The party also said it would be a travesty to treat the current unrest in the Valley as a mere law and order problem.
The alleged custodial death of the ruling National Conference worker, Sayeed Mohammad Yusuf took a new turn on Tuesday when the state crime branch presented another NC activist Mohammad Yusuf Bhat in a local court to record his statement.
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The outgoing Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday hinted at an intriguing possibility of supporting his party National Conference's bitter political rival PDP in forming a government in the state after the hung verdict in the Assembly polls.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
'With all outlets of public expression virtually choked for the last five years, suppressed anger and frustration is looking for an opening via the ballot box.' 'There is no escape from the inevitability of the 'Engineer Rashid' factor surfacing in a big enough way to upset everyone's applecart,' alerts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The PDP has 28 MLAs, followed by NC with 15 and Congress with 12 which will make up for a clear majority.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has rubbished allegations by the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party about the death of a worker of the ruling National Conference allegedly in police custody. PDP has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani so that the "judicial probe can proceed impartially'.
The National Conference and rival Peoples Democratic Party were on Friday locked in a blame game over Jammu and Kashmir being brought under Governor's rule following the prolonged stalemate over formation of a government in the state.
While the Congress will contest the Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats, National Conference will fight from Srinagar.
The former chief minister said his party was not running away from polls, but wanted the Centre to do justice with the people of Jammu and Kashmir first and take effective steps for the protection of the state's special position.
The row broke out after a private television news agency attributed the excerpts of the article shared by the NC leader to him.
The suspension of four National Conference members had prompted the opposition leaders to boycott the ongoing session of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
'My mother feels it will be tough and emotional for her to enter an assembly which has essentially been reduced to a municipality now.' 'My opinion is that even if it is a municipality one cannot cede that space to the BJP.'
'It is sad and unfortunate. But we have to accept it'
Projecting BJP as a fresh option in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Congress "sneaks" into every government that is formed in the state but attacks these dispensations just before elections.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister alleged that government employees were 'forcibly mobilised' and ferried to Modi's rally to paint a 'pretty picture that all is well' post 2019, when the Centre abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union territories.
Refuting speculations of split in the alliance between Congress and National Conference, Omar Abdullah said his party has no intention of leaving the alliance.
The chief spokesman of the NC, Dr Mustaffa Kamal who is also the uncle of the state chief minister, Omar Abdullah had on Tuesday said that 'Delhi was hurling grenades in Kashmir'.
With the results of the Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections out, hectic lobbying among the political parties has started, with a visible sign of the People's Democratic Party and the Congress warming-up to form the government.
Nine people including three women were killed and 33 injured as a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi plunged into a deep gorge after an ambush by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday evening, police said, as political leaders cutting across party lines strongly condemn the dastardly attack.
Lone, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla constituency, said one of the reasons he wants to go to Parliament is to strive and advocate for the same set of laws for the children of Kashmir and the rest of the country.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the government's decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and said steps should be taken to conduct the election to the Assembly in the Union Territory by September 30 next year.
In a new political twist in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference on Tuesday formally offered support to the People's Democratic Party in a letter to Governor N N Vohra for forming a government that could break the logjam of over three weeks.
All parties in Jammu and Kashmir said the assembly election should be held with the parliamentary polls, but the entire administrative machinery said it cannot be done simultaneously
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
"I cannot say whether the crisis has been averted," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday about the tussle with his coalition partner, the Congress, over the creation of new administrative units in the state.
A worker from Punjab who was injured in Wednesday's terror attack in Srinagar's Habba Kadal area died at the SKIMS hospital in Srinagar on Thursday morning, taking the toll to two in the first targeted killing of the year by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.
The petition has been filed by Mohammad AKbar Lone and Justice (rtd) Hasnain Masoodi, both Lok Sabha members belonging to the NC.
On the controversial AFSPA, the home minister said, "We will also think of revoking AFSPA."
She said on one hand, giant hoardings calling upon Kashmiris to "celebrate" the abrogation of Article 370 have been put up across Srinagar, whereas "brute force is being used to choke the actual sentiment of the people".
In a major setback to ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday shared the six Lok Sabha seats in the state as two Union ministers, including Farooq Abdullah, bit the dust.
What difference would raising Pakistani flags make? Now the government of India is getting restless, getting more perturbed. It is being done deliberately," said Kamal.
The biggest electoral upset in the state was witnessed in Anantnag with National Conference candidate and former high court judge Hasnain Masoodi defeating former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Restoration of peace and the normal routine of daily life, compared to the past, stands out as its most significant achievement, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs, four years after the abrogation of Article 370.
The main opposition party in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference, on Wednesday decided to suspend its participation in any future round table conferences or working groups till there was significant improvement in the human rights situation.
he Centre on this day in 2019 had revoked Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
At a press conference held in Jammu, the senior Congress leaders announced the party's decision to end its six year alliance with the National Conference, headed by Farooq Abdullah.
Opposition National Conference on Thursday termed the statement of union home minister on the revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Jammu and Kashmir as "unfortunate and counter-productive
The Congress said the rally by the INDIA will send a "strong message" to the Lok Kalyan Marg, where the prime minister's residence is located, that the BJP-led government's "time is up".
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