Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday dismissed reports of a tiff between Rahul Gandhi and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over empowering sarpanches in the state but insisted that they should be given power across the country "without any exception".
Ahead of a crucial meeting of the Centre on Kashmir, state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony to seek their support on the partial withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state. Sources said Omar had met Mukherjee late on Wednesday night at the latter's residence for about half-an-hour, during which the chief minister presented his case for withdrawal of the AFSPA.
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Sunday, emphasizing that he would love to see what Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will do to improve ties with India.
Earlier in the day, Omar accused PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of 'shutting his eyes' to the sex scandal when it first surfaced in 2006 as his own people were involved.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has not threatened to resign over the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state. Reacting to a rediff.com report -- that quoted sources as saying that Abdullah had threatened to resign over the all-party meeting on Kashmir on Wednesday -- the CM's office got in touch with this correspondent.
As the crisis that rocked the Kashmir valley shows signs of easing, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday advocated a dialogue between the Centre and "everybody" in the state "who is willing to talk".
Commenting on state Congress president Saifuddin Soz's statement, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said he will hold talks with the alliance party over plans to withdraw the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Soz had slammed Abdullah for not consulting the Congress or the home minister on the AFSPA issue. "I am not going to react to what Professor Saifuddin Soz has said. As a chief minister, I am well aware of my responsibilities," said Omar.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said that Centre's course of action regarding cases similar to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru will determine whether Guru's hanging was "selective and political".
Former Union minister of state for external affairs and president of National Conference, Omar Abdullah has said India and Pakistan needed to rise above mutual mistrust and work together against terrorism.
The Delhi High Court has ordered Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh, alias Engineer Rashid, to deposit Rs 4 lakh with the prison authorities as travel expenses for attending Parliament. The court allowed Rashid to attend the ongoing Parliament session "in-custody" till April 4, but the NIA had raised concerns about him being a flight risk. Rashid has been lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in a 2017 terror-funding case.
Maintaining that peace along the borders is in interest of both India and Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday asked Islamabad to act responsibly to ensure that there is no violation of ceasefire.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said he will ensure that no person is denied a passport on the basis of his or her relative being involved in subversive activities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday charged Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with "provoking" the situation in KashmirValley and condemned his interview for having a "sympathetic chord" for Afzal Guru who was hanged last week for his role in the Parliament attack case.
In the backdrop of the recent ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said India had the right to respond to them.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called on Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday morning and discussed with him the current situation in the state.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has ridiculed the resolution of Pakistan's National Assembly on ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, saying conflicting signals emanating from the neighbouring country were helping the hawks on both sides.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
More than 40 per cent of the 908 candidates contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are Independents, leading to claims that a large number of them have been propped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide votes.
"The rotation issue did come up during the discussion but Congress President Sonia Gandhi was kind enough to understand the point of view that rotation was damaging to the state and created uncertainty and confusion," Omar told reporters in New Delhi when asked if there would be a set-up similar to the one in the previous Congress-Peoples Democratic Party government in J&K
A delegation of the Kashmir Administrative Service Officers Association called on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday and conveyed its anguish over reports about Minister of State for Home Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo slapping an officer of their fraternity in the mountainous Kishtwar district earlier this week.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over phone and briefed him on the law and order situation in the Valley.
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh granted the relief to Rashid, who had moved the court seeking interim bail to campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
A two-member team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met Rohingya Muslims at a slum in Jammu amid a heated debate whether the illegally settled immigrants be provided water and electricity.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the army's public criticism of him and his government, following which Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General B S Jaswal has tendered an apology. The controversy arose after the army's Northern Command based in Udhampur issued a press release on the encounter that took place on November 29 on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has convened an all-party meeting in Srinagar on Monday to discuss ways to contain the violence that has engulfed the valley, according to an official spokesman. The chief minister will hold a meeting of legislators of the coalition partners on Sunday. The ruling coalition comprises Abdullah's National Conference and the Congress. The decision to hold an all-party meeting is part of the chief minister's initiative to reach out.
He was commenting on a video that has surfaced on social media showing some men sporting saffron scarves heckling a woman in 'hijab' and raising slogans at a college in Karnataka.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had a miraculous escape on Tuesday night when the engine of his official vehicle caught fire filling the entire jeep with smoke.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah refused to term the latest militancy incident at Lal Chowk as a suicide attack saying it was just a confrontation between the security forces and militants on the run.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said he would discuss the issue of providing security to panchayat members at the next meeting of the Unified Headquarters to ensure their safety and smooth functioning.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said he would raise the issues of partial revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) during the next internal security meeting in Delhi.
Expressing concern on the shocking revelations made by David Headley implicating the Inter Services Intelligence with 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has urged the Central government not to suspend the composite dialogue with Pakistan.
Asking the Centre to "act strong" with China on the Ladakh intrusion issue, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said dealing on such matters should be unambiguous and similar in the case of both Pakistan and China. "The Union government should give clear-cut message to China on the intrusion issue. These kind of situations have always put people living in frontier areas under difficulties, besides hampering development process," he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who made a conditional resignation, skipped office and the assembly on Wednesday, awaiting the Governor's decision on his offer to quit.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, offering condolences to families affected by cross-border shelling and encouraging students who lost two classmates to the violence. During an hour-long visit, Gandhi met with students at the convent school that lost the twins, and visited families whose homes were damaged in the shelling.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday reiterated his idea of setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to probe all the killings in Jammu and Kashmir in the past 21-years.
The crucial meeting of the Unified Command HQ, presided over by Abdullah, lasted over three hours. However, it only witnessed presentations by every stakeholder -- the state government, the Army, heads of paramilitary forces in Kashmir and intelligence agencies -- but no discussions, sources attending the meeting told rediff.com
On the eve of the crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Kashmir, The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the removal of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, saying his government has "completely collapsed" and warned that any dilution of AFSPA would only allow the separatists and miscreants to call the shots.
Normal life was thrown out of gear in Kashmir on Saturday as most areas of the valley received snowfall, disrupting flight and railway operations and also leading to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, officials said.
Voicing hope that President Asif Ali Zardari's visit would mark the start of a "sustained" process to resolve all issues between India and Pakistan, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said it would be a "forward movement" if the Pakistani leader comes to Jammu and Kashmir.
Making light of Sunday's incident, in which a shoe was flung towards his son Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah said it was "wonderful" that he has joined the elite club of former US President George Bush, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders.
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