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The two-page letter, written in Urdu on the terror group’s letter pad, was delivered by post to senior vice president of J&K Congress and former minister Raman Bhalla on Friday.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh was among the 17 leaders from various political parties named in the letter. | Photo Credit: PTI

Police have registered an FIR after a senior Congress leader received a letter from Hizbul Mujahideen threatening to target mainstream politicians of the Jammu region, including Union Minister Jitendra Singh, if they did not relinquish politics, officials said on Sunday.

The two-page letter, written in Urdu on the terror group’s letter pad, was delivered by post to senior vice president of J&K Congress and former minister Raman Bhalla on Friday, the officials said.

“We have registered a case under relevant sections of the law and further investigation is on,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Shridhar Patil told PTI.

Mr. Bhalla said he approached police soon after the receipt of the letter as a thorough investigation is required into the incident.

“We will not be cowed down by such threats from anti-national elements. We have stood against the terror unleashed at the behest of Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir over the past three decades and will continue to perform our duties to make J&K free of terrorism, peaceful and prosperous,” he said.

He said the Congress history is replete with the blood of martyrs and “I would be happy to follow the footsteps of our great leaders and sacrifice my life for the nation”.

The letter, signed by a self-styled divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, named 17 senior politicians of various national and regional parties including Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Mr. Bhalla, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina, former Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, National Conference provincial president Devender Singh Rana, Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan leader Choudhary Lal Singh and National Panthers Party chairman Harsh Dev Singh besides several other former ministers, legislators and RSS functionaries.

“We warn you to renounce politics and support our cause for freedom otherwise death warrants have been issued against you. No security cover will safeguard you from us,” the letter read, adding “the work has already started and those who can attack Parliament or Red Fort can kill you as well“.

“In coming days, no Indian or politician supporting India will be left alive in Kashmir. Half of Jammu is already with us but there are some politicians who are an obstacle to our cause for freedom,” the letter said.

Reacting to the threat, JKNPP chairman Harsh Dev Singh demanded a high-level probe and said it seems to be part of a conspiracy to browbeat the opposition.

“I have raised security concerns many times after receiving threats from BJP leaders in the past but instead of taking action on my complaint, I was deprived of security cover by the administration,” he said, adding he is only having one personal security officer despite being an MLA for three successive terms and a former minister while as an ordinary BJP worker is given ten security guards with accommodation and vehicle for movement.

“The probe is necessary to unravel the truth behind the threat,” he said.

PTI

Leh: The Union Territory of Ladakh recorded one more COVID-19 related death, taking the number of fatalities in the region to 39, officials said on Sunday.

A 62-year-old patient, who had recently tested positive for coronavirus, died in Leh district on Saturday and the last rights of the deceased were conducted as per the set protocol, they said.

His death was the 16th COVID-19 related fatality in Leh district, while rest of 23 deaths have taken place in Kargil district.

With detection of 66 fresh positive cases — 37 in Leh and 29 in Kargil, the virus caseload in the UT has gone up to 3,294 till Saturday evening, the officials said.

While 73 percent of the patients have recovered from the disease, the rest of 841 active cases are undergoing treatment in the twin districts. They included 465 in Leh and 376 in Kargil, the officials said.

Burglars decamp with cash, No idea how much cash has been stolen, says Sajada Nisheen Khalid, Devotees question alertness of Shrine management

Srinagar: Burglars decamped with cash from Kashmirs’ revered shrine of Hazrat Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA) at Khanyar area of Srinagar in the dead of the night, leaving shrine management body red faced.

Sajada Nisheen of the shrine Khalid Hussain Geelani told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that thieves entered the shrine in the dead of the night and stole cash. “I have no idea how much cash has been stolen from the (charity box),” he said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar Dr Haseeb Mughal told KNO that police have taken the cognizance of the incident and investigations have been set into motion.

Locals in Khanyar and other adjoining areas of downtown questioning the role of shrine management saying that after the security of shrines was withdrawn last year, it was the sole responsibility of the shrine management body to take care of shrines and to prevent theft and fire related incidents.

“Wasn’t there a night watchman,” said Abdur Rashid Khan, who has been a frequent visitor to the shrine since his childhood. Khan a resident of nearby Saraf Kadal, said that it was the sole responsibility of shrine management since there is no security at shrines across Kashmir especially Srinagar since April 2019. Policemen deployed at the shrines for security purpose prior to April 2019 were without weapons and it was felt that there was a security risk after which police security from majority of shrines was withdrawn.

Similarly, many women devotees who came to Dastgeer sahib shrine after coming to know the theft incident, expressed serious concern as to why nobody was awake from the shrine management to prevent the theft incident. “Shrine management is solely responsible for the theft. Thousands of people pay charity in lakhs in both cash and kind every year at the shrine. There should be accountability. Why shrine management is not able to hire two watchmen for night duty out of the charity money,” asked a young devotee.

A member of shrine management Dasteer sahib (RA), wishing not to be named, said that nobody was awake when the incident took place. “There is no idea how much was in the charity box/donation box when theft took place,” he said. Police team from Khanyar police station rushed to the spot, collected details, and registered a case—(KNO)

PTI

Jammu: Security forces on Saturday recovered a cache of arms and ammunition along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, scuttling an attempt by anti-national elements to carry out subversive activities in the border district.

The recoveries made during the operation included three Chinese pistols with six magazines and 70 rounds, 11 hand grenades, a wireless set, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), two batteries, two flags, a mobile phone, a charger and a pen drive, a police officer said.

Two overground workers of militants were arrested during the operation carried out jointly by Special Operations Group (SOG) of local police and the Army in Mendhar sector, the official said.

He said the operation was launched on a specific information to intercept the couriers of arms, ammunitions and explosives along with other subversive material which was smuggled from Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PaK).

The material was supposed to be carried from forward area to hinterland for subversive activities, the officials said.

He added that a case was registered against the arrested duo and further investigation is on.

Can tackle middle level deluge easily, 2014 like situation can’t be accommodated at present: CE I&FC

Srinagar: Even after elapsing six years since the 2014 deluge hit Kashmir Valley in the month of September, the government has failed to complete the requisite process to prevent such a catastrophe in the future.

As per the sources, the second phase of the much-hyped dredging process has also not been started yet, thus putting the lives and properties of people here at risk again.

It is pertinent to mention here that, as per the reports at least 280 people were killed in the 2014 floods across the state, and property worth crores was also damaged.

Sources in the Irrigation and flood Control (I&FC) department told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the dredging process that was started nearly a year after 2014 floods has not been completed yet as the second phase of the process is yet to be initiated.

They said that it was planned that the dredging and de-silting of River Jhelum will be completed by March 2019. However, he said that the second and the main phase of the process has not been started, which would increase the capacity of the river Jhelum.

As per the official details available, the second phase of the process is expected to improve the Jhelum’s water carrying capacity “to its maximum capacity of 60,000 cusecs [cubic feet per second] in South Kashmir”.

In Srinagar, this capacity is to be increased to 35,000 cusecs. The remaining 25,000 cusecs is to be diverted through the flood spill channel, whose discharge capacity is also proposed to be increased, the figure revealed.

Talking to KNO, Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) said that the second phase of the dredging was not started yet. “The phase-II of the process will be started in this year only,” he said.

Asked whether the department is ready to prevent the 2014 like deluge in future, he said the department is ready to tackle middle level deluge, but was not yet capable to tackle the 2014 like situation.

“We are trying to reach there in stages. At present, the department is not ready to accommodate that level of flood. But, we are gradually moving towards that,” he said. “It will take more time to reach to stage where we can accommodate 2014 like flood,” he said.

Earlier, in January 2018, reports quoting the officials had said that the dredg­ing process in river Jhelum started as flood preventive measure will be completed under the deadline set by the state government.

The Rs-280 crore project for phase-I was awarded to Kolkata based company to clear the excessive siltation that had accumulated and drastically reduced the carrying-capacity of river Jhelum.

Reach Dredging Private Limited, the Kolkata-based firm had also assured that the pending work will be completed under the dead­line set by the then state government.

However, later in 2018, the department of Irrigation and Flood Control (I& FC) had asked the Kolkata based dredging firm to wind up operations here after it failed to the meet the 31st March deadline—(KNO)