BJP leader sacked for ‘beat up and skin them alive’ remark against Kashmiri Muslims

News Network
November 2, 2021

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Jammu, Nov 2: A senior Jammu and Kashmir BJP leader has been booked for obnoxiously provocative remarks prompting the party to relieve him of all his responsibilities including the post of J&K secretary.

Vikram Randhawa, a former BJP lawmaker from Jammu region who was recently appointed as state secretary of the party, was seen in a video exhorting his supporters to beat up Kashmiri Muslims and “skin them alive”. The video was first posted on Twitter by Peoples Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhtar.

Akhtar’s post on Randhawa was quote-tweeted by his party president Mehbooba Mufti who highlighted the fact that no action was taken against Randhawa’s open call to violence, but J&K students are charged with sedition for cheering Pakistan.

"An FIR has been registered against Randhawa at a police station here under section 295-A and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigation is on," a police official said.

Section 295-A pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class, while section 505 (2) gives powers to the police to arrest anyone who makes a statement which creates or promotes enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.

In a communication, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina said, "Randhawa has been relieved from all the party posts/responsibilities including the post of JK-UT Secretary with immediate effect."

The order said BJP JK-UT vice president Sham Choudhary, a former minister, would be the new incharge for district Rajouri in place of Randhawa.

The party's Jammu and Kashmir unit had taken note of the video and served Randhawa a showcause notice on Monday, asking him to submit a public apology.

In the notice, the BJP disciplinary committee, headed by Sunil Sethi, also asked him to explain his position within 48 hours.

"A video has gone viral in social media in which you are seen making absolutely reckless and hatred-promoting remarks against a particular community. This is unacceptable to the party and has brought disrepute and embarrassment to the party," the notice read.

The BJP Jammu and Kashmir president, who ordered the disciplinary action against the former legislator, had said he was personally hurt after hearing the comments of Randhawa.

He said the remarks "are totally against the basic principles of the party which believes in respecting all faiths and taking everyone along in accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas’ (inclusive development)".

Randhawa's remarks caused outrage across Jammu and Kashmir with people demanding action against him in accordance with the law.

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah has said, "So good to see this man making friends with Kashmiri people! He should be made an example out of and the law should deal with him firmly to dissuade others from being as abusive as this man has been."

BJP spokesperson Sunil Sethi said the disciplinary committee has given an interim report in view of the huge impact of reckless statement of Randhawa and the bad name it has brought to the party.

He said the report has recommended to immediately relieve him of all official party positions pending finalising of disciplinary proceedings.

"Party President Ravinder Raina agreed with the report and decided to take strict and strong action against Randhawa without wasting any time as party believes in respecting all religions particularly women.

"And it is unacceptable to party that a person occupying high position in party may makes statement which will hurt religious sentiments of anyone," Sethi, who is also chairman of the three-member disciplinary committee, said in a statement. He welcomed the registration of the FIR against Randhawa.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israel has launched a new act of aggression on a residential neighborhood in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians.

The Israeli regime's military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday.

The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five people and injuring more than 28 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. 

Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and four resistance fighters.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned the airstrike, calling it a clear demonstration of Tel Aviv’s disregard for repeated international calls to halt violations on Lebanese soil.

“Israel refuses to implement international resolutions and all efforts aimed at ending the escalation and restoring stability,” Aoun said, urging the international community to take action to prevent further aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also condemned the attack, holding the international community accountable. 

“The international community bears responsibility and continues to provide cover for these attacks as long as it does not restrain the occupiers,” said Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the group’s political bureau.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out a strike “in the heart of Beirut."

Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.

Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.

The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. "We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out."

The second senior official said that the "US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike."

Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted "all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire."

He stated that "any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon's dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens."

Ammar went on to say the resistance is responding with "utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression," he added.

The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.

An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late Tuesday killed at least 14 people. It wounded several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military claimed the attack targeted “a Hamas training compound” used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime -- a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.

Hamas rejected the allegations as “a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,” stating it had “no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” and that the targeted site was merely “an open sports field.”

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.

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News Network
November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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