In a direct repudiation of repeated claims of Pakistan, a top American general based in Afghanistan has said that reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar is hiding in Pakistan along with his commanders.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has praised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his governance, Union Minister and President of National Conference Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday.
Murli Manohar Joshi demanded an apology from Omar Abdullah for saying that Jammu and Kashmir had not merged with India but it agreed to be with India under the accession instrument which had the clearance of the then Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten.
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.
'My father never asked me to join Al-Qaeda, but he did tell me I was the son chosen to carry on his work'
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday ruled out post-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party given its stand on issues like Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Babri Masjid as also with any other party.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday expressed concern over the increased ceasefire violations by Pakistan but said they should not be allowed to hijack the Indo-Pak dialogue process.
The only possible solution to the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan is to create a situation where the "lines while in existence" become "irrelevant", Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in an interview published on Sunday.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought a special rehabilitation package from the Centre for the flood-ravaged state.
Taliban's reclusive leader Mullah Muhammad Omar is alive and hiding in the Pakistani city of Karachi, a top Afghan intelligence official has said, echoing a similar assessment by Western intelligence officials.
"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.
Peoples Democratic Party legislator Mohammad Ashraf Mir, who scored a victory over Omar Abdullah from the Sonawar assembly seat, has stoked a controversy after a video surfaced purportedly showing him firing several rounds from an automatic rifle on the day of the assembly poll results.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has said that 35,000 troops have already been withdrawn from the state as part of the gradual troop reduction even though he admitted cross border infiltration had picked up in recent months.
Expressing concern over rising incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak to his Pakistani counterpart on the issue.
Refuting speculations of split in the alliance between Congress and National Conference, Omar Abdullah said his party has no intention of leaving the alliance.
Attacking the media, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah said it plays "tricks" so that "one fellow should go down and second fellow should come up".
The lawmakers expressed concerns about "pre- and post-poll rigging in Pakistan's recent parliamentary elections" and urged the US Congress to "withhold recognition of a new government in Pakistan until a thorough, transparent, and credible investigation of election interference has been conducted".
Hitting out at Nawaz Sharif over the ceasefire violations, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday maintained that these incidents cannot be without the consent of the Pakistan prime minister.
Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday accused it of bringing in supporters from other parts of the state for Prime Mister Narendra Modi's rally in Srinagar.
'We have lots of expectations from Omar Abdullah. He is dynamic, very sharp, intelligent and has the zeal to work for the people. He has a fire in him and he wants to do something concrete for the people. Besides, he is soft-spoken, not arrogant and has tonnes of patience,' says Abdul Rahim Rather
Omar said that the NC has been telling them time and again that if they are not ready to form the government, they should be bold enough to break the alliance.
The arrest of Baradar, said to be second-in-command to Omar, is a major blow to the Taliban and is being described as a major success to Obama Administration's war against terrorism in the Af-Pak region.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday expressed regret that his government had not been successful in ensuring return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley, and vowed to regenerate a "sense of security" among them so that they willingly go back to their homes.
In a major catch, Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman Maulvi Omar has been arrested along with his two associates in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, reports said on Tuesday.
Police inspector Masroor Ahmad Wani, who was critically injured when he was shot at by a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist while playing cricket in Srinagar in October, died at AIIMS, New Delhi, on Thursday. He leaves behind his wife, who is expecting their first child.
"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.
Following a spate of resignations by the panches and sarpanches, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday ordered security cover for them in vulnerable areas.
Jammu and Kashmir, chief minister, Omar Abdullah assured the state assembly on Thursday that he will repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Disturbed Areas Act 'if the situation continued to improve' in Kashmir.
The United States has given Pakistan a deadline till July to launch a military offensive in the restive North Waziristan tribal region for capturing five most wanted al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, including Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and Ilyas Kashmiri.
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".
Setting up conditions for peace talks with the Taliban, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said on Friday that the group's leader Mullah Omar must talk for peace, accept Afghan constitution and denounce violence.
The president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai on Thursday renewed his call to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar to give up violence.
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.
Omar runs a shadow government, complete with military, religious and cultural councils, and has appointed officials and commanders to virtually every Afghan province and district, just as he did when he ruled Afghanistan, the Taliban claim, the New York Times reported on Monday.
National Conference president Omar Abdullah on Sunday evening met Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra in the winter capital Jammu and staked claim to form the government. Omar was earlier chosen as the leader of the NC legislature party and state Congress president Saif-ud-Din Soz and another senior party leader Chowdhary Mohammad Aslam met Vohra and handed over a letter pledging the party's support to the NC.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the damages in the state due the worst floods in more than a century would run into "many thousands of crores" but he would approach the Centre only after the final assessment is complete.
When Omar Abdullah took his first plunge into Kashmir politics in 1998, the odds were stacked heavily against him. Separatists were at their peak and the National Conference, founded by his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah, almost 50 years ago, was seen as a stooge of New Delhi.
"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
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