After meeting J&K Governor NN Vohra to stake a claim to form a new government in the state, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday thanked the BJP for extending unconditional support.
'From what I know of her,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik -- the distinguished doyen of Kashmir commentators -- 'Mehbooba will not take too long to recover.' 'How much room she can then find to maneuver in the valley's extremely harsh political climate only time can tell.'
Blaming Jammu and Kashmir's political dynasties for the state's backwardness and corruption, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said the time has come when the people themselves have decided to teach these families and their parties a lesson.
The chief minister said there is a need to take "bold measures to address the issue as the people of Jammu and Kashmir were our own".
Amid continuing suspense over formation of new government in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor N N Vohra on Friday invited the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the first and second largest parties in the elections, which threw up a highly-fractured verdict with no clear winner.
The re-opening of the state government offices in Srinagar after the annual Darbar Move was marked by citywide shutdown and protests.
The blast at the heavily-guarded CRPF camp at Nowpora came even as authorities mounted a security bandobast across the state, especially in Srinagar where the prime minister is scheduled to address a public rally -- his second in Kashmir.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said return of Kashmiri Pandits should not be kept hostage to the dictate of the separatist leadership and strongly demanded a "secured zone" for those who want to return to their homeland.
Asia's largest tulip garden is in full bloom with rows of tulips of all hues adding fairy tale-like splendour to the cascading slopes of the Zabarwan foothills. Mukhtar Ahmad reports
Legislators in Jammu and Kashmir will soon be travelling in brand new sports vehicles following the PDP-BJP government ordered 100 new Mahindra Scorpio S10 BS4s for them at a whopping cost of over Rs 11 crore.
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.
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.
Protests rocked parts of Kashmir Valley including Srinagar on Saturday where Pakistan and Islamic State flags were yet again displayed by masked youths after Eid prayers.
Negotiations between the BJP and the PDP to finalise the Common Minimum Programme have intensified
"I have been brought here forcibly from my rented room in Rambagh (area of the city)," Manoj Kumar, a labourer from Bihar, said.
The residence of Geelani has been converted into an unofficial jail. No one is allowed to enter or leave the premises.
The governor made the remark a day after former CM Mehbooba Mufti met a suspected militant's sister, who was allegedly beaten up by Jammu and Kashmir police
'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.
Kashmiri separatist leader Masarat Alam was freed from Baramulla district jail.
Attempts to revive the BJP-PDP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir failed on Friday with the BJP ruling out government-formation on the basis of conditions.
Massive dredging of the Jhelum, the main waterway crisscrossing the Kashmir Valley, is finally underway to prevent state capital Srinagar from the flooding it witnessed in September 2014.
PM Modi said the Centre was not consulted by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
On his first visit to Srinagar post the abrogation of Article 370, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that incidents of terrorism have declined and stone-throwing incidents too have ended in Jammu-Kashmir.
A People's Democratic Party member of Legislative Assembly has stoked controversy by saying that only a Muslim can become the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a view from which his party quickly distanced itself.
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.
'Kashmir is complex, conflicted and unpredictable.' 'Take the instance of Handwara and the killings there.' 'The need of the hour is more one of restraint in the violent reactions of the armed forces.' 'But restraint is wanting in Kashmir for a quarter of a century now.'
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
Clashes erupted in Srinagar on Sunday between the youth and security forces near the venue of the first-ever international half marathon in Kashmir valley.
He was also the second in Goa who died while still in office.
The fourth phase of polling in Jammu and Kashmir ended peacefully on Sunday recording a turnout of 49 per cent, the lowest compared to the earlier three phases.
To a question, Thackeray said that even though the governments have changed at the Centre and in the state, nothing much has changed on the "ground".
The defence minister conducted an aerial survey of northern glacier Siachen and interacted with troops at the base camp.
A day after the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government assumed power in Jammu and Kashmir, a group of lawmakers from the Kashmiri party demanded that the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict be handed over to the family.
Facing flak from opposition parties and separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday made a U-turn on the controversial plans for composite townships in the valley for displaced Kashmiri Pandits, saying they are "part and parcel of the Kashmiri fabric of life" and would be settled at their native places and "not as an isolated community".
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Peoples Democratic Party are "trying hard" to find a common ground on issues like Article 370 and Armed Forces Special Powers Act on which the two parties have traditionally held different views, a senior leader of BJP said on Saturday.
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.
Authorities clamped strict restrictions in Srinagar and north Kashmir's Sopore town to foil a separatist march on Friday.
With the Islamic State and Pakistani flags being repeatedly displayed in Kashmir, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Friday said it was an expression of "anger" and "frustration" by the youth who want to "wake up the nation".
'Sinha's skills at resolving contradictions will be required to smoothen the functioning of the bureaucracy which has been so fractious that it tripped up even a seasoned bureaucrat like his immediate predecessor, G C Murmu,' notes avid Devadas.
PDP pitched for revocation of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir, saying there is "tangible improvement" in the security situation.
