Category: Kashmir

Kashmir

Traffic police started ‘Challan Drive’ amid Curfew

Editor

“It is illogical to conduct such drives when killing spree by forces is going on in Kashmir,” a scooterist said. Amid curfew, Traffic police on Thursday made surprise appearance in city-centre areas to fine violators of traffic rules. On the deserted roads of civil lines, some senior officials of the traffic police checked the documents of commuters amid thin vehicular movement. The drive by traffic police evoked resentment among the commuters. “It is illogical to conduct such drives when killing spree by forces is going on in Kashmir,” a scooterist…

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Communication blockade, Curfew claims life in Valley

Editor

‘Patients who can’t reach hospitals owing to curfew can’t even seek medical consultation over phone’ Curfew coupled with communication blockade in Kashmir claimed the life of an 80-year-old kidney patient. Abdul Waheed was on dialysis from last two years. On 15th August, his condition deteriorated and all that could have saved him was an immediate dialysis. As it turned out, curfew and mobile service suspension ensured that he didn’t get it done in time. “My father’s both kidneys were not functioning so the doctors had put him on a maintenance…

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Aripanthan Victims recount Horror ‘It was a planned Massacre’

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After three unsuccessful night raids, police and CRPF men rained bullets on civilians in Aripathan No protest or stone pelting was going on in the area when cops fired on people: Witness Police and CRPF men also barged into houses to molest women: Locals After thrashing and injuring about 80 residents during three night-raids, police and CRPF men showered bullets on people in Aripathan village in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Tuesday morning, killing four youth and injuring many others. According to locals and eyewitnesses, at about 7:50 am, few…

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A postcard from Kashmir on the eve of India’s Independence Day

Editor

As India and Indians prepare to celebrate Independence day and the freedoms we gained, let us pause for a moment to think of the lack of any ‘azadi’ in Kashmir, which is often called the crown on India’s head. The crown is bereft of sheen, of jewels, of ‘Indian-ness’. Every Kashmiri is locked up at home because of the government’s fear that Pakistani flags might flutter atop buildings, that black flags might mar the celebrations of the nation’s birth. The Valley is draped in a blanket of security. Thousands of…

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Govt stops ‘Tiranga Yatra’ from entering Kashmir

Editor

The PDP-BJP coalition government has stopped the ‘Tiranga yatra’, being undertaken by a group of youths who want to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. The five youths, who belong to the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency of the Prime Minister, are undertaking the rally to inculcate “patriotism” in the younger generation. Interestingly, on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has taken out ‘Tiranga yatras’ all over the country to reach out to the electorate with a message of national unity and amity but in J&K,…

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Preparations underway in valley to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day: Intel agencies inform MHA

Editor

Incidents of Pakistan’s national flag being waved in Kashmir are not new. However, it is for the first time in almost three decades that preparations are on to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day on August 14, intelligence agencies have alerted the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to a report in The Indian Express, a pro-Pakistani faction in the Valley that has been under strict curfew from the last one month is in plans to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day in a big way. They have prepared makeshift platforms in all major towns to…

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Army flex muscles on peaceful protesters in Bandipora; Five booked under PSA

Editor

Army on Saturday allegedly beat up residents of Saderkote Bala in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. Witnesses said that residents had gathered near SK Bala chowk and were protesting peacefully when the army men went berserk. “In the meantime, army men armed with lathis started beating up locals without any provocation,” they said. They alleged that the men from 13th RR stationed at Manasbal beat up the residents ruthlessly. An army spokesman in Srinagar, however, said their men were not active in the area. “Our men are not active in the area. We…

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BJP leader threatens to quit if ‘Tiranga Rally’ disallowed in Valley

Editor

BJP leader Eshfaq-ur-Rehman Poswal today threatened to quit the party if the high command disallows his proposed ‘Tiranga rally’ in the Kashmir valley. The BJP leader from Kupwara district had earlier urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow him to conduct the rally from the Line of Control (LoC) to Lal Chowk in Srinagar, ahead of Independence Day. “I will be forced to to quit the BJP if it fails to organise ‘Tiranga rally’. I am surprised the party has not held any programme in Kashmir in the run-up to…

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People irked over ‘Ban’ on night movement on Highway

Editor

The decision of security forces to “disallow” night traffic on the Srinagar-Baramulla national highway for the past three days has triggered anger among people, especially fruit growers. While District Magistrate, Baramulla, Naseer Ahmed Naqash said no night curfew order was issued by him, commuters travelling on the highway and other routes accuse the Army and the police of not allowing them to travel during the night, saying the forces take the excuse of night curfew. “The Army does not allow any movement on the highway after 9 pm,” said Suhail…

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Ongoing unrest has roots in militant hotbed Tral

Editor

On the Jammu-Srinagar national highway that snakes through the Valley, a curve near Awantipora town in south Kashmir leads to picturesque and mountainous Tral sub-district, home to many militants of the region’s new-age insurgency. It is in Tral, 35 km south-east of Srinagar, that Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s body arrived home in the dead of a stormy night last month, setting the stage for the largest funeral in the region in decades and the most overt expression of pro-militant sentiment. Burhan’s killing on July 8 triggered an unprecedented pro-militant…

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