A private school in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, withdrew its decision to ask students to wear "kurta-pajama" and bring special food for Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations after it sparked a row with a local right-wing organization and some religious groups. The school said it was intended as a cultural learning experience and that participation was voluntary. The school also condemned attempts to misrepresent the event as religious propaganda and urged individuals to remove false and inflammatory messages on social media.
Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti on Saturday said it will boycott the all-party delegation's visit to Jammu alleging that three of its members, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, were "responsible for the land row".
Talks will resume between Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra's mediator and the group spearheading the agitation over the Amarnath land row on Saturday, amidst reports that a peace formula was in the making.S S Bloeria will hold talks with the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti in Jammu on the issue. The talks were deferred over the last two days because Bloeria was unwell.Amidst reports of peace formula in the offing, the group spokesman said there was no such proposal.
Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti on Saturday said it is ready to meet Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil "individually" or selected members of the all-party delegation, but will boycott National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz.
Ahead of the fourth round of planned talks with a governor's panel, the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti also said any solution should also give the shrine board exclusive control of the land during the yatra. There was no official word of any peace formula to end the crisis.
After the inconclusive talks between the Central team and the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti on Saturday, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said "SASS had a good understanding of the issue".
A Kashmiri Pandit organisation has placed the number of Pandits killed since 1989 when militancy erupted in Kashmir at 399, contradicting the official figure of 219.
Peeved over the alleged failure of the Vasundhara Raje government in getting them Scheduled Tribe status, an influential Gujjar organisation on Monday said that it would boycott the ruling BJP in the coming Rajasthan assembly elections. "The BJP government has not only ditched us but also broken its promises made to Gujjars, for recommending the Centre to accord ST status," said president of Rajasthan Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti Kirorisingh Bainsla.
The Central team, which is in Jammu to take stock of the situation in the state over the Amarnath land row, will meet delegates of the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti at 4.30 pm on Saturday evening. Leaders from the Kashmir Valley, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and Saifuddin Soz, will be kept out of the meet as demanded by the Samiti.
Curfew remained clamped for the fourth straight day in the Kashmir Valley on Wednesday even as no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the region.
Jat protesters who are demanding reservation in government jobs under the Other Backward Class quota on Monday ended their 23-day-long agitation following an assurance from Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Threatening to quit Parliament if 'excessive force' was used against protesters in Kashmir, National Conference chief Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that a sustained dialogue between the coordination committee of various separatist groups and Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti could resolve the shrine land row."Talks between the coordination committee and the Sangarsh Samiti should be a sustained one to find an acceptable solution to the crisis generated by the land row," he said
One person was killed and several others injured as police opened fire on protesters demanding quota for Jat community under OBC category who later went on a rampage, damaging vehicles and rail track and vandalising public property at Mayyar village in Haryana on Monday.
The Maharashtra Government on Monday said TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu will not be allowed to visit the Babhli barrage site in the state.
This is their first meeting since the conflict began.
The streets of Jammu wore a deserted look on Monday as the 'chakka jaam' agitation in Jammu region called by the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti got underway.The Samiti asked people not to use their private vehicles today. However, vehicles of mediapersons and ambulances carrying patients were exempted from the chakka jaam agitation.
The 18-member all-party delegation headed by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Jammu on Saturday to review the situation following recent violent protests, but the Shri Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, which is leading the agitation over land transfer issue, refused to hold talks with the team members.
Four columns of the army were deployed in violence-hit Bayana town and nearby villages on Saturday after 15 people were killed in clashes between members of Gujjar community and police. Gurjar Arakashan Sangarsh Samiti convener Kirori Singh Bhainsla said Gujjars will not settle for nothing less than the state's letter of recommendation to the Centre for the ST status.
President of Phule Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti CP Saini said if the state government fails to fulfil their demands, they will block the Jaipur-Delhi highway.
The Amarnath row had been solved after an accord was signed.
The June 13, 2005 incident claimed five lives, including that of a pregnant woman, and left 21 injured.
Day curfew was lifted on Thursday in Jammu and Udhampur districts, while it was relaxed for varying periods in other areas of Jammu province, which was reeling under massive protests over the Amarnath land row. Curfew, which was reimposed in Jammu on Wednesday on the third and final day of 'Jail Bharo Andolan' of Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti, was lifted for the day from 5 am to 8 pm on Thursday, official sources said.
The Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Tripura's capital Agartala on Tuesday announced the suspension of all visa and consular services with immediate effect until further notice because of 'security reasons', a day after the mission's premises was breached by a group of people protesting against the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Dhaka.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait exhorted farmers to be ready for a massive nationwide agitation over their demands as a 75-hour sit-in by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in Lakhimpur Kheri seeking the removal of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and a law on minimum support price (MSP) entered the second day on Tuesday.
A major Gurjar organisation on Thursday called off its agitation over reservation after reaching a consensus with the Rajasthan government, a community leader said.
'The entire public needs to be evacuated immediately. Any day, the entire town can collapse.'
Amid escalating tensions over the Sinjauli mosque in Shimla, a Muslim welfare committee on Thursday urged the municipal commissioner to seal the unauthorised portion and also offered to demolish it in accordance with a court order.
As a spate of targeted killings of minorities rock Kashmir, a Kashmiri Pandits' organisation on Friday said some employees from the community, who were provided government jobs under a rehabilitation package in 2010-11, have started moving to Jammu quietly fearing for their life, alleging the administration was unable to provide then a secure environment.
A controversy has erupted over the portrayal of the Jat king of Bharatpur in the movie.
'Everyone knows Pakistan is doing it.' 'But what are we doing? We should not incite more violence.'
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
Govt assurances fail to cut ice with Jat leaders as agitation intensifies, Maruti halts production at two plants; highways, railway lines blocked
Why did the district magistrate take over an hour to order retaliatory firing on the murderous SBVS mob?
Almost every home in this area has a slogan 'Jal, Jangal, Jameen' painted outside. Rashme Sehgal reports for Rediff.com on the four-year battle to save the Mahan forest in Madhya Pradesh.