First election in a decade is planned in Indian-administered Kashmir. Here’s what to know

An elderly Kashmiri woman looks on as a paramilitary soldier guard during the door-to -door election campaigning by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly elections, in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir on August 29, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 30 August 2024
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First election in a decade is planned in Indian-administered Kashmir. Here’s what to know

  • Opposition Congress party has formed alliance with National Conference, the region’s largest pro-India Kashmiri political party
  • Modi’s BJP has a weak political base in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of decades of anti-India rebellion, while it is strong in Jammu

SRINAGAR: Residents of Indian-administered Kashmir are gearing up for their first regional election in a decade that will allow them to have their own truncated government, also known as a local assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi’s direct rule.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. The Indian-administered part has been on edge since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ended its special status in 2019 and also scrapped its statehood.
The three-phased polls will take place amid a sharp rise in rebel attacks on government forces in parts of Hindu-dominated Jammu areas that have remained relatively peaceful in the three decades of armed rebellion against Indian rule.
With campaigning picking up in the runup to the election, India’s main opposition Congress party has formed an alliance to jointly seek the vote with the National Conference, the region’s largest pro-India Kashmiri political party. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has a weak political base in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of decades of anti-India rebellion, while it is strong in Jammu.
Here is what you need to know about the coming election:
The history of disputed Kashmir
Kashmir’s future was left unresolved at the end of British colonial rule in 1947 when the Indian subcontinent was divided into predominantly Hindu India and mainly Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan has long pushed for the right to self-determination under a UN resolution passed in 1948, which called for a referendum on whether Kashmiris wanted to merge with either country.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989, while India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict which most Kashmiri Muslims consider a legitimate struggle for freedom.




In this file photograph, taken on May 31, 2019, Kashmiri protesters throw bricks and rocks at an armored vehicle of Indian police during a protest in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir. (AP/File) 

What is the current status of the region?
Indian-administered Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018 when India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ended its support to the local Kashmiri People’s Democratic Party, bringing down the coalition government and causing the assembly to dissolve. A year later, Modi’s government revoked the region’s semi-autonomy and downgraded it to a federally controlled territory.
As a result, Indian-held Kashmir lost its flag, criminal code, constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs. It was also divided into two federal territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, ruled directly by New Delhi, allowing it to appoint an administrator to run it along unelected government officials.
Since then, a slew of legal and administrative changes have been installed without public input, much to the anger of the region’s people whose civil liberties have also been curbed and media intimidated.
Indian officials have repeatedly said that the move — to shape what it calls “Naya Kashmir,” or a “new Kashmir” — was necessary to tackle separatism, foster greater economic development and fully integrate the region into the country.
Even after the election, India’s federal government will still make the decisions
The election will take place between Sept. 18 and Oct. 1, and votes are set to be counted on Oct. 4.




Ashok Bhat, left, a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talks to a voter, while campaigning door-to-door ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly elections, in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir on August 29, 2024. (AP)

In theory, the polls will see a transition of power from New Delhi to a newly elected local assembly with a chief minister serving as the region’s top elected official with a council of ministers, a similar setup to before 2018.
But the new polls will hardly give the new government any legislative powers as Indian-controlled Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — a region directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s parliament remaining as the region’s legislator. The elected assembly will only have nominal control over education and culture.
Kashmir’s statehood status has to be restored for the new government to have power. Even Kashmiri pro-India parties, like the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, have vowed to politically and legally fight for the return of Kashmir’s semi-autonomy.
How do Kashmir residents view the upcoming election?
Many are indifferent, while some believe their vote could be a way to express deep resentment of Modi’s party. Most Muslim residents of the region want independence from India or unification with Pakistan.




National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah, center, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti, second right, and other leaders sit during an all parties meeting on restoration of the special status that was stripped last year from Indian-administered Kashmir, in Srinagar. (AP)

However, Kashmir’s pro-India political elite, many of whom have been jailed for allegedly disrupting peace and slapped with corruption cases in 2019, see an opportunity in these elections to politically oppose the changes by India’s ruling party.
Historically, elections in Indian-held Kashmir have remained a sensitive issue, with many believing that they have been rigged multiple times in favor of the region’s pro-India politicians.
Previous elections have seen Kashmiri Muslim separatist leaders who challenge India’s sovereignty over the region call for a boycott of the vote, calling it an illegitimate exercise under military occupation.


US and Polish officials open missile defense site that Russia has long protested

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US and Polish officials open missile defense site that Russia has long protested

The US missile defense base was originally planned under President George W. Bush as a way to protect Europe from ballistic threats from Iran
Russia aggression, fears that have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

WARSAW: US and Polish officials inaugurated a NATO missile defense base in northern Poland on Wednesday, with Polish officials welcoming it as a significant boost to the security of the country as well as of the NATO alliance at a time of war in neighboring Ukraine.
The US missile defense base, which is being integrated into NATO’s defenses, was originally planned under President George W. Bush as a way to protect Europe from ballistic threats from Iran. Poland, however, has always seen it as a form of US protection in case of Russia aggression, fears that have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has long protested the plans, and on Tuesday it denounced the base as a challenge to its own military potential that would require measures “to ensure parity.”
Polish officials, who gathered with the US ambassador and other officials, welcomed it as historic step that increases the US commitment to the security of Europe at a time of uncertainty due to the grinding war nearby. There are also concerns about whether Donald Trump will remain committed to Europe’s security when he returns to the White House in January.
“The whole world will see clearly that this is not Russia’s sphere of interest anymore,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the ceremony in Redzikowo. “From the Polish point of view, this is strategically the most important thing.”
Poland’s Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the opening of the base with its hundreds of US Navy personnel “an extraordinary event in the history of the security of Poland, the US and NATO.” He said the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are showing the importance of air defenses.
“The base in Redzikowo means the eternal presence of American and allied troops on the territory of the Republic of Poland and, strategically for Poland, it is one of the most important events in history after 1989,” he said.
The facility is equipped with the US Navy’s modern Aegis Ashore system, which can detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles in the initial phase of their flight. It is the second land element of Aegis Ashore in Europe after the first such installation went into operation in Romania in 2016.
Asked about the base during a news briefing Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed his concerns to the US plans even during the Bush administration.
“We then insisted that the Americans saying all these plans are aimed against the ephemeral Iranian threat are in fact a lie, that all these plans were drawn up from the very beginning as an attempt to militarily contain our potential,” he said.
“This is the advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory toward our borders. This is nothing other than an attempt to contain our potential. And, of course, this leads to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity,” Peskov added.

Trump’s top team: who’s who?

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Trump’s top team: who’s who?

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump is building his administration team ahead of retaking the White House in January, handing top roles to his closest allies.
While many of his cabinet nominations require approval by the Senate, Trump is trying to bypass that oversight by forcing through so-called recess appointments.
Here are the key people nominated by Trump for positions in his incoming administration:


Billionaire Elon Musk has been named to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” targeting $2 trillion in cuts from the federal government’s $7 trillion budget, according to the businessman — although no one has explained how such drastic cuts would be made.
The world’s richest man has pledged to bring his “hardcore” management style to Washington while promising “fair and humane” transitions for sacked federal workers.
Trump said that another wealthy ally, Vivek Ramaswamy, would co-lead the new department.



Fox News host and US Army veteran Pete Hegseth was nominated to be the next defense secretary, tasked with leading the world’s most powerful military.
Hegseth joined Fox News in 2014 and is a host on Fox and Friends Weekend and Fox Nation. He has also authored several books.
Trump has said that “with Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice.”



Longtime Trump loyalist and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was selected to head the Department of Homeland Security, a key role in any Trump plan to restrict immigration or deport undocumented migrants en masse as he has promised.
In her memoir, Noem recounted having shot dead an “untrainable” pet dog after a hunting excursion gone awry. The 52-year-old has said her action showed she was able to make tough choices.

New York congresswoman Elize Stefanik, a fierce Trump ally and pro-Israel stalwart, was Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the United Nations.
Stefanik will represent the administration at the UN as the world body grapples with the war in Ukraine as well as Israel’s bombardments of Gaza and Lebanon.

Congressman and former special forces officer Mike Waltz has been named by Trump to be his national security adviser, tasked with handling foreign policy challenges including the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon.
Waltz is critical of both China, which he has said is an “existential” threat to the United States, and of Russia — while arguing that Washington should cease supporting Ukraine’s war effort in favor of Trump’s so-far vague promise of a negotiated settlement.

Trump has called on former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to be US ambassador to Israel, where he has traveled several times over the years.
Trump has said the Christian pastor-turned-politician “loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him.”
In 2017, Huckabee was present in Maale Adumim for the expansion of one of Israel’s largest settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“There’s no such thing as a settlement; they’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation,” he told CNN at the time.

Lee Zeldin has been selected to head the Environmental Protection Agency, with a mandate to slash climate and pollution regulations.
Veteran immigration official Tom Homan will be the country’s “border czar,” with Trump saying Homan would be in charge of “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
Susie Wiles, Trump’s election campaign chief, has been named as his chief of staff.
Trump also announced he was choosing his former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.


Multiple US media have said Trump is expected to tap Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, setting the stage for an existential battle against China.
Rubio has said China “doesn’t just seek to be the most powerful nation in the world, they seek to reorient the world.”
He is also a fervent supporter of Israel and a longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, a key donor and adviser, is viewed as the top candidate for treasury secretary, in charge of pushing through Trump’s agenda of low taxes, less regulation and high tariffs.


Heated debate on Amsterdam violence in Dutch parliament

Updated 29 min 45 sec ago
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Heated debate on Amsterdam violence in Dutch parliament

  • The Netherlands is still dealing with the political fallout from last week’s violence in Amsterdam
  • Far-right MP Geert Wilders said the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans“

THE HAGUE: Dutch parliamentarians clashed Wednesday in a heated debate to discuss the attacks on Israeli fans after a football match last week, with some lawmakers pointing fingers and others urging unity.
The Netherlands is still dealing with the political fallout from last week’s violence in Amsterdam, when fans of Tel Aviv Maccabi were assaulted by men on scooters in several parts of the capital.
Five Macabi fans were briefly hospitalized after being beaten up following a match with the local Ajax team last Thursday, in what Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof termed an incident of “unadulterated anti-Semitism.”
After the match, groups of men on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” attacks on Maccabi fans in areas of the city.
Police said the attackers were mobilized by calls on social media to target Jewish people.
Far-right MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, said the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans.”
The anti-Islam Wilders called for the attackers to be prosecuted “for terrorism.”
“For the first time since the Second World War there was a hunt on Jews,” Wilders said, adding “I am sick of being criticized when I tell the truth.”
But the firebrand MP drew the ire of opposition parties, who accused him of “adding fuel to fire.”
While unanimously condemning the violence, left-wing parties have called for dialogue with the Muslim community instead of “dividing the country.”
“I share the condemnation of the violence in Amsterdam and yes, there was indeed anti-Semitic violence,” left-wing opposition leader Frans Timmermans said.
“You are simply stoking the fires while this country has a need for politicians to unite people and find solutions,” Timmermans told Wilders.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema on Tuesday called the attacks a “poisonous cocktail” of anti-Semitism and hooliganism.
Events ahead of the match heightened tensions, including anti-Arab chants by Maccabi fans, who also set fire to a Palestinian flag on the city’s central square and vandalising a taxi.
After the match, which passed off peacefully, reports emerged of social media calls to attack Jews, Amsterdam police said.
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in antisemitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Dutch PM indicated that the government would present concrete steps to tackle antisemitism on Friday.
Eight people remained in custody over the violence.


Italy’s president sharply rebukes Elon Musk over comments on X about migration court rulings

Updated 51 min 8 sec ago
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Italy’s president sharply rebukes Elon Musk over comments on X about migration court rulings

  • Musk wrote: “This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?”
  • Italy’s head of state demanded respect for the country’s sovereignty, especially from other soon-to-be public officials

ROME: Italian President Sergio Mattarella sharply rebuked Elon Musk on Wednesday for weighing in on Italian court rulings that have stymied the government’s plans to process some asylum-seekers in Albania.
Musk, who is expected to have a top advisory role in Donald Trump’s new administration, wrote Tuesday on X that “these judges need to go.” He was referring to the latest Italian court ruling against right-wing Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Albania immigration deal.
In a subsequent post on Wednesday, Musk wrote: “This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?”
The posts concerned a Rome court’s refusal to rule on a formal request to detain seven migrants rescued at sea and transferred to Albania for processing.


Monday’s ruling, which resulted in the men being brought to Italy for processing, was the second judicial setback for Meloni’s much-touted plan to outsource to Albania the processing of some male asylum-seekers.
Mattarella didn’t cite Musk by name but — in an unusually piqued statement — made clear on Wednesday that he was referring to him. Italy’s head of state demanded respect for the country’s sovereignty, especially from other soon-to-be public officials.
“Italy is a great democratic country and … knows how to take care of itself while respecting its Constitution,” Mattarella said in a statement issued by his spokesman.
“Anyone, particularly if as announced is about to assume an important role of government in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot attribute to himself the task of imparting prescriptions,” the statement said.
Trump announced Tuesday that Musk, one of the most influential people around the US president-elect, would help lead a Department of Government Efficiency, essentially an independent advisory panel to eliminate waste and fraud.
Musk is a supporter of Meloni and has met with her in Rome on a few occasions, and in September joined her at an awards ceremony on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Photos of them together made such news that Musk seemingly felt the need to tamp down speculation by posting “We are not dating.”
Musk has a history of making provocative statements and sparring with leaders on X. Earlier this year, he posted messages insulting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and saying the United Kingdom was headed for civil war. He has also clashed with a Brazilian supreme court justice over free speech, far-right accounts and purported misinformation on X, and also accused Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, of “major election fraud” after that country’s disputed election.
The courts’ rulings have raised the ire of Meloni’s far-right-led government, which has been seeking strategies to ease the strain on Italy of the arrival of migrants seeking a better life in Europe. The government had held up the opening of the Albanian centers as a centerpiece of its immigration crackdown, also as a means of deterrence, and said they could be a model for Europe.
In both cases, Italian courts referred the cases to the EU court of justice in Luxembourg to rule if the countries of origin for the migrants are considered safe for repatriation. There is no word on when the European court might rule.
But as a result of the Rome court decisions, no migrant has yet been processed in the Albanian centers, which are budgeted to cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years to build and operate.
Italy’s opposition says the money could be much better spent on reinforcing Italian-operated migrant processing centers, while human rights groups say the outsourcing of asylum processing contravenes international law.
The centers opened in October after a months-long delay, because crumbling soil at one of the facilities needed to be repaired. They are run by Italy and are under the country’s jurisdiction, while Albanian guards provide external security.


Sri Lankans set for parliamentary polls, seeking change and new faces

Polling officials and police officers carry election materials after collecting them from a distribution center, a day before th
Updated 13 November 2024
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Sri Lankans set for parliamentary polls, seeking change and new faces

  • New president Anura Kumara Dissanayake hopes for parliamentary majority to push through promised reforms
  • Many veteran politicians, including from the Rajapaksa family, are staying away from the polls

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is set to choose a new parliament on Thursday in a vote expected to bring new faces to the political stage amid widespread dissatisfaction with established political parties following the island nation’s worst-ever economic crisis.

The election was announced in late September, days after the country’s new leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won the presidential vote and appointed his three-member government.

Sri Lankan ministers are appointed from among members of parliament, in which Dissanayake’s left-leaning National People’s Power coalition had only three seats, limiting his ability to realize his campaign promises.

To boost the NPP’s representation, the president dissolved the parliament and cleared the way for the polls a year ahead of schedule.

 

During a campaign rally on Sunday, he expressed optimism that the 42 percent of the vote he received in the presidential election showed the NPP was “a winning party” which would also translate to a parliamentary victory.

To push through his promised reforms to address corruption, maladministration and the fragile economic situation, Dissanayake needs a two-thirds parliamentary majority. While the 55-year-old leader’s party has never won more than 4 percent, success this time seems likely.

“I would expect at least a simple majority which would be a working majority,” Lakshman Gunasekara, a political analyst in Colombo, told Arab News. “One thing many analysts are arguing is that it is better for the NPP not to have an absolute majority and to be compelled to rely on other parties as well, in order to ensure greater political consensus in governance.”

Dissanayake took over Sri Lanka’s top job as the nation continued to reel from the 2022 economic crisis. The austerity measures imposed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund, led to price hikes in food and fuel and caused hardship to millions of Sri Lankans.

During his presidential campaign, Dissanayake said he planned to renegotiate the targets set in the IMF deal, as it placed too much burden on the ordinary people.

“That is the number one motivator in this current election. The economic difficulties ... The elite don’t feel it so much but the masses, nearly one-third of people, are known to be losing at least one meal a day,” Gunasekara said.

“And the next issue is ... the injection of fresh people into the governance system — in parliament and also in the presidency.”

Many veteran politicians, including Wickremesinghe, are staying away from the polls. No contenders will be seen from the powerful Rajapaksa family, including former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was ousted in 2022 and largely blamed for the crisis, or his brother, Gotabaya.

Dissanayake is an outsider to the political dynasties that have dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades.

“We have already a completely new person as the president, coming from a social class never before represented in the presidency level — the rural poor,” Gunasekara said.

“The people want new people in parliament as well ... I think two-thirds of the previous parliamentarians are not contesting.”

Prof. Prathiba Mahanamahewa, lawyer and rector of the University of Colombo, said Sri Lankans — 17 million of whom are expected to vote on Thursday — were “frustrated with the old faces” and this would be reflected in their voting preferences.

The injection of new ones, however, is likely to delay the parliament’s work for some time.

“We have to give one year for the new parliament to study the standing orders, to study the laws, to study the bills,” said Mahanamahewa. “I believe in all the parties, new people will come.”