The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will hold a high-level meeting on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.

The meeting will discuss how to ensure that the Centre’s benefit schemes reach the citizens at the grassroots level. Among all the schemes, 85 direct individual benefit schemes of the government will be prominently taken up.

Till the J&K Reorganisation Act is implemented, the roleof the five advisors to the J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik will be further strengthened, with each receiving additional important responsibilities. These advisors are K Vijay Kumar, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, K K Sharma, K Skandan and Farooq Khan.

Discussions will also be held on the functioning of the financial committee for Jammu and Kashmir formed after August 5.

The government aims to remove all obstacles before the October 31 deadline, after which the J&K Reorganisation Act will come into effect.

Earlier this month, Parliament abrogated the Article 370 and also passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Bill 2019, bifurcating the state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir with Assembly and Ladakh without legislature.

A Srinagar-based CRPF helpline on Monday notified three new mobile numbers for the public, especially Kashmiris, who require medical or any other emergency help for themselves or their families in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ‘madadgaar’ helpine published the three numbers –9469793260, 9469793430, 9469793401– through its official Twitter handle,@CRPF madadgaar, and said it is putting “committed efforts to provide necessary assistance to the citizens 24X7”.

In case of any emergency, medical assistance or any other requirements of essential assistance please dial”, these numbers, it said.Officials said the regular landline number of the helpline — 14411 — is also functional but it may encounter problems or technical issues and hence the new numbers are being notified.

The helpline has been active, especially over the last 20 days, to help those who are in distress due to the ongoing restrictions in J-K post the decision to revoke provisions of the Article 370, that provided special status to the state.

Madadgaar was launched by the Central Reserve Police Forcein June 2017 to help any Kashmir Valley resident staying anywhere in thecountry.It operates from a CRPF camp in Srinagar.

In a first such incident after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked, suspected militants on Monday abducted two members of the nomadic Gujjar community from a forested area in Pulwama district and later shot one of them dead, police said.

Abdul Qadeer Kohli of Rajauri district and Manzoor Ahmed of Khonmoh area of Srinagar were abducted by unidentified gunmen from ‘Dhok’, a temporary shelter, from the forested area of Tral in Pulwama district around 7:30 pm, a police spokesperson said.

He said the bullet-riddled body of Kohli was later recovered by a search and rescue party, while an operation to trace the other person isunderway.

This is the first militant attack after the BJP-led NDAgovernment abrogated provisions of Article 370 and announced bifurcation of the state into union territories on August 5.

Following the Centre’s move, restrictions were put in placein Kashmir Valley. Though restrictions have been eased in most of Kashmir,normal life continued to remain paralysed with shops and business establishments closed and transport off the roads.

On August 20, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant and aspecial police officer were killed, while a police sub-inspector was injured ina gunfight in Baramulla district of north Kashmir – the first encounter betweensecurity forces and ultras after August 5.

Agencies

Baramulla : Security agencies arrested a militant in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir during a checking operation even as heavy shelling took place at two locations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch, officials said on Tuesday.

The militant was nabbed on Monday from a joint check post of the Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police at Delina Chowk, which came under sudden fire from a truck. An AK-47 and a pistol were recovered from the militant. His accomplice, however, managed to escape.

An Army official said the second militant had entered a nearby ”mohalla” and operations were still underway to nab him.

The official said a Bakarwal (member of a nomadic tribe) was killed by a militant on Monday in Tral in South Kashmir. He was one of the two Bakarwals, who had been abducted by unidentified militants last week in the Mansar Bhaik area. The other abducted person is still missing.

According to security agencies, Pakistan has resorted to increased ceasefire violations along the LoC after a lull in the first two weeks of August.

Two ceasefire violations were reported along the LoC in Poonch district on Monday. Indian Army retaliated to the violations though there were no reports of injuries or casualties.

A truck driver had been targeted and killed in Bijbehara area of the Valley by stone-pelting mobs on Sunday. In more stone-pelting incidents, two persons have been injured in Pampore and Hawal areas of Srinagar.

Security agencies said the law and order situation was by and large peaceful in the Valley, except for stray incidents of stone pelting at a few places.

–IANS

SRINAGAR, AUGUST 26: Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan today conducted a meeting to finalise the traffic arrangements put in place for the students appearing in MBBS University Examinations.

Div Com said that SRTC buses would be available at all district headquarters from where students would be ferried to the Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar. He maintained that traffic arrangements have been made for the students of both Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as well.

The Pre-Final MBBS and 1st Year MBBS examination of GMC would be conducted from 5th September to 12th September and 24th September to 12th October respectively. For Pre-Final MBBS, SPM 1st would be held on 5th September, SPM 2nd on 9th September and ophthalmology on 12th September. 

While for 1st MBBS; Anatomy 1st would be held on 24th September, Anatomy 2nd on 27th, Physiology 1st on 30th September, Physiology 2nd on 3rd October, Biochemistry 1st on 9th October and Biochemistry 2nd on 12th October.

The meeting was attended by DC Srinagar, Principal GMC, General Manager SRTC, and SSP Srinagar.

SRINAGAR, AUGUST 26: Governor Satya Pal Malik today said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has turned my invitation to visit Jammu and Kashmir as a non-ending issue.

In a statement, he said “I want to make it clear that when I had invited Rahul Gandhi to  visit Jammu and Kashmir, my intention was that he will  refrain from making baseless statements about  Kashmir by having the first hand appraisal of the situation.

However Rahul Gandhi played politics with my invitation and he arrived here along with a host of opposition leaders. Besides, he also said that he will meet all the detained leaders and  interact with media persons.

When Rahul Gandhi played such kind of politics with my invitation I withdrew my invitation. And it was now prerogative of the administration to decide whether Rahul Gandhi should visit Kashmir or not. The Administration made it clear beforehand that at a time when we are making all out efforts to maintain peace in the valley no politician should come to make a breach, rather help in maintaining peace. 

He said Rahul Gandhi should understand that the visit would have created problems for the people. Rahul Gandhi tried to create obstacles in the peace process. When he was not allowed to do so, Rahul on his return to New Delhi made false statements about the situation in Kashmir.

I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that such statements made by him are being used by Pakistan against India. He should understand that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is fragile and it is the issue of national interest. His statements harm the national interest.

 I want to urge him that he should keep national interest as top priority rather than using the sensitive issue for his cheap politics,” he said in his statement.