Thursday, December 26News and updates from Kashmir

Politics

EC needs to answer people why not elections in J-K: Omar Abdullah

EC needs to answer people why not elections in J-K: Omar Abdullah

Politics, REGIONAL
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the Election Commission should muster the courage to tell people why assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are not being held. “Is there pressure on them (EC) not to hold elections? Let the Election Commission show some courage and say that they are under pressure. There is something fishy,” Abdullah told reporters outside the party headquarters here. Abdullah, a former chief minister, said the Election Commission should be asked when it plans to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir. “The media seems to be more concerned about the elections than us. Election is our right but we are not going down on our knees for it. If they want to snatch the right of people of Jammu and Kashmir, if they get some pleasure out of it, let th...
Concerned over father’s well being, Shabir Shah’s daughter writes to officials

Concerned over father’s well being, Shabir Shah’s daughter writes to officials

POLITICS, REGIONAL
Shabir Shah's daughter, Sehar had written to the Director General of Prisons in an e-mail to convey her worries for her father's safety in Tihar jail. The alleged high-risk ward where the murder took place, which was captured on camera and shown on news networks, is where Shabir Shah is being held, according to her. Sehar claimed that Shah witnessed the murder from his cell, which startled him because he had never witnessed anything like it before. Shabir Shah, according to her, is gravely troubled as a result of the murder. She has written to the DG asking to see the video because the cops did nothing except watch and make no move to get involved. A video was attached to e mail by Sehar. "The Government of India claimed that Tihar's Jails 8 and 9 are the most secure. The same jail w...
Fight misinformation with facts: Farooq Abdullah tells newly constituted media body of JKNC

Fight misinformation with facts: Farooq Abdullah tells newly constituted media body of JKNC

POLITICS
The Jammu Kashmir National Conference President and Member of Parliament Dr. Farooq Abdullah today presided over an introductory meeting of the newly constituted wings of party’s Media, Social Media and panellists. Party Vice President Mr. Omar Abdullah joined the meeting virtually and also addressed the participants. General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, Additional General Secretary Dr. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, Treasurer Shammi Oberoi, Chief Spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq, Senior Leaders Muhammad Shafi Uri, Sakina Itoo, Member of Parliament Hasnain Masoodi and party leaders, media and social media office bearers were present. conferencing. Media panellists from Jammu Province including Provincial President Jammu Rattan Lal Gupta, senior leaders Sajjad Kit...
GN Azad has misrepresented facts in his autobiography: Senior PDP leader

GN Azad has misrepresented facts in his autobiography: Senior PDP leader

Politics, REGIONAL
PDP leader Nayeem Akhtar on Thursday rubbished claims made by veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad on the formation of a PDP-Congress alliance in 2002, saying his statements did not add up to a “very credible presentation of facts”. Azad, a former Congress stalwart, has claimed in his new book -- "Azaad: An Autobiography" -- that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) founder Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed had come to Delhi for talks with the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to form the government in Jammu Kashmir in 2002. “I think what Azad said does not add up to a very credible presentation of facts. Azad is reported to claim that he had 42 MLAs with him. Then why didn't he straight away go and stake the claim (to government formation),” Akhtar told PTI. The former bureaucrat, who was a clo...
Assets of Jammu Kashmir put on sale, locals pushed out of every sector: Mehbooba Mufti

Assets of Jammu Kashmir put on sale, locals pushed out of every sector: Mehbooba Mufti

Politics, REGIONAL
People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said, that the assets of Jammu Kashmir were being put on sale. Reacting to the latest order on Srinagar Golf course , PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said that the sale of Royal Golf Spring is another example of how the administration is "developing" this region post August 5, 2019, a PDP statement said. There were speculations that the Jammu  Kashmir admin is going to outsource the Royal Springs Golf Course in Srinagar. “Everything has been put on'sale' ", she alleged and said “This is yet another step to sell our assets to non local businesses”. The former Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister said that Kashmir is the oldest golfing destination not just in South Asia but perhaps East of Suez. Gulmarg, Kashmir Golf clubs a...
National Panthers Party office sealed in Jammu, Party seeks court intervention

National Panthers Party office sealed in Jammu, Party seeks court intervention

POLITICS, REGIONAL
Authorities on Monday sealed the office of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (NPP) here, drawing strong criticism from its former chairman Harsh Dev Singh who recently rejoined the party after resigning from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Director of Estates department A K Sharma refused to comment on the sealing of the NPP office in Gandhi Nagar. Singh requested the high court to take a suo moto notice of the sealing before the NPP formally lodges a petition against the action. "Lt Governor (Manoj Sinha) is working at the behest of BJP which is very unfortunate…the high court should take suo moto cognisance of the development as NPP is a recognised party," Singh said. He alleged that the sealing is followed by his return to the NPP. Singh said he joined back the party t...
Kashmiris were called anti nationals earlier, now we are called encroachers: Mehbooba Mufti

Kashmiris were called anti nationals earlier, now we are called encroachers: Mehbooba Mufti

POLITICS, REGIONAL
Peoples Democratic Party president and former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti said that during the coalition government of PDP and BJP, she didn’t allow BJP agenda to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir and that she doesn’t take statements of Home Minister Amit Shah seriously as those are “Jumlas” only. Addressing a news conference, Mehbooba, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) appealed to the people to take control of their land as it belongs to them and in absence of the government, people including Mohalla Committees, Panchayats and others should take control of their land in respective areas. “People were earlier being called anti-national and now they are being called encroachers,” she said while replying to a query. She added people are being suppressed by one way or ...
Article 370:  Admin doesn’t have a leg to stand on in Supreme Court, says Omar Abdullah

Article 370: Admin doesn’t have a leg to stand on in Supreme Court, says Omar Abdullah

POLITICS, REGIONAL
Former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Monday said that the reluctance on part of the government to press the Supreme Court to go for hearings on petitions challenging the abrogation of the special status of Jammu Kashmir makes it clear that government doesn’t have a leg to stand on and he is even more hopeful now that the case of petitioners challenging government decision is very strong. Omar Abdullah was responding to a question during his press conference about the delay in hearing with regard to the petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370. Omar Abdullah as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust said that the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has assured them that he will make sure that the hearings begin in this matter. “So lon...
Amid ongoing eviction drive, Sajad Lone writes to LG Sinha

Amid ongoing eviction drive, Sajad Lone writes to LG Sinha

POLITICS, REGIONAL
Amid the ongoing eviction drive in Jammu Kashmir, People Conference president Sajad Lone Saturday wrote a letter to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha urging him to issue a formal and unambiguous order, which spares the poor and makes a distinction between possession borne out of necessity and possession borne out of the land grab. In the letter, a copy of which lies with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Lone stated there have been voices across the social and political spectrum to spare the poorer sections over the government’s drive to retrieve state and grazing land. “I am taking the liberty of writing to you about the government's drive to retrieve state land and grazing land under the possession of private people. There have been voices across the social and political s...
‘Cannot sit back with our people suffering’, Protests staged against ‘state land’ eviction order in Kishtwar, Rajouri

‘Cannot sit back with our people suffering’, Protests staged against ‘state land’ eviction order in Kishtwar, Rajouri

POLITICS
Protests were taken out in the Rajouri and Kishtwar areas f Jammu Kashmir against the Land eviction drive of the Jammu Kashmir administration. Hundreds of Civil Society members and party workers under the chairmanship of Th Yashu Vardhan Singh, Additional Spokesperson and In-charge Kalakote constituency JKNC assembled near Bus Stand Kalakote and raised slogans against the draconian order of J&K Govt. DDC and BDC members also joined the protest. In Kishtwar, hundreds of people led by the workers of the Democratic Azad party staged a protest asking the admin to roll back the order. Talking to reporters in Kalakote, Yashu Vardhan criticized the government for rendering the people homeless by carrying out the anti-encroachment drives. He said that the incumbent J&K Administrat...