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Fire at Dastageer shrine
Separatists call for shutdown today
Amarnath cave shrine opened to pilgrims after prayers
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Heavy rain brings yatra to a halt briefly
Blacksmiths a busy lot during yatra period
Despite Indo-Pak flag meeting, cross-LoC trade yet to begin
Expert panel to curb stray dog menace
in Kashmir valley
Financial impropriety: CoI ordered against Maj Gen
Man injured in landmine explosion
A doctor by qualification, but farmer by profession
Cross-LoC trade yet to begin
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Fire at Dastageer shrine
Srinagar, June 25 National Conference president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah also expressed shock over the incident. A party spokesman said Farooq Abdullah was deeply pained and saddened by the devastating fire at the Dastageer Sahib shrine. He appealed the people to maintain calm. Member of Parliament and former Sadr-e-Riyasat Dr Karan Singh said he was shocked to learn that the ancient and highly respected shrine had been destroyed. “I hope steps will be taken forthwith to rebuild this sacred shrine,” he said. Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir and State Secretary of CPM MY Tarigami also expressed grief and shock. PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said the incident “adds another black chapter to the history of recent tragedies suffered by Kashmir”. The PDP held a meeting after the fire incident which was also attended by party president Mehbooba Mufti. The PDP spokesman said the party leadership shared deep grief and tragedy that had engulfed the Kashmiri society. All-Party Sikh Coordination Committee chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said the Sikh community was deeply shocked over the destruction of the oldest shrine of Muslims. “It is not only a sad news for Muslims but for all, including Sikhs, as it was a symbol of prosperity and historical importance,” Raina said.
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Separatists call for shutdown today
Srinagar, June 25 Hardline Hurriyat faction chairman Syed Ali Geelani while expressing sorrow called for a shutdown tomorrow to mourn the incident. He also appealed to the people not to pay heed to rumour mongering and maintain calm. He called for an impartial probe into the incident. JKLF chief Yasin Malik also called for shutdown tomorrow while appealing the people not to make the plans of groups with “destructive mindsets” successful. Chairman of the moderate Hurriyat faction, who was placed under house arrest after he tried to visit the Dastageer Sahib shrine, said the fire could have been controlled earlier if the firefighting tenders had taken timely action. He said the incident had caused “spiritual pain” to the people. Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Mufti Bashiruddin, too, called for a shutdown to protest the incident. Maulana GR Hami, patron of Karwan-i-Islami (KI), a conglomerate of 42 religious organisations, called for a two-day shutdown from tomorrow. He said the government should hold the probe under the “observation” of religious organisations. However, Hami said the incident may be a “conspiracy against Sufi sects”. The KI also intends to take out a “peaceful” demonstration tomorrow to mourn the incident. |
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Amarnath cave shrine opened to pilgrims after prayers
Srinagar, June 25 The Governor paid obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum and prayed for peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in the state. The Governor’s wife Usha Vohra and CEO of the SASB Navin K Choudhary accompanied the Governor during the visit, and paid obeisance at the cave shrine along with other senior officers of the SASB, government, police and security forces. The annual yatra this year will be concluding on the occasion of Rakshan Bandhan, which falls on August 2. The registration of the yatris had commenced on May 7. Immediately after the puja, the yatra formally commenced, with the gates being thrown open to the eagerly awaiting pilgrims. After his visit to the shrine, the Governor also reviewed the arrangements made for the yatris at the holy
cave shrine camp and conveyed the Shrine Board’s thanks to the state government, Army, central paramilitary forces, state police and all the agencies concerned for their support and cooperation. He stressed the need for effective supervision, particularly keeping in view the difficulties and stoppages caused by intermittent rains and bad weather and the large accumulation of snow in the holy cave and Sheshnag camps. Later, the Governor flew to the Baltal base camp and joined Minister for Forests Mian Altaf Ahmad, who flagged-off the two
Baltal-Panjtarni helicopter services. The Governor also reviewed the yatra arrangements put in place at this base camp and the camps en route the holy cave. The Governor also visited Chandanwari where he inspected the functioning of the control gate and the arrangements at the camp. He wanted one more shelter unit to be set up next to the control gate for the convenience of the pilgrims. The Governor interacted with pilgrims at the holy cave, Baltal, Pahalgam, Nunwan Base Camp and Chandanwari and enquired about the adequacy of the arrangements made for the yatra. The yatris were appreciative of the arrangements. Meanwhile, the CEO of the SASB has reiterated his appeal to the pilgrims to embark on the pilgrimage only after obtaining, in their own interest, a valid Yatra Permit. This would ensure against any avoidable inconvenience to them. Pilgrims without a valid Yatra Permits would not be able to proceed beyond the Nunwan and Baltal camps, he added. The CEO said the Board has also issued a detailed advisory of do’s and don’ts for the yatris.
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Heavy rain brings yatra to a halt briefly
Baltal, June 25 As many as 10,800 pilgrims had reached the base camp for their onward journey to the shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas, which started today with puja being offered by Governor NN Vohra at the shrine. The authorities, however, said nearly 2,500 pilgrims proceeded towards the shrine despite rain in the area. Ashok Pandita, director, Baltal base camp, said: “Normally, we don’t allow the yatra after 10 am but due to the rain on the opening day, we extended the time up to 10.30 am.” A total of 200 yatris utilised the helicopter service to reach the shrine, and out of them, 12 have already paid obeisance, he added. “Those yatris who left early morning for the cave shrine have not yet returned because of the slippery track due to the rain,” the Baltal base camp director said. The base camp again received heavy showers around 3 pm. Besides the rain, snowfall in the upper reaches of the track is also creating problems for pilgrims. Satish Kumar Seth, a resident of Chandigarh and founder member of the Gouri Shankar Seva Dal, said he had never seen such a heavy snowfall during the yatra. He has been paying obeisance at the holy cave for the last 22 years. 2,185 pilgrims depart from Jammu Jammu: As many as 2,185 pilgrims today left the Bhagwati Nagar camp for their onward journey to the Amarnath shrine. The yatris, including 985 men, 578 women and 322 children, left in 66 vehicles. Some 300 sadhus also left for the cave shrine. Pilgrim dies of cardiac arrest Twentyseven-year-old pilgrim Neeraj Chopra of Jalandhar died due to cardiac arrest at the Baltal base camp in Ganderbal district, the police here said. |
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Blacksmiths a busy lot during yatra period
Chandanwari, June 25 Right from the Nunwan base camp, about 17 km from here, farriers and ironsmiths can be seen fixing horseshoes at several places to horses, which are used to ferry pilgrims and essential supplies en route the cave shrine. Rouf Ahmad, an ironsmith who has set up a shop here, sold and fixed around 100 horseshoes yesterday alone as a large number of porters carried essential supplies on horses towards the cave shrine from here. “We charge Rs 200 for four horseshoes. I manufacture and fix them myself,” he said. Another ironsmith, Adil Ahmad, turns a farrier only during the Amarnath yatra. “There is a huge demand for horseshoes during the pilgrimage. I have made horseshoes out of two quintals of iron. I fix horseshoes only during the yatra and once it gets over, I do the normal ironsmith’s work at my village near Pahalgam,” he said. Due to the treacherous journey, the horseshoes need to be replaced after around 15 days. “We have to replace them after 15 days only due to excessive wear and tear. Otherwise, it gets worn out as per the distance travelled by the horse and the weight put over its back,” said Noor Mohammad, a horse-wallah. “Some ironsmiths even charge us up to Rs 250 for four horseshoes,” he added. Mohammad Ishaque, another horse-wallah, said the fixing of horseshoes was necessary as it protected the hoof. “Horses lifting heavy loads toil a lot. Their hooves can get damaged if not given horseshoes,” he said. The horseshoe is nailed through the hoof wall of a horse. “The hoof is very thick. However, it is insensitive and the horse does not feel pain when a horseshoe is nailed,” said Ishaque. |
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Kashmir valley finds a brand ambassador in Chief Minister
Jammu, June 25 The Chief Minister flashes pictures and words on the microblogging site Twitter to his followers, encouraging them to visit the Kashmir valley. He is even sensitive enough to tell the visitors regarding their dress code in Kashmir’s places of worship. “It is almost like an obsession with him to promote tourism in the Valley, where already more than 4,00,000 tourists have visited, some with sweet memories and others with bitter experience of being fleeced,” observed a government official on the condition of anonymity. His latest tweet was rather a challenge to his followers on the Twitter on their courage in trying aero ballooning in Srinagar, the summer capital. It was introduced on Friday. Omar tweeted, “Have any of you gathered the courage to try that helium balloon thing on the Boulevard?” He has also uploaded number of photographs, some of these aerial shots, to attract tourists to the Kashmir valley. His recent picture titled “Nun & Kun peaks peek out of the clouds” has drawn great applause from his followers whose number has swelled to around 1.5 lakh. His other pictures of Tulip garden in Srinagar, “Hari Parbat fort seen through the almond blossom”, “The new Chair lift to Mary's Shoulder from Kongdori in Gulmarg”, Lolab Valley in north Kashmir, “A taste of Ladakh - Pangong Lake (made famous by 3 idiots)” etc also encouraged the people across the globe to visit the Kashmir valley. Omar’s recent directions to Wakf Board to take a serious note of dress code of visitors in Kashmir’s place of worship also prompted the locals to urge him to take every complaint from the people seriously. “You have a point and while we don’t stop people from visiting, they must be suitably dressed and should not be allowed during namaz,” Omar had written on the Twitter. He had said this when one of his followers had drawn his attention towards the mess in Hazratbal shrine during prayers. “Visited Hazratbal for Mehraj prayers. During magrib many non-Muslim tourists seen running over prayer rugs,” the follower had said. The state government hopes around 1.5 million tourists would visit the Kashmir valley this year. Last year, over 11 lakh tourists had visited Kashmir owing to peaceful summer. All hotels and houseboats are fully booked till August in Kashmir after the Valley tourism started from April 15. |
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Despite Indo-Pak flag meeting, cross-LoC trade yet to begin
Jammu/Poonch, June 25 Following border skirmishes in KG sector from June 13 to June 16 when Pak troops had shelled Indian forward posts, the two key confidence-building measures (CBMs) between New Delhi and Islamabad have come to a grinding halt. “Though the flag meeting took place between India and Pakistan on June 23, chances of resuming trade and travel between the two parts of divided Kashmir look bleak,” said Abdul Hamid, custodian of the cross-LoC trade and travel via Chakan-da-Bagh. Hamid said he had a talk with his Rawalakot counterpart in occupied Kashmir this morning as well. “He again informed me that he is awaiting further orders from the higher authorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He also informed that the Pakistan army has still not talked to the civil administration in PoK and therefore it will take some more days to resume trade and travel via Chakan-da-Bagh,” said Hamid. Unless the Pak army holds talks with civil administration in PoK and arrive at a decision, resumption of the two CBMs between the two countries look bleak, added the official. Moreover, my counterpart in Rawalakot has also informed me that since authorities in PoK are busy with closure of their financial year, the trade and travel could possibly be restored by July 2 and July 3, respectively, said Hamid. Ever since border skirmishes, 57 persons from PoK have been left stranded here in Jammu and Kashmir while 19 Indians, who had gone to PoK to meet their relatives, have been stuck up on other side of the LoC. Hamid said despite being Monday, when cross-LoC bus service takes place, the Pakistani authorities didn’t open the gates on their side of the LoC. “If authorities in PoK refuse to open the gates on July 2 for the weekly trans-LoC bus service, then we may send 57 PoK nationals back via Uri-Muzaffarabad route. We have conveyed it to the PoK
Authorities,” Hamid said. The trade and travel were started as a part of CBMs between New Delhi and Islamabad to normalise relations and facilitate divided families of Jammu and Kashmir and PoK to meet each other. “Since the flag meeting has been organised and peace has been restored along the LoC, the trade should be started without further delay” said president of the Poonch Cross-LoC Traders’ Association, Pawan Anand. UNCERTAINTY CONTINUES
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Expert panel to curb stray dog menace
in Kashmir valley
Jammu, June 25 The Housing and Urban Development Department (HUDD) has constituted the committee following the High Court directive, which took cognisance of a public interest litigation (PIL). Srinagar has a canine population of over a lakh and the city had witnessed around 7,000 cases of dog bite in the last five months. The panel is headed by administrative secretary, HUDD. Sources said the number of dog bite cases registered by the anti-rabies clinic in the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital in Srinagar in 2011 stood at 7,257 cases against 4,230 in 2010. The maximum cases fell in category III bites -- considered as the deadliest among the canine attacks. The Valley had witnessed strong protests from civil society members after stray dog menace assumed alarming proportions. The civil society as well as political parties had accused the government of failing to take corrective measures to curb the stray dog population. After facing flak from various quarters, the government had also started the sterilisation of the dogs at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST). The High Court had also ordered the government to build dog pounds on the outskirts of the city to shift stray dogs there. The government however failed to construct pounds because it faced stiff resistance from local residents. Dog Bite Cases
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Financial impropriety: CoI ordered against Maj Gen
Jammu, June 25 “The Court of Inquiry has been ordered against Maj Gen VK Sharma of the Army Service Corps (ASC) because allegations of bribery were levelled against him in recent times,” said a senior Army officer. The officer further informed that alleged acts of financial impropriety in a contract case by Maj Gen VK Sharma necessitated the CoI. However, the officer has neither been arrested nor detained, he said. For the past few days, we have been receiving complaints of financial impropriety in an AC contract case against Maj Gen Sharma, which compelled us to initiate a CoI against him, said the officer. He divulged that the allegations were levelled by some suppliers supplying items to the ASC. The ASC supplies food and other items to troops of Northern Command, including those posted at Siachen glacier. |
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Man injured in landmine explosion
Srinagar, June 25 The landmine was planted by the Army in no man's land as part of counter-infiltration measures to scuttle any attempt by militants to sneak into the Valley from across the border, they said. — PTI
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A doctor by qualification, but farmer by profession
Jammu, June 25 Born in a family of bureaucrats, Dr Gazalla Amin did her schooling from Presentation Convent Srinagar and MBBS from Government Medical College Srinagar. She got married in the fourth year of her college but completed her graduation and pursued a job for sometime. Born in Asham in Sumbal Sonawari, Dr Gazalla Amin has spent her childhood in a village surrounded by farms and cattle roaming around. “I started farming from just 1 hectare of land and started experimenting with it. I am happy that now I have a lot more than I had started with. Though farming is not a lucrative profession in our country, I am satisfied with the money I make”. In her farms, besides cultivating lavender in over three hectares, she grows roses, rose-scented geranium, rosemary and other aromatic and medicinal plants. Gazalla has three sons, one of them is working in London and the other two are pursuing their studies in Kashmir. She is hopeful that one of his sons will take over farming as his profession as she has a dream to give farming a new definition. “Whenever a word farmer comes to the mind of people, a starving poor man is the image that they make but I have changed the definition. Even educated people can opt for this field. I know a doctor is considered next to the God in our country but a farmer is one who produces food for the people, so I don’t think we should underestimate him”, said Dr Amin. Commenting on the women of Kashmir who have been the worst victims of militancy in the past 22 years, she said, “Women of the Valley have suffered a lot in the past 22 years. Some have become widows, some half-widows and some have lost their children but they have not given up. In fact, these sufferings have made them stronger and despite all the odds they are excelling in their respective fields”. |
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Cross-LoC trade yet to begin
Jammu/Poonch, June 25 Following border skirmishes in KG sector from June 13 to June 16 when Pak troops had shelled Indian forward posts, the two key confidence-building measures (CBMs) between New Delhi and Islamabad have come to a grinding halt. “Though the flag meeting took place between India and Pakistan on June 23, chances of resuming
trade and travel between the two parts of divided Kashmir look bleak,” said Abdul Hamid, custodian of the cross-LoC trade and travel via
Chakan-da-Bagh.
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The leaders of all political parties have expressed shock and grief over the fire incident in which the revered shrine of Pir Dastageer Sahab was damaged here today.
While the huge rush of devotees to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath has brought economic benefits to many, locally made horseshoes of this south Kashmir region are in great demand as the pilgrimage got under way today.
Right from the Nunwan base camp, about 17 km from here, farriers and ironsmiths can be seen fixing horseshoes at several places to horses, which are used to ferry pilgrims and essential supplies en route the cave shrine.
The state government has finally woken up to Kashmir’s new threat of canine attacks as it has constituted a high-level expert panel for suggesting an action plan on stray dog menace within the limits of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and its surroundings.
