Curfew-like-restrictions were imposed in the old city of Srinagar and some uptown areas to foil protests and a sit-in at the historic Jamia mosque after the Friday prayers.
'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.'
BJP leader Ram Madhav's rant about Vice President Hamid Ansari's absence at the International Yoga Day celebrations goes deeper, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf, deep into their brain.
Rajni Bala, a government school teacher who was killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, was cremated in Samba on Wednesday, amid an outpouring of grief and anger.
'Modi has missed the bus in Kashmir.'
Authorities in Kashmir have decided not to allow 'Shab-e-Qadr' and 'Jumat-ul-Vida' congregational prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in Sringar, a move denounced by mainstream and separatist parties.
Amid unabated targeted killings in Kashmir, hundreds of government employees posted in the valley took out a march in Jammu on Thursday to demand their immediate transfer to their respective home districts.
National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has rejected the notion that the threat of a nuclear war would solve the Kashmir issue, asserting that the region would never be a part of Pakistan and dialogue is the best way to "move forward".
He said the BAJ had told the media repeatedly that Wednesday's bandh was not on the Kathua rape-and-murder issue as the case is in court now.
Continued shutdowns and violence over the over the alleged rape and murder of two Muslim women by security forces has taken a toll on the tourism sector in Jammu and Kashmir.
The case pertains to hatching a conspiracy, both on physical as well as cyberspace, for undertaking violent terrorist acts in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country, by cadres of Pakistan-based proscribed terrorist organisations.
Slamming the government over the situation in Kashmir, Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Monday pressed for holding an all-party meet to discuss the issue and pitched for a political solution rather than using "barrel of the gun" while dealing with the unrest.
Terming the killing a "cowardly act", the protesters said assurances given by the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure the safety of minorities in the Valley have proved to be false.
'The government is scared of this Congress yatra, that is why various orders and letters are being issued'
Pakistan played a 'key role' in fomenting the recent trouble in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said.
'We are certainly disappointed by our inability to win a single seat in the valley... We will analyse what led to this kind of dismal -- in terms of seats -- non-performance by the BJP.' 'I certainly don't want to attribute any religious or so-called communal reasons for it; for the simple reason, that even in Ladakh, a Buddhist majority area, we failed to win seats.' BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, the man in charge of the party's election campaign in J&K, discusses the verdict with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the Bharatiya Janata Party's mascot in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, even as the party is exhorting the people in Jammu to vote en bloc for it to protect the region's interests.This divergent campaign strategy for the ongoing seven-phase assembly election in the state has been worked out to resolve the party's dilemma in seeking votes in two regions where the BJP's presence invokes opposite feelings among the voters.
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
Thackeray said people should be aware of how religious issues are raked up to distract their attention from core issues.
If we have already excluded Muslims from political office by default, and if we are already harassing them daily through laws, like Nazi Germany did and like Pakistan did, then why do we need a Hindu Rashtra or a change from the present set of laws? argues Aakar Patel.
'The BJP always said Rahul Gandhi is an 'air-conditioned leader', but after this yatra he has proved them wrong.'
'Did you ever stop for a while and asked yourself, what is going to happen to me the first night in my grave? Think about the moment your body is being washed and prepared to your grave.
'The BJP has ordered the AIMIM to defame the Shiv Sena, to raise questions on Shiv Sena's Hindutva'
A Pakistani militant arrested by the Army on Saturday said there is no need of Jihad in Kashmir as contrary to what he has been told in Pakistan, Kashmiris are not facing any oppression.Syed Moinullah Shah, cadre of the Pakistan based Hizbul Mujahideen, who was part of the group of 31 militants who crossed over the Line of Control recently, said that after seeing the conditions of Kashmiri Muslims, he wanted to go back rather than carry on with Jihad.
'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
'A resurgent Jaish could be a reflection of the Pakistani security establishment's view that with the region moving ever closer to a post-US Afghanistan, it is time to redirect attention to Kashmir.'
Amidst Covid scare, hundreds of pilgrims paid obeisance at the famous Ragnya Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Friday for the annual Kheer Bhawani mela, praying for peace in the union territory and for the pandemic to end.
'It is for the first time in 70 years that the US has come out totally in India's favour on the Kashmir issue,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Raising slogans against Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and the administration, the demonstrators, mostly government employees posted in the troubled valley and their kin, demanded that they be provided adequate security or be transferred to Jammu. The employees also threatened en masse resignation from their jobs.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on a two-day visit later in the day, official sources said.
In the stone-pelting, SSP Doda, one SHO, one sub-inspector and two other police personnel were injured.
Saeed warned India that if "war" in Kashmir further prolonged it would have to pay a heavy price for it.
Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'If we were to change the name of our country officially and become a Hindu Rashtra, will the treatment of Muslims change?' asks Aakar Patel.
Prime Minister Khan said his government was keen to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack to book, asserting that it was in the interest of Pakistan.
Protests against the killing of a Hindu school teacher in Kulgam continued to rock several parts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir on the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
'Pakistan has power -- they have the power of terrorism and the reluctance of the world to act against them.'
'They are both very individualistic and have similar personalities.'
Overall, the record of the second term reveals a contradiction between the image and the reality. The image, especially on media and social media, is one of the man at the height of his power, and unstoppable. The reality on governance is someone who has found it difficult to get things implemented and unsure of what to do next, points out Aakar Patel.
A government employee belonging to the Kashmir Pandit community was shot dead by suspected militants at his office in the Chadoora area of Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, officials said in Srinagar.
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