Kupwara, March 17
Life was restored to normal in Kupwara town today after clashes for three consecutive days between the protesters and security forces.

Shops and commercial establishments remained open and heavy movement of transport was seen on roads. ATMs witnessed clients making beeline to withdraw cash.

Shoppers thronged the markets for buying essential commodities, including vegetables.

The police late last evening released eight youths arrested on the charges of stone-pelting yesterday, sources said.

Six other youths are still under detention on charges of stone-pelting, sources added. Trouble erupted in the Langate area of Handwara tehsil this morning when youths took to the streets and clashed with the police and CRPF personnel.

The police last night had arrested 15 youths from different villages of Langate on charges of stone-pelting.

On Friday, Langate SHO Shakeel Ahmad and eight other youths were injured in clashes. The protesters demanding release of the arrested youths clashed with the police.

The protesters burnt vehicle tyres and raised slogans against the police and the authorities. The police fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesting youths but they continued to put resistance till 3 pm, sources said. At least, seven youths including, two policemen, were injured in the clashes.

Windowpanes of some moving vehicles were also damaged in the clashes. Additional contingents of police and CRPF were deployed in the town to bring situation under control. The police sealed all interior roads with concertina wires leading to the Langate chowk to prevent the youths from reaching the chowk.

“We will not rest until the arrested youths are released,” said a protester.

The locals alleged that police last evening barged into many houses, ransacked them and beat whosoever came their way. They said the police arrested the youth on the basis of suspicion and had no evidence against them. Some local residents alleged that the youths were tortured in the custody only to avenge the injury inflicted to the Langate SHO in clashes on Friday.

“The youths undergoing detention are innocent. The police arrested them only to avenge the injury caused to SHO during clashes two days ago,” said a local resident.

Srinagar, March 17
The J&K government has come up with a new idea to discourage farmers from cultivating poppy and cannabis— a practice quite prevalent in many parts of south Kashmir.

The farmers are being encouraged by the Department of Agriculture to cultivate vegetables against poppy and the government is providing various incentives to them.

“We are providing free potato seeds to the farmers involved in poppy cultivation to encourage them to give it up. The objective is to eradicate this illegal crop cultivation,” Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir said while talking to The Tribune.

“I have asked the officials to carry a door-to-door awareness campaign about this government scheme,” he added.

Many districts in south Kashmir are known for poppy and cannabis cultivation. Till few years ago, poppy fields were spread over more than 5,000 acres in three districts of south Kashmir- Anatnag, Pulwama and Shopian. The government’s claim that its new initiative for encouraging farmers to cultivate vegetables will supposedly yield results in the near future.

Srinagar, March 17
Despite being the most populous district in the Kashmir division as per the 2011 Census, there is only one tehsil social welfare office in Srinagar catering to a population of nearly 12 lakh people.

Interestingly, other districts of Kashmir with half the population of Srinagar like Budgam district (population 7.55 lakh ) has six social welfare tehsil offices, Anantnag (with a population of 7.34 lakh) has five social welfare tehsil offices, Bandipora (with a population of 3.16 lakh) has three social welfare tehsil offices. Srinagar which is also the summer capital of state has two tehsils - Srinagar North and Srinagar South.

The lone social welfare office functional in the city is located in Miskeen Bagh, Rainawari in Srinagar North.

With a huge influx of people from other districts of the Valley to Srinagar, the only urban district for employment and education purposes, there is also a surge in the demand for availing more benefits from various social welfare schemes as a result of which it becomes quite difficult for the single office to handle the entire district.

Bashir Ahmad, Director Social Welfare, while acknowledging the shortage of social welfare offices in Srinagar, said that a new social welfare office for addressing the grievances of South Srinagar tehsil residents will come up in two months.

“There is certainly a shortage of tehsil offices for people in Srinagar despite it being the most populous district in Kashmir. We will open one office in two months in areas where people have no access to Srinagar North tehsil offce,” he added.

Social welfare offices are meant to generate awareness, provide aid to orphans, widows, destitute, economically weaker sections, SCs, STs and OBCs.

Srinagar, March 17
After taking over the charge, the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Abdul Ghani Mir chaired a meeting at the Police Control Room (PCR), Srinagar, and reviewed the functioning of different sections.

“The IGP exhorted upon the officers that the PCR has to remain alive to any situation round the clock,” a police spokesman said.

He also directed the officers heading different sections of the control room to bring innovation and quickness in the work so that they could serve the department and people much better.

The spokesman said the officers gave resume of the working of their respective sections. “The IGP underlined a number of measures for strengthening the system at the PCR,” the spokesman said.

The meeting was attended, among others by SA Mujtaba, Deputy Inspector General of Police, central Kashmir Range, Sheikh Mahmood, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), PCR, SAH Bukhari, SSP, Srinagar, and DySP’s of the PCR, Kashmir.

Earlier, the IGP inspected different sections of the zonal police headquarters, after resuming the charge. Mir, an IPS officer of 1994 batch, originally from Bihar cadre took over the IGP, Kashmir, on Saturday. 

Srinagar, March 17
The floating post office on the Dal Lake, a popular tourist attraction, is set to get a new address.

The post office will be located in the interiors of the lake and also have a new-look museum to woo more tourists, especially the foreigners.

“We are disposing off the old one and the new floating post office will be located somewhere in the interiors of the lake. We have already issued notice for tenders and hopefully it will be inaugurated in April when the tourist season is at its peak,” Chief Postmaster General, Department of Post (DoP), J&K circle, John Samuel said.

Samuel said besides functioning as a normal post office, the museum in the floating office would have old mailboxes and rare stamps on display.

The previous floating post office, inaugurated by Union Minister Sachin Pilot along with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah in August 2011, had stopped functioning last year after it partially submerged into the lake.

Samuel said the new post office would be launched mainly for the tourists who usually throng the Dal Lake for a stay on houseboats or for shikara (boat) rides.

The previous floating post office near the Nehru Park Boulevard had become an added tourist attraction around the Dal Lake, especially among foreigners who would visit the museum there and also for buying special postcards carrying different landscape sights of the Valley.

Moreover, the museum had many books on the history and culture of Kashmir besides A Soliloquy of Post Office enumerating the services rendered by the post office.

Srinagar, March 17 
Separatist council Mutahida Majlis Mashawarat (MMM) today issued a new protest calendar to demand the return of bodies of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru and 1960 militant commander Mohammad Maqbool Butt and called for a series of protests through the week and a shutdown on Wednesday.

The shutdown was earlier called for Saturday this week but was later rescheduled for Wednesday.

The MMM, in a statement, said the change had been done as Youm-e-Pakistan (Pakistan Day) is falling on Saturday.

The council said the shutdown on Wednesday was to demand the return of bodies of Guru and Butt and against the detentions and arrests of separatist leaders.

On Monday, the council had called for evening protests while it had asked the students to hold protests at colleges and universities on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the MMM has called for a blackout while it has asked clerics to read out special prayers in mosques during the Friday congregation prayers.

The council has asked the civil society and human rights activists to hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to demand the return of bodies.

Srinagar, March 17
The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has sanctioned a mega multi-partner research initiative on Himalayan glaciers with partners from Kashmir university (Earth Sciences), Jammu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Sikkim University.

The research project, budgeted at Rs 185 million, has been sanctioned primarily to strengthen the observations and model development that are lacking in Himalayas, which is one of the largest glaciers covered regions of the world.

Shakil A Romshoo, head, Department of Earth Sciences, who is coordinating the initiative at the Kashmir University said, “Besides, the economic and technical aspects, political considerations about the changing Himalayan cryosphere are significant and need to be taken into account in this context.” 

He said the Himalayan water resources are shared between India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh through different treaties. He said a more solid scientific knowledge in regard to currently available and changing water resources was mandatory to address and successfully solve emerging issues on sharing of waters in south Asia. — TNS

Kupwara March 17
Leopard attacked and injured a seven-year-old girl in Mergi village of Lolab last evening. The victim Zamrooda, daughter of Ghulam Hassan Mir, received injures in her hand and abdomen and her condition is stated to be critical.

She was rushed to the Lalpora health centre from where she was referred to a Srinagar hospital from Kupwara. The victim was in the yard of her house when the leopard attacked her around 6.30 pm yesterday. The big cat pounced on her and nearly chopped her hand and abdomen, locals said.

"The minor girl would have been killed by the leopard had locals not raised an alarm forcing the animal to flee from the spot," said a local resident.

Following the incident, the villagers held a protest against the wildlife authorities. They alleged that the department had failed to save the lives of humans and livestock from animals of prey. They blocked the Kupwara-Lolab road near Lalpora for about two hours till 9 pm.

"The animals are on a killing spree and the department is watching as a mute spectator. Dozens of cattle have been devoured and we are facing serious threat to our lives," said Altaf Ahmad, a local resident.

Wildlife officials visited the spot today and assured the local residents that necessary measures would be taken to arrest the increasing movement of wild animals.

"We have set up a cage in the village and the man-eater will be trapped soon. The locals should also restrict their movement in the evening hours," said an official of the Wildlife Department.

The scare of wild animals continues to haunt the locals of the Lolab valley for past many months. Residents of Charkote, Dardpora, Maidanpora, Charkote and Warnow in Lolab said they were afraid to step out of their houses due to increasing movement of wild animals. The villagers from the surrounding area said bears and leopards were on the prowl in villages and the department was doing nothing to curb the movement of animals.

"The wild animals are on the prowl in villages even during the day," said Abdul Ahad, a resident of Dardpora Lolab. 

Srinagar, March 17
A 32-year-old married woman died under mysterious circumstances in the old city here. Her parents alleged she was murdered by her in-laws.

The victim Rehana, wife of Reyaz Ahmad, died at her in-laws’ home at Shamswari in the old city, a police spokesman said.

The police has registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC and initiated inquest proceedings to ascertain under what circumstances she died.

The victim’s parents alleged she had marks on her neck, ears and arms raising suspicion that she could have been murdered.

“Her husband called my mother at 9:30 am yesterday and said she was ill. When she went there, he asked our mother to get an auto-rickshaw for her. When they shifted Rehana to the hospital, doctors there said she was already dead,” said Nadeem Ahmad Sofi, Rehana’s brother.

Reports said her husband's family insisted upon her burial without conducting post-mortem on her body to which her family objected to and called the police.

“Her husband was in a hurry to get her buried but we decided against it and called the police which took her body for post-mortem,” the victim’s brother said.

He said his sister always complained of abuse and domestic violence at her husband’s place and was reluctant to go there.

“They would not even give her proper food and was forced to eat the leftovers,” he said.

The victim was married for nearly three years and she gave birth to twin babies last year who did not survive.