Day: July 4, 2019

Unknown Gunmen: Another reality of Kashmir

Editor

The encompassing proclivity of the armed conflict since decades has engulfed every corner of life in Kashmir. It is that part of the world where gunfights, strewn bodies of soldiers, mutilated militants—interminable wails in-between—and everything that tends to wrench a human heart transpires daily. The adamant duo, India and Pakistan, the nuclear-heads stakeholders of Kashmir conflict aren’t coming on the negotiating table, has only dragged the situation to a dead end in the Valley. During the 1990s, with militancy rising to a peak, the number of disappearances and unknown/unmarked graves…

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At 32.5 Srinagar records highest temperature of the season, Jammu at 41.0 continues to struggle with heat wave

Editor

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Wednesday recorded the season’s highest temperature at 32.5 degrees Celsius while the heatwave prevailed in Jammu, the metrological department said. The day temperature in Jammu settled at 41.0 degrees Celsius, around 4 degrees above normal. At 30.1 degrees Celsius, the night temperature in Jammu was up by around 4 degrees above season’s average. Jammu had recorded the season’s highest day temperature on June 10 when the mercury touched 44.4 degrees Celsius, while June 12 night was the hottest of the season at…

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Winning People’s Trust, Isolating Militant and Separatist, Strengthening Panchayat System, Centre’s strategy to improve Kashmir Situation

Editor

With Parliament approving a six-month extension of President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir, the Union government has initiated a three-pronged strategy to improve political and economic environment in the state, say officials. The Centre’s priority areas in the state are: wining people’s trust in the administrative system, isolating militant and separatist outfits, and strengthening the panchayat system, they said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the state on June 26-27. Top officials, who attended the meetings Shah held during his visit, said they are expecting radical changes at all levels…

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Talks on Kashmir can be held only at highest level: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Editor

Even as the Narendra Modi government has articulated its intent to address the festering Kashmir issue — both houses of Parliament have seen a substantive debate on this — the Hurriyat Conference has indicated its willingness for a dialogue with the Centre but with the caveat that meaningful talks can only be held at the highest political level. “It is better to have a dialogue at the level of the home minister and prime minister, like we did during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee’s time,” Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told Kashmir…

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Religious affair turned into ‘Military Exercise’: Curbs on highway for Hindu pilgrimage anger local residents

Editor

The ban on civilian traffic on the crucial highway in Kashmir during daytime and train services in the wake of the ongoing Amarnath yatra has triggered chaos and anger across the Kashmir valley. Two back-to-back orders were issued on Monday and Tuesday to ban the civilian traffic between Kashmir and Jammu divisions for five hours daily and to suspend rail service between Qazigund in Kashmir and Banihal station in the Jammu division, respectively. The unprecedented orders were taken in the wake of the ongoing pilgrimage and will continue for the…

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