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Mohammed Ashraf Khan alias Ash Molvi who had appeared on the list of the most-wanted militants had escaped several anti-militancy operations during the past few years, but today was not his day as he was killed during an encounter, far away from his normal operating zone in the Breng belt (Kokernag), Anantnag district. On January 09, 2018, the Government forces received input about his presence in the Pehlipora area of Kokernag area of south Kashmir. Ashraf was shot at, while his colleague Farhan Ahmad Wani, a resident of Redwani Khudwani, Kulgam was killed during the encounter. The cordon continued for several hours, but Ashraf managed to escape. Sources say that Ashraf had escaped several gunfights and cordons laid down specifically for him in the Kokernag and Sirigufara belts of s...

Long before the firstly commonly known uprising of 1931, at least 28 Kashmiris were shot dead by Dogra forces on April 29, 1865, when they were protesting against the cruel taxation by the government. In 1865 around 125 thousand people were involved in the shawl industry. These included weavers, washer men, and skilled laborers having the know-how of printing. The industry generated more than Rs 50 lakhs annually. In that year, shawls worth 254 thousand British Pounds were exported from Kashmir. Veteran Journalist Zaheer u Din states that despite the hard work of the weavers most of them made around Rs 5 to 7 every month and that too after working 16-18 hours a day. They had to pay tax to the tune of Rs 5 monthly. They could not change their profession or stop working. A heavy fine w...

Amid a raging debate over Hijab in parts of India, A school in Baramulla has asked teachers to remove Hijab during school hours to allow students to communicate freely with the teachers, the school, however, has said that the "issue has been resolved." The letter is doing rounds on social media and has evoked widespread anguish, While many others have appreciated the move. A Twitter user wrote, "Their main motive is to remove hijab from our sisters and look at comments section instead of targeting school management they are targeting one who post-it " https://twitter.com/Attitudeaddict4/status/1518839033979277312 "Principle meant for specially abled students of #Baramullah, but the circular simply instructs the school staff to ban the Hijab during school hours. #Hijab is part o...

Five Kashmiri youth are making a huge effort to create Wikipedia in the Kashmiri language so that vast literature in the Kashmiri Language could be brought to the digital format. Kashmiri language Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia project written and maintained by the Kashmiri youth – Iflaq, Iman Qazi, Tajamul, Risha Bhat. The project led by Syed iflaq, a radiology student from Srinagar is open-source on the web in collaboration with the Wiki-based editing system. Iflaq said that most of the volunteers working for the project of Kashmiri Wikipedia are not language experts but their love for their mother tongue is driving them to take up this work. Since 2021, these volunteers have been creating new pages and checking the dictionaries for spellings so that the pages remain err...

Jammu Kashmir has the second-highest carbon reserves in the country after Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to a report published by the Indian Government's NITI Aayog. Carbon reserves is the amount of carbon that has been sequestered from the atmosphere and is now stored within the forest ecosystem, mainly within living biomass and soil, and to a lesser extent also in deadwood and litter. In its report titled `State Energy and Climate Index’, NITI Aayog has revealed that Jammu Kashmir has 94.5 tonnes of carbon stock per hectare of forest land while the emission intensity of Carbon in Jammu Kashmir forests is 98.2 tonnes per hectare. The report also revealed that the increase in the forest cover from 21,358 sq. km in 2019 to 21,387 sq KM in 2021, has led to the improvement in...

The Sopore police on Sunday sealed a bread making unit in Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district after a video went viral showing baker kneading dough with feet. Quoting sources Kashmir Despatch reported that the unit was sealed and two people were arrested as soon as the video surfaced on social media. Earlier in the video, few people claimed that they saw the bakers kneading the dough with their feet and the dough even had the feet signs. “The bread is used by people across the town and such an unhygienic way of kneading the dough is not only unacceptable but asks for severe action against such bakers,” the locals said. Soon after the video, the Sopore police swung into action and arrested two people involved in the act. While confirming the incident, SHO Sopore...

Posters are being circulated in the name of "Lashkar e Islam", an outfit that no longer exists in the Kashmir and perhaps ended with the killing of its commander in the year 2017. This is not the first time, however, that such posters have been circulated in the name of Lashkar e Islam. Earlier in August 2016, similar posters had appeared in the outfit's name asking Kashmiri Pandits to leave the Kashmir valley. The Police officials had denied the authenticity of the posters calling it a 'handiwork' of miscreants. On Wednesday, a Kashmiri Hindu was shot at in the Pombay area of Kulgam by unknown gunmen. Identified as Satesh Singh, a local Rajput Hindu, the 45-year-old was shifted to the hospital. However, he succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital leving behind a fami...

Unemployment in Jammu Kashmir is growing at a rapid pace and it is causing concern among the people of the region. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has pegged India’s unemployment rate at 7.9 per cent, while Jammu Kashmir has an unemployment rate of 25.0 per cent for the month of March compared to 13.2 per cent in the month of February. The CMIE data reveals that the unemployment rate is the highest in the region since November 2016. In November 2016 the unemployment rate was 29.9 per cent. The rising rate of unemployment rate in Jammu Kashmir continues to be a major issue for the youth of the region. Directorate of Employment in 2021 witnessed three lakh registrations by postgraduates and PhD degree holders. In the same year, Jammu Kashmir Service Selection Board...

The healthcare workers across Jammu Kashmir in general and Sher e Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in particular are worried about the rising trend of cancer cases in Jammu Kashmir. According to estimates from the Union Health Ministry in 2021, Jammu Kashmir reported 12675 cancer cases in 2019, 13012 in 2020, and 13354 in 2021. Against the total patient load of 4800 in 2021, SKIMS has received 1110 cases in the first three months (Jan 1 to March 31) of 2022. In the last few years, the highest number of cancer patients registered at Regional Cancer Center SKIMS Soura were affected with cancer in their lungs. An official at SKIMS Radio Oncology Department revealed that, Lung cancer was predominant among the male cancer patients received by the institution this year so far,...