ON SUNDAY, the J&K State Investigation Agency (SIA), constituted to investigate militancy-related cases, arrested a Kashmiri scholar for his write-up published in 2011 by The Kashmiri Walla magazine.

The arrest was made after the SIA conducted raids on the office and house of arrested ‘The Kashmir Wallaeditor Fahad Shah in Srinagar’s Rajbagh and Soura area and the residence of scholar Abdul Aala Fazili in Humhama. Mr Fazili, who has a master’s in Pharmaceutics, is a PhD scholar in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Kashmir University.

“The searches were conducted in connection with FIR No. 01/2022 under Section 13, 18 UA(P) Act read with sections 121, 124, 153 B and 120-B IPC of Police Station JIC (SIA) Jammu, against the author of seditious article Abdul Aala Fazili and the Editor and other associates of The Kashmir Wala,” an SIA spokesman said.

The SIA said the article titled ‘The shackles of slavery will break”, published on November 6, 2011, “is highly provocative, seditious and intended to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, written to abet the youth to take the path of violence by glorifying terrorism and on the other the write-up promoted and propagated the false narrative, which is essential to sustain secessionist cum terrorist campaign aimed at breaking the territorial integrity of India”.

The SIA said the article had used prescriptive language with instructional intent, encouraging secessionist elements to carry out terror activities. The SIA quoted a few excerpts, which read: “On the occasion of Eid ul Azha, let us all pledge in the name of the blood of our martyrs and tears of mothers and sisters: that we shall always remember their sacrifices, that we shall never stop our struggle for freedom.”

In another para, the author had written that there was no need to be anxiety and despair about the success of our freedom struggle. “I have this total and farthest belief; we will finally achieve freedom – Insha’Allah.” However, the SIA said the repeated reference to freedom and terror outfits’ rhetoric makes it amply clear that the article is not merely propaganda. “Rather, it is the articulation of Pakistan ISI and the vision of its sponsored terrorist secessionist networks,” it said.

The Jammu Development Authority and the Jammu Municipal Corporation will introduce new parking fees in the ongoing parking spaces in the city. JDA has announced giving monthly parking passes and increasing the fee for its semi-automatic parking at Super Bazar City Chowk.

JDA has issued an order to increase the fees for the semi-automatic parking at Super Bazar City Chowk. JDA appealed to the consumers who got monthly passes to apply online for getting new parking passes. JDA has fixed Rs 1000 per month for two-wheelers, Rs 7000 per month for SUVs, and Rs 45 per month for sedan cars for 12 hours only for daytime in this parking. Similarly, for day and night parking, i.e. for 24 hours, Rs 5000 for the sedan and Rs 8000 for SUV will be charged monthly.

Similarly, sedans will be charged Rs 50 for standing for four hours and Rs 20 per hour. Rs 70 will be charged for SUVs for four hours and Rs 20 after every two hours. On the other hand, a two-wheeler will have to pay Rs 10 for standing for four hours, while Rs 5 will have to be paid after every two hours. JDA has issued its orders, and they will be considered applicable from May 1. Similarly, new fees will be implemented at other parking places of JDA.

At the same time, the Jammu Municipal Corporation will issue new fees. The Jammu Municipal Corporation will charge Rs.10 for a car for half an hour and Rs.5 for a two-wheeler. People can park their vehicles online or on the spot by paying the prescribed fees for the parking places built under Smart City on the roadsides at various places in the city.

Mayor Chandra Mohan Gupta says that various parking lots have been made to avoid traffic jams in the city. Also, JMC will start renting bicycles on rent so that people can go from one place to another by renting a bicycle. Money can also be paid by scanning the code written on the cycle.

JDA Vice-Chairman Pankaj Magotra says that new parking charges are being started. However, not much has been changed in these. Park the vehicles only in the parking lot so that the problem like traffic jams in the city gets rid of.

Amish Mahajan

A Railway Protection Force personnel was killed while another was injured in a militant attack in the Kakapora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Monday.

Sources reported that two cops of the Railway Protection Force were injured after militants attack them at Kakapora.

Both the injured personnel were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, where one of them succumbed to his injuries, the officer said.

He said the whole area has been cordoned off to nab the attackers, the police officer added.

Ashiq Ahmed Nengroo, a dreaded commander of the banned outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), was designated as a terrorist by the Centre on Monday for his involvement in various terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a notification, the Union home ministry said Nengroo has been involved in the infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir and has also been responsible for perpetrating various terror incidents in the Union Territory.
Nengroo is running a terror syndicate in Kashmir and is now “engaged in a perilous campaign to orchestrate terror in Jammu and Kashmir”, remote-controlled from Pakistan, the ministry said.

In view of the danger that Nengroo poses to the security of India and to deter him from perpetrating terror acts, he has been designated as a terrorist under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the ministry said.

An earthquake of low intensity jolted the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, officials said.

The earthquake’s magnitude was measured on the Richter scale 3.4, with the epicenter at Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir.

The tremors were felt for a few seconds. The tremors were felt at 12.09 pm with a latitude of 33.41 and a longitude of 76.42 with a depth of 10 km.

There was no report of loss of life or damage to property.

Police have arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT/TRF) terrorist from Bandipora in North Kashmir. Police said that this arrest was made last Sunday, April 17. The arrested terrorist is Amir Ahmed Khan, a resident of Lavapara Bandipora, whose photo went viral on the Internet media on April 13 after becoming a terrorist.

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Police said that Tariq Khan’s son Amir, a resident of Lavepora Bandipora, had activated his information systems only after getting information about his joining Lashkar-e-Taiba. He had an apprehension that Aamir would come to his house once after joining the organization. But, on April 17, he got information that Amir was hiding in a garden outside his village.

As soon as the information was received, a joint team of SOG personnel, Army’s 14 RR and CRPF 3 Battalion, reached the spot, and after laying siege to the garden, they started searching for the terrorist. His whole effort was to arrest Amir alive. As soon as the siege ensued, the police asked Amir to lay down his arms and surrender. Sources say that the security forces also took the help of his family to persuade Amir to lay down his arms.

Eventually, Amir broke down and surrendered to the security forces, giving up his weapon. Officially the police have not given any information in this regard yet. You must be aware that the army and police have repeatedly been appealing to the youth of Kashmir to leave the path of terrorism and join the mainstream. Not only this, parents are also being asked to keep an eye on the activities of their children.

Security agencies say that many such people are active on the Internet media in the Kashmir Valley, forcing the youth to follow the path of terrorism by tricking them. Not only this, overground workers working for terrorist organizations are also working to recruit youths into terrorist organizations. The police have started tightening their grip.

Amish Mahajan

JKPCC Chief Raman Bhalla led senior Congress leaders, including JKPCC Vice President Mulla Ram, JKPCC Chief Spokesman Ravinder Sharma, District Jammu Rural President Hari Singh Chib, J&K Youth Congress President Uday Banu Chib, Gurdarshan Singh, Vice-Chairman Minority Deptt JKPCC beside others on Sunday welcomed former Chief Minister of Madya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh at Jammu Airport on his J&K visit.

Also Read: J&K: Terrorist associate arrested, arms recovered

In a brief meeting at the airport, Digvijaya Singh, as per Congress sources, said that Congress is the only alternative available to the people in J&K, and people have made up their minds to bring Congress back to power. He said that the BJP government failed on the J & K front, and the prevailing political and security scenario is an example of the “total failure” of the Central government and the previous BJP led government that left the erstwhile State in chaos and messed on all fronts.

He said that Congress is the only alternative available to the people in J&K, and people have made up their minds to bring back Congress to power. But, on the other hand, the people of Jammu have experienced that BJP has cheated them on different emotional slogans and false promises only to achieve power but back-tracked on all those issues to share power.

Asking the party rank and file to expose the misdeeds and failures of the BJP to educate the masses whose problems have been complicated besides disturbing the social and secular fabric of J&K, he said Congress alone can ensure justice to all sections and regions of the StateState and take along all sections of the society.

“Although Congress government in the larger interest of people ensured liberal funding for erstwhile State and approved several developmental projects, the present regime has virtually defeated all the schemes as most of the projects are moving at snail’s pace,” Digvijaya Singh said.

In a hint that Congress would make a comeback in state politics, the Congress leader said that he expects the era of development and prosperity to return to Jammu and Kashmir after Congress win in assembly elections. Recalling his contribution to the Congress govt, he said that backward, far-flung and hilly areas were brought onto the developmental landscape during its tenure for the first time.

He stated that Congress has a roadmap and vision for the development of StateState, ‘a roadmap which will lead to faster growth, generation of employment for the youth and empowerment and development of far-flung and remote areas like Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley.’ He assured that all the developmental projects started during Congress’s tenure would be completed in the shortest possible time if his party formed government in the State again. “We will restore the same spree of development and people-friendly governance that you witnessed earlier”.

Recently a video became viral in which the driver of the bus from Udhampur to village Lander route was seen partaking the dangerous and distracted driving behaviour.

Also Read: J&K: Staff of Govt Middle school placed under suspension after school found closed during working hours

Motor Vehicle Department Udhampur took swift action against the driver under the supervision of District Administration Udhampur the vehicle was seized at ARTO office Udhampur for the offence of dangerous driving and putting the precious human lives at risk, which is grave contravention of the Motor Vehicle act.

However, the proceedings have been initiated for suspension of the driving license of the driver and route permit as well. Moreover, another vehicle from the same route was seized at Police Station Pancheri for plying without documents contravention of the Motor Vehicle Act.

ARTO warned the drivers to adhere to the rules and regulations of MVA strictly. He added that strict action would be taken against the defaulters for violating any provisions of the MVA.

Pertinent to mention here that District Administration tracked the events on Social Media and took prompt action against the grievance.

A terrorist associate was arrested in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday.

Arms and ammunition, including a Chinese Pistol, two pistol magazines, 13 live rounds of nine mm and a mobile phone, were recovered from his possession, a police official said. The official said that at a checkpoint established at Sonmullah crossing in Handwara on Sunday, security forces intercepted the terrorist associate, who tried to flee on seeing a joint Naka party.

However, the forces apprehended him, he said.

Affiliation and involvement of the terrorist associate identified as Bashir Ahmad Kumar were ascertained.

A case has been registered, and an investigation initiated.

The staff members of Government Middle School Pounthal, zone Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, were placed under suspension by the Chief Education Officer Jammu on the directions of Director School Education Jammu, Dr Ravi Shankar Sharma, after the school was found closed during working hours on Saturday, 16th of April, 2022.

As soon as it was reported that the said school was locked during office hours, a team comprising of Principal Higher Secondary School Surinsar, ZEO Gandhi Nagar and other officials was asked to visit the school and enquire into the matter.

Based on the report submitted by the visiting team, which confirmed that the school was closed during office hours, all the teachers have been suspended till pending inquiry.

The suspended staff members include Ajay Kumar (teacher) and Karan Singh (teacher), who have been asked to report to High School Kishanpur ( Dhansal), whereas Pawan Kumar ( Tr. Grade II) and Mukesh Kumar ( Tr. Grade II) have been asked to report to Higher Secondary School Kathar Manwal till pending enquiry.

The case of Ashwani Kumar (Master) has been recommended for suspension by the Chief Education Officer Jammu to the Director School Education Jammu.