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SRINAGAR | <strong>15</strong> <strong>December</strong> 20<strong>15</strong> | 03 Rabi ul Awwal 1437 AH Vol: 3 | Issue No: 297 | Pages: 08 | Rs 3/-<br />
TUESDAY<br />
3rd<br />
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
Journalism With A Human Heart<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
K<br />
http//www.preciouskashmir.com | email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com<br />
India, Pak to rely on ‘Musharraf-Manmohan Diplomacy’ for Kashmir<br />
New Delhi, Dec 14: The arch-rivals<br />
India and Pakistan may rely on "secret<br />
diplomacy" to arrive at a deal on<br />
the vexed Kashmir dispute in a move<br />
that emulates the path adopted by the<br />
Musharraf-Manmohan administrations<br />
to find an ‘out of box’ solution to the<br />
conflict that has sparked three wars between<br />
the two countries, a media report<br />
said today.<br />
The Express Tribune reported that<br />
the two countries recently decided to<br />
resume peace talks with a new name –<br />
Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue – to<br />
Now on spot sticker<br />
notice for wrong parking<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
discuss a range of issues from terrorism<br />
to Kashmir dispute.<br />
The report quoting its sources said<br />
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi<br />
and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz<br />
Sharif have decided to use ‘back channels’<br />
for in-depth discussions on Kashmir<br />
through their respective confidantes.<br />
Further quoting its sources the report<br />
said the foreign secretaries will<br />
discuss Kashmir but their mandate will<br />
be restricted to necessary confidencebuilding<br />
measures (CBMs) for improving<br />
the atmosphere as well as situation along<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Traffic<br />
Police under the supervision<br />
of SSP Traffic City, Srinagar<br />
Maqsood-ul-Zaman Monday<br />
started a special drive against<br />
on-street parking violation by<br />
pasting sticker notice on the<br />
front screen of the vehicle.<br />
The wrongly parked vehicles<br />
were filmed on spot clearly<br />
indicating the registration<br />
number of the vehicle with<br />
the notice pasted on it with<br />
some indication of the place<br />
of violation.<br />
The sticker notice served<br />
to the violator on windscreen<br />
of his/her vehicle under<br />
section 133 MV Act 1988 for<br />
obstructive/wrong parking<br />
with addition of section 187<br />
MV Act 1988 which carries<br />
punishment of imprisonment<br />
for a term which may not<br />
exceed 03 months or with a<br />
fine which may extent to Rs<br />
500/= or with both, a police<br />
statement said this evening.<br />
The owner/driver pasted<br />
with sticker notice on his/<br />
her vehicle should contact<br />
the office of SSP Traffic City<br />
Srinagar with relevant documents<br />
and remit the prescribed<br />
fine against proper<br />
Government Receipt (GR). In<br />
case the violator fails to respond<br />
to the notice within <strong>15</strong><br />
days, his/her challan would<br />
be submitted to the Court of<br />
Law for prosecution. The details<br />
of the vehicle would be<br />
retrieved from the concerned<br />
RTO/ARTOs.<br />
The drive shall continue<br />
unabated till the menace of<br />
obstructive/wrong parking is<br />
eliminated for the convenience<br />
of commuters and<br />
general public.<br />
The roads and footpaths<br />
in busy Lal Chowk is a glaring<br />
example of how encroachers<br />
are having field day—resulting<br />
in traffic mess. Besides<br />
city-centre areas, traffic congestion<br />
is pestering commuters<br />
at Batamaloo, Nowhatta,<br />
Soura, Hawak. Interiors of Old<br />
City are no different due to<br />
encroachments of lanes and<br />
by-lanes.<br />
Officials said the number<br />
of vehicles plying on the<br />
roads have increased considerably<br />
while the authorities<br />
have failed to expedite work<br />
See Sticker on Pg 6<br />
Food Security Act: Mistakes galore in CAPD database<br />
both sides of the Line of Control (LoC).<br />
“As far as the hardcore issues related<br />
to Kashmir are concerned, they will be<br />
dealt through backchannel talks,” it said<br />
while quoted one of an official source.<br />
"The two countries have had in the past<br />
used back channels to break a stalemate<br />
on Kashmir."<br />
Former foreign minister Khurshid<br />
Kasuri in his book revealed that Islamabad<br />
and New Delhi were close to striking<br />
a deal on Kashmir through secret<br />
talks during former military ruler Pervez<br />
Musharraf’s tenure.<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Massive discrepancies<br />
have come to the fore in the<br />
database compiled by the Consumer<br />
Affairs and Public Distribution Department<br />
(CAPD) in Jammu and<br />
Kashmir as the state government is<br />
preparing to implement National<br />
Food Security Act (NFSA).<br />
The CAPD department's database<br />
has pasted picture of a Sikh<br />
man against the name of a Muslim<br />
man.<br />
In another case, the erroneous<br />
CAPD database has managed to get<br />
a man married to another man, who<br />
happens to be his son.<br />
The most common complaint<br />
across the valley is that wrong<br />
names have been included in the<br />
database while the genuine ones<br />
have been excluded, causing anxiety<br />
among the people.<br />
"Only one of my three sons'<br />
name figures in the list of family<br />
members against my name. The<br />
CAPD department has added five<br />
persons, totally unknown to us, in<br />
our family," K M Dar, a lawyer, said.<br />
Director of CAPD Kashmir A R<br />
War admitted that there were mistakes<br />
and discrepancies in the survey<br />
carried out by the department<br />
in 2012.<br />
"There are mistakes and we have<br />
set off the process of getting these<br />
rectified," War said.<br />
The official said fresh verification<br />
forms have been issued to the<br />
consumers so that they can make<br />
corrections to their details.<br />
"We are in the process of creating<br />
a database which will reduce<br />
"The two sides through their respective<br />
national security advisers at that<br />
time even exchanged non-papers suggesting<br />
‘out of the box’ solution to the<br />
longstanding problem," the report said.<br />
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan<br />
Singh’s point-man, SK Lambah<br />
and Musharraf’s close aide Tariq Aziz<br />
reportedly held over 200 hours of discussions<br />
on the draft agreement during<br />
their over two dozen secret sittings in<br />
Dubai and Kathmandu, it said.<br />
It added that the proposed agreement<br />
suggested joint management of<br />
Talks with Pakistan<br />
beginning with trust: Swaraj<br />
New Delhi, Dec 14: Rejecting any "flip<br />
flop", India today asserted that the<br />
decision to re-start talks with Pakistan<br />
was based on "trust" and said<br />
the intent would be to have an "uninterrupted"<br />
dialogue process despite<br />
provocations by the "saboteurs", an<br />
apparent reference to terror groups.<br />
External Affairs Minister Sushma<br />
Swaraj, while briefing Parliament on<br />
her recent visit to Pakistan, justified<br />
the decision to have 'Comprehensive<br />
Dialogue', saying there is a "need for<br />
bridging the gulf" with the neighbouring<br />
country for peace and stability<br />
in the region.<br />
Answering critics, she said in the<br />
latest arrangement, the level of talks<br />
on terror has been raised as this issue<br />
will now be dealt with by the National<br />
Security Advisers (NSAs) instead of<br />
Foreign Secretaries as earlier.<br />
The fact that NSAs of India and<br />
Pakistan met in Bangkok without any<br />
publicity does not mean any third<br />
country's involvement but it was only<br />
to take forward the Ufa process as<br />
such a meeting could not take place<br />
in Delhi as "you all know", she told<br />
the Lok Sabha.<br />
Swaraj, who sought the support<br />
of Parliament to the latest initiative<br />
with Pakistan, made suo motu statements<br />
in both Lok Sabha and Rajya<br />
Sabha and answered questions posed<br />
by members in the Lower House like<br />
whether Pakistan could be trusted<br />
particularly since the history shows<br />
that dialogue has been accompanied<br />
by attacks from Pakistan.<br />
She appreciated the fact that the<br />
JK suffered the most because<br />
of hostility: Mehbooba<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
New Delhi, Dec 14: Expressing<br />
the hope that renewed thaw in<br />
Indo-Pak ties would mark a new<br />
beginning for peace, stability and<br />
prosperity in the region, Member<br />
Parliament and PDP President,<br />
Mehbooba Mufti today called for<br />
uninterruptible and productive engagement<br />
between New Delhi and<br />
Islamabad to take the reconciliation<br />
and resolution process to its logical<br />
conclusion.<br />
“We cannot visualize any alternative<br />
to reconciliation and dialogue<br />
to end the dark era of hostility<br />
and confrontation plaguing the<br />
sub-continent’s six decades long tumultuous<br />
history,” Mehbooba said<br />
in the Lok Sabha while welcoming<br />
External Affairs Minister, Sushma<br />
Swaraj’s statement in the House regarding<br />
her recent visit to Pakistan.<br />
She hailed the resolve of the<br />
Central Government to build an environment<br />
of peaceful and cooperative<br />
relations with all its neighbors,<br />
including Pakistan, so that the efforts<br />
for peace and development<br />
in South Asia are taken further forward.<br />
“Under the renewed Comprehensive<br />
Dialogue with Pakistan, the<br />
Government of India has, as stated<br />
by the External Affairs Minister,<br />
embarked on the twin objectives<br />
of removing hurdles in the path of<br />
constructive engagement by addressing<br />
issues of concern, and at<br />
House had welcomed the initiative<br />
after 13 members from various parties<br />
spoke.<br />
"Nothing has changed on the<br />
ground. Because we had said that terror<br />
and talks cannot go together. So at<br />
Ufa, we said that NSAs will talk on terrorism,"<br />
she said to a question about<br />
the same time, exploring and establishing<br />
cooperative ties,” she<br />
said and added that new initiatives<br />
on trade and connectivity, peopleto-people<br />
exchanges and humanitarian<br />
issues will contribute to the<br />
welfare of the entire region, and<br />
promote better understanding and<br />
mutual trust.<br />
Calling for making Jammu and<br />
Kashmir a hub of this new cooperative<br />
engagement between New Delhi<br />
and Islamabad, Mehbooba said<br />
given its geographical location,J&K<br />
can become the harbinger of such<br />
a reconciliatory process with the<br />
revival and rejuvenation of the inter<br />
and intra-state confidence building<br />
measures including cross-LoC trade<br />
and people-to-people contact. She<br />
said this can be done by expanding<br />
the import and scope of such<br />
activities through existing cross-<br />
LoC routes besides opening up<br />
new cross-LoC linkages including<br />
Jammu-Sialkote and Kargil-Skardu<br />
routes to boost the cooperation and<br />
economic activity in the region.<br />
Mehbooba said people of<br />
See Mehbooba on Pg 6<br />
what had changed since September<br />
when NSA talks could not take place<br />
after Pakistan insisted that Kashmir<br />
should be discussed at the meet.<br />
"Whenever talks happen, that<br />
is based on trust....There is a need to<br />
bridge the gulf (with Pakistan),"<br />
See Talks on Pg 6<br />
Need to insulate<br />
process: Omar<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14:<br />
Former Jammu and<br />
Kashmir Chief Minister<br />
Omar Abdullah<br />
today warned<br />
that attempts<br />
would be made to<br />
derail the dialogue process between<br />
India and Pakistan and said there was<br />
a need to thwart any such challenges<br />
by "insulating" the talks.<br />
He also asserted that Jammu and<br />
Kashmir was a party to the talks and<br />
urged the Narendra Modi government<br />
to start a dialogue with the state<br />
"the way it has started with Pakistan".<br />
"What we will have to do most<br />
is to insulate this dialogue because<br />
many attempts will be made to derail<br />
this process.<br />
Many attempts will be made to<br />
make this dialogue unsuccessful.<br />
Our endeavour should be to<br />
make all such attempts unsuccessful,"<br />
Abdullah told reporters here.<br />
The National Conference (NC)<br />
working president was talking to<br />
reporters after inaugurating the<br />
renovated headquarters of the party<br />
which was damaged during the<br />
floods last year and in a fire incident.<br />
Abdullah said it did not matter as<br />
to where the talks took place but "at<br />
least the process has been restarted".<br />
"It is good that talks have restarted.<br />
I have no objection that we had to<br />
talk in a third country. It's okay that<br />
we held talks in Bangkok and not in<br />
Delhi or Islamabad. At least the process<br />
of dialogue has been started," he<br />
said.<br />
"Our Foreign Minister visited<br />
Islamabad and talks were restarted<br />
there. There was an announcement<br />
of holding a comprehensive dialogue.<br />
Now, we will wait for the shaping up<br />
of this comprehensive dialogue," he<br />
added.<br />
The former chief minister said<br />
See Omar on Pg 6<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: After Consumer<br />
Affairs and Public (CA&PD) department<br />
announced five kilos of ration<br />
to every single persons, massive<br />
protest erupted on Monday in<br />
Srinagar’s Maisuma area wherein<br />
the residents blocked the busy<br />
Budshah Chowk here and were demanding<br />
revocation of the order.<br />
The CAPD department has<br />
reportedly said that five kg (of<br />
wheat and rice) will be provided to<br />
each person among all categories<br />
throughout the State accept the<br />
rationees under AAY category irrespective<br />
of the number of family<br />
members.<br />
The order has brought anguish<br />
among the people here and took to<br />
streets to press the government demanding<br />
revocation of order.<br />
The protests while chanting<br />
anti-government slogans set their<br />
respective ration cards on fire saying<br />
that it isn’t supposed to bring<br />
the hassles faced by the consumers<br />
in visiting the offices. Once<br />
completed, most of the consumer<br />
interface with the department will<br />
be on line," he said.<br />
both sides of Kashmir and demilitarisation<br />
of the disputed territory. "However,<br />
political upheaval as a result of lawyers’<br />
long march in Pakistan against Musharraf<br />
in 2007 disrupted the process."<br />
India today expressed hope that reengaging<br />
with Pakistan under a 'Comprehensive<br />
Bilateral Dialogue' will mark<br />
beginning of peace and development as<br />
continued estrangement was a hurdle to<br />
peace and prosperity in the region.<br />
Making a suo motu statement in<br />
Rajya Sabha on her last week's visit of<br />
Islamabad and recent developments<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: A Hurriyat<br />
delegation sent by Chairman<br />
All Parties Hurriyat Conference<br />
Syed Ali Geelani today<br />
held a detailed meeting for<br />
one and a half hours with<br />
Pakistan High Commissioner<br />
Abdul Basit in New Delhi in<br />
which they held a detailed<br />
discussed over the recent<br />
meeting of Indian Foreign<br />
Minister Sushma Swaraj and<br />
Pakistan rulers on the occasion<br />
of “Heart of Asia” Conference<br />
in Islamabad and also<br />
discussed the Kashmir policy<br />
there.<br />
According to the Hurriyat<br />
spokesperson, Ayaz Akbar,<br />
the personal secretary<br />
to chairman Peer Saifullah<br />
and Chief Organizer APHC<br />
(g) Altaf Ahmad Shah held<br />
a detailed meeting with the<br />
Pakistani High Commissioner,<br />
Deputy High Commissioner<br />
and the other officials in New<br />
any respite to their lives now.<br />
The protesters alleged that the<br />
government is trying to push the<br />
people of Kashmir to walls but they<br />
are going to tolerate it any more.<br />
“We are not going to tolerate such<br />
kind of discrimination to we people.<br />
Announcing five kgs of ration<br />
to Kashmiris is clear example of<br />
discrimination,” they said.<br />
“Does government think that<br />
five kilo per head ration is enough<br />
for people,” they questioned.<br />
Geelani’s delegation<br />
meets Pak High Com<br />
Delhi on Monday.<br />
The Hurriyat delegation<br />
handed them a message of<br />
octogenarian Geelani “that<br />
Pakistan should continue<br />
to maintain consistency and<br />
firmness over its Kashmir policy<br />
and play an active role in<br />
highlighting the human rights<br />
violations committed by Indian<br />
forces in Jammu & Kashmir<br />
on the international forums”.<br />
The delegation also apprised<br />
the Pakistan High<br />
Commissioner about the<br />
present situation in Kashmir,<br />
a Hurriyat (g) statement said<br />
this evening.<br />
Meanwhile, the Hurriyat<br />
delegation also visited the AI-<br />
IMS in New Delhi where they<br />
met senior journalist and editor<br />
of the English daily Rising<br />
Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari,<br />
who is being treated there<br />
and extended good wishes<br />
of Geelani to him and they<br />
also prayed for his speedy<br />
and early recovery.<br />
War also said the department<br />
has also asked the consumers to<br />
submit their bank account details<br />
along with Aadhaar card details so<br />
See CAPD on Pg 6<br />
relating to ties between the two neighbours,<br />
External Affairs Minister Sushma<br />
Swaraj said Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi had discussed with his Pakistani<br />
counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines<br />
of the environment conference in Paris<br />
"again re-engaging with each other."<br />
"The underlying sentiment, on<br />
which I am confident that this House<br />
concurs fully, was that the continued<br />
estrangement of two neighbours was a<br />
hurdle to the realisation of our shared<br />
vision of a peaceful and prosperous region,"<br />
she said.<br />
Collision<br />
leaves three<br />
dead<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Kangan, Dec 14: In a massive<br />
collision between a<br />
passenger bus and Alto car<br />
near Wusan Kangan area of<br />
Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal<br />
district three people including<br />
a government employee<br />
died on spot on Monday<br />
afternoon.<br />
A police official said<br />
that the two vehicle crash<br />
occurred near Wussan. The<br />
passenger bus (JK01E-2513)<br />
was bound for Kangan from<br />
Srinagar while Alto car<br />
(JK016-3990) was on way to<br />
Ganderbal from Kulan.<br />
“It was a head-on collision.<br />
All the three persons on<br />
board in Alto vehicle including<br />
the driver died on spot.<br />
The crash was so massive<br />
that it took pretty much time<br />
for in retrieving the bodies.<br />
The damage to the vehicles<br />
See Collision on Pg 6<br />
Ladakh frozen, MeT<br />
predicts snowfall in Valley<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Leh and Kargil towns in the<br />
Ladakh region remained frozen at minus 12<br />
degrees Celsius today while the cold wave conditions<br />
remain unabated biting cold continued<br />
in Kashmir Valley.<br />
"The minimum temperature was recorded<br />
at minus 12.2 degrees Celsius in Leh while it<br />
was minus 12.1 degrees Celsius in Kargil town<br />
of Ladakh region on Monday," an official from<br />
the local Met office said .<br />
"These two towns were the coldest in Jammu<br />
and Kashmir on Monday," the official said.<br />
"The minimum temperature in Srinagar<br />
city was two degrees Celsius on Monday. It was<br />
minus 4.1 degrees Celsius in Pahalgam and minus<br />
10 degrees Celsius in Gulmarg."<br />
"The minimum temperature was recorded<br />
at 6.8 degrees Celsius in Jammu city and Katra<br />
town, 0.6 degrees Celsius in Batote, 0.3 degrees<br />
Celsius in Bannihal and minus one degrees Celsius<br />
in Bhaderwah town," the official said.<br />
Protest erupts after CAPD orders 5 kg ration per head<br />
Meanwhile, the protest led to<br />
ding dong battles between protesters<br />
and forces.<br />
The police resorted to tear gas<br />
shelling to disperse the protesters.<br />
Nonetheless, the city centre<br />
also witnessed massive traffic jam<br />
after Maisuma residents protesting<br />
against 'faulty' ration distribution.<br />
With the blocking of busy Budshah<br />
Chowk by the protesters, massive<br />
traffic jam triggered in the<br />
See Protest on Pg 6<br />
The official said rain or snow is likely to occur<br />
during the next 24 hours at isolated places<br />
in Jammu and Kashmir.<br />
Biting cold has been causing problems to<br />
the people of the valley.<br />
Although the 40-day long period of extreme<br />
cold known as 'Chillai Kalan' is still a<br />
See Ladakh on Pg 6<br />
‘Aadhar cards<br />
not mandatory<br />
for ration cards’<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Minister for Consumer<br />
Affairs and Public Distribution<br />
(CAPD), Chowdhary Zulfkar<br />
Ali Monday said that Aadhar cards<br />
are not mandatory to apply for new<br />
ration card.<br />
Zulfkar said that the people<br />
don’t need Aadhar cards to apply for<br />
new ration cards here as the department<br />
has not made it mandatory to<br />
come up with the Aadhar cards.<br />
“We will provide ration cards to<br />
the people whether they have Aadhar<br />
cards or not as the same is not<br />
necessary to apply for new ration<br />
cards. The government has decided<br />
to provide ration cards to even those<br />
people who don’t have ration cards,”<br />
he said.<br />
He said that they have informed<br />
officials in the department to don’t<br />
ask for the Aadhar cards to the<br />
people who will apply for a ration<br />
cards.<br />
Meanwhile, terming the protest<br />
incidents in Srinagar against CAPD<br />
See Aadhar on Pg 6<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
K
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
‘Need to beautify Srinagar<br />
for coming tourist season’<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Deputy<br />
Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal<br />
Singh, who also holds the<br />
charge of Power Development<br />
Department and Housing<br />
and Urban Development<br />
Department, today stressed<br />
on the need to beautify the<br />
Srinagar city by ensuring cent<br />
percent cleanliness and end<br />
to illegal encroachments.<br />
Dr. Singh was today reviewing<br />
the functioning of<br />
Srinagar Municipal Corporation<br />
(SMC), where he asked<br />
the officials to prepare a comprehensive<br />
list of all illegal<br />
encroachments and commercial<br />
buildings lacking mandatory<br />
car parking. The list will<br />
help government to make a<br />
comprehensive policy that<br />
will deter future encroachments<br />
by way of enhanced<br />
punishments and imposition<br />
of fine. The meeting was informed<br />
that 19 commercial<br />
establishments have been<br />
sealed for not having the car<br />
parking facility.<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Jammu, Dec 14: Minister for<br />
Consumer Affairs and Public<br />
Distribution, Choudhary<br />
Zulfkar Ali today held a video<br />
conference with all the District<br />
Development Commissioners<br />
(DDC) to review the progress<br />
of consumer database creation<br />
for effective implementation of<br />
NFSA. He also called for launching<br />
mass awareness campaigns<br />
in this regard.<br />
The Minister impressed<br />
upon all DDCs to expedite<br />
the process and complete the<br />
same within fixed timeframe.<br />
He directed the concerned to<br />
cover all the deserving beneficiaries<br />
under different<br />
categories through a comprehensive<br />
survey. “The DDCs<br />
should also come up with a<br />
comprehensive list of all the<br />
segregated families,” he said.<br />
The Minister said the<br />
publication of the draft list,<br />
calling of objections and summary<br />
procedure to be followed<br />
under inclusion criteria<br />
should be updated on CA&PD<br />
portal for the information of<br />
the general public.<br />
“No deserving families<br />
should be left out especially<br />
The Deputy Chief Minister<br />
asked the officials to prepare<br />
for the coming season<br />
which is expected to bring an<br />
increased number of tourists<br />
to the capital city. The meeting<br />
was informed that SMC<br />
collects around 400 MT’s of<br />
solid waste everyday, which<br />
is dumped at Achan.<br />
The Deputy Chief Minister<br />
assured that all help will<br />
be provided under Swachh<br />
Bharat Mission (SBM) to<br />
make Srinagar and other cities<br />
clean and beautiful.<br />
Dr Singh also gave green<br />
signal to SMC for purchasing<br />
a segregator machine. The<br />
Deputy Chief Minister also<br />
asked the officials to expedite<br />
the waste to energy project<br />
at the Achan dumping site,<br />
which will further reduce the<br />
garbage burden.<br />
With regards to scarcity<br />
of staff at SMC, Dr Singh asked<br />
the officials to outsource the<br />
sanitation work, wherever<br />
it is possible. He also asked<br />
the corporation to devise an<br />
awareness campaign for the<br />
those falling under priority<br />
category. Besides extra care<br />
should be taken to provide<br />
application forms to the consumers<br />
and proper verification<br />
of the details should be<br />
done before finalizing the<br />
list,” he asserted.<br />
The Minister was apprised<br />
that application forms<br />
for enrollment under NFSA<br />
have been distributed among<br />
the consumers with the process<br />
of submission of the forms<br />
duly completed in all respects<br />
has also been started simultaneously<br />
in all the districts.<br />
The Minister said the<br />
families not covered under<br />
priority and non-priority categories<br />
would be provided<br />
non-rationee cards for identification<br />
and other purposes.<br />
Jammu, Dec 14: JP World<br />
School celebrated its annual<br />
day function with great<br />
pomp and show, here today.<br />
Minister for Health and<br />
Medical Education, ARI and<br />
Trainings Choudhary Lal<br />
Singh was the Chief Guest<br />
on the occasion.<br />
Speaking on the occasion,<br />
the Minister called for<br />
promoting moral education<br />
in all government as well as<br />
and private educational institutions<br />
to protect age old<br />
moral ethics and rich cultural<br />
heritage of the State.<br />
He said “our moral ethos is<br />
getting eroded under the<br />
influence of western culture<br />
and need of the hour is to<br />
preserve our age old traditions.<br />
Choudhary Lal Singh<br />
said that all government<br />
importance of segregation of<br />
waste at the source.<br />
The meeting was informed<br />
that the committee<br />
is currently working on 38<br />
drainage projects in the city<br />
and 80 percent work on them<br />
has been completed. The<br />
committee has formulated Rs<br />
410 crore project, for which a<br />
proposal has been sent under<br />
AMRUT scheme. The five year<br />
Zulfkar for launching mass<br />
awareness campaign about NFSA<br />
2-day Urdu<br />
conference begins<br />
at Tagore Hall<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: A 2-day<br />
conference on Urdu organised<br />
by Academy of Art, Culture<br />
and Languages started today<br />
at Tagore Hall Srinagar on the<br />
theme ‘’The Role of Institutions<br />
in the development of Urdu<br />
Language’.<br />
Noted writer Farooq Ahmad<br />
Nazki presided over<br />
the function, whileas Kacho<br />
Sikandaryar Khan was chief<br />
guest on the occasion. Secretary<br />
Cultural Academy, Aziz<br />
Hajini, Director School Education<br />
Kashmir,Dr Shah Faesal,<br />
Professor Nazir Ahmad Malik,<br />
Mohammad Yousuf Taing,<br />
Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Shafaq<br />
Sopori, Rafiq Raaz, Abdul<br />
,Gani Sheikh Ladakhi, Abdul<br />
Hameed Tanveer Kargili and<br />
various poets, writers and students<br />
participated in the event.<br />
Jammu, Dec 14: A meeting<br />
of Committee on Public<br />
Accounts (PAC) of Jammu<br />
and Kashmir Legislative Assembly<br />
was held here today<br />
under the Chairmanship of<br />
MLA, Mian Altaf Ahmed to<br />
examine Audit Paragraphs<br />
relating to Consumer Affairs<br />
and Public Distribution Department.<br />
Legislators, Aijaz Ahmed<br />
Khan, Satpaul Sharma, Mohammad<br />
Khalil Band, Ajay<br />
Nanda, Rajeev Sharma, Zaffar<br />
Iqbal Manhas and Dr.<br />
Shehnaz Ganai were present<br />
in the meeting and gave suggestions<br />
to improve the functioning<br />
of the department.<br />
Emphasizing the need<br />
to generate mass awareness<br />
regarding NFSA, the Minister<br />
asked DDCs to hold awareness<br />
campaigns to sensitize<br />
the consumers about the<br />
benefits of this ambitious<br />
initiative. “Success of any<br />
scheme lies in the efficiency<br />
with which it is implemented<br />
and benefits should reach the<br />
targeted beneficiaries“, the<br />
Minister stressed.<br />
The Minister appreciated<br />
the efforts of DDCs and concerned<br />
officers for providing<br />
requisite logistic support to<br />
CA&PD department to create<br />
database of 1.25 crore souls<br />
which would serve as a vital<br />
data for seeking allocation<br />
under NFSA and other social<br />
security schemes.<br />
and such private institutions<br />
should redouble their<br />
efforts ensuring that quality<br />
education is imparted to<br />
students. He further added<br />
that students are building<br />
blocks of a strong foundation<br />
of the nation.<br />
The Minister asked the<br />
teaching fraternity to help<br />
students imbibe values<br />
through education. He added<br />
that teachers are architects<br />
who shape personality<br />
of students and mould them<br />
to be good human beings.<br />
The Minister also highlighted<br />
role of the teachers<br />
and parents in the life of<br />
children. He called upon all<br />
parents to help their wards<br />
achieve better education<br />
and become good citizens of<br />
the country.<br />
He also asked the<br />
project will make available<br />
around Rs 80-85 crores to<br />
SMC every year.<br />
The Deputy Chief Minister<br />
also asked the officials of<br />
Urban Local Bodies to work<br />
together to make SBM a<br />
complete success. He was informed<br />
that the Urban Local<br />
Bodies have received 25349<br />
applications for the construction<br />
of individual household<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Jammu, Dec 14: Chairing<br />
the 29th University Council<br />
meeting of Sher-e-Kashmir<br />
University of Agricultural<br />
Sciences and Technology of<br />
Kashmir (SKUAST-K), held<br />
here at the Raj Bhavan, Governor<br />
N.N. Vohra, Chancellor<br />
of SKUAST-K, observed that<br />
the Farm Universities should<br />
get involved and play a role<br />
in developing entrepreneurship<br />
in the State by imparting<br />
vocational and skill oriented<br />
training in the fields of<br />
scientific storage, dehydration,<br />
processing, packaging,<br />
handling and value addition<br />
of fruits, vegetables meat and<br />
poultry products in the State.<br />
In the discussions in the Council<br />
the Chancellor andChief<br />
Minister Mufti Mohd. Sayeed,<br />
Pro Chancellor of the University<br />
reviewed the ongoing vocational<br />
training programmes<br />
and the locations where these<br />
are being carried out.<br />
The Vice Chancellor, Dr.<br />
Nazeer Ahmad was asked<br />
to undertake an assessment<br />
of the actual benefits of the<br />
“High Density Fruit Farming<br />
Youth are building blocks<br />
of the nation: Lal Singh<br />
Mian Altaf chairs PAC meet<br />
The Committee discussed<br />
the Action Taken<br />
Report on Audit Paras contained<br />
in CAG’s Report for<br />
Consumer Affairs and Public<br />
Distributions Department.<br />
Threadbare discussion<br />
was held on relevant paras<br />
including non-functional K.<br />
Oil depots and their present<br />
status, procurement of food<br />
grains and implementation<br />
of NFSA in the state and its<br />
various aspects.<br />
The Committee asked<br />
the concerned officers<br />
that the Accounts system<br />
of the department should<br />
be maintained as per the<br />
guidelines. It also asked to<br />
them to ensure proper supply<br />
of K. Oil in remote and<br />
far-flung areas.<br />
Secretary, CA&PD, Saurabh<br />
Bhagat briefed the<br />
Committee about the functioning<br />
of the department<br />
besides physical and financial<br />
activities of the department.<br />
Deputy Audit General<br />
(DAG), Deen Dayal Verma,<br />
Director, CA&PD, Jammu,<br />
G. S. Chib, Director Finance,<br />
CA&PD, Suresh Koul, Special<br />
Secretary, Legislative Assembly,<br />
M. R. Singh besides<br />
senior officers of CA&PD and<br />
Assembly Secretariat also<br />
attended the meeting.<br />
News<br />
Tuesday<br />
2<br />
<strong>15</strong>.12.20<strong>15</strong><br />
toilets out of which 5006<br />
have been already sanctioned.<br />
Dr Singh asked the<br />
officials to expedite the sanctioning<br />
of other cases too.<br />
Under the programme every<br />
household is provided Rs<br />
4000 by Centre and Rs 8000<br />
by state government for the<br />
construction of toilets.<br />
12 community centres<br />
are also being constructed<br />
in various towns besides, 21<br />
drainage projects have been<br />
taken up at as many towns.<br />
The Deputy Chief Minister<br />
asked the Urban Local Bodies<br />
to generate resources by utilising<br />
the assets at prime locations.<br />
He gave green signal<br />
for taking up a project under<br />
PPP mode at Handwara Bus<br />
Adda.<br />
The Deputy Chief Minister<br />
asked the officials to get<br />
ready for local bodies elections,<br />
which will be held in<br />
March 2016. “We want to<br />
bring the governance at the<br />
local level. Our motto is to<br />
ensure development of everybody,”<br />
said Dr Singh.<br />
Farm Universities should play a role<br />
in entrepreneurship dev: Governor<br />
students community to<br />
remain focused in their<br />
studies, besides also participate<br />
in extracurricular<br />
activities for their overall<br />
development. He said that<br />
hard-work will not only<br />
help them achieve better<br />
results and a bright future<br />
but they will also be able<br />
to contribute towards the<br />
progress of the nation.<br />
Speaking on the occasion,<br />
Chairman of the school<br />
asked the students to work<br />
hard and show their excellence<br />
in coming exams. He<br />
said education is vital for<br />
better tomorrow and asked<br />
students to share their<br />
knowledge to gain knowledge.<br />
Earlier, students of the<br />
school presented a colorful<br />
cultural programme.<br />
Pulwama, Dec 14: Director<br />
General of Police (DGP), K.<br />
Rajendra Kumar today visited<br />
Pulwama and supervised the<br />
ongoing recruitment process<br />
of constables which was<br />
held in district police lines,<br />
He enquired about different<br />
methods being applied for<br />
outdoor tests of the aspirants.<br />
Rajendra, on the occasion<br />
interacted with the candidates<br />
to get fed back about<br />
the gadgets being utilized in<br />
the physical tests. He said that<br />
the process would be purely<br />
transparent and deserving<br />
youth would be selected on<br />
the basis of merit. The whole<br />
process is being monitored<br />
System in Kashmir Valley”<br />
project by carrying out a<br />
concurrent evaluation along<br />
with the State Agriculture<br />
Department. The Chancellor<br />
and the Pro-Chancellor also<br />
discussed the present status<br />
of the work being done<br />
by the Research Centre for<br />
Residue and Quality Analysis<br />
at SKUAST-K and directed<br />
Commissioner, State Agriculture<br />
Department, to ensure<br />
stringent action against<br />
anyone involved in the sale<br />
of spurious fertilizers, insecticides<br />
and pesticides in the<br />
State. The Chancellor also<br />
stressed the adoption of organic<br />
farm practices.<br />
The Pro Chancellor advised<br />
Vice Chancellor to<br />
suitably review the extant<br />
academic programmes to<br />
provide the students an<br />
Jammu, Dec 14: Maintaining<br />
that Gram Panchayats are<br />
the most important element<br />
of the Panchayati Raj system,<br />
Minister for Rural Development<br />
and Panchayati Raj,<br />
Abdul Haq today said J&K<br />
would achieve real progress<br />
at the grassroots level only<br />
if the Gram Panchayats are<br />
strengthened and empowered.<br />
Speaking at day-long<br />
conference and award distribution<br />
function organized<br />
by Department of Rural Development<br />
and Panchayati<br />
Raj here, the Minister said it<br />
is a matter of pride for the<br />
State that three Gram Panchayats<br />
including Dara, Sarar<br />
and Mand brought laurels<br />
to J&K after being conferred<br />
“Panchayat Sashaktikaran<br />
Puraskar” for the year 2014-<br />
<strong>15</strong> by the Government of India.<br />
He said these Gram Panchayats<br />
were awarded for<br />
through latest equipments<br />
to ensure transparency in the<br />
recruitment, he added.<br />
Earlier, the Chairman<br />
of the Police Recruitment<br />
Board, L. Mohanti, briefed<br />
Mehbooba seeks effective<br />
implementation of supernumerary<br />
quota for JK students<br />
increased opportunity of<br />
spending more time in field<br />
work. He also asked the VC<br />
to initiate dairy and poultry<br />
farming Pilot Projects for encouraging<br />
and guiding the<br />
rural youth to set up farming<br />
related ventures.<br />
The Council had extensive<br />
discussions on the<br />
work done by the University<br />
for providing high yielding<br />
seeds to the farmers and<br />
significantly increasing the<br />
seed replacement rate. The<br />
Council stressed on the VCs<br />
of both the Farm Universities<br />
to educate the farmers for<br />
adopting new technologies<br />
and eco-friendly techniques<br />
for increasing production<br />
and productivity and shifting<br />
towards the commercially<br />
viable crops.<br />
Abdul Rehman Bhat,<br />
the exemplary work done in<br />
their respective Panchayats.<br />
The Minister distributed<br />
cheques amounting to<br />
Rs 8 lakh each to felicitate<br />
the members of these Panchayats<br />
namely Mohammad<br />
Amin Rather, Sudesh<br />
Chander and Mansa Ram<br />
for their tireless efforts in<br />
ensuring proper utilization<br />
of funds and effective implementation<br />
of various welfare<br />
schemes and programmes<br />
launched by the state and<br />
central government. He said<br />
the DGP about the ongoing<br />
process. The DGP asked the<br />
members and staff involved<br />
in the process to be impartial<br />
and passionate towards the<br />
candidates participating in<br />
New Delhi, Dec 14: Member<br />
Parliament and PDP<br />
President, Mehbooba Mufti<br />
today sought the intervention<br />
of the Union Minister<br />
for Human Resource Development<br />
(MHRD) in the effective<br />
implementation of<br />
UGC scheme regarding admission<br />
of J&K students in<br />
the recognized colleges and<br />
universities of the country<br />
under supernumerary<br />
quota.<br />
Raising the issue during<br />
Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha<br />
today, Mehbooba said as<br />
per the University Grants<br />
Commission (UGC) guidelines,<br />
in addition to the migrant<br />
quota, admissions to<br />
two supernumerary seats<br />
each have to be made by<br />
all the recognized universities<br />
of the country from<br />
amongst the general category<br />
students of Jammu<br />
and Kashmir.<br />
She said of late, as per<br />
reports, most of the universities<br />
have started refusing<br />
admissions to the<br />
students from J&K under<br />
this quota. She sought the<br />
intervention of the Union<br />
Minister for Human Resource<br />
Development, Smriti<br />
Irani in the matter so<br />
that the students from J&K<br />
continue to benefit from<br />
this scheme.<br />
Earlier, in its written<br />
reply to a question raised<br />
by Mehbooba in the Lok<br />
Sabha on the issue, MHRD<br />
said, following the reports<br />
that some colleges and<br />
universities were refusing<br />
admission to the students<br />
from J&K under supernumerary<br />
seats, the UGC issued<br />
fresh directive to all<br />
the universities to admit<br />
the eligible students from<br />
J&K under the supernumerary<br />
quota.<br />
MHRD said that during<br />
last year, 20 representations<br />
were received from<br />
students of J&K regarding<br />
refusal of admissions by<br />
the Delhi University Colleges<br />
under supernumerary<br />
quota.<br />
The Ministry said till<br />
date 406 admissions of students<br />
from J&K have been<br />
made under supernumerary<br />
quota through centralized<br />
counselling process<br />
under the Special Scholarship<br />
Scheme.<br />
Minister for Horticulture;<br />
Bali Bhagat, Minister for Forests;<br />
Sajad Gani Lone, Minister<br />
for Animal Husbandry<br />
and Ghulam Nabi Lone,<br />
Minister for Agriculture,<br />
urged both the VCs to optimally<br />
utilize all the existing<br />
resources of the Farm Universities<br />
and secure speedy<br />
development of agriculture<br />
and its allied sectors.<br />
Dr. Nazeer Ahmad, Vice<br />
Chancellor, SKUAST-K, made<br />
a detailed presentation on the<br />
various initiatives which had<br />
been undertaken by the University<br />
since the last Council<br />
meeting. He highlighted the<br />
academic achievements and<br />
informed the Council about<br />
the accomplishments secured<br />
in improving capacities and<br />
infrastructure development<br />
in the Farm University.<br />
these Panchayat Representatives<br />
are the role model for<br />
the society and urged other<br />
members to act as brand<br />
ambassadors to carry forward<br />
the agenda of development<br />
of the present dispensation.<br />
The Minister said the<br />
members of these three Panchayats<br />
have proven their<br />
mettle in making best use of<br />
the resources. He announced<br />
that similar awards would be<br />
conferred to the outstanding<br />
Panchayats at the state level<br />
the recruitment. He said that<br />
by inducting qualified and<br />
energetic youth in the Organization,<br />
our capabilities to<br />
serve the people and the Nation<br />
would be enhanced, besides<br />
providing employment<br />
to the unemployed youth of<br />
the State.<br />
Later, the DGP had a<br />
meeting with the board<br />
members and discussed<br />
pace of recruitment in other<br />
districts of the Valley. He was<br />
informed that recruitment is<br />
being held as per norms and<br />
schedule already framed by<br />
Police Headquarters. DGP<br />
disclosed that the recruitment<br />
of 4000 constables in<br />
www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
‘Educators to be<br />
role models for<br />
climate change<br />
awareness’<br />
Jammu, Dec 14: Calling<br />
upon educators to become<br />
role models for spreading<br />
awareness on climate<br />
change and its affects, Minister<br />
of State for Information,<br />
Culture and Education<br />
Priya Sethi said teachers are<br />
pillars of knowledge and can<br />
play a very positive role in<br />
motivating society towards<br />
the most important topic of<br />
climate change and sustainable<br />
living.<br />
She said society at large<br />
and students in particular<br />
look up to the educators for<br />
directions and the teaching<br />
fraternity should actively<br />
contribute towards environment<br />
issues.<br />
The Minister was<br />
speaking at a conference on<br />
‘Climate Change (CC) and<br />
Sustainability-Equipping<br />
Educators on Climate<br />
Change’ here at Jammu<br />
University, today.<br />
The conference was<br />
jointly organized by Department<br />
of Environmental<br />
Sciences, Centre for Environment<br />
Education (CEE)<br />
Ahmedabad and Centre for<br />
Environment Education &<br />
Training (CEET), J&K.<br />
Vice-Chancellor,<br />
Jammu University Prof.<br />
R.D. Sharma, Head of the<br />
Department Environmental<br />
Sciences, Prof. Anil Sharma,<br />
Dr. Abdesh Gangwar, Prof.<br />
Deepika Sharma, Eminent<br />
Environmentalist Dr. C.M.<br />
Seth, Teachers from different<br />
education at institutes, environmentalists,<br />
educationists<br />
and students attended the<br />
workshop.<br />
Underscoring the commitment<br />
of the government<br />
towards checking climate<br />
change, Priya said J&K State<br />
Council on Climate Change<br />
has been set up and the<br />
Chief Minister is heading<br />
the council, adding that<br />
being one of the most ecosensitive<br />
states the issue<br />
of climate change and its<br />
adverse effects pose more<br />
threat to the, hilly state.<br />
She said last year’s flash<br />
floods and rains that created<br />
havoc in the state are clear<br />
signs of the Nature’s fury<br />
and mankind has to seriously<br />
think on maintaining<br />
ecological balance.<br />
“We have great hopes<br />
on our younger generation<br />
and I am sure that youngsters<br />
would show similar<br />
zeal as they have shown in<br />
the Swachh Bharat mission<br />
launched by Prime Minister<br />
Narendra Modi,” she added.<br />
Haq for strengthening Gram Panchayats<br />
for the encouragement of<br />
members who are making<br />
extraordinary efforts for the<br />
overall development of the<br />
state.<br />
The Minister called upon<br />
the concerned officers to implement<br />
the schemes such<br />
as “My Village, My World”,<br />
MGNREGA, IAY etc. at grassroots<br />
level. Stressing for<br />
creation of durable assets<br />
in villages, Haq asked the<br />
Panchayat representatives<br />
to formulate plans keeping<br />
in view the overall developmental<br />
needs of the villages<br />
urging them to ensure tangible<br />
impact of the rural development<br />
schemes on the<br />
ground.<br />
The Minister said that<br />
to carry out any development<br />
related works in rural<br />
areas, the concerned<br />
executing agency should<br />
consult representatives of<br />
respective Panchayats.<br />
DGP supervises police recruitment process<br />
the Organization is looked<br />
by the people with great expectations<br />
and we are committed<br />
to provide employment<br />
to the deserving youth.<br />
He said that the youth are<br />
showing great enthusiasm by<br />
participating in the recruitment<br />
rallies despite hostile<br />
weather in the valley to join<br />
the force and serve the people<br />
of the State.<br />
The DGP was accompanied<br />
by IGP Kashmir Zone),<br />
SJM Giliani, IGP Railways,<br />
MS Salaria, IGP IRP (Kashmir),<br />
Sunil Kumar, DIG<br />
(CKR), G H. Bhat, SSP Pulwama<br />
Tajinder Singh and<br />
other Board members.
Precious Kashmir<br />
Sopore stabbing >>>><br />
Police arrest ‘attackers’<br />
within 24 hours<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Police in<br />
Jammu and Kashmir have<br />
arrested the alleged attackers<br />
of a man stabbed to<br />
death in Sopore on Saturday.<br />
On Dec 12, some unknown<br />
persons killed Ghulam<br />
Mohammad Tantary<br />
when he was returning<br />
home from his routine work<br />
in late evening, said an official.<br />
“Sopore police registered<br />
a case in this regard<br />
and constituted a special<br />
investigation team (SIT) under<br />
the supervision of SSP<br />
Sopore.<br />
“The investigation<br />
team picked two suspected<br />
youths Khurshid Ahmad<br />
Malla son of Bashir Ahmad<br />
Malla and Zahid Ahmad Katroo<br />
son of Mushtaq Ahmad<br />
Katroo residents of Ambarpora<br />
Tarzoo, Sopore,” he<br />
said.<br />
During questioning, it<br />
come to fore that the family<br />
of the Khurshid Ahmad<br />
Malla was interested in<br />
marriage with the family<br />
member of deceased, which<br />
was not accepted by the deceased<br />
and this frustrated<br />
the Khurshid Ahmad, the<br />
official added.<br />
On 12th of this month<br />
in the evening Khurshid<br />
along with his friend Zahid<br />
Ahmad hatched a conspiracy<br />
to eliminate the said<br />
deceased.<br />
In the evening hours,<br />
when Ghulam Mohammad<br />
was about to enter his<br />
house, Khurshid attacked<br />
with a sharp edged weapon<br />
on his neck, while Zahid<br />
was assisting him.<br />
Both the attackers fled<br />
from the spot after locals<br />
raise hue and cry.<br />
Ghulam Mohammad<br />
breathed his last while he<br />
was being shifted to hospital.<br />
The weapon of the offence<br />
was seized from the<br />
scene of occurrence and<br />
its preliminary investigation<br />
reveals that it was a<br />
planned murder.<br />
Bullet-ridden body found in Shopian<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Police on Monday recovered a bullet-ridden body of a youth in Turkiwangum<br />
area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.An official said that the body of 23-yesar-old-Rasik<br />
Ahmad Khan was found tied to a pole in Turkiwangam village by the locals<br />
who after spotting him immediately informed the police.A police team reached to the spot<br />
soon after being informed and taken the bullet ridden body for postmortem and other legal<br />
formalities.The slain youth, a resident of Wasohallan village in the district, owned a Xerox<br />
shop outside a government school in Imam-Sahib area, he said.After conducting all legal<br />
formalities, the police handed over the body to his family members for last rites, he said.<br />
Meanwhile, police has registered a case and started further investigations in this regard.<br />
NEWS<br />
Srinagar,Tuesday<br />
<strong>15</strong>.12.20<strong>15</strong><br />
Cluster approach<br />
key to promotion of<br />
traditional craft: Mufti<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: To boost traditional<br />
handmade and artisanal craft for<br />
its inclusive growth, Chief Minister,<br />
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Monday,<br />
sought Central support in fostering<br />
entrepreneurial cooperation by promotion<br />
of cluster initiative.<br />
He also called for complete focus<br />
on traditional craft which are<br />
women-centric such as shawl embroidery,<br />
chain stitch, sozni and<br />
crewel work.<br />
The Chief Minister made these<br />
observations during his meeting<br />
with the Minister for Industries &<br />
Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga<br />
and the visiting Chairman of Khadi<br />
& Village Industries Commission<br />
(K&VIC), Vinai Kumar, here this<br />
morning.<br />
Principal Secretary to the Chief<br />
Minister, B. B. Vyas, was also present<br />
on the occasion.<br />
Describing Khadi and Village<br />
Industries as a vibrant sector of rural<br />
economy, Mufti Sayeed stressed<br />
upon a comprehensive cluster approach<br />
to overcome the challenge<br />
posed by competitive imported<br />
products available in the market. He<br />
called for soft interventions through<br />
cluster methodology to ensure our<br />
artisans have proximity to raw material<br />
and that they are able to overcome<br />
the hurdles in marketing of<br />
our fabled handicraft products. “An<br />
institutional mechanism has to be<br />
worked out so that our artisans benefit<br />
from K&VIC’s prepare & procure<br />
3<br />
policy particularly in papier machie,<br />
wood work, Basohli paintings and<br />
Kishtwari blanket-making,” he stated.<br />
Chairman K&VIC assured the<br />
Chief Minister on setting up of two<br />
heritage clusters, one each in Srinagar<br />
and Jammu, under SFURTI<br />
(Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of<br />
Traditional Industries) in the state.<br />
He also offered skill-based training<br />
to artisans so that they are acquainted<br />
with new designs which can be<br />
blended with traditional designs<br />
depicting local flavours.<br />
SFURTI has inbuilt provision for<br />
soft interventions including skill<br />
training, capacity building and design<br />
development.<br />
To provide marketing support to<br />
Khadi & Village Industries, K&VIC is<br />
establishing 20 Khadi Gram Udyog<br />
Bhawans out of which two are being<br />
envisaged for J&K.<br />
Kupwara<br />
Court<br />
extends TA<br />
man’s police<br />
remand till<br />
Dec 19<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Kupwara, Dec 14: A local<br />
court here on Monday<br />
extended the police remand<br />
of Territorial Army trooper,<br />
arrested in connection with<br />
alleged “abduction” of three<br />
villagers in this frontier<br />
district till <strong>December</strong> 19.<br />
While extending the remand<br />
on the third occasion<br />
this month, the court of<br />
Judicial Magistrate Kupwara<br />
asked police to expedite the<br />
investigation.<br />
The accused, Manzoor<br />
Ahmad Khawaja, was<br />
produced before court<br />
and police through Chief<br />
Prosecuting Officer (CPO)<br />
Kupwara, Ashiq Hussain,<br />
urged for extension in his<br />
remand.<br />
Last week, a police<br />
official said that on November<br />
28, a compliant was<br />
received at Police Station<br />
Kralpora from the relatives<br />
of Ghulam Jeelani Khatana<br />
(52 Yrs) of Sajan Nari<br />
village of Dardpora and Mir<br />
Hussain Khatan (55 yrs) of<br />
Gujran village of Dardpora.<br />
The villagers are missing<br />
since November 17 after<br />
the trooper Khwaja of Satboyan<br />
village of Dardpora in<br />
the district called them to<br />
Kralpora. “Since then their<br />
whereabouts are not known<br />
nor any kind of communication<br />
could be made with<br />
them,” he said.<br />
Accordingly, the official<br />
said, a case under FIR number<br />
100/20<strong>15</strong> under section<br />
364 RPC was lodged into<br />
the matter and investigation<br />
was set into motion. Police<br />
have arrested the trooper,<br />
he added.<br />
As the police was<br />
investigating the missing<br />
complaints, another complaint<br />
was received by cops<br />
at Trehgam police station 29<br />
November regarding missing<br />
of Ali Mohammd Sheikh<br />
(40 yrs) of Checkpora in<br />
Trehgam area of the district<br />
since November 17.<br />
The official said that<br />
to clear the doubts of relatives<br />
of missing persons,<br />
they were called to police<br />
station Kralpora and were<br />
shown photographs of<br />
militants killed in encounters<br />
since <strong>15</strong> November.<br />
“The relatives of these<br />
missing persons denied<br />
resemblance of these<br />
photographs with those of<br />
their missing relatives in<br />
presence of the independent<br />
witnesses,” he said<br />
and added that further<br />
investigation of the case is<br />
vigorously going on. (GNS)<br />
Notifying Bajpathri >>>>>><br />
Geelani to run public<br />
campaign against the move<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14:<br />
Expressing deep concern<br />
and anguish over<br />
the reported demand<br />
of Army for notifying<br />
Bajpathri forest area close<br />
to Yusmarg hill resort in<br />
central Kashmir’s Budgam<br />
district for its use as an<br />
artillery firing range,<br />
Chairperson All Parties<br />
Hurriyat Conference (g)<br />
Syed Ali Geelani Monday<br />
said that by setting up<br />
their camps and firing<br />
ranges everywhere in<br />
Kashmir, “the Indian army<br />
is destroying the forests,<br />
water resources, environment<br />
and the economy<br />
of the poor people and<br />
they are converting this<br />
entire area into a military<br />
garrison”.<br />
He expressed deep<br />
sorrow over the “likely<br />
node of the government<br />
to the army’s demand of<br />
converting a forest area<br />
and a famous tourist spot<br />
into a piece of wasteland”<br />
and said, “the<br />
pro-Indian politicians are<br />
mortgaging and auctioning<br />
every state property<br />
for the chair and the personal<br />
benefits and from<br />
1947 till date, these people<br />
have always harmed<br />
the national interest of<br />
Kashmiri people.”<br />
Octogenarian Hurriyat<br />
chairperson said,<br />
“the setting up of the<br />
proposed firing rage in<br />
Bajpathri area will badly<br />
affect the vast forest area<br />
of Budgam and Shopian<br />
districts, more than 10<br />
water supply schemes<br />
originated from this area<br />
and which are feeding the<br />
major and huge population<br />
of the area will also<br />
get impacted by this decision;<br />
this proposal will<br />
completely destroy the<br />
Yusmarg tourist destination<br />
forever and the very<br />
serious and vital issue<br />
is the proposed firing<br />
range will endanger the<br />
lives of the huge population<br />
residing around the<br />
Bajpathri area and like<br />
Tosmaidan this area will<br />
also prove to be a death<br />
trap for the people.”<br />
Hurriyat (M) pays<br />
tribute to Akbar on his<br />
28th death anniversary<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Paying<br />
glowing tributes to prominent<br />
resistance leader, Sofi<br />
Muhammad Akbar and<br />
recalling his contributions<br />
toward the resistance<br />
movement on his 28th<br />
death anniversary, Hurriyat<br />
(M) spokesman Monday<br />
said despite opposition and<br />
political pressures, Sofi Akbar<br />
remained steadfast and<br />
strived for the just and basic<br />
right of self-determination<br />
of the people of Kashmir<br />
until breathing his last.<br />
Hurriyat (M) spokesman<br />
said at that time when<br />
most of Kashmir’s political<br />
leadership was busy<br />
securing seats in the State<br />
assembly and Indian Parliament<br />
and rendering their<br />
services to New Delhi for<br />
their vested interests, Sofi<br />
Akbar’s Mahaz-e-Azadi that<br />
he founded, was among a<br />
few prominent political and<br />
resistance groups of Kashmir<br />
offering sacrifices for the<br />
greater cause of Kashmir.<br />
Spokesman said, on the<br />
directions of Hurriyat (M)<br />
Chairman, Mirwaiz Umar<br />
Farooq, a high-level Hurriyat<br />
delegation comprising of<br />
Muhammad Musadiq Adil,<br />
Ghulam Nabi Zaki, Ghulam<br />
Nabi War, Ghulam Nabi<br />
Wasim and others visited<br />
north Kashmir’s Sopore<br />
town and offered Fateh Khawani<br />
prayers at marhoom<br />
Sofi Akbar’s grave.<br />
Speaking on the occasion,<br />
the Hurriyat (M) delegation<br />
members recalled the<br />
contributions of Sofi Akbar,<br />
paid glowing tributes to him<br />
and prayed for his eternal<br />
peace.<br />
Meanwhile, the Hurriyat<br />
(M) spokesman expressed<br />
“On the one hand<br />
India is seen playing an<br />
active role in the Paris<br />
Climate Change Conference<br />
and the international<br />
agreements according<br />
to which the attempts are<br />
being made at world level<br />
to save the world from<br />
global warming and other<br />
environmental threats<br />
but on the other hand<br />
to maintain its illegal<br />
and forced occupation<br />
in Kashmir, this country<br />
is destroying every<br />
such thing in Jammu &<br />
Kashmir which are vital<br />
for maintaining environmental<br />
equilibrium and<br />
which play a key role in<br />
controlling the fast rising<br />
global temperature,”<br />
Geelani said.<br />
Geelani, who continues<br />
to remain under<br />
house detention, said,<br />
“India is treating Jammu<br />
& Kashmir as its colony of<br />
the modern era and this<br />
country not only wants<br />
to continue its military<br />
occupation in this region<br />
but she wants to convert<br />
this place into a mass of<br />
destructive weapons. The<br />
policy makers of India<br />
have no interests with the<br />
miseries, life and death<br />
of the Kashmiri people,<br />
they have nothing to do<br />
whether the economy of<br />
this region gets destroyed<br />
or improved and they<br />
have no concerns with<br />
the protection of the<br />
Forests, water resources<br />
and environment of this<br />
region, they are only<br />
concerned to strengthen<br />
their forced occupation<br />
in Kashmir and for that<br />
purpose they can go to<br />
any extent.<br />
>>>>> Carpenter’s fake encounter case<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Mother seeks whereabouts of<br />
her son, says Shabir is innocent<br />
‘He is a militant: SSP Jammu<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: A family<br />
from Tral town of South<br />
Kashmir’s Pulwama<br />
district has been wandering<br />
from pillar to post in<br />
search of their loved one<br />
who according to them is<br />
untraceable after picked<br />
up the police from Jammu<br />
Bathindhi Jammu in the<br />
first week of November<br />
last month.<br />
The elderly mother<br />
and the two brothers of 19<br />
years old Shabir Ahmed<br />
Malik, resident of Nagbal<br />
Tral appeared in Press Enclave<br />
Srinagar on Monday.<br />
They said that Shabir has<br />
been missing from past<br />
one month and they don’t<br />
know why he was arrested<br />
and where the police have<br />
kept him. “My son Shabir<br />
was working as a baker at<br />
a bakery shop in Nowgam<br />
Srinagar.<br />
In November Government<br />
Forces raided our<br />
house and enquired about<br />
his whereabouts. They<br />
picked up my another son<br />
Muhammad Amin and<br />
released him after two<br />
days. Later on we came<br />
to know that Shabir has<br />
been arrested by police<br />
from Bathandi Jammu.<br />
First they labelled him as<br />
LeT militant and later on<br />
police claimed that he is<br />
affiliated with Hizb outfit.<br />
We fail to understand<br />
how he reached Bathandi<br />
when he was present in<br />
Nowgam,” Mukhti Begum,<br />
the mother of Shabir said.<br />
She said that, “shortly<br />
before police raided their<br />
house, Shabir called us and<br />
informed that Tral police<br />
have called him and asked<br />
him to present himself at<br />
police station Tral. From<br />
that day he switched off<br />
his mobile phone. I am<br />
deeply concerned about<br />
his safety and want to<br />
meet him, but no security<br />
agency owns him.”<br />
Mukhti Begum said<br />
that Shabir is innocent<br />
and even Tral police have<br />
accepted that he is not<br />
involved in any militant<br />
activity.<br />
Former SHO partly cross examined<br />
Winter vacation for<br />
doctors leaves patients<br />
in lurch: DAK<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Calling for an end to<br />
winter vacation of senior doctors in tertiary<br />
care hospitals, Doctors Association Kashmir<br />
(DAK) Monday said that this practice leaves<br />
patients to suffer severely.<br />
Terming the practice unethical President<br />
DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement<br />
said that holidays for senior doctors leave<br />
patients in lurch.<br />
Denying that Police<br />
raided any house at Nagbal<br />
Tral, a police official said<br />
that Shabir there is no FIR<br />
lodged against Shabir and<br />
as per police records he is<br />
not a militant or involved<br />
in any militancy related<br />
activity. He said that they<br />
came to know about<br />
Shabir when his family<br />
lodged a missing report<br />
about him in police station<br />
Tral.<br />
Pertinently, news<br />
reports had revealed<br />
that police arrested a<br />
man suspected to be a<br />
militant from the house<br />
of a former Sarpanch in<br />
Bathindhi area where he<br />
was staying for past two<br />
days.<br />
Confirming the arrest<br />
of Shabir Ahmed Malik,<br />
Senior Superintendent<br />
of Police Jammu, Uttam<br />
Chand said that he is in<br />
police lock up and during<br />
questioning he has confessed<br />
that he worked for<br />
a militant organization.<br />
“I can’t tell you where he<br />
has been detained but he<br />
has accepted he worked<br />
for a militant organization,”<br />
he said. (CNS)<br />
Srinagar, Dec 14: Former<br />
station house officer was<br />
cross examined in connection<br />
with fake encounter<br />
killing of Abdul Rehman<br />
Padroo before a court on<br />
Monday.<br />
The SHO, Muhammad<br />
Asgar Bhat, who was the<br />
investigating officer of<br />
the case, was partly cross<br />
examined and the cases<br />
will continue tomorrow<br />
as well.<br />
The SIT had probed the<br />
killing of Padroo, a carpenter<br />
from Larnoo Kokernag<br />
who was passed off as<br />
Lashkar militant and killed<br />
in a fake encounter after he<br />
went missing from Batamaloo<br />
in <strong>December</strong> 2006.<br />
Seven accused include<br />
former SSP Hans Raj Parihar<br />
are under detention at<br />
Central Jail Srinagar.<br />
The SIT was headed<br />
by SSP Uttam Chand who<br />
has already recorded his<br />
statement before the<br />
court in November 2013<br />
that the fake encounter<br />
case was ‘rarest of the<br />
rare’ cases and prayed for<br />
death sentence to all the<br />
seven accused.<br />
Besides Parihar, the SIT<br />
had found Dy SP Bahadur<br />
Ram, ASI Farooq Gudoo,<br />
driver Farooq Ahmad Padder,<br />
Manzoor Ahmad Malik<br />
and Constable Bansi Lal<br />
guilty of killing Padroo.<br />
The SIT had exhumed<br />
Padroo’s body in Sumbal<br />
area of Bandipora district.<br />
Padroo had gone missing<br />
from Batamaloo bus stand<br />
on <strong>December</strong> 8, 2006<br />
and taken to Waskoora<br />
in central Kashmir’s<br />
Ganderbal district where<br />
he was killed in the fake<br />
encounter by the accused,<br />
working with Special<br />
Operation Group (SOG)<br />
posted in Ganderbal and<br />
Sumbal camps.<br />
The DNA taken from<br />
the body of Padroo<br />
matched with that of<br />
his relatives in Larnoo<br />
Kokernag, confirming that<br />
the killed ‘foreign militant’<br />
was not a Pakistani<br />
militant but the abducted<br />
carpenter. (GNS)<br />
Exams for 1st year<br />
held in 2013, marks<br />
cards yet to be given<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Baramulla, Dec 14:<br />
After passing two years<br />
since 1st year examination<br />
was held in MCMP<br />
Government College<br />
Baramulla, the students<br />
are yet to receive their<br />
respective marks sheets<br />
thereby leaving students<br />
to suffer.<br />
The students who<br />
are undergoing in MCMP<br />
course said that the<br />
college is not providing<br />
marks cards to them.<br />
“We have approached<br />
several time to the<br />
college authorities but<br />
nothing has been in this<br />
regard,” they said.<br />
Accusing the college<br />
authorities for ignoring<br />
their plights, the<br />
students demand their<br />
marks sheets at earliest.<br />
“Our marks cards<br />
as per notification have<br />
been sent from tabulation<br />
section to first year<br />
section but we are yet<br />
Patient care is worst hit and patients<br />
face immense hardships during holiday<br />
time of doctors.Every year faculty of referral<br />
hospitals go for two months winter vacation<br />
leaving patients to fend for themselves.<br />
Despite huge inconvenience faced by<br />
public due to dire shortage of doctors in<br />
hospitals, senior doctors are allowed for<br />
winter vacation.It is ironical that faculty of<br />
premier hospitals are allowed to leave at a<br />
time when their services are needed most.<br />
Patients are left to die due to non-availability<br />
of senior doctors during harsh winter<br />
when Kashmir remains cut-off from rest of<br />
the world.<br />
to receive our cards. It<br />
marks cards got missing<br />
from the same section<br />
and we have been asked<br />
to apply for duplicate<br />
copies of marks cards for<br />
which college authorities<br />
are asking to pay,” they<br />
said.<br />
They further said<br />
that it is the negligence<br />
of college authorities and<br />
why should we pay to<br />
college authorities when<br />
they haven’t received<br />
any card so far. “It stands<br />
college authorities<br />
responsibility to provide<br />
our marks at earliest<br />
without charging any<br />
amount,” they said.<br />
They later appealed<br />
to the college administration<br />
to look into the<br />
matter and redress their<br />
genuine grievance at<br />
earliest.<br />
Despite repeated<br />
attempts, Assistant controller,<br />
Manzoor Ahmad<br />
could not be contacted<br />
for the comments. (KNS)
Precious Kashmir<br />
Tolerance in<br />
our blood<br />
Edit<br />
Srinagar,Tuesday<br />
<strong>15</strong>.12.20<strong>15</strong> 4<br />
Who represents the Syrian<br />
people?<br />
There are two Kashmiri proverbs which vividly<br />
describe this character of ours. One is about<br />
the sowing of nettle and the other is about the<br />
splitting of a log. The nettle proverb is, “Anim<br />
soai, wuvem soi, lajim soi pansi”! (I brought<br />
the nettle, sowed the nettle, and got bitten by<br />
it myself). This is typical story in all these external<br />
interventions in Kashmir. Most of the<br />
time the interventions were sought by Kashmiris<br />
themselves because of the violent internecine<br />
tussle within Kashmir. Prior to Mughal<br />
intervention, Kashmir was experiencing the<br />
worst kind of sectarian violence. Yaqub Sarfi<br />
and Baba Daud Khaki requested Akbar to save<br />
Kashmir menaced by sectarian crises. Mughals<br />
captured Kashmir through treachery by trapping<br />
and arresting Yousuf Shah Chak, the last<br />
ruler of the independent Kashmir. The Mughals<br />
drained out every bit of chivalry from the blood<br />
of Kashmiris and turned them into demeaning<br />
serfs. Kashmir became their pleasure garden,<br />
a “Paradise on Earth” for them only! Similarly,<br />
the Afghans too had local invitation and facilitation<br />
in making Kashmir a part of their kingdom.<br />
The Afghan rule in Kashmir was a nightmarish<br />
experience. Kashmiris had hoped that the Afghans<br />
would bring order and treat them generously.<br />
However, they got what Dr. Ahad calls<br />
a “Culture Shock”! The Afghan experience has<br />
been summed up in a Persian couplet. “When<br />
the poet asked the gardener, who laid waste this<br />
garden? With a deep sigh he replied, ‘it was the<br />
Afghan’!”<br />
Kashmiris are traditionally and historically<br />
reputed to be very tolerant and non-communal<br />
people. However, recently there have been concerted<br />
attempts to introduce a communal element<br />
in the Kashmiri discourse facilitated by a<br />
local “peg”! These fascist elements could have<br />
never imagined an entry into the valley had not<br />
a Kashmiri facilitated it. The burning of a truck<br />
driver on the excuse of eating beef which resulted<br />
in massive protests was a stark example of<br />
this communal frenzy being slowly fueled by external<br />
elements with local collaboration. These<br />
elements are playing with fire which may engulf<br />
not only the state but the whole sub-continent.<br />
Bihar elections and the celebrations on Modi’s<br />
defeat in Kashmir and across the border should<br />
make these “pegs” think about their future! For<br />
a change, the log which has been hardened<br />
over the years, instead of getting split, may<br />
blunt the “peg” itself and render it useless. It<br />
is time for these local “pegs” to ponder about<br />
their ultimate fate!<br />
Other Opinion<br />
Lamis Andoni<br />
World powers, regional players,<br />
the Syrian regime, the<br />
splintered opposition and<br />
even the gangsters of the<br />
so-called Islamic State of Iraq<br />
and the Levant (ISIL) are positioning themselves,<br />
directly or indirectly, for negotiations<br />
over the future of the country, in the absence<br />
of a unified and credible voice for the forces<br />
that started the Syrian revolution.<br />
What is clear is that almost all parties are<br />
ready to compromise either Syria’s unity or<br />
sovereignty, or both, to further their interests<br />
and influence the shape of a new regime -<br />
with or without President Bashar al-Assad.<br />
What all powers, including Russia, are looking<br />
for is a malleable regime and, in the case of<br />
the US, one that does not present “a threat to<br />
Israel”.<br />
For all external powers, Syria is a “failed<br />
state” that can be reconstructed to their own<br />
liking, ignoring the demands and aspirations<br />
expressed by the Syrian people who rose up<br />
against the regime’s oppression and creeping<br />
marginalisation of the lower socioeconomic<br />
strata.Therefore, it is especially disturbing<br />
that the Syrian people, who are paying with<br />
their lives, are not adequately represented<br />
in either diplomatic efforts or the military<br />
campaign; not only is the self-declared Syrian<br />
opposition splintered, but most of the factions<br />
have become tools for different governments<br />
or vehicles for egoistic leaders seeking power<br />
positions in Syria’s future.<br />
However, the biggest blow for Syrian aspirations<br />
for freedom and justice was the emergence<br />
of fanatical groups such as ISIL, and<br />
extremist factions such as Jabhat al-Nusra and<br />
Ahrar al-Sham, which are bent on transforming<br />
the struggle into a sectarian conflict between<br />
the Sunnis and the ruling Alawite elite.<br />
The ascension of such groups has not only distorted<br />
the popular struggle but also boosted<br />
the regime’s attempts to delegitimise the uprising,<br />
describing its opponents as “terrorists”<br />
and posing “as the protector” of Christians<br />
and minorities inside Syria and beyond.<br />
Fear of ISIL and its ilk inside Syria, and their<br />
targeting of Christians and ethnic minorities,<br />
have further complicated the crucial question<br />
of representation and legitimacy of the<br />
revolution.Fear of ISIL and its ilk inside Syria,<br />
and their targeting of Christians and ethnic<br />
minorities, have further complicated the crucial<br />
question of representation and legitimacy<br />
of the revolution. Unlike in the first months<br />
or even the first year of the uprising, there are<br />
now Syrians who are ready to live with the<br />
tyranny of Assad as the lesser of two evils.<br />
While weighing an oppressive regime against<br />
chaos and instability could be understood in<br />
psychological and humanistic terms, it does<br />
not make the murderous regime a true representative<br />
of the Syrians.<br />
Militarisation of the revolution<br />
The fleeing of hundreds of thousands of<br />
Syrians who are risking their lives across the<br />
tumultuous seas lays the blame first and foremost<br />
at the regime’s door, for its initial cruel<br />
crackdown on protesters, mostly children,<br />
which proved to be the spark that ignited a<br />
wider uprising.<br />
It could be reasonably argued that the militarisation<br />
of the revolution was a mistake that<br />
undermined the political representation of<br />
the revolution, as it allowed agenda-driven<br />
foreign interventions, giving the regime<br />
the upper hand, and blurred the distinction<br />
between the revolutionaries and groups such<br />
as ISIL and others.Yet at the same time it is<br />
also arguably a predictable result, considering<br />
the ferocity of the regime’s reactions. What is<br />
important here is that a strong political voice<br />
for the revolution was eclipsed by the ensuing<br />
explosion of armed violence - confusing a<br />
legitimate resistance with pure criminal acts<br />
committed by the extremist fanatical factions.<br />
But it was the opposition factions’ apparent<br />
loss of independence to one party or another,<br />
including agreeing to place their fighters<br />
under US sponsorship, which has caused internal<br />
frictions, and undercut their popularity<br />
inside and outside Syria.<br />
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [Reuters]<br />
The attitude of most opposition groups served<br />
the regime’s propaganda that there was no<br />
revolution but “a foreign conspiracy”, denying<br />
its own repressive record and, of late, the dire<br />
consequences of Iran’s involvement in the turmoil.For<br />
a while, it was understandable that<br />
the opposition could not operate in a vacuum<br />
and would need to build ties with regional<br />
states, especially neighbouring Arab countries.<br />
Many of its personalities have become<br />
puppets for these regimes to advance their<br />
own personal ambitions.That has not only<br />
affected the credibility of the opposition, but<br />
it has also impeded the formation of a united<br />
front and the formulation of a nationalist<br />
agenda away from the influences of Arab regimes,<br />
reducing them to pawns in a regional<br />
and international struggle over Syria.The fact<br />
is that somewhere along the way, the revolution<br />
was hijacked by opportunists, including<br />
some Syrian personalities in exile, the corrupt<br />
beneficiaries of an avalanche of Western and<br />
Arab funding. The revolution was also needlessly<br />
complicated by both regional and Western<br />
interference.The Syrian opposition failed<br />
to articulate one voice, and succumbed to the<br />
influence of one external power or another<br />
to the point of near subservience, exploiting<br />
the despair of the Syrians, many of whom are<br />
yearning to be saved at any price from the regime’s<br />
yoke.The gap between activiss “inside<br />
Syria” and opposition in exile has also further<br />
undermined unity and consensus, making it<br />
more difficult to convey a message that could<br />
put forward a political programme to the Syrian<br />
people and the rest of the world.<br />
While it is wrong to idealise grassroots<br />
activists inside Syria, there has not been a<br />
concerted effort to restore the voice of the<br />
revolutionaries, or to truly pay attention to<br />
the legitimate grievances that compelled Syrians<br />
to defy a dreadful police state.<br />
As the world has become obsessed with ISIL<br />
and a renewed version of the “war on terror”,<br />
the narrative is no longer about a revolution<br />
but about defeating “terrorism”, thus<br />
weakening grassroots activism and enabling<br />
the regime to justify its mass killings as it is<br />
engaged in a battle to defeat “terrorism”.<br />
Even if some countries, especially Western<br />
countries, talk about a transition to a democratic<br />
system, we have the foreboding experience<br />
of Iraq post US-led invasion that shows<br />
how Washington was more interested in<br />
pitting Shia and Sunni against each other than<br />
state-building.<br />
To save Syria from an already accelerating<br />
fragmentation, it is the responsibility of the<br />
Syrian opposition to draw up a national salvation<br />
strategy that unites the Syrian people and<br />
speaks for them, and challenges all relevant<br />
parties within the country.<br />
There is little cause to have faith in the outcome<br />
of the opposition’s ongoing meeting in<br />
Riyadh, as the beginning of the solution lies in<br />
the emergence of a unified, credible leadership<br />
that brings together both activists within<br />
Syria or in exile to raise a unified voice before<br />
it is too late - for both the country and its<br />
agonised people.<br />
T<br />
The Bollywood actor Salman Khan, accused of driving<br />
under the influence and killing innocent people<br />
in high jinks behind the wheel of a fast car, has been<br />
acquitted of all criminal charges. The well-known<br />
star of Hindi cinema gets the benefit of the doubt,<br />
which is a fair legal provision. Whether justice has<br />
been served may be open to question considering<br />
he had been convicted to five years in prison by<br />
the sessions court after a lengthy trial, but there<br />
is no doubt that justice was delayed in that it was<br />
a 13-year trial of sensational twists and turns. The<br />
outcome is a happy one for the stars, and more so<br />
for producers of his movies who would be heavily<br />
invested in the star.<br />
The important point was whether Salman was<br />
driving under the influence of alcohol. If he was,<br />
it would have been a criminal offence even though<br />
what took place was an accident which may have<br />
been caused by a tyre-burst. Doubts were raised as<br />
to who really was driving, which any smart defence<br />
lawyer would have raised since the recording of the<br />
incident by the police late at night was bound to be<br />
full of holes to be picked in court in favour of the<br />
defendant.<br />
While the rich and famous can hire the smartest<br />
lawyers, the prosecution is run by those whom the<br />
government can afford. The court declared that the<br />
prosecution had not established its case beyond<br />
reasonable doubt, a classic ground on which many<br />
cases have fallen. Our trust in the judiciary suggests<br />
justice has been served and the matter should<br />
rest there.<br />
Printer, Publisher, Owner : Afaq Ahmad Bhat<br />
Editor: Afaq Ahmad Bhat<br />
Legal Advisor: Hakim Sami Yaqoob (Advocate)<br />
Published From: Rajbagh Opposite Radio Colony Srinagar J&K<br />
Printed At: Alsafa Printing Press Hazuri Bagh Srinagar<br />
RNI No: JKENG/2013/55310<br />
Cell No: 9419081703<br />
Star acquittal<br />
Email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com<br />
Website: www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
Note to world leaders: This is<br />
how to welcome refugees<br />
Antonia Zerbisias<br />
They were hardly the poor, huddled masses<br />
Canadians might have expected.In fact, the<br />
163 privately sponsored Syrian refugees<br />
from Lebanon who landed in Toronto late<br />
last Thursday looked less bedraggled and besieged<br />
than other Canadians do after a long overseas<br />
flight.<br />
But then, most Canadians don't travel in government<br />
jets, don't get the red carpet treatment, don't<br />
bypass line-ups for baggage and border clearance -<br />
and don't get greeted by their recently elected Prime<br />
Minister Justin Trudeau.<br />
These refugees did not arrive like the tens of thousands<br />
of Vietnamese "boat people" did in the 1970s,<br />
or any other group of terror-fleeing refugees at other<br />
times in Canadian history.<br />
"This is a wonderful night where we get to show<br />
not just a planeload of new Canadians what Canada's<br />
all about, but we get to show the world how to open<br />
our hearts and welcome in people who are fleeing<br />
extraordinarily difficult situations," Trudeau said.<br />
"Tonight, they step off the plane as refugees. But<br />
they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents<br />
of Canada, with social insurance numbers, with<br />
health cards, and with an opportunity to become full<br />
Canadians."<br />
Personal welcome<br />
Two days later, another planeload of 161 privately<br />
sponsored Syrian refugees landing in Montreal barely<br />
made national news, let alone international headlines.<br />
That was despite a personal welcome by Philippe<br />
Couillard, the Quebec premier, John McCallum, the<br />
federal immigration minister, and Denis Coderre,<br />
Montreal's mayor.<br />
Would the newcomers' landing at Toronto's Pearson<br />
International - which was named after another<br />
Liberal prime minister - have made world news had<br />
Trudeau not been there with his trademark babykisses,<br />
warm hugs and selfies?<br />
Would the newcomers' landing at Toronto's<br />
Pearson International - which was named for another<br />
Liberal prime minister - have made world news had<br />
Trudeau not been there...<br />
Trudeau, the telegenic son of Pierre Trudeau,<br />
arguably Canada's most popular prime minister of the<br />
20th century, was made for the internet age. Young,<br />
handsome and to the official manor-born, he is backed<br />
by a top-flight team of political strategists who know<br />
how to maximise media - new, old, and social - to<br />
sway public opinion and perceptions.<br />
This would explain why the trending hashtag<br />
#WelcomeRefugees, coined by the government itself,<br />
now appears on its immigration and citizenship<br />
ministry website. (Not surprisingly, that site has been<br />
radically overhauled since the refugee-hostile Stephen<br />
Harper Conservatives' nine-year reign ended.)<br />
And so heart-warming images of Trudeau zipping<br />
the new arrivals into bulky winter coats hit TV,<br />
tablet and telephone screens everywhere. They were<br />
splashed on the pages of the world's newspapers,<br />
from the Times of India to Britain's Independent.<br />
They were tweeted and they were facebooked. They<br />
became the perfect Christmas story.<br />
In the US, The New York Times, Washington<br />
Post and Los Angeles Times published reports and<br />
editorials accusing the US of not measuring up to its<br />
northern neighbour's compassion.<br />
They pointed out how more than half of the states'<br />
governors want to keep their borders closed and how<br />
the leading Republican presidential candidate Donald<br />
Trump has promised, should he win the White House,<br />
to "shut down" Muslim immigration and register all<br />
US-based Muslims.<br />
Anti-refugee rhetoric in the US<br />
Indeed, the anti-refugee rhetoric in the US has<br />
reached such a hysterical level that more than onethird<br />
of all Americans approve of Trump's proposed<br />
ban. One armed vigilante-type group known as the<br />
"Three Percenters" even vows to "interfere" with<br />
Muslims "threatening to take over" the US.<br />
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets refugees<br />
fleeing from Syria, as they arrive in Toronto [AP]<br />
"…Canada's generosity - and Mr Trudeau's personal<br />
warmth and leadership - can serve as a beacon<br />
for others," a New York Times editorial headlined<br />
Canada's Warm Embrace of Refugees maintained. "[I]t<br />
puts to shame the callous and irresponsible behaviour<br />
of the American governors and presidential candidates<br />
who have argued that the United States, for the<br />
sake of its security, must shut its doors to all Syrian<br />
refugees."<br />
Others were not so genteel.<br />
"US politics right now feels like a clown show of<br />
ventriloquised garbage bags yelling dangerous nonsense<br />
about Muslims and the Second Amendment,"<br />
the men's magazine GQ taunted. "But just north of the<br />
border ... Trudeau is showing just how far leadership<br />
traits like compassion and open-mindedness can go<br />
toward endearing yourself to your countrymen. Who<br />
would have thought?"<br />
Right now, Trudeau's approval ratings stand<br />
at 57 percent, higher than when his Liberal party<br />
swept to power on October 19. Nearly three-quarters<br />
of all Canadians believe he has the makings of a<br />
good leader.<br />
He clearly has an effect. Canadian business<br />
has delivered millions in sponsorships, housing,<br />
furnishings and even mobile phones. Church and<br />
community groups, as well as individuals, have<br />
pledged to sponsor and support one newcomer. One<br />
chief executive is personally committed to bringing<br />
in 50 families at a cost of more than $1m.<br />
Coming around<br />
Judging by the reception for the first wave of<br />
refugees, largely Armenian-Syrian families with relatives<br />
in the country, Canadians who had concerns<br />
about security, especially following last month's<br />
terrorist attacks in Paris, will be reassured.<br />
They're already coming around.<br />
In mid-November, polls showed that opposition<br />
to Trudeau's refugee resettlement plan - 25,000 are<br />
expect to arrive by the end of February 2016 - was<br />
as high as 60 percent. Last week, two days before<br />
the first planeload, Canadians were split, with those<br />
saying they welcome refugees slightly outnumbering<br />
those who would not.<br />
True, other polls show that Canadians are worried<br />
that the influx will strain the already hard-pressed<br />
healthcare system as well as other social services.<br />
This nation of immigrants and refugees also feels that<br />
Syrian refugees are getting preferential treatment over<br />
other groups.But their faith and pride in their country<br />
has been restored. As Trudeau himself has repeatedly<br />
proclaimed, "Canada is back."Canadians, new and<br />
old, have left the dark Harper decade behind and are<br />
once again charting a familiar course, one where the<br />
world's weary and war-sick are welcomed.<br />
Antonia Zerbisias is an award-winning Canadian<br />
journalist. She has been a reporter and TV host for<br />
the Toronto Star, the CBC, as well as the Montreal correspondent<br />
for Variety trade paper.<br />
>>>>>>>>> Please send your articles and letters on preciouskashmir@gmail.com >>>>>>>>>
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
Sensex Nifty Gold<br />
Business/ International<br />
Tuesday<br />
5<br />
www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
<strong>15</strong>.12.20<strong>15</strong><br />
Silver Dollar J&K Bank Yes Bank SBI ICICI Bank HDFC Bank<br />
105.92<br />
39.60<br />
211.00<br />
248.00<br />
0.22<br />
0.85<br />
2.65<br />
1.35<br />
0.30<br />
8.70<br />
25<strong>15</strong>0.35<br />
7650.05<br />
25,468.00<br />
33,735.00<br />
67.10<br />
76.05<br />
683.25<br />
225.95<br />
249.00<br />
1,055.05<br />
Sensex ends 106 points up at 25<strong>15</strong>0<br />
Mumbai, Dec 14: After a weak<br />
opening, markets gathered pace<br />
and finished firm on the back of<br />
favourable macroeconomic numbers<br />
with October industrial<br />
production up 9.8 per cent and<br />
wholesale prices falling for a 13th<br />
straight month in November quoting<br />
at -1.99 percent.<br />
However, anxiety continues to<br />
prevail at the D-Street ahead of the<br />
US Federal Reserve meet due later<br />
this week.<br />
The S&P BSE Sensex climbed<br />
106 points to close at 25,<strong>15</strong>0 and<br />
the Nifty50 surged 40 points to<br />
end at 7,650.<br />
MACRO ECONOMIC DATA<br />
The WPI data for the month<br />
of November stood at negative<br />
1.99 against negative 3.81 for the<br />
month of October. This is the 13th<br />
consecutive month where the WPI<br />
has declined.<br />
Moreover, Industrial output<br />
grew by 9.8 per cent in October on<br />
robust demand for manufactured<br />
products in the festival month<br />
compared to just 3.6 per cent in<br />
September.<br />
Meanwhile, rupee is trading<br />
over 2-year low of 67.06 against<br />
the US as greenback strengthened<br />
on prospects of a US Federal<br />
Reserve hike.<br />
JK Bank conducts financial literacy<br />
camps in Budgam, Baramulla<br />
Srinagar, Nov 14: J&K Bank<br />
organized a series of financial<br />
literacy camps in Budgam<br />
and Baramulla during the last<br />
many weeks.<br />
Budgam Camps<br />
The bank’s Financial Literacy<br />
and Credit Couseling<br />
center Budgam organized<br />
awareness camps regarding<br />
financial literacy and schemes<br />
like Pradhan Mantri Suraksha<br />
Yojana (PMSBY) at Government<br />
Higher Secondary School<br />
Chadura and Sheikh ul Alam<br />
Hall Budgam in collaboration<br />
with J&K State Resource Centre,<br />
University of Kashmir.<br />
Speaking on the occasion,<br />
Facilitator FLCC Budgam A H<br />
Rafiqi apprised the participants<br />
at both the camps about<br />
the benefits of financial literacy<br />
and advantages of various<br />
government schemes.<br />
Speaking about PMSBY,<br />
he said, “PMSBY is an insurance<br />
scheme which has been<br />
launched for rural poor, working<br />
class and weaker sections<br />
of the society to insure the security<br />
of their lives against unfortunate<br />
event of death due<br />
to accident or disability at an<br />
affordable premium of Rs 12<br />
year to be deducted through<br />
their account under Auto Debit<br />
Facility.”<br />
All the participants were<br />
encouraged to avail the benefits<br />
of the scheme.<br />
The representatives from<br />
the bank’s business units at<br />
Chadura and Budgam educated<br />
the participants about the<br />
procedures of enrolling under<br />
the scheme by filling the forms<br />
available with Business Correspondents<br />
(BC) and branches<br />
of the Bank.<br />
The participants hailing<br />
from different blocks of the<br />
district were urged to participate<br />
actively in this scheme<br />
while the banks and BCs were<br />
advised to arrange the forms at<br />
the centre so that maximum<br />
beneficiaries are enrolled by<br />
Also, oil prices sank to fresh<br />
seven-year lows with Brent below<br />
$39 a barrel for the first time since<br />
<strong>December</strong> 2008 after the IEA,<br />
warned that demand growth was<br />
starting to slow.<br />
STOCKS IN FOCUS<br />
involving their filed staff in the<br />
said process.<br />
Baramulla Camps<br />
The bank’s FLCC center at<br />
Baramulla participated in a<br />
mega camp organized by Press<br />
Information Bureau under<br />
Bharat Nirman Public Information<br />
Campaign at Mini Stadium<br />
Uri for three days, wherein<br />
all the concerned departments<br />
and banks operating in the district<br />
participated.<br />
J&K Minister for Rural<br />
Development, Panchayati Raj<br />
Abdul Haq inaugurated the<br />
camp and apprised the audience<br />
regarding various developmental<br />
schemes being<br />
initiated for District Baramulla<br />
in general and Block Uri<br />
in particular.<br />
Speaking on the occasion,<br />
Facilitator FLCC Baramulla<br />
spoke in detail about the Prime<br />
Ministers Jhan Dhan Yojna<br />
for comprehensive coverage<br />
of all the financially excluded<br />
households in the country.<br />
Shares of steel companies<br />
closed higher after the government<br />
imposed import duties for<br />
five years on some stainless steel<br />
imports from China, the European<br />
Union and the United States on<br />
Friday.<br />
Among individual names, Jindal<br />
Stainless, Maharashtra Seamless<br />
and ISMT gained upto 11%.<br />
Meanwhile, JSW Steel and Tata<br />
Steel gained between 2%-5% on<br />
prospects that the import duty<br />
could be imposed on other categories<br />
of steel as well.<br />
Other notable gainers from the<br />
metal pack include Hindalco and<br />
Vedanta up 3% and 0.5% each.<br />
Drug maker Sun Pharma<br />
climbed 1.6% as its subsidiary Sun<br />
Laboratories is planning to hit the<br />
domestic bond market in order to<br />
raise up to Rs.1,000 crore to fund<br />
an internal restructuring.<br />
IT major Infosys jumped 1.7%<br />
after the company invested $3<br />
million in sport solutions start up<br />
“Whoop”. Whoop is an early-stage<br />
New Delhi, Dec 14: To optimise<br />
its freight loading capacity<br />
and cut costs, Indian<br />
Railways has started modifying<br />
the existing BOXN open<br />
wagons to newly designed<br />
25-tonne axle load wagons<br />
with 9% extra carrying capacity.<br />
With 5,000 such modified<br />
wagons to be running by February<br />
next year, the transporter<br />
will get an additional freight<br />
revenue of over Rs 300 crore<br />
for the next fiscal without having<br />
to spend anything extra on<br />
fuel and other costs.<br />
The railways will float<br />
tenders for additional <strong>15</strong>,000<br />
wagons in another two weeks<br />
and of these, 3,000 will be<br />
for the new BOXN’s wagons,<br />
which will be at par with the<br />
25-tonne axle load wagons.<br />
Once these wagon fleets are<br />
also operational (possibly, by<br />
the end of the next fiscal), the<br />
transporter will be able to enhance<br />
its revenue significantly,<br />
official sources said.<br />
Railways has a variety<br />
of wagons in use, including<br />
14,700 BOBR wagons and<br />
10,500 BOXN wagons, together<br />
forming a large chunk<br />
of its rake capacity. The prototype<br />
for these higher-loadcarrying<br />
BOXN’s wagons has<br />
already been developed by<br />
Braithwaite & Co, an Indian<br />
Railway undertaking, and the<br />
bidders will have to meet its<br />
specifications.<br />
With the introduction of<br />
Saudi, Emirati officers killed in Yemen<br />
Yemen, Dec 14: Two senior officers<br />
from the Saudi-led coalition supporting<br />
Yemen’s government have<br />
been killed near the city of Taiz, Saudi<br />
and Emirati authorities say.<br />
Saudi Colonel Abdullah al-Sahyan<br />
and Emirati officer Sultan al-Ketbi<br />
were killed at dawn on Monday<br />
“while they were carrying out their<br />
duties in supervising operations to<br />
liberate Taiz” province in Yemen’s<br />
southwest, the official Saudi Press<br />
Agency news agency said.<br />
The Emirati state news agency<br />
WAM separately confirmed Ketbi’s<br />
death.<br />
The deaths come ahead of a<br />
ceasefire agreed to coincide with<br />
UN-backed peace talks to resolve<br />
Yemen’s war.<br />
Media controlled by the Houthi<br />
rebels said the two had been killed<br />
in a rocket attack on the Red Sea<br />
coast.<br />
Taiz province, where the warring<br />
sides have been locked in conflict<br />
for months, overlooks the Bab<br />
al-Mandab Strait between the<br />
Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.<br />
Medal of courage<br />
Sahyan on Saturday met Yemeni<br />
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi<br />
who awarded him with a medal of<br />
courage, according to Yemen’s official<br />
sabanews.net website.<br />
He was identified as commander<br />
of the Saudi forces in the provisional<br />
capital Aden, where Hadi’s<br />
government is based.<br />
Saudi-led forces, backing<br />
Hadi, launched an offensive in<br />
Merkel faces party congress<br />
amid migrant tensions<br />
Karlsruhe, Dec 14: German Chancellor Angela<br />
Merkel faces a congress of her conservative<br />
party on Monday amid tensions over<br />
her management of the migrant influx.<br />
Germany has seen about a million<br />
migrants arrive this year. Merkel has insisted<br />
that “we will manage it,” but some<br />
in her conservative bloc want a tougher<br />
approach.<br />
Merkel has made clear that she wants to<br />
reduce the influx but has resisted calls to set<br />
a limit on the number of refugees Germany<br />
can take, arguing that she would risk making<br />
a promise she can’t keep. She stresses<br />
instead the importance of a diplomatic solution<br />
with Europe and Turkey.<br />
Still, in a motion for the Christian Democratic<br />
Union’s two-day conference starting<br />
on Monday, leaders made some rhetorical<br />
concessions to members worried about Germany’s<br />
ability to absorb yet more newcomers<br />
without pledging specific further action.<br />
The motion says that the party is determined<br />
to “reduce the influx ... appreciably<br />
through effective measures.”<br />
It adds that “a continuation of the current<br />
influx would in the long term overburden<br />
the state and society, even in a country<br />
like Germany.”<br />
That was enough to persuade the party’s<br />
youth wing to withdraw its own motion<br />
calling for a limit on refugee numbers.<br />
Merkel doesn’t face re-election as party<br />
leader at this congress, and despite this<br />
year’s tensions still faces no serious rivals.<br />
Asked in an interview with ARD television<br />
on Sunday whether this is the most<br />
difficult time of her 10-year chancellorship,<br />
Ms. Merkel replied that she has faced<br />
a series of challenges.<br />
company offering a performance<br />
optimization system for professional<br />
sports teams.<br />
Another prominent gainer in<br />
today’s trade was Maruti Suzuki<br />
up 1.9% on talks that Japan will import<br />
cars manufactured in India by<br />
Maruti Suzuki.<br />
On the flip side, TCS closed<br />
0.5% lower after the company said<br />
that Chennai floods are expected<br />
to have a “material impact” on TCS’<br />
current quarter revenues.<br />
Meanwhile, carmakers closed<br />
with losses following the NGT order<br />
barring registration of new<br />
diesel-powered vehicles in the<br />
capital. Tata Motors and M&M<br />
ended lower between 0.1%-2%.<br />
Shares of two-wheeler companies<br />
including Bajaj Auto and Hero<br />
Motocorp also closed flat with a<br />
negative bias.<br />
Shares of oil exploration companies<br />
continued to trade weak<br />
on the back of slipping crude oil<br />
prices. ONGC lost nearly 1% while<br />
RIL ended flat.<br />
Railways modifies wagons to earn<br />
Rs 300 cr extra revenues<br />
Yemen in March to push back the<br />
Houthis.<br />
The fighters, backed by forces<br />
loyal to former president Ali Abdullah<br />
Saleh, have seized large parts of<br />
the country, including the capital,<br />
Sanaa.<br />
The Houthis and Saleh’s former<br />
political party, the General<br />
People’s Congress, are sending<br />
representatives to Switzerland on<br />
Tuesday for talks with Yemen’s<br />
internationally recognised government<br />
under Hadi.<br />
A seven-day renewable ceasefire<br />
is scheduled to come into effect<br />
on Monday to coincide with<br />
the talks. Two previous attempts at<br />
ceasefires, in May and July, were followed<br />
by accusations of breaches by<br />
both sides.<br />
The United Nations says more<br />
than 5,800 people have been killed<br />
in Yemen, about half of them civilians,<br />
since March.<br />
It has also pushed Yemen to the<br />
brink of famine.<br />
In early September, a rebel missile<br />
strike on a coalition base in<br />
Yemen’s eastern Marib province<br />
killed 67 coalition soldiers, most of<br />
them Emiratis.<br />
So far at least 80 people, mostly<br />
soldiers and border guards, have<br />
been killed in Saudi Arabia because<br />
of the Yemen conflict.<br />
The UAE says it has lost almost<br />
70 soldiers so far.<br />
Several Bahraini troops and one<br />
Qatari soldier have been killed as<br />
part of the coalition operations.<br />
the new BOXN’s wagons with<br />
25 tonne axle load, one wagon<br />
will be able to accommodate<br />
100 tonnes of iron ore or thermal<br />
coal, as against 91.6 tonnes<br />
now. With a full rake consisting<br />
of 58 wagons, one rake will will<br />
be able to carry 5,800 tonnes of<br />
goods additionally. “The newly<br />
designed wagons will really<br />
boost the carrying capacity of<br />
freight trains and will have a<br />
pay-to-tare ratio of 4:1,” a railway<br />
official said.<br />
The ratio is the total<br />
payload divided by the dead<br />
Jerusalem, Dec 14: Israeli<br />
authorities have said they<br />
have opened an investigation<br />
into the actions of a police<br />
officer who fatally shot a<br />
16-year-old Palestinian girl<br />
during a stabbing attack in<br />
Jerusalem last month.<br />
In a statement, the Justice<br />
Ministry said it was<br />
looking into whether the<br />
officer used excessive force<br />
while stopping a stabbing<br />
attack by two teenage Palestinian<br />
girls.<br />
In the Nov 23 incident,<br />
the 16-year-old girl, along<br />
with a 14-year-old accomplice,<br />
stabbed and wounded<br />
a 70-year-old man with scissors<br />
before they were shot<br />
by the officer.<br />
The ministry said the attorney<br />
general had requested<br />
the investigation into<br />
claims that the officer shot<br />
the 16-year-old girl after she<br />
had already been restrained.<br />
During questioning, the officer<br />
said he believed the<br />
Yemen, Dec 14: A seven-day ceasefire<br />
in Yemen is to start on Monday, a day<br />
before UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland,<br />
officials on both sides of a war<br />
that has killed nearly 6,000 people said.<br />
Yemen’s foreign minister, Abdel-<br />
Malek al-Mekhlafi, who will lead<br />
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s<br />
delegation to the UN talks, said that<br />
fighting would stop on “the evening of<br />
<strong>December</strong> 14”.<br />
“We are going to the talks with serious<br />
intentions and we hope that the<br />
other side abides by that,” he told the<br />
Reuters news agency.<br />
A spokesperson for the Iranianbacked<br />
Houthi rebels confirmed the<br />
agreement to cease hostilities.<br />
“Based on what had been agreed<br />
upon, there will be a halt of the aggression<br />
on the 14th of this month,”<br />
Mohammed Abdul-Salam told a news<br />
conference in the capital Sanaa.<br />
The Houthis have been locked for<br />
nine months in a civil war with forces<br />
loyal to Hadi’s exiled government, who<br />
are backed by air strikes and ground<br />
forces from a Saudi Arabia-led coalition.<br />
The UN agency for children, UNICEF,<br />
has said that nearly half of those killed<br />
in the war so far have been civilians, and<br />
that 637 of them have been children.<br />
Houthi forces control most of the<br />
northern part of the country and see the<br />
Arab alliance’s military operations as an<br />
act of aggression. But the alliance says<br />
it intervened in response to a request by<br />
Hadi.<br />
‘A real chance’<br />
The UN invited Hadi’s government<br />
weight of a rolling stock a<br />
direct indication of the carrying<br />
capacity efficiency of a<br />
wagon.<br />
When Lalu Prasad was<br />
the railway minister, the<br />
railways used to get extra<br />
freight revenue by overloading<br />
rakes and adding more<br />
coaches to passenger trains.<br />
The new plan, in contrast, is<br />
to enhance the carrying capacity<br />
of rakes by upgrading<br />
the wagons, sources said.<br />
The transporter earlier<br />
this year conducted a pilot<br />
study for the 25 tonne axle<br />
load wagon with coal and was<br />
able to achieve the speed of 70<br />
kmph. Railway officials state<br />
that they are in the process to<br />
send the detailed report for<br />
the 25 tonne axle load wagons<br />
to the Commissioner of Railway<br />
Safety for permission to<br />
undertake track trials on the<br />
transporters network.<br />
Israel opens probe into use<br />
of excessive force<br />
girl still posed a threat, the<br />
statement said.<br />
The incident was filmed<br />
by a security camera and the<br />
footage was released to the<br />
media. The younger girl was<br />
wounded.<br />
Palestinians have accused<br />
Israel of using excessive<br />
force during a threemonth<br />
wave of violence,<br />
and Sunday’s announcement<br />
appeared to be the<br />
first official investigation<br />
Yemen’s warring sides agree to<br />
ceasefire ahead of talks<br />
FinMin may ease<br />
borrowing limit<br />
beyond 3% of GSDP<br />
New Delhi, Dec 14: States<br />
will have more room to borrow<br />
this financial year with<br />
the Ministry of Finance expected<br />
to soon approve relaxation<br />
of their borrowing<br />
limits beyond 3 per cent of<br />
Gross State Domestic Product<br />
(GSDP), subject to conditions<br />
that are in line with recommendations<br />
of 14th Finance<br />
Commission.<br />
Officials said the ministry<br />
will provide case-by-case approval<br />
to states for additional<br />
borrowing to help them enhance<br />
their capital expenditure.<br />
“Finance minister will<br />
soon approve the relaxation<br />
in borrowing limits<br />
for states. The decision is<br />
in final stages. The blanket<br />
approval will be followed<br />
and the Houthis to peace negotiations<br />
after the two sides agreed on a draft<br />
agenda and ground rules.<br />
A previous round of peace talks in<br />
June failed to reach an agreement, with<br />
both sides accusing each other of failing<br />
to compromise. In July, the two sides observed<br />
a five-day ceasefire, though they<br />
traded accusations of violating the truce.<br />
This time “there is a real chance for<br />
a breakthrough”, according to Emirati<br />
analyst Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, who believes<br />
“there will be concessions from<br />
both sides”. The United Arab Emirates<br />
is part of the Arab coalition and has lost<br />
dozens of troops to the conflict. “Gulf<br />
Arab states have reached a point where<br />
they are convinced it is about time a<br />
peaceful solution should be given a better<br />
chance,” he told the AFP news agency.<br />
by case-by-case approval<br />
to states,” a senior finance<br />
ministry official said.<br />
The move is an attempt<br />
to de-link the fiscal relaxations<br />
granted to states under<br />
the ongoing scheme of UDAY<br />
(Ujwal Discom Assurance<br />
Scheme), with the finance<br />
ministry even looking at relaxing<br />
borrowing limits of<br />
states which have not yet<br />
participated in the scheme,<br />
the official added.<br />
The finance ministry will<br />
grant case-by-case approval<br />
to relax fiscal deficit limits<br />
under the Fiscal Responsibility<br />
and Budget Management<br />
Act (FRBM) subject<br />
to fulfillment of three conditions<br />
as specified in the<br />
Fourteenth Finance Commission<br />
recommendations.<br />
Oil prices slip<br />
further after<br />
oversupply<br />
forecast<br />
Tokyo, Dec 14: Crude oil<br />
futures slipped in early Asian<br />
trade, adding to a slump on<br />
Friday following a forecast<br />
from the International Energy<br />
Agency (IEA) that the global<br />
glut of oil is likely to deepen<br />
next year.<br />
Brent crude, the global<br />
benchmark, fell below $38 a<br />
barrel for the first time since<br />
<strong>December</strong> 2008 on Friday<br />
after the IEA said demand<br />
growth is slowing, while<br />
OPEC output remains high,<br />
pointing to a bigger glut in<br />
coming months.<br />
The U.S. benchmark, West<br />
Texas Intermediate, settled in<br />
$35 territory for the first time<br />
since February 2009, paring<br />
earlier losses after data showed<br />
that U.S. drillers cut the<br />
number of oil rigs to the lowest<br />
since April 2010.<br />
into the actions of Israeli<br />
security forces during the<br />
unrest. Israel says its tactics<br />
are a legitimate response to<br />
stabbings and other attacks.<br />
A total of 19 Israelis and<br />
an American seminary student<br />
have been killed by<br />
Palestinian attacks, mostly<br />
alleged stabbings, while at<br />
least 112 have been killed on<br />
the Palestinian side, including<br />
75 people said by Israel<br />
to be attackers.<br />
No terror link<br />
in Russian jet<br />
crash: Egypt<br />
Egypt, Dec 14: Egyptian<br />
investigators has completed a<br />
preliminary report on the Russian<br />
plane crash in Sinai, saying<br />
it has not found anything to<br />
indicate a bomb was involved.<br />
Egypt said on Monday it<br />
had “found no evidence so far of<br />
terrorism or other illegal action<br />
linked to the crash that killed all<br />
224 people onboard on October<br />
31”, contradicting Russia and<br />
Western governments’ claim<br />
that the Metrojet was brought<br />
down by a bomb.<br />
The plane took off from<br />
Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea<br />
resort popular with Russian and<br />
British holiday-makers.
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
Intense exercise can lead<br />
to sleep disturbance<br />
Intensive bouts of exercise can lead to<br />
significant and progressive decline in<br />
sleep quality, says a new study.<br />
The researchers also found that<br />
a high carbohydrate regime reduces<br />
some, but not all, of the effects of hard<br />
training.<br />
For the study, the scientists from<br />
Loughborough University in England<br />
studied the effects of two nine-day<br />
periods of heavy training on 13 highly<br />
trained cyclists.<br />
The researchers monitored the<br />
athletes’ moods, sleep patterns and<br />
performance before, during and after<br />
exercise. To determine whether diets<br />
could counter the effects of any sleep<br />
deprivation, the athletes were also<br />
Healthy or sick? These tiny<br />
cell bubbles can tell you<br />
Scientists have uncovered<br />
biological pathways in the<br />
roundworm that provide<br />
an insight into how tiny<br />
bubbles released by cells<br />
can have beneficial or detrimental<br />
health effects.<br />
Researchers isolated<br />
and profiled cells releasing<br />
these sub-micron sized<br />
bubbles, known as extracellular<br />
vesicles (EVs) in adult<br />
C. elegans and identified<br />
335 genes that provide<br />
significant information<br />
about the biology of EVs<br />
and their relationship to<br />
human diseases, according<br />
to a Rutgers University<br />
statement.<br />
The team comprising<br />
scientists from Rutgers University,<br />
Princeton University,<br />
the University of Oxford<br />
and Albert Einstein College<br />
of Medicine, determined<br />
that 10 percent of the 335<br />
identified genes in the<br />
roundworm regulate the<br />
formation, release, and possible<br />
function of the EVs.<br />
“These EVs are exciting<br />
but scary because we don’t<br />
know what the mechanisms<br />
are that decide what<br />
is packaged inside them.”<br />
said Maureen Barr, lead<br />
author and a professor in<br />
the department of genetics<br />
in Rutgers’ School of Arts<br />
and Sciences. “It’s like getting<br />
a letter in the mail and<br />
you don’t know whether<br />
it’s a letter saying that you<br />
won the lottery or a letter<br />
containing anthrax.”<br />
For decades scientists<br />
believed that the EV<br />
material released by some<br />
human cells -- which can<br />
only be seen through hightech<br />
electron microscopes<br />
-- was nothing more than<br />
biological debris.<br />
Barr said using C.<br />
elegans, which have many<br />
genes similar to humans,<br />
scientists have identified<br />
new pathways that could<br />
control the production of<br />
EVs and the cargo they carry,<br />
including the proteins<br />
responsible for polycystic<br />
kidney disease, the most<br />
commonly inherited disease<br />
in humans.<br />
The polycystic kidney<br />
disease gene products are<br />
secreted in tiny EVs from<br />
both humans and worms<br />
and no one knows why<br />
these proteins are in the<br />
EVs, she said. “The knowledge<br />
gained from this<br />
tiny worm is essential for<br />
determining the biological<br />
significance of EVs, for understanding<br />
their relationship<br />
to human diseases like<br />
polycystic kidney disease,<br />
and for harnessing their<br />
potential therapeutic uses,”<br />
Barr said.<br />
“When we know exactly<br />
how they work, scientists<br />
will be able to use EVs for<br />
our advantage.”<br />
“This means that<br />
pathological EVs that cause<br />
disease could be blocked<br />
and therapeutic EVs that<br />
can help heal can be<br />
designed to carry beneficial<br />
cargo,” she said.<br />
given high or moderate amounts of<br />
carbohydrate throughout the study,<br />
though none of them knew which.<br />
The researchers discovered that<br />
even as little as nine days of intense<br />
training can cause ‘significant and<br />
progressive decline in sleep quality’.<br />
“Sleep efficiency was significantly<br />
reduced during the intensified training<br />
period,” the researchers observed,<br />
with the number of times the athletes<br />
woke throughout the night significantly<br />
increased.<br />
They also noticed that the athletes’<br />
moods and capacity for exercise both<br />
worsened over the period of observation.<br />
As for the additional carbohydrates,<br />
the team concluded that a<br />
high carbohydrate regime reduced<br />
some, but not all, of the effects of hard<br />
training.<br />
The study appeared in the Journal<br />
of Sports Sciences.<br />
HEALTH<br />
Therapy linked to brain activity<br />
in personality disorder<br />
A specialised psychotherapy<br />
has been linked to changes<br />
in activation patterns in<br />
certain areas of the brain<br />
in patients with borderline<br />
personality disorder (BPD),<br />
says a study, implying the<br />
treatment’s impact may<br />
go deeper than symptom<br />
change.<br />
A team of researchers<br />
from Binghamton University<br />
studied 10 women with<br />
BPD using functional magnetic<br />
resonance imaging<br />
(fMRI) methods, a university<br />
statement said.<br />
These patients were<br />
treated for one year with<br />
transference-focused psychotherapy<br />
(TFP), an evidence-based<br />
treatment<br />
proven to reduce symptoms<br />
across multiple cognitive-emotional<br />
domains<br />
in BPD. Treatment with TFP<br />
was associated with relative<br />
activation increases in<br />
cognitive control areas and<br />
relative decreases in areas<br />
associated with emotional<br />
reactivity.<br />
According to researchers,<br />
these findings suggest<br />
that TFP may potentially facilitate<br />
symptom improvement<br />
in BPD.<br />
“These findings represent<br />
the genuine frontier<br />
of clinical science in understanding<br />
the effects of psychotherapy,”<br />
said Mark F.<br />
Lenzenweger, distinguished<br />
professor of psychology at<br />
Binghamton.<br />
“Think of it -- talk therapy<br />
that impacts neural<br />
or brain functioning,” he<br />
added. The study findings<br />
were published online in<br />
Psychiatry and Clinical<br />
Neurosciences.<br />
New cure for hepatitis C<br />
virus infection found!<br />
About 2.7 million people in the United<br />
States have a chronic hepatitis C virus<br />
infection, which can lead to liver failure<br />
or death.<br />
But thanks to new research led by<br />
researchers at Intermountain Medical<br />
Center in Murray, there’s new hope for<br />
patients with advanced liver disease<br />
due to the chronic viral infection.<br />
Dr. Michael Charlton, director of<br />
the Liver Transplantation Program at<br />
Intermountain Medical Center Researchers<br />
at Intermountain Medical<br />
Center have found a new cure for<br />
these patients: an all-oral treatment<br />
regimen of specific medications that<br />
results in high cure rates of hepatitis<br />
C virus infection in patients following<br />
treatment.<br />
Top<br />
breakfast<br />
mistakes<br />
to avoid<br />
The research team, led by Michael<br />
Charlton, MD, medical director<br />
of the Liver Transplantation Program<br />
at Intermountain Medical Center, just<br />
published results of the nationwide<br />
study in the New England Journal of<br />
Medicine.Dr. Charlton will announce<br />
results of the study and the implications<br />
for patients with advanced liver<br />
disease due to the hepatitis C virus at a<br />
press briefing at Intermountain Medical<br />
Center on Friday at 11 a.m.<br />
The results are highly promising, he<br />
says.<br />
“During the study, liver function<br />
was seen to stabilize or improve in<br />
the great majority of patients following<br />
treatment,” said Dr. Charlton, who<br />
served as principal investigator of the<br />
ASTRAL-4 trial, a study between Intermountain<br />
Medical Center and some of<br />
the leading academic medical centers<br />
across the nation. The study included<br />
investigators at 50 sites throughout the<br />
United States and Puerto Rico.<br />
“Although longer follow-up is<br />
needed, the ability to achieve a high<br />
cure rate of hepatitis C in patients<br />
with advanced liver disease — and the<br />
observation of early stabilization and<br />
improvement of liver function — raises<br />
the possibility of decreasing the number<br />
of patients with hepatitis C who<br />
need liver transplantation.”Currently,<br />
liver failure due to hepatitis C is<br />
the most common reason for liver<br />
transplantation in the United States<br />
and Europe.<br />
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what people do not know<br />
about this meal is that if they skip this meal, it could have an adverse effect on<br />
their weight.<br />
Akansha Jhalani, Registered Dietitian and health blogger at Beyond The<br />
Weighing Scale, helps you decode the myths associated with breakfast, so that<br />
you enjoy the most important meal of the day in a healthy way.<br />
1: Juicing your fruit<br />
When you start your blender to juice oranges, remember that this process<br />
causes the fruit to lose most of its vitamins, minerals and fibre. Instead, replace<br />
your juice with a glass of water and a whole fruit. It will save you some extra<br />
calories.<br />
2: Eating a baby size breakfast<br />
Eating whatever you want cannot help you escape from those extra calories.<br />
It is a common myth that eating whatever you wish after a long gap of fasting will<br />
not make you gain weight. Oily parathas, waffles, leftover dinner can lead to extra<br />
calorie consumption.<br />
3: Beware of breakfast treats<br />
The tempting doughnuts and muffins can cause as much as an entire meal's<br />
caloric consumption. When placed in front of you, take a deep breath and realise<br />
that you have set healthy lifestyle changes and politely decline.<br />
www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
Srinagar | Tuesday<br />
<strong>15</strong>.12.20<strong>15</strong><br />
36<br />
Coffee makes<br />
subtle changes<br />
in your brain<br />
Do you know having<br />
a cup of coffee makes<br />
small changes in your<br />
brain just like skipping<br />
breakfast does? Now,<br />
MRI scans taken by a<br />
researcher of his own<br />
brain over the last 18<br />
months reveal brain<br />
changes not observed<br />
before.<br />
Studying the behaviour<br />
of his brain over a year<br />
and a half -- with a frequency<br />
of twice a week<br />
-- professor Poldrack<br />
from Stanford University<br />
was able to notice the<br />
changes in ‘connectome’<br />
-- the way different<br />
parts of the brain communicate.<br />
On the days he fasted,<br />
Poldrack’s brain showed<br />
different levels of connectivity<br />
from the lack<br />
of caffeine, the Daily<br />
Mail reported.<br />
“Easily the biggest factor<br />
we found in terms of<br />
affecting my brain connectivity<br />
was whether<br />
I had had breakfast<br />
and caffeine or not,”<br />
Poldrack was quoted as<br />
saying.<br />
“That was totally unexpected,<br />
but it shows<br />
that being caffeinated<br />
radically changes the<br />
connectivity of your<br />
brain,” he added.<br />
With low levels of<br />
caffeine, the connection<br />
between the somatosensory<br />
motor network<br />
and higher vision grew<br />
tighter.<br />
“We don’t really know if<br />
it’s better or worse, but<br />
it’s interesting that these<br />
are relatively low-level<br />
areas. It may well be<br />
that I’m more fatigued<br />
on those days, and that<br />
drives the brain into<br />
this state that’s focused<br />
on integrating those<br />
basic processes more,”<br />
Poldrack said.<br />
Researchers now want<br />
to study the phenomenon<br />
in patients with<br />
neurological disorders,<br />
who may suffer from<br />
disrupted connectivity.<br />
FROM FRONT PAGE.....................<br />
Talks........<br />
Swaraj said, adding progress in dialogue is necessary for peace.<br />
Underlining that "The only way forward is through dialogue",<br />
she said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initiated the<br />
efforts to reach out to Pakistan not in Ufa but even before he<br />
took oath on May 26 last year when he invited Prime Minister<br />
Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony.<br />
To demands by some members for assurance that the<br />
dialogue process will be "uninterruptable", she said, "It never<br />
works like that. We would like not to get provoked by the saboteurs,<br />
who want to stall the dialogue somehow, and will try find<br />
a way forward through the dialogue. This will be our intent."<br />
When some members alleged 'flip flop', she said it was not<br />
the "correct definition" as stopping and re-starting a dialogue<br />
process is a "part of diplomacy".<br />
Mehbooba........<br />
Jammu and Kashmir have the highest stakes in peace and<br />
reconciliation as they have to pay heavy costs during any escalation<br />
of tension in the region. “For the people of Jammu &<br />
Kashmir peace along the borders and within the mainland is of<br />
immense significance and I hope the political leadership of the<br />
two countries treats it with the same spirit,” she said and added<br />
that the ceasefire initiative of 2003 and the confidence building<br />
measures initiated by the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari<br />
Vajpayee had proved to be of unrivalled importance for not only<br />
the two countries but also for the people in Jammu & Kashmir<br />
as the state had, for the first time, started radiating a new hope<br />
of peace and prosperity.<br />
Mehbooba said the political leadership of the two countries<br />
shall have to rebuff those elements, who have been raising war<br />
hysteria, as every war between India and Pakistan was followed<br />
by dialogue. "If dialogue with Pakistan was started even after<br />
Parliament attack and Kargil conflict there is no reason to do<br />
it today for establishing lasting peace in this region", she said<br />
and added that in the emerging global scenario where some<br />
dubious fringe elements are resorting to atrocious violence in<br />
the name of religion, reconciliation in the sub-continent has become<br />
inevitable to keep such elements away from destabilizing<br />
the region.<br />
Omar........<br />
Jammu and Kashmir is a party to talks even if India and Pakistan<br />
would not make it a party on their own.<br />
"We are already a party. We are a party to this issue since<br />
this issue is there...We want dialogue," he said.<br />
He said the Kashmir issue could be resolved only when<br />
there are talks on its internal and external dimensions.<br />
"I will not get into whether this has to be a tripartite or bipartite<br />
dialogue. There are two parts of Jammu and Kashmir issue<br />
– one is internal between New Delhi and the state and the<br />
other external between New Delhi and Islamabad.<br />
This issue can be resolved only when there are talks on both<br />
the tracks.<br />
"Right now the dialogue is on a single track and the talks<br />
have been started between New Delhi and Islamabad, but the<br />
talks between New Delhi and the state are also important. We<br />
are not seeing any development on that," he said.<br />
Abdullah said "we will request and will be hopeful of<br />
(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's government to have talks<br />
with Jammu and Kashmir the way the government has started<br />
talks with Pakistan".<br />
Collision.......<br />
was incredible,” he said adding that two of the deceased persons<br />
were contractors and one was working in Health Department.<br />
“The passenger bus was seized and its driver Bashir Ahmed<br />
Dar a resident of Pandach Ganderbal has been arrested and an<br />
FIR vide number 233/20<strong>15</strong> under section 304A, 279 was registered<br />
in police station Kangan,” he said.<br />
The police official identified the deceased as Mushtaq<br />
Ahmed Sheikh of Sonamarg, Mushtaq Ahmed Shah of Kulun<br />
and Reyaz Ahmed Kaloo a resident of Gund Kangan. (CNS)<br />
Ladakh.......<br />
week away. Beginning on <strong>December</strong> 21, Chillai Kalan ends on<br />
January 31 each year.<br />
During this period all water bodies of Kashmir Valley including<br />
lakes, rivers and streams freeze while the roads become<br />
extremely slippery in the morning and the evenings.<br />
Sticker.......<br />
on major road widening projects in Srinagar.<br />
SSP Traffic, Srinagar, Maqsood-ul-Zaman admitted that encroachment<br />
of roadways and footpaths create hurdle in smooth<br />
vehicular movements.<br />
He said that the traffic department has asked the traders<br />
and shopkeepers not to park vehicles on roadsides. “We have<br />
increased frequency of towing vehicles parked on road sides,”<br />
the SP said.<br />
Officials said parking on roadsides in city centre has been<br />
banned on the direction of the High Court.<br />
Pertinently, in absence of proper regulation and wrong<br />
parking, Srinagar is witnessing massive traffic jams from past<br />
several months. The traffic mess has evoked strong resentment<br />
from the commuters particularly students.<br />
CAPD.......<br />
that these can be linked to CAPD database.<br />
"At the moment, Aadhaar card is not compulsory. However,<br />
those consumers who have the card should submit their details<br />
along with the verification form," he added.<br />
However, the consumers are up in arms against the re verification.<br />
"This certificate is to be issued by concerned Tehsildar and<br />
it only seems another corruption avenue for the officials," Rafiq<br />
Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar, said.<br />
Meanwhile, the state government is preparing to implement<br />
the NFSA in the state from February 1 next year.<br />
According to the schedule of the CAPD department, the<br />
enrolment for new ration cards under NFSA will be held from<br />
<strong>December</strong> 7 to <strong>December</strong> 18 this month.<br />
The scrutiny of forms will be done from <strong>December</strong> 19 to<br />
<strong>December</strong> 21, and final lists will be displayed at fair price shops<br />
across the state. In case of any glitches, it can be filed till <strong>December</strong><br />
26 and the list would be finalised on <strong>December</strong> 27.<br />
Protest.......<br />
commercial hub Lal Chowk.<br />
The protesters also alleged that the CAPD had miserably<br />
failed to distribute the monthly ration due to them.<br />
"Providing five kilos of ration won't make a difference in our<br />
lives," they said.<br />
When contacted, Minister for CAPD, Chowdhary Zulfkar<br />
Ali, said that there is nothing wrong in the order as it is beneficial<br />
for the people of Kashmir. “Politics is being played on<br />
such issues as previous regime has failed to implement this<br />
act due to which they are forcing people to protest against<br />
it otherwise it will prove beneficial to the people here,” he<br />
said. (KNS)<br />
Aadhar.......<br />
department for announcing five kg ration per head as ‘unfortunate’,<br />
Zulfkar said that the people are being forced to protest<br />
against the government.<br />
“The previous regime has miserably failed to implement<br />
such order, which will prove beneficial to the people due to<br />
which they are trying to create hindrance in our way,” he<br />
said.<br />
While asking about the meeting with Union Food Minister,<br />
Ram vilas Paswan, Zaulfkar said that during the meeting the<br />
union food minister has assured him that the central government<br />
will provide a sufficient ration to the people of Jammu<br />
and Kashmir.<br />
He said that the issue of impure ration, which is being sent<br />
to Kashmir from Food Corporation of India (FCI) was also discussed<br />
in the meeting wherein Paswan has assured him that<br />
they will look into the matter at earliest. (KNS)<br />
Asiea Naqash reviews<br />
Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi<br />
(SAW) arrangements<br />
Srinaagr, Dec 14: Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare<br />
Asiea Naqash today visited Hazarthbal Shrine to review the arrangements<br />
made by various Departments for Eid-i-Milad-un-<br />
Nabi (SAW) celebrations.<br />
The Minister directed the officers to put all the arrangements<br />
in place for better services to devotees paying obeisance<br />
at Hazaratbal shrine.<br />
The PDD officers were asked to provide uninterrupted power<br />
supply in and around the shrine during these days.<br />
Naqash directed the SRTC officers to ensure that adequate<br />
transport services are made available round the clock for the<br />
devotees.<br />
“SRTC should run more buses round the clock so that the<br />
devotees would not have any issue in returning to their homes<br />
in the night,” the Minister said.<br />
On this occasion, the Director CAPD informed the Minister<br />
that adequate ration is stocked at all the fair price shops in the<br />
area.<br />
Briefing the Minister, Srinagar Municipal Corporation officials<br />
said that the corporation has deputed 130 safaiwalas who<br />
work round the clock in four shifts. The corporation has also installed<br />
two mobile latrines in the vicinity.<br />
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Vice-Chairman Waqaf<br />
Board, and other concerned officers were present on the<br />
occasion.
7<br />
SRINAGAR,TUESDAY<br />
<strong>15</strong>.12.20<strong>15</strong><br />
S<br />
P<br />
O<br />
R<br />
T<br />
S<br />
Hider, Zaidi<br />
grab four each<br />
as Comilla<br />
storm into<br />
final<br />
An inspired Comilla Victorians<br />
crushed Rangpur<br />
Riders in a 72-run win to<br />
qualify to the BPL final. They<br />
not only withstood Thisara<br />
Perera’s five-wicket burst<br />
and a threatening start from<br />
the Rangpur openers, but<br />
also shrugged off their own<br />
injury-ravaged roster. Rangpur<br />
will now have a second<br />
shot in the second Qualifier<br />
on Sunday, facing the winner<br />
of the Eliminator.<br />
Comilla missed the services<br />
of Shoaib Malik due to a finger<br />
injury and used Nuwan<br />
Kulasekara, who bowled<br />
with a shoulder injury.<br />
The most heart-warming<br />
sight was to of the captain<br />
Mashrafe Mortaza, carrying<br />
a Grade-1 right hamstring<br />
tear, sending down four<br />
overs for only 13 runs, taking<br />
one wicket.<br />
Comilla batted well in<br />
two patches either side<br />
of Perera’s wickets. Imrul<br />
Kayes cracked 67 at the start<br />
and Ashar Zaidi slugged<br />
two sixes in a <strong>15</strong>-ball 40 to<br />
power them to a total of<br />
163.<br />
Rangpur began the chase<br />
in perfect manner. In the<br />
third over, Soumya Sarkar<br />
struck Shuvagata Hom for a<br />
reverse-swept four before<br />
Lendl Simmons added three<br />
more boundaries through<br />
the leg-side. Andre Russell<br />
then dropped Soumya, pedalling<br />
back from mid-off in<br />
the fifth over. But Rangpur’s<br />
fall began the very next ball.<br />
Running from deep midwicket,<br />
Shuvagata made up<br />
for his 17-run over with a<br />
superb catch at the squareleg<br />
boundary to get rid of<br />
Soumya, who made just<br />
nine. Abu Hider then made<br />
it two wickets off two balls<br />
when he removed Simmons<br />
with a stunning yorker, the<br />
batsman falling over and<br />
the ball ricocheting off his<br />
pads and into the stumps.<br />
Zaidi bowled a maiden in<br />
the sixth over, and Mortaza<br />
gave away just a single off<br />
the next over, his first in<br />
the tournament since<br />
<strong>December</strong> 8. The pressure<br />
told, as Zaidi had Mohammad<br />
Mithun stumped and<br />
Shakib Al Hasan caught<br />
at deep midwicket off the<br />
next ball. Mohammad Nabi<br />
struck a six and a four but<br />
fell to Mashrafe in the 11th<br />
over before Hider came<br />
into the picture again,<br />
this time with a running<br />
catch to get rid of Jahurul<br />
Islam. At 62 for 6, Rangpur<br />
were well past gone in the<br />
chase.<br />
Hider came back to bowl<br />
his second over and saw<br />
Ahmed Shehzad drop a<br />
simple chance at long-on<br />
off Perera’s bat before clean<br />
bowling him a ball later.<br />
Win matters, not what is said on<br />
social media: Ravi Shastri<br />
Mumbai: It was 14 months ago that<br />
Ravi Shastri left the commentary<br />
box to become the Team India director.<br />
Going through a low phase<br />
after being thrashed in the Tests<br />
by England back then, the Men in<br />
Blue bounced back by beating the<br />
hosts in the ODIs. Apart from a 0-2<br />
series defeat to the Aussies Down<br />
Under in the Test series, India have<br />
enjoyed a fair bit of success under<br />
him so far-a spot in the World<br />
Cup semis and historic series wins<br />
against Sri Lanka and South Africa<br />
serving as a testimony.<br />
However, Shastri still had to<br />
cop criticism over infusing ‘aggression’<br />
into the team and going for<br />
designer turning tracks. The jury is<br />
still out on whether India have indeed<br />
become a better side since the<br />
former all-rounder began his stint.<br />
With 20<strong>15</strong> drawing to a close and<br />
India enjoying a rare ‘rest period’<br />
in <strong>December</strong>, Shastri reflects on his<br />
tenure up till now in a freewheeling,<br />
exclusive chat with TOI.<br />
I always believe let the performance<br />
do the talking. There’s<br />
nothing much to say, but the facts<br />
are out in the open. Let people<br />
decide whether we’ve had a great<br />
year or not. The world can decide<br />
Australia thrashed West Indies in the<br />
first Test by an innings and 212 runs.<br />
Skipper Jason Holder insisted his West Indies<br />
team’s massive innings defeat to Australia in<br />
the first Test Saturday was not a step backwards.<br />
It was groundhog day again for the<br />
Caribbean tourists, who capitulated to an innings<br />
and 212-run loss well inside three days<br />
in Hobart after being sent back in and bowled<br />
out for 148 off just 36.3 overs in the second<br />
innings. The West Indies have won just four of<br />
their last 21 Tests and are ranked above only<br />
Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. They last won<br />
a Test in Australia in 1997. But Holder, who<br />
has the unenviable task of facing the media<br />
to explain the latest West Indies loss, was<br />
putting on a brave face against the continuing<br />
what sort of a year we’ve had. I feel<br />
proud of the guys about the way<br />
they’ve performed.<br />
Were you surprised with the SA<br />
capitulation in the Tests?<br />
I’m not surprised by that. I<br />
don’t go down that route. I was<br />
proud of the way our guys played. I<br />
give full credit to them to make SA<br />
play the way they did.<br />
Is Virat now the right man to<br />
lead India in the T20 & ODIs?<br />
The year has ended. The selectors<br />
do their job. My job is to look<br />
after the way the team plays. Like<br />
I said, I’m absolutely proud of the<br />
guys, the way they played. Virat<br />
was a young kid who took over<br />
the rein one year ago. Today, he’s<br />
shown that he’s a leader, after two<br />
back-to-back series wins.<br />
Do you advise Virat on how to<br />
handle the media? He feels the<br />
media becomes too critical.<br />
We don’t look into all that.<br />
Our job is get runs, take wickets<br />
and pick your catches, and put the<br />
score line of the series. After that,<br />
what people want to say, they are<br />
entitled to say. They get paid to<br />
talk and write.<br />
Do you think MS Dhoni’s powers<br />
are declining?<br />
Fate of India-Pakistan series<br />
to be decided on Monday<br />
Windies underachievement.<br />
“I wouldn’t say it’s a step backwards, obviously<br />
in the past we’ve shown that we can<br />
compete. We had a really good series against<br />
England where we competed really well and<br />
then the Australians came in after that and we<br />
fell back a little bit. But in a sense the spirit in<br />
the dressing room is still there, we had a few<br />
one-day series and then we had first-class<br />
cricket back home where players from here<br />
did well,” Holder told reporters.<br />
“So it’s just a case where we need to put<br />
together a collective effort for longer periods<br />
in the game. I just felt we have too many good<br />
spurts of cricket we’re not continuing on<br />
through the duration of the game. We need to<br />
do the good things longer,” he added.<br />
Holder, who leads the side at the young<br />
age of 24, refused to buy into the problems<br />
IPTL helps ‘lonely’ tennis players make<br />
friends on tour: Sania Mirza<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
• Sania is excited to have Rafael<br />
Nadal in her team India Aces<br />
• “We are all enjoying the team<br />
bonding. We look out for each<br />
other during matches,” Sania said<br />
• Sania credited the IPTL for helping<br />
players combat loneliness<br />
Sania: Rohan is my best friend off<br />
the court too. (<br />
NEW DELHI: Ace Indian tennis<br />
player Sania Mirza gave full<br />
credit to the International Premier<br />
Tennis League (IPTL) for helping<br />
tennis players make friends while<br />
combating the loneliness that normally<br />
becomes an intrinsic part of<br />
players due to their hectic schedule<br />
throughout the year.<br />
“The IPTL has definitely helped in<br />
making friends on the tour. When I<br />
‘Yes, we haven’t received a reply from<br />
the BCCI till Saturday evening, therefore,<br />
we are closing this chapter now. We will,<br />
however, make an announcement in this<br />
regard by Monday.’<br />
‘Yes, we haven’t received a reply from<br />
the BCCI till Saturday evening, therefore,<br />
we are closing this chapter now. We will,<br />
however, make an announcement in this<br />
regard by Monday.’ © Agencies<br />
With Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not<br />
receiving any concrete reply from Board<br />
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)<br />
about the proposed series between the<br />
two countries, there is a chance that it<br />
will be called off on Monday (<strong>December</strong><br />
14). The series was scheduled to be held<br />
in <strong>December</strong>, but despite Sushma Swaraj,<br />
India’s external affairs minister, holding<br />
talks with her Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj<br />
Aziz, last week, the fate of the series<br />
remains in limbo. Reports suggested that<br />
resumption of cricketing ties between<br />
India and Pakistan was not discussed in<br />
the meeting.<br />
Accodring to an IANS report, with no<br />
headway being made, Shaharayar Khan,<br />
the chairman of PCB, had communicated<br />
to the BCCI that if the series did not go<br />
ahead as planned, Pakistan might not<br />
play any games against India in the<br />
future. He requested the Indian board to<br />
resolve this matter by Monday (<strong>December</strong><br />
14). He further added that the matter<br />
will be taken up with the International<br />
Cricket Council (ICC).<br />
“Yes, we haven’t received a reply from<br />
the BCCI till Saturday evening, therefore,<br />
we are closing this chapter now. We will,<br />
however, make an announcement in this<br />
regard by Monday.”<br />
Shaharayar said that PCB has put in a<br />
lot of effort to break the deadlock and<br />
convince the Indian board to go ahead<br />
with the series. “We made every possible<br />
effort to play India and even changed the<br />
venue from the UAE to Sri Lanka on BC-<br />
CI’s request, but our efforts went in vain.<br />
We signed an MoU with the BCCI last<br />
year and were sincere in playing cricket<br />
with them. Our failure to materialise the<br />
series disappointed millions of cricket<br />
fans all over the world, especially in India<br />
and Pakistan,” Shaharyar was quoted as<br />
saying by Dawn newspaper on Sunday.<br />
A few weeks back, the BCCI had indicated<br />
that a limited overs series might be held.<br />
However, they hadn’t yet received the<br />
green signal from the Indian government<br />
to go ahead with the series. The BCCI and<br />
the PCB have already signed the MoU, in<br />
which the two nations agreed to play six<br />
bilateral series between 20<strong>15</strong> to 2023.<br />
The last time these two countries played<br />
in a full bilateral series was back in 2007,<br />
when Pakistan toured India.<br />
meet Indian Aces coach-cum-player<br />
Fabrice Santoro on tours now, I<br />
can talk to him more and I can say<br />
that I have a great new friend in<br />
Fabrice. I’ve also met some players<br />
for the first time here at the IPTL,<br />
He’s a champion player. You<br />
never mess around with class,<br />
proven talent, players who’ve done<br />
more in that format of the game<br />
than anybody else, when it comes<br />
to winning titles...there’s no one<br />
who’s won more than him.<br />
There was a lot of talk about<br />
the pitches. How much planning<br />
went into plotting the downfall of<br />
SA’s big batting guns?<br />
Plenty. That’s where the support<br />
staff and the players deserve<br />
due credit. The fact that you were<br />
able to take 60 wickets...in fact 70...<br />
if we had full five days in Bangalore,<br />
who knows, this could’ve<br />
been 4-0.The catches that were<br />
taken...when it mattered the batting<br />
stepped up in the third Test.<br />
We just outplayed SA.<br />
Do you think turning tracks are<br />
unfairly viewed as dangerous?<br />
I don’t think any of the surfaces<br />
which is great,” said Sania.<br />
Talking about her relationship with<br />
the Indian Aces players which has<br />
a great mix talent, Sania said: “We<br />
are a great team, we get along really<br />
well and it’s great to keep the<br />
winning form going. Tennis players<br />
tend to feel lonely, in the sense we<br />
travel alone on tours. But the IPTL<br />
has been different. We are all enjoying<br />
the team bonding. We look<br />
out for each other during matches.”<br />
When asked about not having<br />
Roger Federer in the Aces team this<br />
year, Sania said that even though<br />
the Swiss may no longer be a part<br />
of her team, she is excited to have<br />
Rafael Nadal on board. “It’s great to<br />
have had Roger Federer in our team<br />
last year but this year we have an<br />
equally good replacement for him,”<br />
Sania said.<br />
with cricket administration in the Caribbean<br />
after decades of underperforming Windies<br />
sides from the halcyon days of the 1980s and<br />
early 1990s.<br />
“I’m sure many cricket pundits and people<br />
around the world have many opinions, but my<br />
job is just to focus on cricket,” he said diplomatically.<br />
”I can’t really focus on anything else<br />
at this point in time, we’ve brought a squad<br />
down here to play cricket and that’s exactly<br />
what I’m going to do.”<br />
Australia captain Steve Smith said there<br />
was talent in the young Windies team which<br />
needed time. ”I think they’ve got some very<br />
capable players. We saw that with the way<br />
Darren Bravo played (108) and Kraigg Brathwaite<br />
(94) today,” Smith said.<br />
“They’ve certainly got some talented players<br />
that we have to be wary about. The game<br />
which we played on now were so<br />
dangerous. People can s ay wh at<br />
eve r t h e y want, I just see the<br />
scoreline. India beat South Af rica<br />
3-0, a team which hadn’t lost for<br />
nine years. As simple as that. Fifteen<br />
years down the line, if I want<br />
to know what happened in early<br />
<strong>December</strong> 20<strong>15</strong>, I’ll pick up some<br />
statistical book, it will tell me<br />
3-0. Nothing else matters. Who<br />
cares what people or twitter says?<br />
Newspaper will be in the dustbin,<br />
twitter might become something<br />
else. But that scoreline won’t<br />
change.<br />
Ashwin is in form of his life....<br />
He has to be given all the<br />
credit for the fact that he went<br />
back to the basics. He was prepared<br />
to put in the hard yards and<br />
be patient. There’s no doubting<br />
the fact that he’s a smart cricketer<br />
who understands his game. Today,<br />
you’re seeing that he’s undoubtedly<br />
the best off-spinner in the world.<br />
That we’ll talk out in our next<br />
team meeting. What I would only<br />
remember is his 145. When he got<br />
the opportunity... there again was<br />
a player who was out of the side,<br />
when he got a chance, he played a<br />
match-winning innings.<br />
Djokovic, Serena reign despite<br />
sudden impact shocks<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
• Djokovic ended 20<strong>15</strong> with 11 titles,<br />
82 wins and six defeats in a haul which<br />
included three of the four majors.<br />
• Djokovic won six of the nine Masters<br />
and topped it off with a fourth successive<br />
end-of-season World Tour Finals<br />
triumph.<br />
• Serena recorded 53 wins against just<br />
three losses.<br />
PARIS: Novak Djokovic and Serena<br />
Williams celebrated seasons of epic<br />
proportions, claiming six of eight Grand<br />
Slam titles in a march to greatness<br />
dented only by two players producing<br />
once-in-a-lifetime performances.<br />
Djokovic ended 20<strong>15</strong> with 11<br />
titles, 82 wins and just six defeats in a<br />
haul which included three of the four<br />
majors -- the Australian and US Opens<br />
and Wimbledon.<br />
His on-court earnings of $21<br />
million swelled his career total to a<br />
mind-boggling $94 million while the<br />
28-year-old Serb now has 10 Grand<br />
Slam titles amongst his 59 career<br />
trophies.<br />
Djokovic won six of the nine Masters<br />
and topped it off with a fourth<br />
successive end-of-season World Tour<br />
Finals triumph in London.<br />
“I’m very proud to have these<br />
achievements with my team,” said<br />
Djokovic. “It’s been a long season, but<br />
the best of my life.”<br />
Djokovic reached the final of<br />
every tournament he played with<br />
the exception of his 20<strong>15</strong> bow in<br />
Doha where Ivo Karlovic stunned<br />
him in the quarter-finals.From then<br />
on it was one-way traffic -- indoors,<br />
outdoors, hardcourt, clay and grass<br />
-- the Australian Open, Masters in<br />
Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo<br />
and Rome and then Wimbledon,<br />
US Open, Beijing, the Shanghai and<br />
Paris Masters and London<br />
But Djokovic was still left with<br />
a case of ‘what might have been’<br />
thanks to a single-handed backhand<br />
blitz delivered by Stan Wawrinka<br />
at Roland Garros where a 4-6, 6-4,<br />
6-3, 6-4 defeat left him still seeking a<br />
first French Open and a career Grand<br />
Slam.<br />
Wawrinka fired 59 winners past<br />
Djokovic who finished runner-up for<br />
the third time in four years. The defeat<br />
left him in tears.Roger Federer,<br />
who hasn’t added to his 17 majors<br />
since 2012 Wimbledon, continued<br />
to defy the critics.Despite passing<br />
34 in August, the Swiss reached the<br />
Wimbledon and US Open finals and<br />
handed Djokovic a rare defeat in the<br />
round-robin section of the World<br />
Tour Finals before the Serb swept to<br />
a comfortable revenge in the title<br />
match.The Swiss ended the year at<br />
three in the world and then ended<br />
his two-year partnership with coach<br />
Stefan Edberg.Andy Murray finished<br />
at two after a season which saw him<br />
win his first titles on clay, announce<br />
that he will become a father in February<br />
and lead Britain to a first Davis<br />
Cup in 79 years.Meanwhile, 14-time<br />
Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal may<br />
have lost his iron-grip on the French<br />
Open and suffer his worst rankings<br />
slump in a decade, but there were<br />
encouraging signs of life as the year<br />
ticked away.<br />
Nick Kyrgios has<br />
sound, fury and<br />
talent<br />
NEW DELHI: Everybody<br />
loves a bad boy<br />
whether it’s in life or in<br />
sports. Nick Kyrgios is<br />
no different. He’s loud, in<br />
your face, aggressive and<br />
borderline manic when<br />
he is on the tennis court.<br />
The Aussie has almost<br />
paid as much fine for his<br />
antics on the court as he<br />
has earned over the 20<strong>15</strong><br />
season but he is not ready<br />
to change his spots.He is<br />
walking a tight rope after a<br />
fine of $25,000 and a suspended<br />
sentence from the<br />
ATP for his ‘aggressive behaviour’<br />
and inappropriate<br />
comments made against<br />
Stan Wawrinka during<br />
a Rogers Cup match in<br />
August this year.“I am not<br />
a bad boy. I just go out<br />
to win and sometimes<br />
emotions get the best of<br />
me. I try to help out kids<br />
back home and I don’t<br />
know where this image<br />
of me came from. But I’ll<br />
admit it doesn’t matter if<br />
we are playing chess and<br />
cards, I just want to win,”<br />
Kyrgios said on Friday.<br />
The 20-year-old will team<br />
up with Wawrinka in the<br />
last leg of this year’s IPTL<br />
in Singapore. Although<br />
the pair has not spoken<br />
since the incident, where<br />
Kyrgios had made an<br />
inappropriate comment<br />
about Wawrinka’s girlfriend<br />
Donna Vekic.<br />
‘West Indies have to put a collective effort in remaining Tests’<br />
was in the balance at one point and if they<br />
had got another couple of quick wickets they<br />
could have gone through us, but we were able<br />
absorb a bit of pressure and build that big<br />
partnership and change the course of the<br />
game.”<br />
The Caribbean tourists have a two-day<br />
game against a Victorian XI in Geelong<br />
from <strong>December</strong> 19-20 as their only match<br />
preparation for the second Test at the<br />
Melbourne Cricket Ground, starting on<br />
<strong>December</strong> 26.“We just need to make the<br />
most of it, I thought preparation was very<br />
good leading up to this first Test match,<br />
I couldn’t ask for much more. It’s just a<br />
situation where we need to perform our<br />
roles. We haven’t been doing it, and starting<br />
to do it is the only way we can win cricket<br />
games,” Holder said.