The state government is just a puppet of New Delhi, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hardline leader of the Hurriyat Conference (G), tells Saubhadra Chatterji.
'We have lots of expectations from Omar Abdullah. He is dynamic, very sharp, intelligent and has the zeal to work for the people. He has a fire in him and he wants to do something concrete for the people. Besides, he is soft-spoken, not arrogant and has tonnes of patience,' says Abdul Rahim Rather
The anger of the youth might have been pacified initially if the governments at Srinagar and New Delhi had shown some understanding of the anger and initiated measures to defuse it, writes B Raman
Three blasts rocked Srinagar on Saturday, including one near the civil secretariat, which left five people injured. The high security civil secretariat in Srinagar houses the offices of the chief minister, senior ministers and top bureaucrats of Jammu & Kashmir.
India and Pakistan will hold a flag meeting at the Brigade Commander level at Chakan De Bagh crossing in the Poonch district on Monday to address the issue of ceasefire violations on the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir.
"Hurriyat has nothing to do with this meaningless exercise and will ask the people to stay away from it as well," Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the separatist amalgam's moderate faction, said after the Election Commission announced the seven-phased poll schedule for the border state.
This may leave those not opting for any of the two options offered by the Centre before the GST Council meet scheduled for October 5 in the lurch. It is clear from the present situation that these states will have to wait till June 2022 to get their compensation, subject to the council extending the cess collection period beyond June 30, 2022.
Varun Gandhi has been gaoled for reportedly making provocative statements. Would any ministry, ever dare apply the same draconian laws against the Hurriyat Conference chairman?
One militant was killed in an encounter while three others remained holed up in the border area of Mendhar in Poonch district in Jammu & Kashmir, after their infiltration bid was foiled by security forces on Wednesday. A joint team of the Army and state police launched combing operations in Chajla area of Mendhar, soon after receiving inputs that a group of four militants had sneaked into the Indian side from across the Line of Control.
Finance Minster Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget Speech in Parliament on Friday proposed to increase the Plan outlay for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy by 61% from Rs 620 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 1000 crore in 2010-11.
The election is scheduled for February 13. Their names have reportedly been cleared by the coalition government of the NC and the Congress.
In a word of advice to Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, state Congress chief Saifuddin Soz on Tuesday said the National Conference leader should "not get emotional" over the allegation of him being involved in a sex scandal and press for his resignation.
Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya on Friday made an urgent application before the UK High Court seeking access to millions of pounds to cover his living expenses and legal fees from funds held with the Court Funds Office as part of bankruptcy proceedings, initiated by a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India. Deputy Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Robert Schaffer declined to allow a draw down from the court-held funds of an estimated amount of around 1.5 million pounds, accrued from the sale of Mallya's French luxury property Le Grand Jardin earlier this year, until further arguments in the case. However, he did allow the release of 240,000 pounds plus VAT to cover the legal costs of a substantive hearing in the bankruptcy proceedings scheduled for next Friday.
Folk artist from Chhattisgarh Teejan Bai, Guelleh, Naik and theatre actor from Maharashtra Balwant Moreshwar Purandare will be honoured with Padma Vibushan.
The bank has made a budgetary provision of Rs 50-60 crore for the proposed 100 branches. Of these, 50 per cent would be in the northern region. According to B K Mahajan, general manager-HRM, "The Chandigarh region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir registered a business of Rs 1,904 crore as on March 31, 2009. Of this, deposits stood at Rs 600 crore and advances Rs 1,304 crore."
All senior state bureaucrats accompanying Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on the state aircraft will henceforth be subjected to personal and luggage frisking as part of the sped up drill regarding Azad's security.
India should not remain content with merely taking up this issue at the diplomatic level with China. There is a need for concrete action to express our displeasure over the insidious Chinese practice.
Security expert B Raman on the encounter in Kupwara.
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.
The Mumbai attack of November 2008 was the first act of mass casualty terrorism by jihadi terrorists against innocent civilians using hand-held weapons. The previous two acts of mass casualty terrorism with fatalities of more than 150 were carried out with timed IEDs -- in March 1993 and in July 2006, both in Mumbai, says B Raman
The Congress is allowing successes in Delhi, Rajasthan, and (to an extent) J&K to blind its national alienation as seen in Karnataka.
Although there were several incidents outside J&K, the trend of bringing terror into the other parts of the country started with the July 11, 2006, train bombings in Mumbai.
Polls for assembly constitutencies will begin with the first phase beginning on November 17 and the seventh and last phase of election on December 24.
India also asked Pakistani authorities to investigate such heinous acts
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Monday met Kashmir separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and briefed him about the issues discussed between India and Pakistan during Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar's visit to Islamabad.
An earthquake of mild intensity hit Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and some other parts of north India in the early hours of Saturday morning. Noida received three severe jolts, according to the residents of the commercial city of Uttar Pradesh. Other places from where reports of tremors were felt forcing people to come out of their houses included Faridabad in Haryana, Chandigarh, Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir and some other places in the north.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The Amarnath row had been solved after an accord was signed.
Bashir Ahmed Mir, the chief operational commander of the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami, was killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. According to the police, Mir was the mastermind behind the Uttar Pradesh serial court blasts.
A British court on Monday granted a bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya, paving the way for a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to pursue a worldwide freezing order to seek repayment of debt owed by the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. "As at 15.42 [UK time], I shall adjudicate Dr Mallya bankrupt," Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs said in his ruling during a virtual hearing of the Chancery Division of the high court. "I have to decide if there is a real prospect of payment of petition debt in full within a reasonable period of time... there is insufficient evidence that [Mallya's asset realisations in India] will pay the debt in full within a reasonable period of time," Judge Briggs noted, in reference to defence arguments pointing to a restoration process in India following a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court order for the attachment of Mallya's assets.
In a major move to push tourism in the hill states and counter Chinese expansion in the Tibetan region, the Railways ministry has prepared a blueprint to set up an ambitious 480 kilometre Manali - Leh railway line link criss-crossing the treacherous mountains in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire twice by firing and shelling on forward posts along the Line of Control in two sectors of Poonch district, drawing retaliation from Indian troops on Wednesday.
A divided Pakistan, a bleeding Pakistan, a Pakistan ever on the verge of collapse without actually collapsing -- that should be our objective till it stops using terrorism against India.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
'What led to the present crisis was an action taken by my government in good faith. Nobody realised then that things would come to such a stage. I feel that had it not been for the coming elections in the state, the cabinet decision (to allot land to the Amarnath shrine board) would not have been even noticed. It was the timing of the decision that resulted in a bad situation,' says Azad.
A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved a step closer in their attempt to recover debt from loans paid out to Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the high court in London upheld an application to amend their bankruptcy petition, in favour of waiving their security over the embattled businessman's assets in India. Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs handed down his judgment in favour of the banks to declare there is no public policy that prevents a waiver of security rights, as argued by Mallya's lawyers. At a virtual hearing, July 26 was set as the date for final arguments for and against granting a bankruptcy order against the 65-year-old Mallya after the banks accused him of trying to "kick matters into the long grass" and called on the "bankruptcy petition to be brought to its inevitable end".
"I agree that insurgency situation in worse in Assam than that in J&K. That is obvious from the greater number of insurgent groups operating in Assam compared to those in J&K. Still, Assam has progressed despite the prevailing insurgency. The people of the state are no longer much bothered about militancy and have become adept to carry on with their daily life and jobs putting up a brave front against militants," Gogoi said.
General Bajwa, unlike many of his predecessors, believes the Pakistan army's long-term interests lie in reducing tensions with India, reports Ajai Shukla.