PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (3rd of March, 2026): Srinagar 3 March, 2026 | For my statements on Iran and Ayatullah Syed Ali Khamenei’s martyrdom, and for speaking against the BJP-led Government’s moral abdication and deafening silence on the issue of the illegitimate barbaric onslaught on Iran by US and Israel - my security has just been effectively withdrawn with immediate effect. A measure aimed to silence me. Turns out, as a mainstream Kashmiri politician, you have to be shamefully neutral and silent in the face of Israel massacring young school girls and assassinating a Head of State OR face consequences in “New India”. Or you have to issue statements pontificating to the mourners while praising the administration and the police. Sorry, I can’t do either of these things. In a Kashmir today where fellow mainstream leaders have surrendered and sold their tongues to the BJP-led Government and chosen to sound shamefully diplomatic over the assassination of Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei and the brutal war on Iran and Palestine, I will continue to commit the crime of having a conscience. I, with all humility at my command, accept this decision. I understand the compulsion of the officers to do this. Such measures aimed to suppress my voice however won’t stop me from speaking up for humanity, justice and to seek answers about my country’s and its leadership’s unprecedented moral abdication when it comes to Iran. This comes at a time when multiple media accounts in Kashmir have been barred on social media with mounting pressure to not cover the mass mourning being witnessed in Kashmir over the martyrdom of Ayotullah Syed Ali Khamenei. I demand such restrictions should be lifted on the media immediately. We live in India, not Israel and our institutions should uphold the law and freedom of speech. BJP’s views and leanings don’t override the Constitution of India, even if they have negated India’s non-alignment foreign policy for now. Our institutions should not suppress the sentiments and freedom of speech of our own citizens to help please and pander to foreign powers. We are not Pakistan. — Statement Ends —

4th Election Commissioner - Sambit Patra

Good to see Ebrahim Raisi in Delhi in 2026. Especially given that he died in 2024.

I am deeply saddened by the demise of Muzaffar Hussain Pathan Sahab of Zadibal, who passed away last night. It is a deep personal loss for me and all my associates and colleagues. My heartfelt condolences to the entire family especially his beloved sons @tabish_abass and @Nazar_pathan6 and his nephews @Tanveer_Pathan1, Shahid Israar and Abid Pathan. May Allah SWT grant him a place in Jannat-ul-Firdous and Sabr to the family to bear this loss.

Stoic, deafening silence on Yasin Malik does not just reflect the fear of persecution and allure of State patronage among Kashmir’s political “leadership” but also an abject and meek political and moral surrender before the BJP and the apparatus it currently controls. Yasin Malik abjured violence, gave up the gun and chose a path of peaceful dialogue and official engagement - with none less than two Prime Ministers of our country, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee. One understands why the powers that be want to make Yasin Malik a symbol of their radical ideological vengeance and perhaps use his case as a political plank in the rest of the country. Coming from them, that’s unsurprising. What is extremely surprising and disappointing is, regardless of political and ideological differences, the silence of our leadership in Kashmir. What is being done to Yasin Malik today will be done to other Kashmiri leaders tomorrow. The blood-baying won’t stop with Yasin. The “collective conscience” will keep baying for Kashmiri blood. While the powers that be celebrate engaging with the Nagaland separatists or others who held on to arms till yesterday they want to set an example when it comes to a Kashmiri separatist leader who gave up violence. What is being done to Yasin Malik will not be restricted to Yasin Malik. Or for that matter what is being done to Shabir Shah. This trend of punitive and retributive vengeance will not stop at the threshold of separatist leaders. Complicity, guilt - nothing will matter. Every Kashmiri leader who doesn’t fall in line will have a noose waiting for him. This vengeance won’t discriminate between ideologies. It won’t leave mainstream leaders out. I disagree with Yasin Malik’s political ideology and denounce the path that he chose (and then gave up) but what good is our conscience and voice if we can’t stand up and oppose this campaign of brutal, ruthless retribution against him as a larger vindictive message to the people of Kashmir who have lost thousands of its sons and daughters to turmoil and conflict? A State has to be magnanimous and large hearted in engaging with dissent and contrarian views. The idea of India is not an idea of retribution but inherently an idea of reconciliation. If the idea of India is reconciliatory when it comes to the North East, why must it be retributive when it comes to Kashmir? But the very idea of India is lost on the BJP so none of this makes sense to them. Our leadership must shed this cowardice and speak up. Starting with the Chief Minister! We must seek reconciliation and healing without being afraid. A nation aspiring for greatness and prosperity cannot live in the past forever! We must seek a future of peace and engagement regardless of how unpalatable it is to the powers that be. Silence is shameful and those who remain silent are complicit.

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱرْتَدُّوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَدْبَـٰرِهِم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ ٱلْهُدَى ۙ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ سَوَّلَ لَهُمْ وَأَمْلَىٰ لَهُمْ

Abhishek Upadhyay, an independent journalist who flagged the alleged misappropriation of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple donations, urgently approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) claiming the Uttar Pradesh Police is trying to unearth his digital footprint from June 1, 2026 in a bid to identify his sources. thehindu.com/news/national/j…

What will it take for Mohsin Naqvi to send Mohsin Naqvi home?

Do we really expect “cordiality” after choosing to be on the wrong side of justice, statesmanship, international law and history when Iran was attacked? Our monumental foreign policy disaster when it comes to Iran goes against every grain of national interest too.

An absolute travesty. Demolishing a place of worship belonging to a minority community is the lowest ebb of intolerance and lawlessness. Utterly shameful and deplorable!

I am deeply saddened and grieved by the demise of Gazanfar Ali Sahab, an honest, upright and dedicated officer who served as Commissioner SMC between 2020-21 during my tenure as Mayor. He was an officer I always relied on for sound counsel and advice and needless to say, he always upheld the trust placed in him. He stood behind me like a rock during the COVID-19 challenges we faced as a city and my fondest memories of him are from the countless days and nights we spent away from our homes and families during those days - rushing from one crisis to the next. May Allah SWT grant him a place in Jannat-ul-Firdaus and Sabr to his family to bear this loss. Ameen. @GazanfarAli_07 @SMC_Srinagar @SMC_24x7

Young men and women MUST join and participate actively in the political mainstream. That’s paramount. BUT They must join a party out of conviction to effect change in a rotten, exploitative system NOT with cases used as leverage to exploit them.

Youth should not be asked to join a political party as a quid-pro-quo for justice and as a path towards rehabilitation. We have seen one Awami League. And the consequences of that grotesque, ugly misadventure are etched in history. Does the State want a second Awami League?

Hard to believe that Congress would be so gullible. I understand there are personal aspirations from its local leadership but then Congress, at an institutional level, needs to stand up for its own independent political identity and future.

That is why we need change with clarity and honesty. If this blackmailing is being done merely for political gains, then it is completely wrong. A party that adopts such an approach should be boycotted and held accountable by the people

So the new formula is simple: keep the youth under pressure, then arrive with a party form and call it “empowerment.” 😂 Quite a creative version of democracy where political loyalty apparently comes with a legal discount.

If this is true, then it exposes the ugliest side of Kashmir’s politics: turning police cases and the fear of young Kashmiris into a tool for political recruitment. A party that allegedly offers “absolution” in exchange for loyalty isn’t doing politics it is weaponising helplessness to manufacture political allegiance.

If vulnerable youth are being called over and again for old cases and then offered “absolution” in exchange for political loyalty, that is not politics. It is coercion. No young person should be forced to trade their freedom for political patronage. This is blackmail. Period.