‘Tarawih’ prayers mark beginning of Ramadan

The holy month of Ramadan is all set to start from Tuesday as the devout thronged the mosques all across the Kashmir valley to offer ‘tarawih’ prayers in the night. Muslims will be observing fasts for a month from Tuesday as the summer season has started to peak in the Valley. However, people are upbeat about Ramadan and were seen greeting each other on the eve of the holy month. Greetings were also doing rounds on the social networking sites. A festive atmosphere was witnessed at the markets as people…

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Chief Minister blames opposition, media for trying to put Kashmir ‘on fire’

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday hit out at the opposition and the media for playing up sensitive issues like setting up a separate enclave for army personnel to “paint Kashmir in a bad light”. “I do not know what these newspapers want. Do they want to set the state on fire? They should have investigated before publishing the story,” Mufti said in the state assembly. The chief minister’s angry outburst came after Independent legislator Engineer Rashid rushed to the speaker’s podium waving a copy of a…

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No respite from heat wave in Jammu region till June 12

The plains of Jammu are experiencing severe heat wave conditions and there seems to be no respite for the region till June 12, after which weatherman expects some rains. The maximum temperature between June 6 and 12 is expected to remain between 40°C and 43°C. As per the forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum temperature will hover between 24°C and 26°C. Across the city the sweltering heat has affected the normal life as people prefer to move outside their homes in the morning or evening hours only…

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Rise in airfares as tourist season peaks

Rising airfares have started playing a damper on tourism in Kashmir even as the sector was on a path of revival this year after setback suffered in 2014 due to devastating floods. Tickets to a few cities are even costlier than international flights. This has made Valley’s tourism players lose sleep. Despite raising the matter several times with the Centre and state, the issue of soaring airfares continues to bother the stakeholders. “If you want to book now, the cheapest ticket to New Delhi these days costs more than Rs…

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