Day: August 18, 2017

Bipin Rawat Army Chief General to review security in Ladakh

Editor

In a significant development, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat will review the security scenario in eastern Ladakh over the weekend. His visit comes after Indian and Chinese troops clashed at a spot, north of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, on August 15. A subsequent meeting of the military commanders of the two countries resolved to work at the ‘existing peace mechanisms’. The Army Chief will be briefed by the Leh-based 14 Corps Commander on Sunday. The Northern Command chief, entire top brass of the 14 Corps and the local…

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BJP opposes PDP decision to send ministers to Delhi to protect Article 35A

Editor

The BJP has opposed the decision of its coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party to send its four Cabinet ministers to the Capital for mobilising legal and political support for Article 35A. The party has made it clear that the state government has nothing to do with the visit amid the nationwide debate on this provision of the Indian Constitution. “No decision has been taken at the government level in this regard. Some ministers may be going to Delhi on their own as members of the PDP but not as representatives…

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Kashmir Industrialists call Centre’s tax exemption decision ‘Discriminatory’

Editor

Calling the central government’s recent tax exemption announcement for Jammu and Kashmir ‘discriminatory as is going to benefit only handful of industrial units in the state’, the Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) today expressed surprise over the statements of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her three cabinet colleagues welcoming the decision. FCIK also sought J&K Government’s clarification on how the centre’s is going to boost and promote the industrial development in the state. On August 16, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the extension in tax exemption…

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Is PM Modi signalling a shift on Kashmir?

Editor

Nevertheless, the observation that Kashmir will normalise “not with guns or invective but only if we embrace the people of Kashmir” is welcome. Do Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on Kashmir in his Independence Day address augur a change of gear in the government’s year-long build-up of violence, hatred and alienation, which have combined to produce India’s most stubborn internal security challenge that is discomfiting for this country’s self-image as a secular democracy? In light of the receding trust quotient of this government, not just in the Kashmir Valley but…

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Killing of militants wont help resolve Kashmir Issue: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Editor

Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today claimed that killing of militants by the security forces will not help resolve the Kashmir issue. “Each day, young educated boys are being killed and there is a belief in some that once all of them are killed, the problem will be over. But they forget that these boys took to arms as a reaction to repression and for the resolution of the dispute,” Mirwaiz said in his Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid here. The Hurriyat leader, who was allowed by authorities…

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Solution to Kashmir Issue, Terror would be found by 2022: Rajnath Singh

Editor

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asserted that by 2022, a solution would be found to the Kashmir problem as also other problems like terrorism, naxalism and North East insurgency. “There are a lot of problems — terrorism, naxalism, Kashmir problem. Much is not needed to be said about these problems. But I can assure you this much that by 2022, we have pledged to create a ‘new India’…So a solution will be found to all these problems before 2022. We want to assure the countrymen on this,” he said.…

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BJP counters Omar Abdullah on Article 35A

Editor

Says the constitutional provision is tilted against women Countering former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s claim that Article 35A does not allow any gender discrimination, the BJP today “reminded” the National Conference (NC) leader that spouses and children of local women married outside J&K are not entitled to the status of state subject unlike men who marry non-state subjects. In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesman Virendra Gupta said the state subject law and Article 35A not only allows discrimination on the basis of gender but also violates Articles…

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Pak shelling leaves jawan, civilian hurt in Poonch and Rajouri

Editor

A soldier and a civilian were injured when the Pakistani army resorted to firing and mortar shelling on forward Indian posts in Poonch and Rajouri districts today. Pakistani troops used small arms to target posts in Poonch district at about 6.30 am. Sources said at about 10 am, troops of the Baloch Regiment used sniper rifles to target Indian soldiers manning the forward posts in the Baba Khori area in Nowshera sub-division. The sources added that Naik Sushil Kumar of the Punjab unit had a narrow escape and received splinter…

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‘Watch’ YouTube’s competitor launched by Facebook

Editor

In an apparent bid to take on Google-owned YouTube, Facebook has rolled out ‘Watch’ – a redesigned video platform for creators and publishers. The social media giant last year launched ‘Video’ tab in the US which offered a predictable place to find videos on Facebook. “Now we want to make it even easier to catch up with shows you love. We’re introducing ‘Watch’, a new platform for shows on Facebook. ‘Watch’ will be available on mobile, on desktop and laptop and in our TV apps,” Daniel Danker, Director of Product…

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Book challenging Kashmir’s fictional Hindu histories released

Editor

Ahmad’s book debunks works of Kalhana, Jonaraja and Srivara ‘It’s about the oppressive ruling class and the oppressed ones’ ‘Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative’, a book by author, poet and former bureaucrat, Khalid Bashir Ahmad that challenges Rajatarangini and Kashmir’s fictional and mythological Hindu histories by historians like Kalhana, Jonaraja and Srivara and lays bare how they had blacked out militant Hinduism that wiped out Buddhism form Kashmir from their histories was released here Thursday. The 387-page book published by Sage was released at a function organised by…

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