NEW DELHI

Kashmiri freelance-photojournalist Kamran Yousuf has been granted bail after six months of his arrest. He was arrested allegedly for stone pelting and indulging in “subversive activities” by NIA. In so far NIA couldn’t produce even a single video or photo showing Yousuf pelting stones. He was granted bail on two sureties of Rs 50,000 each, the money is now been raised by the Kashmiri journalists based in Delhi and Dubai. The bail came after more than 18 hearings.

LEH

In order to solve water crisis in cold desert Ladakh, Chewang Norphel, an octogenarian local ‘crazy’ engineer, devised a plan in 1986 of creating an artificial glacier in Leh which solved the problem of at least 80 percent of water crisis for farmers in the months of April-May, when their natural water supply was frozen and rivers flow was way too low. In 2018, he has been successful in creating 17 more such glaciers. The experiment, for which he got funds from several state-run programmes, the army and various national and international NGOs, earned him the name of ‘the Ice Man of India’. He has also been awarded with the Padma Shri in 2015. He was also recognised for his achievements by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2011.

HAKOORA

The mystery surrounding the identity of the third militant killed at Hakoora village in Islamabad was finally put to rest as police confirmed that the slain was from Telangana state.

Identified as Muhammad Taufeeq, a resident of Bhadradri-Kothagudem district of Telangana, was killed along with his two more associates: both students of engineering, Eisa Fazili (Srinagar) and Syed Owais (Kokernag). All the three had joined ‘Ansaar Gazwat-ul-Hind’, an offshoot of Al Qaida. His killing has become a cause of concern for the security establishment. The police chief was quick to tweet his concerns: “JK police hopes that Taufeeq is the first and last militant (from any Indian State) to join Ansaar Gazwat-ul-Hind in Kashmir. ISI is not in the interest of Kashmir and I am hopeful it ends with him.”

NAGROTA

After minor Kathua nomad girl’s rape and murder, another such case has surfaced in which Shahnawaz, a non-local cleric from West Bengal, was arrested for allegedly raping a seven-year old girl belonging to nomadic community in Jammu’s Nagrota. Unlike last time, the culprit was arrested within ten hours of the crime. The victim’s family has filed an FIR on March 12. The victim was studying in a local Madrassa at Bajalta.

PATNA

A Kashmiri adaption of J M Synge’s Irish play, ‘Riders to the Sea’ Aalav (the call), set against the socio-cultural backdrop of contemporary Kashmiri society, enthralled audience at the 8th Theatre Olympics in Patna, Bihar.

Aalav is an emotional story of an old mother and her two daughters who are waiting for their son to return. The play is directed by Arshad Muhstaq.

LADAKH

Once again Bollywood actor Siddharth Malhotra, who shot his last film Aiyaary, in Kashmir is set to return for his next film. This time though, Malhotra will shot sequences for Kargil: Sher Shah – a biopic on Vikram Batra. Besides Kashmir, the actor will also shoot in Ladakh, Chandigarh and inside Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.

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