'Whatever I said and I said clearly that for me and my fellow jury members, it was and it is a vulgar propaganda movie that didn't have a place and was inappropriate for such a prestigious competitive section. I can repeat it again and again'
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit has called up Anupam Kher and offered him a visa to travel to that country if he has applied for the same but the Bollywood actor declined the offer, saying he has already taken up other assignments on the scheduled dates.
A panel discussion on Saturday had turned chaotic as some 'pro-freedom' Kashmiris, most of whom were youngsters and students, entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing the Indian Army.
Narendra Modi and the father-son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah were on Monday engaged in bitter sparring, with the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate alleging that the biggest blow to secularism in the country was delivered in Kashmir from where Kashmiri Pandits were forced out due to their religion.
Syed Adil Hussain Shah, a 30-year-old pony ride operator, was killed while trying to protect tourists from terrorists in Pahalgam, Kashmir. He was shot dead while trying to snatch a weapon from one of the terrorists. The attack claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited Pahalgam to offer condolences to the families of the victims and praised Shah's bravery. Shah was laid to rest in his ancestral village with hundreds of mourners attending.
'Pakistan has a big role to play in fomenting trouble, but we need to ask ourselves why ordinary Kashmiris are coming out in large numbers to attend the funerals of terrorists.'
The Congress will launch a two-month door-to-door campaign across India from next week to spread Rahul Gandhi's message among the masses, senior leader Jairam Ramesh said on Friday.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have called his MLAs and ministers and said 'this should not happen in India. Manipur is not a part of any banana republic, I will not allow this to happen, talk it out, what is the problem'
In one of the tweets, Khan, who is deputy secretary with the MP Public Works Department, had last week urged makers of The Kashmir Files to also make a film on the 'killings of large number of Muslims across several states' in India, and said members of this minority community are 'not insects, but citizens of the country'.
Why has the BJP taken such great interest in the film? Not to put too fine a point on it, a possible reason is its propaganda value. Since the film shows the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits during their exodus from the Valley, Muslims are depicted in a poor light, observes Amulya Ganguli.
Restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir's statehood as well as implementation of the autonomy resolution passed by the erstwhile assembly in 2000 are among the National Conference's 12 guarantees announced in its manifesto for the upcoming polls.
'The decision of August will have to be taken back. This is our resolve. When it will happen, how it will happen, the judge of our case are the people of this country.'
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are also likely to play out during the start of the session.
The story of two Adils, one a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist and the other a pony 'wallah' who died protecting tourists, highlights the contrasting realities of life in Kashmir. While the terrorist, Aadil Thokar, is accused of the deadly attack on tourists in Baisaran, the heroic pony 'wallah', Syed Adil Hussain Shah, sacrificed his life to save them. Their stories, though separated by a tragic event, reveal the deep-rooted conflict and the enduring spirit of compassion in Kashmir.
'Everybody is excited about the New York event. Everybody wants to see him.' 'Imagine traveling from as far as the West Coast, it's a testament to Modiji.'
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta in a ceremony at the party office on Thursday welcomed with garland the BJYM members, attracting the ire of the Aam Aadmi Party.
The reputed Kashmiri Pandit surgeon, Dr Sameer Kaul has extended full medical assistance to the 25-year-old woman who received serious facial burns in an acid attack in summer capital Srinagar on Wednesday.
'Justice delayed is justice denied. "Move on, move on", sure, we'll move on, but first give us justice. The fabric and foundation of a democratic government is justice. You can't just move on, sorry. And that works for the anti-Sikh riots, the repatriation of Kashmiri Pandits; give us justice, then govern,' says Javed Jafri, the actor who will contest the Lok Sabha election in Lucknow for the Aam Aadmi Party. In this conversation with Swarupa Dutt/Rediff.com, Jafri says he doesn't waste time listening to "enemies of the nation" and feels he is running parallel to the BJP's Rajnath Singh as far as winnability in Lucknow is concerned.
'This film has changed me from within.'
The Symbiosis College in Pune has deferred a seminar on Kashmir after objections by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and an organisation representing displaced Kashmiri Pandits.Representatives of ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Panun Kashmir, who met the college authorities on Monday, said the proposed screening of a documentary, Jashn-e-Azadi, at the seminar Voices of Kashmir, projected the militants in the Valley as 'heroes'.
"If a film Kashmir Files is made, then at least, there should also be film 'Lakhimpur Files', where farmers were crushed under the wheels of a jeep," the SP president told journalists in Sitapur district on Wednesday when asked for his opinion on the Bollywood movie.
'I feel blessed. My parents came to America 50 years ago from India. My family wasn't wealthy, but I had a huge advantage because my parents were highly educated and they made sure that my sister and I got a good education. Because I got a good education, all of the opportunities in America have been opened to me and that's what makes America great.' On Tuesday, January 21, Neel Kashkari, the son of Kashmiri Pandit immigrants, declared his candidature for California's governor. If the young Republican unseats incumbent Governor Jerry Brown, he will be California's first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger. In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa, Kashkari, who played a key role in reviving the US economy after the crisis of 2008, reveals what pushed him to consider a career in politics.
Having worked in over 200 films, A K Hangal made many a celluloid character memorable.
Flagging concerns of people rendered homeless in violence-hit Assam, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure their rehabilitation so that they do not meet the same fate as Kashmiri Pandits who could not go back.
The moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference has urged the Narendra Modi government to adopt the path of Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee with regard to Kashmir.
The activists of the BJYM, led by its president Tejasvi Surya, staged a protest near Kejriwal's residence at Civil Lines in Delhi, demanding an apology from him for allegedly mocking Kashmiri Pandits, with the AAP alleging vandalism during the demonstration.
Mufti said her father Sayeed was not power hungry and wanted to deliver Jammu and Kashmir from its problems and troubles.
A Kashmiri Pandit journalist was found dead in Srinagar on Wednesday morning under mysterious circumstances.
The acid attack victim, who received severe facial burns and damage to her left eye in an acid attack on January 2, was on Friday flown to Delhi for restorative medical intervention at Apollo hospital even as the city centre Lal Chowk shut for two hours in protest against the attack.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday reviewed the situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir, including the security arrangements along the border with Pakistan, officials said.
'There is a sustainable level of residual terrorism that will be difficult to handle as long as Pakistani support and safe havens are available.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday claimed that the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir was the worst since independence, with militants virtually practising 'ethnic cleansing' there. The party warned the government that any thought of granting autonomy to Kashmir would amount to a 'post-dated cheque' for freedom. The BJP warned the Centre not to tread the path of granting autonomy to Kashmir under pressure from 'stone-throwers in the valley'.
Some sections are portraying this victory as reflective of a change in the situation in the Valley and it is being depicted as a move towards 'normalcy'. Projection of this victory as a picture of communal harmony and brotherhood in the entire Valley would be naive. Some sections are interpreting this victory as signs of a conducive situation for the return of Pandits to the Valley.
After landslide victories in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the BJP is hoping to crest the tide in Jammu and Kashmir, confident of both Hindu and Muslim votes
'First they will say Kashmiris are not good enough to be Indians, then it will be Muslims are not good enough to be Indians, then they will start a conflict within Hindus that Dalits are not Indians'
Terrorists attacked a police picket in south Kashmir's Medura village in Pulwama district on Tuesday night and decamped with arms and ammunition after overpowering the police guards in the post.
