Srinagar, June 25 : Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq while terming the quality education as the major tool for the development and upliftment of nations, urged the people of Kashmir to invest their resources on their children so that a better tomorrow is built.

Mirwaiz said no nation in the world can progress and make development unless it makes imparting quality education to its children as its mission and aim.

“It is quite evident that western countries have touched new heights in progress and development by putting in its resources into education and research in various fields,” he said.

According to a statement issued, Mirwaiz while addressing a function at Four Friends Public School Gili Kadal, Nowshehra where a galaxy of students, teachers and civil society activists and youth were present, said that Kashmiri children are full of talent and they can compete with other students at any level but the only thing is that their talent needs to be exploited in a better way.

Mirwaiz stressed that while imparting worldly knowledge to the children, moral and ethical values should be inculcated among the students and Islamic teaching should act as a guiding principle and there should be no compromise on this front.

“When Kashmir was under the tight grip of illiteracy, darkness, poverty and atrocities on all sides around 120 years ago, the then Mirwaiz Alama Ghulam Rasool Shah laid the foundation of Islamia School and launched a large scale war against poverty and illiteracy in Kashmir and today the whole valley is reaping the benefits of the step taken by late Mirwaiz Shah in the shape of educational institutions that have come up in every area of the region which is a welcome step,” he said.

Mirwaiz felicitated the patron, principal and the entire teaching fraternity and hailed the management’s decision of introducing better facilities and modern technology to impart education to the students admitted in the institution including computers and other gadgets.

“This can help students gain knowledge in a better way and compete with the students of other countries,” he said.

Mirwaiz prayed for the progress of the institution and expressed his gratitude to the entire staff and students.

Earlier, Mirwaiz received a rousing reception at the school from students, school management and the local people. (GNS)

Srinagar, June 25 : Senior journalist Ghulam Jeelani Qadri was released on bail by a local court here.

Qadri, editor of a daily newspaper– Afaaq, Qadri was arrested during a mid-night raid in a case registered in 1990.

Police said that he was arrested as court had issued a warrant against him under CrPC’s section 512 (proclaimed offender). 

Qadri was released on bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate on furnishing person bond in the amount of Rs 20000.

Meanwhile, KEG condemns Qadri’s arrest and terming as shocking the raid on his residence in which he was arrested Monday night. Qadri, 62, a known hypertensive, has spent more than 35 years in public life, KEG said.

The KEG said that the police invoked a 1990 case registered against eight journalists and editors. Of the eight “accused’, two veterans are no more – Sofi Ghulam Mohammad of ‘Srinagar Times’ and Ghulam Mohammad Aarif of ‘Daily Hamdard’.”

“It is still not known why Qadri was singled out for allegedly defying the due process of law in a case he is not aware about.  Qadri said he does not know how and why he was declared a proclaimed offender. The case is curious because the same police station verified and attested the antecedents of the editor for issuance of the passport twice in last 30 years,” reads a statement issued here by the KEG.

“In the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, the police failed to offer even an iota about what the case is all about.  After bailing out the editor, the court directed the police to explain how it investigated the case in last three decades before they finally swooped on the residence of Qadri and arrested him in the dead of the night.”

KEG also regretted the way a senior editor was declared proclaimed offender in books and finally arresting him during the dead of the night. Qadri, like every member of the media in Kashmir, is a law abiding citizen and could have personally appeared before the police station or the court had he been informed, the KEG said. He has been a newspaper editor for last more than two decades, has contributed to the institution of media and has been in public life for three decades. “How can a person be a proclaimed offender if he is available in his office in the heart of Srinagar for more than 15 hours daily?”

KEG regretted that the arrest of Qadri has led to the delay in the electoral process of the Aiwan-e-Sahafat because most of the journalists were busy shuttling between courtrooms and the police station for the whole day.

KEG acknowledges the judicial intervention that led to Qadri’s release. Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar actually showed the judiciary’s concern in the case insisting that the liberty of the media is not barred or trampled upon, the KEG added. (GNS)

The Deputy Commissioner (DC), Pulwama Dr Syed Abid Rashid today convened a meeting to review the functioning of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) School, Chandagam and to discuss issues faced by the school administration here at DC office Complex Pulwama.

During the meeting threadbare discussions were held on the various issues faced by the school pertaining to availability of land, drinking water facility, electricity and other essential utilities.

The DC issued directions to Revenue officials for the identification of 100 kanal land for the school at Chandagam where a huge chunk of state land is available. He asked concerned officers for the formulation of immediate DPR, so that the construction work could be started at an earliest. He directed PDD and PHE officials to provide adequate electricity and drinking water supply to the school so that students and staff do not face any inconvenience. DC also released Rs 6 lakh for the electrification of the school.

Srinagar, Jun 25: Reaffirming its outreach and commitment to cater to the financial
needs of the society, J&K Bank commissioned an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) inside
the premises of Sheikh-Ul-Alam Hospital here at Srinagar.
President J&K Bank Mohammad Younis Patoo inaugurated the ATM in presence of the
Bank’s Zonal Head Kashmir Central 1 Tabassum Nazir, Cluster Heads Shabir Ahmad and
Bashir Ahmad Sundroo, amid a gathering of valuable customers, visitors, attendants, and
hospital staff.
“Commissioning of the ATM alleviates inconvenience faced by patients and their aides with
regard to availability of cash and other related services inside the hospital premises during
exigencies”, Mohammad Younis Patoo said after inaugurating the ATM.
The administration of the hospital expressed gratitude towards the bank management for
installing the ATM inside the premises and asserted that the facility would be beneficial to
both the employees stationed there and the people who frequent the hospital.
Notably, with the commissioning of the ATM, the Bank’s ATM network has gone up to 1304
across the country.

Srinagar, Jun 25: J&K Bank’s Chief Information Security Officer, Muneer Hassan Wani, has
won the prestigious IDG Security & CSO100 Award for the year 2019 at a ceremony held in
Pune, Maharashtra. He won the award for adopting new ways of thinking to secure
business assets with sophisticated tools and improved defences.
The J&K Bank awardee is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and
a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).
The recognition depicts the Bank’s commitment in adhering to GRC (Governance, Risk and
Compliance) framework to ensure all security initiatives are functionally governed,
efficiently managed for risk and complied with laws, statutes, regulations, policies and
procedures for sustained security of the Bank’s information assets.
Notably, International Data Group (IDG) has instituted June 21 every year as the ‘IDG
Security Day’ to bring-in the deserved focus on IT Security besides functioning as a global
platform to acknowledge leading information security experts in the enterprise arena.
The group has global presence and is the pioneer tech media organisation to put the
spotlight on security and security professionals.
The Indian chapter of IDG Security Day is a combination of symposium and felicitation of
security professionals and witnesses sessions from expert speakers, analysts and
moderated panel discussions followed by felicitations of the top CISO of the country.

Srinagar, Jun 25 : People Democratic Party (PDP) leader and party’s candidate for upcoming assembly polls from Gulmarg constituency, Shabir Ahmad Mir visited the flood affected areas of the constituency.

He also visited the bridge that got damaged in recent flash floods at Nallah Ferozpora on Shrai village.

Shabir Mir appealed the Governor Administration for immediate renovation of the damaged bridge.

He said Shrai bridge connect thousands of people from about 25 villages to main Tangmarg, adding that people especially patients, students and employees are facing difficulties following the damage of the bridge.

Meanwhile, Shabir Mir also interacted with people of the constituency. (KNS) 

Ganderbal, Jun 25: The Sonamarg Development Authority (SDA) in collaboration with stake holders including SASB/NGO’s on Tuesday launched a special sanitation drive in Sonamarg, Nilgrath helipad and Dumail Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.

Around 100 men including School students and several machines were pressed into service to clean the Sonamarg bowl and to clean the area.

The drive flagged off by, Chief Executive Officer Sonamarg Development Authority Shabir Ahmad and was carried out under the supervision of Assistant Executive Engineer (SDA) Zahoor Ah Sheikh.

The drive was carried at Sonamarg office, meadow, Nilgrath village, Shutkadi village, Sonamarg market, Dumail Baltal helipad and its adjacent areas.

Chief Executive Officer (SDA) said that all drains were cleaned and silt, phenyl was sprayed and the areas were fumigated.

He said that apart from main Sonamarg Office and markets, roads and meadow of Sonamarg were also cleaned and, during the drive.

“This drive is meant to make our meadow garbage free. The good thing is that people are very cooperative and are contributing a lot in making the Sonamarg beautiful and garbage free,” Assistant Executive Engineer, Zahoor Ahmad Sheikh said.

He said that shopkeepers and pony wallas were told to call SDA, helpline in case of any unattended garbage.

“The SDA will respond quickly in case of any complaint and ensure the tourists and Yatris do not face inconvenience on account of unhygienic conditions in Sonamarg,” he added.

The Chief Executive Officer SDA in his tour reviewed the sanitation of the area and also took stock of other issues like, street lights, beautification of parks and maintenance of assets.

“We appeal shopkeepers and pony wallas to put the garbage in the SDA dustbins installed in different spots of Sonamarg so that SDA take the garbage to its scientific disposal,” he added. (KNS) 

Srinagar, Jun 25 : To commemorate Doctor’s Day SKIMS will hold first research day on 1st July, 2019. This is the first key academic activity of its kind to focus on research activities at SKIMS aimed at improving the patient care.

Coordinator of the event, Prof. Mohammd Ashraf Ganie informed that various research papers will be reviewed and 24 studies will be selected for the presentation after proper scrutiny. It is a first advanced academic program in which the faculty of the Institute is presenting before eminent scientists of the country.

The program will focus on role of research and its impact on patient care.

Director SKIMS /EOSG complimented the organizing committee for conducting first such advanced educational program.

He said research forms basis of medical sciences and the research papers of International repute will be presented in the said program. Research is top priority at SKIMS and many research papers from SKIMS faculty have been published in reputed international journals contributing to patient care at world level.

He further said that after PGRPP, research day being held at SKIMS is an advanced academic activity where reputed experts will deliberate on issues of concern and further research required in that direction. (KNS)