Srinagar, April 5
A shattered Ghulam Muhammad is making constant rounds of the emergency ward of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Srinagar. He lost his 14-year-old niece Nowsheen in the Kokernag road accident yesterday, while the condition of his four-year-old daughter Mifta and 13-year-old nephew Shakir is critical.

Muhammad Shafi’s family is in mourning and blamed everyone from the police to the authorities of the District Hospital, Anantnag, for laxity on their part.

“The accident took place on the Kandiwara road at 4.30 pm yesterday while the bus of Islamia Moral High School was carrying schoolchildren back home. It took nearly two hours for the police from the nearby Achabal Police Station to reach the accident spot. We ferried a load carrier to the District Hospital, Anantnag. There were no ambulances on the spot. For how long could we wait for official help when our children were dying,” Muhammad Shafi said.

Ghulam Muhammad, another family member, said as children were constantly being referred to the SKIMS and Bones & Joints Hospital, Srinagar, there were no ambulances on the hospital premises to carry the children to Srinagar.

“I had to request for a private vehicle. We had to cover at least 70-km distance,” Ghulam Muhammad added.

As two children of the family were brought to the hospital, their third child, five-year-old Mifta, fell unconscious.

“She regained consciousness today morning and is crying with pain. Her left arm has a major fracture and doctors have advised us to take her to Bones and Joints Hospital,” her mother said.

Shakir has multiple fractures in his legs and arms and has a minor head injury too. He is still unaware that his sister has already died in the accident. 

Srinagar, April 5
Lawyers in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district continued their strike for the third consecutive day today to protest the registration of an FIR against three advocates.

The three lawyers, against whom the case was registered, are accused of beating up a woman in the court premises on Tuesday.

“The strike continued for the third day today,” said the secretary of the Bar Association, Anantnag, Khalid Bichoo. “From day one, we have been asking for registration of a counter FIR against the woman and her accomplices but so far nothing has happened,” he said.

The Anantnag police today submitted a report to the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Anantnag, on the issue.

On Tuesday, 30-year-old Khalida had lodged a complaint with the police against three lawyers and accused them of thrashing her.

Srinagar, April 5
More than 4,000 people were killed in over 25,000 road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir in the past four years.

On an average, 17 road accidents have been taking place in the state every day for the past four years while 25 persons are injured in accidents everyday.

The number of road accidents have consistently increased year after year and yesterday’s incident, in which nine children were killed when their school bus skidded off the road and rolled down a gorge in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, shows there is no end in sight for such deaths soon.

In the past four years, 25,485 road accidents have taken place in the state in which 4,453 people lost their lives and 36,920 were injured.

In 2012 alone, 1,165 people were killed and 9,755 injured in 6,709 road accidents, according to data compiled by the state traffic department.

In 2011, 1,120 people were killed in 6,644 road accidents while the number of injured was as high as 10,108.

In 2010, 1,042 people were killed and 8,709 injured in 6,136 road accidents while in 2009, 1,126 people were killed and 8,348 injured in 6,006 road accidents.

In the past over three years, the number of vehicles in the state has increased phenomenally at a rate of over 10 per cent. The number of vehicles in the state has gone up from 6,68,445 in 2008-2009 to 9,16,898 in 2011-12.

Srinagar, April 5
It is a do or die situation for nine-year-old Aquib Bhat’s family at the SKIMS hospital. Doctors there have told them that one of his legs has to be amputated since all the major blood arteries connecting the left leg to the foot are cut and if his leg is not amputated, he might suffer from gangrene, which can even lead to his death.

Aquib is one of the victims of the Kokernag mishap which occurred yesterday. His father, who is a daily wager, does not want Aquib to live a crippled life, but there is little he can do at this point.

The family wants to take their son to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, so that they may save him from being handicapped, but there are no financial means to do that.

Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, visited the victims at the hospital and gave them Rs 20,000.

“He is my only son. He is just nine-year-old. What will he do for the rest of his life. My husband has gone out to arrange money so that we find a way out,” Aquib’s mother Shamima said.

Doctors posted at the ward said there wasn’t much they could do at this point of time.

“We really cannot help it. We wanted to save his leg, but it is too late,” a doctor posted at the emergency ward said.

“At present, there are seven children of Islamia Moral High School admitted in the hospital out of which two are critical,” Dr Aiejaz Mustafa Shah, Medical Superintendent, SKIMS, Soura, said. 

Kupwara, April 5
Notwithstanding the Power Development Department’s claims of repairing and installing transformers within a stipulated time of 15 days, at least 28 transformers in different villages of Kupwara district have not been repaired for the past two months. In some cases, the transformers have not been repaired for the past three months.

Villages continue to grope in darkness and there seems to be no end in sight to the power woes faced by the villagers. A senior power official said a directive passed by the Chief Engineer, Power Development Department (PDD), to all power divisions in the state in January makes the repair and installation of transformers mandatory within a stipulated time period of 15 days.

Zachaldara sarpanch Ghulam Mohd Margray said he along with senior citizens of the village had been making rounds of power division Handwara for the past two months for the installation of a transformer in their village but to no avail. “Our pleas went unheard time and again and for the past two months the village is groping in the dark. Now we have decided not to visit the power division for want of a transformer as we feel humiliated to visit time and again,” he said.

He ridiculed the claims of the state authorities that village officials had been fully empowered. “Is this the empowerment of village officials. I am insulted by the power department before my own people who voted me to power in the hope of bringing development to the village,” he added.

The affected villages include Muqam, Rajpora, Rajwar, Zachaldara, Shanu, Ganapora, Batpora, Magam and Shah Muqam. The residents of these villages threatened to take to streets if the transformers were not installed and electricity supply restored without any further delay. “It is a shame for the PDD that even after months they have failed to repair and install transformers. We will be forced to take to streets if the transformers are not installed at the earliest. The non-availability of power is affecting studies of children in the village,” said Fayaz Ahmad of Shanu village.

Villagers of Rajpora said they were forced to pay Rs 50 per family to send the transformer for repair. “It has been more than two months but the transformer has not been installed. The power division continues to test our patience but they are probably unmindful of the fact that they cannot snatch from us the right to protest their failure and make them act,” said Mohd Sultan, a Rajpora resident.

A senior power department official said due to two weeks’ strike by the employees of the department in the recent past, the transformers could not be taken up for repairs. “The repair work has begun and the transformers will soon be installed in respective villages,” he said.

Kupwara, April 5
Residents of Salkoote, near Kupwara, are facing a severe shortage of drinking water for the last one week.

They said a water tanker, which was pressed into service by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Division, Kupwara, failed to cater to their requirements.

They demanded that at least one more tanker should be pressed into service till the water supply was restored.

“Taps have dried up for the last one week. A tanker is supplying us water, but it is not sufficient to fulfil our requirements,” Jawahira Akther, a local resident, said.

“A family does not get more than four buckets of water supplied through the tanker,” she added.

The locals said in the absence of other sources of water like ponds and wells in the village, they relied on water supply round the clock. “The village is devoid of ponds and wells and the only source of drinking water is the supply water. The shortage of potable water has forced many families to move to their relatives’ houses,” said Salam-u-din, who resides near Government Higher Secondary School, Salkoote.

They said water in a nullah flowing through the village was muddy and was misfit for consumption.

Another resident Shakeel Ahmad said, “The PHE division, Kupwara, must press one more water tanker into service till the supply is restored”.

Executive Engineer, PHE Division, Kupwara, Riyaz Ahmad Wani, said due to the damage to a supply line in a nullah, near Sulkoote, the water supply got snapped to some families. “The water level in the nullah has gone up due to rains during the last few days. We could not repair the damaged line and as soon as the water level goes down, we will repair the supply line and restore the supply,” said Wani.

The supply line got damaged on Sunday during an excavation work carried out by the Irrigation Department from the nullah near the Roads and Buildings Department. 

Katra, April 5
There was a time in Mahore when girls left school because of militancy in the region, but this year, Jamila Akhtar and Yasmin Bano quit school for a different reason. They left school because their families could not afford their education. Both the girls are resident of Chaklas village in Mahore and were studying in Government Primary School, Lelna.

Villager Mushtaq Ahmed said both the girls were extremely intelligent and had a bright future. However, since both of them were from poor families, their parents could not afford the costs of books, stationary and uniform. As a result, they left their school in January.

Commander of Rashtriya Rifles Sector at Mahore came to know about the girls and asked the headmaster of their school to re-admit both of them and sponsored their further studies. The Rashtriya Rifles Battalion at Sarh has taken up the responsibility of sponsoring the school fees, books, stationary and uniform for their entire career, till they finish their studies. On Friday morning, both Jamila Akhtar and Yasmin Bano rejoined their school. 

Srinagar, April 5
Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Police had turned into a bribe industry.

The separatist leader, who addressed a Friday congregational gathering at the Jamia Masjid, said students were being detained under the “infamous” Public Safety Act.

“There are reports that the arrested youth are forced to pay ransom at police stations,” he said. “Though the state police claims to be the protector of the people, the reality is that the department has turned into a bribe industry,” he added.

Srinagar, April 5
Noted historian Prof Muhammad Ishaq Khan passed away today at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, after a brief illness. He was 67 years old. Professor Khan is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

He was admitted to the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit of the hospital last week regarding a heart ailment.

A noted professor of history and a writer, he taught history at the Post Graduate Department of History, University of Kashmir, for more than 25 years. He has served in various capacities at the university.

He was formerly Dean, Academics, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, and HoD, History, at Kashmir University. After his superannuation in 2005, he became the director of the Centre for Kashmir Studies and later held the Shaikhul Alam Chair at Kashmir University till August 2008.

Prof Khan’s greatest works include ‘Kashmir’s Transition to Islam, the Role of Muslim Rishis’ and ‘Crisis of a Kashmiri Muslim Spiritual and Intellectual’.

He was the first Indian historian who has also written extensively against using Islam as an ideology. He regarded Islam as essentially a faith rather than politico-religious ideology.

His books and research articles have received critical recognition in academic journals of international repute in the country and abroad, including ‘The Indian Historical Review’, ‘The American Historical Review’, ‘Studies in History’, ‘Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies’, ‘Pacific Affairs’, ‘ of Asian Studies’, ‘South Asia Research’ and ‘The New York Review of Books’. 

Kupwara, April 5
Mohammad Maqbool Dar (57), son of Jamal Dar and resident of Dar Mohalla, Kupwara, died of a stroke yesterday. The victim, his relatives said, was engaged in an argument with his sons at a neighbour’s house when he suffered the stroke.

“He was trying to make his point during a meeting called by senior citizens to resolve a property dispute with his sons from his first wife. While doing so, he suffered the stroke and fell unconscious. He was rushed to the sub-district hospital at Kupwara where doctors declared him brought dead,” said a relative.

A postmortem of his body was conducted at the hospital. A doctor at the hopital confirmed that Dar died of a stroke. He was buried late last evening. The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 CrPc.

Srinagar, April 5
A 45-year-old woman committed suicide by consuming poison in Ganderbal district, the police said today.

A resident of Shalabagh village of Ganderbal, the woman consumed some poisonous substance at her home, a police spokesman said. The woman was shifted to the SKIMS hospital in the city, where she died. A case has been registered. — TNS