'Irrespective of their politics, people feel happy.' 'One of the best compliments I have received is that I have made it from Kashmir to Karnataka.'
As many as 14,091 civilians and 5,356 security force personnel lost their lives to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir between the 1990s, when militancy first reared its head in the valley, and 2020.
After hearing the news of his death, hundreds of Muslims gathered at his residence to perform his last rites.
Needling India yet again, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said he was "obliged" to become the voice of the "oppressed" people of Kashmir and would "leave no stone unturned" to make the world understand the "plight" of the people in the Valley.
'Anybody who speaks up, anybody who reports something that the government feels uncomfortable with, or comments on anything could be charged with criminal cases, could be summoned to police stations, slapped around or grilled for several hours. This has become a new norm.'
Reeling under strict restrictions with no access to communication since August 5 when the Centre announced its decision to end Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two union territories, the people in the Valley have been facing a hair-raising challenge of finding a hairdresser to have their unkempt beards trimmed and unruly locks chopped.
Many of the young Kashmiri Pandits argue that it is quite difficult to go back to the Valley, but for different reasons from their parents': there aren't enough opportunities there. Priyanka finds out what the community thinks in the aftermath of the interlocutors reports on the troubled state
The issue came up at the quarterly meeting of the standing committee on Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanwapi security in Varanasi on Wedmesday.
Ram Sagar were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists while they were asleep in their rented accommodation in Shopian.
'It's a matter of great pride that no student of Army Goodwill Schools has ever joined terrorism.'
'The ISI wanted to create internal disruption in the Valley by the killing of the security forces.'
'I am not sure of the numbers killed, but they were not as high as the use of the word 'genocide' suggests.' 'There is another meaning you could take, 'cultural genocide', in that the Pandit community is extremely small and their forced departure led to a wiping out of their culture.'
'When the Executive can do whatever they want, why bother having an election?'
'No amount of economic measures or prosperity in Kashmir will make any dent in the situation there. The average Kashmiri understands the Pakistani game and is unlikely to prefer Pakistan over India. But the Pakistanis have made clever use of religious symbols and slogans to force religious-minded Kashmiris to support them. India has failed to counter this posturing by the separatists,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Umar Ganie/Rediff.com captures some wow moments from snow-bound Kashmir
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached 17 properties of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmed Shah Watali in a terror funding case, the agency said.
The Gandhi siblings first drove from their hotel in Srinagar to the shrine of Ragnya Devi, popularly known as Mata Kheer Bhawani temple, in Tullamula area of the central Kashmir's Ganderbal district, the officials said.
Article 370 'was not a special status. It was a special discrimination. With its abrogation we have brought Kashmiris on par with Indians', he said.
'The Indian middle class ignores the conflicts areas in Jammu and Kashmir, in Central India and in the North East.' 'The violence does not touch us at all and so we are able to easily look away from the underlying reasons and grievances.'
Vidhu Vinod Chopra on Parinda.
Exiled Kashmiri leader and spokesperson of the United Kashmir People's National Party Nasir Aziz Khan has alleged that Pakistan has been waging a proxy war in Kashmir since 1998 and had been using the religious sentiment of the Kashmiri people, adding that slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was also part of that war.
Sandeep Mawa is a Kashmiri Pandit married to a Kashmiri Muslim, intent upon spreading the message of love and Kashmiriyat through his campaign. He wants to hug Assaduddin Owaisi, Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi and do a pau lago to Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi.
Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday ruled out exclusive colonies for Kashmiri migrant Pandits but said it would consider any alternative plan, even from separatist groups, to rehabilitate the minority community in the Valley.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the Centre's "callous policies" have led to target killings of Kashmiri Pandits.
Article 370 is not as crude as some of the openly propagandist films made in recent times. It could at least open up a discussion on what is to be done to heal the wounds of the people of Kashmir, which years of shrieking TV debaters could not do, feels Deepa Gahlot.
UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi praised the courage and spirit of Kashmiri women who had "been through the worst during the violence in the state."
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday lifted the ban on SMS on the prepaid mobile phone services in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday criticised Uttar Pradesh government for withdrawing sedition charges against Kashmiri students studying at a private university, saying the Samajwadi Party government is only bothered about its vote bank.
The Kashmir Files has done a commendable job in highlighting the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, but has dealt only with the local factors. The cover-up has multiple reasons and it is time that a debate is begun to unmask the culprits who hid the truth, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
As tensions grow between India and Pakistan, anti-India terrorist groups plan to intensify their operations against Kashmiri Pandits to seek local support of homegrown militants in Kashmir.
Kashmiris thronged the markets on Sunday to shop for the festival of Eid, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramazan at the end of this week. Today was the last day of normalcy in the valley, as separatist leaders have called for a three-day shutdown from Monday. Hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who draws up the protest calendars, has called for a 'Quit Kashmir Campaign'.
Security agencies made a quick estimate of passports issued between 2015 and 2019, and found that out of the 40 youth who had gone to Bangladesh or Pakistan for studies, 28 had infiltrated back into the country as trained terrorists, the officials said.
Kashmir witnessed a second day of a complete shutdown on Monday as the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing in petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A. The petition in the case has been filed by a Delhi-based NGO, We the Citizens, saying the state's autonomous status granted by Article 35(A) and Article 370 of the Constitution discriminate against fellow citizens from the rest of the country.
The Kashmiri Pandit family that braved peak militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s to stay put in the Valley was forced to migrate to Jammu after terrorists killed its breadwinner Sanjay Sharma.
The chief said that the reason for the fall is because of the combined efforts of NIA, state police and security forces.
'...One of the biggest human tragedies and still not acknowledged the atrocities this community had to go through!'
'There is a problem with the rise of a popular view that sees Kashmir through the prism of the larger, chronic Hindu-Muslim tensions.' 'By redefining the Kashmir problem simplistically in Hindu-Muslim terms could end up keeping Kashmir but losing most Kashmiris,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on a two-day visit later in the day, official sources said.
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