At least four residential houses were gutted in a blaze at Wazli locality of Saujiyan in Poonch district’s Mandi tehsil on Saturday.
As per reports, fire broke out in a residential house in the village and later spread in nearby houses damaging four houses.
Army along with locals and civil administration controlled the flames preventing it from spreading to more houses. The Army has also provided some basic life essentials to the affected families.
Despite a ceasefire along the Line of Control, Army on Saturday said around 500 to 700 terrorists are present at the training camps in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir and nearly 150 are waiting at the launchpads to infiltrate into Kashmir region.
A senior Army officer in Kashmir said the 500 to 700 militants are at three training camps Manshera, Kotli and Muzaffarabad across the LoC.
“At the launchpads, there are about 150 people opposite the valley ready to infiltrate,” the officer, who did not wish to be named, said
The Army officer asserted that there has been no successful infiltration till ending May in Kashmir and militants were using alternate routes to sneak here.
“The focus of infiltration has largely now shifted to south of Pir Panjal and in fact, there are inputs that some people may have also trickled in via Nepal,” he said.
The officer said though there is a possibility of infiltration, the LoC fence, deployment and the surveillance equipment has brought down the success rate of infiltration.
“The way we have made the fence stronger, the way the deployment has been made and the surveillance equipment there, the success rate of infiltration has gone down,” he said.
He said because of the measures and alertness along the LoC, the militants try alternate routes.
On infiltration, the officer said till ending May there has been no successful infiltration.
“Till the end of May, everything has been taken care of. There was a particular group which had come and it got eliminated at Bandipora and Sopore,” he said.
On targeted killings, the officer said it was aimed either at provoking the security forces, or to bring a fear factor among the people that their writ still runs.
Jammu Handicapped association highlighted the burning demands of physically challenged persons in a protest demonstration held at Press Club Jammu, today.
Watch Video
Many specially disabled persons participated in the agitation.They demanded an urgent raise in their monthly pension as soon as possible because of the rising prices their life has become miserable.
One of the protestors said, “We have been agitating from a long time and still the local government has not provided us tricycles neither they are raising our monthly pension of 1,000 to 3,000 rupees even in such times of inflation. We demand from the local government to stop our monthly pension and give us some job”.
“My husband works as a daily wager and we are living in poverty.We urge the local govt to implement the disable quota so that we can make use of it. The govt did not even issued Below poverty line (BPL) ration cards for us, our kids don’t have aadhar card and birth certificates. We just want an employment from the LG government”, another protestor said.
“When we travel in local transport, we are charged with normal fare rather than half fare being physically challenged and instead told to use govt transport”, said one of the protestors.
Aman Zutshi
J&K Police along with civil authorities sealed a factory involved in the alleged illegal manufacturing and processing of beer on Srinagar outskirts at Khunmoh, police said on Saturday.
Police said an information was received from reliable sources that a factory M/S Zainab Textiles Phase 2 Khunmoh was involved in illegal/unlawful activity of manufacturing/processing of beer.
Accordingly , the said factory was raided alongwith officials from excise department, Revenue department and Food department under the supervision of Sub Divisional Police Officer Panthachowk and Station House Officer Panthachowk, police spokesman said.
“The factory was sealed,” he added.
Police have registered a case under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Excise Act 50 and investigation set into motion.
Drug Control Officer (DCO) Ramban, Imtiyaz Ahmed today conducted an extensive inspection in the far flung area of Khari.
He inspected several medical shops in Khari and adjoining areas.
During the inspection, the DCO sealed 2 medical stores on the spot for violation of various provisions of Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945.
Statutory drug samples of 02 drug formulations were lifted from the market particularly from far flung areas for determining the strength and purity. These samples will be referred to the Drug Testing Laboratory for framing legal opinions to ascertain their quality parameters.
Further, it was impressed upon the chemist fraternity to follow the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetic act and rules in letter and spirit, failing which the department shall be constrained to initiate action against the violators.
The Drug Inspector requested the people of such areas to co-operate with the department to identify persons/Medical Stores indulging in drug peddling and selling intoxicating drugs to the youth.
He also shared the Phone No./Watsapp No with the Locals/People to report about the unethical trade practices.
Concerned over terrorists using sticky bombs to target public transport, the police has advised residents of Jammu and Kishtwar to thoroughly check their vehicles before turning them on.
A North Korean drone sent from Pakistan with a payload of seven magnetic or sticky bombs and an equal number of under barrel launcher grenades was shot down by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the Talli Hariya Chak area close to the International Border on May 31.
“We advise people to thoroughly check their vehicles before starting them,” senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Chandan Kohli said.
He said drivers and conductors of passenger vehicles should also check their vehicles thoroughly before starting them.
There is high degree of threat perception in view of the smuggling of sticky bombs from across the border, he said.
In view of the present security scenario, SSP, Kishtwar, Shafqat Hussain Batt also visited the bus-stand in the district and interacted with drivers of commercial vehicles.
The SSP advised the drivers to take all precautionary measures, including undertaking frequent checks of their vehicles, before and after boarding of passengers, so that terrorists by way of sabotage may not succeed in carrying out their evil designs.
He said any suspicious activity should be reported to the police or officers on real time basis for immediate action.
The SSP asked them to remain vigilant so that drug peddlers do not succeed in transporting of narcotics substances.
The senior officer informed them about sticky bombs, which is an easy way to plant bombs in vehicles and asked them to remain extra cautious.
Police claimed to have arrested two juveniles in a hit-and-run case, where a 36-year-old man was killed in Rajbagh area of Srinagar on Friday.
The fathers of both the juveniles were also apprehended for giving vehicle to minors, police said.
Bashir Ahmad Bhat, resident of Dragmulla area in Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara, was hit by an unknown vehicle at Rajbagh here, leaving him critically injured.
He was shifted to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Police said, “Two Juveniles apprehended in hit and run case where on youth from Kupwara died in Raj Bagh.”
“Dr Shamin Bhat and Fayaz Rather, fathers of both juveniles, arrested in 191A MV act for giving vehicle to minors,” police said in a tweet.
“Case registered at Raj Bagh Police station under section 279, 304A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and vehicle seized,” they added.
Sajid Majeed Mir, one of India’s most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks who was earlier declared dead by Pakistan, has been jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in the country, which is struggling to exit the grey list of the FATF.
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police, which often issues convictions of the suspects in such cases to the media, did not notify Mir’s conviction.
His sentencing comes as Islamabad prepares for an on-site visit by the officials from the Paris-based global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to verify the implementation of Pakistan’s relevant anti-money laundering and terrorism-financing reforms. A positive report may facilitate Pakistan’s exit from the grey list of the FATF.
“An anti-terrorism court in Lahore early this month had handed down 15 and a half years jail term to Sajid Majeed Mir, an activist of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in a terror-financing case,” a senior lawyer associated with terror financing cases of LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leaders said on Friday.
Besides, since it was an in-camera proceeding at the high-security jail, the media was not allowed.
The lawyer further said Mir has been in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore since his arrest in April. He said the court also imposed a fine of over Rs 400,000 on the convict.
Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed he had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the action plan late last year.
This was where things finally started moving in Mir’s case leading to his ‘arrest’, the Dawn newspaper reported on Saturday.
His conviction and sentencing were, therefore, major achievements that Pakistani officials showcased in their progress report given to FATF on its action plan during the latest plenary, the paper commented.
It indeed helped in convincing FATF members that Pakistan had finished all the required tasks, it added.
Mir, 44, is on the FBI’s list of most-wanted terrorists. The US has placed a bounty of USD 5 million for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Mir is on India’s most-wanted list for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead, including six Americans.
Before the last meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan reportedly told the agency that it had arrested and prosecuted Sajid Mir in order to seek its removal from the global anti-laundering body’s ‘Grey list’.
Mir was called the “project manager” of the Mumbai attacks. Mir reportedly had visited India in 2005 using a fake passport with a fake name.
The FBI says that “Mir is wanted for his alleged involvement in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Beginning on November 26, 2008, and continuing through November 29, 2008, ten LeT attackers carried out a series of coordinated attacks against multiple targets in Mumbai, including hotels, cafes, and a train station, killing approximately 170 people.”
“Six Americans were killed during the three-day attacks. Mir allegedly served as the chief planner of the attacks, directing preparations and reconnaissance, and was one of the Pakistan-based controllers during the attacks. Additionally, Mir allegedly conspired to commit a terrorist attack against a newspaper and its employees in Denmark between 2008 and 2009,” it said.
“Mir was indicted in the US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Chicago, Illinois, on April 21, 2011, and was charged with conspiracy to injure the property of a foreign government; providing material support to terrorists; killing a citizen outside of the US and aiding and abetting; and bombing of places of public use. An arrest warrant was issued on April 22, 2011,” it said.
Mumbai terror attacks’ alleged mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has already been sentenced to 68 years imprisonment in terror financing cases by the Lahore anti-terrorism court.
The sentence is running concurrently, which means he will not have to spend many years in jail.
Mumbai attack operation commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is also sentenced to several years in jail. Both Saeed and LeT militant Abdul Rehman Makki are also in Kot Lapkhapt jail in Lahore.
Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases. Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack.
The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Islamabad to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and using its territory to carry out attacks in India. The FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering.
Last week, the FATF said Pakistan will continue to be on the “Grey List” of countries under increased monitoring, a statement from the global money-laundering and terror-financing watchdog said on June 17. It said Pakistan may be removed from the list after an on-site visit to verify the implementation of its reforms on countering terror-financing mechanisms.
Pakistan has so far avoided being on the black list with the help of its close allies like China, Turkey and Malaysia.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
Joint Rescue Operation with 60 Rashtriya Rifles and Police party led by PSI Raghav Chalotra ICPP Malikote rescued stuck up tribals in higher reaches above 11000ft of Pir Panjal in Ghogera Dhoks and distributed ration and medicines to them.
Watch Video
Joint Rescue Operation with 60 Rashtriya Rifles and Police party led by PSI Raghav Chalotra ICPP Malikote rescued stuck up tribals in higher reaches above 11000ft of Pir Panjal in Ghogera Dhoks and distributed ration and medicines to them.#JammuKashmir pic.twitter.com/6Xa5s471Zh
— JK Media (@jkmediasocial) June 25, 2022
Police party consisting of PSI Raghav Chalotra, Sgct Mohd Farooq, SPO Farooq ahmed, SPO Shakeel Ahmed, SPO Javed Ahmed, SPO Ram Singh and Army troops of 60RR lead by an officer of Major Rank (name kept confidential) and JCO (name kept confidential) rescued the tribals consisting of women and children and during the rescue operation, SPO Karnail Singh of PP Malikote was injured. The rescue operation was conductedunder the supervision of SDPO Mahore Chabbil Singh Bhau and SHO Chassana Insp Parmod Singh Bajju and under the over all Supervision of SSP Reasi Amit Gupta.
Weather remained dry in Jammu and Kashmir during the last 24 hours as the MeT department forecast the same to continue on Saturday.
“Dry weather with clear sky is likely to continue in J&K during the next 24 hours”, an official of the MeT department said.
Srinagar recorded 13.7, Pahalgam 6.3 and Gulmarg 4.5 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature.
Leh in Ladakh region had 7.4 and Kargil 10 as the minimum temperature.
Jammu regsitered 21.9, Katra 21.2, Batote 15.2, Banihal 13.8 and Bhaderwah 14.6 degrees as the minimum temperature.
