Strong earthquake hits Iraq and Iran, killing at least 145

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the region around the border between Iran and Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 145 people state media in the two countries said, as rescuers searched for dozens trapped under rubble. At least 141 people were killed in Iran, Behnam Saeedi, a spokesman for Iran’s National Disaster Management Organization, said on the state television. More than 850 were injured, he said. The earthquake was felt in several provinces of Iran but the hardest hit province was Kermanshah, which announced three days of mourning. More than…

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VoxPop – What changed after Darbar Move?

Secretariat and most of the government offices moved to Jammu and Kashmir’s winter capital, Jammu, this month. This reporter spoke to people in Srinagar to know if they noticed any change after the Darbar Move. “Darbar move has left an impact on many things in the city. There are heavy power cuts in many areas and no one [in the government] is concerned about the problems faced by people; it makes the general public suffer.” Abdul Majeed Dar “In summers our ministers raise slogans that we will get our power…

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Business Leaders suggest measures on revival of ‘Shattered’ economy

Kashmir’s business associations on Sunday participated enthusiastically in the first-ever business conclave here to put forth their problems and suggestions on revival of the Valley’s economy. At the conclave organised by the Kashmir Inc, the J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was the chief guest while finance minister Haseeb Drabu was the guest of honour. In his opening remarks, president, Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Muhammad Ashraf Mir spoke about the present position of businesses in Kashmir. He said that businesses in Valley have been suffering from nineties till date,…

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RSS has historically dreamed of making Kashmir a Hindu State: A G Noorani

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is working on a “calculated campaign” with the aim of reversing the “march of history since 1947 and restore Hindu Raj” in Jammu and Kashmir, top Kashmir expert and constitutional lawyer A G Noorani believes. He sees the demand for a holiday on Hari Singh’s birthday and the subsequent resignation of Dr Karan Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh from ruling PDP, as part of the same campaign. “Gulab Singh was not the founder of the State of Jammu and Kashmir,” the acclaimed author and lawyer, who was…

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Autumn – the season of colours

Birchbark was used as paper by humans thousands years back and it now needs our protection. With the onset of autumn most of the greenery turns into golden in Kashmir valley. The leaves of Chinar turn red in this season. Similarly, before fall, the leaves of other common trees too change colors, giving amazing look in the cities and countryside. Like Chinar, the Canadian and Japanese maple trees, planted in some public gardens and private parkland here, also change their colors.Like other seasons autumn brings joy to the nature lovers.…

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How a bureaucrat ‘Sabotaged’ two major power schemes to allow outside agencies take over

Tendering of two projects that would have strengthened power distribution system in Kashmir was cleared thrice by power department’s own committees. However, commissioner secretary power Dheeraj Gupta got an outside agency to scrutinise the tendering once again, which eventually landed the project in the kitty of a central public sector undertaking. Official data accessed by Kashmir Post show that power department’s contract committee, which has all chief engineers concerned as members and development commissioner power its head, had cleared the tenders for the Rs 598-crore Prime Minister’s Development Plan (PMDP-Rural)…

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To baptize students four government schools adopting CBSE in 2018

The government has decided to take CBSE route to baptize students of SP Higher Secondary School and Amira Kadal Girls Higher Secondary School that remained in news for student protests and stone-pelting against rights violations. The two schools in the heart of the summer capital, Srinagar remained in news for frequent student protests and stone pelting and rights violations last year. Now the State government is trying an image makeover of the two schools by making them model schools with switchover to Central Board of School Education (CBSE) pattern. Presently,…

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Subway on cards to unclog Jahangir Chowk Airport road

The state government has decided to construct a subway to decongest the Jehangir Chowk-Airport road. “The city traffic authorities and superintending engineer of the Public Works Department have been asked to visit the Barzulla bridge and submit a report about the feasibility of an underpass for the movement of traffic,” reads a communication from the office of Baseer Khan, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir. Also, to avoid traffic jams due to wrong parking, the authorities have identified 28 parking slots in Srinagar. The Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, and the SSP (Traffic) have been…

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Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rears its head in Kashmir

It is roping in locals for terrain knowledge, and targeting suspected informants. Terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), once virtually wiped out from Kashmir, is back in action and has consolidated its base giving security forces cause for serious concern. “The JeM has captured the area of Lashkar-e-Taiba. The LeT is on the wane now. In a change of tactic, they have taken a lot of locals into the ranks as they have terrain knowledge,” a senior Army officer said. The JeM is full of foreign terrorists who infiltrated from across the…

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If you won’t give autonomy, everyone will seek azadi: Farooq Abdullah

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has said that the efforts of the government of India’s “special representative” for Kashmir can move forward only if his final report is tabled in the two Houses of the Parliament for discussion. He also stressed that New Delhi also needed to explain what it wished to achieve by appointing Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative for talks on Kashmir. Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said that different voices emerging from the power corridors had reduced Sharma to a “zero even…

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