Understanding IS & Al-Qaeda in Kashmir: Tryst With ‘Branded Jihad’

In November 2017, the Amaq News Agency, which is directly aligned with the so-called Islamic State’s (ISIS) operations, announced the first attack in Kashmir by the terror group in which a police officer was killed in Srinagar’s Gulabh Bagh area. Three months later, ISIS has claimed responsibility for a similar incident, this time in the city’s Soura area after constable Farooq Ahmed Yatoo was shot dead in front of separatist leader Fazal Haq Qureshi’s house, reportedly by ‘freelance’ militant Isha Fazli who also had connections with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.…

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BJP’s cyber pirates

When India contested her first general election in 1952, the grand-old party – Congress – and its educated leader Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru won the election hands down. Since 1952, a lot has changed in India including her political spectrum with the advent of social media. No one in mainland India would have thought that social media would play a role in re-shaping the fortunes of a party and its leader. In this social media frenzied world, comes a book by one of India’s best known investigative and broadcast journalists Swati…

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Despite ceasefire, Syrian rebels fire at humanitarian corridor in Eastern Ghouta

Moscow also accused Syrian rebel fighters of firing mortar shells at a humanitarian corridor in the area between Harasta and Douma. Rebels in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta have gone on the offensive despite attempts to hold a “humanitarian pause”, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday. “During the ‘humanitarian pause’ fighters from armed groups continued attacking the positions of the government forces in the areas of Hazrama and Nashabia settlements and after 1 pm went on the offensive in other directions too,” the ministry said in a statement. “These actions were…

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Heavy shelling by Pakistan escalates border tensions

The Pakistan army today resorted to heavy mortar shelling on Indian forward posts and civil areas in Manjakot, Tarkundi and Ghambhir sectors in Rajouri. “A few mortar shells landed near the forward posts of the Border Security Force (BSF) in the Manjakot sector, resulting in injuries to two constables” said sources. The injured have been identified as Constable Dhana Shekhar and Constable Balvinder Singh. After being provided first aid, both were taken to Army Hospital at Rajouri. The Pakistan army resorted to heavy mortar shelling in Tarkundi Gali and Kangagali…

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Kashmir unfinished agenda of Partition: Syed Ali Geelani

Separatist leader flags routine violence in State in address to Pak. varsity “The Kashmir issue is the unfinished agenda of the Partition plan,” Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani told an audience in Islamabad on Tuesday. “It was India and not Pakistan that took the [Kashmir] case to the United Nations… Indian authorities are now desperate to the change narrative of the Kashmir issue. However, Kashmir issue is the unfinished agenda of Partition plan,” Mr. Geelani at an event hosted by the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad.

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Al-Qaida affiliate calls to hit Army convoys in J&K

Zakir Musa, the head of Al Qaeda-affiliated Kashmiri outfit Ghazwat-ul-Hind, has reportedly asked “able” Indian youth to attack military convoys with petrol bombs in order to make the Army’s movements difficult. While urging ‘fighters” in Kashmir to “rise above group and hero worship,” Musa in a video of his speech released on Telegram on Sunday, asked them to also target companies associated with the Indian government as well as foreign firms seeking investment opportunities in India, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. Musa’s call for attacks on Indian Army, which he…

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Shabista Shabir & Sabiya Nabi to represent India in Asian ski championship

Jammu and Kashmir Tourism department Tuesday felicitated two young female skiers from Valley with International Ski Federation (FIS) approved ski sets for their participation in the Junior Asian Alpine Ski Championships to be held in Iran from March 1. Director tourism Kashmir, Mahmood A Shah handed over two ski sets to each skier who left today for Delhi to report to the Winter Games Federation of India were from they would fly to Iran for the championship. Deputy Director Tourism Peerzada Zahoor was also present at the occasion. Shabista Shabir…

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Eating antibiotic injected chicken can prove fatal for humans

Doctors in Jammu and Kashmir have expressed their concern over the use chicken that has been administered with antibiotics for quick growth. The recently conducted research has revealed the consumption of such chicken might put the lives of people at risk. According to the recent research an antibiotic growth controller ‘Colistin Sulphate’ has been found inside chickens that doctors believe is extremely dangerous if consumed. A recent study by researchers from the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP) revealed that two-third of poultry farmers in Punjab were found…

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Unfit minibuses go off road in city, courtesy IGP Rath

Several Matadors and minibuses have gone off road in the past over a week, courtesy strict measures by new Inspector General of Police, Traffic, Basant Rath. Hundreds of vehicles are either standing idle at their owners’ places or are undergoing servicing at various workshops in the city while many stand seized at the police department yard. To control traffic chaos in the city, Rath has been challaning and seizing vehicles on the spot in case drivers fail to produce valid driving documents. A cross-section of drivers and conductors confess that…

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Youth forced into labour by army alleges Kulgam Village

For the past several days army soldiers have been snatching I-cards of youths in Ashmuji village of Kulgam and then summoning them to their camp where they are beaten up and forced to do labour jobs, local residents allege. Army has termed residents’ statements as “baseless”. “My I card was snatched by army and later asked to report to their camp. As I went there next morning I was beaten up on the allegations that I am a stone pelter. I was then made to work as a bonded labourer.…

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