Category: General News

General News

There can’t be a military solution on Kashmir: Imran Khan ready for talks with Modi

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Making peace overtures, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said he was ready to hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, as he conceded that it was not in Islamabad’s interest to allow the use of its territory for “terror activities” outside the country. Khan was apparently referring to India’s stance that terrorism and talks cannot go together and Pakistan must take effective and credible action to stop providing shelter and support to cross-border terrorism from territories under its control. “It is not in our interest to allow the…

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Army can carry out drone strikes in J&K if there is no backlash: General Bipin Rawat

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The Indian Army is capable of using weaponized drones in Jammu and Kashmir and can deploy them if the country accepts the consequences of such actions, General Bipin Rawat has said, The Wire reported on Thursday. The Army chief made the comments during a question and answer session at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses after delivering the ninth YB Chavan Memorial Lecture in Delhi on Wednesday. “In our country, the way things are moving, it is very nice to say we need these drones,” he said when asked…

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Won’t lose job but threat of transfer remains, it’s not in one’s hands: Satya Pal Malik

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Amid a ranging controversy over his remarks on dissolving the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Governor Satya Pal Malik has said the threat of transfer remains as it is not in one’s hands. At a function organised to pay tributes to Congress leader and former minister Girdhari Lal Dogra on his 31st death anniversary here on Tuesday, he mentioned about the threat of transfer. “Girdhari Lal ji dedicated his life to the cause of the poor. As long as I am here, I will definitely come to pay my tributes to…

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Didn’t want to be remembered as dishonest, had I listened to Delhi, Sajad Lone would have been CM: Satya Pal Malik

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Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik has given many reasons for his decision to dissolve the Jammu and Kashmir assembly just when the state’s political parties said they were getting around to stitching a coalition. At a university convocation that the governor addressed in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior a few days later, he gave one more. Governor Malik, who appeared to be countering perception that he had acted at the behest of the ruling BJP-led national coalition, told the students that if he had looked towards Delhi for instructions, Sajad…

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‘What are the Norwegians up to in Kashmir?’ Omar Abdullah asks Sushma Swaraj

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The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah has questioned the recent visit of the ex-prime minister of Norway Kjell Magne Bondevik to Kashmir, where he met separatists leaders last week. National Conference leader Abdullah took to Twitter on Monday asking foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and national secretary advisor Ajit Doval to put Bondevik’s visit in perspective. “What are the Norwegians up to in Kashmir? Would either @SushmaSwaraj ji or Doval ji care to put the visit of the former Norwegian PM to both sides of the divided…

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Three projects on cards to stop Indus water from flowing into Pakistan

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India has decided to fast-track three projects, including construction of two dams, to arrest the unutilised water of its share under the bilateral Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, government officials said. The three projects include the Shahpur Kandi dam project, a second Sutlej-Beas link in Punjab and the Ujh Dam project in Jammu and Kashmir, they said. “These (three) projects were stuck in red tape and inter-state disputes. But it has been decided to expedite the execution of these projects,” one of them added. Under the Indus Waters Treaty, waters…

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PC alternative to dynastic politics, Grand Alliance was to keep me out of power: Sajad Lone

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Two days after the NC and the PDP staked claim to form a coalition government in J&K, People’s Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Lone on Friday termed the alliance as “opportunistic to stall the entry of a third regional party in Kashmir”. Lone said his party represented the regional aspirations of Kashmiris and would be a change-maker in the next Assembly elections. “It was an opportunistic alliance to stall the entry of a third regional party, but they have failed and we have emerged. We are the new alternative and will…

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Brief alliance with PDP holds lessons for India: NC’s Spokesperson Sameer Kaul

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National Conference (NC) spokesperson Sameer Kaul said in an interview on Thursday that the coming together of three mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, if only briefly, sets an example for the rest of the country to follow in Lok Sabha elections next year. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday staked a claim for forming a new government in J&K with the support of its arch rival NC and the Congress. The claim didn’t pass muster, with Governor Satya Pal Malik dissolving the assembly, in suspended animation since…

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Governor Satya Pal calls PDP-Cong-NC ‘Grand Alliance of Opportunists’

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NC, PDP wanted dissolution of Assembly for last five months ‘Horse trading of MLAs was going on since last 20 days’ ECI to decide when to conduct LA polls Terming NC-PDP-Congress grand-alliance of “opportunists”, Governor Satya Pal Malik Thursday claimed they were not in a position to provide a stable government in Jammu Kashmir. He said instead horse-trading of legislators had increased during the last 15 to 20 days, compelling him to dissolve the State Assembly. “I will not allow any political party to arrange support for government formation under-hand…

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BJP had no role in dissolution of JK assembly: Rajnath Singh

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Home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday distanced the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik’s decision to dissolve the state assembly, saying Malik acted after concluding that it wasn’t possible for a new state government to be formed in the current scenario. “The governor of J&K took the decision after considering the political situation there; he reached to a conclusion that government formation was not possible in the state,” Singh said in an interview with Hindustan Times. “It was a decision taken by the governor.…

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