'We don't have any agenda in that, there will be no discrimination against anyone. Constitution will be Gita in that'
'I am not sure of the numbers killed, but they were not as high as the use of the word 'genocide' suggests.' 'There is another meaning you could take, 'cultural genocide', in that the Pandit community is extremely small and their forced departure led to a wiping out of their culture.'
The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Monday said assembly elections should be held only after restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government to honour its commitment made on the floor of Parliament.
The home minister took stock of the situation and was briefed about the steps taken to maintain peace along border areas as well as in the Valley, a security official said.
Amid Covid-19 protocols, here's how the monsoon session looks like.
Several leaders from the Congress and its alliance partners from across the country attended the event.
A new political party called the 'Jammu and Kashmir Apni (own) Party' (JKAP) will be launched on Sunday and will be led by former state finance minister Syed Altaf Bukhari, with the primary aim of proving "relief to people who have been facing uncertainty since August 5 last year". This will be the first political activity in Jammu and Kashmir after August 5 last year, when the Centre withdrew the special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Parties like the NC and Peoples Democratic Party claimed the administration has not addressed their main concern on whether ''outsiders'' ordinarily residing in J-K will be allowed to enroll as voters.
At a time 20-odd opposition parties, many of them regional rivals, joined forces over the Adani issue, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar's open support for industrialist Gautam Adani has put a question mark on the durability of a non-Bharatiya Janata Party block in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections.
People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) leaders, including three former chief ministers, were put under house arrest on Saturday before a protest against the proposals of Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission, prompting angry reactions from political parties which said such steps will only 'incentivise and facilitate' violent agitations.
Fake or exaggerated news against the forces and the administration are feeding public anger, often leading to violence.
Former Research and Analysis Wing chief AS Dulat has claimed that everybody in Kashmir makes money off the unstable situation in the region, alleging that it is 'in their DNA'.
'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.
On August 5, the Narendra Modi-led government abrogated Article 370, which gave the state of Kashmir special powers, and decided to transform the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Since then phone networks have been cut off and curfew-like restrictions have been imposed, leaving residents in a state of despair. On September 29, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked the Opposition for spreading "misinformation" about Kashmir. There were no "restrictions", he said -- they were "only in your mind". Sixty one days later, this is what normalcy looks like in the former state, particularly the Kashmir Valley.
Desolate streets with security personnel and a communications lockdown has left the Valley cut off from the world.
'Knowing him personally, I can safely say that the usually soft-spoken, qualified medical doctor would not have said what he was 'caught' saying if only he had realised that he was stepping on a political landmine across the emotional LoC, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Abdullah, who turned 50 on March 10, had spent 232 days in custody since the government announced abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state on August 5 last year.
Iltija Mufti, the daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehobooba Mufti, also challenged the assertion that "political dynasties" had destroyed Kashmir over the years.
When he was chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was able to blunt inter-regional and inter-communal tensions which Farooq and Omar Abdullah could not do. Whether he can repeat it with the BJP by his side would have to be seen, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
What difference would raising Pakistani flags make? Now the government of India is getting restless, getting more perturbed. It is being done deliberately," said Kamal.
According to sources, among some of the parties that will be part of the opposition all-party delegation are Congress, CPI-M, CPI, RJD, NCP, TMC and DMK and Rahul Gandhi is likely to accompany them.
"NC is not power hungry... We shunned prospects of an alliance with the BJP a year ago and the reasons for having done that remain unchanged," Omar wrote on his official Facebook page.
Sixteen Congress secretaries drafted a letter on September 2 to be sent to party general secretaries and Congress Working Committee members, criticising senior leaders (without names, of course!) for their comments, asking the old guard to introspect about what went wrong at the general election.
Protests rocked parts of Kashmir Valley including Srinagar on Saturday where Pakistan and Islamic State flags were yet again displayed by masked youths after Eid prayers.
The 61-year-old, who was administered the oath of office by Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal at a simple function in the Raj Bhavan, also said he wants to accelerate development in the union territory, carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir last year.
'This move rendered the chiefs of important investigative agencies to the status of daily wage earners. It undermined the autonomy and independence of the agencies.'
The development came barely two days before the Supreme Court was to hear the matter related to her detention. The Deputy Commissioner ordered that the PSA has been revoked with immediate effect. Her detention period had been extended for a period of three months on July 31 this year.
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.
"Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India."
The government imposed restrictions under Section 144 CrPC in Srinagar district.
'He knows India is going nowhere.' 'India will never let go of Kashmir, so he wants to settle with India.' 'Settle honourably with peace, dignity and justice.'
National Conference general secretary and former minister Ali Mohammed Sagar, who wields a support base in downtown city, was served with a PSA notice public order by the authorities.
Jammu and Kashmir has been without an assembly since November 2018 when the then legislative assembly was dissolved by then Governor Satya Pal Malik after the People's Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government fell apart earlier that year.
With the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) scheduled to meet Tuesday, intra-party consultations in Jammu and Kashmir continued for a second day Monday to discuss the Centre's invitation for an all-party meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday warned that any move to abrogate Article 370 will reopen the issue of the state's accession to India, as the political row ignited by Narendra Modi's call for a debate on this constitutional provision persisted.
Slamming Narendra Modi over his call for a debate on the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that if the Bharatiya Janata Party leader becomes the prime minister even for "ten terms", he will not be able to repeal Article 370 of the Constitution.
'I've been illegally detained yet again. Since two days, J-K admin has refused to allow me to visit @parawahid's family in Pulwama. BJP Ministers and their puppets are allowed to move around in every corner of Kashmir but security is a problem only in my case,' Mufti tweeted in English and Urdu.
While the Congress will contest the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, National Conference will fight from Srinagar.
Leaders from 26 opposition parties, in power individually or in alliance in Delhi and 10 states, are meeting in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances