Year: 2018

Uncertainity, Continuous bloodshed take toll on Kashmir businesses to dire straits

Editor

Surrounded by huge contingency of forces in a narrow lane, Bashir Ahmad Hakim sips tea outside his grocery shop at Malaratta neighbourhood of Nowhatta in the downtown, which is shut due to curfew like restriction imposed by the government. He is worried as in last two weeks his shop has remained closed for six days causing him business losses of over Rs 20,000. Underneath the signboard of ‘Enn Provisional Store’ Hakim is holding a casual talk with passersby and sometimes with the personnel deployed in the area. The worry of…

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J&K Police competent to probe Kathua rape case: DGP Vaid

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The Jammu and Kashmir police has no objection if the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district is assigned to the CBI but it is as competent as any investigation agency to handle the case, state DGP SP Vaid asserted on Thursday. He also rejected as “misconception” claims that the crime branch team probing the matter had no member from the Jammu region while emphasising that police officers perform their duties rising above regional or religious identities. “If we can we fight terrorism and stone pelting, why…

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Pro-rapist rallies allowed in Jammu, bullets and curfews ‘Order of the day’ in Kashmir: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

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Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday slammed Jammu and Kashmir government for its “duplicity”, saying in Jammu pro-rapist rallies were being allowed while in Kashmir bullets and pellets have become “order of the day.” “Goons of #JammuBar &Political opportunists given a free run to enforce the despicable pro-rapist bandh in #Jammu while in #Kashmir bullets,pellets,curfews,arrests,gags,closing of Edu.Institutions order of the day “to maintain law&order”&“prevent untoward incidents”!What duplicity!” (sic) Mirwaiz wrote on Twitter. On Wednesday, four civilians were killed in forces action in Khudwani area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam…

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Bullets can’t tell difference, civilians responsible for their deaths at encounter sites: J&K Police Chief

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Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid urged the state’s youth to stay away from encounter sites to avoid becoming casualties. Civilians thronging encounter sites are responsible for their deaths as bullets don’t distinguish between a stone pelter and a militant, Jammu and Kashmir police chief S P Vaid said on Thursday as he again urged youth to stay away from such places as they were not marriage venues. Nobody wants civilian deaths and the police and security forces are pained at such incidents, he emphasised. “We have been appealing…

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Mehbooba Mufti is at a loss over the shifting public mood in Kashmir

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A wave of anger has gripped the Valley anew following an aggressive and bloody counterinsurgency campaign. On March 30, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told delegates at a convention of the Travel Agents Association of India in Srinagar: “We’ve invited you here for handholding us. Something happens in Kashmir, some encounter [gunbattle between militants and government forces] at a far off place, it appears on TV as if entire Kashmir was burning. Your coming here is like a whiff of spring, a good omen. Our situation is not…

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VK Singh promises justice for Kathua girl, Congress questions ‘Modi’s silence’

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The eight-year-old girl was gang-raped thrice by her abductors, including a special police officer, inside a temple. The eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district “will not be denied justice”, said union minister V K Singh on Thursday as outrage grew over the crime and split the state along communal lines. “We have failed..as humans. But she will not be denied justice,” said Singh, the junior foreign minister, in a tweet. Hindustan Times is not naming the murdered girl because of legal reasons. The…

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Irresponsible actions, Statements won’t obstruct law: Mehbooba Mufti

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister on Thursday said that the law won’t be obstructed by irresponsible actions and statements of a group of people. In a tweet, Mehbooba said that justice will be delivered in Asifa rape-and-murder case. “The Law will not be obstructed by the irresponsible actions & statements of a group of people. Proper procedures are being followed, investigations are on the fast track & justice will be delivered. #JusticeForAsifa,” tweeted Mehbooba. The tweet comes a day after a bandh call issued by the Jammu Bar association evoked…

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Post Shutdown call, Restrictions imposed in Srinagar

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Authorities imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar city on Thursday due to a valley-wide protest shutdown called by separatists against the killing of four civilians in a gunfight on Wednesday. The shutdown has been called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The police said restrictions were imposed in Srinagar’s old city and also in the uptown areas falling under the jurisdiction of Maisuma and Kralkhud police stations. Cancelling a cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday in…

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Abducted, held captive in temple, raped repeatedly: Charge sheet describes atrocities committed on Kathua girl

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The eight-year-old girl was continuously drugged and was gang-raped thrice by her abductors, including a special police officer, inside a temple. The charge sheet filed by the crime branch of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police before the chief judicial magistrate in Kathua district on the rape-murder of an eight-year-old girl reveals the depravity of the crime, which has polarised the Jammu region on communal lines. The girl, who belonged to the nomadic Muslim Bakarwal community, was kidnapped on 10 January while she was out grazing horses in a pasture…

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Pre-1953 status demand obnoxious: Chaman Lal Gupta

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Chaman Lal Gupta, former Union Minister, on Wednesday termed the demand for the restoration of the pre-1953 autonomy of J&K “obnoxious”. In a statement, Gupta said, “No right-thinking person can even think of having those black days back. Prior to 1953, there was no jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the Election Commission and even the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.” He said the extent of intolerance could be gauged from the fact that in the 1950s, Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, who founded the All-J&K Praja Parishad, was arrested for…

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