Month: November 2020

‘Betrayed’: In Jammu, Growing regret over support for Scrapping of Article 370

Editor

With the new land laws, and the fear of backlash when it comes to organising protests, many among those who celebrated the felling of Article 370 are reconsidering their stance. Muhammad Raafi On August 5, 2019, Rahul Sharma, a resident of Kathua, was ecstatic. He and his friends distributed sweets to celebrate the scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A of the constitution that granted a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. As most parts of the Jammu division erupted in celebration, Sharma, who then called himself…

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Start talks with Pakistan, Open cross-border roads: Mehbooba Mufti

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Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday asserted that the dialogue with Pakistan and the stakeholders within J&K and opening of cross-border roads to bring the divided parts together can bring peace and everlasting solution to the Kashmir problem. BJP to meet same electoral fate as TrumpWhen oppression increases, it soon vanishes too. Today is their (BJP’s) time and tomorrow, our time will come. The same thing will happen to them (BJP) what happened to Trump (who lost the US presidential election last week). – Mehbooba Mufti, PDP Chief…

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Kashmiri’s Roshni Act and its top beneficiaries

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Kashmir’s top political families, IAS officers in CAG’s Roshni list. Ex-FM, Ex-PSC chairman, actor Feroz Khan’s sister, poet Aga Shahid Ali figure among beneficiaries of scrapped Act. The Kashmir political, bureaucratic and business elite’s who’s who figure among the so-called beneficiaries of the Roshni Act of 2001 who had acquired proprietary rights over the State land occupied by them illegally from time to time. The Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, commonly known as the Roshni Act, has now been declared as unconstitutional…

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What will Joe Biden’s win mean for Human Rights in the Kashmir, A Big Question?

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Delighted that ‘Islamophobic’ Donald Trump will soon leave the Oval Office, Kashmiris hope that the US will bring pressure to bear on India’s Modi government against crackdowns in the Valley. On Sunday morning, veteran Kashmiri journalist Yusuf Jameel heard a scrap dealer shout an unusual cry outside his home in Srinagar: “Ab ki baar, Trump gov khaar (This time, Trump is wrecked).” The slogan, which imaginatively rhymed with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election catchphrase for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was intended as a pun to convey the defeat of Donald…

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PC approaches SC for early hearing of pending petitions on Article 370

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Sajad Lone’s party says ‘the petitions ought to be heard and disposed of urgently as significant changes to the rights of the residents of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir have already been brought about by the Centre’. The Peoples Conference, headed by Sajad Lone, on Monday submitted a plea before the Supreme Court for an early hearing of the petitions pending before it contesting the measures taken by the Centre since August 5 last year in Jammu and Kashmir, including the abrogation of provisions of Article 370. “(I…

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Sale of J&K will start with Gupkar Bungalows: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

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A day after leaders of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration accused the BJP of making Jammu and Kashmir free for all by bringing in the new land laws, the BJP on Saturday said that people’s right to sell properties and houses haven’t been usurped by anyone. “Whoever says J&K is on sale, you should tell him that the sale of J&K will start with Gupkar bungalows. The law doesn’t allow occupying a bungalow forcibly. The owners still enjoy the right to decide whether to sell it or not. The day…

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Charge Mehbooba & Farooq with sedition: Non-partisan Group of Concerned Citizens

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Over 250 retired officers of the defence forces, IAS, IPS, IFS and the judiciary issued a statement on Thursday calling for former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah’s detention and prosecution for sedition for recent remarks that they said promoted separatism. Calling themselves a non-partisan group of concerned citizens, they wrote: “Our group is quite disturbed at the manner in which certain vested interests have been continuously trying to misuse the freedom of expression, talk ill about our country and its Constitution, and try to promote…

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BJP has no courage to speak up against China: Mehbooba Mufti

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In a scathing attack on the Centre, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said that the government has suppressed people in Jammu and Kashmir but has “no guts to speak up against China that has occupied 1,000 kilometres” in Ladakh. She was addressing the party workers ahead of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) meet at Farooq Abdullah’s Bhatindi residence here on Saturday. “China has taken over 1,000km in Ladakh region but the government continues to hold talks with them. The Chinese…

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Kashmir Economy loses Rs 5 Cr per day due to highway blockade: KTMF

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The business in Kashmir faces a loss of Rs five crores per day due to frequent blockade of Srinagar–Jammu highway, the data provided by Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Fund (KTMF) has revealed. The highway remains frequently closed due to the ongoing blasting of mountains for highway expansion and adverse weather conditions, having a far reaching effect on Kashmir economy. According to reports, the highway has remained blocked for more than fifty days this year alone. The blocking of Srinagar-Jammu highway results in decline in the quality of fruits due to…

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GoI will regret ending J&K’s special status: Mehbooba Mufti

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PDP President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the Government of India will regret revoking Articles 370 and 35A and the day will come when they will restore the special status to J&K. “Time will come when they will restore not only Art 370 and 35A, but they will also ask the people of J&K what else they want from the us (GoI) besides special status,” Mufti said while addressing party workers for the first time in Jammu after her release from detention post-August 5, 2019, constitutional changes…

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