Category: Community

Four days left for voting, but poll din missing across Kashmir Valley

Editor

The municipal elections are starting from October 8, but the familiar din attached to campaigning is missing in the Valley. The Congress and BJP have embarked on a hushed campaign to woo voters in the Valley due to security concerns. The two main parties contesting the elections after a boycott by the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party have given the rallies a miss and their campaigns are revolved around person-to-person contacts and meetings at secure areas. At the lawns of the guarded Circuit House close to the Gupkar Road…

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J&K Pollution Control Board ‘Ignores’ genuine aspirants to ‘Adjust’ former minister’s kin

Editor

A grave instance of “murder of merit” due to alleged political connections has come to the fore in the J&K Pollution Control Board. The PCB recently employed the son-in-law of a former minister as Assistant Information Officer, ignoring the requisite qualification for the post — a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism. The appointee is an arts graduate. Documents, which are in possession of Kashmir Post, reveal that while conferring the benefit on a junior candidate, Tanveer Ahmad Dar, who is son-in-law of former state Education Minister, the Board brazenly…

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SPO Adil Bashir who deserted the force with eight weapons in Srinagar, joins Hizbul Mujahideen

Editor

A special police officer (SPO) who deserted the force and decamped with eight weapons from the official residence of a PDP MLA, has joined the Hizbul Mujahideen as his photographs with the top commanders of the militant outfit have gone viral on social media. A police official said they have taken cognisance of the photographs but refused to comment any further on the issue. SPO Adil Bashir fled with seven AK rifles and a pistol from the residence of PDP legislator Aijaz Ahmad Mir from Jawahar Nagar area of Srinagar…

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NC-PDP should stake claim for govt formation, ready to join hands on Article 35A: Altaf Bukhari

Editor

The People’s Democratic Party and National Conference should come together to form the government in the “larger interests” of Jammu and Kashmir, the senior PDP leader and former finance minister Syed Altaf Bukhari said on Friday. “This is the right thing to do (to have the NC-PDP alliance) in the present situation when our identity is under attack,” Bukhari said, when asked about the possibility of the two arch-rivals coming together to form the next government in the state, which is presently under Governor’s rule. Talking to media on the…

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SPO Adil Bashir posted at PDP MLA’s residence in Srinagar flees with 10 weapons

Editor

A  Special police officer (SPO) posted at the residence of PDP MLA from Wachi constituency Aijaz Ahmad Mir fled on Friday with 10 weapons. According to the police, SPO Adil Bashir went missing from the Jawahar Nagar residence of the PDP MLA where he was posted. SPO Adil Bashir went missing, along with 10 weapons, from the guard room at the residence of PDP MLA from Wachi constituency Aijaz Ahmad Mir, the police said. The SPO, who hails from the militancy-hit Shopian district of south Kashmir, has taken away 10…

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Chance for BJP to fill vacuum as NC, PDP boycott but terror threats may deter mass participation

Editor

In 2011, as Jammu and Kashmir geared up for panchayat elections after a long hiatus, Ghulam Hassan Panzoo, then a teacher in the government’s service, resigned from his job to contest the polls from his village with the hope to drive forward development projects there. He won with 740 votes in the village – Panzoo in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district – that had about as many households, he said. After years of neglect infrastructure schemes had started to be undertaken but the awe that the law on papers inspired in…

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Ram Madhav takes a swipe at NC, PDP for fielding proxy candidates

Editor

Despite militant threats, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday said he was glad to see the enthusiasm among the party cadre ahead of the urban local bodies (ULB) elections. He also mocked the National Conference (NC) and the PDP for fielding proxy candidates after calling for the boycott of the municipal polls. “Our party candidates are contesting from all municipal bodies of the Valley. I came here to take stock of the situation and encourage our candidates. Even in difficult (militancy affected) areas like south Kashmir, the party…

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139 Killed in 8 months, South Kashmir bears brunt of violence

Editor

The four districts of south Kashmir have witnessed a higher level of militancy-related violence in the first eight months of this year with 139 deaths. According to data, at least 263 persons—civilians, militants and forces’ personnel—were killed in militancy-related incidents across the Valley in first eight months this year. Of 263 causalities, south Kashmir’s four districts—Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam—have borne the maximum brunt of violence with highest 139 deaths witnessed in the region alone. This is followed by three districts of north Kashmir—Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara—with nearly 88 casualties…

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Congress accuses NC, PDP of fielding proxy candidates

Editor

J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president GA Mir on Tuesday accused the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of fielding proxy candidates for the upcoming urban local bodies elections. “They are fielding proxy candidates from various places,” Mir said while addressing a press conference here. He made the comments while referring to the NC and the PDP that had announced to boycott the local bodies elections. Mir had earlier questioned the decision of the NC and the PDP to boycott the polls, saying that they had kept the…

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Post killing of 3 Cops, PUDR appeals to militants to adhere to humanitarian norms

Editor

Civil rights group Peoples’ Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) has criticised the abduction and killing of a constable and two Special Police Officers in Jammu and Kashmir and appealed to the militants to “adhere to humanitarian norms” and demanded that “the state forces desist from perpetrating actions which violate the fundamental rights of citizens.” In a statement, PUDR secretaries Shahana Bhattacharya and Sharmila Purkayastha said “a militaristic approach cannot be used to deal with the situation in Kashmir and we call for a political solution and democratic resolution of the…

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