Srinagar, April 8 : Suspected militants on Monday lobbed a grenade on a CRPF bunker at Gulshan Nagar, Nowgam in outskirts of Srinagar City.
Reports reaching said that the suspected militants hurled a grenade on CRPF 117 bn bunker Gulshan Nagar, Nowgam.
Confirming the incident a police officer told GNS that the device, however, did not explode.
The officer said that Bomb Disposal Squad reached the spot and the device is being defused. (GNS)
In a statement Janta Dal United State president G.M.Shaheen said that he is extending his party’s support to AIP chairman Er Rashid for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Baramulla parliamentary constituency.
Shaheen was attending his public gathering at sumbal in Baramulla along with party executive members Dr.Nawab Nasir Mirza, Sajad Hussain beighparty sectaries. Shaheen said Er Rashid has emerged as the preferable candidate for the Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla parliamentary constituency and while respecting the sentiment of the people we have decided to support Er Rashid in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.”
Rashid is different from family politics and we must support Er Rashid, Shaheen while addressing the public gathering .
Also directed the party cadre to remain prepared for assembly polls after parliament elections, he said.
Langate, Apr 08 : Thousands of people participated in rally organised by Peoples Conference in Hangah village of Langate in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Monday.
PC chairman Sajad Gani Lone is also expected to address another rally in Kralpora area of Kupwara later in the afternoon. (KNS)
New Delhi, Apr 08 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its election manifesto released by Party President Amit Shah in Delhi on Monday reiterated the saffron party’s commitment to abrogated article 370 and article 35-A presently challenged through various public interest litigations (PILs) in the Supreme Court of India.
In the last five years, we have made all necessary efforts to ensure peace in Jammu and Kashmir through decisive a actions and a firm policy. We are committed to overcome all obstacles that come in the way of development and provide adequate financial resources to all the regions of the state. The poll manifesto of the saffron party also reassures migrant Kashmiri Pandits to their home and promises resettlement of West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs).
We reiterate our position since the time of the Jan Sangh to the abrogation of Article 370.
We are committed to annulling Article 35A of the Constitution of India as the provision is discriminatory against non-permanent residents and women of Jammu and Kashmir. We believe that Article 35A is an obstacle in the development of the state. We will take all steps to ensure a safe and peaceful environment for all residents of the state. We will make all efforts to ensure the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits and we will provide financial assistance for the resettlement of refugees from West Pakistan (WPRs). (KNS)
Srinagar, Apr 08 : Senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar said that Farooq Abdullah killed the idea of PDP-NC alliance to keep BJP away from Kashmir.
In a Facebook comment to a post regarding the possibility of NC-PDP alliance akin to SP-BSP alliance in UP, Akhtar said since Farooq Abdullah is charge sheeted by CBI into cricket scam, so “he was obliged” to kill the idea to do his “historical duty or face the other possibility”.
Naeem added: That would have been good sense. But it was sabotaged by Dr Farooq and your party’s permanent candidate for Rajya Sabha. It’s actually congress NC that killed the idea. Farooq saheb has a reason as he is charge sheeted by CBI in cricket scam. The case is in court for 9 months and can be decided in 2/3 hearings. That is in sharp contrast to how things are done in rest of the country. If Farooq saheb wins, which I doubt, he will be obliged to do his historical duty as always or face the other possibility.
Similar is the case with the party with which you are officially associated. We were always open to it and ultimately decided unilaterally to stay away to ensure anti BJP vote doesn’t get divided.
You know all this but I explain only for the readers who take on face value whatever is stated here. (KNS)
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference chairman and former minister Sajad Gani Lone has written a letter to Governor demanding revocation of the restriction order that bans civilian traffic on highway.
Below is the text of letter:
His Excellency
I am writing this letter to lodge a formal protest against Government Order No. 353-Home (ISA) of 2019 dated 03.04-2019 where under civilian traffic has been banned on National Highway for two days a week. This is the most despicable, irrational, undemocratic and senseless diktat ever to have been issued in a republic nation governed by the Constitution.
Mr. Excellency, this outrageous order violates Article 19(1)(d) of the Constitution of India, which guarantees to the citizens the fundamental right to move freely in any part of the country. By barring the movement of the people of the state two days a week, does the State Administration want to convey that the fundamental rights are not applicable to the State of J&K or that the Administration has the power to suspend these rights at its whim and caprice. I think your Excellency has been grossly misleading and ill advised in this matter
May I bring it into your kind notice that this shameful order, reminiscent of totalitarian and despotic era of governance, is bound to turn into a humanitarian disaster as the school children, employees, people connected with trade and business and people in dire need to travel in order to tend their daily needs of survival would not be able to move. This restriction will also have a disastrous effect on tourism industry in the State when the tourism season has just begun. Practically, the hustle and bustle of life in the State would be in off-mode for these two days.
While the safe movement of troops on the National Highway cannot be compromised or undermined, there are other ways to ensure that. That troops can either be airlifted from Jammu or transported through dedicated railway coaches from Banihal to Baramulla. It doesn’t need to put the entire civilian populace into distress and agony. Such a course would also result in bad blood between the civilian population and the armed forces, which would be detrimental for security environment of the state.
O accordingly appeal and request your Excellency to reconsider this issue and withdraw the order as expeditiously as possible. Such draconian orders have no place in civilized nations where rule of law prevail. Resorting to such measures send a wrong signal to the entire world that all is not well in the State of J&K and also rebuffs the tall claims of the government that situation in the state is under control.
With great regards,
Yours Sincerely,
(Sajad Gani Lone)
Chairman, J&K Peoples Conference
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday restored the security cover of 400 politicians and political activists which had been withdrawn last month.
Top state government sources said Governor Satya Pal Malik’s administration took the decision aimed at providing protection to them.
The restoration of the security cover, however, does not include separatist leaders.
The development comes two days after the state’s political parties wrote to the Election Commission expressing serious concerns about the safety of their cadres.
Last month, a Union Home Ministry statement said authorities in Jammu and Kashmir had withdrawn the security cover of 919 people both in the mainstream and separatist camps after taking a review of the ground level threat perception against those given security covers including armed guards and bullet proof vehicles.
Twenty-two separatists were among the 919 people.(IANS)
The Jammu and Kashmir Police intelligence wing had received reports about the possibility of a “major fidayeen attack” in Awantipora area of Pulwama district weeks before jihadist terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad killed over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in an unprecedented car blast on Srinagar-Jammu highway on 14 February.
The Quint has accessed confidential reports that make it clear that the suicide strike occurred notwithstanding alerts about such attempts by a group of JeM militants led by one Mudasir Khan alias Mohammad Bhai of Midora, Tral.
‘Militants Have Reached Awantipora for Fidayeen Attack,’ Police Were Told
An official identified as Shabir Ahmad, who was posted as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) in the J&K CID, in Pulwama, had written to SP CID CIK vide his communication no: DSP/CI-Pul/2019/18/71, dated 24 January 2019, saying a group of three “foreign militants” had reached Awantipora “for some special work.”
His letter read:
“It has been known from sources that 2/3 FTs (foreign militants) of JeM outfit have recently reached Mudasir Khan alias Mohmad Bhai group of JeM (Awantipora) for some special work, likely a fidayeen/major attack in coming days. The group is also in contact with Shahid Baba group of JeM Rajpora (Pulwama). This input is being developed further.”
Well-placed sources revealed that on 31 January, Additional Director General of Police Dr B Srinivas shared this communication with a number of officers in a particular network of J&K Police, CRPF and other sister organisations.
Official communications to police and paramilitary forces called for high alert, need to sanitise the highway, special deployment of troops and other pre-emptive measures.
These communications indicated that Afzal Guru Squad of JeM could attempt a major strike anytime between 9 February and 11 February.
Officials Blame ‘Intelligence Failure’ for the Attack
Lapses that resulted in killing of over 40 CRPF jawans in the suicide attack at Lethapora, Awantipora, are now attributed to “lack of coordination” between the forces and units with a force, even as several officials still view it as a phenomenal intelligence failure.
A middle rung officer of the J&K Police said, “Our officers seem to have got trapped in 9 February and 11 February – execution anniversaries of the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat, respectively. As the two red alert dates passed, they thought that the threat was over. JeM did it intelligently three days after Bhat’s anniversary.”
Mudasir Arranged the Car for the Pulwama Attack
Mudasir Khan, who was mentioned in the CID communication, was killed along with two more militants in a fierce encounter with security forces at Pinglena village of Pulwama on 10 March.
General Officer Commanding 15 Corps Lt Gen KJS Dhillon claimed at a news conference that Mudasir Khan was the “main conspirator” of the Pulwama attack.
Khan allegedly helped in arranging for the vehicle through two residents of Mirhama village of Bijbehara and coordinated the deadly operation.
After graduation and his failure to get a job in J&K Police, Khan had completed a course in electronics and had been engaged as a technician by a private telecommunication company. According to the official records, he had been engaged as an overground worker by JeM. He maintained close liaison with top Jaish militant Noor Mohammad Tantray alias Noora Trali – a 4-feet 2-inch dwarf who revived JeM in the Pulwama-Tral belt of South Kashmir and planned and executed over a dozen attacks on police and security forces on Srinagar-Jammu highway.
Noora jumped his parole and returned to JeM in 2015, twelve years after he had been arrested in Delhi. He got killed in an encounter with security forces in December 2017.(The Quint)
M S Nazki
Poonch, April 8 : Police has seized a tractor along with illegal timber logs of pine tree at Chajalla area of Mendhar in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
“During the intervening night of April 7/8, a police party during Nakka checking at Chajalla signalled a Tractor trolly without registeration number to stop,” SDPO Mendhar Neeraj Padyar said.
He said the driver identified as Mustufa Ahmed son of Mohd Afsar of Dharana Mendhar, on seeing police team fled from the spot.
“08 illegal timber logs of Pine tree were found loaded in the tractor trolley have been seized along with the vehicle,” the officer said, adding that a hunt has been launched to nab the driver.
A case under FIR Number 50 /2019 u/s 6/39 Forest Act & 379 RPC has been registered at Police Station Mendhar and further investigations taken up, the officer said. (GNS)
Peer Zubair
Srinagar, April 8 : Eleven employees, nine of them from education department have been suspended for violating Election Commission of India guidelines and hampering election process in frontier district of Kupwara district in north Kashmir.
According to an order issued by the district election officer Kupwara said that the poll day for Lok sabha elections 2019 in District Kupwara is scheduled on 11/4/2019.
“Pursuant to the relaxation for adance deployment of poll parties 4 days of poll day accorded by Election Commission of India the poll parties were scheduled to be dispatched on 7/4/2019 for karnah , Karen and Machil areas,” the order said.
All the employess appointed for the poll duites in these areas telephonically intimated to be present at dispatch/ distribution centre (TRC Kupwara) to leave for their respective poll destinations, the order said.
Nine officials from the education department and two others from Accounts District Fund Office and Sheep Husbandry Office failed to attend their election duties thereby violating Election commission of india guidelines and hamering electoral process, the order said.
Now therefore keeping in view the derelication shown by these officers /Officials in attending the election duities, the employees, are hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect and attached with the office of Deputy Election Officer Kupwara, the order further said.
Those suspended include Manzoor Ahmad Khantana Lecturer BHSS Karihama (Poll Duty at Machil Hardoring Balla), Ashiq Hussain Khan, master BMS Badhar Payeen (Poll Duty at BHS Dodi Machil), Abdul Ahad Sheikh, lecturer BHS Karlpora (Poll Duty at BMS Dappal Machil), Abdul Rasheed Mir, teacher UPS Tulwari (Poll Duty at Hardo Ring Bala Machil), Ajaz Yousaf, teacher BHS Tangdar (Poll Duty at Hardo Ringbala Machil), Shakeel Ahamd Shah, teacher GPS Bunpora (Poll Duty at Pushwari Machil), Ghulam Nabi Tantary, teacher HS Pazipora (Poll Duty Chuntwari Machil), Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Mir,
Compiler (Poll Duty Dappal Machil), Fayaz Ahmad Dar, Jr. Assistant (Poll Duty at BHS Machil), Aijaz Ahamd Khan, teacher UPS Shah Nagri (Poll Duty at Dappal Machil) and Ghulam Mohd Malla, ASM Lawoosa Kupwara (Poll duty at Hardring Machil).
Addational Deputy Commissioner Kupwara is appointed as an enquiry officer who shall conduct the enquiry and furnish report within a period of 15 days. The salary of the officers / officials shall remain with held till further orders, the order added. (GNS)