Year: 2015

Indo-Pak NSA talks: It’s a good beginning, says Mufti Sayeed

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Monday termed as a “good beginning” the talks between National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan and said the two sides appear to be on a reconciliation path to bridge the “huge trust deficit”. “It is welcome step and good beginning. We hope for success,” he told reporters here on the sidelines of a function at government hospital in Gandhinagar. Sayeed was replying to a volley of questions about his reaction on NSA level talks. “This is what we have been…

Read More

Sajad presents Rs 2,000-crore vision document to revive livestock sector

Editor

To give fresh impetus to the livestock sector in the state, a vision document 2025 was discussed at a high-level meeting of officials of the Animal and Sheep Husbandry Department here today. Minister for Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Fisheries and Science and Technology Sajad Gani Lone, who has devised the vision document himself, chaired the meeting. Union Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ashok Angurana, Secretary, Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Satish Nehru, directors and heads of various wings of the Animal and Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries departments, besides core group…

Read More

I died twice, still I’m alive

Editor

Ghulam Nabi Khayal It is about fifteen years ago that I was in Pakistan to meet some relatives over there. In Lahore, I soon developed a close contact with Shoaib-Ibn-Aziz, an affectionate and lovable person. He was also a nice Urdu poet, holding the charge of Director of Information Department of the Punjab government. I used to spend most of my time with Shoaib exchanging pleasantries and talking freely about literature and politics. One fine morning I received a phone call in my hotel room from Shoiab asking me to…

Read More

Revealing untold stories of Kashmir

Editor

Kashmiri filmmaker Iffat Fatima’s ‘Khoon Diy Baarav’ was screened at Lamakaan recently. The movie documents personal narratives and reminiscences of the issue of enforced disappearances in the valley The Kashmiri film ‘Khoon Diy Baarav’ (Blood leaves its trails) made over a period of nine years by filmmaker Iffat Fatima enters the vexed political scenario in Kashmir through the lives of families of the victims of enforced disappearance. The movie explores memory as a mode of resistance, constantly confronting reality and morphing from the personal to the political, the individual to…

Read More

Tourism deptt eyes high-end visitors from Asian countries

Editor

No need to visit European countries for marketing which have issued travel advisories: Mahmood Following the introduction of the helicopter services in Kashmir, the department of Tourism Kashmir is aiming to attract high-end tourists within India and other Asian countries. Terming the year-2015 as ‘satisfactory’, Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah said Valley has huge market from Asian countries for high-end tourists which, if taped, would give major boost to Kashmir tourism sector.  “Kashmir has huge market across India and other Asian countries for high-end tourism. We need not to…

Read More

Kashmir shuts against Tiwari’s anti-Islam remarks

Editor

Many areas of Kashmir valley observed shutdown against the derogatory remarks of Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari pertaining to Islam and Muslims and people held protests at various places across Kashmir. Reports said that in Islamabad town, shops remained closed and traffic was off the roads. “Youth had erected barricades at many places in old town as well as Khanabal-Pahalgam (KP) road and the vehicles were not allowed to ply,” eyewitnesses said. The call for shutdown was given by South Kashmir cleric and head of a religious organization- Tehreek-i-Sawtul Awlia-…

Read More

BSNL goes offline in many parts of Kashmir Valley

Editor

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is again in news for wrong reasons. The cellular services by the company in South Kashmir are down from Sunday while its broadband customers across the Valley are decrying poor connectivity. The subscribers said the mobile phone services by the company went off on Sunday evening and were yet to be restored. “Poor connectivity has become synonyms with BSNL,” Showkat Ahmad, a subscriber said. He said that while the poor mobile service is adding to the woes of the people, the disruptive broadband is a…

Read More

PILTOF hails CM’s interest in resumption of international flights

Editor

J&K PILTOF has hailed Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s keen interest in tourism. In a statement, PILTOF said Chief Minister is pitching for promotion of tourism along with airline activity vigorously. “Chief Minister has given top preference to the promotion of tourism and urging Union Government for putting Kashmir on international map of civil aviation,” said newly elected chairman of PILTOF Nasir Shah. “If this trend continues, the day is not far when we will see international flights landing in Kashmir.” He said thousands of Kashmiris are living or working…

Read More

Mufti tells executing agencies to meet project deadlines in Jammu

Editor

Conducts city tour to take firsthand appraisal of ongoing developmental projects Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today directed the executing agencies not to miss deadlines in the completion of various ongoing projects in the health, education, tourism and other connected sectors in the city. He issued directions to the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department to expedite work on the realignment of irrigation canal and shifting of utilities which would facilitate early execution of work on the much-needed expansion of the Jammu Airport runway. He issued these instructions while conducting…

Read More

Was India also made to talk Kashmir by Pak if it made Pak talk Kashmir: Omar asks BJP

Editor

Taking a jibe at BJP’s claim that Pakistan was made to talk terror, working president of the opposition National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah sarcastically asked the party whether India was also ”made to talk Kashmir by Pakistan.”The former Prime Minister however, welcomed the development, saying that talks between India and Pakistan without the media glare is the way to progress. The Paris talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif at Paris was ”more than courtesy meeting”, he added.Reacting to BJP claim that the follow up…

Read More