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SRINAGAR: Kashmir valley is likely to witness another spell of snowfall this week, with the Metrological department predicting moderate to heavy snowfall in upper reaches as well as plains.
“On the intervening night of 4 and 5 February, Kashmir will likely witness snowfall,” director MeT Sonam Lotus said.
“Today and tomorrow the weather will remain dry but after Thursday the weather is likely to take a new turn, to snowfall and rainfall again,” Lotus said.
SSP Traffic Kashmir division Fayaz Ahmad Lone said, “We have received the information of another spell of snowfall and we are all set to tackle the bad weather. The road(Srinagar-Jammu highway) may be closed if there will be more snowfall as expected.”
The highway was open for only one-way traffic with vehicles plying from Srinagar to Jammu on Wednesday. Subject to fair weather and good condition of road, traffic will be allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar on Thursday.
Movement of LMVs/passenger vehicles/Tankers will be allowed from Nagrota (Jammu) from 0600 hours up to 1300 hours and from Udhampur up to 1430 hours only. However, the movement of HMVs (excluding Trailers/multi-axle vehicles) including convoys of Army, BSF, CRPF will be allowed from Nagrota (Jammu) from 0700 hours up to1100 hours and from Udhampur up to 1230 hours only, officials said.

By Barkha Dutt (WashingtonPost.Com)

“Our problem is that there is too much democracy in India — that’s why difficult decisions never get taken,” declared Sunil Alagh, marketing consultant and supporter of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The bon vivant was responding to the uproar over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock decision to invalidate 86 percent of India’s currency. Alagh’s lament betrayed a longing oft expressed by the country’s affluent and well heeled — a craving for the precision and order of authoritarian leadership. “You know, we need someone like Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore,” can be heard in many swish Delhi drawing rooms, whose attendants are in any case inoculated by wealth against the vagaries of India’s economy.

On the same day as Donald Trump’s election in the United States, India faced its own disruption — when Modi declared that 500- and 1,000-rupee notes — virtually all the cash in one of the world’s fastest growing economies — would now be worthless. In a country where 90 percent of all transactions are cash-based, the decision came with only four hours of public notice. The stated aim of the move was to shut down the parallel economy run by tax-evaders. But what followed was chaos — amateur execution and shabby planning contributed to mile-long queues, ATM machines that had not been recalibrated for the new 2,000-rupee notes, banks that ran dry before mid-day, panic-induced hoarding and broken supply chains. In rural India especially, daily-wage workers could not be paid their cash salaries, sometimes for days on end.

Alagh’s impatience with the raucous debate around demonetization and his desire for governance-by-diktat were a throwback to that much repeated cliché about the only time emergency was imposed in the world’s largest democracy — “at least the trains ran on time.” Ironically, the political leader responsible for the iron-fisted curtailment of civil rights in India in 1975 was from the other side of the political trenches — Indira Gandhi, the Indian National Congress prime minister, who is still admired by millions for her take-no-prisoners brand of toughness.

The audacity of Modi’s demonetization decision and the centralization of power it represents has drawn many parallels with Indira’s actions in the 1970s. His notes ban has especially drawn comparisons with Gandhi’s move to nationalize India’s banks in 1969. Modi’s speech at a mammoth political rally at the onset of 2017 virtually replicated a slogan from hers in 1971. Where she had dared her challengers — “They say — remove Indira, I say, remove poverty” — Modi bellowed to enthusiastic approval; “They say — remove Modi, I say, remove corruption.” Apart from the curious third-person referencing of themselves (perhaps appropriate for the personality-centered, cult-building political style of both leaders), the striking parallel with the ’70s is the increasing levels of executive power given to the state. Statism may have been normal for a socialist-era Gandhi, but where does it reconcile with a party that ran for office on theslogan of “Minimum government; Maximum governance”?

Modi asked India for 50 days for the system to breathe easy again after demonetization. Two months on, we must ask: What exactly did his decision achieve?

Advocates of the demonetization efforts argue that liquidity in the banking system and the subsequent lowering of interest rates will create its own stimulus. The government points to increased tax collections from April to December 2016 counter notions of a demonetization induced slow-down.  However the All India Manufacturers’ Organization says there has been a 50 percent dip in revenue and a 35 percent drop in jobs in the micro small-scale industries sector as a result. Last Monday, the IMF downgraded India’s growth to 6.6 percent, a full percentage point lower than its earlier estimate, because of the jolt from the ban on high-value currency notes.

Was all this grief worth the gain? The actual aim of demonetization remains unclear. If the purpose was to cleanse the system of of illegal wealth — what in India is colloquially known as “black” money — the target was misplaced. Only 6 to 10 percent of India’s unaccounted money is held in cash; those ducking the taxman mostly divert their big bucks to gold, real estate and tax havens in Switzerland. Secondly, now that all the banned notes are back in banks, the Modi government has to confront a piquant question. Did it miscalculate how much “black” cash there was in the system or have tax thieves found a way to launder their wealth? People deposited about 90 percent of the 15.4 trillion rupees that were removed from circulation, sharply contradicting the government estimate that a sizeable amount of unaccounted wealth would not reach the banks. So the original aim — to call out the money-hoarders — pretty much failed. The goal post was then hastily shifted to emphasize digitizing the economy.

Yet, there is no visible outrage from the Indian public because of Modi’s masterful management of the political messaging. By branding his decision as a “fight against corruption, black money, fake notes and terrorism,” Modi has converted demonetization into a test of courageous patriotism. Playing on Gandhi’s mantra of being a messiah for the poor, Modi astutely positioned the notes ban as a modern day morality play where “sacrifice” is key to being a good citizen. Modi himself drew the Vedic analogy of the currency ban being like a “yagna,” a “purification” ritual that would cleanse India. Hardship is now a virtue, a sacrifice to attain a Hegelian notion of the common good. If Gandhi spoke conspiratorially of the “foreign hand” out to destabilize India, an emotional Modi has spoken of those who “won’t let me live” for the crackdown on currency. In an age of strident hyper-nationalism, the BJP has craftily encouraged the narrative that those opposing demonetization are fat-cat traitors who are too indolent to be part of a great national movement.

Modi’s blend of disruptive individualism, strongman politics and old-style welfare economics falls back on more government, rather than less, as the primary vehicle of change. The ’70s deja vu has confirmed one thing — “Modinomics” is not quite the right-of-center Thatcherite model that many of his supporters may have expected. Indeed, in India, we are back to the future.

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Srinagar: Despite having gone through so many ups and downs, Kashmiris are the people who can restore anyone’s faith in humanity. Be it the devastating floods of 2014 or the volunteers camps outside hospitals in 2016, the people of Kashmir face the challenge bravely defeat it hands down.

One such example is of a young girl, Sana, who was diagnosed with ‘Relapse Acute Myeloid Leukemia’ (a type of blood cancer). The family had already spent huge sum of money on the treatment of Sana, and they were left with no money for further treatment for Sana. Mother does not work, while the father is no more so all the responsibility is on the siblings who were finding it almost impossible to make ends meet.

She has been undergoing blood and platelet transfusion and soon, now that the financial crisis resolved, the doctors will start chemotherapy followed by ‘Allogenic Stem Cell Transplant’, a procedure which is very expensive but will ensure that her condition is improved.

A campaign was started and support came from Kashmiris all around. Sana and her family saw a new ray of hope and within a few days the collections summed up to 25 lakhs.

The week long campaign was started by ‘conscious’ citizens on social networks, and within a week an amount of Rs 25 lakhs was deposited in her account.

“This campaign was started by concerned Kashmiris, and it is because of their efforts that we could get such a huge response,” said a person, wishing anonymity, who campaigned for Sana through his facebook account (reported Kashmir Life). “The campaign was started by two or three people but then everybody came in and tagged their friends for help. This reflects Kashmiri resilient character,” he added while thanking people who helped raise the money.

Sana, 24, was first diagnosed with leukemia in 2015. According to her family, they have already spent around Rs 16 lakh on her treatment in Fortis hospital, Delhi.

However, a year later she relapsed. This time she had a stem cell transplant, which cost her family Rs 30 lakh. “We had to sell our ancestral land to meet the expenses,” said Sadia.

Sana’s father died in 1995, and since then the two sisters along with their brother and mother are living in Magarmal Bagh, Srinagar. Despite the treatment Sana once again relapsed, but this time it was just after two months of transplant.

Since July 2016, Sana along with her family is in Delhi for treatment. “All of our financial resources have drained out. But due to some well wishers who shared Sana’s story on social networking sites, we are able to pay for her treatment.

We are thankful to all of you,” said Sadia, while appealing donors to stop sending more money as the required amount is already raised. Now that Sana’s family has the amount in hand for her treatment, we all pray for her speedy recovery and good health.

Ameen

By : Umar Manzoor

The world even today continues to remain in a fix over the resilience the Kashmiri people exhibit and how they keep the resistance alive amid constant fear and clampdowns.  The world is yet to understand how people of Kashmir survive for months of curfews and restrictions. How could killings instigate more protests and why is there not even a single sign of regret in their behaviour. If one perceives the Gaw Kadal Massacre of January 21, 1990 a mere incident when Kashmiris were killed enmasse just like they are getting killed now-they are wrong. The fact is that the tragedy of Gaw Kadal shaped the Kashmir’s resistance movement to the extent  thateven now its glimpses could be felt on ground.  It taught people to survive amid curfews, it taught them to use local mosques as central places and raise slogans from the loudspeakers.  It taught them how to spend lives amid constant fear and clampdowns. On January 19, 1990, Dr Farooq resigned and Jagmohan came back as JK’s governor. A day after, Srinagar was handed over to CRPF. Large scale arrests in the dead of the night were made with forces barging into peoples’ homes and dragging people particularly youth from their beds and throwing them into torture centres.  Curfew was imposed. Kashmir witnessed the large scale protests on Jan 21, 1990. People in droves across Srinagar, defying curfew, took to streets, raising slogans-, demanding immediate release of their dear ones. People from Batamaloo, Barzulla, Ram Bagh, JawaharNagar, Chanapora assembled in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. The procession started moving towards old city via Budshah Chowk. As it reached near Gaw Kadal, the forces encircled it from all sides and fired in an indiscriminate manner upon people.  As bloodbath and mayhem started dominating scenes within moments, people started hurdling dead and injured into local mosques.

Kashmiris did that in 1931 when Maharaja forces fired upon protests outside Srinagar’s central jail. They brought the dead and injured to Jamia Masjid where one injured youth whispered in Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah’s ear, “I have done my bit. It is now you who has the responsibility to take the mission forward.”

According to a foreign news agency that reported the Gaw Kadal massacre, the death toll reached 100 while 50 were admitted in local hospitals. More than 500 arrests were made. Later processions  were fired upon at  Sonawar, Lal Bazar, Dal Gate,  Hawal, Gulab Bagh, Taelbal,  Hazaratbal,  Nagbal and Ganderbal. The aftermath The reign of terror later was unleashed upon Srinagar. However, people found antidote of this fear. Everyday at dusk they would assemble in mosques and raise slogans to evade arrests. Whenever forces would barge into any area, announcements used to be made on loudspeakers of local mosques- asking people to come out on roads and foil forces’ action. As curfew continued to remain in force, two hours of deal used to be announced by the government everyday. During this time, people would stock essentials in their homes. This was the first time when such scenes were witnessed. The people of Kashmir continue to use the similar methods even today when curfews are imposed in the region.  Resistance leader Shakeel Ahamd Bakshi raised ‘Anaaj Ugaw; Aaadi Paav’ slogan. People then started maintaining kitchen gardens in a bid to avoid food paucity.

Sensing situation slipping out of his hands, Governor Jagmohan banned JKLF- a party that enjoyed widespread peoples’ support all across. Besides that Hizb, Peoples’ League,  Tehreek-e- Hurriyat, Dukhtaran-e-Milat, Islamic Students League, Jamaet-e-Tulba and Jamat-e-Islami were also declared banned organisations.  More than 200 government employees were terminated for taking part in anti-national activities. When Jagmohan appointed his advisors, the name of former state police chief Ghulam Hassan Shah was included in the list. However, Shah rejected the offer and preferred to stay with the people.  JKLF launched non-cooperation movement and asked people to boycott every government decision. Wide spread protests dominated entire Kashmir Valley.  January 26, 1990 was observed as Black Day by the people. Fearing protests, more rigorous restrictions were imposed across Valley with forces deployment intensified. Several commandos were brought along with additional companies of CRPF.  That was the time when school buildings, cinema halls and local hotels were occupied by the forces.  In order to foil CRPF attempts to take over Schools, militants set several schools on fire. The curfew passes issued to journalists and government employees weren’t accepted by forces due to which no newspaper was printed from Kashmir for 12 consecutive days.  It was during that period that Pakistan sensing opportunity declared that it would take the Kashmir issue to United Nation. Director Doordarshan Lass Koul was killed by militants outside his residence in Bemina. It was after such incident that Doordarshan replaced the word ‘Terrorist’ with word ‘Militant’ in its dailys news bulletins. Dukhtaran-e Milat organised first women protest in Srinagar on February 14, 1990 in which Kashmiri women in thousands took part.  Later a memorandum was submitted to Srinagar’s UN office located in Sonawar.  On March 11, 1990, Government of India set up a new ministry for Kashmir Affairs. George Fernandes was appointed as its minister.  He visited Kashmir several times and tried to contact militants to persuade them so shun the path of violence so that issues could be resolved through dialogue. 

Srinagar: The University of Kashmir and the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), who had earlied announced cancellation of winter vacation this year, have now called off classes for a week due to bad weather.After losing five months of classes during the summer unrest last year, the universities across Kashmir decided to call off the winter break this year. However, after fresh snowfall since the last two days the classes have been called off for a week and the exams have also been postponed.The Kashmir varsity exams scheduled to be held on January 18 and 19 have been postponed due to fresh snowfall. The classes in all departments of the university have also been suspended till January 29, a varsity officialsaid.Earlier, the university postponed all examinations that were scheduled to be held on January 16 and 17.IUST Vice Chancellor Mushtaq Ahmad Sidiqui said the decision to resume classes would be taken only after the weather improves.“For now, we have called off classes till January 22. We will take the final call on Friday after the weather forecast becomes certain. If the weather continues to be like this then we might suspend classes till January 29,” the official said, adding that the exams were scheduled to take place in the university from the second week of March.Meanwhile, the bad weather has lead to slippery roads hampering the normal movement of traffic. — TNS

Srinagar: Kashmir’s Star footballer Ashfaq Ahmad has reportedly quit his job as a physical education Teacher in Jammu and Kashmir government after, according to media reports, he was asked to teach dancing, singing to the students for which he felt humiliated.

Ashfaq Ahmad is among the few footballers from Kashmir to have played internationally.

Ashfaq Ahmad, 33, hails from Srinagar city. He has also led India’s premier Football Club Mohan Bagan.

As a mark of appreciation, the state government had provided him a Job in education department as physical education teacher and posted at government higher secondary school teacher Rajbagh in Srinagar. According to media reports, “Ahmad was asked by school authorities to teach children how to sing and dance”.

When Ashfaq raised the issue before the School authorities, they told him that they are following the directives, the reports added. Ishfaq termed such directives as “humiliating” and quit his job as physical education teacher.

Srinagar: Doing away with the past practice and despite their health concerns, senior resistance leaders have decided to spend winter this year in Kashmir “to remain with the oppressed people.”

Senior pro-freedom leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are presently in Kashmir.

The trio has been jointly spearheading agitation against civilian killings following the death of Hizb Commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani on July 8 last year.

“It has been the desire of Geelani sahib to stay in Kashmir with his people, but due to his health complications he had to move outside the state for treatment in past several years. Despite suffering from various ailments and advise by doctors to shift to some warm place, he has decided to stay in Kashmir this winter,” Geelani’s younger son Naseem Geelani told.

Naseem said Geelani’s continuous house arrest is taking heavy toll on his health as he is not allowed out of his house or allowed to meet visitors.

The Hurriyat (G) Chairman is on pacemaker since 1997. In 2003, his left kidney was removed at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai as it had developed carcinoma. In 2004, his gall bladder was removed at Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi. He was again operated upon in 2007 and half of his right kidney was removed. In 2010, his eyes were operated upon at Apollo Hospital in Delhi.

Geelani’s elder son Dr Naeem Geelani said doctors have increased his father’s medication.

“We have improved heating facilities at home to prevent his exposure to cold during winter,” he said.

“Though Geelani’s sahib faces health problems due to intense cold, but he has preferred to stay in Kashmir this winter to remain with oppressed people who faced brunt of forces during summer unrest,” a leader of Hurriyat (G) said.

Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Muhammad Yasin Malik has also preferred to stay in Kashmir this winter.

Malik is also suffering with heart and kidney ailments and was admitted in Fortis Hospital in May last year after suffering breathlessness.

“Malik sahib preferred to stay in Kashmir despite his ailing health. He had to undertake medical checkups in a Delhi hospital, but he decided to stay in Kashmir given the situation people of Kashmir are facing,” said Altaf Ahmad, JKLF spokesperson.

“In August last year, so-called authorities had tried to shift Yasin sahib to All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Delhi for some necessary medical tests, but JKLF chief had refused to accept this dubious offer of the rulers. Malik sahib loves his homeland and people than his health,” Altaf said.

Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said, “It is not that I would leave the valley every winter but my passport was impounded five years back.”

“Sometimes on doctors’ advice I would take my mother, who is an arthritis patient, to warmer places for a month or so during severe winters. But it is not some routine that I have followed,” he said.

“Kashmir is my motherland and I have lived here all my life be it winter or any other time. And it is my first calling for the last 26 years of my life when fate decided that I carry forward the mission of my family and play my role in the people’s sacred struggle,” Mirwaiz said.

Srinagar: Terming Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s assertions in the J&K assembly as contradictory, the joint resistance leadership Tuesday questioned her as to ‘how much blood she further needed to secure her chair.’

The joint resistance leaders – Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik – in a statement here said that people of Kashmir out-rightly reject the statement made by Mehbooba in the legislature.

“Whatever she stated are brazen lies and senseless arguments to justify her inhuman role against the people of Kashmir during the current uprising and to please her masters in New Delhi for staying in power,” the trio said. “Her words and deeds are same as that of her predecessors who played deceitful and manipulative politics, creating fissures and confusing people thereby projecting and diluted and muddied view of Kashmir issue to serve his purpose of remaining in power.”

The statement said that holding the reigns of India as its home minister, it was none other than former Chief Minister Muhammad Sayeedi who was “instrumental in several massacres perpetrated through Jagmohan.”

“Most barbaric amongst them were massacres of Gaw Kadal, Alamgiri Bazaar, 

The resistance leaders said that as Chief Minister, Mehbooba parroted “healing touch” but ruthless killings, custodial disappearances, countless graveyards and unparalleled human rights violations continued unabated throughout her tenure. Joint leadership said that efforts to thrust Sainik Colonies, discriminating industrial policy, state subject rights to West Pakistan refugees, townships in the name of Kashmiri Pandits with the aim of settling non-state subjects, extension of SARFAESI Act to J&K and other such policies are not figments of people’s imagination but clearly articulated plans of RSS.

“Their aim is to change the demography of the state for its complete integration in Indian domain. The opportunity provided by PDP to BJP for petty benefits is part of the treacherous legacy since 1947 of a group of shameless and selfish people who have repeatedly bargained our blood and honour for their lust of power,” the statement said.  Resistance leadership said that since 1990 over one lakh Kashmiris have been killed by the forces and then in a show of ‘concern’ cosmetic measures of setting up inquiry commissions are announced with no results. “In a recent RTI filed, CRPF did not even accept that they have committed any violation against people, so such rhetorical utterances of setting up commissions have lost every bit of credibility for the people but state continues to hoodwink with such deceptions, only to repeat these heinous crimes again and again.”

The leadership asked the chief minister, “that how much blood, honour and chastity, she needs to keep herself in power as her lust seems to have no end.”

“Selfish character of collaborators has offered only death and destruction to us, as their masters want to settle the Kashmir issue once for all as per their long-cherished agenda,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, condemning the attack on Muslims of Kathua, Hurriyat Conference (M) said, “Communal forces in Delhi and their partners in the state have legalised and legitimised the slaughter of Muslims and the establishment encourages them to do so.”