India halts Kashmir military ops for RamadanNEW DELHI, May 17, (AFP): A leader from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party took the oath to become chief minister of a key southern Indian state Thursday after the Supreme Court rejected a last-minute bid to block the move.Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made huge gains in the Karnataka state election but fell short of a majority, sparking a scramble for power between the party and its arch rival Congress.The Congress party, which lost sole control of the state in Saturday’s election, tried to stop the BJP’s B.S. Yeddyurappa from taking the oath as chief minister by forming a coalition with a smaller regional party.The BJP argued that it should get the first chance to form a government as it is the largest party with 104 seats. State governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala gave the right-wing party 15 days to prove it has a majority.Congress went to the Supreme Court to block the BJP, but after a rare three-hour night-time hearing that lasted until dawn, the court said the oath ceremony should go ahead.Lawyers for Congress, which saw its number of seats cut from 122 to 78, had told the judge bench that the party had a ready majority with the smaller Janata Dal (Secular) party which has 37 seats.Congress and Janata Dal also claim the support of two independents and have accused the BJP of trying to bribe their lawmakers to switch sides.Janata Dal leader H.D. Kumaraswamy said the BJP had offered $15 million each to as many as 32 lawmakers. The BJP denies the claims.Yeddyurappa expressed confidence that he would get the required support for a vote of confidence that the new government would have to pass in the assembly. If the BJP loses the vote his administration would collapse.“I am 100 per cent sure of success,” he told reporters after taking over as the chief minister of one of India’s most prosperous states.Dozens of leaders from Congress, India’s oldest political party, and their allies held a sit-in protest outside the state government building against Yeddyurappa becoming chief minister.Congress is desperate to cling on to Karnataka, its last major bastion after being defeated in 12 state elections since it lost the national government to Modi in 2014.Also:NEW DELHI: Indian military operations against rebels in the disputed Kashmir territory were suspended Wednesday in a rare gesture for the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan.The nearly 30-day halt is the first of its kind in Indian-controlled Kashmir for nearly two decades, and follows an escalation of violence in recent months in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region.India has 500,000 troops in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the suspension was to allow a peaceful month of fasting beginning Friday.The decision means Indian troops will stop the pursuit of militants and door-to-door house searches — but they will still retaliate if attacked, officials said.In a statement, Singh sought the cooperation of “everyone” in the initiative but did not make a direct call for militants to suspend hostilities.There was no immediate response from Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest militant group active in Kashmir, but the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group outrightly rejected the truce offer.“We are in favour of negotiations but the talks of negotiations in presence of armed occupational forces in the region are lies,” a LeT spokesman said in a statement to a Kashmir-based news agency.Indian authorities and the Hizbul Mujahideen, whose militants are all from Kashmir, briefly ceased fighting in 2000.However, the three-decade-old conflict has never shown any serious sign of ending.Violence escalated after Indian troops killed a top militant commander in a 2016 gunfight that led to months of street protests in which scores of demonstrators were killed.Dozens of young men have since joined militant groups and there are now almost-daily gunfights between armed rebels and Indian soldiers.More than 200 militants and 57 civilians were killed in 2017 after the Indian government launched “Operation All Out”, aimed at ending the insurgency in the region.Many of the civilians were killed in protests to stop troops firing on holed-up rebels.More than 70 militants have been killed this year in dozens of gunfights and more than 30 civilians have also died.Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who runs the Kashmir government in an alliance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, expressed hope that the decision “will create a peaceful and amicable environment for sustained dialogue”.Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. They have fought two wars over the disputed territory.Rebel groups seek independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of arming the rebels, but Islamabad says it only gives diplomatic and moral support.Six civilians were shot dead by government forces in protests over the killing of five militants on May 7, promoting Mufti to appeal for a unilateral ceasefire.India’s defence minister and several of Modi’s party colleagues have rejected the ceasefire call, saying it will allow militants to reorganise.