Sam Bahadur is a mechanical summary of his life, ticking off one chapter after another without bothering to pause or ponder over their significance and influences, observes Sukanya Verma.
Clashes between protesters and law enforcing agencies were reported from Sopore, Anantnag, Rajpora, Shopian towns and Safakadal area of the city.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Both the separatists in the Valley and the Indian establishment have failed to fathom that the world's alignments have changed, writes Col Dr Anil Athale (retired).
Authorities have imposed curfew-like-restrictions in parts of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday to scuttle the protests called by separatists on the death anniversary of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Maqbool Bhat.
Authorities imposed restrictions in several downtown localities early Saturday, as separatists called bandh against the beef ban hit life in Srinagar and elsewhere.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who set off a national debate when he walked the Bharat Jodo Yatra in a T-shirt in north India's cold winter, donned a pheran to ward off Kashmir's bone-freezing chill on Monday.
We must heed what the CJI has said. Challenging every judgment of the central government is inviting chaos, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Groups of youth took to the streets at Press Colony and Khanyar in support of Naik.
Authorities imposed curfew-like-restrictions in old city areas of Srinagar to foil a rally by the separatist Awami Action Committee headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Friday.
The commander said that by looking at the pattern of operation and the places that the suspects travelled, there has to be some outside involvement of some leadership or instructions.
'Terrorists who are active in Poonch and Rajouri are not relying on random locals for logistics, guidance etc.' 'They are being supported by a selected few who are being vetted, cleared and directed from across the LoC.'
Girls in the Kashmir valley hurling defiance at the security forces will detract from the legitimacy of India's response and its standing in the world, says Ajai Shukla.
The former IAS officer said the main reason for not contesting the polls was to focus more on the mass contact programme.
Qazi Ahadullah is the second political leader to be released in five days.
Despite heavy snowfall in Srinagar, the rally to mark the culmination of Bharat Jodo Yatra went ahead, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other prominent leaders of opposition parties addressing the march.
'There is no point in just saying, 'hum wapas bhej denge (we will send Kashmiri Pandits back)'.'
Not just Article 370 but all such special status articles must go, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan
'It is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab'
The separatist groups had called for a march to Lal Chowk to protest civilian deaths during the unrest.
The governor's comments drew sharp reaction from former chief minister and senior Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who said Malik should check his own reputation in Delhi.
'It is time to not merely assert that Kashmir is an internal problem, but begin to act on it,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has approved a proposal to authorise departmental stores to sell beer and other ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages in urban areas, an official said.
Salahuddin warned that if the international community did not pay heed to the ongoing violence in Kashmir, Kashmiris from both sides of the divided valley would be forced to take things into their own hands.
The blast at the heavily-guarded CRPF camp at Nowpora came even as authorities mounted a security bandobast across the state, especially in Srinagar where the prime minister is scheduled to address a public rally -- his second in Kashmir.
There is a great danger of the government getting stampeded into actions in Kashmir that could result in long lasting damage, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Top Kashmiri separatist leaders on Saturday evening joined the iftar party hosted by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hard-line separatist leader at his uptown residence.
"There should be a complete shutdown on April 2 to protest the proposed visit of Modi. All rhetoric about development or construction of tunnels and roads are futile and will not succeed in luring us," chairmen of the rival factions of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik said in a joint statement.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said Afzal Guru's hanging was both "wrong and badly handled".
'It is flabbergasting to think that this heavenly region has, for decades, been coveted by India's aggressive neighbours,' says Claude Arpi after a recent visit to Ladakh. 'Wanting to use the newly created infrastructure to defend the borders after the clash of 2020 with China and the resulting standoffs, the home ministry is keen to boost border tourism to show that these areas are controlled by India.'
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "hardline" approach on Kashmir and rejected the contention that the separatists are to blame for the stalling of Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks.
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.
New Delhi has repeatedly missed opportunities for political engagement in Kashmir in the past. It must seize the next one, says Ajai Shukla.
'A war is being fought in South Kashmir.' 'Do not underestimate your enemy, be sensible and cautious and be prepared for the worst if you choose to move in the region unprotected,' advises Sanjeev Nayyar.
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed led Jamat-ud-Dawah has set up various new fronts and established camps all over Pakistan to collect donations and sacrificial animals in the name of helping Kashmiris in India.
The competition for the worst or most perilous 10 years has always been between the 1960s and the 1980s, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Normal life across Kashmir was affected on Monday because of the strike called by separatist groups to protest against the killing of two youths in alleged army firing in Valley's Bandipora district.
According to the order, all security and vehicles provided to the separatists will stand withdrawn by Sunday evening. No security forces or cover will be provided, under any pretext, to them or any other separatists. If they have any other facilities provided by the government, they are to be withdrawn forthwith.
A prominent Kashmiri leader, who was based in London before being deported to Pakistan in 1986, Khan was believed to have been the mastermind in the killing of Ravindra Mhatre, the number two in the Indian Consulate in Birmingham in 1984.
