His killing didn’t hurt but what they had done to his face did: Saqib Bilal’s Mother

Mehbooba, the mother of Saqib Bilal Sheikh, one of the four youngest militants to have been killed by government forces in gunfights recently, picks up her son’s costly watch and kisses it repeatedly. “This is what he has left for me,” she said, sitting in a room where Saqib would study. Sitting in the room also are about 30 of Saqib’s friends, many of whom were hunched over their smartphones watching his pictures and videos of his funeral. A few were arranging his books on a shelf. Mehbooba thanks God…

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JRL calls for three-day shutdown, Mobile Internet suspended across Valley

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on Saturday called for a three-day shutdown and mourning in Kashmir against the killings of seven civilians and three militants in southern Pulwama district. “From today onwards for three days mourning and complete protest strike will be observed all across,” said the Mirwaiz on Twitter. “Bullets and pellets rain! As Govt of India has decided to kill Kashmiri’s through its #ArmedForces who control us,JRL and people will march towards Badami Bagh Army cantonment on Monday 17 Dec to ask GOI to kill all of us at…

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Govt Notifies 75 Services in J&K now ‘Online Only’

The Jammu and Kashmir government December 14 declared 75 services in various departments to be ‘online only’ as a part of Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) under ease of doing business (EoDB), an official spokesman said. “The Government has decided to provide services having direct bearing on the business environment in ‘Online Mode’, to the extent possible, so that the stakeholders can avail such services in a hassle-free manner,” an order issued by the General Administration Department said. It said the initiative is aimed at providing transparent, efficient and hassle-free…

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Now ‘Sextortion’ is a crime, J&K first in the country to pass law banning ‘Sextortion’

In a historic decision to curb sexual exploitation of women, the J&K Government on Friday enacted a law explicitly banning such abuse in government offices, thus becoming the first state in the country to have such a legislation. A new Section “E” has been added to the offences dealing with sexual harassment of women by men in authority in Section 354 of the Ranbir Penal Code (equivalent to the Indian Penal Code in J&K) that makes it a criminal offence and would entail three years of imprisonment for the offender.…

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Blood Bath in Kashmir: 7 Civilians, 3 Rebels killed, scores injured during Pulwama gunfight

The civilian death toll in clashes near a gunfight site in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday mounted to seven as four more civilians succumbed to their injuries.Reports said that protesting youth tried to march towards the gunfight site in Kharpora Sirnoo as soon as the news of killing of three militants spread in the area. They said that the forces fired live ammunition at the protesters, resulting in seven civilian deaths.An official at district hospital Pulwama said that seven injured youth were declared dead at the facility.He identified them…

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Deadly XDR tuberculosis spreads tentacles in state

Detection of 12 patients with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has increased the worries of health officials in the state. It may pose a challenge to the target for the complete eradication of the disease by 2025. Officials associated with the control programme at the Directorate of Health Services said the number could be on the higher side as they had been able to identify a new strain in patients who visited hospitals for routine respiratory ailments. XDR is rare and much deadlier than multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis bacteria. Both…

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At -9.7°C, Pahalgam sees record cold night, One-way traffic allowed on National Highway

As the cold wave tightened its grip over the Kashmir valley, a famous tourist resort in south Kashmir recorded its coldest December night of the decade as the minimum temperature there plummeted nearly 10 degrees below the freezing point. An official of the Srinagar Meteorological Centre said the overnight minimum temperature in Pahalgam resort, a tourist spot in south Kashmir famous for its picturesque landscape of meadows and a roaring stream, was recorded at -9.7° Celsius. The overnight minimum temperature in Pahalgam was the lowest in more than a decade…

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