Category: Kashmir

Kashmir

At minus 3.7 Srinagar records coldest night this winter

Editor

Srinagar recorded the coldest night this winter as the minimum temperature dipped to minus 3.7 degrees Celsius even as Leh town continued to reel under extreme sub-zero temperatures. The night temperature across Kashmir division, including Ladakh region, stayed below the freezing point on Sunday night with some places registering a dip in the mercury from the previous night, an official of the MeT said. Leh in Ladakh region recorded a low of minus 12 degrees Celsius on Sunday night, against minus 8.6 degrees Celsius recorded the previous night, the official…

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Zakir Musa’s portrait displayed during Milad procession in South Kashmir

Editor

In an extraordinary development in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, the Sufi sect of Muslims displayed portraits of militants including that of al-Qaida’s Kashmir chief Zakir Musa during the Eid-ul Milad procession on Friday, police sources said. Al-Qaida emphasises on Wahhabism that discourages shrine-going and even observing the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad. Milad celebrations are in complete contradiction with the philosophy of al-Qaida, which propagates extremism and call for Islamic caliphate. Security forces allowed the procession but there were clashes in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district after some youth who were…

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High Court restricts entry of taxis in Srinagar city

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In a decision likely to affect thousands of commuters, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court today directed the Traffic Police authorities not to allow entry of Tata Sumos and other taxis coming from other districts into the city. The directions were issued by a division bench of the High Court which is hearing a public interest litigation to streamline the traffic in Srinagar. As per the latest order of the High Court, the traffic authorities have been told not to allow Tata Sumos and taxis coming from south and north…

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BJP leader’s house set on fire in Sopore

Editor

The identity of the attackers was also not immediately known. Miscreants on Wednesday night set a local BJP leader’s house on fire in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore in Baramulla district but there was no immediate report of casualty, a media report said. The incident took place in Sopore’s Dangarpora area, the ANI reported. However, it was not immediately clear whether BJP leader Farooq Ahmad Rathers was in the house at the time of the attack.

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‘Operation All-Out’ aimed at forcing us into submission: Joint Resistance

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The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on Wednesday said that the “Operation All-Out” launched by the government forces in May this year to wipe out militancy was also aimed at forcing the pro-freedom leadership into submission. The JRL, comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, also said that there has been no shift in New Delhi’s Kashmir policy. Instead, they said, New Delhi has unleashed a “reign of terror” in Kashmir, terming the recent assault on Kashmiri prisoners at Tihar Jail “part of a game plan aimed…

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Pakistan trying to revive Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in Kashmir

Editor

Forces on alert to foil infiltration bids Known for its war-time exposure in Afghanistan, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), considered “dead on the Kashmir front” since its split in 1999, “is being revived to start operations” in the Valley. A note generated by intelligence agencies on the basis of communication intercepts suggests that HuM commander Masood Shaheen alias Masood Talibani has started operating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s (PoK) Palandari area. “Talibani is commanding the (armed) groups and trying to push them into this side of Kashmir,” reads the note. Multiple intelligence agencies on…

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Dineshwar Sharma reaches out to students, says violence never a solution

Editor

The Central government’s special representative for Jammu and Kashmir, Dineshwar Sharma, today told students in south Kashmir’s Anantnag town that gun was never going to be a solution to anything. “Gun is never a solution to anything. It is my personal belief and I am telling you this because some among you sometimes think that it is a solution. It is not,” a student quoted Sharma as saying after meeting him. As per reports, locals, a majority of them students, met the interlocutor at Dak Bungalow in Anantnag today. This…

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Hajin; The Kashmir town that is a ‘Militant Hub’

Editor

Violence has ebbed and flowed in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1989 but the region has seen a fresh wave of unrest following popular militant leader Burhan Wani’s killing by Indian forces in July 2016. Gowhar Geelani reports on a small market town in the Muslim-dominated valley that has become a new flashpoint. To reach Hajin, one must drive through picturesque roads lined with poplar and Kashmir’s distinctive chinar trees. But fear seems to have settled on this town in the state’s northern Bandipore district, which is no stranger to violence. Situated…

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GoI’s Interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma reaches out to Kashmir’s protest hotbed

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Meets 14 delegations amid tight security The Government of India’s (GoI) Interlocutor, Dineshwar Sharma, Sunday reached out to the people of the Pulwama-the district which remained epicentre of protests after killing of HM militant commander, Burhan Muzafar Wani, last year and subsequently during anti-militancy operations this year. Sharma paid his maiden visit to Pulwama district in South Kashmir after being appointed as special representative by GoI last month. The visit was seen important as the area was the epicentre in last year’s unrest in the Valley which was triggered after…

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Talks and harassment can’t go together, Release political prisoners, revoke AFSPA: Mirwaiz to GoI

Editor

Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Friday said the government’s move to provide amnesty to first-time stone- pelters is “a cosmetic effort”. Addressing a Friday congregation here at Jamia Masjid, Mirwaiz said if the present government was serious “ there was a change of heart then it should release all the political prisoners without any further delay.” Mirwaiz said revoking the FIRs against “so called first-time stone-pelters” is a “good looking good cosmetic effort”. “Peace would return to Kashmir the day government of India decides to address the Kashmir dispute…

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