Month: May 2016

Kashmir Fort Festival saw an overwhelming response

Editor

The Kashmir Fort Festival saw an overwhelming response today as the participants wearing traditional turbans walked through the interiors of the old city in Srinagar as part of its heritage walk program. The 3-day festival began yesterday with Sufiyana Musial Performance at Hari Parbat Fort in downtown. Today, scores of youth from downtown including senior citizens wearing turban participated in the heritage walk which began from historic Badamwari at Rainawari. The walk was flagged off by Deputy Director Tourism Kashmir (Publicity) Peerzada Zahoor. The participants walked through downtown’s famous routes…

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No ‘acche din’ in Kashmir as yet, after two years of Modi Sarkar

Editor

Months after taking over as the prime minister two years ago, Narendra Modi, sporting a woollen cape-like Kashmiri garment called a pheran, addressed a huge rally in SRINAGAR promising “to give justice” to the people caught in one of the longest standing conflicts in the world for decades now. Nearly 18 months since the December 2014 rally and after the two years of the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP)-led government in Delhi, challenges remain abound in Kashmir despite the issue finding a special mention in Modi’s agenda of governance. The…

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Most unexplored destinations in the Kashmir Valley

Editor

The mercury is rising everyday. Here are a few offbeat places in Kashmir you can escape to. Kashmir. For years this part of the country has been referred to as ‘Heaven on Earth.’ And the moment we hear the name, we are quick to picturise Srinagar’s Dal Lake, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Shankaracharya Temple and some of the other common destinations within the state of Jammu and Kashmir. But the real beauty of this valley lies in its unexplored and offbeat destinations. Hidden deep within the depths of the alpine mountains, these…

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Jammu being developed as independent tourist place

Editor

Underlining the commitment of the government to develop tourist destinations in Jammu province, Minister of State for Tourism, Education, Technical Education, Culture, Horticulture, Floriculture and Parks Priya Sethi recently said efforts were afoot to promote the tourism sector in Jammu division. She said special focus was being laid on developing Jammu as an independent tourism destination. Interacting with different stakeholders of the tourism industry here, the minister called upon them to work in unison with the government to exploit to the fullest vast tourism potential of the region. There was…

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No Devanagari script for Kashmiri: Civil Society

Editor

Kashmir’s civil society today rejected the reported move by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to introduce Devanagari as an alternative script for Kashmiri language. In an emergency meeting organised by Adbee Markaz Kamraz (AMK), a group of writers, poets, artists, academicians, social activists and businessmen, unequivocally resolved that the proposal to introduce Devanagari script was unacceptable. “The move is politically motivated aimed at bifurcating the Kashmiri community in the name of the script,” said a resolution passed unanimously at the meeting. “It is aimed at demolishing our cultural…

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Will quit politics if charge proved against me : Lal Singh

Editor

Lal Singh for probe against complainants to unravel ‘conspiracy’ Rubbishing the accusations of issuing a threat to Gujjars and using abusive language against them, Minister for Forests Choudhary Lal Singh today said he was open to any investigation and would quit politics if the charge against him was proved. He sought an investigation against the complainants, who he alleged had been instigated by some non-Gujjar persons under a planned political conspiracy to dislodge him from the ministry as he had tightened the noose to stop timber smuggling and illegal encroachment…

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Return of projects part of Agenda of Alliance: Drabu

Editor

“We are all aware that the power projects belong to the listed company (NHPC). However it has been agreed in the Agenda of Alliance (between PDP and BJP) to work out modalities of transfer of the two projects to the state,” said Drabu Reacting to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement wherein he ruled out transfer of power projects to J&K, State Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu Friday said the Peoples Democratic Party and BJP has agreed in the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ to work out modalities with the Government of…

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Kashmir’s culture and a samovar

Editor

Rifat Mohidin When Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s eye caught an intricately crafted samovar at Srinagar’s Kashmir Haat, she unknowingly brought this traditional Kashmiri copper utensil and the culture it symbolises into focus. Mehbooba had gone to inaugurate National Khadi Exhibition on May 8, when she saw the utensil and became the first buyer at the event. Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, who runs stall number 11 and 12, was the lucky seller. “When all the Kashmiri handcrafts are struggling to survive in the market, copper utensils are still in a good demand…

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Curfew-like restrictions in Srinagar to foil ‘Eidgah chalo’

Editor

Separatists including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani, Muhammad Yasin Malik and others have called for a public rally to the martyrs graveyard in Eidgah area of old city Srinagar on Saturday Authorities on Saturday imposed restrictions in parts of summer capital Srinagar to prevent ‘Eidgah Chalo’ rally. “Restrictions have been imposed in areas falling under the jurisdiction of seven police stations in Srinagar city today. The police stations whose areas shall remain under restrictions include Khanyar, Nowhatta, M.R. Gunj, Rainawari, Safa Kadal, Maisuma and Nigeen,” Farooq Ahmad Lone, district…

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Despite Court orders, admin ‘fails’ to axe Russian poplars in city

Editor

Despite High Court orders to axe the Russian poplars across valley, district administration in Summer Capital Srinagar has failed to axe the banned poplar trees. Shedding of harmful pollen is causing inconveniences and infections in many areas of city. Due to failure of administration to cut down the poplar trees and its plantation, residents around these trees are facing severe health problems. Russian poplars are shedding harmful pollen which has become a source of inconveniences and people are suffering from infections and allergies. The parents of school going children have…

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