Category: Kashmir

Kashmir

Volkan Bozkir, UN General Assembly president says Kashmir Status should not be changed, acknowledges Shimla Agreement of 1972

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Volkan Bozkir, UN General Assembly president says Kashmir Status should not be changed, acknowledges Simla Agreement of 1972

General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir has said that the status of Jammu and Kashmir should not be changed while acknowledging the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan making it a bilateral issue. “I call on all parties to refrain from taking steps that could affect the status of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said at a news conference here on Tuesday. “I support dialogue and diplomacy, and I encourage both Pakistan and India, neighbours, to resolve this dispute through peaceful means,” he said. While answering a reporter’s question about Kashmir,…

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District Srinagar declared as Covid-19 Red Zone

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District Srinagar declared as Covid-19 Red Zone

Srinagar and three other districts are under curfew till Thursday and government officials say it could be extended further if the cases continue to rise, especially in the Red Zone. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared Srinagar district a Red Zone after the summer capital recorded 1,126 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday. All other 19 districts have been declared as orange zones.Srinagar and Jammu districts reported 1,126 and 486 fresh Covid-19 cases respectively on Sunday, taking the tally of active cases in the two districts to 9,554 and 6,478.…

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170 Localities across Kashmir Valley declared micro-containment zones

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In order to prevent the COVID-19 cases from spreading, over 170 localities and areas Micro Containment Zones and Containment Zones have been declared across Kashmir. According to the data collected by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) a total of 173 areas have been notified as the Micro Containment and Containments zones in the ten districts of Kashmir region. Most of the Micro Containment Zones and Containment Zones are in Srinagar with officials informing that 13 areas in the summer capital have been notified as Containment Zones while 47 have…

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Despite huge surge in COVID19 cases GoI to allow Amarnath Pilgrimage in Kashmir

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Critics have said the annual Amarnath pilgrimage could lead to a devastating wave of the coronavirus in Kashmir, which has underequipped health care facilities. The local government in India-administered Kashmir is contemplating setting up makeshift shelters and facilities for 600,000 Hindu pilgrims for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, which it intends to host this summer despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.The pilgrims will visit the Amarnath cave shrine, perched 3,880-meters (12,730 feet) above sea level in the Himalayas.The government will set up two base camps — one called Baltal and another called…

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Mirwaiz Farooq under detention for last 20 months; not released even during Ramadan: Hurriyat

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The Hurriyat Conference on Friday said it was “extremely unfortunate” that even in the month of Ramzan, its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is a prominent religious leader in Kashmir, has not been released from his “arbitrary” detention. The Hurriyat leader was detained at his house on August 4, 2019, a day ahead of the Centre announcing the abrogation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and its bifurcation into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. “It is extremely unfortunate and deeply hurts the sentiments…

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Peace in South Asia contingent upon resolution of Kashmir dispute; Khan writes to Modi

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Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has said that durable peace and stability in South Asia is contingent upon resolving all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Imran Khan said this while thanking the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for his letter in which he conveyed greetings to the Pakistanis on Pakistan Day, observed on March 23. PM Imran Khan in his latest letter to Narendra Modi wrote, “The people of Pakistan also desire peaceful, cooperative relations with all neighbours, including India. We are convinced that…

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Recent Protest in Srinagar triggers the biggest crackdown since 2019

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The first protest in months in Srinagar’s old city has triggered the biggest government crackdown since 2019, with dozens of youths arrested since Friday and some of them booked under the stringent Public Safety Act. Police said they had arrested 39 “stone-throwing” youths during dozens of raids after a protest at Jamia Masjid on Friday. Fifteen accused have been booked under the PSA, Valley police chief Vijay Kumar told a news conference on Wednesday. A person can be detained for six months or even longer without trial under the PSA.…

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Pheran Row: Fear of the Pheran returns to Kashmir Valley, Security forces issue fresh guideline

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Security forces have been asking those wearing the loose, traditional garment – including the reporter – to take it off as they fear it may be used to hide arms. Civilians wearing pherans – the long robe traditionally worn in Kashmir in winter as protection against the cold – have found themselves under security forces’ scrutiny once again. On February 19 two policemen were killed after being shot at close range by a militant in the Baghat area of uptown Srinagar, along the high-security Airport Road. The incident was captured…

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Frisking, CASO, Crackdown returned to Srinagar City, Pheran wearing population on hit-list

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Twenty-five-year-old Abid Lone grew up hearing horrifying stories from his father about crackdowns by the government forces in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. His father would be dragged out of the garments’ shop on Hari Singh High Street in the middle of the day for frisking. “It was normal for my father,” he recalled. However, it never happened with him until today. On Monday afternoon, the clocks turned back to the 1990s, when the insurgency was at its peak in Kashmir Valley and such random frisking was…

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Iran offers to mediate in bringing the Kashmir conflict to an end

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an interview to Press TV, Iran’s state television news channel has called for the need to respect the rights of the people of Kashmir in ‘determining their own destiny’ and offered to mediate and play a “constructive role” in bringing the conflict to an end. Responding to a question on “what has been the policy of president Rouhani” and what does he tell India about the situation, Zarif said, “our policy has been very clear. We emphasise the need to respect the rights…

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