Month: May 2019

If Godse a patriot, is Mahatma Gandhi anti-national asks Omar Abdullah

Editor

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Thursday attacked Pragya Singh Thakur, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal, for terming Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, a “patriot”. “If the killer of the father of the nation is a patriot does that make Mahatma Gandhi anti-national?” Abdullah said in a tweet, though he did not name Thakur. Earlier in the day, Thakur said, “Nathuram Godse was a desh bhakt (patriot) and will remain so. People calling him a terrorist should introspect. They will be given a befitting reply in these elections.”…

Read More

India’s Muslims fear for their future under Narendra Modi

Editor

With an increase in hate crimes against Muslims in India in recent years, some fear the world’s largest democracy is becoming dangerously intolerant under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan reports. It happened just days before the first phase of voting in the Indian elections. A Muslim trader in the north-eastern state of Assam was leaving work when he was accosted by a mob. Shaukat Ali was surrounded by the group, forced to kneel in sludge as he was attacked. “Are you Bangladeshi?” one man…

Read More

5 Rebels, 2 Civilians, 2 Soldiers killed across south Kashmir

Editor

Five rebels, two civilians and two soldiers were killed in separate gunfights in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts on Thursday, police said. Pulwama gunfight A police official said that three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) rebels, an army soldier and a civilian were killed in a pre-dawn gunfight near Pulwama town. Two soldiers and a civilian were also wounded during the gun battle. The police official identified slain rebels as Naseer Ahmad Pandith of Karimabad, Pulwama, Umar Ahmad Mir of Barthipora, Shopian and Khalid, a JeM commander, of Pakistan. The deceased civilian…

Read More

After backlash on ‘Godse a patriot’ remark, Pragya Thakur apologises to BJP

Editor

Pragya Thakur, who provoked national outrage by calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot, has apologised for her comments, the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh unit said after a barrage of criticism from political parties across the board. “She has apologized for her statement. She said she had said it by mistake.” Rajneesh Agrawal, a BJP spokesperson in Madhya Pradesh said. Another BJP leader added that the BJP’s state president Rakesh Singh had also called up Thakur and ticked her off. The Congress had called her patriot remark an “insult to…

Read More

Shiv Sena extends ‘Hand of Friendship’ to Kashmir Valley

Editor

A lesser-known party in the Valley, the Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray, on Thursday extended a ‘hand of friendship’ to the people as part of efforts to expand footprints in Kashmir. “We have come with a message of friendship for the people of Kashmir… we want that the regional parties should strengthen brotherhood between Jammu and Kashmir as a wedge has been created between the two regions,” said Manish Sahni, general secretary of the Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray, J&K unit, while addressing a press conference here. Nine other party members, mostly…

Read More

City roads in shambles, administration unmoved

Editor

Though the Governor Satya Pal Malik on the eve of opening of bi-annual Darbar Move here had expressed his concern over the dilapidated roads and had directed the concerned to ensure immediate repair work of roads, but there seems to be no progress on the ground as commuters continue to suffer on the Srinagar roads that have developed cracks and potholes and are in shambles. R&B Chief Engineer in March had also maintained that all the roads that have developed cracks, or potholes will be repaired on fast track basis…

Read More

Gunfight rages in Pulwama, three Rebels, Soldier, Civilian Killed, Curfew imposed in Pulwama town, shutdown in Shopian

Editor

Three rebels, an army man and a civilian were killed in a fierce gunfight that broke out in Dalipora area of Pulwama town in south Kashmir on Thursday morning. An official said that the gunfight broke out shortly before dawn after the security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Dalipora following inputs about the presence of militants. He said the rebels opened fire after the forces approached the house where they were hiding. “The forces retaliated, triggering a fierce gunfight,” he said, adding that three militants and a…

Read More

Due to recurring landslides, Jammu – Srinagar national highway continues to remain shut

Editor

Recurring landslides hitting Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at Digdol area here have put the district administration and Traffic police in quandary. The only all-weather road that connects Kashmir with rest of the country has not been “restored fully” for the vehicular movement since last Wednesday, when several landslides blocked the highway. And, owing to a fresh landslide that hit the highway on Tuesday morning at Digdol, around 3000 Srinagar-Jammu bound vehicles, including some 300 light motor vehicles, remained stranded on around 20 kilometers of road stretch in the Ramban district till…

Read More

‘Let the nomads return to plains’, BJP batting for J&K assembly polls in November

Editor

The BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit on Tuesday said assembly elections should be held in November after over 30 lakh nomads return from the state’s high-altitude areas to the plains. “We want that elections should be held in Jammu and Kashmir in November this year. It should be held after the return of Gujjars and Bakerwals back to the plains from the upper reaches of the state. It is the period of November,” state BJP general secretary Ashok Koul told reporters in Jammu. He said the party does not favour…

Read More

#JusticeForAiman: Protests erupt in Srinagar, Baramulla, Sopore

Editor

Protests erupted in many parts of Srinagar city on Monday over the rape of a minor girl in Sumbal area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district last week. Reports said that protests erupted in Saida Kadal, Gaw Kadal, Almagari Bazar and Shalimar areas of the city. Schools and other business establishments have also been closed in the city while the movement of public transport has been affected. There has been an outrage over horrific rape of a three-year-old girl in Trigam, Sumbal. Police have already arrested the accused, who is a…

Read More