Jammu and Kashmir: Cattle trader killed, another injured in Army firing, police file FIR
Jammu and Kashmir, Aug 05: A cattle trader was killed and another injured in firing by Army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district on Sunday, the police said. Police have filed a First Information Report against the Army personnel involved at Dharamkund police station, Senior Superintendent of Police Mohan Lal told PTI.
Mohammad Rafiq Gujjar, 28, and 30-year-old Shakeel Ahmad, both residents of Gool, were fired upon by soldiers of the 58 Rashtriya Rifles when they were leaving Kohli village around 4 am, PTI reported. While Gujjar died on the spot, Ahmad was injured and was shifted to a hospital.
The Army, however, claimed it had retaliated after coming under fire, Greater Kashmir reported. “On August 5, an operation was launched by Army based on specific intelligence inputs in Kohli area of Gool, Ramban,” said Jammu-based defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand. “At 3.45 am, the Army patrol saw some suspicious activity. The suspected individuals were challenged by the Army as per standard operating procedure. On being challenged, the suspected individuals opened fire upon the Army patrol. The Army patrol retaliated effectively.”
The Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, which represents Gujjars in the state, demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. The organisation has also written to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “The community demanded that a strong directive must be issued to security forces so that more such incidents do not occur in tribal areas any more,” the foundation said in a statement.
Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also condemned the incident. “Is it part of the Muslim killing under the garb of ‘cow protection’ or Kashmiri killing under the garb of ‘anti-national’ we wonder?” he asked.
Courtesy: scroll.in
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Mehendi artists in Jharkhand denied entry to wedding venue, asked to remove hijabs
Hazaribagh: A mehendi artist and her team were allegedly denied entry to a wedding venue and asked to remove their hijabs before applying mehendi at a hotel in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh. Following the altercation, the artists refused and left the venue.
According to Siasat Daily, Alia Ahmed and her team had arrived at Hotel Aranya Vihar to apply mehendi for a client. However, they were reportedly stopped at the entrance and asked to remove their hijabs before entering.
In a video circulating online, a man at the venue can be heard saying, “Bohot dikkat hai. Jaise tumko dikkat hai hijab me nai rehne ki waise hume dikkat hai isme lagane me. (We have a major problem. Just like you have an issue with not wearing a hijab, we also have a problem with you putting mehendi while wearing it).”
According to Alia, a client from Delhi had booked her services to apply mehendi on 40 to 50 people for a wedding. She said that an elderly relative of the family asked them to remove their religious coverings.
Refusing the demand, Alia said, “Yeh toh aisa galat hai na. Nai utar sakte hai hum. Nai toh phir chod dijiye. Hum wapas chale jayinge,” after which she and her team left the hotel premises.
In the video, Alia alleged that they were insulted over their attire. “They disrespected our hijab and niqab and said that only if we removed it would we be allowed to put mehendi,” she said.
“We waited long hours in this heat while we were fasting. No one even told us to sit,” she said.
Alia further said that she had previously worked with people from different communities and questioned why her religious attire had become an issue.
“Hamara kaam se matlab hona chahiye. Na ki hamara niqab se (Our work should matter, not our niqab),” she said, adding that one of her students, Pooja, belonged to another caste.
She also said, “Jab humko koi dikkat nahi hai caste me, toh yeh log ko kyun dikkat hai hamare hijab aur niqab se (If we have no problem with caste, why do they have a problem with our hijab and niqab).”
Alia also expressed concern that if such discrimination continued, other artists wearing hijab or niqab could face similar situations in the future.
