Month: April 2017

Had warned Election Commission of India against holding byelections : Mehboba Mufti

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Says commission was cautioned about violence, low voter turnout Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the state government had warned the Election Commission of India that the situation in the Valley was not conducive to holding by elections to the Srinagar and Anantnag parliamentary seats. The CM said she had warned the ECI of possible violence and low turnout in the elections. “We had informed the ECI that situation in Kashmir was not conducive to holding by elections as wounds of the deaths occurred last were still fresh and people…

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Fresh protests in Valley as new videos emerge

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Protests erupted in several parts of the Kashmir valley on Friday afternoon as fresh videos of demonstrations during Sunday’s bypoll in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency emerged, showing gruesome visuals of demonstrators getting shot. The protests on Friday afternoon were held outside Jamia Masjid in Srinagar’s old city where members of a separatist group raised slogans and demanded the release of the arrested youth. Another protest was held in north Kashmir’s Sopore town, where youth attempted to take out a march but were intercepted by the security forces, leading to clashes.…

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Farooq Abdullah of National Conference leads by 2121 Votes: By-election Results

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At the end of counting of third round, Farooq was leading by 2121 votes Farooq Abdullah of National Conference continued lead over his nearest rival Nazir Khan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as counting of votes was underway for bypolls to Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency. At the end of counting of third round, Farooq was leading by 2121 votes. Farooq Abdullah: 7810 Nazir Khan: 5689

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The Modi government has a new model for managing Kashmir

Editor

The Narendra Modi government wants a new approach and has settled on a policy that combines harsh crackdowns on agitating youth and initiatives that undermine mainstream parties, notwithstanding the PDP-BJP alliance. Kashmir has been on the boil since last July when security forces shot protesting civilians heading to the funeral of Burhan Wani, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant – setting off a cycle of violence during which, according to one account, “96 people were killed, more than 12,000 injured, 1,000 lost their vision in one eye after being hit by pellets…

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Human Shield : Omar posts video of youth tied in front of army jeep in central Kashmir, calls for inquiry

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Omar, who is also MLA Beerwah, posted the photographs and a video of the incident on his Twitter account, and called for an “urgent inquiry”. Video of a youth tied to a moving army vehicle as a shield to avoid stone pelting has gone viral on social media networking site especially Facebook. The video is appreantly shot in Budgam district which witnessed massive violence on April 9 in which eight civilians were killed and over 150 were injured. Expressing shock over the video, Omar Abdullah tweeted: “Here’s the video as…

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Unprecedented poll boycott unnerved New Delhi: Geelani

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Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani today claimed that the unprecedented poll boycott of parliamentary by-election in Central Kashmir has “unnerved” New Delhi. Reacting to the statement of Home Minister Rajnath Singh in which he warned ‘Kashmiri youth of consequences’, Geelani, in a statement today, said, “They are losing balance and it depicts their frustration. It is ridiculous. Instead of stating any logic they are issuing threats and adding fuel to fire.” “It is unfortunate that Rajnath Singh and other Indian politicians instead of relying on rational thinking are…

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Influenza ‘Circulating’ in Kashmir, 26% samples test positive: DG ICMR

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After hospitals in Kashmir witnessed a huge rush of patients with “flu-like sickness” last month, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed that influenza is “circulating” in the Valley. It has said that over 26 percent samples have tested positive for various strains of influenza. In response to queries e-mailed by Kashmir Post, the Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Soumya Swaminathan responded that “influenza season has commenced” in Kashmir and that “Influenza- B has predominated the positivity.” Dr Swaminathan said that…

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Accept reality and shun egoistic approach: Resistance to Govt

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Criticising authorities for holding elections in poll bound areas amidst crackdown and deployment of heavy contingent of forces, separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik Thursday asked the government to accept reality and shun the egoistic approach. Lamenting at state administration, they said, “The authorities are deliberately adding fuel to fire and vitiating prevailing disturbance. Re-polling in Budgam and rescheduling polls in Anantnag constituency is just to affect the routine life and school education.” The leaders welcomed the statement of Anjumam -e- Sher-e- Shiyaan and…

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Fearful election staff show up for duty after ‘Assurances, Suspension Threats’

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Nearly 50 per cent of the polling staff was absconding till Wednesday afternoon in violence-hit Budgam, indicating their fear to be a part of the election process after the violence during bypoll in the Srinagar constituency on April 9. Officials deputed for the poll duty in Budgam, where repoll at 38 polling stations took place on Thursday, had not reported to their duties. However, after assurance of security and threat of suspension by the government, the officials showed up in the evening. Imran Nazir, an official, was deployed in the…

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Stone Pelters probably paid by govt: Farooq Abdullah

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Stoking another controversy, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, who is also the contestant for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, today alleged that some of the stone-throwers were “probably paid by the government”. “You don’t have to generalise the situation. There are many stone-throwers who are probably paid by the government and want to create a situation so that people don’t come out and vote. The government must investigate such things,” he said. The senior Abdullah said this here after paying obeisance at Bibi Chand Kour Gurdwara to wish Sikhs on…

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