ISLAMABAD/MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Protests were held across Pakistan on Monday as the government said it strongly condemned India’s constitutional changes in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir claimed by both countries.

India revoked Article 370, that gave special status of Jammu and Kashmir, in a bid to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority state with the rest of the country, its most far-reaching political move on the territory in nearly seven decades.

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In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir around 45 km (28 miles) from the contested border between the neighbours, dozens of protesters held black flags and burnt car tyres, chanting “Down with India”.

“The abolition of the special status of Kashmir will not serve its purpose,” said Zahid Iqbal, 35, a migrant from Indian-administered Kashmir. “We will fight, and we will fight with more vigour.”

There were also protests in Islamabad, the capital, and Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi.

In a statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it would “exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps” taken by India.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it would raise the issue with allies, including the United States.

“We intend to firmly highlight our stance in our meetings with the US delegation visiting Pakistan and with the international community at large,” Qureshi said on Twitter.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the move “was in clear violation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions” in the region, according to a statement released after a telephone call with Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Monday evening.

A spokesman for India’s foreign ministry declined to comment on Pakistan’s statement that the steps were illegal.

But there was no statement by Pakistan’s powerful military, with analysts saying it was likely to avoid escalating tension with India for the time being. 

High ground 

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has been elevated since February, when a militant group based in Pakistan attacked an Indian paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, killing at least 40 people and bringing them to the brink of a third war over the territory.

India has long accused Pakistan of fomenting a decades-long armed insurrection against its rule in the portion of Kashmir it controls. Islamabad denies this, saying it provides only diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiri separatists.

Pakistan is playing a key role in negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Khan recently returned from a state visit to Washington, where President Donald Trump offered to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.

India has consistently opposed third-party mediation on Kashmir, considering the issue one between the two countries.

Fresh from the state visit, Khan and the military were unlikely to want to look like an aggressor in the dispute, analysts said.

“Pakistan had lost the moral high ground on Kashmir due to allegations of (funding the insurgency) in the 1990s,” said Anam Zakaria, an analyst and author of a book on the dispute.

“(But) in the post 9/11 years it has actively tried to project a softer image, and with respect to Kashmir raise awareness of human rights violations. This unilateral act in (Kashmir) will bolster its stance.”

But there was also anger at Pakistan for its inability to prevent the move.

“This reflects the weakness of Pakistan’s government and apathy of the so-called brotherly Muslim nations that have encouraged India to take this step,” 51-year-old Kashmiri Iqbal Awan said in Muzaffarabad.

The government on Monday revoked Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and proposed that the state be bifurcated into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The bill to reorganise the state and the resolution to abrogate Article 370 was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday and will be introduced by home minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha today. 

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Here’s what happened yesterday:

— Home minister Amit Shah announced in the Rajya Sabha that Article 370 had beenabolished by a presidential order that would come into force “at once”.

– Former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, both put under house arrest on Sunday night, called the move a “betrayal” of people’s trust in India.

— Shah moved two bills and a resolution in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories was passed in the Rajya Sabha after a day-long debate.

— Rajya Sabha passed the resolution to abrogate Article 370 and the accompanying Article 35Aby a voice vote, ending seven decades of autonomous state government. 

— Pakistan has called India’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status “illegal” and PM Imran Khan said it would “further deteriorate” relations between the two countries.

— PDP members Mir Fayaz and Nazir Ahmed Laway tore a copy of the Constitution in protest and were evicted from the Rajya Sabha.

— NDA ally JD(U) did not support the Bill, but Opposition parties BSP, AAP, TDP, TRS, YSR Congress and BJD did. NCP abstained from voting.

— Congress, Left parties, SP and DMK opposed it. 

—Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Bhubaneshwar Kalita quit as a member of the House over the party’s stand on Article 370. 

— The home ministry issued an instructed all states and Union Territories to keep security forces on “maximum alert” following its decisions on Kashmir.

— The announcement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting of the Union cabinet at his house on Monday morning.

— It followed the house arrest of political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including Mufti, Abdullah and Sajad Lone. 

— Internet and phone services were shut down in parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Educational institutions and offices were closed in the state and Section 144 was imposed in Srinagar and Jammu districts.

The Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 with 125 votes in favour and 61 against it. The bill, moved by home minister Amit Shah, bifurcates the state into two Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The House also approved a resolution moved by Shah to abrogate Article 370 and the accompanying Article 35A, removing Jammu and Kashmir’s decades-long special status.

Some Opposition parties like the Congress, the All India Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently opposed the bill and the resolution, calling it a subversion of democracy, even as Shah said none of their fears would come true in Kashmir. The Bahujan Samaj Party, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janta Dal, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Telugu Desam Party, the Telangan Rashriya Samiti and Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress were amongst the parties that voted with the government. 

This is how the Rajya Sabha debate unfolded:

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad: “In my political life, I had never even imagined that the state which is India’s crown, one day that head will be chopped off”.

“You have made light of the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding it was a ‘matter of shame’ that the Centre had reduced the state to a non-entity with Lt Governor’s rule.

“It will be a black spot on India’s history when the day this legislation is passed (in Parliament),” Azad said, claiming that the “state was being removed from the map of India” by being bifurcated and converted into a Union Territory.

“Today they are removing Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, abolishing Article 35A, doing delimitation by breaking the state without its will...”, Azad said.

He dared the government to bring such a Bill to convert Gujarat into a Union Territory, saying it should not take things lightly, and accused the Centre of muzzling the state’s history while being “drunk” with power.

Congress leader P. Chidambaram said: 

“By repealing Article 370, you are unleashing secessionist elements that you cannot control,” the Congress leader said.

Derek O Brien (TMC): The Trinamool Congress MP described it as “Black Monday” and a dark day for the country’s constitution, the idea of India, and the Rajya Sabha. “Trinamool is against the Constitutional immorality and procedural harakiri committed today,” he said.

Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD): 

“We have seen earlier narratives end. I appeal to you with folded hands, sacrifice arrogance, embrace Kashmiris, then Kashmir will embrace you on its own. You separated it, that makes me sad,” Jha said.

Tiruchi Siva (DMK): “The architects of the Constitution had given powers in this regard only to the state Assembly and the Central government has made this move when the elected Assembly is not in place.”

“MNCs (multinationals) would take over and it won’t be the land of Kashmiris anymore,” he said.

TK Rangarajan (CPI-M): The government did not consult people of Jammu and Kashmir and the RSS-BJP was destroying the Constitution, he said.

Vaiko (MDMK): He expressed fear that scrapping of Article 370 would lead to Kashmir becoming like “Kosovo, South Sudan and East Taimur” in future.

That apart, the United Nations and the countries which are against India might use this issue to “interfere” in Kashmir’s affairs, he said.

Kapil Sibal (Congress): “Today is not a day to go back to history or talk about law. We need to think that why are we here and why are we democratic nation.” 

“I know that the bill will be passed as you have manufactured democracy. Only the history will tell whether this day is historic or blot on the history or killed the spirit of democracy.” 

“We (Congress) won Kashmir and you lost Kashmir.”

KK Ragesh (CPM): “Democratic fabric of the nation is being questioned. There is an extra-ordinary situation existing. Political leaders are under house arrest and section 144 has been imposed in the state.” 

Binoy Viswam (CPI): “Fear was spread among the people of Kashmir and, today morning, through the Bill this conspiracy was made into practice.”

Ram Gopal Yadav (SP): “You could’ve just scrapped Article 370, why was it necessary to make it a Union Territory? If you wanted to remove article 370 then you should have done only that, why did you abolish statehood?” 

Vandana Chavan of NCP said that the party would abstain from voting on the bill as it was shocked.

Those who spoke in favour

BJP’s Shamsher Singh Manhas claimed that had Article 370 not been in place, terrorism would not have reared its head in the state.

Sushil Kumar Gupta (AAP): “We want the suffering of the Kashmiris to end, we want the suffering of the soldiers who sacrifice their life end, we want terrorism to end and we want people from all around the country to be able to travel there and do business.” 

He said AAP would tolerate injustice by Lt Governor, but stand for unity and against terrorism.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman: “It has been a commitment in BJP’s manifesto since the time of the Jan Sangh. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee lost his life in mysterious circumstances. He was union minister. He talked about Article 370. This is on for very long time.” 

Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would no longer be deprived of many benefits and laws available for safeguarding interest of the citizens in other parts of the country.

He also said that Article 370 created alienation, which was transient or temporary.

Amit Shah’s defence of the bill

Shah replied saying “nothing will happen” and Kashmir will not turn into another Kosovo. “It was heaven on earth and will remain so,” he said replying to the debate on the resolution and the bill which were taken up together.

Amit Shah said: 

— Full statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir at “appropriate time” and after “normalcy” returns.

— “Article 370 is the biggest hurdle to normalcy in the state” and government was committed to making Jammu and Kashmir the most developed state in the country.

— Terrorism cannot be eliminated from J&K until Article 370 and 35A are in existence.

— Development was being stalled in the state because of Article 370, real estate prices hadn’t moved in sync with national average, tourism did not develop in the state because of restrictions on purchase of land for outsiders and no industry could be set up.

— Restrictions placed by Article 370 and 35A crippled healthcare and education. 

— Article 370 was a temporary provision and he asked how long a temporary provision could be allowed to continue. The Supreme Court, however, has repeatedly upheld that this is not a temporary provision.

 (With PTI inputs)

International reactions are slowly trickling in after India moved to scrap Kashmir’s special status under Article 370. The state will now be bifurcated into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir being one, Ladakh the other.

Spokespersons for the UN and the US have both urged restraint. Reuters reported UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying, “We urge all parties to exercise restraint.” He also added that UN peacekeepers observing a ceasefire on the India-Pakistan border have “observed and reported an increase in military activity along the line of control.”

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Morgan Ortagus, from the US State Department, also called on both sides to “maintain peace and stability along the line of control,” Reuters reported. She added,  “We note that the Indian government has described these actions as strictly an internal matter.”

The world media also reacted to the news. While The Washington Post called it a “disturbing turn”,  The Guardian warned that it would have its “consequences”. 

Washington Post

The Guardian

The Telegraph

The New York Times

Al Jazeera

The news about Article 370 was met with angry protests in Pakistan, where the government’s representative called India’s actions “unlawful”. While the government again called on the US to mediate, there were demonstrations in Islamabad and Karachi. 

In Muzaffarabad (which is 45 km from the border), dozens of protesters held black flags and burnt car tires, chanting “Down with India”. 

Amnesty International slammed the Indian government’s treatment of Kashmiris, citing the communication blackout, additional deployment of troops and restrictions on public assemblies. “Important decisions about J&K are being decided by the Parliament without absolutely any consultation with the people,” said Aakar Patel, Head of Amnesty International India. 

The statement also said that India has committed “gross human rights violations” while handling protests in the past and warned that the “revocation of Article 370 is expected to cause unrest and wide scale protests in the state.”

The Wire reported that the Ministry of External Affairs met with all the ambassadors of the P-5 countries – the US, the UK, France, Russia and China – to meet with senior level officials at South Block.

And then later in the day, expanded to one on one meetings with other strategic countries such as Australia and Indonesia as well. 

On the heels of July’s major video game event, the Fortnite World Cup, Hasan Minhaj highlighted the troubling labor issues behind video game companies. 

The “Patriot Act” host addressed the exploitative labor practices rampant in the industry and the conditions under which developers and other employees work to create popular games. 

In Sunday’s episode, Minhaj dove into what’s known as the “development crunch,” the cycle in which companies manipulate their workforces and overwork them based on their game release dates. 

″Companies staff up, crunch their employees, then they lay people off when the game comes out,” Minhaj explained. “They’re given so much work, then none at all. They basically treat people the way we treated Freddie Prinze Jr. It was everything and then nothing.”

He added: “They can do that because there’s an endless supply of people willing to work in gaming.”

The host also delved into the sexism in the industry and the need for protections through labor unions. A piece by Kotaku news editor Jason Schreier in The New York Times earlier this year echoed many of these issues. Schreier compared the treatment of video game employees to “Tetris pieces, to be put into place as efficiently as possible, then promptly disposed of.” 

“Workers in the video game industry will be better off when they are able to leverage their talent and experience to demand better conditions from the executives who profit off their work,” Schreier wrote.  

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court is set to commence day-to-day hearing from Tuesday in the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya after the efforts to arrive at an amicable settlement through mediation have failed. 

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will conduct the hearing.

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The bench, also comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer had on August 2 taken note of the report of the three-member mediation panel, headed by former apex court judge FMI Kalifulla, that the mediation proceedings which went on for about four months have not resulted in any final settlement.

“The hearing which will be on day-to-day basis until the arguments are concluded will start with the appeals arising out of the two suits. The learned counsel(s)...in the appeals arising out of the aforesaid suits may, for the convenience of the court, indicate the pleadings and the evidence on which they propose to rely, so that the officials of the Registry can keep the said documents ready for perusal of the court,” the bench had said in its order.

The top court had on July 18, asked the mediation panel to inform the court about the outcome of their proceedings as on July 31.

The mediation panel, also comprising spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living foundation Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu, had said in its report submitted on Thursday that the Hindu and the Muslim parties have not been able to find a solution to the vexatious dispute.

The apex court, which on March 8 referred the matter for mediation, had asked for in-camera proceedings to be completed within eight weeks, but later granted time till August 15 after the panel’s earlier report said that the mediators were “optimistic” about an amicable solution.

After the bench on August 2 passed the order, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party had raised several technical issues and said he will need 20 days to argue the various issues arising in the matter in detail and there should not be any curtailment on the hearing.

While he was raising different aspects of the matter and how the appeals have to be heard, the bench had told him “don’t remind us what we have to do”.

“We know there are many aspects and we will deal with all these aspects. Let the hearing start,” it had said.

Dhavan also raised the issue of pending writ petition filed by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and the application filed by a Muslim body.

The court which had perused a report about the progress of mediation process till July 18, had said that its contents will remain confidential as per its earlier order.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties ― the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

On December 6, 1992, the Babri Masjid, constructed at the disputed site in the 16th century by Shia Muslim Mir Baqi, was demolished.

The central government on January 29 this year moved the apex court seeking its nod to return the 67-acre undisputed acquired land around the disputed site to original owners.

The 0.313 acre plot, on which the disputed structure stood before it was demolished by ‘kar sevaks’ on December 6, 1992, was within the 2.77-acre disputed premises., the plea said.

The government had then acquired 67.703 acres, including the 2.77-acre plot, through a legislation in 1993. The Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (RJN) is the owner of as much as 42 acres of the acquired non-disputed land.

The Centre’s plea said that the RJN (a trust to promote construction of Ram Temple) had also sought return of excess land acquired to original owners.

The Centre claimed that only 0.313 acre of land was disputed on which the structure stood before it was demolished by ‘kar sevaks’ on December 6, 1992.

A week later, another petition was filed challenging the constitutional validity of 1993 Central law on land acquisition in Ayodhya near the disputed site, contending that Parliament has no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to the state.

Seven individuals, including two Lucknow-based lawyers claiming to be devotees of Ram Lalla, said state legislature has exclusive power to make provisions on management of religious affairs inside its territory.

The plea said the Acquisition of Certain Areas of Ayodhya Act, 1993 Act infringes right to religion of Hindus guaranteed and protected by Article 25 of the Constitution of India.

Losing a parent feels insurmountable at any age. Our series helps you face it ― from the practical logistics to the existential questions about death and dying today.

When Sabine Schmidt’s mother died from leukemia in the fall of 2017, the emotional intensity of the loss rocked her. Schmidt, who writes for the blog Mom in Music City, hadn’t seen her mother in 16 years or spoken to her in nearly eight years.

Schmidt had thought that because she was estranged from her mother — a woman whom she described as frequently cruel — she wouldn’t necessarily grieve her death. She was wrong. 

“I was under the impression that I didn’t have the ‘right’ to grieve because of our strained relationship,” Schmidt, 49, told HuffPost. “It’s actually the opposite, in my opinion. When you have unfinished business with a loved one, grief is unbearable at times because you know you aren’t able to resolve your issues. That feeling can eat you up inside.”

Experts have called parental estrangement a “silent epidemic.” Although there are no hard numbers, one study out of Britain found that 8% of adults there are estranged from their parents, which translates to about 5 million people nationally. In another study, just over half of parents in the United States said they had a harmonious relationship with their grown children, which suggests parent-child discord is rampant.

There is no emotional road map for those people who are grappling with the loss of someone they may not have liked all that much, and who may have been the source of extreme pain in their lives. But experts say there is good reason to speak more openly about this experience, which is far more prevalent than society tends to recognize.

“One of the big things is that the more people talk about how normal this is, the more normal it becomes,” said Megan Devine, author of “It’s OK That You’re Not OK.”

Losing any parent is difficult. But grief experts agree that it’s common for people mourning the death of a parent with whom they didn’t have a strong relationship to confront an additional layer of complexity, like the one Schmidt described: the loss of the relationship that might have been.

“There are really two separate losses,” said Dan Wolfson, a New York City-based psychologist and a clinical director for Experience Camps for Grieving Children. “There’s the finality of there no longer being any room for repairing a relationship the person may wish could have been different. That is very different from grieving the loss of the person themselves.”

Often, those mourning the loss of an estranged parent will get hung up on the “what ifs” and “what could have beens” — What if our relationship had been better? What if he or she had been more understanding? Could we finally have developed the strong, healthy connection I wanted so badly?

The challenge with those hypotheticals is that they make it more difficult to move toward what experts call “integrated grief”— that is, the kind of grief that never goes away (grief never does, Wolfson emphasized), but doesn’t dominate a person’s life.

“What can happen when people do a lot of ‘what if?’ thinking is that it can get in the way of them being able to accept the reality of the loss — which can be an additional barrier in terms of being able to adapt,” Wolfson said.

Another typical complicated emotion is guilt.

“When there is a relationship that was draining or hard, there can be a freedom or relief when that person dies — and then what immediately comes is the guilt,” said Devine, adding that the ancient taboo of speaking ill of the dead is still surprisingly powerful. “It’s like, ‘I can’t believe I feel that way about a person who died.’ But sometimes, it is a relief.”

“We ought not assume that relationships are or are not strained,” said Alysha Lacey, program director at The Dougy Center, which supports grieving children and families. “All human relationships have some challenges or strains or conflict at some point.”

Experts say it’s essential for grieving parties — and those supporting them — to remember that humans are emotionally complex, and that we are fully capable of feeling multiple emotions at the same time as well as cycling through them. Feelings like sorrow, anger, relief and happiness can coexist. When it comes to grief, there is no “should.”

To make it less taboo for people to be transparent about grief in the face of a strained parental relationship, friends and family should remain open to the wide, messy truth of that loss. Avoid speaking in platitudes, Devine said, and if someone opens up about their difficult relationship, don’t make comparisons by saying anything along the lines of, “Well, at least he or she did or didn’t do XYZ.”

“The very first thing to do to support someone is to recognize that you’re not going to take their pain away,” Devine said. Instead, acknowledge the person’s pain and express curiosity about it. If it’s a friend who has lost an estranged parent, say something like, “I want to acknowledge that I know your relationship wasn’t always great, and if things feel weird, I want you to know that I’m more than happy to listen.”

“You’re opening a door,” Devine said. “But you don’t push it.”

Friends and family may worry about knowing the right thing to say, Wolfson said, but there often isn’t one because grief is painful, mutable and hard.  

“It can be as simple as, ‘I don’t know what to say, but I am here for you,’” he said. “That is honest. That’s real. That’s not trying to sugar coat anything.”

It’s been two years since Schmidt’s mother passed away, and the grief still comes on suddenly and unexpectedly. She’s written about her experience and said she has heard from several readers who have been through something similar, although she has not heard from any of her family. The grief hasn’t necessarily become easier, but Schmidt believes she has become stronger in the face of it.

“Just today, I came across a photograph of my mother holding my then 6-week old daughter,” Schmidt said. “The joy and love in my mom’s face is real. I still can’t believe she is gone.”

The New York Times is being run through the shredder after an overly generous headline about President Donald Trump’s comments on Monday about the weekend’s mass shootings.

At least 31 people were killed in separate shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. 

While Trump on Monday denounced hate and white supremacy, he failed to acknowledge his own long history of hateful and racist rhetoric.

Trump has referred to immigration as an invasion, and last month he told four women of colour in Congress to “go back” to their ancestral countries. He also cracked a joke when someone at a rally in Florida suggested shooting immigrants.

The alleged gunman in Texas reportedly shared a manifesto online that used similar language to Trump’s, referring to immigrants as “invaders” and using the phrase “Send them back.”

But the first edition of the Times carried a front-page headline suggesting that the president was attempting to unify the country: “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism.”

Critics attacked the paper on Twitter, and the headline was changed for the second edition to: “Assailing Hate but Not Guns.” 

It’s not clear if the change was the result of the criticism. 

Twitter users vented against the paper ― and some said they were canceling their subscriptions and urging others to do the same. 

Pakistan condemned Narendra Modi government’s move to scrap Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state. Prime Minister Imran Khan termed the move to revoke Article 370 as “illegal” and said it will “further deteriorate” relations between the nuclear-capable neighbours.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said, “Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory”.

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“As the party to this international dispute, Pakistan will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps,” it added.

Pakistan’s media unequivocally condemned India’s move, calling it the “darkest hour”. 

Pakistan has been in a territorial conflict with India since Kashmir’s accession to India in 1947. There had been a complete break down of diplomacy between India and Pakistan in the recent months after the Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF jawans. 

Here’s what the editorials of major Pakistan’s newspapers said:

Dawn

“The resolution and a presidential order were used to deprive the Jammu & Kashmir assembly of the right to have a say in any changes desired in its status,” said the editorial in Dawn. 

The Express Tribune

The editorial in The Express Tribune is titled, “India’s evil designs on Kashmir” and said, “We don’t know if the international community — the United Nations and the European Union — or the Muslim Ummah and its timid representative body, the Organisation of Islamic Countries, would take any notice of Geelani’s SOS, but the poor Kashmiris may continue to suffer with the Valley likely to take another major bloodbath and probably for a long time to come.”

The Nation

“Kashmir’s worst fear has been realized. With Kashmiri politicians under arrest, an information blackout in place, and soldiers marching through the streets suppressing any dissent with brute force, India has attempted to annex Kashmir without their consent,” said The Nation in its editorial.

The News

Titled “Dark days in Kashmir”, the editorial said that removal of Article 370 “gives India a free hand to create massive demographic change, possibly even ending the Muslim majority of Kashmir.”

SRINAGAR — A communications blackout entered its second day on Tuesday in disputed Kashmir, after India snapped television, telephone and internet links to deter protests over its scrapping of special constitutional status for the Himalayan region.

Moving to tighten its grip on India’s only Muslim-majority region, the government dropped a constitutional provision for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, long a flashpoint in ties with neighbouring Pakistan, to make its own laws.

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Monday’s decision came hours after authorities in Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, clamped an unprecedented communications blackout on the region, and arrested its leaders, including two former state chief ministers.

Although the leaders had warned that the change, which frees up land for purchase by non-residents, would provoke unrest, the blackout and a heavy deployment of troops, including tens of thousands of additional soldiers, have helped rein in agitation.

A backlash against New Delhi’s decision was imminent as many in the region saw this week’s decision as a breach of trust, said Shah Faesal, the leader of a political party, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement.

“We might see an eruption when the guard is down,” he told Reuters. “People are taking it as an act of humiliation.”

Security forces fired tear gas and pellets in response to sporadic protests on Monday in Kashmir’s Srinagar, said one police official who declined to be identified.

“There was stone pelting in some parts of the city,” he added.

Tension had risen in Kashmir since Friday, when Indian officials warned of possible militant attacks by Pakistan-based groups. Pakistan rejected those assertions, but thousands of alarmed Indians left the region over the weekend.

In Srinagar, armed police were stationed every few hundred metres as a ban on gatherings of more than four people in public places continued on Tuesday. Educational institutions and most shops in residential neighbourhoods were shut 

Some shopkeepers said they were running out of stock after days of panic buying.

“No provisions are left in my shop, and no fresh supplies are coming,” said grocery store owner Jehangir Ahmad.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in a nearly 30-year-long armed revolt that India has sent hundreds of thousands of troops to quell.

India blames the rebellion on Pakistan, saying Islamabad provides money, training and weapons to Islamist militants who either live in Indian-controlled Kashmir or enter it from the Pakistani side.

Pakistan has consistently denied the accusation, saying it provides moral and diplomatic support to Kashmiris seeking self-determination for the region.

Pakistan said it strongly condemned India’s decision on Monday to revoke Kashmir’s special status, which is bound to further strain ties between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Camila Cabello wrote a heartfelt message to her fans on Instagram, pushing back on the idea that “airbrushed bodies and airbrushed skin” are standards that are normal for women to attain.

“I’m writing this for girls like my little sister who are growing up on social media. They’re constantly seeing photoshopped, edited pictures and thinking that’s reality, and everyone’s eyes get used to seeing airbrushed bodies and airbrushed skin and suddenly they think THAT’s the norm,” wrote the singer over the weekend in an Instagram story. “It isn’t. It’s fake. AND FAKE IS BECOMING THE NEW REAL.”

The 22-year-old explained that “we have a completely unrealistic view of a woman’s body” and that having fat or “cellulite is normal.”

“It’s beautiful and natural. I won’t buy into the bullshit today!!!!! Not today satan. and I hope you don’t either,” she wrote.

Cabello’s note detailed how she hasn’t gone on social media recently, in an effort to avoid “things that hurt my feelings.” But she said she “accidentally” stumbled across a gossipy article “body shaming me,” and that the headline made her “super insecure just IMAGINING what these pictures must look like.”

She said her initial reaction to the headline was, “My cellulite! oh no! I didn’t suck in my stomach!”

“But then I was like…of course there are bad pictures, of course there are bad angles, my body’s not made of fucking rock, or all muscle for that matter.”

Hear, hear, Camila! 

Hearing Home Minister Amit Shah strip Jammu and Kashmir of its statehood with one speech was—as one Kashmiri put it—“insane,” but to not be able to speak with one’s family and friends after these seismic changes to their homeland, to not be able to protest or dissent, was “unbearable.”

Another Kashmiri called it “torture.” A third one said, “traumatic.” 

While everyone else in the world had something to say about the Modi government’s move to revoke Kashmir’s special status, a carefully orchestrated communication blackout has left Kashmiris with no way of speaking with each other or with anyone else. 

The day after J&K was fundamentally altered, there was no news out of Kashmir, not even on how people were reacting to it. The websites and social media channels of Kashmir’s local media have been in a state of dormancy, not having been updated since Sunday.  

It was between 6pm and 10pm on Monday evening, almost 24 hours since internet and mobile phone services were severed in Jammu and Kashmir, that HuffPost India spoke to Kashmiris in Delhi and Mumbai who were desperately trying to reach their families in Srinagar. 

“I’m worried, very worried about my family. It’s a natural feeling when you cannot reach your friends and family,” said Mamoon Roshangar, who left Kashmir in search for a job a month ago.

Having lived through 26 years of unrest in Kashmir, this is the first time that Roshangar is not with his family during a curfew, and the worst part for him is not knowing how they are coping. “I would rather be in Kashmir than outside. At the very least, I would have known if my parents are safe,” he said. 

The communication blackout, which has made it impossible for Kashmiris outside the state to contact their family and friends, is the most dehumanising part of the Modi government’s covert operation to revoke J&K’s special status. 

The Modi government has also bifurcated J&K into two union territories:  J&K, which will have its own Assembly, and Ladakh. 

Not only has the largely Muslim population of Kashmir been silenced in the wake of these changes, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made it impossible for Kashmiris to even be sure of the safety and well-being of their loved ones, at a time when they are imagining the worst. 

Many Kashmiris living outside the state have posted desperate messages on social media, asking for any updates about their families and friends.

It is unclear how long this shutdown will continue. Till Tuesday morning, even the spokesperson for the J&K police, Manoj Pandit, was unreachable.

News reports on Tuesday quoted the principal secretary of the Planning Commission in Srinagar as saying that the state has enough food and other supplies for three months, raising questions about how long the government plans to clamp down on Kashmiris.

In Lok Sabha, Jitendra Singh,  Union Minister and BJP leader from J&K, claimed, “The common man in the streets of Srinagar is rejoicing the abrogation of Article 370. There is, however, a veil of fear that his hindering them.” 

Political activist Shehla Rashid, said that there have been instances of a few people celebrating in Jammu, but not a single in Kashmir.

Following the arrest of political leaders like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Rashid is one of the few Kashmiri voices which is opposing the BJP dominant narrative.

The former JNU student said, “All of Kashmir is under house arrest, but celebrations are being allowed in Jammu. If Section 144 is in place, how can there be celebrations, but no protests. This is how the law is being played around with.”

So many questions

Had their parents heard about the Indian government revoking the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir? Were they all right? Was the situation calm in their neighborhoods? Was there any violence? 

These are just some of the questions that Kashmiris, who had not spoken to their families and friends since Sunday night, wanted to ask. 

Haunting them are images of thousands of Indian troops pouring into the narrow streets of Srinagar. 

And they know that their parents are worried sick about them as well.

In the conversations with their families before the internet and mobile phone service were blocked, everyone agreed that “something big was coming.”

With memories of the post-Pulwama  backlash against Kashmiris still fresh, their parents, they said, had urged them to return home so that they could face it together. 

Recalling the last conversation that she had with her family on Sunday night, Faqira Ali said, “My mother was telling me to come back. She said, ‘We don’t know what is coming, but if you are here then we can at least be together.’ But no one had imagined this.”

The 25-year-old, the first woman in her family to leave Kashmir to work in Delhi, is conscious of how worried her family is about her safety in the big city, even on regular days. 

“I speak to my mother every morning. When I woke up today, there was no call from her. I tried calling her. Her phone was switched off. I tried my sister. It was switched off. I tried my mother again...” she said. 

Ali, who works in the human resources department of a corporate firm in Ghaziabad, wants to head back home, but she is stuck until she can communicate with her parents. 

“Are my parents fine? What is the situation over there? They have sent so much Army over there, what will happen? she said. “These are the  questions that are going on in my mind. These are not positive questions, but negative ones.” 

As far as the backlash was concerned, Ali and other Kashmiris said that it was more like gloating, with their non-Kashmiri work colleagues and acquaintances speaking “insensitively,” and declaring, “Finally, Kashmir hamaara hai. Modi and Shah have done it.” 

 No landline 

Khawaja Itrat, a Kashmiri student, who was in Srinagar on Sunday, said that as the internet and mobile phone services were being shut down by the Indian government, he had heard that a few SAT (satellite) phones were being distributed to officials in the J&K police.  

He, however, did not have access to one. 

Instead, Itrat shared his landline number with this reporter, assuming that it would be the one mode of communication which would still work. 

“No one knows what tomorrow will bring.  “We are living in rumours. People are scared. Pray for us,” he said, before hanging up. 

Landline numbers too have been blocked.

Adil Lateef, a Kashmiri journalist based in Delhi, who was also relying on a landline number to reach his family, described the situation in Kashmir as an “unprecedented clampdown.” 

“By 10:30 pm (on Sunday) the internet was gone. The last text I sent was 11:45 pm. By 12:00 am, the mobile service was gone. I was a bit relieved that the landline was working, but then I found out, these too were out. There was total blackout,” he said. 

Somehow, Lateef does not know how, he received WhatsApp texts from a friend who was at the airport in Srinagar at one in the afternoon on Monday, an hour after Shah had announced that J&K was no longer a state. 

“He said that not everyone was aware of the situation, and those who had heard were in shock. He said that Kashmiris were worried about Kashmiris in other cities. He said, ‘We are worried about you guys.’”

Lateef, 26, said that he spent the intervening night between Sunday and Monday with his friends from Kashmir, but they did not sleep.

“My family does not know how I am. I don’t know how my family is. I’m worried about them, and I know they are worried about me,” he said. 

‘I was totally numb’

Ejaz Ayoub, a Kashmiri columnist based in Mumbai, said that Kashmir was riddled with rumours in the days leading up to Shah’s announcement, with people stocking up on food and essential medicines. 

Civilian traffic and shops remained open. 

The last conversation that Ayoub had with his family was about stocking up on “essential medicines.”

Ayoub, however, said that he had managed to speak with a friend in Kashmir via an internet phone (IP phone), and he learnt that while Dish TV was working in the Kashmir Valley, cable TV was down. 

“In terms of ambiguity, a situation like this has never been witnessed before in Kashmir,” he said.

For almost a week ahead of Shah’s announcement, Indian troops were pouring into Jammu and Kashmir, which, after the dissolution of the PDP-BJP coalition government in June, and the Legislative Assembly in November, is under President’s Rule currently. 

At the end of last week, suddenly, the Amarnath pilgrims were asked to leave Kashmir Valley. The Centre, till now, has not given an explanation for this evacuation, which not only costs the pilgrims their hard-earned money, but also the thousands of Kashmiris whose livelihood and businesses depend on the pilgrimage, every year. 

Then came the communication blackout, and the arrest of political leaders, even mainstream ones like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, triggering rumours of everything from India going to war with Pakistan to the revocation of Kashmir’s special status. 

The BJP has maintained that J&K’s special status needs to go, but legal experts have pointed out that the manner in which the Modi government has tried to reach its goal is unconstitutional.

As per the Instrument of Accession, Kashmir’s special status can be revoked only after the Government of India (GOI) concurs with Kashmir’s Constituent Assembly or its Legislative Assembly, which then needs to pass a resolution on the same.

Ayoub suspected it, but he did not imagine that J&K’s relationship with India would be redefined in less than an hour. 

“I thought I was mentally prepared. For a moment, I was totally numb. It came as a shock. It was shattering,” he said. 

Referring to Article 370, he said, “It is very dear to us. It is an article of faith.”

Given that the Indian government has plugged every source of dissent, and clamped down on all avenues of protest, Kashmiris believe the response to be this long, drawn out and painful.

Ali, who works in human resources, called the government’s move “foolish.” 

Lateef, the journalist, pointed out that expecting a “quick reaction” would be a mistake. 

Ayoub said that he counted himself among the moderates, but after the abrogation of Article 370, he had lost faith in Indian democracy. This move, he believes, would lead to further extremism in Kashmir. 

 “This is a slap in the face of the Kashmiris who respected the Indian constitution,” he said. “ BJP is giving a steroid to separatism. The Modi government is giving a steroid to radicalisation.” 

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday told the Parliament that the Narendra Modi government had scrapped Article 370 of the Consitution, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah moved a bill in the Lok Sabha to reorganise the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The bill has already been passed in the Rajya Sabha.

What happens to Jammu and Kashmir without its special status? 

The IPC comes into force

The Indian Penal Code (IPC) will replace the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) to deal with criminal matters and Article 356, under which President’s rule can be imposed in any state, will also be applicable in union territories (UTs) Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh with the unprecedented decision of the Centre.

No separate flag

There will be no separate flag of Jammu and Kashmir and the tricolour will be the only national flag for the entire country, a Home Ministry official said.

No separate constitution

There will be no separate Constitution for Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Constitution will govern the two union territories to be created.

Till now, in the case of the state government failing to function, Governor’s rule in J&K was imposed by invoking Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir for a period of six months and was further extendable by imposing President’s rule, an official told PTI.

With the revocation of Article 370, Article 356 can be invoked and President’s rule can be imposed right way in case of need.

5-year tenure for assembly

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislative assembly will have a tenure of five years like all the states and UTs of Delhi and Puducherry. Till now, the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly had a tenure of six years. 

Centre can declare financial emergency if needed

The government can also invoke Article 360 in the two UTs to declare financial emergency if need arises.

RTI in force

Henceforth, the Right to Information (RTI) Act will be applicable to the new UTs to be created, the official said.

 (With PTI inputs)

Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement that the Centre has decided to revoke Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state dominated the news cycle for most of Monday. 

The panic over what the government was up to had been building up over the weekend, peaking over Sunday night as the government put top politicians under house arrest and cut off communications in the state. 

While everyone was glued to the TV and their phones, listening to Shah explain and defend the move in the Parliament and trying to understand what this means, five other important news items didn’t get the attention they should have.

1. Transgender Persons Bill Passed

The Lok Sabha passed the controversial Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019 on Monday by a voice vote amid noisy protests by some opposition parties.

Replying on the bill, Minister of State for Social Justice Rattan Lal Kataria said it makes a provision for establishing a national authority for safeguarding rights of transgenders.

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However, the transgender community, according to The News Minute, has rejected the bill, with activist Grace Banu quoted as saying in the report, “The Bill is equal to killing trans people. The government is supposed to draft laws and schemes for the people but this Bill is totally against the people.”

Going by the bill, a person would have the right to choose to be identified as a man, woman or transgender person, irrespective of sex reassignment surgery and hormonal therapy. However, The News Minute added that the bill requires transgender persons to go through a district magistrate and district screening committee to get certified as a trans person. In case the certificate is denied, no provision for an appeal or review is mentioned. 

The Wire had reported last month that activists had called for the full text of the bill to be made available, not just in English, so that the people directly affected by it could give their inputs. This hasn’t been done.   

2. Sensex plunges, rupee weakens

The BSE’s benchmark index Sensex on Monday crashed over 418 points to slip below the 36,700-level, a near five-month low, as massive global sell-offs and growing political uncertainties in Jammu and Kashmir rattled investor sentiment.

Likewise, the NSE gauge Nifty dived nearly 135 points to close at 10,862.60.

Both benchmark indices — Sensex and Nifty — saw an intense volatility throughout the session due to multiple headwinds like escalation in US-China trade war, weak corporate earnings, rupee downfall and political tensions in Jammu and Kashmir. The sell-off in stocks had begun after the Union budget was presented on 5 July, on worries that a tax surcharge on the “super rich” meant the government was now targeting foreign portfolio investors. The Sensex had pared its losses on Tuesday afternoon, and was up over 487.67 points.

The rupee also weakened the most since September 2013 on Monday, reported Mint.  

3. Re-verification notices for NRC cause panic

Several people in Assam, who have been included in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), were issued fresh notices to attend re-verification hearings, according to reports.

The people were asked to attend hearings between 5 and 7 August, at locations 300 kilometres away, reported NDTV.

The rules state that applicants must be given 15 days of notice before the hearing is held, but they weren’t followed, Scroll said. The report added that a bus ferrying people from Kamrup to Golaghat to attend NRC hearings met with an accident. Several people, including children, were injured.

4. Unnao rape survivor remains critical

The Unnao rape survivor has been airlifted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre and her condition remains critical.

The rape survivor, who was severely injured in a car-truck collision last week, was airlifted to New Delhi from Lucknow on Monday evening for further treatment following Supreme Court directives in this regard, police said.

“She is sick and on life support system needing medication to support her blood pressure. The patient remains critical and is undergoing treatment under multi-disciplinary team of doctors,” AIIMS Trauma Centre Chief Dr Rajesh Malhotra said.

The accident had dominated national headlines over the past week after it brought fresh attention to a series of misfortunes the complainant and her family have suffered, including the deaths of four people connected to her and the imprisonment of her uncle. 

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which has taken over the investigation into the accident, has booked 10 people for murder, including Uttar Pradesh MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is already in jail, charged with the rape of the woman in 2017 when she was a minor. Sengar was finally expelled from the BJP after massive outrage last week.

5. Job cuts across auto dealerships

Around two lakh jobs have been cut across automobile dealerships in India in the last three months as vehicle retailers cut manpower to tide over the impact of the unprecedented sales slump, according to a statement by industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

FADA, according to PTI, feared that the job cuts may continue, with more showrooms being shut in the near future and sought immediate government intervention such as reduction of GST to provide relief to the auto industry.

“The majority of job cuts have happened in the last three months...It started around May and continued through June and July,” FADA President Ashish Harsharaj Kale told PTI.

The two lakh jobs cuts in the last three months are over and above the 32,000 people who lost employment when 286 showrooms were closed across 271 cities in the 18-month period ended April this year, he added.

Leading automakers have announced up to 50% dip in their domestic sales in July, with market leader Maruti Suzuki alone reporting a 36% drop in sales. Maruti also said it has cut the number of temporary workers it employs to deal with the slowdown. 

The sharp decline in sales numbers of the leading manufacturer shows the decline in consumer sentiment and indicates an overall slowdown in the economy, wrote The Indian Express.

(With PTI inputs)

“What are the benefits of removing Article 370?”

Three men lined up against a shop in Delhi smile broadly into the camera.

“The tricolour will be waved in Kashmir, bhai your turn,” Ankit Jatav tells his friend. The friend, a young man in a black tee, thumps his chest and says, “Doosra, Jammu Kashmir ki lugai milegi humein” [Second, we will get a wife from Jammu Kashmir].”

The third man declares Kashmir will now be called Kashi, and all three shout ‘Vande Mataram’ in unison.

The video, posted on TikTok with hearts and flexed bicep emojis, was uploaded shortly after the Indian government invoked the Article 370 to scrap Kashmir’s special status. Jatav, who has over 12,000 followers on TikTok has posted 10 more videos on Article 370 since then.

In another video, one of his friends, a young man with coiffed hair, said, “Main toh chala Kashmir, mujhe Delhi main ladki nahin mil rahi hai (I am going to Kashmir, I am not getting women in Delhi).”

While a total communications blackout in Kashmir has made it impossible to ascertain the repercussions of the Modi government’s decision to abrogate Kashmir’s special status, social media platforms in mainland India are inundated with videos asserting Hindu supremacy. 

TikTok in particular is full of slightly desperate Hindu men asserting “victory” by claiming they can now “get girls” from Kashmir. Similar content has started surfacing on Facebook and Twitter.

Prior to the government’s decision on Monday, there was no bar on marrying Kashmiri men or women. However, the children of women who married non-Kashmiris would not inherit property in Kashmir under its old laws.

In India, men have long used so-called “muscular nationalism” to channel a deep misogyny directed at women who dared to critique a dominant political narrative. Women who have criticised the majoritarian politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have faced rape threats, obscene messages and even fake porn videos. 

Senior BJP ministers, including the Prime Minister, have followed these trolls online, and invited them for social media summits while insisting the government should not be held responsible for encouraging hate directed at women online.

However, in the case of Kashmir and Article 370, the rush of misogynistic content seems oddly in line with the government’s own approach to Kashmir’s people. Like the government treated Kashmir as a people whose opinion wasn’t worth considering, young men on TikTok are celebrating the idea of ‘getting’ a Kashmiri woman like she is an object with no agency. Ironically, a bunch of these videos end with men chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ or Vande Mataram, completely dismissive of absurdity of looking at Kashmiri women as subjects of their ‘patriotic’ project.

“The mockery made out of Kashmiri women is reiteration of the fact that the human race has always made women the battle ground of their fragile brittle egos,” human rights lawyer Tahmina Lashkar told HuffPost India.

EVERYONE WANTS TO ‘MARRY’ KASHMIRIS

A user called Amit Modak, whose feed is loaded with paeans to Narendra Modi, the Indian Army and ‘bhagwa’ (saffron), posted a video which contained the message: “Now I can marry a Kashmiri girl”. The text is followed by a dozen laughter emojis and on the background, a track with the sound of a man laughing hysterically played.

His other posts include one that said Amit Shah is cooking ‘Kashmiri Pulao’ and that when the government did not listen to 25 crore people on the issue of triple talaq, fat chance they’d listen to 1.5 crore Kashmiris on anything. In another video, Modak sports a sleeveless tee, slicked back hair and a fade, and declares: “Jai Shree Ram. The people who are thinking of buying land in Kashmir, wait for a bit. Don’t be in such a hurry, wait for a bit. Who knows, maybe you can buy land in Lahore.”

Another man who identifies himself as Sunil Kavi and claims to be an actor, model and social activist among other things, shot a video of himself exulting at the news of ‘Article 370 being removed’. He said in the video, with a wink and jumping with glee: “Ab toh main shaadi Kashmir main karoonga. (Now, I will marry in Kashmir.)” Other men commented on his post ‘yes, bhai, yes’ and ‘bilkul sahi hai (that’s absolutely right).’

We reached out to him on his profile to explain what he implied and his article will be updated when he does.

Amar, who only has four posts on his profile, but nearly 3500 followers, posted a text only video in Hindi which said the following:

“My bachelor friends, start preparing, because after 15th August, in Kashmir, you can find in-laws.” The last text slide is accompanied by a picture of a group of young Muslim girls in hijab. 

The text also is accompanied by the laughter emojis. This seems to be a favoured line of conversation on TikTok, with smiling men almost saying this is a threat to Kashmiri men. Some other videos shot by men in Haryana claimed that prior to Monday, Kashmiris used to visit the state to sell shawls, but now they will visit with ‘kothali’ for their sisters — a tradition in Haryana to gift clothes, sindoor etc to married women by their brothers and maternal family.

A man who goes by the user name Jitendra Verma, has shot a video of himself saying, “Get ready unmarried friends, now your in-laws house will be in Kashmir. Kashmiris, become ready to be our brother-in-laws.” A man laughed loudly in the background as Verma finished his video, which is tagged is ‘Jai Hind’ and “Jai Shri Ram’.

The tags and the assertion of ‘patriotism’ makes it clear that these videos about Kashmiri women are not in anyway meant to be an appreciation of Kashmiri women, but like in patriarchal societies, very casually delivered threats to own women as a means to claim ownership of land and a political narrative.

HINDUTVA ASSERTION

One of the first videos to have landed on TikTok after the Article 370 announcement was a video of saffron-clan men celebrating in the streets on an Indian city while a song which claimed ‘ab Ayodhya main, Ram Mandir ka nirmaan chahiye’ played in the background. The hashtag #Article370 registered around 870,000 views since yesterday and almost all the content is pro-Hindutva. With the ban on internet in Kashmir, no Kashmiri voice could be amplified on the platform, though there are old videos of Kashmiri men and women demanding that Article 35A be protected and demands of ‘azaad Kashmir’ be heard.

A host of other videos resonated with sounds of ‘ghus ke marenge’ and made the government’s decision sound, quite unwittingly of course, like an invasion.

Most of the videos on ground reflected how pro-Hindutva groups found the issue as an appropriate time to indulge in chest-beating about Hindu supremacy.

Rajeev Mittal of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal sent an invite to celebrate the government’s ‘win’ in Gurgaon where men gathered with drums to garland photos of Bharat Mata. Asked what they were actually celebrating, he said, “The resolution to protect Bharat Mata.”

Lok Sabha witnessed massive chaos and uproar on Monday after Home Minister Amit Shah moved a resolution for revoking provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019. 

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury questioned the legality behind the introduction of the bills.

He questioned the government’s position on Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, while referring to a 1994 resolution by the House.

“You say it is an internal matter. The UN has been monitoring the situation since 1948. Then there is the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration. Whether this is a bilateral matter or an internal matter....” Chowdhury asked.

Chowdhury said he needed clarification on the issue since the government had last week told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the Kashmir issue would be solved bilaterally. He added that the “entire Congress party” wanted to know the government’s response. 

“In this parliament in 1994, we adopted a resolution that Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir has to be restored. It has to be brought into the ambit of our country. Now once Jammu and Kashmir has been bifurcated, what shall be the status of PoK?” he later said outside the parliament, ANI quoted.

In the Lok Sabha, Chowdhury’s question drew Amit Shah’s ire, who said, “You don’t consider Jammu and Kashmir an integral part India? What are you saying? Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Whenever I say Jammu and Kashmir, PoK comes under it. I am being aggressive because you didn’t think that PoK comes under Jammu and Kashmir. We can die for it.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tweeted a clip of Chowdhury’s remarks in the Parliament and asked if this is Congress’s official position.

Pakistan’s army chief said on Tuesday the country’s military will “go to any extent” to support people in the Kashmir region, a day after India revoked special status for Jammu and Kashmir.

“Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfil our obligations in this regard,” General Qamar Javed Bajwa said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday termed India’s move to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir as “illegal” and said it will “further deteriorate” relations between the nuclear-capable neighbours.

Khan made the remarks while speaking with his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad on the situation in Kashmir, Geo News quoted a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Monday.

The Pakistan Foreign Secretary on Monday called upon India “to halt and reverse its unlawful and destabilising actions, ensure full compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, and refrain from any further action that could entail serious implications.”

The Foreign ministry’s statement said that Pakistan would continue to extend “political, diplomatic and moral support to the indigenous legitimate Kashmiri people’s struggle for the realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination. ”

Pakistan’s human rights minister Shireen Mazari termed India’s move as “completely unacceptable.” 

“International Court of Justice must be approached immediately, as well as moving the UNSC and other international forums including human rights organisation,” she said. 

(With PTI inputs)

Young children can pick up on their parents’ relationship problems, leaving them more likely to worry or scare easily, scientists say.

Experts believe, for the first time, that they’ve shown conflicts between couples can help to explain emotional problems in very young children.

Their research also indicates expectant parents’ emotional struggles have an impact on behavioural problems in their children.

The team from the Universities of Cambridge, Birmingham, New York and Leiden say their findings highlight a “pressing need” for greater support for couples before, during and after pregnancy to improve outcomes for children.

Lead author, Professor Claire Hughes from Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research, said: “For too long, the experiences of first-time dads has either been sidelined or treated in isolation from that of mums. This needs to change because difficulties in children’s early relationships with both mothers and fathers can have long-term effects.”

[Read More: 8 Practical Ways To Help Children With Worries Or Anxious Thoughts]

The study is believed to be the first to look at the influence of both mothers’ and fathers’ wellbeing before and after birth on children at 14 and 24 months of age.

According to the research, the wellbeing of first-time mothers before birth had a direct impact on the behaviour of their children by the time they were two years old. Mothers who suffered from prenatal stress and anxiety were more likely to see their child display behavioural problems such as temper tantrums, restlessness and spitefulness.

The researchers also found two-year-olds were more likely to exhibit emotional problems – including being worried, unhappy and tearful, scaring easily, or being clingy in new situations – if their parents had been having early postnatal relationship problems.

These ranged from a general lack of happiness in the relationship to arguments and other kinds of conflict.

[Read More: Six Techniques To Help Mums And Dads Calm Down When Parenting Gets Too Much]

The study published in Development & Psychopathology drew on the experiences of 438 first-time expectant mothers and fathers who were followed up at four, 14 and 24 months after birth. These parents were from the East of England, New York State and the Netherlands.

Using standardised questionnaires and in-person interviews, the parents reported on their symptoms of anxiety and depression in the third trimester of pregnancy and when their child was at the three stages.

They also completed standardised questionnaire measures of couple relationship quality and children’s emotions and behaviour. 

The study acknowledges that genetic factors are likely to play a role but they accounted for parents’ mental health difficulties prior to their first pregnancy and after their child’s birth.

For relationship support, national charity Relate has a range of resources, including a free live chat, local support groups, and a phone line. 

While Home Minister Amit Shah claimed on Tuesday that National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah had “neither been arrested nor detained”, the Kashmiri politician retorted saying he was detained at home against his will. 

“I was detained in my house... I feel sad that Home Minister can lie like this,” Abdullah told NDTV.  

Abdullah, in light of the manner in which Article 370 was scrapped, said that a “dictatorial” authority had been invoked and not a “democratic” one in Jammu and Kashmir. 

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The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said he “broke the door” to come out and speak to the media.

Emphasising that the guarantee of the Article 370 was in India’s Constitution, he said,“dictatorial authority has been invoked and not a democratic authority that we thought they will invoke. I don’t know how many have been arrested. Nobody is allowed to come in or go out, we are under house arrest,” he said.

Abdullah’s absence from Parliament was brought up by NCP’s Supriya Sule when she told the House that Abdullah, who sits beside her in Parliament, was not present.

“He is neither under detention nor under arrest. He is at his home on his own will,” Shah said in reply.

When Sule wondered whether the National conference leader was unwell, Shah said it was up to the doctors to say. “I can’t carry out the treatment, it was up to doctors,” he said.

Kashmir’s political leaders like Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Lone were first held under house arrest, then officially arrested amid Article 370 being scrapped.  

The opposition in Lok Sabha on Tuesday accused the government of not consulting “stakeholders” before taking a decision on abrogating provisions of Article 370 which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a charge rejected by treasury benches which said Parliament represents the will of the people.

Participating in the debate on the resolution for abrogating some provisions of Article 370, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, opposition members said the decisions should have been taken by the state legislature.

Intervening in the debate, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said Parliament represents 130 crore people. “Who could be a bigger stakeholder,” he shot back.

(With PTI inputs)

Shortly after he landed in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) Shah Faesal spoke to HuffPost India, describing the seconds that followed Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. 

Faesal said, “It was like a nuclear bomb had fallen on Kashmir. Everyone was frozen.”

“I have no words to describe how it was. Hundreds of people were crying and mourning, but there was such a feeling of helplessness. This has been done to impose a sense of defeat in the entire people.” 

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On Tuesday, as the rest of the country still waits to hear from the people most affected by the government’s shock move to nullify Article 370, Faesal’s remarks shed light on how the news was received in Kashmir. 

In Lok Sabha, Jitendra Singh, union minister and BJP leader from J&K, claimed, “The common man in the streets of Srinagar is rejoicing the abrogation of Article 370. There is, however, a veil of fear that is hindering them.” 

Since Sunday night, mobile phone services, internet via broadband and mobile phones, landline connections, and cable TV has been blocked in Kashmir. The websites and social media channels of Kashmir’s local media have been in a state of dormancy, not having been updated since Sunday.

‘Robbed in broad daylight’

“Quiet,” is a word that came up several times in the conversation with Shah, who quit the IAS in January, and co-founded a political party, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement, with political activist Shehla Rashid. 

Quiet on account of the curfew, which was keeping people from leaving their homes, the communications blackout, and the fact that almost all major political leaders, including mainstream ones like Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been arrested by the Modi government.

Faesal said, “Nobody has the slightest idea that Indian constitution would be robbed of its value in broad daylight. We saw it as the demise of India. I have come to Delhi to mourn this demise.”

The BJP has maintained that J&K’s special status needs to go, but legal experts have pointed out that the manner in which the Modi government has tried to reach its goal is unconstitutional.

As per the Instrument of Accession, Kashmir’s special status can be revoked only after the Government of India (GOI) concurs with Kashmir’s Constituent Assembly or its Legislative Assembly, which then needs to pass a resolution on the same. But since the state is under President’s rule, the NDA government bypassed this by acting instead of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly.

“In essence, Parliament has acted on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly to move a resolution to modify Article 370,” wrote Scroll.in’s Sruthisagar Yamunan on Monday. 

But given that rumours of bifurcation and revocation were already in the air, following the massive troop deployment in the days ahead of the announcement, how were Kashmir’s leaders still taken by surprise? 

Kashmiri political leaders, said Faesal, were assured by the Modi government that “nothing is going to happen.” “Maybe that is what made the mainstream leaders complacent?” he said. 

Even as late as Saturday, two days before Amit Shah introduced the bill in Parliament, state governor Satya Pal Malik had denied that the government was planning anything big and said there was “nothing to worry about”. 

Even on Sunday, I&B minister Prakash Javadekar told Deccan Herald that “no dramatic announcements” were in the offing, indicating he either lied or was kept in the dark about the developments.

Most hurtful  

The Supreme Court, Faesal argued, had upheld the “permanent” nature of special status for Kashmir. 

Rather than discuss the merits and demerits of the revocation, however, Faesal spoke on the manner in which it was carried out. 

“More hurtful matter is the manner in which it was done. It was done with such unilateralism  and ruthlessness, without taking into consideration Kashmiris. There cannot be a darker day.” 

Reflecting on where he stood, given that he had left the IAS to join politics, Faesal admitted he was feeling “helpless.” 

Given that most political leaders are in jail in Kashmir, he said, “It is very lonely there. There is a lot of helplessness.”

In Delhi, Faesal said that he intends to meet people and figure out a way forward. 

“What has happened is that the BJP government has demolished the mainstream electoral politics in Kashmir. Who will remain there to carry out mainstream politics, I don’t know.”  

In Kashmir, Faesal said that “defeat” and a sense of despondency were the prevailing sentiments, at least for the moment. 

“This has been done to impose a sense of defeat in the entire people,” he said.