Day: July 18, 2017

Dialogue with separatists can’t be held at gunpoint: Nirmal Singh

Editor

Dialogue with separatists cannot be held at gunpoint, and they should help to create a conducive atmosphere by dissociating themselves from the ongoing violence in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said on Monday. Singh said the PDP-BJP Agenda of Alliance (AoA) spoke of facilitating talks as “dialogue is the only way. “But talks cannot be held at gunpoint. Talks cannot happen by exerting pressure, by killing innocents, attacking pilgrims or police officers of Jammu and Kashmir.” “People who want to talk should come forward and…

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Government open for talks on Kashmir, Opposition told

Editor

The centre has made it clear to opposition leaders that it is open for talks with “all stakeholders” as far as the issue of Kashmir was concerned, at a meeting held to brief them on the Amarnath tragedy. It has also said the Amarnath attack on July 10 that killed seven pilgrims was not because of any security lapse but because the bus got late with two of its tyres getting deflated and subsequent delay in getting the passengers on board the bus. The government had reached out to the…

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The black shroud in Kashmir marks presence of ISIS in Valley

Editor

The contours of terrorism are changing in the Kashmir Valley with the emergence of radical younger militants, who seem to have aligned themselves with the ISIS. The black flag of ISIS is new on the scene of Kashmir Valley replacing the green flag of Pakistan. This is the new worrying trend in the Valley for the security forces. As Lone’s body at his village in Amurabad leaves for burial ground, the crowd shouted the name of former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa calling him the champion of caliphate. A noisy…

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Three militants killed by security forces in Anantnag

Editor

Three terrorists were gunned down by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag. The encounter broke out at around 8 pm at Wanihama village of Anantnag, following an anti-militancy operation launched by the security forces, said a defence spokesman, as per PTI. On the other hand, SP Vaid, J&K DGP said, “In a chance encounter three terrorists were killed near Anantnag by joint team of security forces.” According to ANI, the slain terrorists, all belonging to terrorist group Lashkar-e-taiba (LeT) were identified as Shaukat Louhar, Mudassir and Zibran. One AK-47,…

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National Investigation Agency ropes in tax officials to probe LoC trade

Editor

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has roped in tax officials to probe trans-LoC trade and alleged receipt of money by separatists groups in the Kashmir valley, believed to be the main source of terror financing, officials said today. The Centre has allowed the deputation of officers of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) in the NIA to help the investigators probe the multi-layered trade transactions, they said. The federal agency to probe terrorism-related cases had in December registered a case to look into the barter trade at the…

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Haseeb Drabu sets operational target for businesses to migrate to GST

Editor

Setting immediate operational target to achieve cent percent registration of businesses under GST, Minister for Finance, Haseeb Drabu, today directed the district administrations to work towards successful implementation of the new tax regime in J&K which will be beneficial for the consumers. “The biggest deterrent in the implementation of GST was the apprehension within the business community about erosion of state’s fiscal autonomy which has been taken care of. Now, the Government functionaries at District Level must take traders, businessmen, small scale industries and consumers on board for smooth transition…

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Downtown Uprising: Islam at heart, qalam in hand

Editor

Nowhatta, often known as Kashmir’s Gaza strip or Tiananmen Square for being the epicenter of protests and stone-pelting clashes, Monday witnessed an uprising of another sort. The children and youth from different localities of Srinagar downtown holding qalam, a type of pen made from a dried reed, in their hand and love for Islamic art had come to attend ‘Khush Khat’, a workshop-cum-exhibition of Islamic calligraphy at Islamic Cultural Centre of Jamia Masjid, Srinagar. The centre, which recently came up at the place made famous by news photographers and television…

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