BARAMULLA
A day after an encounter on Thursday, state police chief Dilbagh Singh termed Baramulla as the first ‘militant-free’ district of Kashmir. During the day, out for his professional duty, Kashmir Life’s chief photojournalist Bilal Bahadur met an accident in the area where he had gone to cover the funeral of three LeT militants killed on Wednesday. Bilal fell from a truck parked on the roadside. His right shoulder and elbow has been badly damaged and is being treated in a hospital in Srinagar. He will be undergoing surgery next week.
KARAN NAGAR
Elected to provide at least basic civic facilities to the city residents, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) is washing their dirty linen in the public from day one. The latest was during the session of councillors, when deputy mayor, Sheikh Imran was injured. What exactly happened, nobody knows. Imran accuses two corporators of throwing a cup at him in front of Mayor Junaid Mattu. The accused duo in a presser refuted saying he is enacting a drama. The interesting part is when they accuse each other of being elected by few votes. Role of BJP, however, continues to be part of their accusations on each other.
WAZIR BAGH
As Kashmir was fighting the minus temperature, a family from remote Mooree area of Kupwara district was mourning their loss on the streets of Srinagar. A young mother delivered on the road and the girl child couldn’t survive. The incident evoked strong resentment from both unionists as well as separatists. The reason of ‘shame’ became the Srinagar’s lone tertiary care maternity hospital, Lal Ded, but the patient was referred from the hospitals in Kalaroos and Kupwara. Family alleges junior doctor refused to admit the pregnant lady. However, the doctor says the patient had no evidence of the labour pain. Though the versions vary, the loss is the fact. Whatever the final report of the inquiry comes, healthcare in the peripheral areas is still questionable that even a delivery case is being referred.
HABBA KADAL
Calm streets in Srinagar’s Habba Kadal area erupted in protests when a youth was hit by a stone. Identified as Muhammad Younis, he was lying down with blood oozing out from his head. Locals alleged the stone was hurled by CRPF man from the nearby bunker, however, the spokesman of CRPF denied the claims. Out in the market to buy some vegetable, Younis was taken to the city hospital with serious head injuries.
BIHAR
Fact is a stranger than fiction. The King who ruled Kashmir from 1579 to 1586, Yousuf Shah Chak’s resting place lies in ruins. Exiled by Mughal emperor Akbar, the graveyard of Kashmir’s last independent ruler is under threat from land grabbers in Bihar. The cemetery’s caretaker in Biswak village of Nalanda district has written over 200 letters to the state government, seeking protection for the monument as the encroachment has continued. Though Dr Haseeb Drabu as culture minister of J&K moved the proposal seeking remains of the king in 2015, it had never seen the light of day!
