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  • Army claims it killed 5 militants in Keran Sector

    Keran, April 5: Army Sunday said that it killed 5 militants in Keran Secttor of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district along Line of Control.

    Army said these infiltrators had sneaked from Keran Sector a couple of days against whom an operation was underway in Zurhama forest of Kupwara. After exchanging fire with the Army, these militants had fled away from the spot taking advantage of dense forest cover.

    From past couple of days, Army was after them and on Sunday morning, 8 Jat regiment established a contact with them and during the encounter 5 militants were killed.

    An official told KNT that choppers were pressed into service to track these militants.

    Meanwhile Army said that 9 militants were killed by Indian Army in last 24 hours in Kashmir Valley. While 4 militants were killed yesterday in Batpura in South Kashmir, 5 other militants were eliminated along LoC in Keran sector. Militants killed in Keran sector were trying to infiltrate from across Line of Control. (KNT)

  • 9 Militants killed in last 24 hrs in Kashmir valley.

    9 Militants killed in last 24 hrs in Kashmir valley.

    While 4 Militants were killed yesterday in Batpura in South Kashmir, 5 other Militants eliminated along LoC in Keran sector.

    Militants killed in Keran sector were trying to infiltrate from across LoC

    • Army Sources

  • COVID-19 DIPR launches website to counter fake news

    DIPR launches website to counter fake news

    JAMMU, APRIL 04: Jammu and Kashmir Department of Information & Public Relations (DIPR) today launched a website to counter fake news and misinformation and to generate awareness among the people in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Our initiative is to help you counter fake news. DIPRJK in its endeavour to help you with true information launches the website diprjkfactcheck.in

    Check what’s fact & what’s fiction. Our effort to kill fake news and empower the public with information”, tweeted Syed Shehrish Asgar, Director Information & Public Relations.

    The department has informed that spreading fake news, misinformation and fear mongering can land a person in jail besides it is a punishable offense and knowingly or unknowingly forwarding any fake news is a crime. Citizens can report any fake news, misinformation, fear/hate mongering message received on whattsupp or any other social media site on www.diprjkfactcheck.in

    The department fervently appealed the public not to fall prey to fake news rather report it, verify and check it at the available official social sites.

    Similarly, for accurate information people can also visit:

    It is pertinent to mention that spreading fake news, misinformation and creating fear mongering is a punishable offence under section 54 of NDMA, 2005 & 505 of IPC and IT (Act).

  • Darakshan Indrabi Hails the Amendment in J&K Domicile Law.

    Srinagar: Dr Darakhshan Andrabi, Bhartiya Janata Party Spokesperson and Chairperson of Waqf Development Committee of Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, has thanked the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Shri Amit Shah for making the much needed amendment in the Jammu & Kashmir Domicile Law by which all jobs are now reserved for the residents of Jammu & Kashmir. Dr Andrabi termed it as a ‘timely decision taken by the Central Government keeping in view the aspirations of the people’. Dr Andrabi said that this government is willing to go to any extent to usher new era of prosperity, development and peace in Jammu & Kashmir. She said that BJP was committed to give a ‘new Jammu & Kashmir’ to the people who have been subjected to political exploitation, corruption and militancy by the ruling dispensations during the past seventy years. “This amendment in the Domicile law has opened ways for the youth of J&K to all available opportunities of jobs in the UT. New job opportunities are being created in the UT in the days to come and this amendment will benefit local unemployed youth a lot”, said Dr Darakhshan. She criticized the political opponents for their hue and cry on the Domicile Law saying that they are the people responsible for all miseries of the people of J&K. “ Those who deceived the innocent people of J&K for seven decades, are now talking about the aspirations of the people,”said BJP Spokesperson.

  • Pakistan calls for lifting of sanctions on Iran

    Tehran requested Islamabad to help lift US sanctions to combat coronavirus

    Agencies

    KARACHI: Pakistan on Friday urged the international community, including the U.S., to lift longstanding economic sanctions on Iran to enable it to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

    In a Twitter post, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for the lifting of the sanctions on human grounds so that it can “use its resources to save precious human lives.”

    “The entire global community is facing an unprecedented pandemic. We must, as leaders, at a time of great challenge and difficulty, show utmost sanctions must be lifted against Iran, in this moment of perils, so that it can use its resources to save precious human lives,” he said.

    His statement followed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan requesting him to play a role to help lift the grinding sanctions that, according to Tehran, has badly hampered its fight against coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.

    Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Aisha Farooqui, spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry, confirmed that Islamabad had received the letter and was assessing that.

    Among the worst-hit countries by the new coronavirus, Iran’s death toll has risen to 1,433, the state television reported Friday.

    Deputy Health Minister Alireza Reisi told the television that another 149 people died of the virus over the last 24 hours.

    With 1,237 new cases in a day, the total number of confirmed cases hit 19,644, he added.

    A total of 6,745 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus, the official added.

    The coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China last December and has spread to at least 163 countries and territories. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a pandemic.

    The number of confirmed cases worldwide now surpasses 247,400, while the death toll exceeds 10,000 and over 86,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

    Writing by Riyaz Khaliq

  • Trump requests PM Modi to release Hydroxychloroquine ordered by U.S.

    India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade on March 25 banned the export of the anti-malarial drug.

    PTI

    U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the amount of Hydroxychloroquine ordered by the United States after India last month banned the drugs for exports.

    Trump said that he spoke to Prime Minister Modi on Saturday morning and made a request to release Hydroxycholoroquine for the U.S.

    “I called Prime Minister Modi of India this morning. They make large amounts of Hydroxychloroquine. India is giving it a serious consideration,” Trump said at his daily news conference at the White House on Saturday.

    India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade on March 25 banned the export of Hydroxychloroquine but said that certain shipments on humanitarian grounds may be allowed on a case-by-case basis.

    With more than three lakh confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and over 8,000 fatalities, the U.S. has emerged as the worst sufferers of the deadly coronavirus diseases to which there has been no cure. Scientists across the world in particular in the U.S. are racing against time to find either a vaccine or a therapeutic cure to the virus that has so far killed more than 64,000 people and infected 1.2 million in more than 150 countries.

    Based on some initial results, the Trump administration is banking heavily on using Hydroxychloroquine, a decades old malaria drug, for the successful treatment of coronavirus.

    Following a quick provisional approval from the U.S. Federal Drug Administration last Saturday, the malaria drug along with a combination of some other drug is being used in the treatment of about 1,500 COVID-19 patients in New York.

    According to Trump, the drug is yielding positive results. If successful, he told reporters that it would be a gift from heaven.

    In the next several weeks, health experts in the U.S. has projected between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths due to coronavirus, which due to human-to-human transmission is spreading like a wildfire in the U.S. In anticipation of it being a successful drug in the treatment of coronavirus, the U.S. has already stockpiled some 29 million doses.

    It is in this context Trump requested Modi to help U.S. get millions of doses of Hydroxychloroquine. “And I said I would appreciate if they (India) would release the amounts that we ordered,” Trump said, without mentioning that quantity of Hydroxychloroquine that has been ordered by U.S. companies from India. The Trump administration has made Hydroxychloroquine as part of its Strategic National Stockpile.

  • U.S. to witness toughest next two weeks due to rising coronavirus cases: Trump

    “It’s going to be a difficult week for the American people. You will see testing increased around the country and so cases are going to continue to rise across America,” he said.

    PTI

    U.S. President Donald Trump has warned the Americans of the toughest next two weeks as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases crossed three lakh-mark and the death toll stood over 8,000.

    “Next two weeks are going to be very, very deadly. Unfortunately, but we are going to make it so that we lose as few lives as possible and I think we are going to be successful, Mr. Trump told reporters during a press conference at the White House that was also attended by Vice President Mike Pence.

    “We are really coming up into a time that’s going to be very horrendous. Probably a time like we haven’t seen in this country. I mean, I don’t think we’ve seen a time like this in the country,” Mr. Trump said.

    Mr. Pence said there would be an increased number of testings.

    “It’s going to be a difficult week for the American people. You will see testing increased around the country and so cases are going to continue to rise across America,” he said.

    Members of the White House task force on coronavirus have projected deaths between 100,000 to 200,000 people in the US in the next two months.

    Officials are hoping against hope to avoid such a scary scenario that could be avoided with strict enforcement of social mitigation measures, including stay-at-home and social distancing.

    As of Saturday, nearly 90 % of America’s 330 million were under stay-at-home order and major disaster declaration was notified for more than 40 of the 50 States.

    New York City and its adjoining metropolitan area in the states of New Jersey and Connecticut has emerged as the epicenter of coronavirus in the US where several hundreds of deaths are being reported every day.

    The peak in New York is likely to hit in next six-seven days, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters in New York after which the curve would start sliding down.

    “We are getting to that point where it’s going to really be some very bad numbers. We want to keep those numbers a lot lower than they would’ve been and we will do that. But unfortunately, we’re getting to that time when the numbers are going to peek at it’s not going to be a good-looking situation, Mr. Trump said.

    I really believe we probably have never seen anything like these kind of numbers. Maybe during the war during a world war, a World War I or II or something, but this is a war all unto itself and it’s a terrible thing, he said in response to a question.

    Mr. Pence urged people not to be discouraged by the surge in numbers.

    “Even though we see the losses rising in the days ahead do not be discouraged. Because there is evidence across the country that Americans have been putting the social distancing and mitigation into practice and it is making a difference. We are seeing it in the new cases that are being reported, he said.

    According to Johns Hopkins University, there are at least 300,915 confirmed virus cases in the US and there have been 8,162 deaths so far.

  • PM Modi’s 9 pm, 9 minute appeal: Nothing but a cruel joke on the poor, says CITU

    CITU slams Modi’s address

    Special Correspondent

    A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked people to switch off electric lights at home and light candles or oil lamps for nine minutes on Sunday, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) wrote to him on Saturday to express disappointment.

    CITU general secretary Tapan Sen, said the workers suffering because of the lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, expected some relief from Mr. Modi’s Friday address. “The country remains in the dark on the measures that your government is taking to fight the coronavirus, while you called upon the people to put off lights and light candles at 9 p.m. on April 5 to drive away the darkness caused by the coronavirus… It is nothing but a cruel joke on the poor,” the letter stated.

    The CITU urged Mr. Modi to address the demands of trade unions.

  • Encounter breaks out in Kupwara woods Group believed to have infiltrated recently, say officials

    Kupwara, Apr 04: Security forces on Saturday late evening engaged in an encounter with suspected militants who had sneaked in four days ago through Jumgand area on LoC in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

    According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the gunfight broke out between forces and a group of infiltrated militants in Jumgand woods in Teen Bahak area.

    The official said four days back, an infiltration attempt was made by a group of militants but their move was hampered by alert troops manning the Line of Control (LoC), leading to brief exchange of gunfire.

    After brief exchange of fire, the suspected militants managed to flee by taking advantage of snow and rains in the area, he said.

    He said that following their escape form the spot, a massive joint search operation was launched by Army’s 41 RR, 57 RR, 160 TA, SOG Kupwara JKP earlier led by Army’s 8 Jatt to track down the hiding militants.

    The official further said that after conducting searches for three days, the hiding militants were located and forces engaged them in a gunfight in the woods.

    Confirming the development, Senior Superintendent Of Police (SSP) Kupwara, Shriram Ambarkar told—KNO that searches are going on and exchange of gunfire also took place within the woods.

    He said that the militants are believed to be same who had made infiltration attempt, still the operation is going on and more details related to the incident will come to fore after the operation ends—(KNO)

  • Covid-19: Shopian couple tested positive, toll 94

    Srinagar, Apr 04: A couple from South Kashmir’s Shopian district was on Saturday evening tested positive for Coronavirus, taking the toll of total positive cases to 94 in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

    According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Medical Superintendent Pulwama district hospital, Dr Jameel Ahmad Mir said that a couple from Shopian who have a travel history of Saudi Arabia have been tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.

    Earlier in a day, 17 patients were tested positive for COVID -19 in Jammu and Kashmir – (KNO)