US-based Kashmiri group asks UN to intervene for release of political prisoners

Hurriyat leader Ashraf Sehrai

By A Representative
The Washington DC-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum (WKAF) has pleaded with the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to urge India to “unconditionally release” all political prisoners, including Ashraf Sehrai, Yasin Malik, Mian Abdul Qayyum, Shabir Ahmed Shah, Musarat Aalam and others. Ashraf Sehrai, a separatist Hurriyat leader, was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) on Sunday.
Also asking the US government and Congressional leaders to heed what it calls “unbearable plight of hundreds of senior Kashmiri political leaders who are suffering from serious health issues”, WKAF, which claims to be committed to working for the basic human and political rights of people of Jammu & Kashmir through all peaceful means, said, “The Modi regime’s goal is to totally decapitate the political leadership of Kashmir.”
A WKAF statement, issued on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of the Martyrs Day of July 13, 1931, said, Kashmiris throughout the world observe this day to “reaffirm their resolve to continue their struggle for self-determination” by paying homage to the 22 innocent Kashmiris “who fell to the bullets of Maharaja Hari Singh’s troops one after the other in cold blood, in front of Srinagar Central Jail.”
“WKAF believes that their suffering has not ended despite the end of the despotic Dogra dynasty rule, the fate of Kashmiris changed for the worse, as it has been replaced by tyrannies of successive Indian regimes with various garbs of democracy”, the statement said, adding, by abrogating the “nominal autonomy” of the state on August 5, 2019, “India is implemented a settler-colonialist apartheid project in Kashmir.”

The making of a self-made woman: How eighty sheep changed everything for Kalawati Ninama

By Vikas Meshram* About forty-two kilometres from Rajasthan's Banswara district, in the tribal heartland of Ghatol block, lies the small village of Ubapana. This is where Kalawati Ninama, her husband Dhulji, and their four children make their home. Their days unfold much like those of their neighbours—bustling mornings, long hours of farm labour through the afternoon, and evenings spent tending livestock. For this family, farming and livestock were once simply a means of putting food on the table. Today, they have become the sturdy foundation of something far greater: genuine self-sufficiency.

India has spent billions on skilling. Where are the jobs?

By Vikas Gupta India loves the photograph of a certificate ceremony. A minister on a stage. A banner bearing the word “skill.” Young people holding folders that promise a future. It is a reassuring image because it tells us the problem has a manageable answer: train the young, make them job-ready, and work will follow.

BAPS, the Eiffel Tower and the curious silence on secularism

By Rajiv Shah I was a little surprised to see how some of those whom I respect for taking a firm stand on patriarchal issues reacted to the manner in which they responded to the recent incident in Paris, in which women employees of the Eiffel Tower were asked to remain "invisible" on September 5 when 100 BAPS sadhus visited one of the world's top tourist destinations.

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