Surgical strikes, war with Pakistan out of place: Mufti

June 30th, 2009 RI hospitals to announce new surgical protocolPROVIDENCE, R.I. — Surgeons in Rhode Island will start following the same procedures before surgeries, no matter which hospital they are working in.

May 24th, 2009 JAMMU - Saif-ud-Din Soz, the state unit president of the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, is cooling his heels as there is no word yet on whether he would be part of the union cabinet or not. Soz was inducted into the union cabinet in May 2006 after the then urban affairs minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was shifted to Jammu and Kashmir as chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti refused to join the ministry.

April 25th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Raising the same issues in almost the same pitch in their election campaigns, the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are busy accusing each other of deceiving the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The rival parties are promising greater devolution of powers to the state through the autonomy slogan of the National Conference and the self-rule slogan of the PDP.

April 19th, 2009 JAMMU - Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti Sunday said the water sharing treaty with Pakistan was discriminatory as it denies Jammu and Kashmir its due share of waters of the rivers flowing through it. 'I will launch a mass movement if the state is not adequately compensated over the use of its waters by the central government,' Mehbooba Mufti told an election meeting in Kishtwar, 230 km northeast of Jammu.

April 18th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Saturday termed pre-conditions for talks with Pakistan 'dangerous'. "The pre-conditions set by India that peace process would not be resumed till Pakistan hands over the Mumbai attack accused is dangerous for peace in the South Asia," Mufti told reporters here.

April 9th, 2009 JAMMU - Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Thursday said his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would work to re-initiate peace talks between India and Pakistan. 'With the support of the people the PDP will persuade both India and Pakistan to re-initiate the peace process and take concrete steps for the solution of the Kashmir problem,' Mufti Sayeed said at an election meeting in Mendhar, 200 km north of Jammu.

April 4th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) is unlikely to send a group of pilgrims to Pakistan on the occasion of Baisakhi, the harvest festival of Punjab, later this month in view of security concerns in that country. Sources in the SGPC, the mini-parliament of Sikhs that manages Sikh shrines in Punjab, said the Baisakhi jatha (group) for Pakistan, which was to leave next week, is unlikely to go following recent terrorist strikes in that country.

March 17th, 2009 JAMMU - Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Monday welcomed the Pakistan government decision to reinstate sacked judges and thereby avoid a major political crisis in the neighbouring country. Mufti Sayeed, the patron of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he was concerned at recent events in that country, as 'a stable Pakistan is must for the resolution of Kashmir crisis'.

March 13th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday decided to go solo and contest the Lok Sabha elections from all the six parliamentary seats in the state. 'We will contest elections for all the six seats in the state.

February 11th, 2009 BANGALORE - The Indian Air Force (IAF) will have its own satellite by mid-2010 to enhance its surveillance and strike capabilities, a top military commander said Thursday 'We will have our own satellite functioning by the middle of next year to enhance our surveillance and capabilities in this turbulent region as part of our modernisation programme,' IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Aero India international air show here. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the dedicated satellite for the IAF onboard the Polar Launch Satellite Vehicle (PSLV) from its spaceport at Sriharikota, about 90km from north of Chennai.

February 10th, 2009 JAMMU - Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday vowed to play the role of a 'constructive opposition' after being elected leader of her party in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly. The PDP is the largest opposition group with 21 legislators.

January 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has no agreement with the US that allowed drone attacks inside its territory, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday. 'There is no understanding between Pakistan and the United States on predator attacks,' said Muhammad Sadiq in response to the statement by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates that US would continue such attacks against militants and that Pakistan was aware of this.

January 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - India should not talk of 'surgical strikes' on Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attack, as forces were ready to 'retaliate to any aggression', former president Pervez Musharraf said Saturday. 'India should not talk rubbish like surgical strikes.

December 27th, 2008 SRINAGAR - National Conference chief Omar Abdullah and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba have won their respective assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah won the Ganderbal constituency from where he was defeated by a PDP candidate in the 2002 elections.

December 24th, 2008 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi Thursday said he hoped India would not commit the mistake of carrying out surgical strikes in Pakistan. 'We will be compelled to respond if it happens,' he said while talking to reporters in Multan in Punjab province.