'It will be a long time before we will see the likes of Vajpayee again.'
Till August 5 last year, except for parliamentary elections, these refugees were barred from voting in Jammu and Kashmir's assembly, panchayat and urban local body polls.
Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad during his retirement speech in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday summed up his more than four-decade-old political career in few Urdu couplets and a brief speech.
'Pakistan had almost disappeared from Kashmir.' 'Now in the last three, four years we have brought Pakistan back again by not handling Kashmir properly.'
The four ministers -- Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi -- and around two dozen legislators met in Chandigarh at the residence of Bajwa on Tuesday.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday asked the newly elected members of Legislative Assembly of the state to donate their first salary towards the Jammu and Kashmir flood relief fund.
Activists of radical women's outfit, Dukhtaran-e-Millat on Wednesday hoisted Pakistani flags at several places in Srinagar on the occasion of Pakistan Day.
The kin of several of those killed by militants in the late '80s also say they do not have enough resources now to buy back the properties they had left behind after the killings at that time.
Many Kashmiris termed the removing of that state flag as a "saddest moment for the J&K's history." Umar Ganie/Rediff.com reports from Srinagar.
The days of a thousand cuts are over. These mini wars will remain under the threshold of undeniable war, but will escalate closer to that threshold when their big brother pushes in. Chinese aggression has changed the matrix, the strategies, and surely the objectives too, warns David Devadas.
'India should be able to weather the storm, given its enhanced standing among the major powers. However, India's international clout is partly from its rapidly growing emerging economy and a large and expanding commercial market. 'If the Indian economy continues to slow and protectionist barriers advance, then our international clout will also diminish. The international fallout from bringing the Valley to heel may be more difficult to handle,' says Shyam Saran.
Not everyone in Jammu and Kashmir is optimistic about the alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party and Bhartaiya Janata Party. Upasna Pandey/Rediff.com spoke to Kashmiri pandit organisations to find out how they view the new coalition politics in the valley.
The meeting presided over by APHC chairman Moulvi Mohammad Abbas Ansari is being attended by all senior members, including executive members Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Abdul Gani Bhat and Bilal Gani Lone, Hurriyat sources said.
'The Indian government spent Rs 506 crore on security of the separatists in the last five years.' 'These separatist leaders must know how ordinary people live. Have you ever seen Geelani's son throwing stones?' 'The separatists have encouraged people into this stone throwing business. They have destroyed Kashmir.' Jammu BJP MLA Rajesh Gupta on why separatists must not be given security.
Terrorism decreased, corruption and dynastic politics ended and an era of peace, development, prosperity started on August 5, 2019, said Shah as he reached out to the youths in the Valley urging them to stand up to disruptive elements and become ambassadors of peace.
The J&K chief minister said it is the 'happiest day' for him since coming to power last year, as the demand of the Kashmiri people for talks at the highest level has been fulfilled.
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).
A number of Congress leaders across the country have gone against the party's stand in Parliament on abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir by supporting the Centre's move and a bill to bifurcate the state. The Congress has strongly opposed the move and the bill to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.
Here are the major events that shaped the country in the past 48 hours.
He was hinting at the Hurriyat Conference, which said it is ready for talks with the government on the Kashmir issue if it is allowed to visit Pakistan to talk to militant groups there.
For far too long, people in J&K have felt the government doesn't exist for them.' 'My first priority is to make them feel that not only does it exist, it is there to work for them.
He said time has come for freedom of PoK and it would be part of India soon.
'The BJP's all-India plans can be expected to become clearer around 2022-2023, particularly if -- as some anticipate -- the senior Congress leadership cracks, broadly as between the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists and those who may be termed 'pro-changers',' observes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
The team originally comprised 27 parliamentarians, mostly from extreme right or right wing parties, but four did not travel to Kashmir and have reportedly returned to their respective countries, officials said.
Breaking her silence on the series of allegations levelled by her former ally, the BJP, Mehbooba said it was sad to see the saffron party disown its own initiative and label it a "soft approach".
Many Kashmiris have been left with no option but to flag down the odd private vehicle passing by in the Valley.
'Nehru's hegemonic politics has been responsible for many ills, which undoubtedly includes Kashmir'
Fed up with the treatment at the Nagpur central jail, his advocate has decided he will no longer deliver anything for Professor Saibaba, leaving it to the jail authorities to fulfill their legal responsibility to look after the professor.
The ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections as the coalition could not win even a single seat of the 6 in the state.
There's a virtual blackout in the Valley with few workable mobile phones and internet connections and prohibitory orders in place.
Real Kashmir FC scored the game's only goal through Gnohere krizo's 74th minute strike as the debutants made a dream start to their maiden I-League campaign.
The army has quietly moved an entire brigade into south Kashmir to clear it of militants and protesters.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed them about the operation that destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
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.
Eid shopping picked up across Kashmir Valley on Thursday after Tuesday's rains caused a flood scare, subduing the festivities.
In its attempt to clinch majority in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Opposition Peoples Democratic Party is trying to make inroads in Jammu by raking up "regional discrimination" and secularism card to woo the Hindu voters of the region.
Virtually launching the party's campaign for 2014 elections, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday talked about the need to "heal the wounds" of Kashmiris and connect its aspiring youths with the national mainstream for the development of the state.
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