...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
administration is looking for an accommodation to shift 34 political detenues from Centaur Hotel here as it lacks proper heating arrangements, officials said.
The winter chill has already started taking a toll on the health of the detenues -- National Conference, PDP and People’s Conference leaders and prominent social activists -- and the security personnel guarding them.
They have been lodged at the hotel on the bank of the scenic Dal Lake since August 5 when the central government announced its decision to abrogate Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and split the state into two Union territories.
The seat of administration in the newly created Union territory has moved from Srinagar to Jammu for the winter months.
The officials said some measures would be taken soon for shifting the detenues to different locations.
The MLA hostel on Residency Road in the heart of the city could have been an alternative accommodation, but it is now occupied by former MLAs hailing from Jammu and newly elected councillors.
Unwilling to dislodge the former MLAs and councillors, the administration has started looking for a state-run or private hotel for shifting the detenues, they said.
They said talks are on with a private hotel in the high-security cantonment area, where some detenues, including Sajjad Lone of People’s Conference (PC), Ali Mohammad Sagar of National Conference (NC), Naem Akhtar of the PDP and former IAS officer Shah Faesal, could be accommodated.