BANNED: The J&K government has decided not to permit BJP workers from unfurling tricolour at Lal Chowk on republic day saying that it has the potential of vitiating state’s peaceful atmosphere. BJP youth wing has started a rally from Kolkata on January 12, which was to culminate at Lalchowk with the hoisting of tricolour. Meanwhile, the BJP has moved an application with Deputy Commissioner Srinagar seeking permission to hoist Tricolour at Lal Chowk on January 26.
DETAINED: Police arrested a woman and a police constable for their alleged links with Hizbul Mujahideen divisional commander Ghulam Nabi Sheikh alias Javaid Qureshi in two separate operations at Jammu and Doda. Kulsooma Begum wife of Tariq Ahmed Sheikh, a resident of Labbar, Marmat in Doda was arrested from a Jammu hospital where she had come for treatment. She is the second woman to be arrested allegedly for having links with Qureshi.
RETRACTED: A 25-year-old woman witness in the infamous sex scandal case turned hostile and retracted her statement in a CBI special court. She said she was never exploited and that she had never made such allegations. The testimony has come as a jolt to the prosecution which has charged five persons in the 2006 case.
APPOINTED: The 64-year-old Srinagar-born Indian-American Vijay Sazawal has been appointed by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to the prestigious Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee (CINTAC) to advise him on trade issues in civil nuclear industry.
Sazawal, currently Director of Government Programmes of US Enrichment Corporation (USEC) Inc, was involved in Track-2 discussions preceding the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement.
REVIVED: The Board of School Education has decided to return to the past practice of allowing re-evaluation of answer papers besides issuing photostat copies of answer papers to students on request.
EMERGING: Rajouri district is fast coming up as “silkworm rearing” centre with 6,500 ounces of silkworm seed being reared annually generating an income of Rs 225 lakh. More than 5,400 families in the district are associated with the trade.
ORDERED: The government ordered a probe into the death of a vendor, Vijay Kumar, 35, who allegedly died in police custody, in Janipur police station.
CLEARED: Madhav Lal, an IAS officer of 1977 batch, has been cleared to take up the post of state’s chief secretary. Madhav Lal, currently on deputation with Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, will stay in service till June 30, 2015. By then five IAS officers of J&K Cadre Parvez Dewan, Anil Goswami, Pankaj Jain, P G Dhar Chakravarty and Dr R K Jeerath will attain superannuation.
SURVEYED: The Income Tax Department conducted surveys in three prominent nursing homes in Srinagar and Islamabad districts, and claimed to have found documents of huge income and unaccounted assets.
LEFT: Chairman of Hurriyat Conference (M) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is leaving for London to participate in a conference on Kashmir – ‘Asian powers in Kashmir: Pakistan, India and China’ on January 25 and 26. The seminar is being organized by the Royal United Services Institute – a British defence and security think-tank.
TALKED: Interlocutors on Kashmir talked to Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq over phone for around 10 minutes, discussing the situation in the state and seeking time for a meeting. The Mirwaiz confirmed that Dileep Padgaonkar had called him and wanted to meet “but we refused.”
RECORD: The cross- LoC trade hit an all time high of nearly Rs 29 crore business as 321 trucks crossed the Kaman bridge during the two-day trade last week. The previous high was Rs 24 crore recorded in December 2010. Officials attributed the high volume of trade to the two-week break caused by the traders’ boycott over the lack of facilities at Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre. Officials said 191 trucks mostly carrying chillies, ginger, coconut and pineapple were exported while 130 trucks carrying oranges, carpets and dry fruits were imported.
