Author: hamid

JeM commander Zahid Wani and Pakistani Kafeel @Chotu among 05 militants killed in last 12hrs, says big success for us: IGP Kashmir

Srinagar, January 30: Top commander and a Pakistani among Five militants affliated with outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-i-Toiba were killed in twin overnight gunfights in Pulwama and Budgam districts on Sunday.

In a tweet by official Police handle, the Kashmir Zone Police while Quoting Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar wrote, ” 05 militants of Pakistan sponsored militant outfits LeT & JeM killed in dual encounters in last 12 hours. JeM commander militant Zahid Wani & a Pakistani militant among the killed. Big success for us,”.

Talking to GNS Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that besides top commander Zahid Wani, a Pakistani militant identifying him as Kafeel @Chotu was killed in Pulwama Gunfight. Both were affiliated with JeM.

Kafeel was active since 2020 in Pulwama-Shopian Belt, the top police officer added.

On Saturday evening two encounters started back to back in Naira area of Pulwama and Charar-i-Shareef area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district between militants and security forces.

Three militants of JeM including top commander Zahid Wani were killed in Naira area of Pulwama while as two LeT militants were killed in Charar-i-Shareef area of Budgam, an official added.(GNS)

Budgam, Jan 29: An encounter broke out between forces and militants in Charar-e-Shareef area of Budgam district.

As per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), police said that the gunfight raged in Charar-e-Shareef area while police and security forces are on job.

“#Encounter has started at Chrar-i-Sharief area of #Budgam. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow,” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted—(KNO)

Srinagar, Jan 29: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) is mulling to cancel the allotment of the street vendors, who despite being allotted the shops are still installing their carts at Hari Singh High Street and other places.

SMC Commissioner, Athar Aamir Khan talking with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that a lot of street vendors have so far been allotted the shops in order to reduce the number of street vendors and ensure the roadsides are not occupied.

However, he said that the complaints are pouring in that the street vendors, who have been allotted the shops, still install their carts at Hari Singh High Street and other places failing under SMC’s jurisdiction, thus adding to the miseries of the people, especially pedestrians and the commuters.

“I don’t have the exact figures at present, but a large number of street vendors have been provided the shops so far. In order to act against the persons installing their carts despite being allotted the shops, the corporation is going to cancel the allotment to such street vendors,” he said.

He added that it is an extensive exercise, which further needs to be done also.

Pertinently, the commuters have been complaining that the roadsides being occupied by the street vendors are pushing them to the wall as the street vendors leave no space for them, which most of the times also result in traffic mess as well.

In the recent past, the government shifted at least 250 registered street vendors to the smart vending zone, established at Magarmal Bagh area of Srinagar.

Besides, the street vendors were also allotted the suitable space in the commercial hub Lal Chowk, which has been named ‘Makkah market’—(KNO)

Srinagar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Unit Kashmir strongly condemned the killing of Policeman Martyr Ali Mohmmad by terrorists at Hassanpora, Bejbehara, Anantnag.

BJP General Secretary Organization Ashok Koul termed the killing as barbaric and cowardly act and have no place in a civilized society, deserve strong condemnation by all without any caste, creed or religion.

Koul also expressed his grief with bereaved family and prayed for their courage to bear this irreparable loss.

Srinagar, Jan 29: A policeman was shot dead by militants in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Saturday, official said.

A police official told GNS that the head constable Ali Mohammad son Ghulam Qadir Ganie was fired upon by unknown militants at Hassapora area, leaving him critically injured.

He was shifted to GMC Anantnag were doctors declared him dead.

“He was brought dead,” a doctor at GMC Anantnag said. (GNS)

Srinagar, Jan 29:  Stating that fresh 64-hour lockdown has affected the economic activity badly, the Kashmir Economic Forum (KEF) has urged the administration to reconsider the decision and help revive Valley’s fledgling economy.
In a statement, President KEF Showkat M Chowdhary said the valley’s business units have been badly suffering from the previous lockdowns and had hardly started to recover the loses.
“It is not advisable to enforce lockdown in the Valley. The lockdown decision has also sent alarm to the travellers as a result of which around 50 percent of the tourist influx has come down since weekend lockdown was announced. This has impacted livelihood of many people,” said Chowdhary.
Chowdhary said instead of lockdown, the government should ensure that proper health guidelines are followed.
“We will also provide all possible support to the government in ensuring implementation of Covid Appropriate Behaviours. Traders, shopkeepers and restaurant owners will also entertain vaccinated customers who are following proper SOPs,” he said.
KEF further said most of the population is already fully vaccinated, and government needs to devise strategies for the “new normal” of life with COVID as suggested by many health experts and practiced by many developed countries like USA and UK instead of brining miseries to the people who are earning from hand to mouth.
“Even the health experts and other senior doctors have said that lockdown will not serve purpose. The lockdown has been imposed the past also but the Covid has resurfaced again,” he said.
The KEF has urged LG administration to take into consideration the livelihood of lakhs of people associated with business community before continuing with the lockdown.
“The traders, shopkeepers, restaurants should be allowed with proper SOPs for the good health of economy. This will ensure businessmen don’t suffer more losses or else they will turn into Non Performing Assets,” he said.

Srinagar, Jan 29: With apprehensions among people about newly discovered coronavirus, called NeoCov, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Saturday said there is no need to panic as the virus is confined to animals and does not cause human infection.

“NeoCov has been found in bats and in its current form there is no threat of the virus jumping from bats to humans,” said DAK President and Influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

Dr Hassan said NeoCov is not a new virus nor is it a variant of Covid-19. It was first identified around 2013 in bats in South Africa, while looking for the origin of MERS, a coronaviral disease that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

“There has been no confirmed case of NeoCov in humans so far,” he said.

The DAK President said news reports about NeoCov virus’s potential to kill one of every three infected persons are doing the rounds on the internet for the last couple of days. The news is based on a preprint paper by Chinese researchers.

“However, there is little connection between the paper and inference that have been drawn by news reports,” he said.

“The researchers clearly say that the virus which exists in bats cannot infect humans except in case the virus undergoes a particular type of mutation which is a mere speculation,” said Dr Nisar.

“The idea that NeoCov may be able to infect human beings is in the realms of theory and should not be a cause of concern,” he said.

General Secretary DAK Dr Arshad Ali said coronaviruses are often found in animals, including bats which have been identified as a natural reservoir of many of these viruses.

“Not everything jumps to humans and there is no way of predicting anything,” he said.

“It is important that we must continue surveillance of zoonotic pathogens as the likelihood of potential spillover events from animals to humans is possible,” he added.

Ganderbal: Dairy farmers from Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district incur losses due to the influx of ‘Pasteurized Milk’ in the markets.

On Saturday, dairy farmers were seen emptying their milk canes on the ground in Lar area of the district after they failed to sell it in the market. Some of the affected farmers say that people don’t buy milk from them anymore as they prefer packed milk.

“We don’t know the reason behind all this, but what we have observed is that scores of vehicles from outside enter into markets and supply the packed milk to shopkeepers,” said one of the dairy farmers.

An elderly woman who runs a dairy farm told news agency Kashmir News Trust that she is not mulling to sell her cows as she is unable to sell the milk. “I can’t feed my cows anymore as it involves a lot of expenditure,” she said.

The milk producers of the district alleged that authorities didn’t respond despite taking up the matter with them. “We had gone to meet to DC Ganderbal who told us to get in touch with ADC but ADC concerned never met us and we left his office with gloomy faces,” they said.

They said that milk is being produced as usual but the people (consumers) who used to buy from us now prefer packed milk from markets.

There are many milk manufacturing companies in Kashmir that supply their pasteurized milk in pouch-packed to make it conveniently available to the consumers.

Some dairy farmers who sell open milk are often being accused of selling adulterated milk to consumers, as a result, they have lost credibility among people. On the, other hand milk-producing companies claim that Pasteurized Milk meets the PFA (Prevention of Food Adulteration Act) standards which aim to protect the public from poisonous and harmful foods, prevent the sale of substandard foods, and protect the interests of the consumers by eliminating fraudulent practices. (KNT)