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Family Alleges Murder, Police Says Corroborating Evidence

Poonch, Sep 21: A 15-year-old girl has been found dead under suspicious circumstances at her home in Bhatadhurian Mendhar in Poonch district on Tuesday morning.

Reports reaching GNS said that a girl namely Afsana Kousar daughter of Mohd Sadeeq resident of Bhatadhurian was found hanging by her family this morning. Police was called in, following which a team of uniformed men took the girl to a nearby health facility for post-mortem on demand of the family, which has alleged murder of their beloved.

BMO Mendhar Dr P A Khan while talking to GNS apprehended that the girl seems to have been manually strangulated and declined to make any further comments till the investigations are being made.

Meanwhile SHO Gursai Niaz Ahmad told GNS that they are corroborating evidences as to see the cause of death of the teenage girl. “A Case under section 174 CRPC has been taken up for due investigations”, the Station House Officer said. (GNS)

Srinagar, Sep 21: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday morning conducted multiple raids in capital City Srinagar and South Kashmir districts.

Official sources told that sleuths of NIA raided the residence of Mohammad Shafi Wani son of Abdul Gani, a resident of Lasjan-B jurisdiction of Police Station Pantha Chowk.

They said that NIA men searched the residence and later seized the mobile phones of Mohammad Shafi and his son identified as Rayees wani adding that Shafi was detained and taken to Police Station Panta-Chowk for further questioning.

They further said In Kulgam, NIA searched the residence of Waseem Ahmad Dar son of Nazir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Larm Ganjipora area of the district.

In Anantnag, searches were carried out in the residence of Bashir Ahmad Padder son of Ghulam Mohammad Padder, a resident of Bamnu Sadiwar, they added.

These are initial details and the story will be updated…(KDC)

‘Bringing athletic enthusiasm among youth must to keep them away from drugs’

Srinagar, Sep 20: Three youth from Srinagar completed a nonstop 110-km-run from Srinagar to Baltal in seven days to create anti-drug addiction awareness and to bring athletic enthusiasm among the young generation.

Three youth namely Suhail Farooq, resident of Dalgate, Muneer Dar and Aadil Bashir Shah from Khanyar Srinagar completed the nonstop run from TRC Srinagar to Baltal in Ganderbal in about 12 hours.

Suhail Farooq while talking with news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that they started from TRC Srinagar at around 7 am on Sunday and completed the 110 kilometer at around 7 pm in the evening. However, Muneer covered 120 kilometres.

“Actually, we all three were overweight so we decided to start a run to reduce the weight. Later, we met many athletes who guided us and the first long run we did was 21 kms which we later increased to 42 kms,” Suhail said.

“Finally we decided to make a nonstop run from TRC to Batlal with ‘Drug Free Kashmir’ theme and we managed to cover 110 kilometres,” he said, adding, “that in order to keep ourselves fit, physical activity is must whether it is playing football, cricket, running or even gym.”

Suhail said in physical fitness Kashmir is very behind and very few people are interested in running.

“There is mental stress due to unemployment and other issues in Kashmir and in order to keep ourselves fit, we have to engage in games and anyone who is interested in running, we are here to help them,” he said. “Bring sports enthusiasm among youth is a must and it is the only way to keep our youth away from drug addiction.”—(KNO)

Budgam, Sep 21: An improvised explosive device (IED) was detected and defused on Monday night by forces on airport road in Humhama area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

An official told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) an IED was detected by the forces on Airport road in Gogoo area of Humhama.

A senior police official told KNO that the area was surrounded and the IED was successfully defused by the bomb disposal squad without causing any damage”, he said—(KNO)

Srinagar Sep 20 (KINS): With COVID cases declining, the inflow of visitors has gained the momentum with over 2.20 lakh tourists having visited Kashmir this year so far.

Tourism has started picking up since July when there started a decline in COVID cases. Officials told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS) that 2.2 lakh tourists visited Kashmir this year so far.

“Most of them visited since July when COVID cases started going down. There was very less inflow of tourists between February to June,” the official said.

The official said in July around 48,000 tourists arrived in Kashmir while in August the number went up around 50,000. The tourist arrivals have not only brought back the lost charm to the tourist destinations but filled the stakeholders with hope.

After remaining deserted for the months, the tourist footfall has gone up at picturesque Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg.

Rakesh Kumar, a businessman of New Delhi was confined inside his home for two months after the COVID-19 2nd wave broke out. Last month, he made a programme along with his family and visited Kashmir.

“We were confined inside home for two months due to COVID and anxiety took a toll on me and my family. For one week, we visited Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Dal Lake and several other tourist destinations of Kashmir. It really refreshed our minds,” Kumar said.

Mohammad Shafi, a hotelier at Pahalgam said the foreign arrival is almost negligible since the international traffic has not resumed fully.

“We are hoping the situation will improve further in the coming weeks. But large number of domestic tourists are visiting the valley these days,” he said.

There are 70 hotels at Gulmarg, which have over 3000 rooms. Each room is charged from Rs 2000 to 8,000 depending on the facilities. Similarly, there are 110 hotels at Pahalgam and having more than 6000 rooms.

“We are doing good bookings. Compared to last month, we get a good number of tourists. The number is picking up,” he said.

A senior official of Tourism Department said training is being provided to all the stakeholders associated with the tourism sector so that the tourists visiting Kashmir during this season can feel safe while visiting here.

“All the stakeholders having interface with the tourists are being trained on Covid-19 protocols and SOPs,” he said.Recently Kashmir was chosen as the most preferred destination of 2021.

Leading travel firm Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel has surveyed over 4,000 customers across more than a dozen Indian cities to identify emerging consumer behavior and trends that will drive travel preferences in the COVID era.

The consumers were surveyed after the government’s announcement of unlocking or easing of travel restrictions.

The findings in the survey showed that Kashmir is the most preferred destination of travelers in the domestic tourism category.

Srinagar, Sept 20: There is no need to worry about the possibility of a spillover of Taliban militants into Jammu and Kashmir as people will be kept safe, a top Army official here said on Monday.

“This question has been asked to me a number of times on events which are unrelated. Right? So, I will again answer your question: why are you worried? You are safe and you will be kept safe. There is enough effort,” General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps or Chinar Corps, Lt Gen D P Pandey, told reporters here.

The GoC said if anyone picks up arms, they will face consequences and will either be neutralised or apprehended, or will have to surrender.

“I am not looking at questions on Taliban or foreign terrorists or local terrorists. For us, it has got nothing to do with the quality and quantity. If there is a gentleman who picks up a weapon, he will be neutralised either way — by getting killed or by getting apprehended and if he comes and offers (to) surrender, we will take surrender,” he said.

Asked about the number of foreign militants present in the Kashmir valley, Lt Gen Pandey said according to the police, 60-70 foreign terrorists who are basically Pakistanis are likely present in the Kashmir valley.

“Their strategy is to not carry out any terrorist attack, but motivate the local youth to action and give them arms so that they are killed in encounters. It benefits them in a way that when a young boy from our country, our Kashmir, is killed, his family becomes angry with us. This is their strategy and they do not carry out operations and work from behind,” he added.

The GoC, however, said there is a change in the mindset of the people in Kashmir as they have “realised that they have been taken up the wrong path by the people within their own community”.

“This is the fight against anti-national, anti-social elements which has to be taken up by the people themselves. We need to ensure that the children come out freely, educate themselves and become responsible citizens of the country.

“They take respect in society, they fulfil the dreams of their parents. No father or mother wants their child to pelt stones on the streets, but there are vicious elements which motivate them through various means and take them out on to the streets,” he said.

Lt Gen Pandey said the current security scenario “reflects clearly that the youth has stopped coming out on the street, that they have understood this game”.

“Therefore, we will continue to launch such ventures to ensure there are better opportunities for the youth to compete with the best pan-country and go out all over the country, the world and become responsible, mature human beings, he added.

He said the security forces have been reaching out to the families of the youth who have joined militancy.

“We have to ensure that they (families) reach out to their young ones who have been misled and they should be allowed to surrender by motivating them to be a responsible citizen of the country. There cannot be a better opportunity as of today to ensure that they can fall back to civil society,’ he said.

The senior army officer said those people within Kashmir who are misleading the youth to pick up arms must be exposed.

“We must expose the people who are within Kashmir who are ensuring that while their children are studying in good schools, colleges, have good jobs or businesses, but the youth which is misled, which is not from such an affluent background, not so well-educated, picks a weapon and dies.

“The local militant family members need to go and ask those parents that why is your son not picking up weapon but you are ensuring that my child picks up weapon. Why is it that my kid is taken to a wrong path? Unless this realisation comes from within the society, this nickel will always remain,” he said.

Calls for Jammu Bandh on Sept 22.

Says early restoration of statehood must for smooth functioning of trade, business in J&K; Questions implementation of Passenger tax in UT

Jammu, Sept 20: Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCC&I) president, Arun Gupta on Monday urged the Jammu and Kashmir Government to protect local trade and business in Jammu region, while stating that opening of over 100 Reliance retail outlets in Jammu would hit local trade in the region badly.

Notably, JCC&I has given a bandh call on September 22 against the opening of over 100 outlets of Reliance in the Jammu region. Gupta stated that the call has been given with a view that the decisions being taken by the UT administration not only hit the trade body badly but the general public as well.

Talking to Kashmir News Service (KNS), Gupta said that people of Jammu always stood against Article 370 and article 35-A for the purposes of J&K’s integration with the Union of India, but several decisions announced and implemented in the last two years have hit the trade in Jammu region more severely than ever before.

Questioning the implementation of passenger tax in Jammu and Kashmir Gupta said that if passenger tax is not imposed in any other state or union territory of the country, why it has been imposed in J&K only.

Terming the opening of Reliance trade outlets, a big blow to trade and employment in the Jammu region, Gupta demanded immediate roll back of the decision of allowing opening of over 100 reliance retail outlets in Jammu.

He also raised several questions on new liquor trade policy and sand mining policy of J&K Government and said that trade in Jammu and Kashmir has become a casualty and more so in Jammu region after August 5, 2019 decisions of the central government on the erstwhile J&K state.

Gupta said that till J&K remains a UT the disturbances in trade and other public activities would continue to haunt the people of Jammu and Kashmir one way or the other way.

Stating that early restoration of statehood is a must for the smooth functioning of trade and business in Jammu and Kashmir, Gupta also demanded early restoration of statehood which he says is mother of all solutions to growing public woes in the UT. (KNS)

PTI

China appears to have built at least 10 new airbases along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh besides ramping up infrastructure at its exiting airbases close to the Indian frontier, sources in the security establishment have said.

The latest assessment has strengthened the suspicion that the Chinese have been using the time afforded by the ongoing talks with India to buttress their positions in the “occupied” zones in Ladakh.

“Intelligence reports suggest the Chinese have built at least 10 new airbases along the LAC in Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. This is very serious considering the 16-month-old border standoff in eastern Ladakh,” a security official attached to the Union home ministry said.

He said the Chinese army had earlier built additional military camps as well as watchtowers with CCTV cameras atop them inside India-claimed lines in Ladakh to monitor Indian troop deployment.

“It’s a matter of extreme concern the way they have been ramping up their military and air force infrastructure close to the LAC and also inside the occupied zones,” the security official said.

“It’s apparent that the Chinese are bolstering their positions while talks are under way to resolve the border standoff.”

The standoff continues in Hot Springs and the Depsang Plains while there have been “partial” disengagements at the Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake and Gogra – but with both sides pulling back by an equal distance within India-claimed lines. This means India has ceded additional territory while the Chinese still remain within India-claimed lines, military veterans say.

On the strategically crucial Depsang Plains, the Chinese are said to be entrenched 18km inside India-claimed lines.

Military veterans suspect that China wants to establish a new status quo at the LAC, claiming the territory occupied since May last year as its own. They have flagged with concern the long absence of any reference to “status quo ante” in the official statements issued after each round of talks.

Defence ministry sources said India’s military preparedness along the China frontier was being reviewed regularly. India has carried out mirror deployment at the LAC to match the Chinese, moving in additional troops, artillery and infantry combat vehicles, and is conducting regular aerial surveillance.

“The defence top brass have been conducting regular meetings to discuss infrastructure and capability development along the LAC,” a ministry official said.

India has been building 73 roads of operational significance along the China frontier, he said, but at a far slower pace compared with China’s rapid expansion of military infrastructure in the region.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Peer Mohammad Shafi, associated with the National Conference was ex-MLA Zadibal and Aga Syed Mehdi was a prominent Kashmiri Shia leader and social activist

Srinagar: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in its general council meeting today passed two resolutions to rename Botshah Mohalla Chowk in Lal Bazar area as Peer Shafi Chowk and Road from Chowdhary Bagh to Moti Mohalla as Shaheed Aga Syed Mehdi Road unanimously.

According to news agency Kashmir Dot Com (KDC) that the council decided to rename Botshah Mohalla Chowk and Chowdhary Bagh to Moti Mohalla in Srinagar city in memory of noted religious and political leaders.

Corporator ward 60, Danish Shafi Bhat confirmed to Kashmir Dot Com that he submitted the proposal of name change which was passed unanimously in today’s 14th general council meeting held at SMC hall.

Similarly, General Council of Srinagar Municipal Corporation also unanimously passed a resolution presented by Mayor Srinagar, Junaid Azim Mattu to rename Chowdhury Bagh to Moti Mohalla in Rainawari road as Shaheed Aga Syed Mehdi road to honour the memory of noted religious and political leader Aga Syed Mehdi.

Peer Mohammad Shafi associated with the National Conference was ex-MLA Zadibal and was later killed by militants at his residence in Lal Bazar in August 1991.

Aga Syed Mehdi was a prominent Kashmiri Shia leader and social activist and was killed in a massive IED blast with his three security personnel and two supporters at Kanihama-Magam road in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district on 3 November 2000. (KDC)

Shopian, Sep 20: An 18-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries on Monday, a day after he fell off a roof top in Pudsoo area of South Kashmir’s Shopian district.

An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the boy identified as Ubaid Ayoub Thokar son of Mohammad Ayoub Thokar of Pudoo was critically injured after he slipped and fell off a rooftop.

“He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors referred him to Srinagar hospital for advanced treatment,” the official said.

He said that he, however, succumbed to his injuries at Srinagar hospital and the body has been handed over to his family for last rites—(KNO)