Floyd’s girlfriend testifies
SRINAGAR, India — The machine guns peeking over parapets of small, sandbagged concrete bunkers and the heavy artillery cannons dug deep into Himalayan Kashmir’s rugged terrain have fallen silent.
At least for now.
The Line of Control, a highly militarised de facto border that divides the disputed region between the two nucleararmed rivals India and Pakistan, and a site of hundreds of deaths, is unusually quiet after the two South Asian neighbours last month agreed to reaffirm their 2003 ceasefire accord.
The somewhat surprising decision prompted a thaw in the otherwise turbulent relations between the countries but also raised questions about the longevity of the fragile peace, in part due to earlier failures. The crackdown by Indian forces and attacks by rebels have continued inside Indian-held Kashmir. The ceasefire, experts say, could stabilize the lingering conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Kashmiris say the rare move should lead to resolution of the dispute.
It was unclear what prompted the two militaries to adhere to the accord they had largely ignored for years. But experts point to a climbdown by both from their earlier stance after a decision by India to strip Kashmir of its semi-autonomy and take direct control over the region in 2019, and its monthslong bitter border standoff with China.
Paul Staniland, associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago, said the ongoing costs of clashes along the Line of Control, the economic effects of the pandemic, and other foreign policy challenges facing both countries might had combined to create incentives to pursue a ceasefire.
Since 2003, the ceasefire has largely held despite regular skirmishes. Both India and Pakistan claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it, and in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, militants have fought against Indian rule since 1989.
Each country has accused the other of heightening tensions by significantly ratcheting up border attacks in the past four years, leading to the deaths of soldiers and villagers.
MINNEAPOLIS –– George Floyd’s girlfriend smiled through tears as she told a jury on Thursday how they first met when he offered to pray with her, less than three years before his deadly arrest, and described how they both struggled with opioid addiction.
Courteney Ross, 45, was the first person who personally knew Mr Floyd to testify in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis police officer caught in widely seen video kneeling on the neck of Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, for about nine minutes. The footage sparked global protests against police brutality.
“It’s a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids,” Ms Ross, who wore a heart-shaped brooch on her black jacket, told the jury.
“We both suffered from chronic pain; mine was in my neck, his was in his back.”