Dy CM reviews works at 450 MW-Baglihar Power Project

After introducing amnesty power scheme in Jammu and Kashmir, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh visited Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project in Ramban district to review ongoing work there. Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation is set to commission the 450-MW Baglihar-II hydro-power project by end of this year. Dr Singh, who is also the Power Minister, today visited Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project Phase II at Chanderkote in Ramba district, an official spokesman said. Dr Singh called for time bound competition of the project. He expressed satisfaction upon the ongoing…

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Kashmiri youth released after hour-long protest

A Kashmiri youth was released by police on Monday after people led by separatist leader Nayeem Ahmed Khan blocked the highway and staged a peaceful sit-in out side police station Pattan in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district. Reports said that on 18 August, Special Operation Group (SOG) had picked up a youth Reyaz Ahmed Bhat during a nocturnal raid from his Wailo Pattan residence. The family members and people led by Nayeem Khan blocked Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road outside police station Pattan demanding immediate release of the arrested youth. Eyewitnesses told CNS that…

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New Delhi’s biggest blunder in NSA talks fiasco was to make Kashmir separatists relevant again

The separatists of Kashmir — both the moderate and hawkish wings — had been marginalised and were fighting for space, when New Delhi threw them the lifeline of relevance. The cancellation of talks at the national security adviser (NSA) level between the two nations might well work for New Delhi in domestic politics, but in Kashmir, the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leadership has emerged as the unlikely winner of this fiasco. If Pakistan continues to maintain its stand that no talks will be possible if the Hurriyat leadership is not…

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Counting the human cost of the conflict

Planned high-level talks between India and Pakistan have been cancelled hours before they were due to start on Sunday, amid mutual recriminations. The talks over the disputed Kashmir region aimed to resolve a dispute which has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years. The ongoing series of skirmishes between the two countries has a devastating impact on the lives of those living in Kashmir.

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Early 90s’ situation prevalent in South Kashmir

Due to surge in militancy and youth reportedly joining militant ranks in South Kashmir, army and other forces have revived the practice of roadside frisking of commuters and crackdowns, reminiscent of the early 1990s when militancy was at its peak in Kashmir. Reports said that it has become a routine for the army personnel to cordon and launch search operations in one or the other hamlets of South Kashmir’s Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian district on daily basis. Forces have set up barricades at many places while frisking and nocturnal…

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Locals clash with police over harassment of girl in Pulwama

Violent protests broke out in Pulwama town of south Kashmir on Monday after a police constable allegedly misbehaved with a girl. A constable attached with the Special Operations Group of the police allegedly passed lewd comments at a girl passing through Rajpora Chowk in Pulwama town, 32 kms from here, a police official said. The girl reportedly slapped the constable and raised an alarm, the official said. The girl’s action drew attention of some passers-by, who started pelting stones at the police team deployed in the area, the official said.…

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Pilgrim dies enroute to Vaishno Devi shrine

A pilgrim on his way to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine died of heart attack today near Adh Kuwari in Katra belt of Reasi district, police said. The deceased, identified as Pawan Kumar (30) of Kaithal in Haryana, had come on a pilgrimage to the cave shrine along with his cousins and a group of fourteen other persons, they said. He fell unconscious and was taken to a dispensary where doctors declared him as brought dead, police said. A case has been registered and further investigation has started in this regard,…

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If Hurriyat leaders are ‘evil’, why did Advani meet them in 2004?

Getting agitated about the separatists meeting the Pakistani high commissioner is indeed comical. GOWHAR GEELANI On February 22, 1994, both houses of Parliament unanimously passed a resolution emphasising that “Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, and that Pakistan must vacate parts of the state under its occupation.” Without a whisker of a doubt, this adopted parliamentary resolution establishes that Kashmir is a dispute between India and Pakistan, the two nuclear powers and arch-rivals, and neighbours, too. This parliamentary resolution accentuates that “the one-third part of Kashmir administered…

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Why Hurriyat is the winner in India-Pakistan tug of war

The worst part is that both countries have chosen the beaten track of taking mutually exclusive positions. GOWHAR GEELANI External affair minister Sushma Swaraj, whose role has largely been hijacked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made a statement in her press conference on August 22 in New Delhi that made the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), the pro-freedom alliance of Kashmir more relevant than ever before. Swaraj in her widely watched and followed press conference said that since the 1972 Simla Agreement had committed India and Pakistan to resolve the…

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MiG-21 Fighter Jet Crashes in Budgam

A MiG-21 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force crashed in the fields in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, with the pilot managing to eject safely. The aircraft had taken off from Srinagar airfield and was on a “routine” training sortie. Defence Spokesman Colonel S D Goswami told PTI that “A MiG-21 Bison of IAF crashed in Soibugh area of Budgam district at around 10.59 AM but there was no loss of life reported in the incident.” The pilot managed to eject from the plane “just in time”…

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