REGIONAL

Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta Tuesday took an extensive tour of the Dal Lake to inspect progress of several de-weeding and cleanliness works being executed there. Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development Department, Commissioner Secretary, Forests Ecology and Environment, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, SMC Commissioner, VC Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA), Director Tourism Kashmir and other senior officers accompanied the CS during the visit. While inspecting the cleanliness operations, he passed on directions to the team of officers to build on progress achieved so far and take up the necessary lake cleaning operations in a planned and efficient manner so that both the management & conversation aspects of the lake ecosystem is taken ca...

Six dead bodies including a sibling and a mother-daughter duo were recovered from a house in Sidhra Jammu on Wednesday morning. Police rushed to the spot after getting information and shifted the bodies to the hospital for a post-mortem. The cause of the death is not known yet. An official told news agency Kashmir News Trust that things will be clear after the post-mortem. He identified the deceased as Sakina Begum widow of late Ghulam Hassan, her daughter Naseema Akhtar, the brother-sister duo, Rubina Bano and Zafar Salim, issues of Ghulam Hussain, Noor-ul-Habib son of Habibullah, and Sajad Ahmed son of Farooq Ahmed Magray. (KNT)

Suspected militants lobbed grenade on CRPF BP Bunker in Batpora area of South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday evening. A top police officer told GNS that militants this evening lobbed a grenade on CRPF BP Bunker which exploded with a bang. In this incident no loss of life or injury was reported. Soon after the attack whole area has been cordoned off to nab the attackers, the officer added.(GNS)

Following the fresh targeted killings of a Kashmiri Pandit in South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday, Kashmir Pandits Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), an organization that represents the non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir, has requested Kashmiri Pandits to leave Kashmir. “With another attack on Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, the militants have made it clear that they are going to kill all the Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir,” Sanjay Tickoo, president of KPSS, said in a statement. Tickoo said the irony is that the local overground workers (OGWs) of the militants work with them (militants) to kill their neighbours. “Kashmir is a place where tourists are safe and no attacks were there during the Amarnath yatra,’’ he said. “But non-Muslims, particularly the Kashmiri Pandits, are...

Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday said the Covid-19 vaccine will likely become an annual affair just like the flu vaccine. “To keep Covid in check and stay ahead of new variants, people may need yearly shots like they do for the flu,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan. Dr Hassan said Covid-19 has entered into an endemic stage. It has become yet another infection joining many other diseases that we have learned to live. Cases will wax and wane. Outbreaks will pop up here and there. He said while primary vaccination is effective in preventing severe Covid infection, immunity wanes over time Annual immunization could prevent future societal disruptions and save lives. “Fall could be the optimal time to get Covid-19 vaccine as Covid could e...

Sahil Gulzar At least seven Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel we're killed, while thirty others were injured as a bus carrying the troopers from Chandawari to Pahalgam skidded off the road and rolled down to a gorge near Zig Chandanwari area of Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on Tuesday. An ITBP official told The Kashmiriyat that that the civillian bus carrying thirty-seven ITBP troopers and 2 from J&K police, who were on Yatra duty, met with an accident near Chandanwari area of Pahalgam. He said that bus carrying troopers fell down to a roadside river bed after it's breaks reportedly failed, seven personnel died on the spot while at least 30 other's suffered injures, mostly serious, he said. have been shifted to GMC Anantnag hospital and among injured...

Police arrested an alleged absconding rape accused from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. Police had taken cognizance after a man from Bihar who works at a Brick Kiln in Wahabpora had filed a complaint at police station Budgam that her 17-year-old sister had been kidnapped during the pre-dawn hours of August 12 and on the same day she was traced in the late afternoon. The complainant had alleged that her sister was kidnapped and raped by a man from Wahabpora Budgam. As per the police spokesperson, the rape accused was arrested by police with active help from police post-Soibugh from Wadwan village of Budgam. (KNT)

A fast track court, Jammu (special judge, cases against women) on Tuesday acquitted a young man accused of raping a woman on pretext of marrying her in 2013. The presiding officer of the court, Khalil Choudhary, acquitted the accused—Usman Ali, underlining that statement of witnesses suggests that there is no concrete evidence on record connecting the accused with the commission of offence. The case against the accused was filed on 25 October 2013 following a complaint by the mother of the girl, who was a student of 11th class at that time. The complainant had alleged that her daughter was continuously raped by the accused on the hoax of marrying her and the complaint was lodged with police after the accused refused to marry the girl. “The evidence of witnesses is not corroborativ...

In a first of its kind, the District Administration Ramban in Jammu and Kashmir has banned the operation of seven news portals for allegedly peddling fake news, allegedly harassing government officials, and allegedly maligning the image of the government. Deputy Commissioner Ramban Mussarat Islam informed that it is phase one and next phase others who fail to produce genuine credentials will be banned. Deputy Commissioner Ramban has directed the SSP Ramban to implement the order in letter and spirit. The order issued by the district administration reads that it is the paramount duty to ensure peace and maintenance of law and order within the territorial jurisdiction of District Ramban by preventing the operation of illegal news portals peddling fake news and maligning the image of...

Suhail Dar The 33 ITBP personnel personnel who were injured in an accident have been referred to different hospitals. Doctors told The Kashmiriyat that among 33, 9 critically injured have been airlifted to Srinagar and 4 have been sent by road to Srinagar, while 20 are being treated at GMC Anantnag. Earlier, a bus carrying Government force personnel met with an accident in the Pahalgam area of south Kashmir's Anantnag area in which six died on the spot and 33 were injured. Details emerging.