Mehbooba, Rijiju skip meet held on Kashmir by an RSS affiliate
NEW DELHI: J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti skipped a symposium on Kashmir organised here by RSS-affiliated forums, where speakers deliberating on solutions launched a broadside against Pakistan, pushed for a harder stance on Kashmir.
Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, who was to be chief guest, was also absent from the event titled “Peace, People and Possibilities in Kashmir”. BJP MP Satyapal Singh, who was Mumbai police chief, and Prof. JS Rajput, the former National Council of Educational Research and Training head, were among key speakers. Two retired army generals — TN Hoon and Amin Naik — also spoke.
The event was organised by Vishwagram, a cultural forum, and RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who heads the Muslim Rashtriya Manch.
The function began with a short video on Kashmir which featured an archival clip of former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf, in which he praises the Taliban and Osama bin Laden as “heroes”. Singh said: “Kashmir is not the only beautiful place? Why do we call Kashmir a paradise? It is paradise because even the smallest sesame-seed sized piece of land there is land of tirth (Hindu pilgrimage spot).” “I don’t want to say this but Hindu villages are being given Islamic names,” Singh added.
Singh called for an “iron hands in velvet gloves” policy on Kashmir. He questioned concessions to Kashmir. “If you want to go to Gulmarg, you can’t take a taxi from Jammu. You have to hire only a local taxi. You can’t buy land. What is all this?” IMPHAL: At least three inmates including two foreign nationals were killed in a Manipur jail in two separate clashes among prisoners in the wee hours of Saturday.
Three officials of the Manipur Central Jail Sajiwa and an undertrial were also injured in the scuffles.
According to official sources, Saudi Arabia nationals Yusuf and Abdus Salam allegedly bludgeoned a local inmate, Thangminlian Zou alias Bobon, to death on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. When other inmates got to know about Zou’s death, who was imprisoned in connection with a murder case, they attacked the Saudi duo and killed them.
Yusuf and Abdus were arrested in 2013 for entering the state from Mynamar without valid documents. The two had received a one-year jail term each, which got over in 2014. The process of deporting them was underway. “We’re trying to contact the concerned (Saudi Arabian) authorities for deporting the bodies of the deceased. If there is no positive response we will go according to the rules,” said the additional director general of police (DGP) (prisons) P Doungel.