Category: Community

There was no hurry to replace SP Vaid as DGP: Omar Abdullah

Editor

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah has criticised the timing of changing the state DGP, saying there was no hurry to replace S P Vaid and the state police could do without having to deal with the confusion of leadership. The state government removed Vaid as the DGP late Thursday night and handed the charge to DG Prisons Dilbagh Singh till a permanent appointment is made. “There was no hurry to replace @spvaid. He should have been changed only when a permanent arrangement had been worked out.…

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Four years after deluge, Valley women still picking up pieces, Traders decry lack of rehab

Editor

Even four years after the floods hit the summer capital, the memory of devastation they caused is still fresh in minds of many residents, especially women, who have worked hard to pick up the pieces since then. Nasreen Bano, 45, who lives in Raj Bagh, one of the localities that was severely affected by September 2014 floods, has shifted along with her family to their new house just six months ago. “We were unaware about the danger the floods posed when water entered our house on September 7, 2014. We…

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J&K Police Chief SP Vaid removed post abductions of cops kin

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Jammu and Kashmir director general of police (DGP) SP Vaid was removed from his post and appointed transport commissioner, a state government order issued late Thursday said. Dilbag Singh, currently director general, prisons, will be acting DGP, the order said. The removal of Vaid came two days after additional director general, CID, Abdul Gani Mir was replaced by B Srinivas, who had returned from central deputation. The reshuffle came as Centre and the new governor Satya Pal Malik were not happy over the spike in the incidents of militancy in…

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PDP should’ve pulled out of alliance after Kathua Rape: Amitabh Mattoo

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The PDP should have been the one to pull out of the alliance with the BJP after the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, a close aide of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has said. “Perhaps she should have resigned before but it was a tough call,” said Amitabh Mattoo. Mattoo, who admitted he should have advised her to pull out of the alliance earlier, was speaking at the launch of the “The Generation of Rage in Kashmir” by journalist David Devdas here…

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South Kashmir residents fearing collateral damage while building two-story houses

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Abdul Wahab of Daramdor hamlet of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district has given up the idea of constructing the second floor to his single-storied house due to the fear of frequent gunfights in the district which often leave the houses razed. He says his elder son is married and the younger one is expected to get married next summer before which he had plans to add another floor to his house. “There are so many gunfights in south Kashmir districts day in and day out. I told my wife to let…

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Boycott Urban Local Bodies, Panchayat polls: Joint Resistance Leadership

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Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik Monday said that people of Jammu and Kashmir will boycott the upcoming urban local bodies and panchayat polls as these polls are aimed at diluting the Kashmir issue. In a joint statement issued after deliberations at Geelani’sHyderpora residence, the leadership said that while the “Damocles sword is kept hanging over us on the issue of Article 35A, the Government of India now wants to thrust panchayat and municipal elections on us through additional deployment of…

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Militants escape despite face-off with forces thrice: ADGP Munir Khan

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Militants and government forces had a face-off thrice on Monday during a daylong search operation in several villages of Pulwama. Each time, militants managed to escape. “There was general input about the presence of militants,” said additional director general of police (ADGP) law and order, security Munir Khan. However, Pulwama residents said more than a dozen villages—Chewkalan, Muran, Naira, Rohmu, Belaw, Mitrigam, Gasu, Chek, Mirgund, Sheikhpora, Hanjan, Frasipura and Kamrazipura—were cordoned off for searches. Local residents hit streets and clashed with the forces to protest against the searches. One of…

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Despite threats, BJP continues expansion efforts across Kashmir Valley

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Despite militant threats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is continuing with efforts to expand its base in the Valley. The party is also eyeing members of the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities even as it is yet to register its maiden electoral win in Kashmir. “Yes, security is a major concern but nothing will stop us from our mission. On Monday, we had a workers’ convention in Anantnag. On Tuesday, a convention will be held in north Kashmir and on Wednesday, another meet will be organised in central Kashmir. These meetings…

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Sheikh Abdullah’s ‘Role’ in J&K’s accession to India: CIA Report

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Asserting that Sheikh Abdullah, founder of the National Conference (NC), the oldest political party in Kashmir, played an instrumental role in accession of Kashmir to India, a declassified report of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) states that a fair election in Kashmir at that time (1947) would have reversed the accession in favour of Pakistan. The CIA special report, titled “Sheikh Abdullah and The Kashmir Issue”, sent to the spy agency’s headquarters in 1964, stated that it was the Indian union which made much of Abdullah’s role so as to…

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Pellet terror continues, scores injured during Shopian Operation

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Seven protestors suffered pellet wounds when government forces fired into them while they were attempting to distract the attention of forces from acting against two to three militants caught in a house in Shopian on Sunday morning. A police official said that army men of 34 RR, CRPF and SOG personnel laid a siege around the Laddi Imamsahab village– some 8 Kms towards the east from the Shopian town. During the search operation, militants believed to be 2-3 in number fired a volley of bullets on the forces from a…

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