JAMMU
NC’s most vocal lawmaker from NC, Akbar Lone, was alone in the state assembly when the members of ruling BJP lawmakers shouted anti-Pakistan slogan. He shouted slogans in favour of Pakistan which his party high command refused to own. With his party distancing itself from his statement, Lone later told he is a Muslim first and then anything else.
KARAN NAGAR
The 30 hour long encounter ended in the city centre Karan Nagar with the killing of two militants and one CRPF personnel Mujahid Khan, a resident of Bihar.
While the unidentified militants were buried somewhere in Baramulla, multiple funerals were taking place in Islamabad, Tral and Kupwara for local Army personnel killed in Sunjwan, Jammu attack. These army men were buried with full state honour but when Khan’s body reached his home, no official from the state was present there. His family rejected Rs 5 lakhs compensation given to the family. Meanwhile, Raghu Nath, the alert sentry of the 23 Bn headquarters, who detected the movement of the two militants in Karan Nagar has been promised promotions.
DUBAI
In a significant move, Jammu and Kashmir’s finance minister Dr Haseeb A Drabu signed the first ever Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) agreement with Dubai Ports (DP) group CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem in Dubai. The MoU was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and crown prince of UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the presidential palace. The agreement involves a pact for a joint venture involving Rs 1,500 crore FDI for setting up inland logistic hubs in the state of J&K.
KATHUA
In a major twist in rape and murder of the minor girl Asifa Bano, SIT arrested an SPO, Deepak Khajuria (28) of Hiranagar in the case (FIR No: 10/2018 U/S 363, 320, 302 RPC). The SIT has collected solid evidence which proves his involvement in the crime and the said SPO has said he committed the crime to create fear among the minority community in Jammu. Interestingly, around two hundred men and women, carrying tricolor, took to roads in support of the rapist, much to the embarrassment of the government.
Sopore
Two youngsters killed in a road accident in Sopore on the morning of first major snowfall turned out to be Hizb militants to everybody’s surprise. They were later identified by the police as Owais Ahmad Mir, from Brath, Sopore, and other a non-local militant who were active in the area for quite some time.
NEW DELHI
CNN News 18’s Jammu and Kashmir bureau chief Mufti Islah won the prestigious News Broadcasting Awards- ENBA for the continuous coverage by a reporter from Jammu and Kashmir. A senior journalist, Mufti Islah has a 20 years experience in journalism, representing both print and visual media. He worked with The Indian Express from 1997 to 2005 before shifting to one of India’s largest media group – Network 18. This is his second national award. Earlier, Mufti won the Ramnath Goenka award in 2013.
SHOPIAN
After battling for her life for eighteen days, Saima Wani, 18, succumbed to her head injuries in SKIMS. She was injured on January 24, in Chaigund Shopian, where her militant brother Sameer Wani, was killed in an encounter. She was on tracheostomy, an incision in the windpipe made to relieve an obstruction to breathing, and she was responding well to the treatment. The state police have informed that Saima was hit by a bullet that had pierced deep into her head. Her friend, Sabreena, who was injured in the same incident, is recovering at SKIMS. With Saima’s killing the death toll in the aftermath of the Chaigund encounter is eight: two militants, three civilians including a minor who was injured by a littered shell, and three civilians, who were killed when army opened fire in Ganawpora.
