REGIONAL

Residents of Nai Sadak locality of Habba Kadal in Srinagar on Monday held protest demonstration over water scarcity in their area. Witnesses told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that residents including women and children blocked road, thereby disrupting traffic movement. They said that there is no water supply in their area for the past one week, making them suffer immensely. “We have been facing severe water shortage even as we informed the authorities several times, but to no avail,” they said. The resident appealed to the authorities to redress their grievance at an earliest—(KNO)

Questions are being raised on the engagement of senior stipendiary residents in Sher-E-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at Soura Srinagar, with candidates claiming that neither merit nor entrance exam was used as a yardstick for the selection of candidates. As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), on 21/09/2023, under order number SIMS/ACAD/538, SKIMS put out a selection list for the engagement of 53 stipendiary senior resident doctors, and when the aspirants saw the list of selected candidates many raised this query that only blue-eyed candidates had been selected, especially in the department of surgery. Among those selected in the surgery department, was the son of GMC principal Dr. Masood Tanvir Bhat and many other blue-eyed candidates. According to both th...

Two days after banning Jammu & Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party led by jailed separatist leader Shabir Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday delegated powers to the Union Territory administration to order seizure of its funds, properties and assets under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act-1967. The MHA today issued a notification empowering State Governments and J&K UT administration to order seizure of funds, properties and assets of the separatist group. The notification accessed by news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) states that, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 42 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the Central government directs that all powers exercisable by it under section 7 and section 8 of the Unlawful Activities (Prev...

Five district hospitals in Kashmir are lagging behind in medical technology as they do not have CT-Scan facilities available, causing significant challenges for the local populace. According to information obtained by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the districts lacking CT-Scan facilities include Srinagar, Budgam, Bandipora, Ganderbal and Shopian. Health officials revealed to KNO that JLNM Hospital in Srinagar currently does not have CT-Scan facilities. However, residents of Srinagar have alternative hospitals available, mitigating their difficulties. An official mentioned District Hospital Bandipora where a CT-Scan machine was approved three years ago, but it has not been installed yet, leaving patients in the district to suffer immensely. The absence of this crucia...

Crime Branch of Kashmir on Saturday produced a chargesheet before Court of Anti-corruption in Anantnag, against three persons accused of involvement in cheating and other relevant offences. "Special Crime Wing (Crime Branch) Srinagar produced charge sheet of case FIR number 25/2012 before the Hon’ble Court of Anti Corruption Court Anantnag on 05.10.2023 against three accused persons for their involvement in commission of offences punishable under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 201, 120-B RPC, 5(2) PC Act", reads a statement issued to GNS. The said case, the statement reads, was registered in Crime Branch Kashmir on a complaint from then Zonal Education Officer Kulgam, wherein, it was alleged that one Rashid-Ul-Hassan Gojjar son of Gh. Hassan, resident of Arigatnoo Tehsil Kulgam has bee...

Palestinian fighters have launched the largest attack on Israel in years, infiltrating areas of southern Israel amid a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip that killed at least one woman and injured 15 others, Israeli medical workers said according to Al Jazeera. The rocket fire began from multiple locations in Gaza starting at 06:30am local time (03:30 GMT) on Saturday and continued for nearly half an hour, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported. Military commander, later announced the start of a military operation in a broadcast on Hamas media, calling on Palestinians everywhere to fight. Deif said the rockets fired marked the start of “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm”, according to reports. “We’ve decided to say enough is enough,” Deif said as he urged all Palestinian...

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that over 9,000 landless people have been given land in the region so far and only those eligible will get 5 Marla land from the government. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at Dak Bunglow, the LG as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that the administration has been able to bring transparency and have adapted to the pro-people approach and a new dawn of development is being written. He said that over 9,000 landless people in Jammu and Kashmir have been givern the land and that only eligible land less people will get 5 Marla land in J&K. The LG, who was on a 2-day visit to Kupwara district, also said that the Railway Minister has already sanctioned budget for a technical survey. “Once the ...

Condemning the recent police crackdown on NewsClick and the arrest of its editor under the draconian UAPA in India, the students of Columbia Journalism School assert that journalism is not a crime, and it most certainly is not terrorism, Maktoob Media reported. “In the early hours of October 3, 2023, police in India questioned, detained and arrested dozens of journalists, editors, and writers associated with NewsClick, an outlet that is known to be critical of the current regime. The homes of these journalists and human rights defenders were raided, and their phones and laptops seized. While some were released after questioning, others were arrested on charges of terrorism and criminal conspiracy,” read a statement signed 70 students of the school. “This episode is the most recent of...