Mukhtar Ahmed Waza (born 1966) is a Kashmiri separatist leader and chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples League, a banned political faction by the government of India. He is also an executive council member of All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Waza was born in business family of Jammu and Kashmir, India on 2 June 1966. He did his early schooling at Government Middle School Sarnal, Anantnag. However, he could not complete his studies due to his affiliation with Peoples league for which he was jailed at the age of 16.[ citation needed ]
Waza began his political career in 1980 at the age of 14, leading a peaceful demonstration in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. His activism resulted in his arrest and subsequent detention under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PAS) for a period of three years. In 1986, he was again detained for one year under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). He, along with the JKPL activists, were arrested on several occasions, including in March 1992. [1] [2] After the death of Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Waza became the chairman of Peoples League and executive member of All Parties Hurriyat Conference and was re-elected as chairman in 2013. [3] [4]
Syed Ali Shah Geelani was a Kashmiri separatist leader and politician in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Known for his pro-Pakistan stance, he was a key figure in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of separatist groups. A former Indian intelligence officer referred to him as the 'father of the Kashmiri jihad.'
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations formed on 9 March 1993, as a united political front to raise the cause of Kashmiri independence in the Kashmir conflict. Mehmood Ahmed Saghar was the first convener of the APHC-PAK chapter when the alliance was established in 1993. The alliance has historically been viewed positively by Pakistan as it contests the claim of the Indian government over the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The organisation is split into two main factions, those being the Mirwaiz and Geelani factions. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is the founder and chairman of Mirwaiz faction and Masarat Alam Bhat is the interim chairman of Geelani faction, who succeeded Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the founder of the faction after his death.
Sajad Gani Lone is an Indian politician, and Member of the Legislative Assembly elected from the Handwara constituency. He is the chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference.
On 26 May 2008, the government of India and the state Government of Jammu and Kashmir reached an agreement to transfer 99 acres (0.40 km2) of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) in the main Kashmir Valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath Temple. This caused a controversy, with demonstrations from the Kashmir valley against the land transfer and protests from the Jammu region supporting it. The largest demonstration saw more than 500,000 protesters at a single rally, among the largest in Kashmir's history.
Mohammad Abbas Ansari was a separatist political leader and a well known Shia Muslim scholar, reformer, preacher and cleric from Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. He was known for his religious lectures and as a Kashmiri separatist, ex-chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, also founder and chairman of the Ittihadul Muslimeen also known as Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM), a Kashmiri nationalist Shia separatist political party which aims for Shi'a–Sunni unity in Kashmir & independence of Jammu and Kashmir from India through peaceful struggle. He is considered a moderate and has called for an end to violence in that region. He is Succeeded by his son Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz was chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Peoples League and a prominent member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of Kashmiri separatist groups active in Jammu and Kashmir. He was known for his advocacy of the right to self-determination of Kashmir and believed that an independent plebiscite under UN supervision could bring peace in South-Asia.
The 2010 Kashmir unrest was a series of violent protests and riots in the Kashmir Division and Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal regions of Northern Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir, India which started in June 2010 after the Indian Army claimed to have killed three Pakistani infiltrators in which a soldier of the Territorial Army, a counter-insurgent and a former special police officer had found three young men from their Nadihal village in Baramulla district and killed them in a "staged" encounter at Sona Pindi. The protests occurred in a movement launched by Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in June 2010, who called for the complete demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference made this call to a strike, citing human rights abuses by security forces. Rioters shouting pro-independence slogans, defied curfew, attacked riot police with stones and burnt vehicles and buildings. The protests started out as anti India protests but later were also targeted against the United States following the 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy. The riot police consisting of Jammu and Kashmir Police and Indian Para-military forces fired teargas shells rubber bullets and also live ammunition on the protesters, resulting in 112 deaths, including many teenagers and an 11-year-old boy. The protests subsided after the Indian government announced a package of measures aimed at defusing the tensions in September 2010.
Shabir Ahmad Shah popularly known as Shabir Shah, in Kadipora, Anantnag, Kashmir is the founder and president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP), one of the main separatist political organizations seeking "right of self-determination" to Jammu and Kashmir.
Dooru Shahabad is a town and the headquarters of the Dooru tehsil in the Anantnag district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also known as a historical township in South Kashmir's Anantnag district. Doru Shahabad is considered as a place of intelligence, where great scholars like Mehmood Shah Gami, Rasul Mir Shahabadi & Waris Hafiz Itoo were born. These scholars contributed to the literature and culture of Kashmir. In present times, Shahabad has produced chief ministers such as Syed Mir Qasim, and other politicians, bureaucrats, and leading agricultural scientists.
Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) is an organisation that governs and manages cricket in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It fields the Jammu and Kashmir cricket team in the Ranji Trophy domestic tournament. It is a member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Masarat Alam Bhat is a Kashmiri Islamist activist and a political separatist leader of Jammu and Kashmir. He is currently serving as the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Muslim League, and also serves as the interim chairman of Geelani faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation Rakshak, which began in 1990, Operation Sarp Vinash in 2003 and Operation Randori Behak in 2020. Other operations include humanitarian missions such as Operation Megh Rahat and operations with a social aim such as Operation Goodwill and Operation Calm Down. The Indian Army works in tandem with the other arms of the Indian Armed Forces and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir such as during Mission Sahayata or joint operations.
Aga Syed Mehdi was a prominent Shia cleric and politician from the Kashmir region. He belonged to the influential Aga family, known for their religious leadership within the Shia Muslim community. Aga Syed Mehdi played an important role in local politics and religious matters in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly advocating for the rights and interests of the Shia population. He was assassinated in an IED blast on Friday 3 November 2000.
Media in Jammu and Kashmir comprises a diverse landscape of print, electronic and digital media outlets. The region is served by a variety of newspapers, television channels, radio stations, and online news platforms, reflecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of the area.
Mohammad Ashraf Khan, chiefly known as Ashraf Sehrai or just as Sehrai, was a Kashmiri separatist leader and chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a Kashmiri separatist political party. He was elected chairman through a first-ever election conducted in the history of Hurriyat when Syed Ali Shah Geelani relinquished office due to his deteriorating health.
The 2019 Pulwama attack occurred on 14 February 2019, when a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The attack killed 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel as well as the perpetrator—Adil Ahmad Dar—who was a local Kashmiri youth from the Pulwama district. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed. India blamed neighbouring Pakistan for the attack, while the latter condemned the attack and denied having any connections to it. The attack dealt a severe blow to India–Pakistan relations, consequently resulting in the 2019 India–Pakistan military standoff. Subsequently, Indian investigations identified 19 accused. By August 2021, the main accused along with six others had been killed, and seven had been arrested.
Syed Farooq Ahmad Andrabi is an Indian politician and the former member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. He represented Dooru assembly constituency of Anantnag district in 2014. He was appointed to the state ministry in 2016 and subsequently served minister for Hajj and Auqaf until he resigned from the ministry in December 2017 in an attempt to appointed his nephew Tassaduq Hussain Mufti to the post.
Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen is a Kashmiri separatist Shiite Muslim political party which aims for Shi'a–Sunni unity in Kashmir and the independence of Jammu and Kashmir from India through peaceful struggle. It was founded by Mohammad Abbas Ansari and his followers in 1962 at Srinagar, Kashmir.
Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari is Islamic Scholar. He is also cleric, preacher, activist, theologian, religious and political leader in Jammu and Kashmir. He is the Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen (JKIM), a Kashmiri nationalist Shia separatist political party that aims for Shi'a–Sunni unity in Kashmir and is also a religious organization that conducts the Grand Ashura Procession in Kashmir. He is the President of Al-Abbas Relief Trust, Karan Nagar, Srinagar, and a Senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an alliance of 26 political, social, and religious organizations formed on 9 March 1993 as a united political front to unite Jammu and Kashmir. He is also a senior leader of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). He succeeded his father Mohammad Abbas Ansari after his death. Ansari is a religious leader of Kashmiri Shia Muslims, chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen, and Senior Leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.(JKLF).
Waheed ur Rehman Para is an Indian politician of Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party and member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Pulwama constituency. He is also the legislative party leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party in J&K assembly.