In an ominous development, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has roped in separatist leaders and their sympathisers to make inroads in Naxal ranks in its anti-India strategies after making a failed attempt to enlist the support of the Maoist rebels.
Advocating former Pakistan ruler Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula on Kashmir, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP and eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Saturday said the document should be the basis for a permanent solution to the Kashmir issue and that Musharraf's efforts were "frustrated" by India.
Jammu and Kashmir Police detained over 50 people for alleged involvement in anti-state activities following raids across multiple districts. The crackdown targeted separatist networks, overground workers, and individuals linked to Pakistan-based Kashmiri natives.
In a significant move, Kashmiri separatist leaders on Sunday decided to convene a meeting of all stakeholders on Tuesday to decide the future course of the nearly four-month-long shutdown in the Valley.
Singh said he was confident that peace will be restored in the state and the members had interacted with 30 delegations representing various sections of the society.
The court also castigated the lawyer, who had moved the PIL, for calling Hurriyat Conference leaders "separatists" saying it was a matter of perception.
In a confidential report, the Jammu and Kashmir police has accused moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Shabir Ahmed Shah of having links with Pakistan-based terror group Lashker-e-Tayiba. In the report to the state Home Department, the police have suggested some pro-active measures to curb the anti-national activities of separatist leaders and also slapped the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against pro-Pakistan leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
'The elimination of terrorists does not imply the neutralisation of terrorism. That terrorist ecosystem continues to thrive in Kashmir.'
Police in Jammu and Kashmir and Telangana are investigating claims by three arrested youths from Hyderabad that they were planning to meet separatist leader Asiya Andrabi to join jihadi terror groups even as she dismissed as "fabricated" allegations that she had any links with Islamic State.
A woman doctor arrested in connection with an inter-state terror module was part of Jamaat-ul-Mominaat, an organization launched by Jaish-e-Mohammed, officials said.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party Monday described the meeting between the foreign policy adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz and the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders as a 'welcome revival of the process initiated by the National Democratic Alliance government' and said that 'it should be carried forward in all its dimensions'.
In yet another provocation just days ahead of the Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks, the Pakistan High Commissioner on Thursday said his country extends "full diplomatic and moral support" for what he described as "legitimate struggle" of Kashmiris.
Former separatist leader Bilal Gani Lone criticizes the Hurriyat Conference for its irrelevance and Pakistan for creating problems in Jammu and Kashmir, urging a new approach for the region's future.
The surge in radicalisation has even startled some ex-separatist groups as they are concerned that another religious extremism wave, forced from the other side of the Line of Control, will destabilise the Valley's centuries-old Sufi tradition.
Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and representatives of some Kashmiri separatist groups were on Saturday involved in a war of words outside the UN headquarters.
Apparently trying to dabble in internal rivalry in the Hurriyat, Pakistan has invited hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani as the 'Chairman' of the amalgam along with six other Kashmiri separatist leaders for a meeting in Islamabad later this month.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday gave its consent for jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, to take oath as MP on July 5. Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh will pass an order on the plea on Tuesday.
Sonam Wangchuk is under tight surveillance within the three-tiered prison, with CCTV cameras monitored around the clock.
Terror outfits in Jammu and Kashmir are now constructing elaborately-designed underground bunkers deep inside thick forests and elevated ridges instead of taking shelter in local houses, officials said. This tactical shift, fuelled by eroding local support, presents a new challenge to the Army and other security forces.
Advocate ML Sharma filed the plea and as per the plea, it seeks to stop funding on separatists for foreign travel and the government spends other expenses as more than Rs 100 crore on them.
A court in New Delhi on Tuesday granted two-hour custody parole to Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid to take oath as a Lok Sabha MP on July 5.
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh granted the relief to Rashid, who had moved the court seeking interim bail to campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Jammu and Kashmir unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad termed the invite by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to Kashmiri separatists as "strange and ironical," saying the neighbouring country is playing with the sovereignty of India.
The process for the takeover of the management of the schools began on Saturday morning as officials of district administrations, principals of the respective nearest high and higher secondary schools, accompanied by police teams, reached these schools, the officials said.
'Often people outside paint a wrong picture of us of Kashmiris. We are not like that. We are cool and bindaas,' said the lady, a teacher, caressing my cheeks in the pressing crowds.
An invitation by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to all the Kashmiri separatist leaders "for consultations" in Delhi ahead of Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks has touched off a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party calling it "most unfortunate" and "old tactics".
'...or go to jail.' 'The government is getting them silenced.'
Kashmiri separatists on Monday rejected the suggestion made by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the powerful body of Deobandi clerics, at its Kashmir conference at Deoband that 'the issue should be resolved within the parameters of the Constitution of India.'
Chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq rejected the report saying 'it is wastage of time'.
The prime minister told the cabinet that any dialogue with India without Kashmir issue would be futile.
A dossier submitted to the government accuses, among others, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik of making anti-India statements abroad. The Centre may impound their passports.
Geelani said the present stand of Pakistan was creating 'chaos and confusion' among various groups in Kashmir.
Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah, who was on Thursday manhandled by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing at a press conference in Jammu, has expressed hope that United States President Barack Obama would intervene on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and press both India and Pakistan to hold a dialogue."At least he should facilitate dialogue between the two neighboring countries," Shah said.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Friday urged the Centre 'to make its dialogue process with Kashmiri separatist groups all inconclusive and not to resort to a pick and choose policy.'
Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence sponsors terrorism in Kashmir and it oversees terrorist groups there, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said in the first-ever open acknowledgment by a United States agency that Islamabad is a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism'.
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.
The NIA arrested the three during in-chamber proceedings before Special Judge Rakesh Syal and sought 15-day custodial interrogation.
India on described as "unacceptable" the comments made by OIC-IPHRC criticising New Delhi for the court ruling against Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik.
Singh, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.
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