Day: August 1, 2019

As a sign of peace, India promotes Hindu pilgrimage (Amarnath Yatra) in Kashmir

Editor

India is pitching a Hindu pilgrimage to a snowy cave shrine in disputed, Muslim-majority Kashmir as evidence of peace in a state marred by decades of armed conflict amid popular resistance to Indian rule. The annual yatra, or spiritual journey, to the Amarnath shrine, the hallowed mountain cave where devotees revere an icy stalagmite as an image of Lord Shiva, presents an opportunity for the state of Jammu and Kashmir to show something beyond the frequent skirmishes between armed separatists and Indian soldiers that have cost tens of thousands of…

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Article 35A the last vestige of real autonomy for Kashmiri people

Editor

Kashmir valley has lately been aswirl with rumours of an impending move by the central government to scrap Article 35A of the Constitution. The article, which prevents anyone who is not a state subject of Jammu & Kashmir from purchasing property and settling in the state, is seen as a vital safeguard for the autonomy of J&K. Its removal, Kashmiris fear, would pave the way for a demographic transformation of the Valley. While the article has been on peoples’ mind owing to petitions in the Supreme Court challenging its validity,…

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NC, PDP of creating hysteria in the valley, any decision on Art 35A will be for JK’s betterment: Ram Madhav

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Any decision taken by the Central government or court on Article 35A would be for the betterment of Jammu and Kashmir and “the issue was currently raked up with selfish motives,” BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said in Srinagar on Wednesday. The National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) “were creating hysteria in Kashmir at a time when the stage is set for Assembly polls,” he said. “She [PDP president Mehbooba Mufti] is using such language like ‘barood seay kehlan [playing with explosives] was to keep herself…

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Heavy rains hit normal life across Jammu, Srinagar

Editor

Heavy rains on Wednesday brought normal life to a grinding halt across the Jammu region where an eight-year-old boy was killed and a teenaged girl injured in separate incidents of house collapse. The traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only surface link with the Kashmir valley, remained disrupted for the day due to multiple landslides in Udhampur and Ramban districts, while the authorities closed all government schools in Udhampur and Reasi districts on Wednesday in view of bad weather. Incent rains were experienced across Srinagar city resulting in water logging…

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