Srinagar: Militants hiding in a mosque killed an “old man” during the attack on security forces in Sopore town of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, the CRPF said on Wednesday.
A jawan of the force and the civilian were killed in the attack at Model Town Chowk in Sopore.
The paramilitary force, in a statement issued in Delhi, said the violent incident began when its troops started getting down from their bus at the location to “occupy their respective spots of deployment.”
“Militants hiding in the attic of a nearby mosque started firing indiscriminately on the troops resulting in injuries to four CRPF personnel,” it said.
“A civilian vehicle which was coming from Sopore and going towards Kupwara was caught in the firing range of terrorists.
“An old man who was driving the vehicle stopped the car and got down from vehicle to move away for safe spot but got killed by terrorists firing,” the force said.
Later, it said, a young boy was rescued by security forces personnel who had taken positions nearby.
A photo of a young boy sitting on a man’s body, his white shirt soaked with blood, was widely circulated on social media stating it to be from the attack spot in Sopore.
The Jammu-Kashmir Police later shared the picture of the boy being carried by a security personnel on its official Twitter handle, saying it “rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during terrorist attack in Sopore.”
CRPF head constable Deep Chand Verma was killed in the gunbattle, while constables Bhoya Rajesh, Deepak Patil and Nilesh Chawde are injured and admitted to a hospital, the force said.
The troops were from the G company of CRPF’s 179th battalion.
Baramulla: Son shot dead a bear after it attacked his father in North Kashmir’s Baramulla distirct on Wednesday.
Official sources told news agency KNT that a bear attacked a 75 old man at Shudwani Dardkote area of Uri Baramulla. The man identified as Nazamuddin son of Nooruddin was critically injured in the assault.
In a bid to save his father from further mauling, his son Shabir Ahmed used his 12 Bore rifle and shot the bear dead. The injured elderly man has been shifted to Sub-District Hospital Uri for treatment.
Police and Wild Life Department rushed to spot to assess the situation. A Wild Life team took possession of the dead body of the bear. (KNT)
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that he has approached the UN over the issue of the grant of domicile certificates by India to the people not originally from Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the new domicile law, non-permanent residents who have residency proof of at least 15 years in Jammu and Kashmir are entitled to get domicile certificates.
“I have approached UN Secretary General and am reaching out to other world leaders…,” Khan tweeted.
I have approached UN Secretary General and am reaching out to other world leaders. India must be stopped from this unacceptable path that further usurps the legal & internationally guaranteed rights of the Kashmiri people & seriously imperils peace and security in South Asia.
Pakistan has been trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5 last year and bifurcating it into two Union territories.
India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter.
A licensing officer had said the company sought a license for an “immunity booster and a cough and fever cure” and it never revealed that the products were part of medicine kits.
New Delhi: Yoga teacher Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved never claimed it can cure COVID-19 with its medicines, Coronil and Swasari, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Acharya Balkrishna said on Tuesday, adding it just shared the favourable outcome of clinical trials on patients. The Centre had barred the firm from advertising the products after Ramdev, in a sensational claim last week, said they cured 280 patients within days in trials.
The Ministry of Ayush had asked Patanjali to provide details of the medicine (File)
“We never said the medicine (coronil) can cure or control corona, we said that we had made medicines and used them in clinical controlled trial which cured corona patients. There is no confusion in it,” Acharya Balkrishna, CEO Patanjali, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Ministry of Ayush had asked Patanjali to provide details like the composition of the medicines, the results of its research, the hospitals where the research was conducted, whether the company had a clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee and whether it had registered for the clinical trials.
A licensing officer had later said the company sought a license for an “immunity booster and a cough and fever cure” and it never revealed that the products were part of medicine kits. The state government had sent a notice to the company.
“In reply to our notice, Patanjali said no Corona Kit has been packaged by them. Patanjali has printed a representative picture of coronavirus on Coronil packaging. Samples of Coronil and two other drugs have been taken for testing,” YS Rawat, Licence Officer, Uttarakhand Ayurved Department, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Tuesday.
Ramdev had said the firm had collaborated with the privately-owned National Institute of Medical Sciences or NIMS University, Jaipur for clinical trials.
“We are launching COVID medicines Coronil and Swasari today. We conducted two trials of these, first clinical controlled study, which took place in Delhi, Ahmedabad, among many other cities. Under this, 280 patients were included and 100 per cent of those recovered. We were able to control Corona and its complications in this. After this the all-important clinical control trial was conducted,” he had said.
“With the help of NIMS, Jaipur we conducted the clinical control study on 95 patients. The biggest thing which came out of this is that within three days 69 per cent patients recovered and became negative from positive (cases) and within seven days 100 per cent of them became negative,” he added.
The highly communicable disease, which has killed lakhs across the globe, currently has no evidence-based cure. Doctors, however, are using several experimental drugs and procedures which have worked for some patients.
‘It also shows Kashmir issue was used by separatists for personal gains’
Jammu and Kashmir Director-General of Police Dilbagh Singh on Tuesday termed the resignation of Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani “an admission that his mission has failed and the Kashmir issue was used by separatists for personal gains”.
Inaugurating a women police station at Rajouri, he said Mr. Geelani’s letter to the Hurriyat constituents was an “eye-opener”. “Geelani has admitted that they [the separatists] have miserably failed in their mission and the Kashmir issue was used by the people for their personal gains. He has confessed that his path was wrong, and they were propagating negative-thinking,” Mr. Singh said.
The DGP said Mr. Geelani also highlighted “how drugs were being traded from across the Line of Control to this side”.
Mr. Singh said 128 militants had been killed in Kashmir so far this year. “This is for the first time in the many years past that in the month of June 48 militants have been killed,” he said. But he warned that militants were trying to use the Machil and Gurez routes to enter Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Geelani, who resigned from the Hurriyat on Monday, has accused the Pakistan chapter of “indiscipline”.
“The Azad Kashmir branch of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference is just a representative forum. It is not authorised to take any individual or collective decision. Accessing assemblies and ministries through their own families and then actively participating in the government structure there, lining up against each other internally, quarrels, financial irregularities and countless such issues have been the subject of public debate.
“Recently, on the basis of investigations, some of those involved were fired. And investigations into the remaining gentlemen were also under way, but your representatives there, considering this process of investigation as an insult, started calling separate meetings after which orders were issued to dissolve the organizational structure there until further orders,” it reads.
He said the Pakistan-based Hurriyat disregarded all moral, constitutional and organisational rules and “formed a parallel structure by holding a self-styled Shura [consultation]”.
Mr. Geelani said he could not bear the responsibility for the weaknesses and shortcomings as well as performance of his colleagues. “Until my passing from this mortal world, I will continue to fight against Indian colonialism and continue to fulfil my right to guide my people as much as I can,” he said.
Mr. Trump has been under pressure over a New York Times report on Friday that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered bounties for U.S. and allied soldiers
Democrats and a leading Republican hawk on Tuesday called for U.S. President Donald Trump to consider imposing new economic sanctions on Russia if a reported Russian effort to pay the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was confirmed.
Mr. Trump has been under pressure over a New York Times report on Friday that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered bounties for U.S. and allied soldiers and later reported that he received a written briefing on the matter in February.
John Bolton, Mr. Trump ‘s former national security adviser, said if the allegations were true it was “tantamount to an attack on Americans directly.” | Photo Credit: AP
After Mr. Trump initially said he was not briefed on the matter, the White House said Mr. Trump was not “personally” briefed but did not address whether he had received a written report, read it, and why he had not responded more aggressively if so.
The shifting statements have generated controversy among his fellow Republicans as well as Democrats and the suggestion that Mr. Trump may have ignored or not known about a threat to U.S. troops could damage him as he seeks re-election on Nov. 3.
House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, said Mr. Trump should be looking to impose costs on Moscow.
“We should be considering what sanctions are appropriate to further deter Russia’s malign activities,” he told reporters after a briefing for House Democrats at the White House.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called Mr. Trump ‘s handling of the matter a “dereliction of duty.”
And John Bolton, Mr. Trump ‘s former national security adviser, told Reuters if the allegations were true it was “tantamount to an attack on Americans directly.”
“That requires a very serious response,” he said. “It could well be asymmetric economic sanctions.
The White House has sought to play down reports in the Times and the Washington Post that it knew of accusations that Russia paid the Taliban bounties to kill U.S. and coalition troops but had not briefed Mr. Trump or acted on the information.
Four U.S. government sources have confirmed to Reuters that credible U.S. intelligence suggested Russia offered such bounties.
A fifth person familiar with the matter said such intelligence was first brought to the White House’s attention around March 2019 but it was then uncorroborated and “could have been disinformation.”
The White House has said there was no consensus on the intelligence and it would not be elevated to the president until verified.
However, the New York Times cited two unnamed officials as saying officials gave Mr. Trump a written briefing in late February laying out their conclusion that Russia had offered and paid bounties.
The newspaper said it was in the Presidents Daily Brief (PDB) document – the premier product of U.S. intelligence agencies that is prepared for him to read.
A U.S. government source declined to confirm or deny the threat information was in a PDB in February but told Reuters material is sometimes included in PDBs so that other senior officials can evaluate it and follow up.
In this case, the source said that the matter was raised at a high level earlier this year, the intelligence is regarded as credible, and steps were taken to formulate a response.
The source suggested a response was still under discussion and Mr. Trump arguably did not have to be involved while the information was checked out.
However, a Congressional source voiced skepticism that such information would be included in a PDB with an expectation the president would not read it and that others would deal with it.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that U.S. officials had intercepted data showing big financial transfers from an account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account. It said this eased disagreements in the U.S. intelligence community and undercut White House officials claim that the intelligence was too uncertain to brief Mr. Trump .
Unless Americans wear masks and recommit to social distancing, the daily increase in new cases nationwide, currently around 40,000, could reach 100,000, Dr. Fauci said
The United States government’s top infectious diseases expert on Tuesday warned that daily COVID-19 cases could more than double if Americans fail to take countermeasures and cautioned against pinning hopes on a vaccine.
California, Texas and several other states are reporting record increases in cases of the sometimes deadly illness caused by the novel coronavirus, leading to a sobering reassessment of efforts to contain it and raising the stakes for the scores of vaccine candidates being developed at unprecedented speed.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Unless Americans wear masks and recommit to social distancing, the daily increase in new cases nationwide, currently around 40,000, could reach 100,000, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a U.S. Senate committee.
“Clearly we are not in total control right now,” Dr. Fauci said. ”I am very concerned because it could get very bad.”
Dr. Fauci said “there is no guarantee” that ongoing efforts will produce a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection by the virus, pouring cold water on hopes for a quick fix to the health crisis.
Many countries in Asia and Europe have succeeded in controlling the pandemic with strong, coordinated government responses marked by stringent lockdowns and mandatory mask wearing in public.
In the United States, wearing masks has become a divisive political issue, and many southern and western states began reopening businesses without having met government health benchmarks for doing so safely, with younger adults in particular letting their guards down in recent weeks.
With the virus on the rise in most U.S. states, the European Union has excluded the United States from its initial “safe list” of countries from which the bloc will allow non-essential travel beginning on Wednesday
COVID-19 cases more than doubled in June in at least 10 states, including Texas and Florida, a Reuters tally showed. In parts of Texas and Arizona, hospital intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients are in short supply.
More than 126,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and millions have lost their jobs, as businesses and schools shut to curtail the virus. The economy contracted sharply in the first quarter and is expected to crater in the April-June period.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday launched a fresh attack on President Donald Trump’s “historic mismanagement” of the pandemic, arguing he could have saved lives and the economy by acting earlier to control the virus.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” the former vice president said in a speech in Delaware, in which he unveiled an updated plan to tackle the pandemic, including more testing and hiring at least 100,000 contract tracers. “Donald Trump failed us.”
Fourth of July worries
The fresh surge in new cases and hospitalizations has dimmed hopes that the worst of the human and economic pain had passed for the country, and renewed criticism of Mr. Trump’s handling of the crisis as he seeks re-election on Nov. 3.
In the past few days California, Texas and Florida have all moved to close bars, which public health officials have warned are among the riskiest non-essential businesses and likely one of the larger contributors to the recent spikes.
On Tuesday, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut added California and seven other states to a list of those from which visitors must self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Texas and Florida were on the original list announced last week.
South Carolina has also emerged as a hotspot, reporting a record single-day increase of 1,755 cases on Tuesday.
In Texas, many eyes are on Houston hospitals, where beds are quickly filling up with COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Marc Boom, Houston Methodist Hospital System’s chief executive, told CNN on Tuesday that his 2,400-bed system has seen a “very significant” increase in COVID-19 patients, although the death rate has lowered recently.
Dr. Boom said he was worried about July 4 Independence Day celebrations, when Americans traditionally flock to beaches and campgrounds and gather to watch fireworks displays. Some experts pointed to Memorial Day gatherings in late May for a spike in cases.
“We’re looking at the Fourth of July coming up in a couple of days, and frankly it scares me,” he said.
Punjab police on Tuesday said they had foiled a bid by Pakistan-backed terrorists to target socio-religious leaders and disturb the communal harmony of the State with the arrest of three members of the Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF).
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the terror module, busted on June 28, was operating in various parts of Punjab at the behest of pro-Khalistani elements based in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UK.
Mr. Gupta said one .32 bore pistol, along with 7 cartridges, has been recovered from the alleged terrorists, identified as Sukhchain Singh of Patiala; Amritpal Singh of Mansa and Jaspreet Singh of Majitha. Another of their associates, Lovepreet Singh has already been arrested recently by Delhi Police, along with other KLF members.
“The three men had come into contact with one other through social media. They further came in touch with Pakistan-based handlers, who provoked them to target socio-religious leaders, and also disturb Punjab’s peace and law and order. Amritpal Singh was instrumental in connecting and motivating Sukhchain and Lovepreet Singh in taking the dangerous agenda forward,” he said.
Mr. Gupta said initial investigations show that their Pakistan-based handlers also invited these men to visit Pakistan for planning the future course of action. One of the foreign handlers, based in Saudi Arabia, promised to provide them shelter once they execute their actions on ground, he added.
“An FIR has been registered at Samana in district Patiala under sections 13,16,18,20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and 25/54/59 Arms Act. Further investigations are in progress,” he said.
Washington: A group of Pakistani dissidents have expressed dismay over Prime Minister Imran Khan calling slain al-Qaeda chief and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden a “martyr,” saying this could be out of a “sinister reason” of putting the West, especially the US on notice.
Under the banner of South Asians Against Terrorism & For Human Rights (SAATH) Forum, the group that includes Pakistan’s former envoy to the US Hussain Haqqani, condemned Khan for making such a statement in Parliament.
What makes this doubly disgusting is that Imran Khan made this claim on the floor of Pakistan’s National Assembly. For, another Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yusaf Raza Gillani, had in selfsame, National Assembly on May 9, 2011, denounced bin Laden as a terrorist and had welcomed his elimination, it said in a statement.
Speaking in Parliament during the budget session on June 25, Khan called bin Laden a “shaheed” (martyr) and said that Islamabad faced “embarrassment” by taking part in America’s war on terror.
“For Pakistanis across the globe, it was an embarrassing moment when the Americans came and killed Osama bin Laden at Abottabad…martyred him. The whole world started abusing us after that. Our ally came inside our country and killed someone without informing us. And, 70,000 Pakistanis died because of the US’ war on terror,” Khan had said.
Bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals in Pakistan’s garrison city of Abbottabad in May, 2011.
Criticising Khan’s statement, SAATH said, It should be noted that in addition to the havoc wreaked on 9/11, and later upon the wider world, bin Laden was directly responsible for the deaths and maiming of tens of thousands of Pakistanis and Afghans during the years he was plotting his terrible schemes whilst remaining hidden in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to former president General Pervez Musharraf probably known to certain people in Pakistan’s Intelligence Services.”
“Many people explain this classification of bin Laden as a martyr’ to Khan’s known proclivity to be appreciative of extremist, Jihadist thought, therefore coming to be known by the nickname Taliban Khan’ some years ago, a nickname which has stuck, it added.
“However, there could be a deeper, even more sinister reason: that of putting the West, especially the US on notice, now that the endgame in Afghanistan is in sight, and the state of the Pakistan economy is in shambles,” the SAATH members said.
The group termed it as a “ploy” to inveigle more money out of Pakistan’s traditional donors.
Prominent SAATH members include former ambassadors Haqqani and Kamran Shafi, parliamentarians Bushra Gohar and Afrasiab Khattak and columnists Mohammed Taqi, Marvi Sirmed, Gul Bukhari and Taha Siddiqui.
Khan’s remarks also drew criticism from Opposition parties in Pakistan.
The Ministry of Ayush had asked Patanjali to provide details of the medicine (File)