India Narrative

  Peoples’ clashes with the Police and security forces, marked by heavy stone pelting and violent demonstrators, which were a routine in Kashmir from 2015 to August 2019, have subsided after withdrawal of the erstwhile State’s special constitutional status. There has been no major news of what a section of the media and politicians used to call ‘agitational terrorism’. The Union Territory’s summer capital of Srinagar has, however, witnessed around 18 encounters between the militants and security forces since January 2020. Besides, around 20 civilians and unarmed Policemen have been killed in Srinagar in different terror strikes. They include one CID Inspector, one probationary Sub Inspector and two constables who were all attacked from behind and shot dead. They also include popular chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo, two non-Muslim teachers and two golgappa vendors who killed selectively. Some of these attacks were captured live on CCTV cameras; some by the assassins’ bodycams, which were su

  In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, authorities have initiated verification and fresh registration of around 6,000 non-governmental agencies after a case of human trafficking surfaced in the valley. At least two Covid orphans were found to have been ‘sold’ by an NGO, leading to registration of FIR against the group and arrest of two persons allegedly involved in the human trafficking. Officials said that an investigation was launched by the Police, one FIR registered and two persons of Sambora, Pampore, arrested after it was reported in the national media that some individuals had indulged in offering young Covid orphans for adoption against monetary considerations by some individuals outside Jammu and Kashmir. A collective of clergymen issued an appeal for a “sustained campaign” against trafficking of the young Kashmiri children whose parents had died due to the pandemic in the last 20 months. According to the officials, the Police Station of Pampore received a written app