Category: Union Territory

PTI

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi district on Thursday and prayed for peace, progress and prosperity of the union territory, an official statement said.

The LG was accompanied by Ramesh Kumar, chief executive officer of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, it said.

Sinha, who was on his first visit to the shrine after taking over as the LG earlier this month, inspected wayside facilities provided by the board for pilgrims.

He asked the CEO to ensure that all precautionary measures are taken in view of the COVID-19 pandemic for the safety and security of pilgrims, the statement said.

Sinha also directed the CEO to expedite the planning and construction of Durga Bhawan to provide free accommodation facilities to pilgrims.

The LG asked for further enhancing accommodation facilities for pilgrims, maximising utilisation of IT-enabled services for them and expediting work for the installation of video walls project, the statement said.

He also asked the CEO to enhance religious activities at the shrine, it said.

PTI

Jammu: Police have rescued a kidnapped girl and arrested the abductor in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Thursday, officials said.

The girl’s father had lodged a complaint at Ramnagar police station that his daughter went missing on July 25, they said.

The police teams conducted searches at various locations but the abductor kept changing his location, the officials said.

Acting on a tip-off, the team nabbed the kidnapper and rescued the girl from Kanah area on Thursday, they said.

The kidnapper was identified as Ankush Kumar and the girl handed over to her family after after legal formalities, they said.

Handwara: Terming the recent encounters in north Kashmir as big sucess for security forces,Director-General of Police Dilbagh Singh on Thursday said they have eliminated the militant leadership in Kashmir valley by killing 26 top commanders during the past seven months.

Addressing a presser in Handwara, DGP Dilbagh Singh said that these encounters in which four top commanders were killed are a major success for security forces and will provide a major relief to local people in the valley.

The DGP was flanked by IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar.

“We have been successfull in breaking the leadership structure of militants in Kashmir. 26 top most commanders were killed during the last seven months in different encounters across Kashmir valley,” he said.

Regarding the recent encounters, DGP said, “In Kreeri Baramulla, biggest Let Commander from North Kashmir Sajad Haider, his Pakistani aide Osman and a local Anyatuallah were killed in an encounter with security forces,”he said, “There were two-three groups that were working with LeT which included Naseer, who was killed in Handwara and Sajad Haider, who was killed in Baramulla. Naseer and Haider were working closely in North Kashmir. Nasir was a sharp shooter and a dangerous Militant who was trained in Pakistan. He was involved in the killing of many security forces, which included some CRPF personnel.”

DGP said Naseer was likely to carry out a big strike in north Kashmir after the killing of Sajad alias Hyder.”

He also said that security forces this year saved sixteen youth from militancy and returned them to their families.

Regarding the probe in alleged staged encounter in Shopian, he said” Investigation is going on in the right direction. Police is also carrying out a seperate probe in it” (KNS)

Turkey has once again taken an anti-India stand on Kashmir. The Turkish media has begun to use new terminology for Jammu and Kashmir from 5th August 2020. It has started to use the term “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir” (IIOJK). This term was propped up by Pakistan on 4″ August 2020 — just a day before the first anniversary of the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A.

However, this is not the first time that Turkey has taken the Pakistani side on the nomenclature. Previously, the Turkish media was using the term India Occupied Kashmir (IOK) for Jammu and Kashmir. Later, it began to use the terms of India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) and Azad Kashmir. This step was opposed by Indian authorities and they lodged their opposition with the Turkish national news agency Anadolu Agency — an agency run by the Turkish Government.

Consequently, the agency began to use the internationally accepted terms of India administered Kashmir and Pakistan administered Kashmir. Pakistan reached out to its friend and convinced it to use the names of both the sides of Jammu and Kashmir as per Pakistan’s nomenclatures. As a result, Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the Anadolu Agency to take a reverse gear and start using the terms – IOJK and Azad Kashmir.

The use of the new term by Turkey just after a day of its coinage by Pakistan highlights the strong coordination between the two countries. It was indeed not an instantaneous step, but a pre-planned one.

“When other Islamic countries refrained from commenting on the issue of abrogation, Turkey came out to openly support Pakistan and oppose India’s move and continues to trouble India on it. It indicates that the division between Islamic countries is further widening up, with most of the countries supporting India’s stand that Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and other international players should refrain from interfering in it.” said Indian Security officer deployed in the Center Security establishment.

Resorting to Pakistani terminologies and abstaining to use internationally accepted terms is a blot on Turkish diplomacy, besides being a direct attack on India. It is also a move of clear messaging to communicate that Turkey has rallied its unconditional support to Pakistan and shall continue to take anti-India steps in the times to come.

With inputs from DNA India

PTI

Srinagar: A hand grenade was found lying in a tehsil office in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, police said.

Police detected the grenade in the afternoon, a police official said.

A bomb disposal squad later defused the grenade.

There was no loss of life or property in the incident, the official said.

PTI

Srinagar: A militant who was killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district along with a top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander was identified as a Pakistani ultra, police on Thursday said.

They said the Pakistani militant named Danish was killed in the encounter on Wednesday.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar said the killing of the two militants was a big achievement for the security forces.

Kumar on Wednesday had said that one of the slain militants was LeT commander Naseer-u-din Lone, who was involved in killing of three CRPF jawans at Sopore on April 18 and another three CRPF jawans at Handwara on May 4 this year.

He said an AK-47 rifle, which was snatched from a CRPF jawan after the attack at Vangam Handwara on May 4, was recovered from Lone. This proved his involvement in the killing of the three CRPF jawans, he said on Thursday.

Killing of Lone and Danish is a big achievement for the forces, the IGP Kashmir said.

The Kashmir Zone Police on its official Twitter page uploaded a CCTV grab purportedly showing Lone firing on CRPF jawans at Aahad Baba Chowk in Sopore on April 18. The police wrote “justice done” on August 19 in the tweet.

The encounter at Ganipora Kralgund area of Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district started after security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

The encounter was the second such operation on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, security forces killed two militants in Shopian district in south Kashmir.

PTI

Banihal: Multiple landslides triggered by heavy rains blocked the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district on Thursday, leaving over 200 vehicles stranded, officials said.

The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, was blocked by landslides at Trishul Morh, Battery Cheshma and Pantiyal areas, officials said.

As a result, over 200 vehicles are stranded at different points of the highway, they said.

Men and machinery have been deployed to clear the area.

The highway was closed for two days last week due to a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains in Ramban district.

At least eight persons were injured, two of them critically, when a sumo vehicle they were traveling in met with an accident in Poonch district on Thursday (KNT)

The J&K administration has told HC that ‘no leader is under detention and that they are free to move subject to necessary security arrangements’

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday decided to hold a meeting of four senior party leaders on Thursday, who, according to the government, were “free” but the party pleaded before the High Court that they were “illegally detained since August 5, 2019.”

“On a perusal of the reply submitted by the Jammu and Kashmir administration before the High Court that ‘no leader is under detention and that they are free to move subject to necessary security arrangements’, Dr. Abdullah has invited four senior party members for a meeting at his residence on Thursday at 5 p.m.,” a NC spokesman said.

Those invited for the meeting were party general secretary and former Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, former Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, former legislator Mohammad Shafi Uri and former Minister Nasir Aslam Wani.

NC president Dr. Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah on July 13 filed a habeas corpus petition before the court challenging “the unconstitutional and illegal house detention of 16 NC senior leaders and functionaries.”

“The party is mindful of the present pandemic. The meeting with various leaders, who have been under detention, will be done in batches of four members. The party is hopeful that the liberty of the members under detention is now absolute and the meeting is held successfully on the appointed day,” the spokesman said.

With inputs from The Hindu

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

PTI

Jammu: Police have arrested two people for allegedly kidnapping a Punjab resident from a hotel in Jammu, officials said on Wednesday.

Sunny Gill from Punjab’s Ludhiana told police that he was staying at Hotel Ramada in Jammu when he was kidnapped by Balbir Singh, owner of Bawa Tour and Travels, and his associates at gunpoint last Thursday.

The officials said Sunny was kept at a house of Balbir Singh in Amar Colony of the Gol Gujral area. He was told to pay Rs 10 lakh or face dire consequences, they added.

The accused allegedly extorted Rs 50,000 from Sunny, who managed to escape from there and informed police.

A police team conducted raids and arrested the accused, Balbir Singh and Gurdeep Singh, they added. Police have also recovered the car used in the crime, a revolver, live cartridges and Rs 50,000 extorted from the victim, the officials.