Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday made a fresh appeal to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to help the government in restoring normalcy and said he will fight politically and administratively forces hell bent on disturbing peace.
People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti reacted sharply when asked if there was any truth in the allegation that her party has been providing money to some Kashmiris to stage-manage the ongoing violence in the valley.
With the state on the boil following a series of killings during clashes between protesters and security forces, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today met Governor N N Vohra and discussed the prevailing security situation.
The home minister's visit comes days after he praised state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his firm handling of the situation in the run up to the Republic Day
In a goodwill gesture, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah spoke to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitely and invited party members, who were arrested for trying to enter the state, to attend the Republic Day function either in Jammu or in Srinagar.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is making constant efforts to bring back Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley as without them, Kashmir is incomplete, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday.
India's charismatic baba brigade and Bollywood stars walk home with the honours.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said the inquiry into the alleged custodial killing of a Sopore youth will be completed "in days" but the government will not act in haste as that can compromise with the case.
Rejecting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's warning, the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said no one could stop them from hoisting the national flag at Srinagar's Lal Chowk on Republic Day.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday made it clear that he will complete his full term of five years, as per the agreement between the top leaders of the National Conference and the Congress.Addressing a media conference in Jammu, the CM said, "I, as the then president of National Conference and Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress, discussed the issue threadbare and made it clear that there will be no rotational chief minister."
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday distanced himself from the WikiLeaks cable emanating from the United States embassy in Delhi relating to alleged human rights violations in Kashmir in 2005 and indirectly blamed the then government led by opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
The boy, identified as Nihan Yawar, a resident of neighbouring Kulgam district, was travelling with his father for some personal work when he was hit by bullets fired by the terrorist at Padshahi Bagh bridge in Anantnag's Bijbehara area.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday deplored the attacks on moderate Huriryat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq saying it was against the democratic traditions of the country.
After 11 days of strike that crippled the state machinery in Jammu and Kashmir, two government employee unions on Wednesday called off the stir as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah assured them to fulfil their demands within three months.
Normal life was affected in Jammu on Saturday due to a three-hour 'chakka jam' called by Bharatiya Janata Party protesting the surrender policy for youths who went to PoK for arms training and demanding that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah withdraw his statement on accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India.
The announcement brought some relief to the state government, which has been reeling under the consequences of the strike by its 4.5 lakh employees for the past eleven days.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday said the name of Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah never figured in the 2006 sex scandal case in which two ministers of the then Peoples Democratic Party regime were arrested.
For the second time in a week, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday asserted that he would complete the full six-year term.
India and Pakistan's decision to carry on with the dialogue process drew mixed response in Kashmir on Friday with mainstream parties welcoming it and separatists insisting that the Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting was "inconclusive" without the participation of Kashmiris.
Welcoming United States President Barack Obama's comments on Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said that time had come for Pakistan and separatists in the state to "look inwards" for a solution rather than expect the US to "do their job for them."
As far as security situation is concerned, there has been improvement in past two years and the state saw a 30 per cent decline in terrorists-related incidents, he said.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah has said his government would not curtail the two-month-long annual Amarnath yatra scheduled to begin in June this year.Hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has sought curtailment of the yatra period for what he called 'the preservation of ecology in the Kashmir Himalayas'.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday backed Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani had attacked the CM without getting the "real context" of the remarks made by him on the issue of the state's accession to India.
Krishna, during an interaction with a group of journalists, noted that like in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the maharaja of Mysore had also signed an accession treaty "and I am a citizen of Mysore"
A war of words has broken out between ruling National Conference and Opposition People's Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir over posting of pictures on a networking site, caricaturing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, his father Farooq Abdullah and late grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah as characters of the film 3 Idiots.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA was on Thursday wounded as the in-session Jammu and Kashmir assembly witnessed pandemonium over the speech of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the House on Wednesday.
Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday started the process of removing 16 security bunkers from Srinagar city as part of the Centre's peace initiatives to reach out to the people of the Valley.
Asserting that Pakistan cannot dictate terms to India for resuming bilateral dialogue, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said Islamabad must address India's concerns about taking concrete action against those behind the Mumbai attacks.
Justifying his demand for the policy during the CMs' meet in New Delhi, Abdullah said: "A pragmatic policy to this effect is the need of the hour. The state government had proposed it after taking into consideration all pros and cons so that it is not misused at any level". He said the Centre and the state governments should work out the policy in a manner without hampering the national interests at any level but pave way for the militants to return to normal life.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had a miraculous escape on Tuesday night when the engine of his official vehicle caught fire filling the entire jeep with smoke.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday sought to distance itself from the controversy about the Centre's decision to award the Padma Shri to Ghulam Mohammed Mir, a former militant.As a controversy raged over the selection of a former militant for the prestigious award, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, "I am not aware of the state government making any recommendations. There is unfortunately a lot of controversy over this year's award".
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently ruled out the possibility of his resignation and expressed hope that the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers would be withdrawn from the entire state.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has not threatened to resign over the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state. Reacting to a rediff.com report -- that quoted sources as saying that Abdullah had threatened to resign over the all-party meeting on Kashmir on Wednesday -- the CM's office got in touch with this correspondent.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has threatened to resign in the wake of the government's decision to call an all party meeting on Wednesday on the issue of repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the valley. "I will have to think whether to continue as chief minister of the state or not. Let my party president Dr Farooq Abdullah return and we will discuss the situation," Omar said.
On the eve of the crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Kashmir, The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the removal of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, saying his government has "completely collapsed" and warned that any dilution of AFSPA would only allow the separatists and miscreants to call the shots.
The repoll will be held on April 13.
Union Defence Minister A K Antony is learnt to have disapproved of the proposal mooted by J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in four districts in Jammu and Kashmir as it would affect the confidence of the armed forces, which were already managing in very difficult circumstances.
Ahead of a crucial meeting of the Centre on Kashmir, state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony to seek their support on the partial withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state. Sources said Omar had met Mukherjee late on Wednesday night at the latter's residence for about half-an-hour, during which the chief minister presented his case for withdrawal of the AFSPA.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah refused to term the latest militancy incident at Lal Chowk as a suicide attack saying it was just a confrontation between the security forces and militants on the run.
Abdul Jan, the suspended policeman, who had flung a shoe towards Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the Independence Day, resigned from service on Wednesday. "I have quit the job of police", Jan told mediapersons on reaching home in Ajas-Bandipora, 40 km from Srinagar, in North Kashmir.