Year: 2018

Voting begins for IIIrd Phase: Sensitive downtown and Civil lines areas going to poll

Editor

Voting for the third phase of the urban local bodies elections is underway in Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 242 candidates – of which 84 are female candidates – are in the fray for 56 wards of Samba district. Total number of voters are 31818 which include 15,510 female voters will cast their votes at 57 poling booths. There are 19 Hypersensitive, 06 Sensitive and 32 Normal polling booths. Observers and Nodal Officers have been appointed to ensure fair and free election. The time of the polling is 6…

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Kashmir Valley shuts to mourn killing of Manan Wani

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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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Manan Wani, AMU Scholar who turned militant killed in Kupwara gunfight

Editor

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including PhD scholar-turned-terrorist Manan Bashir Wani, were killed Thursday during an encounter with security forces at Handwara in frontier district of north Kashmir, officials said. Police, however, said the identities of both the militants was being ascertained. The encounter broke out in the early hours at Satgund in Handwara following a specific intelligence about presence of Wani, 27, along with two others, they said. Wani had joined militancy in January 2018. Giving details emerging from the encounter site, which ended, police and other security forces were…

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Hindu organsations forcfully shut down 400 meat shops across Gurgaon

Editor

The Shiv Sena and another Hindu organisation claimed to have forcibly shut around 400 meat and chicken shops at different locations here on Wednesday, demanding that they remain closed during Navaratri. Chief of Shiv Sena’s Gurgaon unit Gautam Saini told PTI that around 300 members of different Hindu organisations assembled at the Lord Shiva temple located at the Old Railway road on Wednesday morning and headed to different places to close meat shops. Locals claimed a group of Sena workers assembled at Palam Vihar on Wednesday and forcibly shut down…

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Haven’t seen ‘Such An Election’ anywhere before: CRPF Personnel

Editor

Deserted polling booths and lack of poll festivity was a “rare sight” for Central Reserve Police Force personnel deployed for the first time in Srinagar to guard polling booths during the second phase of urban local body elections Wednesday. At least six CRPF men were seen guarding a polling booth at ward number 24 in Chattabal area—which witnessed zero voting—and gossiping about why people in Kashmir don’t turn up to vote. Ramesh Kumar, a CRPF man from Chattisgarh, who was deployed for poll duty for the first time in Kashmir,…

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‘Who is contesting against whom’, This is not election but mystery

Editor

As Srinagar’s Batamaloo and Karan Nagar areas went to polls during the second phase of urban local body elections Wednesday, the residents in the twin localities said they neither know the location of polling booths nor the names of contestants. This reporter had to roam for around 20 minutes inside Batamaloo to finally locate five polling booths set up outside the police control room (PCR) where—till 3 pm—only 13 votes had been cast. The poll timing was 6 am to 4 pm. “We don’t know anything about polling booths, election…

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Boycott Continues: 3% Turnout in Kashmir, 78.6% in Jammu

Editor

Kashmir Valley recorded just three percent voter turnout in the second phase of urban local body elections on Wednesday as parts of summer capital Srinagar and southern Anantnag town witnessed a near-total boycott of the electoral exercise. However the areas that went to polls in Jammu province witnessed brisk polling throughout the day. According to J&K’s chief electoral officer Shaleen Kabra, the overall voter turnout in the second phase was 31.3 percent. “78.6% polling was witnessed in 214 wards of Jammu while Kashmir division witnessed average 3.4% polling in its…

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