Category: Union Territory

Srinagar: President of Restaurant and Café Association of Kashmir (RAK) today made strong appeal to Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir state and seeks his intervention for providing support for the waive off rents of restaurants and cafés across Kashmir valley as continued closure of business establishments in Kashmir has brought revenue generation to a grinding halt for hospitality sector.

In a statement, Sheikh Feroz, President of the association said, “Our business activities are severely disrupted from last 8 months which makes it hard to pay the rent to landlords. The rent dues are still pending, hence we request all the landlords including UT-government to reduce the rent and to allow the business community to lessen the burden of extra cost to manage their business activities in these testing times.”

He further said that the UT government as a ‘goodwill gesture’ should take a lead to revise the rental agreements of its rented out property and to reduce the charges so that the business community will find a hope to survive.

Sheikh Feroz made an appeal to the landlords across the valley and said, “At a moment our survival is in the hands of landlords. Any reduction of rent dues will actually contribute in providing livelihood to people associated with our industry. We, therefore, request to all the landlords, particularly the UT government to reduce the rent and to equally create a mechanism wherein rent shall be paid in installments to help the business community to survive.”

Pleading the point, the RAK President said: “We are already crushed under the burden of bank loans and other dues and given the fact that there has been income we are unable to pay rentals in time.”

Given the fact that this sector of hospitality industry provides livelihood to thousands of families, Feroz appealed the government to have a compassionate look into the matter.

The RAK expressed commitment in review of the rent agreements once situation normalizes. “We ensure landlords to review the rent agreements after the situation normalizes. But at the moment it would be a great service towards the business community if relaxation is provided in payment of rent through installments, and in some cases to exempt the rental for months when the business was severely impacted due to pandemic situations and before the pandemic situation emerged in Kashmir,” Feroz said.

Srinagar: In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the J&K administration is likely to allow only 2,000 pilgrims in a day during the 14-day Amarnath Yatra via the shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal district, said shrine board sources. They said registrations shall be made online.

Due to the spike in Covid-19 infections across the country, uncertainty looms large over the annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high cave shrine in south Kashmir.

The works section of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) is awaiting the J&K administration’s nod for the Baltal route so it could undertake the maintenance tracks leading to the shrine, they added.

So far, it has been decided that barring sadhus, no pilgrims above the age of 55 years will be allowed to embark on the yatra, which will take the shorter Baltal route.

“All those undertaking the pilgrimage must possess Covid-negative certificates. The pilgrims will be cross-checked for the infection upon entry into J&K before they are allowed to undertake the yatra,” said an official requesting anonymity.

The SASB is also looking to telecast the live aarti from the cave shrine in the morning and evening for the devotees, the official added.

Another official said since it would be a curtailed yatra, the SASB is mulling to allow it via helicopters only.

However, lieutenant governor’s principal secretary and SASB CEO Bipul Pathak said, “The board is yet to meet and take a decision.”

With inputs from Hindustan Times

India’s move changing status of J&K ‘challenged sovereignty of Pakistan and China’ says report

A report authored by a senior figure at an influential Chinese think-tank has linked the current tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to India’s move last year to abrogate Article 370 and change the status of Jammu and Kashmir, a decision that China had voiced opposition to.

The article, for the first time, described the move as a joint challenge to China and Pakistan, saying the move had “posed a challenge to the sovereignty of Pakistan and China”.

The report was shared on Friday on social media by a press officer at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, although it was first published on June 4 and has since been shared on several Chinese websites.

Status of Ladakh

“On the Chinese side, India opened up new territory on the map, incorporated part of the areas under the local jurisdiction of Xinjiang and Tibet into its Ladakh union territory,” it said. “This forced China into the Kashmir dispute, stimulated China and Pakistan to take counter-actions on the Kashmir issue, and dramatically increased the difficulty in resolving the border issue between China and India.”

The article was authored by Wang Shida, who is Deputy Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). CICIR is a Beijing-based think-tank that is affiliated to the Ministry of State Security, China’s top intelligence body.

Mr. Wang noted that the Chinese Foreign Minister had conveyed China’s strong opposition to the move to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during his visit to Beijing last year, following the abrogation of Article 370 and the establishment of Ladakh as a union territory. The week before the August visit, Home Minister Amit Shah had spoken in Parliament about taking back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Aksai Chin.

Mr. Jaishankar conveyed to Beijing that the move was an entirely internal matter that did not impact India’s external boundaries or the LAC with China. China had opposed the Ladakh map for including Aksai Chin.

The article said the move had “posed a challenge to the sovereignty of Pakistan and China” and “made India-Pakistan relations and China-India relations more complex.” It noted that China had raised the issue at the United Nations Security Council.

U.S. role

The author hit out at what he called India’s “double confidence” behind the move. The first, he said, was the 2019 election win that gave the Bharatiya Janata Party “unprecedented political confidence”. The second reason, he said, was that the “United States and some other Western countries puffed India up from an ideological point of view” to “hedge” against China.

“To this end,” he said, “India was seen as a favourite by the U.S., which not only drew India over to its side and praised India but also turned a blind eye to the excessive use of force and other misdeeds of the Indian authorities” in Kashmir.

“Regardless of how confident India is and no matter how good it feels about itself,” he concluded, “its attempts to forcibly seize territory are doomed to fail.”

With inputs from The Hindu

Srinagar: With uncertainty looms large over reopening of schools, authorities have stressed for community schooling in Jammu and Kashmir.

There is uncertainty over reopening of schools amid COVID-19 lock down in Jammu and Kashmir.

Concerned over losses to students by lockdown, authorities have stressed for community schooling.

“In view of continuous COVID-19 lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, all local teachers, masters and lecturers may volunteer for community schooling within their locality, mohalla, village with parental support while strictly adhering to all SOPs social distancing and preventive measures,” Principal Secretary Education Department Dr Asgar Samoon said as per news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS). Earlier this month, the education department had said that they were planning to reopen schools from mid-June., the Centre recently said that schools won’t be reopened till August.

An official said the reopening of schools will increase the public movement in the valley which means the end of lockdown. “There are 15 lakh students studying in government schools and another 10 lakh are in private schools. Once schools open, there will be increased public movement. This will end the lockdown. So the government has to be careful before announcing the reopening of schools, ” the official said.

Community schools have already been set up in various parts of the valley to ensure that the students who miss out on schooling stay in touch with their education. These schools are entirely run on the resources and labour pooled by young people.
A group of youth in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district have started a community school.

“Proper distance is being maintained while teaching students. We don’t see any improvement in the situation. The biggest casualty is the education and mental growth of young ones. It is necessary to start community schools to compensate the losses to students,” said Bashir Ahmad, who teaches in one of the community schools.

Farooq Ahmad, a private school teacher said it was good that the government is suggesting teachers to start community schools in their respective areas.

“But proper protocol should be followed to ensure there is no spread of infection,” he added. (KINS)

All schools upto higher secondary level falling in summer zones of Jammu division will observe the summer vacation from June 15 to July 15

Schools falling under winter zones of Jammu will observe summer vacation from July 06 to July 15

Weekly program, assignments shall be conducted throughout vacation period besides engaging children in cultural activities and for coverage of curriculum/syllabus, all the teachers have been asked to remain available for students through voice calls, texts and WhatsApp messages to answer the queries of students and clear the doubts with regard to the curriculum.

By: Nuktaa

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Srinagar: Protests of parents against private school charging school fees picked up steam on Friday with a small but actual demonstration in the heart of Srinagar city. Private Association of Private Schools Kashmir Friday staged a protest in Karan Nagar area of Srinagar city demanding parents should be exempted from paying the school pay during the lock down period.

Various members of the Association assembled at Municipal Park Karan Nagar and protested against the silent attitude of the administration and anti-parental order regarding private school fee.

“We seek the intervention of Lieutenant Governor. Authorities should feel the pain of parents who are finding it hard to feed their families in this pandemic. It is strange that even in this pandemic, when everything was shut and schools were functional, orders were issued asking parents to deposit the school fee,” the protesters told news agency KNT.

They said that schools have taken admission fee in this year that too against the judgment of Supreme Court of India and FFC order.

“The salaries of the staff are always taken up by the schools as a tactic to emotionally blackmail the government and parents as well. We ask the government that if the parents have been cooperating with the schools since August 2019 by paying full fee, why the schools this time can’t waive off the fee for the pandemic period,” they said.

The protesters said that schools are continuously texting and calling the parents to deposit the fee. Some schools have even threatened to stop the online classes if the fee is not paid.

They requested administration to take a humanitarian view of the current situation and take a just decision which will not overburden the parents during this pandemic. (KNT)

Duo actively involved in transporting automatic weapons, hand grenades to Valley, says DGP

The Punjab police on Thursday said they had foiled smuggling of weapons in a big way into the Kashmir Valley for carrying out terror attacks with the arrest of two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives.

Ten hand grenades, one AK-47 rifle with two magazines and 60 live cartridges were seized from Aamir Hussain Wani, 26, and Wasim Hassan Wani, 27, both residents of Shopian, the police said.

Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said, “The duo, actively involved in transporting automatic weapons and hand grenades from Punjab to the Kashmir Valley, were arrested by the Pathankot police, which intercepted a truck at a naka on the Amritsar-Jammu highway.”

A search of the truck led to the recovery of the weapons and ammunition. The accused, during preliminary investigation, said they were directed to collect the consignment from Punjab by Ishfaq Ahmed Dar alias Bashir Ahmed Khan, a former J&K constable. Currently an active militant of LeT in the Kashmir Valley, Dar absconded in 2017, he stated.

“The duo said they collected the consignment from two unknown persons on Thursday morning at a pre-arranged location on the Maqboolpura-Vallah road near the vegetable market in Amritsar. They had then concealed the consignment in the truck, which they had brought ostensibly for loading vegetables and fruits from the mandi in Amritsar,” he said.

“Aamir Hussain Wani has revealed that, on his earlier trips to Punjab in his truck, he had collected more than ₹20 lakh of hawala money at the behest of his handlers, Dar and Dr. Rameez Raja, who is currently lodged in a jail in J&K for his involvement in terror activities.”

An FIR under Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act, 3/4/5 of the Explosive Substances Amendment Act 2001 and 13, 17, 18, 18-B, 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 had been registered.

The arrest of the duo had corroborated recent intelligence inputs indicating that Pakistan’s ISI had been pushing weapon consignments and infiltrating militants from across the border into Punjab, and further to the Kashmir Valley for carrying out terror activities, Mr. Gupta added.

With inputs from The Hindu

Srinagar: As part of centre’s ‘Unlock’ 1.0 strategy to review the economy, Authorities in Summer capital Srinagar decided to reopening of markets in the city from tomorrow.

Muhammad Yaseen Khan, President Kashmir Trade Manufactures Federation (KTMF), confirmed to news agency KINS that markets will open on Saturday.

He said a green signal has been recieved from the administration and from Saturday markets in the city will reopen again. He said It is a welcome step, added that the business community is ready to work under standard operating procedures.

Markets in Kashmir have remained closed since March 18 when the Covid pandemic hit Jammu and Kashmir.

Pertinent to mention here that Markets were reopened in different parts of Kashmir on Wednesday after the gap of 40 days due to COVID-19.(KINS)

PTI

Srinagar: Security forces on Friday arrested a militant during a search operation in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, a defence spokesman said.

Acting on specific intelligence input about the presence of militants in Asthan Mohalla area of Shopian in South Kashmir, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there early this morning, defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said.

He said during the search operation, one militant was apprehended.

A pistol, two magazines and 12 rounds were recovered from his possession, the spokesman said.