Indian Sub-continent

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was a livewire in Sri Lanka’s military campaign to end a long civil war but faces allegations of human rights violations, was nominated Sunday as the opposition’s candidate for the presidential election scheduled for later this year.

Gotabaya, a brother of former strongman President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was a powerful defense bureaucrat under his brother’s government, which defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels’ 26-year insurgency in 2009.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (APP): Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Sunday said the ferocity and brutality of Indian Prime Minister Naredra Modi with nine million guns of troops could not deprive Kashmiris of their right (to self-determination).

Dr Firdous, in a series of tweets, said preventing the Kashmiri Muslims from performing worship and religious obligations was the death of a secular India.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (APP): Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday while drawing attention of the international community on the worsening human rights situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) questioned as whether the world would watch and appease as they did Hitler at Munich.

In a tweet, the prime minister said that the curfew, crackdown and impending genocide of Kashmiris in IOK was unfolding exactly according to Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) ideology inspired by Nazi ideology.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (APP): Hundreds of people from all walks of life and communities held a protest rally at Young and Dundas Square Toronto under the auspices of Kashmir Global Council.

Apart from them, people from Sikh, local Canadians and Hindu communities also participated, said a statement received here Sunday.

The speakers highlighted the plight of the Kashmiris, their sufferings and Indian inhuman treatment and the unilateral scraping of the article 370 by India.

11 August 2019; DW: Afghanistan's president has said peace is only possible with an agreement between Afghanistan and the Taliban. His remarks come amid US efforts to finalize a peace deal with the Taliban.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said he did not want foreign nations to interfere in the country's affairs, as the United States and the Taliban appear near to closing a peace deal without the government's input.

11 August 2019; DW: The crisis in India-controlled Kashmir, which is reeling from New Delhi's shock decision this week to revoke its autonomy, is likely to dominate the talks between India's foreign minister and Chinese officials.

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) A petition was on Saturday filed by an editor of a prominent daily from Jammu and Kashmir in the Supreme Court seeking removal of restrictions imposed on working of journalists in the state after scrapping of provisions of Article 370.

Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor of Kashmir Times, has sought directions for restoration of all modes of communication, including mobile Internet and landline services, throughout the state in order to provide an enabling environment for the media to practise its profession.

Guwahati, Aug 11 (PTI) Thousands of Muslims straining to meet the deadline for the crucial re-verification of the citizen's register in Assam at a short notice earlier this month found succour from the Hindus.

These people from Kamrup, Goalpara and South Salmara districts in lower Assam had received the National Register of Citizens (NRC) notices on August 3 asking them to appear within 24-48 hours at NRC Seva Kendras 400 km away in Sivsagar, Charaideo and Golaghat districts in upper Assam.

Bengaluru, Aug 11 (PTI) Four more people have died in rain-related incidents in Karnataka, taking the toll to 31 on Sunday as the flood situation remained grim in the state.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will conduct an aerial survey of flood affected areas in Belagavi district and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will join him in the exercise.

New Delhi, Aug 9; GANASHAKTI: The Left parties hit out at the government on Friday after CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI chief D Raja were barred from entering Kashmir, saying if the situation was normal, why the two leaders were stopped at the Srinagar airport.