Year: 2017

Will Supreme Court verdict have bearing on Article 35A, AFSPA, CASO?

Editor

The verdict of the nine-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Right to Privacy is being taken well across India but it has created apprehensions among the people in Jammu Kashmir with Article 35-A already pitting both the Hurriyat as well as mainstream parties against New Delhi. Soon after the apex court’s judgement that privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution of India, legal and political circles in Kashmir were keenly reading the verdict to see if it would impact the controversial Article 35-A, draconian Armed Forces Special…

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Trader Bodies extend support to hurriyat’s bandh call for August 29

Editor

Several traders’ bodies, including Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF), Kashmir Economic Alliance and Kashmir Traders Federation (KTF) today extended support to the strike call given by the separatists for August 29. The call had been given to “resist attempts to abrogate Article 35A” that confers special rights and privileges to the state subjects. In a statement, KTMF president Mohammad Yaseen Khan said they were “ready to face bullets in order to protect the special status of Jammu and Kashmir”. “It will be an all-out war if the Centre scrapped…

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Jammu, Udhampur on high alert after suspicious movement

Editor

Army, Police carried out searches in Miran Sahib area; Security strengthened in Udhampur too High alert was sounded in Jammu and Udhampur districts on Wednesday night following two reports of suspicious movement in the Miran Sahib area on the outskirts of Jammu city and possibility of infiltration on the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts. The police, Army and the administration were on their toes throughout the night. As a result, some schools in Jammu and Udhampur remained closed today. The police in Jammu said searches were…

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Change of demography; A Myth or Reality?

Editor

Kashmir is turning away from its centuries–old diversity to preserve the Muslim majority at all costs and to rebuff the “designs of the Hindutva forces” to render the community into a minority. This time around a petition challenging Article 35A that grants exclusive rights and privileges to permanent residents of the state has been reduced to Kashmiri Muslims’ identity versus Hindus of the country to make it a religio-political issue. Right from the posh locality of Hyderpora where separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani lives to the VVIP Gupkar Road…

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FIR against Army after authorities confirm student’s death in fake encounter

Editor

Protests against the killing of a local youth in an alleged fake encounter took a violent turn as protesters torched an official vehicle of the district administration of Kupwara in Kashmir. Shahid Bashir Mir of Daril Tarathpora who according to his family had gone missing was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Hafrada forests. His killing sparked violence in Handwara and surrounding areas, while people staged a massive protest demanding a registration of FIR against the army troops involved in the incident. Protesters according to eyewitnesses torched an official…

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Unlike Valley, Jammu region silently awaits SC verdict on Article 35A

Editor

Even as separatists as well as mainstream parties of the Kashmir valley have announced ‘mass movement’ to safeguard Article 35A at any cost, Jammu is silently waiting for the apex court’s verdict on this provision of the Constitution. A Delhi-based NGO along with some individuals have challenged the constitutional validity of this Article in the Supreme Court. Although a majority of the population in Jammu is against what they called ‘discriminatory’ Article, people in the region prefer remaining calm to repose their faith in the court. Locals are confident that…

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Massive protests going on in Handwara against Shahid’s killing, Protesters torch, damage official vehicles

Editor

Massive protests are underway in Handwara area of north Kashmir against the killing of a local youth allegedly in a fake encounter by army. Government forces on Tuesday had claimed that they killed a militant during a gun battle in Hafrada forests in Handwara. However, the family of the youth claimed that the slain youth is their missing son, identified as Shahid Ahmad Mir of Daril Tarathpora Handwara. Meanwhile, massive protests are on at Tarathpora Chowk in Handwara where body of Slain youth has been placed in the mid of…

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US asks India and Pakistan to engage in talks over Kashmir to reduce tensions

Editor

The US has asked India and Pakistan to continue to engage in direct talks aimed at reducing tensions between the two countries. “I think one of the things that we would do is ask or encourage India and Pakistan to sit down together and engage in direct dialogue that is aimed at reducing tensions between both of those countries,” State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said. She was responding to a question on the statement made by the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson a day earlier in which he sought some…

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Songs of the wounded

Editor

Twenty five years of terror, alienation, exile. Kashmir’s art echoes the rage. And is now demanding a stage to vent it. The Srinagar Biennale will be a first step. Come butcher, sing me a song For I am waiting for sleep to come Weave me a lullaby” Ten sheep skins on the wall instead of a blackboard. On the school chair, an oxygen mask. Underneath, an oxygen cylinder. Ice, and a notebook. Shoe moulds on another wall. A childhood in a lost place. A memoir of extremes. Made in 2013,…

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Kashmir tourism videos take Internet by storm

Editor

Present aerial shots of Valley’s scenic spots; the videos get lakhs of views The promotional campaign of the Tourism Department using drone cameras has taken the Internet by storm. Presenting aerial shots of Kashmir valley’s tourist spots, the videos are getting lakhs of views besides being widely shared. A video showcasing the bridges of Srinagar city on the Jhelum has so far got over 2,18,500 views plus nearly 5,000 shares. Other videos, especially the one on Dal Lake and another on Gulmarg, too, are breaking the Internet. Even though Valley’s…

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