20 January 2016

SRINAGAR | 20 January 2016 | 09 Rabi Al Thani 1437 AH Vol: 4 | Issue No: 17 | Pages: 08 | Rs 3/- 

WEDNESDAY 

4th 

PRECIOUS KASHMIR 

http//www.preciouskashmir.com | email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com 

‘Are you afraid?’ Omar asks 

Mehbooba in an open letter 

‘Call for fresh elections if you fear from taking over as Kashmir CM’ 

Srinagar, Jan 19: Former Jammu and 

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah 

on Tuesday asked the Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba 

Mufti to get the assembly dissolved 

if she was afraid of taking over 

the reigns of the state. 

In an open letter, published on 

NDTV website, Omar while sypathising 

with Mehbooba over the demise 

of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, has 

asked some blunt questions of the 

PDP president. 

"...the one question I want to ask 

you - why are we being made to wait 

for a government? Your alliance with 

the BJP stands and no fresh negotiations 

are taking place, so why is the 

state under central rule? What are you 

waiting for, Mehbooba?" asked Omar. 

"Are you afraid? Of course you 

must be. I would be terrified if I was 

in your place. I can't imagine how difficult 

it would be for you to take over 

without the benefit of your father's 

guidance and wisdom to steer your 

decisions. Unfortunately, you don't 

get to choose the circumstances under 

which you assume the responsibilities 

of the CM of J&K, but your fear can not 

be grounds enough to deny the people 

an elected government." 

Suggesting that working with 

the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after 

she takes over as Chief Minister of the 

state wouldn't be easy, Omar wrote: 

"The road ahead will be rocky and 

you will not know who you can turn 

to for objective, impartial advice but 

Precious Kashmir News 

Srinagar, Jan 19: Former Chief Minister 

of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq 

Abdullah has said that the "onus is 

on the Pandits" to make a comeback 

to the valley. 

Abdullah, also a former Union 

Minister, told NDTV: "They (the Pandits) 

have to realize one thing- nobody 

is going to come with a begging 

bowl and say 'come and stay with us' 

, they have to make the move." 

Abdullah said he had made several 

attempts over the decades to try 

Woman leader to 

replace Madhav as 

BJP's JK incharge 

Jammu, Jan 19: As the new 

government in Jammu and 

Kashmir should be in place by 

January-end, the BJP is likely 

to place a woman leader in 

charge of party affairs in the 

state to streamline coordination 

with coalition partner 

PDP, highly-placed BJP sources 

here said. 

"Now that the initial 

hiccups are over, the next 

Peoples Democratic Party- 

Bharatiya Janata Party government 

should be in place 

before the end of this month," 

the sources said. 

The sources said BJP general 

secretary Ram Madhav is 

likely to have a lesser role in 

the state once PDP leader Mehbooba 

Mufti assumes charge 

as chief minister. 

Madhav is looking after 

BJP affairs in Jammu and 

Kashmir since the Mufti Mohammad 

Sayeed-led government 

took office on March 1, 

last year. 

"The party high command 

is looking for a woman 

leader to coordinate issues 

We need not take 

lessons from NC: PDP 


Srinagar, Jan 19: As the National 

Conference has asked PDP to 

recommend dissolution of state’s 

Assembly for conduct of fresh elections 

if Mehbooba Mufti is “unable 

or unwilling” to take over as chief 

minister, PDP said that the party 

“does not need lessons” from NC. 

“We need not take lessons 

from National Conference or Omar 

Abdullah,” a senior PDP leader said 

wishing not to be named. 

“People know how power has 

changed the party (NC) and how 

they are now trying to undermine 

the efforts of PDP to regain some 

PDP should continue its 

alliance with BJP: Farooq 

New Delhi, Jan 19: National Conference 

leader Farooq Abdullah 

has said that the PDP should 

continue its alliance with the 

BJP to complete the agenda of 

former chief minister Mufti 

Mohammed Sayeed, putting 

to rest speculation of a possible 

realignment of forces in the 

state. Abdullah had set the political 

and get Pandits to return to the Valley, 

but many of them had sold their 

homes and were not willing to come 

and live in Kashmir any longer. 

"When (J&K) government made 

a move that the officers and doctors 

who are settled here (Delhi) should 

come back, they came to see me and 

said 'look, our children are in schools 

here, our parents are ill and they 

need medical care...we can't take 

them back, so for God's sake, let us 

live here." 

Abdullah said that he had met 

Pandits as Jammu and Kashmir Chief 

with the PDP since Ram 

Madhavji will get busy with 

elections in Assam and other 

states. 

"The new incharge of 

state BJP is likely to be a 

woman holding important 

position in the central government 

and the party," the 

sources said. 

Mehbooba Mufti is likely 

to need more support from 

the BJP to anchor herself as 

the first woman chief minister 

of the country's only Muslim-majority 

state. 

"She has to carry forward 

the legacy of her late father, 

but doesn't have his political 

stature or experience. She 

needs to prove her governance 

capabilities quickly. 

"For that, she needs a 

more direct access to the BJP 

high command. She must 

have somebody on a one-onone 

equation to work things 

out in Delhi," PDP sources 

said. 

Ram Madhav and PDP 

leader Haseeb Drabu last year 

See Woman on Pg 6 

assets for the state with 28 seats, 

which they (NC) had given over 

when they had 60 seats,” the leader 

said. 

Referring to the open letter 

which NC working president and 

former chief minister of the state, 

Omar Abdullah, has written to Mehbooba 

Mufti, the PDP leader said 

that “We do not want to enter into 

a debate with Omar Abdullah”. 

“We (PDP) are in a serious 

business at this time trying to 

safeguard as much as we can of 

the interests of the state which 

everybody knows who has sold 

out and for what reasons,” the 

senior leader said. (KNS) 

grapevine abuzz after hinting that 

his party was ready for an alliance 

with the BJP if the latter sought its 

help for government formation 

in the state following the death 

of Sayeed earlier this month. 

The state was put under 

governor’s rule on January 8 

after PDP leader and 

See Farooq on Pg 6 

you must either rise to the occasion or 

else step back. The people of the state 

cannot be expected to wait for you to 

make up your mind. Taking over now 

is not a sign of being power hungry, 

but not taking over is certainly an 

abuse of the trust the people placed in 

you and your party." 

Adds Omar: "If you are unable 

or unwilling to assume the responsibilities 

that are being placed on your 

shoulders, then you must do your 

duty to the people, recommend to His 

Excellency The Governor to dissolve 

the Assembly, and let the people make 

a fresh decision in an election. To dillydally 

is the biggest disservice you can 

do to us, the people of J&K." 

Empathising with Mehbooba, 

Omar said that his heart went to the 

'New Delhi 

did not do 

much for KPs' 

Srinagar, Jan 19: Former Jammu and 

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah 

today accused the Centre of not 

doing much for return of Kashmiri 

Pandits to the Valley. 

"Much was expected of the 

current government where all others 

were accused of paying only lip 

service but nothing changed," Omar 

wrote on Twitter on the 26th anniversary 

of migration of Kashmiri Pandits 

from the Valley. 

He said another year has passed 

with no progress "in bringing back 

the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. 

Words sound even more hollow". 

"All we can do is recommit ourselves 

to do what we can to keep the 

spirit of Kashmiriyat alive in the hope 

that Kashmir will be complete soon," 

he added. 

The working president of National 

Conference said he knows the 

fear of not seeing his home again as 

his family had left Kashmir in similar 

circumstances. 

"My family left under somewhat 

similar circumstances so I know the 

fear of not seeing home again, though 

mine was short lived," he said. 

PDP president when her father took ill. 

"Having seen my father in and 

out of hospital for the better part of 

two years and then having had both 

parents recover from major surgery, 

I know how difficult it would have 

been for you to see your father unwell. 

When news of his demise came, my 

concern turned to sorrow at your loss, 

at your family's loss and at the state's 

loss," writes Omar. 

He says that he was one among 

those who refused to attribute motive 

See Omar on Pg 6 

‘Nobody will come with begging bowl, onus on KPs to come back’ 

Minister and even after that also. 

"It's not only me, but even Hurriyat 

leaders have come to you (Pandits) 

and said 'please come back'. 

Militancy has declined. It is hard, but 

they (Pandits) will have to make the 

first move now." 

Meanwhile, Abdullah on Sunday 

clarified his earlier comments on a 

possible tie-up with the Bharatiya 

Janata Party (BJP) saying that his party’s 

working committee would only 

consider it if such a proposal arrived 

from the saffron party. 

“I never said we are going with 

BJP. I only said our working committee 

would consider this,” said Farooq. 

The senior leader asked the BJP 

and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 

to dissolve the assembly and call 

fresh elections if they are not able to 

form a government. 

“They have the mandate, they 

must sit down & solve the problem 

of people,” he said. 

On last Saturday, the senior 

Abdullah said that his party is ready 

to discuss a coalition with BJP if there 

is a proposal from the party. “It is not 

See KPs on Pg 6 

New Delhi, Jan 19: Pathankot strike 

could have been prevented if lessons 

were learnt from previous terror 

strikes with a main focus on securing 

country's international border 

with Pakistan which is not yet "well 

guarded", Jammu and Kashmir Governor 

N N Vohra said here on Tuesday. 

Speaking about the recent infiltrations 

by militant groups through International 

Border (IB), including the 

recent attack on Pathankot air base, 

Vohra said BSF with its limited capacities 

cannot guard the borders which 

is a long stretch of over 200 to 250 

kilometers including the Punjab IB. 

The Governor who was here to 

deliver a key note address on seventh 

National Investigation Agency 

(NIA) day, noted that the five-six 

attacks which took place from September 

2013 onwards via Kathua 

through the IB, part of which falls 

in Jammu and Kashmir, should have 

been followed up as closely as the 

Pathankot attack. 

He said that the attack on Dina 

Nagar police station in Gurdaspur 

could have been avoided, if the previous 

terror attacks were subjected 

to a tight investigation. 

"...And if Dinanagar would 

have been properly investigated, 

Pathankot, I am sure would have 

been almost impossible because we 

would have been able to know the 

routes taken by the groups to infiltrate 

the IB. I also hold very strongly 

that IB is not well guarded," Vohra, 

who has been the Governor of the 

border state for last eight years, said. 

The Governor, who has also 

served as Union Home and Defence 

Secretary besides Principal Secretary 

to the Prime Minister in 1997, maintained 

that he had informed the centre 

about it. 

"I think there are issues...But we 

need to do much more. BSF, with its 

present capacities, cannot safeguard 

IB which is long stretch of over 200 

to 250 kilometres almost including 

the border in Punjab. It is a difficult 

area and we need to look at that," 

Vohra reiterated. 

He was replying to a question 

over the reluctance of state governments 

in handing over terror cases 


Srinagar, Jan, 19: For the first 

time in the last over two decades, 

family of a man, who 

had disappeared in the custody 

of security forces 14 years 

ago, held his funeral prayers 

in absentia, marking the end 

of their search for him, but 

opening up the battle for justice. 

People from all walks 

of life including the senior 

Hurriyat leaders Tuesday attended 

the funeral prayers in 

absentia at Rawalpora organized 

for the chemist, Manzoor 

Ahmad Dar, by his family. 

On Monday, the family 

of Dar had appealed people 

to participate in his funeral 

prayers in absentia. 

The absentia prayers, led 

by of Hurriyat (G) leader, Peer 

Saifullah were held at Government 

High School Rawalpora 

at 2 pm in which thousands of 

people across the Valley participated. 

People who participated 

in the funeral prayers 

raised pro-freedom and pro- 

Islam slogans. 

Dar’s funeral prayers in 

absentia created an example 

in the state as it is the first 

Journalism With A Human Heart 

14 years later, Rawalpora man 

declared dead in custody 

Family holds funeral prayers in absentia 


Srinagar, Jan 19: Police have 

arrested four persons, including 

three constables of Government 

Railway Force (GRP), 

over the murder of a youth in 

Peerbagh area of Srinagar, officials 

said today. 

Owais Bashir Malik was 

found dead two days after he 

went missing from his home 

on January 14. 

His death had triggered 

massive protests in the uptown 

Srinagar areas of Peerbagh, 

Hyderpora and Humhama. 

A special investigation 

team(SIT) headed by Syed 

Fayaz Ahmad, SDPO Magam 

was constiuted under the 

overall supervision of SSP 

Budgam to investigate the 

case in a time bound manner. 

"During investigation, it 

came to fore that for the last 

about one year the said Owais 

Bashir Malik was in contact 

with a person namely Ishaan 

Majeed S/O Ab. Majeed Peerzada 

R/O Bandipora, presently 

at Barzullah Srinagar," said 

a police spokesman. 

to central probe agencies. Punjab 

government had refused to hand 

over the Dina Nagar police station 

attack probe to NIA. 

The July 2015 attack on a police 

station in Dina Nagar in Gurdaspur 

district of Punjab resulted in 

10 deaths, including that of three 

militants. Superintendent of Police 

Baljeet Singh was also killed in the 

attack. 

Highlighting the sensational issue 

of sabotage of national security 

related decisions, Vohra said, "Considering 

the level of sabotage and 

subversion which have progressively 

got established in our country, in our 

systems, various actions and decisions 

taken with regard to national 

security, enforcement have the high 

potential of being sabotaged". 

The Governor was posed a question 

by an NIA officer who claimed 

that the Malda riots in West Bengal 

were carried out by people with 

criminal intent who destroyed records 

of a police station so that 

when NIA takes over, there are no 

document and evidence to pursue 

the probe. 

Vohra replied that he had seen 

such sabotage during his tenure in 

various capacities in Punjab, during 

post Blue Star period, and in Jammu 

and Kashmir. 

"The point that you made about 

See Vohra on Pg 6 

Police solves Peerbagh 

youth’s murder case 

Arrests man who used to disguise as girl 

He said Ishaan would 

pose and act like a girl by 

the name Umaira R/O Wanbal 

Nowgam and both would 

talk for hours together mostly 

during the night hours. 

"Ishaan (Umaira) would 

also talk at times with family 

members including the sisters 

of the Owais as also with 

his cousin namely Tanveer 

Ahmad Bhat S/O Noor Mohammad 

Bhat R/O Galwanpora 

Budgam. 

"Owais would press 

Ishaan (Umaira) for a meet 

which was usually avoided 

by the later. However, on 12- 

01-2016, Owais pressed very 

hard for a meet and Ishaan 

(Umaira) agreed to meet on 

the Railway Track at Peerbagh. 

Ishaan (Umaira) divulged 

before the deceased that it 

was he who was posing as a 

girl. This infuriated Owais and 

both had a scuffle." 

Owais was badly injured 

in the scuffle, said the spokesman. 

"Ishaan (Umaira) got better 

of the Owais and brought 

him down on the ground over 

See Police on Pg 6 

New Delhi, Jan 19: Jammu and 

Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today 

suggested creating a separate 

Ministry out of the Home Ministry 

to handle security related 

issues along with a separate cadre 

of specialised officers to man it. 

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, 

who was present on the occassion, 

welcomed the suggestion 

of a separate cadre of officers but 

remained silent about the specialised 

Ministry. 

In his key note address on the 

seventh NIA Day, Vohra said to 

tackle situations like Pathankot 

attack, a dedicated pool of officers 

having expertise in various aspects 

of national security should 

be created and be named as 

National Security Administrative 

Service. 

He said he had proposed 

during the first NDA government 

under Atal Bihari Vajpayee the 

creation of a separate ministry of 

National Security out of the Home 

Ministry to be led by leaders like 

Rajnath Singh and manned by 

specialists of National Security 

time when people held absentia 

prayers for the person 

who had disappeared from 

the custody years ago. 

The human rights groups 

have said that around eight 

thousand Kashmiri people 

have disappeared allegedly 

in the custody of government 

forces during the past twenty 

years in the state. 

Meanwhile, Chief of 

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation 

Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik 

also took part in the funeral 

prayers in absentia. 

While talking to the 

media persons, Malik said, 

“There are thousands of family 

like Dar who face psychological 

trauma,” 

He said that the family 

members of Dar like persons 

even don’t know whether 

their dear ones are dead or 

alive. “Despite dialogue process 

has been initiated, the 

human rights violation in the 

Valley is still going on. The 

two things can’t go together,” 

Malik said. 

Dar was picked up from 

his home at Rawalpora by unidentified 

gunmen on intervening 

night of January 18/19 

in 2002. Following massive 

protests, police station Saddar 

in Srinagar filed an FIR under 

section 364 (abduction) 

See 14 Years on Pg 6 

Encounter 

starts in 

Pulwama 

village 


Srinagar, Jan 19: A gun 

battle raged between militants 

and the joint team of 

army and police at Naina in 

south Kashmir’s Pulwama 

district. 

A police official said that 

acting on a specific information 

about the presence of 

some militants at Naina village, 

army’s 55 RR, 183 CRPF 

and SOG cordoned off the 

whole area. 

“As such the joint team 

of forces intensified the 

searches and fired few warning 

shots near the suspected 

spot, the militants hiding in 

the area tried to break the 

cordoned. 

However, the joint team 

of forces cordoned off the 

whole area and sealed all the 

entry and exit points in the 

area to prevent the militants 

from escape. 

When reports last came 

in, the cordon-and-search 

operation was going on. (GNS) 

Pathankot attack could have been prevented: Vohra 

Suggests separate ministry 

to handle security issues 

Administrative Service. 

Later in his address, Rajnath 

Singh said Vohra has given a welcome 

suggestion of raising a cadre 

of National Security Administrative 

Services to handle security 

related matter. 

"I will discuss the matter 

soon," he said. 

Terming ‘terrorism’ as a global 

menace, Singh said India will 

stand by any alliance of countries 

which is ready to take on this 

challenge. 

"Terrorism is not only a challenge 

for this country but a global 

challenge. India stands with countries 

who are ready to accept this 

challenge. India is part of every 

treaty in this regard," he said. 

The Home Minister said the 

country has faced many challenges 

including from foreign invaders 

but has always maintained its 

sovereignty and unity. 

"However, difficult the challenges 

may be now, no one will be 

able to put a question mark over 

country's unity and sovereignty. 

See Ministry on Pg 6 

C 

M 

Y 

K 

C 

M 

Y 

K


Rajendra reviews 

RD arrangements 


Srinagar, Jan 19: In order to review 

preparedness for Republic Day (RD) 

Celebrations in the Valley, a high level 

security meeting was convened by 

Director General of Police (DGP), K. 

Rajendra Kumar here today. 

Senior officers from police, civil 

administration, intelligence and central 

para-military forces were present 

in the meeting. 

During the meeting, Rajendra 

sought reports from the participants 

about the status of security arrangements 

and deployment plan, put in 

place for smooth and peaceful conduct 

of RD celebrations at Bakshi Stadium 

and other district headquarters 

in the Valley. 

Officers representing different 

security agencies briefed the 

meeting, about the steps taken to 

maintain law and order and ensure 

peaceful conduct of RD celebrations. 

They also briefed about the 

RD Parade being held at Bakshi Stadium. 

Stressing upon better coordination 

among all agencies and the 

civil administration, Rajendra said 

No testing facility for 

viruses in Kashmir 

hospitals: DAK 


Srinagar, Jan 19: While diagnostic 

virology has entered 

into mainstream medical 

practice, Doctors Association 

Kashmir (DAK) today said that 

Kashmir is lagging behind because 

of non-availability of 

testing facility for viruses. 

Ascribing high mortality 

to viruses, President DAK Dr 

Nisar ul Hassan said that patients 

in Kashmir hospitals are 

dying undiagnosed due to lack 

of virological testing. 

GMC is without a virology 

lab and though SKIMS in 2014 

got huge funds for creation of 

a state virology lab but till now 

no such facility has been put in 

place. Many of the illnesses in 

hospitalized patients remain 

mysterious due to absence of 

viral diagnostic laboratory. 

We do not know which 

viruses are prevalent in our 

population and have no idea 

about emerging viruses, the 

ultimate goal of which was to 

devise intervention strategies. 

Since the discovery of 

first virus in 1898, thousands 

ISM organizes 

workshop at 

Bandipora 

Bandipora, Jan 19: One 

day workshop on Psychiatric 

disorders and mental 

health was held at Bandipora 

today. 

The workshop was organized 

by Nodal Officer 

Indian Systems of Medicine 

(ISM) Bandipora in collaboration 

with Medecins Sans 

Frontieres (MSF). The District 

Development Commissioner 

Bandipora was the 

chief guest. 

The workshop was attended 

by the experts and 

senior doctors of AYUSH. 

During the workshop, the 

participants were sensitized 

about the causes, symptoms 

and the treatment of psychiatric 

disorders. 

that close liaison should be maintained 

at every level and the officers 

supervising different components 

should be briefed to remain 

extra vigilant in order to foil any 

attempt by the trouble makers to 

disrupt the peaceful atmosphere 

during celebrations. A comprehensive 

security grid and deployment 

mechanism for conduct of celebrations 

needs to be formulated, he 

said. He asked to keep an eye on the 

activities of anti-national elements 

and mount pressure to thwart their 

of virus species have been 

described and many serious 

diseases, including cancer are 

caused by viruses. 

Number of patients at risk 

for opportunistic viral infections 

has expanded greatly. 

With the advent of new 

immunological and molecular 

tests any virus can be detected 

quickly. Establishing a specific 

viral diagnosis limits other diagnostic 

procedures and is essential 

for differentiating from 

other illnesses for institution 

of rational therapy and control 

measures. Dramatic progress 

in antiviral therapeutics has 

increased the need for specific 

viral diagnosis. 

Viral diagnosis is important 

for public health purposes, 

for example, lab documentation 

of cases of rubella 

or rubeola can set in motion 

extensive vaccination campaigns. 

Lack of capacity to diagnose 

viral diseases is a serious 

threat to public health as 

viral diagnostic lab is prerequisite 

for dealing with lethal viruses, 

handling outbreaks and 

managing pandemics. 

Srinagar, Jan 19: The secretary 

Tourism Farooq Ahmad 

Shah while interacting with 

the officers of tourism department 

including the two 

Directors of Kashmir and 

Jammu, principals of IHM Srinagar, 

FCI food craft institute 

of Jammu and Leh and professor 

of Tourism management 

Riyaz Qureshi of Kashmir 

University stressed for 

development of innovative 

products to face the emerging 

trends in tourism and 

hospitality sector. The secretary 

was speaking on the 

subject of emerging trends 

in hospitality and tourism industry 

and assessment of opportunities 

in JK state policy 

planning and academic support 

for product and destination 

development. 

The secretary stressed 


Srinagar, Jan 19: Vacation Judge 

Justice Janak Raj Kotwal of Jammu 

Kashmir High Court (Jammu Wing) 

Tuesday in a significant order stayed 

the demolition of Former Revenue 

Minister Raman Bhalla’s residential 

house till February, 5, 2016 and while 

disposing of the writ petition filed 

by the Former Revenue Minister, 

the Vacation Judge also directed 

the J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu 

to decide Raman Bhalla’s Appeal 

against demolition notice within 

two weeks. The Vacation Judge 

also directed the parties to appear 

before the J&K Special Tribunal on 

February, 5, 2016. 

When the writ petition filed by 

Raman Bhalla came up for hearing 

Advocate Abhinav Sharma with Advocates 

A.K. Sawhney, K.K. Pangotra, 

S.M. Choudhary and Tarun Sharma 

submitted that the petitioner has 

been rendered remedy less as the 

J&K Special Tribunal kept in abeyance 

the status quo order earlier 

passed on the plea of the caveat filed 

by Prof. S.K. Bhalla and the Tribunal 

further directed the parties to seek 

clarification from the High Court 

which had passed a detailed order on 

nefarious designs. 

Rajendra stressed on maintaining 

alertness in sensitive areas and 

on the national highway for which 

he advised placement of nakas to 

check the movement of suspicious 

elements. He asked for intelligence 

sharing and joint patrolling of all the 

security formations. 

DGP also asked for making efficient 

network connectivity arrangements 

to ensure liaison among different 

formations. He said that security 

of venues for the functions at different 

places needs to be reviewed by 

all concerned agencies and synergy 

should be ensured to make the celebrations 

more secure and successful. 

Among others, the meeting was 

attended by IsGP, SJM Gillani, AG 

Mir and Sunil Kumar, IsG CRPF, Atul 

Karwal and Nalin Prabhat, Divisional 

Commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar Samoon, 

JD IB, Harmeet Kumar, DIsGP, 

Garib Dass, Nitish Kuma and GH 

Bhat, SSP, Amit Kumar, Dy: Commissioner, 

Srinagar, FA Lone, SsP, Vivek 

Gupta, Suihail Munawar Mir, RK Jala, 

Javaid Koul, Maqsood-ul-Zaman and 

other police officers. 

News 

Wednesday 

2 

20.01.2016 

HC stays demolition of Former 

Revenue Minister’s House 

for the need of assessment 

of skill development programmes 

in tourism industry 

and urged the related 

institutions to gear up for 

imparting quality skill development 

training to the youth 

for grooming them to cater 

to the emerging national and 

international markets in hospitality 

industry. 

Farooq Ahmad Shah 

while giving details said that 

in skill development the 

Jammu FCI has been given 

the target of 2000 students, 

IHM Srinagar has the target 

of 5000 while as Leh FCI has 

300 target under the Hunnar 

say Rozgaar scheme, this is 

apart from the diploma and 

graduate level courses. 

The secretary instructed 

the officials to de is a programme 

short term course 

December, 3, 2015 in a writ petition 

filed by Prof. S.K. Bhalla. Advocate 

Abhinav Sharma also submitted that 

the matter is fixed before the Tribunal 

on February, 5, 2016 and there is 

no protection against the demolition 

as the status quo order earlier passed 

was kept in abeyance by the Tribunal 

on December, 30, 2015. 

On the other hand Advocate 

Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed appearing 

for Prof. S.K. Bhalla submitted that 

the instant petition is not maintainable 

as the clarification if any has to 

be sought in the writ petition filed by 

Prof. S.K. Bhalla wherein directions 

had been issued to the JMC to take 

action against Raman Bhalla with 

regard to alleged major violations. 

He further submitted that appeal of 

Sec Tourism stresses for 

innovative product development 

Rana expresses concern over political stalemate 

Nagrota, Jan 19: Saying that 

a sensitive state like Jammu 

and Kashmir cannot afford an 

indefinite spell of political uncertainty 

due to indecision of 

PDP-BJP duo, Provincial President 

National Conference on 

Tuesday pleaded for fresh polls 

to end the ongoing stalemate. 

“The coalition partners 

have put the state into a piquant 

situation and there is no 

option but to go to the people 

again, who have been left in the 

lurch”, the Provincial President 

said during his two-day tour of 

the nine Panchayat Halqas of 

Mathwar Block in the Nagrota 

Assembly Constituency. 

Rana lamented over PDP- 

BJP’s betrayal with the people, 

saying all promises made 

ahead of elections and soon 

after the formation of government 

proved hoax. The performance 

inertia, he said, led to 

indecision with regard to day 

to day functioning of the government 

with key economic 

and developmental issues remaining 

in backburner. 

“It is intriguing why the 

PDP-BJP combine could not 

take any decision on key matters 

which Governor N. N 

Vohra took in just 10 days of 

gubernatorial dispensation”, 

he said, adding that the two 

parties remained engaged in 

scoring points over one another 

and shifting the blame, 

as a result of which the flood 

sufferers continue to suffer 

for want of compensation and 

much trumpeted about relief. 

The developmental effort, 

launched and sustained during 

the Omar Abdullah led government, 

stands halted with the 

previous government clueless 

about how to take forward the 

state on the path of progress, 

he maintained. 

Referring to indecision of 

the PDP with regard to formation 

of government in the wake 

of sad demise of Mufti Mohammed 

Sayeed, the Provincial 

President hoped that the 

party shall realize its responsibility 

towards the people and 

pave the way for holding fresh 

elections to the state assembly. 

module for pony wallahs and 

other people related with 

travel trade who have direct 

communication and access 

to the tourist and their training 

and skill development 

will have a positive impact 

over the tourism industry of 

Jammu Kashmir. 

The secretary asked the 

officials to develop innovative 

products in rural tourism, 

cultural tourism, MiCe 

and adventure Tourism and 

promote sufi circuits and pilgrimage 

destinations. 

Later while chairing the 

state level incentive committee 

meeting the secretary 

approved about 4.90 crores 

for 74 cases and urged for 

quick disposal of such cases 

to encourage new players 

and unemployed youth in 

the tourism industry. 

Jammu, Jan 19: “A Tribute to 

The Golden Hands”, maiden 

pictorial calendar of Handicrafts 

Department dedicated 

to the artisans of the state 

was released today by Commissioner 

Secretary, Industries 

and Commerce Department, 

Shailendra Kumar . 

Speaking on the occasion 

Commissioner Secretary congratulated 

the department 

for the efforts behind preparing 

the first of its kind calendar 

which showcases the 

artisanship and efforts of the 

fraternity to keep alive the 

rich craft of the state. 

Shailendra Kumar said 

that the handicrafts of the 

CS chairs steering committee meet 

for implementation of AMRUT in JK 

Jammu, Jan 19: The maiden meeting of the 

State Level High Power Steering Committee 

(HPSC) for implementation of Atal Mission for 

Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AM- 

RUT) in J&K was held under the chairmanship of 

Chief Secretary, B R Sharma here today. 

HPSC approved the State Annual Action 

Plan (SAAP) based on the State Level Improvement 

Plans (SLIPS) of the Urban Local Bodies of 

the State prioritizing cities and projects for onward 

submission to the Union Ministry of Urban 

Development for sanction. 

The Mission will be implemented in 500 

cities and towns across the country, each with 

a population of one lakh and above, some 

cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few 

capital cities and important cities located in 

hilly areas, islands and tourist areas. 

The cities and towns selected under AM- 

RUT in Jammu & Kashmir include Srinagar, 

Jammu, Anantnag and Leh. 

AMRUT adopts a project approach to 

ensure basic infrastructure services relating 

to water supply, sewerage facilities, septage 

management, storm water drains, urban 

transport and development of green spaces 

Budgam, Jan 19: The District 

Development Commissioner, 

Budgam, Mir Altaf 

Ahmad today chaired meeting 

of District Consultative 

Committee to review the 

progress and performance of 

Financial Institutions/Banks 

and sponsoring agencies operaring 

in the district. 

During the meeting Lead 

District Manager, Shahzad 

Hussain Teli gave a brief 

about the achievements of 

banks operating in the district 

under District Credit 

Plan 2015-16. He informed 

that total deposits of Banks 

have increased from Rs 

1482.09 crore to Rs 1565.55 

crores. 

Similarly total advances 

have also increased from Rs 

1132.61 crores to2131.36 crores. 

Under Government 

state has an immense potential 

and there is need to put 

sincere efforts in promoting 

the products. He directed the 

officers to work out the plan 

Raman Bhalla against demolition is 

pending before J&K Special Tribunal 

and directions are required to be issued 

to the Tribunal to decide the 

same within a specified period. He 

further submitted that the Former 

Revenue Minister is highly influential 

and in case time is not specified 

then the appeal will remain pending 

in the Tribunal for years to come. Advocate 

S.S. Ahmed further submitted 

that JMC was in deep slumber and 

hand in glove with Raman Bhalla 

and for this reason did not issue any 

notice to the Former Revenue Minister 

when he was raising the illegal 

construction. He further submitted 

that it is only on an RTI expose the 

JMC divulged that no action has been 

initiated against the Former Revenue 

Minister. 

Advocate S.S. Ahmed further 

submitted that JMC got activated 

only when whistleblower Prof. S.K. 

Bhalla knocked the doors of High 

Court which took serious note of the 

lapse on the part of JMC and issued 

directions to Commissioner JMC on 

December, 3, 2015 to take action 

against Raman Bhalla in regard to the 

major violations in the construction 

of his residential house and Commissioner 

JMC had also been directed to 

Sponsored Schemes against 

sponsored 1656 cases banks 

have granted financial assistance 

to tune of Rs.8.29 

Crores to 758 beneficiaries. 

The meeting also held 

threadbare deliberations 

on the implementation of 

schemes including PMMY, 

and parks to enhance amenity value of cities 

and towns. State Level Implementation Plans 

(SLIPS) have been formulated by Urban Local 

Bodies including Srinagar/Jammu Municipal 

Corporations after studying the existing conditions 

in the towns. 

Implementation of the Mission will be 

linked to promotion of urban reforms such 

as e-governance, constitution of professional 

municipal cadre, devolving funds and functions 

to urban local bodies, review of building 

bye-laws, improvement in assessment and 

collection of municipal taxes, credit rating of 

urban local bodies, energy and water audit 

and citizen-centric urban planning. 

Principal Secretary, Forest, Ecology and 

Environment, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Commissioner 

Secretary Housing and Urban Development, 

Bipul Pathak, Commissioner Secretary, 

Finance, Navin Kumar Choudhary, Secretary 

PHE and I&FC, Parvez Malik, Secretary Transport, 

Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Managing Director, 

J&K Housing Board, Commissioner, JMC, 

Mandeep Kaur, Commissioner, SMC, Showkat 

Zargar besides other senior officers were also 

present in the meeting. 

file Action Taken Report within three 

weeks. 

Advocate Sachin Gupta appearing 

for JMC submitted that the petitioner 

Raman Bhalla has indulged 

in major violations and his statutory 

appeal against demolition notice is 

pending before the J&K Special Tribunal 

which is only competent to adjudicate 

the matter against the notice 

issued under Section 7(3) Control of 

Building Operation Act. 

After hearing the parties at 

length, Vacation Judge Justice Janak 

Raj Kotwal of Jammu Kashmir High 

Court (Jammu Wing) in the open 

court stayed the demolition of Former 

Revenue Minister’s residential 

house till February, 5, 2016 and while 

disposing of the writ petition filed 

by the Former Revenue Minister 

the Vacation Judge also directed the 

J&K Special Tribunal, Jammu to decide 

Raman Bhalla’s Appeal against 

demolition notice within two weeks. 

The Vacation Judge also directed the 

parties to appear before the J&K Special 

Tribunal on February, 5, 2016 and 

further clarified that the status quo 

order will remain valid till February, 

5, 2016 when parties will cause appearance 

and argue the matter afresh 

before J&K Special Tribunal. (CNS) 

PMJDY and Social Security 

schemes. 

The Chairman while 

reviewing achievements 

and performance of various 

banks and departments directed 

the banks to improve 

their performance in the 

housing, education and DRI 

in which the products would 

be having G. I. certification 

and also to motivate artisans 

for the same. 

He exhorted on establishing 

a central lab and to 

register the artisans/traders 

so that the labeling of the 

products could be taken up to 

build customer faith. 

In order to increase the 

sale of handicraft products, 

Shailendra Kumar stressed 

for adopting e-trading which 

would help the artisans to 

reach out to a bigger market 

and promote their products. 

He asked the officials to put 

in sincere efforts in reviving 

the handicrafts industry of 

the state. 

Director, Handicrafts, 

Gazanffar Ali said that the 

department by releasing this 

calender intends to pay a 

www.preciouskashmir.com 

Div Com for 

restoring glory 

of Dal Lake 

Srinagar, Jan 19: Divisional 

Commissioner Dr Asgar Hassan 

Samoon today asked the 

officials to work for restoring 

the pristine glory and beauty 

of Dal Lake by adopting a multi 

pronged strategy. 

Chairing a meeting regarding 

acquisition of structures 

within Dal Lake, Dr 

Samoon stressed upon the 

concerned officers to comply 

with the court orders in letter 

and spirit. He directed the 

officials to start a comprehensive 

demolition drive to remove 

illegal structures in and 

around Dal and Nigeen Lakes. 

The meeting was informed 

that LAWDA has demolished 

around 120 illegal 

structures during the last few 

weeks and 186 more structures 

have been identified which will 

be demolished soon. 

Divisional Commissioner 

directed authorities of Srinagar 

Municipal Corporation to 

extend all assistance to LAW- 

DA during demolition drives. 

Regarding the water quality, 

Dr Samoon asked the officials 

to monitor it regularly 

and ensure safe drinking water 

is provided to people. 

The meeting was informed 

that one more STP 

is required at Telbal and FAB 

technology used in existing 

STPs needs upgradation. 

DC Sgr reviews 

functioning of 

health sector 

Srinagar, Jan 19: the District 

Development Commissioner, 

Srinagar, Dr. Farooq Ahmed 

Lone, Tuesday convened an officers 

meeting to review physical 

and financial progress 

of Health Sector in Srinagar 

district. 

The meeting was attended 

by the officers of Health and 

other concerned departments 

and it was informed that funds 

to the tune of Rs 2 Crore released 

till ending December, 

2015 have been expended in 

full. The District Development 

Commissioner directed speedy 

completion of works on various 

health institutions in District 

Srinagar, including Family 

Health Centre Batamaloo, 

NTPC Noorbagh and PHC Lal 

Bazaar. He asked the executing 

agencies to speed up work and 

complete all projects in time 

bound manner so that healthcare 

facilities are provided to 

the people. He also instructed 

the concerned for making adequate 

staff available at PHC 

Maharaj-Gunj, preparing DPR 

for reconstruction of PHC Maharaj-Gunj 

within a month. 

DDC chairs District Consultative 

Committee meeting at Budgam 

Sector. 

The meeting was attended 

by Chief Planning 

Officer Budgam, Gen Manager 

DIC, JKB Cluster Head, 

Bank Coordinators, Sectional 

Heads of line Departments, 

and other officers of 

District Administration. 

Shailendra releases calendar of Handicrafts deptt 

tribute to the artisan fraternity 

and highlight their role 

in the economy of the state. 

Among others, Secretary 

in I&C, R K Bhagat, Special 

Secretary, Sajjad Ahmad 

Khan, Director’s , Industries 

& Commerce, Jammu, Kashmir 

Dr. Abdul Rashid and 

Mohammad Javid Khan, Director, 

Handicrafts, Gazanffar 

Ali, Director, Handloom 

development department, 

Rajesh Sharma, Director, 

Geology & Mining, Farooq 

Ahmad Khan, Director, JKEDI, 

M I Parray, heads of all associated 

corporations/PSU’s and 

concerned officers were present 

on the occasion.

Precious Kashmir 

NEWS 

Srinagar,Wednesday 


3 

Heptullah visits Mehbooba; 

refutes discussing JK govt 

Snowless ‘Chilai Kalan’>>>> 

Kashmir heading for 

major shift in climate 

change: Experts 


Srinagar, Jan 19: Union 

Minister Najma Heptullah 

today visited PDP president 

Mehbooba Mufti to offer 

her condolences on the 

demise of her father and 

Jammu and Kashmir Chief 

Minister Mufti Mohammad 

Sayeed, while refuting 

claims that she had come 

with a message from the 

Centre. 

"I have not come with 

any message from anybody," 

she told reporters 

before heading to Mehbooba's 

residence at the high 

security Gupkar Road. 

The Union Minority Affairs 

minister said it was a 

tradition among Muslims to 

visit each other to condole a 


Srinagar, Jan 19: Union Minister for 

Minority Affairs Government of India Dr. 

Najma A. Heptullah Tuesday interacted 

with party workers here to apprise them 

about the developmental work done by 

NDA government in past two and a half 

years. 

On the eve of Republic Day, Dr. Heptullah 

is in Srinagar on a two-day visit to 

hold wide ranging with party workers 

and people from different walks of life in 

the state. She attended BJP workers convention 

today and will be attending the 

Intellectual Conference tomorrow(20th of 

January 2016). 

“Main purpose of my visit was to 

interact with party workers and apprise 

them about the work done (Prime Minister 

Narendra) Modi government, so as to 

give our workers a talking point on what 

our government did in past two and a 

half years,” Dr. Heptullah said. 

She highlighted the social welfare 

schemes initiated by NDA government 

led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

and termed them revolutionary and path 

breaking. 

Later, interacting with media persons 

the Union Minister for Minority Affairs 

said that the recently launched Pradhan 

Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is 'farmer-friendly' 

aimed at to ameliorate the 

condition of farmers of the country. 

About the performance of her own 

ministry, Dr. Heptullah said the ministry 

has launched several schemes for the 

welfare of people belonging to minority 

community, and added that the Modi-led 

government was highly committed to the 

welfare of not only people belonging to 

minority community but to the people at 

large. She said that 86 lakh scholarships 

are being provided to students of the 

community and special coaching and 

training is provided to the students for 

preparing them to face the tough competitive 

exams in the filed of engineering, 

medicine and the civil service exams. 

Dr. Heptullah said that under the 

death in the family. 

"Mufti sahib was 

known to me from a long 

time. I have to come meet 

his children to condole his 

death," she said. 

On being asked whether 

she talked about the government 

formation in the 

state with the PDP chief, 

Heptulla said "I will see if 

the time is appropriate for 

such a thing." 

The minister said her 

visit to Kashmir was also to 

interact with BJP workers 

and discuss implementation 

of various schemes of 

her ministry. 

"I wanted to convey to 

the workers the achievements 

made by our government 

in the past two years 

so that they in turn inform 

‘Modi Govt committed to welfare of minorities’ 

the people at large," she 

said. 

The minister noted 

that her frequent visits to 

Jammu and Kashmir were 

under the instructions of 

Prime Minister Narendra 

Modi, who had asked every 

minister to choose two 

constituencies and spend 

at least 30 hours there 

for maintaining a rapport 

with the grass root workers 

and leaders. 

"This (contact) programme 

is to make people 

aware about the 

announcements made 

by the government and 

steps taken for their welfare 

like life insurance 

schemes and now recently 

the crop insurance 

schemes," she added. 

Nayi Manzil scheme, the World Bank has 

sanctioned a loan of worth Rs 50 million 

for the modernisation of Madrasas across 

the country. She added that under the Nai 

Manzil scheme, vocational skill training, 

imparting computer skills is done for the 

minority students. 

She said the Nai Manzil scheme also 

looks to bridge the knowledge gap of 

school dropouts and students passing out 

of the conventional system (from Madrasas) 

and facilitating their getting admission 

into mainstream schools and colleges. 

Dr. Heptullah said the the World Bank 

has been impressed with the scheme and 

is looking to replicate the same in South 

East Asian countries and in Africa. (KNS) 

Srinagar, Jan 19: Kashmir has been witnessing snowless ‘Chillai 

Kalan’ (40 days of harshest winter period) from past many years 

and according to experts if such a trend continues in future also it 

will have serious ramifications. Scientists say the peculiar weather 

pattern in the Valley is due to climate change, which is hitting 

almost all sectors in the region. 

“The prevailing dry weather in January is a cause of concern. 

Last year also there was no major snowfall in the month of January. 

Normally there is 56 millimeter of precipitation in January, 

enough for a good snowfall, but like previous year, this year too 

January remained dry. Climate change is there and it is a global 

phenomenon,” said Director Meteorological Department Sonam 

Lotus. 

He said that Kashmir witnessed a heavy snowfall in 1986 

while in 2007, 2015 and this year (2016) dry weather in January 

prevailed. 

“There is a major shift in weather phenomena in Kashmir 

Valley. We have getting more snowfall in the month of February 

and March now. Earlier it used to be in the month of January. The 

volume of rainfall has considerably increased,” Lotus said adding 

that the impact of climate change has been forcing to witness 

Kashmir extreme weather conditions such as excessive rain, wintry 

summer, rising winter temperature, increasing hailstorms 

and cloudbursts. 

Renowned scientist and head of the Earth Sciences Department 

at Kashmir University Shakil Romshoo explains that certain 

international studies on climate change have maintained that by 

the end of this century there will be a decrease of 30 to 70 per 

cent of snowfall in Kashmir. “Checking pollution level, more and 

more afforestation and less use of fossil fuels can save us from 

imminent disaster,” Romshoo said. 

He however added that the indicators of climate change 

in Kashmir Valley are loud and clear. “Climate change has not 

happened overnight, but it had started much earlier. Kashmir is 

seeing winters getting prolonged with less snowfalls while the 

average minimum and maximum temperatures are showing statistically 

significant increasing trends for winter months and the 

precipitation is showing decreasing trends,” he said adding that 

the 50-year data indicates that the temperatures both maximum 

and minimum have increased. (CNS) 

Remembering 

massacres 


Srinagar, Jan 19: Hurriyat (G) has called for 

complete shutdown on January 21, 25 and 27 

in Gow Kadal, Handwara and Kupwara town 

respectively to remember those killed in the 

massacres carried out in these areas twenty-six 

years ago. 

Geelani also called for "organizing special 

prayers on these days on the completion of 26 

years of 21 January 1990 massacre of Gowkadal 

and 25 January massacre of Handwara and 22 

years of 27 January 1994 massacre of Kupwara." 

He appealed the international human 

rights organizations to play their role in conducting 

the impartial investigation into all massacres 

of Jammu and Kashmir and in punishing 

the accused. 

"During the last 26 years more than a lakh 

Kashmiri people were killed by the Indian army 

and the great nations never forget their brave 

and bold sons who offer their pious lives for the 

better future of the nation," Geelani said in a 

statement. 

"India and its agencies are working hard on 

Hurriyat (G) calls for strike in 

Gaw Kadal, Handwara, Kupwara 

the project that Kashmiris will forget their Martyrs 

and didn’t mention anywhere the sacrifices 

of the nation which they have given in their 

long freedom struggle till date. 

The policy makers of India, he added, want 

that the new generation of Kashmir should remain 

unaware about the "historic perspective 

of the Kashmir dispute and the freedom struggle 

of their nation and they should compromise 

over the slavery of India so that they can 

lengthen their illegal occupation here." 

He said that keeping in view this situation, 

"our first responsibility is that we should again 

and again remember these incidents and the 

brave sons of the soil." 

On Sunday, the Hurriyat Conference (G) 

chairman Syed Ali Geelani had complained of 

breathlessness due to chest congestion and had 

to be administered oxygen this morning at his 

residence. 

In an official statement, Peer Saifullah, principal 

secretary to Geelani had said: “Geelani sahib 

is not feeling well for the past few days, his 

chest congestion deteriorated last night and he 

complained of pain in his entire body.” 

Hurriyat (M) delegation 

visits Geelani's residence 


Srinagar, Jan 19: On the directions of Hurriyat (M) Chairman 

and Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU) chief, Mirwaiz Umar 

Farooq, who is presently outside Kashmir, a delegation of 

the amalgam Tuesday visited the residence of the ailing resistance 

leader, Syed Ali Geelani to enquire about his health. 

According to a statement issued, Hurriyat (M) delegation 

comprising of senior Hurriyat leader Ghulam Nabi Zaki, 

youth leader Mushtaq Ahmad Sofi and Moulana M S Rehman 

Shams, besides enquiring about the health of Geelani 

Sahib conveyed the concern and well wishes of the Mirwaiz 

to him. 

The delegation also conveyed that Mirwaiz has prayed 

to the Almighty Allah for his early recovery. 

The octogenarian leader had compalined of chest pain 

and breathlessness a few days ago. Several religious and social 

organizations had enquired about his health and prayed 

for his speedy recovery. 

Revenue officials 

booked for corruption 

Srinagar, Jan 19: Vigilance 

Organization Kashmir Tuesday 

caught red handed 

Showket Ahmad Sofi R/o 

Chatabal, Srinagar Patwari 

Halqa Natipora, Srinagar and 

Ab. Rashid Dar S/o Ali Mohammad 

Dar R/o Natipora 

(orderly) while demanding 

and accepting a bribe 

amount of Rs. 2000/- from 

the complainant. 

The complainant Faisal 

Lateef S/o Mohammad Lateef 

R/o Mehjoornagar Srinagar, 

Tuesday lodged a written 

complaint with Police Station 

Vigilance Organization 

Kashmir, stating therein that 

his maternal uncle was transferring 

a piece of land in his 

favour at Mehjoor Nagar for 

which revenue extracts of 

said land were required. 

The said Patwari in turn 

demanded bribe amount Rs. 

3500/- from the complainant 

for preparation of the necessary 

documents and has 

received Rs. 1500 in the first 

instance. Since the complainant 

is against paying of 

bribe and has arranged balance 

amount i.e. Rs. 2000/- to 

be paid to accused today. 

On receipt of the complaint, 

Case FIR No. 02/2016 

P/S U/S 5 (2) J & K Prevention 

of Corruption Act Svt. 2006 

r/w 161 RPC VOK was registered 

and investigation taken 

up. 

The trap team headed by 

Dy. SP Mushtaq Ahmad, VOK 

laid a successful trap in which 

Patwari Halqa Natipora Srinagar 

namely Showket Ahmad 

Sofi R/o Chatabal, along 

with his assistant Ab. Rashid 

Dar S/o Ali Mohammad Dar 

R/o Natipora (Orderly in 

Revenue Department) were 

caught red handed while 

demanding and accepting 

Rs 2000/- as bribe from the 

complainant. 

The tainted money was 

recovered from their possession 

along with previous 

amount of Rs. 1500/-. During 

the personal search of the 

said patwari and his assistant 

Ab. Rashid Dar S/o Ali Mohammad 

Dar R/o Natipora 

(Orderly in Revenue Department) 

Rs. 45,000/- has been 

recovered. 

Both the accused were 

arrested on spot. The entire 

proceedings were conducted 

in presence of an independent 

witness. (KNS) 

‘Holding of plebiscite most 

practicable, democratic 

solution to Kashmir’ 


Srinagar, Jan 19: While appreciating 

the plebiscite demand 

for Kashmiri Nation by 

the Pakistan’s UN Ambassador 

Muhatarmah Maleeha Lodhi, 

in a letter to the Security 

Council President, Chairman 

Hurriyat (G) Syed Ali Geelani 

said that the most practicable 

and democratic solution to the 

Kashmir dispute is the holding 

of plebiscites in Kashmir 

and to respect its democratic 

claims, India have to cooperate 

in the peaceful resolution 

of Kashmir dispute and have 

to honour the choices of its 

people. 

While addressing the 

rulers of Pakistan, Syed Ali 

Geelani said that they should 

maintain consistency and 

steadfastness over its Kashmir 

policy and instead of an apologetic 

approach, they should 

strongly pursue the implementation 

of UN resolutions 

on Kashmir. 

In a statement, Syed Ali 

Geelani although expressed 

his satisfaction and happiness 

over the letter written by the 

Muhatarmah Maleeha Lodhi 

to the UNO and termed it as 

real representation of the 

Kashmiri nation but he said 

that the inconsistency and 

irregularity in the Kashmir 

policy of Pakistan government 

provides an escape route to 

India and this country gets 

another lease of life to its rigid 

and stubborn policies on 

Kashmir. 

Syed Ali Geelani said that 

Kashmir is not any border 

dispute between India and 

Pakistan which they can solve 

mutually on talks table. It is 

the issue of the future of more 

than 15 million people and till 

this dispute is not resolved in 

and accordance to the wishes 

and aspirations of its people, 

till then there are no possibilities 

of any stability in the better 

relationship between India 

and Pakistan. 

While commenting over 

the recent visit of Indian prime 

minister to Pakistan, Syed Ali 

Geelani said that these kinds 

of visits and meetings have 

been happening in the past 

and both the countries have 

made several agreements so 

far but nothing concrete has 

happened with regarding to 

the solution of the Kashmir 

dispute. 

He said that these kinds of 

activities can deliver nothing in 

future too and until the Kashmir 

is addressed as the core issue 

between the two countries 

and the sincere efforts are made 

to resolve this long pending dispute 

through the implementation 

of the UNO resolutions, the 

visits of prime ministers cannot 

be more than a tradition. 

Kashmiri student goes missing in 

Aligarh, family appeals for help 


Srinagar, Jan 19: The family 

of a Kashmiri student 

missing from Aligarh city 

of Uttar Pradesh since 11 

January have made an 

emotional appeal in a bid 

to find him. 

Umar Taimour, a 

resident of Kunan village 

of north Kashmir’s 

Kupwara district, had 

joined a coaching centre 

a month ago near Aligarh 

Muslim University (AMU) 

to prepare for 11th class 

entrance test. 

He was in regular 

contact with his family 

until 11th January when 

he made his last call back 

home. 

A missing report has 

already been lodged at Civil 

Lines police station Aligarh, 

said his family members. 

His cousin, who is pursuing 

PhD at the AMU, said 

that Umer left his rented 

accommodation at around 

noon on January 11. 

“We are looking for him 

everywhere since that day. 

We have lodged a report at 

the police station too, but 

they (police) have so far 

been unable to trace Umer,” 

said his cousin Bilal Ahmad. 

“It is a humble request 

to all, if anybody can 

find any related information, 

please contact 

on these phone numbers: 

07060150912, 

08755532958, and 

09897133275,” the family 

member said. 

Meanwhile, the police 

said that the statement 

recorded by them from 

the family members reveal 

that Umar Taimur had left 

the room of his cousin in 

distress as he had cut a 

sorry figure in his matric 

examination. 

“We have been looking 

at the case through different 

angles. The missing 

youth was extremely 

disturbed when he was 

last seen by his cousin. He 

can’t survive on Rs 400 for 

seven days in a city like 

Delhi while the ban statements 

reveal that he has 

made no ATM transaction 

since January 11, the day 

he disappeared. We are 

seriously investigating the 

case and it will be premature 

to say anything at this 

point of time,” a police official 

from Doodhpur Civil 

Lines Police Station of Ali 

Garh Uttar Pradesh said. 

DGP asks 

IGP to 

identify 

rumour 

mongers 


Jammu, Jan 19: Director 

General of Police (DGP), 

K. Rajendra Kumar, taking 

serious cognizance of the 

rumours regarding infant 

deaths due to pulse polio 

immunization today asked 

Inspector General of Police 

Kashmir to crack the whip 

on the rumour monger, 

who spread the rumour 

triggering chaos and panic 

in the valley. 

DGP has directed the 

IGP to identify the brain 

behind the rumour and 

take stern action under 

law against such elements, 

who are endangering the 

peaceful atmosphere by 

spreading such rumours.

Precious Kashmir 

Disappeared and 

probably dead! 

A 14 year old disappearance case shut 

with death, this is the how crudely the 

case of Manzoor Ahmad Dar can be put. 

This chemist from Srinagar’s Rawalpora 

area was taken in 2002 by ‘unknown gunmen’. 

This term is as puzzling as anything 

in Kashmir. Asia's nuclear-armed rivals India 

and Pakistan, since their independence 

from British rule in 1947, have always remained 

at dispute over issues related to 

a territory called Kashmir. The two traditional 

neighboring rivals have fought each 

other thrice, and two out of the three wars 

over the disputed Kashmir. Both claim the 

entire territory but rule it in parts. And it 

remains at the heart of their enmity. An 

armed revolt that started in 1989 in Kashmir 

has claimed over 60,000 lives and 

left almost no aspect of life in the area 

untouched. The militants in Kashmir are 

perceived to be backed by Pakistan. Each 

side claims itself to be right. India insists 

succession of Kashmir to India as final and 

complete, and hence Kashmir is an integral 

part of India, key to highlighting the secular 

nature of Hindu-majority Asian nation, 

and that all would be well in Kashmir if 

Pakistan stops crossborder infiltration. On 

the other hand, Pakistan insists Kashmir 

is a disputed territory, unresolved, and it 

is merely providing moral and diplomatic 

support for an indigenous freedom struggle 

in Kashmir. 

Presently, the human rights issues 

top the concern list for the people living 

here. Among the worst sufferers of human 

rights violations in Kashmir are those 

whose husbands and sons have gone missing 

after their arrests by security forces. 

Each month, hundreds of women, young 

and old, gather in the sprawling fields of 

the Himalayan territory controlled by India. 

These women seek information about 

their loved ones that went missing years 

ago now, after they were taken away by 

government forces during the past two 

decades of bloody turmoil in the region, 

which claimed lives of tens of thousands 

of people, mostly civilians. 

W 

Edit 

Srinagar,Wednesday 

20.01.2016 4 

Arabs in the eye of history 

Marwan Bishara 

hen the Arab Spring swept through the region 

five years ago, progress seemed inevitable and 

the contagion unstoppable. But then everything 

started to regress and looks destined to go from 

bad to worse unless we identify why and how 

something so divine turned so ugly so fast. 

Unfortunately, the most peddled answers 

one hears nowadays are also the most 

flawed. 

In the Middle East, the conspiracy 

theorists blame the West’s intervention and 

manipulation of a misguided Arab youth who 

bought into its subversive ideas. And in the 

West, smug, told-you-so cynics repeat the 

same derisive cliches: the Arabs are hopeless; 

Islam is incompatible with democracy. 

Five years on: After the Arab Spring 

Some see the rise of the Islamic State of 

Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) as proof of 

their scepticism of the democratic promise 

of the Arab Spring, and advocate support 

for Arab autocracy, proclaiming its security 

apparatuses the essential bulwark against 

chaos. 

What went wrong? 

The Arab Spring was an authentic and 

potent response to United States neoconservative 

attempts to spread democracy on 

the back of US tanks. It showed the world 

that millions of Arabs, Christian and Muslim, 

are just as passionate as citizens of Western 

democracies are about the universal values of 

human rights, justice and political freedom. 

To claim otherwise is either ignorant, or 

racist. 

If the young leaders of the Arab rebellion 

are at fault, it’s not because they dared to act, 

but rather because they didn’t act vigorously 

enough. For example, they failed to turn their 

slogans into political programmes and form 

political parties to rally the support of the 

wider public around their democratic vision. 

If the young leaders of the Arab rebellion 

are at fault, it’s not because they dared to act, 

but rather because they didn’t act vigorously 

enough. 

Predictably, given the absence of a civil 

society space for opposition movements, 

when the grip of autocracy was breached, 

older and better-organised Islamist groups 

rushed to fill the void. Those groups failed to 

heed the sentiment expressed in the streets 

and squares of the Arab world. 

Instead of embracing pluralism and 

strengthening the democratic process, the 

Islamists were seen as seeking to monopolise 

power, albeit, through the ballot box. 

But the fallout from the Islamist-secular 

divide could have been contained peacefully, 

as in Tunisia, if only the ancien regime had 

accepted the principle of peaceful transition 

towards a more just society and representative 

democracy. It didn’t. As expected. 

How it got so ugly 

The old political, business and military 

elites - the so-called “deep state” - worked to 

subvert the democratic process and resorted 

to extreme violence in the cases of Syria, Libya, 

Yemen and Egypt, in the belief that they 

could bludgeon their way back to stability. 

When that didn’t work, they redefined 

their oppression, as a much needed antiterror 

campaign. 

And ISIL was more than happy to provide 

the alibi for dictators to continue to repress 

their people. If ISIL didn’t exist, it would have 

been necessary to invent it. But was that really 

the case? 

Meanwhile, the region continues to 

unravel at terrible cost of life and property 

because defenders of the status quo have 

failed to grasp the historic transformation 

their repression has helped trigger. 

What began as peaceful calls for freedom, 

justice and jobs became revolutionary challenges 

that exposed the rottenness of the 

post-colonial regional order of Arab states. 

The failure of the Arab Spring to transform 

those states peacefully has quickened 

the erosion of the entire system of the 

post-colonial nation state. Not necessarily 

a bad thing if it led to region-wide Arab 

unity, but in reality, it is creating new rifts 

within the colonial partitions. 

By eschewing a relatively painless path 

towards political change, the security states 

put the region on a course towards a more 

painful transition. Chaos and insecurity 

have pushed people to seek refuge in tribal, 

ethnic and other primordial affiliations that 

undermine state legitimacy and threaten to 

reshape the entire region. It’s a process that 

started in Iraq after the US invasion of Iraq 

in 2003. 

Powers beyond the pale 

The region is now in the throes of what 

Condoleezza Rice, George Bush’s secretary of 

state, memorably (if mistakenly at the time) 

called “the birth pangs of a new Middle East”. 

And there is a lot of blame to go around 

for the region’s descent into a series of 

interlocking ethnic and sectarian proxy wars. 

Especially those players with high stakes and 

few scruples, such as those ruling in Moscow 

and Tehran. 

But unlike Western powers, Russia and 

Iran never claimed to support or stand for 

the values and aspiration of the Arab Spring. 

Indeed, they have been consistently dead set 

against them. 

Men remove rubble at a site hit by barrel 

bombs in the southern outskirts of Damascus 

[REUTERS] 

However, US President Barack Obama, 

who has been marked by his predecessor’s 

military blunders, and preoccupied 

by negotiations with Iran over its nuclear 

programme, has insisted that no good can 

come out of intervening in distant civil wars. 

And while he may be right, there is much the 

West could have done to stop the deterioration 

and reduce the pain. 

For example, the US could have acted 

early and decisively against ISIL before it 

exploited the chaos and entrenched itself in 

vast areas of Iraq and Syria, by providing 

sufficient support to the secular or socalled 

moderate opposition. 

He should have at least spoken forcefully 

in defence of the oppressed Egyptian 

youth, and helped impose a no-fly zone to 

protect the Syrian people from the daily 

barrel bombings. 

Middle East: Death by identity 

As the US and others held back, the 

situation deteriorated dangerously, the 

death toll rose and the prospects for a 

decent outcome dimmed. 

Obama’s hesitation on Syria was underscored 

by the lesson he said he had learned 

from the Libya debacle ... 

Obama’s hesitation on Syria was 

underscored by the lesson he said he had 

learned from the Libya debacle - that toppling 

a dictator without extensive, patient 

involvement in managing the aftermath 

was a recipe for an even more dangerous 

civil war. 

After five years of turmoil and bloodshed 

and 50 years of dictatorships, one 

might not expect the West to act decisively 

in the spirit of the Arab Spring, but at least 

to refrain from selling expensive military 

hardware, as the US and France have 

done to the likes of the bankrupt Egyptian 

regime. 

Silver lining 

Neither Egyptian General Abdel Fattah 

el-Sisi, nor any of the regional dictators 

such as Syria’s Assad are able to restore stability 

or security, let alone bring prosperity 

to their peoples. 

They have violently suppressed opposition 

with total impunity, but have failed to 

tame the spirit of change. 

When Assad and Sisi held elections, the 

turnout figures show that Syrians and Egyptians 

voted with their feet. Their fall is only a matter 

of time, but the substitute or the alternative, it 

seems, will be transitional at best. 

The Arab world is going through an historic 

transformation that is certain to take more 

time and many lives, alas. But judging from 

other similar experiences in other areas and 

eras, history is not on the side of violent tyrannies 

of the Arab region. 

Marwan Bishara is the senior 

political Source analyst {Aljazeera.com} 

at Jazeera. 

Printer, Publisher, Owner : Afaq Ahmad Bhat 

Editor: Afaq Ahmad Bhat 

Legal Advisor: Hakim Sami Yaqoob (Advocate) 

Published From: Rajbagh Opposite Radio Colony Srinagar J&K 

Printed At: Alsafa Printing Press Hazuri Bagh Srinagar 

RNI No: JKENG/2013/55310 

Cell No: 9419081703 

Other Opinion 

Where has humour 

gone? 

T 

Jhe handling of the arrest of comedian Kiku Sharda 

was itself a rip-roaring comedy. The Haryana chief 

minister claimed his government had nothing to do 

with the arrest even after the state police had gone 

all the way to Mumbai to pick up the artiste who had 

mimicked the head of Dera Sacha Sauda. The actor, who 

features in Comedy Nights with Kapil, was arrested a 

second time after he had obtained bail because another 

complaint had been lodged against him. What the episodes 

demonstrate is that this new-found Indian habit 

of taking offence to everything has become as much 

a cult activity as following a religious sect. Self-styled 

godmen across the religious divide seem to enjoy patronage 

from politicians proportionate to their following. 

Haryana’s rulers, past and present, have been 

equally guilty of keeping an eye on the ready-made 

vote bank of this particular cult and the police has 

always been notorious for swaying with the political 

wind. 

It is not so much the draconian laws against acts like offending 

religious sentiments as the attitude of the rulers 

that comes into question. The clichéd response that 

“the law will take its own course” is escapist and seems 

invented for Indian leaders. The case involving the comedian 

shows we neither have the humour to accept 

jokes nor the capacity to distinguish between what is 

real and what is artistic representation. Laws should be 

written, interpreted and acted upon in such a manner 

that the bad should not get away and the good should 

not be harassed. Not to make that distinction reflects 

a failure of a just and democratic society. 

Email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com 

Website: www.preciouskashmir.com 

Sponsor Syrian Refugee - 

Canada’s top Google search 

Antonia Zerbisias 

Last September, after the photograph 

of three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s body on 

that Turkish beach hit the world’s front 

pages, the top Google search term in 

Canada was, “How to sponsor a Syrian?” 

The news media here, in the midst of 

covering a federal election campaign, jumped 

all over the Kurdi story. Not just because it 

was tragic, nor because of the Kurdi family’s 

Canadian connection through the toddler’s 

Vancouver-based aunt, but also because the 

country, bitterly divided over the former 

Conservative government’s attitudes towards 

Muslims, suddenly didn’t recognise itself as 

the welcoming, multicultural nation it had 

long believed itself to be. 

And so, on TV, online and in print, there 

were stories on how many refugees were expected, 

how few the Stephen Harper regime 

had approved, and how Canadians, individually, 

in groups and as part of community 

organisations, could sponsor Syrian refugee 

families. 

Family of dead refugee child reach Canada 

Then, on October 19, 2015, the Harper 

Conservatives were defeated and the Liberal 

government under Justin Trudeau swept to 

power. 

Syrian refugee fundraising 

Immigration organisations such as Lifeline 

Syria were flooded with phone calls. Settlement 

services scrambled to produce handbooks 

and hold seminars on sponsorship. 

Children began competing in a “1,000 Schools 

Challenge” to each bring in a family. 

People banded together in “Groups of 

Five” to raise the estimated $30,000 it takes to 

privately sponsor families of four. Churches, 

mosques and synagogues partnered to bring 

in refugees. Business stepped up, with funding, 

free mobile phones and furniture. 

Property companies reserved hundreds of 

apartments. One entrepreneur pledged more 

than $1m to sponsor 50 families. 

While the media were running feel-good 

stories about the sponsor application rush, 

anybody scanning the comments sections 

would find very different attitudes indeed. 

During the election campaign, Trudeau 

had promised to settle 25,000 refugees by 

the end of the year. That would prove to be 

impossible. Refugees can’t row in in crowded 

dinghies or stream over borders here as they 

do in Europe. They must come in by plane. 

It takes logistics. Which is why, despite the 

enthusiasm of many Canadians, the goal of 

25,000 was trimmed to 10,000 by December 

31, with the remainder due to land by March 

2016. 

True, many Canadians were resistant, split 

especially following the November bombings 

in Paris. So, while the media were running 

feel-good stories about the sponsor application 

rush, anybody scanning the comments 

sections would find very different attitudes 

indeed. 

In early December, however, when 

Trudeau turned up at Toronto’s Pearson International 

Airport to greet the first arrivals and 

help them into warm coats, the country’s collective 

heart melted, its national pride burst. 

Doors slammed shut 

Sure there were bumps. A sponsorship 

group in Oakville, Ontario found doors 

slammed shut when it sought housing for its 

refugee family. 

In Vancouver, in what has been deemed 

a “hate crime”, 15 men, women and children 

were pepper-sprayed at a welcome ceremony. 

The New Year’s Eve sexual assault rampage 

allegedly committed by recent arrivals in Cologne 

triggered a wave of fear and loathing. 

But the planes kept landing. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets 

refugees fleeing from Syria, as they arrive at 

Pearson International airport, in Toronto [AP] 

According to Canada Immigration and 

Citizenship, as of January 14, 10,790 refugees 

have arrived, about half of them Christian, approximately 

half privately sponsored. Private 

groups are still submitting some 200 sponsorship 

applications a week. 

The Muslim couple and their eight children, 

who range in age from weeks-old to 17 

years, had fled Daraa in southwestern Syria 

where the father was a baker. They arrived to 

shiver in sub-zero weather but to bask in a 

warm welcome. 

“Our group was supposed to get 24 to 48 

hours notice that they were coming but we 

got a phone call that they were waiting at the 

hotel; we had to be there within the hour,” 

Jacobs tells Al Jazeera. “Luckily we had made 

preparations ahead of time.” 

The Toronto teacher is part of a “Group of 

Five” that connected through their children’s 

school. They raised money from others and 

contributed their own funds to bring in the 

family whose identity they are protecting. 

They are committed for one year to aid the 

newcomers with everything from finding 

them housing, schools, jobs and language 

lessons to introducing them to the city and 

culture. 

Media frenzy 

Jacobs is realistic about the challenges 

ahead: “You have to provide the support part 

but you can’t be too paternalistic about it. 

You don’t want to treat them as the wretched 

people of the earth. It is such a difficult position 

to be placed in where you’re dependent 

on people where you really shouldn’t have 

needed to be and you’re expected to be so 

grateful. And I think that a danger with the 

whole programme a bit is that Canadians 

are trying to be very generous but need to 

be careful that these people are not treated 

as playthings; that these people should have 

what they need.” 

As for what he calls the “euphoria” and 

media frenzy over Canada’s apparent acceptance 

of refugees, Jacobs is wary. 

“It seems to be all about us,” he observes. 

“There seems to be a lot of focus on how wonderful 

we are to be doing this sort of thing 

when, for example, part of the discussion for 

our [refugee] family is, ‘How are we going to 

help these people to rise out of a certain level 

of poverty here in Canada?’ These families 

have a really tough row to hoe ahead and I’m 

not sure how much Canada and the Canadians 

who are sponsoring are understanding 

of that.”What worries Jacobs is not so much 

that the refugees adjust to Canada - although 

that’s critical - but that Canada adjusts to 

them.“Last week, when we all were getting 

on a bus, the driver was like ‘Holy ****!’ 

and was just looking at them; it was such 

a negative reaction,” he recalls. “The family 

didn’t understand but we certainly saw that a 

negative view is out there. I don’t know how 

predominant it is but it has the potential to 

grow when the euphoria dies down.” 

>>>>>>>>> Please send your articles and letters on preciouskashmir@gmail.com >>>>>>>>>


Sensex Nifty Gold 

Business/ International 

Wednesday 

5 



Silver Dollar J&K Bank Yes Bank SBI ICICI Bank HDFC Bank 

291.47 

84.10 

161.00 

129.00 

0.03 

0.40 

25.25 

1.95 

5.65 

9.95 

24479.84 

7435.10 

25,904.00 

34,225.00 

67.65 

68.60 

681.25 

182.95 

228.75 

1,035.80 

Sensex snaps 3-day losing streak up 291 pts 

Mumbai, Jan 19: Markets snapped threeday 

losing streak and finished 1% higher 

mirroring a rally in global stocks after 

sluggish GDP growth from China raised 

hopes of further stimulus by the Chinese 

government. A broad-based rally was 

witnessed across the bourses as participants 

bought battered bluchips at attractive 

valuations. 

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 291 

points to end at 24,480 and the Nifty50 

climbed 84 points to close at 7,435. 

Meanwhile, the broader markets ended 

higher with BSE Midcap and Smallcap 

indices up 1.8% each. 

GLOBAL STOCKS 

China’s economy grew 6.8% in the 

fourth quarter from a year earlier, matching 

expectations and the slowest since 

the global financial crisis, putting pressure 

on Beijing to roll out more support 

measures as fears of sharper slowdown 

panic investors. China’s benchmark index 

Shanghai Composite, Japan’s Nikkei and 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained between 

0.5%-3%. A slight uptick in the crude prices 

further uplifted the sentiments. 

Further, the European equities 

IMF retains FY17 India GDP 

forecast at 7.5 percent 

Washington, Jan 19: The International Monetary 

Fund (IMF) on Tuesday kept India’s 

growth projection unchanged at 7.3 per cent 

in the current fiscal and 7.5 per cent in the 

next, even as it cut world economic outlook 

to 3.4 per cent for 2016. 

In its update on World Economic Outlook 

(WEO), IMF said China’s growth would 

slow to 6.3 per cent in 2016 and further to 6 

per cent in 2017, but India would continue to 

grow at a “robust pace”. 

“India and the rest of emerging Asia are 

generally projected to continue growing at 

a robust pace, with some countries facing 

strong headwinds from China’s economic 

rebalancing and global manufacturing weakness,” 

IMF said. 

As for the world growth, IMF today forecast 

3.4 per cent for 2016 and 3.6 per cent for 

2017. 

For India, it retained the growth forecast 

at 7.3 per cent for the current fiscal and 7.5 

per cent for 2016-17 and 2017-18. 

“Risks to the global outlook remain tilted 

to the downside and relate to ongoing adjustments 

in the global economy: a generalised 

slowdown in emerging market economies, 

China’s rebalancing, lower commodity prices, 

and the gradual exit from extraordinarily 

accommodative monetary conditions in the 

United States,” IMF added. 

“If these key challenges are not successfully 

managed, global growth could be derailed,” 

it cautioned. 

IMF said the pick-up in global activity 

is projected to be more gradual than in the 

October WEO, especially in emerging market 

and developing economies. 

In the last WEO update released in October, 

IMF had projected India to grow at 7.3 

per cent in the current fiscal and 7.5 per 

cent in 2016-17. As for world growth, it had 

put the figures at 3.6 per cent for 2016 and 

3.8 per cent for 2017. Emerging market and 

developing economies account for over 70 

per cent of the global growth. 

snapped a three-day decline tracking 

gains across the Asian peers. FTSE, CAC 

40 and DAX were trading higher by 1% 

each. 

KEY STOCKS 

After getting battered in yesterday’s 

trade, Reliance Industries rebounded 2% 

ahead of its third quarter earnings later 

today. Brokerages expect higher gross refining 

margins to boost earnings. 

Meanwhile, financials also saw relief 

today with ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, 

HDFC twins up between 0.5%-4% each. 

Another prominent gainer in today’s 

trade was Tata Motors up nearly 

4% after it appointed Guenter Butschek 

as chief executive and managing director 

of all its operations in the country 

Srinagar, Jan 19: J&K Bank 

conducted an awareness 

cum training camp at Kangan 

Ganderbal. Lead Bank 

Office Ganderbal organized 

the camp in collaboration 

with ITI Kangan wherein 

scores of trainees and the 

teaching staff of the institute 

besides Lead District 

Manager and officials from 

the bank’s Kangan branch, 

RSETI Ganderbal and government 

agencies including 

EDI participated. 

Facilitator FLCC Ganderbal 

Reyaz Ahmad Kawoosa 

welcomed the participants 

and apprised them about 

the basic concept of banking 

and procedures for opening 

of savings and other deposit 

accounts with the bank. 

He also spoke about 

advantages of saving with 

banks besides borrowings 

from banks under various 

loan schemes especially 

and international markets. Butschek 

was formerly working as chief operating 

officer for Airbus. Among its peers, 

Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto gained 

between 0.5%-2%. 

Pharma major Lupin targets $1 bn 

revenue from inorganic growth to reach 

its target turnover of $5 billion by 2018 

by FY18. The stock gained 0.5% 

On the flip side, Wipro lost nearly 1% 

post its results. The Street bearishness is 

due to the fact that Wipro missed sector 

growth rates for many quarters now. 

Additionally, its margins remain lower 

compared to peers Infosys and Tata Consultancy 

Services. 

Another key stock is today’s trade 

was HCL Tech ended down nearly 1%. The 

second quarter profits climbed marginally 

to Rs 1920 crore and there was a 11.4% 

increase in revenue YoY to Rs 10,341 

crore on improved orders for its IT infrastructure 

business, its main offering to 

clients globally. Meanwhile, the revenue 

in dollar terms grew 1.4% to $ 1.57 billion 

over the previous quarter despite impact 

on Chennai floods. 

Tata Steel UK, subsidiary of Tata Steel, 

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA 

Yojana. 

LDM Ganderbal Faiz ullah 

Qureshi apprised audience 

about the features 

of various deposit & loan 

schemes, various modes 

of remittances, Debit & 

Credit Card facilities & 

various government sponsored 

schemes in general, 

SKEWPY and MUDRA in 

particular for establishment 

of income and employment 

generating units. Superintendent 

ITI Ghulam Nabi 

Shah and the other participants 

hailed the initiative 

of the bank for conducting 

such awareness camps. 

Shopian Camps 

Meanwhile, the bank 

conducted various financial 

literacy camps in Shopian 

during the last many weeks. 

The banks Financial Literacy 

and Credit Counseling 

centre Shopian organized 

Cameron backs burqa ban in 

schools, courts, border checkpoints 

London, Jan 19: UK. Prime Minister 

David Cameron has backed a ban on 

face-covering veils such as burqas in 

schools, courts and at border checkpoints 

in the country but has said he 

will not go as far as to what France 

did to impose a blanket ban. 

“When you’re coming into contact 

with an institution, or you’re in 

court, or if you need to be able to see 

someone’s face at the border, then I 

will always back the authority and 

institution that have put in place 

proper and sensible rules,” Cameron 

said. 

‘Preventing radicalisation’ 

It comes as the UK prepares to 

announce a series of measures designed 

to stop British Muslims becoming 

radicalised and travelling 

to the Middle-East to join terrorist 

groups like the Islamic State of Iraq 

and the Levant (ISIL). 

“What does matter is if, for 

instance, a school has a uniform 

policy, sensitively put in place and 

all the rest of it, and people want 

to flout that uniform policy, often 

for reasons that aren’t connected to 

religion, you should always come 

down on the side of the school,” he 

was quoted as saying by the BBC Radio 

Four. 

Sorry, not the French type 

Cameron, 49, however, rejected 

the idea of a blanket ban on burqas 

and other religious headgear, along 

the lines of the ban imposed in 

France since 2010. 

“Going for the more sort of 

US ambassador sees separate 

justice for Israelis, Palestinians 

Jerusalem, Jan 19: US ambassador Dan Shapiro 

on Monday charged that Israel seems 

to apply separate “standards” of justice for 

Israelis and Palestinians, drawing a rebuke 

from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

“Too much (Jewish) vigilantism goes unchecked, 

and at times there seems to be two 

standards of adherence to the rule of law, 

one for Israelis, and another for Palestinians,” 

Shapiro said in a speech at the annual 

meeting of the Institute for Strategic Studies 

in Tel Aviv. The ambassador welcomed the 

indictment in early January of two Israelis 

over a firebombing in the occupied West 

Bank last year that killed a Palestinian couple 

and their toddler. 

The indictments were “an important 

demonstration of Israel’s commitment to 

prosecute acts of terrorism, regardless of 

their source, but too many attacks on Palestinians 

lack a vigorous investigation or response 

by Israeli authorities,” he said. 

Netanyahu’s office insisted Israel “applies 

the law on Israelis just as it does on 

Palestinians” and said Shapiro’s comments 

-- coming on the same day as the burial of 

an Israeli mother of six who was stabbed 

to death in her home in a West Bank settlement 

-- were “not acceptable or just”. 

a mega awareness camp in 

Melhora village of Shopian 

and has been selected under 

Sansad Adharsh Gram Yojna 

(SAGY) programme as a 

modal village. 

Speaking on the occasion, 

Cluster Head Shopian 

informed the prticipants 

about advantages of savings 

with banks. 

Urging the audience to 

avail the benfits of services 

offered for their own convenience, 

he also spoke at 

length about PMJDY, PMMY 

and other government 

sponsored schemes. He educated 

the audience about 

the various products and 

services of the bank. 

At a camp organized in 

RSETI Shopian, Facilitator 

FLCC Shopian M A Jan educated 

the trainees regarding 

procedures on how to approach 

banks for finance to 

promote and establish their 

announced on Monday it would cut 

1,050 jobs to save on costs and improve 

its competitiveness. The stock ended 

with marginal gains. 

RESULT IMPACT 

A key stock is today’s trade was HCL 

Tech ended down nearly 1%. The second 

quarter profits climbed marginally to 

Rs 1920 crore and there was a 11.4% increase 

in revenue YoY to Rs 10,341 crore 

on improved orders for its IT infrastructure 

business, its main offering to clients 

globally. Meanwhile, the revenue in dollar 

terms grew 1.4% to $ 1.57 billion over 

the previous quarter despite impact on 

Chennai floods. 

Further, Rallis India slipped over 5% 

after the company reported 20% year on 

year (Y-o-Y) decline in consolidated net 

profit at Rs 20 crore for the third quarter 

ended December 2015 (Q3FY16), due to 

lower revenues 

Private lender Kotak Mahindra 

Bank’s net profit rose 32% over a year 

before on a consolidated basis for the 

December quarter, at Rs 945 crore as 

compared to Rs 716.6 crore earlier. The 

stock gained marginally. 

JK Bank conducts awareness programmes 

in Ganderbal, Shopian Poonch 

Tripoli, Jan 19: Libya`s UN-brokered 

national unity government announced 

its formation on Tuesday under a disputed 

deal aimed at ending years of 

bloodshed. 

The United Nations called on the 

country`s lawmakers to endorse the 

new administration, after less than half 

of members of parliament signed up to 

the agreement. 

The unity government, headed 

by businessman Fayez al-Sarraj, 

comprises 32 ministers, the administration 

announced on its Facebook 

page. 

“I congratulate Libyan people & 

Presidency Council on formation of 

Govt. of National Accord,” UN envoy 

Martin Kolber wrote on Twitter. 

Libya has been in chaos since the 

French approach of banning an item 

of clothing, I don’t think that’s the 

way we do things in this country 

and I don’t think that would help,” 

he said. 

After tougher English language 

needs 

Cameron’s comments came 

on the day he unveiled plans for 

tougher new English language requirements 

to prevent segregation 

of members of the Muslim community. 

New rules will mean that from 

October this year migrants coming 

to the U.K. on a five-year spousal visa 

with poor or no English skills will 

have to take a test after two-and-ahalf 

years to show they are making 

efforts to improve their English. 

France introduced a controversial 

ban on wearing the full face veil 

in public in 2010, triggering concerns 

from rights groups. 

Website to thwart radicalisation 

Meanwhile, Britain on Tuesday 

launched a new website to offer 

“practical advice” to protect children 

from being radicalised as part 

of a larger anti-extremism drive. The 

“Education Against Hate” website 

will hold information for schools 

and parents to tackle the “spell of 

twisted ideologies“. 

It also involves a tougher approach 

against illegal or unregistered 

schools such as madrassas 

from operating. 

U.K. Education Secretary Nicky 

Morgan said the aim is to protect 

“impressionable minds from radical 

views” during a speech at Bethnal 

Green Academy in east London, a 

school attended by three girls who 

ran away to Syria last February and 

feared to have joined the Islamic 

State. 

Keeping kids safe 

She said: “We are determined 

to keep children safe in and out of 

school. Today’s announcement of resources 

and tougher powers to protect 

young, impressionable minds 

from radical views sends a clear 

message to extremists: our children 

are firmly out of your reach.” 

2011 ouster of longtime dictator Moamer 

Kadhafi. 

The country has two rival parliaments 

and administrations -- in the 

militia-held capital and in eastern Libya 

-- as well as the new unity government. 

On December 17, under UN guidance, 

around 80 of 188 lawmakers 

from Libya`s internationally recognised 

Yangon, Jan 19: Myanmar army chief Min 

Aung Hlaing nominated military officers, 

who hold a quarter of seats in Parliament, 

to their posts, state media said on Tuesday, 

another step by the army in what has so far 

surprised many as a remarkably peaceful 

transition. 

Aung San Suu Kyi`s National League for 

Democracy (NLD) party swept the historic 

Nov. 8 election, but Myanmar`s military, 

which ruled the country for 49 years before 

giving way to semi-civilian government in 

2011, remains a powerful political force. 

A statement carried in the Global New 

Light of Myanmar daily said that the election 

commission had confirmed the military 

lawmakers for both national and regional 

parliaments. 

Myanmar`s second-in-command, deputy 

commander-in-chief Soe Win, reiterated 

on Monday the army`s willingness to keep 

its powerful position in politics during a 

meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State 

Antony Blinken during their meeting in the 

capital of Naypyitaw. 

“Vice Senior General Soe Win explained 

... the plan to cooperate with the next government 

and the leading role of the Tatmadaw 

in national politics,” the state-owned 

Myanmar language daily Kyemon reported 

business enterprises. 

The speaker informed 

them social security 

schemes like PMSBY, 

JJBY, APY and P MMY loan 

schemes in three categories, 

viz. SHISHU, KISHORE and 

TARUN. 

Six more such camps 

were organized across the 

district at various places 

during the last few weeks. 

Poonch Programme 

The 6-day ‘Entrepreneurship 

Development 

Programme’ under PMEGP 

scheme sponsored by KVIC, 

KVIB and DIC concluded 

at Rural Self Employment 

Training Insititute Poonch, 

wherein 40 unemployed 

youth from various villages 

of the district were imparted 

training. 

The bank’s Cluster Head 

Poonch Ghulam Ahmed 

Jeelani Dar was Chief Guest 

at the valediction function. 

Myanmar’s army picks lawmakers 

as transition moves forward 

Libya unity government 

formed, UN urges support 

parliament and 50 of 136 members of 

the Tripoli-based General National Congress 

signed the deal. 

World powers are pressing all sides 

in the conflict to accept the powersharing 

deal, which has been given 

added urgency by fears that jihadists 

in Libya are building a new stronghold 

on Europe`s doorstep. 

Petrol price rises 

by 96 paise/litre; 

diesel up 53 paise 

New Delhi, Jan 19: Petrol 

price in Delhi was today 

hiked by 96 paise per litre 

and diesel by 53 paise after 

the state government raised 

VAT or local sales tax on the 

two fuels. 

The Delhi government 

last night raised VAT on petrol 

to 27 per cent from 25 per 

cent, resulting in a 96 paise a 

litre hike in retail pump rates. 

Similarly, the VAT on 

diesel was increased from 

16.6 per cent to 18 per cent. A 

pollution cess of Rs 0.25 per 

litre is also levied on diesel. 

Petrol now costs Rs 59.99 

per litre as against Rs 59.03 

a litre previously. A litre of 

diesel now costs Rs 44.71 as 

opposed to Rs 44.18 previously. 

Coal India to 

spend Rs 200 

crore on initial 

technical upgrade 

New Delhi, Jan 19: On a technical 

overhaul drive, domestic 

coal giant CIL will spend Rs 

200 crore initially on various 

areas including electronic 

fencing of mines on the lines 

of practices in advanced nations 

like US and Australia. 

The technical upgradation 

includes fitting all trucks 

meant for carrying coal with 

GPS tracking devices within 

a month to check plunder of 

the dry-fuel. 

“Coal India will spend Rs 

200 crore on initial technical 

overall under which all its 

trucks will be fitted with GPS 

devices besides electronic 

fencing of mines,” Coal Secretary 

Anil Swarup said. 

The world’s largest 

coal miner, which accounts 

for over 81 per cent of the 

domestic output, is adopting 

advanced technological 

practices on the lines of the 

US and Australia which house 

some large coal mining firms. 

on Tuesday. Tatmadaw is the Myanmar term 

for the military. 

The 25 percent of seats in the national 

parliament gives the military an effective 

veto over changes to the 2008 junta-drafted 

constitution that bans Suu Kyi from becoming 

the president because her late husband 

was British and her sons are not Myanmar 

citizens. 

Three key security ministries - defence, 

border affairs and home affairs 

- also remain under the control of the 

commander-in-chief. 

Afghanistan turns 

US military base 

into rehab centre 

Kabul, Jan 19: Afghanistan’s 

government has turned Kabul’s 

largest US military camp into a 

centre to treat drug addicts. 

The country is the world’s 

biggest supplier of heroin, and 

illegal drugs are cheap to buy. 

The former military camp 

is now the largest rehabilitation 

centre in the country serving 

mostly homeless addicts. There 

are usually around 600 patients 

in the centre. As well as receiving 

medicine and counselling, 

they receive three meals a 

day, new clothes and haircuts. 

Sayyid Walid, a patient, said: “I 

have been using drugs for 22 

years. I am tired of this dark life. 

I want to start a new one.”


HEALTH 


Srinagar | Wednesday 


36 

FROM FRONT PAGE..................... 

Omar........ 

Stop believing these 10 

myths about the winter flu 

You have a stuffy nose, blood 

shot eyes, your body aches as 

if you haven’t slept for ages and 

altogether you are feeling dead 

and lousy. You take a break 

from work and stay back at 

home to avoid major problems 

and then out of concern your 

friends and near and dear ones 

pop in at your place to see you. 

Then, your loved ones start 

sharing old wives tales about 

the cold and flu. If wrapping 

yourself up in some oily concoction 

while dancing on one 

leg and inhaling chillies is not 

your cup of tea, then listen 

up. Today, we have Dr, K.M. 

Sunesara, General Physician, 

Mumbai, educating us by busting 

the most popular cold and 

flu myths. 

Myth #1: Flu and common 

cold is one and the same 

When you are down with a 

bad flu, it is much worse than 

a heavy cold. Dr. Sunesara explains, 

“The symptoms of flu 

are sudden and severe, like 

fever, chills, headaches, muscle 

ache and sore throat. If you 

take this condition lightly, your 

condition can get worst and ultimately 

land you in the hospital.” 

Myth #2: If you catch a flu, 

you won’t get it again during 

flu season 

Many think that if you’ve 

had flu recently then you won’t 

get it soon again. This is completely 

false. Dr Sunesara says, 

“Flu can happen due to both 

Type A and Type B influenza. 

So if you recently caught flu 

with one type, then in the near 

future you may catch flu of the 

other type. So, take the necessary 

vaccine on time, or else 

you will end up spending more 

time in your bed by being sick.” 

Myth #3: You can catch the 

flu right after a flu jab 

Dr. Sunesara says, “This is 

to the reluctance of Mehbooba from taking over immediately 

after the demise of Sayeed. 

"Discussions were conducted and articles were written trying 

to suggest that your refusal was part of some Machiavellian 

plan to pressurize your allies as well as your colleagues. I stood 

firm in my belief that the person I saw weeping at her father's 

grave could not possibly be scheming behind a mask of grief. 

The grief was too raw, too real to be an act designed to conceal 

some sinister plan to grab glory," wrote Omar. 

Farooq....... 

Sayeed’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti expressed her unwillingness 

to take over as the chief minister immediately, fuelling 

speculation that the regional party was having a change of heart 

over its alliance with the ideologically opposite BJP. 

“My advice to her (Mehbooba) would be, this is your father’s 

assembly. All the people elected in PDP are because of 

him, and therefore, she must complete her father’s agenda, 

which is (the) alliance with BJP. If she tries to play with it, then 

she is not her father’s daughter,” Abdullah said during an exclusive 

interview to Hindustan Times. 

The NC patriarch was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra 

Modi’s Pakistan policy, saying he was best suited to bring 

about peace between the two countries. He also took a dig at 

the Congress-led UPA government for not being able to come 

up with a solution to ease the friction between the neighbours 

in its 10-year rule. 

Abdullah also said that had former Prime Minister Atal Bihari 

Vajpayee won the general elections in 2004, the problems 

between India and Pakistan would have been solved. But in 

the current context, Modi seems determined to complete the 

unfinished agenda of peace between the two nuclear-armed 

neighbours, he added. 

“Had [Atal Behari] Vajpayee won again, I am sure the problem 

between India and Pakistan would have been solved. But, 

he did not win; now the onus is on the present PM,” he said, 

adding, “There is no better PM than him, who can do it.” 

On Modi’s visit to Lahore in December, which was hailed 

as a diplomatic coup of sorts, Abdullah said: “It is a great thing 

that the PM of India could really take such a major step with 

an unscheduled visit to Pakistan. [It] shows the courage he has 

in wanting to settle problems with Pakistan. I think he realises 

that friends can be changed, but not neighbours; so we have to 

live in friendship with them so that we can both progress.” 

The NC leader, whose party was a coalition partner of the 

the biggest myth and we should 

understand and get rid of it.” 

He explains, “The vaccine is 

made from an inactivated virus. 

So people who get the flu 

soon after the vaccination, were 

anyway about to fall sick due to 

some other reason. But people 

make up their own assumptions 

and link the flu to the vaccine 

and spread the rumor that 

your shot can make you ill.” 

Myth #4: Stop taking antibiotics 

once you feel better 

If your doctor has prescribed 

a certain medicine 

course, then you need to follow 

the way it has been given 

to avoid re-lapse. You may feel 

better after taking medicines 

for a few days. But if you want 

the infections to be completely 

cured, take the full course of 

the prescribed medicine, or else 

you will end up falling sick once 

again. 

Myth #5: Kissing can cause 

How to prevent various 

common winter illnesses 

All of us are at a high risk of catching a 

cold, cough and stuffy nose during the 

winter season. 

None of us are totally immune to 

these winter ailments. No number of 

fitness lifestyle habits will keep you 

safe from a contagious disease once it’s 

in the air, hence proper precautions and 

good hygiene should be maintained 

at all times. If these ailments are not 

treated properly, then these small infections 

can prove to be very deadly. 

Besides, the common cold and cough, 

cold weather also triggers and worsens 

cold sores and asthma. Today, bring you 

effective measures that will help you 

prevent common winter illnesses. 

How to prevent the common cold 

Even though, technically, one can 

catch a cold at any time of the year, we 

tend to associate the common cold with 

the cold winter months. People with 

low immune power are more prone 

to catching colds and typically catch 

one almost 3-10 times per year. Common 

symptoms include runny nose, 

nasal congestion, sneezing, cough, 

sore throat, headache, and mild fever. 

Common colds are highly contagious. 

Hence, if you want to stay healthy, then 

prevention and boosting your immune 

system are the only easy ways available. 

Cold germs are present everywhere 

on toys and even the air. In order to stay 

away from cold, avoid touching your 

eyes and nose constantly. You can also 

prevent catching a cold by washing 

your hands thoroughly and frequently. 

House-cleanliness is also important, especially 

if someone in your house has a 

cold. Lastly, keep loads of tissues with 

you to avoid more re-infections. 

How to prevent influenza 

The most common symptoms of 

influenza are fever, headache, body 

pains and fatigue. At times people with 

influenza may also show symptoms 

like stuffy nose, sneezing and sore 

throat. People with chest discomfort 

may also feel nauseated. 

The best way to stay away from influenza 

is annual vaccination. Washing 

your hands constantly will also help. 

Avoid contact with people who have influenza 

as it is highly contagious. If any 

breathing problems are noticed, see a 

doctor immediately. 

How to prevent bronchitis 

This is a very common winter ailment, 

especially among babies, young 

children and people with weak immune 

systems. Bronchitis is the inflammation 

of the small airways in 

the lungs, which further leads to build 

up of mucus which causes difficulty 

in breathing. The symptoms are more 

or less similar to those of cold. Other 

symptoms like fast breathing, persistent 

cough, wheezing and mild fever 

are also common. 

Seek medical help as soon as the 

above symptoms are noticed. In order 

to avoid worsening the symptoms, Dr. 

Keya says avoid exposure to cigarettes, 

smoke and fire crackers. 

How to prevent sore throat 

Sore throats are caused by viral infections. 

It can also be caused by drastic 

changes in the temperature. 

Keep drinking hot water, when the 

temperature dips down. Avoid icy cold 

stuff if your throat is already sore. For 

quick relief, keep gargling with warm 

salty water at regular intervals. 

How to prevent asthma attacks 

The symptoms of asthma can be 

worsened in winter due to smog and 

cold air. The common symptoms are 

wheezing and shortness of breath. 

If you are an asthma patient, then 

you need to be extra careful during 

winter season, to avoid worsening of 

the symptoms. Stay indoors during 

very cold days. If you are stepping out, 

make sure you cover your nose and 

mouth with a scarf. Always carry your 

inhaler with you, and take your medications 

regularly. 

How to prevent cold hands 

Very severe cold condition can 

change the color of your toes and fingers. 

This can become very painful in very cold 

temperature. Fingers can show various 

colors like white, blue and red. The common 

cause for this problem is poor blood 

circulations in hands and feet. 

Avoid smoke and caffeine, as these 

two can worsen the condition. Make 

sure you always cover your hands and 

feet with warm gloves and socks during 

cold weather. 

NDA but withdrew in 2002, said the Congress-led UPA government 

during its decade-long term did not have the mandate to 

pursue a peace-process with Pakistan. 

“The UPA had problems, they were afraid that if they go beyond 

a certain limit, the people of India would not accept it,” he 

pointed out. 

KPs........ 

that we have shut doors,” Abdullah had told reporters at Katra 

in Jammu. “The National Conference will call its working committee 

meeting and place such proposal before it for discussion. 

Our doors are open”. 

The senior Abdullah’s statement had then fueled speculations 

that National Conference is also willing for an alliance 

with BJP to form a coalition government in the state. 

14 Years........ 

against Army’s 35 Rashtriya Rifles. Subsequently, during the 

investigation, the name of Major Kishore Malhotra (now brigadier) 

surfaced as an accused. On November 26 last year, the Special 

Investigation Team (SIT) probing the custodial disappearance 

of Manzoor closed the investigation in the case. 

Police........ 

the Railway Track and also kicked him repeatedly. This injured 

Owais badly and he roled down into the gorge. Thinking that 

Owais was dead, Ishaan (Umaira) left for his home and subsequently 

to his aunt’s house at Bandipora. The two sims through 

which he used to talk with Owais were broken by him and 

thrown into a Nalla and thus tried to destroy the evidence," said 

the spokesman. 

The investigation team, he added, had a tough time since 

the place where the dead body was recovered near the Railway 

bridge was at a distance from the place where both had a scuffle. 

"It was found that in the evening of 12-01-2016, One constable 

of GRP did find some blood stains on the soil and noticed 

a human body in the shallow waters down the track. He did not 

inform the Police and instead planned to dispose off the body 

to a place away from track with his other two collegues. The 

three persons of GRP namely Manzoor Ahmad R/O Chadoora, 

Mohammad Ayoub R/O Humhama and Noor Mohammad R/O 

Khansahib picked the dead body and placed it away from the 

track near the Railway bridge at Peerbagh. 

"The main accused Ishaan Majeed S/O Peerzada Ab. Majeed 

R/O Bandipora at present Barzullah has been arrested in this 

case alongwith the three employees of GRP. Further investigation 

is in progress," he said. 

Woman........ 

drafted the agenda of alliance that formed the basis for powersharing 

between the BJP and the PDP in the state. (Agencies) 

Vohra........ 

certain elements in the state system, whether among the public 

or the criminal elements or elements within the state police 

who would subvert the NIA's objectives--by burning records or 

doing things like that so that when it comes to prosecuting an 

offence, you don't have the wherewithal, you don't have the evidence.. 

This is bound to happen," he said. 

Ministry........ 

I can assure you that," he said. 

Lauding the role of NIA, Singh said the agency has performed 

its duties in a professional manner. 

"I have information (that) prosecution success rate is 95 per 

cent and 92 per cent conviction rate. Excellent. But I feel that 

NIA like organisation needs more manpower. Many offices are 

yet to set up. Once offices are complete, the NIA's efficiency will 

certainly increase," he said. 

DDC inaugurates 

awareness camp 

for farmers 

Kupwara, Jan 19: The Agriculture Department Kupwara today 

organized an awareness programme which was inaugurated by 

the District Development Commissioner who was chief guest 

on the function. 

The District Development Commissioner urged upon the 

experts and participants to make judicious use of land by cultivating 

different crops and cash crops during rabi season under 

PMKSY, RKVY, MIDH and oil seed programmes are guide lines 

and stressed for using organic fertilisers. 

The District Development Commissioner was informed 

that Rs. 51.25 lakh are being spent in district under different CSS 

schemes like RKVY, MIDH and oil seed programmes. 

About 200 farmers participated in the awareness camp. 

flu 

One of the biggest flu myths 

is that - if you kiss a person with 

flu, you will catch flu as well. 

This is completely false. To pass 

on the flu infection, you need a 

larger dose of the flu virus and 

the fact is that very minimal virus 

is available on the lips and 

mouth. But, flickering around 

your partner’s nose can make 

you sick; because it is the nasal 

mucous you have to worry 

about. 

Myth #6: Staying out in the 

cold weather will make you 

sick 

We always hear the old 

saying that if you stay out in 

cold weather for long, you will 

catch flu. “It is not true,” says Dr. 

Sunesara. Being in cold weather 

has nothing to do with flu. 

You catch flu due to viruses and 

bacteria, which spread during 

winters more often due to close 

contact with everyone, as everyone 

prefers staying home. 

Myth #7: Chicken soup can do 

wonders? 

We all love this myth and 

guess what - it isn’t a myth at 

all. Dr. Sunesara says, “Chicken 

soups help to relieve you because 

it gets a positive effect 

on your immune system by 

bringing the white blood cells 

together. White blood cells are 

very useful as they help fight 

against various infections present 

in your body. For, best results 

sip on hot chicken soup.” 

Myth #8: Flu jabs give you 

lifetime protection 

We assume that once we 

have taken the vaccination, we 

have an insurance against flu 

up till death. It is not true. Flu 

viruses change every year and 

most of the times the previous 

vaccination that you had, won’t 

work against the new virus. 

Hence, get a vaccination each 

year to fight against new flu viruses. 

Myth #9: Washing hands 

hardly helps 

We tend to ask ‘how does 

washing hands protect us from 

various flu viruses?’ The truth 

is, washing your hands thoroughly 

and maintaining good 

hygiene lowers your risk of 

acquiring flu. Though flu viruses 

are resistant and can make 

infections difficult to treat, they 

are vulnerable to cleanliness 

and good hygiene. 

Myth #10: Cold causes cold 

We have been told so many 

times to not venture out with 

wet hair or stay away from cold 

weather to stay away from the 

flu. This is not true. The body 

temperature does not make any 

difference. If your body comes 

into contact with the flu virus, 

it will make you sick anyhow - 

whether you’re wearing woolens 

and sitting next to a fire or 

out in the cold in a swimsuit. 

Diabetes drug slows down 

growth of pancreatic cancer 

Researchers are likely to have uncovered 

a novel mechanism behind the 

ability of the common diabetes drug - 

metformin -- to inhibit the progression 

of pancreatic cancer. 

Diabetic patients taking metformin 

have a reduced risk of developing pancreatic 

cancer; and among patients 

who develop the tumor those taking 

the drug may have a reduced risk of 

death, the study revealed. 

Metformin -- a commonly used 

generic medication for type 2 diabetes 

-- decreases the inflammation and 

fibrosis characteristic of the most common 

form of pancreatic cancer, the researchers 

said. 

This beneficial effect may be most 

prevalent in overweight and obese patients, 

the findings indicated. 

“We found that metformin alleviates 

desmoplasia - an accumulation 

of dense connective tissue and tumor-associated 

immune cells that is 

a hallmark of pancreatic cancer,” said 

lead author Dai Fukumura, associate 

professor of radiation oncology at Harvard 

Medical School in Massachusetts, 

US.The study focused on pancreatic 

ductal adenocarcinoma -- the most 

common form of pancreatic cancer - 

which also accounts for almost 40,000 

cancer death in the US ever year. 

Half of those diagnosed with this 

form of pancreatic cancer are overweight 

or obese, and up to 80 percent 

have type-II diabetes or are insulin resistant, 

said the researchers. 

The researchers first found that 

levels of hyaluronan, a component 

of the extracellular matrix, were 30 

percent lower in tumor samples from 

overweight or obese patients who 

were taking metformin to treat diabetes 

than in those who did not take the 

drug. 

In obese mouse models, the researchers 

found that metformin treatment 

reduced levels of tumor-associated 

macrophages by 60 percent and 

reduced expression of genes involved 

in remodeling the extracellular matrix 

of tumor tissue. 

“Understanding the mechanism behind 

metformin’s effects on pancreatic 

and other cancers may help us identify 

biomarkers - such as patient body 

weight and increased tumor fibrosis - 

that can identify the patients for whom 

metformin treatment would be most 

beneficial,” the authors noted in a study 

published in the journal PLOS One. 

Eat up 

your leafy 

greens 

to save 

your eyes 

Leafy greens like spinach, 

lettuce and kale could 

lower the risk of glaucoma 

by up to 30%, research has 

found.A diet of nitrate-rich 

vegetables is good for blood 

circulation which means 

it could prevent primary 

open-angle glaucoma 

(POAG), one of four types 

of the condition, Harvard 

Medical School discovered. 

Dr Jae Kang explained: 

“Higher dietary nitrate 

and green leafy vegetable 

intake was associated with a 

lower POAG risk.” The study, 

published in the journal 

JAMA Ophthalmol, looked at 

more than 104,000 patients. 

It found that those who ate 

a nitrate-rich diet had lower 

levels of the rare condition, 

which involves chronic 

or acute sudden painful 

build-up of pressure in the 

eye. Increased pressure and 

a disruption in the flow of 

optic nerve blood flow have 

been implicated in POAG. 

Previous studies suggested 

nitrate or nitrite, precursors 

for nitric oxide, is beneficial 

for blood circulation 

so scientists from Harvard 

Medical School looked at the 

link of diet and POAG. 

Assistant Professor of 

Medicine Jae Kang said: “Evidence 

suggests that nitrate 

or nitrite is beneficial for 

blood circulation, “Dietary 

nitrate is predominately 

derived from green leafy 

vegetables, which contribute 

approximately 80 percent of 

nitrate intake. 

“To our knowledge, 

dietary nitrate intake as a 

specific nutrient has not 

been evaluated therefore, 

we evalated it in a longerthan-25r 

year prospective 

study of 63,893 women and 

41,094 men. “These findings 

could have impor tant implications 

if the association of 

higher f dietary nitrate and 

green leafy vegetable intake 

with a lower POAG risk is 

confirmed.” 

The study followed participants 

in the two studies 

who were over 40, free of 

POAG, and had results of 

eye examinations. Information 

on diet was updated 

with questionnaires. 

During follow-up, 1,483 

incident cases of POAG 

were identified. They were 

divided into five groups 

dependent upon nitrate 

levels in their diet. 

CRC, SW deptt distribute 

Prosthetic equipments 

Anantnag, Jan 19: An awareness programme on disability 

prevention and management was organized by Composite Regional 

Centre in collaboration with District Social Welfare Office 

Anantnag here today. On the occasion, the District Social 

Welfare Officer, distributed prosthetic aids including tricycles, 

wheelchairs, crutches, reading apparatus, hearing apparatus, 

sticks and brails among the beneficiaries. 

The CDPO Anantnag, said that the awareness programme 

was aimed to sensitize e people about the newly introduced social 

and economic empowerment schemes like Laadli Beti, Beti 

Bachao Beti Padao, AASRA, State Marriage Assistance for girls 

child belonging to BPL families. 

Mobile Fertilizer 

Monitoring System 

(mFMS) reviewed 

Srinagar, Jan 19: To review the Mobile Fertilizer Monitoring 

System (mFMS) and supply/availability of different chemical 

fertilizers in Kashmir Division, a joint meeting of State/Regional 

managers of different fertilizer companies and district Nodal officers 

of Agriculture department was held at Agriculture Complex 

Lalmandi Srinagar under the chairmanship of Director Agriculture 

Kashmir, Altaf Aijaz Andrabi. 

The Director Agriculture instructed the officers present in 

the meeting to connect their wholesalers with portal mFMS 

and update the supplies and stock position weekly. 

The director also impressed on adequate supply of quality 

fertilizers to the farmers as the Kharief season is commencing 

from February and also there are huge requirements of fertilizers 

for fruit crops. He directed the fertilizer dealers to regulate 

the supplies and ensure easy availability and of fertilizers. He 

said that the licences of erring dealers will be cancelled who are 

found in profiteering. 

The representatives of the fertilizer companies informed 

the Director that sufficient stocks of supplies have been 

dumped at the Rack Point Nowgam and will be made available 

to the consumers of Central & North Kashmir in the due course 

of time, while as for South Kashmir the Rack Point has been 

kept at Udhampur.

7 

SRINAGAR, WEDNESDAY 


S 

P 

O 

R 

T 

S 

Record number 

of managers 

axed in 

England: Report 

HIGHLIGHTS 

• The statistics show that 

29 managers were sacked 

between June 1 and December 

31 last year. 

• Pearson, Rodgers, 

Advocaat, Sherwood, 

Monk and Mourinho were 

replaced in the EPL. 

• For those who have departed 

- 29 were relieved 

of their duties. 

LONDON: A record 29 

managers in the top four 

English divisions were 

sacked in the first half 

of this season, according 

to the League Managers 

Association’s Mid-Season 

Manager Statistics report. 

Leicester’s Nigel Pearson, 

Liverpool’s Brendan 

Rodgers, Sunderland’s 

Dick Advocaat, Aston 

Villa’s Tim Sherwood, 

Swansea’s Garry Monk 

and former Chelsea boss 

Jose Mourinho were 

replaced in the Premier 

League, while 10 Championship 

managers were 

fired. 

The statistics show 

that 29 managers were 

sacked between June 1 

and December 31 last 

year, two more than the 

previous high of 27 by 

the same point in the 

2014-15 campaign. 

“We must continue 

to shine a light on this 

issue,” said League Managers 

Association (LMA) 

chief executive Richard 

Bevan. 

“With the hire-andfire 

culture engrained 

within football, it’s so 

difficult to survive for 

any meaningful length 

of time in order to learn 

your trade, learn from 

mistakes and experiences. 

“Managers must cope 

with instant judgements 

and, often, success and 

failure are rarely that far 

apart.” 

The report was 

released as Scunthorpe 

boss Mark Robins and 

Orient’s Ian Hendon 

became the latest casualties, 

with the figures 

suggesting the all-time 

high of 53 dismissals in 

2001-02 could be exceeded 

by the end of the 

current campaign. 

For those who have 

departed - 29 were relieved 

of their duties and 

a further five left of their 

own volition - the average 

reign amounted to just 

1.58 years. 

Of the four leagues, 

the Championship has the 

most dismissals with 10 

managers parting with 

their respective clubs 

during the same period 

compared with six in 

League One and seven in 

League Two. 

Verdasco sends Nadal packing at Australian Open 

MELBOURNE, Australia - Rafael Nadal lost 

in the first round of a major for only the 

second time in his career, beaten in five sets 

by Fernando Verdasco at the Australian Open 

in a reversal of their epic, 5-hour, 14-minute 

semifinal here seven years ago. 

On Tuesday, Fernando Verdasco rallied from 

a 2-1 deficit and recovered a break in the 

fifth set to claim a 7-6 (6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 

6-2 win in 4 hours and 41 minutes, only his 

third victory in 17 matches against his fellow 

Spanish lefthander. 

Nadal won his only Australian title in 2009 

after beating Verdasco in the semifinals. The 

14-time major winner’s only other firstround 

exit in a Grand Slam was at Wimbledon 

in 2013 when he lost in straight sets to 

No. 135-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium. 

“It’s a hard and painful loss,” the fifth-seeded 

Nadal said. “He was playing amazing in the 

last set ... more aggressive than me. He took 

more risks than me, and he won. Probably he 

deserved.” 

There were two upsets on the women’s side, 

with No. 2 Simona Halep and seven-time 

Grand Slam winner Venus Williams losing in 

the first round. 

Halep, the 2014 French Open finalist, lost 6-4, 

6-3 to Zhang Shuai for her third first-round 

loss at Melbourne Park in the past five years, 

but giving the No. 133-ranked Chinese qualifier 

her first win at a Grand Slam after 14 

losses and only months after she contemplating 

retirement. 

“It’s OK. I don’t want to make this match like 

dramatic,” said Halep, who refused to blame 

an Achilles tendon problem that forced her 

out of a warmup event for her earlier loss. “It 

happened. Everyone can lose. I have just to 

take it like it is and go ahead.” 

Verdasco went for everything on his ground 

strokes, ripping 90 winners against only 37 

Chris Gayle has farewelled the Big Bash 

League for this summer - and possibly forever 

- with a social media outburst in which he hit 

back at former cricketers who criticised his 

behaviour during an interview with journalist 

Mel McLaughlin. Gayle also declared himself a 

league-builder in the Twenty20 format and said 

that if he had played his last BBL innings his 

“memory with the fans will live on forever”. 

His final innings certainly was memorable: 

a 12-ball half-century that equalled the all-time 

fastest T20 fifty set by Yuvraj Singh in 2007. But 

Gayle will be remembered more for the interview 

in Hobart in which he asked McLaughlin 

for a drink and told her: “don’t blush, baby”. 

His comments were widely criticised, 

including by Cricket Australia, and while Gayle 

for Nadal as he worked to the extremes to 

unsettle his former No. 1-ranked rival. 

“To win against Rafa here coming from two 

sets down is unbelievable,” the 32-year-old, 

No. 45-ranked Verdasco said. “I think I played 

unbelievable — the fifth set from the break 

that he made me, I just started hitting 

winners. I don’t know how, just, you know 

I was closing the eyes and everything was 

coming in and I keep doing it and I was 

doing well.” 

Stan Wawrinka, who beat Nadal in the 

2014 Australian final, and four-time 

runner-up Andy Murray advanced, along 

with Lleyton Hewitt, the two-time major 

winner who is playing his 20th and last 

Australian Open tournament before retiring. 

French Open champion Wawrinka was 

If bowlers learn from their 

mistakes, we can prevent 

a whitewash: Shastri 

Canberra: Putting the onus on Indian 

bowlers to stop Australia’s winning 

juggernaut in the five-match ODI 

series, Team Director Ravi Shastri on 

Tuesday said the Mahendra Singh 

Dhoni-led side can certainly arrest 

the slide if the inexperienced bowling 

line-up learns from its mistakes. 

Having already lost the series after 

three successive defeats, the visitors 

will be playing for pride when they 

take field at the Manuka Oval in the 

fourth ODI in Canberra on Wednesday. 

“If they learn from their mistakes 

they will stop it, yes,” Shastri told 

reporters when asked if the bowling 

attack is good enough to prevent a 

whitewash. 

Shastri though was critical of the 

inconsistent bowling attack in the last 

three games. 

“They will be disappointed, there 

is no doubt about that because to win 

a game one or two bowlers can’t do 

the job. You need to bowl as a unit. 

was not suspended by his team, Melbourne 

Renegades, it is considered unlikely he will be 

welcome in future BBL tournaments. Gayle used 

his Instagram account on Tuesday, the day after 

his last innings of the series, to thank the Renegades 

and the Australian fans for their support. 

“Ppl think I may have played my last innings 

in Aus but my memory with the fans will live on 

forever!!” Gayle wrote. “I build leagues around 

the world and Big Bash is one of them ... ‘Give the 

ppl what they want’.”Gayle’s conduct during the 

interview was criticised by various media outlets 

and former players, including Andrew Flintoff, 

who tweeted at the time that Gayle had “made 

himself look a bit of a chop”. Gayle’s former Sydney 

Thunder team-mate, Chris Rogers, was more 

expansive on ABC radio during the Sydney Test 

leading 7-6 (2), 6-3 when his opponent 

Dmitry Tursonov retired with what appeared 

to be an upper leg injury. 

After beating Halep, Zhang burst into 

tears when asked about breaking the 

drought. 

“I think in my life, it’s the best tennis,” 

she said. “To win against a top-two 

player, I’m so happy, so excited.” 

Williams lost 6-4, 6-2 to Johanna Konta, 

her eighth first-round loss at a major. 

No. 3 Garbine Muguruza and No. 7 Angelique 

Kerber were among the women 

advancing to the second round. 

The upset results took some focus off 

the match-fixing allegations that have 

overshadowed the first two days of the 

season’s first major. 

No. 2-ranked Murray began his bid for a 

Why England, not India, should have 

been No. 1 Test cricket team 

In January 2015, after the conclusion 

of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 

2014-15 in Australia, India had 

slipped to a lowly seventh spot in 

the ICC Test Rankings for teams. 

India were on a losing spree as they 

had lost away tours to South Africa 

(0-1), New Zealand (0-1), England 

(1-3) and Australia (0-2). But in 

just 12 months, during which the 

Indian cricket team played only 8 

Tests since the conclusion of the 

Australia tour, they have not only 

managed to bridge the gap with the 

rest, but have zoomed past some 

others who carry greater merit in 

world rankings. 

While South Africa, Sri Lanka and 

West Indies are going through 

downward spiral, Pakistan have proven 

they can be an extremely strong 

side. Series wins against Sri Lanka 

and England did give them a shot in 

the arm, but its power was enough 

only to keep them at No. 2 for a brief 

The reason why we did well at the 

World Cup last year was we had all 

the five bowlers firing. 

“So when that happens then you 

have a chance of beating the best side 

in the world. But there are no excuses 

for bowling wides, so obviously they 

will be disappointed and they have 

to put their best foot forward,” said 

Shastri. 

“To apply finishing touch in close 

games, we need to bowl better and 

be consistent as a bowling unit. MS 

Dhoni mentioned in the press conference 

that there were too many easy 

boundaries. It’s not that the batsman 

has to earn it but they are given like 

freebies. That should be eliminated. 

Even if you cut that by 60-70 percent, 

it will become an even tighter game,” 

he added. 

If India were outplayed in the 

first two games, then the visitors 

did give Australia a hard time in the 

third match, which they lost by three 

period. New Zealand, too, have been 

erratic in past one year, and so have 

been Australia, who reckon they 

deserve a place at the top but have 

no assurance of winning overseas. 

Amidst all these are England, who 

have shown tremendous intent to 

remain ahead of the others, at least 

wickets. Shastri defended his boys’ 

performance. 

“There is absolutely no shame 

in the way they have played despite 

recent results. Because I know there 

is only one way to go after this tour 

of Australia and that’s going up. I 

know what happened 12 months 

ago after the Test series and I know 

where we stand today as far as the 

Test team is concerned,” said the 

former India all-rounder. 

“I see no reason why after this 

series am sure the bowlers will 

learn and we can go places. So 

disappointed yes because lets be 

fair we could have pulled one back 

especially in Melbourne. But it didn’t 

happen and Australia played well,” he 

added. 

Shastri stressed on the need to 

build bench strength and also suggested 

that BCCI should look into 

sending an extra squad member on 

far-away tours. 

in Test cricket. At present, England 

have in their possession The Ashes, 

the Pataudi Trophy (at home against 

India), the Anthony de Mello Trophy 

(the away series against India), the 

Basil D’Oliveira Trophy, and rubbers 

against New Zealand, Zimbabwe 

and Bangladesh. They do not hold 

rubbers only against Pakistan and Sri 

Lanka. 

Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka are set 

to tour England this year during the 

English season, and will need nothing 

less than magic to win. England 

fans are probably licking lips in 

anticipation of an excellent summer 

at home once again. 

To ascertain why India have gone 

past England to claim the top spot, 

let’s recall what these two teams 

have done in Test cricket since January 

2015. India have played 8 Tests, 

won 5 and lost only 1. On the other 

hand, England played 16, have won 

7 and lost 6. Perhaps this is the only 

reason, as India’s rating points are 

high because of their impressive 

wins over Sri Lanka (2-1) and South 

Africa (3-0).Let us, however, keep the 

ratings and the calculation system 

aside for some time, and see why 

England have the merit to be world 

No. 1. 

and said he had concerns about the influence set 

for younger players. 

“From my time at the Thunder, I was very 

disappointed in his attitude and his behaviour 

and I’ve never been a fan since,” Rogers said at 

the time. “From what I saw, if I had have been in 

the Thunder the next year, it would have been my 

advice that he shouldn’t have been anywhere near 

the set-up.“The reason I think he hasn’t played 

in the BBL for a while is because that was said: 

‘Stay away from Chris Gayle because he brings 

more trouble than he’s worth’. This is a pattern of 

behaviour that if you know the guy you see it over 

and over. To defend it, I think is not right at all. I 

don’t see it as funny at all. He says it’s just a joke. 

Well, it’s not just a joke is it?” 

Although he did not name anyone, Gayle was 

drought-breaking title at the Australian 

Open with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over Alexander 

Zverev, checked to see there were 

no urgent calls from home — his wife is 

expecting their first child next month — 

and had to answer questions immediately 

about the reports. 

“I just think that it should be tennis that 

does a better job of explaining ... (players) 

shouldn’t have to read it in the press,” 

Murray said. “You have to be proactive 

I think with things like this and go and 

speak to the players rather than them 

reading about it in the newspapers or listening 

to it on the TV or the radio.” 

The BBC and Buzzfeed News published 

reports Monday alleging match-fixing had 

gone unchecked in tennis. The reports 

alleged 16 players, all ranked in the top 

50 at some stage and half of them playing 

at the Australian Open, had repeatedly 

raised suspicion because of their results 

and had been flagged with tennis authorities, 

but had not been sanctioned. No 

players were identified. 

The governing bodies for tennis rejected 

the claims, and highlighted the fact five 

players and an official had received life 

bans after investigations from the Tennis 

Integrity Unit which was set up in 2008. 

Murray thought authorities could be doing 

more to combat the potential for corruption. 

Murray also said it was “a little bit hypocritical” 

for tournaments — including the Australian 

Open — to be sponsored by betting firms. 

No. 13 Milos Raonic followed up his win over 

Roger Federer in the final of the Brisbane 

International tune-up event with a 6-1, 6-4, 

6-4 win over Lucas Pouille. 

Joining him the second round will be No. 8 

David Ferrer, No. 10 John Isner and No. 18 

Feliciano Lopez. 

FIFA scandal: Sepp Blatter is 

still being paid his salary 

despite ban from world football 

FIFA’s Sepp Blatter may have been banned 

for eight years from the game but he is still 

receiving his president’s salary from world 

soccer’s governing body, a spokesman for 

FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee 

told Reuters on Monday. 

Blatter was suspended for 90 days by 

FIFA on Oct 8 and then banned from the 

game for eight years last month for ethics 

violations over a $2 million payment FIFA 

made to European soccer boss Michel 

Platini with Blatter’s approval in 2011. 

But Blatter, a Swiss national who has 

Mathews records 

statement, wants 

cricket clean 

been president of FIFA since 1998, will 

continue to be paid until a new president is 

elected on Feb 26, the spokesman Andreas 

Bantel said. That would mean Blatter would 

have been paid for nearly five months 

during which time he was unable to carry 

out his duties, and a period in which FIFA 

has appointed an acting president, African 

soccer head Issa Hayatou. 

The compensation sub-committee of 

FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee 

recently ruled that it could stop Blatter’s 

bonuses but not, according to his contract, 

his salary. “Until the election of a new 

president on February 26, Mr Blatter 

is the elected president and therefore 

- according to his contract - is entitled 

to receive his remuneration,” Bantel 

said. 

Blatter’s US lawyer and his Switzerland-based 

spokesman could not be 

immediately reached for comment.FIFA 

is facing the worst corruption crisis in it 

history as a total of 41 individuals and 

entities, including many former FIFA officials, 

have been charged with corruption-related 

offences in the United States. The US investigation 

is far from over and FIFA also faces 

a parallel Swiss probe. 

Gayle takes aim at critics as he leaves 

Colombo: Appearing 

before police to record 

his statement in connection 

with a matchfixing 

scandal, Sri Lankan 

cricket team captain Angelo 

Mathews on Tuesday 

called for the game to be 

protected from vices like 

fixing. 

The match-fixing scandal 

led to the suspension of 

a fast bowling coach on 

Wednesday. 

“I answered all their questions 

honestly to help them 

in their investigation,” 

Mathews said of his meeting 

with Financial Crime Investigations 

Division (FCID). 

The Sri Lankan skipper clarified 

the investigation was 

into the bookie approach, 

which his team-mates duly 

reported, and not over players’ 

possible involvement in 

match-fixing. 

Team manager Jerry 

Woutersz has also been 

interviewed by FCID. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) 

yesterday sacked academy 

fast bowling coach Anusha 

Sanaranayakae for two 

months over involvement 

in an alleged attempt to fix 

a Test match against the 

West Indies last October. 

SLC also barred Gayan 

Wishwajith from participating 

in any capacity in Sri 

Lankan cricket or entering 

any cricket premises in the 

future.Wishwajith is being 

investigated by the SLC 

for allegedly approaching 

several national players for 

match-fixing and is seen 

as a “close acquaintance” 

of Samaranayake. 

scathing about the criticism he had received.“To 

the MEDIA, Thank You all so! The Haters, I Thank 

you even more ... I think a lot of past and present 

cricketers who smile in front my face could’ve 

have there say In the public when my so call issue 

was going on, but y’all don’t have the BALLs to 

stand firm when it matters - but yet when u 

see me you’re like, Chris that’s BS against you, it 

was blown out of proportion smh [shaking my 

head]...don’t tell me, tell the media and public! 

“The past cricketer who say I make myself 

look like a chop, the other who claim I was no 

good to the youngsters while playing for the 

thunder, the next one who said he expect that 

sort of behavior from Chris - Y’all can kiss my 

‘Black Rass’ I love Australia and I will be back 

again even for the ... oi oi”.

20 January 2016

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