Category: Today

Twist to Article 35A row, key file goes missing from Home Ministry

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A key Kashmir file justifying the insertion of Article 35A into the Constitution has gone missing from the high security vaults of North Block in New Delhi, a media report said today. The incident comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a petition by an RSS-backed NGO seeking the abrogation of the Article, which bars outsiders from acquiring land or jobs in Jammu and Kashmir. “A 63-year-old file containing legal opinion on Article 35A has vanished from North Block’s high-security vaults at a time the provision, which…

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Solution to Kashmir Issue, Terror would be found by 2022: Rajnath Singh

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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asserted that by 2022, a solution would be found to the Kashmir problem as also other problems like terrorism, naxalism and North East insurgency. “There are a lot of problems — terrorism, naxalism, Kashmir problem. Much is not needed to be said about these problems. But I can assure you this much that by 2022, we have pledged to create a ‘new India’…So a solution will be found to all these problems before 2022. We want to assure the countrymen on this,” he said.…

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Centre extends tax break for industry in J&K till 2027

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Industries in the north eastern and Himalayan states including Jammu and Kashmir will continue to get tax exemption till March 2027, albeit as refund, under the current GST regime which was rolled out on July 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. “Within the framework of the GST Act each industry will be entitled to its own refund mechanism during this particular period (March 31, 2027),” he said. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given approval to the Scheme of providing budgetary support…

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Mehbooba, Omar, Mirwaiz welcome Modi’s Kashmir outreach

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach to Kashmir in his Independence Day address on Tuesday in which he said bullets or abuses will not help resolve the problems of Kashmir has been welcomed by moderate separatist leader, J&K Chief Minister and opposition National Conference. Moderate separatist leader and cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq welcomed PM Modi’s statement. “Welcome Modi also believes ‘Goli and Gaali’ will not help resolve Kashmir. If Insaniyat (humanity) and Insaaf (justice) replace them, resolution can become a reality,” Mirwaiz tweeted. In his I-Day address, PM Modi said, “Na…

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3 Militants, 2 Army jawans, 2 Civilians killed in Shopian gunfight

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Three militants including an operational commander of Hizbul Mujahideen and two army soldiers were killed while five soldiers sustained injuries in an 18-hour-long gunfight between government forces and militants in Awneera village in Shopian district on Sunday, police and reports said. Three residential houses where the militants were holed up were also destroyed by the government forces, they said. An official said the gunfight which broke around 5 pm on Saturday ended at 11 am on Sunday. “As soon as the forces laid a siege around Awneera, militants present in…

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PM Modi assured ‘No Fiddling’ with J&K special status: Mehbooba Mufti

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given “100 percent assurance” that he would back the PDP-BJP government’s ‘Agenda of Alliance’ which says there will be “no fiddling” with Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday. Mehbooba met the Prime Minister amid reports that she was seeking help against attempts to alter constitutional provisions that give special status to the state. Emerging from the 15-minute meeting, Mehbooba said the basis of the Agenda of Alliance between the PDP and the BJP is that there should be no…

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Won’t tamper with Article 35A & Article 370 till alliance with PDP is intact: BJP

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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it has decided not to tamper with or challenge any of the constitutional provisions of the state, including Article 35-A and Article 370, till its alliance with PDP remains intact. “I can tell you with full authority that BJP is not interested in challenging or tampering with any of the constitutional provisions of J&K, be it Article 35-A or Article 370,” BJP’s chief spokesman for J&K, Sunil Sethi told Kashmir Post over phone from New Delhi. He said though BJP’s ideological stand is…

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BJP to alter Article 35A on permanent residents in J&K?

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Away from the attention that Article 370 usually invites, a section of BJP sympathisers are steadily pushing the party’s less-noticed promise of altering Article 35A of the Constitution, which empowers the J&K government to define “permanent residents” of the state. The article enables the state to provide special rights and privileges that permanent residents can enjoy but has been criticised by BJP as a provision that encourages alienation, deepens the concept of a separate identity and creates a political gap between J&K and the rest of India. Under the Article,…

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14 Properties of Geelani, kin worth Rs 150 crore under NIA lens

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing seven top Hurriyat separatists+ over accusations of terror financing in Jammu & Kashmir, has shortlisted as many as 14 properties allegedly owned by the head of the hardline faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani and his family members. The shortlisted properties are estimated to be between Rs 100 crore and Rs 150 crore, officials have said. TOI has accessed the list of properties under NIA’s scanner for hawala and benami transactions. This includes educational institutions, residences and agricultural lands in Kashmir and flats in Delhi…

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Abu Dujana (LeT chief), who carried a reward of Rs 15 lakh, killed in Pulwama encounter

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As the encounter ended, heavy stone-pelting by locals on security forces began. Top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander Abu Dujana was killed on Tuesday in an encounter with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir`s Pulwama district. A local militant identified as Arif Lalihaari was also killed in the gunfight that took place in Hakripora village. In a statement, the Army confirmed that wanted Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Abu Dujana was among two militants killed in the encounter in Pulwama. The operation has concluded. As the encounter ended, heavy stone-pelting by locals on security…

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