Year: 2017

Killing of militants wont help resolve Kashmir Issue: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

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Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today claimed that killing of militants by the security forces will not help resolve the Kashmir issue. “Each day, young educated boys are being killed and there is a belief in some that once all of them are killed, the problem will be over. But they forget that these boys took to arms as a reaction to repression and for the resolution of the dispute,” Mirwaiz said in his Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid here. The Hurriyat leader, who was allowed by authorities…

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Solution to Kashmir Issue, Terror would be found by 2022: Rajnath Singh

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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asserted that by 2022, a solution would be found to the Kashmir problem as also other problems like terrorism, naxalism and North East insurgency. “There are a lot of problems — terrorism, naxalism, Kashmir problem. Much is not needed to be said about these problems. But I can assure you this much that by 2022, we have pledged to create a ‘new India’…So a solution will be found to all these problems before 2022. We want to assure the countrymen on this,” he said.…

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BJP counters Omar Abdullah on Article 35A

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Says the constitutional provision is tilted against women Countering former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s claim that Article 35A does not allow any gender discrimination, the BJP today “reminded” the National Conference (NC) leader that spouses and children of local women married outside J&K are not entitled to the status of state subject unlike men who marry non-state subjects. In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesman Virendra Gupta said the state subject law and Article 35A not only allows discrimination on the basis of gender but also violates Articles…

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Pak shelling leaves jawan, civilian hurt in Poonch and Rajouri

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A soldier and a civilian were injured when the Pakistani army resorted to firing and mortar shelling on forward Indian posts in Poonch and Rajouri districts today. Pakistani troops used small arms to target posts in Poonch district at about 6.30 am. Sources said at about 10 am, troops of the Baloch Regiment used sniper rifles to target Indian soldiers manning the forward posts in the Baba Khori area in Nowshera sub-division. The sources added that Naik Sushil Kumar of the Punjab unit had a narrow escape and received splinter…

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‘Watch’ YouTube’s competitor launched by Facebook

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In an apparent bid to take on Google-owned YouTube, Facebook has rolled out ‘Watch’ – a redesigned video platform for creators and publishers. The social media giant last year launched ‘Video’ tab in the US which offered a predictable place to find videos on Facebook. “Now we want to make it even easier to catch up with shows you love. We’re introducing ‘Watch’, a new platform for shows on Facebook. ‘Watch’ will be available on mobile, on desktop and laptop and in our TV apps,” Daniel Danker, Director of Product…

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Book challenging Kashmir’s fictional Hindu histories released

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Ahmad’s book debunks works of Kalhana, Jonaraja and Srivara ‘It’s about the oppressive ruling class and the oppressed ones’ ‘Kashmir: Exposing the Myth Behind the Narrative’, a book by author, poet and former bureaucrat, Khalid Bashir Ahmad that challenges Rajatarangini and Kashmir’s fictional and mythological Hindu histories by historians like Kalhana, Jonaraja and Srivara and lays bare how they had blacked out militant Hinduism that wiped out Buddhism form Kashmir from their histories was released here Thursday. The 387-page book published by Sage was released at a function organised by…

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Civil Society warns against tampering with Article 35A

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To protest against the onslaught on Article 35-A that provides special privileges for people in J&K, Kashmiri civil society members held a sit-in protest at Pratap Park on Thursday. Holding placards that read “India, learn to keep promises” and “assault on Article 35-A is an attack on our existence”, civil society members said they will resist the efforts aimed at tampering of special status of Jammu and Kashmir “tooth and nail”. While addressing the media at the sit-in, chairperson Kashmir Center for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) Hameedah Nayeem said…

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Why BJP’s opposition to Article 35A has merit

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With the Supreme Court indicating that the constitutionality of Article 35A would be examined by a constitution bench of five judges, it provides an opportunity to approach this issue, as also Article 370, from a legal perspective, removed from the political and at times passionate discussion which have been the norm in this regard. Any discussion about Article 35A is incomplete without going back in time by almost a century to 1927 when Hari Singh, then ruler of the Jammu and Kashmir passed an order which provided that state subjects…

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Four top ministers in Delhi to firm up support for Article 35A: Abdul Haq Khan

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“We are going to Delhi on 18th (August) to see what can be done to put up a strong defence to our case,’’ state Law Minister Abdul Haq Khan said. “We will meet people and seek further legal opinion.” The Jammu and Kashmir government is sending four top ministers to Delhi on Friday to explore further “legal support” for the state government in Supreme Court on Article 35A. They are also expected to explain to leaders at the Centre the “devastating implications” in case the constitutional provision is struck down…

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Declaring employee deadwood must withstand judicial scrutiny: High Court

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The High Court on Thursday ruled that a government action declaring an employee as deadwood should be “fair enough to withstand the test of judicial scrutiny.” Upholding a single bench judgment directing the government to reinstate an officer Shamim Ahmad Laharwal, a division bench of justices Muhammad Yaqoob Mir and MK Hanjura observed that the concerned authorities entrusted with the job of weeding out the deadwood have to be more serious and cautious. In 2015, the Jammu and Kashmir government had ordered premature retirement of Laharwal for being “deadwood”. The…

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