Month: September 2015

Water supply hit as daily wagers’ strike enters Day 4

Editor

The drinking water supply in a major part of Jammu city remained disrupted for the fourth consecutive day as 24,000 daily wagers serving in the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department continued their strike demanding regularisation. Yesterday, the meeting between daily wagers’ representatives and the Chief Engineer (PHE) ended in a deadlock as the striking workers demanded written assurances from the government before resuming work. In most parts of the city, residential areas have not received water supply, compounding problems in hot weather conditions. Workers are demanding regularisation in the department…

Read More

Qazigund-Banihal tunnel to miss May 2016 deadline

Editor

The 8.5-km Qazigund-Banihal tunnel is set to miss another deadline as labourers are on a strike for the past more than 40 days. The tunnel has already missed many deadlines. Local labourers on strike have alleged wage disparity in comparison with their counterparts from outside the state. They say the project implementing unit and the executing agency do not listen to their grievances. Labour Union president Ghulam Nabi Khan said wage disparity was not the only problem they had been facing. “It (the executing agency) is not ready to recognise…

Read More

Apple launches iPhone 6S, 6S Plus with 3D Touch

Editor

Eight years after changing the way we use mobile phones with the first iPhone, Apple has once again heralded a big change in world’s best-selling gadget iPhone. The new iPhones, named iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, are not lighter, thinner or bigger anymore. They instead feature a new display technology called 3D Touch, a derivative of the Force Touch technology used in Apple Watch. According to Apple, 3D Touch will be able to differentiate between types of touches and taps in preloaded apps as well as on the homescreen. This…

Read More

Mufti Promises new dawn in JK

Editor

‘I joined hands with Modi to end politics of uncertainty, usher era of development’ Mebhooba hails Atal for positive moves on political reconciliation  Promising people of a new dawn in Jammu & Kashmir, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Friday said the objective of forging an alliance with BJP is to bring in equitable and balanced development of all the three regions of the state. “I saw an opportunity for peace and development for entire J&K by coming together with BJP, which had won people’s mandate in Jammu, just like PDP…

Read More

Three Local Trekkers Summit Kolahoi Peak

Editor

Three local adventure sport athletes representing Kolahoi Mountaineers have scaled Kashmir’s highest mountain peak – Kolahoi. It is after more than two decades that a local group has scaled the highest peak of the Valley which is counted among the toughest peaks to summit technically. The group of five athletes who had gone on the expedition comprised Muhammad Junaid Dar, Shafkat Mohamed, Tauseef , Abid Bhat and Rouf . While the first three scaled the peak of September 5, the last two stayed at base camp at Danwat till the…

Read More

Holy Cow! Kashmir back to Qazi Nisar moment

Editor

Is history repeating the Ummat-e-Islamia-MUF-1987 rigged polls-militancy cycle? The recent verdict of the High Court calling for implementing the ban on the sale of beef has taken the State back to the Mirwaiz Qazi Nisar moment of 1985. Nisar had defied Governor Jagmohan Malhotra’s imposition of ban on the slaughter of livestock on Janmashtmi. It paved a way for the creation of Ummat-e-Islamia, which in turn cleared the decks for the formation of Muslim United Front (MUF). And MUF’s participation in the 1987 ‘rigged’ polls culminated in the outbreak of…

Read More

Grand Mufti calls for liquor ban in JK

Editor

Strongly denouncing ban on beef in Jammu and Kashmir, the Head Priest of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Bashir-u-Din Friday said the court ruling has “hurt the sentiments” of Muslims. He called it “unnecessary and interference in religion which is not acceptable to Muslims in the State.” “Muslims can slaughter any animal permitted in Islam. This ban reflects the BJP ideology,” Din said in a statement. He asked the Division Bench of the High Court to review the order, which he said, was against the Shariah law. While supporting Saturday’s strike…

Read More

She weaved a career out of handicrafts

Editor

Jameela Majid, 35, from the militant bastion village of Takiya Niloora, Pulwama, south Kashmir, feels empowered as her art is getting a lot of praise and attention at the 10th regional SARAS exhibition in the heart of Srinagar. After passing her middle school exams, Jameela followed her mother’s footsteps and started making handmade curtains and cushions covers. “We had nothing as we suffered a lot economically due to the conflict. We were poor as for our family it was really difficult to afford two square meals a day, but today…

Read More

Sort out chopper tax row, Rajnath tells Deputy CM

Editor

With resentment brewing against the imposition of service tax on chopper ride to the Vaishno Devi shrine, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has reportedly told Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh to get the contentious order withdrawn at the earliest. Sources said following resentment by different groups over Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu’s arbitrary decision to impose 12.5 per cent service tax on the devotees availing chopper service to the cave shrine, the Union Home Minister on Friday told Nirmal Singh, who is a representative of the BJP in the coalition government,…

Read More

4,000 runners ready for Ladakh Marathon tomorrow

Editor

Around 4,000 runners from across the country and 20 foreign nations have converged on the land of high passes — Ladakh — to test their endurance and physical limits during the eco-friendly Ladakh Marathon, an international-level event being held on September 13. This is the fourth edition of the Ladakh Marathon, an annual event after it was started in 2012 following the devastating flash floods that claimed 200 human lives and rendered hundreds homeless in Leh district in August 2010. The initiative was started to convey to the world that…

Read More