Year: 2019

Zanskar demands repolling

Editor

In a major political development ahead of the counting of votes on May 23, three of the four candidates from the Ladakh parliamentary constituency on Monday jointly wrote to the J&K Chief Electoral Officer, demanding repolling in the Zanskar subdivision of the region. Congress nominee Rigzin Spalbar and two Independents — Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai, who is a Congress rebel, and Sajjad Hussain Kargili, who has been backed by the National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the influential Islamia School Kargil — have alleged malpractices at all polling stations in…

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Construction work continues by Nirmal Singh’s family against Army, HC order

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Construction of a building by senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh’s family near an Army depot in the city’s outskirts is near completion, despite the High Court directing them last year to maintain status quo at the disputed site, officials said. The HC on May 7 last year had asked them to maintain status quo until final disposition of an Army plea which has claimed that the building was in violation of laid down norms.A palatial building is nearing completion in Ban village despite the order,…

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Ready to support India-Pakistan dialogue: Hurriyat

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Urging India and Pakistan to take confidence-building measures (CBMs) or adopt a “step-by-step approach” over Kashmir, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Sunday said the Hurriyat was ready to support the dialogue if India and Pakistan initiated a fresh process over the issue. Mirwaiz said this while addressing a seminar. “The importance of dialogue in the backdrop of strained Indo-Pak relations” at the Rajbagh Hurriyat headquarters, organised by the amalgam to commemorate the anniversaries of Moulvi Muhammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone. “We ask the BJP leadership to change…

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Won’t forgive Pragya Thakur for her remarks on ‘Bapu’: PM Modi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hammered his party’s Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur for calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot, underlining that this kind of a language could not tolerated in a civilized society. “She has apologised. That is a different thing. But in my heart, I cannot forgive her,” said PM Modi. In an interview, the prime minister said: “Everything that has been said about Godse and Gandhi is horribly wrong and fit to be hated and criticised. Those who say this should think a 100 times…

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Man killed over allegation of cow smuggling in Bhaderwah

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A Muslim man was fatally shot and another was injured by Hindu vigilantes in Bhaderwah, Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday over allegations of cow smuggling. A group of Hindu men intercepted the two Muslims in the outskirts of southeastern Bhaderwah town before dawn and shot at them after an altercation, police said. A 50-year-old man died and another man was injured. Residents say the attack was carried out by so-called cow vigilantes. The injured man, Yasin Hussain, told reporters the two were taking three horses, not cows, with them. He…

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

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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.”…

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India’s Muslims fear for their future under Narendra Modi

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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…

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

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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…

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

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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…

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Shiv Sena extends ‘Hand of Friendship’ to Kashmir Valley

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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…

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