Category: Community

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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Riyaz Naikoo, most wanted rebel from Kashmir

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The abduction and release of family members of the Jammu and Kashmir policemen has brought the spotlight back on Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, the most wanted militant in the Valley at the moment. Naikoo, 30, started figuring prominently on the radar of security agencies after the killing of militant poster boy Burhan Wani in 2016. He carries a reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head. A resident of Naikoo Mohalla in Durbug of Awantipora , Naikoo has been listed as a category “A++” militant, which is given to the most-wanted…

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Zakir Moosa, Riyaz Naikoo on new list of most wanted militants across Kashmir

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Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have released a list of most-wanted terrorists active in the state. Sources say this is part of a larger strategy of the security forces to act against terror outfits. They say this is an extension of the ‘Operation All Out’ under which a number of top terrorists, including Burhan Wani, were killed in the past two years. The list comprise names of 17 terrorists from Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Al Badar, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind. The list includes terrorists like Zakir Moosa (who is categorised…

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Abducted kin of Kashmir policemen released

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Militants have released the relatives of policemen whom they had abducted from various places in south Kashmir, official sources said on Friday. At least eight people, whose relatives were working in the Jammu and Kashmir Police, were abducted last night by militants. The sources said all those abducted had been released. However, a senior police official said they had to check whether those abducted had returned home. Unconfirmed reports said the total number of kidnapped kin of policemen was 11. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar…

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Four years on, detailed objections not filed in Article 35A case

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Even as the state government has approached the Supreme Court seeking adjournment of the hearing into the petitions challenging validity of Article 35A, it has chosen not to file detailed objections to the main petition yet. The filing of the objections would have revealed J&K’s stand vis-a-vis the constitutional provision protecting state’s hereditary state subject laws. The J&K Government’s main ground for delaying the submission of detailed objections is that the main petition, ‘We the Citizens’ versus the Union of India and others, is still at the “admission stage”. Besides,…

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Seven relatives of policemen abducted in Kashmir, police to launch manhunt

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Militants abducted two more relatives of Jammu and Kashmir policemen on Friday taking the number to 11 within the last three days, an official said. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah has termed the development “worrisome”. Even when the security forces were working their strategy to recover the hostages safely, a statement purportedly issued by Hizbul operational commander Riyaz Naikoo, on the social media said that henceforth the militants would follow “an eye for an eye policy”. “Police has compelled us to follow the course of an eye for an eye…

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