Briefing reporters after the nearly two-hour meeting, Abdullah said the leaders decided to formalise the alliance, that has been named 'Peoples' Alliance for Gupkar Declaration'.
"I am free... Hope others political leaders would be released soon. Thank all parliamentarians who fought for my freedom. Will be able to take decision on future only after other leaders are released," Abdullah, the Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, told reporters from the terrace of his residence in Srinagar.
Three-time chief minister Farooq Abdullah is under house arrest at his Gupkar Road residence while his son Omar is confined to Hari Niwas, a state guesthouse-turned into a jail, barely 500 metres away. Mehbooba is in detention in a hut at Chashmeshahi near the governor's residence Raj Bhavan.
Dozens of vehicles, with the tricolor hoisted on each of them, were part of the rally which passed through Gupkar Road and the activists raised slogans outside the residences of National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti there.
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 protesting families were on a sit-in since Wednesday morning and held a candlelight vigil after the daylong protest.
But why should India be talking to the Taliban in the first place? There is no love lost there. India will never forget or forgive the humiliation to which the Taliban subjected it in the IC-814 hijack, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The security forces, however, reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
'Our fight is not against the country but against the BJP and its ideology. The BJP is not the country and vice versa'
"We have not accepted any new condition from the PDP," said Madhav, the party's pointsman in the state.
Abdullah, who turned 50 on March 10, had spent 232 days in custody since the government announced abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state on August 5 last year.
Mehbooba flagged-off the fortnightly train ride for children from Banihal to Baramulla on Sunday morning, an official spokesman said.
'This election was the first opportunity where Kashmiris told the world they do not agree with the Centre's policies and are unhappy about their disempowerment.'
'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.'
As trends show a resounding victory for Mamata Banerjee and her party the Trinamool Congress in the state of West Bengal, opposition leaders have begun congratulating 'Didi' for her strong show in the polls.
'Respect the pledges you have made to the people of Kashmir.' 'Jammu and Kashmir is not like any other state of the country.'
'You cannot achieve peace if your objective is not to make political accommodations,' notes Dr Nyla Ali Khan, Sheikh Abdullah's grand-daughter, Dr Farooq Abdullah's niece and Omar Abdullah's cousin.
Surya accused Owaisi of speaking the language of "rabid Islamism, separatism, and extremism" saying that this was also used by Jinnah.
The NCW has written to the Delhi Police to expedite its action in the case against the 'Bulli Bai' app, floated for trolling and harassing the victims, to ensure that such crimes do not recur.
The Delhi police on Sunday registered a case based on a complaint filed by a woman journalist alleging that she was being targetted by an unidentified group of people on a mobile application named 'Bulli Bai' created on GitHub platform.
Sukanya Verma presents another round of our fun and filmi Bollywood quiz for you.
Omar urged everyone who came in contact with his father recently to get tested.
The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar was elected chairman of the PAGD after the first meeting of the amalgam at the residence of Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti.
"If we (the Kashmiris) don't talk about it (dialogue), who will? Not a Bihari, not a Punjabi," she said.
His father Somappa Rayappa Bommai was the state chief minister during 1988-1989.
60-year-old Mehbooba Mufti had been under preventive detention since August 5 last year, when the Centre announced abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution granting a special status and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two union territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
'It is an uncomfortable situation for a woman.' 'She has been on her own, separated from family.' 'That is the point of isolating her -- breaking her to a point where she bends to their will.'
Earlier, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma called Kashmir the pride of the nation and appealed to all stakeholders to invest in the tourism sector in the state.
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.
Government formation in Jammu and Kashmir could be delayed as both the BJP and PDP want more time from Governor N N Vohra when they meet him on Tuesday evening.
'With the abrogation of Article 370, the Constitutional integration of Kashmir is complete, but whether there has been emotional integration of the Kashmir Valley is a question mark.'
>All old signposts have been uprooted and milestones bulldozed. New ones have yet to emerge. The old order stands degraded in the new landscape whose contours are indistinct, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
With the sacking of the grandson, Anees-ul-Islam, and the teacher, Farooq Ahmed Butt, the total number of employees dismissed in the last six months has gone up to 27.
According to separate orders issued by the Home Department of the Union Territory, the PSA against Faesal, who was a 2010-batch IAS officer, Sartaj Madani, uncle of Mufti, and Peer Mansoor, her political advisor during her tenure as chief minister, was revoked 'with immediate effect'.
Faesal, who has been under detention after scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir's special status, was booked under the PSA on Friday night, according to the sources.
As many as 22 fire tenders along with pumps were dispatched to the spot immediately to douse the flames.
In a post meeting chat with rediff.com's Sahim Salim, Mufti talked about the deteriorating situation in Kashmir and 'how the only way forward is to reach a consensus between opposing factions in the Valley.'
PDP patron Mehbooba Mufti staked claim to form a government with the support of the Congress and the National Conference, while People's Conference leader Sajad Lone also staked claim to form the government with the help of the 25-member BJP.
'First they will say Kashmiris are not good enough to be Indians, then it will be Muslims are not good enough to be Indians, then they will start a conflict within Hindus that Dalits are not Indians'
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