Category: Community

Omar seeks probe for harassment & beating of Kashmiri’s Delhi

Editor

National Conference working president Omar Abdullah on Friday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to ensure that the alleged thrashing of a group of Kashmiris, including women, in Delhi was investigated urgently. “@HMOIndia @rajnathsingh Please have this investigated urgently and bring the guilty to book,” the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister wrote on Twitter. Last night in New Delhi’s Sunlight Colony area, a group of 40-50 people surrounded five people, including four women, from Kashmir, and beat them up, according to the police. The victims alleged they were targeted…

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Historic Jamia Masjid sealed to prevent Separatist Protests

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The authorities on Friday locked Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, disallowing the weekly congregational prayers. The move was part of the preventive measures to thwart protests called by separatist leaders. The police locked the gates of the city’s largest mosque at Nowhatta. Security forces personnel were deployed in large numbers in the area to prevent protests. Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who delivers a weekly sermon at Jamia Masjid, condemned the restrictions as he remained under detention at his residence in the city. The restrictions were imposed in response to…

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Court seeks report on mowing down of youth by police vehicle

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The court of chief judicial magistrate Srinagar has directed SHO Noorbagh to file a status report in the case of Adil Ahmed Yadoo of Safa Kadal here who was crushed to death by a police vehicle on 5 May 2018. The court issued directions after the family of the victim moved an application through counsels advocate Bashir Siddiq and Muhammad Ashraf Bhat. The 18 year old youth was crushed to death by a police armoured vehicle in downtown Srinagar amid protests following a firefight between militants and government forces, a…

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Pune’s former mayor, Rajlakshmi Bhosale faith in Kashmir tourism unshaken

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Rajlakshmi Bhosale was on her way to Srinagar when she got the news of the killing of a tourist in a stone pelting incident. But the General Secretary of Nationalist Congress Party in Pune and former mayor of the western Indian city let her earlier experience of travels to Kashmir guide her rather be panicked by the news of the death of 22-year-old R Thirumani of Chennai after he was critically injured near Narbal when his vehicle was caught in a stone throwing protest. Bhosale flew from the hills of…

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Deploying NSG will boost forces but elite commandos should be shielded from stone pelters

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Reports in the media indicate that the elite National Security Guard (NSG) is to be deployed in Kashmir as part of the counterterrorism grid. According to home ministry officials, the force would be directly involved in specific counterterrorism operations particularly in hostage situations as well as have a role in training the state police and the CRPF in an increasingly complex security scenario. There is also a hint that the NSG is being deployed to keep its specific skills honed for its actual task, which is as the country’s quick…

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When 15 funeral prayers were not enough for Saddam Paddar & Bilal Moulvi

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Rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of the mourners who swarmed Heff village to have a last glimpse of the rebels killed in a gunfight with government forces on Sunday. By early Monday morning, as the rains intensified, the Eidgah was filled to its capacity. People jostled for the space—many young boys climbed poplar trees— so that they could offer funeral prayers to the deceased militants Saddam Paddar and Bilal Moulvi. Such was the rush of people to the village that the families had to delay burial on Saturday, the day…

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Omar Abdullah takes dig at Mehbooba, says Kashmiris paying with blood for her to remain Chief Minister

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In a scathing attack on the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, opposition leader Omar Abdullah on Monday said that Kashmiris were paying with blood for her to remain CM and for “PDP & BJP to remain ‘partners in crime’.” Omar was reacting to CM’s comment on micro blogging website Twitter in which she had said: “The loss of 5 innocent civilians in Shopian serves as a grim reminder that violence is no solution to the issues that plague us. We all must unite & pull J&K out of this endless nightmare…

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Srinagar hospitals receive 45 youth with bullet, pellet injuries; 3 Critical, say doctors

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Some of the scenes witnessed at the SMHS Hospital on Sunday were reminiscent of 2016 when the trauma theatre was flooded with those injured by government forces’ firing. Women wailed outside the theatre as young men waited eagerly to hear from the doctors about condition of the injured. “Oh my God, have your mercy upon us,” a woman in the 50s cried aloud. The woman, who identified herself as Sara from main town Shopian, said the bodies of her son and brother are riddled with pellet ammunition. “Please somebody tell…

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Militant for a day, Kashmir professor Rafi Bhat leaves friends and family shocked

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32-year-old Mohammad Rafi Bhat is believed to have joined the Hizbul Mujahideen on Friday afternoon. He was killed in an encounter in Shopian along with four other militants on Sunday morning. The death of Kashmir University teacher Mohammad Rafi Bhat in a gunfight with security forces on Sunday has left his family, friends and students shocked and at a loss to explain his decision to join militant ranks. The 32-year-old’s stint with militancy was perhaps the shortest in the Valley – he is believed to have joined the Hizbul Mujahideen…

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‘Burhan Gang’ almost busted in last 3 Years

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Nine militants stand eliminated, one still alive, another gave up arms in 2016 Slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s famous group photo had 11 militants in it. Three years down the line, only one ultra from the group is alive, the rest have been neutralised. With the killing of Hizb commander Saddam Padder, now only Anees, alias Lateef Tiger, survives and remains active from the infamous ‘Burhan gang’. In a photograph that went viral on social media in June 2015, 11 local militants had posed along with arms and ammunition,…

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