Category: Union Territory

Srinagar: The rift in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is still continuing as the disagreements in the party are still not coming to the conclusion.

After the spree of resigns in the party, the party has now publically objected the statement made by its senior leader and former finance minister, Syed Altaf Bukhari.
Altaf Bukhari in this morning seconded former chief minister and NC vice president Omar Abdullah regarding no coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. However, in the evening, the party issued a statement, saying that PDP disowns Altaf’s statement on coalition government.

Altaf’s disagreement with the party was visible since last month when he in his daily press statements didn’t mention him as a PDP leader. The happenings in the public clearly indicate that the disagreements in the party are still going on and have no end at present to find a way for the conclusion.

Notably, leaders including some top leaders who served as cabinet ministers in the erstwhile PDP-BJP bonhomie resigned from the basic membership of the party. These include former Finance Minister Haseeb A Drabu, former minister Imran Raza Ansari, former minister Javiad Mustafa Mir, former MLAs including Abid Raza Ansari an Abbas Wani.

Sources inside the party divulged to KNO that many of the members are at corner and are expected to resign from the party soon. Several former MLAs they said are in contact with each other and firm to come up with a new party, likely to be formed soon.

Reliable sources added that several meetings were convened in this regard during which several issues were discussed. “There will be a breakthrough soon in this regard as the elections in Jammu and Kashmir are coming closer,” they said.(KNO)

Jammu: National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said he is not the same person as he was as a chief minister for six-year. Omar said he has changed a lot. He said NC is the only party that steer the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Srinagar, Jan 08: With seven deaths due to swine flu so far this season in Kashmir valley, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday called for early use of antiviral drugs for swine flu patients.
“Early antiviral medication prevents swine flu deaths,” said DAK President and flu expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a communiqué.
“A large meta-analysis of 78 studies conducted across 38 countries and involving more than 29,000 patients showed that early treatment with antiviral medication reduced the risk of death by 60 percent,” he said.
“Doctors should prescribe antiviral medication to flu patients as soon as possible and should not wait for the test results as delay could be fatal,” advised Dr Nisar.
“According to a panel report, 70 percent of swine flu deaths in 2017 at Pune were due to delay in treatment,” he said.
Dr Nisar said studies have shown that flu antiviral drugs work best for treatment when they are started within 48 hours of onset of the illness. .
“However, starting them later can still be beneficial,” he added.
Dr Nisar said that antiviral treatment is recommended for any patient with confirmed or suspected flu who is hospitalized or has severe illness or is at higher risk of flu-related complications.
“Antivirals can also be considered on the basis of clinical judgment for those who do not have risk factors for severe illness,” he suggested.
“Currently, Oseltamivir is the most important and effective antiviral drug for treatment and prevention of flu. It has been removed from schedule drugs and made freely available across stores. The drug can be safely given to pregnant women and infants aged 2 weeks and older,” said Dr Nisar.
“Another new drug Baloxavir, approved by FDA for treatment of flu in patients 12 years and older has to be taken as a single oral dose,” he informed.
“Swine flu (H1N1) is the dominant strain circulating this year and it is turning out to be nastier. With increase in the number of cases and deaths due to swine flu, antivirals are an important weapon to fight this season’s flu which is shaping up to be harsh,” cautioned Dr Nisar.

Pulwama: A militant got killed in retaliation firing of army after they were attacked in Chowdribagh village of Litter tehsil in Pulwama district.

Officials told KNO that army patrolling party was going though the area for census process however suddenly militants opened fire on them which was retaliated in which one militant was killed.

Area is under cordon and search operation is on in the area. (KNO)

In an exclusive interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT World, Khan hit out at India, saying it was being “brutal” in Kashmir.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the struggle in Kashmir is indigenous, which “even the UN recognizes now”.
In an exclusive interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT World, Khan hit out at India, saying it was being “brutal” in Kashmir.

“Indian brutality in Kashmir in the last year has just been mind-boggling. They have been killing, shooting at boys, blinding them pellet guns. They have killed about 500 people in a year,” he said in the interview.
He said the “Indian brutality” was alienating the people of Kashmir, but India was trying to blame Pakistan for this hatred. “…and also this hatred against India because while they kill people there is a reaction so what India is doing is palming off this reaction on Pakistan,” he said.
Reiterating his call for dialogue to resolve all issues, Khan said that the struggle in Kashmir was indigenous.
“..whereas now everyone recognises, even the UN recognises, it (Kashmir) is an indigenous struggle and the solution doesn’t lie in brutality of your (Indian) security forces,” he said, adding that the solution lies in dialogue.

SRINAGAR: Another snow spell most likely during 11-13 Jan but of lower intensity than the previous spell is predicted in Kashmir valley, a MeT official said.

Director MeT Sonam Lotus told that “Today and tomorrow will be cloudy with occasional light snow at most places in Kashmir. Partly to generally cloudy in Jammu & Ladakh. Another snow spell most likely during 11-13 Jan but of lower intensity than the previous spell, Sonam said”.

New Delhi: On the eve of her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg has said her country was willing to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, provided both sides wanted the same.
The Kashmir problem cannot be solved only from a military standpoint and a popular support is also important, Solberg said during her interview with NDTV.

Last November, the former Prime Minister of Norway, Kjell Magne Bondevik, made headlines when he visited Jammu and Kashmir and met separatist leaders. He was on a private visit at the invitation of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and then went on to meet leaders in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
When asked on Bondevik’s view that there can be no military solution to Kashmir, Solberg said: “I don’t think there is a military solution to any situation like this. I think you have to have a popular support. You have to have good trust between the partners in any region where still there is a conflict but we don’t have a special meaning about whether it is a military solution in Kashmir or not. What we have learnt is that you have to bring in popular support and by getting women and youth into a peace process and that’s when you build a solid peace in an area where there has been a conflict.”
Solberg said the former PM’s visit to Kashmir was strictly a private one, which did not involve either government.
“He was invited and he wanted to see if there were some possibilities of helping out but there was no official mission and he was not on a mission from the Norwegian government”, she said.
Norway has a long history of conflict resolution and Bondevik had played a key role in the resolution of the conflict with Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka a few years ago.
Asked if Norway saw any role for mediation between India and Pakistan, Solberg said, “If there is an interest from the partners, we will try to use the mechanisms that we know. We have been working quite a lot in different countries but we always have this one basic thinking. The partners need to want to sit down by the table and discuss. Then of course if there is a need for a mediator, a need for a facilitator to fix, even though these are two very big countries that should manage to sort out things between themselves”.
She also said India and Pakistan should be talking more to each other and should decrease military expenditure “because we need more money for other areas to boost development – on health, education, but I think that means you have to try to decrease tension between countries. After such a long time. It’s a long time since 1947.”
Meanwhile, Solberg Monday said there was a “great scope” to develop bilateral partnerships with India in areas such as business, trade and investments.
“As India continues to be the fastest growing economy in the G20, we see a great scope for the Norwegian-Indian partnerships in business, trade and investments”, Solberg said at the Indian-Norwegian Solutions for Sustainable Growth-seminar here.
“It is against this backdrop that Norway has just launched a new strategy for our engagement with India. This reflects the importance we place on our bilateral relations.”
According to Solberg, the aim of the new strategy is to strengthen Norway’s bilateral relations and economic ties with India.
She further said that open and free trade were crucial for economic growth.
“A stable global framework for trade and investment is vital for both our countries, especially in times like today when we are seeing increased protectionism in certain markets,” Solberg said.

We are doing what we can to ensure that the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between EFTA and India will be finalised soon. This agreement will contribute to increased trade and a better environment for our businesses”. Courtesy NDTV/IANS

2 H1N1 patients serious at SMHS

Srinagar, Jan 07: Three more patients including a woman died of swine flu at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, taking the death toll to seven this season.
Doctors at SKIMS told that two patients including an elderly woman died of H1N1 flu three days back while another 55-year-old male patient lost the battle to swine flu on Sunday.
With three more deaths, the death toll due to swine flu this season has risen to seven.
The viral infection returned to Kashmir in early October last year and number of patients testing positive for the viral respiratory infection is increasing.
Medical Superintendent, SKIMS, Dr Farooq Jan said at least 36 H1N1 patients were admitted at the institute.
“Many of them were discharged after treatment at the isolation ward,” he said.
Jan said seven patients died of the H1NI1 virus this season. “Most of them had comorbidities like cancer and also H3N2 (subtype of viruses causing influenza)”.
He said in last three months about 120 swine flu positive patients have visited the outpatients department at SKIMS.
This seasons’ first death by swine flu was reported at SKIMS in the first week of October when a 60-year-old man of Shopian died.
The medical superintendent said the situation was better than 2017. “We are better prepared and vaccinated employees especially at high-risk departments like ICU and emergency.”
“Vaccines are available for people at the drug counters. Isolation wards are ready and we are well equipped to handle emergencies,” he said.
A swine flu expert at the institute said influenza was seasonal flu and it would come every year.
Advising people not to panic, he said, “People must consult doctors and don’t take the anti-influenza drug on their own”.
Jan said in previous season (2017-2018) eighteen patients had died due to the flu but this season the deaths have declined.
A doctor at SMHS Hospital said that they have received three positive cases of H1N1 in the past week.
“Of the three cases two patients are critical,” he said.

Srinagar, Jan 6: Hailing the efforts of Pakistan to help resolve the long pending Kashmir issue, Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani said that on visit to Turkey, Pakistan Primer Imran Khan in a joint press briefing with Turkish president, expressed serious concern about the issues concerning the Muslim Ummah.

In a statement issued, Geelani said that Muslim leadership has to come forward to extend a helping hand to the Muslims who are killed, crushed, subjugated and maimed in every corner of the globe.

From Kabul to Karachi, Dhaka to Syria, Kashmir to Palestine everywhere blood of innocent Muslims is spilled for one or other reasons, he said.

The pro-freedom leader said that anti-Muslim forces are collectively targeting a particularly faith and the main reason for it is the sold out souls of the collaborators and henchmen who very brazenly encourage the blood of their own people just for their vested interests.

He said that well off families, lush green fields and sky high residences are raised to ground by the heavy bombing within seconds and helpless innocent kids, elderly and women are massacred with no fault of them.

“Our unfortunate land is also chaired by Indian imperialistic occupation for the last 7 decades and our people are struggling hard to break the shackles of this forced slavery, but our oppressor has responded with an iron fist to quell our just struggle leading to unabated cycle of death and destruction,” he said.

Hurriyat (G) chairman said, “We as a nation are desperate to get the world know our sufferings and Pak-Turk joint narrative to resolve this issue has come as a soothing breeze for us.”

“Our land has become a testing lab for the latest and most lethal weaponry manufactured in the Indian factories, creating havoc in this peace-loving population,” he said.

He said it is surprising that UN’s silence encourages the perpetrators to violate and dishonour their own resolutions.

“Our well-wishers and sympathizers need to more ahead of just statements and our continuous sufferings demand some practical and concrete steps, if we are to be rescued,” Geelani said.

Srinagar: Girls dominated top positions in all four streams as 52 percent out of 69969 students passed 12th class examinations, the results of which were declared by the J&K Board of School Education on Saturday.

In the science stream, Wafeeqah daughter of Qazi Gulzar Ahmad of govt. Girls hr.sec school, Amira Kadal scored the first position with 98.6% by getting 493 marks, according to GNS.

Yusra Shabir daughter of Shabir Ahmad Raina of Govt.Hr.Sec.School, Kanir Chadoora and Yusra Shabir daughter of Shabir Ahmad Raina shared second position with 491 marks (98.2%) while Iqra Khan daughter of Dr Faheemullah Khan (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Kothibagh) and Sana Sangeen daughter of Manzoor Ahmad Sangeen (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Soura, Sgr) got the third position with 490 marks (90%).

Displaying extraordinary performance in Arts stream, the students of government-run educational institutions have walked away with the first 5 positions scoring between 98.6% and 98% marks.

Hadia Noor of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothibagh has topped the merit list in Arts with 493 out of 500 marks, Tanzeela Hassan of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothibagh has scored 492/500, TowseefShafi of Government Higher Secondary School, Srigufwara, Anantnag has scored 491/500, ZairaShafi of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Kothibagh has scored 491/500 and Irtiza Jan of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Amira Kadal has scored 490/500.

In the Commerce stream, students of government-run schools have bagged the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th rank scoring between 97.6% and 96.2% marks.

Zakia Bint Zia daughter of Peer Zia Ud Din Baba of Green Valley Hss Ellahi Bagh, Srinagar scored the first position by scoring 489 marks (97.8%)

Bisma Jan of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Zadibal has scored 488/500, Alia Ali of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Anantnag has scored 486/500, Sheikh Faizan Farooq of SP Higher Secondary School, MA Road, Srinagar has scored 482/500 and Abeena Zahoor of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Nawakadal has scored 481/500.

In Home Science, Fariah Farooq Shah daughter of Mohammad Farooq Shah of Govt. Girls Hr.Sec.School, Kothibagh topped with 456 marks (91.2%) while Ishrat Jan daughter of Abdul Qayoom of Govt. Girls Hr.Sec.School, Pulwama scored 451 marks to get the second position while Bisma Jan daughter of Manzoor Ahmad Wani bagged the third position by scoring 446 marks (89.2%).

Meanwhile, Advisor to Governor, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Secretary School Education, A K Sahu and Director School Education Kashmir, Dr G N Itoo while felicitating the students of government schools for their extraordinary performance have hailed the teachers for their earnest efforts in impressively improving the standards of education in the government institutions. (GNS)