Pakistan on Saturday yet again resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Dewar sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan yet again resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling, violating ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Dewar sector of Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on Saturday.
The ceasefire violation in Poonch district of J&K has come just a day after India has lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control and the International Border with an aim to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have registered our strong protest at the continued unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan forces along the Line of Control and the International Boundary which are in contravention to the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding,” sources said.
Sources said 14 Indians have been killed and 88 sustained injuries in more than 2,432 incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations carried out by Pakistani forces till June 2020.
The unprovoked ceasefire violations are in contravention of the 2003 ceasefire understanding between the two countries, the sources said.
They said India has also conveyed its “strong concerns” at the continued support being extended by the Pakistani forces to cross border infiltration of terrorists, including by providing covering fire.
Kulgam: A militant has been killed in an ongoing gunfight that broke out between militants and security in Arreh Mohanpora area of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday afternoon
An official told News agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that a militant has been killed in an exchange of fire while as operation is on in the area.
Earlier an official said that a joint team of Police, army’s 34 RR and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation on specific information about the presence of militants in the area.
He said that as the joint team of forces approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them which was retaliated triggering an encounter.
As per the sources, two to three militants are believed to be trapped in the area—(KNO)
Talk held amid speculation that both countries are presenting a common front along LAC
The “deteriorating” situation on the Line of Control in Kashmir came up for discussion between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday, according to statements from Islamabad and Beijing.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake in Beijing | File photo | Photo Credit: Andrea Verdelli
“Foreign Minister Qureshi underscored that regional security situation was deteriorating and underlined that India’s belligerent posture and expansionist policies were imperiling peace in the region,” said a release from the Pakistan Foreign Ministry, which also referred to alleged human rights violations and the recent change in domicile laws. “[Mr. Qureshi] also briefed [Mr. Wang] about the repeated violations committed by India across the LOC,” the statement said.
“[Mr. Wang said] both China and Pakistan must work together to meet the risks and challenges and safeguard the common interests of the two countries and regional peace and stability. For a long time, China and Pakistan have always understood and supported each other, stood firmly on issues involving each other’s core interests, and are trusted sincere partners,” the Chinese MFA statement said, adding that the “two sides also exchanged views on a wide range of topics such as the situation in Kashmir, Afghanistan and South Asia.”
Significantly, the conversation took place on a day when Mr. Qureshi announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The phone call between the two leaders comes amid speculation that China and Pakistan are presenting a common front in the standoff between the Indian army and PLA troops at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, which may require India to prepare for a “two-front war”. On Friday, India had also issued a demarche to Pakistan over growing incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan forces along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Boundary (IB).
Countering Pakistan’s allegations about the LoC, sources in the government said that India had registered a “strong protest at the continued unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan forces along the LoC and the IB which are in contravention to the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding.”
“This year, till June 2020, 14 Indians have been killed and 88 Indians have been injured in more than 2,432 unprovoked ceasefire violations carried out by Pakistan forces,” said the sources, adding that Pakistan’s firing was meant to provide cover for the cross-border infiltration of terrorists.
“Despite these concerns having been shared, including through the channel of Director Generals Military Operations, the Pakistan forces have not ceased such activities,” the sources said.
In their conversation, the Chinese and Pakistan FMs also referred to the UN Human Rights Council session this week, where India had raised concerns over the situation in Hong Kong.
“China appreciates that Pakistan, along with more than 50 friendly countries at the 44th session of the Human Rights Council, firmly supports Hong Kong’s national security legislation and opposes the use of Hong Kong-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” said the Chinese MFA statement.
Mr. Qureshi said he had “reiterated that Pakistan remains committed to ‘One-China policy’ and firmly supports China on its core interests including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang.”
The 64-year-old patient arrived at a hospital in Brooklyn with symptoms looking like those seen in patients having a serious heart attack.
An electrocardiogram revealed an ominous heart rhythm. The patient had high blood levels of a protein called troponin, a sign of damaged heart muscle. Doctors rushed to open the patient’s blocked arteries — but found that no arteries were blocked.
The patient was not having a heart attack. The culprit was the coronavirus.
The Brooklyn patient recovered after 12 days in the hospital and is now at home. But there have been reports of similar patients in the United States and abroad, and the cases have raised troubling questions for doctors.
What should doctors do these days when they see patients with apparent heart attacks? Should they first rule out coronavirus infection — or is that a waste of valuable time for the majority of patients who are actually having heart attacks?
Should every coronavirus patient be tested for high blood levels of troponin to see if the virus has attacked the heart?
“I don’t know what the right answer is,” said Dr. Nir Uriel, a cardiologist at Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
The Brooklyn patient had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that has been seen in patients with other viral infections, such as MERS — also caused by a coronavirus — and the H1N1 swine flu.
But the new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, mostly infects the lungs, causing pneumonia in severe cases. Believing it caused respiratory disease, many cardiologists thought the coronavirus was outside their specialty.
“We were thinking lungs, lungs, lungs — with us in a supportive role,” said Dr. John Rumsfeld, chief science and quality officer at the American College of Cardiology. “Then all of a sudden we began to hear about potential direct impact on the heart.”
A report on heart problems among coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China, was published in JAMA Cardiology on Friday.
The study, led by Dr. Zhibing Lu at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, found that 20 percent of patients hospitalized with Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, had some evidence of heart damage.
Many were not known to have underlying heart disease. But they often had abnormal electrocardiograms, like the patient in Brooklyn, in addition to elevated troponin levels, which sometimes soared to levels seen in patients with heart attacks.
The risk of death was more than four times higher among these patients, compared with patients without heart complications.
The journal also published a report, by doctors in Italy, describing a previously healthy 53-year-old woman who developed myocarditis.
Like the patient in Brooklyn, her electrocardiogram was abnormal, and she had high levels of troponin in her blood. Because of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, doctors thought to test her and found she was infected.
A 53-year-old Italian patient’s electrocardiogram showed signs suggesting a heart attack and no pneumonia.Credit…Inciardi RM et al., JAMA Cardiology, 2020
Dr. Enrico Ammirati, an expert in myocarditis at Niguarda Hospital in Milan who consulted on the case, said the patient’s heart problems were likely caused by her body’s immune response to the virus.
But so much about this new pathogen is unknown, and it is not yet clear what might cause heart damage following infection.
“Myocarditis can likely be caused either by the virus itself, or the body’s immune and inflammatory response to the virus,” said Dr. Scott Solomon, a cardiologist at Harvard Medical School.
Infected patients who get myocarditis do not necessarily have any more virus in their bodies than those who do not develop the condition, he said.
It is possible — but not yet established — that myocarditis results from an immune system that lurches out of control while trying to turn back the coronavirus, pumping out such excessive levels of chemicals called cytokines that cause inflammation that they damage the lungs and the heart alike.
The condition, called a cytokine storm, is more serious in older people and in people with underlying chronic diseases, Dr. Solomon said. It is the primary reason for the severe respiratory complications that can lead to death in patients with the coronavirus.
Cytokines also promote blood coagulation and interfere with the body’s clot-busting system, said Dr. Peter Libby, a cardiologist at Harvard Medical School. Blood clots in coronary arteries can block blood flow and cause heart attacks.
Another possibility, Dr. Libby said, is that some coronavirus patients develop heart problems as a consequence of infections in their lungs.
“The lungs are not working, so there is not enough oxygen,” he said. “That increases the risk for arrhythmias.”
At the same time, fever caused by the virus increases the body’s metabolism and the heart’s output of blood. The result is that the patient’s heart must struggle with an increased demand for oxygen but a reduced supply, an imbalance that may lead to heart damage.
But doctors cannot rule out the possibility that the coronavirus directly damages the heart, several experts said.
In Seattle, a patient infected with the virus recently died after experiencing so-called heart block: The electrical signals originating in the top of the organ, which sets the heart’s normal rhythm, were not reaching the bottom of the heart.
When that happens, the heart goes into an emergency mode with so-called escape rhythm, which causes it to beat very slowly. The man had underlying lung disease, which worsened his prognosis.
Dr. April S. Stempien-Otero, a cardiologist at the University of Washington, hopes an autopsy will show whether the virus attacked the man’s heart.
“We thought it was older-person heart block,” she said. “Then all of a sudden Covid raises its head.”
From now on, she said, “we have to think, maybe that is what is going on.”
Patriotic Ladakhis are raising their voice against Chinese intrusion, government should listen to them and ignoring their warning will cost India dearly: Rahul Gandhi
While there is no confirmation about the cast, Ajay Devgn would produce the project on Galwan Valley clash between India and China
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Leh to respond to India-China clash in Ladakh, comes an announcement that the story of the Galwan Valley clash is ready to be converted into a Hindi movie. Actor Ajay Devgn has officially confirmed that he would be producing the film on Galwan Valley clash.
Last remembered for his role as the Maratha warrior Tanaji Mansule in the movie ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’, Ajay Devgn is prepping to bring the story of Galwan clash forward with his new project. The actor also has another movie ‘Bhuj: The Pride Of India’, which is also touted as a true story of the life of IAF squadron leader Vijay Karnik, from Indo-Pakistan war of 1971.
The cast and crew for the film on Galwan valley clash is still under finalisation. The shooting of the movie would begin once the coronavirus situation settles down.
Here’s the official statement:
Ajay Devgn Ffilms & Select Media holdings LLP join hands to showcase the strength of our Indian Army during the recent Galwan Valley incident!
It is a known fact that actor-filmmaker Ajay Devgn has always supported movies or characters that portrays Strength and Valour. The actor, in past, who has shouldered films like LOC: Kargil, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Tanhaji, Singham and RAID amongst others is all set to showcase the Might, Valour & Sacrifice of the Indian army during the infiltration of China at the Galwan Valley recently. On 15 June, our troops were ambushed. The fighting resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers of 16th Bihar Regiment including its commanding officer, Colonel Santosh Babu. At a de-escalation meeting following the incident, China accepted that the Chinese commanding officer was also killed. U.S. intelligence reportedly concluded that 35 Chinese soldiers were killed. 20 of our brothers laid their lives to assert the Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty of our Mother Land, It is their story! It narrates the story of the sacrifice of 20 Indian army men who fought the Chinese army. The cast and other crew are under finalisation.
Srinagar: Police on Saturday recovered a headless body from river Jhelum near Sumbal area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
Official sources said that the remains were also without legs and right-hand and some passerby first spotted it who subsequently alerted the police.
Confirming the recovery of the body, Station House Officer Muneeb-ul-Islam told GNS the body is decomposed and “seems that it’s around 30 days old.”
“The body without head, right hand and legs was recovered and investigations have been started,” he said, adding, “it is a decomposed one and it seems to be 30 days old,” he added. (GNS)
Chinese Embassy terms Narendra Modi’s comments on expansionism “exaggerated and fabricated”.
China on Friday warned India against making “a strategic miscalculation with regard to China”, in a sharp reaction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Ladakh to meet Indian troops.
China also described Mr. Modi’s comments on “expansionism” as being “exaggerated and fabricated”, underlying the tense state of relations. “China has demarcated boundary with 12 of its 14 neighbouring countries through peaceful negotiations, turning land borders into bonds of friendly cooperation. It’s groundless to view China as ‘expansionist’, exaggerate & fabricate its disputes with neighbours,” Ji Rong, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, said on Twitter.
Against ‘complication’
In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted to Mr. Modi’s visit by saying India should not “complicate” the situation along the border. “China and India are in communication with each other through military and diplomatic channels,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily press briefing, when asked about the visit. “Neither side should make any move that may complicate the border situation.”
Mr. Zhao warned India to “avoid a strategic miscalculation with regard to China”.
“I would like to stress that China hopes that India will work with us, follow faithfully the important consensus reached between the two leaders, abide by the agreements reached between the two governments, strengthen communication and coordination on properly managing the current situation through diplomatic and military channels, and jointly uphold peace and stability in the border areas,” he said.
“At the same time, we need to see that China and India, both major developing countries, bear the historic mission of accelerating national development and rejuvenation,” the official said. “China and India should follow the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and uphold overall bilateral relations,” he said.
Checking up: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting soldiers at a military hospital in Leh on Friday.
Mr. Zhao also warned against “artificial barriers” that would hurt economic relations, in reference to India’s recent moves on the trade and investment front, from banning 59 Chinese apps to announcing a halt to highway projects.
On Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari’s remarks on July 1 to keep Chinese firms away from highway projects, Mr. Zhao said: “In recent days some politicians in India have kept issuing irresponsible remarks that are detrimental to China-India relations. It calls for concerted efforts on both sides to maintain China-India relations. India should work with China for the same goal and uphold the overall interests of our bilateral relations. Artificially setting up barriers for such cooperation not only violates WTO rules, but also hurts India’s interests.”
He said China would “take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights of Chinese businesses”.
Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said that Modi once again avoided mentioning China during his speech in Ladakh. “For the third time in a week, PM did not name China as the aggressor, why?” he tweeted. “What is the purpose of talking about an unnamed ‘enemy’ to the people of India and the jawans in Ladakh?”
Chidambaram added that the government has failed to answer Congress’ questions on satellite images that showed Chinese troops occupying Indian territory. Chidambaram also wondered whether Modi, in his interactions with United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, had named China as the intruder.
For the third time in a week, PM did not name China as the aggressor, why?
What is the purpose of talking about an unnamed ‘enemy’ to the people of India and the jawans in Ladakh?
PM has still not answered our questions about where the violent clashes took place on June 15-16 between Chinese and Indian troops and if the Chinese have intruded into Indian territory at several points.
Meanwhile, Congress leader P Chidambaram asked why the prime minister once again failed to name China during his speech in Ladakh on Friday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the situation with China. In a tweet, Gandhi claimed that while the prime minister says the Chinese Army did not enter Indian territory during a violent clash with its Indian counterpart on June 15, the people of Ladakh hold a different view of the matter.
“Ladakhis say, China took our land,” Gandhi tweeted. “PM says: Nobody took our land. Obviously, someone is lying.” Gandhi tweeted a video showing residents of Ladakh accusing China of occupying territory. The Congress also shared the video on its official handle.
At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed and 76 wounded in the clash on June 15, in Galwan Valley in Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control. China too admitted to losing personnel, but did not specify a number.
The Congress leader’s attack came on the day that Modi visited Indian troops in Leh, Ladakh, and gave a speech praising their bravery, asserting that all Indians were proud of them. The prime minister also said that the “enemy” had seen the “fire and fury” of India’s soldiers, and that “expansionists” always lose, in an indirect reference to China.
Gandhi has been attacking Modi and the Centre over the past three weeks following the Ladakh clash. On June 30, he criticised Modi’s address to the country, in which the prime minister spoke about the coronavirus pandemic. Gandhi implied, through an Urdu poem, that the prime minister had once again avoided talking about the tensions with China.
On June 21, Gandhi accused Modi of “surrendering” to China, after the prime minister claimed that no Chinese troops had intruded into Indian territory. A few days later, the Congress leader tweeted a graph showing that Chinese imports had risen since 2014, when the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power.
