In a memorandum submitted to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey, the 21 opposition MPs who signed the document demanded urgent rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected people to bring peace and harmony to the state.
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
A group of Kashmiri Pandit employees, who were given jobs under a prime minister's package for the community, on Wednesday began preparations for "mass migration" out of Kashmir, protesting against a series of targeted killings of non-Muslim employees by terrorists.
She said the encounter in Jammu's Sidhra area in the morning, where four terrorists were killed, belied the government claims of uprooting terrorism in J and K.
'I had emphasised this during our meeting with the PM.' 'Given our location, I had warned that there is a sensitivity involved as this is a frontier state.' 'The atmosphere around us is not conducive. But who listens?'
Terming the killing a "cowardly act", the protesters said assurances given by the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure the safety of minorities in the Valley have proved to be false.
"The incidents of targeting civilians in Kashmir since a few days are barbaric. Innocent people who are working for the society and have nothing to do with anyone are being targeted," the police chief said.
The meeting came after terrorists carried out a series of targeted killings in the Kashmir Valley that include non-Muslims, security personnel, an artist and local civilians.
Pakistan must be deleted once and for all from the vocabulary of Kashmir-related negotiations with a finality that is irrevocable, asserts Vivek Gumaste.
Rajni Bala, a government school teacher who was killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, was cremated in Samba on Wednesday, amid an outpouring of grief and anger.
Protests against the killing of a Hindu school teacher in Kulgam continued to rock several parts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir on the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
"We are fully alert to the threats as conspiracies being hatched from across the border are being foiled on a daily basis by police and other security agencies," Singh told reporters after unveiling a wall dedicated to police personnel who died fighting terrorism in Reasi district.
Raising slogans against Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and the administration, the demonstrators, mostly government employees posted in the troubled valley and their kin, demanded that they be provided adequate security or be transferred to Jammu. The employees also threatened en masse resignation from their jobs.
'The ISI wanted to create internal disruption in the Valley by the killing of the security forces.'
'Ladakh too is politically paralysed and in limbo, as Rafale jets roar above Leh and Israeli arms dealers prowl the town.'
A delegation of 21 Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc MPs will pay a two-day visit to Manipur beginning Saturday to assess the ground situation first-hand and then make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to the problems in the violence-hit state.
'The relationship between Kashmiri Pandits and Article 370 is vexed.' 'Sentiment in Jammu towards Article 370 was largely unfavourable and Jammu resented being lumped with Kashmir and placed on a different footing from the rest of India.'
While a verified Twitter handle of the Information and Public Relations department of Shopian claimed that the news about leaving of 'Kashmiri non-migrant Hindu population' was 'baseless', Ashwani Kumar Bhat, whose brother Puran Krishan Bhat was gunned down by terrorists on October 16, told reporters in Jammu that he has migrated and will never return to the Valley.
The best, wisest, and fairest next step in strengthening our own cause is to restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir and allow the resumption of robust political activity. That's a box that remains unchecked on the Modi government's report card as we approach the fourth anniversary of Kashmir's Constitutional shift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said that a police case has been filed on the basis of a complaint against the president and three members of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) for a report critiquing media coverage out of Manipur, and accused them of trying to "provoke clashes" in the state.
Gandhi, who met a cross section of people from Jammu and Kashmir during his yatra, said J-K has the highest level of unemployment in the country.
Amidst Covid scare, hundreds of pilgrims paid obeisance at the famous Ragnya Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Friday for the annual Kheer Bhawani mela, praying for peace in the union territory and for the pandemic to end.
For the most battle-hardened, specialised and successful counter-insurgency army in the world, this is an unfamiliar, first-time experience of dealing with the north east's deepest complexities, observes Shekhar Gupta.
If the government is able to deliver the promised projects, the large number of youth will be taken off the streets and that is not acceptable to the Pakistan army nor the terrorists hiding in Pakistan, notes Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
The killing of two Muslim girls at Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday at the hands of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Tayiba militants has shocked the world. The Lashkar, which normally claims that it does not target civilians, has acted in the most barbaric fashion this time and there are reasons galore which are being put up for this inhuman act.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held three back-to-back meetings with top officials of the security establishment to assess the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir, including the recent killings of civilians, as well as reviewed arrangements for the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra for which the UT administration will provide RFID tags to every pilgrim.
'Everyone knows Pakistan is doing it.' 'But what are we doing? We should not incite more violence.'
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'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
Restoration of peace and the normal routine of daily life, compared to the past, stands out as its most significant achievement, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs, four years after the abrogation of Article 370.
Over 2 million Muslims, including 136,000 Indians, will begin Haj when they assemble in the valley of Mina as Saudi authorities said preparations have been completed for the world's largest annual gathering after the city underwent a multi-billion overhaul.
China in a provocative move fielded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander of the (PLA), who was injured during the June 2020 clash in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, as a torchbearer for the Olympics Games Torch Relay, which led India to diplomatically boycott the opening ceremony of the games on Friday.
'Aurangzeb, who had destroyed the Hindu temples of Mathura and Kashi and many others in the north, was a very different ruler when he came to Maharashtra.' 'He did not touch a single temple in Maharashtra.' 'It was possibly the greatest triumph of Shivaji's statesmanship,' notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), the well known military historian.
'Ram Sene or Bajrang Dal were supposed to be fringe elements, but with the BJP in power, they have become mainstream elements.' 'The government is either keeping quiet or indirectly supporting them.'
There are about 1,300 Kashmiri students studying at the AMU currently.
He said 90 IS sympathisers had been arrested across the country.
Mubashir Azad, the son of Azad's youngest brother, also said his uncle was "disrespected" by the Congress leadership which hurt him.
'Everyone is entitled to their opinion because we live in a country like India and not a place where Shalini is taken, where forget having an opinion, women can't even talk to their family on the phone.'
A bank employee from Rajasthan was shot dead on Thursday by terrorists in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
As of now, Azad couldn't be in the BJP leadership's calculus. The BJP has been trying to drill into the J&K electorate that this time around the UT would most certainly have a Hindu chief minister, explains Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
