Category: Community

Focus on militancy left rising drug addiction unchecked; Political unrest and growing unemployment to blame

Editor

Drug addiction is a bigger challenge than militancy in Jammu and Kashmir today, the state’s director general of police, Shesh Paul Vaid, told a news agency on 16 November, 2017. Drug seizures have increased and the number of cases being registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, for peddling and smuggling of banned substances are rising, said Vaid. Drug seizures have increased and the number of cases being registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, for peddling and smuggling of banned substances are…

Read More

Over 3800 hit by pellets in Kashmir Valley last year: Govt to SHRC

Editor

The government has disclosed that at least 3896 people sustained pellet injuries in forces firing during over five month long unrest in Valley last year following killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. In response to a notice by State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), the government submitted the reports about the pellet injuries compiled by deputy commissioners of eight out of 10 districts of the Valley and medical superintendents of eight hospitals to the commission. As per the reports of the deputy commissioners’ and hospitals, at least 3896 people…

Read More

More than 3 lakh migratory birds arrive in Kashmir Valley

Editor

With the onset of winter, over three lakh migratory birds from central Asia and southern Europe have arrived at more than 400 water bodies in the Kashmir Valley. Thousands of Mallards, Common Mergansers, Northern Pintails, Common Pochards, Red-crested Pochards, Ruddy Shelducks, Northern Shovelers, Common Teals, Eurasian Wigeons, Tufted Ducks, Gadwalls, Brahminy Ducks, Garganeys, and Greylag Geese have come to Kashmir in the first batch of migration this season. Wildlife warden of Jammu & Kashmir wildlife protection department, Abdul Rauf Zargar, told TOI that the birds mainly throng the wetlands of…

Read More

‘Forced to drink urine, eat human waste’, Ordeal of Kashmiri prisoners

Editor

The families of Kashmiri prisoners languishing in Delhi’s Tihar jail are worried over their safety as reports and pictures of thrashing of several inmates went viral on social media. Even as chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, spoke to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and expressed concern over the “alleged harassment and manhandling of some Kashmiri inmates” in Tihar jail the families of these jail inmates are under “tremendous stress over their safety”. “We have also come across some of the photographs of several injured inmates circulated on social media. The post…

Read More

Heavy smoke hits visibility inside Chenani tunnel

Editor

Heavy smoke inside South East Asia’s longest tunnel is posing a serious threat to people’s lives, besides slowing the traffic flow on a regular basis. Despite tall claims by the National Highways Authorities of India (NHAI) about ensuring a proper ventilation system in the 9.2-km-long Chenani-Nashri tunnel, commuters experience a “suffocated” drive through the tunnel. The engineering marvel, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2, has bypassed 42 km of the hilly terrain on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in the mountainous range of lower Shivaliks and…

Read More

Mehbooba Mufti expresses concern over torture of Kashmiri inmates in Tihar Jail

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the alleged harassment and physical torture of Kashmiri prisoners at the Tihar Central Jail in New Delhi. Taking a serious view of these reports, the Chief Minister spoke to Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba and asked him to intervene in the matter, said an official handout. The Union Home Secretary assured the Chief Minister of a thorough probe into the incident and punishing the culprits for having violated the jail manual. Violation of fundamental, human and legal…

Read More

‘One job, One family’, Non-migrant Pandits to get job package benefit

Editor

After facing neglect for 27 years, non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit youth living in the Valley will get jobs under the Prime Minister’s Employment Package. Following the Central government approval, the PDP-BJP government has constituted a committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) to select candidates among Pandits who did not migrate in 1989-90 after the eruption of armed insurgency. The committee will hold its first meeting in the first week of December to do groundwork for the selection process. As per the government order issued on November 13, nearly 500 posts…

Read More

MS Dhoni welcomed in Kashmir with ‘Boom Boom Afridi’ slogans

Editor

Dhoni was in Kashmir for attending the final of the Chinar Cricket Premier League, a local tournament on Sunday. India’s limited-overs’ wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni is said to be a calm person when it comes to handling things, both on and off the pitch. His calmness was once again evident when thousands of his fans welcomed him with slogans of ‘ Boom Boom Afridi’ in Kunzer during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir. Despite all the slogans and chants, Dhoni was in his usual self, by being calm. The 36-year-old Dhoni,…

Read More

Families being forced to ask sons to return home: Hizb Commander Riyaz Naikoo

Editor

Top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo has alleged that government forces are forcing families of militants to make appeals to their sons to return home. In an audiotape that went viral on social media on Saturday, Naikoo said that militant outfits do not “force any Kashmiri youth to join their ranks, nor do they force anyone to stay with them.” “The Indian forces are going to the homes of militants to press them for the return of their kin. They are being pressurised to make appeal to their sons in…

Read More

Sopore has traces of 5000-year-old civilisation: Heritage Expert

Editor

Atiqa Bano paid tributes for contribution to redefine vernacular heritage Traces of Sopore being a civilisation have been found, a noted heritage expert of Kashmir said Sunday. Delivering Atiqa Bano memorial lecture to mark the heritage week, heritage expert and former Director General (DG) Tourism, Saleem Beg said in the north Kashmir’s apple-rich town of Sopore and adjoining areas, traces had been found that prove it was a 5000-year-old civilisation. Beg said “this makes it imperative to explore it further with new dimensions.” “This is important to know our past…

Read More