UPDATES

Sajad Hameed The counting of votes polled in Jammu and Kashmir’s District Development Council (DDC) elections is currently underway in all 20 districts. The counting of votes began around 9 AM on Tuesday. Trends from the counting so far suggested that the Gupkar alliance was ahead of the BJP in the DDC election. The Gupkar alliance was leading in 79 of the 197 DDC seats for which trends were available. The BJP was leading in 50 seats followed by the Congress 20. The elections, held in eight phases, began on November 28 and ended on December 19. Officials in the State Election Commission said a total of 4,181 candidates, including over 450 women, were in the fray for the 280 DDC seats. in Shopian, Mehmoda Nissar of PAGD Candidate has Won Kapren Seat, Bilqesa Jan, an Independent...

Salman Shah The Jammu Kashmir administration has made an elaborate plan for the COVID-19 vaccination programme and 28 lakh high-risk people will be inoculated in the first three phases across the region. Speaking to The Kashmiriyat a top official in the Health Department of Jammu Kashmir said that in the first phase at around one Lakh healthcare workers will be vaccinated During the second phase, approximately seven lakh frontline workers shall be covered while in the third phase will cover 20 lakh beneficiaries of the high-risk population will be vaccinated. The administration is also planning to monitor the vaccination process through the mobile application, CoWin. The Health Department has identified around 4000 sites where the process of Vaccination will be carried o...

Jammu Kashmir on Friday recorded seven deaths due to COVID-19, taking the toll of deaths due to the virus to 1,833. The government informed that 388 new positive cases of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), 163 from Jammu division and 225 from Kashmir division, have been reported today thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 117705. “07 COVID-19 deaths have been reported; 04 from Jammu division and 03 from Kashmir Division,” the Government` said in an official statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO). Moreover, 464 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and discharged from various hospitals including 213 from Jammu Division and 251 from Kashmir Division. According to the daily Media Bulletin on novel Corona virus (Covid-19), out of 1...

The Sopore Media association has condemned the 'unruly behaviour' of Apni Party leader Tanveer Fatima towards journalists. In an official press release issued by the Sopore Media Association (SMA), they said that on December 17, after Ms. Fatima, a member of Apni Party called a press conference to which journalists turned up in a professional manner. "The journalists covered her press conference for their respective news organization and also shared the video clips of Ms. Fatima speaking on their social media handles," the press release issued to The Kashmiriyat read. However, later in the day Ms. Fatima misbehaved with some journalists over the comments her video has received from the public on social media. "Journalists can not control what people will write but their work ...

Fizala Khan On an early Monday morning, an advertisement - 'Kidney for sale' caught the attention of locals. The advertisement was published by a local newspaper in which, Sabzar Ahmed Khan, a 28-year-old youth from the Nussu area of Qazigund in the South of Kashmir, sought buyers for his kidney. Sabzar, a metric pass - out, was also a well-settled businessman who hadmultiple investment and businesses, dealerships for second-hand cars, and also owned a shop that would bring him monthly revenue. The House of Sabzar Ahmed After the abrogation of Article 370, followed by the pandemic, Sabzar suffered a huge and irreparable loss in business. The Kashmiriyat spoke to Sabzar Ahmed Khan and he said, “I first contacted Reshi News Agency, which is a local paper since I had no means ...

At least 1700 policemen including 508 Personal Security Officers (PSOs) protecting politicians of various political parties in the past 30 years of strife in Kashmir, reveal official figures available with Jammu and Kashmir. A senior police official told the local news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that at least 1700 policemen including 508 PSOs, who were deployed for protecting the politicians of various political parties, across the length and breadth of Kashmir, were killed in line of duty in the past almost 30 years. “Majority of the PSOs lost their lives while protecting the person/politician they were deployed with." He said that it is obvious that the PSOs protecting the person who is categorized as the protected person are vulnerable to attacks and are “considered as pr...

Sheikh Nadeem A total of 13 Species of Fish is found in the Kashmir valley, out of which, 8 have gone extinct, The fisheries Department has said. The department has raised serious concern over the issue and said that out of the five breeds to have survived, two more are under threat. "If we do not take steps to preserve them, they too will become extinct," an official told The Kashmiriyat. Meanwhile various experts in Kashmir have warned the fisheries department in this regard. Syed Javid Hussain, an assistant professor in Kashmir said that over the past many years, they have been doing intensive research on the species of fish found in Kashmir. "Eight of the 13 Shizothorax (Kasher Gaid) species have become extinct very soon. Two of the five surviving species are in danger of ...

Voting for the fifth phase of the District Development Council (DDC) election is being held in Jammu Kashmir today amid high security arrangements. Despite cold weather conditions, large number of voters are coming to vote. As per the election commmision, 9.46% voter turnout has been recorded till 9 am in fifth phase of DDC polls. The Kashmir valley recorded an overall polling percentage of 4.81% while Jammu Division recorded 13.58% up to 9 am. The Election Commission has said that 299 candidates are in the fray in the fifth phase out of which 229 male candidates and 70 are female candidates. In this phase, the 8,29,519 voters will cast their votes in 2104 polling stations, 1190 polling stations have been set up in Kashmir. Elections are to be held in 280 seats of DDC in 8 ...

Sajad Hameed Hoteliers in Gulmarg, the famous tourist resort of Jammu Kashmir which receives lakhs of tourists from all over the world annualy are worried as the administration of Jammu Kashmir has initiated the process of issuing the notice of lease expiry. The Local administration has refused to extend the lease of the hotels whose lease periods have expired in 2018-19 and reports state that the administration has taken over 70 hotels in the Gulmarg district of North Kashmir. According to the the administative officials, many hotels have allegedly occupied kanals of land with any government permission, and they are following the High Court directions to retrieve the public land which these hotels have encroached. The Jammu Kashmir High court recently hearing a Public Interes...

Mubashir Naik Various Singers from Kashmir whose names have appeared in a poster of 15 Corps of Indian Army's event have distanced themselves from the event saying that they have never been approached in this regard and their names have been put without their consent. Speaking to The Kashmiriyat various known new-comer singers from the Kashmir valley have said that the Indian Army never approached them, in fact, some of them have went public on their social media handles saying the same. Ishfaq Kawa, who releases his songs on Facebook upon being contacted by THe Kashmiriyat over the phone said, "Attempts are being made to tarnish our image, I will never perform in any such event, neither have I in the past." He said that he has immense love for Kashmir and participating in a...