Brushing aside the strong opposition to it from separatist leaders, religious heads and some civil society groups, authorities have decided to go ahead with the high profile Zubin Mehta concert in Srinagar on September 7.
Curfew remained in force on Thursday in parts of Kashmir valley as a preventive measure to maintain law and order after a youth was killed when security forces allegedly opened fire to chase away stone-pelting protesters.
The Union home ministry has sought a report from Jammu and Kashmir government on circumstances leading to release from jail of hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam, who has over 15 cases pending against him.
'The first clear cut call for 'engagement with all stake holders including separatists' came, not from the political class but the men in uniform,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished observer on Kashmir.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
In a break from past, there was no function at the martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar after the government dropped July 13 from the list of gazetted holidays last year, officials said.
The special NIA judge charged him with being a member of a terror group, raising funds for them as well as aiding an outfit.
It is an ode to his politics that believed in building bridges across social or political divides that he was one of the most liked state leaders among the upper castes even as he drew his support mostly from Dalits, a group which at times shared antagonistic relations with the more prosperous communities due to a number of social and political reasons.
Kashmiri Pandits complain that the Jammu and Kashmir government has simply cowered to hardline sentiments and that the real reason for canceling the pilgrimage was not due to ecological concerns but because of religion. Upasna Pandey reports
The rebel legislators on Friday accused the former CM of putting them and their families at risk by claiming that the internal rumblings in the party done at the behest of Delhi.
The constituency had recorded an abysmal 7.13 per cent voter turnout, the lowest ever in its history.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
'Abrogation of Article 370 is not legal because it is the legal basis of Kashmir's accession to India.'
With three sarpanchs killed in December, many panchayat members are running scared and quitting their posts. Pervez Majeed reports.
The detentions come ahead of a crucial hearing on Article 35-A in Supreme Court which is likely to take place on Monday. The article, incorporated into the Indian Constitution in 1954, grants special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
A teenager was shot dead by security forces in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday during a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference against the recent killing of two youths in an army operation in Tral, prompting the authorities to register a murder case and order a magisterial probe.
Many in Kashmir believe he needs to stop talking so much. But they are wrong, says Aditi Phadnis. J&K's governor is intelligent enough to know what to say when.
Sharma will decide whom he wants to hold talks with, Singh said when asked whether he would have dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference.
'There is no point in just saying, 'hum wapas bhej denge (we will send Kashmiri Pandits back)'.'
Days after rebuffing outreach attempt by a group of MPs, hardline Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has said that talks with New Delhi are bound to fail till the "gravity and intensity" of the Kashmir issue is agreed upon.
'The ISI doesn't trust the Kashmiris. They hate them...' 'We can never take Kashmir for granted, so there is that element of unpredictability. Anything can happen anytime.' 'The next chief minister will still be from the Valley. Even if a BJP chief minister or a BJP chosen candidate comes, he will be from the Valley. And he will be a Muslim.' A S Dulat, the former R&AW chief, on why he is perplexed by the BJP's Mission 44 plan for the J&K assembly election.
Faesal, who recently returned from a foreign training and was awaiting posting, said he had decided to resign from Indian Administrative Service, "to protest against the unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach out from the Union government".
While the government interlocutor for J&K may be tasked with holding talks with 'all stakeholders', the central government is singing a very different tune in the Supreme Court, Aditi Phadnis points out.
Nirmal Singh said talks could be held with the separatists and they should come forward with their grievances with an open mind.
The issued rocked both houses of Parliament with the Opposition demanding Modi's statement on Trump's controversial remarks, holding that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and no third party can intervene.
'Advani went by the book, by files, by advice given by his babus. He may be well read and articulate and a pleasant conversationalist, but none of that makes for the kind of creative politician that Vajpayee was.' 'This is the kind of observation about the Vajpayee premiership, more than the promise of espionage or Kashmir gossip, that made writing A S Dulat's book a satisfying experience,' says Aditya Sinha.
A group of envoys including those from several Europe Union countries and a few Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) member states began a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to take a first-hand account of the situation in newly-carved union territory, especially after the recently-concluded local body elections.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti warned that there could be a backlash if the force loses patience.
'Both reflect prejudice and short-sightedness peculiar to Mr Modi's way of thinking.'
"There is no alternative to dialogue, and somebody has to engage with somebody to find a way out and it stands true for J&K as well," she said.
The recent decision of the Union government asking United Nations Military Observer Group on Kashmir to vacate a government-provided bungalow in New Delhi, is garnering mixed reactions in Kashmir. While many feel there would be no real impact if the UNMOGIP was to close its main offices in Srinagar, there are others who believe that the UN would continue to have a critical role till the Kashmir issue is resolved.
'Those who foment trouble in the valley have been told to lie low till a new elected government takes shape in the state.'
'The Pakistani defence minister talks of throwing a nuclear bomb on India. And if someone throws ink on your face, you call it violence?'
All opposition parties from J&K to apprise President of Kashmir situation.
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The foreign minister acknowledged that he spoke with Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz and India should not make it an issue.
'Tying somebody to the jeep is not the military way, but the officer was able to come out of the situation without any bloodshed.' 'I am not supporting him, but I am also not criticising him.' 'He had to use some mechanism to save the uniformed personnel, many of whom were Kashmiri boys of the J&K police,' points out Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar (retd), who was instrumental in the surrender of a record 1,267 terrorists in Kashmir.
Asserting that dialogue is the only way to resolve Kashmir issue, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said gun is no solution to solve Kashmir issue and attempts have been made in the past but they have failed.
The government has returned to talks with Pakistan, but can it withstand pressure from a jingoistic press and a rabidly nationalistic social media.
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