'Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti acted single-mindedly right from day one of the three month-long crisis.' 'She pursued her chosen administrative course, unmindful of the menacing jingoistic drum beating in the coalition backyard.' 'At one point, I asked her if she was willing to pay the price for taking her line of action to its logical conclusion.' '"Yes," was her spontaneous response,' reveals Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir.
The visit by the MPs comes nearly two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top leaders of Jammu and Kashmir on June 24.
Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar said the Union territory is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders, after the special summary revision of electoral rolls being held for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370.
Harivansh, a Janata Dal-United MP, is likely to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said.
A local 'hybrid terrorist' of proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was arrested for the attack during a search and cordon operation, police said.
Masoodi said all the participants are against giving voting rights to non-locals as "it will be tantamount to the disenfranchisement of the local voters."
Puran Krishan was attacked near his residence in the Chowdhary Gund area of south Kashmir district, they said, adding that doctors declared Krishan brought dead after he was shifted to Shopian hospital.
Ten people died and 28 more were injured when an overcrowded mini-bus plunged into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday, officials said in Jammu.
The fate of the BJP-PDP alliance may be known on Monday as PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti talks tough.
Mehbooba said her party will continue to strive for dialogue and reconciliation in the state.
The 56-year-old leader, daughter of PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, will take oath of office at Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Monday at 11.00 am.
He said he told Vohra that in this situation when no single party has the mandate to form the government, the Governor has no other option than to impose governor's rule immediately.
If Jammu and Kashmir comes under Governor's rule, it will be for the eighth time in four decades.
It said the BJP could cause trouble for the country by tying up with PDP.
Aijaz Hussain won the Khonmoh-II District Development Council seat in Srinagar, while Aijaz Ahmad Khan gave the party more reason to cheer by winning the Tulail seat in Bandipora district.
Opposition People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has hailed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to extend invitations to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani to watch the India-Pakistan semi final of the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup at Mohali on March 30.
The Congress too condemned Mufti's statement on the Tricolour, saying it is unacceptable and has hurt sentiments of people.
The National Conference called the meeting after remarks related to the addition of voters in the revised rolls by the Union Territory's chief electoral officer Hirdesh Kumar raised hackles of the regional parties.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday said the rescue operations launched following a flash flood near the Amarnath cave shrine -- that left 15 people dead -- has been called off and there was no report of any person missing.
Though the PDP-BJP alliance staked claim to form government in the state last Saturday, the date for swearing-in of the chief minister-designate is yet to be announced.
Clashes broke out between supporters of the ruling National Conference and Opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday during filing of nominations by their candidates at Kulgam district election office in south Kashmir, the police said.
Bukhari, who was elected president of the JKAP, said the party's core agenda would be the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and its residents' domicile rights in land and jobs.
The chief opposition in the state, the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party has breached the stronghold of National Conference in prestigious Srinagar Parliamentary constituency by gaining a lead in five seats with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah trailing in Sonawar seat.
The Janata Dal-United on Tuesday became the third major ally after the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal to snap ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party after 2019.
"Grassroots democracy must get precedence than any other considerations, including security," the functionary said.
Mahdani was arrested for the 1998 serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore and held in prison for the past eight years.
The Karnataka high court on Thursday rejected the bail plea filed by Abdul Nasar Madani, an accused in the Bangalore blasts case. The leader of the People's Democratic Party from Kerala, who was picked up by the Bangalore police, had moved the high court to seek bail on various grounds.
The first signs of efforts to end the nine-day impasse on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir emerged on Saturday with Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti calling a meeting of her party's "extended core group" in Srinagar, expectedly to discuss the future course of action and ties with ally Bharatiya Janata Party.
With the mourning period over on Sunday, the BJP expects political discussion within the PDP to start now following which it will respond accordingly
After the first meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi and attended by 17 parties, the leaders said that it has been decided that a common candidate who will 'uphold the democratic ethos of the country' will be chosen as the opposition nominee.
Mufti was among hundreds of people who were taken into preventive custody hours ahead of the Centre revoking special status of the Jammu and Kashmir and breaking the state into two union territories on August 5 last year.
If Mehbooba is 'allowed' to survive unchecked she could transform her campaign into a sentiment typically suited to the ground conditions in Kashmir, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
With uncertainty looming large over the continuance of Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said his party is ready to consider a tie-up with the saffron party for government formation if such an offer is received.
Mehbooba said the parliamentary board of the party, which met earlier on Saturday, decided not to field any candidates from the two Lok Sabha seats in Jammu region.
The date for the oath ceremony of the new cabinet was decided after deliberations between the leadership of both the parties.
Hitting back at the Peoples Democratic Party, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday accused its leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of "shutting his eyes" to the sex scandal when it first surfaced in 2006 as his own people were involved.
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.
The police, in its plea, had contended that the veteran politician violated the bail conditions and, therefore, the bail was liable to be cancelled.
Mehbooba Mufti is likely to call a meeting of senior party leaders in the coming days to clear the "misgivings" about the deadlock over government formation with the BJP.
In first signs of ending the over a month-long impasse with regard to government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Madhav on Wednesday held formal talks with Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti during a brief visit in Srinagar.
