REGIONAL

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that the use of bulldozers have made Kashmir worse than Afghanistan. Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, Mehbooba, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said the anti-encroachment drive launched in Jammu Kashmir is being used as a weapon to suppress the people. She said they are not against the government's move to retrieve the land from land grabbers, but livelihood of people should not get affected. Mehbooba also alleged that the drive is aimed at taking the shelters away from the people and the situation in Kashmir has been turned worse than Afghanistan. While responding to a query, she said that the elections cannot be a solution to the Kashmir issue. She...

The Jammu Kashmir Police on Monday said it detained seven stunt bikers from the Nishat area of Srinagar. On Monday morning, Police said, seven stunt bikers performing "dangerous" stunts in Srinagar were detained and four vehicles were seized from them. The bikers will be set free after proper counseling, Police said. The Jammu Kashmir Police has launched a campaign for road safety and arrested several stunt bikers in the past in view of the rising accidents in the region.

The name of an 18-year-old has entered the ‘India Book of Records' for tech innovation, Greater Kashmir reported. Aqib Ahmad Shah, son of Muhammad Yaseen Shah of the Safapora neighborhood of Ganderbal, is a 12th-grade student at Government Higher Secondary School, Safapora. He invented a "seat belt ignition" for automobiles that will ensure public safety, especially for drivers, and reduce the number of unnecessary fatalities from collisions. Aqib is the first Kashmiri youth to have his or her name listed in the Innovation and Technology section of the "India Book of Records." The Ganderbal district administration also presented him with a certificate of appreciation for his efforts on Republic Day.

Rains lashed most plains including Srinagar while some parts of the Kashmir Valley received fresh snowfall with Gulmarg receiving more than one foot of it since overnight, officials said here on Monday. The weather department here also said that intermittent light rain and snow was likely to continue till afternoon and thereafter gradual improvement was expected. On February 7 and 8, news agency GNS quoted meteorological department official as having said that the weather would be “partly cloudy”. “Widespread light to moderate snowfall and rain was expected at many places from February 9-11,” he said. However, he said, “no major snowfall” was expected during the next one week. WideHe said that in last 24 hours till 0830 hours today, Srinagar received 5.2mm of rain, Qazigund 5.6mm,...

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Saturday flagged off a batch of nine undergraduate students from SKUAST-Jammu on an exposure-cum-training programme to Kansas State University, USA. An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the 60-day long capacity-building fellowship would expose the students to global learning ecosystem and industry establishment. The LG interacted with the students and congratulated them upon their selection to the fellowship. The students would be visiting the Kansas State University under the Student Overseas Fellowship Programme of National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) funded by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and World Bank. The group includes undergraduate students of Faculty of Agriculture, School of Biot...

A postpartum woman had to be carried on a cot by her family to reach back home from a health facility as the authorities concerned allegedly are yet to clear several stretches of the accumulated snow in Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The woman hailing from Silapathar Nambla, as per locals, had recently given birth to a twin at a hospital in Uri. “Once the doctors discharged her, the family arranged a vehicle to take her back home however little did they knew the roads were yet to be cleared of accumulated snow”, they told GNS adding the attendants were left with no option than to carry the mother and the two little souls on a cot amid severe chill for almost two kilometers.” Ruing the lackadaisical approach of the PMGSY department vis-à-vis the clearance of roads in the a...

Two days after twenty-one families were evacuated from Doda's Thathri, Five more families were shifted to a school building after their houses developed cracks following an expansion work on a highway in Jammu Kashmir's Ramban district. A resident told reporters that the cracks were developed after cutting activity was carried out by a construction company on the highway as a result of which the hill began to slide down in the Basti area. It also slid down due to rain, he said. The station house officer (SHO) and tehsildar evacuated the families and shifted them to a school. The residents have sought action against the construction company, blaming them for making the area housing 20 to 25 houses insecure.–(PTI)

A Special Judge (Designated) under NIA Act here has sentenced a militant, arrested in 2020, to five years in jail. The court passed the verdict in a case FIR (No. 07/2020) under section 16, 18, 19, 20, 39, UA (P) Act and 7/25 I.A Act of police station Saddar Srinagar. The convicted militant, Nisar Ahmad Dar alias Usman of Wahabpora Hajin Bandipora, was held along with one AK-47 Rifle with two Magazines, 60 live rounds and two Chinese-made hand grenades with one pouch, police said. “The Court while pronouncing judgement has awarded 05 years of simple imprisonment for each offence U/S 18, 19, 20, 39, UA (P) Act and 7/25 I.A Act to the accused. The punishment shall run concurrently,” police official said. Similarly, on February 2, he said, the Court of Special Judge (Designated) u...

The ongoing anti-encroachment drive in Jammu and Kashmir is another attempt to “seize our land and cause massive changes to our demography”, the PDP claimed on Sunday, alleging the Centre has “prioritised” evicting people from their homes rather than addressing unemployment, and the safety of Kashmiri Pandits. In its monthly newsletter, ‘Speak Up’, released on Sunday, the party said that in the past three years “the only reforms we have received from the Centre are land laws because for GOI (government of India) it will always be about the land”. “Even Ladakhis that were happy with the abrogation (of Article 370) are feeling buyer’s remorse as they realize they’ve been duped by GOI. For over a year now, they have been demanding statehood and special status as per the 6th schedule. ...