Category: Union Territory

Jammu: The audience at a book-release function here on Sunday burst into laughter when National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said he had not kissed his wife since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The octogenarian leader, who was candid and witty in his nearly-35-minute speech, said one is even afraid of a handshake or a hug in the current situation.

“I can’t even kiss my wife. Who knows (what will happen). There is no question of a hug, though the heart wants it. I am sincere in my words,” he said, leaving the audience in splits.

A short video clip of his remarks has gone viral on social media.

Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said that when his daughter sees photos of him not wearing a mask, she takes him to task on his return home.

People today are afraid of handshakes and hugging each other as thousands are still dying on a daily basis in various parts of the world, Abdullah said.

He said COVID-19 vaccines are now available and only time will tell about their efficacy, “but I am praying for their success so that the situation gets normal”.

On Sunday, India had rolled out the world’s largest vaccination drive against COVID-19, which has so far infected 1,05,57,985 people in the country and killed 1,52,274 of them

Cent Gujjar also triggered a bout of laughter among the audience, mostly belonging to the nomadic community. Abdullah’s mother was from a Gujjar tribe.

The well-attended function was organised by Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust to release the biography of its patron-in-chief Masud Ahmad Choudhary, a retired Additional Director General of Police and ex-vice chancellor of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (Rajouri).

The book explores the life of Chaudhary, who is widely known as “Sir Syed” of Gujjar Community for his untiring efforts in areas of social and educational awakening, his contributions in the police department, in service of the Gujjar community and as an institution builder.

With inputs from the Economic Times

 (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.).

Srinagar: Lieutenant General BS Raju, General Officer Commander (GOC), Chinar Corps said that Pakistan continues to instigate youth from Kashmir Valley into terrorism by various means, indoctrinates and sends them back across Line of Control (LoC).

He said that terrorists from the neighbouring country also continue to target our security forces and civilians in crowded areas, expecting forces to react and cause more civilian casualties.

“Pakistan remains the key instigator to push youth towards terrorism by various means. It has attracted many youths for studies. But along the way, a few have been indoctrinated. Some of them have trained and sent back through the Line of Control (LoC) as part of infiltrating columns as well as through the international border.

Militants from Pakistan target our security forces and civilians within the Valley in crowded areas. They expect us to react and cause more civilian casualties. They then use this as propaganda to tarnish our image and then go for reacting,” he said.

Accusing Pakistan of using social media to spread misinformation and attract new recruits, Raju observed that terrorists encourage overground workers to throw grenades or fire pistol at low-value targets and also initiate them into terrorist ranks but people are aware of Pakistan’s design.

“The recruitment by terrorists in 2020 is fairly under control, especially when compared to 2018. The present strength of terrorists in the valley is 217, which is the lowest in last decade. Pakistan’s desire to send weapons and drugs by drones/tunnel is definitely a challenge.

Pakistan’s basic desire is to destabilise Kashmir. As we became strong on the LC and were able to plug the gaps, Pakistan began to adopt alternate means of using drones to drop weapons. To defeat the use of drones, we are using advanced surveillance devices to detect and Jam these aerial platforms,” he added further. (PTK)

Srinagar, Jan 17: Weather office said on Sunday that light to moderate snowfall in the higher reaches and rain in the plains of Jammu and Kashmir is likely to occur from the evening of January 22 to January 25.

According to the KNS correspondent,  official of the local meteorological (MeT) department said, “A western disturbance is most likely to affect J&K and Ladakh from the evening of January 23 to the forenoon of January 25.

“This will result in fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate snowfall/rain in the plains of J&K during the above mentioned dates with the main activity on January 24.”

The official added that the new system would be much weaker than the previous one. “So we expect precipitation of lower intensity compared to the previous one”, he said (KNS).

The epicentre of the earthquake was 93 km east of Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s National Center for Seismology said

Earthquake of Magnitude:4.1, Occurred on 16-01-2021, 22:01:04 IST, Lat: 33.03 & Long: 75.93, Depth: 10 Km ,Location: 93km E of Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, India for more information https://t.co/8tt78pPFba pic.twitter.com/h6q7QmESKx

— National Center for Seismology (@NCS_Earthquake) January 16, 2021

Katra: An earthquake of magnitude 4.1 was reported near Katra in Jammu and Kashmir today, according to India’s National Center for Seismology.

The epicentre of the earthquake was 93 km east of Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, the agency said. The earthquake struck at 10:01 PM at a depth of 10 km from the surface.

No casualties due to the earthquake have been reported so far.

Srinagar: Five persons were arrested for pasting threat posters in Seer and Batagund villages of Tral area in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said on Saturday.

“On 13 January 2021 some threat posters of the (militant) outfit were found pasted in Seer and Batagund villages of Tral area,” a police spokesperson said in a statement to GNS. Accordingly, he said, a case— FIR No. 04/2021 under relevant sections of law— was registered in Police Station Tral and investigation was initiated.

“During the course of investigation, Police party raided multiple places and rounded up several suspects. During the questioning of suspects and collection of other evidence five (militant) associates were found to be involved in pasting of the threat posters and were accordingly arrested.”

They have been identified as Jehangir Ahmad Parray son of Ghulam Nabi Parray, Aijaz Ahmad Parray son of Ghulam Mohammad Parray, Towseef Ahmad Lone son of Mohammad Ramzan Lone, Sabzar Ahmad Bhat son of Abdul Rashid Bhat and Qaisar Ahmad Dar son of Gulzar Ahmad Dar, all residents of Gulshanpora Tral.

“One Laptop and a printer used for the preparation and printing of the threat posters have been seized from their possession,” he said, adding, “Further investigation in the matter is in progress.” (GNS)

Srinagar: The Crime Branch Kashmir today carried out searches at a number of locations across Srinagar city in connection with alleged sale of air tickets on exorbitant rates by travel agents and various airlines operating in Srinagar sector.

In this regard searches were conducted in the offices of 9 travel agents and the residential premises of a sales manager of one of the airlines.

An official told KNT that the Crime Branch Kashmir had received a complaint from different Travel Associations and Trade bodies through Director Tourism, Kashmir regarding dry selling/offline selling of bulk tickets by airlines staff to the ticketing agents in advance in violation of the standing norms and procedure. The Complaint further alleged that travel agents in league with Airlines staff are creating artificial inflation of prices.

During the investigation, the Crime Branch Kashmir had summoned representatives of various airlines viz, Vistara, Go Air, Indigo, Air India, Air Asia and Spice-jet U/S 160 CrPC along with relevant records.

The investigation has revealed that large number of tickets have been purchased by some agents through various airlines in violation of the standing norms and procedure.

Accordingly searches, as mandated under law, were conducted today across the city and important documents pertaining to the case investigation have been seized from various travel agents. Further investigation in the case is being conducted as per procedure. (KNT)

Srinagar, Jan 16 : Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and vice-president of the National Conference, has said that the Supreme Court should immediately hear the petitions challenging the abolition of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.

Taking part in the The Indian Express idea exchange program, Omar said, “It is not that the Supreme Court is not working. We have seen that it has interfered in the case of the farmers. In the case of farmers, if the Supreme The court can say that it does not appear that there was any consultation with the farmers, so no consultations were taken from Jammu and Kashmir before August 5, 2019. The Supreme Court needs to be seen on the same scale What had happened in Jammu and Kashmir and they should start hearing. And we should have the opportunity to change their minds with our pleas” Groundreport.in reported.

Omar Abdullah said, ‘We have seen that the Supreme Court took cognizance of the peasant movement and interfered. The Supreme Court also said that no one was consulted before enacting the law. Similarly, no decision was taken in the decision taken in Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019. Therefore, the Supreme Court should start hearing immediately on this issue and we should also include it in the judgment.

Omar Abdullah said that he had full faith in the Supreme Court. Abdullah said that the Supreme Court had said in its remarks that everything can be changed if it comes to law. But it will not be possible to change much after a time.

Abdullah said, ‘As time passes many people will be given the right to live in Jammu and Kashmir. People will be posted in administrative positions. The policeman will be made wild. Then people will say that a lot of water has flowed in the Jhelum. Now this is the reality. But we do not want to accept it. (PTK)

Amid Chilling Cold Weather Saffron Flowers Sprouts out

Climate change, government security lockdowns and the pandemic have all played a role in dampening production of saffron – once a source of fortune for thousands of families growing the world’s priciest spice in Kashmir.

– AFP

Jammu: While New Delhi allotted Rs 1 lakh crore budget annually to Jammu and Kashmir, it generates revenue less than Rs 10,000 crore annually thus making it dependent on centre funds for the development.

As per the official figures accessed by news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS), the annual budget in J&K has exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore, while it generates revenue of around Rs 10,000 crore annually. The rest Rs 90,000 crore is allotted by New Delhi to keep the development ticking in Kashmir. Similarly, the GSDP of Kashmir was 19 billion dollar and GSDP rate 8.2 % against Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) 7 billion dollar and 4.7 %, respectively.

“Government in Pakistan has been allotting Rs 13,000 crore to feed a population of 4.5 million in PaK. The comparison on infrastructure development projects is even more surprising wherein India had spent Rs 6724 Cr in 2019 in J&K against mere Rs 1028 Cr in PaK,” the figures reveal.

The focused development on infrastructure in J&K completely routs PaK where 4 airports and 28 railway stations exists in J&K against 02 non-functional airports and non-existence of railways in PaK, it says.

The per capita income in J&K as per the figures stands tall with a fig of $1200 in comparison with PaK’s $525.

“The poverty rate in PaK stands at 34% with the unemployment rate being 18.1% as compared to a poverty rate of 10.35% in J&K and an unemployment rate of 12.13%. Pak government has spent only Rs 135 Cr in 2019 on education against Rs 1100 Cr by Indian government in J&K”, the figures reveal.

Even the figures of universities and educational institutes in J&K is overwhelming with 183 universities and colleges including 18 medical colleges in comparison to only 8 such institutes in PaK including 3 medical colleges. The spending on health care system has been alarming where Indian government has spent Rs 3,000 Cr in J&K in 2019 against a mere spending of Rs 29 Cr in PaK, it says.

Some of the engineering marvels like the Chenahi Nashri tunnel, the upcoming tallest bridge in the world on Chenab river, the under construction Zojilla tunnel, the ensuing ring road in Srinagar and other parts, the ongoing work on an all weather tunnel liking Jammu with Srinagar are some of the massive infra projects.

This enforced closure of business establishment and disruption of normal life, unfortunately, made Kashmir an unsafe haven for private investments. “Compared to such an unfavourable environment for promoting business activities (in Kashmir), PaK and GB should have been way ahead of Jammu and Kashmir in economic and infrastructural development. But, what is transparent on the ground is a melancholic state of affairs with economy running on pittance and infrastructure lying in tatters,” it says.

“On the other side, take the handling of the ongoing crises of Covid-19 by J&K administration and its counterparts in PaK. While J&K is among the best performing states in India in terms of testing and provision of better healthcare, people in PaK have been forced into uncertain times.” (KINS)

Says she fell victim to sophisticated phishing attack

New Delhi: Former NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan has sensationally claimed that she had fallen victim to a sophisticated phishing attack, who duped her to believe that she had been offered a job with Harvard University.

Taking to Twitter, Razdan wrote, “I have been the victim of a very serious phishing attack. I’m putting this statement out to set the record straight about what I’ve been through. I will not be addressing this issue any further on social media.”

She also released a full statement outlining how she was duped into quitting her job with the NDTV. According to the former NDTV anchor, she was given to believe that her stint with the prestigious university will commence from September 2020. However, she was later told that her teaching job at the university will start from January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Razdan said that she began noticing ‘a number of administrative anomalies’ in the process being described to her. But she dismissed these anomalies as being reflective of a new normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, soon she became suspicious and approached the university for clarity. “Upon their request, I shared some of the correspondence that I believed I had received from the University,” the statement by her read.

Razdan said that the response from the university convinced her that she had become a ‘victim of a sophisticated and coordinated phishing attack.’ “I did not, in fact, receive an offer by Harvard University to join their faculty as an Associate Professor of Journalism. The perpetrators of this attack used clever forgeries and misrepresentations to obtain access to my personal data and communications and may have also gained access to my devices and my email/social media accounts,” she added.