POLITICS

The Former Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that statement by Nupur Sharma of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Prophet Muhammad was not a coincidence, but it was "well planned" strategy to deviate attention from Government of India's failure to protect Kashmiri Pandits. Addressing a press conference, she asked, "Why Nupur Sharma is not being arrested? Nupur Sharma’s statement has tremendously hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the globe and her remarks on Prophet Muhammad were a deliberate act, it was planned. Nupur Sharma's remarks were on well-settled grounds so that the Muslims in the country get provoked and the government get a chance to act on them." The Chief of People's Democratic Party also slammed BJP over Enforcement Directorate's summon to...

CPI(M) leader and spokesperson of PAGD, Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami has termed the killing of a woman teacher in Gopalpora area of District Kulgam as tragic and unfortunate. "This is yet another addition to the long list of civilian killings. There seems no end to the bloodletting," tarigami said. The CPIM leader also said that the administration must post these employees in safer places and provide them with secure accommodations.

Professor Bhim Singh, the chief of Jammu and Kashmir's National Panthers Party, died on Tuesday. He was 80. Prof Bhim Singh was born in 1941 in the Ramnagar area of the erstwhile princely state of J&K. In 1982, he founded the National Panthers Party with his wife Jaya Mala and was the chairman of the party till 2012. Bhim Singh was brought dead at the hospital around 8:45 am on Tuesday morning and was not well for the past several months. Prof Bhim Singh has been a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and was also an MP once. Before founding the National Panthers Party, he was in the Congress and was the Vice President of the India Youth Congress in 1977-78. Farooq Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir expressed condolences over the demise of Pro...

Abhinav Sharma, senior Advocate and Spokesman BJP J&K on Saturday said that BJP Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to restore lasting peace in the Union Territory of J&K especially the Kashmir Valley and for this concerted efforts are underway at various levels. In a statement issued to Kashmir News Service (KNS), the senior BJP leader said that multifaceted efforts are being taken to nail elements inimical to peace in the Valley and sooner than later the peace will prevail. Taking the specific case of Kashmiri Pandit employees the Prime Minister’s special package, he said that UT administration under the stewardship of LG Manoj Sinha is on job to ensure their safety as already several steps have been taken in this direction and LG as the head of the ...

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday questioned the Centre’s Jammu Kashmir policy saying the civilian killings in Kashmir did not support Government of India’s claims of normalcy in the union territory. “In Kashmir, mournings have sadly become the norm & a daily ritual. Countless innocent civilians are killed in one way or the other & devastated families are left behind to pick up the pieces. What will it take for GOI to recalibrate their J&K policy to end this bloodshed?” Mehbooba tweeted. Commenting on the killing of a female TV artist by three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in Budgam district’s Chadoora area on Wednesday, the former chief minister said while the government was making claims about normalcy, the gruesome killings suggest otherwise. “GOI keeps blowing i...

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday expressed serious concern over an unprecedented spike in fire incidents in Jammu and Kashmir over the last few months, demanding a thorough and transparent inquiry into such a trend, asking the administration to make the finding of the probe public. PDP Chief Spokesman in a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) has said that a dreadful spike in mysterious fire incidents is being witnessed across the state leaving masses petrified and anxious to the core. He said that no town is spared and properties worth millions of rupees are destroyed in these unfortunate episodes almost every day. “In view of the overall situation prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir, the large-scale fire incidents have given rise in apprehensions...

Senior vice president J&K Peoples Conference and former minister Abdul Gani Vakil urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Union Government to take necessary CBM's before holding assembly elections in J&K. The government of India should implement Confidence Building Measures (CBM's), if they want larger participation including restoration of statehood to J&K, Vakil was addressing workers convention at Krishi Bal in Eid Gah constituency. Convention was presided over Sr. PC leader Irfan Matoo. While addressing the gathering Vakil said if central government wants good participation in elections, they should grant statehood without making it conditional, releasing political prisoners and there should be special employment package for unemployed youth of the region at the same ...

The Article 370 of the constitution has become a history, senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Surendra Jain said on Sunday as he raised a pitch for reclaiming parts of Jammu Kashmir under the “illegal occupation of Pakistan and China”, saying it will become a reality soon. Jain, Union Joint General Secretary of VHP, was speaking at a rally ‘’Punya Bhumi Samaran Sabha’ organized by RSS-backed Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Forum here to pay collective tributes to those who were killed in Pakistani onslaught on October 22, 1947 and reiterate a pledge to reclaim the lost areas. Senior BJP leaders led ‘Tiranga yatra’ from different parts of the city to join the rally which was attended by Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) displaced persons from within and outside Jammu and Kash...

Extending greetings on Eid-ul-Fitr PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today paid glowing tributes to the fortitude and patience displayed by the Muslim community in Kashmir and the rest of the country in the best traditions of Islam. In her message, she said Muslims truly lived Ramzan this year in the spirit of the holy month by facing an unprecedented onslaught on the community by the BJP governments and its militant political arms across the country with exemplary patience that’s generally associated with early days of Islam. Mehbooba said while the bulldozer became the symbol of state terror against the community the Demons of hate unleashed by the government seemed to be on a rampage in every form of their choice, depending on the occasion and BJP’s Hindu Rashtra roadmap. She said i...

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of destroying the secular fabric of the country, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Monday said that there is no future for the youth of J&K. Indian Prime Minister Modi was in Pali village of Samba in Jammu on Sunday where he participated in the celebration of the National Panchayati Raj Day and addressed ‘Gram Sabhas’ across the country. In his address, the Prime Minister said that the youth will not see the miseries that their parents and grandparents have seen in the past. “What is this that the Prime Minister is saying that youth will not see miseries that their parents and grandparents in Jammu and Kashmir. What miseries we have seen. We used to have our own Prime Ministers. There was a special status for us. Our g...