Category: Today

Separatists respond to Zakir’s threat, say disunity will sabotage movement

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In a joint statement, separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik asked all political and militant organisations to fight for freedom with “vision and wisdom”. In their first reaction to a death threat issued by militant commander Zakir Rashid Bhat, Kashmir’s separatist leaders on Sunday evening warned that any disunity in the “freedom camp” will give the Indian government a chance to sabotage the movement. In a joint statement, separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik asked all political and…

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‘Be Tough but Just’, Centre’s message to officials in Kashmir

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Amid continued unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre has asked the state government to be tough against those taking law into their hands but ensure no innocent person is harassed. The message was put across by Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi during the meetings he had with top civil and police officials in the course of his visit to the Kashmir valley on Thursday. The message of the central government is clear that security forces have to be tough against terrorists and those involved in stone pelting but no…

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Army’s Cordon and Search Ops (CASO) return to Kashmir after 15 Years

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Cordon and Search operations in Kashmir were abandoned 15 years ago by the army in view of inconveniences faced by locals Two days after terrorists dragged out a young army officer, tortured and murdered him, the army decided to make “cordon and search operations” a permanent feature of its anti-terror operations in Kashmir. The procedure, which was followed rigorously at the height of militancy in Kashmir in the 1990s, had been abandoned 15 years ago in view of the inconvenience locals faced during such operations. The biggest cordon and search…

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BJP under fire as south Kashmir turns into ‘Safe Zone’ for militants

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Faces flak over coalition partner PDP’s soft approach towards ultras The BJP is facing intense pressure, within and outside the party, to prevail upon its coalition partner PDP to take effective steps to wipe out terrorism from south Kashmir, which is being touted as a “liberated zone” by militants on the social media. With the killing of soldiers going on unabated in different parts of the state, the BJP has been pushed to the wall by its sister organisations for not taking up the issue with the PDP. As many…

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Fresh clashes across Valley, Students skip classes to clash with forces

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There is no let-up in student protests in the valley with fresh clashes breaking out between the protestors and government forces in Srinagar city and Pulwama town on Tuesday. The busy Maulana Azad Road near Lal Chowk witnessed pitched battle between students and forces disrupting traffic and business activities in the commercial hub of the city. Students of S P Higher Secondary School and Women’s College clashed with the forces who fired several tear gas shells to chase them away. The students have been demanding stern action against the police…

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Nothing to do with ISIS, Al-Qaeda: Resistance Group

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‘Struggle for freedom a local movement… no link with global movements’ Three separatist leaders in the Kashmir valley, who refer to themselves as ‘joint resistance leadership’, on Monday said the region’s separatist movement was indigenous and it had nothing to do with “global (jihadi) movements”. Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik issued a joint statement denouncing any attempt to change the “dimension” of Kashmir’s separatism and termed it as a conspiracy of intelligence agencies. The three separatist leaders spoke against the changing character of Kashmir’s separatism at…

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Fourty bank branches in Valley go ‘Cashless’ shifting transactions to safer zones

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J&K Bank units in Shopian, Pulwama to shift transactions to safer zones Rattled by robberies, the J&K Police have directed 40 banks in vulnerable areas of south Kashmir to shift the cash transactions to safer zones. The police have asked J&K Bank to stop cash transactions in 40 vulnerable branches in the twin districts of militancy-infested Shopian and Pulwama and shift the transactions to safer branches. This measure has been taken to avoid bank robberies in deep rural pockets of militancy-infested districts. “We have been asked by the police to…

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Massive door-to-door search operation conducted for 1st time since 90s in Shopian

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Security forces called off a massive day-long cordon and search operation in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Thursday evening after no contact was made with any militant, the police said. “We had inputs about the presence of militants and it was a coordinated operation by the police, army and the CRPF,” said deputy inspector general of police, south Kashmir, SP Pani. An official at the police control room in Shopian said the operation was launched in around 20 villages of the district around 7am after security forces received information about…

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Cyber Cell begins snapping VPN’s: Blocking the blocked

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‘JKP taking measures to counter Lashkar’s 2017 social media-driven war’ To ensure a complete ban on the use of social networking sites in Kashmir and make sure access to the banned sites is completely blocked, J&K Police’s Cyber Wing is taking on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). “We are aware that VPN proxy services are being used to access the banned social networks and we have notified the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block them and some popular VPN applications have already been blocked,” a senior police official at Cyber Police…

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5 Cops 2 JK bank guards killed in Kulgam attack, Hizb claims responsibility, says it didn’t kill bank employees

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Attackers decamp with 4 rifles Hizb claims responsibility, says it didn’t kill bank employees Five police men and two guards of Jammu and Kashmir Bank were killed when militants ambushed a cash van of the bank in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday. The militant group Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed the responsibility of the attack. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir SJM Gilani said militants ambushed J&K Bank’s cash van near Pombai village of Kulgam district at around 4.15 pm. He said five policemen and two bank employees travelling in…

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