Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and People's Democratic Party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has demanded that the Centre investigate the role of Lieutenant General (Retired) S K Sinha in the Malegaon blast as during the latter's tenure as the state's governor, religious leader Dayanand Pandey used to visit Kashmir regularly and was treated like a state guest.Sources close to Lt Gen Sinha rejected Mufti's charges as outrageous.
Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha, till recently Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday launched a frontal attack on the state's main political parties, especially PDP and its patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, accusing him of being "hand in glove" with separatists and fundamentalists. At the centre of controversy over the land for Amarnath yatra which paralysed the valley in recent days, Sinha denounced PDP as "anti-national".
The JeI (J&K) also has several trusts for running schools to disseminate orthodox Islamic education, has a youth wing and has numerous publications for spreading its fundamentalist ideology.
Dr Singh, who arrived at Jammu airport by a special plane from New Delhi on Friday afternoon, flew in a helicopter to the Chenab bridge site, about 27-km from Jammu, and dedicated it to the nation. Governor Lt. Gen. (retd) S K Sinha, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed were among others who received the prime minister at the airport and also accompanied him to the bridge site.
Addressing a public meeting in Mahore town of Reasi district on Sunday, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party patron said: "Jammu and Kashmir should become a model among the SAARC countries by allowing both Indian and Pakistani currency to operate in the state." Mufti defended his proposal by quoting the example of European Union, where he said "free travel was possible among 40 countries without any visa restrictions."
Vohra has called Mehbooba and Sharma for separate meetings on Tuesday to discuss the issue of government formation in the state which is under governor's rule since January 8
The Kashmir-based PDP's linkage with the BJP could even be a turning point, provided it is safeguarded against real possibility of miscarriage. So-called fringe elements on either side, more so in the Saffron parivar, can easily upset Modi-Mufti applecart. They have only to drag contentious issues into limelight to do that, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
'From what I know of her,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik -- the distinguished doyen of Kashmir commentators -- 'Mehbooba will not take too long to recover.' 'How much room she can then find to maneuver in the valley's extremely harsh political climate only time can tell.'
The suspension of four National Conference members had prompted the opposition leaders to boycott the ongoing session of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
'For a man who had just received news of his daughter's kidnapping, he showed no sign of anxiety or agitation.' 'Here is a cool customer, I thought to myself.' 'The only thing he said was, 'I would not have been so anxious had they kidnapped my son'.' 'He told me that his daughter Rubaiya, who was a medical intern, was returning home from the hospital in a minibus when it was stopped close to the Mufti's house.' 'She was taken by four armed militants.' A gripping excerpt from Moosa Raza's Kashmir: Land Of Regrets.
The decision came after the PDP's core group met for the first time on Sunday following the demise of former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
However, now Intelligence Bureau sources tell rediff.com that terror modules were being set up in Belgaum, which borders Maharashtra. The arrest of Liyakat Ali Sayeed in Belgaum on May 14 has helped the police get a better picture of the terror operations, which were being planned in the border district of Karnataka.
'And the old war horse has left nothing to chance. He campaigned vigorously in the by-election defying his age,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir.
Here's the chronological list of all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People's Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has linked the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and reduction in the number of deployed troops to the ongoing peace process.
Special Trial Tribunal-3 Judge Sayeed Ahmed pronounced the verdict in presence of seven of the accused. One of the death row convict is on the run.
Hailing the successful completion of four years of the Indo-Pak ceasefire, Peoples Democratic Party leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed has called for free movement of people and goods on the road links between the two countries.
"We have not accepted any new condition from the PDP," said Madhav, the party's pointsman in the state.
He emphasised the need for fully opening up the state to the fast economic activities shaping up in the region so that the people of the state could also reap the benefits of economic liberalisation, it said.
The prime minister told Sayeed, former chief minister of the state, that he had held preliminary discussions with his colleagues and more meetings were scheduled to take place in the next couple of days.
Sukanya Verma looks at some of the dance-offs that regaled us in the past.
Thirty two-year-old Liyakath Ali Abdulgani Sayeed, who was working in London in a security agency, returned to Belgaum on March 18 this year after he lost his job. He was living in Belgaum with his wife and two children, who are British nationals. In his possession, the cops found a laptop, cell phones and a CD containing jihadi material. Further investigations are on and it is too early to come to any sort of conclusion, the police said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is facing sedition charge, on Monday said he is a "bigger patriot" than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not want to upset Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti by arresting the "real traitors" in the JNU case.
"I am optimistic of some tangible movement forward on these crucial issues in the coming days," Mufti told PDP functionaries in Srinagar.
Separatist-turned politician Sajjad Lone dismissed reports that he was miffed over being given a low-key portfolio in the PDP-BJP govt.
Mufti sent a communication to the chief minister asking him to withdraw the security provided to him.
Singh's choice came after AICC observers Vilasrao Deshmukh and P M Sayeed had a telephonic talk with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has directed massive relief and rehab exercise for the effected families and asked his ministerial colleagues Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed and Prem Sagar Aziz to visit the area on Wednesday for an on-the-spot assessment.
Protests, an uneasy calm and a sense of deep grief enveloped south Kashmir's Anantnag on Monday, a day after Zahid Rasool Bhat, a 19-year-old trucker, succumbed to his injuries after the truck, which he was travelling in was attacked over beef rumours.
None other than the Prime Minister has commented more than once that the power ministry needs to pull up its socks.
The former chief minister defended his demand for troop reduction from the state saying that army was no answer to the present situation in the state and it could be well resolved within the ambit of political dialogue.
Following are their brief profiles and roles as alleged by the NIA.
BJP has warned the government not to accept unreasonable demands of Mufti as it would endanger the security of the country.
Pakistan will not discuss India's list of most wanted persons, including Dawood Ibrahim, under the proposed joint institutional mechanism on anti-terrorism, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmed Khan has said.
Mehbooba Mufti, president of People's Democratic Party, claimed that she has surrendered her security, and so has her party legislators.
Jammu and Kashmir government today declared a flood situation in Kashmir Valley as Jhelum river crossed the danger mark in Srinagar following incessant rains.
The trade between India and Saudi Arabia is growing rapidly with the bilateral trade crossing USD 9.87 billion last year.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh has questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party's stand on Kashmir, in the backdrop of the recent meeting between journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
The BJP members asked the government why it was not coming forward to condemn Geelani's action.
