In the first targeted killing of the year, terrorists on Wednesday shot dead a worker from Punjab while another sustained injuries in Habba Kadal area of Srinagar, officials said.
National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah Friday challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest Lok Sabha polls in the Kashmir Valley, saying he will quit politics if the national party's candidates do not lose their security deposits.
'We have been cheated. We are trying to bring Article 370 back'
The opposition Peoples' Democratic Party and Peoples' Conference targeted the ruling National Conference over the meeting, and accused it of surrendering to the Bharatiya Janata Party without even a pretence over the passage of the Waqf act.
Making light of Sunday's incident in Srinagar in which a shoe was flung towards his son, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday said it was 'wonderful' that he has joined the elite club of former United States President George Bush, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders.
Ahead of counting of votes, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Monday said his party was open to the idea of taking support of Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party to form government in the Union territory.
'Right now, we have no relationship with Pakistan. And the relationship with China is not great.'
The last Friday prayers of Ramzan (Jumatul Vida) were not allowed to be held at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar.
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
The delayed timing of J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's admission has more to do with deflecting the thrust of the Opposition attack on the prime minister and Union home minister during the monsoon session of Parliament, points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
A chance meeting between Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Union minister Kiren Rijiju at the Tulip Garden in Srinagar has sparked a political storm, with opposition parties accusing the National Conference of laying out a red carpet for the BJP leader in the aftermath of the Waqf Amendment Act. While NC sources termed the interaction as a purely coincidental encounter, opposition parties like the PDP and Peoples' Conference condemned the meeting, accusing the NC of surrendering to the BJP. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, passed by Parliament last week, aims to streamline the management of Waqf properties with provisions to safeguard heritage sites and promote social welfare.
Abdullah lambasted the Lieutenant Governor and the police for trying to stop him and his entourage from entering the martyrs' graveyard.
Visuals of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah scaling the gate of the Naqshband Sahib graveyard and jostling with securitymen deployed there have gone viral.
They said the meeting was necessitated after "some differences" cropped up in seat-sharing arrangement during the talks between the local leadership of the parties.
National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Thursday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the ruling partners are understood to have discussed the situation arising out of the continued unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. In Srinagar, his son and chief minister, Omar Abdullah, fuelled speculation by meeting the state governor N N Vohra
To accommodate the huge number of devotees, a high-tech kitchen has been established at Baba Satyapal Maharaj's pandal, ensuring seamless food preparation and distribution.
Omar Abdullah told the media on Friday, April 12, 2024, that he is contesting from north Kashmir as the National Conference wanted to defeat the central government, which is eyeing the Baramulla constituency as Sajjad Lone is contesting from the seat.
Re-elected National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Monday said boycotting the panchayat polls in 2018 was "a huge mistake" and the party must contest every future election in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mantoo said the decision to meet the Abdullahs was taken at an emergent meeting of senior functionaries and district presidents of the Jammu Province two days ago, soon after restrictions on the movement of Jammu-based National Conference leaders were lifted.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the first elected government in the Union Territory since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.
The National Conference is a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and will continue to be, party leader Omar Abdullah clarified on Thursday and said it is in talks with the Congress for an arrangement in three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said she will be joining the Kashmir leg of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" spearheaded by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The 82-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister received the ED summons a day after the formation of the People's Alliance led by him was announced on October 15.
In separate statements issued in Srinagar, former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed urged the Indian government not to embark on "punitive measures" against Pakistan as it would cast a shadow on Jammu and Kashmir.
Abdullah issued a white paper on development undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir during the rule of "Abdullah and Sons" -- as Shah referred the family in his speech at a rally in Baramulla district -- to counter the allegations of corruption.
Responding to a question, Abdullah said elections can be held whenever the government wants.
'The Abdullah family is the problem and facilitator of the instability that we are seeing in Kashmir.'
Opposition leaders also raised the issue of MPs not being allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of its special status, whereas parliamentarians from Europe have been taken to the state, with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury describing the EU delegation as 'bhade ke tattu' (hirelings).
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that the 'unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives' of the people of Jammu and Kashmir after prominent leaders from ruling and opposition parties were not allowed to leave their houses to prevent them from visiting the graveyard of 1931 martyrs in Srinagar.
Normal life remained disrupted in Kashmir for the 86th day following abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
'Dr Abdullah is fine and in good spirits,' says National Conference Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Akbar Lone.
Omar, presently kept in detention at Hari Nivas, is likely to be shifted as the J-K administration plans to use the place to host a ministerial delegation from the Centre.
'Sheikh Abdullah ruled the state with secular values. Post 1953, when he was sacked, corruption took over governance.'
Modi also met the construction workers who worked meticulously amid harsh conditions to complete the tunnel.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described Dr Farooq Abdullah's defence of the beleaguered BCCI president N. Srinivasan 'as part of his cover up to escape punishment for alleged embezzlement in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association'.
'Often people outside paint a wrong picture of us of Kashmiris. We are not like that. We are cool and bindaas,' said the lady, a teacher, caressing my cheeks in the pressing crowds.
Released on Friday after his detention under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) was revoked, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah drove from his residence to nearby Hari Nivas where his son, also a former chief minister, has been held first under preventive custody since February 5 under the PSA. The two warmly embraced.
"Border skirmishes have been rising and people are dying... A way has to be found to deal with this. Except for talks... As you are talking to China to attempt that it withdraws (from Ladakh border), we should also talk to our (other) neighbour to find a way to get out of this situation," he said in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour amid protests from treasury benches.
The leaders said the list of seats each party will be contesting, as well as the names of the candidates, will be issued later.
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