
Harinder Baweja
Harinder Baweja anchors special projects for Hindustan Times. She has been a journalist for three decades and has focussed on covering conflict zones, including Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Articles by Harinder Baweja

Follow my father’s ideology... he’d never, ever give up on idea of India: Mufti
PUBLISHED ON JAN 23, 2021 06:47 AM IST
A former ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mehbooba Mufti, who heads the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also spent the maximum time under detention before being freed in October 2020.

BJP is treating J&K like a political laboratory: Mehbooba Mufti
PUBLISHED ON JAN 23, 2021 04:15 AM IST
She admitted that the alliance between her People’s Democratic Party and the BJP was her father’s idea.

Follow my father’s ideology... he’d never, ever give up on idea of India: Mehbooba Mufti
UPDATED ON JAN 22, 2021 11:39 PM IST
Mehbooba Mufti, 61, was the last chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir before the momentous events of August 5, 2019, when the Centre scrapped the special status and converted the state into two Union territories

Review: The Ultimate Goal by Vikram Sood
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON OCT 30, 2020 04:04 PM IST
Former R&AW chief Vikram Sood outlines how narratives are crucial to any country’s goal of avoiding being dominated by another

From LAC to LoC, Indian Army on alert
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 18, 2020 06:33 AM IST
According to a report tabled in the Parliament on the first day of the current session, 3,186 ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army have been reported this year along the Indo-Pak border between January and September this year.

PLA territorial violations since July not limited to eastern Ladakh: Intel
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 09, 2020 07:15 AM IST
The Chinese transgression was not restricted to Eastern Ladakh alone, the officials and reports reveal — with, in one case, the PLA transgressing up to 40km inside Indian territory before withdrawing.

‘Congress has to confront the question of secularism’, says Manish Tewari
By Harinder Baweja and Aurangzeb Naqshbandi | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 06, 2020 08:40 AM IST
The Congress party needs to confront the “central question of secularism” and “combat the immoral allure of majoritarianism”, Congress MP Manish Tewari told HT in his first interview since he and 22 other leaders signed a controversial letter seeking sweeping reforms in the party.

‘The tag of a conscientious dissenter works for me’, says Manish Tewari
By Harinder Baweja and Aurangzeb Naqshbandi | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON SEP 06, 2020 05:55 AM IST
Former Union minister and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari in an interview to Hindustan Times talks about the letter that created ripples within the Congress and the party’s future course of action.

Congress at its historic low, needs 24x7 leader, says Kapil Sibal
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON AUG 28, 2020 10:08 AM IST
The letter sent to interim party president Sonia Gandhi on August 7 called for a “visible”, “effective” and “full-time” leader; elections at all levels in the party; and establishing an institutional leadership model to collectively guide the party, among other steps.

Seed of letter germinated at dinner hosted by Tharoor five months ago
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON AUG 25, 2020 04:57 AM IST
Prominent among those who attended Tharoor’s dinner – but did not sign the letter asking for a “visible” and “active” leader – are former Union minister P Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram, Sachin Pilot, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Mani Shankar Iyer.

Pakistan on lookout for new voice to lead Hurriyat
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON AUG 20, 2020 04:04 AM IST
In a surprise move, 91-year-old SAS Geelani who was the separatist group’s “chairman for life” resigned from the faction of the Hurriyat he headed.

Shah Faesal reached out to NSA before he quit party; open to IAS return
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi, New Delhi
UPDATED ON AUG 13, 2020 08:57 AM IST
Faesal, 37, who hits the headlines in 2009, when he became the first person from Kashmir to top the Indian Administrative Services exam, acknowledged that he has been in touch with officials in New Delhi, although he declined to specify details.

‘Our medical teams a call away’: CDS General Bipin Rawat
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON MAR 20, 2020 08:29 AM IST
Coronavirus: Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat is part of the daily conferences convened by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba.

Ex-RAW chief flew to J-K to gauge Farooq Abdullah’s mood on Art 370 repeal
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON FEB 27, 2020 09:34 AM IST
The brief for AS Dulat’s secret mission was simple: to suss out Abdullah’s mood in “accepting the new reality of Jammu & Kashmir after the nullification of Article 370”, according to one of the officials.

Fear of violence during Trump’s visit may have pushed back J-K panchayat polls
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON FEB 21, 2020 04:51 PM IST
The sudden deferment was announced late on Tuesday night through a notification issued by the chief electoral officer (CEO), Shailendra Kumar. “Credible inputs from the law enforcement agencies” were cited as the reason for the postponement of the polls that had been announced on February 13.

Intel points to enhanced activity in Balakot, expansion of JeM camp
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi, New Delhi
UPDATED ON FEB 15, 2020 01:43 AM IST
The Balakot facility was bombed by the Indian Air Force in February last year, soon after an explosive-laden car rammed into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 troopers.

Apathy forced him to opt for violence, says Pulwama bomber’s family
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON FEB 14, 2020 05:09 AM IST
February 14 was the bloodiest day in the Valley’s 30-year-old insurgency. Never before had so many people died in a single strike in the Kashmir Valley. Nothing remained of Adil Ahmad Dar, the Pulwama suicide bomber.

More airlines ban comedian Kunal Kamra for IndiGo incident
By Sunetra Choudhury and Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
PUBLISHED ON JAN 30, 2020 03:28 AM IST
Within hours of the video being posted, IndiGo on Tuesday said he will not be allowed to fly on the airline for six months. State-run carrier Air India followed suit, announcing Kamra would be banned on its fleet “till further notice”.

Gogoi complainant reinstated after she promises not to pursue matter
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON JAN 23, 2020 06:05 AM IST
The assurance was given at the insistence of a top government functionary was also involved in the complainant’s decision to withdraw an appeal she filed against her termination last year.

Normalcy in the Valley still some distance away | Opinion
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times
UPDATED ON NOV 23, 2019 07:00 AM IST
Since the decision to remove its special status and bifurcate the region into two Union territories on August 5, a lot of the fears of what might happen did not play out on the ground.

Government forms new post to wean Jammu and Kashmir youngsters away from violence
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON OCT 19, 2019 05:51 AM IST
The administration, in the process of allocating a budget for the two new UTs, will also allocate funds for the CEO, Youth. The CEO is likely to be appointed from South Kashmir, a hotbed of local militancy.

Army hit by silent wall in LoC intelligence ops
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Srinagar
UPDATED ON OCT 15, 2019 07:49 AM IST
There is concern in the highest levels of government over this silence especially because “we know that messages are being sent to militants in the Valley”, said a third official who also asked not to be named.

Not fair to see Farooq as enemy of the state
UPDATED ON SEP 17, 2019 12:32 AM IST
The 81-year-old politician, who was on Monday booked under the Public Safety Act -- that allows an imprisonment of two years without a trial -- has unfailingly and unflinchingly stood for India.

Pockets of resistance spring up in Kashmir
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Srinagar
UPDATED ON SEP 10, 2019 01:39 PM IST
No major violence has been reported since Article 370 was revoked; but a civil resistance may be taking shape in Kashmir.

‘J&K move timed to avoid fresh violence, checkmate Pak’: Army chief Bipin Rawat
By Harinder Baweja | New Delhi
UPDATED ON JUN 26, 2020 02:00 AM IST
FATF, a multilateral watchdog, placed Pakistan on its “grey list” in June 2018 for failing to counter fund-raising by terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Militants trying to drive agenda in Valley: Officials
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Srinagar
UPDATED ON SEP 04, 2019 05:51 AM IST
Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik said in an interview that operations against militants have indeed taken a hit.

Infiltration attempts surge, alert sounded near border in J-K
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Srinagar
UPDATED ON SEP 01, 2019 09:35 AM IST
“Launch pads are full to their capacities. Attempts are being made day and night to infiltrate. These are being effectively neutralized and have resulted in injuries, death of terrorists and recovery of weapons,” Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, Corps Commander, 15 Corps, told HT.

Infiltration attempts surge, alert sounded near border in J-K
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Srinagar
UPDATED ON JUN 24, 2020 03:21 AM IST
“Launch pads are full to their capacities. Attempts are being made day and night to infiltrate. These are being effectively neutralized and have resulted in injuries, death of terrorists and recovery of weapons,” Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, Corps Commander, 15 Corps, told HT.

No talks with J&K leaders: Governor Satya Pal Malik
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Srinagar
UPDATED ON AUG 30, 2019 07:26 AM IST
Satya Pal Malik’s comments come at a time when there has been anger over the continued detention of political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, most of whom were put under house arrest following the Union government’s decision to strip the region of its special status.

‘People had false impression Article 370 empowered them’: J-K Governor
By Harinder Baweja | Hindustan Times, Jammu/Srinagar
UPDATED ON JUN 23, 2020 09:27 PM IST
The J&K Governor said that restrictions will be eased and the decision was taken because BJP had a majority in the Government.