Poonch, July 10 (GNS): Body of 21-year-old youth was recovered from a field, around 3-kilometers from his residence in Banola in Mendhar area of Poonch district on Monday, officials said.
They said the body of the youth, Wasid Ahmed (21) son of Mohammad Aslam was found under mysterious conditions by a police party which reached the spot immediately after being informed about it.
When contacted SHO Mendhar told GNS that proceedings have been initiated and the body has been shifted to hospital for postmortem. (GNS)
SRINAGAR: District Magistrate Poonch, Yasin M Choudhary has ordered an inquiry into the allegations of poor blacktopping work on two roads in the Poonch district.
Quoting an official, KNO reported that there were allegations of poor blacktopping on Chandak to Sathra and Bus stand Mandi to Shri Baba Budha Amarnath temple.
He said that the inquiry officer has been asked to submit a detailed inquiry report within fifteen days for further necessary action.
Locals had alleged that both these roads were blacktopped last year only and have turned dilapidated within less than a year allegedly due to poor quality work.
Additional District Development Commissioner Poonch, Malikzada Sheraz ul Haq has been appointed as inquiry officer and has been asked to submit a detailed inquiry report within 15 days.
SRINAGAR: A search operation was launched on Wednesday in parts of Poonch town after suspicious movement in the area was reported.
Quoting sources, KNO reported that on specific information received by counter insurgent forces about suspicious movement in Purani Poonch locality of Poonch town and a joint search operation was launched in the area.
The searches were going on when the report was last filed.
Jammu, May 7: One BSF personnel was killed and six others were injured when a BSF vehicle they were travelling in met with an accident in Mankote sector of Poonch district on Sunday.
Official sources told GNS that the BSF Vehicles Tata-407 (HR39 A 8662) skidded off the road and fell into about 250-feet deep gorge, leading to the injuries to seven personnel. The injured personnel were later shifted to hospital and one of them identified as constable Ram Chandran of 158 battalion BSF succumbed to his injuries, they said. Chandran had suffered serious head injury, a police official told GNS.
The other injured personnel, all constables, have been identified as Feroz Ahmed, Sanjay Sarkar, Karamjeet Singh, Ajay Singh, Devender Singh and Emdadul Haque (driver). The official said that police have registered a case and taken up further investigation. (GNS)
SRINAGAR: A man was arrested for hiding himself inside the bank in an attempt to rob the bank overnight in Mendhar area of Poonch district, officials said here on Tuesday.
An official said that the man hid himself inside the bank for hours and tried to transfer money from bank’s system during late night hours.
He said the man was caught after bank’s central headquarter noticed unusual activity during odd hours. “Soon after noticing the suspicious activity, concerned bank officials were alerted who reached at the bank along with police. The man was later arrested,” he said.
The official said the man had hid himself inside the ceiling of the bank for hours and then attempted to transfer money using bank’s operating system.
He said the man has been taken into custody and further investigation into the matter is going on. (KNO)
Remains of the ill-fated army truck that went up in flames after suspected militants attacked it in Bhata Dhurian area in Mendhar (Poonch) on April 20, 2023. Six soldiers were killed and one survived injured.
Jammu and Kashmir Police have detained six persons after questioning nearly 200 people in Poonch following April 22, attack on an army vehicle in which five soldiers were killed. The operation involving various security agencies in the Bhata Durian belt is still in progress. The agencies investigating the attack have narrowed their focus on two militant handlers based in Pakistan, Rafiq Nai and Habibullah Malik, who are believed to have played a key role in the attack. Both men were designated as militants by the Indian government last year, and their involvement in the recent attack underscores the ongoing threat posed by militants operating from across the border in Pakistan.
Asserting that the attack was carried out with active local support, Dilbagh Singh, the Police Chief said a native, Nasir Ahmad has provided shelter and logistics to attackers. The massive crackdown has triggered outrage after Mukhtar Hussain Shah, a resident of Nar (Mendhar) consumed poison and died by suicide over alleged harassment and torture. Before committing suicide, he had recorded a video.
Singh said the attackers were supplied arms through drones. Three persons formally arrested include Gursi residents- Nissar Ahmad, Farid Ahmad, and Mushtaq. The Poonch Rajouri region is emerging as a challenge. Only six army men were killed in militancy violence in Kashmir since October 2021 as against 21 in Poonch and Rajouri districts during the same period.
School Education Department has directed private schools operating from Government land to admit 25 per cent of their students from weaker sections of society.
KUPWARA
A Kashmiri Imam, who led taraveh prayers during Ramzan 2023, was gifted an Umarh package by the village in north Kashmir.
For Muslims within and outside Kashmir, Ramzan, the Muslim month of fasting, is the era for protracted prayers, charity, and self-introspection. Most of the mosques ensure they have a Hafiz-e-Quran who will lead them in Taraweh prayers and once the month concludes these Imam’s are honoured. Residents of Mareed Mohalla in Kupwara thought out-of-box. Instead of paying him in cash or gifting him worldly valuables, they recognised Maulana Bilal Ahmad Nadvi’s contribution by sending him on Umrah. This was a surprise to the Imam, too. This first-of-its-kind gesture has the potential of becoming the new fashion statement of the faithful, naysayers say.
The government is providing land free of charge in favour of BSNL for saturation of 4G mobile services in all the 303 uncovered villages across Jammu and Kashmir.
HANDWARA
Police arrested a couple in Handwara on April 25, 2023, for running a prostitution racket. Photo:JKP
In yet another shocking event, the Jammu and Kashmir Police uncovered a prostitution ring in the Reshipora, Kupwara. Police said they conducted a raid on a house leading to the arrest of Shabir Ahmad War, his wife and three more people. This is the fourth such scandal in the last few weeks that has come to light in Jammu and Kashmir, with similar operations having been uncovered in Srinagar outskirts including Bagh-e-Mehtab and Nowgam area, and another in Jammu Jewel Chowk. It is immediately not known what pushes individuals to prostitution.
11 Gujaratis were arrested for taking Gandola for a ride with a fake ticket. Earlier a Mumbai tourist group went to jail for the same offence.
MUMBAI
Bollywood flick, Pathaan poster showing the lead actors including Shahrukh Khan, John Ibrahim and Deepika Padukone
Bollywood’s heartthrob Shahrukh Khan has set Kashmir abuzz with excitement as he returned after 11 years to shoot for his upcoming film Dunki. Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani and co-starring Tapsee Pannu, the movie scenes were filmed in the stunning locales of Sonamarg and Pulwama. He also did some shopping in Srinagar but at the S airport, he was mobbed by fans.
Khan’s arrival for a few days has boosted the morale of the administration that recorded 300 film shootings in 2022. LT Governor Manoj Sinha said the region is experiencing a resurgence of the Bollywood era of the 1980s when many films were shot in the area due to its breathtaking beauty. For Shahrukh Khan, his return to Kashmir is a nostalgic one, having shot Jab Tak Hai Jaan in the region back in 2012. Bollywood has always been in love with Kashmir. The only difference from the 1980s is that the government was not incentivising the Bollywood shooting as it is being done big time in 2020.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation stone of Kashmir Medical College and Super-Speciality Hospital being developed by Milli Trust, Delhi, a 100-bed Rs 525-crore project that will have 150 MBBS seats and provide jobs for 2,000 people.
SAMBA
A government employee was arrested for allegedly raping a woman under the guise of being a tantrik. The accused lured the woman to his house on the pretext of healing her skin disease through “magical powers” and then raped her. The police have identified the accused as Subash Chander of Rarian Ramgarh village and a case has been registered against him. The accused is currently behind bars.
Rekha Sharma, chairperson, National Commission for Women (NCW), has revealed that in 2022, women trafficking in Jammu and Kashmir have increased by about 15.26 per cent but it is “just the tip of an iceberg”
BHADERWAH
A group photograph showing the scholars, farmers and representatives of industry in CSIR-IIIM interaction in Pulwama. The photograph was taken in the lavender farm on June 13, 2022
The Chenab Valley’s mini-Kashmir is purple these days as farmers have switched from traditional crops to lucrative lavender cultivation. Over the past decade, lavender cultivation has expanded from 10 kanals of land to about 4000 kanals, with around 2500 farmers now engaged in it. A single lavender plant bears flowers for 15 years and needs little maintenance, and its oil is used in a variety of products, including soaps, cosmetics, perfumes, and medicines.
Bharat Bhushan, one of the first farmers to switch to lavender farming in the region, found that he earned four times more profit from lavender than from traditional maize farming, and he gradually converted his entire 10 kanals of farmland to a lavender farm. After Bhushan’s video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, the Aroma Mission was launched in Jammu and Kashmir, providing free lavender plants to farmers. The program has been a great success, with 500-600 farmers switching to lavender farming and 1000 kanals of land being brought under its cultivation. Modi acknowledged the region’s effort in his Mann Ki Baat.
KPDCL has 700 positions vacant
DUBAI
Safina Nabi
Kashmir journalist Safina Nabi has won the second prize in the Outstanding Contribution to Peace category of the Fetisov Journalism Award for her article titled “How Kashmir’s half-widows are denied their basic property rights.” The article sheds light on the plight of countless women in Kashmir who have been cut out of inheritances and left to fend for themselves after their husbands disappeared and could never be traced. Women whose husbands have disappeared but not yet been declared dead are referred to as “half-widows” by in Kashmir.
Last week, more than 1200 flats were inaugurated for migrant Kashmiri Pandit migrants under the Prime Minister’s package.
KOKERNAG
A government-run school in Kokernag has performed abysmally as only one of its 25 students in the eighth class passed the examination. The Middle School Khokarpora Adhal Vailoo is now the focus of an investigation. It caters to the requirements of the weaker sections but failed in imparting education.
Of 9700 water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, more than 76 per are ‘in use’. Almost 48.6 per cent of water bodies are privately owned leaving only the remaining 51.4 percent to public ownership.
SOIBUG
NIA official on a piece of land that was attached by it in a terror funding case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached two houses of sons of banned Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s chief Syed Salahuddin. Shahid Yusuf lives in Soibug and Syed Ahmad Shakeel in Rambagh Srinagar. NIA spokesperson said they “had been receiving funds from abroad from the associates of their father and overground workers of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.” Their properties were attached under Section 33(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the NIA said. In August 2018, the NIA arrested Shakeel, who was working as a lab technician at SKIMS Soura. In August 2022, the administration sacked Salahuddin’s third son Syed Abdul Mueed, Manager, IT, Jammu Kashmir Entrepreneur Development Institute.
Srinagar Tulip Garden which attracted 375 thousand tourists was open for 33 days, unlike 21 days in 2022.
JAMMU
LG Manoj Sinha inaugurated 576 residential accommodations for PM Package Employees on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
Days after Padma Bushan awardee, Muzaffar Hussain Baig said the assembly election can take place after the general election across India, LG Manoj Sinha said his administration wants Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir to be held on time. He maintained that three-tier Panchayati Raj System is working very well under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Panchayats will be completing their five-year term in November-December this year and elections to them will have to be conducted in October-November. Polls to Panchayats were held in November-December 2018 after nearly four decades in Jammu and Kashmir during President’s Rule after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP Government in the erstwhile State.
Poonch, May 1 (GNS): At least four persons sustained critical injuries in a gas cylinder blast after a fire erupted in a residential house in Qazi Mora in Poonch district this morning, officials said.
The officials told GNS that information was received this morning about the breaking out of fire in a house belonging to one Qamar Din at Qazi Mora.
“Soon after the receipt of this information police party rushed on the spot during the course of enquiry preliminary it has been found that it was due to leakage of cylinder”, the officials said adding in the course of ongoing blaze a gas cylinder exploded causing grievous injuries to four persons.
Identifying the injured persons as, Hasham Mair son of Niaz Mair resident of Bihar, Suraj Patil son of Ram Patil resident of Bihar, Mohd Shaid son of Mohd Sadiq resident of Qazi Mora and Javid son of Mohd Ahmed from UP, the officials further said that all the injured persons have been shifted to District Hospital Poonch for treatment. (GNS)
Srinagar: A 50-year-old man who allegedly consumed poison on being called by police for questioning in connection with last week’s terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch died on Thursday. Mukhtar Hussain Shah, a farmer from Poonch’s Nar village, died by suicide days after being summoned by security agencies for questioning in the Bhata Durian terror attack case, as per his family. While the inquiry order says that the victim consumed poison at his home on Tuesday, April 25, the family dismissed the claim as a “white lie.” Quoting Rafaqat, Mukhtar’s brother, The Wire reported, “We took him to a hospital in Mendhar, and doctors referred us to the Rajouri district hospital on the same day where he passed away on Thursday, April 27 at 12:20 am. I don’t know why they have written these lies.”
Mukhtar left behind a video on his phone where he can be seen speaking incoherently and breaking down multiple times. In the video, Mukhtar alleged that he, his family, and the neighbours were subjected to torture in the aftermath of the Poonch attack. Mukhtar held a small polythene bag containing a bottle of insecticide and claimed that he was taking his life due to the torture faced by his family and neighbours. He also stated that no one was listening to him even though he was telling the truth.
Mukhtar expressed regret over the death of five army soldiers and rejected having any links with militants. He claimed to have worked with the police and the army last year during an encounter in Poonch before he allegedly took his life.
Quoting sources at Rajouri district hospital, where Mukhtar passed away on April 27, The Wire reported that he allegedly consumed some poisonous substance, which is suspected to have caused his death. ‘The exact cause of his death will be known once the post-mortem proceedings are completed,’ the source added. Rafaqat alleged that Mukhtar had ‘bruises’ and ‘black marks’ on his back and thighs’, suggesting that he was tortured in custody. ‘If he has committed any wrong, let the investigators reveal the facts publicly. Why are they trying to hide the truth?’ he said.
The J&K administration has appointed Tahir Mustafa Malik, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, to conduct an ‘in-depth magisterial inquiry into the incident and circumstances (that) led to the death’ of Mukhtar.”
As news of Mukhtar’s death spread, a pall of gloom descended on the village. Accompanied by neighbours and relatives, Mukhtar’s family, which comprises elderly parents, five brothers, their wives, and children, blocked the Jammu-Poonch national highway between Bhimber Gali and Bhata Durian. The protesters demanded an impartial inquiry into the circumstances that led to Mukhtar’s death, following which the magisterial probe was ordered. During the protest, they were shouting anti-police, anti-administration, pro-army, and pro-India slogans, The Wire reported.
Poonch, May 1: At least four persons sustained critical injuries in a gas cylinder blast after a fire erupted in a residential house in Qazi Mora in Poonch district this morning, officials said.
The officials told GNS that information was received this morning about the breaking out of fire in a house belonging to one Qamar Din at Qazi Mora.
“Soon after the receipt of this information police party rushed on the spot during the course of enquiry preliminary it has been found that it was due to leakage of cylinder”, the officials said adding in the course of ongoing blaze a gas cylinder exploded causing grievous injuries to four persons.
Identifying the injured persons as, Hasham Mair son of Niaz Mair resident of Bihar, Suraj Patil son of Ram Patil resident of Bihar, Mohd Shaid son of Mohd Sadiq resident of Qazi Mora and Javid son of Mohd Ahmed from UP, the officials further said that all the injured persons have been shifted to District Hospital Poonch for treatment.
SRINAGAR: Amid heightened tensions along the border belts, particularly in Rajouri and Poonch districts, authorities again have intensified the construction works for underground bunkers constructed for the safety of the people living along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) in Jammu province.
The District Development Commissioner Rajouri Vikas Kundal chaired a crucial meeting and directed the officials to complete construction of all bunkers by June 30.
The meeting was informed that against the target of constructing 1892 bunkers, the work on 1528 bunkers is complete in all respects. The DDC also reviewed block wise progress in respect of bunker construction. He set June 30, 2023 as the deadline for completing work on the remaining bunkers.
Reviewing the allotment of the tenders for the bunkers, he set the May 15 deadline for completing the pending allotments.
The DDC emphasized the officers to put in all possible efforts to ensure that the set targets are achieved well in time so that necessary benefits are provided to the border residents with the completion of bunkers.
Though there has been no major ceasefire violation since India and Pakistan signed a fresh agreement to maintain calm along the borders on February 25 this year, in the last few years, dozens of border residents have died in relentless shelling and firing by Pakistan along the border.
