ISIS claims territory in India for first time after clash in Kashmir

Agencies
May 12, 2019

Srinagar, May 12: Islamic State (IS) claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India, after a clash between militants and security forces in the contested Kashmir region killed a militant with alleged ties to the group.

IS’s Amaq News Agency late on Friday announced the new province, that it called “Wilayah of Hind”, in a statement that also claimed IS inflicted casualties on Indian army soldiers in the town of Amshipora in the Shopian district of Kashmir.

The IS statement corresponds with an Indian police statement on Friday that a militant called Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi was killed in an encounter in Shopian.

IS’s statement establishing the new province appears to be designed to bolster its standing after the group was driven from its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in April, where at one point it controlled thousands of miles of territory.

IS has stepped up hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks, including taking responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people.

“The establishment of a ‘province’ in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd, but it should not be written off,” said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel Group that tracks Islamic extremists.

“The world may roll its eyes at these developments, but to jihadists in these vulnerable regions, these are significant gestures to help lay the groundwork in rebuilding the map of the IS ‘caliphate’.”

Sofi had been involved in several militant groups in Kashmir for more than a decade before pledging allegiance to Islamic State, according to a military official on Saturday and an interview given by Sofi to a Srinagar-based magazine sympathetic to IS.

He was suspected of several grenade attacks on security forces in the region, police and military sources said.

“It was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the exchange of fire,” a police spokesman said in the statement on Friday’s encounter.

The military official said it was possible that Sofi had been the only militant left in Kashmir associated with IS.

Separatists have for decades fought an armed conflict against Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. The majority of these groups want independence for Kashmir or to join India’s arch-rival Pakistan. They have not, like Islamic State, sought to establish an empire across the Muslim world.

Nuclear powers India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, and came to the brink of a third earlier this year after a suicide attack by a Pakistan-based militant group killed at least 40 paramilitary police in the Indian-controlled portion of the region.

A spokesman for India’s home ministry, which is responsible for security in Kashmir, did not respond to a request for comment.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: Despite repeated assurances by the Centre and state government of no shortage of food and essential services in Delhi, many daily wage earners have started fleeing the national capital on foot to return to their native villages in nearby Uttar Pradesh and other states because of the hardships being faced by them.
Most daily wage earners who are fleeing have complained that they are doing so because they will die of hunger due to lack of resources at their disposal.
"I am going to Azamgarh, my native place which is more than 800 kilometers from here. We have started walking towards our village. On the roads, if we get some vehicles then it will be all right otherwise we will continue on foot. I used to work in the construction sector but all work has stopped, we therefore have no other means to buy our rations. Atleast, food is guaranteed in our homes," Ghanshyam, a daily wage earner, told ANI here.
Rani, another daily wage earner, who was fleeing Delhi along with her family said, "Who would want to leave on foot, but what other options do we have. Our children will die of hunger, even if they are saved from the disease. That is why we are leaving."
While the government has been assuring that it will provide food and other essentials to the low-income groups, the people complained that they are yet to receive any help.
The departing of people has started despite repeated warnings by governments to prevent the influx of persons living in other states to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
Prince, who used to reside in Mongolpuri area of Delhi, said, "If we continue to stay the landlord will pester us for rent. The prices of all commodities are rising with each passing day, this way we will have nothing left to survive. We did not get any help from the government. I am, therefore, returning to Kasganj, which is close to 300 kilometres from Delhi. We will at least get food served twice a day in the village, nobody is offering us even water here."
Earlier on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced Rs 5,000 for each construction worker under Construction Workers Welfare Board Fund.
Addressing a video conference here, he said, "The Delhi government will give Rs 5,000 to each construction worker as their livelihood has been affected due the outbreak of coronavirus."
He also said that the number of night shelters in the city has been increased and more food is being distributed to homeless people.
He also said that due to curfew, several people were not able to get food, and urged the public to send such people to the nearest shelters of the Delhi government, where food was being arranged.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: In a stinging attack on the Gandhi family of the Congress, BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday said a dynasty and its courtiers have "grand delusions" of the opposition being about itself and stated that a "rejected and ejected" family is not equal to the entire opposition.

In his tweets, Nadda said it was the time for unity and solidarity, and the "relaunch of the scion for the nth time can wait", an apparent dig at Rahul Gandhi, who has been aggressive in his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the border row with China.

Nadda said India lost thousands of square kilometres of land due to the "misadventures of one dynasty" and claimed that the Siachen glacier, where the Indian Army has a strong presence, was almost gone. No wonder India has rejected them, he said.'

The BJP president posted a news report to back his assertions about Siachen.

"One 'royal' dynasty and their 'loyal' courtiers have grand delusions of the Opposition being about one dynasty. A dynast throws tantrums and his courtiers peddle that fake narrative. The latest one relates to the Opposition asking questions to the Government," Nadda said.

Though he did not directly name the Gandhi family or any of its members, the reference was clear.

He said it was the opposition's right to ask questions and added that the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw healthy deliberations, with several opposition leaders giving their valuable inputs.

They also fully supported the Centre in determining the way ahead, Nadda said.

"One family was an exception. Any guesses who," he asked.

Targeting the Gandhis, the BJP president said, "One rejected and ejected dynasty is NOT equal to the entire Opposition. One dynasty's interests are not India's interests. Today, the nation is united and supportive of our armed forces. This is the time for unity and solidarity. Relaunch of 'the scion' for the nth time can wait."

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News Network
January 2,2020

Perambalur, Jan 2: Veteran Tamil writer Nellai Kannan was arrested in Perambalur for criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah during a protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The Tirunelveli Police had registered the FIR against the writer for the speech delivered at a meeting, which was called by the Social Democratic Party of India on December 29 last year.

The police have booked him on the basis of multiple complaints filed by BJP leaders.

Kannan has been booked under Sections 504, 505(1) and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code.

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