Category: Community

Eight girls went missing in two months from across Kashmir Valley

Editor

In a disturbing trend, at least eight girls have gone missing in Kashmir in past two months. On May 14, two girls went missing from two locations in Kashmir. They were identified by the police as 18 years old Reenaz Jan from Kheribal Mattan while the other was identified as Rubina Akhter (19), daughter of Chaand Bajad resident of Rajouri, who at present lives at Wangund Teilbal Srinagar. The police issued missing report of the duo to the media after their families recorded a statement with their respective police stations.…

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SHRC takes note of hunger strike by jail inmates, Panel to inspect conditions inside Central Jail Srinagar

Editor

Taking note of the ongoing hunger strike by inmates of the Srinagar Central Jail, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has called for an inspection of the jail premises on July 24 to know the facts behind the strike and to ascertain the condition of the prisoners lodged there. In its orders passed on Monday, the commission has deputed its member Abdul Hamid Wani along with the SSP, SHRC, to visit the jail on July 25 and submit an inspection report. The prisoners in the high-security Srinagar Central Jail are…

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Pilgrims upset as Shiv ling at Amarnath cave melts completely

Editor

The Shiv ling at the Amarnath cave in Jammu and Kashmir has melted completely, leaving pilgrims upset. This year’s Amarnath Yatra, the annual pilgrimage to the shrine, began on June 28. It will end on August 21. So there’s still a month to go. In mid-July, as many as 1.51 lakh pilgrims had already visited the shrine, located north-east of Srinagar. READ | 5 killed, 3 injured in landslide on Amarnath Yatra route A official spokesperson said in June that well over 2 lakh pilgrims had registered for the yatra.…

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Violence dipped accoss Kashmir Valley: Home Ministry

Editor

Terror violence has come down in Jammu and Kashmir substantially ever since the state has been placed under Governor’s rule but incidents of stone pelting have increased marginally, official data has shown. According to the data compiled by the Home Ministry, there has been a decrease in attacks carried out by terrorists between June 16 to July 15 in comparison to the month of Ramadan when the suspension of operations was in force. While the suspension of operations was announced for a month with the beginning of Ramadan on May…

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To anchor Kashmir solution, Geelani must rise to the part

Editor

Of late a number of experts have been suggesting new solutions to Kashmir. Most of them are sitting outside J&K. They think that their telescopic view offers them a clearer picture of the conflict than the people living with the day-to-day brutalities of violence. The distance, they argue, enables them to disseminate a dispassionate and balanced view of the trouble. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this view, but the problem is that they live on borrowed strategies and formulas that have no connection whatsoever with the reality in J&K.…

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Basant Rath, Kashmir’s real-life ‘Singam’ in trouble

Editor

Some call him Singam, some call him Dabang, senior IPS officer Basant Rath has been caught on the wrong side of the law. Rath, inspector general of police, traffic, was caught on camera, slapping a young man in Srinagar, sparking anger across Kashmir. The 44-second video shows Rath, in civvies, arguing with a youth at Partap Park in Srinagar’s nerve-center of Lal Chowk and then slapping him repeatedly. Later, another version of the same video with 1.50 minute duration surfaced on social media, in which the youth is appreciating his…

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Fear of poaching gives sleepless nights to Kashmir’s Politicians

Editor

Beware of predators and poachers, take care of your flock. This is the classic warning for shepherds while they graze their flock in the Himalayan meadows. In Kashmir’s political meadow of expedient opportunities, the same warning is now visiting mainstream politicians. After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew from the ruling alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, the politics of make and break is back with a vengeance. Dissident MLAs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including the influential Shia leader and former minister Imran Ansari and his uncle, Abid Ansari,…

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J&K Govt orders ban on 30 Islamic, Pakistani channels, Cable operators threaten shutdown if ban not revoked

Editor

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday ordered for an immediate ban on 30 Islamic and Pakistan-based religious and spiritual channels across all cable television networks. A notification, issued by the Additional District Magistrate, Srinagar to the owner of a private cable television network based in the city, said that the operator has three days to suspend the “banned religious and news channels”. The list of channels also includes controversial Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik’s Peace English and Peace Urdu Channels and Pakistani channels such as GEO News, ARY, QTV and…

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Joint Resistance Leadership urges global rights bodies to visit Kashmir prisons

Editor

Expressing strong resentment over the extension of judicial remand for Asiya Andrabi and her two associates, the Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik Tuesday said all the leaders and activists booked by NIA were maltreated by jail authorities in New Delhi. The JRL has sought intervention by global rights bodies including Amnesty International, Asia Watch and ICRC and asked them to visit jails across J&K to observe prisoners’ plight. In a joint statement issued here, the JRL said, “NIA and the Enforcement…

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Hear all states on cop’s power to book Army men: J&K urges SC

Editor

At loggerheads with the Centre on the Shopian firing incident, Jammu and Kashmir on Monday requested the Supreme Court to hear all states and Union Territories (UTs) to decide whether a state police can register an FIR against an Army man without prior sanction or no. In an interim application filed in the Supreme Court, the state asserted that in terms of a 2014 Constitution Bench ruling, the police were obliged to register an FIR in incidents of cognisable nature and the Army men could not be exempted from it.…

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