REGIONAL

The Indian Army vacated the four houses and adjacent land of two brothers after 19 years in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The occupied houses and land were handed over by Army to the proprietors after repeated directions from Jammu Kashmir High Court. In 2003, soldiers from 14 Rashtriya Rifles Unit occupied 4 houses and the adjacent land comprising 23 kanals and 7 marlas at Bothu village of North Kashmir’s Bandipora. The property belonged to two brothers – Ghulam Nabi Reshi and Ghulam Rasool Reshi. Both the brothers entered into a rent agreement with the army for a period of 7 years which ended in 2010. Senior lawyer Bashir Ahmed Tak who represented the two brothers told news agency Kashmir News Trust that after the culmination of rent agreement, army didn’t vacate prompt...

The encounter raged between joint forces and militants yesterday in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district has led to the destruction of a gas godown situated in the vicinity of the encounter site. Two militants identified as Muhammad Shafi Ganai of Batapora Kulgam and Muhammad Asif Wani of Takia Gopalpora Kulgam were killed in the said encounter at Awhatto village of the district. Reports said that multiple explosions rocked the village after the gas godown caught fire due to an exchange of fire between trapped militants and joint forces. Srinagar-based Defence spokesperson said that: “due to the indiscriminate fire by the militants, the Gas Godown in the vicinity of the target house caught fire, leading to multiple explosions.” He said that considering the safety of civilian life, A...

One among the two UP labourers injured while working on under construction bridge in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district succumbed to his injuries in Srinagar hospital. On 24 September, two non-local labourers namely Shah Mir son of Samad Abasi and Gulraiz Abbasi son of Wajid Abasi, residents of Shahpora Uttar Pradesh sustained injuries after both fell down while working on an under-construction bridge at Wayil, falling under the jurisdiction of police station Ganderbal. They had been shifted to District Hospital Ganderbal where doctors referred them to SKIMS Soura for advanced treatment. Hospital sources told news agency Kashmir News Trust one of the labourers Gulraiz Abbasi succumbed to his injuries after four days. Police in this regard have already registered a case under ...

The Jammu Kashmir Police in Kishtwar district solved a kidnapping case of a minor boy within hours and also arrested a woman, while locals expressed gratitude to the police for solving the case and recovering the minor child. An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that a 6-month-old boy was kidnapped from district hospital Kishtwar on Tuesday and soon the matter was brought to the police. He said that soon after getting the information, police constituted several teams and the operation was supervised by SSP Kishtwar Shafqat Bhat himself. The official added that the kidnapped minor boy was tracked and recovered within hours and the accused woman was also arrested. Meanwhile, to express gratitude to the police, locals gathered outside police station Kishtwa...

The State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Wednesday morning conducted raids at several locations in the Poonch district. Officials said that an SIA team with the help of police and CRPF personnel conducted raids in Poonch on Wednesday morning. They said that these raids were carried out in connection with the Militancy funding case. However, at present, it is not known whether anyone was arrested during the raids or not.

Amid the outcry over the halting of fruit-laden trucks from Srinagar- Jammu, The Jammu Kashmir admin on Wednesday transferred an attached SSP Traffic Jammu- Srinagar Highway Shabir Ahmed Malik. In an official order accessed by The Kashmiriyat, the JK admin ordered, "In the interest of administration, Shri Shabir Ahmad Malik, SSP Traffic NHW, is hereby transferred and attached with the police headquarters, J&K, with immediate effect. Ms. Mohita Sharma, IPS, SP Ramban, shall hold the additional charge of the said post, till further orders." Pertinently, there has been a massive outcry over the halting of apple-laden trucks on the highway for several days. Several apple farmers in Kashmir aghast over the halting of the trucks dumped their produce. Fruit ob-board the trucks rotted...

The halting of Apple trucks on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and low demand of the fruit has led to losses worth thousands of crores this month alone. As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), President of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers cum Dealers Union (KVFGDU) Bashir Ahmad Basheer said that fruit industry has suffered losses in thousands of crores in ongoing month and it will take years to overcome the losses. He said that when truck is loaded here and then it remains stuck in Qazigund for days together, the fruit gets spoiled due to heat and pure fruit isn't then reaching the market due to which it fetches low rates. Despite bumper crop this year, growers are suffering losses as rates of fertilizers, pesticides, labours, packing boxes and other things have increased by 2...

Danishwar Hameed Two militants were killed during the ongoing encounter that raged between militants and Government forces in the Batpora area of Kulgam district, Police said. Earlier, An official told The Kashmiriyat that on Tuesday afternoon, 34 RR of the Indian Army, Jammu Kashmir Police and CRPF jointly laid a cordon and search operation in the Batpora area on specific information generated by police. During the cordon, the hiding militant opened fire on forces triggering an encounter. Two militants were killed during the encounter, who were identified as Mohammed Shafi Gani, a resident of Batpora in Kulgam and Yawar Ahmed Wani (Asif), a resident of Gopalpora, Kulgam. “The killed 02 categorised JeM #terrorists have been identified as Mohammed Shafi Ganie of Batpora, #Kul...

Despite being high in produce, Kashmir’s walnut is gasping for a breath and survival as intrusion of Californian walnut breed in Indian cities have cast a shadow on the Valley’s indigenous walnut produce and brought down its price. Other reason which has left the walnut growers of Kashmir worried is climate change, population expansion, and imposition of GST and VAT. Official figures available with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), suggest that India produced 2.82 lakh tons of walnuts in 2021-22 with J&K accounting for around 92 per cent of the produce. Anantnag and Kupwara are the leading producers of walnuts in Kashmir. The year wise-walnut production in Kashmir states, 190,451 MTs in 2017-2018, 198,431 MT in 2018-2019, 180,973 MT in 2019-2020, 177,070 MT in 2020-...

Danishwar Hameed One militant has been killed during the ongoing encounter that started between militants and Government forces in Batpora area of Kulgam district. Earlier, An official told The Kashmiriyat that on Tuesday afternoon, 34 RR of Indian Army, Jammu Kashmir Police and CRPF jointly laid a cordon and search operation in the Batpora area on specific information generated by police. During the cordon, the hiding militant opened fire on forces triggering an encounter. One militant has been killed during the encounter, while one more associated with Jaish e Muhammad is said to be trapped at the site of the encounter. As per Sources, an intermittent gunfire is underway at the site of the encounter. "Asif Ahmed Wani and Mohammed Shafi, both local militants are trapped ...