Category: General News

General News

Make your own ration cards: Dept to consumers

Editor

Instead of providing new ration cards to consumers, the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department in Kashmir has asked them to buy a notebook where the record of monthly ration will be noted. People said instead of providing new ration cards, the department had asked them to buy a notebook with photograph pasted on it which would be considered as a ration card and on which the record of ration and other items provided would be recorded. “We have done as told by the department. They have said they…

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Geelani made lifetime chairman of Hurriyat (G), organization expanded to Jammu & Ladakh

Editor

Hardline Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday appointed Syed Ali Shah Geelani as its lifetime chairman while restructuring the separatist amalgam to accommodate leaders who defected recently from the rival faction headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. “Seeing the unshakable, steadfast, uncompromised and active leadership of Geelani, the Hurriyat conference had accepted him as its lifetime Chairman,” a spokesman of the Hurriyat said after a meeting of the conglomerate of various separatist groups here. The meeting thoroughly discussed the prevailing political situation in Kashmir and Hurriyat also made some vital changes in the…

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Police await Centre’s nod to prosecute Brigadier

Editor

Charges of abduction, murder invoked against the Army officer The Jammu and Kashmir Police have invoked charges of abduction, murder and disappearance of evidence against a brigadier-level officer of the Army, accused of the custodial death of a chemist from the Rawalpora locality of Srinagar in 2002. In its status report, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police has told the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that the investigation into the 14-year-old case had been completed and the Central government nod for prosecution of accused Brigadier Kishore Malhotra was…

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Frequent hartals making Hurriyat unpopular, separatists needs to look for alternate means to be heard

Editor

Hartals and protest calendars are losing traction among the masses. And frequent shutdown calls are only alienating them from the people they want to address. Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir have woken up to the reality rather late. After using hartals as strategy to make themselves heard in the over two decades old Kashmir conflict, the representatives of Hurriyat Conference, an amalgam of different separatist parties in Kashmir, sat at Mirwaiz Manzil in Srinagar last week to think of “alternate means” of protest. To many people in Kashmir, it is a…

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Police suspect Kashmir youth of IS links

Editor

A business administration graduate from Kashmir is suspected of affiliation with the Islamic State militant group based in Syria and Iraq, a secret police note which described him as having an “ardent extremist ideology” has revealed. The note is the first official confirmation that police intelligence suspect Adil Fayaz Waida, a resident of Srinagar, of having links with the middle-eastern militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which declared a caliphate last year. The police note titled “Kashmiri youth affiliated with ISIS” discusses “reports” that Waida of Srinagar’s…

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‘26 quakes jolted JK in 11 months’

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir has recorded 24 earthquakes in the past 11 months, official data has revealed. According to the data, tremors jolted Kashmir twice in February, eight times in March, four times in April, twice in May, once in June, four times in July, twice in August, thrice in September, twice in October, and thrice in November (so far). Former Head of Kashmir University’s Geology Department, Prof Muhammad Ismail Bhat said there is nothing unusual in it. “Hindu Kush region is one of the seasoned earthquake-prone regions. There is nothing…

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Power ‘moves’ with Durbar!

Editor

Power scenario across Kashmir is worsening with each passing day, with the Power Development Department coming under fire for “violating” its own curtailment schedule. For the past few weeks, consumers have been hitting roads to protest against the long and unscheduled power cuts across the Valley, including the summer capital Srinagar. The arbitrary cuts have gone up after the Durbar (the seat of governance) shifted to Jammu earlier this month and the situation has worsened equally in rural Kashmir as well as townships and cities. Both metered and non-metered consumers…

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NC hints at PDP-Cong alliance

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National Conference (NC) spokesman Junaid Mattu today said there were “strong rumours” that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was planning an alliance with the Congress and some Independent legislators. “Strong rumours about the PDP’s imminent realignment with the Congress and some independent legislators. Would you be surprised?” Mattu wrote on Twitter. NC working president Omar Abdullah responded to Mattu’s tweet, saying “nothing would surprise me”. “After the Modi-Mufti accord where Mufti Sahib and his party are concerned nothing would surprise me,” Omar further wrote on Twitter.

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Mehbooba Mufti prepares long-term agenda of PDP

Editor

For once ruling PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was not wearing her green abaya (traditional cloak). This Sunday it was a designer off-white coat with a matching embroidered suit and scarf when she outlined the long-term plan of her party that she, in all probability, has tasked herself to fulfil in the long term. This was a transformed Mehbooba Mufti, who has long walked in the shadow of her father and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed – the 79-year-old veteran who wants to see his daughter in his chair through a…

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CAPD team to check quality of ration at FCI takeoff points

Editor

Fair Price Shops to be opened in all uncovered areas: Minister Minister for Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution (CAPD) Department Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today constituted a high-level committee of officers to check the quality of foodgrain at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) takeoff points before the same are dispatched to J&K. Taking cognisance of the complaints regarding dumping of substandard rations in some far-flung areas of the state, the minister made it clear that there would be no compromise on the quality of rations and strict monitoring would be…

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