分类： bharat

On Monday, unknown militants shot at a sarpanch in Anantnag area of south Kashmir. Ajay Bharti was associated with the Congress party. Many such assassinations of panchayat members have happened in the Kashmir Valley but after a very long time a Kashmiri Pandit was targeted.

It is proving out to be a rather hot summer in Kashmir. Tensions over militancy and anti-insurgency have been soaring. Close to 100 militants have been killed in Kashmir this year till May. There are clear indications of this being a very active year in Kashmir.

Even as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, militants have been targeting security forces, civilians and activists. Sensing the situation, security forces have also upped the ante against the threats.

RISE IN MILTANT ACTIVITY AND ENCOUNTERS

Encounters have been taking place in Kashmir almost every second day and mostly in south Kashmir. More than 14 militants have been killed in last four days including five on Wednesday.

“Over the last couple of months we have been getting intelligence reports of their plans to attack security forces, carry out kidnappings, IED attacks etc. Our operations have managed to thwart those plans,” said Rajesh Kumar, IG CRPF while speaking to the media.

After the big decision on abrogation of Article 370 in August 5, 2019, there were apprehensions about possibilities of increase in militancy in the Kashmir Valley. Sources believe attempts by the terror groups to push their men from across the borders have gone up. Many infiltrations have been successful as well.

Most of the militancy-related activities and the anti-insurgency operations are taking place in this belt. “I would not like to use terms like success but these are definite steps we are taking in the right direction, at the end of it I would go back to the issue that we are here because the population or the government is inconvenienced, so any militant neutralised will bring normalcy,” said Lt Gen BS Raju, Corps Commander 15 while speaking on the recent increase in the number of encounters.

He further added that when it comes to South Kashmir alone there is a figure of close to 125 active militants. Among these there are around 100 locals while others are foreign nationals.

A  telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi, at a time when Indian and Chinese soldiers are locked in a boundary face-off in Ladakh and Sikkim for nearly a month, is bound to spark off speculation in diplomatic and political circles. Ostensibly, the US President wanted to invite the Indian Prime Minister for the forthcoming G7 Summit—a desire that Trump had aired a few times recently. On May 29, he had expressed his desire to mediate between India and China on the rising tension at the LAC, claiming that he had spoken to Modi about it. That offer was politely turned down by New Delhi; the claim that the two had spoken quietly refuted.

However, in their actual confab on June 2, Modi expressed concern over the civil unrest in the US; Trump also wanted to know about the situation at the LAC. He was told it was under control and that India and China were aiming to resolve it through dialogue. But many are trying to divine the true import of the US President’s call, inasmuch as he is engaged in a tussle with China over global dominance.

Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese defence officials and diplomats were engaged in hectic parleys to bring the current stand-off between their soldiers at the un-demarcated frontier in Eastern Ladakh to an early end. On June 6, military officers at the Lt. General-level are scheduled to meet to find a solution to the crisis. There have been no fresh skirmishes in the area, even though soldiers of the two sides have consolidated and reinforced their positions along important points in the LAC. With the leadership of both sides keen to resolve the issue, tension may finally be defused in the next few weeks. As long as the situation does not escalate, both sides are willing to wait. Yet, the question remains on how temporary structures built in the points of contention by Chinese soldiers well into Indian territory can be dismantled with tact and through amicable negotiations.

There is a bigger, bothersome question as well—in the absence of a mutually agreed Line of Actual Control (LAC)—a firmly demarcated line behind which soldiers of the two sides are supposed to stand—there remains the possibility that the neighbours could be dealing with a similar military crisis in future.

印度首都新德里等城市地区的5月失业率达到26％。作为新型冠状病毒的防控举措，印度从3月底启动全境封锁，经济活动停止，全国有1.2亿人失去工作。结果，在城市地区失业的外出务工劳动者不得不返回农村，在这一过程中扩大了感染。印度将自6月8日起分阶段恢复经济活动，但也存在疫情扩大速度加快的风险。

      印度政府并未定期发布官方的就业数据。民间调查公司CMIE的调查显示，失业率在城市地区截至3月为8～9％左右。4月暴涨至25％，5月达到26％，刷新了历史新高。从5月的失业率来看，农村为22％，印度整体为23％。印度的总人口约为14亿人，城市地区占3成以上。

      CMIE还计算了每日失业率，城市地区截至6月4日持续高达24％。呈现出约4人中就有1个人失业的严峻状况。

      CMIE认为，截至4月失业的约1.2亿人的约7成为日工劳动者。新德里和孟买有大量来自周边农村的外出务工劳动者汇聚。在建筑一线和工厂从事日结薪金的工作，但很多都在城市封锁后遭到解雇。

      “由于无法赚到钱，连每天100卢比（约合人民币9元）的饭钱都付不起”，3月21日在新德里的建筑工地失业的拉姆·辛（音译，32岁）唉声叹气道。

      最开始雇主提出了4月中旬复工的展望，但封城时间延长，拉姆·辛只能在5月上旬返回了农村。他表示，“巴士坐满了人，到家需要4个小时。很多乘客都没有戴口罩”。

      世界卫生组织（WHO）的数据显示，印度的感染者截至6月4日超过21万人。尽管封城维持了2个多月，但目前的新增感染者仍达到每天8000～9000人，以历史最快的速度增加。在城市地区失业的外出务工劳动者在乘坐巴士和电车等成群结队返回农村，这也是感染扩大的原因之一。

      当地媒体表示，在比哈尔邦，近期有3成感染者是返乡的外出务工劳动者。印度总理莫迪5月30日向国民发表声明称，“受新冠病毒危机影响，外出务工劳动者和小规模产业的工人面临困境”。他强调，“必须解决他们的困难”。

      印度政府在5月中旬提出总额20万亿卢比的经济刺激对策，表示向所有外出务工劳动者无偿提供2个月的食品。但金融市场很多声音表示，“在20万亿卢比中，伴随财政刺激的经济对策仅为约1成，不足以提振经济”。印度储备银行（央行）预测2020年的实际增长率为负数。

      印度政府将在疫情仍未缓解的背景下，自6月8日起分阶段重启经济活动。