REGIONAL

A soldier from Territorial Army who had gone missing while travelling from home in Anantnag towards Rangreth Srinagar to join duty after month's leave was traced by the police on Sunday. Officials told GNS that TA personnel namely Abid Hussain Bhat son of Abdul Gani of Kharpora Chittergul Anantnag Uttersoo was supposed to join duty on February 1 at Rangreth Srinagar after month’s leave. However he did not reported to his place of duty and his mobile phone was also switched off, they said. “This evening he was traced by police and is being questioned,” a police officer told GNS, adding, "There was no militancy angle to entire episode". (GNS)

A Territorial Army (TA) soldier on leave has gone missing in the Achabal area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said on Sunday. An official said that the soldier, belonging to the 162 TA unit, was on a one-month leave and was scheduled to report back for duty but went missing the same day. The missing soldier has been identified as Abid Hussain Bhat, son of Abdul Gani Bhat, a resident of Kharpora Chittergul. A police officail said that a search operation is underway. “There is no terror angle in the case so far. A missing report has been registered,” he said. (KNO

Authorities in Pulwama have shut down five unauthorized dental laboratories, including those in Murran and Main Town, for operating without valid licenses. The crackdown follows complaints regarding the unhygienic conditions and the employment of unqualified technical staff at these facilities. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Pulwama, Dr. Tehmena, told the news agency Kashmir News Trust that the action was taken after multiple complaints were received. She revealed that some of these labs were even operating out of residential houses, prompting officials to consider legal proceedings not only against the lab owners but also the landlords who provided them space. Dr. Tehmena, however, refrained from disclosing the names of the sealed labs, citing concerns that publicizing them could...

In a significant move toward communal harmony in Kashmir, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has proposed the formation of an Inter-Community Committee aimed at bridging gaps between Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits. The announcement came following a meeting between Mirwaiz and a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits from the J&K Peace Forum at Hotel JW Marriott, New Delhi, on January 31. During the one-and-a-half-hour discussion, Mirwaiz emphasized the shared suffering of both communities, stating, "Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits." He acknowledged the painful exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1989-90, reiterating, "The suffering of Kashmiri Pandits needs to be addressed earnestly, and this has been a point I have raised repeatedly in my discourses." He further stressed the importance of pre...

Murtaza Bilal The family of 35-year-old Umar Yaseen Shah, a resident of Railway Colony, Nowgam, Srinagar, staged a protest outside their home today, demanding justice and a thorough investigation into his death. Umar was reported missing on December 22, 2024, and his body was discovered on December 30, 2024, in a deep gorge at Digdool, Ramban, alongside his black Mahindra Thar vehicle (registration number JK01AN 9990). Umar was last seen traveling from Srinagar to Jammu on the day he went missing. His family filed a missing person report at the Nowgam Police Station and expressed deep concern over his disappearance. After his body was found, it was transported to Ramban Hospital for medico-legal formalities before being returned to the family on December 31, 2024, for his last ...

Owing to the low water level, the Power Development Department (PDD) is currently able to produce only 24 Megawatts (MWs) of electricity against the total capacity of around 250 MWs from the power plants in Kashmir region. A top official from Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) informed the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that “From Kashmir power plants, we have a power generation capacity of around 250 MW out of which currently, we are producing only around 60 MW power.” “In view of low water availability, we are able to produce only 40 MW of power from lower Jhelum in the night hours and 5 MW during the other hours and 15 MW at Kangan,” the official said. The official further said that from the power plants in Kangan, water was available for on...

Tanvir Sadiq, the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Zadibal Srinagar, has assured that smart water meters will not be installed in Kashmir. This promise contradicts earlier statements made by the Chief Engineer of Kashmir’s PHE Jal Shakti Department, Braham Jyoti Sharma, who had indicated that water meters would be introduced in commercial establishments as part of a broader water management initiative. "The installation of smart water meters is not a part of our plans. It is a commitment of the JKNC government to ensure that such measures, which may burden the common people, are not implemented," Sadiq stated. Earlier, the Jal Shakti Department had reported that under the Har Ghar Jal Yojana, 88% of households in Kashmir had been provided with tap water connections, with o...

A Kashmiri man has gone missing from Saudi Arabia, where he has been imprisoned for nearly five years under what his family claims are false charges. Abdul Rafi Baba, originally from Soura, Srinagar, was arrested by Saudi authorities on March 1, 2020, from his workplace at King Faisal University in Hafoof Al Hasa. According to his family, Abdul Rafi, who moved to Saudi Arabia ten years ago in search of work, was living a peaceful life without any criminal history in India. His family asserts that the arrest is linked to internal disputes within his company, and he was falsely implicated. Manzoor-ul-Haq Baba, his father, speaking expressed the anguish of the family. "We were initially unaware of the reasons behind his arrest. His colleagues later informed us that he was caught up i...

Kashmir has lost 40.61 square kilometers of forest cover in just two years, a decline largely driven by infrastructure and development projects, according to the latest Forest Survey of India (FSI) report. Jammu and Kashmir’s forest cover stood at 21,346.39 square kilometers in 2023, down from 21,387 square kilometers in 2021. Over the past decade, 60-70% of deforested land has been used for roads, military infrastructure, and tourism-related construction. Tourist hotspots like Gulmarg, Pahalgam, and Sonamarg have seen increasing encroachment, with official approvals often enabling construction. Gulmarg alone lost 727 hectares of forest to 198 projects, resulting in the felling of nearly 1,850 trees. In Jammu, more than 21,000 trees were sanctioned for removal, with 8,150 already ...

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has written to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, urging them to oppose the proposed Waqf Amendment Bill. In a letter shared on her social media handle, Mufti expressed deep concern over the bill, calling it “unconstitutional, unconscionable, and authoritarian." She argued that the proposed amendments would directly undermine the core purpose of the Waqf Act, which is to protect and preserve properties dedicated to religious and charitable causes for the Muslim community “The bill comes at a time when, for the past decade, Muslims have been systematically disenfranchised, disempowered, and marginalised politically, socially, and eco...