Category: General News

General News

Quake-prone state has no mechanism to keep check on unsafe buildings

Editor

Past tragedies fail to bring successive regimes out of slumber Tectonically active Jammu and Kashmir has no mechanism to identify and keep a tab on unsafe buildings in all major cities and towns. Enforcement agencies have ‘miserably failed’ to check haphazard construction despite ‘repeated warnings’ of the possibility of an overdue high-intensity earthquake. This is in addition to the failure of successive governments to put in place a concrete disaster management plan in the state, which is in seismic zones IV and V. “No exercise to have official data of…

Read More

Sombre atmosphere ahead of PM visit

Editor

Evokes mixed response from traders, civil society Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jammu Kashmir on November 5 has not generated much hype, and traders, civil society activists, and Kashmir watchers have not pinned too many hopes on him. The development package that Modi is set to announce, according to reports, is expected to be worth around Rs 92,000 crore but it has not generated much interest in Kashmir valley. Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) member and social activist, Shakeel Qalander said people in Kashmir had lost…

Read More

International Community urged to play role to solve Kashmir Dispute

Editor

The Pakistan High Commission here commemorated the ‘Kashmir Black Day’ with a programme where speakers urged the international community to play a role in solving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, a territorial dispute between Pakistan and India, dating from 1947. The event held on Tuesday at the high commission here was attended by professors from various universities, academicians, students and Pakistanis residing in Malaysia, the high commission said in a statement. Kashmiri people observe Oct 27 as ‘black day’ annually to protest the arrival of Indian troops and their invasion…

Read More

Geelani calls for parallel ‘million march’ to counter Modi’s Nov 7 Kashmir rally

Editor

Senior pro-freedom leader and Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani has called for a parallel rally to counter PM Modi’s proposed rally in Srinagar on November 7. Hurriyat (G) spokesman Ayaz Akbar told on Thursday that a million march will be organised at TRC Grounds in Srinagar on the day Modi plans a rally. “It will be held at TRC. Our (parallel) rally will be a message to India to read a writing on wall as it will see whether PM’s rally will have large number of people or the…

Read More

Finally, PDC-owned Baglihar-II to light up JK

Editor

J&K is set to get reprieve from power woes with the inauguration of 450 MW stage-II of Baglihar hydropower project by Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month. The project would not only give a fillip to State’s energy sector but also “cement its position” in the energy market, officials said. The Prime Minister would inaugurate the project on November 7 which would be followed by signing of MoU between J&K’s Power Development Corporation (PDC) and Rural Electrification Corporation’s Central Institute for Rural Electrification for setting up of an institute in…

Read More

Durbar Move offices in Srinagar packing up for Jammu

Editor

Long queues of visitors from across Kashmir outside the Civil Secretariat, hustle and bustle on the premises and dust rising from rooms with employees engaged in packing files marked the day today. This is ahead of the biannual move of the Civil Secretariat and other Durbar Move offices which are scheduled to close this weekend in the summer capital for reopening in the winter capital. “The process of packing old files and record started early this week while those of urgent nature are still being moved,” said officials. With only…

Read More

Constitution allows food of choice, says Mehbooba

Editor

Says miscreants must be given exemplary punishment Advocating exemplary punishment to miscreants responsible for taking the law into their own hands, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has said the Indian Constitution allows a person to eat whatever he wants without hurting the sentiments of others. “Those who create disturbance are in a minority and the majority are in favour of maintaining communal harmony and secular fabric of the country,” Mehbooba said. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a party function, Mehbooba said the Indian Constitution guaranteed people the right to…

Read More

BJP mobilising supporters in Kashmir for PM’s rally

Editor

Ram Madhav to arrive in Srinagar on Oct 31 to oversee preparations To make its presence felt in the Kashmir valley, the BJP has decided to mobilise a large number of party supporters for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Srinagar on November 7. The party has already begun the exercise to ensure the participation of BJP workers from the Valley in the rally. Highly placed sources in the BJP said national general secretary of the party Ram Madhav, who was instrumental in the formation of the coalition government, is…

Read More

PDP-BJP alliance great chance to change J-K’s destiny: Mufti

Editor

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Wednesday justified the PDP-BJP alliance, describing it as a great opportunity that has come his way to change the destiny of the people of the state. He promised to lay a strong base for building a new J&K, where peace and prosperity go hand in hand. “I have no personal agenda and don’t enter into any deals. History has given me an opportunity to change the course of the state and I have taken up this challenge with both hands,” he stated. The Chief…

Read More

US public assertion on terrorism, Kashmir dispute irks India

Editor

Indian envoy seeks briefing on outcome of Nawaz’s visit to US India has lodged protest with the United States against its public assertion with regard to terrorism that has been given bilateral trajectory between India and Pakistan and Kashmir has been termed as ‘dispute’ in the wake of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with President Obama on Friday last in White House. The Indian reservations have been reflected in its wide media observations. Highly placed diplomatic sources in Washington told The News Tuesday that India was awaiting the response of…

Read More