Month: April 2018

Salman Khan in Kashmir for shooting of Race 3, Meets Mehbooba Mufti

Editor

Salman Khan and his Race 3 crew met Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti before they shooting for their film in the valley. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan arrived in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday for a two-day shoot schedule of his upcoming film Race 3. He met the state’s chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and pictures from his visit are flooding the internet. The crew first reached Srinagar where they received a warm welcome from CM Mufti and spent an hour with her. Later, they travelled to Sonamarg and shot…

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AMU alumnu’s pic with Hizb operatives seen on Social Media

Editor

Another photograph of former Aligarh Muslim University PhD scholar Mannan Wani has surfaced on social media. Security agencies tracking scores of Kashmiri youths who have strayed from mainstream and joined militancy, stumbled upon Wani’s photograph and shared it with UP Police few days back. Fears of law enforcement agencies came true as the photo shows Wani posing with two other terror suspects, including Hizb-ul Mujahideen’s most wanted operative Saifullah, and one Hafiz Aadil. Saifullah, who hails from Pulwama district, was also a PhD scholar. The photo shows Wani, Saifullah and…

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PDP activist G N Patel killed, two PSOs injured in Pulwama attack

Editor

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) activist critically injured in a suspected militant attack at Rajpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday has died. An official said that gunmen fired at the vehicle of PDP activist Ghulam Nabi Patel at Rajpora chowk, leaving him and his two PSOs – Imtiyaz Ahmad Zargar and Bilal Ahmad Lone – injured. Patil, a resident of Dangerpora Shadimarg, who was formerly associated with the Congress Party, later succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital. A police spokesman, in a statement, said that the…

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Divide between ‘Hindu’ Jammu & ‘Muslim’ Kashmir is spreading across India

Editor

Sagarika Ghose The gruesome rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua took place in January. That it took three months for a court monitored investigation to be completed, that lawyers from Jammu sought to prevent the police from filing the chargesheet and a crowd mobilised by the Hindu Ekta Manch shouted slogans in support of the accused even as counter protests were held in the Valley, speaks volumes for the steadily deepening jagged fissure that now exists between a so called ‘Hindu’ Jammu and a ‘Muslim’ Kashmir. The Kathua…

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Freedman, an Australian journalist asks Sania Mirza to name her baby as ‘Kashmir’

Editor

Australian journalist reacted smartly to tennis sensation Sania Mirza’s tweet about her pregnancy on micro-blogging website telling her to name her baby as “Kashmir”. The Australian journalist Dennis Freedman was at his best when he reacted to Sania Mirza’s Twitter post in which the tennis star seemed to announce her pregnancy and her intention to surname it Mirza-Malik, reported The News. “‘Congratulation!’ You should name it ‘Kashmir’,” wrote Freedman.

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Pellet gun use debunk ‘Tolerance, Pluralism myth’

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Former academicians Tuesday said incidents like Kathua and use of pellets guns in the Valley had debunked the ‘myth of tolerance and pluralism’ of the Indian society. Expressing dismay and concern at the decline in secular, democratic and liberal values in the current political scenario in contravention of the preamble of Indian constitution, the retired academicians said the recent rape cases that had come to light in Unnao, Kathua, and Surat were nothing short of butcheries. They said the entire world was shocked by the act performed by a group…

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Defence lawyer in Kathua rape-murder case appeals Hindus to stop selling land to Muslims

Editor

Ankur Sharma, lawyer defending the accused in the gang-rape and murder case of the Kathua girl has appealed Hindus of Jammu province to not sell their land and properties to Muslims and stop buying milk and dairy produce from Gujjars, mainstay of the nomadic community. A seven-minute video making rounds over social media shows Sharma saying Muslims believe Hindus were powerless. “But we are not,” Sharma can be heard saying in the video. While praising the Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM), formed in defense of the accused in the Kathua case,…

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Before seeking law’s repeal to lift AFSPA in J&K, ask separatists to halt Protests, Violence

Editor

The government deserves praise for lifting Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Meghalaya and most parts of Arunachal Pradesh. However, this must not act as a precedent to lift the law in Jammu and Kashmir. There has been no significant violence in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh as opposed to Jammu and Kashmir. It must be stressed that the application of AFSPA in itself can’t be condemned in isolation. Application of AFSPA is a necessary evil if the army is to operate in any given area. The recent statement by…

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Cash starving J&K first state to approve 7th pay commission

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday became the first state to approve the implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations for state government employees and pensioners with effect from January 2016. “The cabinet decision will benefit around five lakh employees and pensioners in the state. The financial implications will be Rs 4,201 crore per year while one-time arrears would cost the government Rs 7,477 crore,” J&K finance minister Altaf Bukhari said. “State government employees can now draw the salary for April 2018 as per the revised scales. Arrears of pensioners will…

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Exchange of fire in Tral forests, Policeman wounded, Army soldier succumbs; militants escape

Editor

A gunfight broke out between militants and government forces at Laam forest area of Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday morning. Official sources said that a joint team of army’s 42 RR, SOG and CRPF have cordoned the forest of Goitango in Laam in Tral. As such the joint team intensified the combing operation, the militants hiding opened the fire triggering off a gunfight, they said. Following the brief exchange of gunfight, the militants believed to be three in number reportedly fled from the spot. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of…

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