He said time has come for freedom of PoK and it would be part of India soon.
The former IAS officer said the main reason for not contesting the polls was to focus more on the mass contact programme.
Many said that scrapping of Article 370, which gave special status to the state, could lead to change in its Muslim-majority identity.
'To re-establish the writ of the State and resume governance, frayed tempers in the streets and in the media need to be calmed.'
'Increasingly, there is a tendency to magnify 'victimhood' of the minority for electoral gains and vote bank politics.'
'There is no doubt that there is a worldwide rise in Islamophobia. There is a tendency amongst some in India to react to this in the Indian milieu,' says Colonel Anil A Athale(retd).
A group in Kolkata was allegedly denied permission to organise a seminar on refugees of Balochistan and Kashmir after a club hosting the program said the police was "not willing" to show a green signal, "apprehending that it might create problems in the city".
'Modi should not feel shy of proclaiming as the meaning of secularism regard for all religions in proportion to their numbers in tune with the spirit of democracy and adopting it as State policy,' says B S Raghavan.
'I'm getting to play different characters now, from the ones in my earlier years, when I was a leading actor. Then, you fought with the villain and got the girl at the end of every film. Today, we have different shades of characters -- a man on wheelchair, a 13-year-old child, a mad character like mine in Shamitabh. The roles are wonderful.' Amitabh Bachchan gets ready for Wazir.
Ignoring the boycott call by separatist groups and braving cold weather, nearly 70 per cent polling was on Tuesday, in most of the 15 constituencies going to polls in first of the five-phased polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the government has no other option but to extend President's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir as the Election Commission wants to hold assembly elections in the state by the end of 2019.
'By the time the ground dries up, considering that the homes are still submerged, winter will be here. By the end of October, it is going to be very, very cold. By the end of November, it will be freezing, and it would have snowed by mid December. So before the ground can dry up, there will be snow.' 'The anger has not receded with the water. It persists. The floods have completely finished whatever 5 per cent chance Omar Abdullah had left with the public... He is seen as someone who is highly arrogant and is coming across as one who has no feelings for his people.' A Kashmiri whose family has lived in J&K since before Partition, tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com how the government and media failed the people when flood waters turned Paradise into hell.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
For a Valley on the boil, there is ample proof that New Delhi simply does not care.
'In a democracy, how can you be scared of Amit Shah?'
Kejriwal believes in good governance and takes pride in his Hindu identity, points out Sudhir Bisht.
'Modi has shown political courage by instituting several economic reforms which include demonetisation, ushering in GST, eradication of benami transactions...'
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
'The situation is in real danger of swinging back to the fearful days of the 1990s, primarily for want of a well thought out action plan in New Delhi.'
Opposition parties ask the government to listen to the concern of the intellectuals returning awards.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Soulful strains of some of the most popular and best known western classical music compositions reverberated in the majestic backdrop of Zabarwan Hills when Zubin Mehta, world famous conductor, performed before a mesmerised audience in the Shalimar Gardens on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar on Saturday evening.
'I could have never imagined any other prime minister giving time to a separatist leader.' 'I think the Hurriyat should not be ignored. I think like Pakistan, they are being unnecessarily ignored.' A S Dulat, the former RA&W chief who visited Kashmir recently, speaks to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
The recent decision of the Union government asking United Nations Military Observer Group on Kashmir to vacate a government-provided bungalow in New Delhi, is garnering mixed reactions in Kashmir. While many feel there would be no real impact if the UNMOGIP was to close its main offices in Srinagar, there are others who believe that the UN would continue to have a critical role till the Kashmir issue is resolved.
Military officer Trilokchand Raina's mastery at making bombs in an ordnance factory was only getting him a measly salary of rupees ten thousand a month. Not enough to give wings to his son Suresh's cricketing dreams. But, more than two decades after those days of struggle, riding hard work, determination and luck, Raina ended his professional career as an international cricketer recently with plenty of success.
According to all accounts, Neel Tushar Kashkari was well received at the California Republican Party Convention -- his first major public exposure after formally declaring his candidacy in January for governor of California
Bhagwat said a sense of idealism is good and described himself not as 'anti-modern', but as 'pro-future'.
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
'It would be very easy for me to say, it's only the Pakistanis that want the Kashmir issue to remain alive.' 'Trust me, there is a vested interest on the Indian side in keeping the issue of Jammu and Kashmir alive.'
APSCC Chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina talks about the life and times of the Sikh minority in a politically tumultuous region of Jammu & Kashmir.
Mobile Internet, of course, helped Burhan Wani to spread his message. And some rumour-mongers at the inception of the current unrest spread falsehoods at least on two occasions, but why ban all mobile communication including cellular network and cable TV when deep-seated alienation among youth has shaped their ideology which is now playing out in the form of massive protests, asks Athar Parvaiz.
'Now you have a full clampdown and a huge security blanket. How long are you going to maintain that? The moment you lift it, all that suppressed protest and anger will come out.'
Terrorists on Monday night killed seven Amarnath pilgrims, including six women, and injured 19 others as they struck at a bus in Kashmir's Anantnag district, in the worst attack on the annual pilgrimage since the year 2001. Five of those killed were from Gujarat and two from Maharashtra. Here are the latest updates:
'His essential doctrine was only the local police can fight terror.' '"You can't fire at mobs throwing stones," he said, adding one has to think innovatively, even defensively, sometimes.' Shekhar Gupta remembers the uncoventional SuperCop.
Speaking at the inauguration and laying of foundation schemes of various schemes, Modi said, Leh and Ladakh will also be benefited by this.
'One one hand, the BJP puts Uniform Civil Code as a goal in its manifesto, and on the other, it pushes massive discrimination against Hindus.' 'This is not sabka saath, sabka vikas. Rather it is "Haj ka saath, church ka vikas",' argues Sankrant Sanu.
On that day, Sheikh Abdullah, political anchor of J&K's accession with the Indian Union, was unceremoniously removed from power and put behind bars; causing a tectonic emotional breach and setting off disastrous fault lines between Srinagar and New Delhi and its effects continue to this day, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
"When the people of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) talk of Article 370, they talk of technical integration. We have to make them understand that we also want that Jammu and Kashmir should fully integrate with India emotionally," she said.
A left-leaning centralised socialist model has created a shortage/entitlement economy. In fact one of the reasons for India's limited progress is that post-independent India is at odds with its true nature. It is something that educated right of centre Hindus are trying to correct, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
This start-up connects diners with regional cuisines that restaurants do not serve.
'If some Europeans do not allow Muslims to assimilate into European national cultures, some Muslims also refuse to try and adopt and assimilate.'
