The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) is likely to hold virtual meet on Wednesday to discuss border tensions between the two countries.The WMCC talks are headed by joint secretary-level officials from both sides.
With inputs from TOI
Govt Orders Time-Bound Enquiry Amid Questions: ‘Is Not It Limit Of Injustice?’
Srinagar: A pregnant woman in labour on Tuesday was “forced” to deliver in open as doctors at the Community Health Centre in Sumbal Bandipora allegedly refused to admit her for the want of covid-19 test.
The incident triggered outrage and one among the woman who accompanied the pregnant lady questioned how long will the injustices continue against similarly situated fairer gender in Kashmir Valley.
“The pregnant woman in labour was told she has to undergo covid-19 test. The mother of the pregnant woman even pleaded to a lady doctor but to no avail. How big injustice is it with the mothers and daughters. Same treatment is meted out to every pregnant woman everywhere include LD hospital in Srinagar,” the woman, accompanying the pregnant woman, told reporters.
The locals demanded action against the hospital and concerned authorities even as they sought answers from government on what basis was the pregnant woman denied the proper treatment. Later mother and the baby were admitted in CHC Sumbal and both are doing good, officials said.
Meanwhile, the authorities ordered a time-bound enquiry into the incident and sought “concrete recommendation” from the inquiry officer.
“Taking cognisance of media reports regarding incident involving delivery of a pregnant lady outside premises of CHC Sumbal and alleged negligence, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora immediately sought preliminary factual report of the incident which suggested that the lady had visited CHC Sumbal at 10:30am,” an official said.
Meanwhile, according an order by Additional Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Zahoor Ahmad Mir, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sumbal has been appointed an inquiry officer and has been asked to submit the “detailed” report with three days.
“The SDM shall enquire into the incident of delivery of a pregnant lady outside the premises of CHC Sumbal and alleged medical negligence,” reads the order, a copy of which lies with GNS. “He shall submit a detailed report within 03 days positively along with concerete recommendations,” the order added. (GNS)
Lieutenant General-rank officials of India and China met for almost 10 hours on Monday, discussing the way forward after the Galwan valley clash along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The last such meeting on June 6 had tasked middle-level officials to implement a formula to step back from flashpoints.
Amid LAC crisis, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrives in Moscow on a three-day visit. Courtesy: Twitter
At today’s meeting, no dramatic breakthrough was expected with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) adamant that it would not alter its stance. The two sides met at Moldo on the Chinese side of the designated meeting point at Chushul-Moldo, 200 km south-east of Leh.
The meeting, that started at 11.30 am, concluded past 10 pm, according to officials in New Delhi.
Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, was tasked with conveying to China to restore status quo as it prevailed on May 4, the day before the first clash between troops on May 5. India has cited how China had violated all agreements, protocols and the laid-down drills related to maintaining ‘peace and tranquillity’ along the LAC and for the conduct of soldiers.
New Delhi’s military officials have asked the PLA to demolish all structures that it has built in disputed areas along the LAC, especially the ‘Finger 4’ area north of Pangong Tso, a 135-km glacial-melt lake.
Status quo ante would mean pulling back troops and tanks, amassed by both sides in the past weeks and permitting each other’s patrols to pass through the disputed areas.
In New Delhi, the apex leadership of the Indian Army carried out a comprehensive review of India’s security preparedness along the LAC in Ladakh.
With inputs from Tribune News Service
Leh: The Union Territory of Ladakh on Tuesday recorded 85 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising its tally to 932, while 12 patients were cured of the disease and subsequently discharged from a hospital, officials said.
While 65 persons tested positive for coronavirus in Kargil district, 20 others returned positive for the infection in Leh district, the health department officials said.
One person has died of the coronavirus, while 148 others, including 80 in Leh, have been cured of the disease so far. They included 12 patients who were discharged form a COVID hospital in Leh on Tuesday.
With 85 new cases, the number of active cases in Ladakh has gone up to 783 — 622 in Kargil and 161 in Leh, the officials said.
They said the condition of all 783 positive patients is stable.
Srinagar: Experts have concerned over rising population growth of pigs in Kashmir saying it will have a bad impact on the ecosystem.
Wild boar or pig has been sighted in various parts of Kashmir in the recent years.
On Sunday, a dead wild boar was found at a graveyard in the Boniyar area of Baramulla district.
Range Officer Wildlife Department Baramulla, Altaf Koul claimed over 100 wild boars (pigs) are present in Baramulla district alone.
While Dr Bilal Ahmad Bhat who teaches at Zoology Department of University of Kashmir said pig a not a native animal and is not good for ecosystem in Kashmir.
“It is not good for ecosystem especially for our native species. This animal should not grow here,” Dr Bilal told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
Retired Professor of Centre Of Research For Development (CORD) University of Kashmir, G A Bhat said the non-native species should not grow in Kashmir.
“Exotic species should not come here. This animal (pig) most reside in residential area and eat waste. Religious point of view, people won’t like its presence here. Both exotic plants and animals should not come here which is not good for ecosystem,” Bhat told KINS.
Wild boar has also been sighted in the Dachigam National Park of Srinagar in recent years. In 2010, a dead wild pig was also sighted in Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuary of north Kashmir by a team of researchers when they were surveying for Markhor.
The species was considered locally extinct even from the Dachigam National Park, and according to the State Wildlife Department, was not sighted from the park and its adjoining areas since 1984. The sighting of the wild pig in Dachigam after a gap of about 30 years however proves that it still survives in Dachigam, a 2018 research paper says.(KINS)
A day after news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS) reported that over 100 pigs are present in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, authorities on Tuesday sent a team of the Wildlife Department to catch non-native animals.
On Sunday, a dead wild boar (pig) was found at a graveyard in the Boniyar area of Baramulla district. The presence of wild boar or pig, which is not a native animal of Kashmir, has created a scare among people.
Range Officer Wildlife Department Baramulla, Altaf Koul claimed over 100 wild boars (pigs) are present in Baramulla district alone.
SDM Uri Baramulla Riyaz Ahmad Malik Tuesday said they have called a team of the Wildlife Department.
“The team will be camping in the area to catch pigs. We don’t want to harm them (pigs) but will be chased away,” Malik told KINS.
Range Officer Wildlife Department Baramulla, Altaf Koul Monday claimed over 100 wild boars are present in Baramulla district alone.
“They (wild boars) mostly reside near the Line of Control. They have tusk teeth and can attack people. The wild boar is a wild species of pig. If anyone found dead wild boar anywhere, this animal should be burnt immediately to contain the spread of disease,” Altaf told KINS.
He said Kashmir being a Muslim dominated society won’t accept the presence of this animal. “People won’t allow these animals to go in their areas. These could be sighted in Kazinag National Park, Limber Wildlife Sanctuary, and Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuary. There has been a rapid increase in their population in north Kashmir,” he said.
Wild boar has also been sighted in the Dachigam National Park of Srinagar in recent years. In 2010, a dead wild pig was also sighted in Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuary of north Kashmir by a team of researchers when they were surveying for Markhor.(KINS)
Jammu: Security forces have busted a militant hideout in a remote village in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir and recovered a universal machine gun along with 222 rounds of ammunition, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
The hideout was unearthed during a joint search operation by troops of 16 Rashtriya Rifles and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the police at Murrah village in the Surankote area, Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonch, Ramesh Angral told PTI.
He said the search operation was launched Monday on a tip-off about the presence of a hideout in the hilly village.
However, no one was arrested during the operation, the officer said.
New Delhi: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said that the Centre’s top agenda currently is including Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in India.
“We had been instructed to give due importance to Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, along the lines of treatment meted out to the North-East (in NDA rule). Nobody can imagine what is going to happen in the future, and top priority on the list of agendas is to make POK part of the Republic of India and bring it back to the form in which Maharaja Hari Singh gave it to us,” Singh said during the ‘Jammu-Kashmir Jan Samvad’ being held through video conferencing.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also spoke at the rally being held today.
s, the priority of other governments was such that no project in the country was named after Syama Prasad Mukharjee, but the first national-level road project named after Mukherjee is in this region. It is the 9 kilometres long, Chenani-Nashri tunnel,” Singh said.
Mukherjee died in police custody on June 23, 1953, after he was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police for entering the erstwhile state without a permit.
Singh also spoke about the sacrifices made by the late Jana Sangh founder and added that the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir was “fitting compensation for years of sacrifices made by BJP workers and the struggle of 68 years for the cause” and added that with the move “assimilation has begun and appeasement is on the decline in Jammu and Kashmir.” (ANI)
Islamic Fraternity asks people to halt such moves.
Condemening the administration’s move to open liquor shops and cinema’s Islamic Fraternity (IF) has asked the people of valley to halt such moves with tooth and nail,as it is a direct attack on the relious identity and freedom of the people.
Islamic Fraternity president Muhammad Aamir said that administration want to harm the social bonding of a modest society like kashmir. He further said that administration want to turn the morally peaceful society of Kashmir into a corrupt one as is the condition of their own states in the erstwhile parts of India where no women,young or old,local or foreigner is safe & it is actually a moral degredation. He further went on to say Liquor is the “MOTHER OF ALL EVILS”.
Islamic Fraternity President cautioned people that the under cover sale of drugs and liquors is a well hatched conspiracy of anti islam,anti muslim and anti youth agencies who want to further widen their web of criminal activities and want to detach the Kashmiri youth from their Islamic roots. That is why when anybody want to raise its voice against this Drug Mafia, they are victimized one or the other way of which Nighat Bashir of North Kashmir is a recent example, who when tried to raise her voice against these criminals,she was threatened in a broad day light.
Advising those who are involved in this well planned conspiracy within the society, Islamic Fraternity advised them to fear the wrath of ALLAH Subhanatalla and don’t support this conspiracy, Or else the time will come, when their own progeny will be morally destroyed by the same plot of which they are a part now & they will curse us for not raising voice against this conspiracy when there was still time for that.
In a special appeal to the youth of kashmir, President of IF Mr Aamir said, “Nevertheless how many conspiracies are hatched and no matter how strongly they try to drag you into this dirty game, if we remain steadfast on our religious faith no conspiracy will affect us.’’
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday asked the government whether China has occupied Indian territory.
“We are standing united against Chinese aggression. Has China occupied Indian territory?” Gandhi tweeted along with a photograph of the Pangong Tso lake clicked by his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his statement at an all-party meeting last week that neither is anyone inside India’s territory nor has anyone captured its posts while referring to the Ladakh face-off.
Earlier too, the Congress leader had asked the government whether China has occupied any Indian territory.
The Prime Minister’s Office has already clarified Modi’s comments, and said attempts are being made to give a “mischievous interpretation”.
Firing a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi on Monday asked as to why China is “praising Mr Modi during this conflict”.
A key body of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday backed the Kashmiri people’s demand for self-determination and rejected the Indian government’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
A key body of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday backed the Kashmiri people’s demand for self-determination and rejected the Indian government’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
A virtual meeting of the OIC’s contact group on Kashmir, held on Pakistan’s call, adopted a communique that also expressed concern over ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) and called on India to “rescind its unilateral and illegal actions, and allow the Kashmiri people to freely exercise their right to self-determination through a UN-supervised plebiscite”.
A statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the communiqué was unanimously adopted by the contact group.
A separate statement issued by the OIC said the contact group reaffirmed continued support for the Kashmiri people and called on the UN secretary-general to make India abide by the UN Security Council resolutions and “engage in dialogue to calm the situation in the region”.
The contact group called on India to halt security operations in Kashmir, respect basic human rights, “refrain from changing the demographic structure” of the region and settle the issue under UN Security Council resolutions, according to the OIC statement.
The statement added the contact group had welcomed efforts by some OIC members to calm the situation between India and Pakistan.
There was no immediate response to the developments from Indian officials. India has traditionally described such actions by the OIC as interference in the country’s internal matters.
Pakistan has been pushing for such a meeting on the Kashmir issue since the Indian government scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last August and split the erstwhile state into two union territories. However, India’s close friends within the OIC, including several Arab states, had stymied these efforts.
The communique, according to the statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry, reaffirmed “support for the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for realization of their inalienable right to self-determination and freedom from Indian occupation” and rejected the “newly-notified Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Order 2020 and Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 2020”, claiming they were “aimed at changing the demographic structure” of Kashmir.
The contact group demanded India should halt “human rights violations; stop indiscriminate use of force; lift the unabated military siege and inhuman lockdown; repeal its draconian emergency laws…and release all illegal detainees”.
OIC secretary general Yousaf Al-Othaimeen chaired the virtual meeting that was joined by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and a senior representative of Niger. Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi led the Pakistani delegation, which included the “president” of Pakistan-administered-Kashmir and representatives of Hurriyat from PaK.
Qureshi conveyed Pakistan’s concern at the new domicile rules in Kashmir, alleging they were meant to change the demographic structure. He alleged India had intensified ceasefire violations along the LoC.
With inputs from HT Web Desk