Category: Community

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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PhD scholar Mannan Wani writes open letter, justifies move to join militancy

Editor

Mannan Wani, a PhD scholar who went missing in January and later surfaced on social media after joining the ranks of militants, has written about why he chose to join the separatist movement in Kashmir. The 26-year-old research student of Applied Geology at Aligarh Muslim University had gone missing in January only to appear on social media holding a grenade launcher. In a letter mailed to CNS, a local news agency, Monday, Wani described himself as a former PhD scholar from the AMU and currently a member of Hizbul Mujahideen.…

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J&K Govt likely to withdraw extra security of politicians, party workers say they are vulnerable to attacks

Editor

The Jammu and Kashmir government led by Governor Narendra Nath Vohra is likely to withdraw “extra security” of all the political leaders, including the ministers in the previous BJP-PDP coalition government. The downgrading of security comes for the first time after the BJP pulled out of the coalition government, leading to the eighth governor’s rule of state. The moves comes amidst political turmoil in the state, with more PDP leaders joining a disgruntled group of MLAs who have raised their voices against the leadership of party president Mehbooba Mufti for…

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Lt. Gen Syed Ata Hasnain appointed Chancellor of Central University of Kashmir

Editor

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) has been appointed Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) for a five-year term. The appointment was cleared by President Ram Nath Kovind. He will replace founding Chancellor Sri kumar Banerjee. “The President of India in his capacity as a Visitor of central university of Kashmir has been pleased to appoint Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, former Military Secretary of the Army, as the Chancellor of CUKfor the tenure of five years as per statute 1 of the Central Universities Act of 2009,”…

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UK, Ireland style open border best solution for Kashmir: Farooq Abdullah

Editor

‘India, Pak must realise Kashmir has no military solution’ Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has proposed an Ireland-style solution of an open border between the UK-governed Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic’s adjacent territory as the best option to resolve the Kashmir issue. The National Conference (NC) president, who is here on a visit, said India and Pakistan must realise that there is no military solution to the problem. “Like Ireland, the only roadmap forward is two Kashmirs with an easy border and autonomy,” he said, during…

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Solar eclipse on July 13, longest lunar eclipse in century and date with Mars later this month

Editor

People are in for a triple celestial treat this month with a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse set to happen and Mars expected to come closest to Earth than it has in nearly two decades. July promises to be a treat for stargazers across the world with a line-up of a triple celestial delight – a partial solar eclipse on Friday (July 13), a lunar eclipse on the night of July 27 while Mars will come closest to earth in 15 years on July 31. A solar eclipse takes…

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