Year: 2016

Woman leader to replace Ram Madhav as BJP’s JK incharge

Editor

As the new government in Jammu and Kashmir should be in place by January-end, the BJP is likely to place a woman leader in charge of party affairs in the state to streamline coordination with coalition partner PDP, highly-placed BJP sources here said. “Now that the initial hiccups are over, the next Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party government should be in place before the end of this month,” the sources told IANS. The sources said BJP general secretary Ram Madhav is likely to have a lesser role in the state…

Read More

Farooq, Omar differ on exodus, Pandits’ return to Valley

Editor

The father-son duo of Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah seem to be on opposite sides when it comes to the exodus of 3.50 lakh Kashmiri Pandit and their return to the Valley. While National Conference president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdulla sympathised with the displaced community and blamed the Central government for their plight, the senior Abdullah said the “onus is on the Pandits” to make a comeback to the Valley. Farooq recently said: “They (Pandits) have to realise one thing, nobody is going to come with a begging…

Read More

Teacher union chiefs pulled up for not taking classes

Editor

The state has decided to act tough against teachers who skip teaching duties on the pretext of running trade unions. The directions in this regard were issued by Shah Faesal, Director, School Education, Kashmir, as complaints were being received that some members of various teacher forums and associations did not attend to their routine duties on the pretext that the government had exempted them from the same. There had been frequent complaints against the teacher union forums and there were allegations that union leaders interfered in the administrative activities and…

Read More

Reckless police drivers on ‘VIP duty’ danger on roads

Editor

Even during Traffic Awareness Week some police drivers attached with bureaucrats and MLAs were found driving official vehicles recklessly while talking on their cell phones on the congested roads of the city. “While there have been ample instances of persons indulging in rash driving getting convicted under law and awarded imprisonment of two years and more, but it seems these police drivers are above the law,” said Akhilesh Sharma, whose car luckily missed a collision on a turn with one such rashly driven police vehicle on a foggy Tuesday morning…

Read More

After 15-yr wait, chemist’s family holds funeral prayers

Editor

Fifteen years after he disappeared, the family of a chemist from Rawalpora in Srinagar organised his funeral prayers today. The prayers were attended by hundreds of people, including separatist leaders. Manzoor Ahmad Dar of Rawalpora, on the outskirts of Srinagar, was arrested by the Army on January 19, 2002. His wife, Jana, who was also present today, has maintained in her testimonies before the courts that an Army contingent led by Kishore Malhotra, then a Major with 35 Rashtriya Rifles, had raided their house in the dead of the night.…

Read More

Take charge or make way for polls; Omar shoots off open letter to Mehbooba

Editor

Says the dilly-dallying biggest disservice to J&K, PDP tightlipped on govt formation Amid continuing suspense over government formation in the state, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today shot off an open letter to Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti asking her to either take over as Chief Minister or get the Assembly dissolved to make way for fresh elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The PDP leadership, however, remained tightlipped over the impasse. “There is no further development (on government formation). We have authorised Mehboobaji to take a final call and…

Read More

Mehbooba keeps suspense On

Editor

A day after being authorised to decide on government formation, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti maintained suspense over it today, apparently as she was still seeking feedback from party functionaries on the performance of coalition government with BJP headed by her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The PDP core group, which met here yesterday, had authorised Mehbooba, who is tipped to be the next Chief Minister to succeed her later father Mufti Sayeed, to take the final call on alliance with the BJP. However, she has not revealed her cards so…

Read More

Div Comm stresses need for effective parking system

Editor

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Hassan Samoon today stressed the need to adopt the concept of vertical parking and paid parking to decongest the city roads. Samoon also stressed the need to chalk out effective parking management mechanism. The Divisional Commissioner was chairing a meeting of officers from the State Development Authority, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Roads and Buildings, Police, Government Press, Economic Reconstruction Agency and Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation. He said with limited free space available in Srinagar city, the stress should be laid on the construction of vertical…

Read More

Keeping silent doesn’t mean I endorse alliance with BJP: Karra

Editor

Senior PDP leader and MP Tariq Hameed Karra Monday said maintaining silence does not mean that he endorses party’s alliance with BJP. “Keeping silence does not mean I endorse the alliance with BJP. A section of media has reported that I did not speak during the meeting, and at the same time have reported I did not support or oppose the alliance with BJP,” Karra said. He was referring to media reports in which it was stated that Karra maintained silence during the PDP core group meeting called by party…

Read More

‘PDP not looking for other coalition options’ BJP heaves sigh of relief

Editor

BJP heaved a sigh of relief after PDP’s official meeting regarding government formation made it clear that the party was not exploring other coalition options as speculated earlier. Talking to us, senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, Nirmal Singh said: “After yesterday’s meeting we came to know that PDP is not looking other options. It was a hopeful hint from PDP although it was unofficial.” However, the saffron party is yet to receive any formal communiqué from PDP. Singh said since the period of official mourning following Mufti…

Read More