At least 16 bus passengers were injured in a road accident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district on Monday, police said. The accident occurred when the bus, coming from Dharmari village to Challad village, went out of the driver’s control and rolled down into a gorge near Pattian in Reasi. “A rescue team of police and civilians immediately reached the spot and all the injured were shifted to hospital,” said a police officer here.
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After Saudi Arabia government decided to lift a decade-long ban on opening of cinema halls in the country, both the partners of coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir have favoured reopening of the cinema halls in the Valley. “I welcome the decision by Saudi Arabia to lift a decade-long ban on cinemas as part of a series of social reforms by the crown prince. Introspection and self reform are marks of a progressive society,” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said after the Saudi government lifted ban on opening…
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Jammu and Kashmir is the lone Muslim-majority state in India. According to the 2011 Census, Hindus account for 28.43% of the state’s population at 3.56 million. Jammu and Kashmir does not acknowledge Hindus as a “minority” in the state as it goes by the Centre’s national list of minorities, according to an affidavit filed by the PDP-BJP coalition government in the Supreme Court last week. The state government told the top court that benefits of Central schemes would only be extended to “meritorious” and “needy” members of those communities that…
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Cold wave tightened its grip over Kashmir as the night temperature decreased by several degrees at most places owing to dry weather, even as the weather office predicted a further drop in the minimum temperature. The night temperature dropped at most places in Kashmir division, including Ladakh region, last night, an official of the Meteorological Department here said. He said Pahalgam, in south Kashmir, and Kargil, in Ladakh region, experienced the coldest night of this winter so far last night. The mercury at Pahalgam decreased nearly six degrees from minus…
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Founder of Hotmail, Sabeer Bhatia, today called on Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu and Minister for Information Technology, Imran Raza Ansari, chief secretary, B.B Vyas and other Administrative Secretaries to discuss the next generation of technological utilities in the state. On the occasion, Bhatia discussed various interventions like smart traffic management system, signaling system, smart cities surveillance, crowd tracking and management system, end to end encrypted messaging system for police. In the meeting, Dr Drabu said the government will thoroughly study the new pro-public interventions and would explore the possibilities…
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The Public Service Commission on Monday declared the results of J&K Combined Civil Services Examination (KAS) 2014 in which a Surankote boy, Anjum Bashir Khan Khattak, secured the top position. In the selection list no candidate from the Kashmir Valley fares in the list of top 10 and 70 percent of the total selected candidates are from Jammu division. Among others who made it to the list include Irtiza Jeelani of Illahi Bagh, Faizan Ali of Raj Bagh and Humayun Muzzammil of Humhama. Scoring, 1514.33 marks in his first attempt,…
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Several hundred metres underground, thousands of labourers grind away day and night on a huge hydroelectric project in contested Kashmir, where India and Pakistan are racing to tap the subcontinent’s diminishing freshwater supplies. The arch rivals have been building duelling power plants along the banks of the turquoise Neelam River for years. The projects on opposite sides of The Line of Control – the de facto border in Kashmir – are nearly finished, fuelling tensions between the neighbours with Pakistan particularly worried its downstream project will be deprived of much-needed…
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A cold wave continued to grip the Kashmir valley with mercury plunging below freezing point at many places. Officials from Meteorological Department said during the next 24 hours in Srinagar, the sky would be partly cloudy and maximum and minimum temperatures would be around be 11°Celsius and minus 4°Celsius, respectively. On Saturday, the summer capital recorded the maximum of 11°Celsius and minimum of minus 3.7°Celsius, three degrees below the normal. For the winter capital Jammu, weather officials have forecast mainly clear sky with haze. The maximum and minimum temperatures will…
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After an early snowfall this season, the Tourism Department today kick-started winter sports activities at north Kashmir’s ski resort of Gulmarg with a snowshoe run and skiing event. Director, Tourism, Kashmir, Mahmood A Shah flagged off the run and the athletes ran seven kilometres. Later, Shah also flagged off skiing at the slopes, marking the beginning of the winter sports in Gulmarg. Speaking on the occasion, Shah said Gulmarg was the “main USP” for tourism which received tourists from all over the globe. “Today we have formally inagurated the winter…
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There are two ways of looking at Kashmir of today: to look back at the squandered chances, or to create new moments of hope and promise for future. History cannot be ignored for there are many lessons to be learnt from it. But staying hostage to the tragic past is a bigger mistake because that darkens new and innovative ideas of the future. Kashmir conflict is a dark reality. And, so is the wish of many peace-loving people to end it. This passionate wish is not to the liking of…
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