Crackdown intensifies in Kashmir after attack: Homes demolished, hundreds detained for questioning
Srinagar: In the wake of the deadly attack in Pahalgam, authorities in Kashmir have launched a massive crackdown on suspected terrorists and their alleged sympathisers, launching large-scale raids, detaining hundreds of overground workers (OGWs) for questioning, and demolishing properties linked to active terrorists.
Security forces have widened the net across the Valley in an effort to deter any Pahalgam-like attacks. Raids were carried out at more than sixty places on Saturday in Srinagar, including Safakadal, Soura, Pandach Bemina, Shalteng, Lal Bazar, and Zadibal areas "to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem,” The New Indian Express quoted J-K Police spokesperson as saying.
On Thursday night, explosions destroyed the homes of two “active terrorists”—Adil Thoker in Bijbehara and Asif Sheikh in Tral—following raids by security personnel.
Meanwhile, security checkpoints have been established across Anantnag, with vehicles being thoroughly screened. The security forces have also rounded up hundreds of OWGs and their supporters, mostly in four south Kashmir districts, in their bid to track down the terrorists who carried out the attack at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on Tuesday that killed 26 people, added TNIE.
Officials revealed that one suspected OWG, identified as Altaf Lalli, was killed in firing by terrorists during one such operation in Bandipora district on Friday. He was killed when security forces took him to a terrorist hideout in the Kulnar area of Bandipora district after he pointed out the location of the extremists. Additionally, two policemen were injured when terrorists opened fire before making their escape.
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Trump confronts South African president over killing of white farmers
Washington, May 21 (AP): President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing his country of failing to address the killing of white farmers.
“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety," said Trump, who at one point dimmed the lights in the Oval Office to play a video of a communist politician playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer. "Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they're being killed."
Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump's accusation. The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country's relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.
“We are completely opposed to that,” Ramaphosa said of the behaviour alleged by Trump in their exchange.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
