Kashmir.Watch

Category: Union Territory

  • Army lifts its deployment in Janipur Jammu after ‘verbal quarrel’ with police

    Jammu, February 16 : Army on Saturday lifted its deployment from Janipur Colony of Jammu after ‘verbal quarrel’ between them and police took place there following police lathi charged the protesters in the area.

    Sources told KNO that police reached the spot where protest was going on against the killing of CRPF men in Lethpora attack on Thursday and lathi charged the protesters, adding that Army and police entered into verbal quarrel over the lathi charge and lifted its deployment from Janipur here.

    They added Army told police that they were handling the situation in well manner but such lathi charges and other related things would further deteriorate the situation.

    After Army and police’s verbal quarrel, Army has lifted its deployment from the area. However, there was no official confirmation till the report was last filed. (KNO)

  • Clashes erupt in Maisuma as Lal chowk shuts

    Srinagar: Clashes eruptes in Maisuma area of Lal chowk on Saturday as city center observed shutdown over violence against Kashmiris in Jammu.
    Eyewitness told KNO that protesers took to streets and rased slogans over harassment of Kashmiris.

    Police has reached the spot to control the situation.(KNO)

  • Pulwama Attack: More youths might be lured into militancy

    SRINAGAR, FEB 16 : Security forces are apprehensive that the Pulwama attack might lead to more recruitment of local militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The fear is that Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammad, emboldened by the attack, will eulogise this dastardly act and try to lure more youth from “vulnerable backgrounds”.

    Militant groups have suffered major reverses in the valley because of the success of the army in killing of militants. They were looking to cause a Pulwama like incident to revitalise the cadre and have succeeded in doing so The Print reported.

    According to the report of The Print “The JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) was desperate to do something spectacular to show its presence in the Valley and gain momentum. It will use this deadly attack as an opportunity to lure more youth towards militancy. This could lead to more local recruitment to militant ranks”.

    “Security forces were on a militant-elimination spree across the Valley. Thursday’s attack was disturbing in many ways, including the fact that a local militant was the suicide bomber, the explosives used caused huge damage, and especially the heavy casualties. This is definitely going to have a long-term impact,” he said.

    Since December 2017, 56 JeM operatives were killed across Kashmir. Out of them 41 were Pakistanis. JeMs plot is to target local boys. It has a lethal mindset,” the official said.

    Sources said the police might appeal the Cenrtre to defer the ensuing elections in view of the prevailing situation in the State.

    Defence and security analyst Chandrashekhar Bhattacharyya said while it was too early to say if militancy would go up, military operations would definitely intensify.

    “There will be a rise in CASO/CI and CT Ops in the hinterland by security forces. Thursday’s attack doesn’t come as a surprise, because the tactics and situation was building up over time, since 2017,” he told The Print.

    Pulwama falls in the south Kashmir region, which has been in the grip of violence and rising local militancy since the killing of Hizbul Mujahiddeen commander Burhan Wani in 2016.

    Scores of young, educated boys — some with postgraduate degrees, MPhils and even PhDs — have joined the militancy and been killed in encounters.

    According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, around 300 militants are active in the Valley as of January 2019. In 2018, 270 militants were killed, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal. (PTK)

  • Pellets for Kashmiris, free hand to rioters in Jammu: KEA, asks police to act tough against ‘criminals’

    Govt free-hand to goons responsible for Jammu arson: Yaseen Khan

    Terming the rioting and arson in Jammu as a result of government giving free hand to a handful of goons, the Kashmir Economic Alliance Chairman Muhammad Yasin Khan said the police must act tough against such criminals.

    In a statement, Khan who also heads the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) said the way police was seen acting mute towards the rioters in Jammu conveys that iron hand is meant only for peace-loving Kashmiris.

    “In Kashmir, pellets are fired on innocents as young as infant Hiba, but in Jammu, rioters are given a free hand only because they apparently enjoy blessings of some politicians,” Khan said.

    “It is the duty of the government to ensure the safety of the people regardless of the community or region they represent,” Khan said.

    He appealed the people of Jammu and Dogra community, in particular, to uphold the values of communal harmony and be united with the people of Kashmir in these testing times to give a befitting reply to the goons.

    Hailing the statement of JCCI President Rakesh Gupta Khan said the sane voice has upheld the values of humanity.

    Khan also appealed the government to ensure the safety of Kashmiris, especially students living outside the state.

  • Farooq Abdullah among the leader attending all-party meets in Delhi

    SRINAGAR, FEB 16: The all-party meeting convened by the government in view of the Pulwama militant attack is underway in New Delhi. The meeting has been convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

    The Minister is expected to brief the parties about the attack and the steps being taken by the government in this regard. Invitations were extended to all major political parties.

    Sources confirmed News agency Press Trust of Kashmir that the all-party meeting was attended by Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, D Raja of the CPI, Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav. (PTK)

  • Security of Hurriyat leaders will be removed: Home Ministry

    SRINAGAR, FEB 16: On Thursday, there was a major militant attack on the convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama area of South Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir.

    In which 49 CRPF men were killed in the attack. The responsibility of the attack was taken by the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed. At the same time the government says that the militants involved in the attack will be taught a lesson In this direction the government has taken a big decision.

    However Top Sources from Home ministry confirmed News agency Press Trust of Kashmir that the government has instructed separatists living in the valley to remove the security given by the government. These instructions have come from the Ministry of Defense. The directive states that the security of the Hurriyat leaders living in Kashmir and Jammu should be removed.

    Sources added “Let us say that there are many such separatist Hurriyat leaders in Kashmir who are living in India and still openly protest against India. They poison the minds of young people in the valleys. Surprisingly, many of these facilities are given to the separatists by the government.

    On Friday evening, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that the safety given to the people funded by Pakistan and its spy agency ISI should be reviewed. After this statement, speculation started that the government was considering the removal of separatist security. At the same time, sources have rightly speculated these speculations and have said that the government has issued instructions for this. (PTK)

  • Forces launch search operation in Tral village

    Tral, February 16: Government forces on Saturday morning launched cordon and search operation in Khangund village in Tral area of South kashmir’s Pulwama district.

    Official sources told that on specific information abouts the militant movement in the area, forces including 42 RR, CRPF and Special operation group (SOG) of jammu and kashmir police jointly launched search operation in the area.

    Local told KNO that large number of forces have been deployed in the area and door to door search operation is going on in the area.(KNO)

  • Engg Students Hope Project Will Help PDD Overcome Power Crisis

    SRINAGAR — Three girls from this summer capital city have conceived an idea of developing ‘Smart Electric Metering System’ to overcome power crisis in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Sameena from Kathidarwaza, Shaista Hasan Mir from Bemina and Sehreen Ashraf from Habakadal who are the students of SSM College of Engineering and Technology Department of Computer Engineering are sure that their innovative idea will help Power Development Department to overcome the power crisis in Kashmir Valley.

    “Project was undertaken considering the growing situation of the power crisis in the Valley with the mishandling at the ground level as the major cause. This has led to the replacement of electric meters every now and then to meet the demand of the customers and service providers. Moreover, growing use of smart phones will make the working of the smart metering easy and affordable. The introduction of the smart meters will eliminate the role of middle man thus reducing the human interference to negligibly low levels,” Sameena, Shaista and Sehreen told a local news agency CNS.

    They said their idea about the Smart Electric Metering System’ project received great appreciation from Power Development Department (PDD). “We shared the details of the project with the Chief Engineer PDD Hashmat Qazi and he truly liked it and appreciated us for our job.”

    Office of the Electric Maintenance and R.E Wing Kashmir while reviewing the project of these 3 budding Engineers stated that: “this project has introduced a number of new features to already existing Smart Meters like IOT/cloud based data analysis, tariff based monitoring, meter theft and relay based control. The production cost is lower and the system can be designed from the already available analog meters. This system is more general in terms of GSM based communication between user and meter.”

    The features of the proposed Smart Energy meter are tariff based metering, accurate interface of already existing analog meters using LDR sensors, interrupt enabled meter theft control, IOT based data collection of meter data, monthly bill and tariff range messaging using GSM, power cut-off for LOW balance, prepaid based metering, Wi-Fi integration to Smart home and application and website-based data visualization on cloud Project Management.

    While divulging information about the project, Sameena, Shaista and Sehreen said that Arduino and GSM based smart pre-paid energy meter for advanced metering and billing system was designed and its prototype was built to check its applicability.

    “The main objective of our proposed system is to implement and develop very low-cost Wi-Fi-based single phase digital energy meter with IoTs concepts. The system provides data communication between digital energy meters and web server gateway, so that it can monitor the energy management system.”

    “The meter is able to read and send data via wireless protocol using GSM technology through GSM modem managing both the meter as well as the line connection. For GSM module the network coverage of the SIM is used. The Energy Meter can use SMS or/and Wi-Fi to send the power/unit data to cloud, so that user can access the data including the recharge done and the units consumed through Apps and websites.”

    “By using this system, the billing of the power users can be based on actual consumption rather than estimate based from the previous consumption.”

    “Our proposed system uses energy meter with microcontroller system to monitor energy usage using a meter. The meter is used to monitor units consumed and transmit the units as well as cost charged over the internet using Net connection. This allows user to easily check the energy usage along with the cost charged online using a simple cloud-based webpage. Thus, the energy meter monitoring system allows user to effectively monitor electricity meter readings and check the billing online with ease. The meter is enabled with anti-theft mechanism. Any theft in the power consumption would to monitored through the App or website. The system sends warning on the low balance to the customers and then automatically cuts the power supply off. As there is no human involvement in the entire process, there is no chance of manual errors. These put more control into the hands of customers by giving them more detailed information about power consumption.”

    “The proposed Smart energy meter is an advanced version of the currently available Smart meters. They fit well in the concept of smart homes with the addition of IOT and several other features.”

    According to trio, the project was done under the guidance of the Mrs Yaseem (Project guide) and was co-ordinated by Khalid Makhdoomi (Project co-ordinator). (CNS)

  • Supreme Court unlikely to hear Article 35A case on Thursday

    Srinagar, February 13: Even as the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) called for two-day shutdown in Kashmir, the hearing of Article 35A case unlikely on Thursday.

    Awami National Conference (ANC) Senior Vice President, Muzaffar Shah while talking to Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said the Supreme Court (SC) is unlikely to hear the case of Article 35A on Thursday.

    Earlier, the case was listed between Feb 12-14 at Supreme Court (SC), the state government yesterday sought the adjournment of the hearing into the case.

    Standing Counsel for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Advocate on record M Shoeb Alam had submitted the application for adjournment before Registrar General of Supreme of India.

    A delegation of Kashmir High Court Bar Association (KHCBA), Srinagar left for New Delhi on Tuesday to appear before the Supreme Court (SC), for seeking the dismissal of all the petitions challenging the Article 35 A.

    Shah told KNO that case would not be heard on tomorrow.(KNO)

  • Didn’t want Afzal Guru to be hanged, says Mehbooba Mufti

    SRINAGAR, FEB 13: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has justified her demand of getting the mortal remains of Afzal Guru back to Kashmir.

    During the press conference in Srinagar Mehbooba Mufti said “We made an appeal to President of India that Afzal Guru should be forgiven”.

    She added that they didn’t want Afzal Guru to be hanged. She was addressing a press conference at her home in Srinagar.

    This statement comes exactly six years after the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013. “This is a demand that has been made by PDP since Afzal Guru was hanged.

    Mehbooba Mufti said that her father Mufti saheb had also appealed to the then President that the man should be forgiven. We also requested that his body be given to his family, our stand on it has not changed.” His body was buried within the precincts of Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

    The December 13, 2001 attack was conducted by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) gunmen, who sneaked into Parliament in a car withfake stickers. They drove into the then Vice President Krishna Kant’s car parked in the premises and began firing. (PTK)