SHEERI

Police is not all about teargas and marshalling. There are cops who have different ‘other lives’. An IPS officer is a poet and most of his poetry tackles last 20 years of Kashmir. The most recent is a collection of short stories by Manoj Sheeri, a DSP rank officer who is the official spokesman of J&K police for Kashmir range. Khusboo-e-Kashmir (The Kashmir Fragrance) is a collection of 12 Urdu stories that, according to Sheeri, are about moorings of Kashmiris. Plots are fictionalized personal experiences of last 20 years that Sheeri says he watched as a writer and later as a cop. At one stage, this resident of Sheeri in Baramulla, was a playwright and two of his creations were broadcast by the state run radio along with a few stages as well. Manoj’s last book was a compilation of weaponry in use, a collection that would have invited an FIR had not it been done for the police training curriculum.

SOURA

It is nothing new that happened but it requires to be recorded for the sake of it. Ishtiyaq Beig, a SKIMS pharmacist for 23 years, is a trade unionist. He had filed an RTI application seeking service records of SKIMS director, Showkat Ahmed Zargar, including the interim order issued to him in 1993 by the then Governor and his promotion order in 2005. While the administration placed his services under suspension for anti-SKIMS activities, he was denied the information formally. Authorities had put a caveat in the court in anticipation to prevent him from seeking any immediate intervention. He admits he has held a news conference insisting the SKIMS doctors do practice privately which is illegal.

 

MUMBAI

Legendry filmmaker Yash Chopra’s last film Jab Tak Hai Jan, partly shot in Kashmir and Ladakh is finally available. Released on Diwali, the film has already earned Rs 35 crore in three days. It is a love triangle between Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. Film critics are unimpressed. They say the massive pre-release publicity was the main factor for the impressive footfalls in the cinema halls but, now on, box office will decide its fate on the content. No good review of the film so far. Only fault finding and bad reviews, particularly with its depiction of Kashmir.

BANDIPORE

It happened so mysteriously that it is being probed. Most of a garrison in Bandipore was destroyed in a devastating conflagration. Kargil veteran Lt Col Sarang Apte who was second-in-command of the 5-para regiment was charred to death and his corpse was traced in an operational shelter of the camp. Apparently it looks like a short circuit but sabotage from within is not being ruled out. Investigators are probing as why the senior officer failed to flee out of the camp if every other person made his escape good.

SRINAGAR

Policeman Reyaz Ahmad recreated history by wining the first 42-km Srinagar Marathon that state’s Sports Development Association (JKSDA) organized. Of the 12 participants, Reyaz ran 42-kilometres in two hours and 43 minutes. The marathon route included Jamia Masjid, Gojwara Rajouri Kadal, Bohrikadal, Khanyar, Nowhatta, Gojwara, Hawal, back to Nowhatta, Kathi Darwaza, Saidakadal, Rainawari, Sheeraz Chowk, Babademb, Polo Ground, MA Road, Fly Over, back to MA Road, Dalgate, Nehru Park, Oberio Crossing, Nishat, Foreshore Road and culminated at Malabagh. Muzaffer of SAM Degree College, Budgam, finished second with the timing of 2:50:00 and Tanveer Hussain of J&K Bank finished third with 2:52:00.

ISLAMABAD

It was common knowledge but it is now formally known. It is Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, that is managing and maintaining the funds that Islamabad is committing to the thousands of Kashmiri refugees living in various parts of Muzaffarabad. Around Rs 70 million (Rs 7 crore Pakistani rupees) were handled by the ISI, according to Secretary Kashmir Affairs, Kamram Qureshi, to supervise facilities extended to the refugees. The job was given to ISI so that the refugees “didn’t return due to maladministration.

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