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Srinagar: A 24-years-old girl was charred to death after a house caught fire in Mehjoor Nagar area of Srinagar city on Tuesday afternoon. Locals alleged that Fire Tenders arrived late on the spot resulting in the death of a young girl.

Eyewitnesses said that clouds of smoke emanated from Royal Rattan Palace shortly after gas cylinder explosions were heard continuously.

Locals rushed to spot to control the fire; however, due to high intensity of flames they could not do so. Royal Rattan Palace is owned by a Sikh businessman Darshan Singh who said that locals tried their best to evacuate his 24 years old daughter Roshni Kour who was trapped inside the bathroom of the building. “She suffered severe burn injuries and was declared brought dead by doctors at SMHS hospital. She could have been saved if fire tenders would have arrived in time,” he said.

Locals said that fire tenders could not arrive in time due to lack of connectivity. Mehjoor Nagar Bridge has already been closed for vehicular traffic while the fire tenders adopted congested Rambagh route and were stuck in traffic jam. An official from Fire and Emergency Services admitted that they were stuck in traffic jam at Rambagh. “We could have adopted Jawahar Nagar-Mehjoor Nagar route but to lack of connective, we were forced to adopt busy Rambagh route,” he said.

Locals said that the house reserved for marriages and parties was completely gutted in the fire.

A police official said that a case has been registered and investigation taken up to know the cause of fire. Meanwhile, top officials from administration visited the spot to ascertain the facts.

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Srinagar: On Sunday when a fierce gunfight was underway in south Kashmir, youth from the area made a desperate attempt to help the local militants escape. The locals threw stones not only on security personnel laying the cordon but also on the operation teams engaging militants.The tendency of helping out militants which started last year, especially in the four districts of south Kashmir, continues to be “worrisome” for the forces, which have stepped up anti-militancy operations.This year, at least 15 militants, 10 of them locals, have been killed in various gunfights. During most of these operations, local youth in an attempt to show support to the militants threw stones to distract the security forces engaged in the operations and helped militants escape the cordon.“In a few places militants succeeded in escaping, taking advantage of the law and order situation,” an Army officer said. “In Sunday’s encounter in Kulgam, the locals helped three militants flee, even as their four associates were killed.”Director General of Police Shesh Paul Vaid said stone-throwing during encounters was a “difficult situation”. “It is a difficult situation. We have been advising people not to come out of their homes during gunfights and allow the security forces to do their job. There are clear directions to avoid civilian casualties,” Vaid told The Tribune.The forces have been regularly asking people to stay away from encounter sites and in fact restrictions are usually put in place by the District Magistrate of the districts on the movement of people under Section 144, CrPC, around the encounter site, but it does not seem to yield any result.“No one seems to pay heed to the advisory during encounters,” admits a police officer in south Kashmir. “We have a law and order component ready at encounter sites to stop stone-throwers. The stone-throwing is carried out by vested interests who to try to shift the focus of the forces from neutralising the militants.”Earlier this month, when a newly recruited local Lashkar-e-Toiba militant was arrested from a mosque in the volatile Pulwama after he was persuaded to give up arms, forces had to face a tough law and order situation.“Whenever a cordon is laid, announcements are made from mosques, requesting people not to come out,” said CRPF spokesman Rajesh Yadav. The CRPF is engaged in the dual roles of fighting militants as well as handling the law and order situation in Kashmir.Last year two persons, including a college student, were killed in firing by the security forces after a crowd tried to break the security cordon in Pulwama.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar: Some people are giving  false updates on some WhatsApp groups and on the Facebook pages regarding death of some injured person. In this regard it is clarified that all injured persons are stable and there is no report of any injured person succumbing. The update is misleading and is as such refuted.

In this connection an FIR number 12 under section 505 RPC, 67 IT Act has been registered in Police Station Kulgam against the rumour mongers for spreading the false and fabricated stories on social networking sites.

Srinagar: Breaking the stereotypes, a 27-year-old girl from Srinagar is saving lives in villages along the Line of Control (LOC) by educating people about landmines and unexploded shells. Shabreena Sidiqi, a resident of Srinagar, says despite travelling difficulties and risks of cross-border shelling in these sensitive areas, the main aim was to save the lives of people, particularly children, through “mine risk education”.“It’s a very challenging job and it was quite difficult for me to convince my parents because it requires travelling to far off places, where there is no network coverage and those on security radar. But when you see the problems being faced by the people who live there, helping them just seems like an obligation,” says Shabreena, who is currently working in the border villages of Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla and Kupwara. The districts that lie near the LoC are highly sensitive and most affected by the conflict. People in these areas have become the victims of poverty, health issues, death and disability as they have been forgotten by the government. Shabreena added that the field team had narrow escape many times while working in these areas.“Physical rehabilitation is one way of helping the victims. But there has to be another mechanism to prevent casualties. Thus there is a need to impart risk education,” she adds.Shabreena and her team give safety and security briefing to people living in these areas as to how they can enhance their knowledge and change their behaviour in order to avoid landmine or unexploded ordinance casualties.“We also work on community-based reporting system and make them understand how they can report the landmine incidents or its presence to the authorities. Mostly, we educate children through fun methods as to how they can save themselves from unexploded shells,” she adds.After pursuing MBA from the University of Kashmir and working for a marketing company for 10 months, Shabreena chose social work and is currently working as project officer at the HELP Foundation for mine risk education and Conventional Weapons Risk Reduction Project.Shabreena is among the women in the Valley who moved out of their comfort zone to become an inspiration for others and to help the victims of two-decade-long conflict in the border areas.

Educating villagers

Under the “mine risk education”, 27-year-old Shabreena Sidiqi and her team give safety and security briefing to people living in the areas along the Line of Control. They tell them ways to enhance their knowledge and change their behaviour in order to avoid landmine or unexploded ordinance casualties. They also work on community-based reporting system and make people understand as to how they can report the landmine incidents or its presence to the authorities.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar: The J&K Government is mulling shifting Kashmir Haat from Srinagar to south Kashmir. The government plans to set up a state-of-the-art Kashmir Haat in Pulwama district under the World Bank-funded Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP).The Rs 40-crore Kashmir Haat will be established in Pampore in Pulwama after shifting the existing one from Srinagar’s business centre Jahangir Chowk.“The government has decided to shift Kashmir Haat from Srinagar to Pampore after the World Bank agreed to consider it under the JTFRP,” an official in the Industries Department told The Tribune.However, World Bank officials have sought a feasibility report of the project, including its environmental and social impact report. The J&K Government has been asked to follow proper guidelines before shifting the project to the outskirts of the city.Officials said the government had invited tenders to hire a private consultation agency to undertake the feasibility study.“It is a livelihood project and forms one of the components of the JTFRP. The World Bank has asked the J&K Government to go for feasibility report in the first instance that why Kashmir Haat is being shifted from the existing place, which is located at the centre of Srinagar, to the outskirts. Also, the environment and social aspect of the project have to be kept in consideration and whether the artisans will be happy in shifting the project,” said Bashir Ahmad Shah, Director Technical, JTFRP.The $250-million JTFRP is aimed to support recovery and increase disaster resilience, and help the government to respond promptly and effectively to an emergency.The World Bank project is meant to cover reconstruction and strengthening of critical infrastructure, including roads and bridges, restoration of urban flood management infrastructure, livelihood in 22 districts of the state. In addition, it has been drafted to strengthen the disaster risk management capacity and contingent emergency response.However, officials alleged that the government was using the infrastructure building under the JTFRP to entice voters in its south Kashmir stronghold.They said government was focusing more on infrastructure building under the project and not doing enough on better preparedness for flood management and early warning communication systems.The World Bank had approved the project on June 2, 2015, after Omar Abdullah-led previous NC-Congress coalition government took up the matter with the Central government. The project is to be completed before June 30, 2020. Kashmir valley was struck by a devastating deluge in September, 2014 after week long rainfall which caused Jhelum to swell and breach its embankments.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar: Senior National Conference Leader and party general secretary Ali Mohammad has lashed out on the State Government over the killing of two civilians during an encounter at Frisal Kulgam.
Talking to KNS, MLA Khanyar Ali Mohammad Sagar said that this government is based on hallow slogans and lies. It failed miserably to safeguard the lives and property of the Kashmiri people.
He condemned the killings of two civilians and wounding many at Frisal area in Kulgam today and said that the Chief Minister of State Mehbooba Mufti claimed that she has ordered the forces in Unified Command meeting to restrain while dealing with civilians in Kashmir.
“Mehbooba Mufti said that in Unified Command meeting she has ordered the forces to restrain at maximum level while dealing with civilians, but today’s incident showed the reality,” Sagar told KNS.
He ridiculed the assurances of Mehbooba Mufti that civilians will be secured in such times. He asked why the forces were not following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
He said that the scores of other civilians were injured, many of them seriously, is a testimony that the ‘promise of restraint’ that the government uses in its rhetoric is just a prank to befool Kashmiris.
Sagar demanded immediately constitutes an independent and time bound enquiry team to put the facts right into how and why the civilians were was killed. (KNS)