Story Highlights
Kashmir Unrest
A wave of unrest in Indian controlled Jammu Kashmir has shaken Indian government as security forces have so far failed to control the situation in the valley. Protests erupted after security services on Friday evening shot dead 22-year-old separatist leader Burhan Wani, commander of Kashmir’s pro- freedom group Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). HM is one of several groups that have for decades been fighting around half a million Indian troops deployed in the region, calling for independence of Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan. Around 300 people have been injured, including 100 policemen as the clash between security forces and protestors continued. Most victims suffered gunshot wounds or teargas inhalation. Several areas of the Valley remained under unrelenting curfew while Indian police also arrested senior Hurriyat leaders after they allegedly defied restrictions and marched towards the Wani’s graveyard in Srinagar.
The wave of violence has also sparked a diplomatic spat between Pakistan and India. Pakistan summoned India’s high commissioner to lodge a formal protest over human rights violations in the disputed region however New Delhi dismissed Islamabad’s protest as “interference in its internal affairs”.
Meanwhile UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered to mediate between Pakistan and Indian amid the heightening tension between the two countries, the offer that Pakistan welcomed warmly. Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria also urged the international community and particularly the Permanent Members of the Security Council to take notice of the gravity of the situation in Kashmir and called on India to respect the human rights of the people of Kashmir
National Politics
This week posters in favour of army chief, featuring large photograph of the general, sprung up on the streets of some major cities that startled the government and opposition alike. Posters begging army chief to launch a coup appeared in major cities including the capital Islamabad overnight.The posters, which also appeared in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, were placed there by ‘Move on Pakistan’ party. Ali Hashmi, chief organiser behind Move on Pakistan said that the goal of their campaign was to suggest to the army chief that after imposing martial law a government of technocrats should be made in Pakistan and Gen Raheel should himself supervise it. Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Asim Bajwa in a tweet stated the Pakistan Army have no connection to the banners that have appeared across the country.
Meanwhile Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid termed those calling upon Army Chief Raheel Sharif to take over the country as fools and said that they do not want good for the country. The minister was also of the opinion that it is too early to discuss the ‘extension’ in the army chief’s tenure.
Meanwhile at least five people were killed after clashes broke out between supporters of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Azad Kashmir’s Haveli district. According to reports, the clashes broke out during an Eid Milan party where supporters of both political parties opened indiscriminate fire, leaving several people injured, including former minister Chaudhry Aziz.
War Against Terror
In latest development, the alleged mastermind of the 2014 attack on Army Public School Peshawar, in which more than 200 people died, has been killed in an American drone strike in Afghanistan. General Asim Bajwa, director general of the Pakistani army’s media division, reported the death of Umar Narai, also known as Khalifa Umar Mansoor or Khalid Khurasani, in a message on Twitter. U.S. Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook confirmed that U.S. forces carried out an air strike in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province on July 9, killing Umar Khalifa and four other militants. Umar Mansoor had also claimed responsibility for planning the attack as well as a separate attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda on Jan. 20 this year, in which 22 people, most of them students and teachers, were killed. Pakistan army intensified the operation in tribal areas and launched a full fledge campaign against terrorists in urban areas of Pakistan after the deadly school attack that shook the nation.
Meanwhile operation against militants in the country continues as in a recent operation six suspected terrorists were killed and two law enforcement officials were injured in a gun battle in a village near Okara in Punjab province.
Meanwhile the son of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has threatened revenge against the US for assassinating his father, according to an audio message posted online. Hamza bin Laden promised to continue the global militant group’s fight against the US and its allies in the 21-minute speech entitled “We Are All Osama”. Osama bin Laden was killed at his Pakistani hideout by US commandos in 2011 in a major blow to the militant group, which carried out the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
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