The suspense over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir following the hung verdict in the assembly elections continued on Wednesday as the People's Democratic Party, the single largest party, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the next big outfit, kept their cards close to the chest.
As Azad ended his decades-old association with the party, leaders across political spectrum praised his contribution to Jammu and Kashmir, with the BJP hailing him as a "towering leader".
Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui was arrested by the ATS, which is probing the racket, at around 9 pm on Tuesday from Meerut, Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said.
Mufti appealed to all shades of opinion in joining in the mission to get the state out of violence and bloodshed.
Kashmir's youth are being radicalised. The once-alienated separatists are ready to return to their old haunting ground. The ruling PDP-BJP coalition finds itself on the defensive over almost every issue of governance.
The clarification was issued through an advertisement in local dailies after facing political backlash, including from parties perceived close to the government.
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.
'For a man who had just received news of his daughter's kidnapping, he showed no sign of anxiety or agitation.' 'Here is a cool customer, I thought to myself.' 'The only thing he said was, 'I would not have been so anxious had they kidnapped my son'.' 'He told me that his daughter Rubaiya, who was a medical intern, was returning home from the hospital in a minibus when it was stopped close to the Mufti's house.' 'She was taken by four armed militants.' A gripping excerpt from Moosa Raza's Kashmir: Land Of Regrets.
Government formation in Jammu and Kashmir remains a puzzle with the Bharatiya Janata Party looking for a partner among the state's mainstream parties but the National Conference has virtually ruled out a tie up with the saffron party.
On March 31, Delhi Police's Crime Branch lodged an FIR against seven people, including the cleric, on a complaint by Station House Officer Nizamuddin for holding the congregation here allegedly in violation of the orders against large gathering and not maintaining social distancing to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party Sunday said the hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru was a "political decision" as the UPA government wanted to divert attention from burning issues facing the country.
The policemen were patrolling the area in view of a separatist-sponsored strike.
Mehbooba said Article 370 was a bridge between the Union and the state.
Zahid Rasool Bhat, 19, a truck assistant had received 74 per cent burn injuries with another person on October 9 when a Kashmir-bound truck was attacked by a mob protesting against the beef party hosted by an independent MLA in the summer capital of Srinagar.
An organisation of Sunni Muslim clerics in Bareilly have termed as 'haraam' the uploading of photos on the internet for matrimonial purpose and on social networking sites.
Here are photos from his life and career as India's pre-eminent defence scientist and one of the country's most popular president
In December last year, the Centre had decided to construct community bunkers along International Border and Line of Control for being used during shelling and firing by Pak.
In a flip-flop, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Thursday told the assembly that his government has no plans to set up separate clusters for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.
Clarifying her stand on alleged custodial death of a ruling National Conference activist, opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that her party was not demanding the dismissal of the state government on the issue, but only stepping down of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his junior home minister Nasir Aslam Wani to enable a fair investigation.
The detenues are likely to be released on Saturday as some of them are lodged in prisons located outside the union territory in places like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, they said.
The body of the army jawan was recovered during the clearance operation at the camp on Monday night.
"It (JK) is not a political issue as far as I can see. They have been barking up the wrong tree for the last 50 or 70 years by talking about the politics of it, that the political situation has never improved. We seriously need to look at in terms of how it is a society that is in search for itself," Drabu had said at an event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on Friday.
Four persons, including a Pakistani terrorist and his accomplice, were killed in a gunfight in Hyderpora locality of Srinagar late Monday evening. The dead also included the house owner and a doctor, whom police dubbed as 'terror associates'.
'You cannot achieve peace if your objective is not to make political accommodations,' notes Dr Nyla Ali Khan, Sheikh Abdullah's grand-daughter, Dr Farooq Abdullah's niece and Omar Abdullah's cousin.
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
>All old signposts have been uprooted and milestones bulldozed. New ones have yet to emerge. The old order stands degraded in the new landscape whose contours are indistinct, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Restrictions continue to be imposed for the 66th consecutive day since the abrogation of the state's special status under Article 370 on August 5.
Main markets and other business establishments across the Valley remained shut and public transport was off the roads.
Classes were not held in most schools across Kashmir as students did not turn up due to the prevailing situation, they said.
Though markets and commercial establishments remained shut and students stayed away from schools.
A war of words has broken out between ruling National Conference and Opposition People's Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir over posting of pictures on a networking site, caricaturing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, his father Farooq Abdullah and late grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah as characters of the film 3 Idiots.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday lambasted the Jammu and Kashmir government for recommending Ghulam Mohammad Mir, a counter-insurgent for Padma Shri award.
'When those who took oath in the name of the Indian Constitution are not acceptable, where do the other Kashmiris stand?'
'And the old war horse has left nothing to chance. He campaigned vigorously in the by-election defying his age,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir.
'Modi has missed the bus in Kashmir.'
The chief of Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami was on Tuesday sentenced to death along with two of his associates for a 2004 grenade attack on the then British envoy to Dhaka that killed three people. A trial court tribunal set up in Sylhet, 190 km northeast of Dhaka, sentenced HuJI leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and two other members of the terrorist outfit Shahid Shahidul Alam and Delwar Hossain Ripon to death by hanging.
Two government school teachers, including a woman, were shot dead by terrorists in Eidgah area of Srinagar amid increasing attacks on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
The visit will be followed by the return visit of the Indian delegation to Islamabad on March 28.
Because of the treaty, no big dams or power projects can be built by India on Jhelum, Indus or Chenab.
The attack took place at 1:20 pm in Hari Singh High Street market area.
