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Bhat Yasir While Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have announced not to participate in the assembly elections before the restoration of the statehood or Article 370, the vice-president of the Jammu Kashmir People's Conference, Basharat Bukhari, has said the party will do the opposite. The JKPC will participate in assembly elections even if the statehood is not restored before the elections, said party's vice president Syed Basharat Ahmed Bukhari in an interview with The Kashmiriyat while demanding the restoration of statehood. He said that it should be back now in any case, “We want it restored today, now." Notably, the party chief Sajad Lone in an interview with News18 had also said two years back that the party will participate in assembly elections under union territory. In a l...

As the season of paddy seedlings is on in the Kashmir region, people in various areas of north Kashmir's Kupwara and Bandipora are perturbed as seedlings go missing overnight. All this is happening for a month, say locals of Dard Harie village of Kupwara. The situation is worsening day by day as rice cultivation sustains our livelihood, say aggrieved farmers of village Harie of Kupwara. "We have set up guards at our fields who watch the fields day and night but these wild animals are not even sparing the seeds. The boars come in flock and lick all the seeds leaving nothing behind," Mushtaq Ahmad a local resident told The Kashmiriyat. The local residents are surprised at the unusual presence of the wild boars in the villages. "I am around 75 and I have never seen this happening before...

Shah Basit Local residents of Halmathpora in Kupwara district of north Kashmir have been worried for more than a week now as the area has been sinking, residents said. Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, a local Abdul Rashid said that the land sinking has created scare among the locals as several walnut trees have also got uprooted due to the land sinking. He said that initially the locals witnessed cracks developing in the nearby Tingshore hill at Halmathpora. "The cracks caused damaged to several tin sheds. The cracks were followed by land sinking and damage to our property," the local resident said. Several families living close to the hill have shifted to alternate locations fearing that the whole hill might collapse. Abdul Rashid who is 72 said that he has never seen such a ph...

Former Governor of Jammu Kashmir has sent shockwaves across the country with his latest interview with Wire's Karan Thapar. In the interview of over one hour, Satyapal Malik has made shocking revelations on Pulwama attack, abrogation of Article 370 and on PM Modi. Satyapal Malik said that being the Governor of Jammu Kashmir back then he admits that Pulwama attack of February 14, 2019 was a major security lapse. "The CRPF had sought planes to travel to and fro Kashmir valley as we had prior inputs on a major attack, however, the Union Home Ministry had rejected providing planes for CRPF. Had the planes been provided, fourty precious lives could have been saved," Satyapal Malik told Karan Thapar. Detailing further he said that Pulwama attack, he said that the attacker was driving aroun...

Suhail Dar The Kashmir valley has seen a whooping entry of 27,305 animals from outside states during the first twenty days of the holy month of Ramadhan, officials said. Speaking to The Kashmiriyat Javed Ahmed, a supervisor of Animal Husbandry said that over 18,963 sheep and 8,342 goats have entered the Kashmir valley for consumption from other states of Jammu Kashmir. He said that the import is expected to go up during the last ten days of Ramadhan. A mutton dealer from Srinagar, however, said that the import does not give the exact figures of consumption. “There needs to be thorough work to check the actual amount of mutton consumed during a period of time. There are mutton sellers who have had existing stock for several months. There are others who will stock the current sup...

Transporters in Jammu Kashmir have unanimously decided to observe 'Chakka-Jam' on April 17 across the region to press for their long pending demands. The transporters are demanding the reopening of fitness certificates and renewal of route permits for all passenger vehicles that have been halted due to passenger tax from 01-04-2023. They also demand release of arrears on account of 37 % hike vide JKRTC/GML/Sgr/1003 dated 10-11-2021 under SRO 157 in freight charges for goods carriers engaged by the JKRTC. The transporters have also opposed the rapid increase in fitness fee for all commercial vehicles. They said the order for the collection of Passenger Tax on quarterly basis of all passenger commercial vehicles is still pending. The Association has sought intervention of Lt Governo...

The Supreme Court observed that preventive detention laws in India are a colonial legacy and have great potential for abuse and misuse, reported LiveLaw. The Court emphasized that laws conferring arbitrary powers to the state must be critically examined and used only in the rarest of rare cases. A Bench of Justice Krishna Murari and Justice V. Ramasubramanian said that, “Every procedural rigidity, must be followed in entirety by the Government in cases of preventive detention, and every lapse in procedure must give rise to a benefit to the case of the detenue. The Courts, in circumstances of preventive detention, are conferred with the duty that has been given the utmost importance by the Constitution, which is the protection of individual and civil liberties.” Brief Facts In N...

Gujarat conman Kiran Patel had made four visits, each between three and five days, over six months until March this year, Indian Express reported. During his meeting, he met at least two IAS officers besides several junior officials. He fixed up meetings for at least three Gujarat businessmen with key government functionaries; and hobnobbed with a slew of local BJP and RSS functionaries. From rolling out the official red carpet to upgrading his security, in the form of a bullet-proof vehicle, two escort vehicles, and a dozen gunmen from Sashastra Seema Bal, The Indian Express reported that behind moving the wheels were two individuals: Rajasthan-based RSS functionary Trilok Singh Chauhan and Baseer ul Haq Chaudhary, IAS officer of 2015 batch, who is Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama. ...

Most of the studies conducted across the world suggested that individuals who fast experience improvements in their symptoms of depression, anxiety and even stress, said mental health experts. Dr Yasir Hassan Rather, Professor in Department of Psychiatry, IMHANS, GMC Srinagar told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that research has found that fasting during Ramadan can have a positive psychological effect on individuals due to the feeling of connection with the community and spiritual wellbeing. "Studies have also shown that fasting can increase feelings of self discipline, self-control, empathy and compassion," he said. Additionally, fasting has been linked with improved mental health due to increased gratitude, mindfulness, and improved concentration, Dr Yasir said. Dr ...

The unemployment rate in Jammu Kashmir has recorded a spike of over 6 percent for the month of March against February, which is the third highest in states and UTs across India. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), monitoring monthly unemployment in India, has put Jammu Kashmir's employment rate at 23.1 percent in the month of March against 17.1 in February. The monthly figures of the unemployment rate maintained by CMIE since 2016 show that in August 2022, unemployment reached its highest over the years when it jumped to 32.8 percent. In the month of December, unemployment went down to 14.8 per cent against the 22.4 per cent unemployment rate in November. With 1.5 per cent, Puducherry has the lowest unemployment rate followed by Indian state of Gujarat with monthly unempl...