Five CRPF personnel were injured today in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in Naxal hit Dantewada area of Chattisgarh.
“Five CRPF jawans injured in an IED blast followed by an exchange of fire with Naxals in Dantewada area of Chhattisgarh,” News agency ANI reported.
More to follow…
Pulwama: Unknown gunmen on Monday shot dead a youth in Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Reports said that Mohsin Ahmed Wani, son of Ghulam Ahmad Wani was shot at in Reshipora area of Tral this evening.
They said that the 25-year-old sustained bullet injury in his neck following which he was rushed to sub-district hospital Tral where he succumbed.
Meanwhile forces cordoned off the area to nab the attackers.
Pertainally this is third such incident reported in parts of South Kashmir since past one week.
Sopore, March 18 : Third time government forces launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in Sopore town of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Monday.
The CASO has been launched by Amy’s 22 RR, Special Operation Group of Police (SOG ) and CRPF in Wadoopra village of Sopore this evening.
Local reports reaching said the army, CRPF and the police laid a tight cordon which affected public movement in the area as all entry and exits points are sealed and house to house search operation is underway local reports added.
The operation was underway when this report was being filed.
Earlier this day a search operation ended on peaceful note in Tujjer village of Sopore, while in Krankshivan village search operation was underway when last reports came in.
The Srinagar Municipal Corporation officials have come under the scanner for allegedly allowing illegal and facilitate constructions in Srinagar
.
Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development Dheeraj Gupta has appointed Farooq Ahmad Rather Director Housing and Urban Development Department to hold an enquiry into the allegations against several SMC officials for allowing violation and facilitate illegal constructions in Karanagar.
The officials against whom probe has been ordered include former Ward Officer, former Junior Building Inspector, former Chief Enforcement Officer, former Enforcement Officer, and Additional Enforcement Officer.
The enquiry team has been directed to submit the report within a month.
Over the years hundreds of illegal constructions have taken place in the state.
The state cabinet in 2017 approved a policy on illegal structures in twin capital cities of the state and for Katra town. In the policy, ceiling has been fixed for regularisation of such structures after imposing hefty penalty on the violators while as major violations of land use and building bye-laws will face demolition.
The government also formulated two separate committees headed by divisional commissioners of each region to decide on illegal constructions in Srinagar and Jammu. While for Katra, the Deputy Commissioner Reasi led committee was to decide on illegal constructions built before December 2016.
An official of the Housing and Urban Development Department said that thousands of illegal constructions have come up in Srinagar and Jammu districts over the years.
The official said a high-level official committee constituted by the government in 2009 to report on master plan violations, had identified and compiled a comprehensive report of around 3000 illegal structures in the Srinagar city alone.
The official that the mandate of the committees was to decide on illegal constructions raised up over the years.
“The committees was to decide whether any illegal construction built before December 2016 could be regularised or not. The non-regularised constructions was to be demolished by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Jammu Municipal Corporation and district administration Reasi in Katra town,” he said.
As per the policy, only 50% of such violations will be regularized after obtaining penalty from the violators and by enforcing rectification wherever feasible. Violations beyond 50% was to be demolished through the enforcement wing of respective agencies.
Similarly, only 25% of the land use violations was to be regularized after charging hefty penalty from the violators while as remaining violations will be demolished. (KNS)
Ganderbal, Mar 18,: The work in the office of Tehsildar here in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district is in the stagnation mode from past week due to Tehsildar’s continuous confrontation with a social and political leader in the district. A number of purported videos are viral on social media showing Tehsildar Ganderbal Muhammad Iqbal rebuking and scolding Chairman Awami Insaf Party Ghulam Ahmed Saloora.
The confrontation started after a delegation led by Saloora visited the office of the Tehsildar last week. “People were facing some problems that we wanted to discuss with the Tehsildar. We requested Tehsildar Ganderbal to give us a patient hearing for only five minutes when he was coming out from his office and was about to board his official vehicle. He and his employees were irked after I told him he is bound to listen to the people. His employees created scene and locked the gate though I repeatedly apologized,” Saloora told news agency CNS.
“The matter didn’t end here. Saloora was humiliated and his vehicle was not allowed to leave from the Tehsildar’s office. The employees who acted as more loyal than the king made a mockery and even tried to manhandle Ghulam Ahmed Saloora in presence of Tehsildar,” said a local who accompanied Saloora.
Tehsildar who is also an first class executive magistrate ironically allowed his employees to record a video when he asked Saloora to appear in his court. One could easily see in the video, Saloora apologizing while Tehsildar and his supporters (employees) boasting and virtually making fun of him. “Saloora didn’t act because he threatened of writing a letter to Election Commission asking it to bar him from contesting the upcoming Assembly election. Saloora has worked hard in his constituency and thus doesn’t want to take any chance,” said one of the protesters at DC Office Ganderbal.
The supporters of Saloora held a protest against the Tehsildar and his employees at Qamariya Chowk. The protest culminated at DC office where protesters handed over a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Hashmat Ali seeking action against Tehsildar and a couple of employees.
The Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal according to protesters assured a fair probe.
“Despite not doing anything, I apologized. If asking an official to address the problems of the people is a crime then I am guilty,” said Saloora.
Despite repeated attempts, Tehsildar Ganderbal didn’t pick up the phone; however, an employee in his defense said that the behavior of Ghulam Ahmed Saloora was not up to the mark.
When contacted, DC Ganderbal told CNS that matter has been resolved amicably. “There was some confrontation and the matter has been sorted out,” he said. (CNS)
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday said that the politics of national conference is right now hostage to Farooq Abdullah’s cricket scam in which no action was initiated since July 18 last year when CBI filed charge sheet against the NC patriarch.
In a statement issued here, senior PDP leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar stated that it is now becoming evident that NC has become a puppet whose strings are pulled by the people sitting in the power corridors of New Delhi. “The theatrics being done by the national conferee to stop joint resistance by the political groups in Jammu and Kashmir against BJP reflects how much under pressure is NC President due to his corruption case,” Akhtar said.
The PDP leader stated that it is ironic that Farooq Abdullah in other states of the country is trying to promote Mahagatbandan- knowing fully that he will make least difference there by becoming part of that front. However, says Akhtar, in his own state where his party could actually offer a joint resistance for the protection of Jammu and Kashmir’s core interests, Farooq Abdullah is doing everything to thwart any such move.
He added that NC is openly subverting unity of all forces to protect special status and core interest of Jammu and Kashmir with its latest political posturing.
Lashing out at NC’s vice President Omar Abdullah for leveling baseless, unfounded and unsubstantiated charges against the PDP, Akhtar said the undeniable reality is that Omar has supervised erosion of his own party during the last two decades. “Omar Abdullah had depended on desertions which he engineered during the last four years. His total politics was confined to that only. Now he is finding out that it is not stealing members from other parties that is substitute to inspiring people to join. That is not one of his achievements to inspire youngsters, professionals to join his party even when he was minister in the central government and a chief minister of the state,” Akhtar said.
The PDP leader said that NC Vice President has supervised erosion of his party during the last two decades and ever since he became NC President and minister in the central government, his party under his leadership has reduced from sixty in the legislative assembly to 15 now which is the historic low for any mainstream party. “He will do better if he takes care of the sinking ship of NC and make efforts to steer it to the shore instead of maligning other political parties who want to fight for peoples confidence,” Akhtar said.
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: The weekly Karwan-e-Aman bus service operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad Pakistan and Trade service between the two countries India and Pakistan remained suspended for the third week on Monday. The Karwa-e-Aman bus service remained suspended for three consecutive weeks and Trade service was suspended on the third week due to the damaged Kaman Aman Setu Bridge which connects the India and Pakistan in Uri area of north Kashmir
The weekly bus service has helped thousands of divided families to meet each other since April 7, 2005, when India and Pakistan agreed to allow state subjects from both sides to travel on ” Travel Permits”, instead of International Passports.
Similarly, the trade service has also suffered a loss due to the blockade. Around three hundred traders and thousands of people associated with trade are suffering and the fresh stocks have also got damaged, official sources said on Monday.
Earlier, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry also expressed concern over the disruption of LOC Trade for the last 10 days due to a damaged Kaman Aman Setu Bridge.
They said the army had assured the concerned authorities that the said bridge shall be repaired and restored within 15 days but as on now no repairing has been undertaken.
The traders associated with it have requested the state administration to facilitate repair of the said bridge for the restoration of the Trade.
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: Dr Shah Faesal’s new party that he launched on Sunday has started facing the heat. A statement issued here late last night said a party with the same name already exists and is part of the Hurriyat Conference.
The statement reads: “The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) has strongly objected to the launching of a new political outfit under the identical name and style by the former bureaucrat Dr Shah Faesal and urged him to make a modification in the name of his party which he launched on Sunday. Senior APHC leader and chairman of the JKPM Mir Shahid Saleem in a statement said that a political outfit under the name and style of “Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement” (JKPM) has been functioning for the past twenty years in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the party was launched on April 4, 2000, at press club Jammu. After being launched, the JKPM became a constituent member of the APHC and presently is a member of its executive body.
The JKPM Chairman Mir Shahid Saleem taking a strong exception to the party name being used by Dr Faesal called upon him to make a necessary modification in the name of his newly launched political party to avoid unnecessary confusion. Saleem said that during a conversation Dr Shah Faesal agreed to make a change in the party name failing which JKPM would be forced to go to the electronic and print media at large to prove its claim. Mir Shahid Saleem said that this was unbecoming and against the basic ethics for a man like Dr Shah Faesal to commit a sort of plagiarism, who has always been talking of moral high grounds in the public life. He wondered “why a tech-savvy Dr Faesal could not Google out the name of Jammu Kashmir People’s Movement which has been in use for the past over twenty years.”
On social media, it was creating a lot of buzzes, last night, that the IAS topper 2009’s party has used a tag-line that wire-manufacturer Havells has been using for a long time: Hawa Badleghi – the winds will change. It has been using the tag-line for marketing its fans, for some time now.
Now the party will have to face the criticism from the seniors occupying the space that JKPM has jumped into. The criticism has actually started. While NC CM-candidate Omar Abdullah has been saying that the mandate of Kashmir is being deliberately fractured by the central government, his aide, Tanvir Sadiq has written on Twitter: “J&K’s political history is witness to the fact of many attempts to snatch away its special status especially by the use of proxies by New Delhi. Today is no different. A party has been created/funded to divide us to make it easier for them AGAIN. Beware and be on guard! #OnlyHal”.
Kashmir Despatch News
Sopore, March 18 : Yet another search operation launched by joint team of forces in Sopore village this day.
Reports said after Tujjer village forces now launched a search operation in Krankshivan area of Sopore.
A senior police officer also confirmed to Kashmir Despatch and said following inputs about suspecious movement searches have been launched in the area.
Pertainally a joint team of Army’, SOG and CRPF sealed area and conducted house to house search operation in the area.
KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: Though it is yet to be official, the BJP has decided to repeat its incumbent MPs, Jugal Kishore and Dr Jitendra Singh from Jammu and Udhampur seats, media reports said.
It is understood to have cleared three nominations for three Kashmir seats–Sofi Yousuf from south Kashmir Anantnag; Khalid Jehangir from Central Kashmir Srinagar and Maqbool War from north Kashmir Baramulla Lok Sabha seat.
BJP’s general secretary (Organization) told Kashmir Despatch that a formal announcement is expected to be made by the evening today. However, did not confirm about any nominations that surfaced in various news reports.
BJPs Central Election Committee (CEC), however, has not cleared any nomination from Ladakh where two party activists are in the penal – Jamyang Tsering Namgayal and Chering Dorjay. The CEC has asked the state party unit to visit the region and evolve a consensus, a report in Jammu newspaper Excelsior said. BJP had won the Ladakh seat with a slender margin of 34 votes in 2014 but the elected MP resigned from the party and the Lok Sabha in 2018.
The names of all the six candidates will be officially announced once the Ladakh nomination is finalised. BJPs CEC is heading by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. Those in the meeting that cleared the five names include Ram Madhav, Avinash Rai Khanna, State president Ravinder Raina, Ashok Koul, State general secretary (organizations) and Kavinder Gupta. “The BJP CEC can effect last minute changes in the list,” the report said.
The party had seriously considered the name of Choudhary Lal Singh as one candidate from Udhampur seat but it was dropped. Singh, has been unhappy with the party leaders and is reportedly contesting both the Jammu seats, reports said.
Lal Singh has been working for his Dogra Swabhimaan Sangathan (DSS) for almost two years now. The newspaper quoted the DSS spokesman that Singh will be contesting both the seats personally. Sigh has represented Jammu Lok Sabha seat twice till 2014. The DSS is being renamed as Dogra Swabhimaan Party and the outfit is trying to have an election symbol, the report said. Singh’s decision to field himself is expected to be a major embarrassment for the party. There are efforts at reconciliation with him, reports added.