Day: July 16, 2018

Teachers detained in Baramulla for allegedly glorifying militancy

Editor

Thirteen teachers of a private school in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town were detained last week for allegedly ‘glorifying militancy’ and motivating students to become militants. Videos doing the rounds on social media showed 13–14-year-old boys being encouraged to act as militants somewhere in the forests of Zandafaran, where they had gone for a school excursion in the first week of July. As some boys played songs eulogising death, some students act as militants, ready to carry out an attack. The school management refused to talk on the matter. Chief education…

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Rebels release another group photo 2 months after last of ‘Burhan’s Boys’ killed

Editor

The new group photo came just a week after Hizbul flooded the social media with individual pictures of around 18 young men holding guns on the second death anniversary of Burhan Wani on July 8. Jammu and Kashmir police are trying to identify 14 young men in a group photograph that militants released earlier this week and which a senior police officer described a ‘leaderless troupe’. Two months after last of the active militants who posed in a famous photograph with Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed militants have…

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J&K Govt likely to withdraw extra security of politicians, party workers say they are vulnerable to attacks

Editor

The Jammu and Kashmir government led by Governor Narendra Nath Vohra is likely to withdraw “extra security” of all the political leaders, including the ministers in the previous BJP-PDP coalition government. The downgrading of security comes for the first time after the BJP pulled out of the coalition government, leading to the eighth governor’s rule of state. The moves comes amidst political turmoil in the state, with more PDP leaders joining a disgruntled group of MLAs who have raised their voices against the leadership of party president Mehbooba Mufti for…

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Surrounded by glaciers, Kashmir faces drought-like conditions as precipitation levels dwindle

Editor

In 2002, the Jammu and Kashmir government set up a water-treatment plant at Pokhribal in Srinagar to supply drinking water from the Dal Lake to the households of the area. But local people objected saying the lake water was unfit for consumption, so the government changed the water source to a nearby freshwater stream. But, in the last decade, despite getting even more polluted, the Dal Lake has again become a source of drinking water for a significant portion of the city. The state’s Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, which…

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Do not have numbers to form govt says BJP, Denies support to rebel PDP leaders

Editor

Priority to establish peace in state, says party’s in charge for Jammu & Kashmir In charge of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir Avinash Rai Khanna has said that since the party did not have the numbers to form the government, it was not in any kind of hurry. Though he did not deny looking for a suitable arrangement, he said the party’s priority was to establish peace in the state before any decision on the government formation could be taken. “It is also wrong that the BJP is in…

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Wular has lost its primary function of flood absorption basin for Jhelum

Editor

Not so long ago Wular in Bandipore was considered to be one of the largest freshwater lakes in Aisa, acting as a natural flood reservoir for Jhelum River to prevent floods in the Valley. Today, the lake is however gasping for survival as years of encroachment and siltation are posing a mortal threat to its existence. Notwithstanding these challenges, the government continues to sit over implementation of an ambitious multi-crore project to dredge the heavily silted Wular, a key component of lake’s massive conservation project, and restore its lost glory.…

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Tragic Sunday: Rock crushes 7 to death under Siar Baba waterfall in Reasi

Editor

Seven people were crushed to death and 33 were wounded Sunday when a rock slipped off cliff and fell on them as they bathed under the famous Siar Baba waterfall in Reasi district. Two of the dead were women. All the injured were taken to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana hospital, Katra, where condition of three of them is stated to be serious. “Five people died on the spot and two others succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. Total 33 people sustained injuries,” District Development Commissioner Reasi, G PrasannaRamaswamy…

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