Day: April 2, 2018

Don’t expect Kashmiris to buy our narrative: Sanjiv Bhatt on Shopian Civilian killings

Editor

Raising questions over use of bullets on protestors in Kashmir, a police officer who took on Narendra Modi government over 2002 Gujarat riots, on Monday drew comparisons between crowd control measures in the Valley and rest of India. Taking to Twitter, the 1988 batch Indian Police Officer Sanjiv Bhatt wrote: “Four civilians killed when police opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators in Kashmir”. Bhatt said that Kashmiris “cannot be expected to buy our narrative” since two different approaches are used in Kashmir and rest of India. “Lethal bullets for crowd control…

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Life paralysed across Kashmir post Shopian encounter, Mobile Internet, Train Services Shut

Editor

Life came to a grinding halt across Kashmir on Monday in wake of 13 militant and four civilian killings in south Kashmir’s Shopian district yesterday which has led to massive anger among the population. The authorities apprehending large scale protests have put restrictions at numerous places across Kashmir. Internet services continue to remain suspended on second straight day. Commercial establishments and offices are also closed, while government ordered closure of all educational institutions on Monday. Joint Resistance Leadership has called for shutdown in the Valley today. All examinations scheduled on…

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4 Killed in clashes in MP, Violence reported from several states during Bharat bandh

Editor

Dalit protests turned violent in various parts of the country during ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by Dalit organisations against a Supreme Court order diluting The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. Here are the live updates Four people were killed in Madhya Pradesh on Monday during ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by various Dalit organistaions to protest the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. While one person died during clashes in Morena, two protesters were killed and eighteen others injured in police firing in Gwalior.…

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Achee Din: Petrol price hits 4 year high, Diesel at highest level

Editor

Petrol price today hit a four-year high of Rs 73.73 a litre while diesel rates touched an all-time high of Rs 64.58 in the national capital, renewing calls for the government to cut excise tax rates. State-owned oil firms, which have been since June last year revising auto fuel prices daily, today raised petrol and diesel rates by 18 paise per litre each in Delhi, according to a price notification. Petrol in the national capital now costs Rs 73.73 a litre, the highest since September 14, 2014 when rates had…

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Single BJP MP from Jammu more active in Parliament than all Kashmiri MPs put together

Editor

An analysis of performance of Kashmiri MPs in the Parliament shows they were far behind their counterparts from other states in highlighting issues of the state. The review of their performance, based on key parameters like attendance, questions asked, participation in debates, shows they lagged even behind the BJP MPs from Jammu. Sample this: BJP lawmaker Jugal Kishore, who represents Jammu- Poonch parliamentary segment, has raised 217 state and constituency specific questions during the past four years. The number of queries brought into the notice of the Parliament by Kishore…

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Ashraf Sehrai advocates ‘Solid Unity’ among resistance leadership

Editor

Stressing for “solid” unity in the rank and file of the separatist leadership, newly elected Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chief Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai (in pic) has said difference of opinion is a bliss in Islam, but the difference should not lead to confrontation. Speaking during a seminar organised by the J&K High Court Bar Association to observe the death anniversary of Bar lawyer advocate Jaleel Andrabi, Sehrai recently advocated for a “solid” unity while describing the present unity among the separatist leadership as “fractured”. This was Sehrai’s first speech at a public platform…

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Brace for dry April and Water Scarce summer

Editor

The weather department has made a grim prediction. Like March, April would be nearly dry. By then natural springs and streams, thirsting for adequate rains since last June, would turn dry. Groundwater level, which has been depleted, won’t be recharged. “ From September last year there has been no significant precipitation like it used to be in Kashmir. There was no significant snowfall or rain this winter. When there is no snowfall in the mountains it is naturally going to affect water level in the plains. It causes both qualitative…

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BJP rejects Mehbooba Mufti’s proposal of talks with Pak

Editor

The BJP on Sunday vowed to aggressively pursue its agenda in the government following criticism from its supporters for “meekly surrendering before the PDP, its coalition partner, to remain in power”. The BJP’s aggressive posture was witnessed during its executive committee meet at Suchetgarh, where party leadership rejected the proposal of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to hold talks with Pakistan. Amid applaud by executive committee members, Avinash Rai Khanna, state J&K in charge, said there was no reason to hold talks with Pakistan in the present situation. He said as…

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T-Shirts glorifying use of human shield in Kashmir spark row

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Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga has sparked national controversy six months after his online shopping company Tshirtbhaiya.com started selling T-shirts glorifying the use of a human shield in Kashmir last year by an Indian Army major. The T-shirt in question has a representational image of a man tied to the front of a jeep. It’s an obvious reference to the incident when an alleged stone-pelter from central Kashmir was tied in front of an Army jeep last year. Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi, the officer who had done it,…

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Massive forest fires in four districts of J&K

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Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said officers and fire department are on the job to control forest fires Forest fires have engulfed large tracts in Bandipore, Kupwara, Ganderbal and Anantnag districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, tweeted a short while ago that her government departments are on high alert. Thousands of alpine trees have been burnt during last two days and efforts are on to control the fire, say forest department officials. Local residents say, unusually high temperatures at this time of the…

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