Responding to a question, Abdullah said elections can be held whenever the government wants.
Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs and revocation of its special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, and said the Centre's priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly so that polls can be held.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday termed as "unacceptable" the submission that Article 370 of the Constitution ceased to operate once the term of the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir ended in 1957 after drafting the state's constitution.
'If Modi had followed Vajpayee in Kashmir, then there would have been absolutely no problem in Kashmir.'
Re-elected National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Monday said boycotting the panchayat polls in 2018 was "a huge mistake" and the party must contest every future election in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rejecting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's statement that Kashmiri militants are terrorists, separatist leaders in the Kashmir Valley said he was 'ignorant about the sub-continent's history'.
'When those who took oath in the name of the Indian Constitution are not acceptable, where do the other Kashmiris stand?'
The bus came under fire from terrorists in Zewan in Pantha Chowk area this evening, police officials said.
Nineteen candidates saw an extremely close contest in the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls in Jammu and Kashmir where the margin of victory was less than 100.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
Awan, a resident of Mohalla Miana in Mianwali area of Punjab in Pakistan, was indoctrinated by Lakhvi at his residence in Rawalpindi, officials said.
Arvind Kumar Sah, a resident of the Banka area in Bihar and Saghir Ahmad, a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were killed by terrorists in Srinagar and Pulwama, police officials said.
Delegates of all G20 countries, barring China, arrived in Srinagar on Monday for the third working group meeting on tourism -- a much-anticipated event for which authorities have made extensive security arrangements and spruced up the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
Schools in the Valley will reopen next week, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam said.
Gandhi donned a black raincoat over a white T-shirt. The yatra was scheduled to start at 7 am but was delayed by an hour and fifteen minutes apparently due to the inclement weather.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he does not get 'intimidated' and fights for truth even if the world stands against it, remarks that come amid repeated confrontations between his party and the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference today rejected Centre's latest initiative on Kashmir, saying it was 'disappointing' as it reflected lack of willingness to meet the aspirations of the people.
The terrorists fired at two non-local labourers at a brick kiln at Magraypora in Chadoora area of the central Kashmir district, the officials said.
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.
The separatist Hurriyat Conference is finished in Jammu and Kashmir but attempts are being made to keep it alive from Pakistan, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said on Monday, adding that the militancy in the region is "on crutches".
Connectivity was snapped exactly a week before Eid, celebrated on August 12. And so great was the relief on Monday that many Kashmiris wished each other Eid Mubarak.
'The Post's coverage is not an authentic public discourse guided by unbiased Western intellectuals, but a slanted doomsday propaganda orchestrated by Indians and expatriate Indians,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said preliminary investigation suggests it to be 'an act of terrorists but we are investigating the case'.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
She said she was an "Indian citizen and a law abiding citizen" and has not broken any law. "But, even to issue the two-year passport, the Official Secrets Act has been invoked against me. This Act is usually invoked for espionage," Iltija claimed.
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.
Restrictions under Section 144 CrPc have been imposed in few areas of the valley to maintain law and order, the officials said.
Officials said both the factions of the Hurriyat are likely to be banned under Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA, under which "if the Central Government is of opinion that any association is, or has become, an unlawful association, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare such association to be unlawful."
'We repent our decision today as we feel we betrayed our (Congress) party, while the DAP betrayed us'
Sharma will decide whom he wants to hold talks with, Singh said when asked whether he would have dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference.
'Once the violence is contained, the politicians must play their role, but unfortunately that is not happening.'
Terrorists have stepped up attacks in the Kashmir valley over the past week.
'Rahul Gandhi should have prevented Nitish Kumar from going.' 'He must pacify Mamata Banerjee if he has a cause of Mohabbat Ki Dukaan.' 'He should bring this Mohabbat Ki Dukaan on the political canvas.'
About 416 Myanmarese soldiers crossed over to India in view of the situation arising out of the fighting between Myanmar's armed ethnic groups and the government forces, and Indian military is 'closely watching' the unfolding developments, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said on Thursday.
Elections in Jammu and Kashmir can be held "anytime from now" as the work on updation of voters list is almost over, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday but remained non-committal about setting a time-frame for restoration of statehood to the Union territory (UT).
SAS Geelani said he would support a dialogue process aimed at resolving Kashmir issue.
There are many factors, many actors to blame for the current situation. But I must admit that actors and the government have spent too much time being involved in situations that were not that important, says Kashmir Congress chief Saifuddin Soz in an interview.
Demanding that Jammu and Kashmir be considered a "disputed territory", hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Sunday said that people there should be given the right to "self determination".
Chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, deliberately chose the national day of Kashmir on Monday to protest against the Centre -- for not including the people of the state in finding out an amicable solution to the Jammu and Kashmir problem by holding talks with Pakistan.
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