Handwara: Terming the recent encounters in north Kashmir as big sucess for security forces,Director-General of Police Dilbagh Singh on Thursday said they have eliminated the militant leadership in Kashmir valley by killing 26 top commanders during the past seven months.
Addressing a presser in Handwara, DGP Dilbagh Singh said that these encounters in which four top commanders were killed are a major success for security forces and will provide a major relief to local people in the valley.
The DGP was flanked by IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar.
“We have been successfull in breaking the leadership structure of militants in Kashmir. 26 top most commanders were killed during the last seven months in different encounters across Kashmir valley,” he said.
Regarding the recent encounters, DGP said, “In Kreeri Baramulla, biggest Let Commander from North Kashmir Sajad Haider, his Pakistani aide Osman and a local Anyatuallah were killed in an encounter with security forces,”he said, “There were two-three groups that were working with LeT which included Naseer, who was killed in Handwara and Sajad Haider, who was killed in Baramulla. Naseer and Haider were working closely in North Kashmir. Nasir was a sharp shooter and a dangerous Militant who was trained in Pakistan. He was involved in the killing of many security forces, which included some CRPF personnel.”
DGP said Naseer was likely to carry out a big strike in north Kashmir after the killing of Sajad alias Hyder.”
He also said that security forces this year saved sixteen youth from militancy and returned them to their families.
Regarding the probe in alleged staged encounter in Shopian, he said” Investigation is going on in the right direction. Police is also carrying out a seperate probe in it” (KNS)
Turkey has once again taken an anti-India stand on Kashmir. The Turkish media has begun to use new terminology for Jammu and Kashmir from 5th August 2020. It has started to use the term “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir” (IIOJK). This term was propped up by Pakistan on 4″ August 2020 — just a day before the first anniversary of the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A.
However, this is not the first time that Turkey has taken the Pakistani side on the nomenclature. Previously, the Turkish media was using the term India Occupied Kashmir (IOK) for Jammu and Kashmir. Later, it began to use the terms of India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) and Azad Kashmir. This step was opposed by Indian authorities and they lodged their opposition with the Turkish national news agency Anadolu Agency — an agency run by the Turkish Government.
Consequently, the agency began to use the internationally accepted terms of India administered Kashmir and Pakistan administered Kashmir. Pakistan reached out to its friend and convinced it to use the names of both the sides of Jammu and Kashmir as per Pakistan’s nomenclatures. As a result, Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the Anadolu Agency to take a reverse gear and start using the terms – IOJK and Azad Kashmir.
The use of the new term by Turkey just after a day of its coinage by Pakistan highlights the strong coordination between the two countries. It was indeed not an instantaneous step, but a pre-planned one.
“When other Islamic countries refrained from commenting on the issue of abrogation, Turkey came out to openly support Pakistan and oppose India’s move and continues to trouble India on it. It indicates that the division between Islamic countries is further widening up, with most of the countries supporting India’s stand that Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and other international players should refrain from interfering in it.” said Indian Security officer deployed in the Center Security establishment.
Resorting to Pakistani terminologies and abstaining to use internationally accepted terms is a blot on Turkish diplomacy, besides being a direct attack on India. It is also a move of clear messaging to communicate that Turkey has rallied its unconditional support to Pakistan and shall continue to take anti-India steps in the times to come.
Pakistan’s effort to repair relations with Saudi Arabia has been snubbed by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. The de facto ruler of the kingdom refused to meet with Islamabad’s Army Chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was in the Gulf state to mend ties between the two countries.
Bajwa, who started his visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday, returned home after being declined a meeting with bin Salman, known popularly as MBS. Instead, Bajwa had to settle for a meeting with the 34-year old’s younger brother, Deputy Defence Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Salman, and Maj Gen Fayyad Al Ruwaili, the kingdom’s chief of general staff.
It’s reported that Bajwa conveyed regret over comments made by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi which angered the Saudis. Qureshi insisted that the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), dominated largely by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states, must show leadership on the issue of Kashmir.
The comment was met with fury in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia terminated its loan and oil supply to Pakistan, prompting a diplomatic row between the two nations which traditionally have been allies.
During the meeting in Riyadh, Bajwa is said to have floated a proposal for a meeting of the OIC contact group on Kashmir on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting to be held under Turkey. It’s not clear though if the Saudis will agree to such a meeting in light of their recent hostility towards Ankara.
The Saudis have been wary of any initiative that would allow for the creation of a block made up of Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia and Iran. This sentiment is thought to have been conveyed to Bajwa who was told that cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey is unacceptable to Riyadh.
Sources in India have reported that if Pakistan refuses to accept Saudi Arabia’s demand the oil-rich Gulf nation may cancel its investment of $20 million in Gwadar Port. Such a move though is only likely to move Pakistan further towards Turkey.
In a move that is likely to widen the rift between Pakistan and the block of Gulf countries led by the UAE, Imran Khan said his country will not recognise Israel until the Palestine issue is resolved. He suggested that accepting the state of Israel is equivalent to giving up Pakistan’s stance on illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir which have been seized by India.
(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi: Gold prices plunged by Rs 1,492 to Rs 52,819 per 10 grams on Thursday in the national capital in line with sell-off in international prices of the precious metal, according to HDFC Securities.
The precious yellow metal had closed at Rs 54,311 per 10 grams in the previous trade.
Silver also witnessed weak trend as it tanked Rs 1,476 to Rs 67,924 per kg, from Rs 69,400 per kg in the previous day.
In the international market, gold was trading lower at USD 1,927 per ounce and silver was quoting marginally higher at USD 26.71 per ounce.
“Gold prices continued downtrend on Thursday with stronger dollar post US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes,” HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said.
As per the FOMC minutes, the committee members have expressed concern over the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic growth.
New Delhi: India’s COVID-19 caseload went past 28 lakh with a record single-day spike of 69,652 infections, while the recoveries increased to 20,96,664 on Thursday pushing the recovery rate to 73.91 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The total cases of coronavirus infections mounted to 28,36,925, while the death toll climbed to 53,866 with 977 new fatalities being reported in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Case fatality rate has declined to 1.90 per cent.
There are 6,86,395 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which is 24.20 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 3,26,61,252 samples have been tested up to August 19 with 9,18,470 samples being tested on Wednesday.
Parts of New Delhi and its suburbs submerged in water as South Asia monsoon leaves nearly 1,300 people dead.
A man tries to pick up an overturned auto rickshaw on a flooded street during heavy rainfall in New Delhi [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]
Heavy monsoon rains have flooded parts of India’s capital New Delhi and its suburbs, throwing life out of gear for millions of people, as the death toll from the annual deluge across South Asia rose to nearly 1,300.
In New Delhi’s suburb of Gurgaon, dubbed the Millenium City, roads, underpasses and residential areas were flooded on Wednesday forcing power cuts in several areas. Rafts were put into action to evacuate people in some areas.
The monsoon is vital to the densely populated region, revitalising land and waterways amid scorching summers. But it also causes widespread death and destruction.
In New Delhi, commuters battled through knee-deep waters and cars and buses were submerged as torrential rains added to traffic woes in the city of 20 million.
Museum flooded
At a museum in Jaipur in the mostly desert state of Rajasthan, staff told AFP how they were forced to smash open a glass display case containing a 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy in order to save it from rainwater flooding the ground floor.
“The workers broke the glass of the box and took the mummy out” last Friday after water levels started to rise, Albert Hall Museum superintendent Rakesh Cholak said.
In terms of duration, it was the second-worst flood in the country’s history
ARIFUZZAMAN BHUYAN, THE HEAD OF BANGLADESH’S FLOOD FORECASTING AND WARNING CENTRE
“The case of the coffin got a little wet but we’ve put it out to dry too.”
The torrid conditions in recent days also hit India’s northern and eastern states.
Across India, 847 people have died this season, the home ministry said.
In the southwestern state of Kerala, the death toll from a single landslide rose to 61 on Wednesday, with nine people still missing, an official said.
In India’s poorest state, Bihar, eight million people have been hit by the floods, with thousands of displaced people sleeping on embankments and highways amid a shortage of relief camps.
Flood disaster
This year’s rains have also come in the wake of the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, with the loss of crops across flood-affected areas a further blow to farmers and rural communities.
In Bangladesh, 226 people have died so far with 40 percent of the country underwater after torrential rain caused rivers to burst their banks and inundate villages [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]
In Bangladesh, 226 people have died so far with 40 percent of the country underwater after torrential rain caused rivers to burst their banks and inundate villages.
“In terms of duration it was the second-worst floods in the country’s history,” said Arifuzzaman Bhuyan, the head of Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.
More than six million people have had their homes damaged by the floods, and tens of thousands of villagers remain in shelters, an official from Bangladesh’s disaster management ministry told AFP.
Others are sleeping in huts built on roads on higher ground, unable to return to their submerged homes.
In flood-hit Rupangar village outside the capital Dhaka, Shahanara Begum said she has been living on the road with her family for more than a month.
“It seems like bad luck doesn’t leave us. Wherever we go, floodwater follows us,” the 50-year-old told AFP on Wednesday.
“It is very insecure to live on the road but we don’t have a choice… most of our food stocks and clothes are already ruined,” added 70-year-old Maya Saha.
In Nepal, 218 people have died and 69 are missing from landslides and floods since mid-June when the monsoon began.
In the latest incident early on Wednesday, six bodies were recovered and 11 people went missing after a flood swept away a remote settlement in a western district, an official said.
Nepal’s monsoon toll tops 200 for most years, but experts say this year’s landslides have been particularly deadly due to the continuing after-effects of the massive 2015 earthquakes and more road construction in the country’s Himalayan foothills.
Many users in India and worldwide are reporting that Gmail is down and that they cannot log into their accounts or send emails. Google, through its service status page, has acknowledged the issue.
Many Gmail users in India are reporting log in issues as well are as facing trouble in sending emails.
Along with Gmail, Google Drive is also facing issues.
Gmail users are talking about the outage on Twitter, Google has acknowledged the issues.
Many users in India and worldwide are reporting that Gmail is down and that they cannot log into their accounts or send emails. Google, through its service status page, has acknowledged the issue.
Update: After facing a global outage, Gmail is now functional. Confirming the same, Google shared an update on its service status page, that read, “Gmail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.”
Google notes on its service status page: “Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update (later) with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience.”
Earlier many users in India noted that they could not log in to their Gmail accounts or send attachments in the mail. So if the question is: is the Gmail down in India? The answer is yes as the service is facing major outage in not only India but also in several other countries. Along with Gmail, Google Drive is also facing issues. The Gmail users are talking about the outage they are facing with the mail service and Google Drive on Twitter.
As per the DownDetector, a website that monitors popular web services, Gmail, Google Drive, and other services by Google are not only facing outage in India but also in Australia, Japan, and several other countries. The DownDetector reports that the outage began in India around 11am. The website notes that over 62 per cent of users were unable to send attachments, 27 per cent were not being able to log in while 10 per cent of users complained of not being able to receive messages in the mail.
When we tried uploading a picture as an attachment, the small image — less than 1MB — took over fifteen minutes to uplaod. However, when we tried to click on the send button, Gmail showed a pop-up message that read, “Oops, something went wrong.” Check out the screenshot below.
Google has confirmed that Gmail and Google Drive are facing issues. The company on its G Suite Dashboard has written, “We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 8/20/20, 1:30 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.”
Gmail users on Thursday morning reported not being able to send emails, log in to their accounts, and even upload attachments. “Is #gmail down for anyone? Unable to send an email. Keep getting a network error. (But the network is fine!),” a Twitter user wrote. While another user wrote, “Users across the globe unable to access #Gmail since morning and Downdetector confirms the situation. Hopefully, it’ll be back soon #gmaildown.”
The map shared by down detector shows that users in some parts of Europe and America have also been affected. However, this isn’t the first time it is happening in India. Back in July, the Gmail services went down for several hours. Users were not able to access their Gmail accounts and other Google services during this outage.
Mumbai: The rupee opened 18 paise lower and slipped below the 75 per US dollar mark in opening trade on Thursday after the US Fed meeting minutes signalled at the central bank’s concern over COVID-19 and its impact on economy.
The local unit opened at 75 at the interbank forex market, then lost ground and touched 75.01 against the US dollar, down 19 paise over its last close of 74.82.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.08 per cent to 92.96.
Forex traders said strong dollar, weak domestic equities and muted Fed minutes weighed on investor sentiment.
“The US dollar has strengthened overnight after the release of US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes that were less dovish than expected,” said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, IFA Global.
As per the FOMC minutes, the committee members have expressed concern over the continuing impact of COVID-19 on economic growth.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 298.34 points lower at 38,316.45 and the broader NSE Nifty fell 75.25 points to 11,333.15.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 459.01 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.79 per cent to USD 45.01 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 2.24 crore and in India, the number of infections topped the 28-lakh mark.
![A man tries to pick up an overturned auto rickshaw on a flooded street during heavy rainfall in New Delhi [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/8/20/7e267a6709804fa9b4418a99d92b2274_18.jpg "Heavy rains flood parts of New Delhi, triggering chaos")
