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Islamabad: Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on July 31 “as per calendar of the Ministry of Science and Technology”, said federal minister Fawad Chaudhry on Monday. 

Taking to Twitter, Chaudhry said that the moon for the month of Zilhajj will be seen in Karachi and its surrounding areas on July 21. He added that the moon could be sighted with the help of binoculars and in some areas, with the naked eye as well. 

وزارت @MinistryofST کے کیلنڈر کے مطابق عید الضحیٰ 31جولائ 2020 بروز جمعہ ہو گی، 21 جولائ کو ذیاالحج کا چاند کراچی اور اس کے ارد گرد علاقوں میں دوربین سے واضع طور پر اور کئ علاقوں میں آنکھ سے بھی دیکھا جا سکے گا۔ چاند کی لوکیشن کیلئےآپ“رویت”ایپ بھی استعمال کرسکتے ہیں ۔ #EID

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) June 15, 2020

Chaudhry added that the “exact location” of the moon can also be determined through the Ruet App.

The minister has been advocating that the Ministry of Science and Technology take the lead in the sighting of the moon issue which is usually done by the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee.

He has called for the ministry to take lead so the controversy surrounding the issue could be ended once and for all.

On Eid-ul-Fitr, Chaudhry had said that two moon observatories will be set up by next year to “permanently resolve” moon-sighting conflicts.

The minister had said the plan was to set up moon observatories in Islamabad and Gwadar where anyone would be able to go and see the moon for themselves.

“Given the debate we observed over moon [sighting] this year, we intend to set up a moon observatory in Islamabad next year and we’re also trying to set one up in Gwadar too,” the federal minister explained.

“The issue of moon-sighting will be permanently resolved after the moon observatories” are established, he had noted. “A common person will be able to go and see the moon and decide for themselves”.

With inputs from Geo Web Desk

Concern raised among the staff of Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal after two of its staff members tested positive for COVID-19

Further details awaited.

The Defence Minister said that three-fourth of the population of J&K had been clamouring for the abrogation of Article 370.

Express News Service

Patna: Terming Article 370 as a ‘cancerous wound’ in the Constitution that had left Kashmir bleeding, Union Defence Minister on Sunday said that its removal from the Valley was the dream of each and every Indian for the last 69 years.

Addressing a public awareness meeting organised by BJP on the abrogation of Article 370 from J&K, Singh said this dream was turned into reality because of PM Narendra Modi and his genuine concern to develop the paradise on earth.

“A new hope has risen in the entire J&K as well as India and Ladakh with the removal of Article 370. We will ensure rapid and time-bound developments and have already implemented nearly 116 laws including those for the differently-abled,” he said adding that the BJP does not do politics for forming the government only, but also developing the country.

The Defence Minister said that three-fourth of the population of J&K had been clamouring for the abrogation of Article 370. Attacking neighbouring Pakistan for sponsoring terror in the Valley, he said, “Let Pakistan send any number of terrorists. We will not let them return alive.”

Cautioning Pakistan vehemently, he said it should never repeat mistakes of 1965 and 1971, otherwise, it will have to face unimaginable consequences.

Renowned Pulmonologist Dr Naveed Nazir Shah, HOD, Government Chest Diseases (CD) Hospital, Srinagar turns negative for Covid-19. Discharged from the hospital

Further details awaited

NHS Bureau

The Indian Parliament in resolutions adopted in 1962 and 1994 had reiterated that Aksai Chin and Pakistan Administrated Kashmir (PaK) were an integral part of India. But practically India had accepted the LOC as the de facto border with Pakistan and was reconciled to the loss of Aksai Chin to China.

But statements made last year by Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and now the Chief of Defence Services General Bipin Rawat indicated a strategic shift. They all reiterated the resolve to wrest back PaK and Aksai Chin. The Home Minister was unambiguous in parliament, the day after abrogating Article 370.

The statements put both Pakistan and China on notice, statements which experts said were not matched by India’s military capabilities. Others questioned the priority. But the die was cast.

China officially released a video clip on the day military level talks between an Indian Lt. General and a Chinese Major General wee going on in Ladakh. It was broadcast on state broadcaster CCTV the same day.

The clip showed thousands of paratroopers, armoured vehicles and equipment being deployed to the border with India in Ladakh. The clip claimed that the deployment took barely a few hours. Significantly, the soldiers and vehicles were transported from Hubei, the province in central China where the coronavirus COVID-19 had spread late last year.

A report in South China Morning Post quoted experts as saying that the clip was meant to send out the signal that the pandemic had done nothing to cripple China’s military ability, that the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) was fully prepared.

Strategic Affairs and military affairs expert Ajai Shukla tweeted after the inconclusive dialogue: China has changed the frontlines in Ladakh, and occupied Indian territory… and New Delhi is talking about “a long haul” and “military and diplomatic engagement!” If so abject was to be the surrender, disband the “mountain strike corps” & remove armoured brigade from Ladakh.

To cover up this craven surrender to Chinese aggression in Ladakh, govt has the nerve to ask journalists not to cover, or write on, the ongoing “dialogue”. This is to allow public opinion to normalise the new situation… which is that China has come in and will not leave!! The writing is on the wall. While the govt continues its smoke and mirrors game of “military and diplomatic dialogue”, China will consolidate and make the new border permanent. At least in 1962 army fought a war and made China pay a cost. This time, it’s an abject surrender.

Who’s to blame? The govt that pursued a misguided diplomacy of “informal summits” with China? Or the army, which, despite steadily rising manpower numbers was taken by surprise, just as in Kargil? Or “anti-national” journalists who exposes this debacle? Answer: Obviously No 3.

With inputs from the National Herald

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

PTI

Jammu: The Union Territory of Ladakh recorded 112 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of those infected with the disease to 549, officials said on Sunday.

However, 80 of the patients have already been cured and subsequently discharged from hospitals, while one person had died of the disease, they said.

The officials said a total of 112 new positive cases were reported, including 104 from Kargil district and eight from Leh district.

“The number of active cases in Ladakh stands at 468 — 404 in Kargil and 64 in Leh. The condition of all of them is stable,” an official of the health department said.

Ladakh recorded the highest single-day spike of 198 cases on Saturday, while 104 cases were reported a day earlier.

Following spurt in COVID-19 cases, the entire Ladakh region was declared a red zone on the weekend with lockdown restrictions returning to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Srinagar: A Srinagar man became fresh victim of COVID-19 third in a day.

An official told news agency KINS, A 76 year old man from Zainakadal downtown area of Srinagar died this evening due to COVID-19. He said this is third death in a day due to this virus in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Earleir on Sunday two persons lost their lives due to COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir. A 69-year-old man from Gandhi Nagar died at Government Medical College Jammu, sixteen days after he had tested positive for novel coronavirus, while another patient an elderly man from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district died at chest disease hospital Srinagar.

With this fresh death, the toll in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir now stands at 60, Seven from Jammu and 53 from Valley. (KINS)

Srinagar: BJP General Secretary Ashok Koul said corporators have every right to go against SMC Mayor Junaid Matoo if they are not satisfied with his work.

” I heard about this in newspapers. If corporators are going against Mayor, it means he is not then able to keep them together, I must say then he is incompetent,” BJP leader told KNS.
He added that “If corporators are not satisfied with his work, they have every right to go against him.”

The people of Srinagar are unhappy over the politics being played in the SMC ans development has taken a backseat.

“The SMC was a new hope to the people living in Srinagar but the daily fights have rendered this prestigious institution dysfunctional, when it is time to get unite to fight the Novel Corona virus,” a college professor from downtown area of Srinagar told KNS.

He added: “The cracks among Srinagar Municipal Corporation are increasing every new day and leaving the people of Srinagar hopeless.”
This has been second time that the corporators have asked for No-confidence motion against Mayor and the moves are affecting the work instead of serving the people living within the jurisdiction of the SMC.

Talking to KNS, Independent SMC corporator Waheed Dar who has moved application for floor test against Mayor Matoo said, “we are happy that Deputy Mayor Shiekh Imran has joined us against Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu. We have only agenda to disempower Mattoo and bring him down from the chair in order to save Srinagar city, Dar said.(KNS)