National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said notifying the rules for the CAA days before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections shows the Bharatiya Janata Party is not confident about winning 400 seats in the ensuing polls.
Warning of 'shocking scale' of vote rigging in the Afghan Presidential elections, the main challenger to Hamid Karzai has said the poll fraud will remove all legitimacy from the new government.
Omar, who began his political journey in the state from this assembly seat in 2002 elections, had been advised by some of his party men to choose another constituency in the backdrop of his previous poll debacle. National Conference had emerged as the largest party in the last polls with 28 seats in the 87-member House but chose to sit in opposition.
National Conference chief and Union minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday triggered a storm by commenting that the situation in the society is so bad that he is afraid of speaking to women these days.
India's mission in Kuwait is ascertaining the full details from the concerned Kuwaiti authorities on the tragic fire incident in a building in the southern city of Mangaf which killed 49 foreign workers, including around 40 Indians, and injured 50 others, even as officials started an investigation into one of the worst fires in the Gulf nation.
'We want to ensure that no government in J&K will be formed without our support.'
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The Army cancelled the event "due to implementation of the Model Code of Conduct".
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, in the biennial elections to 11 seats from the legislative council, taking the number of candidates in the fray to 12.
Dubbing People's Democratic Party demand for his resignation as a political stunt, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Thursday dismissed allegations of "political payoffs" against him and said truth will emerge in the judicial inquiry into the death of an NC worker.
"Through dialogue, our (Kashmir) issue will also be resolved. War is not a solution," National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said.
The withdrawal of the candidature by DPAP leaders on the last day on August 30 is seen as a boost to the NC-Congress alliance.
'The lack of opportunities here remains the biggest worry.' 'We have seen investment summits, but if you look around, much of it is only on paper and not on the ground.'
Saudi Arabia's Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died on Friday and his half-brother Salman took over reigns of the world's top oil exporting nation in a smooth transition of power, calling for "unity and solidarity" among Muslims.
The NC chief said the new generation of Kashmiris was fearless and were 'not scared of guns'.
Panic gripped Khanyar area of Srinagar on Sunday after an explosion was heard during an election rally of Union Minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.
The former Jammu-Kashmir chief minister was subjected to a "secondary immigration check" upon his arrival in the United States.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described Dr Farooq Abdullah's defence of the beleaguered BCCI president N. Srinivasan 'as part of his cover up to escape punishment for alleged embezzlement in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association'.
Captain Sharan and Flight Engineer Anil Jaggia both confirm that the hijackers seemed to know a lot about flying an aircraft. Without help from the ISI or the Pakistan army, it was impossible, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
Most deaths were due to smoke inhalation while residents were sleeping, and a significant number of occupants were evacuated, they added. The fire started in a kitchen in the six-storey building in the Mangaf area in Kuwait's southern Ahmadi Governorate, officials said, adding that the building reportedly had 195 people living in it, who are workers of the same company.
Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on Friday said Article 370 has "eroded" and Jammu and Kashmir should be given autonomy within framework of the Indian constitution.
Board of Control for Cricket in India's chief N Srinivasan on Tuesday got support from Union minister Farooq Abdullah, who said it makes no sense in demanding his resignation as it has not been proved that he was involved in any wrongdoing. "Why should he resign," asked Abdulla, who is also president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
It also directed him to pay Rs 60,000 each for the education of his two sons every month.
'Ajit Doval said, "They are threatening us now".'
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah on Saturday met Home Minister P Chidambaram and discussed the prevailing situation in Kashmir. Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and patron of the ruling National Conference in the state, discussed with Chidambaram the steps being taken by the Centre and the state government to bring back normalcy in the state. Barring Sopore and Pulwama, curfew was lifted temporarily in the Kashmir valley.
'It is sad and unfortunate. But we have to accept it'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has praised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his governance, Union Minister and President of National Conference Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday.
Afghan presidential run-off candidate Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday alleged massive election fraud and demanded an immediate halt to vote-counting amid reports that his rival had a million-vote lead, plunging the war-torn country's first democratic transition of power into question.
The vehicle, a Tavera, was on its way to Jammu from Srinagar and it fell into a 300-foot gorge at the Battery Cheshma area of the district around 1.15 am, they said.
When Omar Abdullah took his first plunge into Kashmir politics in 1998, the odds were stacked heavily against him. Separatists were at their peak and the National Conference, founded by his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah, almost 50 years ago, was seen as a stooge of New Delhi.
People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and several other regional party leaders on Monday claimed that they have been placed under house arrest on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The notice requested Rashid or a representative of his to appear before the district expenditure monitoring committee within two days to address the discrepancy and ensure timely submission of the expenditure report to the Election Commission of India.
Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti, who is also the media advisor to the PDP president, confirmed that her mother is safe.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister alleged that government employees were 'forcibly mobilised' and ferried to Modi's rally to paint a 'pretty picture that all is well' post 2019, when the Centre abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union territories.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah resumed office on Friday, a day after Governor N N Vohra rejected his resignation which he had tendered over allegations by a senior Peoples Democratic Party leader of his being involved in the 2006 sex scandal case.
Stating that an investigation team will work under the full supervision of the United Nations to ensure complete transparency and impartiality, he said, "None of the outgoing government involved in the murder will be exempted."
A Russian skier died while six others, including a local guide, were rescued as an avalanche struck the ski slopes of Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, officials said.
