MOUNT EVEREST
Almost six decades after the first successful scaling, a Kashmiri soldier, Rafiq Malik, 33, scaled Mount Everest. He was part of an NCC team. A resident of Kuchipra in south Kashmir’s Islamabad, Rafiq is the eldest of four brothers and a sister. Married to Masroofa, he has two daughters. Malik joined the Guard Regiment at Nagpur in 1995. After training, he was adopted to 15 JAKLI. In 2007, he did his basics and advance courses at High Altitude Warfare School in Gulmarg and later joined the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. He climbed Mount Machoy (6700 M) and Nun (7125 M) in 2007, Chaukhamba (7138 M) in the Garhwal Himalaya in 2008, visited Germany in 2009 and scaled Mt. Kamet (7756 M) in 2010. Then, an avalanche had struck the mountain where two officers were killed and Rafiq was part of rescue and retrieval. Earlier in 2011, Rafiq became the first Kashmiri to climb Manaslu, an 8000 M peak.
ATHMUQAM
It sounds strange. Zaheer Abbassi of Athmuqam village in PaK is in Kot Bhalwal jail since 2008 and is an under-trail with his case being heard in a Kupwara court for five years. If convicted, the offence will get him a punishment for two years! Abbassi was arrested after he “inadvertently slipped” over the LoC in Keran in 2008. Police failed to get him involved with militancy and was booked under Egress & Ingress Movement Control Ordinance. While in custody he was arrested under PSA.
NEW YORK
Mirza Waheed’s novel, The Collaborator is all set to be a film that Mulberry Films will produce. According to producer Gopi Sait, the company has acquired exclusive motion picture rights of the novel. The film will be ready within 18 months and will be shot and screened in India and Kashmir. It will be essentially an English language film.
BARAMULLA
The young boy who was caught in the concertina wire in a Baramulla and survived with his private parts ruptured has got it repaired all over again, thanks to paediatric surgeon Dr Abdur Rashid and Sheikh-ul-Alam Hospital that bore the expenses of the entire reconstruction procedure. Identified as Tanveer Ahmad Mir, a 13 year old boy, he was caught in the wires at a time when a mob was clashing with the police in wake of Afzal Guru hanging on February 11. Reportage about him triggered a wave of sympathy as people were keen to help him become normal. The doctor and the hospital, however, did everything possible without even charging a single penny.
MUMBAI
Come September and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will have something linking it to Kashmir – a 6800 sq ft mural depicting various art forms of Kashmir: Khatamband, Pinjarakari and woodwork, paper machie. The idea of having the mural was initiated by BV Suresh, the official scenographer for the airport. It took a series of sessions with prominent contemporary artist Nilimi Sheikh to make it happen. The 27-piece mural is named Conjoining Lands. It will adore T2 and before being flown to Mumbai, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated its exhibition in Srinagar.
JAMMU
They anticipated terrorist involvement but ended up detaining a suspect, who is a Delhi resident. Two trains went up in fire at Jammu Tawi station’s Washing Line and Central Line, delaying all the departures by an hour. Shalimar Express lost two coaches and so did the Sarvodaya Express. After the normalcy was restored, a SIT was set up for investigations. It immediately arrested Ajay Kumar, a resident of Nangloi, Delhi. He had been arrested from the burning Swaraj Express. Accused of setting it on fire, Kumar is medically unfit. His father claims his son is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Kumar was in Jammu to write an examination in the Army.
Ophthalmology Department of GMC Srinagar received and treated 60 persons in 2010 agitation of whom 29 were hit in the eyes by stones; 18 were hit by pellets; 5 by rubber bullets; 6 by slingshots and 2 by teargas canisters.
Leh has a 9392-bed capacity for tourists per day in hotels, guest houses and local home stay.
