Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has criticized BJP leaders for accusing the National Conference (NC) of insulting Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruler of the state. Abdullah challenged the BJP to provide evidence of such insults, while highlighting their own actions that he claims have undermined the Maharaja's legacy. He also called on the BJP-led government to retrieve the part of Jammu and Kashmir under Chinese occupation if they are serious about reclaiming the territory under Pakistan's control.
Winter vacations in secondary and higher secondary schools have been cancelled to make up for the time lost during the over five months of unrest in the region during the summer, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
Protests and heavy stone pelting near the martyrs' graveyard in the heart of Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar led to fresh tensions in city, where the separatists had called for a strike to commemorate the martyrs of 1931. It was on this day in 1931 that 21 protestors were gunned down by the soldiers of Dogra Maharaja outside the Srinagar Central Jail, while they were protesting against his autocratic rule.
'Durbar Move' is a practice started by Dogra Maharajas of the state in late nineteenth century as per which the state government functions in Srinagar for six summer months and in Jammu for the rest of the winter period.
Mehbooba also recalled that the events post the 1987 Assembly elections had 'created' Syed Salahuddin, the supremo of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, and Mohammad Yasin Malik, the separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief.
Reeling under strict restrictions with no access to communication since August 5 when the Centre announced its decision to end Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two union territories, the people in the Valley have been facing a hair-raising challenge of finding a hairdresser to have their unkempt beards trimmed and unruly locks chopped.
For the first time in 25 years since the start of militancy in Kashmir, the separatists have not called for a general strike on Martyrs' Day on Monday in view of the fasting month of Ramzan.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for a relook at the entire ambit of Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
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