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CM errs on history of Ganderbal, deletes tweet
Irregular train service in Valley irks commuters
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Stone-throwing incidents in Rajouri create tension
Anantnag Sikhs demand justice for 1984 riot victims
Sikh body dismayed by Heptullah’s statement
Counter-terror grid for Assembly polls
Mehbooba takes dig at Omar for not choosing family’s traditional bastion
Ganderbal constituency loses appeal after being ‘deserted’ by Abdullahs
NC welcomes SC notice to EC on election code
4 Lashkar militants arrested in Sopore
Congress leader RS Pathania joins BJP
Cong rebel from Nubra to contest as Independent
Inter-group clash in Budgam
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CM errs on history of Ganderbal, deletes tweet
Srinagar, November 1 The Chief Minister erred by saying that Jabbar’s father Sheikh Abdul Jabbar had stepped down as “MLA Ganderbal” to allow Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah to contest “almost 40 years ago”. “I have nominated his son to contest on a NC ticket. With this, a decades’ old debt is finally settled,” Omar wrote in a two-part tweet, which he later deleted. Omar’s excuse for dumping Ganderbal to contest from two other low-key constituencies was grossly mistaken as it was Mohammad Maqbool Bhat, a legislator from Ganderbal from 1967 and 1972, who had stepped out of fray to allow Omar’s grandfather to contest in 1977. Sheikh Abdul Jabbar, who was killed by militants in early 1990s, was instead elected from Kangan in 1983 and had later joined a rebel faction of the party, headed by Omar’s close relative Ghulam Mohammad Shah, against Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah. Omar said he had “decided” against contesting from Ganderbal “two years ago”. “Having decided two years ago that I wouldn’t seek reelection from Ganderbal I’ve continued to work for the constituency and will always do so,” the Chief Minister said. Ganderbal has been a stronghold of the Abdullah family and it is for the first time since 1977 that no Abdullah has been contesting from this seat. Omar’s grandfather had chosen Ganderbal as his first turf in 1977 when he entered the mainstream politics after remaining incarcerated for 22 years. Since then, the Ganderbal was represented by Omar’s father in 1983, 1987 and 1996 and by Omar in 2008. Omar had lost his first attempt to enter the state Legislative Assembly in 2002 when he lost Ganderbal to the opposition PDP candidate. Factual error
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Irregular train service in Valley irks commuters
Anantnag, November 1 Some of the commuters also held a protest at the Nowgam Railway Station in Srinagar earlier this week against irregular train services. The Railways infrastructure in the Valley suffered heavy losses during the floods in September. The train services came to a screeching halt on September 7 as railway tracks and other infrastructure was damaged at many places, particularly in south Kashmir. “We did the repairs on a war-footing basis,” said a senior Railways official at the Baramulla control room. Commuters, however, are now having a hard time as the trains are getting delayed on a regular basis. Moreover, the commuters say the train services have got slower, with journeys taking double the time they took before the floods. “The highway is damaged and the trains are getting delayed. It’s becoming a nightmare to travel in Kashmir,” said Imran Majeed, a commuter from Anantnag. Railways officials, however, maintain that apart from a couple of glitches, delaying the trains, the service had been smooth since the resumption of the trains after the floods. “There were some minor issues with the railway tracks, which were causing delay. However, all trains are arriving and departing well in time,” said a Railways official.
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Stone-throwing incidents in Rajouri create tension
Rajouri, November 1 Some unidentified miscreants twice threw stones at city chowk from adjoining lanes, causing minor losses to the glass front of a medical shop. The matter was taken up with the police and senior officers, including the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Deputy Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, and the Station House Officer. They visited the spot and assured the locals and shopkeepers that those throwing stones would be behind the bars soon. The police have been so far been clueless about
the persons involved in stone-throwing. Around 8 pm on Friday, some persons threw glass bottles in the same locality, creating tension. A vegetable vendor and two policemen on duty had a narrow escape. “Had the bottle hit any one of the persons, they would have been seriously injured,” said Pushpinder Gupta, a shopkeeper. After the incident, tension started brewing up in the old city. To instill confidence in the residents and seek their suggestions, SSP Haseeb Mughal directed Additional SP Jatender Singh to hold a meeting with the prominent citizens of the town. The meeting was held at the police post in the
city today. After a detailed discussion on the issue, it was resolved that a joint team of some youths from both communities, Civil Defence activists and police personnel will patrol the area to identify the miscreants. Some senior citizens suggested to monitor the
suspicious activities of some unidentified persons/youths in the city. Shopkeepers also suggested that from 5 pm to 10 pm, there should be no power curtailment as the miscreants have struck thrice during power outage ASP Jatender Singh and DSP Hamid Choudhry expressed their gratitude to the prominent citizens for extending their cooperation to apprehend the miscreants. Around 150 security personnel have been deployed in the area. Meanwhile, one more incident was reported this evening in the area, in which a brick was hurled in the City Chowk. |
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Anantnag Sikhs demand justice for 1984 riot victims
Anantnag, November 1 “It’s ironic that exactly 30 years after the massacre the killers still roam freely and the families of the victims continue to mourn in silence,” said Rajinder Singh, who led the protest rally. The rally culminated outside the Anantnag Deputy Commissioner’s office, where protestors raised anti-Congress
slogans. They also said besides killing the members of the Sikh community in cold blood, the rioters also torched various religious places of the community. The members said not only should the families be duly compensated but their kin should be
provided government jobs and reservation in education. |
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Sikh body dismayed by Heptullah’s statement
Srinagar, November 1 Chairman of the association Jagmohan Singh Raina said the statement by the Union Minister regarding the minority status to the Pandit community was a departure from the policy of the Government of India as far as providing such status to communities living in India was concerned. Raina also alleged that during her recent visit to Kashmir Heptullah did not bother to meet the members of Sikh community. “In her first visit (to Kashmir), the minister hesitated to meet the minority Sikh leaders of Jammu and Kashmir. She did not listen to the genuine demands of the community, more so with respect to granting minority status to them,” he said. “The new formula of pleasing a particular community of the state by providing them minority status by the state and the Central governments will not be tolerated,” Raina added. He said the Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists have already been notified as minorities under Constitutional ambit by the National Commission for Minorities and added that any dilution in this regard would
prove detrimental to the interests of both the Central and the state governments. The Sikh leader also expressed surprise over the statement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that the state government was in constant touch with the Centre for the grant of scheduled Tribe status to the Paharis living in Jammu and Kashmir. |
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Counter-terror grid for Assembly polls Srinagar, November 1 Senior police, Army, officials of Central Armed Police Forces, intelligence agencies and civil authorities attended the meeting held at the 15 Corps headquarters. “A comprehensive strategy to respond to situations was discussed in the meeting,” a defence spokesperson said after the meeting. “The members deliberated upon various issues to evolve a comprehensive strategy to respond to the external and internal security challenges. Plans for maintaining a robust counter-infiltration and counter-terrorist grid were discussed,” he said. Addressing the meeting, Lt Gen Saha complimented the members and officials of the core group for synergy among all agencies in addressing security concerns of Kashmir. DGP Rajendera elaborated on key security initiatives that had been put in place to manage the law and order situation in the Valley. Highlighting the counter-terrorist operations conducted in 2014, the defence spokesperson said: “A total of 81 militants were killed in different operations along the LoC and in the hinterland which was higher than the number of militants killed in the previous two years.” ADGP (Armed) SM Sahai, who is also the nodal officer for the Assembly elections, today convened a meeting of the state-level coordination group of the JK Police and the Central paramilitary forces for the smooth conduct of the polls. Security reviewed
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Mehbooba takes dig at Omar for not choosing family’s traditional bastion
Srinagar, November 1 “In the past six years, the Chief Minister did nothing to show to the people. And, that is why he had to run away from a constituency which was represented by his grandfather, father and him. He is now contesting from two seats,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president said. The National Conference (NC) yesterday announced that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would not seek re-election from Ganderbal — a constituency which has been a traditional stronghold of the party, with the Sheikh family always choosing it for their personal contest. Instead, Omar will contest from Sonwar in Srinagar district and Beerwah in Budgam district. Mehbooba said the ruling NC-led government had failed in the last six years. “The way this government handled the recent floods showed its failure. An expert report was given to the government about the floods but they took no steps to dredge the Jhelum,” she said, adding that the ruling party is more interested in opting for back-door appointments in various departments. “The government has been invisible all these years,” she said. Meanwhile, Congress leader Abdul Gani Dar of Rohmoo in Pulwama and Manzoor Ahmad of Aiyangund in the Rajpora Assembly constituency today joined the PDP. They were welcomed into the party fold by PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Ex-broadcaster is PDP media adviser
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today appointed former broadcaster Nayeema Ahmad Mehjoor as the media adviser of the party. Nayeema had joined the PDP earlier this year. Nayeema worked with the BBC Urdu service before joining politics. She has also worked with Radio Kashmir, Srinagar. |
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Ganderbal constituency loses appeal after being ‘deserted’ by Abdullahs
Srinagar, November 1 Omar’s new choice of constituencies is Sonawar and Beerwah, while the Ganderbal constituency has been left for a non-Abdullah candidate, Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar, for the first time since 1977. Omar, who is also the working president of the National Conference (NC), tried to balance his decision to skip Ganderbal by saying that “every single” constituency of the state is “dear” to him. “For the greater goal of prosperity and dignity of JK, the constituency from which I contest can never be a hurdle for our vision for our state and its people. Ganderbal, Sonwar, Beerwah and every single constituency of JK is equally dear to me and will always receive equal and focused attention from me,” Omar said while addressing party workers at his residence here. Omar said the people of “all regions and sub-regions” of the state were “equally dear to him” and his “sacred mission” was to serve them “sincerely and equitably”. The Chief Minister, who addressed a gathering of party activists from the Sonwar and Beerwah constituencies, from where he will contest the upcoming election, said his party had been the “courageous and honest” voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Omar said, “History bears testimony to the fact that the National Conference has withstood numerous challenges and political intrigues in the past and has never ceased to represent the aspirations of the people above and beyond partisan and self-seeking politics,” Omar said. |
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NC welcomes SC notice to EC on election code
Srinagar, November 1 “The National Conference had appealed to the ECI a few days ago about the need to relax those regulations that are believed to be affecting the rehabilitation of the flood victims in the state,” party spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu said in a statement. The spokesman said the observations of the Supreme Court vindicated the “moral, principled stand” taken by the party in voicing apprehensions about the “possible debilitating effects” of the electoral process on the rehabilitation process. “This is as clear and unambiguous vindication of our stand as one could expect,” the spokesman said. The NC spokesman said the Supreme Court move was also a “time for the PDP to introspect and tender a public apology” to the people of the state. “The PDP and other parties that pleaded for elections at such a tragic time should introspect and realise that they stand exposed,” Mattu said. |
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4 Lashkar militants arrested in Sopore
Srinagar, November 1 It is the third module of the Lashkar that has been busted by the security forces in Kashmir in the past one week. Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled to go for five-phased Assembly poll from November 25. The spokesperson said: “The module was involved in grenade attacks in Sopore.” The arrested militants have been identified as Majid Gulzar, Nameez Ahmad Yatoo, Tawseef Ahmad Dar and his namesake, all residents of Nowpora. “During the preliminary investigation it was revealed that the module had lobbed grenades on the house of Showkat Ahmad Kar of Nowpora on October 16,” the spokesperson said, adding that the police has registered a case and taken up further investigation. Yesterday, two Lashkar militants were arrested in the Srinagar city while on October 26, the police had claimed to have arrested eight members of the group in the Sopore area thereby averting a major subversion plan of the militants. Terror trail
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Congress leader RS Pathania joins BJP
Jammu, November 1 The joining of the BJP by Pathania is being considered as a big boost for the party because the BJP was looking for a strong candidate to give a fight to Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party stalwart Harsh Dev Singh, who has been representing the Ramnagar Assembly seat since 1996. In the 2008 Assembly elections, Pathania had contested from the Ramnagar seat and had secured nearly 10,000 votes. Recently the Congress had appointed new presidents for some districts. RS Pathania was made working president of Udhampur district, but he was not satisfied with the decision of the party. Pathania’s father Bhupinder Singh was earlier district president of the Udhampur unit of the Congress. Meanwhile, Dr Drakshan Andrabi, president of the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP), merged her party with the BJP. |
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Cong rebel from Nubra to contest as Independent
Leh, November 1 Diskit councilor was one of three contenders for the party ticket from the
segment and his announcement might affect Congress’ chances on the seat. The rebel leader, meanwhile, alleged that
councilors from the Nubra region were against his candidature and said he would strive for
free, fair and issue-based election in the constituency. A multi-cornered contest is on the cards in the Nubra constituency, which is scheduled to go to polls in the first
phase of elections on November 25. The Nubra Assembly segment was created
during the delimitation in 1995. |
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Anantnag, November 1
Srinagar, November 1
