Moses in Kashmir, Jesus in Rozabal

Researchers suggest that Jesus came to Rozabal and some believe that Moses is interred in the shrine of Hazrat Bibi Arifa Deep in the mountains of the North Kashmir district of Bandipora, near an old tree, lies a Jewish grave that dates back to the pre-Islamic period. It lies inside the shrine complex of Hazrat Bibi Arifa, a lady saint locally known as ‘Ded Mouj’. Hundreds of devotees would visit the remote hilly village of Butho, till militancy took over the region two-and-a-half decades ago. A section of Jews believes…

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Cold wave tightened grips across Kashmir, Weatherman predicts no respite

Cold wave tightened its grip across Kashmir as minimum temperature dropped at most places in the Valley, with Srinagar recording a low of minus 5.5 degree Celsius last night, officials said on Friday. On Friday—the third day of 40-day-long harshest winter period called ‘Chillai-Kalan’—the Dal Lake in Srinagar and most other water bodies in the Valley were seen partially frozen. “The maximum temperature recorded in Srinagar on Friday was 8.1 degree Celsius while the minimum was minus 5.5 degree Celsius,” a Meteorological department official here told Kashmir Post. He said…

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Anger mounts over unscheduled power cuts

Locals from Maisuma and its adjacent areas on Friday took to streets against Power Development Department (PDD) and locked-up its office at Basant Bagh here. Witnesses said a large number of people from Basant Bagh, Mandir Bagh, Nai Sarak and Maisuma assembled outside PDD office and locked it up to protest against the department’s “failure” to supply them electricity. The protesters said that they receive electricity for only three hours despite paying their fatty monthly bills. “PDD has failed to provide us adequate electricity from past more than four weeks.…

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BJP flayed for succumbing to Separatists Pressure

While the National Conference and separatist groups have politicised the humanitarian issue of grant of “identity certificate” to West Pakistan refugees, the ruling BJP came under fire from Jammu-based parties for not taking a tough stand on the issue. The parties have reasons to target the BJP because it is an equal partner in the coalition regime which, instead of clearing its stand on the issue, is busy in placating separatists on the “identity certificate” controversy. Not only the Opposition parties, some offshoots of the Sangh Parivar are also blasting…

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Mehbooba’s Govt taking dictation from RSS: Congress

State Congress president G A Mir Friday said Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government was running on the dictation of RSS. “When Congress was taking up the issue that West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) need identification as citizens of India, PDP would always oppose the move. Our stand has always been clear that there was no problem in granting WPRs citizenship of India. Though questions have been raised by some parties over granting WPRs domicile of the State, the decision was pending,” Mir said. He said when PDP wasn’t ready even to identify…

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Post good start, tourism sector hits new low in Valley

As the year 2016 nears its end, the tourism industry in the Valley is hoping to bounce back in the winter months after a setback in summer. The stakeholders say the year proved to be a mixed bag for the sector with footfalls witnessing a dip after a good start in early summer. “This year was a mixed bag for the tourism sector. After looking to touch an all-time high in July, figures then touched an all-time low in next months,” said Director, Tourism, Kashmir, Mahmood Ahmad Shah. The sector…

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Fresh Protests across Kashmir over West Pakistan refugees, ROW stares govt in the face

Protests and clashes broke out in various parts of Kashmir on Friday against issuance of “domicile certificates” to non-state subject West Pakistani Refugees residing in Jammu areas, even as Valley’s top separatist leaders strongly reacted to the government’s move and threatened state-wide agitation “if it is not rolled back forthwith.” The joint resistance leadership—Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik—had urged people to stage protests against “settlement” of WPRs in Jammu and Kashmir through issuance of domicile certificates, on Friday. The leaders had also called for a…

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