by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Srinagar : Authorities imposed restrictions in parts of the city here in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday to prevent a separatist-called protest and maintain law and order, police said.
There is prohibitory orders in place in Nowhatta, Khanyar, Rainawari, M.R.Gunj, Safa Kadal and Maisuma where heavy deployments of police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been made.
The post-Friday prayer protests are against “repression”. The separatist leaders have asked the preachers at the mosques to highlight the excesses committed by India during their sermons.
All higher secondary schools and colleges have been shut to prevent student protests. Classes at the Kashmir University have also been suspended for the day.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Srinagar : A protest shutdown called by the separatists affected life adversely across the Kashmir Valley on Monday.
Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) separatist conglomerate headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik called for the shutdown against the killings of five militants and a civilian in Chowgam village of Kulgam district on Saturday.
Shops, public transport, other businesses and educational institutions remained closed in Srinagar and the district headquarters of the Valley.
Attendance in post offices and banks was also affected because of the non-availability of public transport in Srinagar and other places.
All university exams scheduled for Monday have been postponed and rail services between the Valley and Bannihal town of Jammu region have been suspended.
Heavy deployment of police and Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been made in Srinagar city and other sensitive places in the Valley.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday to inaugurate two pilot projects of “smart” border fencing built under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) programme.
He will also visit the forward areas near the International Border (IB) in Jammu.
“Leaving for Jammu on a day long visit. Shall inaugurate two pilot under CIBMS in Jammu sector and also visit the forward areas near the International Border,” the Minister tweeted before his departure.
The two projects, each covering a 5.5 km-border stretch along the IB in Jammu, are set to get a first-of-a-kind high-tech surveillance system that will create an invisible electronic barrier on land, water and even in air and underground, helping the Border Security Force (BSF) detect and foil infiltration bids in the most difficult terrains.
CIBMS involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies — thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms that form an invisible land fence, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids through tunnels, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that shall receive data from all surveillance device in real time.
The programme is a more robust border management system which is seamlessly integrating modern technology with human resource, a Home Ministry official said.
“Based on integrated border management system, this virtual fence would be first of its kind initiative in India,” said the official.
The officer said the CIBMS is designed to guard stretches where physical surveillance is not possible either due to inhospitable terrain or riverine borders.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Islamabad : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said that Turkey has agreed to support Islamabad’s bid for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue at the UN.
Qureshi’s comments came at a joint press conference at the Foreign Office with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is currently in Pakistan on a four-day visit.
“Turkey stands by Pakistan during its tough times… It supported Pakistan against the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to place Islamabad on the grey list and wants the best solution for the Kashmir issue,” Qureshi was cited as saying by Geo News.
“At the UN conference, there will be a separate conference on Kashmir on the side. It happens every year but it is different this time because a new UN report has come out which sheds light on the (Indian) Kashmir.
“There has certainly been a surge in the interest of people in the human rights abuses that are taking place there,” said the Pakistani minister.
Cavusoglu said it was Turkey’s wish that the Kashmir issue involving India and Pakistan gets resolved in the UN in a peaceful manner, according to Dawn newspaper.
“In the group that has been formed over Kashmir in the UN, we will stand with Pakistan.”
According to Qureshi, Turkey also supported Pakistan’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
He said that ways to enhance economic and commercial ties with Turkey were also discussed in his meeting with Cavusoglu.
Later, Cavusoglu called on Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
They discussed bilateral ties, regional security including the evolving situation in the Middle East and the management of defence and security cooperation between both the countries, said the military’s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
S.P. Vaid
By Sheikh Qayoom,
Srinagar : The shifting at midnight of the Jammu and Kashmir police chief, S.P. Vaid, has triggered an interesting debate in the state.
The replacement surprised many although a few in the bureaucratic and police circles had been expecting the change sooner rather than later.
An order issued by the state home department around midnight on Thursday said,: “Dr. S.P. Vaid, IPS (JK:1986), DGP J&K is transferred and his services are placed at the disposal of General Administration Department for further posting as Transport Commissioner, J&K.”
“Dilbag Singh, IPS (JK:1987), DG (Prisons) shall hold the charge of DGP J&K in addition to his own duties, till a regular arrangement is made.”
The very drafting of the order indicated that the governor’s administration wanted to see Vaid’s back even if his shifting had to be achieved through an interim arrangement.
The central point of debate in administrative and police circles is what went wrong with the functioning of the outgoing Police chief?
Transfers and postings are the prerogative of the administration and there is nothing that should normally raise eye-brows about these developments. Yet, some administrative changes happen in a manner that controversies about such changes become unavoidable.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reacted at length over Vaid’s shifting.
Taking to his widely followed twitter handle, Abdullah said: “There was no hurry to replace @spvaid. He should have been changed only when a permanent arrangement had been worked out.”
“@JmuKmrPolice has enough problems without having to deal with confusion of leadership.
“Changing the DG is the prerogative of the administration but why a DG as a temporary arrangement? The current DG won’t know if he’s going to stay & others who would like his job will be trying to replace him. None of this is good for @JmuKmrPolice,” Abdullah noted.
There is no denying the fact that anti-militancy operations are the top priorities of the state police and no police chief can remain comfortably saddled if he is seen lagging on that front.
Vaid had been proactively engaged in anti-militancy operations. He tried to remain in the forefront of patting his boys, announcing out-of-turn promotions for taking part in anti-militancy operations and announcing scholarships for children of police personnel and monetary relief to families of martyred policemen.
There is a growing belief in bureaucratic and police circles that something somewhere went drastically wrong that cost Vaid his job and resulted in his unceremonious removal.
Militants in south Kashmir areas abducted 11 persons, including three policemen, and eight family members of police personnel during two days last month.
There was panic among the families of policemen, especially in the south Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam, Pulwama and Anantnag.
Two days before the militants began their abduction spree, police had detained the father of the most wanted Hizbul commander, Riyaz Naikoo.
The abductions of members of police families were believed to be a revenge act for the detention of Naikoo’s father.
It was not for the first time that Naikoo’s father had been taken in for questioning by the police about his son’s whereabouts.
The fact that the militants could retaliate in such a big way and afford abductions of policemen and their families without the state police having any idea about the hideouts where the abductees were being held dented the image of the police chief.
What made matters worse was that the police released Naikoo’s father from custody and within the next 10 hours of this release, all the 11 persons abducted by militants were safely released.
There was no official word about it, but it was obvious that Naikoo’s father had been released to secure the safe release of the abducted persons.
Nobody even hinted at the probable swap that had taken place, but top sources said the a central intelligence agency filed a report to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) that there had been a deal through which the safe release of the abducted members of police families was ensured.
It is generally believed that the fate of the outgoing police chief was sealed the day the MHA received this report.
(Sheikh Qayoom can be contacted at sheikh.abdul@ians.in)
—IANS
