Month: July 2017

Amarnath Yatra attack shows system has failed Kashmir, its youth: Situation is the worst in nearly a decade

Editor

Monday’s attack on pilgrims of the Amarnath yatra is one more indicator of just how badly the situation in Kashmir has deteriorated. This did not snap out of the blue the moment militant commander Burhan Wani was killed a year ago. The process has progressed over the last nine years. It is easy to lose sight of the dimensions of the current threat to national security. Youth rage is very real. So is radicalisation, in both political and religious terms, among militants and teenagers. Pakistan’s involvement has increased. The Jamaat-e-Islami…

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Kashmir problem is Nehru-Gandhi family’s legacy: Smriti responds to Rahul’s attack

Editor

Union minister Smriti Irani hit out at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the attack on Amarnath pilgrims and politicizing the issue at a time when the country was “united against terrorism”. “Upon return from strategic and very well known holiday, Mr Gandhi has chosen to attack the Prime Minister, especially when nation stands united against terrorism,” Irani said on Wednesday. The BJP leader was referring to Rahul’s flurry of tweets earlier in the day, in which he claimed that PM Modi’s quest for…

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Kashmiris vow strike won’t smear Valley’s famed hospitality: Amarnath Yatra terror attack

Editor

It was 11 am on Tuesday at the Batangoo area in Khanabal of south Kashmir where an attack on the Amarnath yatris had occurred a night before. The area was buzzing with security forces. Online broadcasting vans of news channels were parked on the roadside. Many shops were shut in the area and journalists were sitting on the shop fronts, possibly waiting for their editors’ directions from newsrooms. Amid all this, traffic movement was normal. Everybody was aware of what had happened on Monday night. The local passengers were seen…

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Civil Society Group, Kashmir Traders demands GST rollback, threatens state-wide agitation

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir Coordination Committee – an umbrella or trade bodies and civil society groups – on Wednesday warned of intensifying agitation across the state if the government didn’t roll back the GST law within a week’s time. Besides GST rollout, the JKCC has demanded the withdrawal of presidential order on the tax law and declaring the Jammu and Kashmir as a “free economic zone (FEZ). “In the event of Government not acceding to our demands, within a week’s time, the JKCC will be forced to continue its agitation and…

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Modi’s policies created space for terrorists in Kashmir: Rahul Gandhi

Editor

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s quest for “short term political gain” has “created space for terrorists in Kashmir”, leading to incidents like the terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims on Monday, which left seven people dead.+ The Congress leader then tellingly used a formula, the kind PM Modi favours to describe things, to talk about the fallout of Modi’s BJP allying with the PDP in Kashmir to form the state government there. Office of RG ✔ @OfficeOfRG Modi’s policies have created space for…

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Kashmir Situation has drawn International attention: China

Editor

China said on Wednesday that it was willing to play a “constructive role” in improving relations between India and Pakistan, especially after the increased hostility along the LoC, saying the situation in Kashmir has attracted “international” attention. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said India and Pakistan are important South Asian countries but the “situation in Kashmir has attracted the attention of the international community.” India has maintained that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter with Pakistan, and that there is no scope for a third party mediation. The…

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Show Kashmir is part of India, scrap its ‘Special Status’ in 8 days: Shiv Sena to PM

Editor

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has not been able to change the situation in Kashmir and it is now time for tough action, said Sena. To rein in terrorism in Kashmir, the Shiv Sena has urged the Narendra Modi-led Union government to scrap Article 370 that gives special status to the state within eight days and show that Kashmir is an integral part of India. In an editorial in the Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamna, the party said while terrorism was rampant in Kashmir during the Congress-led regime, the Bharatiya Janata…

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‘Kashmiris condemned attack, this will restore India’s faith on Kashmiris’: Jitendra Singh

Editor

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that “the way people from all quarters (of J&K) have condemned the attack on (Amarnath) pilgrims is the real Kashmiriyat.” Singh and Union minister Hansraj Ahir also acknowledged there might have been a security lapse which failed to prevent Monday’s terror attack on Amarnath pilgrims that left seven people dead. “Such incidents help us to overcome and introspect security lapse but be assured that we are dealing with issue seriously,” Singh said. Ahir also said they will investigate the security situation. “If there…

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Curfew, Restrictions imposed in downtown, Mobile internet suspended in central Kashmir

Editor

Authorities today imposed restrictions in several parts of the old city, Srinagar after a militant from downtown Malaratta was killed in an encounter with forces in Budgam district. Although police did not spell out the reason for the sudden restrictions in five police station areas of the old city, administration officials said they apprehended violent protests following the killing of Sajid Ahmad Gilkar. “Restrictions have been imposed in the police station areas of Maharajgunj, Safakadal, Rainawari, Nowhatta and Khanyar as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order,” a police…

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