Month: September 2017

West Pak refugees move SC for scrapping of Article 35A

Editor

Say they have been denied basic human rights Three West Pakistan refugees, living in Jammu and Kashmir, have moved the Supreme Court against Article 35A of the Constitution, saying that the provision discriminated against them and forced them to live a life devoid of basic human rights. Added to the Constitution through a Presidential Order in 1954, Article 35A gives special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and debars the rest of the Indians from acquiring immovable property, obtaining state government jobs and settling in the…

Read More

Rajnath Singh to arrive this weekend, may offer talks to Separatists

Editor

Home Minister to review security, hold meetings with Governor, CM The coming weekend will see a lot of political activity in the state. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be in Srinagar and is likely to make a breakthrough in initiating a dialogue with various stakeholders while former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will land in Jammu. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party will also be holding a party convention in the summer capital. Rajnath will arrive on a two-day visit to Kashmir on September 9 and there is a possibility that he…

Read More

CM, BJP ministers, Top bureaucrats attend wedding party of Hurriyat leader’s daughter

Editor

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, the entire state cabinet, including BJP ministers, and the state’s top bureaucrats joined the wedding party of state’s social welfare minister Sajad Lone’s niece, daughter of senior Hurriyat leader Bilal Lone, at TaJ Vivanta here on Thursday evening. Interestingly, Bilal Lone, elder brother of BJP minister Sajjad Lone is among the top five executive members of the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat conference. He got his daughter married to a Kashmiri businessman based in Dubai on August 20. The main wedding function was, however, held at Taj Vivanta hotel…

Read More

Tweets over Kashmir Content, Twitter blocks accounts

Editor

Kashmiri users and activists have received official legal complaints from Twitter, warning that their online content could be acted upon in the future as well. A copy of the letter the IT ministry sent to Twitter Twitter has received a complaint from the Modi government, asking it block over 100 accounts and tweets that have been found “propagating objectionable content”. Most of the content and accounts appear to involve Kashmir and Kashmiri issues. It’s unclear on how many accounts or tweets Twitter has officially blocked. Many of the tweets linked…

Read More

Braid chopping spreads wave of panic in Rajouri

Editor

Three back to back incidents of braid chopping incidents in Rajouri district have spread a wave of panic and fear, even as police are clueless about the cause. As per officials, first incident of hair cutting was reported at ward number 8 of Rajouri town on September 1 where a teenage girl reported that her hair were cut while she was in the bathroom of her home. The second incident was reported yesterday in Patrara locality of Sunderbani town where a married girl namely Anju Rani wife of Inderpal fell…

Read More

Dead teacher taking classes in state government run school in J&K!

Editor

A senior Education Department official attributed the mistake to failure on part of officials of the Directorate of School Education to update the status of principals posted at state government run higher secondary schools. Incredible it may sound, but an already dead teacher figured among principals of 39 government higher secondary schools whose transfer orders were issued by the School Education Department on Thursday. Showing Ashok Kumar posted as Principal Government Higher Secondary School, Ramnagar in Udhampur district, the government order No. 613-Edu of 2017 at serial No. 3 says…

Read More

Video shows locals tending to injured Army men

Editor

A video showing locals coming to the rescue of Army men, injured in a road accident, has gone viral. Police sources said the video was shot by some local on Sunday afternoon when an Army vehicle skidded off the road at Check-e-Pahroo village in Nowgam on the outskirts of Srinagar. In the video, a group of locals is seen tending to the injured soldiers. Some of them are even seen offering water to the injured Army men. The police said the Army vehicle had skidded off the road while giving…

Read More

Kashmir a testing ground for new Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Editor

Nirmala Sitharaman’s elevation as first full-time woman Defence Minister is significant for Jammu and Kashmir, where the Indian Army is entrenched on the land and minds of the people, especially since 1990 – the calendar year of the eruption of militancy in the Kashmir valley. Jammu and Kashmir borders two historically hostile neighbours Pakistan and China. The challenges of guarding the frontiers here from the plains to Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield at a height of 21,000 feet, are numerous. China needles on the eastern borders in Ladakh, while Pakistan…

Read More

NIA summons bar body head Mian Qayoom

Editor

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the funding of secessionist activities in Kashmir, has summoned J&K High Court Bar Association (JKHCBA) president Mian Qayoom for questioning. Qayoom has been called to the NIA headquarters, New Delhi, on Wednesday as the investigation into a case pertaining to waging war and hatching a criminal conspiracy against the Indian state entered the fourth month. “It appears that you (Qayoom) are acquainted with the circumstances of the case which I am assisting in investigating. You are required to appear before me on…

Read More

Over 40 braid cutting incidents reported in Jammu region

Editor

The police here today said that it was probing into the incidents of women’s braid getting cut off mysteriously in various districts of Jammu region in the state. According to the police, over 40 incidents of cutting of women’s braids were reported from Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri, Reasi and Udhampur districts in the last two weeks, triggering panic among the people. Jyoti Devi (24) claimed that her braid was cut when she fainted at her residence in Abra village of Akhnoor and she was hospitalised. Manisha (22) of Kamala village…

Read More