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  • Doctor among five more die of COVID in Kashmir, toll reaches 473

    Srinagar: COVID-19 on Sunday claimed five more lives including a doctor in Kashmir valley, taking the total number of deaths to 473 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

    An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that six patients who died include a 65-year-old woman from Pattan Baramulla, a 45-old doctor from Pampore, an 80-year-old woman from Hawal Srinagar, a 70-year-old man from Magam Budgam and an 85-year-old woman from Buchpora Srinagar.

    File Photo | Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Mir’

    An official from SKIMS said that the 45-year-old doctor ‘Mohammad Ashraf Mir‘ from Konibal Pampore who was admitted at SKIMS on 25 July died on Sunday.

    “He was posted at district hospital Pulwama and was suffering from liver ailments,” he said.

    He further added that the 80-year-old woman from Hawal, Srinagar who was admitted on 25 July died on Sunday.

    “The 85-year-old woman from Buchpora, Srinagar who was admitted on 31 July died on Saturday evening.”

    An official from SMHS told KNO that the 65-year-old woman from Tangmarg who was admitted on Saturday morning also died today.

    With five more deaths, the death toll in J&K has reached to 473 including 439 from Kashmir division and 34 from Jammu division—(KNO)

  • Renowned academician Agha Ashraf Ali dies at 97

    PTI

    Srinagar, Aug 8 (PTI) Renowned academician Agha Ashraf Ali passed away at his home here on Friday night.

    Beautiful ImageFile Photo of Agha Ashraf Ali

    Ali, who was 97, breathed his last at 11:45 pm at his Rajbagh residence, sources said.

    The scholar was weak due to old age and died minutes after going to bed, the sources said on Saturday.

    They said Ali was laid to rest at his family graveyard, Gulistan Baba Mazaar, at Alamgari Bazar area of the old city.

    Ali, who retired as commissioner Higher Education, was nominated to the state legislative council in 2002 by the then Governor G C Saxena, but he refused the offer.

    During his career, Ali served in many important positions including as the first chairman of the Board of School Education and a professor at Kashmir University.

    Meanwhile, several political and social organisations expressed grief over Ali’s death.

    National Conference President and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah and Vice President Omar Abdullah expressed profound grief and sorrow over his demise, saying the valley had lost one of the most distinguished scholars who was revered by all.

    A renaissance figure of Kashmir, his philosophy of life was firmly grounded in the progressive philosophy of humanism and secularism. A polymath, he authored many books and many lucky ones had the honour of having him as their teacher. He was an institution in himself and guided generations,” the NC president said.

    Senior PDP leader and former education minister Naeem Akhtar said the Valley had lost one of its brightest stars.

    Kashmir today lost one of its brightest stars. Agha Ashraf Ali was no ordinary scholar. He was a school by himself which enlightened, educated generations of students and teachers. He was a true representative of what is good of us and for us, Akhtar said in a tweet.

  • Reaching understanding with China a big challenge: Jaishankar

    External Affairs Minister spoke at CII summit

    S. Jaishankar.S. Jaishankar | Photo Credit: AP

    Reaching an understanding with China is one of the big challenges before Sino-Indian relations, said External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S Jaishankar. Addressing the India@75 summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the Minister said India and China have similarities in various aspects as two of the biggest economies of the world, but an understanding between the two is a crucial issue.

    “We are demographically two very unique countries, only two with billion-plus [population] categories. We are seeing parallel but differential rise of the two countries. But all of these are happening at a time when we are neighbours as modern states. To my mind, what it does is that it puts a huge premium on reaching some kind of equilibrium or understanding between the two. And how to do that is one of the big challenges that we face,” Mr. Jaishankar said, arguing that the “world has a lot riding on this given our size and our impact”.

    He said the Chinese were probably also discussing this internally. “Certainly this is something which I feel is very central for our foreign policy calculation,” said the EAM. The comments from the Minister will add to the existing churn in India’s bilateral relations with China as the military situation in eastern Ladakh continues.

    Mr. Jaishankar highlighted the importance of non-alignment and globalisation in the changing world order and explained the challenges facing both. He said non-alignment is increasingly an issue-based idea facing India. He said the challenge was not in choosing partners for alignment but issues that determine the partnership.

    With inputs from The Hindu

  • India, China Major Generals discuss situation at Depsang

    This is the first senior-level military talk since the violent clash at Galwan on June 15

    India and China on Saturday held talks at the Major General-level to discuss issues concerning the strategic Depsang Plains, a defence source said on Saturday.

    Despite the strategic importance of Depsang Plains, the series of military talks held so far have focussed on the standoff areas at Galwan, Gogra Hotsprings and Finger area of Pangong Tso.

    Talks began around 11 a.m. on Sunday morning at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and went on till late evening. The discussions are limited to Depsang to discuss issues of varying claims and also blocking of patrols by each other, a defence source said.

    Saturday’s meeting was a normal one to discuss patrolling patterns by both sides. There was no discussion on disengagement or de-escalation, just routine patrolling as part of border management, the source stated.

    Stating that Depsang is not a problem that started in 2020, the source added that meetings like this happen regularly to discuss routine issues.

    The Depsang Plains along with Pangong Tso are the two major areas of concern in the ongoing standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

    This is the first Major General-level talks since the stoppage of all established meetings between Colonels, Brigadiers and Major General-level meetings following the violent clash at Galwan on June 15.

    Military talks since then have been limited to Corps Commander level.

    As reported by The Hindu on June 2, there is heavy Chinese presence in the Depsang Plains, at a crucial area called the Bulge, and PLA troops have also been blocking Indian Army patrols from reaching the Patrolling Points (PP) 10 to 13. There has also been build up of tanks and armoured vehicles on the Chinese side very close to the LAC.

    The Chinese ingress in this area threatens Indian positions at Burtse and Raki Nala well inside Indian territory and further DBO by bringing Chinese troops closer to the 255 km long crucial Darbuk-Skyok-DBO road. Depsang is also close to the Karakoram Pass, overlooking the very strategic Saltoro Ridge and Siachen glacier.

    Depsang is one of the few places on the LAC where tank manoeuvres are possible. During the 1962 war Chinese troops had occupied Depsang Plains and in 2013 Chinese troops came 19 kms inside and pitched tents resulting in a 21 day standoff.

    With inputs from The Hindu

  • Pakistan finds new oil, gas reserves in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

    Pakistan has found new deposits of oil and gas in exploratory well Mamikhel South-01, located in Tal block in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

    An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary, Alberta, July 21, 2014. Pump jacks are used to pump crude oil out of the ground after an oil well has been drilled. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
    An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary, Alberta, July 21, 2014. Pump jacks are used to pump crude oil out of the ground after an oil well has been drilled. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

    The discovery will slightly slash the country’s heavy reliance on energy imports and cut the import bill.

    “Well test has shown 3,240 barrels of condensate per day, 16.12 mmscf (million standard cubic feet) of gas per day and 48 barrels of water per day,” Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) said in a notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)

  • Saudi Arabia Holds Back Oil to Pakistan after Imran Khan Govt Threatens to Split OIC over Kashmir

    The loan package included a provision under which Saudi Arabia granted Pakistan $3.2 billion worth of oil, a year on deferred payments.

    IANS

    Saudi Arabia has halted the provision of oil on loan for Pakistan after the Imran Khan government threatened to split the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) over Kashmir.

    Hit by a severe economic crisis, Pakistan had borrowed a $6.2 billion loan from Saudi Arabia in 2018.

    The loan package included a provision under which Saudi Arabia granted Pakistan $3.2 billion worth of oil, a year on deferred payments.

    Pakistani media on Saturday said that the provision meant for Islamabad expired two months ago and has not been renewed by Riyadh.

    Instead, Islamabad has prematurely returned $1 billion Saudi loan, four months ahead of repayment period, The Express Tribune said quoting sources and Sajid Qazi, the spokesperson of the Petroleum Division.

    Recently Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during a talk show on a news channel had threatened that if the OIC headed by Saudi Arabia did not convene a foreign ministers’ meeting on Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan would hold it on his own with his allies among the Islamic countries.

    “If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir…,” he had threatened on Ary news channel.

    The OIC, the biggest bloc of Islamic countries in the world, has repeatedly declined Islamabad’s several requests to hold a meeting on Indian Kashmir — a region which Pakistan Army attempted to invade four times in the last seven decades and where it has been waging a proxy war against India for last three decades.

    Since August 2019 when India revoked special status of the Jammu and Kashmir state and brought it directly under the control of the Central government by bifurcating it into two Union Territories, the Imran Khan government has been seeking support of the 57-member OIC over the issue in Pakistan’s favour.

    One of the major reasons for OIC’s lack of support for Pakistan has been Riyadh’s displeasure with Islamabad’s proximity with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who nurtures the ambition of replacing Saudi Arabia as leader of all the Sunni Islamic countries.

  • Have to clean ‘garbage of falsehood’: Rahul

    PTI

    New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday over the cleanliness campaign, saying he should begin the “satyagraha” by coming clean about Chinese aggression.

    Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister launched a week-long ‘Gandagi-Mukt Bharat’ (garbage-free India) drive, which would go on till Independence Day to re-enforce the ongoing campaign on cleanliness and sanitation.

    Tagging a tweet by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in which Modi urged people to take a pledge to the “garbage quit India” drive, Gandhi said, “Why not! We have to go a step ahead and clean up increasing ‘garbage of falsehood’ in the country.”

    “Will the Prime Minister start the satyagraha by telling the country the truth of the Chinese aggression?” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Gandhi also stepped up his attack against the Centre on the issue of removal of a defence ministry report mentioning Chinese ‘transgressions’, saying this was not a coincidence but the government’s “anti-democracy experiment”.

    “Whenever the country has gotten emotional, files disappear. Be it Mallya or Rafale, Modi or Choksi,”Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, referring to the accusations made by the party on issues like purchase of Rafale jets, or the cases against Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

    In the missing list, the latest are the documents on “Chinese transgressions” the former Congress chief said.

    “Ye sanyog nahi Modi sarkar ka loktantra-virodhi prayog hai (This is not a coincidence, but Modi government’s anti-democracy experiment),” he alleged.

    The Congress on Thursday asked the government why the Defence ministry report mentioning Chinese ‘transgressions’ in eastern Ladakh in May was taken down.

    The document, which was uploaded on the Defence ministry’s website, was removed on Thursday morning following publication of a media report based on it.

  • PM launches week-long campaign to free India of garbage

    PTI

    New Delhi: Prime Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a week-long campaign to free India of garbage and stressed that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has been a big support in the fight against coronavirus.

    Delivering the inaugural address at the launch of the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra here, which was also attended by students, Modi urged children to follow social distancing norms and wear masks to guard against coronavirus.

    “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has been a big support in fight against coronavirus,” he said. The week-long campaign to free India of garbage will be till August 15.

    Modi said the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s efforts towards cleanliness.

  • Metro services in Srinagar, Jammu likely by 2024: Jitendra Singh

    New Delhi: The light transit metro train service in Srinagar and Jammu is expected to be ready by 2024, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said Saturday.

    Singh said the metro project for the two cities would cost around Rs 10,599 crore.

    The railway consultancy firm RITES Limited has submitted the final detailed project reports and the metro systems are expected to be completed by the end of 2024, he said, talking about the development initiatives being undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.

    Once the projects are completed, Srinagar and Jammu will become the first two non-major cities in the country where the rapid transport network will be functional.

    Singh, the Union minister for the PMO, said the significance of the projects can be understood from the fact that the first train to reach Jammu and Kashmir had taken more than two decades after Independence and the first railway station came up in Jammu only in the 1970s.

    But the Modi government is moving quickly to introduce the metro train projects in a short span of time and it will be cost-effective and a sustainable public transport, he said.

    Singh, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, said the light metro transit system is proposed to run 17 hours a day throughout the year in Jammu, whereas in Srinagar, it will run 17 hours daily during summers but 14 hours during winters.

    The minister said the metro rail lines will have only elevated corridors as the underground tunnels were not found feasible in Jammu and Kashmir.

    The metro train service in Jammu will have its first corridor from Bantalab to Bari Brahmana and in Srinagar, it will be from Indira Nagar to HMT station, he said.

    Singh said the elevated metro system will not only facilitate people but also have a positive impact on the economy and the quality of life.

    According to the DPRs, he said, the metro coaches will be modern, lightweight and made from stainless steel and aluminium, with an air-conditioning system.

    Singh also said it is a matter of pride that the highest railway bridge of the world is coming up on river Chenab in Reasi district and is likely to be completed next year.

    He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be approached for the formal inauguration of this prestigious project. He said after some initial issues the work on railway line to connect the Kashmir valley is in full swing and it is expected that by 2022, Srinagar and other parts of the valley will be connected with the rest of India directly by trains. (PTI)

  • Bangladesh most suitable place for investment: Chinese entrepreneur

    IANS

    Dhaka: Bangladesh is the most suitable place for investment for global enterprises as it has a large population and huge market potential, said Xu Xiaochu, Chairman of Chinas Yabang Investment Holding Group Company Limited.

    The firm is one of the top 500 Chinese companies, has already inked a land lease agreement with Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) for 100 acres land to set up textile and other chemical industries in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar (BSMSN) at Mirsarai, Sitakundu and Sonagazi upazillas under Chattogram and Feni districts.

    “It is the most suitable place for investment for global enterprises, especially for traditional industries. Now it is offering a historic opportunity for transferring the traditional industries from the world factory, (China),” Xu said at a recent function.

    He said the investment by Yabang Corporation in Bangladesh is a necessary choice as per the laws of global economic development.

    Ten years ago, the top executives of Yabang Group visited different countries and regions, including Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa and North Korea, to choose investment and development bases for the second entrepreneurship of the enterprise.

    Five years ago, the company set its goal in Bangladesh and permanent staffs were sent to set up an office, said Xu.

    He said Bangladesh has a large population and huge market potential which is politically democratic and has good-neighbourly friendship.

    “Its economy is developing rapidly. People aspire to live and work in peace and contentment. The country enjoys various economic policies’ support from the UN and countries with developed economies. The government and its people are united in their efforts and wish for development.

    “However, the supporting production capacities of weaving, printing and dyeing are seriously insufficient.

    “In particular, there is almost no dye production. The investment by Jiangsu Yabang Dyestuff Corporation Limited, a concern of the Yabang Investment Holdings Group Co Limited, in Bangladesh, has a great competitive advantage and advantage for development, both in providing the support for domestic needs in Bangladesh, promoting better and greater development of Bangladesh’s garment industry and in creating foreign exchange via export and increasing people’s employment,” Xu added.