Year: 2017

Srinagar continues to reel under braid chopping fear

Editor

A knock at the door early in the morning makes Asiya Farash, a house maker, suspicious. Since the mysterious braid choppers cut her neighbour’s braids, she suspects everyone who passes by her house at Batamaloo here. The repeated knocks increase her suspicion and she yells, ‘who is at the door’. And Abdul Samad, the milkman replies, ‘Dood wala’, and Asiya takes a sigh of relief and opens the door. “She is not the only women who is reluctant to open the gate. Wherever I go these days to sell milk,…

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Jhelum water level reaches record low of six decades

Editor

The Jhelum registered a new low in its recorded history as the water level dropped 0.65 feet below the zero point on Tuesday, making it the lowest drop in the past six decades. The water level of minus 0.65 feet is the “lowest gauge ever recorded at the Sangam site,” said officials of the Irrigation and Flood Control (IFC) Department. The depth was recorded at 9 am and immediately announced by the department as the lowest-ever. The department has been maintaining the daily record of the river’s water level since…

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Blot on Taj Mahal can cast shadow on Kashmir

Editor

Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Som Sangeet, who had described Taj Mahal as a “blot on Indian culture,” is unaware of the consequences his statement can have in Jammu and Kashmir. The state is already in throes of keen contest on the events and currents of history, which is at the heart of perpetuation of the blood-ridden conflict for the past three decades. And, its end is not in sight in the foreseeable future. Kashmiri Muslims are becoming more possessive of the names and monuments in the Valley and other parts…

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HC grants govt 4 week time to file response in Batwara liquor shop case

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir High Court (HC) Tuesday directed State government to file a counter affidavit against a liquor shop. An application was filed by advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom against a liquor shop running at Batwara, Sonwar. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey treated the application as petition and allotted four week time to State Counsel Advocate BA Dar to file a response. Advocate Qayoom mentioned in the application that the liquor shop running at Batwara has many social implications. The application reads,…

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Separate Jammu state need of hour: Balwant Singh Mankotia

Editor

Former MLA and National Panthers Party (NPP) president Balwant Singh Mankotia reiterated that the demand for a separate Jammu state was need of the hour to end political inequality with the region. He said the residents of Jammu remain neglected in every field due to lack of political empowerment. Addressing the Tiranga rally organised at Tirlokpur, Gho Manhasan, Padrod of Marh constituency of Jammu district, Mankotia said the movement started for a separate Jammu state and Tiranga rallies were getting huge support from the masses. Continuous discrimination in employment, development…

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Police act faster than light in other cases, why braid-cutting still a mystery: Yasin Malik

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Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Muhammad Yasin Malik Tuesday questioned the police for not cracking the braid cutting cases, stating that ‘police act faster than light in cases of arresting masked stone pelters, pro-freedom leaders and foiling peaceful protests.’ Addressing a gathering at Chrar-e-Sharief on the Urs of revered Sufi saint Sheikh Noor Ud Din Wali (RA), Malik said Kashmir’s women were under the grip of fear for the past two months due to braid cutting incidents. “We as a society are living in continued fear and apprehension but…

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Kashmiri kids prefer to play with toy guns

Editor

The two-decade-long violence in Kashmir has impacted the psyche of children so much that toy guns have emerged as their favourite plaything. Most of the parents say their children, especially the boys, just want to play with toy guns. So when they go to shops they choose from various toy guns, like machine guns, music guns, water guns, and more. “Our children have not seen childhood or enjoyed it. They have spent it in fear and trauma due to the bloodshed,” says Madiha, a mother of three, who lives in…

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Fresh Braid Cutting incidents spark Protests, Four soldiers face mob fury

Editor

Army men beaten in Kupwara, Kangan City Centre, Pulwama observe shutdown Government forms committees to help victims Fresh braid cutting incidents on Tuesday led to protests, clashes and shutdown in several parts of Kashmir, even as four territorial army men were beaten up by locals in Kupwara and Kangan, reports and witnesses said. Massive clashes erupted between protesters and government forces at Reddi Chowkibal and Kralpora areas of Kupwara district on Tuesday after braid of a woman was cut. The incident occurred at around 8.30 a.m. “Someone sprayed some substance…

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Nuclear war may break out any moment: North Korea

Editor

North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador warned on Monday that the situation on the Korean peninsula “has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.” Kim In Ryong told the UN General Assembly’s disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to “such an extreme and direct nuclear threat” from the United States since the 1970s — and said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense. He pointed to large-scale military exercises every year…

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Forces ask local ultras to surrender, ready to accept even during encounters

Editor

Security forces in Kashmir on Monday made a renewed offer of surrender to local militants even as three local militants were arrested in the past few days. “We again appeal to local militants to surrender and live a normal life,” Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Muneer Khan said at a press conference in Srinagar. He said they would fully support the local militants who surrendered before the security forces, even during gunfights. “Even if they surrender during encounters with the security forces, we are ready to accept such surrenders,” Khan…

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