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  • Stopping ambulances, schools buses during convoy movement triggers public outcry

    Heads of security agencies formulate people-friendly strategy; decide to allow essential services vehicles

    Srinagar, March 14: A massive public out-cry has started across Kashmir as forces stop the ambulances and school buses during the convoy moment in the Valley forcing the security agencies to make changes in the convoy movement plan to ensure ambulances ferrying patients and school buses are allowed to proceed when convoys ply.

    Eye-witnesses told KNO that on the highways—Srinagar Jammu and Srinagar Baramulla, school buses and ambulances besides civilian vehicles are halted for the smooth passage of convoy movement.

    In congested Srinagar city, the issue has resulted in a major controversy with the videos of scuffles between the drivers of school buses, ambulances and commuters entering into verbal dual with the forces personnel deployed for the convoy protection, going viral on various social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

    In one of the videos, the driver of an ambulance is seen requesting the forces personnel to allow him to proceed as he was ferrying a patient from South Kashmir and that he should reach SMHS hospital. However, he is not asked to proceed further with forces personnel asking him to wait till 15 minutes till convoy passes off from the area.

    Another local is seen requesting the forces personnel to allow his vehicle to move ahead as he had to drop his children at school and he was already getting late. But he too is not being allowed to go ahead with the result many locals are questioning the convoy plan of the forces.

    Arshid Rasool, a resident of Srinagar said that at 8 am, CRPF convoy was moving from Boulevard to Rajbagh and near Radio Kashmir, TRC crossing, Dalgate, the civilian traffic was stopped simultaneously for around 20 minutes.

    “The commuters got irritated and started to blow their horns that sent the message to the CRPF men deployed for convoy protection that the people were getting irritated,” said Rasool, who was travelling from old city Srinagar to Rajbagh where he works in a private office.

    Ever since the deadly attack on the CRPF convoy at Lethpora, Pulwama that left 40 CRPF men dead and dozens of others injured, the security agencies worked out a “secure convoy plan” to ensure no civilian vehicle is allowed to move alongside the forces vehicles.

    In the Lethpora attack, the suicide attacker Adil Dar of Jaish-e-Muhammad rammed his vehicle laden with the explosives, into the CRPF convoy resulting the massive damage to the CRPF vehicle ferrying 40 personnel, all of whom died on the spot.

    A CRPF official said that they will sit again with the officials of police, army and the CRPF to fine-tune the convoy movement plan and ensure that essential services vehicles including ambulances and school buses are allowed to proceed along with the convoy vehicles so that patients reach hospital and students to schools on time. “We understand the issue and will address it accordingly,” the official told KNO.

    Similarly, traffic department also has decided to ensure that the school buses and ambulances are allowed to ply even if the convoy movement is going on in the area. “These vehicles are part of essential services and they can’t be halted. We will ensure that there is no inconvenience to students and patients,” a senior traffic official confirmed to KNO.

  • National Conference worker shot at in Bijbehara, shifted to SMHS

    Srinagar, March 14: A National Conference (NC) worker was on Thursday injured after he was shot at by suspected militants at Thajeewara Bijbihara area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

    Official sources told KNO that a political worker identified as Mohd Ismail, 60, affiliated with National Conference was shot at and injured by suspected militants at Thajeewara Bijbihara .

    The injured political worker, also former NC Sarpanch was immediately shifted to Bijbehara hospital for treatment wherefrom he was referred to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital for specialized treatment.

    Meanwhile, forces rushed to the area and launched search operation to nab the attackers.(KNO)

  • China defends blocking Azhar at UN, says it will help in finding lasting solution

    Beijing: China on Thursday sought to defend its fourth technical hold at the UN Security Council to block the designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist”, saying it would help the parties concerned to engage in more talks to find a “lasting solution” acceptable to all.

    The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US on February 27, days after a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, leading to a flare-up in tensions between India and Pakistan.

    The Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee members had 10 working days to raise any objections to the proposal. Just before the deadline ended, China put a “technical hold” on the proposal seeking “more time to examine” it.

    The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

    Asked why China once again resorted to block the move, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here that Beijing’s decision is in line with the rules of the committee.

    China “sincerely hopes that relevant action taken by this committee will help relevant countries to engage in dialogue and consultation and prevent adding more complicated factors into regional peace and stability,” he said.

    “As to the technical hold at the 1267 Committee our action is to make sure that the committee will have enough time to study the matter so that the relevant sides will have time for dialogue and consultation,” Lu said.

    “Only a solution that is acceptable to all sides could fundamentally provide a chance for a lasting solution to the issue. China is ready to communicate and coordinate with all sides including India to properly handle this issue,” he said.

    The Security Council 1267 Committee has clear standards on the procedures of designating terrorist organisations and individuals, Lu said.

    “China conducts thorough and in-depth assessment of these applications and we still need more time, so that is why we put forward the technical hold,” he said.

    India Wednesday expressed disappointment soon after China put a technical hold on designating Azhar.

    The External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi said India will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that leaders of terror groups involved in heinous attacks on Indian citizens are brought to justice.

    “This has prevented action by the international community to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a proscribed and active terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14,” the MEA said.

    Without naming China, it said the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee was not able to come to a decision on the proposal for listing Azhar on account of a member placing the proposal on hold.

    To another question on the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping last year to improve the bilateral relations, Lu said, “Xi and Modi met four times. Particularly Wuhan summit made great progress. China is full of sincerity and ready to work with India to build on the consensus of our leaders for greater progress in the bilateral relations.”

    On the Kashmir issue, Lu said China’s position on it is clear and consistent.

    “This is an issue that is left over between India and Pakistan. We hope that the two sides will engage in friendly dialogue consultation and solve this issue and other related issues,” he said.

  • Who arrested Shabir Shah and hundreds more: JKDFP asks Mehbooba Mufti

    Warns her not use Kashmir issue for her political gains

    Srinagar, Mar 14: Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) has asked Mehbooba Mufti if she didn’t allow the Bharatiya Janata Party to crack down on the Hurriyat leaders during her government, then who arrested senior resistance leader Shabir Shah along with many others in July 2017 and lodged them in Tihar jail, Delhi.
    According to a statement issued, hitting out at Mehbooba, the JKDFP said that Mehbooba is only trying to befool people of Kashmir by using pro-freedom stance. However, the people living in the disputed region fully know the mindset of such pro-India and anti-Kashmir politicians who are used to lure people by all sorts of lies.
    While reacting to Mehbooba’s statement in which she has said that the BJP wanted to crack down on Jamaat-e-Islami and suppress the separatist leadership through NIA raids, JKDFP said that it was Mehbooba’s regime when ED arrested Shabir Shah and NIA arrested many others including women and it was again Mehbooba’s tenure when hundreds of pro-resistance people were put behind bars. She blinded hundreds of our youth, it was again she who killed even school going children and it was Mehbooba whose remark of “Milk and Toffee” was in fact a license for government forces to kill unarmed youth.
    JKDFP said that Mehbooba intensified the crackdown on Hurriyat during her government and now when she is desperate for votes she is trying to befool people.
    JKDFP strongly reacted against Mehbooba, for claiming that “the BJP wanted to carry out NIA raids on separatists but she was against any such move.” The party said that Mehbooba and company are exposed in the people so she must stop using Hurriyat and pro-freedom stance during her election campaign. It is better for her to contest on her own and not to use Kashmir issue and its advocates for her political gains otherwise a full counter campaign will be started in nook and corner to expose her fully.

  • Why are terrorists who attack other nations free? Bilawal Bhutto blasts Pak govt

    Pakistan, March 14: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has questioned Pakistan’s inaction against groups that attack other nations, delivering a stinging rebuke of his country’s government.

    He decried the contrast between the punishment given to his mother and his father — former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari — and the lack of action against groups that killed children in Pakistan and carried out attacks on foreign soil.

    Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan recently said no militant group would be allowed to operate from Pakistani soil to carry out attacks abroad, days after his government announced a crackdown against Islamist militant organisations.

    Bilawal Bhutto has claimed there are at least three ministers from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party who have links to banned groups.

    Ties between India and Pakistan have plummeted since a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber killed dozens of Indian paramilitary soldiers in southern Kashmir on February 14.

    India carried out airstrikes on the terrorist group in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26. A day later, New Delhi said it had thwarted an attempt by Pakistani warplanes to target its military installations.

    China has now — once again — prevented a UN Security Council committee from blacklisting Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. (Agencies)

  • Mushtaq Veeri booked under PSA, shifted to Jammu Jail

    SRINAGAR: Religious preacher and Jamiat Alhadees vice-president Moulvi Mushtaq Veeri was booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) by the authorities and shifted to Jammu Jail.

    Mushtaq Veeri was arrested on February 23 from his residence.

    Family sources told that Mushtaq Veeri was booked under PSA & he was shifted to Jammu Jail just now.

    Further details awaited

  • Lok Sabha elections: Shah Feasal likely to contest from Baramulla

    SRINAGAR: Former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who quit IAS job a few months ago, is likely to contest election from Baramulla. Shah Faesal, who hails from Kupwara, is expected to form his own political party in the next few days.

    Shah Faesal is set to launch his own political party on Sunday. Amid speculation that he would be joining the National Conference, Faesal has been travelling through different districts in the Valley, meeting and bringing “like-minded individuals” into the fold. Among them is former JNU Students’ Union vice-president Shehla Rashid. (PTK)

  • Use of force may aggravate situation in Kashmir: Soz

    SRINAGAR, Mar 13: Former Pradesh Congress Committee president Prof Saifuddin Soz has claimed that use of force in Kashmir may further aggravate the situation.

    “PM Modi does not seem to realize, even in a small measure, that through his high handedness, he only cripples the goose that could lay a golden egg, in due course of time. Modi Govt also does not see a writing on the wall that the consistent refusal to open the dialogue in Kashmir has deepened the anger and unrest in Kashmir. On the other hand, Modi Administration gets along with repressive measures to provide a grease to the propaganda mill hoping to derive advantage for election 2019,” Prof Soz said in a statement today.

    Soz said imposing PSA on Yaseen Malik and shifting him to Jammu and summoning Mirwaiz at NIA headquarters are the links of the said policy in Kashmir which is not going to give any advantage to the Modi Administration.

    By using the Military muscle and intimidating the leadership in Kashmir, it is only aggravating the situation. I have convinced myself that Modi will be proved wrong. The Governor seems to be implementing Centre’s dictates based of misreading of the critical situation in Kashmir,” Soz added. (PTK)

  • Read Here: PSA  Dossier Of Yasin Malik

    Srinagar: The grounds for preventive detention of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik’s under the Public Safety Act (PSA) include references to some old cases, some fresh FIRs and statements like he “openly challenges J&K’s accession with India.”

    The JKLF chief was detained on February 22 and lodged in Kothibagh police station here. On March 6, he was booked under PSA, which empowers the government to detain a person without a trial for up to six months. He has been shifted to Kotbhalwal jail in Jammu.

    The PSA detention dossier prepared by the police and signed by the Srinagar district magistrate cites Malik’s alleged involvement in killing of air force personnel and kidnapping of former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubiya Sayeed in the 90s. These cases are pending with court.

    The other grounds of detention, according to the police dossier, are:

    1. “After the formation of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Malik joined the amalgam and took active part in propagating its programme. However, after developing some differences, he parted ways with the APHC and established a separate organisation under the banner of which disruptive activities are still being carried out”.

    2. “These serious criminal cases (IAF personnel killing and Rubiya kidnapping), presently at various stages, coupled with Malik’s continued organised attempts to disturb public order reveal that he (Malik) has indulged in such activities as a design and well-crafted plan which clearly is a direct threat to public order”.

    3. “Malik openly challenges the accession of J&K with the union of India and strives hard for securing secession of the State. From the year 2016 till date he was very much active in sabotaging the peace and public tranquility of the state”.

    4. “Malik is found involved in cases—FIR number 17/2016 police station Maisuma (arrested and bailed out), FIR number 19/2016 police station Maisuma (yet to be arrested), FIR number20/2016 police station Maisuma (yet to be arrested) FIR number 70/2017 police station Ram Munshibagh (yet to be arrested) and FIR number 22/2018 police station Maisuma (arrested, under custody).

    5. “From 2017, Malik has continued to remain glued to the anti-national and secessionist activities. You (Malik) have been taken into preventive detention under sections 107, 51 CRPC, 28 times for (162) days and still you could not mend your ways and a reasonable opportunity was provided to you to correct yourself, but you have remained an incorrigible element despite furnishing surety/ personal bonds. Your conduct has remained the same. Breach of bond for good behaviour on several occasions clearly indicates that you are willfully indulging in activities prejudicial to public order and tranquility. Your attempts put the life of civilian at risk directly and indirectly.”

    6. “Malik is instrumental in constituting the ‘Joint Resistance Leadership’ to portray India as a ‘colonial and occupational force’ by inserting the word ‘resistance’ in it. The JRL frequently imposes a forced shutdown on public establishments, business establishments, educational institutions etc by promoting attacks or mob building which become serious security concern vis-a-vis public order. The forced shutdown calls create an atmosphere of fear psychosis and have a direct bearing on the very idea and concept of freedom enshrined in the Constitution.”

    7. “Malik played a key role in conceiving and chalking out agitation/hartal calendars to disrupt the life and to trigger law and order disturbances on any pretext. Recently you (Malik) you tried to aggravate the situation by floating Badamibagh chalo call to pit civilians against security forces and to instigate people to attack the legitimate state institutions so that some mishap is done and you and your ilk can derive political mileage out of it. In order to portray state in a bad light, you have conceived programme of candle light marches by acting as a proxy and quisling of enemy country. Your activities are very precarious in the backdrop of forthcoming Parliamentary and Assembly polls coupled with the security scenario in the state.”

    Seeking to justify Malik’s preventive detention, the dossier reads:

    “Malik’s activities are highly prejudicial to the maintenance of public order and warrant immediate prevention measures to be taken against him to prevent the society from violence, strikes, economic adversity, social indiscipline and unwarranted influence on the youth which has become a cascading effect on triggering public disorder. In order to stop you (Malik) from indulging in above activities, your detention under the provision of PSA at this stage has become imperative as the normal law has not been found sufficient to stop you from indulging in above activities.”

    Courtesy: Greater Kashmir

  • Hand Over Masood Azhar, If You Are So Generous: Sushma Swaraj To Pak PM

    New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that India cannot have dialogue with Pakistan unless the latter takes action against terror groups on its soil. Speaking at a conference in Delhi on Wednesday the union minister hit out at Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and said, “Some people say Imran Khan is a statesman, if he is so generous then he should hand over JeM (Jaish e Mohammad) chief Masood Azhar to India. Let’s see how generous he is.”

    “We are ready to engage with Pakistan in an atmosphere free from terror…talks and terror cannot go together,” said Sushma Swaraj.

    Questioning Pakistan’s retaliation to Indian air strikes in Balakot, she said that India had specifically targeted the Jaish terror group but “Why did the Pakistani military attack us on behalf of JeM?”

    “You not only keep JeM on your soil, but fund them and when the victim country retaliates, you attack it on the terror outfit’s behalf,” Sushma Swaraj tore into Pakistan government, adding that it
    needs to control the ISI and its army, who are bent on “destroying the bilateral relations” time and again.

    (With inputs from ANI & PTI)