Year: 2016

‘What was the need to kill Burhan’, Muzaffar Beg asks in Lok Sabha

Editor

The lower house of Parliament on Wednesday witnessed sharp reactions from various parties over killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani. In a surprising development, BJP’s partner in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP, has raised questions on the Wani’s killing! “What was the need to kill Burhan Wani,” PDP MP Muzaffar Beg asked the Modi government in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Beg also questioned the timing of the encounter. “If Wani was on the radar of intelligence agencies why was he not arrested earlier,” Muzaffar Beg asked. Kashmir unrest Life remained…

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#AmidCurfew, Schools in four districts to reopen today

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday decided to reopen schools in four of the 10 districts of the violence-hit valley from today. “In partial modification to the orders in regard to summer vacation, it has been decided that the schools in the districts of Baramulla, Bandipora, Budgam and Ganderbal as well as winter Zone of Jammu Division will reopen on July 21, 2016,” an order issued by Commissioner-Secretary Education Department Shaleen Kabra reads. The schools, which were closed for 17-day summer vacation from July 1, were scheduled to reopen on…

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Communication gag compounds miseries of Injured, Patients

Editor

The trauma of injured and their families is multiplying manifold with communication embargo enforced in Kashmir for the past 11 days making treatment seeking, logistic arrangement difficult and even creating impediments in hospital functioning. On Wednesday, a young man from a village ’25 km off Kupwara’ with pellet injury in eye pleaded before another getting discharged from the hospital: “Please stop your vehicle at my village and whosoever you meet on road, give them this letter.” “The villagers will in turn hand this letter to my family,” the young man…

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As Restrictions, Curfew continue, People facing difficulties in finding essentials

Editor

With no let-up in restrictions imposed by the authorities, the Kashmir valley is grappling with shortage of essentials as people in curfew-bound areas are finding difficult to get baby food, medicines and even food items at certain places. Baby food, medicines like insulin, food items and some other essential supplies have dried up have dried up across Kashmir division due to prolonged curfew and restriction which have entered 12th day today after the killing of Hizb Commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani. This reporter visited the Srinagar’s old city where curbs and…

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Let’s stop lying to ourselves about Kashmir

Editor

Would we accept it if the government shut down the media in Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru? Yes, but only if soldiers regularly opened fire to kill and maim protesters in those cities Aakar Patel Who is in control in Kashmir? The answer seems to be nobody. As the violence has continued and the list of those killed has increased, we read stories of legislators too terrified to visit their people and a chief minister stunned into inaction. What are we to make of it? The Union home minister’s analysis of…

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Oil Supply to Valley, Ladakh remains suspended for 8th day

Editor

200 tankers damaged; 1,800 remain off road; 10 drivers injured Even as the supply of petroleum products to Kashmir and Ladakh remained suspended on the eighth consecutive day today, tanker owners have claimed that around 200 oil tankers have been damaged by the protesters at various places in the Kashmir valley. They also claimed that at least 10 tanker drivers have suffered injuries after they were allegedly assaulted by violent protesters. In the prevailing volatile situation, oil tanker owners have refused to restore petrol and diesel supply to the Kashmir…

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Protesters make men in uniform keep standing, sprinkled engine oil in front of shops to deprive policemen of resting places

Editor

As if stone-throwing protesters weren’t enough, security forces in Kashmir now have a new irritant, particularly in Srinagar. Hostile locals are making things difficult for the men in uniform by pouring automobile engine oil on shop fronts where troopers sometimes sit and rest after standing for hours. In the Bohri Kadal locality of Srinagar’s old city area, several shop fronts have been painted black with the sticky lubricant so that the security personnel on duty cannot sit on them. There is a heavy deployment of both the state police and…

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ear-old Arafat has pellets in Heart, Intestines, Chest, Eyes and Spinal-cord

Editor

13-year-old Mir Arfat from Khanabal area of Anantnag district has been hit by pellets in his vital organs and is battling for life at SMHS hospital here. The Class 7th student—the latest victim of ‘deadly’ pellets—has pellets in his heart, intestines, abdomen, chest, neck, eyes and in his spinal-cord area as well, said a senior doctor who examined Arfat. “We can’t say anything about his condition right now. The priority is that his condition should remain stable first. We will monitor him for next 12 hours and then only a…

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After Jyotiraditya’s call for plebiscite, Chidambaram seeks ‘more autonomy’ to Kashmir’

Editor

Senior Congress leader and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said the genesis of the current Kashmir unrest lies in “broken promises and broken faith”, and that both the state and central governments were mishandling the present situation. “I think the approach (towards Kashmir issue) was wrong. We ignored the grand bargain under which Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India. I think we broke our promises, we broke the faith of the people of Kashmir, and we paid the price for it for 40-45 years,” Chidambaram said in an interview…

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Curfew to remain in force for 13th day, Mobile Network, Internet Still Blocked

Editor

With the curfew in the Valley dragging into its 13th day on Thursday, life in Jammu and Kashmir continued to be in a state of paralysis even though incidents of violence between locals and the security forces show no sign of cooling down and the death toll of civilians continues to rise. Meanwhile, Kashmir newspapers are expected to hit the stands today after the government on Wednesday “apologized” for media curbs and assured Srinagar-based editors that their work won’t be hindered by the heightened security in the wake of unrest…

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