REGIONAL

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday paid rich tributes to the police martyrs at Zewan, Srinagar, on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day, honoring their supreme sacrifice in the line of duty. Floral tributes were offered at the Martyrs’ Memorial, where senior police officers and families of the fallen personnel also paid their respects. The solemn ceremony concluded with a guard of honour and a moment of silence in memory of the martyrs who laid down their lives in the service of the nation. —(KNC)

  Srinagar witnessed unprecedented temperature surges this summer, with maximum temperatures rising up to five degrees Celsius above seasonal averages on July 20, 2025. Minimum temperatures also climbed around three degrees above normal, making nights particularly unrelenting. Srinagar broke early records in the season, hitting 34.4 degrees Celsius on May 22, which marked the third-hottest May day in 133 years. This surpassed the 34.3 degrees recorded in 1971 and approached the all-time May high of 36.4 degrees set in 1968. In June, the mercury soared further, with June 19 recording 35.2 degrees Celsius, the hottest June day in two decades. The following day, June 20, saw the season’s fiercest reading of 35.5 degrees Celsius, the highest for the month since 2005. By June 3...

Meer Irfan Police cracked a theft case within 24 hours of its reporting on Tuesday, arresting two individuals accused of the crime and recovering the stolen property, officials said. A police spokesperson said that an FIR (No. 31/2025) was registered at Police Station Imam Sahab following a complaint that several apple crates had been stolen from a premises in DK Pora during the intervening night. Acting swiftly, a special team was formed. Through meticulous investigation and technical analysis, the team identified and apprehended two accused: Mohd Altaf Bakshi, resident of Rambirpora, Kehribal Mattan, Anantnag, and Adil Gulzar Ganie, resident of Chee, Anantnag. During the investigation, the stolen apple crates, along with the auto load carrier used in the crime, were recovered from th...

Auqib Gull The residents of Panzath area in Qazigund, south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, have launched a cleanliness campaign titled “Al Tahara – Cleanliness is Faith” to protect their village and its famed springs. The drive, which began on Tuesday morning, is a community-led effort aimed at keeping the village clean and preserving its water sources for future generations. Under the initiative, villagers have arranged a tractor that moves through Panzath and Wanpora localities to collect household waste, as per details available with The Kashmiriyat. Residents deposit their garbage into the tractor, which later carries it to a distant location for disposal. In the absence of a municipal waste collection system in these rural areas, the people of Panzath have taken the task upo...

In a strong show of dissent, National Conference leader Tariq Wani on Monday announced his resignation from the Jammu Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), expressing deep displeasure over the Deputy Chief Minister’s remarks against Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi. “I hereby tender my resignation from the Jammu Kashmir National Conference. If the party cannot uphold respect for the very leader whose integrity and vision helped it regain the trust of the people, then there is little meaning left for workers like us,” Wani said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter). https://twitter.com/tariqwani1983/status/1980262792805654599 He accused the Deputy Chief Minister of showing “intoxication of power,” saying the leader seemed to have forgotten “the stature of the person he chose to...

Senior National Conference (NC) leader and former minister Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi has responded sharply to comments made by NC’s Budgam candidate, Aga Syed Mehmood, who claimed that Ruhullah would campaign for the party in the upcoming Budgam Assembly by-election. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Ruhullah clarified that his loyalty is guided by his conscience and principles, not by imposed narratives. “My loyalty is to my conscience and principles,” he wrote. While maintaining respect for his elders within the family, Ruhullah urged them not to undermine his political struggle or misrepresent his stance. “While I hold respect for my elders in my family, I request them not to belittle my fight (our fight). If they can’t comprehend it and be part of it, at least don’t drag me and my...

After the Congress declined the offer to contest the Nagrota seat, the Jammu Kashmir National Conference (NC) on Monday announced that District Development Council (DDC) member Shamim Begum will be its candidate from the constituency. NC’s Provincial President for Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta, confirmed the decision, saying, “The party high command has cleared her name and she will be filing her nomination papers soon.” Shamim Begum, a Muslim Gujjar woman, had earlier won the 2020 DDC elections from Nagrota. The Congress, meanwhile, has opted out of the contest in a bid to strengthen the alliance’s chances against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a late-night statement, the party said it decided to leave the seat to its ally, the National Conference, “keeping in view the larger int...

Jammu Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) candidate from Budgam constituency, Agha Syed Mahmood, on Monday said that senior leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi remains loyal to the party and will lead the campaign for the upcoming Budgam bypolls. Mahmood, who was declared NC’s candidate for Budgam on Sunday, earlier won from Pattan in 1987 and Beerwah in 1996. Speaking to reporters, Mahmood said the National Conference played a defining role in Ruhullah’s political journey. “It’s the NC that made him what he is today. His role in the campaign is important, and I believe he will definitely come forward,” he said. He added that he shares a close bond with Ruhullah. “Politics aside, he’s like my own son. We’ve been regularly talking to each other,” Mahmood said. Dismissing speculation o...

Murtaza Bilal A Kashmiri doctor pursuing postgraduate studies at Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu was allegedly harassed and targeted with communal slurs by fellow doctors on the night of October 18. According to reports, Dr. Hilal, a first-year PG student from Kulgam, returned from night duty to find his hostel room vandalized. “Some drunk doctors broke the door of his hostel room and started abusing Kashmiris,” said Dr. Moomin Khan, Vice President of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the All India Medical Students Association (AIMSA), while speaking to The Kashmiriyat. Dr. Moomin said this was not an isolated incident. “It keeps happening, but today’s incident needs official attention. Today they broke the door; tomorrow, they might come inside the room, and God knows what ...

After nearly eight months of detention, the Public Safety Act of prominent social activist Waqar H. Bhatti was quashed by the court. His wife, Roohi Bhatti, confirmed to The Kashmiriyat that her husband, who is an activist from Rajouri district of Jammu Kashmir, has been released. “Waqar was detained in February and it has been a long and painful wait for our family. We are relieved that the court finally restored his liberty,” she said, adding that he had been booked under multiple cases for what she described as “his outspoken views The Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, in a judgement, quashed the detention of Mohd Waqar alias Waqar H Bhatti of Rajouri, who had been held under the Public Safety Act (PSA), calling the order “arbitrary” and passed “without application of mind.”...