Category: Union Territory

Srinagar, Feb 22: Former Chief Minister & re-elected President of Peoples Democratic Party, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday hitted out at Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar over his recent remarks saying that he should stick to his own job and let Mehbooba do her job.

Mehbooba Mufti’s remarks came after IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar had earlier warned the local mainstream politicians of valley with “necessary action” irrespective of stature if they according to him try “instigating people on fake news or rumors”.

As per News Agency Kashmir Dot Com (KDC), She said, ” I have to raise voice against the oppression and injustice being done with the people of J&K where a father is not denied his son’s mortal remains and in the other instance a minor girl was rescued from abduction.”

“I have to raise my voice against all this oppression and if IGP Kashmir thinks doing this is against law then he should do his job and arrest me,” she added. (KDC)

Handwara: Well known Islamic preacher and religious scholar from North Kashmir’s Handwara town died in a road accident in Kathua district of Jammu region.

Manzoor Ahmed Kirman was the resident of Handwara and a former Imam at Jammia Qadeem Handwara.

Kirmani was also a member of the Muslim Personal Law Board.

Family sources told news agency KNT that Kirmani along with his niece had gone to Kathua to attend a marriage function.

The vehicle in which was travelling met with an accident at Kathua on Monday late night. The trio on board were injured and shifted to hospital where Manzoor Ahmed Kirman succumbed to his injuries.

“We are waiting for the arrival of the dead body. It is expected to reach Handwara today,” a family member of the deceased said.

Kirmani was a respected figure in Northern district of Kupwara. (KNT)

BDS checking the object, say officials

Srinagar, Feb 22: Traffic was stopped on the Pantha Chowk-Nowgam road in Srinagar after security forces spotted a suspicious object, officials said.

The object was found on a day when train services were supposed to be started in Kashmir after a long-time.

A police official told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the Road Opening Party (RoP) of CRPF and police spotted a suspicious object near Peaks Automobiles, barely few hundred metres away from Nowgam Railway station, after which experts and a bomb disposal squad was called to check the object.

“Traffic has been stopped on the Pantha Chowk-Nowgam road stretch for the safety of people and commuters,” he told KNO—(KNO)

Further details awaited….

“PAGD to discuss future strategy within days”

Srinagar, Feb 21: Senior National Conference leader Justice Hasnain Masoodi today said that for them whole delimitation exercise is illegal for them.

“The whole exercise is illegal for us. We cannot make our suggestions there. This exercise is against the constitutional provisions of democracy. Our participation would have amounted accepting the whole illegal exercise. We have a clear stand that whole thing is illegal,” he told KNS.

He added, “The constitution has been trampled upon. How can we be party to it,it wil be like imparting legality to the whole exercise.”

One being asked whether whether they could have represented the People of J&K, “we cannot impart that constitutionality to the exercise. Constitution doesn’t approve of a UT state. Constitution says that state should be upgraded not downgraded. Supreme Court found merit in whatever we said. “

He said state politicians don’t know well about issues, “If you are part of the process, then you don’t have right to question about status of UT also. NC has maintained a position about it.”

He also told “Kashmir News Service” (KNS) that PAGD is calling a meeting of all affiliated parties within days to discuss future course of action after the District Development Council Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson post.(KNS)

SRINAGAR: India has asked China to quickly withdraw troops at Gogra, Hot Spring and Demchok and insisted that Chinese troops should not stop Indian patrolling in Depsang, so that the eastern Stress can be reduced in Ladakh.

Nothing has been officially said about the outcome of the tenth round of commander-level talks between India and China. The conversation, which started at 10 am on Saturday, continued till late in the night.

The TIMES OF INDIA has quoted sources as saying that there is no such disagreement between India and China over traversing the Saunikas. There are a handful of soldiers from both countries at the forward positions, who are not even close to each other.

The news has said that the more problematic situation between the two countries is in the strategically important Depsang or Bulg area, which is at an altitude of 16,000 feet, where there has been continuous tension since 2013.

Srinagar, Feb 21: The weather again turned pleasant as bright sunshine greeted people in the summer capital, Srinagar, and other parts of Kashmir valley ahead of prediction of fresh spell of rain and snow from Monday onwards.

However, the night temperature dipped though settled several degrees above normal across the valley, where the weather during the day on Saturday was chilly due to overcast conditions. World famous ski resort of Gulmarg and tourist resort of Pahalgam were the only two places in the valley where the mercury settled below freezing point.

A Met department spokesperson said that weather will remain dry during the next 24 hours in Kashmir valley. However, he said a fresh Western Disturbance (WD), which originated from the Arabian Sea and is approaching the region though Afghanistan and Pakistan, will hit Jammu & Kashmir on Monday.

“Under the influence of this WD, light to moderate rain and snow is predicted on Monday and Tuesday at many places,” he said, adding the system will further build up and the wet weather is expected to continue till Saturday. (PTK)

Reiterates her call for dialogue between India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir

Kupwara, Feb 21: Terming the killings in Kashmir in the past 30-years as unfortunate, former chief minister and People’s Democratic Party president, Mehbooba Mufti Sunday said that there is a dire need for dialogue with people of J&K and Pakistan while the central government is unmoved by the killings here.

Mehbooba Sunday visited the house of the slain cop in Zurhama village in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district along with other party leaders to express sympathies with the bereaved family members.

Talking to reporters, Mufti as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that it’s very unfortunate that Kashmiris are killing one another for the past 30 years while the central government is unmoved.

She reiterated that a peaceful solution can only be found by initiating dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan.

She said that recently China encroached on “our land and killed more than 20 of our Jawans by beating them but the positive point is talks are underway with them and the solution is nearing.”

Mehbooba said that Kashmir has become the ring of war for both India and Pakistan and people from both sides are losing their lives including the commoners and security forces. “Both war and gun are no solution to anything be it of a militant or security forces,” she said.

While batting for a dialogue, Mehbooba said that like other parts of the world both India and Pakistan must find a permanent solution by initiating dialogue.

“Both militancy and bloodshed reduced when talks were held with Pakistan back in 2003 and 2004. So there is a need to end this all and initiate a dialogue process,” Mehbooba said—(KNO)

Srinagar, Feb 21: Passengers travelling in different villages and cities in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, will face inconvenience as hundreds of transporters associated with All J&K Transport Welfare Association are set to go on an indefinite strike from February 24.

According to News Agency Kashmir Dot Com (KDC), General Secretary of the Association said, “it was unanimously decided in the meeting that we will go for an indefinite strike from February 24 ( Wednesday) till our demands are not fulfilled by the Govt. for revision in passenger fare and waive off/ rollback Token Tax/ Passenger tax during the lockdown period for one year.”

He said,”We had observed one day strike on 6th Jan 2021 and J&K Govt. that time had assured us that all our demands will be fulfilled by one week time, but till date nothing has been done. We have submitted the cost of operation in the office of Transport Commissioner for Revision in passenger fare because the rate of petroleum products are increasing day-by-day. Passenger fare was revised in April 2018, then the rate of Diesel was Rs 65/litre but now the rate of Diesel is 82/litre which is not now bearable by the Transporters of J&K (UT).”

“We are not interested to go for indefinite strike but the UT Govt. of J & K is enforcing us to do so. Due to the indefinite strike inconvenience to the general public/student community is the responsibility of the Govt,” he added.

Pertinently, the decision was taken during a meeting which was held in Ware House Jammu in which Vijay Singh, Kuldeep Singh & Mohinder Singh and also Presidents of all Commercial Transport Association including Nazir Ahmad, Mudasir Bashir Dar from Kashmir province were also present. (KDC)

Srinagar, Feb 20: With India reporting mutated strains of the novel Coronavirus, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Saturday said the new variants could lead to resurgence of Covid-19 cases.
“New variants could trigger a new wave of Covid-19 that could reignite the pandemic,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“After the UK variant, South African and Brazilian variants have found their way into India,” he said.
“At least 4 people have tested positive for South African variant of the virus and one has tested positive for the Brazilian variant.”
“While we struggle to come to grips with the foreign strains, a “new Indian mutant strain” has been found in Maharashtra which is seeing a spike in cases after a two month lull,” DAK President said.
“The new variants are on the move and they can sneak into the valley anytime,” he said adding Kashmir being the favorite tourist destination, the mutant strains could spread into the region through tourists.”
“The variants seem to spread more easily and quickly than other variants which could lead to surge in new Covid-19 cases,” Dr Nisar said.
“People who have recovered from Covid-19 infection could be re-infected with the new mutated strains of the novel virus.”
Quoting a study published in the preprint server bioRxiv, he said that antibodies elicited by natural Covid-19 infection may not be able to neutralize emerging strains that display mutations in their genetic sequence.
“The new strains have been found to evade the effectiveness of the existing vaccines that have been developed against the original strain of the novel virus,” Dr Nisar said.
“Researchers from Johannesburg have shown that Oxford vaccine had significantly reduced efficacy against the South African variant.”
“Vaccine trials carried out by Janssen and Novavax too showed a significant drop in efficacy due to the variant,” he said.
“The variants loom at a time when Covid-19 cases are declining and people are weary of precautions. People must realize that the downward trend could quickly reverse if new variants take hold.”
“The fact of the matter is we are kind of in the dark. We don’t know whether the variants have sneaked in as there is no rigorous genetic surveillance system for tracking the variants.
Detecting variants and knowing where and how widely they are spreading could be critical to preventing another deadly wave of Covid-19 like the one we saw earlier,” said Dr Nisar.

Srinagar, Feb 20, KNT: Mutton mafia that is active both outside and in Valley has allegedly created artificial shortage of meat much to the discomfiture of the consumers.

Majority of the meat shops are shut waiting for the government to take a final call on the report submitted by Kashmir Economic Alliance in consultation with Journalists, traders and meat dealers.

Sources told News Agency Kashmir News Trust that some vested interest elements who are seen active outside meat markets are responsible for the artificial meat crisis in Kashmir Valley. They said these elements are not happy with the recommendations of ‘fact finding’ team which recently submitted its report to the government.

“On the one hand butchers are unwilling to open up their shops while on the other hand they supply meat to hoteliers on exorbitant rates. These butchers are insensitive towards the needs of consumers and are only interested in profit maximization,” said a meat dealer to KNT holding government responsible for the present crisis.

A government official said that report submitted by ‘fact finding’ Committee has not been discussed yet as Divisional Commissioner Kashmir is out of station. He said report will be considered only after the top official takes the charge.

If sources are to be believed, vested interest elements are satisfied with the present shortage of meat. They want butchers to sell meat at Rs 600 per kilogram. “After creating artificial shortage of meat, a consumer is left with no option but to pay what butchers demand.”

Sources said that mutton mafia is keen to run this Rs 23,000 crore industry in an unorganized manner, without any accountability. They said that ‘fact-finding’ team’s recommendation to organize meat industry effectively and hold those who supply mutton from outside markets to Kashmir accountable has upset some mutton dealers. It is learnt that this mutton mafia is trying to mount the pressure on the government so that the report of the Kashmir Economic Alliance and the official report are not taken into account and this business keeps on running in an unorganized way.

Sources added that outside mafia has successfully mobilized their agents in Kashmir and are playing key role in creating artificial meat shortage.

However, all butchers are not happy with their shops shut. “We are waiting for the final call that government has to take on the report. Our business has suffered,” said a group of butchers admitting that there are butchers that sell meat to restaurant owners instead of consumers for profit.

Consumers say if meat is scarce in market, then how is this mutton available in restaurants, hotels and other places.

Consumers appealed authorities to take a final decision and initiate action against the butchers and those meat dealers who don’t want this industry to run in an organized manner and loot consumers in absence of any regulation. (KNT)