Tag Archives: Jammu & Kashmir

India/Jammu & Kashmir: HC to hear Mian Qayoom petition on Oct 31

Sem categoria 19/10/2019 Leave a comment

October 19, 2019

A petition challenging detention of Bar President Mian Abdul Qayoom came up for hearing Friday.
Qayoom was taken into custody after abrogation of article 35 A and 370 of the constitution of India. He was detained under public safety act (PSA) and shifted to Agra Jail.
After hearing the arguments from both side the Court listed the matter for the next hearing on October 31.

http://brighterkashmir.com/hc-to-hear-mian-qayoom-petition-on-oct-31-

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-arrests-under-psa-amount-to-thought-crime-say-kashmir-lawyers-as-100s-remain-under-detention/339932

Jammu & Kashmir / India: Mobilisation of lawyers against repression in the Kashmir region

Protesting sister, daughter of Farooq Abdullah arrested in Srinagar

J&K Judiciary: A Court under Siege

https://theprint.in/india/governance/judiciary/modi-govt-doesnt-want-lawyer-son-in-law-of-jk-separatist-elevated-to-hc-sc-to-decide/293353/amp/

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/j-k-hc-bar-association-president-mian-qayoom-and-others-shifted-to-jail-outside-kashmir-119080900910_1.html

Bar Association on strike, petitioners wear black gown to secure justice

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India/Jammu & Kashmir: Kashmir’s crippled courts leave detainees in limbo

Sem categoria 04/10/2019 Leave a comment

October 3, 2019

A Paramilitary trooper stands on guard during the shutdown in Srinagar. Kashmir valley remains shutdown for the 55th consecutive day following the scrapping of Article 370 by the central government which grants special status to Jammu & Kashmir

Thousands of people have been detained in Indian-administered Kashmir following a government move to strip the region of its special status. Worried family members have been flocking to the courts – but to little avail, reports BBC Hindi’s Vineet Khare.

Altaf Hussein Lone looked anxious as he sat on a red printed sofa in a large hall of the high court in Srinagar, the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir.

Since there is no public transport readily available, he had to pay an exorbitant amount to travel from his home in Baramulla, more than 50km (30 miles) away.

Life here has come to a standstill since the region lost its partial autonomy on 4 August. Internet and mobile phone connections remain suspended, roads and streets are largely deserted; and tens of thousands of extra troops have been deployed.

Despite government assurances that schools and offices can function normally, that has not happened. Most businesses have stayed shut as a form of protest against the government, but many owners also say they fear reprisals by militants opposed to Indian rule if they go back to business as usual.

Thousands of locals, including political leaders, businesspeople and activists, have been detained. Many have been moved to prisons outside the state.

Mr Lone was at the court looking for a lawyer to represent his brother, Shabbir, a village leader who had been arrested under the highly controversial Public Safety Act (PSA), which among other things, allows detention without formal charge for up to two years.

But he was unable to find one. Ironically, the lawyers of the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association in Srinagar – a body representing more than 2,200 professionals – have been boycotting the courts for more than 50 days over the arrest of their present and former presidents, Mian Abdul Qauyoom and Nazeer Ahmed Ronga.

Both men were arrested under the PSA and sent to two different prisons in distant Uttar Pradesh state for “advocating secessionism” – a move that some lawyers describe as a “political vendetta”.

…

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49848899

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-arrests-under-psa-amount-to-thought-crime-say-kashmir-lawyers-as-100s-remain-under-detention/339932

IOK faces 53rd day of military lockdown

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/crackdown-on-lawyers-narrows-road-to-justice-in-kashmir.637097/

https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/thousands-begin-freedom-march-pakistan-held-kashmir-toward-disputed-border-india

https://www.protect-lawyers.com/fr/jammu-cachemire-inde-mobilisation-des-avocats-contre-la-repression-dans-la-region-du-cachemire/ (FRANCAIS)

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India/Jammu & Kashmir: Prominent IOK lawyer Nazir Ahmad Ronga booked under PSA

Sem categoria 27/09/2019 Leave a comment

September 26, 2019

Kashmiri Lawyer, Who Encouraged People to Vote, Detained to Prevent Protests

In occupied Kashmir, senior High Court lawyer and former Bar president, Nazir Ahmad Ronga has been booked under the black law PSA for speaking against India’s illegal and unilateral decision to revoke the territory’s special status.

Nazir Ahmad Ronga, who is also a close aide and legal adviser of Hurriyat forum Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, was taken into custody by the Chrar-e-Sharief police station on August 9 and subsequently booked under the draconian Public Safety Act on the orders of District Magistrate, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary on August 17.

“You are very vocal against abolishing of Article 370 and 35(A) of the Constitution of India and also against bifurcation of erstwhile J&K state. You have led many protest marches in general and created problems in public order within Srinagar district, besides instigated youth in general and party workers and youth belonging to your community in particular,” reads the grounds of detention signed by the magistrate concerned while passing PSA detention orders against Ronga.

“The subject by way of (enjoying) influence in his community can get large number of protest(s) against the decision (abrogation of 370 &35A) taken by the Government of India,” the grounds read.

Though initially he was lodged at Central Jail, Srinagar, but later he was shifted to a jail in Uttar Pradesh, India.

https://kmsnews.org/news/2019/09/26/prominent-iok-lawyer-nazir-ahmad-ronga-booked-under-psa/

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/man-who-convinced-people-to-vote-booked-under-psa/838167.html

https://kmsnews.org/news/2019/09/26/iok-faces-53rd-day-of-military-lockdown/

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(L’Observatoire des Avocats Facebook, 29/09/19)

India/Jammu & Kashmir: IOK Bar on strike to support anti-India protests

Sem categoria 26/09/2019 Leave a comment

September 26, 2019

In occupied Kashmir, 1,050 members of lawyers aassociations have gone on strike to support the protest demonstrations against Indian government’s abrogation of Article 370 and arrest of several Bar members.

Among the first arrested after the Indian government’s lockdown in the Kashmir Valley were senior functionaries of the High Court Bar Association, including president, Mian Abdul Qayoom, former president, Nazir Ahmad Ronga, president of bar association of Baramulla district court, advocate Abdul Salam Rather and president of Bar Islamabad district, Fayaz Sodagar under the black law Public Safety Act, which the Amnesty International termed repressive and draconian to stop the voice and peaceful activities of people.

All of them are being held in prisons in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 1,000km away from Srinagar.

Indian police arrested over 13,000 of Kashmiris including Hurriyet leaders, activists, traders and other several political party leaders in houses and in jails in and outside occupied Kashmir.

Mir Urfi, a young female lawyer, said in Srinagar the authorities and Indian government had no valid grounds to arrest Main Qayoom, president of the bar association.

“In grounds of arrest, the police wrote: ‘We apprehend that you (referring to Qayoom) will motivate people to agitate against abrogation of Article 370′,” she said.

Objecting to the arrest of their colleagues, and to support the largest protests in the region against the Indian government’s actions, the 1,050-member lawyers’ association has gone on strike since Aug 5.

…

https://kmsnews.org/news/2019/09/26/iok-bar-on-strike-to-support-anti-india-protests/

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/iok-lawyers-on-strike-to-support-anti-india-p-722048.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/two-lawyers-held-under-psa-jk-admin-cites-drastic-ideology-bar-misuse-6029488/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/crackdown-lawyers-shrinks-road-justice-kashmir-190920073101403.html

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/crackdown-on-lawyers-narrows-road-to-justice-in-kashmir.637097/

Crackdown on lawyers narrows road to justice in Kashmir

European Parliament to debate ‘Kashmir issue’ tomorrow, first time in 11 years

https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/opinion/meps-put-spotlight-kashmir

https://nation.com.pk/24-Sep-2019/eu-calls-for-india-pakistan-dialogue-with-involvement-of-kashmiris

Kashmir in geopolitical context

India/Jammu & Kashmir: Crackdown on lawyers narrows road to justice in Kashmir

Sem categoria 25/09/2019 Leave a comment

September 25, 2019

Lawyers go on strike after security forces arrest senior advocates amid unprecedented lockdown imposed on August 5.

Crackdown on lawyers narrows road to justice in Kashmir

For nearly a month, Shafia Ganai, a softly-spoken 19-year-old undergraduate student of sociology in northern Kashmir’s Bandipora, has visited the police station every day.

“The security forces took my brother Mohsin, a quarry worker, in a raid on our neighbourhood on August 16,” she said. “When I go to the station, the police ask me to come the next day, that they will release him in one or two days. But 27 days have gone past like this.

“I checked many times with the duty officer, who records the daily entries in the station. He says there is no first information report (police complaint) registered against my brother,” she told Al Jazeera.

The absence of any order for his detention makes it impossible for the family to pursue a legal case against the police or to secure Mohsin’s freedom, she said.

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir have detained more than 3,000 people and arrested over 300 after the government led by Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, stripped the region of its relative autonomy on August 5.

Those arrested include senior lawyers, making people’s legal fights difficult.

Among the first arrested after the government lockdown in the Kashmir Valley were senior functionaries of the High Court Bar Association of Jammu and Kashmir, a professional association of lawyers based in Srinagar, the main city of the Muslim-majority region.

The police arrested its president, Mian Abdul Qayoom, and its former president, Nazir Ahmad Ronga. Both are being held in prisons in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 1,000km (620 miles) away.

They were booked under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (or PSA), under which people can be jailed for up to two years without trial.

…

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/09/crackdown-lawyers-shrinks-road-justice-kashmir-190920073101403.html

https://www.brecorder.com/2019/09/24/523904/people-booked-under-psa-lodged-in-jails-outside-iok/

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/a-month-on-4-kashmiri-detainees-allowed-to-meet-relatives/articleshow/71102728.cms

India/Jammu & Kashmir: Even as thousands are detained in Kashmir, courts and legal system remain frozen

Sem categoria 20/09/2019 Leave a comment

September 20, 2019

Even as thousands are detained in Kashmir, courts and legal system remain frozen

On September 12, Lateef Dar, a bank employee in North Kashmir’s Sopore area, made his way to the high court in Srinagar. He had not been able to contact his lawyer, Wajid Haseeb, on the phone since mobile and internet connections in Kashmir had been blocked since August 5. But he knew exactly where to go.

For the past five weeks, Haseeb has sat on the same bench, facing the entrance to the court, so that his clients know where to find him. Most are relatives of men detained by the security forces since August 5, when the Centre revoked the special status for Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution and split the state into two Union Territories. As the announcement was made, Kashmir went under lockdown and thousands were detained across the Valley.

Hundreds have been held under the Public Safety Act, a stringent preventive detention law – estimates handed out by government officials of the numbers taken into custody range from 290 to 4,000. Many booked under the law have reportedly been sent to jails outside the Valley.

At a time when they are needed most, lawyers have been in short supply. Angry notices posted by the High Court Bar Association of Kashmir at the high court in Srinagar to explain why. Among the first arrests was Mian Abdul Qayoom, president of the Bar Association of Kashmir, now being held in a prison in Agra, and Nazir Ahmad Ronga, former president of the High Court bar, who was taken to Moradaba prison.

Since then, the police have booked Fayad Sodagar, president of Anantnag District Bar Association, and Abdul Salam Rather, president of the Baramulla District Bar Association, under the Public Safety Act. Lawyers based in Srinagar said Sodagar was on the run and Rather was imprisoned in Uttar Pradesh.

At the Shopian district court, lawyers said the police have detained advocate Zubair Ahmad Bhat, and his father, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, a senior advocate and a member of the legislative assembly from the People’s Democratic Party.

…

https://scroll.in/article/937856/even-as-thousands-are-detained-in-kashmir-courts-and-legal-system-remain-frozen

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/un-calls-for-fully-respecting-human-rights-in-kashmir/1588402

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/16/india-free-kashmiris-arbitrarily-detained

Modi govt doesn’t want lawyer son-in-law of J&K ‘separatist’ elevated to HC, SC to decide

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/a-month-on-4-kashmiri-detainees-allowed-to-meet-relatives/articleshow/71102728.cms

https://thewire.in/rights/nazir-ahmed-ronga-lawyer-detained-kashmir-crackdown

https://caravanmagazine.in/conflict/modi-war-dispatches-from-seething-kashmir

India/Jammu & Kashmir: Indian troops martyr 16 Kashmiris in August

Sem categoria 02/09/2019 Leave a comment

September 1, 2019

Indian troops, in their continued acts of state terrorism, martyred 16 Kashmiris, including a young boy and a woman, during the past month in the occupied Kashmir.

During the period, at least 366 people were injured due to the firing of bullets, pellets and teargas shells on peaceful protesters by Indian troops and police personnel.

Over 5,000 people, including Hurriyat leaders, Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq; Mian Qayoom, president of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association; Mohammed Yasin Khan, chairman of the Kashmir Economic Alliance; Raja Muzaffar Butt, an anti-corruption crusader; National Conference leaders Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, Engineer Rashid, activists and youth, were arrested.

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https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/09/01/indian-troops-martyr-16-kashmiris-in-august/

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/kashmir-lockdown-article-370-lawyers-collective-boycott-court-legal-issues-litigation

http://www.radio.gov.pk/01-09-2019/occupied-kashmir-indian-forces-martyr-16-kashmiris-in-august

http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=94188

https://www.news18.com/news/india/jk-high-court-bar-association-president-mian-qayoom-and-others-shifted-to-jail-outside-kashmir-2264689.html

Lock down of occupied Kashmir continues on 28th day

India/Jammu & Kashmir: Kashmiri Lawyer, Who Encouraged People to Vote, Detained to Prevent Protests

Sem categoria 01/09/2019 Leave a comment

August 31, 2019

Kashmiri Lawyer, Who Encouraged People to Vote, Detained to Prevent Protests

A former president of the Kashmir High Court Bar Association (KHCBA) was detained under the Public Safety Act after the revocation of Article 370 because, among other things, he had the ability to convince people to vote even during poll boycotts, documents accessed by The Wireshow.

After the government of India revoked the special status afforded to Jammu and Kashmir, security agencies launched a massive crackdown to arrest politicians, businessmen, lawyers and young Kashmiris fearing they could initiate mass protests.

Among those arrested was former KHCBA president Nazir Ahmed Ronga. According to a lawyer who is part of the association, Ronga was arrested on August 4, a day before the Government of India changed the constitutional relationship of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India.

Ronga was booked under the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA) under which a person can be jailed for six months without a trial. One of the charges levelled against Ronga, in the PSA dossier accessed by The Wire, talks about his potential to mobilise people to participate in voting even when a boycott was called.

“Your capacity can be gauged from this fact that you were able to convince your electorate to come out and vote in huge numbers during poll boycotts,” reads the dossier.

The lawyer, who wished not to be named, in a caustic comment, said, “Even persuading people to vote and participate in democracy is a crime in Kashmir nowadays.”

The mass arrests in Kashmir have left even lawyers petrified. Hardly any member of the bar turns up in the courts and those who do prefer not to speak on the arrest of lawyers.

…

https://thewire.in/government/nazir-ahmed-ronga-lawyer-detained-kashmir-crackdown

Over 4500 arrested in occupied Kashmir since Aug 5

https://www.postguam.com/the_globe/philippines_asia/all-of-kashmir-is-a-jail-now/article_c15448a2-caee-11e9-933c-738c7805791a.html

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/519528-mass-arrests-pellet-injuries-as-clampdown-continues-in-kashmir

https://nation.com.pk/31-Aug-2019/standing-for-kashmir

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/among-the-3000-detained-by-indian-authorities-in-kashmir-children/2019/08/29/1616b5c0-c91c-11e9-9615-8f1a32962e04_story.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/27/kashmir-families-torn-apart-mass-arrests-continue-india

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/kashmir-midnight-knocks-and-arrests/cid/1699843

https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2019/08/31/mainstream-party-workers–facing-arrests-in-kashmir

https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/507422-Humanitarian-crisis-in-Kashmir-India-continues-oppression-on-27th-day

27th day of tyrannical curfew in IoK, civilians dragged back to stone age

Pakistan/Day of the Endangered Lawyer: Lawyers to observe strike on Monday

Sem categoria 25/08/2019 Leave a comment

August 25, 2019

Day of the Endangered Lawyer

The lawyers on Saturday announced to observe a strike across the country on August 26 against the government references against judges, alleged harassment of legal fraternity and the Indian aggression in Kashmir.

The All Pakistan Lawyers Convention by Karachi Bar Association at the City Courts decided that the lawyers throughout the country as well as in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir will boycott courts on Monday and hold protest meetings at the bar rooms. A resolution was passed at the convention, saying the references against Supreme Court’s Justice Faez Isa and Sindh High Court’s Justice K.K. Agha were “frivolous, concocted and malafide” and are tantamount to an attempt to muzzle and subjugate the independence of the judiciary.

The lawyers demanded putting the petition filed by Justice Isa, the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association against the references before a full court bench of the apex court for hearing by intelligible judges. Criticizing the Supreme Judicial Council, they said they deprecated the language used against Justice Isa in the SJC Order disposing of reference no. 427 of 2019 and added the neutrality and impartiality of the SJC has come into question.

The lawyers also criticized Peshawar High Court’s contempt of court notice to the PBC vice-chairman Syed Amjad Shah and condemned the alleged forced disappearance of former vice president of Multan High Court Bar Association Wasif Naveed Qureshi. They also condemned the announced and unannounced restrictions on the media against fair reporting and asked journalists, civil society and political parties to align against these attacks on the freedom of speech.

The lawyers in the resolution also condemned the barbaric acts of the Indian government in Kashmir and expressed their complete solidarity with the people of the occupied valley in their struggle for legitimate rights and aspirations.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/517021-lawyers-to-observe-strike-on-monday

https://www.dawn.com/news/1501519/lawyers-to-boycott-sc-functions-to-be-held-for-retiring-judges

https://fp.brecorder.com/2019/08/20190825511351/

DAY OF THE ENDANGERED LAWYER – 24 January 2020 – PAKISTAN

https://defendlawyers.wordpress.com/2019/06/22/pakistan-day-of-the-endangered-lawyer-january-24-2020-pakistan/

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India/Jammu & Kashmir: Over 600 politicians & lawyers detained in Jammu & Kashmir up until now

Sem categoria 18/08/2019 Leave a comment

August 17, 2019

Police personnel block the road near the residences of former CMs Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar

Over 600 politicians and lawyers have been detained by authorities in Jammu and Kashmir since the intervening nights of 4 and 5 August, ThePrint has learnt.

A top government functionary told ThePrint that the detained individuals include those arrested by the state police; or put under preventive custody at detention centres; or house arrested; or sent to prisons outside Kashmir.

The figure does not account for other locals, mostly youth, who have been taken into custody from various parts of Kashmir on the apprehension that they may mobilise people in small towns and villages.

“Giving the total headcount will be difficult at the moment because there is no centralised mechanism overlooking the arrests. The arrests are being undertaken by local police. But roughly the numbers are more than 600,” said the government functionary who didn’t wish to be identified.

…

Over 600 politicians & lawyers detained in Jammu & Kashmir up until now

Over 600 Kashmiri politicians, lawyers, activists arrested by India: report

https://news.yahoo.com/eight-protesters-injured-restrictions-reimposed-kashmir-officials-091741812.html

https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/judicial-history-of-article-370-sc-rulings-on-jk-special-status-147257

http://www.rfi.fr/asie-pacifique/20190818-cachemire-4000-personnes-arretees-revocation-autonomie-inde (FRANCAIS)