Ayodhya case Day -2: SC asks Nirmohi Akhada for proof of property ownership

August 7, 2019

On the second day of hearings in the Ayodhya dispute case, the Supreme Court has asked the Nirmohi Akhara to provide evidence of ownership of the disputed site. The Akhara cut a sorry figure when they claimed that all documents were lost in a dacoity in 1982.

Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times

The apex court started hearing the case on a day to day basis from August 6, after no headway was made in mediations by the July 31 deadline. The case is being heard by a Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice SA Bobde, Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Abdul Nazeer.

The Nirmohi Akhara is one of the petitioners who moved SC against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement that had trifurcated and equally divided the 2.77 acre land among three parties: the deity, Nirmohi Akhada and the Sunni Waqf Board. Yesterday, the Akhada had claimed ownership based on possession. But when the court today asked for revenue records to establish possession over the disputed site, the Akhada failed to provide any documents and claimed that the documents were lost in a dacoity in 1982. Finding them unprepared, the court moved on to hearing other petitioners.

We worry about the Koshur Qaum: Kashmiris across the World try desperately to contact loved ones

August 7, 2019

“I have never seen her like this before and I didn’t know how to console her. “Everything will be fine, Insha Allah,” I said. “How will we know if everything is fine at home? How will we know if they kill them? Will we ever be able to see Ammu Papa?” she asked. I had no answers.” Samiya Latief, Kashmiri journalist

Image Courtesy: Jewel Samad/AFP

Kashmir is reeling under a shutdown of the most opaque nature. As the government of India abrogated Article 370, the only constitutional provision that actually links Kashmir to India, ground was laid to prevent any form of resistance. Curfew was imposed late night on August 4. Internet, mobile and cellular services were shut down. Even cable TV and landlines were disconnected. Leaders of the opposition such as Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah arrested. The decision was taken surreptitiously, while the Parliament session was on, without consulation with the state assembly that had been dissolved last June when the state was brought, inexplicably, under President’s Rule. As of today, August 7, as per one report over 100 people have been arrested, one dead and six injured from the few reports that have emerged from the ground. However, there is no way to verify these figures in the absence of any reporting from the local media and the people. It is strange to even think that Kashmiri people, whose lives will be significantly altered by this move, are living in the deep shadows of a lockdown, which is unprecedented in Kashmir’s own bloodied history. Moreover, there is deep panic among the people as they have not been able to establish contacts with their loved ones since the curfew was enforced and there is no way of knowing the precise situation prevailing in the state.

As the streets of Kashmir remain deserted, in the few visuals that have emerged ever since, an exceptionally huge presence of the security forces can be seen.

In all this, those Kashmiris who stay outside Kashmir have found themselves in a situation in which they cant get in touch with their loved ones at any cost. Moreover, the fact that there is an absolute lack of clarity that when such a lockdown will be lifted and whether, if at all things will go back to the ‘Kashmiri normal’ has led to a sense of deep distress among the Kashmiri people.

Moreover, the dishonest reporting by the Indian media has led to a lack of trust among those who get in touch with their families. A page called Kashmir Beyond Borders, formed by Kashmiris across the diaspora to stay “connected” updated a status,
“A lot of Kashmiri students all over India are being approached by Indian media houses with a simple question: How do you feel? They ask this in the backdrop of the communication blackout imposed on our homes. Since no news is allowed to escape, we are supposed to be in distress, panic, and also exasperated by what has transpired in the last few days.
In a very emotive appeal, they asked, “How does one feel when not able to speak to parents and other loved ones in the evening? How does one feel when one does not have any whereabouts of everybody one has grown up with? Fear is a genuine human emotion. Of course any human will worry in a situation like this. But our fears are profound. We worry about our parents, siblings and neighbours, but not in the sense of survival, rather, in a deeper existential sense. We know that if they cook only beans at home because of the curfew, potatoes will come through the kitchen window. Nobody is going to sleep on an empty stomach tonight. Our sense of home and family is diffused; something Indians might not be able to fathom. So we worry about the Koshur qaum. We worry about the streets. We worry about the paddy fields, the rivulets and the apple orchards.”

Asking the question if they should speak to the Indian media and bare their pain, they said, “We should remember the role the Indian media has played in justifying the colonization of our country for all these years. We should remember how they have framed our struggle, weaved false narratives around it, and labelled us differently. They have spread canards that we are paid 500 rupees to throw stones at all the symbolic manifestations of their occupation of our land. They have insinuated that we carry a “death wish” in our eyes, leaving their armed forces no choice but to kill us. They have even trivialized our lives and aspirations by reporting that “Kashmir is happy”. They have brushed aside report after report by the United Nations about the violations of our bodily and territorial integrity as “airy fairy”.”

It must be noted that large sections of Indian media has celebrated this move calling it a “historic” step without mentioning the plight of Kashmiris.

Describing the sights in deserted Kashmir, deputy editor of Indian Express, Muzamil Jaleel said, “I have just come to Delhi from Srinagar. It is worse than 1846. Srinagar is a city of soldiers and spools of concertina wire. Yesterday, it took me three hours to reach office (Residency Road) from Parraypora. Phones – mobiles and landlines – have been disconnected. Internet is off. There is no money in ATMs. A very strict curfew has been imposed across Kashmir. I could only move around with lot of difficulty in uptown Srinagar. I have no information outside that small part of the city. However, I did hear there have been protests in old town Baramulla. A colleague received a text message on his dead phone – some glitch. Everyone I met is in shock. There is a strange numbness. We heard about killing of two protestors but there is no way to confirm. Kashmir has been turned invisible even inside Kashmir. The forces on checkpoints have specific instructions to disallow journalists to cross the barrier. I saw a tv crew from Delhi inside a hotel outside Rajbagh Police station – they were saying Kashmir is calm.”
A report in Indian Express delved upon the pain that Kashmiri traders in Kerala’s Kochi felt about not being able to get in touch with their parents.

“In 30 years of conflict in Kashmir, landline phones have never been blocked. Last night, even that happened. When you’re sitting so far away from Kashmir and you don’t know what’s happening to your families, it’s a horrifying feeling. It is like sitting on a time-bomb and waiting for it to burst. It is a very difficult emotion, of not being able to do anything. I worry for my family,” said Sajid Khatai, who arrived in Kochi in Kerala at the age of 21 after his uncle began a business here.

TM Krishna’s touching tribute to Kashmiris

August 7, 2019

Carnatic music vocalist and author TM Krishna has released a moving video reaching out to and expressing solidarity with Kashmiris in wake of the virtual scrapping of Section 370.

TM Krishna

In the video, one can see a page with a few words from Agha Shahid Ali’s poem Postcard from Kashmir. As Krishna reads out the heart-rending poem, one can hear beeps and clicks of non-functional telephone lines in the background. A mechanical voice is also heard saying, “Incoming call facility to the dialed number is currently not available.”

It is eerie how powerfully this video showcases how people in the state have been cut off from the rest of the country in wake of a communication black out.

Krishna released the video on Twitter and it may be viewed here: ((EMBED TWEET))

Cutoff: Postcard to Kashmir
A postcard to phones in Kashmir which do not ring#Kashmir #Democracy #KashmirBleeds pic.twitter.com/yNx4g6Dss4
— T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) August 7, 2019

Kashmir: A Coup Against the Constitution and Kashmiri: PUCL

August 7, 2019

The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has condemned the abrogation of key portions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the bifurcation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and taking away its statehood. While the deed by itself is deceitful, the manner in which it was done is even more so. All the constitutional provisions, procedures, safeguards and values have been disregarded. What pains us most is that this change of status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, was carried out with stealth, completely unilaterally, without even talking or consulting the people of Jammu and Kashmir, even as part of Government tokenism.

In a statement released by PUCL’s National President, Ravi Kiran Jain, and National General Secretary, Dr. V. Suresh has said that the organisation in particular, strongly condemns the planned and sinister manner by which the Government of India has gone about arresting at midnight of Sunday, August 4-5 , 2019 important leaders of political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, including former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others, soon after airlifting over 35,000 troops and suddenly and abruptly asking all Amarnath Yatris and holiday visitors to leave the state creating acute sense of fear and panic. Simultaneously, the Government in a concerted manner, also shut down all communication and telecom services to and from the valley, effectively ghettoizing the entire state into a state of forced silence, while also imposing curfew in the state preventing movement of people, thereby creating chaos, distress and disruption of normal life. Students from other states were asked to leave Kashmir while Kashmiris outside the state continue to live in panic unable to communicate with their families in the Valley.

The ulterior plan behind such unprecedented action became apparent on Monday, August 5, 2019, with the Government quickly pushing through legislations to abrogate major portion of Art. 370thereby discontinuing Special Status to J&K and bifurcating the State into two Union territories: Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The statement points out that, it is pertinent to point out that Article 370 of the Constitution of India is a self contained Article. It determined how the Constitution of India would apply to J&K and also specifically provided for the procedure for the abrogation of Article 370 itself.. The President can pass an order under Article 370 (3), removing article 370 only if the Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir recommended the same.

Since the Constituent Assembly of J&K ceased functioning in 1957, the Supreme Court in its judgement in `SBI vs Santosh Gupta’, (2017)’, held that the Article 370 has become permanent unless another Constituent Assembly of J&K was constituted. In order to get over this constitutional roadblock, the present BJP Government adopted a rather devious and unconstitutional route. Article 370 (1) (d) of the Constitution empowers the President, from time to time, to issue notifications modifying the manner in which the constitutional provisions can be made applicable to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Article 367 of the Constitution of India explains how phrases in the Constitution are to be interpreted. The issue, in case of abrogation of Art. 370, was the need for recommendation of `Constituent Assembly of the State’. What the BJP Government did was very insidious and cunning. On August 5, 2019, they introduced a 3-stepAmendment process. In the first step a Presidential Notification under Article 370 (1)(d) was issued amending Article 367 by introducing a new Sub-clause (4) which stated that the expression “Constituent Assembly” in Article 370(3) shall be read as “Legislative Assembly of the State”. The effect was that after this change, Article 370 of the Constitution could be amended removing the necessity to obtain the recommendation of the ‘Constituent Assembly’.

Now, since J&K has been under President’s Rule since December, 2018, it means that the powers of the `State Legislature are being exercised by the President of India. This, in effect, results in a farcical situation in which the President of India has consented to permit himself (as Head of the State Government of J&K) to recommend abrogation of Art. 370 of the Constitution!

In other words, what could not be done directly was done indirectly and the constitutional provisions have been undermined. This is a clear subversion of the constitutional provisions by the BJP Government.

What is shocking is the utter contempt that the current dispensation has been exhibiting for constitutional procedures and democratic processes, which actually is a consistent pattern we have witnessed in the recent past with the passing of a slew of legislations which have serious ramifications, as a Money Bill.

The statement further states that the change in the status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from a State to a Union Territory is an unethical and undemocratic act. It robs the people of Kashmir the little democratic space they have and will only further alienate the people of Kashmir from the Indian State. The argument that Article 370 is a clause which obstructed the complete integration of Kashmir with the rest of India and prevented development is a totally flawed logic. The unamended Article 370, was put in place to recognise in principle, the distinct identity and autonomy of the Kashmiri people. This was necessitated by the history and the context of accession of Kashmir with India. It is most troubling that political leaders of Kashmir who never disputed the accession of Kashmir with India and who participated in the Indian democratic process have been placed under preventive detention and were kept completely in the dark when decisions which impacts the state were taken. In this entire exercise the lives, rights, aspirations and hopes of the people of Kashmir are the biggest casualties.

The statement states finally that the PUCL apprehends that there is another insidious dimension in taking away the statehood of the Jammu and Kashmir. It is a ploy to take control of their natural resources, their water, mountains, the hills and fields and forests. It is yet another act to aggrandise and deprive the common Kashmiri and convert the valley into a real estate venture. In the three speeches in the Rajya Sabha made by the Home Minister, he continuously spoke of how the state was in the dark ages and needed to be brought into the main stream with hotels and other people of India having an opportunity to buy land, build houses and live there.

Lastly the actions of the BJP government not to have provided with at least two days notice to the MPs to study the `Reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir Bill or the President’s resolution to repeal Article 370, shows that the BJP not only does not want scrutiny and deliberation, which is the key to any democratic process but also just wants to convert the Parliament to a rubber stamp, which is what the first session of Parliament of the 17^th Lok Sabha has become. The passage of 32 bills, in haste, without pre-legislative consultation with public or discussions with those to be impacted by the concerned bills or denying the right to send bills to the select committee, not only confirms this but also indicates what await us in the near future.

Lastly, the PUCL urges the people of India to see yesterday’s process in Parliament as one more effort to repress and subjugate the people of Kashmir and should oppose this decision of the Government peacefully. We would also like our sisters and brothers in Kashmir to know that we are with them and share their loss and grief against this latest attack by the GOI on them.

PUCL demands:
(1) That the clampdown on telecom services and communication and restrictions on movement be immediately lifted;
(2) All Political / Opposition leaders be released,
(3) Normalcy be restored in the Valley.
(4) All the troops be withdrawn.
(5) The three legislation introduced on August 5, 2019, viz., the (i) The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 – Presidential order CO 272, (ii) Statutory Resolution introduced in the Rajya Sabha and (iii) The Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill be rolled back; and
(6) Undertake any action wrt to Kashmir only after consulting the Kashmiri people.

A Kashmiri Pandit On Why He Feels Sad For Kashmiri Muslims

August 7, 2019

Who will return to where death stalks the streets and joblessness looms?

One of my earliest memories, when I try to unpeel my mind, assailed with a million thoughts right now, is that of a toddler enjoying the security and comfort of being cuddled and taken around on the shoulders of an old, wizened man. I had no idea then that this man was a Muslim and I a Kashmiri Pandit, born as I was, like all of us are, into a world which I could barely fathom. My consciousness was dormant and my impressionable mind was recording images as they appeared and not as what they were supposed to be. Almost six decades later, I remember nothing of what else was happening around me which I can connect with that image, just my own cries and the subsequent chuckle after being given that shoulder ride. My life has traversed a fair distance since that childhood memory. I have seen, observed and recorded many pleasant and unsavoury images; my mind has become a melting pot.

I am a Kashmiri migrant who left the Valley in the early sixties, because my father held a central government job. I spent most of my early life in Punjab, so I speak with a distinct Punjabi inflection. Yet, by habit and orientation I am still a Kashmiri. My cultural connection with the Valley never severed because my grandparents lived in Kashmir, my older brother finished his schooling there, and I visited my home regularly during the summers.

This went on until the late eighties, when all of a sudden, a mass uprising and militancy erupted, with a ferocity that stunned us all. A wave of migration took place then, propelled by fear and violence. According to an official figure, around 200 Kashmiri Pandits were left dead in this time, though some claim that the toll may have been much higher. This closed the doors of our homes to us.

I had seen the divide between “us” and “them” in the time that I had spent in the Valley while growing up, but that divide had only been a subtext of the life I witnessed there. This divide had now taken a more sinister turn. Since then, the violence that has wrecked Kashmir has left one religious minority uprooted from their homeland and the majority Muslims literally maimed in their own state. Thousands of them have either been killed by the militant’s gun, others by the security forces.

For almost a decade, Kashmir was a no-go zone for us. By the early 2000s my visits to Srinagar restarted. I was welcomed with open arms, though for all practical purposes I was now an outsider, wondering if there was a place for me in a state that was at war with India. This war and my outsider/refugee status became the identity that marked my citizenship.

During my visits, I saw that the Karan Nagar area in Srinagar, where my grandparents had lived, still had life left in it. It had become the headquarters of one of the many Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalions stationed in the city. Our house was intact, though its occupants were now the security forces, like most Pandit houses there. In other places where the Pandits had lived until they fled in panic, a deathly silence akin to a graveyard greeted me. Their houses were locked, worn out from neglect and crying for care and upkeep.

I am a regular visitor to Kashmir now, like many other Pandits, but the idea of permanent return has never taken root. The fear of the gun still haunts “us”, though there are enough voices in the Valley who say “come back”. After all, who would want to return to a place where death stalks the streets, where the locals are unsafe and there are no jobs to make survival economically possible.

Like most Pandits, especially of the older generation, I still have Kashmiri Muslim friends. In my case, many of these relationships were established after the year 2000. They understood my pain and I theirs, yet ironically and tragically, we could do nothing about it. When the pages of history are dipped in blood, and politics is the only driving force behind all decisions that thrive on hatred and division, bridging a chasm is impossible. When you want to reduce a complex human tragedy to a blame game and shape your responses according to which community you belong to, be sure that a greater catastrophe may be around the corner.

Ever since I was born, Kashmir has been a political problem whose contours were shaped first by the Partition and before that, by the Dogra rule of Maharaja Hari Singh. The latter era has been encapsulated by many historians, but none do so better than the historian Mridu Rai in her book, Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects.

My own responses to the Kashmir issue, and the ensuing migration of Kashmiri Pandits, were shaped by my father’s broad secular outlook. Unlike many of my young relatives of these times, my father had only love and no hatred for the “other”. For him, Sheikh Abdullah, Kashmir’s first Prime Minister after 1947 and founder of the National Conference, was a saviour of the Hindus.

Kashmir’s Instrument of Accession, signed by Hari Singh, had come with many conditions, Article 370 of the Constitution being one of them. A promise was made that there would be a plebiscite once peace prevails in the region. Kashmiris were given the right to decide their own future through the ballot. It is this article of faith, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, that the Indian government abolished in one brutal stroke on 5 August, 2019.

My childhood memories and my visits to Kashmir gave me no reason to reinterpret what my father had told me. I knew—and could see for myself—that the Kashmiri Muslims had many grievances and that in their hearts lay the desire for Azaadi. Despite being in a tiny minority, we Kashmiri Pandits had lived in palatial houses in the Valley, we controlled the bureaucracy, the colleges and the hospitals… This changed after 1989, when the “privileged” minority became the “refugees”. With the coming to power of a hard-right government, Kashmir’s significance has been reduced to a mere dot on the Indian map.

What has left many like me saddened and shocked is the manner in which this aim has been achieved; that too with wide support from the populace of a country that never tires of saying that it believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam or the world is one family, and which professes to be the land of the Buddha, who believed that only by practicing compassion, even towards your enemies, can one achieve Nirvana.

To lock up an entire population of a state in their homes, to arrest their political leaders, send troops by the thousands to quell any signs of protest, and then decide their fate without even taking them into confidence, after snapping all their communication links, is an act of unimaginable cowardice, worthy of the strongest condemnation.
When I think of the anxiety of the lakhs who must be living in fear, wondering in their homes what fate awaits them, the memory of the old man who gave me succour in my traumatic childhood moments has surfaced again. I can’t look into his eyes.

Pradeep Magazine is a senior journalist. He now lives in Delhi.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

Kerala nun rape case: Congregation expels nun who protested against the accused

August 7, 2019

Sister Lucy Kallapura, a Kerala nun who raised her voice against the rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal has been dismissed by the Fransiscan Clarist Congregation (FCC). This dismissal comes nearly a year after Sister Lucy joined other nuns at a protest in Kochi against the manner in which Mulakkal was allowed to operate with impunity with full blessings of the church authorities.

Interestingly, the FCC’s reason for dismissal was the nun’s lifestyle. They objected to her learning how to drive and writing poems! Supervisor General of the FCC Ann Joseph reportedly wrote to Sister Lucy informing her of her dismissal claiming they had approval from the Vatican to do so!

According to The News Minute, a part of the letter of confirmation from Vatican read, “The Congregation for the Oriental Churches, by virtue of the faculty given to it by the Supreme Pontiff Pope Francis having considered everything seriously, has granted the confirmation, as per the request, so that the same professed one remains freed from her religious profession and other obligations and separated from her Religious Congregation, and to be considered dismissed from her religious life, and to be considered as a simple layperson the other things to be done what are to be done according to the law.”

All of this is particularly disturbing in light of how the case has developed so far.

Brief Background of the rape case
The rape survivor nun had filed a police complaint saying that she was allegedly raped 13 times by Jallandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal over a period of two years (2014-2016), when she was at a convent in Kuravilangad, a small town near Kottayam in Kerala. The accused Bishop admits to have stayed in a room at a mission house at the convent on 13 occasions when he visited Kerala during that period.

The nun said that she had approached church authorities on multiple occasions, but her complaints fell on deaf ears, forcing her to approach the police. In fact, during police investigations, Joseph Kallarangatt who is Bishop of the Syro-Malabar diocese of Pala, told investigators that the nun had met him and told him about her ordeal.

Cardinal claims never received any rape complaint
Then, fingers were being pointed at Cardinal George Allencherry for knowing about the abuse but failing to act against it. However, the Cardinal claimed that his office did not receive any complaint of rape! When a police team led by Vaikom Dy SP K Subhash questioned the Cardinal, he said he never received a rape complaint from the nun, though she did raise some concerns about some issues at her convent for which she was directed to approach the concerned congregation.

In fact, the official communique from the Church said, “It is unclear from media reports who is this nun. However, a nun working with Jalandhar diocese had met the cardinal and complained about some appointments and transfers in her congregation and the inconveniences she faced. Since her congregation belonged to Jalandhar diocese, which comes congregation belonged to Jalandhar diocese, which comes under the Latin hierarchy, she was advised to approach it as the cardinal had no jurisdiction.”

Accused priest engages in victim shaming
Meanwhile, Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the accused, claimed in an interview to Times of India that his conscience is clear. In fact, in the same interview he launched a counter allegation against the nun claiming that she was getting back at him because he was investigating her for her alleged affair with the husband of one of her cousins. In 2016, the nun was posted with the Mission of Jesus Sisters in Jallandhar, where the accused is the Bishop of the diocese.

According to Sister Regina, Superior General of the mission, in November that year, the nun’s cousin had approached the church alleging that the nun was having an affair with her husband and she urged the church to step in to save her family. Sister Regina and a committee of four sisters pursued the investigation after getting the go ahead from Bishop Mulakkal. Interestingly, Bishop Mulakkal’s duties have neither been terminated nor has he been even suspended pending investigation.

Senior clergy and nuns write to CBCI and Vatican
Several senior priests and nuns wrote to Cardinal Oswald Gracious, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and Vatican Nuncio Giambattista Diquattro, demanding that that the accused Bishop be relieved of his duties. “Now that the case has gone to the courts, we urge you to please advise Pope Francis to relieve the bishop concerned of his pastoral responsibilities, so that the Church is seen to actually practice the ‘zero tolerance’ it professes to observe in abuse cases. With the accused bishop continuing to remain in his position, it will continue to erode the faith of the people in the credibility of the Church to implement its policy of zero tolerance and act justly in abuse matters,” said the letter to the CBCI president.

“The accused bishop continuing to remain in his position will erode the faith of the people in the credibility of the Church to implement its policy of zero tolerance and act justly in abuse matters,” said the letter to the Vatican Nuncio.

Congregation releases rape survivor nun’s picture, Bishop forced to step down
After the Missionaries of Jesus congregation broke the law by releasing a photograph of the rape survivor nun from Kerala, the church authorities were forced to take action against the accused Bishop as a face saving measure. The congregation, in a bid to shame the survivor, had released a picture showing her seated by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the priest accused of raping her. But after outrage against this despicable move, the accused bishop was forced to step down from his position. He of course claimed he had done this of his own volition citing his need to be present for further questioning.

The Bishop was temporarily relieved of his duties by the Vatican. The Bishop had applied for anticipatory bail before the Kerala High Court and was questioned by the Crime Branch in Kochi.

Nun protest sexual exploitation, Bishop finally arrested
In an unprecedented protest nuns came out on the street demanding the arrest of the Bishop. The protest went on for two whole weeks. Sister Lucy played a prominent role in this protest and challenged the patriarchy within the Church. This, even as Mulakkal was being questioned by the police. Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested on charges of rape after a three day long drilling by Kerala police in Kochi.

Key witness dies under mysterious circumstances
In October 2018, Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, 62, a priest at St Paul’s church in Hoshiarpur district, Punjab, was found dead in his room in the church on Monday morning. He had testified against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, the Catholic priest accused of raping a Kerala nun and supported the protests by other nuns. He had made statements claiming that he feared for his life.
His family has filed a police complaint calling it a “mysterious, sudden death” and alleging he feared for his life and was attacked earlier. The police said that no injury was found but there were signs he had vomited. This death came just a week after the accused was released on bail.

‘Everything Has Been Lost. Except Our Resolve to Fight Back’: Shah Faesal on Kashmir

August 7, 2019

“You can say that the entire eight million population [of Kashmir] has been incarcerated like never before.”

Shah Faesal just posted this on his FB:

Kashmir is experiencing an unprecedented lock-down. From Zero Bridge to Airport some movement of vehicles is visible. Other places are completely out of bounds. Except for patients or those with a curfew pass.

It was not possible to reach Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Sajad Lone or send a message to them.

In other Districts curfew is all the more strict. You can say that the entire 8 million population has been incarcerated like never before.

As of now there is no shortage of food and essentials.
My sources in Administration told me that Sat Phones given to officers are being used to coordinate the civil supplies. No other means of communication is available.

Those with Dish TV have access to news. Cable services are down. Many people still have a bleak idea of what happened. Radio was working till a few hours ago. Most people are watching DD.
National media is also not being allowed to move into interior areas.

LD hospital is functioning beyond its capacity as expecting women are getting admitted days in advance to avoid any last moment hassels. Some people are planning to run langars there.

No violent incident has been officially reported so far. Random incidents of stone throwing were reported from Rambagh, Natipora, Downtown, Kulgam, Anantnag. But no news of any killings.

People are in shock. Numb. Yet to make sense of what befell them. Everyone is mourning what we lost.

In my conversations with people besides 370, it’s the loss of statehood that has hurt people deeply. This is being seen as the biggest betrayal by the Indian state in last 70 years.

Few leaders who have escaped detention called for calm through TV channels. It is being said that the government is ready for a casualty figure of 8 – 10 thousand. So sanity demands that we don’t give anyone a chance for mass massacre.

My appeal has also been that let’s stay alive, then we shall fight back.

The body language of forces personnel manning the nakas is extremely harsh. JKP is totally sidelined.
One guy told an acquaintance of mine that now we are going to show your place to you.

Such stories of locals being bullied have reached me from many places. But its extremely heartening that Kashmiris are staying calm.

Those who wish to travel to Kashmir should avoid doing it for some time.

Even if the curfew is relaxed the situation will remain extremely volatile.

At airport I met crowds of heartbroken youth asking me questions about what should we do now.

I said we shall go to Supreme Court together and ask for reversing this injustice.

All political parties are together on challenging these unconstitutional laws that have deprived us of our history and identity.

As of now that’s the only hope. International community has shut its eyes. So I am not expecting anything from there.

The sad fact of life is that only Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can one day give back to us the wealth that has been stolen from us in broad day light.

But then what’s lost has been lost. Or Perhaps everything has been lost. Except our resolve to fight back. And we shall.”

https://www.facebook.com/528278350/posts/10157444195263351/

This note was originally published on Shah Faesal’s Facebook page. It has been edited lightly for clarity.

Why India, With Plentiful Rains & Rivers, Is On List Of World’s Most Water-Stressed Countries

August 7, 2019

New Delhi: Of the 17 countries facing the highest level of water stress–where 80% of water available is used up annually–India receives the maximum annual rainfall, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of a new study by the international think-tank World Resource Institute (WRI).

World Resource Institute

All other countries on the list belong to the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, receive almost half of India’s annual rainfall and have fewer natural water sources.

Even within India, all nine states and union territories that report the worst water stress lie in the Indo-Gangetic plain, which has a web of big and small rivers and lakes.

Chandigarh tops this list, as per the WRI, followed by Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Why is India water-stressed despite widespread rainfall and a large number of water sources? “Overexploitation and mismanagement of water is the reason for this water stress,” said Shashi Shekhar, former secretary, ministry of water resources and Ganga rejuvenation, and a senior fellow with WRI India.

Inefficient agriculture, that uses up to 80% of all water resources in the country, is one of the primary reasons for India’s water stress, said Shekhar. Groundwater extraction–which provides for 40% of the country’s water needs–is significantly more than recharge.

The 17 countries dealing with acute water stress are home to nearly a quarter of the world’s population (1.75 billion). India ranks 13th on the list but at 1.36 billion, its population is more than triple that of the aggregate of the other 16 countries grappling with a water crisis, the study said.

About 600 million Indians are dealing with high-to-extreme water stress wherein over 40% of the annually available surface water is used every year, according to a 2018 study by government think-tank Niti Aayog 2018, reported by IndiaSpend on June 25, 2018.

About 200,000 people die every year due to inadequate access to safe water. The situation is likely to worsen as the demand for water exceeds supply by 2050, and India will face a 6% loss in its gross domestic product by 2050, the Aayog study said.

It is important for countries to address water stress because it can exacerbate conflict and migration, endanger water-dependent industries (mining, thermoelectric power generation, and manufacturing) and threaten food security, said the WRI study.

Climate change is also exacerbating this crisis leading to erratic rainfall, we further explain.

Qatar leads the list
Over a third (2.572 billion) of the world’s population lives in the 44 countries with “high” to “extremely high” water stress, said the WRI study.

Qatar, Israel and Lebanon are ranked first, second and third in the list of countries dealing with the worst water stress. India, as we earlier said, is ranked 13th, while neighbouring Pakistan stands at 14th, according to the study which uses data from 1960 to 2014, excluding anomaly events.

Countries Facing Extremely High Water Stress
Rank	Country	Water Stress Level	Annual Rainfall (MM)
1	Qatar	Extremely High (>80%)	74
2	Israel	Extremely High (>80%)	435
3	Lebanon	Extremely High (>80%)	661
4	Iran	Extremely High (>80%)	228
5	Jordan	Extremely High (>80%)	111
6	Libya	Extremely High (>80%)	56
7	Kuwait	Extremely High (>80%)	121
8	Saudi Arabia	Extremely High (>80%)	59
9	Eritrea	Extremely High (>80%)	384
10	UAE	Extremely High (>80%)	78
11	San Marino	Extremely High (>80%)	451
12	Bahrain	Extremely High (>80%)	83
13	India	Extremely High (>80%)	1083
14	Pakistan	Extremely High (>80%)	494
15	Turkmenistan	Extremely High (>80%)	161

Source: Water Stress Rankings: World Resource Institute, Annual Rainfall: World Bank
Note: Annual Rainfall figures have been added by the correspondent to analyze the aridity of the countries. San Marino’s rainfall figures have been taken from this source.

Indian States Facing Extreme to Low Level of Water Stress

Source: World Resource Institute

In India, nine states and union territories (UTs) have been categorised as regions of “extremely high” water stress. Chandigarh tops the list that also includes Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Crisis-ridden states mismanage water
Except for Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, other water-stressed Indian states have mismanaged their water, according to the Niti Aayog report.

Water Management Scores, By State

Source: Composite Water Management Index, NITI Aayog

The Aayog analysed and scored 24 states on nine broad sectors and 28 indicators, including groundwater, irrigation, farm practices and drinking water. Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand scored below 60% on all the indicators.

The Aayog report did not have scores for Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and Chandigarh.

Irrigation is a critical factor
The historic exploitation of water for agriculture is responsible for the crisis in the states in the Indo-Gangetic plain, as we said earlier.

Punjab, Haryana and West-Uttar Pradesh are the worst-affected Indo-Gangetic states in terms of water stress and the main reason for this is their 40-year-old cropping pattern in which paddy, sugarcane, and wheat dominate — all water-guzzlers, as per Shekhar.

Since the government ensures the procurement of these water-intensive crops, their acreage grew in the past decades. But so did the depletion rate of level of groundwater, the primary source of irrigation.

All these states have alluvial soil (known to absorb the water), receive sufficient rainfall and have a number of rivers crisscrossing the region — factors that should have protected them from water stress, Shekhar pointed out. But the groundwater in these regions has reached a level that it will now take decades to recharge, he added, and that too only if no extraction takes place.

Govt research is flawed: expert
Shekhar also has reservations about the WRI study, because it uses historical government data along with other indicators. In India, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) collects data with just one question in mind: is the extraction of water faster than its percolation? This, Shekhar said, presents an incorrect picture as CGWB data does not reflect water stress faced by states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

“In fact, the government data has not been updated for the last five to 10 years, because there is a lot of pressure on the CGWB not to update any new region as water-stressed,” Shekhar said.

The government data also take averages for very large areas, which does not yield a granular picture. “There are 30 million pump sets in this country, we don’t know how much water are these pumps exploiting. So, we don’t really know how much groundwater we are extracting,” said Shekhar.

Climate change is exacerbating the situation by causing longer dry spells and impacting the intensity of rainfall in India. Over 110 years to 2010, the number of heavy rainfall events in India has increased by 6% per decade. This is attributed to rising temperatures caused by climate change, as IndiaSpend reported on August 24, 2018. During heavy rainfall events, water does not percolate into the ground to recharge the aquifer and quickly runs off.

(Tripathi is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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