Restore democracy, withdraw army from internal J&K areas, says Delhi NGO meet

By A Representative
A day-long meeting of 50-odd civil society and political activists from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and other parts of India has demanded that the pre-August 5, 2019 position in J&K should be revived, internet and other mobile based services should be restored, educational institutions should be resumed, and all detainees and people from J&K put in jail for political reasons should be released.
Putting up several demands, a resolution passed at the meeting, which took place at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi, insisted, "In the spirit of federalism and the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution decentralisation of political decision making should take place at the levels of states which constitute Union of India as well as at Panchayat and Urban local bodies levels."
The resolution further demanded, "Army should be withdrawn from internal areas of J&K to restore normalcy", adding, "The ease fire agreement on the Line of Control (LoC) should be implemented strictly by engaging the Government of Pakistan in dialogue so that citizens on both sides do not have to pay heavy price for its daily violations."
The participated included Sheikh Abdul Rehman, former MP, and currently with the Bangladesh-Bharat-Pakistan People's Forum, advocate Jameel Kazmi of the J&K Forum for Peace and Territorial Integrity, Shahid Saleem Mir of the J&K People's Democratic Movement, Tariq Saleem of the National Conference, Ashok Kumar of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Faisal Khanof the Khudai Khidmatgar, Sunilam of the Samajwadi Samagam, prominent social worker and academic Sandeep Pandey, others.

Xi Jinping’s visit to USA: Recognition that China can't be contained?

By Vijay Prashad President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to the United States must be understood as more than an encounter between two heads of state, but it must be seen as an encounter between two possible futures. In one future, the United States imposes a spiral of confrontation against China. Trade disputes harden into economic warfare, then economic warfare intensifies into technological blockades, technological blockades produce military encirclement, and finally military encirclement creates incidents, and incidents the danger of becoming an unimaginable war.

Swaminarayan, untouchability and the 'we are not Hindu' argument

By Rajiv Shah Following my blog on why the Eiffel Tower authorities should take all the blame for giving in to the Swaminarayan sadhus ’ bizarre demand to “invisibilise” women, including its female staff, during their visit to the internationally renowned Paris tourist centre on September 5, an interesting comment by one of the top academics drew my attention to something I vaguely knew about one of India’s most powerful and richest religious sects.

From margins to microphones: The rise of Dalit hip-hop in India

By Tersina Maria Toppo* A protest does not always arrive as a slogan shouted from a street corner. Sometimes, it arrives on a beat. A microphone replaces the megaphone, a music video becomes a public square, and the smartphone becomes the space where a history once pushed to the margins is narrated, debated, and shared.

Counterview

Search This Blog