[🇮🇳] Jammu & Kashmir

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National Conference-Congress alliance back to power in Jammu and Kashmir

BJP wins third successive term in Haryana

www.thedailystar.net

National Conference-Congress alliance back to power in Jammu and Kashmir
BJP wins third successive term in Haryana

The National Conference-Congress alliance today stormed back to power in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority region, securing a majority.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party overcame anti-incumbency to form government for a third successive tenure in Haryana.

The NC-Congress alliance secured 48 of 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir assembly, while its nearest challenger, the BJP, bagged 29 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. Meanwhile, Congress was able to secure only six seats while the numbers lowered to three for the People's Democratic Party led by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti .

The polls, held in three phases in September-October, were the first of its kind since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, when the region was divided into two separate federally ruled territories.

NC vice president Omar Abdullah, who won from the Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies, said there should be no "fiddling" with the mandate of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Transparency should be there… If the people's mandate is against the BJP, then the BJP should not indulge in any 'jugaad' [machinations] or something else," he told reporters in Srinagar.

NC President Farooq Abdullah said his son Omar will be the new chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking about the party's performance, Farooq said, "After 10 years, people have given their mandate to us. It will not be a police rule here but the people's rule."

Promising efforts to release innocent prisoners, he said, "We have to develop trust between Hindus and Muslims. I hope India's alliance partners will fight with us to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood."

Mehbooba Mufti's daughter, Iltija Mufti, who made her debut in electoral politics, conceded defeat to NC leader Bashir Ahmad Veeri in Srigufwara-Bijbehara constituency.

Jammu and Kashmir Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Yusuf Tarigami said the trends showed the people's votes are against the central government and its policies.

"The writing is on the wall, and the vote of the people is against the BJP government and its policies," Tarigami said in his first reaction as the trends show NC-Congress alliance, of which CPI(M) is a part of, on the way to a clear majority.

"With a new secular government in place, the people of Jammu and Kashmir will surely heave a sigh of relief," he added.

In Haryana, BJP bagged 48 of the total 90 seats and was poised to form a government for the third time, while Congress secured 36 seats.

The victory in Haryana is likely to help the BJP in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra, India's most industrialised state, where it is caught in a bitter seat tussle with allies in Delhi and in Jharkhand in the next few months, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

In both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP's direct battle was against Congress. The saffron party ending on top is expected to give an added edge in national politics after it failed to get majority on its own in national elections earlier this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said BJP's win in Haryana was a "victory of the politics of development and good governance," while Congress described the defeat in the state as "totally unexpected".​

 

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Kashmir assembly demands restoration of partial autonomy

Indian-administered Kashmir’s assembly passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding New Delhi restore the disputed Muslim-majority territory’s partial autonomy, cancelled in...

www.newagebd.net

Kashmir assembly demands restoration of partial autonomy
Agence France-Presse . Srinagar 07 November, 2024, 00:09

Chief Minister of India's Jammu and Kashmir state Omar Abdullah (R) attends a state legislative assembly session in Srinagar on November 6, 2024. | AFP photo

Indian-administered Kashmir’s assembly passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding New Delhi restore the disputed Muslim-majority territory’s partial autonomy, cancelled in 2019 by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

New Delhi cancelled Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, a sudden decision accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communications blackout.

It has been ruled by a governor appointed by New Delhi since.

But last month the territory also elected its local legislative assembly, with voters choosing a government in opposition to Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

‘This assembly calls upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status,’ the resolution read, passed by a majority vote.

The 29 BJP members in the 90-seat house opposed the non-binding resolution, which requires the approval from the federally appointed governor.

‘The assembly has done its job,’ chief minister Omar Abdullah told reporters.

The resolution said it ‘reaffirms the importance of the special and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir’.

Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their partition at the chaotic end of British rule in 1947, and both countries claim the territory in full.

About 5,00,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including dozens this year alone.

The 2019 constitutional amendment imposing direct rule also downgraded Kashmir from a federal state to a ‘union territory’.

Modi has promised to restore that, without giving a timeline.​

 

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Indian soldier, suspected rebel killed

An Indian soldier was killed in Jammau and Kashmir (J&K) yesterday, the army said, as troops battled gunmen in the disputed Muslim-majority territory.

www.thedailystar.net

Indian soldier, suspected rebel killed

An Indian soldier was killed in Jammau and Kashmir (J&K) yesterday, the army said, as troops battled gunmen in the disputed Muslim-majority territory.

The army said an operation had been mounted "based on specific intelligence" about the presence of suspected rebels in Kishtwar where gunmen last week shot dead two village defence guards.

The gunmen were from "the same group" behind the killing of the village defence guards. On Saturday evening the army killed a suspected rebel in a separate gunfight.​

 

[Saif]

Five killed as Indian soldiers battle rebels in J&K

Indian security forces in Kashmir yesterday killed at least five suspected gunmen in ongoing clashes, the army said, the latest outbreak of violence in the disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

www.thedailystar.net

Five killed as Indian soldiers battle rebels in J&K

Indian security forces in Kashmir yesterday killed at least five suspected gunmen in ongoing clashes, the army said, the latest outbreak of violence in the disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan region.

"Five terrorists have been neutralised by the security forces in the ongoing operation", the Indian army's Chinar Corps said, adding that two soldiers had been wounded in the firefight.

Half a million Indian troops are deployed in the far northern region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including at least 120 this year.​

 

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https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/asia/more-than-20-killed-after-gunmen-open-fire-on-tourists-in-indian-administered-kashmir

More than 20 killed after gunmen open fire on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir
Published :
Apr 22, 2025 22:58
Updated :
Apr 22, 2025 22:58

At least two dozen people have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a group of domestic tourists visiting a popular beauty spot in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The attack took place in Pahalgam, a picturesque town in the Himalayas often described as the "Switzerland of India".

The region's chief minister, Omar Abdullah, said the attack was "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years". Reports suggest that there are a large number of wounded, with some in critical condition, UNB reports citing the BBC.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the perpetrators would "be brought to justice".

"Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakeable and it will get even stronger," Modi wrote in a statement on X.

Modi added that Home Minister Amit Shah would travel to Srinagar, Kashmir's largest city, to hold an emergency security meeting.

The region's Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, said the army and police had been deployed to the scene.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been a long-running insurgency in the Muslim-majority region since 1989, although violence has waned in recent years.

The attack took place in Baisaran, a mountain-top meadow three miles (5km) from Pahalgam.

Vehicles are unable to reach the area where the shooting occurred, Inspector General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Vidi Kumar Birdi told BBC Hindi.

A tourist from Gujarat, who was part of a group that was fired upon, said that chaos broke out after the sudden attack, and everybody started running, crying and shouting.

Video footage shared by Indian media outlets appears to show Indian troops running towards the scene of the attack, while in other footage victims can be heard saying that the gunmen had singled out non-Muslims.

Footage on social media, which has not been verified by the BBC, appears to show bodies lying on a meadow with people crying and asking for help.

Police said multiple tourists had been taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. The area has been cordoned off with soldiers stopping vehicles at checkpoints while a search is underway to find the perpetrators.

Since the 1990s, an armed separatist insurgency against Indian rule in the region has claimed tens of thousands of lives, including those of civilians and security forces.

The Himalayan region was divided following India's independence from Britain, partition and the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

The two nuclear-armed states both claim the region in its entirety and have fought two wars and a limited conflict over it in the decades since.

Some 500,000 Indian soldiers are permanently deployed in the territory.

While fighting has decreased since Modi revoked Kashmir's partial autonomy in 2019, there are still incidents of violence.

The last major attack on civilians occurred in June 2024 when nine people were killed and 33 injured after militants opened fire on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims.

In 2019, a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir killed at least 46 soldiers and prompted Indian airstrikes on targets in Pakistan.

Pahalgam is a popular tourist destination, both domestically and internationally, and in recent years the government has attempted to encourage further tourism to the region.

Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, according to official figures.​