Human Rights

India: SC refuses to pass directions on lifting of restrictions in J&K

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to pass any immediate directions to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government on a plea seeking lifting of all restrictions imposed after the abrogation of Article 370.

The apex court said that it will wait for return of normalcy and take up the matter after two weeks.

U.S. turning Gulf region into 'tinderbox': Iran's Zarif

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States on Monday of turning the Gulf region into a “matchbox ready to ignite”, according to Al Jazeera television.

Oil tanker traffic passing through the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz has become the focus of a U.S.-Iranian standoff since Washington pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions to strangle Tehran’s oil exports.

Norway police probe mosque shooting as ‘attempted act of terrorism’

STOCKHOLM, Aug 12 (NNN-AGENCIES ) – A shooting at a mosque in Norway is being treated as an “attempted act of terrorism,” police said on Sunday, but the male suspect has so far declined to answer police questions.

“He still doesn’t wish to give an explanation,” Grete Lien Metlid, assistant chief of the Oslo police district, told dpa late Sunday.

The suspect, a Norwegian in his early 20s, was arrested in connection with Saturday’s incident at the Al-Noor Islamic Centre mosque in Baerum, west of Oslo.

Over 1,700 Jewish settlers storm the Al-Aqsa mosque

12 Aug 2019; MEMO: Hundreds of Jewish settlers on Sunday forced their way into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, according to a Palestinian official, Anadolu reports.

“Since the morning, over 1,729 Jewish settlers have entered the compound,” Firas al-Dibs, a spokesman for Jerusalem’s Religious Endowments Authority said in a statement.

“The settlers incursions were backed by Israeli police officers,” he said.

Spare civilians from war, Pope tells governments

11 Aug 2019; MEMO: Pope Francis urged governments around the world on Sunday to protect civilians caught in armed conflicts and spare places of humanitarian importance like hospitals and schools, Reuters reports.

In conflicts from Syria to Libya, refugees, migrants and civilians are often bearing the brunt of suffering.

India: People of Kashmir imprisoned in their own homes: Yechury

New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday alleged that the people of Kashmir have been kept "imprisoned" in their own homes and warned the government that the impact of changing Jammu and Kashmir's status would be felt in other states with special status.

While greeting people on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, Yechury, who along with CPI general secretary had been denied entry into Srinagar on Friday, said he still didn't know the condition of his party colleagues in Kashmir.

India: Gurgaon SHO held for raping woman

Gurgaon, Aug 11 (PTI) A station house officer of a Gurgaon police station has been arrested for allegedly raping and then blackmailing a woman by making her obscene video, police said on Sunday.

The accused SHO of Sadar police station Dalbir Singh, who was set to retire next year, was arrested on Saturday after a complaint was lodged on Friday.

He was arrested after an internal inquiry found him guilty, a police officer said.

India: 46 arrested NC leaders, prisoners shifted from J-K to UP jail

Srinagar, Aug 11 (PTI) National Conference leader and former minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, who was arrested a few days ago in Jammu and Kashmir, was on Sunday shifted to a jail in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

Sagar is the first mainstream political leader being sent out of Jammu and Kashmir as part of a government plan to shift prisoners to jails outside the state.

He has been shifted to a jail in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, an official said.

India: SC petition seeking removal of media restrictions in J-K

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) A petition was on Saturday filed by an editor of a prominent daily from Jammu and Kashmir in the Supreme Court seeking removal of restrictions imposed on working of journalists in the state after scrapping of provisions of Article 370.

Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor of Kashmir Times, has sought directions for restoration of all modes of communication, including mobile Internet and landline services, throughout the state in order to provide an enabling environment for the media to practise its profession.

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