Theof the Indian Army Gen. Bipin Rawat has let it be known to stone-pelting mob in no uncertain term that they should stop thinking or dreaming about ‘Azadi’ in Kashmir. It will never be a reality, it will never happen and it is impossible, Gen Rawat has emphasized. These strong words came from Gen. Rawat after a tourist died in the incident of stone pelting in the Kashmir valley. The tourist who died in the incident was identified as 23 year old Thirumani, who had gone to Kashmir on vacation. He was from Tamil Nadu. Thirumani was going to Gulmarg on the fateful day. The nation, no doubt will not allow the separatists to fulfill their dream of ‘Azadi’.Those indulging in violence in the name of so called ‘Azadi’ would be annihilated by the Army. There is no hope for separatists. Their defeat is certain; they will be killed. Even China has recognized the strength of the Indian Armed Forces. The entire nation stands behind the Army.
Many questions are being raised after the death of tourist boy from Tamil Nadu. It was said earlier that tourists in Kashmir were not target of assault by the agitators and violent mob of the separatist elements in the valley. Tourists were revered and warmly welcomed by the Kashmiris since it was and it is a good source of earning for livelihood for them. It is Kashmiri culture to treat tourists as welcome guests. But the death of Tamil Nadu tourists has exposed this myth. This myth has been exposed earlier also, when almost every year during Amarnath Yatra pilgrims are attacked by the terrorists supported by local separatists.
There should not be any hesitation in saying that the stone pelting mobs are digging their own graves by attacking tourists which was abundantly clear when the bus carrying tourists was attacked by stone pelting mob in which Thirumani died. This happened when tourism gives the economic support to Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmiris seem to have forgotten this fact that their hearth runs on revenue from tourism. Stone pelting mobs are mentally deranged. Only mad people would attack and kill those who give bread and butter to them.
Mob Have No Fear
The stone pelting mob have no fear of authorities because the government attitude towards them have been rather soft in the past. Just look at the story of leader of the stone pelting mob Masarat Alam. By releasing Alam, the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Syed had created controversy. There were solid evidence against Masarat that he had led the mob who pelted stones at armed forces during violent agitation between 2008 and 2010. He was arrested in 2010 from the outskirts of Srinagar. It is known to all that the stone pelting mob were responsible for killing many armed forces personnel and innocent public.
There was public outrage when Masarat, a separatist of Hurriyat Conference was released after spending four years in jail; the outrage was fully justified. Surprisingly the state police had not registered any case against him despite evidence of offence and crime against Masarat. He was in jail without any case under Public Safety Act. The point to be noted here is when there is no case against an individual how you can keep him in jail?
Ever since the Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed at the hands of Armed forces, the valley has been witnessing widespread violence and protests resulting in casualties of armed forces and attack on posts of police and security forces in the valley.
Human Rights
A big question arises, is there no human rights for our security forces. Are they not Indians? Do they have no family? Don’t they have people who love them? The security forces lost their lives while on duty in the troubled state of Jammu & Kashmir. There have been incidents of women throwing boiling oil on our jawans and sometime even shooting them dead. These incidents take place on a regular interval. When Police hunt for the accused nobody from public gives any clue to the investigating officers.
The officers and jawans are also human being and they have right to live with dignity. Far away from home, the security forces on duty in violent zone also have human rights. Terrorists are attacking camps of security forces, grenades are being hurled. Security forces are attacked when they return from duty with stones resulting in head injuries and damage to eyes. The situation is indeed grave.
How to improve the situation? For any improvement in the situation, the people of Kashmir will have to stand by the government and authorities. People must cooperate with the security forces and not confront them because people in general in Kashmir valley are suffering because of militant strikes and violence. The tourism is seriously hit by the agitation. Small and cottage industry are getting closed as there are no buyers. Time has come when the people of the valley should stop living in the shadow of fear of terrorists and separatist forces; rather people should now fight these elements to end the violent and bloody phase in the valley. This is the only way to come out of the crisis. The violent phase has ruined the life of three generations of the people of Kashmir. If the people have any grievances against the authorities it can be resolved through dialogue. After all, they are also citizens of India.

(The writer is a Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha as well as the Chairman of Multilingual News Agency Hindusthan Samachar)

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the Central government’s draft Cauvery management scheme, saying it would pass the order after examining whether the scheme was in consonance with its earlier judgment.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said it would issue the order on Friday at 2 p.m. If not on Friday, the order would be passed on May 22 or 23, it said.

Karnataka had raised objections to the draft scheme, saying it was not in “consonance” with the Supreme Court judgment.

The top court on Wednesday asked the central government to modify its draft scheme for setting up of a Cauvery Management Board (CMB) that will be the sole authority for implementing the Cauvery Water Tribunal Award.

It also sought dropping of the clause which said that in case of a dispute, the matter would be decided by the Centre and it would be final and binding.

The Centre was also asked to drop the clause that said that the Centre would give directions from time to time to the implementing authority — a clause objected to by Tamil Nadu.

The 2007 Cauvery Water Tribunal Award was modified and reaffirmed by the top court by its February 16 verdict.

The court said the Central government would only be issuing administrative directions for implementing the award.

The CMB would be headquartered in Delhi while the office of the regulatory authority would be in Bengaluru.

A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper was killed on Tuesday in ceasefire violation by Pakistani rangers on the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district.

“Pakistan rangers started ceasefire violation at 1.30 a.m. They resorted to unprovoked firing at the BSF positions on the IB in the early hours.

“BSF constable, Devinder Singh, was injured in the firing. He succumbed to his injuries later,” a BSF official said here.

The Indian positions retaliated effectively and strongly. Firing exchanges between the two sides continued for nearly three hours, he added.

There had been comparative calm on both the Line of Control (LoC) and the IB for nearly two months in the Jammu region.

Tuesday’s ceasefire violation disrupted the peace that the residents of border villages had been experiencing.

Indian Ambassador to the US Navtej Singh Sarna has slammed the American media for their “negative portrayal” of India, alleging that there is a tendency among foreign journalists based in India to pick up the “exception” stories and ignore the development news.

Sarna’s remarks came during his address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a top American think tank.

“Now, it is more a case of pity than worry. India has moved on, you haven’t,” he said when asked about the portrayal of India in the mainstream American media.

Sarna said the American media picks up the “exception” stories, while ignoring the development news.

“There is a tendency to look at the social exception… there is a dowry case, there is a caste issue… so pick it up and splash it. But if there is a start-up story for instance… (they will say) that happens everywhere. Frankly it bothers me, but I do not loose sleep over it anymore… I used to (worry),” the top Indian diplomat said.

By such a “negative” portrayal of India, Sarna said, the American media was doing “injustice” to its public.

Sarna was participating in a panel discussion during the opening session of the “US & India: From Estranged Democracies to Natural Allies” organised by the top American think-tank.

“These (negative) pieces just sound like oddities. They show the narrow mindset of the journalists, of the editor and marginalise them rather than marginalise us anymore,” the Indian Ambassador said.

“If they (the American media) want to survive and remain relevant, they should move on,” Sarna said.

Referring to his previous four-year stint at the Indian Embassy here when he was its spokesperson, Sarna said this was what he tried “correcting then, but failed miserably”.

“It is extremely important for us, but I think it’s important for the United States as well to get a correct picture of, even if I was not in India and I would say of a very important country in the world. Unfortunately, can’t tell you, I can guess at the reasons,” he said.

DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Monday urged the Tamil Nadu government to call for an all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss setting up of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and arming it with legal power.

Stalin’s demand comes after the Centre submitted the Cauvery Draft Water Management Scheme to the Supreme Court on Monday. Representatives of farmer associations would also be a party to the meeting.

In a statement issued here the DMK leader raising concerns about when the Centre would fully implement the scheme, said it was the Tamil Nadu government’s responsibility to stress that it would not accept anybody other than the CMB.

Stalin said the AIADMK government should call the meeting and stress its stand in the apex court on Wednesday, when it, along with other three southern states, has been called for a response on the scheme.

The Centre on Monday submitted the draft Cauvery management scheme before the Supreme Court for its perusal and approval to ensure smooth distribution of water between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, took on record the draft scheme submitted by the Union Water Resource secretary and said it would peruse it.

“We need to examine whether the said scheme is in consonance with our judgment,” the bench said, adding that it would consider and approve the scheme on May 16.

The apex court said that it will not go into “correctness of the scheme” and rather confine itself to whether the scheme was in consonance with its February 16 judgment.

The top court had on May 8 summoned the secretary of the Union Water Resources Ministry to appear before it today with the draft scheme and warned the Centre that it was in “sheer contempt” of the February 16 verdict by not framing the Cauvery management scheme on river water sharing between the four southern riparian states till now.

The apex court had on February 16 asked the Centre to formulate a scheme to ensure compliance of its judgement on the decades-old Cauvery dispute.

It had modified the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) award of 2007 and made it clear that it will not be extending time for this on any ground.

The top court had then raised the 270 tmcft share of Cauvery water for Karnataka by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu’s share, while compensating it by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin, saying the issue of drinking water has to be placed on a “higher pedestal”.

In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s announcement to pull out of Iran nuclear deal, India is closely monitoring the situation, said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that India will take necessary measures to offset any adverse impact on its interests due to Trump’s decision to dump the Iran nuclear deal.

Countries having financial dealings with Iran are expected to be hit by the comprehensive sanctions.

India and Iran have robust economic and commercial ties covering many sectors. Iran is the third largest supplier of crude oil to India after Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma on Thursday distributed cheques of relief and compensation to victims of recent storms that took a heavy toll of lives and prosperity.

While in Agra cheques of Rs 3 crore along with clothes, utensils and medical help have been provided, in Mathura Sharma gave cheques of Rs 4 lakhs each to three families.

He said the government was concerned about the well being of all people and wanted to help families of victims without any discrimination.

Sharma met family members of three persons who died in the Wednesday storm in Mathura district and assured them all necessary help to enable them to stand on their feet.

A youth was killed in cross-border firing along Line of Control (LoC) in Gulpur area of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday night.
Incharge SSP Poonch Anwar-ul-Haq said that Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing during the intervening night of May 10-11 on Indian Army posts at Baghal Dhara. He said the Indian army retaliated back and the firing continued intermittently for several hours.
Due to firing from across the border, one youth identified as Mohammad Ikhlaq (22) son of Mohammad Sadiq resident of Kalisan Baghal Dhara received serious injuries and died on the spot, the officer added.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered under the relevant sections of law and further investigations have been initiated.
Hindusthan Samachar/Saleem/Shri Ram\

Karnataka on Monday ruled out the release of more Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, saying it had supplied more water than it was supposed to in a fresh affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, whose February 16 order will now likely be implemented only after the Karnataka assembly elections on May 12.

That’s something that suits both the central and the state government. The sharing of the Cauvery water is a sensitive issue in Karnataka, which is coming off successive droughts. In its affidavit filed on Monday, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka claimed it had released 116.697 tmcft of water, instead of 100.04 tmcft by applying the so-called distress formula.

The extra water was given even though Karnataka is facing a water crisis itself, the state added. The court had pulled up the state last week for not complying with its judgment on sharing of Cauvery water.

Tamil Nadu also filed an affidavit on Monday, accusing Karnataka of violating the tribunal order affirmed by SC. The state alleged Karnataka was acting like a “judge of its own cause”. It demanded framing of a scheme of the Cauvery Management Scheme by the Centre.

The affidavits came a day before a crucial hearing when the central government has to inform the court about the steps taken to prepare a draft scheme on water sharing between the riparian states.

As per an earlier order the scheme had to be ready by May 3. But the scheme could not be prepared because the PM and cabinet ministers were busy with polls in Karnataka, SC was told.

In its affidavit Karnataka said 2017-18 has been a “distress water year in the Cauvery basin” for the third time in a row. Despite the fact that TN’s share worked out to be 100.04 tmcft, Karnataka ensured 116.697 tmcft was released at Billigundulu. “Therefore, the excess ensured is 16.66 tmcft,” the affidavit said. “Even in the months of March and April of this “distress year”, the share of Tamil Nadu “has been met by ensuring 1.4 tmcft as against 1.24 tmcft for March and 1.10 tmcft as against 1.22 tmcft for the month of April. Therefore, Karanataka has not committed any default in ensuring water releases, as alleged,” read Karnataka’s affidavit. “There cannot be any substitute to the machinery for the implementation of the final order of the tribunal,” TN said in its affidavit. It blamed the central government for not framing the Cauvery Management Scheme.

Tamil Nadu has already filed a contempt plea against the Centre for not setting up the scheme. It claimed that Karnataka has 19.834 tmcft of water as on May 4 in its four reservoirs. Therefore, it added, Karnataka is in a better position and can easily spare 4 tmcft of water. In its February 16 order the SC marginally increased Karnataka’s share of water and ordered a reduction in the allocation for Tamil Nadu, settling a protracted dispute.

A three-judge bench led by CJI Dipak Misra said Karnataka will be required to release 177.25 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water from its Billigundlu site to Mettur Dam in TN.

The earlier requirement, under a February 2007 award by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), was 192 tmcft. The court also asked the Centre to frame a scheme for this sharing. TN and some analysts saw this as a nod to the formation of Cauvery water board.