The issue came up at the quarterly meeting of the standing committee on Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanwapi security in Varanasi on Wedmesday.
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.
Geelani, who was a member of banned Jamaat-e-Islami and chairman of hardline Hurriyat Conference, had been suffering from various ailments for nearly last two decades.
The Pandits said they have heaved a sigh of relief on reaching their township at Jagti in the outskirts of Jammu after spending sleepless nights in their rented accommodations in the Kashmir over the past few weeks.
'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.'
'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
'Article 370 offered very important protections that were related to people's day to day lives.'
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.
'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.'
In the pre-scheduled meeting, the home minister reviewed the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory and steps taken to deal with the Pakistan-backed terrorists and maintain peace.
'It's a matter of great pride that no student of Army Goodwill Schools has ever joined terrorism.'
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.
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.
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."
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.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra on Parinda.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday lifted the ban on SMS on the prepaid mobile phone services in the state.
'My mother feels it will be tough and emotional for her to enter an assembly which has essentially been reduced to a municipality now.' 'My opinion is that even if it is a municipality one cannot cede that space to the BJP.'
Braving sub-zero temperatures, hundreds of locals and tourists thronged the iconic Ghanta Ghar at Lal Chowk on New Year's eve in Srinagar.
A group photo taken at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Jaipur ahead of Tuesday's legislature party meeting showed Bhajan Lal Sharma in the very last row.
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.
'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.'
'The ISI wanted to create internal disruption in the Valley by the killing of the security forces.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday blamed India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's "two major blunders" -- declaring a ceasefire without winning the entire Kashmir and taking the issue to the United Nations -- for the sufferings of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Ram Sagar were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists while they were asleep in their rented accommodation in Shopian.
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'.
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.
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.
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 chief said that the reason for the fall is because of the combined efforts of NIA, state police and security forces.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the Centre's "callous policies" have led to target killings of Kashmiri Pandits.
'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.
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.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on a two-day visit later in the day, official sources said.
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.
'Engagement should never stop.' 'Reassure Kashmiris that they will be treated at par with the rest of India.' 'The peace you crave will be peace with honour.' 'Your special status will not be tinkered with.'
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