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MHA declares Hafiz Talha Saeed, son of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed as a designated terrorist, says ‘actively involved in propagating jihad against India’

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MHA declares Hafiz Talha Saeed, son of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed as a designated terrorist, says ‘actively involved in propagating jihad against India’

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday declared Hafiz Talha Saeed, son of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed as a designated terrorist under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Hafiz Talha Saeed is a senior terrorist leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and head of the cleric wing of the LeT.

In the official notification issued by the Central Government, the MHA said that Hafiz Talha Saeed has been actively involved in the recruitment, fund collection, planning, and executing of attacks by the LeT in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan.

The letter also stated that Saeed has been actively visiting various LeT centres across Pakistan and during his sermons propagating for jihad against India, Israel, the United States of America, and Indian interests in other western countries. “The Central government believes that Hafiz Talha Saeed is involved in terrorism and should be notified as a terrorist under the UAPA”, it said.

This is a day after Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack was sentenced to 32 years imprisonment by the Pakistan Court. The Court also imposed a fine of PKR 3,40,000 on Saeed.

Reportedly, Saeed an UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases. He found LeT as a pet organization of JuD and planned the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which many civilians lost their lives. The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is pushing Pakistan to take action against the terrorists roaming free in Pakistan and using the territory to plan attacks against India. Pakistan has been on the grey list of FATF since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering leading to terror financing.

Saeed’s son Talha Saeed serves as the Lashkar-e-Taiba second-in-command. He controls the finances of LeT. India has banned terrorist organizations LeT and JuD. Also, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia, and Australia have banned Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Delhi Police starts questioning over 30 house staff after Sonam Kapoor’s house was robbed in Feb, involve the Forensics lab in ‘investigation’ too

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Delhi Police starts questioning over 30 house staff after Sonam Kapoor’s house was robbed in Feb, involve the Forensics lab in ‘investigation’ too

The house belonging to actor Sonam Kapoor and her husband Anand Ahuja in New Delhi’s Amrita Shergill Marg had been robbed and cash and jewellery worth Rs 1.41 Crore were stolen. The incident reportedly happened on February 11, 2022, and the report was lodged at the Tughlaq Road police station on February 23. Owing to its “high-profile nature”, though all information pertaining to the case was kept under tight wraps, senior officials of the Delhi police had started investigating the case as soon as the complaint was lodged, reports Pinkvilla.

Now, Sonam and Anand Ahuja’s army of staff and house help are being questioned in the investigations. According to the report, the Delhi Police is questioning 25 employees in addition to 9 caretakers, drivers, gardeners, and other workers. The FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory), in addition to the Delhi Police, is involved in the collection of evidence from crime scenes.

Pinkvilla reported that Sonam Kapoor’s husband Anand Ahuja’s grandmother Sarla Ahuja was the first who got to know about the theft. On February 11, when Sarla Ahuja checked her cupboards, she found her jewellery and cash missing. She approached the police on February 23 to lodge a complaint about the theft. In her complaint, Sarla Ahuja mentioned that the last she checked the jewellery was 2 years ago. 

Based on the information provided, the police have been examining the CCTV footage of the past years to identify any suspects in the matter.

According to the report, Sonam’s father-in-law Harish Ahuja and mother-in-law Priya Ahuja live in the Delhi residence on Amrita Shergill Marg with Anand’s grandmother Sarla Ahuja.

Last month, the Faridabad police had busted a gang of highly-sophisticated cybercriminals involved in duping an export-import firm of Harish Ahuja, the father-in-law of actor Sonam Kapoor of over Rs 27 crore. 10 people were arrested in the matter.

Earlier in February 2022, actor Sonam Kapoor’s husband, Anand Ahuja, was accused of evading tax and duties.

In 2018, it was reported how goods worth lakhs were stolen from Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja’s wedding venue called Rockdale. Then too, a lot of cash and jewellery had been stolen. Reports had suggested that the thief entered the place at midnight when the entire house was asleep. Even the guard was asleep and the thief went all the way to the bungalow’s fourth floor, climbing with the help of the window and stole goods worth lakhs, mobile phones, cash etc from the house that belonged to Soman Kapoor’s aunt. The FIR in the matter had been filed on September 21, 2018, at the Bandra Police Station.

Navi Mumbai Police to launch a parallel probe to ascertain Gorakhnath Temple attacker Abbasi’s links with local Maulana, rule out a possible threat

OpIndia Staff
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Navi Mumbai Police to launch a parallel probe to ascertain Gorakhnath Temple attacker Abbasi’s links with local Maulana, rule out a possible threat

The Navi Mumbai police have also launched an investigation to ascertain more information about Ahmad Murtuza Abbasi, the IIT engineer who attacked security personnel outside Gorakhpur’s Gorakhnath temple on Sunday.

According to a report by Mid Day, the Navi Mumbai police have also launched a parallel investigation to know the history of the accused and his acquaintances in Mumbai.

Abbasi, who is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), attempted to break into the Gorakhnath temple premises on April 3 while shouting Allahu Akbar. The 30-year-old chemical engineering graduate attacked the security personnel with a sickle when they tried to stop him, injuring two Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) constables.

The Navi Mumbai police want to confirm that there are no threats from the people who are known to him. Ahmad Murtuza Abbasi, who studied at the prestigious IIT-Bombay, had earlier lived in Navi Mumbai.

The Mumbai police, who provided information to the Uttar Pradesh police about Abbasi, have interrogated one maulana from Mumbai, who is alleged to be close to Ahmad Abbasi. During his stay in Mumbai, Abbasi used to meet the maulana frequently. Abbasi lived at Taj Heights in Navi Mumbai, which also had a madrassa on the ground floor.

According to the police, Abbasi often visited the madrassa at Taj Height, where the maulana used to preach. During the interrogation, the maulana said to the police that Abbasi was very calm and would not talk much to anyone.

“From here they went to Jamnagar… his father met me in 2016-17 and told me that he felt that someone had cast a spell on his son as his behaviour had completely changed. His father said ‘he does not sleep at night and behaves strangely,” said the maulana in his statement.

Apart from the Navi Mumbai police, the Maharashtra ATS has also launched an investigation to look into Abbasi’s links and the people associated with him to rule out any possible threat.

Abbasi had links with ISIS

Earlier, Ahmad Murtuza Abbasi had confessed to the police that his hatred bred from alleged atrocities committed against Muslims. The attacker said he was not happy with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) as he deemed them as an act of “injustice to Muslims”.

“I thought about the act from various angles before committing the crime. They [government] were implementing CAA and NRC against Muslims. Even in Karnataka, Muslims were being wronged. No one was doing anything about the issue. Someone had to do something. This is how I justified the act in my mind,” he said.

Abbasi confessed that he decided to attack Gorakhnath temple as there was a constant police presence at the premises, and it was easy for him to escape after attacking the cops. The police said that the confession indicated that Abbasi had been radicalised to the extent that he was even willing to die committing such crimes.

During the interrogation, it was revealed that Abbasi had sent lakhs of rupees to bank accounts linked to ISIS. The investigating agencies are now looking into its financial dealings with Abbasi.

In Abbasi’s defence, the father of the accused – Mohammed Munir, had claimed that his son had been mentally disturbed since 2017, due to which his marriage also broke down that year.

Aam Aadmi Party suffers a major blow, President of Himachal Pradesh unit defects to BJP right after Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘rath yatra’

OpIndia Staff
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Aam Aadmi Party suffers a major blow, President of Himachal Pradesh unit defects to BJP right after Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘rath yatra’

Days after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann conducted a roadshow in Himachal Pradesh, the President of the State unit of AAP joined hands with the BJP.

Anoop Kesari, the former President of AAP for Himachal Pradesh, was inducted into the saffron party at the residence of BJP chief JP Nadda. Besides Kesari, AAP Una President Iqbal Singh and Organisation General Secretary Satish Thakur too joined the BJP.

Citing sources, News 18 reported that BJP leader Anurag Thakur has been the mastermind behind facilitating the defection of AAP leaders. Anoop Kesari informed that he and several party workers were insulted by Mann and Kejriwal.

Kesari remarked, “During the roadshow in Mandi, except CM Kejriwal and CM Mann no one was allowed on the vehicle. No leader was given a place on the rath (vehicle). It was an insult to the karyakartas (workers) and we are very proud of ourselves and can’t compromise on our self-respect.”

The former AAP President added that he reached out to Anurag Thakur and conveyed how the party leadership had insulted him. “It is unconditional support that we pledged (to the BJP),” he emphasised.

It must be mentioned that Arvind Kejriwal had recently kickstarted AAP’s campaign in Himachal Pradesh, ahead of the State Legislative elections in 68 constituencies this year. He chose the home turg of BJP Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur for his election campaign.

Arvind Kejriwal had claimed, “First, we eradicated corruption in Delhi, then in Punjab. Now, it’s time to uproot corruption from Himachal Pradesh…We are common people, we don’t know how to do politics. Instead, we know how to work for people, build schools and end corruption. We have ended corruption in just 20 days in Punjab since Bhagwant Mann became the chief minister. Now, ‘kranti’ should happen in Himachal Pradesh too.”

100 AAP workers join BJP in Gujarat

Last month, a group of about 150 party members from the Anand district in Gujarat had resigned from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party. They had accused the state-level party leadership of high-handedness.

As per reports, they appealed to all the AAP members in the state to leave the party. Interestingly, the resignation letters of all these members were addressed to the AAP president Arvind Kejriwal.

Uttar Pradesh police books Dr Farooqui Kamal for converting his employee to Islam, had forced the latter to recite the verses of the Quran 

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh police books Dr Farooqui Kamal for converting his employee to Islam, had forced the latter to recite the verses of the Quran 

The Uttar Pradesh police Friday booked a doctor named Dr Farooqui Kamal based on a complaint lodged by his employee, accusing the doctor of forcefully converting him to Islam. The police have charged the doctor and two of his accomplice under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. Cheating charges have also been invoked in the case.

According to the police, Ramraj Yadav, a resident of Itwa police station, alleged that he used to work in a private clinic where Dr Farooqui Kamal forced him to convert to Islam in 2019. He claimed he was made to recite Quran verses and that his Aadhaar card was also made in the name of Karam Hussain.

Yadav alleged that he had also tried to meet the government officials and the police in the past with his complaint, but to no avail.

Speaking about the case, Superintendent of Police Yashveer Singh confirmed that Ramraj Yadav has accused a resident of Dumariaganj of converting him to Islam, following which a case was lodged.

Singh further said that during the investigation it was revealed that Yadav worked for two-three years with Dr Farooqui Kamal.

The SP added that Ramraj Yadav had recently been released from jail where he was lodged on charges of mobile phone theft. All angles in the case are being looked into, said Superintendent of Police Yashveer Singh.

Notably, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh police had busted an ISI-funded mass conversion racket last year. On June 21, it was reported that the Uttar Pradesh ATS had arrested two men identified as Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jehangir for their involvement in illegal religious conversions. According to police, women, and physically challenged children were their primary targets. The duo was arrested in the Jamia Nagar area in Delhi. Prashant Kumar, Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law and Order), said that the arrested were running a conversion racket that was being funded by Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh police had claimed to have detected the flow of foreign funds worth Rs 150 crore for the racket. The ATS had confirmed that the funds detected were invested in illegal religious conversion activities in India. The fund mainly originated from Gulf countries Bahrain, Britain, Turkey and others.

J&K police initiate action against Islamists who raised Azadi slogans, hailed terrorist Zakir Musa at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar

OpIndia Staff
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J&K police initiate action against Islamists who raised Azadi slogans, hailed terrorist Zakir Musa at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar

A day after anti-India, Azadi slogans were raised at Jamia mosque in Srinagar, the Jammu and Kashmir police have initiated action against those accused of raising pro-Islamist terror slogans inside the mosque.

According to journalist Aditya Raj Kaul, the Jammu and Kashmir police have registered a case in the Nowhatta police station against the Islamists who raised pro-terror slogans. The journalist said that the police have begun to nab the culprits in connection with raising pro-terror slogans.

On Friday, a video went viral on the internet in which Kashmiri Muslims were seen chanting Azadi and anti-India slogans at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, one of the largest mosques in the region.

Amidst the chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘Naara-e-Takbeer’, several Muslims who had assembled at the mosque to offer Ramzan prayers shouted Azadi and anti-India slogans as they hailed terrorist Zakir Musa, the Chief of the terrorist group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, who the Indian Army killed in an encounter in May 2019.

In the clip that has gone viral now, people could be heard shouting slogans that called for secession from India.

In addition to Azadi slogans, stone-pelting was also witnessed outside the mosque, where personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force were deployed as a part of security measures to ensure the peace and tranquillity in the Valley were not disturbed.

Tewatia returns to haunt Punjab as Gujarat Titans edge home in a last-ball thriller

OpIndia Staff
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Tewatia returns to haunt Punjab as Gujarat Titans edge home in a last-ball thriller

Rahul Tewatia has once again stunned Punjab in an IPL match to lead his side to a win against all odds. In 2020, it was for Rajasthan Royals as he hit 5 sixes in a row, in 2022, it was with Gujarat Titans as he ended the chase with 2 successive sixes to get his side over the line.

Needing 12 off the last 2 balls against Odean Smith, Tewatia managed to get the first one just over the line at the midwicket boundary, before lifting the next one way over the fence in the same region. In the dugout, Gujarat’s skipper Hardik Pandya, who was upset with his own dismissal earlier in the over, broke into a huge grin as wild celebrations broke out all around him.

For a large part of the Gujarat chase, they looked well in control thanks to a 100-runs 2nd wicket partnership between Shubman Gill and debutant Sai Sudharsan. Gill, who eventually was dismissed for 96 off 59 balls, and Sudharsan kept Gujarat up with the required rate while keeping their wickets intact.

However, Punjab bowlers, especially the impressive Arshdeep, pushed Punjab’s noses ahead with some excellent bowling in the last 5 overs. Once Gill succumbed under pressure in the 19th over followed by Pandya’s run out in the next, it looked all over for Gujarat. With victory in sight, Caribbean all-rounder Smith had a 3 balls spell he would quickly like to forget. Defending 13 off 3, Smith first needlessly conceded an overthrow when there was no run available, bringing Tewatia on strike. What followed was something that is becoming a very familiar sight for Punjab, Tewatia hitting their Caribbean fast bowlers for sixes.

Earlier, Punjab rode on a stroke-filled half-century from Liam Livingstone to post an imposing 189 on the board. Continuing their formula of going at 100 Miles an hour throughout their batting innings, Punjab kept losing wickets regularly, but never took their foot off the pedal. Despite losing too many wickets in the middle overs, they recovered to post 189 through a crucial 27 runs last-wicket stand between Arshdeep and Rahul Chahar. However, it just wasn’t enough in the face of Rahul Tewatia’s late assault.

Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga FIR case: Punjab and Haryana HC pulls up Punjab Police, warns them against violating SC guidelines

OpIndia Staff
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Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga FIR case: Punjab and Haryana HC pulls up Punjab Police, warns them against violating SC guidelines

Punjab and Haryana High Court on 8th April 2022 slammed the Punjab police during a hearing on a petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. The HC directed the Punjab Police to not violate the Supreme Court guidelines and asked it to follow the top court’s judgment in the Arnesh Kumar case.

The Punjab Police requested the court to give some time to put evidence before the court, following which the court adjourned the case till the next hearing, which is to be held on 20th April 2022.

Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga took to Twitter to express his gratitude to those who helped him in this legal battle. Posting from his Twitter handle, Bagga tweeted, “The High Court stopped the repression policy of the Punjab government. Punjab police are told that they cannot arrest as per the Arunesh Kumar judgment. I thank honorable Tejasvi Surya, and my lawyers RS Rai, Chetan Mittal, and Neeraj Ji who helped me to fight this battle in the court and outside the court.”

Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga files petition against FIR filed against him by Punjab Police

On 6th April 2022, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga moved to Punjab and Haryana High Court against the FIR filed against him by Punjab police. The charges mentioned in the FIR included making provocative statements, criminal intimidation, and promoting enmity between different groups. During a hearing on Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga’s petition that sought quashing of the FIR filed against him, Punjab high court said that Punjab Police should not violate Supreme Court guidelines. The Punjab police Punjab requested some time to produce evidence before the court.

On 6th April 2022, when the petition was filed, the Court stayed further investigation in the matter till the Court reached any decision.

A complaint was filed by Dr. Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, Lok Sabha Incharge & Spokesperson, Aam Adami Party. In his complaint, Ahluwalia alleged that Bagga and other unknown persons gave a statement on March 30 in which he instigated his followers to cause violence, use force, and cause hurt to Delhi CM Kejriwal and other AAP leaders. On the basis of this complaint, an FIR was registered against Bagga.

On April 2, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga said in a statement that while he was in Lucknow, Punjab Police arrived at his home in Delhi, presumably to arrest him. He alleged that Punjab Police failed to inform Delhi Police about their arrival in the state, which is against the law.

What is Arnesh Kumar Judgment?

Arnesh Kumar Guidelines or Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar (2014) is a landmark judgment of the Indian Supreme Court. According to this, arrests should be an exception, in cases where the punishment is less than seven years of imprisonment. In the current case, Punjab high court asked the Punjab police to follow this guideline.

Congress supporters confuse loan underwriting with write off and waive off, wrongly accuses SBI of waiving loan to Adani group

OpIndia Staff
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Congress supporters confuse loan underwriting with write off and waive off, wrongly accuses SBI of waiving loan to Adani group

Last week, several social media users associated with the opposition parties, especially the Congress party, took to social media to share a post claiming that the State Bank of India has waived off the debt of Rs.12,770 crore given to businessman Gautam Adani for Navi Mumbai’s airport.

Social media users attacked the Modi government and the state-run bank State Bank of India for ‘waiving off’ a loan of Rs.12,770 crore given to Gautam Adani’s Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) project while charging hefty bank charges on ordinary people.

Sharing an infographic, a social media user Chikku claimed that the Modi government had aided Gautam Adani to become Asia’s wealthiest by looting Indian banks. He insinuated that the government had pressurised SBI to waive off a loan of Rs.12,770 crores given to Adani’s Navi Mumbai airport.

Another social media user, a purported Congress supporter, also peddled the same rhetoric saying that the SBI had written off Rs.12,770 crores debt of Adani for his Navi Mumbai airport. He said the writing-off loan meant that Mumbai airport was gifted to Gautam Adani.

Aparna, another social media user sympathetic to the Congress party, also claimed that individuals defaulting on Rs.6 lakhs loan would be hounded and our property would be taken over, however, for Adani, SBI will fund his business by writing off the loan.

In a hurry to attack the Modi government and Gautam Adani, the social media users even failed to comprehend the basic difference between waiving off, writing off and underwriting a loan.

For starters, the Congress party followers seem to have no understanding of the difference between writing-off and waiving-off a loan. They use it interchangeably to attack the Modi government often. There is a stark difference between restructuring a loan by ‘writing it’ off and completely ‘waiving off’ a loan given.

Next, they blatantly lie that the Modi government has written off/waived off Rs.12,770 crores of loan taken by Gautam Adani to fund his Navi Mumbai port.

However, the claim made by social media users is outrightly false. The Modi government or the SBI have not waived off/written off any loan given to Gautam Adani.

The news report that the Congress supporters cite is the recent financial agreement between India’s largest bank State Bank of India, and Adani Group’s Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) to “underwrite” the entire debt requirement of Rs.12,770 crore of the project.

The Adani Group signed a financial closure for the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) project by raising a Rs 12,770-crore loan from the State Bank of India (SBI).

So, what does “underwriting” of a loan mean? Is it the same as waiving off/writing off a loan?

No, underwriting a loan by a lender is not the same as waiving off or writing off a loan. The ‘write-off’ is a process of balance sheet cleaning up exercise undertaken by banks to depict the actual status of the bank’s assets and liabilities. The write-offs are not loan waivers, as waiving-off loans mean the borrower is technically exempted from that repayment.

However, underwriting the loan is completely different from the above two.

In financial terms, underwriting a loan means a process used by the lender to decide whether an applicant is creditworthy and should receive a loan. Therefore, an effective underwriting and loan approval process is a key requirement for granting a loan, especially for large-scale projects.

In the process of underwriting, the lender, i.e. SBI in this case, checks for favourable portfolio quality of the loanee, in this case, Adani Group, so that they can check the creditworthiness of the debtor. It is to avoid as many undue risks that arise if the project deems to be a failure.

This is a prudent and standard procedure undertaken by financial institutions in advanced economies to check the creditworthiness of a debtor. Even in India, it is not uncommon.

In this case, Adani Group has finalised an underwriting with the SBI to seek a loan of Rs.12,770 crores for its Navi Mumbai airport project. The agreement has nothing to do with either writing off or waiving the loan. It just means that SBI evaluated the proposal of Adani group, and decided to approve the loan.

As the loan has only been approved by SBI, there is no question of waiving the loan, as Adani group has not defaulted on payments.

Hence, it is outrightly wrong to say that the SBI has written off or waived off a loan of Rs.12,770 crores given to the Adani group.

It is also notable that loan underwriting is different from insurance underwriting, and the SBI-Adani deal is the case of loan underwriting. In insurance underwriting, the insurer accepts a risk for a fee, the insurance premium. But the loan underwriting is simply the process of appraisal of a loan application.

Jammu and Kashmir: Anti-India, Azadi slogans raised at Jamia mosque in Srinagar, stones pelted at security officials

OpIndia Staff
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Jammu and Kashmir: Anti-India, Azadi slogans raised at Jamia mosque in Srinagar, stones pelted at security officials

The Jamia Masjid in Sri Nagar, one of the largest mosques in the region, was on Friday reverberated with Azadi and anti-India slogans as a large throng of the crowd who had gathered for the Friday prayers was heard chanting Azadi slogans and hailing Zakir Musa, the Chief of the terrorist group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, who was killed by the Indian Army in an encounter in May 2019.

Ashraf Wani, a journalist with India Today group, shared a video clip from the Jamia mosque in which people could be heard shouting slogans that called for secession from India.

Along with Azadi slogans, shouts of “Nara e Taqbeer, Allahu Akbar” can also be heard in the video clip attached by Wani.

In addition to Azadi slogans, stone-pelting was also witnessed outside the mosque where personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force were deployed as a part of security measures to ensure the peace and tranquillity in the Valley is not disturbed.

However, on Friday, stones were pelted at the security personnel, a rare occurrence following the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, which stripped the state of its separate status and enabled greater integration with the union of India. Shortly after the stone-pelting began, the law enforcement officials swung into action and disbursed the crowd.

Earlier last month, CRPF DG Kuldeep Singh admitted that the incidents of stone-pelting had reduced after the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. “After the abrogation of Article 370, the incidents of stone-pelting are almost nil,” he had said on 16 March 2022, on the sideline of the DG parade carried out ahead of the 83rd raising day ceremony of the CRPF.

Abrogation of Article 370

On 5 August 2019, the Government of India, in one fell swoop, invalidated the separate status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir and liberated the state from a decades-long Nehruvian blunder.

Besides the abrogation of Article 370, the Modi government also created two new Union Territories by bifurcating the state of Jammu and Kashmir:- Jammu and Kashmir (with Legislature) and Ladakh (without Legislature), thereby effecting a greater control over the erstwhile state.

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