Four policemen, two suspected rebels killed in India-administered Kashmir
At least four police officers and two suspected rebels have been killed during a gun battle in the India-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian army's Rising Star Corps said on social media on Saturday morning that 'relentless operations' had led to the 'elimination of two terrorists' – a term usually referring to rebels opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir.
'We have recovered bodies of three policemen and have also spotted the body of another cop and two militants lying in the forest,' the official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told the Reuters news agency.
Arms and ammunition, including two grenades, a bulletproof jacket, empty shells and some magazines of assault rifles were also recovered from the area, the official said.
For decades, rebel groups have fought security officials in the region, resulting in a death toll in the thousands. But in recent years, violence has tapered off.
Still, according to government data, at least 14 security personnel were killed in such fighting in the first half of 2024, and at least 30 were killed in 2023.
The latest bout of fighting in the region began on Thursday in the forested area near the city of Kathua in the southern region of Jammu, near India's border with Pakistan, after a police foot patrol was ambushed while searching for fighters, police chief Nalin Prabhat told reporters on Friday night.
The police chief accused the rebels, who were believed to have escaped a cordon by security forces four days earlier, of being from Pakistan, without elaborating.
'We will not sleep till we stop such activities of our neighbour,' Prabhat said, referring to Pakistan.
The Muslim-majority Kashmir has been at the core of more than 70 years of hostility between India and Pakistan, with both countries claiming complete control over the region.
But India regularly accuses Pakistan of pushing fighters across the heavily militarised unofficial border in Kashmir to attack Indian security forces.
However, Pakistan denies the allegations, saying it only supports Kashmir's fight for self-determination.
Rebel groups have also been fighting for decades to demand either independence for Kashmir or to merge with Pakistan.
But since 2019, the region has bubbled in anger after New Delhi ended Kashmir's semi-autonomy and curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while at the same time increasing counterinsurgency operations.
In November last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi backed the decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's partial autonomy after the territory's newly elected lawmakers sought restoration.
'Only the constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar will operate in Kashmir … No power in the world can restore Article 370 (partial autonomy) in Kashmir,' Modi said, referring to one of the founding fathers of the Indian constitution.
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Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
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Today's military feminism, in which women gain visibility in war zones, follows this same path: celebrating women's ability to 'be like men' while leaving untouched the masculine and patriarchal foundations of militarism itself. This can be observed in Operation Sindoor, which projects the spectacle of two women in uniform as feminist optics, while the script they perform remains deeply patriarchal, demanding women prove their worth through masculine-coded nationalism. Such feminist optics align neatly with the ideological framework of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Founded in 1925, the RSS is a Hindu nationalist organisation that serves as the ideological parent of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It envisions India as a Hindu rashtra (nation), advocating cultural nationalism rooted in Hindu traditions and values. Scholars like Christophe Jaffrelot argue that the RSS fosters majoritarianism and undermines India's secular fabric. 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This token inclusion supports an illusion of pluralism, while systemic marginalisation of Muslim citizens continues unabated. Feminist movements have historically challenged the logic of war itself, not simply who wages it. If we accept that nation-building is inherently patriarchal, the solution cannot lie in merely enlisting more women into patriarchal institutions. Instead, we must interrogate the very optics of national honour that equate women's value with wifely symbols and martial sacrifice. Feminist politics in war must decentre militarism, prioritise civilian protection, and insist that women's leadership be recognised in peacebuilding, rehabilitation, and policymaking — arenas where the absence of sindoor cannot be remedied by bombs or bravado. True gender justice in national security would uplift dissenting women leaders who refuse to be conscripted into patriarchal metaphors, provide material support to widows, and reject marital symbolism as a proxy for state virtue. Operation Sindoor may make for powerful headlines. But behind the illusion of feminist triumph lies an old patriarchal script: women as metaphors of the motherland, valued only when they serve its wartime needs. Liberation lies not in militarised spectacle, but in dismantling the gendered metaphors that bind women to nationalist rites – and expanding the meaning of agency beyond the theatre of war. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
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Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Pakistan ramps up defence spending by 20 percent after India conflict
Pakistan has announced a major boost to defence spending in its new budget, just weeks after coming to the brink of a fifth war with archrival India. The budget for the fiscal year 2025-2026, announced by the government on Tuesday, ramps up defence spending to 2.55 trillion rupees ($9bn), up 20 percent from the current fiscal year, which ends this month. The hike in defence expenditures comes amid a cut in overall spending, which is shrinking by 7 percent to 17.57 trillion rupees ($62bn). The budget reflects Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's goals of spurring growth while boosting Pakistan's military in the wake of the most serious conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in nearly three decades. The bitter foes attacked each other with fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery for several days in May before a ceasefire was declared. The hostilities were triggered by a deadly attack by gunmen in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, which India accused Pakistan of supporting. Pakistan denied any role in the attack. A 20 percent boost in defence spending had been expected by economists, who said it would likely be offset by cuts in development spending, the Reuters news agency reported. India's defence spending in its 2025-2026 fiscal year, running from April to March, was set at $78.7bn, up nearly 10 percent from the previous year, and it has indicated it will ramp up its spending further in future budgets.
