INAUGRATED: Part of its Civic Action Programme, the police threw open its Youth Club in Nowhata, the heart of Srinagar’s old city. Insisting that many such clubs are in pipeline, police chief Kuldeep Khoda said that its objective is have an interface between police and public.
VISITED: 11745 individuals- 4828 from J&K and 6917 from PaK, crossed LoC on the twin trans-LoC routes to meet their families in last four years. By the end of May only 102 of 271 J&K residents used permits to cross over and from PaK only 107 of 517 individuals, permitted already, could come over.
BAILED: Special Judge Anti-corruption Jammu, A K Koul granted conditional anticpatory bail to state Revenue Secretary Aijaz Iqbal. As managing director SFC, he is accused of auctioning some property at lower than market rates in 2008.
REGISTERED: Police arrested former minister Raman Mattoo’s son, Pawan, and his brother Dr Sunil for manhandling and snatching official weapon of a security guard posted at his Gandhi Nagar residence in Jammu. Police withdrew the guard.
BAGGED: Sajad Gani Lone has got British Chevening-Gurukul scholarship for the year 2011 at London School of Economics. A graduate in economics from the Cardiff University, Lone is one of the 16 individuals from India to get this scholarship this year.
SAVED: A CIK head constable saved two tourists from drowning at Gagangir, Sonamarg. Nazir Ahmad jumped into the river, saved the two and received injuries on his legs. He has been recommended for a bravery award.
ARRESTED: A Congress ‘leader’ Zahid Jan was arrested for allegedly assaulting Advocate Nazir Ahmad Malik, his counsel. Bar was angered when police released Jan. They are seeking judicial intervention now. Malik was summoned to TRC where he was allegedly beaten by his PSO.
STAYED: Of the 1758 Kashmiri Pandits employed, and posted in Kashmir, 139 have refused government accommodation. They are living with Muslims without paying any rent, Chairman Kashmir United Front (KUF) Bharat Raina said.
VISITED: Acting Chief Justice Mr Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, along with Justice Yaqoob Mir and amicus curiae in Dal Conservation case Zaffar A Shah, conducted an extensive tour of the Dal Lake. After having a bird’s eye view from Shankaracharya Hill, they drove to SKICC, boarded a motor boat and went deep inside the lake.
INITIATED: A new coal mine is being developed in Rajouri with an initial production of 4000 to 6000 metric tonnes per year. Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) has been asked to undertake detailed exploration of the coal reserves in and around Kalakote area and the exercise would cost Rs 7 crore.
INDICTED: SHRC has indicted Army and police in 12 out of 34 cases of custodial killings, MLA Langate Engineer Rashid, who had filed these cases said. Terming it ‘just tip of an iceberg’, he said thousands of such cases remain unreported.
LANDED: A high level delegation of Court of Arbitration, India and Pakistan landed in Srinagar for a four-day visit to inspect NHPC’s upcoming 330-MW Kishnaganga power station. Islamabad has gone for arbitration of the dispute, which considers the plant a violation of Indus Water Treaty.
SET UP: Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) is setting up a Rs 40 crore 21-metre diameter telescope to study and analyse gamma rays to unravel the mystery over the origins of the universe at Hanle in Leh. IIA had installed the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) here about a decade ago as the first step towards development of the National Large Optical-Infrared Telescope.
RELEASED: English version of Anjum Zamrud Habib’s Prisoner No 100 was released. Based on her life in Tihar as the only Kashmiri woman inmate, the book was translated by Sahba Hussain. Zamruda is heading Muslim Khawateen Markaz.
SET AFIRE: In a bizarre incident, a 17-year-old girl from Kellam in south Kashmir was set afire allegedly by Asif Bhat. She is battling for her life with 90 percent burns. Police have arrested him.
STARTED: Sindhu Darshan, the festival that BJP started in Leh, was thrown open by chief minister Omar Abdullah last week. The festival is helping Leh to attract a lot of foreign tourists.
ARRESTED: Busting a flesh trade racket, police arrested 10 persons including owner of hotel Nida located near Iqbal Park, Mohammad Yaqoob of Sheikpora. Detained include three girls and six others some of whom function as pimps.
NOWGAM: It has finally resumed chugging on the full track length in Kashmir. Amid massive deployments, the railway has extended its operations up to its last northern point in Baramulla. The stretch remained disrupted for around a year after the infrastructure was damaged during unrest. Railway officials say around 7000 people are using the two diesel multiple units (DMU) daily which is more than the capacity. Though it has a spear DMU for contingency, the railways has ordered one more Unit. Being fabricated in Chennai, this DMU will have two power coaches and five normal coaches. Within a month, loops would be created at Pampore, Magam and Hamray for allowing passage of trains on the single line track.
MUMBAI: Author, lawyer A G Noorani is perhaps the biggest authority on Kashmir. This authority has not come by just writing about Kashmir but his involvement with the Vale. His book on Kashmir sent him to jail, once. Later, he handled the Kashmir conspiracy case against Sheikh Abdullah. He says Kashmir would have been settled as an issue had not 26/11 taken place in Mumbai. Now he wants “the hideous nomenclatures — Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir” be dropped. “Why not East Kashmir and West Kashmir? That is how the two split Germanies called each other even in the worst days of the Cold War,” Noorani wrote recently.
GRAND MUMTAZ: When the government “deported” activist writer Gautum Navlakha from airport, the organizers had kept their fingers crossed over the launch of filmmaker Sanjay Kak’s anthology – Until My Freedom Has Come: The New Intifada in Kashmir. Rumours notwithstanding, the launch witnessed a massive and lively gathering. Waheed Mirza had flown from London, Najeeb Mubarki from Delhi and most of the 24 contributors were present. They talked, agreed and differed on issues, approaches, methods and methodologies. But they agreed on one commonality – ‘let us write what we know or otherwise people (later) would say: has it really happened? Market seems to have received the anthology well. A good beginning for Chiki Sarkar who now leads Penguin India.
BEJBEHARA: Javed Ahmed Tak was 21 when unidentified gunmen looking for somebody else shot at him in March 1997. The bullet went through the ribs, tore into his kidney and liver and he underwent a series of operations. He survived but is wheelchair bound. It, however, did not limit his capacity and urge to work. He is helping 40 disabled children to get educated and has hired three buildings. He desperately needs a bus that can get and drop his pupils back home. Anybody listening?
SOMALIA: Pirates have set free Egyptian merchant vessel MV Suez carrying cement after they got the four million dollars (Rs 10 crore) ransom. This ended the 10-month ordeal of Bari Brahamna’s Madhu Sharma whose husband Narotam Kumar Sharma, a third engineer on the ship, was one of the six Indian sailors. Of the 22 hostages on board, 11 were Egyptians, four Pakistanis, and a Sri Lankan. She credits Pakistani civil liberty activist Ansar Burney for the breakthrough who paid half of the ransom – half was paid by the vessel owners. She says the Indian government did not bother to help her family despite her pleading in last 10 months. The vessel was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on August 2, 2010.
JAMMU: Parvati Sehgal, the model-actress daughter of Seema and Anil Sehgal has got her big screen debut in Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai, currently being shot in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Produced and directed by Ashim Samanta, it has a new breed in its cast. Parvati is TV actress who has performed in Comedy Circus Ke Super Stars, and Star Plus serial Pratigya.
