Srinagar: The officials in the Meteorological (MeT) department informed that the light to moderate rains would occur at many places in the next 24 hours across the state.
“There is possibility of light to moderate rains, thundershower at many places in the next 24 hours across the Valley,” they said, adding that there is possibility of occasional sunshine as well. (KNS)
Sopore: Sopore Police arrested a rumour mongrer namely Hamza Farooq S/o:- Farooq Ahmad Dar R/o:- Kanipora Chadoora Budgam who is the administrator of Facebook page Jk News Channel and posted a fake and false news about the killing of one person in Sopore and injuries to 15 others on 18 April 2017. The news was baseless and false.
It is pertinent to mention that miscreants posting rumours on social media like Facebook and whattsapp are put under strict monitoring and such elements would be identified and booked under law.
Srinagar, April 22: The water level in river Jhelum on Saturday crossed the alarm mark at Ram Munshibagh in Srinagar, following two days of wet weather.
“The water level at Ram Munshibagh gauge was recorded as 16.40 feet around 1 pm,” said Executive Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sartaj Singh.
When 52-year-old Abdul Hamid started tying ropes around wilted and broken trees, particularly on the airport road, to resurrect them, it hardly attracted any attention in the strife-torn Kashmir valley. “Somebody planted the trees, but nobody took care of them. Some of them were broken, some were uprooted and others were wilting away. So I tied and watered them regularly for three years”, says Hamid.
It was nothing short of a prayer and the beginning of a silent revolution to salvage the fragile environment. From saving damaged trees in 2006 to launching a movement to plant more saplings in 2009, Hamid has come a long way and is now referred to as the ‘Tree Man’ of Paradise.
The prominent Kashmiri businessman, who is the chairman of Rahim Group of Companies has planted 1.2 lakh trees spanning the length and breadth of Kashmir, from Sutaharan’s denuded forest ranges to Srinagar’s serene campuses, in the last eight years. Initially, 10,000 to 15,000 trees were planted every year in schools, colleges, universities, forests and other open spaces.
In 2009, Hamid decided to put aside a specific amount of his profit to plant trees. “I used to buy trees from the government at Rs2 per tree. Later they hiked the rate to Rs14 per tree. The increase did not break my resolve. Every year I keep aside around Rs4 lakh for this purpose,” says Hamid.
A class IX dropout, Hamid started a roadside scooter workshop to eke out his living in Srinagar. In 1995, he sold his family land and started Rahim Motors. Since then there’s been no looking back. Today his company has an annual turnover of Rs25 to 30 crores and provides employment to 200 people. But protecting the environment has remained his first love and the reason he started Rahim Greens, a non-profit organization to help save the environment. “It’s not an NGO. Funding for this project comes from the profits of my companies and my own pocket. We do not accept donations”, he adds.
What has added a new dimension to his work was afforestation in the smuggling prone areas of the valley. “There were certain areas where trees were mercilessly felled and smuggled. I started going to these areas, planting trees and involving people. Today, people are taking care of these trees as they realise the adverse impact of deforestation”, he says.
Hamid’s social work transcends beyond the environment. He flew to Chennai to distribute medicines when the floods hit, and volunteered to help people the people of Thailand, during the 2011 flood. In recognition of his work, he was recently awarded Bartos Fellow at UWC-United States of America. “My work has just begun”, he says.
Courtesy: DNA
Srinagar: Despite mobile internet ban for the past seven days, rumour mongers are still active in the Kashmir valley, where police rejected the reports that a girl injured in stone pelting in down town city has succumbed.
The authorities had banned mobile internet service of all Cellular companies, including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for the past seven days in the Kashmir valley, where there was sudden spurt in the protests and violence after over 60 students of a college in Pulwama were injured in security force and police action last Saturday.
However, broadband internet service of BSNL and other local point to point service providers were functioning normally though with very low speed.
The authorities banned mobile internet immediately after the incident to as precautionary measure prevent any rumours.
However, despite internet ban rumours were spread yesterday about Irqa’s health.
A police spokesman immediately reacted and said that some miscreants floated rumours regarding Ms Iqra, daughter of Mohammad Sidiq Misger, resident of Hawal, who was hit by a stone on April 17 at Sakedafar Safakadal during a stone pelting incident.
Iqra who is under treatment in SMHS Hospital is recovering fast. The rumours spread are baseless and are as such refuted, spokesman said.
To curb spread of rumours through social networking sites, the authorities had directed all cellular companies, including BSNL to suspend mobile internet service in the valley. People were posting pictures of alleged security forces atrocities on youth in the valley.
However, suspension of the facility hit professionals, media persons, students and others. Many students said that their studies had affected badly due to ban on mobile internet.
Mobile internet was suspended on April 8 to prevent any rumours during bypoll in Srinagar parliamentary constituency and resumed on April 13. However, after Pulwama incident the service was again suspended from April 16.
Jammu: Gulmarg has been voted the best mountain destination in the country on the basis of an online survey conducted by a leading media group.Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma gave away the award at a function organised in New Delhi.Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh were also awarded in other categories.The award for Jammu and Kashmir was received by Shahnawaz A Shah, Officer on Special Duty (Publicity) in the Tourism Department; Galib Shah, secretary, Royal Springs Golf Course, Srinagar; and Manav Gupta, secretary, Jammu Tawi golf course.Speaking on the occasion, Mahesh Sharma talked about the plans of the government to increase the facilities at the tourist destination so that more employment opportunities were generated for people of the state.
Srinagar: Taking a strong exception to the ‘War and Love’ statement made by Ram Madhav, Minister for Education Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari said the statement seems to be a move aimed at legitimizing a crime that is internationally abhorred under covenants of human rights. The education minister also strongly condemned the remarks made by BJP minister Chander Prakash Ganga saying that ‘bullets can’t win the battle of ideas’.
“One fails to understand against whom Mr. Madhav has declared war! Is it a war declared against Kashmiris who despite all odds casted their votes reaffirming their belief in democracy? Or it is a war declared to satiate the sanguine electoral interests of a particular political party in the country,” Bukhari questioned.
He said modern nations operate under the presumption that in the case of armed conflict, the State must do everything to ensure civilians are not hurt. “However, Mr. Madhav seems to be justifying what is unjustifiable under law. Almost all general legal approaches consider human shields illegal both in domestic circumstances and international conflicts,” the minister for education remarked.
Bukhari said some people in the country have unfortunately started arguing that using humans as shields in military operations is justified response to Kashmiri protesters who hurl stones to give vent to their political aspirations. “These statements smack of a hyper-nationalist environment in the country. Unfortunately, people with right-wing approach consider any support for human rights in Kashmir to be anti-national. Let Mr. Madhav be reminded that no civilized society can afford to use its’ citizens as shields for military operations,” Bukhari observed.
On the statement of Mr. Ganga, the minster for education said that his remarks speak volumes about intellectual bankruptcy of a person who is holding the responsibility of a public office. He said that bullets have only created havoc in the world and have brought an enforced thus temporary peace in certain regions. “Bullets can’t win you a battle of ideas. PDP believes that dialogue is the only way out. Unfortunately instead of initiating dialogue as a confidence building measure to re-instill a sense of belonging among bruised Kashmiris, some BJP insiders are trying to sabotage the whole peace process initiated under Mr. Vajpayee regime,” Bukhari regretted.
“Even army generals who deal with bullets are not supposed to give sweeping statements like Mr. Ganga has made. The BJP minister has exposed himself for his venomous and biased approach against Kashmiris who believe a person holding a chair of responsibility behaves and acts in an impartial manner,” Bukhari said and asked Mr Ganga not only to withdraw his remarks but extend an unconditional apology to citizens of the State.
The minister for education said that Agenda of Alliance reached between PDP-BJP coalition Government was supposed to offer confidence building measures for the conflict torn Kashmiris as the same is a concise document of all major reports and working group recommendations made on Jammu and Kashmir.
“If Kashmiris are perceived as ‘enemies and anti nationals’ why BJP agreed in principle for the agenda of alliance calling for dialogue with all stakeholders… good relations between India and Pakistan… maintaining status quo on Article 370…steps for revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) …opening of new cross-LoC routes…settlement of issues of refugees etc,” Bukhari asked.
Instead of sitting together to help in implementation of the Agenda of Alliance which was perceived as a key to bring Kashmiris out of political quagmire, the BJP unfortunately seems shying away from its responsibilities as a coalition partner on the ground.
“On the one hand Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr Naredra Modi compliments our chief minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti and on the other BJP ministers and leaders act in contradiction to those compliments. It seems a difficult and vitiating scenario is being created to hamper her performance on the ground,” Bukhari observed.
The minister for education said that Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed could have stitched an alliance within few hours to be in power but he always treaded the tough path and took bold decisions to get Kashmir out of the political instability and its consequences.
“PDP did not form this coalition for power or any privileges but this government was formed to restart and resume a halfway left reconciliatory process to heal the wounds of conflict hit Kashmiris. Unfortunately, the BJP seems to be moving towards the opposite direction,” Bukhari remarked.
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Salman Nizami today challenged the UP Navnirman Sena leader Amit Jani, in a tweet “ Nizami wrote “UP, kisi kay baap ka nahi ha, Dare you touch a kashmiri, they have every right to enjoy the freedom across the country, as they are our people not outsiders, I request the central govt to ensure the security of all kashmiris, studying and working across the country”. However a case has already been registered against Amit Jani, for allegedly spreading communal hatred after hoardings asking Kashmiris to leave Uttar Pradesh or face consequences have been reportedly spotted in Meerut. Police said that the group admitted to putting up the hoardings. They have been asked to pull them down or face action. Amit Jani, earlier on Wednesday shared a picture of the poster on his Facebook account. Speaking to CNN-News18, Jani said that the posters are aimed only at the radical elements in Kashmir. He said that his move was being lauded by Kashmiri Brahmins. The outfit is aimed at boycotting Kashmiris, Jani said, adding that the Navnirman Sena will work on spreading awareness about this issue.
Two years ago when Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and the BJP came together to form the most unlikely alliance in Jammu and Kashmir I was (at first) a big supporter of what I thought was the sort of political innovation that had been missing in the state all these years. Admittedly the coalition was akin to bringing together the “North and South Pole” as Mufti Saheb described it to me. But given that the fractured mandated had divided the state along regional and potentially religious lines, he wisely believed that this was the only way to bridge the electoral polarities of the state. I also backed the idea of the alliance for the another reason: I thought that the hyper-nationalism of the BJP and the soft-separatism of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would be moderating influences on each other. For over two decades I had watched the rhetoric of opposing extremes squeeze out the middle-ground with high-pitched confrontations. This new politics, I believed, would be an enabler of centrism, a much missing strain in the Kashmir discourse.
I have been proven wrong. And so has Mufti Saheb’s optimism. It’s time to say it out loud: The ideological dissonance of the Mehbooba Mufti and BJP partnership has done more harm than good on the ground. The idea of the alliance has failed.
I don’t say this only because of the prolonged period of violence and street-unrest the Valley has witnessed since the Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces last year. Previous governments too have had grave crisis-like situations on their watch; the 2010 agitation in which more than a 100 young men were killed in clashes with paramilitary forces is not forgotten. (Omar Abdullah was CM and he has admitted later to being haunted by those months and the mistakes he made then).
I conclude that the alliance is a failed idea because its two parties are pulling each other in opposite directions unable to agree even on basic questions like whether Wani should have been killed or taken alive. Though the BJP leaders who crafted the coalition will insist to you that “Mehbooba has mellowed” – from their point of view a good contrast to her more outspoken years; many of her party colleagues and workers are disappointed to see her retreating behind a veil of confused silence.
Mehbooba Mufti, a woman I admire for single handedly building a new party, travelling to the most dangerous interior villages of the Valley and establishing an emotional connect with the people, today seems to have closed herself away behind a tightly controlled shell – exactly what she criticised Omar, her predecessor, for doing in 2010.
Or is that she can’t or won’t speak her mind because she would have to take a position fundamentally different from that of her political partners? The BJP has been less hesitant to speak up but their public articulations, especially when framed within the highly-charged ‘nationalism’ debate, lay bare the deep contradictions of the state government.
| It’s no longer just the academic debate around Article 370 (the constitutional provision that gives J&K special status) that the PDP and the BJP disagree on. It isn’t just administrative disagreements – like the control of power projects in the state or the use of civilian land by security forces – that expose the fault-lines of the alliance. Their lack of intellectual cohesion is evident in all matters of national debate on Kashmir – how the law should treat stone-pelting protesters; how to respond to the issue of beef politics and the murderous mobs that have claimed the lives of innocent Muslims; whether to talk to separatists or be tougher, whether to release political prisoners, the role of the army and paramilitary in the Valley and most recently how to intercede in the dangerous video versus video battle that has erupted in the state. Mehbooba would once visit the children of slain militants insisting that the price of conflict should not be borne by kids. Today the BJP’s Twitter base would call her a seditious traitor if she did. |
The PDP’s claim that only 5% of the population was protesting has been challenged by the most dismal voter turn-out in Srinagar; just 2% on the day of re-polling. With mainstream politics getting marginalised the stakes are too high; the Valley can no longer afford an experiment with the contradictions of governance. The Election Commission made a misjudgment by insisting on bypolls despite clear opposition from the Union home secretary in writing. Fresh elections are not an option in this circumstance; Governor’s Rule is the writing on the wall.
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author
The views expressed are personal
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
Jammu: The state government is looking into blocking other social media platforms before taking a final call on snapping Facebook and Whatsapp in the Valley. The state police and the Union Home Ministry are involved in high-level discussions on it.
According to sources, the state government has also communicated that the social media websites, particularly Facebook and Whatsapp, are fuelling unrest in the Valley. It was decided that services of these would be snapped at least for some months.
However, the final call on this has not been taken yet, as they have received inputs that tech savvy netizens in the Valley are already exploring the possibility of using the virtual private network (VPN). Reports suggest that some people are already working on this direction and they could undo the plans of the government.
“We have received information that some people are working on the VPN, which will still allow them to use FB or Whatsapp. Though it will cost them a few rupees, money is not an issue in Kashmir, where it is hugely funded. So we are working on a plan to block these sites before we take a call,” said the sources. They said the Home Ministry is already in discussion with the top techies in the industry who have suggested a plan. “They are near completion of the plan and it could be out in a few days. The plan would be discussed in detail by top officials in the New Delhi, and if necessary, it will be fine tuned before being put in place,” said the official. The Valley is already abuzz with rumours that social networking sites are being blocked. The people who don’t hit the ground but are keener to spread the message and add fuel to the fire are more concerned about it. “The actual protestors are not so such worried, but it’s the instigators who fuel the unrest. These are the people who are responsible for continuous cycle of violence in the Valley. We are going to deal with them effectively,” said a senior official.
Early Times Report