Category: Today

Fresh Protests across Kashmir over West Pakistan refugees, ROW stares govt in the face

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Protests and clashes broke out in various parts of Kashmir on Friday against issuance of “domicile certificates” to non-state subject West Pakistani Refugees residing in Jammu areas, even as Valley’s top separatist leaders strongly reacted to the government’s move and threatened state-wide agitation “if it is not rolled back forthwith.” The joint resistance leadership—Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik—had urged people to stage protests against “settlement” of WPRs in Jammu and Kashmir through issuance of domicile certificates, on Friday. The leaders had also called for a…

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Pakistan refugees not given domicile certificates but only identity cards: Govt

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After an uproar by separatists and the opposition, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday clarified that refugees who migrated here from Pakistan since after Independence were not given domicile certificates but only identity cards. These refugees, mostly Hindus who migrated into the state during and after the 1947, 1965 and 1971 wars, have no citizenship rights in the state. They can vote in parliamentary elections but have no right to vote in the assembly polls. They cannot apply for jobs with the state government because of they are not…

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‘Chillai-Kalan’ 40-days harsh period of winter begins in Kashmir

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Chilai Kalan begins with coldest night in 6 years ‘Chillai-Kalan’ – the harshest 40-day period of winter in Kashmir – marked its beginning Wednesday with mercury dipping to the season’s record low at several places including Srinagar which experienced a six-year-low night temperature in the month of December. Kashmir Valley and Ladakh region have been it by severe cold as the night temperature across the division, except Pahalgam and Gulmarg, dropped to the season’s lowest, an official of the MET Department here said. He said the mercury in Srinagar plunged…

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Valley witnessed a working Monday after 23 weeks

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Kashmir markets and educational institutions opened for normal activities for the first time on Monday after 23 weeks since the unrest erupted in the Valley on July 8. This is for the first time that the separatists, jointly issuing protest calendars, have extended the “relaxation” in the shutdown to five days, which began on Sunday. The five-day “relaxation” practice is going to continue for two weeks till the end of this month. Issuing the scaled-down protest programme last week, the separatists have indicated to work out a protest plan for…

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J&K Govt’s weak defence of Art 370 alarming: Omer Abdullah

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National Conference working president Omar Abdullah on Sunday accused the state government of making a “weak legal defence” of the state’s special status and termed it “alarming”. In a statement issued, Omar also accused the state government of “deliberate callousness”. “(It) indicated the tacit connivance of the PDP in allowing the step-by-step erosion of Article 370 through a series of politically patronised cases and litigation,” he said. Omar referred to the recent instance of the “bleak surrender by the state government’s counsel in defending the position of the state viz-a-viz…

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Pellet Terror returns; Scores injured during Clashes, Miscreants flee with rifle

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Pellet terror returns; 15 injured Several persons, including 9-year-old, injured in stone-throwing Two days after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti directed police not to use pellets on protestors, at least 15 civilians were injured on Friday when forces fired pellets on protesters in various parts of Kashmir. Shutdown was observed across Kashmir on the call of joint resistance leadership as all shops and commercial establishments remained closed while very thin transport plied on roads. Massive clashes erupted in Nowhatta, Hawal, Gojwara, Rajouri Kadal and adjoining areas of Srinagar. Witnesses said that…

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We’ve moved close to goal, now time to consolidate gains: Resistance Group

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Announce five-day relaxation, only two-day shutdown ‘Working on transition from weekly protest calendars to long term plan’ Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation in the Valley, Wednesday announced the five-day relaxation in shutdown and stated that they are working on transition from weekly protest calendars to long term plan of programs and initiatives. In a joint statement, Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik said the agitation of over five months has taken the “freedom struggle forward and opened out the…

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Sub-Zero night temperatures in most parts of Kashmir Valley

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Sub-zero temperatures prevailed at night in most parts of Kashmir division with a thick layer of fog engulfing the Valley, even as the Met department here predicted mainly dry weather in the state in the week ahead, expected to cause a drop in the mercury. Dense fog engulfed many parts of the Valley, including summer capital Srinagar, this morning, leading to poor visibility and causing difficulties to motorists, an official of the Met department said here. The city had witnessed mainly clear skies for the last two days after a…

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Mehbooba bats for better ties with Pak, advocates for opening trade routes with Pak for making JK Economic Corridor

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‘J&K was gateway to Central Asia but we closed its doors’ Wants Centre, state to make collective efforts to settle all contentious issues ‘J&K will never go away from India; we need to have good relations with Pakistan’ Referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti Monday pitched for opening of all trade routes of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan for making it an economic corridor of the region. Recalling former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s peace overtures, she also stressed on the need for having good…

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‘Kashmir issue can be resolved by talks, not violence’ Sinha & Team, Visits Shopian, Anantnag

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He said they wanted to take forward the agenda of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (former prime minister of India) to take the Kashmir issue to “some resolution”. The track-II delegation, led by BJP stalwart Yashwant Sinha, today toured the south Kashmir districts, the epicentre of the long unrest, and met members of civil societies there. The delegation met the local civil societies in Shopian and Anantnag, two of the four districts that form the south Kashmir region. Former Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak, one of the five members of the delegation, said…

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