BIG: Ex-PDP minister Altaf Bukhari-led third front named 'Apni party' to launch on Mar 8

In a massive development, sources report on Friday, that Former PDP leader and minister Altaf Bukhari-led new political outfit named ‘Apni Party’ will be launched formally on March 8 in Srinagar. Bukhari was scheduled to meet PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to demand the restoration of statehood and domicile rights, as reported in January. Apni party consists of senior political leaders, academics, legal luminaries, activists, and like-minded people led by Bukhari.

Ex-PDP min Bukhari-led 'new political front' set to meet PM Modi to demand J&K statehood

Kickstarting democratic process in J&K

Earlier on January 30, Bukhari held a meeting with his new party colleagues in Jammu on reaching out to the people for mobilizing a democratic grassroots movement. The Centre has reportedly been in talks with the new political front'  comprising of activists, journalists and local politicians in Jammu-Kashmir Valley to determine the political scenario and discuss delimitation. Moreover, several mainstream leaders -  Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Shah Faesel, Naeem Akhtar, Ali Mohammad Sagar and Sarah Madni have been detained under the Public Safety Act by the Jammu-Kashmir administration.

BSNL restores broadband Internet in Kashmir valley, 7 months after Art 370's scrapping

Current scenario in Kashmir

Since the revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the State into two Union Territories, the state-run internet provider BSNL has restored internet services throughout the Kashmir valley after a seven-month ban. The J&K administration temporarily revoked a ban on social media sites apart from restoring  2G internet services in the Valley after the Supreme Court's order to review all curbs while terming the internet as a 'fundamental right'. The J&K administration are currently reviewing the internet ban on a regular basis after the SC ordered to do so, while mobile internet was restored in Kargil district in the Union Territory of Ladakh in the last week of December.

The Centre has also revoked a large number of troops from the Valley in a bid to restore normalcy in Jammu-Kashmir. Panchayat polls too were postponed after security concerns. The administration has stated that adequate medical supplies, hospital facilities are available, while schools have finally reopened in the UT. But the region remains under lockdown, with travel restrictions in place - heightened, amid Coronavirus scare.

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