Srinagar, Jul 30: Kashmir has witnessed a bumper crop of almonds this year due to favourable weather conditions.

“We are fortunate that the weather this year was very favourable so far as almond cultivation is concerned. In previous years, weather factors led to reduced production. But by God’s grace, favourable weather this year resulted in good production,” Riyaz Ahmad Shah, Chief Horticulture Officer Pulwama, told PTI.

He said the almond growers are satisfied that this year, comparatively, there is a significant increase in production compared to the last two or three years.

“However, their demand is that the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments should give as much attention to almond farming,” he said.

Shah said timely advisories to orchard owners by the horticulture department also helped the farmers in improving the produce of the almonds.

“We ensured they received technical advice on time regarding recommended practices from the Agricultural University. We communicated details about timely pesticide sprays and fertiliser application. All these factors, combined with the hard work of the almond orchard owners, contributed to this success, and they deserve the credit,” he added.

Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, an almond grower, said the produce has improved this year compared to last year, but the yield has been gradually decreasing over the past three decades.

“The yield of almonds was very high in Kashmir earlier. I remember very well that from Awantipora, Tral, Beerwah, to Mattan and the Karewa area around there were only almond trees everywhere. Around 20 to 25 truckloads of almonds were sent daily from here to outside markets,” Bhat said.

He said almonds from Pulwama used to go to Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai for further distribution all across India.

Bhat said climate change has drastically affected the almond crop over the years.

“The weather became unpredictable; sometimes droughts occurred, and sometimes there were heavy rains. The weather lost its natural balance, and the biggest impact of this was on the almond trees,” he said, adding that the almond trees began to dry up due to dry spells and intense heat that reached up to 36 degrees Celsius.

The farmers shifted their attention to other crops like apples, which flourished, he said.

Bhat claimed that there was neglect from official stakeholders, which led to a shrinking of land under almond cultivation.

“The field staff of SKUAST or the horticulture department never visited the villages to advise farmers on how to manage these almond orchards, unlike the way they currently focus on apple farming,” he claimed.

Srinagar, July 30: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday accused the top leadership of the People’s Conference (PC) of intimidating political opponents by allegedly invoking the names of central investigative agencies, and appealed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to intervene if such actions were being carried out without official sanction.

Addressing a press conference, PDP leader Iltija Mufti alleged that the People’s Conference leadership had been creating “an atmosphere of fear” since 2019.

“I want to ask Home Minister Amit Shah whether he knows that his name and the name of the Ministry of Home Affairs are being used to threaten PDP leaders,” she said, alleging that PC leaders claim to enjoy the backing of agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“They say, ‘ED is in our pocket, Amit Shah is in our pocket, NIA is with us,'” Mufti alleged, urging the Home Minister to clarify whether such claims had any basis. “If this is not happening under your directions, then please rein in such people.”

Mufti alleged that PDP workers, journalists and businessmen had been subjected to intimidation and pressure.

“If you want to fight us, fight us through dialogue and the ballot. Don’t fight us through the ED or the NIA,” she said. “The investigative agencies are not the private property or assets of any political party.”

She also accused the People’s Conference of attempting to divert attention from what she described as Jammu and Kashmir’s “core issues” such as Article 370, political prisoners and governance.

“They are dragging politics into the gutter. Kashmir deserves clean, issue-centric politics,” she said.

PDP legislator Waheed Ur Rehman Parra echoed the allegations, claiming that political discourse in Jammu and Kashmir was being deliberately diverted away from issues such as Article 370, detained political leaders and the ban on Jama’at-e-Islami.

“After August 5, 2019, no two Kashmiris have any reason to fight each other,” Parra said. “The discourse should be clean and centred on the core issues of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Parra, who referred to his own detention by the NIA, said, “I was neither a separatist nor a militant. I did nothing that harmed India’s interests.”

He further alleged that PDP bore the brunt of a political crackdown after the abrogation of Article 370.

“Forty PDP leaders were identified and removed. The PDP did not fall from 35 seats to three because people rejected us. We didn’t even have candidates in many places after our leaders were taken away,” he claimed.

Parra also alleged that whenever PDP raised issues such as employee dismissals under Article 311, political prisoners or property attachments, attempts were made to shift public attention through political attacks.

Former MLC Yasir Reshi recounted what he described as years of pressure and intimidation after entering politics. He said his offices were raided and he was repeatedly targeted despite having no criminal or militant background.

“I have never been a militant or a separatist. Show me one case where I grabbed someone’s land or defaulted on a bank loan,” Reshi said.

Referring to an alleged phone call by a People’s Conference functionary, Reshi claimed he was informed that officials from the NIA, ED, Intelligence Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau were meeting to discuss action against him.

“If the NIA has any questions for me, let them ask me directly. Why should they go to Sajjad Lone’s house?” he said.

Reshi urged investigative agencies to take action if such claims were false.

“If this boy lied, action should be taken against him. If someone made him lie, action should also be taken against them,” he said.

The three PDP leaders repeatedly maintained that political competition should be conducted democratically rather than through alleged intimidation.

“If you want to fight us,” Mufti said, “fight us with the ballot.”

Ganderbal, Jul 30: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that a single protest would not yield meaningful results, asserting that the party’s campaign for the restoration of statehood is a sustained political effort rather than a one-day event.

Speaking to reporters after reviewing various developmental works in his home constituency of Ganderbal, Abdullah said the National Conference took its protest to Delhi knowing that one demonstration alone would not secure the desired outcome.

“We took our protest to Delhi knowing fully well that we would not get anything from the first one. A promise was made to the people of Jammu and Kashmir regarding the restoration of statehood, and that promise remains unfulfilled,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the NC did not wait for August 5 to register its protest and had consistently raised the issue through every available democratic platform.

“We passed a resolution in the Legislative Assembly, ensuring that the voice and mandate of the people reached New Delhi formally. A single protest or symbolic political demonstration will not yield results. We did not sit quietly waiting for August 5 to raise our voice; we have used every available platform, including the Assembly, to make New Delhi understand what the people of Jammu and Kashmir genuinely want,” Abdullah said.

Responding to a question on the situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the Chief Minister expressed concern over reports of violence and civilian casualties.

“We are all concerned. We can only hope that peace prevails there as well,” he said.

Srinagar, Jul 30: Director General of Police (DGP) Nalin Prabhat has ordered the attachment of properties belonging to five notorious terrorists currently operating from Pakistan as part of the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s continued crackdown on terror networks and their support infrastructure, officials said today.

They said the action targets terrorists who have crossed over to Pakistan and are involved in orchestrating terror-related activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a related development, the J&K Police has also secured Proclamation Proceedings against Mohd Qasim, a top operative of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who is also operating from Pakistan.

Police said Qasim’s property had already been attached in March 2026 under the relevant legal provisions as part of efforts to dismantle the financial and logistical networks of terrorists operating from across the border.