Arun Sharma

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP feels that apart from the government’s protective measures for the migrant community, their permanent return to their homes in the Valley will be possible only when the local majority community also comes out in their support.

Defending a recent statement by his party president and former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state Dr Farooq Abdullah that films are being used to spread hatred, Omar asked “is it not true?”.

The remaining are compelled to rent quarters outside the secure zones meant for them. They also travel long distances without security, on a daily basis, for work.

The statement assumes significance as it has come when the Supreme Court has agreed to consider listing after summer vacation the petitions challenging Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

This is the second outburst by Omar over communal polarisation in the country.

In Jammu, where Bhat's body was taken for cremation, angry mourners confronted BJP leaders and accused them of making Kashmiri Pandits “sacrificial goats’’ by sending them to Kashmir in the name of the PM’s employment package.

Nearly a dozen Kashmiri Pandits, including three government employees, have been killed by militants since the govermnet in August 2019 moved to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories and abrogated Article 370.

One among the angry mob said, “You have made us sacrificial goats. There is no security for us. The government has totally failed. Have we voted for the BJP to meet this fate?”

'I heard that he has been killed inside the office and if this can happen at a place where security bandobast is in place, then who is safe?' asks Bitta Ji Bhat, father of Rahul Bhat and a retired assistant sub-inspector of police.

This is the third attack on a member of a minority community in the Valley this year.

The first-ever mega rally of this kind was organised by the Jammu Kashmir People’s Forum headed by Romesh Sabbarwal, a prominent RSS activist, at the Padamshri Padma Sachdeva PG College for Women Gandhi Nagar here.

Ex-MLA Harsh Dev Singh, who had met AAP leaders in Delhi last month to discuss details of his switch to the party, had been chairman of JKNPP until April 2021.

“We outrightly reject it,” said PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. She said the Delimitation Commission had “overlooked the basis of population and acted as per their wish... We don’t trust it. Its recommendations are a link to abrogation of Article 370 — how to disempower people of J&K.”

Incidentally, the Delimitation Commission’s final report comes just three days ahead of a scheduled rally of displaced persons from PoJK in Jammu on May 8.

After consultation with associate members, representatives of political parties, citizens and civil society groups, 9 ACs have been reserved for STs, out of which, 6 are in Jammu region and 3 ACs in the Valley.

It was decided to invoke the legal tool of Letters Rogatory to seek information on the three from a Pakistani court as the agency does not expect positive response from Pakistan authorities.

Modi Tells Valley youth: ‘You won’t suffer way your parents did’

According to one of the arrested persons, the slain terrorists spoke in Pashto, the ADGP told reporters here in the evening.

Police say the Jaish-e-Mohammad had sent two militants from Pakistan to carry out suicide attacks ‘big enough’ to sabotage Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sunday visit. Their plot was foiled when the suicide attackers were killed by security forces.

The event is aimed at sending out a signal how the UT is “fast developing and transforming”, highlighting the “vibrancy of democracy at the grassroots” following the scrapping of Article 370 that guaranteed special status to the erstwhile J&K state.

In two other incidents, officials said four suspected militants were killed in a security operation at Baramulla in north Kashmir, and two migrant workers were shot at by suspected militants on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Leading investors from the UAE will be present at the event in Palli village on Sunday, says official.

The sleepy village of over 450 houses in the border district of Samba is embracing solar chulhas and electric bus rides, besides preparing to welcome a steady supply of solar energy and improve its wastewater management practices in a bid to become J&K’s first carbon-neutral panchayat.

In connection with the construction of an alleged illegal bungalow by Nirmal Singh and his wife Mamta Singh, Shakeel had on September 21, 2020, filed a complaint with the CBI, seeking registration of an FIR under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act-1988 and the IPC against them.