Two years after he was turned back from the airport, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to arrive in Srinagar today on a two-day visit. It will mark the first visit of Mr. Gandhi to Jammu and Kashmir after it was stripped of its special status and statehood in 2019. Rahul Gandhi had led an opposition delegation to Kashmir in 2019, days after the special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was removed by presidential order, and the state was divided into two Union Territories,…
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Ghulam Rasool Dar, BJP Sarpanch, Wife shot dead in Redwani Kulgam
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kisan Morcha leader and his wife were shot dead by militants at Lal Chowk area in South Kashmir Anantnag district, around 50 from Srinagar, officials said on Monday. The militants entered into the rented accommodation of the BJP leader Ghulam Rasool Dar (Sarpanch) of Redwani Kulgam and fired indiscriminately killing both Dar and his wife Jawahira, who was panch of her area. Disclosing the details about the incident, BJP J&K spokesman Altaf Thakur condemned the killing of Dar, and his wife and termed it as…
Read MoreKashmir Police force traders to end strike, open shops on 2nd anniversary of Article 370 Abrogation
Shopkeepers and passers-by in the main city centre of Srinagar accused the police of breaking locks and hauling them over through phone calls to open their shops on August 5, the day that marks the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370. They said the forced measure was a follow-up to police warning to keep shops open and not to carry on strike over the last few days. The government in Kashmir seemed to be in no mood to allow anyone to spoil “celebrations” of doing away with the…
Read MoreAfter two years revocation of special status Kashmiri’s continue to suffer
Two years after the revocation of Kashmir’s special status, India is still working to silence Kashmiris and erase Kashmiri’s identity. Ather Zia On August 5, 2019, in the wake of the Indian government’s move to revoke the parts of the constitution that give Indian-administered Kashmir special status, I penned an article for Al Jazeera titled There is reason to fear for the safety of every Kashmiri in India. In the two years since my worst fears have come true. After revoking Articles 370 and 35-A of the constitution, which ensured…
Read MorePost abrogation of article 370 more locals are joining rebel ranks in Kashmir?
Every time Bashir Ahmad Bhat’s gaze falls on the bloodstains on the walls, he is reminded of the night his brother, a policeman in Indian administered Kashmir, was murdered. It was June; Mr Bashir had been preparing to go to sleep when he heard the sound of gunshots coming from next door. Alarmed, he sprang out of bed to check. A heart-wrenching scene awaited him – his brother lay dead at the entrance of his home. His wife and daughter lay next to him, bloodied and struggling in pain. They…
Read MorePast two years saw people silenced, ripped off jobs: Gupkar Alliance
Tarigami says BJP’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ slogan ‘is a joke now’ The Peoples Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of five Jammu and Kashmir parties, including the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday said the past two years, after ending J&K’s special status in 2019, saw “people being divided into smaller units, silenced, ripped off their jobs and rights over the natural resources”. In a statement issued on the eve of the second anniversary of the reading down of Article 370, Gupkar alliance spokesman…
Read MoreArticle 370 abrogation incremented trust deficit, alienation among people of J&K: Altaf Bukhari
He further said that “by now it must have been explicit to everyone in New Delhi that Article 370 was not an impediment in the way of development of Jammu and Kashmir”. “Unfortunately, we have not witnessed any major development taking place in J&K since August 5, 2019, as was projected by the advocates of abrogation of Article 370. Rather, ways of cultural imperialism have been facilitated by the bureaucratic regimes who seem hell-bent to convert our heritage sites into commercial entities like Mubarak Mandi in Jammu,” he added. Bukhari…
Read MoreArticle 370 Abrogation Anniversary: Police warns Traders against observing Shutdown
Claiming that the shutdowns were boosting the morale of militant organisations, the Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday warned traders against observing a strike in this capital city on the second anniversary of special status revocation. According to reports, police on Wednesday held a meeting with local shopkeepers, traders, and manufacturers of the city center Lal Chowk at the Kothi Bagh police station and directed them not to observe any shutdown on the second anniversary of special status revocation and to run their businesses as usual. The meeting came at…
Read MoreTwo years since abrogation of Article 370, Gupkar alliance dubs Naya Kashmir a ‘Joke’
Hardening its stance vis à vis the Centre ahead of the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, the Gupkar alliance dubbed ‘Naya Kashmir’ as a joke. Hardening its stance vis à vis the Centre ahead of the second anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration described BJP’s ‘Naya Kashmir’ slogan as a “joke”. In a statement issued by PAGD spokesperson MY Tarigami on Wednesday, it was reiterated that the Union government had perpetrated an “unprecedented assault” on the Constitution thereby “damaging” Jammu…
Read MoreEx J&K Cop caught with militants ‘Let Off’, While Kashmiri’s are guilty until proven innocent: Mehbooba Mufti
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday, 2 August, claimed that Former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh was “let off the hook” despite being caught with militants, while “Kashmiris are considered guilty until proven innocent”. Mufti’s remarks on Twitter came following a photo of his dismissal order from May last year going viral on social media. She wrote, “Innocent Kashmiris arrested under anti-terror laws rot in jails for years. For them the trial becomes punishment. But GOI [Government of India] does not want an…
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