Year: 2018

Ultimate wake-up call for New Delhi

Editor

The happenings in the ongoing month of Ramadan should serve as an ultimate wake-up call for New Delhi about the enormity of the situation in Kashmir. It is headed towards a catastrophe. The place is becoming immune to all sorts of measures initiated to help it come out of the vortex of violence and bloodshed. And, the simple reason is that the anti-peace forces are violently jolting the structure of peace and normalcy that the Centre so painstakingly attempted to build by announcing ceasefire during this month of prayers. New…

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Local recruitment in militant groups rising: Agencies

Editor

The unilateral ceasefire during the holy month of Ramzan may have brought a halt to anti-militancy operations in Kashmir but security agencies have warned of a rise in recruitment of local youth into militant groups, that has crossed 80. Security officials said more youth from the highly-volatile Shopian and Pulwama districts in south Kashmir continued to join militant groups, including ISIS-Kashmir and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a group which claims support of the Al-Qaeda. As many as 20 more youth have joined the militant groups in May, the officials said. The officials…

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CRPF terms ‘Run over’ charges ‘Baseless’ even as victim’s family presses for murder case

Editor

Ahmed died on Friday after being run over by a CRPF vehicle outside Jamia Masjid—Kashmir’s largest mosque—after he offered prayers. Meanwhile, Ahmed’s family has demanded that CRPF personnel, including a senior officer who was in the vehicle, be booked for murder. Even as Kaiser succumbed to his injuries on Friday, Mohammad Younis Bhat was wounded and is undergoing treatment at the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). Ahmed’s family said he had not been pelting stones and was heading home to the nearby Fatehkadal area on his motorbike. Jammu and…

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Time right, Talk to save Kashmir, separatists must join: Mehbooba Mufti

Editor

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said now was the right time for separatists to come forward for dialogue. She said the unilateral ceasefire and dialogue offer “opportunity does not come every day”. “We always say that J&K is a political problem and needs a solution. The Army, CRPF or the police cannot resolve it. It can only be resolved politically through dialogue and when there is an offer of dialogue from the Centre, I request all stakeholders to come forward to save J&K and its economy,” Mehbooba said while…

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Ceasefire means no guns so use jeeps: Omar Abdullah

Editor

National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Saturday asked the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to explain if driving jeeps over protesters was the new standard operating procedure of her government. “Earlier they tied people to the fronts of jeeps & paraded them around villages to deter protestors now they just drive their jeeps right over protestors. Is this your new SOP @MehboobaMufti sahiba? Ceasefire means no guns so use jeeps?” tweeted Omar Abdullah. He was reacting to the pictures of youth being run over by a CRPF…

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Internet suspended in Srinagar, Budgam after youth run over by CRPF vehicle dies

Editor

Mobile Internet service was suspended in Srinagar and Budgam districts early Saturday after a youth run over by a CRPF vehicle yesterday succumbed to his injuries. Kaiser Ahmed, 21, was ploughed down by the Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in the old city area of Nowhatta during protests on Friday. Ahmed was admitted to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), here. He succumbed to critical internal injuries early on Saturday. Internet services in Srinagar and Badgam districts have been suspended as a precautionary measure, a police officer said. The speed…

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Plea to shift Kathua Case accused to Pathankot jail

Editor

J&K Government’s special public prosecutor Santokh Singh Basra has moved an application with District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh seeking shifting of seven of the eight accused to the Pathankot sub-jail in the Kathua rape-murder case. The eighth accused is a juvenile. After the hearing began in the case here on Thursday, the accused are commuting daily from Kathua, where they are lodged in a jail, in a J&K Police bus. The Judge will pass an order on Basra’s application on June 4. Basra also apologised to the court for…

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Three IT giants innovate to save Kashmir education

Editor

Three IT majors – Microsoft, Tech Avant-Garde and Efee Online – have come together to help Kashmiri students to make up for their academic losses due to frequent shutdowns and curfews in the insurgency-ravaged state. The three firms have partnered with the Private Schools Association of Kashmir (PSAK) in starting an online education system in Jammu and Kashmir. “PSAK is partnering with ‘Tech Avant-Garde, Microsoft and Efee online companies to bring Information Technology (IT) which is going to permit solutions to the education system especially during the frequent closure of…

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Dal Lake gets dull as waste dumping goes on

Editor

“Perhaps in the whole world, there is no corner as pleasant as the Dal Lake,” said Sir Walter Lawrence in his book ‘Valley of Kashmir’. But today, the Dal Lake, which used to be the top attraction for tourists in Kashmir, has turned into a dumping ground for tonnes of waste and sewage. The rising pollution and high-nutrient load continues to flow and gather on the surface of the water, which locals used for drinking decades ago. Boatmen and houseboat owners say the lake is no more soothing to the…

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After inputs of Jaish infiltration Kashmir Valley on High alert

Editor

The Kashmir valley is on a high alert and the security forces are on tenterhooks following inputs that around two dozen battle-hardened Jaish-e-Mohammed militants, believed to have infiltrated recently, have split themselves in smaller groups in south Kashmir. The immediate worry for the security grid is the anniversary of the first battle of Islam — the Battle of Badr — that falls on Saturday. Intelligence inputs indicate that militants may carry out attacks on the day. Last year, the Jaish had carried out six attacks on the anniversary of Badr…

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