SRINAGAR: Kashmir did figure in the just concluded 3-day All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary session in Raipur. The resolution offered clear ideas about its Kashmir policy, apparently vindicating what was already around.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka in Kheer Bhawani temple in Ganderbal after the Bharat Jodo Yatra was formally over on January 31, 2023.
There were two mentions of Kashmir. One in Rahul Gandhi’s speech after the session was over and another in the party’s resolution.
“52 years past and I still don’t have home, but when reached Kashmir felt like home,” Rahul Gandhi said. He concluded his yatra in Srinagar and made a speech amid a snowfall. Later he spent many days in Gulmarg to cool his heels. “Yatra was to make people of all castes and age groups feel at home. People were not talking about political things to me during yatra but it all changed when I reached Kashmir (sic).”
Gandhi’s Kashmir links apart, the grand old party is not interested in reinstating Article 370 or retaining encouraging Ladakh to rejoin Jammu and Kashmir. It wants early restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and protect Ladakh culture by the extension of the Sixth Schedule.
“The people of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have always stood by the country and its sovereignty. Congress reaffirms that the whole of Jammu & Kashmir is part of India. Owing to the drastic steps taken in August 2019, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir has been bifurcated summarily,” the draft resolution read. “Congress will strive to restore complete statehood for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, and bring Ladakh and its people under the protection of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.”
Gandhi in Srinagar had also asserted that his party would want early elections in Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of the statehood. He avoided Article 370.
Interestingly, Home Minister Amit Shah asserted on the floor of the house on the day he read down the special status of Jammu and Kashmir that statehood will be restored and elections will be held. However, he offered no deadline for either of the two commitments.
Congress’s silence on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir indicated that the party will avoid raking an issue that will cost it in elections. A section within Congress is not opposed to the August 5, 201decision-makingng though they insist the way it was done could have been avoided.
JK Police arrested the founder of Awami Awaaz Party on February 16, 2023 for being anti national. The party came into being after the reading down of Article 370 in August 2019. Pic: JKP
In an interesting twist in the Kashmir tale, the police booked three ‘leaders’ of a post-2019 “political party” under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), for allegedly ‘intimidating’ journalists and making anti-national statements. Identified as Suhail of Mustafabad HMT, Nadeem Shafi Rather of Maloora HMT and Umar Majeed Wani of Soura, the trio were running Awami Awaz Party. It was one of the many “nationalist” groups that would unfurl the tricolour in Lal Chowk and sing the national anthem to the social media cell phones while attacking the “dynasts” for the bloodshed in Kashmir. “I urge all youth of Jammu and Kashmir to take the pledge on this Republic Day to make our country proud on the world stage,” Khan said in his Lal Chowk speech on 2022 Republic Day.
The arrest came within days after a press conference in which they rebuked the “media” for working against the “interests” of Kashmir. “Our party was formed by the army. I have hoisted the tricolour,” one of the trio was quoted as having told the presser. “But when I saw atrocities on common people I decided to fight for freedom.” Police termed them “miscreants” and “anti-national”. A senior army officer told NDTV that “the group may have been supported by some individual officers, but the army has nothing to do with such groups”. The U-turn, Khan led trio claimed came in response to the use of bulldozers against the people. The group had been vocal on the mysterious disappearance of a driver in a Kupwara village in army’s custody.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yearly survey has found a construction worker in Jammu and Kashmir is Rs 524, one of the highest daily wages in India. It is only Rs 362 in Maharashtra, Rs 250 in Tripura, Rs 267 in MP, and Rs 296 in Gujarat.
LASSIPORA
Chairman and managing director of JSW group Sajjan Jindal laid the foundation stone of a steel processing unit in Pulwama on February 17, 2023.
Leading steel maker Jindal South West (JSW) laid the foundation stone of its first steel processing plant in Lassipora. Group MD Sajjan Jindal personally flew to lay the foundation in, what he said, “the heart of Kashmir”. The Rs 150 crore plant spread over 70 kanals of land has installed capacity manufacturing 1.2 lakh metric tonne colour-coated for local consumption. It will also make steel sandwich panels and steel doors for the local market. This is said to be the first project that was set up after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was read down in August 2019. Kashmir in the last decade had set up two steel plants, one each at Lassipora and Rangreth, to reduce its dependence on Jammu plants. Of the two, one was closed already and another one is battling for survival owing to the post-2019 work conditions. Jammu has traditionally been the main supplier of steel to Kashmir, apart from SAIL.
IMHANS run Tele Mental Health Assistance received more than 4000 distress calls across Jammu and Kashmir since its launch on November 4. These included 694 calls were about sadness, 619 about anxiety, 502 about stress-related issues, 191 related to suicidal ideation or attempts, 454 had reduced interest in pursuing activities, 441 were palpitation-related, 416 related to sleep disturbances, and 283 related to hopelessness, helplessness, worthlessness, and guilt.
JAMMU
M M Khajuria
MM Kahjuria, former Jammu and Kashmir Police Chief passed away after a brief illness on February 16, 2023. He was 91. He is survived by three daughters, six grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. Born on June 11, 1931, Khajuria is reported to have spearheaded an agitation for free education up to the postgraduate level before joining the JKP in 1954. He eventually became the first JKP officer to be inducted into the IPS. Khajooria was JKP’s second DGP from January 16, 1985, to May 25, 1986.
After the government clubbed schools, owing to low roll, 33 government school buildings in Rajouri remain vacant and locked. Now the authorities are working to repurpose the infrastructure.
PAHALGAM
Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha presenting a Saffron tray in full bloom to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on November 13, 2022.
The National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) is busy drafting a preliminary report to construct a road to Amarnath shrine so that it is accessible from Pahalgam as well as the Baltal side. If approved this year, it will be ready within the next five years. The announcement was made by LG Manoj Sinha. “I think you will see that day with the blessings of Lord Shankar,” Sinha said.
The finance department has released Rs 714 crore for clearance of Rs 458 of pending GPF bills and Rs 256 of Gratuity.
SHOPIAN
Jasia Akhter
Making history, Jasia Akhtar, 34, a female Kashmir cricketer got a berth in India’s Women’s Premier League (WPL). A resident of Shopian’s Braripora, she was taken by Delhi Capitals at Rs 20 lakh in the last WPL auction where 409 players from 15 countries participated. Passionate about the game, Jasia, a right-hand batter, shifted to Punjab where she is playing domestic cricket for around eight years now. In 2022, she moved to Rajasthan. Currently, she is the second-highest run-getter in the senior women’s T20 Trophy. A total of 409 players from 15 countries went under the hammer for the WPL auction.
The Elder of five siblings, Jasia is the daughter of a marginal farmer, Gul Mohammad Wani. Her first bat was chiselled out of a willow log by her father when she was five, using his axe. At the peak of tensions, she would normally play with the boys in the village till she was noticed for having a great capacity and required coaching. “My father had made a willow bat and had kept it in the rice container fearing that I would hurt myself with it,” Jasia was quoted as having said after her selection. “I would take the bat out and hide in my pheren and go to play with the boys in the village ground.” Later she would play with boys at Government Higher Secondary School at Kaprin. In 2010, she was selected by JKCA for its women’s team. In 2011, she impressed everybody when her team played against Harmanpreet Kaur-led Punjab team in the BCCI domestic competition at Jammu – 39 runs off 25 balls, following which Kaur gifted her bat to Jasia. In 2012, she shifted to Amritsar to play for the BBK DAV College team and later played for PCA women’s team.
Sarla Devi from Jammu also made it to WPL, this season.
226 thousand people visited 131 public libraries across Jammu and Kashmir in 2022.
NEW MEXICO
Kashmir neuroscientist, Dr Mubarak Hussain Syed, is among the 125 scientists from USA and Canada who were declared prestigious Sloan Research Fellows for 2023. Every one of them receives US $75000 to pursue their research within two years. Syed is an assistant professor of Biology at The University of New Mexico and runs his Neural Diversity Lab which has already helped solve certain mysteries of mind works in fruit flies. The Alfred P Sloan Foundation said the 2023 fellows “represent the most promising scientific researchers working today” and their “achievements and potential place them among the next generation of scientific leaders in the US and Canada.” The nomination is given in “recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field”. His laboratory is working on fruit flies, which offer an excellent model system to understand the genetic basis of nervous system development and function. His extensive work has given him a nickname within the scientific community – Fly Guy. His lab has already identified a novel role of insect growth hormone in regulating neural stem cell temporal gene expression. Now they are testing if this hormonal signalling regulates the formation of diverse neuron types in the fruit fly brain. “I am humbled,” Syed said. “It is an honour to be on this list of extraordinary scientists.”
Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught 136 government officials red-handed while accepting bribes in the last three years with the Srinagar district topping the chart.
JAMMU
The Jammu and Kashmir Police have booked the Jammu newspaper Taskeen editor for cheating under section 420. He is also a member of the Waqf Board. The case has been registered at Peer Mitha police station on the basis of an audio recording produced by the complainant, Dr KL Sharma, wherein Kazmi is being heard demanding Rs 5 lakh from the complainant in lieu of a government job. Reports said he had taken the money in 2021 but the candidate did not get selected and he did not return the “bribe”
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has declared Jammu and Kashmir’s eight water bodies as `polluted’ based on Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). These include Srinagar’s Chuntkol (11.21), the entire length of Jhelum from Srinagar to Baramulla (7.8); Pahalgam’s Lidder (7); Gawkadal (3.2); Tawi Jammu (14); Katra’s Banganga (6.2); Udhampur’s Devaka (10) and Samba’s Basanter (4.2).
GULMARG
Under a thick blanket of snow and crowded by hundreds of skiers from across the world and youngsters participating in various winter sports events, Gulmarg saw India’s Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and top Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi. While Thakur visited as part of the game management, Rahul flew for five days to cool his heels over the slopes after remaining busy with Bharat Jodo Yatra for many months. Over the slopes, Omar Abdullah, an impressive skier, joined him. Rahul was seen zigzagging on the slope at Gulmarg skiing resort with an instructor filming the video. Pictures of the Congress leader were also shared on social media platforms.
The government has terminated the services of Saleem Ahmad Beig, a Jail Superintendent and Abdul Majid Bhat, a former Assistant Regional Transport officer.
KUPWARA
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Kupwara turned down the bail application of nine persons including five soldiers who were arrested in a drug peddling case. The five soldiers were operating a drug peddling gang from the Panzam garrison and were arrested in January 2023 for running the drug cartel from Tangdhar, a town located on the Line of Control (LoC). The court observed that soldiers were supposed to protect society but regretted this bunch worked in contravention of it. The accused soldiers were identified as Naib-Subedar Puran Singh, Anil Kumar (driver) Sepoy Sushil Kumar, Naik Waseem Ahmad Mir and Mohammad Shafiq Khan. Their civilian accomplices were identified as Mashkoor Sheikh (working as a porter with Army), Mohammad Yousaf Kothari, Saleem Sheikh and Mohammad Imran Teli. Earlier, the NIA arrested a BSF officer posted in Handwara – also part of the frontier Kupwara district, “on charges of cross-border drug smuggling linked with the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group”. Identified as Romesh Kumar, the report said Rs 91 lakh cash was recovered from Kumar. On December 23, 2022, JKP arrested 17 people including five of its own cops for drug peddling.
MHA declared Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) as outfits bringing the total number of such illegal organisations to 44.
SRINAGAR: Former All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Rahul Gandhi (MP) Sunday chaired a meeting of Party leaders of Kashmir and exhorted them to work for the betterment of people.
Gandhi expressed serious concern over the difficulties confronting people in absence of the democratic system in J&K while slamming the Govt for snatching the rights of people.
Rahul Gandhi in a meeting with the party leaders of Kashmir expressed serious concern over the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir while slamming the Centre Govt for failing people on all counts.
Gandhi said J&K was divided into to UTs against the wishes of the people besides they are being abandoned of their democratic rights by the BJP aiming to hide its (BJPs) wrong policies and utter failure on all fronts, but the Congress shall continue to fight for the democratic rights of the people and ensure justice to them, he said.
Gandhi slammed the current eviction drive in J&K terming it BJP’s deliberate move to divert attention of the people from real issues especially rising unemployment, unprecedented price hike and other developmental issues concerning people.
Gandhi also expressed confidence that people especially the youth are joining the Congress party given its pro people policies urging Party leaders to keep their doors open for those wishing to join Congress and encourage them to work for the wellbeing of the people.
Gandhi told the Party leaders that he (RG) will continue to visit J&K as that he feels their pain and anguish, he will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice to people of J&K, who have undergone enormous hardships due to the wrong policies adopted by the BJP Govt towards J&K, Gandhi added.
Speaking on the occasion AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi urged the party leaders to work hard to strengthen the Congress party at grass roots and perform their legitimate role to resolve people’s issues, for the fact, Congress Party is an instrument of service to the people.
AICC Incharge Rajni Patil (MP) and JKPCC President Vikar Rasool Wani briefed Shri Rahul Gandhi about the organizational affairs and activities in J&K.
It was interesting to see Rahul Gandhi publicly snubbing his senior party colleague and former Chief Minister, Digvijaya Singh, over the latter’s remarks about the surgical strike. Rahul called Digvijaya’s remarks ridiculous. He, thus, conveyed he was very much the leader of his party.
Rahul Gandhi never impressed me before. Nor did he impress several of his own party colleagues who clamoured for a leadership change in Congress. And hardly ever did he add to the electoral fortunes of his party. But now I guess Rahul has reinvented himself.
While in Jammu and Kashmir on the last leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY), he came across as a confident and mature politician. However, I have my doubts as to whether his BJY was a success in the Valley.
No doubt quite a few thousand people came out, but I have seen and reported far too bigger crowds turning up for any local leader. Observers say that many of those who joined the yatra did so out of hatred for the BJP.
Tall claims of the Congress and its allies apart, ordinary Kashmiris were least excited about the yatra. They have bad memories of the Congress and have not forgotten that it was this party that diluted the erstwhile state’s special status before it was altogether removed by the BJP government. People also recall that it was the Congress government that hanged Afzal Guru out of turn for electoral gains. Rahul carried this baggage and failed to strike a chord with ordinary Kashmiris until his last day in Srinagar.
During his yatra, he made a commitment to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s “statehood and democracy”. But he never said he would undo the bifurcation of the state into two union territories. Likewise, though he quite often reiterated that Art 370 of the Indian constitution was abrogated in a wrongful manner, yet he did not make any promise that his party would undo this wrong and restore Jammu and Kashmir’s internal autonomy.
At every press conference in Jammu and Kashmir, Rahul avoided a direct answer to the oft-repeated question about Article 370. Every time, he said his position was the same as taken by the Congress working committee in its resolution in August 2019. That resolution, indeed, says the manner in which Article 370 was revoked was unconstitutional. But it does not go beyond that. The BJP always had abrogation of Article 370 in its election manifesto. There is no hint that Congress would make the restoration of this Article part of its own manifesto.
Displaying characteristics of a shrewd politician, Rahul was very tactful in avoiding straight answers to quite a few other questions. For instance, he was reminded that his great grandfather and first prime minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru, had while unfurling the tricolour at the same Lal Chowk in Srinagar more than 70 years ago, made some promises to the people of Kashmir. He was asked whether it pained him to realise that the promises had not been kept. He did not touch upon what Nehru had said or done; he said he would not look to the past and would, instead, look to the future.
At the conclusion of the 134-day-long Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a news conference in Srinagar on January 29, 2023. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
But while Rahul may have offered nothing substantial to the people of Kashmir, he showed empathy with them, which was widely noticed. Addressing a public rally at Sheri Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar, he said that the people of Kashmir have suffered deep pain – the pain of losing their loved ones. He said he understood this pain because he himself had lost his father and before that his grandmother.
For the first time, an Indian leader acknowledged that the ordinary people of Kashmir had long been in pain. This a far cry from the Kashmir Files which even Pandit leaders like Sanjay Tikoo of the Kashmir Sangharsh Samiti say has demonised Muslims of Kashmir by misrepresentation of facts. The BJP govt promoted the film and celebrated it.
Rahul did not pour out his heart for any particular section of the people in Kashmir. He empathised with all. He also empathised with the families of Indian military and paramilitary soldiers who have lost their lives or faced risk to their lives.
His speech was received well by many in Kashmir. Its video is being forwarded on WhatsApp. A lady who watched it on TV, said “tears welled up in my eyes when Rahul spoke about his father.” Rahul recalled how he had been informed about his father’s and before that his grandmother’s assassination by phone. He said many Kashmiri families have received similar phone calls (about the killing of their loved ones). “These phone calls should stop. That is the goal of my yatra“, he said.
But despite appreciating his speech, Kashmiris have not pinned their hopes on Rahul or his party. As I said, he did not promise anything except the restoration of statehood and that too without clarifying whether Ladakh would be made part of the state again. Pertinent to mention, it was the Congress party that encouraged the agitation in Leh for union territory status way back in the late 1980s. That agitation was characterized by a social boycott of the Muslim minorities there.
Rahul said quite often that his BJY was the first and small step towards setting things right in India. He, however, did not say how he proposed to fight the politics of hate which has taken deep roots across India. And I wonder whether he has realised that the Congress party is much to blame for affording space to the BJP and its right-wing politics. After all, Congress compromised its own ideology on so many occasions and demolished democratic institutions besides failing to govern well.
Tailpiece
It was interesting to see Rahul Gandhi publicly snubbing his senior party colleague and former Chief Minister, Digvijaya Singh, over the latter’s remarks about the surgical strike. Rahul called Digvijaya’s remarks ridiculous. He, thus, conveyed he was very much the leader of his party.
(The author is a freelance journalist; formerly North India Correspondent of the BBC, he also worked with the Times of India. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Kashmir Life.)
SRINAGAR: Asking Home Minister Amit Shah to opt for a Jammu to Srinagar yatra if the security situation has improved in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Chinese sitting on Indian land must be dealt with by the centre. He was speaking to the media in Srinagar after the conclusion of the 134-day-long yatra during which he addressed 15 news conferences.
Rahul said a Ladakhi delegation clearly said that 2000 square km of the Indian Territory was taken by the Chinese.
“Government is under the impression that the Chinese have not taken any land from India. I recently met some ex-army people and even a delegation from Ladakh has clearly said that 2,000 sq km of Indian territory has been taken over by the Chinese,” Rahul said. “They also said that many patrolling points that used to be in India are now firmly in Chinese hands.”
Terming it “extremely dangerous”, Rahul said: “The approach Government is following by completely denying that the Chinese have taken our land is dangerous and it will give them more confidence to do more aggressive things. We have to deal with the Chinese firmly and tell them they are sitting on our land, won’t be tolerated.”
Asked about the situation on the ground in Jammu and Kashmir, Rahul Gandhi said he met people and is extremely unhappy.
“Target killing and bomb blasts are happening in Jammu and Kashmir and if the security situation has improved then the conversation the security personnel are having with me should not have been required,” Rahul said. “If the situation is so good why don’t the BJP people walk from Jammu to Lal Chowk? Why doesn’t Amit Shah walk from Jammu to Kashmir if the situation is so secure? I don’t think that argument holds.”
Congress has alleged a security lapse during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir. Earlier on Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that police arrangement “completely collapsed” during Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir and he had “to cancel” his walk.
Responding to a volley of several questions about Jammu and Kashmir, Rahul said the restoration of statehood should be the first step.
“Statehood and restoration of the democratic process is a fundamental and very important first step. The other steps will come later and I do not necessarily have to comment on it here,” he said. “All states have an assembly. The democratic process is the right of the people and it should be restored in Jammu and Kashmir. A solution should be found for the people of Ladakh as well.”
In response to a question about the revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress Working Committee has already made its stand clear on the issue. Notably, Article 370 granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked by the Modi government on August 5, 2019.
SRINAGAR: A day after warmly greeting Rahul Gandhi while joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJO) along with her daughter and mother, Mehbooba Mufti wrote a series of tweets to show the net difference between Nehru’s tricolour hoisting and Rahul’s unfurling of the national flag. At the conclusion of the BJY, Rahul led a battery of Congress leaders to unfurl the tricolour in historic Lal Chowk amid unprecedented security measures.
Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka and other Congress leaders at Lal Chowk Srinagar where they unfurled the national flag. The flag hoisting concluded the Bharat Jodo Yatra that Congress started from Kanyakumari in September 2022. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
Unlike the Nehru-presided event soon after accession, Mehbooba said Rahul’s unfurling of the national flag took place under “different circumstances” when Jammu and Kashmir has been turned into a military garrison.
“In 1948 when PM Nehru first unfurled tiranga in Kashmir amongst a sea of people, it was a momentous occasion marked by celebrations. People of J&K had successfully fought off invaders by pushing them back & thus began a new relationship with India based on mutual trust & respect,” Mehbooba wrote in a tweet.
“Nehru’s efforts ensured a Muslim majority J&K acceded to India. He assured Kashmiris & allayed concerns about preserving their identity not only in terms of religion but also culturally within India. This was achieved through constitutional safeguards guaranteed by Article 370,” she said in another tweet.
A November 1947 photograph showing Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of Indian making his first important speech in Lal Chowk. During the course of his speech he said “India will never let down Kashmir and the Indian Army will fight on till the last raider is driven out”.
With this historic background, Mehbooba commented on the unfurling of the tricolour on January 29, 2023, by Rahul, a function she and other like-minded parties n Kashmir skipped.
“Today history stands witness as RG unfurled the same flag albeit under completely different circumstances at a time when J&K has been turned into a military garrison. Assurances given by Indian constitution have been demolished by BJP & is a complete betrayal,” she wrote. “Despite these facts, BJP claims to have resolved the Kashmir issue by the unconstitutional abrogation of Article 370. Not only have they failed to address the issue but also gifted 2000 sq km of our territory to China.”
When Pandit Nehru flew to Srinagar on November 20, 1947, he spoke to a gathering in Lal Chowk. Later, he was taken in a procession to various parts of the Srinagar city. In comparison, Rahul’s function was brief and small and was attended by his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party leaders from Jammu and Kashmir. Nehru had unfurled the flag near the Palladium Cinema, a few notches ahead of the Ghanta Ghar, where the tricolour was unruled today.
SRINAGAR: Amid tight security arrangements, the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) reached Srinagar’s centre, Lal Chowk and unfurled the tricolour. This marks the conclusion of the BJY that started from Kanyakumarai in September 2022.
The yatra entered Srinagar city on its last leg Sunday morning and will culminate in the Jammu and Kashmir office of the Congress Party. It started from Pantha Chowk in the morning and will soon reach the Congress office.
Authorities said they have been adequate security arrangements and in in anticipation of the yatra, they have issued a detailed route shift programme. “We have asked the Sunday market t to function today,” one senior official said. “This has helped in issues of movement of the yatra and its security.”
The national hoisting by Rahul Gandhi was witnessed by a good crowd of BJY members and a number of Congress leaders including Priyanka Gandhi. The senior leaders wore white dresses and sang – Janda Ouncha Rahay Hamara. They later sung the national anthem aloud as well.
In anticipation of the brief flag hoisting event, the city centre remained in a tight guard of the security grid. Every inch of the spot was scanned by metal detectors and dog squad was deployed.
SRINAGAR: Congress leader and Member Parliament Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said that Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) has largely succeeded to fight against the narrative of hatred spread across the country and bring the folks together yet again.
“Let me tell you that we have been able to bring the people across the country together yet again through BJY. There were a lot of lessons for us in the Yatra and we have learnt a lot after meeting people of various shades during our journey,” news agency KNO quoted Rahul as having said.
He said that there is no scope for hatred in the country as Congress believes in spreading the message of love. “Our endeavour is to open the shops of love across J&K that has been made a scapegoat of politics,” Rahul said. “Through BJY we have largely been able to fight the disastrous narrative of hatred spread by the BJP in the country.”
He said that primary focus of Congress is to get Statehood and Assembly restored in J&K. Asked if BJY was apolitical, why he was continuously targeting BJP, Rahul said that since Congress is the grand old political party, there will surely be a bit of politics in his speeches during the Yatra. “When KPs, farmers and unemployed youth would meet me during the Yatra and hope that I will definitely rake up their issues, there would obviously be a problem for me if I don’t talk about them,” the Congress leader said. He said there was not even a tinge of hatred for anybody including PM Narendera Modi. “I am not afraid of anybody so why should I have hatred for anyone,” he asid.
He said J&K youth are suffering from depression and discomfort. “We are here to listen to them and understand their issue,” he said, adding that media too has been suppressed to an extent as if Yatra is not happening at all.
To a query about Lal Singh, Rahul said that Singh supported Yatra and Congress appreciates that. “As far as Ghulam Nabi Azad, 90 per cent of his supporters and party men were on our stage. I would like to tender my apology if we have hurt Azad or Lal Singh,” Rahul said. On there are reports that crores are being spent for his BJY, Rahul said that to tarnish his image, BJP and RSS spent thousands of crores and yet didn’t succeed. “I want to tell BJP that money can’t burry the truth which has a nasty habit of come out. BJP has started to understand this reality gradually,” he said. Pertinently, Rahul led BJY will enter Srinagar on January 30.
SRINAGAR: Actor-politician Urmila Matondkar on Tuesday joined the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi is leading the foot march, which is now in its last phase.
“When stars join, the journey becomes brighter,” the grand old party tweeted in Hindi.
Ever since the party’s march started in September, many prominent faces – outside of the Congress – have been a part of the grand old party’s foot march. Actors, including Pooja Bhatt, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, veteran army officers have walked alongside Rahul Gandhi. In Delhi, Kamal Haasan joined the foot march last month.
Urmila Matondar also posted a video on social media that showed her walking with Gandhi. “Walk for Unity, Affinity, Equality and Fraternity (sic),” she tweeted.
Before the march, she posted a video message, where she can be heard saying: “In this winter chill, I am addressing you from Jammu. In a short while from now, I will be joining the Yatra. Indian unity is the spirit that has been carried along during this Yatra. All of us have created this India and we have to help it grow. For me, this Yatra is more for the society than politics. The world is functional with love, not hate,” she can be heard saying in the clip.
Throughout the Kanyakumari to Kashmir Yatra, Rahul Gandhi has been saying that his party aims to counter the hatred spread by the ruling party in an attack on the BJP and the RSS. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, however, on Sunday had said that “India is not broken that it needs Congress to unite it”.
On Monday, Rahul Gandhi met Kashmiri Pandits and also raised the issue of statehood during one of the addresses.
Investigations into the twin attacks in Rajouri’s Upper Dangri village in which seven persons were killed have been taken over by the federal investigator, NIA. A day after Home Minister Amit Shah visited the region. Owing to bad weather, however, he could not fly to the distant mountainous area and spoke to the families of the victims on phone. Shah presided over a high-level security review meeting in which various decisions were taken. He announced having a 360-degree security net to wipe out militancy from the Jammu region and strengthen Security Grid within three months. The 360-degree security circle, he said will completely eliminate the support and information system of terrorists.
In two years, Kashmir lost 35 persons (18 in 2021 and 17 in 2022) to electrocution. These included 19 temporary KPDCL employees.
DODA
Two daughters and a son of an erstwhile mechanic at Baglihar power project created history by cracking the coveted JKAS examination together. What is interesting is that they lacked access to personal phones and never went to coaching. They basically belong to a Doda village and have shifted to Jammu. The siblings include sisters – Ifra Anjum, Huma Anjum and their younger brother Suhail Ahmad Wani. It was the first attempt for Ifra and Suhail, but elder sister Huma qualified it in her second attempt. They said they studied together and learned a lot from the mistake that their elder sister committed in her first attempt.
The JKAS results declared by JK Public Service Commission in record time filled 187 positions in the Jammu and Kashmir administration – 56 JKAS, 71 JKPS and 60 will go to the Jammu and Kashmir Accounts Service. Of the 187 candidates, 90 candidates were selected in Open Merit. Rest are from reserved categories – 22 candidates belong to Scheduled Caste (SC) – six of them have secured their seats in Open Merit as well – 19 candidates belong to Scheduled Tribe (ST), 24 candidates belong to Residents of Backward Area (RBA) – eight of them also fall in Open Merit, 18 candidates belonged to Economically Weaker Section (EWS), three candidates belong to Physically Handicapped Category (PHC), eight candidates belong to Pahari Speaking People (PSP) – two of them secured their seats among Open Merit also, eleven candidates belong to Actual Line of Control/ International Border (ALC/IB) and four of them secured their seat among Open Merit, six candidates belong to Social Caste (SLC) and one of them secured the seat among Open Merit. As many as 31 candidates from Kashmir were declared successful.
Nearly 24 per cent of the population in Jammu and Kashmir own a car
WEST BENGAL
A probe is underway to investigate why a West Bengal textbook used the word “Azad Kashmir” in an exercise book meant for the tenth-class examination. The book belonged to Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamadir, a government-aided school in Malda district. It asked the students to identify several places on the map including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It read: On the map of India locate the following places, with the options being “Azad Kashmir”, Moplah (Malabar) rebellion area, the place where Gandhiji had first undertaken the Satyagraha movement and Chittagong battleground. It became an issue after some BJP leaders put the photograph on social media. In reaction, Jr Education Minister in Delhi, Subhas Sarkar alleged that the question setter was inspiring terrorism. “The paper setter is anti-national. He is inspiring terrorism. This is shameful,” Sarkar said. “The West Bengal Education Minister should write to him and this test paper cell should be shut immediately.”
In four years, Jammu and Kashmir reported 51577 cancer cases. There were 6824 deaths in 2018, 7003 in 2019, 7189 cancer deaths in 2020, 7211 in 2021 and 7396 in 2022.
DELHI
Hindal Haider Taybji
One of the petitioners against Article 370 abrogation, Hindal Haidar Tyabji, former Jammu and Kashmir former Chief Secretary, died in Delhi. He was 82. Scion of the rich Taybji family – he was the son of Badruddin Taybji, HH Taybji was married in Srinagar, when he was a young officer, but the union ended up in divorce soon. It was much later that he married Nalini Misra and adopted her family. He served Jammu and Kashmir for 37 years and was the only officer who worked as ACS after being removed as Chief Secretary. His death was widely condoled in Kashmir, especially by people who worked with him. He is being seen as a “friend of Kashmir” who was hugely rich but lived a modest life and would spend most of his earnings on charity. The cigar-smoking bureaucrat was faith-neutral but very well-read, dignified and a positive human being. He was briefly the law secretary of the Government of India as well. He was created in Delhi.
J&K Waqf Board says of around 31000 properties in Jammu and Kashmir, they only control only 10 per cent directly.
ANANTNAG
With most of the services that the Jammu and Kashmir government is offering are online. Almost 400 services have gone completely online. Now cell phone is the key player in governance. However, in the quantum jump, a lot of people are caught in the digital divide. One faction of people is the women from weaker sections who had applied offline for marriage assistance. They married and claim they had raised debts in the hope the assistance will come and they will payback. Now they are caught in the mess. Officials, they claim tell them the off-line mode is over. They have been protesting over the crisis they are in. How will the online system manage the off-line backlog, it is something that needs to be watched in ‘smart-governed’ Jammu and Kashmir.
In order to make butchers sell mutton at Rs 535 a kg fixed in 2021, authorities have sealed more than 117 mutton shops.
JAMMU
Administratively, Jammu and Kashmir might be separate from Ladakh but technically it is not. The leaders from the twin districts of Kargil and Leh – now a division and a UT, have been seeking rights and have protested many times in the desert region since 2019. Not seeing it effective, they moved to Jammu where they led a huge slogan-shouting march. Chering Dorjay Lakrook and KDA co-chairman Asgar Ali Karbalaie led a march in Jammu for full-fledged Statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, recruitment and job reservation for the youth of the region and two separate Parliamentary constituencies for Leh and Kargil. They are now moving to Delhi with their demands to Jantar Mantar. Ladakh leaders have stayed away from the high-powered committee constituted recently by the MHA.
Almost 97 per cent of the Jammu Kashmir population has Golden Card that guarantees cashless health cover.
SAHARANPUR
Mufti Abdul Gani Azhari
Kashmir’s veteran Islamic scholar Mufti Abdul Gani Azhari died at Saharanpur where he was teaching at a respected seminary. He was 100 plus years and was not keeping a good health for a long time. Azhari was head of the Arabic department at the University of Kashmir. Popularly known as Gani Azhari, the respected Gujjar scholar was an authority on Naqishbandiya Silsila and a veteran Arabic scholar. He was a polymath sufi, who was born in Poonch in 1922 and finally migrated to Sagam in Kokernag. He studied at Darul Uloom Deoband and Mazahir al Uloom Saharanpur. He did his PhD from Jamia al-Azhari. He retired as head of the Arabic department of the University of Kashmir in 1997.
LAKHANPUR
Leaders at a stage in Lakhanpur after Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra enters JK
A day ahead of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra’s entry into Jammu and Kashmir, Congress’s spokesperson in Jammu enforced some morality by resigning against the party’s invitation to Choudhary Lal Singh. Deepika Pushkar Nath said she was “left with no option but to resign” from the Congress over the decision taken by the party’s state unit to “allow” Singh to join the Yatra. She said the Yatra was “ideologically opposite” to the actions of Singh as he “divided the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir to protect the rapists.” A two-time MP and three-time MLA who has been with Congress and BJP before floating his own party – Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP), Singh had extended his support to the Yatra. He had played a key role in supporting the accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in 2018. Nath had stood up for the victim and her family in the Kathua rape case, and had taken the parents of the victim to the High Court at Jammu for monitoring of the investigation. She had also guided them to approach the Supreme Court for seeking a transfer of the trial to Pathankot in Punjab. After Nath took the stand, Omar also questioned Singh’s decision to be part of Yatra. Eventually, Congress said it would stand by the victim’s family. Though Singh was part of the welcome function, he was not invited to share the stage. “Let me tell you, Kashmir-based parties will never allow Jammu to develop, prosper or form its own identity,” a sulking Singh told reporters.
Rahul Gandhi said he is revisiting his routes, His yatra will conclude on January 31 with a grand function in Srinagar.
SHALIMAR
A man shows new Rs 2000 currency after exchanging old Rs 500 and 1000 denominations at Srinagar on Thursday 11 November 2016. KL Image Bilal Bahadur
Under the Ministry of Science and Technology Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (DST-PURSE) scheme, two universities in Kashmir – SKUAST-K, and Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) got substantial funding of Rs 10 crore each. The universities have to formally apply and justify the grant on basis of the scientific work they had done and the publications they have made. These funds go into the creation of adequate infrastructure for high-end scientific research. The grant comes on basis of high-impact scientific publications. In 2021, the University of Kashmir also got a Rs 10 crore DST-PURSE grant. Jammu University got a Rs 16.75 crore grant in 2016. The grant is once in a five or 10-year affair.
