Category: Today

Political turmoil, Killings, Controversies mark Kashmir in 2016

Editor

The year began on a tragic note for the PDP and the coalition government as then Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who had paved way for the first BJP government in the state in alliance with his party, lost battle for life at AIIMS on January 7 following brief illness. If political uncertainty and controversies over Sainik colonies and Pandit townships marked the first half of 2016 in J&K, the civilians killings and longest ever shutdown were the dominating discourses as the curtains fell on the year which saw PDP…

Read More

Centre must talk to all stakeholders including hurriyat to resolve Kashmir Issue: Farooq Abdullah

Editor

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah today sought meaningful dialogue for ending political uncertainty in Jammu and Kashmir. “Alongside opening the channels of dialogue with Pakistan, the Centre must talk to all stakeholders, including the Hurriyat Conference,” Farooq said while addressing a public rally at Ragooda in the Nagrota Assembly constituency. He came down heavily on those criticising him for advocating dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference, asking why a finger was not being raised against the PDP-BJP combine. He blamed the coalition for bringing the state to unprecedented crisis and unleashing…

Read More

Farooq Abdullah opposes Domicile Certificate for West Pak refugees

Editor

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah today said the idea of issuing ‘domicile certificates’ to the West Pakistan refugees was unacceptable and that the party won’t be a mute spectator to such extra-constitutional misadventures that aim at circumventing the state’s special constitutional status and character. Speaking to reporters after an event here, Farooq said there was a clear effort to exploit the West Pakistan refugee issue to further a traditional agenda of weakening the state’s special status and eroding the state subject law. “These belated sympathisers of the West Pakistan refugees…

Read More

Kashmir Shivers at -5.1, Water bodies frozen, Power Scenario worsens

Editor

No respite from dry, cold weather conditions; Power scenario worsens, winter sports hit Temperatures plummeted further in Kashmir last night, resulting in freezing of the Dal Lake and other water bodies. Srinagar froze at minus 5.1 degree Celsius during the night while on Monday the maximum temperature was recorded 11.5 degree Celsius, said a Meteorological Department official. He said that light to moderate rainfall in plains and snowfall on higher reaches could occur on December 29 and December 30 at isolated places across the state. Leh in Ladakh region experienced…

Read More

Will make up for the lost time due to unrest: Mehbooba Mufti

Editor

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today regretted that a number of youth were affected by the turmoil in the past five months during which not only the government but every section of society suffered and now people have started realising the quantum of loss. The Chief Minister said her resolve had been to get the people of the state out of the time of uncertainty so that the youth have a joyful, happy and smiling future. Mehbooba also regretted the loss of time during the current working season and said instructions…

Read More

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

Editor

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…

Read More

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

Editor

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…

Read More

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

Editor

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…

Read More

Valley witnessed a working Monday after 23 weeks

Editor

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…

Read More

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

Editor

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…

Read More