Category: Community

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

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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

Editor

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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Govt extends time for completion of inquiry in KVIB Appointments

Editor

The government on Friday extended the time for completion of inquiry into alleged unfair appointments made in the Khadi Village & Industries Board (KVIB) earlier this year. According to an order issued by the GAD, the time of inquiry has been extended by one month. A three-member committee headed by R K Goyal, principal secretary Home department, is conducting inquiry into the selection process which was marred by allegations of blatant nepotism and favoritism. The appointments had created a massive controversy last month, with netizens and political quarters questioning the…

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After Cow, now Donkey issued hall ticket to write exam in J&K

Editor

Two years after a cow was issued an admit card to write an examination in Jammu and Kashmir, a hall ticket has apparently been issued to a donkey to appear for a recruitment test for naib tehsildars. A prankster seems to have got an “admit card” issued by Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board in the name of ‘Kachur Khar’ (brown donkey) to write the paper scheduled for Sunday. A photograph of the “admit card” is being widely circulated on Twitter and Facebook. The admit card has the animal’s photograph…

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Two Kashmiri students arrested from Punjab for hacking 500 websites

Editor

Delhi Police on Friday arrested two Kashmiri students from Punjab who were involved in hacking over 500 Indian websites, including those of the government, police said. The accused have been identified as Shahid Malla, a CSE student at Aryan Group of College in Punjab’s Rajpura and Adil Hussain Teli, a BCA final year student at St Soldiers Management and Technical Institute in Jalandhar. They are natives of Baramulla and Anantnag districts of Jammu and Kashmir. “Following a tip-off, Shahid Malla and Adil Hussain Teli were arrested on Friday when a…

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BJP workers flee for their lives, a day after militants kill one

Editor

It appears that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plan to expand its footprint in the Kashmir valley has received a jolt from the killing of Ghulam Nabi Patel on Wednesday. Hours after he was killed by militants at the market in Rajpora, many of BJP’s followers there and in the wider area of the south have fled and taken refuge in Srinagar. The party is looking to accommodate around 30-odd “workers” in private accommodations in Srinagar who have been shaken by the attack in broad daylight on a politician who had…

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