Three pistol-borne gunmen looted over Rs 1.59 lakhs from a petrol pump in Shopian district of south Kashmir while burglars broke open donation box at venerated shrine of Hazrat Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Khanyar area of Srinagar and decamped with unknown amount of cash last night, officials said on Thursday. A police official told GNS that 3 pistol-borne persons forcibly took away cash of 159021 during night hours from a filling station at Harmain in southern Shopian district. He said a case has been registered and investigations taken up after a complaint was filed with the concerned police station. Meanwhile, official sources said that burglars broke the donation box at the shrine of Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani, popularly known as ‘Dastgeer Sahib’ and decamped with the unknown...

Jammu Kashmir administration is likely to ban private practice of doctors in the Medical Colleges of UT, Officials privy to the development revealed Wednesday. The development comes close on the heels of recommendations of medical experts constituted on the directions of the High Court that had strongly advocated a blanket ban on private practice of doctors in J&K in the interest of patient care. “We are well aware of the fact that private practice of senior and middle-rung doctors is taking a big hit to patient care across the UT. It is most likely that we will start with banning the private practice in medical colleges of the UT first. A meeting will be held to discuss the issue in a few days,” a senior officer in the Health department told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KN...

The Jammu Kashmir government established the JK commission for women on Wednesday to protect women’s rights in the region . The government has approved the constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir Commission for Women with powers to investigate and examine all matters related to safeguards provided for women under the Constitution and other laws, review existing provisions of the Constitution, and take suo-moto notice of various issues related to women’s rights according to an order issued. The Commission, which will be led by a woman chairperson who will be a woman committed to the cause of equal sex, will have five members who will be nominated by the government and have at least ten years of experience in the fields of women’s welfare, administration, economic development, health, ed...

Jammu Kashmir reported 681 new Covid-19 cases while four persons succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday. They said 359 of the fresh cases were from Jammu Division and 322 from Kashmir valley, taking the total tally to 448786. Giving district-wise details, they told GNS that Srinagar reported 139 cases, Baramulla 39, Budgam 39, Pulwama 10, Kupwara 30, Anantnag 16, Bandipora 10, Ganderbal 20, Kulgam 11, Shopian 8, Jammu 184, Udhampur 15, Rajouri 12, Doda 80, Kathua 36, Samba 8, Kishtwar 5, Poonch 9, Ramban 9 and Reasi 1. Regarding the deaths, the officials told Global News Service that all of them were reported from Kashmir, taking the overall toll in J&K to 4732—2316 in Jammu and 2416 in the Valley. A number of cases were confirmed at diagno...