Kashmir.Watch

Blog

  • Uneasy calm along LAC in Ladakh weeks after stand-off began between Indian-Chinese troops

    Srinagar: There is an uneasy calm along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Union Territory Ladakh weeks after stand-off started between armies of India and China.

    The incursions began in May this year in Galwan valley and Pangong Lake along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after Chinese troops entered Ladakh.

    On June 15, 20 Indian soldiers were killed by Chinese troops in Eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, which led both the nuclear countries on the brink of war.

    Former Chief Executive Councilor (CEC) of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, Chering Dorjay, said all preparations are going for the Independence Day in Ladakh.

    “There is peace in Ladakh. But Chinese troops are not moving back to the actual position at various places. Chinese troops are at Finger 5 and Indian army at Finger 3 in Pangong. Before this stand-off, our Army would go to Finger 8 for patrolling which the Chinese army is not allowing at present,” Dorjay told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).

    Dorjay had been a minister of the PDP-BJP government and recently resigned from the BJP.
    In Galwan valley, the Chinese troops have gone backwards. “But they have entered into our territory in the Depsang plains,” he added.
    Tashi Namgial, a councilor of Tangtse constituency of Ladakh, had gone to Pangong Lake in May this year.

    “After which I could not go due to incursions. Chinese troops have gone backwards but are still at Finger 4 in Pangong. But there is calm along the LAC these days,” he told KINS.
    Senior Congress leader from Ladakh and former minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said Chinese troops have still occupied some areas of Ladakh.

    “They are not going back to Pangong where they have entered into our part,” Jora said.
    China is particularly concerned about a bridge that India is building across the Galwan Nallah.
    The bridge according to locals is about 7.5 km from the LAC. But the Chinese have objected because they are suspicious of India’s aims on account of New Delhi’s claim over Aksai Chin.
    India shares a 3,488-km border with China while Ladakh shares 646 kms of the LAC with the neighbouring country.

    The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited produced light combat choppers have been deployed in the Ladakh sector to support the Indian Air Force at short notice amidst the border tensions with China.

    The HAL is expecting an order of 15 LCHs by the end of this year. 10 would be for the IAF and five for the Army.

    The disengagement process with China is not moving forward even after several rounds of military-level talks.

    The Pangong Lake has become famous since Bollywood film 3 Idiots was shot there in 2009.
    Over the last 11 years, the world’s highest saltwater lake has been one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ladakh, as thousands of people visit there annually.
    (KINS)

  • Turkey may suspend ties with UAE over Israel deal: Erdogan

    Turkey has diplomatic and trade ties with Israel, but relations have been strained for years. In 2010 Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish activists trying to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas

    REUTERS

    ISTANBUL: Turkey is considering suspending diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and withdrawing its ambassador over the Gulf state’s accord to normalise ties with Israel, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

    The Turkish foreign ministry said history would never forgive the UAE’s “hypocritical behaviour” in agreeing such a deal, which recasts the order of Middle East politics.

    Under the U.S.-brokered, the first between Israel and a Gulf Arab, the Jewish state agreed to suspend its planned annexation of areas of the occupied West Bank. Palestinian leaders have denounced it as a “stab in the back” to their cause.

    “The move against Palestine is not a step that can be stomached. Now, Palestine is either closing or withdrawing its embassy. The same thing is valid for us now,” Erdogan said, adding he gave orders to his foreign minister.

    “I told him we may also take a step in the direction of suspending diplomatic ties with the Abu Dhabi leadership or pulling back our ambassador,” he told reporters after Friday prayers.

    The Foreign Ministry had earlier said Palestinians were right to reject the deal in which the UAE betrayed their cause.

    “History and the conscience of the region’s peoples will not forget and never forgive this hypocritical behaviour,” it said. “It is extremely worrying that the UAE should, with a unilateral action, try and do away with the (2002) Arab Peace Plan developed by the Arab League.”

    Turkey has diplomatic and trade ties with Israel, but relations have been strained for years. In 2010 Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish activists trying to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

    The deal makes UAE the third Arab country to establish full relations with Israel, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

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

  • Syllabus for 10+2 classes exams reduced to 70% for JKUT

    Principal Secretary, School Education Department, Asgar Hassan Samoon Friday announced reduction in the syllabus of class 10 and 12 in Jammu and Kashmir.

    “Syllabus for 10+2 classes exams reduced to 70% for JKUT,” Samoon tweeted while adding in comments: this also applies for 10th class syllabus for exams. (KNT)

  • Imran Khan again rakes up Kashmir issue on Pak’s Independence Day

    ANI

    Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday once again raised the Kashmir issue in his message to the people of the country as Pakistan commemorates its 74th Independence Day.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan will stand firmly with the Kashmiri brethren in their struggle for securing their right to self-determination.

    Prime Minister, Imran Khan, in his message on the Independence Day, today, said, “While we celebrate this Independence Day, our hearts are profoundly grieved by the sufferings of our brethren in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir who are facing military siege since past one year.”

    He said that Pakistan would stand firmly with the Kashmiri brethren in their struggle for their right to self-determination and raise Kashmiris’ voice at all fora to sensitize the world about the threat to peace and security of the region posed by the supremacist RSS ideology pursued by the BJP government.

    He prayed to Almighty Allah for the success of nation and Kashmiris.

    On August 5 last year, India had revoked the special status of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and bifurcated it into two Union Territories (UTs). The move has left Pakistan rattled and has attempted to take the matter to the international community, but to no avail.

    A majority of the Muslim countries, which earlier supported Pakistan, have now recognised and backed India’s decision on Kashmir.

    Recently, Pakistan had to pay back Saudi Arabia USD 1 billion out of a USD 3 billion loan that it secured one and a half year ago to avoid default on international debt obligations after the kingdom decided to reduce its financial support.

    This came after Pakistan was pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) since India abrogated Article 370.

    In a report published by Dawn, a Pakistan diplomatic source confirmed that Saudi Arabia had shown reluctance to accept Islamabad’s request for an immediate meeting of OIC foreign ministers’ on Kashmir.

    India has urged Pakistan to not interfere in its internal affairs repeatedly, saying it will not make its “untenable” claims acceptable.
    Pakistan continues to persecute religious minorities residing in their own country.

    Instead of focussing on reviving its floundering economy and taking steps to combat terrorism, Pakistan has been resorting to rhetoric against India over Kashmir in a bid to divert international attention.

    Pakistan has also observed the so-called “Kashmir Solidarity Day”, but it has failed to get traction both in the country and globally.

    After desperate attempts to rake up the Kashmir issue globally, Imran Khan has admitted that his country has failed in its efforts to raise the matter.

    With inputs from ANI

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Pampore road accident caught on CCTV camera

    Watch Video:

    No copyright infringement intended

  • Militants gun down two JK policemen outside Srinagar

    PTI

    Srinagar: A day ahead of the Independence Day, Jaish-e-Mohammad militants shot dead two Jammu and Kashmir policemen and wounded another in indiscriminate firing in Nowgam area on the outskirts of the Srinagar city, police said.

    They said the militants have been identified and will be neutralised soon.

    Militants fired indiscriminately on a police party near Nowgam bypass Friday morning, a police official said, adding three policemen were injured in the attack.

    The policemen were shifted to a hospital where two of them succumbed and the third was undergoing treatment, the official said.

    Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said the JeM carried out the attack.

    “They fired indiscriminately and two of our jawans were martyred… We have identified them, they belong to JeM group. We will neutralise them soon,” Kumar told reporters near the site of the attack.

    Asked whether there were any inputs about a possible militant attack on the eve of the Independence Day, the IGP said the police get such inputs every year.

    “We have such inputs every year before August 15 and January 26. We had inputs that they will try (an attack) in some area. The boys were alert and prepared, but they (the militants) came from the rear side and fired on them.

    “We have cordoned off the area and the searches are on. This is a narrow lane and there was civilian movement and if our boys would have retaliated, there would have been loss of civilian, so they exercised restraint,” Kumar said.

    PDP condemned the attack, saying it will further aggravate the situation for Kashmiris.

    “Vehemently condemn the attack on @JmuKmrPolice personnel. Such attacks further aggravate the situation for Kashmiris already reeling under double disaster post August 5. We join the families of deceased in mourning their loss,” the party tweeted.

  • New Zealand reports more COVID-19 cases ahead of lockdown decision

    Officials reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, all linked to a now 30-strong cluster that was first detected in a family in Auckland two days ago.

    REUTERS

    New Zealand’s first coronavirus outbreak in three months has spread further, officials reported on Friday, just hours before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is due to announce whether a lockdown in the country’s biggest city will be extended.

    Officials reported 12 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, all linked to a now 30-strong cluster that was first detected in a family in Auckland two days ago. Officials believe an imported strain of the virus is responsible for the country’s first outbreak in three months, but are still investigating how the family was infected.

    Ms. Ardern, under pressure ahead of a general election next month, repeated her “go hard, go early” response to the pandemic this week, putting Auckland, home to about 1.7 million people, into lockdown and reinstating social distancing measures across the country.

    PM Ardern is due to announce later on Friday whether those measures will be extended, but there is growing concern that a repeat of the tough five-week lockdown she imposed earlier in the year could cripple the economy.

    Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said it was a positive sign that all the new confirmed cases were linked to the Auckland cluster, but noted two were recorded in Tokorua, in the neighbouring Waikato region. Authorities had also identified one other probable case, Mr. Bloomfield said, in which connections still had to be traced.

    “We are not out of the woods yet,” he said during a televised news conference, adding that contact tracing and testing would continue at high levels in coming days.

    Health Minister Chris Hipkins said genome testing suggested the new virus outbreak had originated in Britain or Australia, but officials were still investigating how the family in Auckland contracted it.

    Mr. Bloomfield dismissed suggestions by health experts it was likely the virus had been quietly spreading in Auckland for weeks, saying there was “very good evidence” that was not the case.

    “The nature of this outbreak shows how once you identify the first case you find quite a lot quite quickly,” he said. “We just wouldn’t have not found cases in community if it was lurking away in the community.”

    Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said late on Thursday that a quarantine facility breach had been identified as the source, but Mr. Hipkins said there was no evidence for that yet.

    The main opposition National Party has blasted the government, saying it failed to secure quarantine facilities and accusing it of withholding information about the latest outbreak.

    Economy worries

    New Zealanders celebrated when Ms. Ardern appeared to eliminate community transmission of the coronavirus with the earlier hard lockdown that forced almost everyone to stay at home.

    But opinion is divided on whether the 40-year-old leader should repeat that strategy, given its huge economic cost and mounting global evidence that the virus cannot be permanently suppressed.

    Westpac Banking Corp estimated the current level of lockdown measures in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand would cost the economy about NZ$300 million, or 0.5% of gross domestic product.

    Reserve Bank of New Zealand Deputy Governor Geoff Bascand told Reuters a sustained resurgence of the virus posed “a major risk” to the bank’s outlook, given its baseline scenario has an assumption that the virus is contained in the country.

    PM Ardern is expected to announce her decision on lockdown measures at 1730 local time (0530 GMT) after meeting with her cabinet and the release of the daily infection numbers.

  • J&KPM future uncertain after Faesal’s exit

    New party chief promises to stay the course

    Launched with a lot of fanfare with prominent, young faces 17 months ago, J&K’s youngest political party, the J&K Peoples Movement (J&KPM), is struggling to stay afloat.

    Days after IAS topper Shah Faesal announced his decision to quit politics, the other well-known face of the party Javaid Mustafa Mir, a former legislator and minister, also has quit.

    “Many young faces are also leaving the party. These is a sense of disillusionment after Faesal’s exit and his recent statements,” a young party leader, who also quit the party, told The Hindu.

    Promise of change

    Scores of youth were attracted to the party that pledged to “fight corruption and push for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue”.

    Mumbai-based Kashmiri businessman-turned-politician, Feroze Peerzada, has taken over as the president of the party.

    “My first priority is to give confidence to those who joined the party because of (Bureaucrat-turned-politician) Faesal. We are trying to restore the party system. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not possible to reach out to masses on the ground. But we are intact as a party and will not dissolve it,” Mr. Peerzada told The Hindu.

    However, he also said, on hindsight, if the party leaders had had any inkling about the events of August 5, 2019, “Me and Faesal may not have floated the party”.

    On rumours of Mr. Faesal returning to the civil services, Mr. Peerzada said, “Faesal’s passport was impounded following the slapping of the Public Safety Act (PSA) on him. If he is given the passport back and allowed to travel, his first priority would be to go abroad for studies.”

    He said Mr. Faesal is “also hurt that no one came to his support the way he expected and shed tears with his family during his detention”.

    Mr. Peerzada said Mr. Faesal was a very popular across the country. “At a party in Mumbai, Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan praised his (Faesal) decision saying ‘he is brilliant’,” he added.

    Unusual situation

    Disagreeing with the former IAS officer over “political parties not having much role now in J&K” post August 5, 2019, Mr. Peerzada said, “Time heals every wound. It’s a matter of time. We are hopeful statehood will be restored soon.”

    Mr. Peerzada said he has watched closely the working style of senior leaders like Sharad Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh during his stay in Mumbai. “I have seen them working on the development agenda. Unfortunately, Kashmiri politicians don’t have that quest. And it’s not easy to run a political party here.”

    With inputs from The Hindu

  • Chinese cities find coronavirus in frozen food imports from Brazil, WHO downplays infection risk

    Viruses can survive up to two years at temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, but scientists and officials say there is no strong evidence so far the coronavirus can spread via frozen food.

    REUTERS

    A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil, as well as samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in the northwestern city of Xian, have tested positive for the virus, local Chinese authorities said. (Representative image)
    A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil, as well as samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in the northwestern city of Xian, have tested positive for the virus, local Chinese authorities said. (Representative image) | Photo Credit: Reuters

    Two cities in China have found traces of the new coronavirus in cargoes of imported frozen food, local authorities said on Thursday, although the World Health Organization downplayed the risk of the virus entering the food chain.

    A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil, as well as samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in the northwestern city of Xian, have tested positive for the virus, local Chinese authorities said.

    Shenzhen authorities identified the chicken as originating from a plant owned by Aurora, Brazil’s third-largest poultry and pork exporter.

    As confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to rise globally, the discoveries raise fresh concerns that the coronavirus that causes the disease can spread on surfaces and enter the foodchain. A day earlier, officials started investigating whether the first COVID-19 cases in New Zealand in more than three months were imported by freight.

    Viruses can survive up to two years at temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, but scientists and officials say there is no strong evidence so far the coronavirus can spread via frozen food.

    “People should not fear food, food packaging or delivery of food,” the World Health Organization’s head of emergencies programme Mike Ryan told a briefing.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Agriculture Department said in a joint statement “there is no evidence that people can contract COVID-19 from food or from food packaging.”

    All contacts test negative

    Brazil’s Aurora, which is unlisted, said it had not been formally notified by the Chinese authorities of the alleged contamination. The company said it takes all possible measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and there is no evidence it is spread through food. Brazil’s agriculture ministry said it was seeking clarification from Chinese authorities.

    Reuters could not immediately reach the Ecuadorean embassy in Beijing.

    Shenzhen’s health authorities traced and tested everyone who might have come into contact with potentially contaminated food products, and all results were negative, the city’s notice said.

    “It is hard to say at which stage the frozen chicken got infected,” said a China-based official at a Brazilian meat exporter.

    The Shenzhen Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters said the public needed to take precautions to reduce infection risks from imported meat and seafood.

    The health commission of Shaanxi province, where Xian city is located, said authorities were testing people and the surrounding environment connected to the contaminated shrimp products, which were sold in a local market.

    In addition to screening all meat and seafood containers coming into major ports in recent months, China has suspended some meat imports from various places, including Brazil, since mid-June.

    Seven Argentine meat processing plants are temporarily not exporting to China because they have registered cases of COVID-19 among their employees, a source from the Argentine agricultural health agency Senasa said on Thursday.

    Origin in animal market

    The first cluster of COVID-19 cases was linked to the Huanan seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Initial studies suggested the virus originated in animal products on sale at the market.

    Li Fengqin, who heads a microbiology lab at the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment told reporters in June the possibility of contaminated frozen food causing new infections could not be ruled out.

    Xinfadi market, a sprawling food market in China’s capital of Beijing, was linked to a cluster of infections in June. Authorities said the virus was found in the market on a chopping board on which imported salmons were handled.

    How the virus entered Xinfadi market in the first place is yet to be determined, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest update of the investigation in July. The market will be reopened from the weekend.

  • African swine fever spreads to Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam

    African swine fever (ASF) has spread to Meghalaya; more than 17,000 pigs have died due to the highly-contagious disease in adjoining Assam.

    Preliminary screening of tissue samples of pigs in Meghalaya at a laboratory in Guwahati confirmed the cause of death as ASF. The samples have also been sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for analysis.

    “We had received nine samples of pigs that died in three districts of Meghalaya. These samples tested positive for ASF in our laboratory but we dispatched them to the Bhopal Institute on Tuesday for further confirmation,” said Pradip Gogoi, Deputy Director in-charge of the Animal Health Centre at the North-Eastern Regional Disease Diagnostics Laboratory.

    “The samples were received from East Khasi Hills, West Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts of Meghalaya on August 9,” Mr. Gogoi told The Hindu.

    People of Lamin village in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills had reported the sudden death of 15 pigs in the first week of August. More such deaths were reported later from the other two districts.

    February outbreak

    Since February this year, ASF has killed at least 17,000 domesticated pigs in Assam and an unspecified number in Arunachal Pradesh. The disease is believed to have been transmitted from China where it has resulted in the death of several animals in 2019.

    According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, ASF is an extremely contagious viral disease affecting wild and domestic pigs. It swiftly crosses national borders, spreading through live or dead bodies, even through packaged pork products.

    Piggery is a major source livelihood in the northeast because of the high demand for pork. Assam alone has seven lakh pig farmers engaged in the business, worth at least ₹8,000 crore annually.

    However, the sale of pork has been restricted in many parts of the northeast since the ASF outbreak. Nagaland, for instance, has banned the import of live pigs or pork products from other States.

    With inputs from The Hindu