Kashmir Valley shuts to mourn killing of Manan Wani

A complete shutdown is being observed in Kashmir valley to mourn the killing of scholar-turned-militant Manan Wani and his aide in a gunfight with the government forces in frontier district of Kupwara yesterday. Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) has called for shutdown today to pay homage to Wani and his aide Ashiq Hussain Zargar killed in a gunfight with forces in Shartgund village. All shops and other business establishments are closed while public transport is off the roads in capital city Srinagar. Authorities have suspended class work in all the schools…

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As winter approaches, power scenario set to worsen across Kashmir Valley

Kashmir is likely to face acute shortage of power this winter again as two key projects that would have increased the energy handling capacity within the Valley by around 500-MW haven’t been completed, even as the energy requirement keeps rising. Against unrestricted power requirement of around 1900-MW, the power development department is able to handle only 1250-MW within the region owing to deficient grid infrastructure, leaving deficit of 650-MW. Last year, after a series of reports in Kashmir Post over years of “sabotage” in completion of two centrally-funded grid stations—Alstang…

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From Sainik School to Hizb: Manan Bashir Wani’s journey

From being an outstanding student to one of the most-wanted militants in Kashmir, Manaan Bashir Wani, a former PhD scholar at Aligarh Muslim University, was among a stream of highly-educated youth who joined militancy since 2016 uprising in Kashmir. A profile of 27-year-old Wani as sketched by security agencies shows Wani was a brilliant student from the beginning and after his initial education, he went to prestigious Sainik School at Manasbal for completing his 11th and 12th class. Wani received several awards during his academic years and had also remained…

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BJP surpassing other parties in dynastic politics

Rising to power after charging the Congress, National Conference, and Peoples Democratic Party with promoting dynastic legacy, the BJP is following the same path now. Whether it was as part of the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state or the ongoing urban bodies elections, the party is drawing widespread resentment from its cadre for promoting “bhai-bhatijavaad.” Ironically, this maxim was used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the election campaign in 2014 against his rivals. State BJP general secretary Yudhveer Sethi’s wife Priya Sethi, who was earlier a Minister of…

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