Kashmir.Watch

Author: hamid

  • At minus 26 degrees, Drass records coldest night of season

    Jammu, December 8: Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season as severe cold conditions continued unabated in most parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Sunday, an official of the MET department said.

    At a low of minus 26 degrees Celsius, Drass in Kargil district of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place, while the minimum temperature in Jammu fell two degrees below the season’s average to settle at 8 degrees Celsius, the official said.

    The night temperature, however, is likely to improve in the coming days under the influence of Western Disturbance which is likely to hit the region on Wednesday, bringing another spell of snow and rains.

    The residents of Srinagar woke up to a dense fog and chilly conditions on Sunday with further drop in the night temperature which was 3.4 degrees below normal during this part of the season, resulting in freezing of fringes of the famous Dal Lake as well as drinking water taps in different residential areas of the city.

    This year the wintery conditions engulfed the region early following moderate to heavy snowfall—first of the season—on November 7.
    Drass, the second coldest inhabited place in the world, recorded a minimum of minus 26 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s 25.4 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Leh town, also in Ladakh, was reeling at a minimum of 16 degrees Celsius, the official said.

    Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir was the coldest recorded place in the valley with a low of minus 6.3 degrees Celsius followed by the famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, the official said.

    Katra, which serves as the base camp for pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi Shrine in Reasi district of Jammu region, recorded a low of 8.2 degrees Celsius, the official said adding Bhadarwah township of Doda district was, however, the coldest recorded place in the region with a minimum of 1.4 degrees Celsius.

    Director of the Meteorological Department, Sonam Lotus said the night temperature is expected to improve from Monday night ahead of a fresh spell of widespread moderate snow or rain in plains of Jammu and Kashmir and Kargil district of Ladakh from December 11 to 13 with main activity on December 12.

    However, there will be a dip in the day temperature during the wet spell which is also likely to impact surface and air transportation on Thursday in view of heavy to very heavy snowfall in higher reaches of Pirpanjal, Zojilla pass, Zanskar, Banihal top and Mughal road, he said. — PTI

  • Fog Shuts Srinagar Airport, All Flights Cancelled

    SRINAGAR – The air traffic was badly affected in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday as dense fog forced cancellation of all flights to and fro Srinagar airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, officials said.

    A total of 27 flights were scheduled for the day including a couple of those for armed personnel, the officials said.

    “All the scheduled flights were cancelled due to poor visibility at the airport,” an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said.

    He said the visibility at the airport was around 600 metres only this morning but since there was no improvement in the situation, the air traffic was suspended for the day.

    The cancellation of the flights left hundreds of passengers stranded, the officials said.

    The city experienced the coldest night of the season so far recording a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.

    He said the heavy fog affected the visibility, causing problems to the people, especially motorists.

    The MeT official said the valley is undergoing intense cold conditions as the mercury dipped several notches below the normal for this part of the season.

    Life Disrupted In Valley

    Life was disrupted on Saturday due to dense fog in the Kashmir valley, including summer capital, Srinagar, where people witnessed coldest night of the summer so far after the minimum temperature dropped further and settled at minus 3.6 degree.

  • Srinagar Records Coldest Night So Far

    SRINAGAR – The night temperature continued to trend downward in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh as Drass remained the coldest place in the region recording minus 25.4 degrees Celsius, a Meteorological Department official said on Saturday.

    Srinagar experienced its coldest night in the season so far with the mercury falling 0.6 degree Celsius to settle at a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, three notches below the normal.

    The MeT official said the night temperature is likely to improve in the coming days due to a Western Disturbance which is likely to hit the two Union Territories on Wednesday, bringing another spell of snow and rains.

    He said Drass in Kargil district of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in the region with a night temperature of minus 25.4 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s 24.3 degrees Celsius.

    Leh town, also in Ladakh, was reeling at a minimum of 15.9 degrees Celsius, the official added.

  • Winter Vacations In Schools Likely From Dec 16

    SRINAGAR – The winter vacations in Kashmir schools are expected to be announced from March 16 and decision in this regard would be taken on Monday.

    Commissioner Secretary Education, Sarita Chouhan told KNS that mostly probably the vacations will start from December 16. “By Monday, an order in this regard is expected,” she said.

  • MeT predicts snowfall in Kashmir from Dec 11 to 13

    Meteorological Department has predicted another spell of snowfall in Kashmir Valley from December 11 to 13.

    Director MeT Sonam Lotus told, “Plains will receive light to moderate snowfall while upper reaches will witness heavy snowfall from December 11 to 13. The activity will be at its peak on December 12. The snowfall could result in disruption of surface transport on key highways,” he added.

    Meanwhile, minimum temperature in Srinagar plummeted to minus 3.5 degree Celsius on Wednesday night, making it the coldest temperature of the season so far. However, with some sunshine the city recorded maximum temperature of 9.5 degrees on Thursday. The MeT department has predicted weather across the Valley to remain dry for next four days.

    Meanwhile, Traffic Police officials have said that the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed Thursday evening due to shooting stones at several places. Officials said that if weather permits, on Friday only stranded vehicles would be allowed to reach their destinations.

  • Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir by month-end: BJP

    BJP J&K General Secretary Ashok Kaul in an interview with IANS said the Assembly polls will be held in the Union Territory after delimitation. “But the process will take some time,” he said.

    The Jammu & Kashmir administration is setting up a commission to start the process of delimitation in the newly-created Union Territory by December-end or early next month.

    BJP J&K General Secretary Ashok Kaul in an interview with IANS said the Assembly polls will be held in the Union Territory after delimitation. “But the process will take some time,” he said.

    He said the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 will also be implemented in Jammu & Kashmir after it is passed in Parliament.

    He said the law will apply to Rohingyas and Bangladeshis “living in Jammu & Kashmir illegally”, but will not impact the West Pakistan refugees and Pakistan-adminstered Kashmir (PaK) refugees living in Jammu.

    He said the Rohingyas are not living only in the Jammu region but also in Kashmir. “The beggars sighted at the bus stands in Kashmir are the same people,” he said.

    There are close to 50,000 families of West Pakistan refugees living in Jammu since Partition.

    Before the abrogation of Article 370 they could only take part in parliamentary elections and not in state Assembly polls as they were not considered permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir.

    Citizenship to the West Pakistan refugees was a poll issue of the BJP and the party had promised to grant them citizenship rights when voted to power.

    By removing Article 370 the BJP has delivered on the poll promise to the West Pakistan refugees and fulfilled their long pending demand.

  • Retirement age to remain 60 years: Govt

    The government has clarified that it has no plans to change the retirement age of its employees.

    In the Rajya Sabha, MP Neeraj Shekhar had asked whether the government is actively considering retirement of officials either at the age of 60 years or after completing 33 years of service whichever is earlier.

    Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh told the Parliament that there is no such proposal. “No Sir. There is no proposal to reduce retirement age below 60 years,” Singh said in a written reply.

    In the last few months, there have been rumours that the government might change superannuation rules. Earlier, there were reports that there is a proposal to reduce retirement age by two years to 58 years.

    Singh had earlier said that there are provisions which allow the government to retire government officials prematurely on the ground of lack of integrity or ineffectiveness, in public interest, by giving notice of not less than three months in writing or three month’s pay and allowances in lieu of such notice.

  • J&K politicians amassed property by looting development funds: BJP

    “We are demanding that the government should undertake evaluation of the property of all mainstream politicians in J&K including those associated with the BJP,” said the party General Secretary (Organization) Ashok Kaul.

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday said people have right to know about the property “amassed” by mainstream politicians in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “We are demanding that the government should undertake evaluation of the property of all mainstream politicians in J&K including those associated with the BJP,” said the party General Secretary (Organization) Ashok Kaul.

    He was addressing a party convention in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. “In the past, the mainstream parties and politicians amassed property by looting central funds which were allocated for development works,” said Kaul.

    “It is important that there should be a thorough probe to bring to fore what happened to the funds that were allocated to J&K for development,” said Kaul.

    He said condition of roads was inferior in Kashmir and people were facing problems due to irregular power supply.

    The senior BJP leader alleged that meritorious candidates did not get jobs in the previous regimes owing to nepotism and rampant corruption.

    He urged the administration and the party carder to run campaign against drug addiction in the Valley. “The menace of drug addiction has engulfed the youth in the Valley,” he said. “Let’s join hands to fight this menace.”

    He asked the state authorities to “launch a war” against drug abuse. “The BJP cadre will be neck-to-neck with the administration in fight against the drug abuse,” Kaul said.

    During the convention, scores of Sarpanchs and Panches joined the BJP. Terming BJP, the party of poor people, Kaul urged the new entrants to work for betterment of people.

    “The Sarpanchs and Panches have been elected by the people and you are accountable to them,” he told them.

    Kaul also discussed party election in Kupwara. The BJP has already started preparations for the polls in Kashmir.

    The election for new Constituency and District presidents is underway in valley and it will conclude in December.

    The BJP has decided to have separate Presidents for Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh. The elections for the posts will be completed in January 2019, he said. Ravinder Raina, who is the President of party unit for J&K UT, is also looking after party affairs of Ladakh.

  • Car Blown Up in ‘Gas Cylinder’ Blast in Kashmir’s Srinagar

    The incident comes as Kashmir is already on the edge with authorities stepping up security deployment at vital installations and sensitive areas amid heightened terror threat and flare up of hostilities with Pakistan.

    Source: News18.com

    Srinagar: A Maruti vehicle was completely damaged in a “cylinder blast” at Lal Bazar Srinagar on Sunday.

    A police officer said that the apparently cylinder blast took place near GD Goenka School Lal Bazar.

    He said fire tenders reached the spot and doused off the flames. While the vehicle was completely damaged, there was no loss of life reported in the incident.

    The officer said that a police has registered a case and was investigating the nature of the blast even as “apparently it seems to be cylinder blast.” (GNS)

    The incident comes as Kashmir is already on the edge with authorities stepping up security deployment at vital installations and sensitive areas amid heightened terror threat and flare up of hostilities with Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC).

    Additional paramilitary forces, which arrived here last week, have been deployed across the city and in other vulnerable areas of Kashmir Valley, the officials said.

    The strength of the security personnel has been increased around vital installations such as the civil secretariat, police headquarters, airport and various central government establishments in the city, they said.

    Barricades have been erected on many arterial roads, including the entry and exit points to Srinagar, the summer capital of the state. Riot control vehicles have also been kept on standby in some areas where apprehension of law and order disturbances is more, the officials added.

    (details awaited)

    (This story has not been edited by KASHMIR TODAY staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • It is time to end long night of suffering for the people of Kashmir: Pakistan PM Imran Khan

    Source: Kashmir Reader

    Srinagar: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday condemned what he termed India’s attack across LoC on “innocent civilians” and use of cluster munitions.

    Khan said that the use of cluster bombs is a violation of international humanitarian law and India’s own commitments under the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. He said that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must take note of this “international threat” to peace and security.

    The Pakistan premier said that it is time to end the long night of suffering for the people of Kashmir. “They must be allowed to exercise their right to self determination according to UN SC resolutions. The only road to peace and security in South Asia runs through a peaceful and just settlement of Kashmir.”

    In a series of tweets Khan said, “President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir. This is the time to do so as situation deteriorates there and along the LoC with new aggressive actions being taken by Indian occupation forces. This has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis.”

    (This story has not been edited by KASHMIR TODAY staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)