Srinagar, Jan 19 : Inspector General of Police Kashmir Zone S.P Pani today visited Police District Sopore and held interaction with the officials and jawans at Police Station Tarzoo. DIG NKR Atul Goel and SP Sopore Javed Iqbal besides other officers of the district were accompanying IGP Kashmir.
At Police Station Tarzoo IGP Kashmir held an interaction with the officials and jawans and emphasized on the officials to adopt people-friendly practices while discharging their duties. He urged upon the officers to prioritize the redressal of grievances reported at the Police Station in a professional manner and to ensure frequent interaction with the locals which will help in creating a strong bond between police and public.
While carrying out the casual inspection at PS Tarzoo, IGP Kashmir also reviewed the functioning of CCTNS project in Sopore.
IGP Kashmir emphasized the use of technology to usher in more transparency and more accountability in the functioning of the police. Welfare measures initiated recently by the department were also discussed besides rewards for good work were presented to the officials.
IGP Kashmir also chaired a security review meeting with the officers of the district in which the security considerations of the area were discussed.
IGP Kashmir visits Sopore, chairs security review meet
Avalanche warning issued for 9 Kashmir districts
Avalanche warning issued for 9 Kashmir districts
Srinagar , Jan 19 : Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan today issued fresh avalanche warning for nine avalanche prone districts of Kashmir division.
The warning has been issued for the avalanche-prone areas of district Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kargil and Leh.
As per the hand out, the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has directed the Deputy Commissioners of all these districts to advise the people living in avalanche prone areas not to venture out to avoid the loss of lives.
The Div Com also directed the concerned DC’s to take all the precautionary measures and to keep the SDRF, Police and Para-medical staff with ambulances in readiness to avert any untoward incident.
Happy with party’s decision, Altaf Bukhari says ‘PDP freed me from imprisonment’
Srinagar, Jan 19 : Former finance minister, Syed Altaf Bukhari on Saturday welcomed the decision taken by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying that he feels that has been freed from the confinement.
Soon after being expelled, Bukhari while talking to local News Service said that “I am happy that the party has taken a decision to expel me. I feel that I have been relieved from a huge burden and I am freed from the imprisonment.”
He added that to be in the party was against his voice of conscience. “I am happy that the party has taken this decision. I welcome the party’s decision and I feel I have been freed me from a confinement,” he said.
Altaf was considered as the top leaders of PDP ever since he joined the party. He was inducted in the cabinet twice and served at different portfolios. He was also the Chief Minister candidate from the party after the death of former Chief Minister and PDP patron Late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
Notably, the political maneuvering in Jammu and Kashmir is getting momentum as various political leaders are shifting to other political parties ahead of the parliamentary and assembly elections here.
The decision of expelling him from the party would likely strengthen the third front that is currently being revived in the State. Several leaders including Altaf Bukhari, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, Ghulam Hassan Mir and Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen are among the leaders who are in talks to revive the third front.
The leaders had told news agency that the third front will be reemerged in the state likely ahead of the elections. (KNS)
Owaisi asks Pak to stop ‘meddling’ in Kashmir affairs
Asking Pakistan to stop meddling in Kashmir affairs, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Saturday said the valley “was and will always be an integral part of India,” even as he stressed the need to have a consistent policy for the region.
The Hyderabad MP said whether it was the Congress or the BJP at the Centre, they have “no policy, no vision” to bring back normalcy in the Kashmir Valley.“I feel that there has to be a consistent policy on Kashmir which unfortunately is lacking,” he said.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader was replying to a question during a panel discussion organised at the Telangana Jagruthi International Youth Leadership Conference which began here Saturday.
Quoting a report, Owaisi accused the BJP-led central government of not doing anything for Kashmiri Pandits.
He said he has not seen so many lives being destroyed with pellet guns in the last eight years.
Owaisi said instead of having a policy for the region, the government was now aiming to have less lethal weapons which show where its priority lies.
“The Kashmir problem cannot be treated in a James Bond or a Rambo style… Someone will have to show a statesman-like approach. There is alienation and things have to be done in a proper way,” he said.
Owaisi said Pakistan should stop “meddling in Kashmir affairs.”
He said IAS officer Shah Faesal, who recently resigned from the civil services, should chalk out his own independent political journey.
Faesal, who has been in the limelight since becoming the first Kashmiri to top the exam in 2009, resigned on January 9, protesting the “unabated” killings in Kashmir and the “marginalisation” of Indian Muslims
“… Let him chalk out his own independent political journey and that is what Kashmir requires. You do not want Kashmir’s political journey to be controlled by babus or IB officers sitting in Delhi,” Owaisi added.
(PTI)
PDP expels Altaf Bukhari for anti party activities
For anti-party activities, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday expelled Altaf Bukhari from the Party, saying that party has been watching with concern the activities of one of its leaders Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari for quite some time.
“Ever since the passing away of our founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, he (Altaf) has been perusing his personal political ambition at the cost of the party and state interest,” PDP said in a statement.
“Bukhari inspired and led dissent in the party at its most crucial stage which resulted in serious damage to our efforts at implementing the agenda of Alliance of our coalition government. While the party leadership was engaged in negotiations with its partner and the GOI insisting on implementing some agreed points before forming the new government, the dissension weakened its bargaining position forcing subsequent events against its will,” PDP said.
“In spite of this obvious backstabbing and subversion of people’s interest the Party leadership believed in subsequent explanations and assurances of Bukhari and reposed complete trust in him by reinducting him in cabinet,” PDDP added.
“Unfortunately, ever after the end of coalition, Bukhari instead of pursuing party interest in accordance with the expectations of our voters and workers started open attempts at breaking the Party by hobnobbing with its rivals,” the statement said, adding that newspapers have been running stories almost on daily basis to create impression of Bukhari being at the centre of a ‘rebellion’ brewing in the Party.
“The leadership waited in the hope of Bukhari rejecting these reports to clear the air. But unfortunately he did nothing to remove this impression. It was therefore decided to expel Bukhari from party’s basic membership with immediate effect,” the statement added.
Kashmir can never be complete, at peace until return of Kashmiri Pandits: Omar
Srinagar: National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah has said that until Kashmiri Pandits don’t return to he valley, it will stay incomplete and will never be at peace.
In a tweet, the Former Chief Minister said that he hopes that the process of reversing of what happened in 1990 begins soon.
R-Day Effect: Coaching Centres asked to wind up operations till January 26
Srinagar: Police have asked the owners of coaching centres operating from different areas of Kashmir capital Srinagar to wind up their operations till January 26.
January 26 function will be held at Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium amid heavy security. The decision to close down the coaching centres in Srinagar has been taken in wake of the two grenade attacks in the heart of Srinagar city. A grenade was lobbed on a security picket near Akash Educational Institute at Rajbagh that resulted in the injuries of three cops including an Assistant Sub-Inspector. Another grenade was lobbed near Ghanta Ghar that didn’t cause any injuries to anyone.
A couple of owners of Coaching Centres told news agency CNS that they didn’t receive any formal or written order from authorities. “A message was conveyed to us through concerned police officers directing us to windup our operations till January 26. How can a police officer diktat terms as he has no mandate in this regard. If they really want to shut the coaching centres, they should issue a formal order,” they said.
The Coaching centre owners while terming the decision as ‘dictatorial’ said that everything in Kashmir is justified in the garb of security. “We don’t have any issue with the police we want that Directorate of School Education issue a written order and give reasons thereof what prompts it to waste the precious time of students,” they said.
The coaching centre owners lamented that government is non-serious about the education system of Kashmir valley while the future of the students hardly matters for it.
Meanwhile, panic gripped in city centre Lal Chowk after combined forces including Army emerged near Ghanta Ghar and started frisking pedestrians randomly.
The army soldiers pressed drone into service to intensify vigil ahead of January 26 celebration in Srinagar. Reports said that army soldiers disallowed vehicular movement towards Amirakadal and diverted it towards Budshah Chowk.
Forces personnel also conducted search operation of hotels and other buildings located in Lal Chowk. The frisking has been intensified in wake of two grenade attacks by suspected militants in two days.
The main function of January 26 will be held at Cricket Stadium Sonwar. The road leading towards stadium has been closed for the traffic a week before the R-Day function.
Barricades have been erected at several places in the city and its peripheries, commuters informed.
Police sources said that “security measures” have been intensified keeping in view the January 26.
Police and forces have already sounded high alert across the valley while tight security arrangements have been made in and around Bakshi stadium where the main function of August 15 will be held.
Apart from Sonwar Cricket Stadium security has been beefed up in the entire valley, police sources said. They said apart from patrolling, vehicle checking has also been intensified and pedestrians are being frisked. People are also being asked for their identity cards. A police official said that what happened in city centre Lal Chowk was a routine mock drill.
Rajouri man killed in Saudi two weeks back, poor family demands MEA to help bring body home
MS Nazki
Rajouri, Jan 19 (GNS): A 44-year-old man from Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir was killed after being hit with some sharp object in Saudi Arabia, his family said today.
The poor family has no means to bring the body back home and urged the government of India through Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to see that the body is brought to Rajouri for last rites. “We came to know that the body is lying there in a mortuary since the last couple of weeks”.
“Mohammad Khalil Mirza (44) son of Haji Mohammad Azam Mirza of Malhut, Darhal, Rajouri was killed after being hit by some persons with a sharp object at Amaan area of Riyadh where he was working as a labourer,” Mohammad Amin Mirza, brother of the deceased told GNS.
He said that the family lost contact with Khalil from December 22, last month and despite best efforts, the family was unable to find his whereabouts.
“Yesterday a person from Pakistan administered Kashmir called us and informed that Khalil Mirza’s body is lying in a mortuary and he his body was found with an injury in his head,” Amin said.
“We are very poor and we request the government of India especially Minister of external affairs to ensure that body is brought to Rajouri for last rites,” Amin said.
The family also demanded proper investigations and stern punishment to those responsible for his death and provide due compensation to them. (GNS)
India, Pak should engage in ‘meaningful dialogue’ to resolve their issues: UN chief
United Nations, Jan 19 (PTI) United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday hoped that India and Pakistan will engage in a “meaningful dialogue” to resolve their issues.
The UN chief, speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, also said he has been offering his “good offices in relation to the dialogue between the two countries that, until now, had no conditions of success.”
India has made it clear to Pakistan that cross-border terrorism and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.
I hope that the importance of both India and Pakistan is such in international affairs, I hope that the two countries will be able to engage in a meaningful dialogue, he said, responding to a question on the dialogue between the two countries.
In relation to the human rights situation, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has produced recently a very detailed report. So, the UN has clearly done its job in that regard, Guterres said to a question by a Pakistan journalist on the situation in Kashmir.
The Indo-Pak ties strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists in 2016 and India’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The ties further nose-dived in 2017 with no bilateral talks talking place between them.
EVM is chor machine: Farooq Abdullah
KOLKATA, JAN 19: National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah Saturday called the EVM the “chor machine” and demanded that the ballot paper system be brought back for the sake of transparency.
Speaking at the united opposition rally organised by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, he said, “It is not the question of ousting any single person (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) but of saving the country and honouring the sacrifices of those who fought for its freedom.”
“The EVM is chor machine. Honestly speaking, it is so. Its use must be put to an end. Nowhere in the world is the machine used. The opposition parties should approach the Election Commission and the President of India to stop the use of the EVM and bring back the old ballot papers for the sake of transparency,” he said.
He blamed the BJP for the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said people are being divided on religious lines. “People are being branded as Pakistanis. But all people right from Ladakh to elsewhere want to continue in India.
“I am a Muslim and I love India, my country,” he said.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP, he said it stood for the Triple Talaq Bill in Parliament but did not pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Urging for a united fight by opposition parties in the coming Lok Sabha election, he said the prime minister can be decided after the poll results.
“We have to fight and oust BJP. We have to come together to put up a one-to-one fight against it. We should fight together to strengthen our country,” he said and hoped the new government will take the country forward. (PTI)