Families of killed trader, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti demand impartial probe in Hyderpora Encounter

Families of killed trader, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti demand impartial probe in Hyderpora Encounter

After the families of two businessmen killed in Hyderpora gunfight on Tuesday contested police claims that the deceased was overground workers (OGWs) for terrorists, the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party demanded a time-bound probe into the incident. According to the police, a Pakistani terrorist and his local associate Mohammad Amir, along with two civilians — Altaf Bhat and Mudassir Gul — were killed in the encounter in Hyderpora locality, where an illegal call center and a terror hideout were allegedly being run. The families of Bhat and Gul,…

Read More

Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti express strong objection to using community halls as security barracks

Omar Abdulla, Mehbooba Mufti express strong objection to using community halls as security barracks

NC vice president Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir had “regressed” to such an extent that community halls built during his tenure as chief minister of the erstwhile state were being used as barracks for security forces. “My Government built community/marriage halls & demolished bunkers in Srinagar. It’s disappointing to see the security situation in the city has now regressed so far that new bunkers are being constructed & the marriage halls are being used as barracks for security forces,” he wrote on Twitter.…

Read More

If Godse a patriot, is Mahatma Gandhi anti-national asks Omar Abdullah

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Thursday attacked Pragya Singh Thakur, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal, for terming Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, a “patriot”. “If the killer of the father of the nation is a patriot does that make Mahatma Gandhi anti-national?” Abdullah said in a tweet, though he did not name Thakur. Earlier in the day, Thakur said, “Nathuram Godse was a desh bhakt (patriot) and will remain so. People calling him a terrorist should introspect. They will be given a befitting reply in these elections.”…

Read More

Omar Abdullah, Adhan Sami exchange stinging notes over Valley concert

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and singer Adnan Sami had a verbal duel on micro-blogging site Twitter for sharing the pictures of empty chairs at the music concert held last evening on the banks of the Dal Lake. Omar shared a picture of empty chairs at the concert, which was organised by the state government’s tourism department at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre, with a comment “that’s a real pity”. The former Chief Minister’s tweet drew an outburst from the singer who had performed at the concert. “You are a…

Read More

Three leaders (Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti) and their ways in Kashmir valley

It is very difficult to write about the powerful people whom one has known for decades. It becomes more difficult when they happen to be political rivals, each nursing Himalayan ego. As a journalist, I have encountered many such occasions when the powerful appreciated and ridiculed my reporting alternatively depending which part suited them. One theme is common they have zero tolerance to even slightest of criticism. At the moment, there are three powerful leaders in Kashmir’s deemed mainstream. Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar — both former Chief Ministers, and…

Read More