LEH
That Kaafiron Ki Namaaz by two Mumbai-based youngsters Bhargav Saikai and Ramesh Sharma winning the best feature film, best screenplay, and best actor award at just concluded third edition of the Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) is not the only thing about the desert region. Interestingly, the producers of the film, shot in Kashmir, had dropped out from Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International Film Institute to create a “gripping, powerful narrative and interesting storytelling format.” Though 67 films were showcased, the halls remained empty. The reason was the population is busy preparing for 12-days Kalachakra, a religious event that Dalai Lama is organizing. The event to be attended by nearly one lakh Buddhists is being held after 38 years. The last one Leh hosted was in September 1976. Zanskar witnessed the event in July 1988.
BANGALURU
Roshni Sharma is 26 and a software engineer from Bengaluru. She is on way to Kashmir from Kanyakumari, driving single on her motor cycle. She failed to get sponsorship and finally plunged her own savings – nearly one lakh rupees. Her destination is Leh and entire trip would take 12 days. She is doing it for Limca Book of Records.
AIRPORT
Earlier it was Akbar Lone versus Itoo. Now it is Iqbal Khanday versus minister Aijaz Khan. The calm new governance address at the Friends Enclave near Srinagar airport is a messy affair as powerful is grabbing state land. While Mr Itoo had taken Lone to the court, in the latter case there has been a brawl and a fight after the Chief Secretary opposed minister’s idea of land grab. In this case a formal FIR has been registered against managers of the colony who have shut their eyes as minister had encroached upon state land. In retaliation, the minister claimed the complainant and his relative have encroached upon 16 Marlas of the Kahcharai land each and annexed the same illegally to their land of 27 Marlas each. The case is pending!
NEW YORK
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Major General Delali Johnson Sakyi of Ghana as the head of the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan, a mission tasked with monitoring the ceasefire line. Sakyi succeeds Korean Major General Young-Bum Choi who completed his two-year assignment June 16, 2014. Sakyi served most recently as Force Commander for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). UNMOGIP currently comprises 40 military observers and a number of civilian staff members. India is merely hosting the group but not cooperating with them unlike Pakistan after Shimla agreement.
RAJOURI
They were 16 people – two families belonging to two brothers who had crossed the Line of Control, married and raised families. They were on way home and arrested barely a few meters away. Abdul Rashid had crossed over to PaK in 1987 via Kanga Gali along with his wife Bob Jan and three children. They had six more in Kotli. Faqir Mohammad, Rashid’s younger brother had crossed over with a valid passport. He married and settled there and had three children. Now both of them returned home to Jaglanu, Koteranka after using Nepal-Mirpur track. They were arrested finally near their home.
MUMBAI
It is the Surankote film maker who is in news. Rahat Kazmi of the Dekh Bhai Dekh fame has completed his film Identity Card -Ek Lifeline and it is due to be released on August 29. The film showcases the significance of “identity” and “dignity” of people of Kashmir during 25-years long militancy in J&K. The film is based on the importance of Identity card in Kashmir. But the most exciting revelation from Bollywood is that Tabu is singing. She is singing a song for Vishal Bhardwaj’s upcoming Haider, in which she has a vital role. The song is a Kashmiri one – Roshe Valla…
SRINAGAR
It is happening again. The surgeon has forgotten things in somebody’s belly! In SMHS hospital, doctors carried out a surgery on a patient after they found Lal Ded hospital surgeons forgetting something in 33 year old Zainab’s abdomen in an operation two months ago. The patient, a resident of Chanpora, was carrying a strip of gauze. The patient is all right now. But the question is why people with amnesia can be doctors!
HRD ministry has released Rs 35.35 crore as scholarships to 3294 J&K students in 2012-13
Haryana Government has relaxed cut-off marks by 10 percentage points for wards of Kashmiri migrants seeking admission in its professional colleges.
