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Srinagar, Feb 03: In the wake of World Health Organization’s declaration of China’s coronavirus outbreak as an international emergency, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Monday has advised hospitals in Kashmir to prepare for dealing with potential cases of the deadly infection.

“If the virus sneaks into the valley, public safety will depend on hospital preparedness,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“Hospitals should be prepared to identify, isolate and treat patients to prevent the spread of the disease,” he said.

Dr Nisar said the two designated hospitals, SKIMS and SMHS should have specially designed “negative- pressure” isolation rooms for suspected or confirmed cases. The negative pressure of the room would prevent contaminated air from escaping the room. These rooms should have dedicated ventilators and they should be fitted with HEPA filters that would reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.

“These rooms should have separate entrance so that infected patients don’t risk other patients and staff in the hospital,” he added.
He further said doctors and paramedics should be trained for screening, testing and treatment of this novel (new) virus.
“Hospitals should ensure standard infection prevention and control measures like hand washing, cough etiquette and disinfection of surfaces, Dr Nisar said adding “they should ensure availability of personal protection equipment (PPE) and diagnostic kits.PPE includes face masks, gowns, head caps, googles and shoe-covers.”
“With the virus likely to become a pandemic, we must start preparing now,” he said.

“The clinical manifestation of the virus are cough and fever and in severe cases difficulty in breathing. Anyone having these symptoms and has a history of travel to the affected area or has been in contact with a suspected or a confirmed case should be screened for the novel virus.

At least 361 people have died and more than 17,000 people have been infected with this deadly strain so far,” said Dr Nisar.

SRINAGAR – As the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti continues to be detained following New Delhi’s withdrawal of Article 370, her party is fast falling apart with many of its leaders leaving it to form a new political outfit which doesn’t challenge withdrawal of J&K’s autonomy. The party recently expelled eight of its senior leaders for hobnobbing with the government in violation of “interests of the state, official position and core beliefs of the party”.

This has confronted the PDP and Mehbooba herself with a moment of reckoning. Once a vaunted political outfit which was the single largest party in the last Assembly, the PDP has now reduced to fewer members. That is, if they too don’t abandon the party in near future.

An indication of this happening inevitably has come from the criticism of Mehbooba by the party’s founding leader and former J&K Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh. In a recent press conference at Jammu, Beigh blamed Mehbooba’s “provocative statements” for forcing the centre to downgrade J&K’s constitutional status.

One such statement, he said, is Mehbooba telling centre that ”nobody would be there to shoulder the national flag if Article 370 was abrogated’.

However, import of Beigh’s statement is deeper. It shows he too is either on way out of the PDP or trying to gain control of the party in the absence of Mehbooba. Both hold a fraught prospect for the PDP and Mehbooba. This could lead to end of the PDP as a viable political entity.

But it won’t be easy to replace Mehbooba. She may have been the daughter of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a former home minister of India and J&K Chief Minister, but she has worked her way up through the Valley’s streets. She built her political stock brick by brick and incarnated a leader who was relatively more credible mainstream political proponent of a shade of Kashmiri nationalism willing to settle for a decent political deal within Indian constitution.

In fact, she lived up to this image when after her father’s sudden demise in January 2016, she held out for three months before agreeing to renew the alliance with her ideologically anti-thetical ally BJP. But from the moment she resumed the alliance without BJP giving in to any of her demands, the quick unravelling of Mehbooba began.

In power, she quickly lost her political standing by presiding over the killing of around 100 protesters in 2016 but her opposition to revocation of Article 370 and consequent detention has largely restored her credibility. After her release, she can hope to find great support among people.

It remains to be seen whether the centre will release her and the other detained leaders in near future. And whether these parties will participate in the future Assembly polls. It will be interesting to see how the mainstream parties like National Conference, the PDP and Congress will approach the electoral politics. The three parties had recently boycotted the block development council (BDC) polls, making the BJP the only major party to contest the election.

Should the PDP and the NC decide to participate in Assembly polls it will be seen as an endorsement of the withdrawal of the Article 370 and which they don’t want to do as of now. The continued detention of the political leaders is in part also because they have so far refused to sign on to New Delhi’s line on Article 370. So, political parties face a tough dilemma.

At the same time, it would be tricky for them to avoid the elections. Not participating will once again leave the field open to the BJP and the new political actors in the Valley, letting them control the future government. As things stand, the saffron party is likely to not only sweep the elections in Jammu but also, in the absence of a competition, make inroads into Kashmir Valley where it has nurtured a significant cadre over the past several years. The NC and the PDP will have thus no option but to participate in the electoral process. And should this happen, Mehbooba could very well emerge as one of the strong contenders for power.

Jammu, Jan 30: An informal meeting of some of the senior political leaders, academicians, legal luminaries, social activists and some like-minded people took place in Jammu on January 29, 2020.
The meeting took stock of the present socio-economic and political situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Declaring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as unprecedented, it said the situation needs to be addressed through extraordinary measures.
“It was seriously felt that people of the Jammu and Kashmir are caught in a difficult day-to-day situation and have been left at the mercy of an unresponsive administration.” The demands put forth by a group of political leaders led by Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari before the Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu on January 7, 2020 were also taken up for discussion. Some of the measures taken up by the government in light of its memorandum-like release of some political prisoners, restoration of 2G-mobile internet service were termed as “insufficient”.
The participants in the meeting demanded a time-bound implementation of other demands put forth before the Lieutenant Governor which are within his jurisdiction.
The meeting also underlined urgency for release of all political prisoners, including three former chief ministers, lawyers, businessmen, trade leaders and youth, irrespective of their political affiliations, who have been under detention in J&K or rest of the country.
The meeting vehemently advocated for full restoration of mobile Internet speed as well as broadband services in Jammu and Kashmir.
Taking serious note of the present dismal economic situation, an immediate relief for the Agriculture, Horticulture, Handicrafts, Tourism, Hoteliers, Business, Trade, Houseboat owners and Transport community in Jammu and Kashmir was demanded in the meeting.
The participants in the meeting also expressed their concern with regard to interruption in implementation of other demands put forth in their memorandum and chalked out a future course of action for a vigorous follow-up through all available channels.
“It was unanimously decided that a group of the members led by Mr. Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari should call on the Honb’le Prime Minister and the Honb’le Home Minister of the country and pursue other demands like restoration of Statehood, Purpose Oriented Domicile Rights (for Land and Jobs) etc. which fall within the jurisdiction of the Government of India and the Parliament.
“The meeting also evolved a consensus for a need to provide the people of Jammu and Kashmir with a viable, democratic political alternative. Hectic deliberations were also held to reach out to the people for mobilizing a democratic grass roots movement aimed at developing strong local structures on the ground.
“During the course of meeting two committees were framed. One that will deliberate on the nuances of constitutionality required for formation of any political set-up. The second committee will reach out to the intellectuals, academicians, social activists, chamber of commerce, tradesmen and other representatives of the society to explore all possibilities through which the people of J&K are taken out from the socio-economic and political quagmire.”

Srinagar, Jan 29: Following the recent outbreak of the novel (new) coronavirus in china which has infected almost 6000 people and claimed at least 132 lives so far, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Wednesday has urged health authorities in Kashmir to prepare for the potential spread of the virus in the valley.
“In today’s connected world, an outbreak anywhere can be a risk everywhere,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“We have to prepare in advance to deal with the virus,” he said adding “advance planning and preparedness are critical to help mitigate the impact of any eventuality.”
Dr Nisar said the virus is on the move with reported cases in at least five other countries. We have to expect that we will get cases in Kashmir too. We should be prepared for surveillance, early detection, infection prevention and control, logistics and in particular hospital preparedness in terms of isolation and ventilation management of severe cases.
“The best way to prevent the virus is to stop it from coming in as once the virus enters the community it is difficult to control it,” he said.
“Passengers at Srinagar international airport and Lower Munda Qazigund should undergo thermal screening and screening for any other symptom of the illness,” he added.
Dr Nisar said the new coronavirus is believed to have animal origin. Human-to- human transmission has been confirmed.
“When the virus is new, we do not know how it affects people.
The most frequently reported symptoms of confirmed cases were fever, cough, muscle aches and difficulty in breathing. Cases of severe infection resulted in pneumonia and death. A quarter of those who died had underlying medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease,” he informed.
“There is no specific cure or vaccine for the virus. People should take simple precautions that would help prevent spread of the virus. Washing your hands with soap and water and covering your mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing will keep you and people around you healthy and well. Avoid close contact with anyone who has fever and cough and avoid unprotected contact with live wild or farm animals,” advised Dr Nisar.

GURGAON – The CRPF has carried out a mega audit of its over three lakh personnel to check for any possible “subversive” elements in the wake of a Jammu and Kashmir Police officer being caught with militants recently, the chief of the paramilitary force said here on Tuesday.

CRPF Director General (DG) A P Maheshwari said the incident involving Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh was “grave” and an “area of extreme concern” for the forces, adding that all should see that these things don’t occur.

So it was “common sense” to carry out such an audit of its manpower, deployed as the lead force for counter-militancy and anti-Naxal operations across the country, when any incident like this take place, he said.

“If something happens somewhere, it is a case to revisit ourselves and that is what we have done. We have no doubts about our personnel,” the CRPF chief said.

A senior official said the counter-intelligence units of the force were recently asked to check the credentials of the personnel after obtaining data from all available sources and they have been asked to be kept on “active mode” for some more time.

“No security grid should be allowed to be weakened by such episodes. So, all forces have to keep an internal watch,” he said on the arrest of DSP Singh.

“All forces should maintain vigilance so that there is no such type of subversion or some sort of intrusion within the force…,” the DG told reporters here.

JK Police had arrested Singh at Mir Bazar in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district along with Hizbul Mujahideen militants Naveed Baba and Altaf, besides a lawyer on January 11.

Maheshwari said that somebody from a security force trying to collaborate with adversaries is a “serious matter”. However, he added that a lone incident cannot be used to “brand” the entire force which has done onerous work in the past.

“An isolated incident should not be taken as branding of any particular force. The JK Police has tremendous contributions in normalising the situation (in Kashmir),” the DG said at a force camp here.

One incident should not be used to cast “aspersions on the dignity of the force, on the strength of the force, and therefore I don’t buy this is theory that there can be more such elements, but yes it is a matter of concern and all should see that these things don’t occur,” said the DG, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who took over the reins of the force on January 15.

“We are further strengthening our systems… which were already in place,” he said referring to the vigilance and intelligence checks conducted on their personnel in Kashmir valley and other places.

“When something happens in neighbourhood, then it is common sense to do it (check against subversive elements) quickly again,” he added.

The Central Reserve Police Force has deployed close to 70,000 personnel in Kashmir Valley for counter-militancy and law and order duties.

It is the country’s largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) with 3.25 lakh personnel in its ranks and is categorised as the lead national internal security force.