Category: General News

General News

No trains from Banihal to Valley for 2nd day

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No train from the Kashmir valley chugged to Banihal for the second consecutive day today. Railway sources said the step was taken as a precautionary measure in the wake of the volatile situation in the Valley and in anticipation of protests across Kashmir after the Friday prayers. Clashes between people and police and paramilitary personnel following restrictions on Muharram processions in the Valley on Thursday has reportedly compelled the railway authorities to cancel the train services between Srinagar and Banihal for the second day today. Meanwhile, after the Friday prayers,…

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Wet Spell, Snow expected in Jammu and Kashmir

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A western disturbance is likely to approach Jammu and Kashmir from Saturday and cause snowfall and heavy rain in the state for the next three-four days, the local weather office said on Friday. “A tropical storm is likely to affect the state from tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and will last till Tuesday evening,” an official of the local Met Office told IANS. During this period we expect snowfall over higher reaches and moderate to heavy rainfall in Kashmir and Jammu divisions and many other places, particularly Kargil district of Ladakh region,…

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Sharif seeks third party mediation on Kashmir issue

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Describing Kashmir as “a flashpoint” between India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said there is a need for a third party mediation to resolve the issue and end stalemate in the Indo-Pak dialogue process. “(Currently) there are no bilateral talks (between India and Pakistan) on resolving the Kashmir issue. In that scenario there should be a third party meditation on this. If India does not accept a third party role, if there is no bilateral talks then there is a stalemate,” Sharif told reporters after his meeting with…

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Costly vegetables become unaffordable for common man

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The prices of vegetables and pulses have suddenly gone up manifold in Kashmir when their consumption is high due to the arrival of the winter season. Local residents say that due to the approaching winter the family budgets are already upset by extra expenditures and now the spiralling prices of vegetables have put them into another difficulty. “The floods last year gave a setback to farmers who were not able to get much cultivation this year, with people mostly dependent on the outside production, the increase in the rates of…

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Bathinda-Srinagar gas pipeline stuck in political quagmire

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Haryana Govt yet to accord clearance to the Rs 880-crore project The 750-km-long gas pipeline between Bathinda and Srinagar via Jammu has been hanging fire following “political and administrative differences” between the J&K and Haryana Governments. The BJP-led Haryana Government is yet to accord clearance to the project, which has great importance for the hilly and mountainous Jammu and Kashmir. The Rs 880-crore project was envisaged to connect J&K with the National Gas Grid through a pipeline and ultimately link individual households with gas stations through a network of supply…

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PDP blames Er Rashid for Zahid’s death

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‘Udhampur attack was reaction to his beef party’ Ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday blamed independent legislator from Langate, Engineer Rashid for the death of Zahid Rasool Bhat. “Zahid Rasool Bhat and Showkat Ahmad were attacked in Udhampur on October 9 after he (Rashid) hosted a beef party in MLA Hostel in Srinagar,” said Peerzada Mansoor, Political Advisor to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. He said the beef party provoked people in Jammu region following which they attacked the Kashmir-bound truck by petrol bomb in which two truckers were critically injured.…

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Modi may address a rally in Srinagar next month

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Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today dropped hints that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was likely to address a public rally in Srinagar during his upcoming visit to the state. Mufti provided a whiff of Modi’s plans at a meeting of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ministers, legislators and party functionaries in Srinagar today. The meeting was chaired by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. Modi is scheduled to visit the state on November 5 to inaugurate the Baglihar-II hydel power project. He may announce a financial package for the flood-ravaged state. “The PM…

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Mufti wants India to have friendly relations with Pak

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Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has stressed the need for friendly relations between India and Pakistan, saying the strained relations between the two neighbouring countries were making the people of Jammu and Kashmir suffer. “India has to be friendly with its neighbours, including Pakistan,” Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said while addressing a gathering on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day at Zewan near Srinagar today. Mufti recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s assertion that “we can change friends and not neighbours”, while he had extended a hand of friendship to…

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Suspended cop behind Udhampur attack: Police

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A suspended policeman with a ‘dubious service record’ has turned out to be the alleged mastermind of the petrol bomb attack on a Kashmir-bound truck in Udhampur on October 9 which resulted in the death of 18-year-old Zahid Bhat. Investigations have revealed that suspended policeman Jasbir Singh, a resident of Laddan in Udhampur, was the alleged mastermind behind the October 9 attack. Sources said Jasbir had planned the entire incident and given money to members of the “maya gang”, headed by Varinder Singh, alias Kaka, a Nepali citizen, at present…

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Centre failing in its duty to allay minorities’ fear – JK MLA

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Independent MLA from Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Abdul Rasheed, whose face was blackened by a fringe Hindu group Monday, said the Centre was failing in its duty to allay fears of minorities. Talking to reporters at the Jammu and Kashmir House here, the MLA, who is popularly known as ‘Engineer Rasheed’, said intolerance has grown to the extent that whosoever speaks in a different voice is labelled as a Pakistani. “The Modi government should stop calling everybody whosoever speaks truth, talks about atrocities and minorities as, Pakistani agent because humanity…

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