Day: August 14, 2017

Seventy years on, digging a deeper hole in Kashmir

Editor

The move by a BJP/RSS front organization to repeal the validity of Article 35-A will lead to adverse consequences are likely to further devastate an already suffering region. Its long-term negative consequences are likely to outlive us all. The clouds always appear ominous when it comes to Kashmir. But as India marks the 70th year of independence, the clouds look menacing. A little known non-governmental organization, Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC), considered a front of the RSS and the BJP has challenged the validity of Article 35-A of the…

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Govt transfers forest land to businessman in Pahalgam

Editor

At a time the judiciary has gone tough on illegal constructions in eco-sensitive zones, the J&K Government has allotted forest land to a businessman for constructing a hotel in Pahalgam. Officials said the Forest Department has given no objection certificate (NOC) to a hotelier for construction on the forest land at the Ganeshbal locality in Lidder Forest Division in Pahalgam. “Nearly 6 kanals of forest land in compartment 34 and 35 of Lidder forest division have been transferred to a businessman for the construction of a hotel,” a senior forest…

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Forces intensify frisking ahead of Aug 15 across J&K

Editor

Government forces have intensified ‘Frisking Operations’ across Kashmir including Srinagar-Jammu highway to thwart any possible militant attacks on August 15. A witness said police and CRPF men have erected makeshift naka points at various places in Srinagar and started intense frisking in run up to August 15. “I was travelling from Dalgate to Jehangir Chowk on my motorbike and was stopped first at Dalgate and then on Maulana Azad Road near Pratap Park,” said Aijaz Rasool, of Batamaloo, Srinagar. He said police checked his identity card and also papers of…

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Debate on Article 35A and How it could change the Idea of Kashmir

Editor

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear a petition challenging the constitutionality of Article 35A, which is being seen by many as something that can have larger impact on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, leading to a political controversy. The ongoing controversy over Article 35A is doing more harm to the PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir than a year-long bloody unrest, hundreds of civilian deaths, controversies over pellet guns, the human shield incident, and a cancelled bypoll together couldn’t do. The threat of abrogation of…

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3 Militants, 2 Army jawans, 2 Civilians killed in Shopian gunfight

Editor

Three militants including an operational commander of Hizbul Mujahideen and two army soldiers were killed while five soldiers sustained injuries in an 18-hour-long gunfight between government forces and militants in Awneera village in Shopian district on Sunday, police and reports said. Three residential houses where the militants were holed up were also destroyed by the government forces, they said. An official said the gunfight which broke around 5 pm on Saturday ended at 11 am on Sunday. “As soon as the forces laid a siege around Awneera, militants present in…

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BJP ministers under fire over silence on Article 35A

Editor

Discontent brewing within the BJP due to the “guarded silence” being maintained by party ministers on Article 35A came to the fore during the core committee meeting when some members gave vent to their anger against the “defensive” approach of the party on the issue. The core committee meeting, held on Saturday evening, was attended by senior leaders, including two Cabinet ministers of the coalition. One member of the core committee, who wished not to be quoted, said members expressed their anger over the submissive approach being adopted by party…

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‘Tiranga Yatra’ to Kashmir stopped in Samba

Editor

A ‘Tiranga Yatra’ bound for Kashmir was today stopped by police in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir, and sent back. The 65-odd marchers from Sonipat in Haryana carrying with the national flag conducted prayers at an ashram in Vijaypur in Samba and returned, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anil Kumar Magotra told PTI. He said the marchers were on their way to Lal Chowk in Srinagar to unfurl the national flag there on Independence Day. “We welcomed them and took them to Barrian Ashram where we persuaded them to return,”…

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Read the larger message behind saving Article 35A

Editor

The debate over Article 35A, which bestows special privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, is not over yet. And, it would not be over even after the Supreme Court delivers its judgment on the petition that has challenged its validity on the grounds that the Article proclaimed through Presidential Order of May 14, 1954, was issued without the mandatory approval of Parliament. Now the matter is with the court but no one is waiting for that. On the face of it, the Opposition’s defence of Article 35A has…

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Rajnath Singh assures permanent solution without compromising Kashmir Identity

Editor

Addressing India TV’s conclave on anti-terrorism, he said that the door for talks with separatists were open though he did not elaborate on the measures being taken to permanently solve the decades-long Kashmir imbroglio. The government is working towards a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue without compromising on the identity of the people there, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday, alluding to fears that the attempts were being made to revoke the special status of the troubled state. Addressing India TV’s conclave on anti-terrorism, he said that the…

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