Mehbooba Mufti promises resolution to Kashmir Issue in return of Peace

12 militants returned home in 3 months Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday promised youth that if they help her keep peace in Kashmir, she would work toward resolution of Kashmir and revival of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Kashmir and Pakistan policy. “If you help me, I promise you revival of policy started by Vajpayee, who started dialogue with the neighbouring country and said people of Jammu Kashmir are our own people and we have to start with them,” she said addressing a convention of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)…

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Srinagar to host mega Tulip Festival from April 1: Bahaar-E-Kashmir

The Tulip garden flaunts more than 20 lakh tulips of 46 different varieties in the back of mighty Zabarwan range. Secretary Tourism and Floriculture Farooq Ahmad Shah today said a mega Tulip festival will be celebrated in Srinagar from April 1. The festival, a part of ‘Bahaar-e-Kashmir’ event, will showcase Asia’s largest Tulip garden in Srinagar, he said. The Tulip garden flaunts more than 20 lakh tulips of 46 different varieties in the backdrop of mighty Zabarwan range. The Secretary announced the 15-day festival will start from April 1. “The…

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Amid increasing unrest in Kashmir, people suspect govt subsidised LED bulbs of being “Spy Sensors”

In 2016, as a part of the countrywide Ujala scheme for registered domestic consumers, the state government started distributed LED lamps at subsidised price Amid sudden rise in gunfights between militants and security forces in Kashmir, rumor mills are rife that the LED bulbs given on subsidy by the government are equipped with “hi-tech spy sensors” that keep the concerned agencies updated about any militant movement at residential houses. Unnerved, many people have been breaking the bulbs or looking for alternatives. As per the word of mouth (which is going…

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Cordon & Search Operation called off after Stone-pelting in Pulwama

Government Forces on Monday night called off their operation against ‘hiding militants’ when people in large number hit to roads and resorted to stone-pelting in Newa area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Sources told news agency CNS that after receiving inputs about the presence of militants in Lonepora Newa area, 55 Rashtriya Rifles, SOG of Jammu and Kashmir Police and 183 Battalion CRPF cordoned off the area at around 10 pm on Monday. Police sources said there were inputs about the presence of some top Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in the area.…

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Unchecked circulation of provocative fake news may derail chances of peace: Kashmir Unrest

The Kashmir Valley may be staring at another tumultuous summer if rumors mongers on social and mainstream media are not prevented from circulating fictitious and provocative fake news. In several of these instances, in fact, the “news” is even supplemented with quotes from officials. Media scholars inside and outside the Valley say this is an alarming situation, and given the unchecked proliferation of fake news in a place as sensitive as Kashmir, even small rumours can potentially snowball into major controversies and even claim lives. “Since the spread of internet…

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Valley to witness Erratic weather (Snow, Rains) for next four days

Jammu and Kashmir will experience erratic weather conditions beginning from Tuesday evening with snow and rains expected to occur during this period, the Met department announced. “Light rain is likely to occur today (Tuesday) evening which will intensify into moderate rains in the plains and snowfall in the higher reaches,” department director Sonam Lotus official told IANS. “There is also a possibility of hailstorm”. The minimum temperature in Srinagar was 4.3 degrees Celsius while it was minus 0.8 in Pahalgam and minus 4.0 in Gulmarg, the weather office said. In…

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Militants visit senior cop’s home in south, leave with a stern message

In a first-of-its-kind incident that has sent shockwaves through the J&K Police circles, a group of about a dozen heavily armed militants Saturday entered the home of a senior police officer in south of Kashmir and ransacked personal property of the officer and his family worth lakhs. Well-placed sources say that a group of militants with automatic rifles entered the house of one senior officer whose lives in Shopian district of South Kashmir. Once inside the premises, the suspected militants, as per the sources, asked the family members to warn…

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Probe ordered into lease of State land by Dharmath Trust

The PDP-BJP coalition government has ordered an inquiry into an alleged fraud by Dharmath Trust by leasing out hundreds of kanals of State land to a private company in Jammu district and has also referred the case to Crime Branch to register FIR and probe the fraud. As per a Government order No. 44 Rev (S) of 2017 dated 17 Feb 2017, Regional Director Survey and Land Records Jammu Inderjeet has been appointed Inquiry Officer to investigate the issue and identify the officials of the Revenue Department and management of…

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Central Govt out to appease Separatists: Displaced Kashmiri Pandits

Displaced Kashmiri Pandits have alleged that the Central Government was following the ‘appeasement policy’ towards separatists in the Valley. The community has claimed that the rising terrorist violence is the direct result of the weak policies adopted by the government. Addressing a meeting of the Jagti Tenement Committee, its president SL Pandita said militant violence had increased in the Valley in the last two years, but the Central and the state governments had no formal policy to deal with the separatists. He also demanded that the government should resume the…

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Scores hit by pellets in eyes in Tral

We’re not part of protests but still cops fired pellets towards us: Injured youth There is no end to use of pellets in Kashmir and at least nine people sustained pellet injuries in eyes during forces firing at an encounter site at Hayena in Tral area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Sunday. “Although we were far from the encounter site, the security men indiscriminately fired pellets and teargas smoke shells towards the people staging protests. The pellets hit my left eye. I am unable to see anything from the…

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