argentina, thousands joined demonstrations across the country, with many criticizing President Javier Milei for policies including shuttering the ministry responsible for addressing gender violence and inequality.
At the Berlin protest, some demonstrators held placards bearing messages including “Burn the patriarchy not the planet.”
One marcher, Steff Voigt, expressed her fears for the future.
“I find it quite frightening how certain developments are reversing, how women’s rights could simply be moving backward again, so to speak, because of the right. Especially in the USA,” she said.
At the rally in Istanbul, Cigdem Ozdemir took aim at male violence against women and the Turkish authorities’ declaration of 2025 as “The Year of the Family.”
“Since 2025 was declared ‘The Year of The Family’, we as women have been confined to our homes,” the psychologist lamented, adding that LGBTQ people like her were “criminalized.”
“Today, we are here to make our struggle visible, to defend our lives against male violence, to defend our place in society and our rights.”
Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 Nobel prize in recognition of her years-long fight for human rights in Iran, is on temporary release from prison for health reasons.
In Mexico, where the UN says an average of 10 women are murdered every day, thousands marched in the capital, Mexico City.
In Venezuela, around 150 protesters, most with their faces hidden for fear of reprisals from security forces, gathered in Caracas. Many called for the release of political prisoners held by the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
A single day of Trump and Musk’s cost-cutting campaign remakes huge sections of government
- Some changes appeared designed to increase political control over agencies that have historically operated with some degree of autonomy
- Other directives increased burdens on federal workers, who have already endured insults, layoffs and threats from the president and other top officials
WASHINGTON: A series of decisions revealed Friday provided a glimpse of the turmoil engulfing federal agencies since President Donald Trump and Elon Musk launched their campaign of disruption, upending how government functions in ways big and small.
Some changes appeared designed to increase political control over agencies that have historically operated with some degree of autonomy, such as requiring Environmental Protection Agency officials to seek approval from the Department of Government Efficiency for any contracts exceeding $50,000.
Other directives increased burdens on federal workers, who have already endured insults, layoffs and threats from the president and other top officials. For example, government credit cards issued to civilian employees at the Pentagon were altered to have a $1 limit, choking off their ability to travel for work.
The Transportation Security Administration became another target. The administration canceled a collective bargaining agreement with 47,000 workers who screen travelers and luggage at airports around the country, eliminating union protections in a possible prelude to layoffs or privatization.
The cascading developments are only a fraction of the upheaval that’s taken place since Trump took office, but they still reshaped how hundreds of thousands of public servants do their jobs, with potentially enduring consequences. The ongoing shakeup is much more intense than the typical whiplash that Washington endures when one administration gives way to another, raising fundamental questions about how government will function under a president who has viewed civil servants as an obstacle to his agenda.
The White House has wrestled with political blowback over Musk’s role and legal challenges that have tried to block or slow down his work. Republicans who are facing growing pressure in contentious town halls have started to speak up.
“I will fully admit, I think Elon Musk has tweeted first and thought second sometimes,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Michigan, during a virtual meeting with constituents on Friday. “He has plunged ahead without necessarily knowing and understanding what he legally has to do or what he is going to be doing.”
Mistakes are being made
The overhaul of the federal government is happening at lightning speed, reflecting years of preparation by Trump’s allies and the president’s decision to grant Musk sweeping influence over his administration. Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur with no previous experience in public service, has shown no interest in slowing down despite admitting that he’ll make mistakes in his crusade to slash spending and downsize the workforce.
The government is facing even more dramatic changes in the coming weeks and months. Trump has directed agencies to prepare plans for widespread layoffs, known as reductions in force, that will likely require more limited operations at agencies that provide critical services.
The Department of Veterans Affairs could shed 80,000 employees, while the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration are considering plans that would cut their workforces in half.
Trump has vowed not to reduce Social Security benefits, but Democrats argue that layoffs would make it harder to deliver payments to 72.5 million people, including retirees and children.
There are also concerns that politics could interfere with Social Security. Trump has feuded over transgender issues with Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, and his administration recently said children born in the state would no longer have a Social Security number assigned at birth. Instead, parents would have to apply for one at a local office.
Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of Social Security, rescinded the order on Friday.
“In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent,” he said in a statement. Dudek added that “as a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.”
A startup mindset takes hold
More than a month after Trump took office, there’s still confusion about Musk’s authority. In public statements and legal filings, administration officials have insisted that Musk does not actually run DOGE and has no direct authority over budgets.
But Trump has contradicted both statements. He said Tuesday that DOGE is “headed by Elon Musk” in a prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress, and he said Thursday that “Elon will do the cutting” if agency leaders don’t reduce their spending.
Their approach has energized people like David Sacks, a venture capitalist serving as a Trump adviser on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, who praised the administration as moving “faster than any startup that I’ve been part of.”
Trump denied reports of friction between Musk and Cabinet officials, particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a meeting Thursday.
“Elon gets along great with Marco,” the president said. The State Department had no immediate comment.
Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund, an organization that has been suing the Trump administration, said the president “made clear that Musk and DOGE have been calling the shots.”
Musk serves as a presidential adviser, not a Senate-confirmed official, which Eisen argued makes his role unconstitutional. He said Trump’s comments are “an admission that the vast chaos that Musk and DOGE have wrought without proper approval and documentation is illegal — and so must be completely unwound.”
Trump is using executive orders to reshape government
Many of the changes sweeping through Washington were ignited by Trump’s executive orders. One order issued last week said agencies must develop new systems for distributing and justifying payments so they can be monitored by DOGE representatives.
The EPA distributed guidance intended to ensure compliance.
“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction (valued at) $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,” said the documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the involvement of Musk’s “unvetted, inexperienced team raises serious concerns about improper external influence on specialized agency decision-making.”
Republicans have shied away from holding town hall meetings with constituents after critics started using them to vent their frustration.
Some protesters gathered outside Huizenga’s district office in Holland, Michigan, calling on him to answer questions in person.
“I would like to ask him why he thinks that someone like Musk can go in and simply blow up agencies without seemingly even knowing what they’re doing,” said Linda Visscher, a Holland resident.
She said increasing the efficiency of government was a good idea, but she doesn’t agree with “just taking the blowtorch to it.”
Phone bans sweep US schools despite skepticism
ALEXANDRIA, United States: At a red-brick school in Virginia, Hayden Jones is one of 1,000 students banned from using their phones as part of a trial hoping to boost learning.
But the 12-year-old’s verdict on the restrictions — a shrug of his shoulders — reflects the skepticism shared by some students and parents.
The phone ban at Twain Middle School is among a wave of measures implemented around the United States, and is part of a global movement replicated in Brazil, France and beyond.
Supporters believe restrictions will guard pupils from the apparent harms of smartphone use while at school, but opponents say the measures fail to prepare teenagers for the digital world they will inevitably enter.
Since September, Jones must now place his Android phone in a magnetic pouch each morning, which is locked until the end of the school day as part of a pilot scheme this academic year.
Jones, speaking to AFP in a corridor lined with classrooms, said he hopes the ban will be gone by the time he starts eighth grade in September.
“I like being able to go to my locker and call my parents. That’s a big concern for me,” he said, adding that some pupils have found ways to still use their devices — including by bringing a “dummy phone” to put in the pouch.
School principal Matthew Mough admitted that enforcing the ban — and winning over students — has proved challenging, though he said most follow the rules.
“The majority of kids who have phones don’t love it,” he said. “However, if you dig deeper with them in the conversation, they will acknowledge that it’s helped them remain focused.”
Mough said the phone ban has reduced classroom distractions, cyberbullying and instances of students meeting up to skip lessons.
Cell phone bans come alongside research suggesting that social media use increases the likelihood of mental illnesses like anxiety and depression in young people.
Advocacy groups regularly cite these studies as justification for school phone bans, which have seen rare political consensus in a nation deeply divided on virtually every other political issue.
Around 76 percent of US public schools — from liberal California to conservative Florida — had some sort of ban on non-academic phone use, according to the latest Department of Education figures, with several state-wide measures also in place or under consideration.
They are largely backed by teachers, with the National Education Association saying 90 percent of its members support policies banning phones during lessons.
“The biggest problem is that kids aren’t in a place developmentally where they’re able to handle the type of technology that we’re talking about,” said Sabine Polak, co-founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement, which backs full-scale phone bans.
Critics of the restrictions argue that educating children about the potential risks of social media and smartphone use is better than prohibition.
“The answer is not to just ban and put our heads in the sand,” said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, which represents over 1,000 parent organizations in the United States.
She compared efforts to ban phones to “abstinence education,” noting that failing to properly teach children about complicated issues such as sex has failed in the past.
“It’s not effective, and frankly, it’s dumb,” Rodrigues told AFP. “What we need to do is equip our kids with the information, with the skills and the strategies they’re going to need to navigate a digital future.”
At the school in Virginia, Jones said the phone ban has not changed how he interacts with his device, still using it for games, social media and watching YouTube videos.
His one complaint about his phone? “Nothing really, honestly, I mean besides the fact that it weighs a ton in my pocket.”
Trump denies reported Musk-Rubio clash in cabinet meeting
- But stresses that cabinet secretaries will now take the lead on staffing choices, implying that he had taken the opportunity to rein Musk in
- Also insists that cuts be made with a “scalpel” instead of a “hatchet,” in reference to Musk's indiscriminate firing of federal employees
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump denied on Friday a report that his senior adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, had clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and another cabinet official during a White House meeting.
According to The New York Times, Musk argued with Rubio and separately with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy during a cabinet meeting chaired by Trump on Thursday.
Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a drive to slash costs and cut jobs across government departments, reportedly leading to tensions with department heads.
Musk reportedly faulted Rubio for having fired “nobody,” except for a staff member from Musk’s DOGE. He also told Rubio he was “good on TV,” as if to say he was not good for much else, the Times said.
An incensed Rubio lashed back at Musk for not being truthful. He countered that 1,500 State Department officials had accepted early retirement, and sarcastically asked whether he should hire them back just to sack them again more spectacularly.
In another exchange, Duffy accused DOGE of having tried to sack vital air traffic controllers right as he deals with the aftermath of several plane crashes, prompting Musk to accuse him of a “lie,” again according to the New York Times.
Trump reportedly intervened to halt the argument and suggest that henceforth the controllers be hired from the “geniuses” studying at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After the meeting, Trump announced that cuts would continue but with a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet,” implying that he had taken the opportunity to rein Musk in.
But, asked on Friday about the reported dispute, the president dismissed it.
“No clash, I was there, you’re just a troublemaker,” he told a reporter who asked about the report.
He went on to insist of Musk and Rubio “they’re both doing a fantastic job ... they both get along fantastically well.”
Since coming to office, Trump’s administration has sacked or announced the departure of tens of thousands of federal employees in a scorched-earth efficiency drive.
Several US media have reported friction between Musk and senior officials, who accuse his young crew of DOGE officials — recruited from Silicon Valley — of exceeding their authority.
The meeting was convened following complaints about the Musk operation’s blunt-force approach from agency heads to top White House officials, including chief of staff Susie Wiles.
The White House Office of Legislative Affairs has been inundated with calls in recent days from frustrated Republican members of Congress all over the country, some of whom have faced anger from constituents at home.
(With AFP & Reuters)
