Fear, Anxiety Modi: Our Fight for Kashmir Not …...Sheikh and others at Jabdi Bandi on Kamalkote Nallah under FMP 11.93 23860 CEE/DEE50-days 4711-FMP 1200.00 2019_IFC_71435_1 2 Construction

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Fear, Anxiety Peaks In ValleyNight Crackdown, More Troop Deployment Lead To Daylong Chaos In Kashmir

Fuel Rationing, Food Stock Orders Not Extra-Ordinary: GovtSRINAGAR: The government on Saturday sought to calm panic stricken people in Kashmir P10

Modi: Our Fight for Kashmir Not Against KashmirChallenges ‘Son Of Pathan’ Imran Khan To Keep His Promise

Additional Paramilitary Troops Part Of Pre-Election Exercise: ReportNEW DELHI: The deployment of 10,000 additional paramilitary troops in Jammu and P10

Something Has Happened To Shabir Shah in Tihar: Wife

Shah's Bail Plea Deferred Till April 2

A Delhi court on Saturday deferred

the hearing on the bail plea of separatist leader Shabir Shah, arrested in a decade-old P10

SRINAGAR: The wife of incarcerated Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDF) chairman, Shabir Ahmad Shah Saturday P10

SRINAGAR: The combination of an overnight crackdown on re-sistance leaders and Jama’at-e-Islami, deployment of 10,000 ad-

ditional troops, sound of frequent flying of fighter jets last night and panic-inducing government or-ders asking people to stock P10

WhatsApp! 3 Kashmiri Girl Students Booked In UPBAREILLY (UP): Three Kashmiri girl students of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) have been booked for al-legedly forwarding "controversial com-ments", along with their own remarks, against the Indian Army on an instant messaging app following the Pulwama strike, police said here Saturday.

According to an official, after the deadly Pulwama attack on

February 14, these girls allegedly made some adverse and objec-tionable comments

on a WhatsApp group in which other students

were also members. IVRI Director R K Singh said after the matter came to light, the institute conducted P10

NEW DELHI: Breaking his si-lence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday disapproved of the attacks on Kashmiris in some parts of India in the after-math of the Pulwama attack and underlined that “our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmiris”.

PM Modi also vowed that the Pulwama perpetrators would have to pay as he appealed to people to have faith in armed forces, his government and "blessings of Maa Bhavani".

Speaking at a public rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk, PM Modi said, "We have given full freedom to our army. The overwhelming sentiment in the social media is of 'veer ras' ( bravery and hero-ism), but our fight is against

RECALLING HIS CONVERSATION WITH IMRAN KHAN during a congratulatory call after the cricketer-

turned-politician became Pakistan's premier, Modi said, "People know him as a cricketer. I told him there has been enough of fights between India and Pakistan. Pakistan got nothing, every fight we have won. I told him let us fight against poverty and illiteracy. He told me, 'Modiji, I am the son of Pathan. I speak true and I do true.' Today, it is the time he stands true to his words. I will see whether he stands true to his words or not."

terrorism, against the enemies of humanity. Our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmir and not against Kashmiris," Modi said.

“What happened to Kashmi-

ri youths in the last few days…It does not matter whether the incident was small or big, such things should not happen. Kashmiri youth are victims of terror. Every child of Kash-

mir is with India in our fight against terror,” said PM Modi.

Kashmiri people take care of Amarnath pilgrims. One year ago, there was firing on Ama-rnath pilgrims and P10

India, Pak Situation ‘Very Dangerous: TrumpPress Trust of India

Washington: US President Don-ald Trump has described as "very dangerous" the situation between India and Pakistan after the Pul-wama attack.

Forty seven CRPF personnel were killed and many others in-jured on February 14 in one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Kashmir’s Pulwama district rammed a vehicle carrying a huge quantity of explosives into their bus in the home district.

India launched a major diplo-matic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Trump, after his meeting with a visiting Chinese trade delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He, told report-ers in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday that "in P10

JRL Calls For Strike TodaySRINAGAR: Joint Resistance Leadership on Saturday called for complete shutdown tomorrow to protest arbitrary mass arrests, nocturnal raids, insecurity among people due to “state repression”, killings and censorship and any tampering with 35A.

In a statement issued here, the JRL leaders of Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that the “arbitrary” arrest of JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and the mass crack-down and “illegal detention” of more than 200 Jama’at e Islami cadre and leadership including its Ameer Abdul Hamid Fayaz last night P10

Restrictions In Srinagar Parts Today

Authorities today decided to impose the restrictions in Srinagar parts including old city on Sunday P10

P10

News Digest

Induct IFS Though Promotion: HC

Farooq Shah’s Resignation Accepted

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed government to notify ‘State Forest Service’ and prepare a list of suitable officers for induction into Indian Forest Service by promotion in accordance with rules. “Respondents (concerned officials) are directed to notify ‘State Forest Service’ as required in terms of Rule 2(g)(i) of the Indian Forest Service(Recruitment) Rules, 1966 read with Regulation P10

SRINAGAR: Government on Saturday accorded sanction to the voluntary retirement of Farooq Ahmad Shah (IAS) from February 19. Shah was last posted as Secretary of the public health engineering, irrigation and flood control and disaster management, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction departments.“In Pursuance of sub-rule (2) of Rule 16 of the All India Services (Death-cum Retirement P10

We start our lives trying to be teachers; it is very hard

to learn to be a pupil.– Inayat

98.3 MIRCHI

98.3 98.3

brings you stories from people around you...

Gilani Posted ADGPJAMMU: Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani, IPS (JK 1994) on his repatriation from Anti Corruption Bureau, JK, to the Home Department has been posted as ADGP, Armed, J&K vice A. K. Choudhary, IPS (JK 1991).The order to this effect was issued by the Government, Home Department vide Order No. 188 - Home of 2019 Dated 23.02.2019.Earlier in the day, Gilani’s repatriation order was P10

Article 35A: KHCBA Forms 9-Member Team SRINAGAR: Kashmir High Court Bar Association on Saturday constituted a team of nine members who will remain present in the Supreme Court on 27 and 28 February when the cases relating to the scrapping of Articles 35-A and 370 of the constitution of India are likely to come up for consideration before the Apex Court. The members of the P10

SPECIAL CAMPS FOR ENROLLMENT OF LEFT OUT ELIGIBLE VOTERS

at your Polling Stations On

23rd & 24th February, 2019

(Saturday & Sunday) If you have completed 18 years w.r.t 01-01-2019 as qualifying date

& yet not registered as a Voter

please enroll your name in the voter list during the special camp days at your polling Station and get your voter card

Fill Form-6 to enroll your name

Note: - All the BLOs will be available at their respective polling station

on 23rd and 24th Feb, 2019

You can also submit your application on NVSP portal (www.nvsp.in)

Dial 1950 Toll free No for your valuable suggestions/Complaints if any

Election Commission of India

Issued in public interest by: - Chief Electoral Officer Jammu & Kashmir

GET READY FOR ELECTIONS 2019

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`Government of Jammu and Kashmir OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER HYDRAULIC DIVISION URI

email: [email protected]

NOTICE INVITING e-TENDER e_NIT_No._14/Hyd/Uri_of_2018-19 Dated: 21/02/2019

For and on behalf of Governor of Jammu & Kashmir State, e-Tenders on item rate basis are invited from approved and eligible contractors registered with Jammu and Kashmir State Government, for the following works:-

S. No. Name of work

Estt. Cost

(Rs. in Lacs)

Earnest Money

(In Rupees)

Time of Completion

Class of Contract Major Head

Cost of Tender

document (In Rs.)

Tender ID

1 Construction of cement concrete R/wall near land of Nazir Ahamd Sheikh and others at Jabdi Bandi on Kamalkote Nallah under FMP 11.93 23860 50-days CEE/DEE 4711-FMP 1200.00 2019_IFC_71435_1

2 Construction of cement concrete R/wall and cross crate H/O, L/o Akber din and others at Kharaba Mohalla Bandi on Kamalkote Nallah under FMP

11.78 11780 50-days SHG of Engineers 4711-FMP 1200.00 2019_IFC_71435_3

3 Anti Erosion work by way of providing of stone filled crate at Jabdi D/s bridge of Kamalkote Uri Road at Sheikh and Lohar Mohalla on Kamalkote Sultan Dhaki Nallah

5.86 5860 30-days SHG of Engineers 4711-FMP 300.00 2019_IFC_71435_4

The NIT consisting of Qualifying information, eligibility criteria specifications, bill of quantities (B.O.Q), set of terms and conditions of contract and other details can be seen/downloaded from the departmental website www.jktenders.gov.infrom:- 1. Publishing Date 21/02/2019 from 10.00pm 2. Download Date Start 21/02/2019 from 10.00pm 3. Tender Submission date Start 21/02/2019 from 10.00pm 4. Tender Submission date Ends 26/02/2019 up to 04.00 pm 5. Last date for Submission of Hard Copies

(Treasury Challans only) 27/02/2019 up to 11:00 am in the Office of the Executive Engineer Hydraulic Division Uri (H.Q. Chandanwari)

6. Date of Opening 27/02/2019 at 11.00AM, in the Office of the Executive Engineer Hydraulic Division Uri (H.Q. Chandanwari)

(Er. Mohammad Iqbal Bazaz) Executive Engineer

Hydraulic Division Uri DIPK-17377/18

FRESH TENDER NOTICE

NIT No: - 12/e-Tendering/DGM/5TH /ANG/JKPCC OF 2018-19 DATED:- 18/02/2019.

For and on behalf of Managing Director JKPCC Ltd. e –Tenders (In Single Cover System) are

invited on item rate basis from approved and eligible Contractors Registered with J&K State Government / Piece Workers registered with JKPCC/ SSI Unit Holders for the following work. S. No.

Name of Work. Approx. Estimated

Cost Rs. In lacs.

Earnest Money

In rupees.

Cost of bid documents In rupees.

Time of Completi

on.

Class of Contract.

1. Balance framed structure, brick masonry (3rd floor & Mumty) , interior plaster work & mud mat in Administrative block at Govt. Medical College works Anantnag.

42.24 84480.00 2000.00 90 Days “A” & “B”

Class / JK PCC Registered

P/W’s 2. Balance Framed structure, brick masonry (1st, 3rd floor & Mumty) , interior plaster work & mud mat in Library block at Govt. Medical College Works Anantnag.

46.09 92180.00 2000.00 90 Days “A” & “B”


P/W’s 3. Balance work of framed structure Department Block 2 (form work, for concreting & labour charges reinforcement) AT Govt. Medical College Works Anantnag.

31.95 63900.00 1500.00 90 Days

“A” & “B” Class / JK PCC

Registered P/W’s

4. Balance work of Framed structure Department block 1 (form work, concreting & labour charges reinforcement) At Govt. Medical College Works Anantnag.

46.89 93780.00 2000.00 120 Days “A” & “B”


P/W’s Position of Funds: - Demanded The NIT consisting of qualifying information eligibility criteria, technical specifications bill of

quantity, set of terms & conditions & other details can be seen / downloaded from the JK Governments official web site www.jktenders.gov.in.

1. Date of Issue of Tender Notice 18/02/2019 2. Date of online publication 19/02/2019 3. Period of downloading of bid document form 19/02/2019 to 28/02/2019 4. Bid submission start date 19/02/2019 from 10.00am 5. Bid submission end date 28/02/2019 up to 04:00 pm 6. Date & time of opening of bids online 01/03/2019.

In the office of The General Manager (K), JKPCC Ltd. Head Office Srinagar.

The Piece-Workers / PWD Contractors / SSI Unit holders participating in the biding / tendering process shall have to submit a experience certificate issued by concerned Ex. Engineer / Dy. General Manager to the effect that he has executed a similar nature of work in JKPCC / PWD during the last three years. Sd/= Deputy General Manager, JK PCC Ltd., Unit 5th, Ang. No:- e-tendering/DGM/5TH /JKPCC/ 3399-3407 Dated:- 18/02/2019.

DIPK-NB-5339/18

Government of Jammu & Kashmir Government Medical College, Doda

Subject: Advertisement for engagement of Assistant Professors on academic

arrangement basis under SRO 24 of 2019 dated 10-01-2019 in new Government Medical College, Doda.

In terms of SRO-24 of 2019 dated 10-01-2019, applications on plain paper are invited from non-PSC/ retired persons for engagement as Assistant Professor (Lecturer) on academic arrangement basis, initially for a period of one year, extendable up to a maximum of six years (one year at a time and subject to good performance and conduct) or till the selection is made in accordance with recruitment rules governing the respective posts, whichever is earlier. The eligibility conditions and age for submitting the applications shall be as under:-

Post Minimum Qualification and Teaching Experience

Maximum age at the time of submitting application form

Assistant Professor

As per the eligibility conditions prescribed vide Government No. 44–HME of 2019 dated 11.01.2019 (available on www.newgmcsrecruitment.in)

63 years.

The candidates shall submit the copies of the following documents with their applications:

1. MBBS Degree and MCI Registration Certificate/ Post-graduation Degree in the concerned discipline from a University duly recognized by University Grants Commission in case of Non-Medical candidates.

2. Post-Graduation Degree and MCI Registration Certificate( in case of Medical candidates)/ Certificate of Doctorate from a University duly recognized by University Grants Commission in case of Non-Medical candidates.

3. Experience certificate issued by the Competent Authority/Head of the Institution.

4. Professional Publications, published in indexed/ national journals, as prescribed.

5. Date of birth Certificate 6. Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC).

The details of the posts are as under:- S. No Name of Post Department and Number of posts 1 Assistant Professor Anatomy(2), Physiology(1), Biochemistry(1),

Community Medicine(2), Forensic Medicine(1), Pathology(2), Microbiology(2) & Paediatrics(2).

The selection of the candidates for the advertised posts shall be made by the Committee as provided in SRO 24 of 2019 dated 10.01.2019. The selection criteria for the advertised posts shall be as under:-

The appointment against the advertised posts shall and shall always be on

academic arrangement basis only without conferment of any preferential right on the engages for regular appointment against these posts, which shall be made strictly in accordance with the relevant recruitment rules.

The appointment on academic arrangement basis shall by itself stand terminated on attainment of 65 years of age by the appointee. The services of an appointee under these rules shall be terminable before the expiry of the tenure of appointment with one month’s notice from either side or on payment of one month’s salary in lieu of notice by the appointing authority. In case of any dispute, the decision of Chairperson of the Selection Committee shall be final. The applications along-with requisite documents should reach the office of undersigned by 28th Feb 2019 by email on: - [email protected]

Principal, Government Medical College,

Doda No.: GMCD/10/2018-19/170-76 Dated: 22-02-2019

i) For Teaching experience

80 Points (60 points for minimum required teaching experience and 05 points for every additional year, subject to a maximum of 20 points).

ii) For Research Publications

20 Points (05 points for each publication in indexed/national journals accepted/published as first/corresponding author).

DIPK-17420/18

Office Of The Deputy General Manager, JK PCC Ltd., Unit 5th, Anantnag.Unit Office: - JK PCC Ltd. Unit 5th, Near Railway Station, Anantnag [PIN 192101].

Phone/Fax: - 01932-222968 e-mail:- [email protected]. GSTIN:-01AMRD11539D1DU

FRESH TENDER NOTICE NIT No: - 13/e-Tendering/DGM/5TH /ANG/JKPCC OF 2018-19

DATED:- 18/02/2019.

For and on behalf of Managing Director JKPCC Ltd. e –Tenders (In Single Cover System) are invited on item rate basis from approved and eligible Contractors Registered with J&K State Government / Piece Workers registered with JKPCC/ SSI Unit Holders for the following work. S. No.Name of Work. Approx.

Estimated Cost Rs. In lacs.

Earnest Money In rupees.

Cost of bid documents In rupees.

Time of Completion.

Class of Contract.

1. Supply & Fixing of Deodar Wood frames in Doors / Windows to Girls Hostel at Govt. Medical College Works Dialgam, Anantnag.

92.61 185220.00 5000.00 60 Days “A” Class / JK PCC Registered P/W’s & Unit Holders

2. Supply & Fixing of Deodar Wood frames in Doors / Windows to Professor’s Quarter & Associate Professors Quarter at Govt. Medical College Works Dialgam, Anantnag.

38.34 76680.00 2500.00 60 Days “A” & “B” Class / JK PCC Registered P/W’s & Unit Holders.

Position of Funds: - DemandedThe NIT consisting of qualifying information eligibility criteria, technical specifications bill of quantity, set of terms & conditions & other details can be seen / downloaded from the JK Governments official web site www.jktenders.gov.in. 1. Date of Issue of Tender Notice 18/02/20192. Date of online publication 19/02/20193. Period of downloading of bid document form 19/02/2019 to 28/02/20194. Bid submission start date 19/02/2019 from 10.00am 5. Bid submission end date 28/02/2019 up to 04:00 pm 6. Date & time of opening of bids online 01/03/2019. In the office of The General Manager (K), JKPCC Ltd. Head Office Srinagar.

The Piece-Workers / PWD Contractors / SSI Unit holders participating in the biding / tendering process shall have to submit a experience certificate issued by concerned Ex. Engineer / Dy. General Manager to the effect that he has executed a similar nature of work in JKPCC / PWD during the last three years. Sd/= DIPK-NB-5340/18 Deputy General Manager,No:- e-tendering/DGM/5TH /JKPCC/ 3408-3416 Dated:- 18/02/2019. JK PCC Ltd., Unit 5th, Ang.

(A J&K State Govt. Undertaking)

FRESHNOTICE INVITING TENDER

For and on behalf of Managing Director J&KPCC Ltd. E- tenders are invited from approved and eligible Contractors registered with J&K State Govt. CPWD, Railways and other State/Central Governments, SSI Units & piece workers registered with JKPCC Ltd. for the following works:-

S

No Name of work Approx.

cost (Rs. In lacs)

Earnest money

Cost of Bid document

(Amount in Rs.)

Time of completion

Class of contract

1 Labour charges for fabrication, erecting, assembling, launching, hoisting and placing in position steel trussed girders for super structure for construction of trussed steel girder bridge at SharakwaraKeeri Baramulla

55.59 187400 2500 90 Days “A”Class/JKPCC

Pieceworkers /SI Unit holders

2 Labour charges for fabrication, erecting, assembling, launching, hoisting and placing in position steel trussed girders for super structure for construction of trussed steel girder bridge at WazamohallaKeeri Baramulla


Pieceworkers/SI Unit holders

3 Labour charges for fabrication, erecting, assembling, launching, hoisting and placing in position steel trussed girders for super structure for construction of trussed steel girder bridge at WagilaKeeri Baramulla


Pieceworkers/SI Unit holders

Position of funds Demanded The NIT Consisting of qualifying in ,formation eligibility criteria, technical specification bill of quantity set of terms and condition and other details can be seen/down loaded from the J&K Govt official web site www.jktenders.gov.in

1 Date of issue of tenders notice 20/02/2019 2 Date of online publication 20/02/2019 from 6:00 PM 3 Period of downloading of bid documents

form 21/02/2019 to 28/02/2019 from 9:00 AM

4 Bid submission start date 21/02/2019 from 9:30 AM 5 Bid submission end date 28/02/2019 upto 4:00 PM 6 Date of time of opening of bid online 02/03/2019 in the office of the

General Manager (K) JKPCC Head Office. Srinagar At 12:30 PM

The pieceworkers/PWD Contractors/SSI unit holders participating in the bidding/tendering process shall have to submit a experience certificate issued by concerned Executive Engineer/Deputy General Manager to the effect that he has executed a similar nature of work in JKPCC/PWD during the last three years. -sd- Deputy General Manager, No.: 4054-63 JKPCC Limited Unit 3rd, Dated : 20-2-2019 Srinagar

NIT No: 02/E-Tendering/DGM/3rd/Sgr /JKPCC/2018 -19 Dated: 20/02/20/19

DIPK-NB-5354/18

OFFICE OF THE REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER KASHMIR

NOTICEWhereas, an application has been received from one Shri : Javaid Ahmad S/o Peer Hafizullah R/o SK Colony Qamarwari For vehicle No JK01U- 0690 Model 2013 type of vehicle Santroo has lost his registration certificate Now it is therefore, notified for general informa-tion that objections, if any to the proposed Dupli-cate certificate shall be filed in writing in the office of the Regional Transport Officer, Kashmir within a period of 12 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily news-paper.

No. JK/ RTOK/9796 Sd/ Regional Transport Officer,Dated 21/02/2019 Kashmir

FK-R

Office Of the regiOnal transpOrt Officer Kashmir

Noticewhere as an application for transfer of own-ership has been received from abdul rashid lone s/o ghulam mohd lone r/o Zoonimar srinagar (transferor) of maruti swift bear-ing regn no JK01ab 7178 chasis no: 51524 engine no 766590 model 2016 in favour Of

sh/ smt bilal ah parray s/O farooq ahamd r/O badran magam budgam (transferee).Now, therefore, it is notified for the information of the general, public that representation/ Objection, if any in connection with proposed transfer will be received within 7 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily newspaper Kashmir Observer to the address of undersigned.no, representation/ objection shall be considered unless it is made writing it is made in the aforesaid period.nOJK-rtOK -9636 sd/-dated: 21/02-2019 Regional Transport Office, Kashmir

Office Of the regiOnal transpOrt Officer Kashmir

Noticewhere as an application for transfer of owner-ship has been received from farooq ahmad Zargar s/o gh mohammad Zargar r/o new coloney lal bazar sriangar (transferor) of alto bearing regn no JK01r 8084 chasis no: 0176119 engine no 4524972 model 2010 in

favour Of sh/ smt aamir farooq s/o farooq ah Zargar r/o new coloney molvi stop lal bazar (transferee). as well as hpa cancellation with J&K bank b/u new sectt road sriangarNow, therefore, it is notified for the information of the general, public that representation/ Objection, if any in connection with proposed transfer will be received within 7 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily newspaper Kashmir Observer to the address of undersigned.no, representation/ objection shall be considered unless it is made writing it is made in the aforesaid period.nOJK-rtOK -9876 sd/-dated: 23/02-2019 Regional Transport Office, Kashmir

Sunday | 24-02-2019 03Srinagar Observer

From KO Archives

DIAL-EMMA• TRAFFIC POLICE : 9419993745, 01998-266686• PCR: 0194-2452092,2455883• PDD: 0194-2450213• FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES : 2479488,2452222,2452155• CAPD: 18001807011• SMC HEALTH OFFICER: 9469409081

AIRPORTS

SHIEK UL ALAM AIRPORT: 01942303311

RAILWAYS• SRINAGAR: 0194-2103259• ANANTNAG: 01932-228243• BARAMULLA: 0194-102029• BIJBHERA: 01932-228243• PAMPORE: 01933-294132• PATTAN: 01954-293507• QAZIGUND: 01951-296153

HIGHWAY STATUS• Srinagar-Jammu highway --- (One Way Traffic)• Mughal Road - (Closed)• Srinagar- Leh- (Closed)

HIJRI CALENDAR 18 JAMADI US SANI 1440PRAYERS

• FAJR---5: 44• ZUHR---12: 44• ASR---4:43• Magrib—6:25• ISHA---7:45

This Day in History• 1968 - Discovery of 1st pulsar announced (CP

1919 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish)• 1968 - US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam• 1969 - Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby to study

planet's atmosphere• 1974 - Pakistan officially recognizes Bangladesh• 1976 - Cuba adopts its constitution• 1977 - US President Jimmy Carter announces US

foreign aid will consider human rights• 1981 - Britain's Prince Charles announces

engagement to Lady Diana Spencer• 1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test• 1983 A special commission of the U.S.

Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.

• 1984 - Iraq resumes air attack on Iran• 1995 - The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in

existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.• 1997 - South Africa announces it is

constructing largest modern day blimp• 1997 - Qatar inaugurates the world’s largest liquefied

natural gas (LNG) exporting facility and formally launches Qatar Liquefied Gas Co.

• 1999 - A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People’s Republic of China, killing 61.

• 2008 - Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.

• 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar scores the first double century in One Day International cricket

• 2010 - Europe risks a double-dip recession after bad results emerge from France, Germany and Italy, it is reported today; the Eurozone only grew by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009

• 2011 - Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).• 2013 - Raúl Castro is elected to a second term as the

President of Cuba

Truce Extended For Three months Agencies

NEW DELHI - India extended its cease-fire against mujahideen in Kashmir for three months, but warned it would take firm action against any group that con-tinued with violence. Prim e Minister Atal Behari Vapayee told parliament, the ceasefire, due to expire on Monday would now be extended until the end of May.

"Having exam¬ined all as¬pects of the question in its totality the government has decided to further extend the period up till the end of May, said Vajpayee today

Shiv Sena MPs, including three ministers, boycotted the Lok Sabha when prime min¬ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made the state-ment. A bullet for a bullet should be our policy, party leader in the Lok sabha Anant Geete, said adding the extension of the cease-fire would result in in-creased threat to country's se¬curity. Our demand is that the cease-fire be immediately scrapped, he said

National Security advisor and principal secretary to Vajpayee, Brajesh Mishrasaid the exten¬sion of cease-fire should not be construed as a sign of weak¬ness and indecisiveness.

We look far friendship and peace with neighbours, but at no time should it be seen as weakness or indecisiveness, Mishra said during an interactive session with the media and academics of the Jawahar Lai Nehru University after releasing a book Kargil and after, challenges for India here. Mishra said there was strong evidence that showed that Pakistan could control the level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.What Pakistan has done is stop shelling across the border, but it has continued to support ma-terially and otherwise the militant acts in Jammu and Kashmir. Mishra ruled out any third party mediation on the Kashmir issue is spite of growing favourable international opinion on India's stand on Kashmir. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, a known critic of unilateral cease-fire, has expressed concern over the growing violence in Jammu and Kashmir and dismissed as a foolish idea any possible talks between Vajpayee and Paki-stani military ruler Pervez Musharraf. According to people, it is a foolish idea. What is to discuss when they have a categorical demand for Kashmir... It is not your personal properly, it is not a birth day cake. My country is not a birthday cake so you can cut your piece and eat, Thackeray told CNN in an interview.

‘Not under pressure'Defence min¬ister George Fernandes said the decision had not

been taken under any pressure. It was taken in view of the chal-lenges before the nation and also in consideration of the situa-tion in Jammu and Kashmir, he told report¬ers. Be said India ex¬tended the cease-fire to provide an opportunity to militants to come forward for talks.

(KASHMIR OBSERVER, 24 February, 2001)

Observer News Service

Srinagar: The National Confer-ence Saturday took out a pro-test march here against the intimidation and harassment of the people of Kashmir out-side the valley and demanded such attacks be immediately stopped. Scores of NC activ-ists, led by party general sec-retary Ali Mohammad Sagar, assembled at the party head-quarters 'Nawai-Subah' here and took out a protest march. They shouted slogans against the attacks and harassment of Kashmiris outside the valley and demanded it be stopped immediately. The protestors marched towards TRC Crossing where they were stopped by a

heavy contingent of police.Speaking to reporters, Sagar

asked whether the attacks on Kashmiris were part of any "political conspiracy".

"Kashmiris are being tar-geted across the country. Do they not think of us as Indian citizens? Why are Kashmiri students being targeted? Is it a political conspiracy? Is it being done to help some win the elections as J-K is the only Muslim-majority state in the country?" he said.

Sagar said the party wants to convey to the Centre that there have been attempts to suppress the people of Kash-mir in the past as well, "but the people of Kashmir cannot be suppressed".

NC protests harassment of KashmirisAttacks part of political conspiracy, asks Sagar


Srinagar: A man from Hary-ana, claiming to be an activist of the Akali Dal, was Saturday taken into preventive custody by police at Lal Chowk here as he was shouting slogans. Deepak Sharma was taken into custody near the iconic Clock Tower at Lal Chowk in the early hours as he was shout-ing slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki jai', a police offical said. He said Sharma was taken into custody for his own safety and

to maintain law and order. "Sharma claimed to be affili-

ated with the Akali Dal. He also said that he wanted to hoist the national flag atop the Ghanta Ghar (clock tower)," the official said.

The Kashmir valley is tense after the government ordered a swoop on separatists and Ja-maat-e-Islami Jammu Kashmir cadres on Friday night.

So far, over 150 persons have been detained, including JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Ma-lik and chief of Jamaat Abdul Ha-mid Fayaz.

Haryana man held for sloganeering at Lal Chowk


SRINAGAR: Chief Executive Officer, J&K ERA Dr. Raghav Langer Satur-day inspected the construction site of additional block of Lal Ded Maternity Hospital in Srinagar. The project has been taken up at an approximate cost of Rs 75 crore under the World Bank funded JTFRP (Jhelum Tawi Flood Recov-ery Project) for strengthening of critical infrastructure in the state . The officers of JKPCC (which is designated implementing agency for the project) informed CEO ERA that the proposed additional hospital block will be constructed adjacent to the existing hospital complex and the new building will be integrated with it. The build-ing will be a six floor (including ground floor) with parking space, patients waiting lounge, canteen in ground floor, new –born sec-tion in 1st floor, operation theatres and labour rooms in 2nd floor, 3rd floor as patients waiting lounge and hospital equipments while as 4th and 5th floors will have space for wards It was said that the building will be constructed us-ing the Base Isolation Technique which is earth quake proof and has

been recommended by the World Bank as the region falls under the Seismic Zone –V. The technique will be used for the first time in any of the public constructions in the state. The building block has also been categorized as Green Building and is being designed to achieve the performance based on international design standards CEO, ERA also had an interaction with the hospital authorities who expressed satisfaction with the proposed design of the building and also made a request for pro-viding a logistic requirements like complete medical equipments and furniture that will be required for making the additional hospital block functional. CEO, ERA direct-ed the officers of JKPCC and JTFRP to hold the meeting with the J&K Medical Supplies Corporation so that the component is taken care of under the project. He also directed the JKPCC and design consultancy to complete the preparation of drawings and other technical de-tails by first week of March, 2019 and ensure that the work on the project is started at the earliest Several Officers of Lad Ded Hospi-tal, JKPCC, and JTFRP also accompa-nied the CEO, ERA during his visit.

Construction Of Additional Block At LD

First-time use of 'Base Isolation Technique' in JK


SRINAGAR: Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary a day after he as-sumed charge as the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Saturday assured the officers of the district administration of his complete support to honest work endeav-ours aimed at prompt execution of works and development of the district. He was speaking in an introductory meeting with the officers of the district adminis-tration asking them to ensure utmost dedication and commit-ment to work. The DC said work-ing in the capital district comes with huge responsibilities and that it was incumbent on all of-ficers and departments to ensure

highest standards of profession-alism and unfailing commitment to well-managed administration and timely execution of works.

He said the size and signifi-cance of the Srinagar district in-volving a multitude of executing agencies demand that there is complete coordination amongst the departments of the district. He asked to ensure complete inter-departmental coordina-tion leading to planned execu-tion of works and development in the capital district. He said he would be taking regular assess-ments of works at ground levels and would be expecting the most honest and dedicated efforts at ensuring smooth and responsive administration.

DC convenes introductory meet with officers ‘No compromise on professional work conduct’


SRINAGAR: Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani Sat-urday inaugurated Srinagar of-fice of Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC) in the premises of IICT Srinagar through video conferencing facility.

The inauguration ceremo-ny was held in the presence of Shantmanu, Development Commissioner Handicrafts, Ratnesh Kumar Jha, Additional Development Commissioner Handicrafts, Mahavir Pratap Sharma, Chairman CEPC, Purn-ima Mittal, Additional District Development Commissioner Srinagar, Zubair Ahmad, Direc-tor IICT, and other concerned.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister expressed hope that CEPC’s Srinagar of-fice will be beneficial for all the stake holders and will lead to enhance exports and open new avenues for more employment opportunities in the region.

She said that Indian Hand-made carpet is an age-old in-dustry and has made significant strides in the recent past. She said the industry is highly labour intensive and provides employ-ment to over 2 Million workers.

“Kashmir is famous for exqui-site high-quality hand-knotted woolen and silk carpets which are symbolic of quality and fi-nesse,” she added.

Irani informed that 90,000 applications have been re-ceived for the registration under Pehchan initiative and

60,000 Pehchan ID Cards have been distributed to the arti-sans so far. She also assured full support to the Kashmir carpet industry for its growth and promotion. Meanwhile,

it was given out that Textile Committee in partnership with Development Commissioner Handicrafts (DCH) and CEPC will provide special lab testing facilities at IICT in Srinagar.

CEPC and DCH assure avail-ability of designers in collabo-ration with institutes like Na-tional Institute of Design (NID), FDIC etc. Further, Wool Bank will be opened in collaboration with Wool Development Board to ensure availability of suffi-cient raw wool through the fol-

low up of the office of the DCH.It was also said that for re-

duction of GST on Pashmina Shawls a suitable proposal of the industry will be recom-mended to the Ministry of Fi-

nance from Ministry of Textiles.CEPC will work closely with

JKTPO to help the marketing and branding requirement of the manufacturers and traders from J&K at trade shows within India and across the globe.

Chairman CEPC said that Council will also run awareness campaign to educate members of the J&K region about no ap-plicability of GST on weavers of Pashmina shawls and Silk carpets, who make less than 40 Lakhs per annum.

City gets Carpet Export Promotion Council office


SRINAGAR: Chief Conservator of Forests, Kashmir Farooq Gil-lani along with CF Srinagar For-est Circle Irfan Ali Shah today conducted a detailed tour of the forest areas of Pir Panjal, Tang-marg and Urban Forestry Divi-sions of District Budgam and Baramulla. During the course of visit, various review meet-ings were held. Stress was given on increasing the duration and frequency of field touring by all Conservators of Forests /DFOs.

Progress of forest protection

including Anti-Encroachment Operations and Forest Fire Man-agement, Plantation Of Degrad-ed Forest lands, Special Forestry Projects, upcoming Institutional Plantation Programs, Firewood supplies were reviewed during the meeting. It was informed that 176 kanals of encroached forest land has been evicted dur-ing 2018-19. During the meeting, emphasis was laid on checking of forest encroachment on for-est lands and need for concerted action involving civil adminis-tration and police for eviction of existing encroachments on

forest land. It was informed that in Srinagar Forest Circle, during the current year 50 FIRs have been lodged against tim-ber smugglers/damage doers, besides 2928 cfts of timber and 24 vehicles carrying illicit tim-ber/MFP have been seized. It was also informed that 42,659 Qtls of firewood has been distributed among 1214 mosques, besides other religious institutions. CCF Kashmir was apprised that 6.23 lakh plants were planted during the current year and the required Plants are available in the nurs-eries for planting in the field.

50 FIRs against smugglers in Sgr Forest Circle

SRINAGAR: Muhammad You-nis Malik today assumed the charge as Director School Edu-cation Kashmir here. Muham-mad Younis Malik said that strengthening of basic infra-structure, the optimal use of available resources for develop-ment of education and resolv-ing the issues of SSA teachers will be his top priority.

DSEK further stressed on the concerned officers and other of-ficials to work with zeal, dedi-cation and honesty to achieve the goals of the department.

Sharing his experiences as DSEK, the outgoing Director Dr. G.N. Itoo expressed his good wishes towards Muhammad Younis Malik for his new en-deavour.

Malik assumes charge as DSEK


Srinagar: Various associa-tions of engineers Saturday held a meeting here and de-manded issuance of ACP and regularization of adhoc pro-motions in time bound man-ner. They also demanded implementation of SRO 42 of 2011. Engineering Gradu-ates Association comprising CEGA, EEGA and MEGA by its Engineer Farooq Ahmed Ganie, Er. Firdous Ahad Bhat and Er Peerzada Hidaytulla deliberated threadbare on the callous attitude of the Governor administration towards the engineering fraternity during a meeting that was held in Raj Bagh Srinagar.

They impressed upon the Governor Administration to resolve and redress the long pending issues such as issuance of SRO for the al-ready approved ACP Scheme, Regularization of all adhoc

promotions in a time bound manner, implementation of SRO-42 of 2011 and other issues which have been brought in the notice of the government continuously. They further resolved that if the issues are not resolved immediately, then the engi-neers will be constrained to proceed on protest which will include suspension of developmental works and floating of tenders, locking down of offices and suspen-sion of office work. The engi-neers will be forced to come out on the roads, for which the onus will lye on the gov-ernment. They urged up on the Governor Administration to fulfill the commitment made to them.

The engineers threatened that if the demands are not fulfilled, they will start pro-test program which will be announced in the press con-ference scheduled to be held on 28 of this month.

Engineers ask admin to fulfill demands

Non-local workers protest in CitySrinagar: Scores of non-local labourers working in Kashmir Saturday held a protest dem-onstration here against at-tacks and harassment direct-ed at Kashmiris outside the valley in wake of the Pulwama bombing attack. The non-local labourers assembled at Press Enclave here, holding plac-ards and banners like ”Kash-miriyu pa zulm band karo band karo”, “Stop harassment of Kashmiri’s in India”. They said that they had never felt threatened in Kashmir and the harassment and attacks on Kashmiri students outside should stop immediately. " I have never faced any diffi-culty during these years. The Kashmiri people give us love and affection,” said Amir Hus-sain, a non-local labourer who has been working in Kashmir for last 25 years.

Following the deadly suicide bombing attack on CRPF in Pul-wama on February 14, mobs have targetted Kashmiri stu-dents and businesmenn living in Jammu and elsewhere, lead-ing to protests and shutdown in the Valley.

NEWS Sunday| 24-02-2019 4I r a n F M I n S y r I a

Making Sense Of The World Around U s

Press TrusT Of IndIa

New Delhi: Taking Congress head on over the Sohrabuddin case, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the appropriate question for party president Rahul Gandhi to ask would be, who killed the investigation in this case.

The Special CBi Judge, Mumbai, who deals with CBi cases had acquitted all accused in Sohrabuddin case, the minister said, adding "more relevant than the Order of the Acquittal is the observation of the Judge that in the investigation, from the very beginning, investigating Agency did not investigate the case pro-fessionally in order to find out the truth but to divert it towards certain political persons."

Responding to the comment of Gandhi on the day of the judgement that 'no-body killed Sohrabuddin', Jaitley said, "it would have been more appropriate if he had asked the right question, namely who killed Sohrabuddin case investigation,

agencIes

hONG KONG,: A pair of his father’s old tandoor ovens helped hong Kong restaurateur Asim hussain achieve a dream — the world’s first Michelin star for a Pakistani restaurant, an accolade he hopes will fire interest in the country’s often overlooked cuisine.

like many of hong Kong’s 85,000 strong South Asian population, hussein’s family trace their lineage in the bustling finan-cial hub back generations, when the city was a British colonial outpost.

his great-grandfather arrived during world war One, overseeing mess halls for British soldiers while his Cantonese speaking father owned restaurants in the eighties and nineties.

hussein, 33, already had some twenty eateries in his group when he decided to embark on his what he described as his most

GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Office of the Executive Engineer Gas Turbine Division Pampore (Email: [email protected])

NIT No: GTD/PDC/Tech/ 10 of 2018-19 Dated: 20 - 02-2019short Term nIT

For and on behalf of the Managing Director JKSPDC, sealed tenders valid for 90 days affixed with revenue stamp worth Rs. 2/- are invited from approved, registered/reputed Class D Civil Contractorspossessing a certificate from State Tax Department to the effect that the contractor is registered with the said department and has cleared all the dues up to last quarter, for carrying out the below mentioned jobs at Gas Turbine Division Pampore subject to terms and condition herein.

S . No.

Particulars Unit Qty Amount Time of Completion

1 Clearing jungle grass, brush wood trees and sapling including uprooting of rank vegetation from 132KV Switch yard Area of GT Units 1&2 ,Divisional Store yard of Gas Turbine Phase II Pam[pore .

SM 13675 10 Days

The tenders complete in all respects should reach to the office of the undersigned on or before 28 - 02 -2019 up to 2 PM in sealed envelopes through registered post or by hand and will be opened on the same date at 3:30PM. In case the date of receipt of tenders happens to be holiday or the office remains closed due to some unavoidable circumstances then the tenders shall be received on the next working day. The detailed tender documents can be had from the office of the Executive Engineer Gas Turbine Pampore on all working days w.e.f. 22 - 02 -2019to 28 - 02 -2019during office hours.

Executive EngineerDIPK-NB-5360/18 Gas Turbine Division Pampore

NOTICE All the students of M.A Education, M.Ed, B.Ed, PGDGC (Diploma), M.B.A, M.Com, Economics, MTM and Politics and Governance are hereby informed that the regular classwork of their respective programmes shall commence at Green Campus of the university at Ganderbal,(opposite to the Government Degree College Ganderbal), after winter vacations.

Prof. Fayaz Ahmad Nika Registrar

CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR Administrative Campus, Nuner Ganderbal - 191201

ewww

2468357

OffIce Of THe assIsTanT regIOnaL TransPOrT OffIcer BudgaM KasHMIr

NOTICE

Whereas an application has been recieved from one. Shri : Mohammad Sultan LoneS/o: Abdul Samad LoneR/o: Hangi Bugh Magam Budgam owner of vehicle bearing Registration No: JK04E-3353 for cancellation of hire purchase agreement with M/S Cholamandalam Investtment B/U Nowgam . . Now therefore it is notified for the information of the general public that objections if any to the proposed cancellation of hire purchase Agreement shall be filed in writing in the office of the Assistant Regional Transport office ARTO Budgam within a period of 12 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily newspaper .

No. ARTO/ BUDGAM.12008 Dated 23/02/2019

assistant regional Transport officerBudgam Kashmir

War Is Not A Picnic, Former Indian Spy Chief Warns BJP-led Govt

Very, Very Bad Situation Between India and Pak: Trump

agencIes

New Delhi: Former indian spy chief A.S. Dulat said on Friday that war was not a picnic and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to weigh his widely speculated options against Pakistan with preference for an ag-gressive diplomacy.

his views published by the Congress party-run National her-ald newspaper tallied with former Congress home minister P. Chidam-baram who said the suicide bomber who killed over 40 paramilitary men in Pulwama on Feb 14 was an indian, and as such the government should focus on winning the hearts and minds of the alienated people of the disputed state.

Mr Dulat said he did not believe war was imminent.

“i don’t think so. The government [Prime Minister Modi] did say they were giving a free hand to the army, but wars are nastier these days. i’m sure there are other options short of war. even after the Mumbai terror attack, there was a clamour for war, probably even louder, but Dr Manmo-han Singh did not go to war. So, Modi has to weigh his options, people at the top have to weigh the consequences. war is not a picnic.

There hasn’t been a real war since 1971. Kargil was a limited opera-tion and it was in the heights where

fortunately not many civilians got affected. But, if lahore is bombed, or Amritsar is bombed or even Muzaf-farabad is bombed, are we prepared for the consequences? Today, the weaponry is also not that of 1971, it has all changed.”

in a separate interview else-where, Mr Chidambaram was asked the same question, he said: “i con-demn the Pulwama incident. But the alleged perpetrator is an indian, a Kashmiri. he is not a Pakistani.

he claims to have been influ-enced or indoctrinated by the Jaish-e-Mohammad, maybe that’s true. But if young men are pushed into the arms

of militant organisations, whatever we do on the border, whatever we do to contain Pakistan, whatever we do to stop infiltration, whatever we do of cross-border action, is not going to yield any results."

"we have to win the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir Val-ley,” said Mr Dulat, a Kashmir ex-pert, who served as adviser to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, adding that Mr Vajpayee had faced the worst of assaults – including the Kargil standoff, the parliament attack and the hijacking of the indian airline plane to Kandahar. But he handled all the events with equanimity.

Mr Dulat, a Sikh, said the embrace between Congress minister in Punjab and former cricketer Navjot Sidhu and Pakistan’s Army Chief Qamar Ja-ved Bajwa should not be misread.

“how Sidhu greeted General Ba-jwa is how Punjabis meet and greet each other. And here, they were not just Punjabis, but here was a Jatt Sikh from our side meeting a Jatt from the other side. The way a Sidhu and a Bajwa met is the normal way they would meet. if there was an el-ement of embarrassment, it should have been caused more to Bajwa, who was in uniform. Sidhu did whatever he did spontaneously.”

Mr Dulat explained the genesis of the current spiral. “when you stop talking, then you are cutting down your options. That’s why we are back to the narrative of violence. when it comes to insurgencies worldwide, very rarely has an insurgency been sorted out or solved through force and by the gun.

The British, who dealt with this more than anybody else, had a huge problem in 1950 in Malaya. And that is when two of their top officers (a Field Marshal and a General) wrote the first handbook on how to deal with insurgency and the crux of that handbook, which is still used in the west, is that there is a need to win the hearts and minds of the people.”

LaLIT K JHa

wAShiNGTON, Feb 23 (PTi) Describing the current situation between india and Pakistan as "very, very bad", US President Donald Trump Friday said his administration was in contact with both sides and hoped hostilities would soon end in the Valley.

"Right now between Paki-stan and india, there is a very, very bad situation. A very dangerous situation. we would like to see it (hostilities) stop. A lot of people were just killed. we want to see it just stop. we are very much involved in that (process)," Trump told report-ers at the Oval Office.

The US president was responding to questions on last week's terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 in-dian security personnel were killed. Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsi-bility for the attack.

"india is looking at some-thing very strong. india just lost almost 50 people in the attack. i can understand that too," Trump said, adding that his administration was talking to authorities in both countries.

"we're talking. A lot of peo-ple are. it's going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems between india and Pakistan because of what just happened," he said.

The president said the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials.

"i stopped paying Paki-stan the USD 1.3-billion that we used to pay them. in the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents. we were paying Pakistan USD 1.3 billion a year. i ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should have," Trump said.

he said the United States' relation with Pakistan has de-veloped in the last few months.

Palestinians Worshippers Gain Access To Restricted Al-Aqsa Mosque AreaagnecIes

JeRUSAleM: Palestinians worshippers have managed to gain access to the israeli-restricted Bab al-Rahma area of the al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of east Jerusalem al-Quds.

Thousands of worship-

pers, who gained access to the area on Friday, were responding to calls by Pal-estinian clerics — includ-ing al-Aqsa Mosque’s Mufti ekrima Sa’id Sabri — to gather in the Bab al-Rahma sector for Friday prayers, according to the Palestinian information Center.

Bab al-Rahma, with a gate of the same name, con-sists of a large building and a

courtyard that lie east of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The building was sealed by israeli authorities in 2003 after they claimed it was be-ing used by Palestinians for political activities. israeli authorities renewed the re-striction order annually un-til an israeli court ordered

the building closed until fur-ther notice in 2017.

israeli forces respond-ed to the planned assembly on Friday by setting up numerous roadblocks and checkpoints and arrest-ing up to 60 Palestinians, according to various local Palestinian sources.

The israeli measures, how-ever, failed to stop the crowd from opening the gate and en-

tering the area for prayers.Following the develop-

ment, the Palestinian resistance movement of hamas issued a statement describing the event as “a new peaceful victory against the israeli occupation.”

Tensions continue in the occupied Palestinian ter-ritories in the aftermath of a

move by the United States to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as israel’s “capital” and relocate its embassy to the occupied city.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a flashpoint, highly respected by Mus-lims, Jews, and Christians alike. The mosque is islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-haram in Mecca and Mas-jid al-Nabawi in Medina.

Thousands of Palestinians have re-entered al-aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem

Aero India show300 Cars Gutted In Fire Near Bengaluru

agencIes

BeNGAlURU: A fire in the parking lot in front of the Yelahanka air base in Benga-luru, where the Aero india show is under-way, gutted around 300 cars on Saturday, police said. No casualties were reported.

The fire is likely to have been caused due to dry grass catching fire aided by

high velocity winds, Director General of Police in Karnataka MN Reddi told iANS.

The fire, which began at around 12 noon, quickly burnt down the vehicles parked by visi-tors and public attending the show at the indian Air Force base. it gave out thick black smoke. Attempts were made to control the blaze by cre-ating a gap by removing adjacent cars.

‘no possibility of nuclear war between India and Pak’

ISlaMabad: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in case

of an armed conflict between india and Pakistan in the aftermath of February 14 suicide attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pulwama district which left over 40 para-military forces killed.

“it is ridiculous even to say that there will be use of atom bomb in case of any war between the nuclear neighbours. if Pakistan uses one bomb, india will use 20 bombs so Pakistan may have to use 50 – this is disastrous,” the ex-military ruler said while replying to question at a news conference in Dubai on Friday, according to Gulf News.

“People who are talking about such possibilities have no idea of warfare,” he said, adding that nuclear weapon at best is a deterrence and should not be used by anyone.

The former president went on to say that the relations between islamabad and New Delhi have been very tense and even dangerous for the 10 months.

Musharraf, who is also founder of All Pakistan Muslim league (APMl), addressed the media along with his senior party members – newly elected APMl Chairman hidayatullah Kheshgi and Secretary General Mehreen Malik. he announced the he would be reorganising his party both in Pakistan and abroad and would enter the political scene before the next elections.

while replying to a question about his return to Pakistan, the ex-military general said: “i am planning to go back soon as the environment is conducive for my return to Pakistan,” he said replying to a question.

he went on to say that many of the senior officials and ministers working for the Prime Minister imran Khan govern-ment had also worked under him and would help him on his return.

‘abused’ Saudi sisters trapped in Hong Kong risk deportation

hONG Kong: Two Saudi sisters trapped in hong Kong say chronic physical abuse by male family

members prompted them to flee the king-dom, where they now fear they will be forcibly returned.

The siblings are the latest example of Saudi women plotting their escape from the ultra-conservative kingdom only to find themselves dodging officials and angry family members at every turn, as the country battles criticism of its human rights record.

The young women, aged 20 and 18, found themselves marooned after Saudi consular officials allegedly intercepted them during a stopover at the city’s airport and later revoked their passports. The pair, who have adopted the aliases Reem and Rawan, described a deeply unhappy upbringing in a middle-class Riyadh household.

They claim they were beaten by their father when they were young, and by their brothers when they got older, for small transgressions such as waking up late for prayer. mq

Sunday | 24-02-2019 05News


Banihal/Jammu: Two engineers of a private company engaged in construction of 1,000-MW Pakal Dul hydroelectric project were killed in a landslide in Kishtwar district while a major landslide disrupted traffic once again on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The deceased were identified as senior mechanical engineer Gur-meet Singh and resident electric engineer Vijay Gupta, residents of Jammu and Kathua respectively, they said. The landslide occurred on Friday evening near Ikhala-Bhandarkot in Dachan tehsil -- 45 kilometers from Kishtwar town, the officials said. The bodies of the engineers, who were work-ing with Jaypee Group, were re-covered from the spot, eight kilo-meters from the construction site late on Friday night, they said.

"They were part of a team working to restore the road link to the residential quarters. After having lunch, they returned to the site and were hit by boul-ders which rolled down from the hillock along with mud, trapping them," a company official said.

He said a rescue operation was launched after a shepherd alert-ed them. A police official said the bodies were brought to the dis-trict hospital in Kishtwar on Sat-

urday morning and later handed over to their families after com-pletion of legal formalities.

A major landslide struck the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district on Saturday, disrupting smooth movement of traffic which was restored after three days of clo-sure owing to fresh snowfall and multiple landslides, officials said.

The landslide completely blocked the highway near Ma-roog around 1 pm, leaving thou-sands of Kashmir-bound vehicles, which were allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar, stranded, they said. The officials said the agency concerned pressed its men and machines, and after nearly six-hour long operation cleared the road for light motor vehicles.

The road clearance operation was still going on when last re-ports were received, the officials said, adding that there is heavy traffic congestion on the high-way along the Ramban-Banihal stretch. They said no fresh ve-hicle will be allowed either from Srinagar or Jammu on Sunday to allow clearance of the stranded vehicles. The strategic 270-km highway was reopened for one-way traffic Saturday morning af-ter clearance of the debris from the landslide-hit areas.

The reopening of the high-

way had come as a major relief to thousands of passengers who were left stranded following the closure of the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country on Wednes-day. Heavy snowfall around the Jawahar Tunnel -- the gateway to Kashmir -- and landslides trig-gered by incessant rains at over half a dozen places between

Banihal and Ramban had forced authorities to suspend vehicular movement on the highway.

"The debris was cleared and the road was made traffic-wor-thy by Friday evening, thus al-lowing the authorities to clear the large number of stranded ve-hicles," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic), National High-way, Suresh Sharma told PTI.

"However, shooting of stones and two landslides in Digdole area overnight disrupted the movement of traffic once again. After hectic efforts, the road was cleared and the Kashmir-bound traffic was allowed from Jammu on Saturday morning," he said. He added that no vehicle was being allowed from the opposite direction to avoid a traffic jam.

Kishtwar : Two engineers killed in landslideTraffic on Jammu-Srinagar highway disrupted again


KARGIL: In order to examine and report on the periodicity of the Divisional Commissioner’s and IG’s sitting at Kargil and Leh and decide other necessary mea-sures for operationalisation of Ladakh Division, the committee for Ladakh constituted by State Administrative Council (SAC) under the chairmanship of Prin-cipal Secretary Planning & De-velopment Rohit Kansal reached here today and held a meeting with the LAHDC, Kargil led by Feroz Ahmad Khan at Confer-ence Hall Baroo. The meeting was attended by the Executive Councillor for Works Nassir Hus-sain Munshi, Executive Coun-cillor for Health Zakir Hussain, Executive Councillor for Social Welfare Aga Syed Mujtaba Mosa-vi, Executive Councillor for Zan-skar Affairs Er Punchoq Tashi, Commissioner/Secretary Rev-enue Shahid Anayatullah, Com-missioner/Secretary Ladakh Af-fairs Rigzen Samphel, Divisional Commissioner Ladakh Saugat Biswas, Secretary Department of Rural Development & PR Sheetal Nanda, Director General Budget Finance Mohammad Yaqoob Itoo, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer Kargil Baseer-ul-Haq Choudhary , out-going Deputy Commissioner Vi-kas Kundal, SP Kargil Dr Vinod Kumar and Councillors of the LAHDC, Kargil.

During the course of the meet-ing, the committee discussed with the LAHDC members issues pertaining to the identification of posts of divisional level heads of various departments for the newly created Ladakh Division, their equitable location at Kargil and Leh, roles and responsibili-ties and staffing patterns besides other related issues.

The CEC presented a memo-randum before the committee.

Chairman of the Committee Rohit Kansal thanked the LA-HDC, Kargil, religious, political organizations and the general public of Kargil for having ex-tended the committee a warm

welcome and appreciated them for the decent and democratic demand for grant of headquar-ters on a rotational basis in both Leh and Kargil.

The Principal Secretary as-sured that overall actual require-ments of the departments, as well as the needs and aspirations of people, will be taken into ac-count by the committee while submitting the recommenda-tions to the State Government. He said that the mandate of the committee is to work towards a fair, just and equitable develop-ment of both Leh and Kargil dis-tricts and it is fully committed to achieve this goal. He said the committee is open to hold more discussions and deliberations with the representatives of both districts if need may arise.

Meanwhile, the Committee also held a meeting with the representatives of the religious, political and social organizations of the district. The delegation led by President Islamia School (ISK) Kargil Sheikh Nazir ul Mu-hammadi and Vice President Religious Affairs Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust (IKMT), Kargil Sheikh Bashir Shakir expressed thankfulness to the Governor’s Administration on behalf of the people of Kargil for having grant-ed the Divisonal Status to Ladakh with its headquarters at Kargil and Leh. They urged the com-mittee for equitable distribution of directorates between the two districts and holding of joint meetings of the two LAHDCs be-fore they submit their report to the Government.

Later, the Committee also held a meeting with the District Of-ficers and took first hand infor-mation about the powers and exercise of major departments in terms of developmental schemes under District and State sector as well as Centrally Sponsored Schemes, their fund flow mecha-nism and related issues.

The Committee also took re-view about the procedural issues and administrative problems pertaining to various depart-ments in the district.

Committee on Ladakh Division visits KargilMeets LAHDC members, representatives of religious, political organisations


Srinagar: Any attempt to lever-age the developments in J&K for electoral purposes is fraught with danger and should be avoided at all costs, a group of senior Indian citizens said on Saturday.

"At a time when the nation is passing through trying circum-stances, we appeal that the gov-ernment must not take any steps which detract from the Constitu-tional framework of the country or the universally accepted prin-ciples of Rule of Law", the group said in a joint statement.

The group that includes for-mer Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Ex Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibul-lah, Air Vice Marshal (R) Kapil Kak, activist Sushobha Barve and journalist Bharat Bhushan, said:

"It is imperative that no innocent Kashmiri, within J&K or in the rest of India, is made to feel inse-cure or unsafe". The group said recent pronouncements of the Supreme Court in this context have brought 'much solace'.

"We recognize that terrorism is a grave threat to the nation, especially terrorism emanating from Pakistan and deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms. Terrorism is a grave issue and has to be dealt with unitedly by the nation’s leadership cut-ting across political lines".

Emphasising that the current situation must be dealt with in a non-partisan manner, the group said, "Any attempt to leverage the developments in J&K for elec-toral purposes is fraught with danger and should be avoided at all costs".

'Leveraging Kashmir for Electoral Purposes Dangerous'


Chandigarh: The Punjab Police has set up a helpline number to deal with the complaints lodged by Kashmiris, especially students in the state. The toll-free helpline number 181 will ensure prompt and effective response for Kash-miris facing any kind of harass-ment or trouble in the state, ac-cording to an official release issued here. The helpline will have a spe-cial desk dedicated to resolve prob-lems of Kashmiris. It will promptly respond to and address any com-plaint of harassment or intimida-tion of people/students belonging to Jammu and Kashmir. The vic-tims can call on 181 or send an SMS or WhatsApp message on 76961-81181. They can also fax their com-plaint on 0172-6626181 and e-mail it to "mailto:[email protected]" \

[email protected], according to the release. On Friday, the Cen-tre had asked all states to ensure security of people belonging to Jammu and Kashmir amid reports that some of them were attacked in different parts of the country in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, which left 40 CRPF Jawans dead on February 14. The Supreme Court had also directed that the nodal officers appointed by the states/UTs would take necessary steps to prevent acts of violence, discrimination and other coercive acts against Kashmiris (including students enrolled with the institu-tions in the respondent states and the Union Territories) and other minorities. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already as-sured that his government would ensure full safety and security of Kashmiris in the state.

"Kashmiris are as much a part of India as Kashmir is and abusing or harassing them for the act of ISI-backed terrorists is not only uncon-stitutional but also inhuman," the chief minister said in the release.

The Punjab Police has also des-ignated Deputy Inspector General (Law & Order) Surjeet Singh as the nodal officer for managing the re-sponse and redressal of the com-plaints. According to a notification issued by the Punjab Police, the DIG will oversee all issues/grievances pertaining to people/students of J&K living in the jurisdiction of Punjab.

"Any such person/student be-longing to J&K in distress can ap-proach the nodal officer on his mobile number 94645-00004 or office number 0172-2747767 at Punjab Police Headquarters, Sec-tor-9, Chandigarh, the notifica-tion stated.

Punjab Police sets up helpline number for Kashmiris facing threats


Jammu: Amid frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistan, a team of senior civil and police officials on Saturday visited cross-border shelling affected areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district to mitigate the problems being faced by border residents, an offi-cial spokesperson said. The team, headed by deputy commissioner, Rajouri, Mohammad Aijaz Asad visited forward areas in Nowshera and Sunderbani sectors to take first-hand appraisal from the lo-cal populace in view of frequent ceasefire violations and shelling in the past few days, he said.

Accompanied by Senior Super-intendent of Police Yougal Manhas and Additional Deputy Commis-

sioner Nowshera Vinod Bhel, be-sides senior officers of various departments, he said Asad inter-acted with the shelling-affected population and took stock of their issues. The deputy commissioner was apprised of several issues like construction of new individual and community bunkers and proper rehabilitation of border people, the spokesperson said. He said the people also demanded deputation of veterinary doctors for treatment of injured livestock. In this regard, decision was taken to operate vet-erinary sub-centre on a temporary basis, the spokesperson said.

Regarding construction of bun-kers, he said the deputy commis-sioner informed that 145 commu-nity and individual bunkers in the Nowshera region and 20 more in Sunderbani are at different phases

of execution. The officers also took stock of the measures being put in place to provide necessary help to the affected people, the spokes-person said. He said Asad also directed the officers to station at headquarters to redress the prob-lems of the people and ensure the provision of all the basic amenities so that the people do not face any hardship. During the visit, he said the deputy commissioner visited the construction sites of bunkers along the LoC being executed by the Public Works Department in the areas which experienced re-peated ceasefire violation.

These bunkers included the community as well as individual and the concerned executing agency was directed to speed up the work for early completion of facility, he said.

DC-led team visits Rajouri amid LoC flare-up

New Delhi: DIG (South Kashmir) Amit Kumar, who was injured in the abdomen during an en-counter in Pulwama district, was Saturday airlifted to AIIMS for treatment, officials said. Kumar received a gunshot wound in the abdomen on February 18 in the encounter in Pulwama's Pinglan area, about 12-km from where a suicide bomber belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed drove his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus on February 14, killing 40 personnel.

"He was airlifted to the All In-dia Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for further treatment," officials said. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju visit-ed him at the hospital, they said.

The Pinglan encounter had claimed the lives of four Army personnel, a civilian and two

Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, including the mastermind of Feb-ruary 14 terror attack.

The slain soldiers were Major V S Dhondial, Havaldar Sheo Ram and Sepoys Hari Singh and Ajay Kumar. The slain terror-ists were identified as Kamran, a Pakistani national and top commander of the Jaish, and Hilal Ahmad, a local recruited by the terror group.

The injured included DIG Ku-mar, who was shifted to Army hospital, and a Brigade Com-mander who was hurt in the leg.

Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation during the night after receiving inputs about the presence of mil-itants in the Pinglan area.

Militants fired at forces as the searches got underway, trigger-ing a gun battle.

DIG South Kashmir airlifted to AIIMS for treatment


Srinagar: NC president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah Saturday wel-comed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement denouncing attacks on Kashmiris in the after-math of the Pulwama attack.

"The statement will go a long way in pacifying people of the country. Although it took him too long to come out against the unwarranted and targeted vio-lence being orchestrated against Kashmiris putting up across the country. However, we welcome the statement and expect cor-rective measures will be taken in this regard," Farooq Abdullah said in a statement issued here. The MP from Srinagar, however, said the prime minister must ensure that his directions are followed in letter and spirit. "Words are not enough. The prime minister has to ensure that his directions of not targeting Kashmiris are followed in letter and spirit on the ground as well," the National Conference

president said. NC's vice-presi-dent Omar Abdullah said it was perhaps for the first time that a "full-throated" statement against targeting Kashmiris came from the BJP. "Now that it has come from the prime minister, we wel-

come it with a hope that it will help calm the situation across the country," he said. Omar Abdullah said Modi must take note of the "anti-Kashmir statements" com-ing from those who were hold-ing constitutional positions and reprimand them in the greater good of the country. Earlier, in a tweet, he thanked the prime min-ister for breaking his silence on attacks against Kashmiris and ex-

pressed hope that such incidents would not recur. "Thank you @narendramodi Sahib. Aaj aap ne hamaray dil ki baat keh di (you have conveyed the feelings of our heart)," Omar Abdullah tweeted. Addressing a rally at Rajasthan's

Tonk district, the prime minis-ter said, "Our fight is not against Kashmiris." "It's been a more than a week since the terrible at-tack in Pulwama & more than a week that Kashmiris have been bearing the brunt of the public anger. Perhaps finally after PM @narendramodi Sb has spoken these forces targeting Kashmiris will stop in their tracks," Omar Abdullah tweeted.


Srinagar: People's Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Saturday said Governor Satya Pal Malik should not tinker with the constitutional pro-visions applicable to Jammu and Kashmir and asked him to desist from taking any deci-sions that can have far reach-ing consequences.

Lone, who was a minister in the erstwhile PDP-led coali-tion government from the BJP quota, said the Governor's or President's rule is a tempo-rary measure to carry on the day-to-day routine functions of the government.

"The governor is not ex-pected to take major policy decisions, which is the pre-rogative of an elected govern-ment alone. In no way, the governor or the president can or should tinker with the con-

stitutional provisions, which permanently affects the con-stitutional relationship of the state of J&K with the Union," Lone said.

He said tinkering with the constitutional provisions ap-plicable to the state by the governor's administration is a dangerous trend, which will have "serious repercussions so far as constitutional rela-tionship of the State with the Union is concerned".

He said the governor re-cently recommended applica-tion of not only the Constitu-tion 103rd Amendment Act, 2019, to the state of J&K, but also recommended for ap-plication of the Constitution 77th Amendment Act, 1995.

"On the recommendations of the governor, the president issued Constitution Applica-tion Orders a couple of days ago," he added.

Not Guv’s job to tinker with constitutional provisions: Lone

Farooq, Omar Abdullah welcome Modi's statement


New Delhi: Former Navy Chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas has written to President Ram Nath Kovind in the aftermath of the suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama dis-trict that killed at least 40 In-dian security personnel. Pak-istan-based extremist group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. In a letter dated February 20, Ramdas said the guilty must be punished for the despicable act. He, however, questioned how such an attack took place on a strategic highway, “espe-cially in view of some reports that speak of there having been some intelligence reports.”

Days after the attack, media reports suggested that an ad-visory was issued to the Cen-tral Reserve Police Force in the Valley, warning them of pos-sible use of improvised explo-

sive devices by militants.Ramdas said the Kashmir

problem must be resolved through dialogue between India, Pakistan and the peo-ple of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. “We must act now and sit across the table and have an honest dialogue with all parties concerned,” he wrote. “It might already be too late.”

He also condemned the ha-rassment and attacks on Kash-miris across states. “Soon this might spill over to Muslims across India. We cannot allow this to continue and spread with dire consequences which are hard to assess,” he said.

He also urged that there should be a stop to the “ter-rible media war” being waged on innocent Kashmiris. He said urgent action must be taken to prevent aggravating the situ-ation of fear and insecurity— Agencies

‘Solution to Kashmir problem is political, not military,’ ex-Navy chief tells president Jammu: Director General of Police

(DGP), J&K Dilbag Singh today visited Police training Centres at Sheeri, Mani-gam and Lethpora to review the training being imparted to trainees. He inter-acted with the officers and training staff and addressed the trainees. The DGP, while addressing the trainees at these institutions impressed upon them to be firm in law enforcement but at the same time be friendly to the common masses and build a healthy relationship . He said that training makes a policeman out of a simple young man who enters as a re-cruit ,competent and capable to face any tough situation in the field.

He impressed them to maintain high standards of discipline during their training and keep their morale high while facing tough law and order chal-lenges on ground. You should keep calm and composed in the the face of such circumstances and stay firm on the com-mitment to duty. The DGP impressed up the trainees to follow the law and the procedures while dealing with the law and order situations and take all securi-ty precautions for their own safety . He said that the police force should always abide by the law and should use only ap-

propriate amount of force whenever re-quired while maintaining law and order.

He advised them to be patient and tactful and exercise professional skills while dealing with different situations and remain motivated. DGP appreci-ated the efforts of the training staff in moulding the recruits in a disciplined figure. He said that the trainees are ca-pable of being deployed on different du-ties in the field and they would exhibit good performance and commitment as demanded by the situations while main-taining law and order. DGP emphasised upon the trainees to have proactive ap-proach to their training and be focused. He directed the training staff to sensitize the trainees about their role in the field for facing multiple challenges.

The DGP asked the trainees to learn more and more skills from their train-ers and take full advantage of available facilities in both indoor and outdoor trainings. DGP advised the trainees to distinguish between facts and rumours and should be ready to tackle any and every situation. The Principals, district police officers and other training staff was present during these addresses at respective training centres.

DGP urges for public-friendly policing

Sunday| 24-02-2019

Sunday Observer

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No Holds Barredk a s h m i r

Editor-in-Chief : Sajjad Haider

Legal Counsel: Tasaduq KhwajaSwitchboard: (0194) 2106304Editorial: (0194) 2502327Email editorial: [email protected] & Published by Sajjad Haider on behalf of the Kashmir Observer LLPPublished from: # 1- Boulevard, Srinagar-190001Printed at: KT Press Pvt. Ltd, Rangreth Ind Area, Srinagar.RNI Registration No: 69503/98Postal Registration No-L/159/KO/SK/2014-16

All in A days work

...

So Mehbooba Mufti condemns arrest of Hurriyat leaders. She was the woman who jailed my mother (Asiya Andrabi) and took pride in it. I remem-ber coming home from school and finding mother handcuffed. Under what legal grounds was her arrest justified? New Delhi asked her to. She danced to their tunes happily and broke a family. She is out of power today but we are not out of memory.#Kashmir

Ahmed Bin QasimBJP has no other issue than Kashmir mediated violence and widespread ha-tred for the next elections. They have already surpassed and broken all the criminal records of any political party in the history of India. So Pulwama like events and article 35A like steps are the only things that can keep them in the game. And they are capable of mass crimes of any magnitude to get they want.

Muneeb A Faiq

Surendra in ‘The Hindu’

Think!Opinion, Analysis, Essays

South Asia On Edge AgainSaad Hafiz

IS South Asia far away from a tipping point or Franz Ferdinand moment from a fatal escala-tion? Hardly an alarmist view in this charged en-vironment. Raising the stakes after acts of terror

and bloodshed have plunged states and regions into deadly conflicts. Calls to national dignity and honour do unleash public resentment leading to incalculable consequences.

India-Pakistan relations, between periods of stri-dent nationalism and armed conflict, have mostly re-mained in a deep freeze with little sign of recovery. Bilateral ties suffer from shrill jingoism, xenophobia and a quest for win-win solutions often at the expense of national interest and political realism. Instead of propagating peace, national leaders unwilling to risk charges of appeasement, defeatism and selling out have generally found it easier to hold hawkish posi-tions. In spite of the frequent bouts of hostility, India and Pakistan share deep historical, cultural, linguis-tic, religious and ethnic bonds.

The refusal to accept some hard facts have exac-erbated the Kashmir issue. India has failed to induce its Kashmiri citizens to join the purported big tent of Indian secular democracy. On the other hand, de-spite the enormous cost to itself. Pakistan has stoked the Kashmir problem to realise unattainable territo-rial dreams. Furthermore, Kashmir Muslims haven’t come to terms with the reality of living under perma-nent majoritarian (read Hindu) rule.

Maximalist and uncompromising positions are unhelpful at this critical stage. Pursuing military so-lutions to political problems is a recipe for disaster. Peace and dialogue is the only way forward for the people of India, Pakistan, and Kashmir. Instead of amplifying war hysteria – perhaps it’s time to reflect on measures to reduce tensions. “Liberty and democ-racy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood”: Gandhi, Non-violence in Peace and War 1948۔

Of immediate concern is the fallout from the vio-lence in Kashmir. The genuine anger over the deadly suicide attack on paramilitary forces in Pulwama in South Kashmir could set off a chain of action and re-

action hard to control. The Indian populace sees this incident as part of a pattern that confirms Pakistan’s ill-will towards India. It follows earlier terror attacks in India: Mumbai 1993, Indian Parliament 2001, Delhi 2005, Mumbai 2008, Gurdaspur 2015, Pathankot Air Force Station 2016 and Uri 2016.

No doubt Prime Minister Narendra Modi is un-

der domestic pressure. Will he order punishing re-prisals against Pakistan despite the significant risks involved? Moreover, the upcoming national elections in India complicate the situation. Coming down hard on the enemy can only help electoral chances for the political parties in the fray.

Conversely, the Kashmir dispute is a plank com-ponent of Pakistan’s foreign policy. But Pakistan is in a weak position to influence its resolution. Some still harbour the dream that Indian side of Kashmir will become part of Pakistan. Preserving the bloated national security state and wasting more blood and coin on Kashmir ’cause’ is a great disservice to those poor Pakistanis who face daily wage the battle against poverty, hunger and disease.

Can Pakistan sit sanguinely under its ‘impregna-ble’ defence (read nuclear capability), suggesting ‘be-fitting’ responses, but with a begging bowl in hand, afford another costly war? What prevents Pakistan, while waiting for ‘actionable’ intelligence from India, from cleaning up the cesspool of extremist religious groups operating from its soil? Other than inviting isolation and ridicule, what possible utility do these groups and individuals serve for Pakistan?

In addition to India, the alleged presence of groups like the Afghan Taliban and Jaish al-Adl allow

Afghanistan and Iran to blame Pakistan for abetting terrorism. While currently basking under the tem-porary glow and attention of the Taliban-US negotia-tion to bring peace to Afghanistan, Pakistan should be careful as its reputation as a terrorist hub won’t permanently escape the world’s attention.

In terms of Kashmir, although there is real alien-

ation in Kashmir from decades of Indian misrule, a separate identity or self-governance is not practical. The world would be even more chaotic if every ethnic or religious minority, claiming a distinctive culture and civilization, achieved a separate homeland. For its part, India should ensure that Kashmir returns to normalcy by pursuing political means, deterring hu-man rights violations by developing a culture of re-straint within its military forces.

The elusive peace in South Asia could benefit from the acceptance of the ground realities. And sober and unemotional analysis can lead to work-able solutions. While the forces in South Asia that have benefited from decades of violence will create maximum obstacles, the peace dividend can accrue to all parties.

India can rise as a global power fulfilling its ‘tryst with destiny’. Pakistan can focus on better control-ling its borders; learn to live within its means, and regain the trust of the international community. And South Asia can have some semblance of peace with fewer bodies, funerals, and graveyards.

The writer is a freelance contributor. He can be reached at [email protected]

From Pulwama to PossibilityThe point is that there is a known path forward in Kashmir to reduce tensions, get a sense of stability,

and not give in on deeply held principles. Even with deeply suspicious people of great vanity, it is possible.

ESam SoHail

THe dynamics of any interna-tionally contextualized terror attack have so many moving parts, known and unknown,

that it is far easier to make self-serving pronouncements than it is to pinpoint the cause, the motive, and the nexus of responsibility.

Unfortunately, the aftermath of the militant suicide bombing attack in the Kashmiri town of Pulwama has produced the usual recriminations, with a lot of fire and a concomitant paucity of light.

There are certain facts that are, however, indisputable, as follows:

There are elements within Paki-stan’s security establishment that provide covert, if not overt, support to separatists in the Kashmir Valley.

The pre-1947 princely state of Jam-mu and Kashmir continues to be, under international law, a disputed territory.

While India has refused to hold a UN-mandated free plebiscite in Kash-mir, Pakistan controls about a third of the territory itself and, again contrary to international law, has gifted large chunks of it to China.

India’s heavy-handed response to the 1989 movement for separatism has been rife with human rights abuses at a scale that is unique for a pluralist democracy.

Neither India nor Pakistan are about to let go of their de facto parts of Jammu and Kashmir, whether it be through attrition, referendums, or in-ternational pressure.

There is no easy, idealistic way for-ward to any “just peace” in the Himala-yan region. Pakistan’s default demand that India hold a plebiscite is simply not tenable anymore in practical terms. Nor is India’s desire that Kashmiris simply accept being “Indian” under the

guns of half a million troops. Neither the sub-continent’s history

nor its people’s social psychology will allow for a long-term solution to Kash-mir based on notions of abstract prin-ciples and international law.

But there are real life models out there that can be looked into for a start to ratcheting down tensions and per-haps create an opening for lasting peace at a future date. Immediately comes to mind the arrangement that the UK and the Republic of Ireland developed over Ulster/Northern Ireland as part of the 1998 Good Friday Accords.

Keep in mind that, like the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir, the bulk of the dispute on the emerald Isle is grounded in perceptions of reli-gious differences, rivaling sovereignty claims, and perceived wishes of the people of the defined region in question.

Under the Good Friday Accords, neither the UK nor Ireland gave up their claims on Ulster; instead, they each moved forward to make incremen-tal agreements that took lived realities on the ground: Toning down the pro-pensity for direct or asymmetrical vio-lence, making it easier for vetted indi-viduals and businesses to engage across the border smoothly, and suspend, tem-porarily, major irritants to stability even if those irritants could be claimed as being within the “purely domestic af-fairs” remit.

So we saw a reorganization of the Northern Ireland police service as a con-cession to its Roman Catholic constitu-ents, a pullback of Britain’s military presence in Belfast, the Irish Republic’s commitment, with third party verifi-cation, to help disarm anti-UK terror groups, the formation of a regular con-sultative group of UK and Irish Repub-lic political leaders to air views on the governance of Ulster, and, eventually, a

devolved regional government in Belfast within technical UK sovereignty.

Though there have been regular and plenty of obstacles -- including the very recent issue of Brexit which was accepted by most of the UK but reject-ed by the people of Northern Ireland -- the Good Friday Accords have gener-ally held and provided a sense of sta-bility and security that has attracted billions in investment in both parts of the emerald Isle.

No model perfectly fits a different situation, be it in business organiza-tions or on the geo-political stage. Also, unfortunately for South Asia, there is no mediator that can play the trusted

role that the United States played in bringing about the Good Friday Ac-cords between two countries with which America shares deep bonds of kinship, language, and trade.

But models can be adapted before being adopted if there is political will and the grease of inducements to go along. The recent whirlwind trip of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince to India and Pakistan and the billions in deals signed between the desert kingdom and the two South Asia rivals suggests that there is such grease to be had consider-ing growing Saudi interest in being a bigger player beyond the Gulf.

Similarly, as China ties up ever closer with Pakistan through invest-ments in roads and ports, it also is counting on India to form a stronger counterbalance to the United States presence in the South China Sea.

China’s interests in protecting its investments and projecting its power would also point towards its possible role as some kind of a guarantor of mu-tual credibility if Pakistan and India get serious about taking steps forward. There may be several other permuta-tions of this possibility.

The point is that there is a known path forward in Kashmir to reduce tensions, get a sense of stability, and not give in on deeply held principles. even with deeply suspicious people of great vanity, it is possible.

Indeed, with a nudge from certain countries like Saudi Arabia, China, and perhaps the US, that possibility could translate into a probability.

It’s doable.

Esam Sohail is a college administrator and lecturer of

social sciences. He writes from Kansas, USA. He can be reached at

[email protected].

Maximalist and uncompromising positions are unhelpful at this critical stage. Pursuing military solutions to

political problems is a recipe for disaster. Peace and dialogue is the only way forward for the people of India, Pakistan, and Kashmir. Instead of amplifying war hysteria – perhaps it’s time to reflect on measures to reduce tensions.

And, that’s the problemBeyond grand geopolitical constructs and byplays, it’s really about Kashmir and those of its people who feel systematically, and deeply, alienated. How will India deal with that, elections or not?

SudEEp CHakravarti

WHAT effect will threats by India’s leadership to Pakistan over the suicide car bombing in Pulwama on 14 February have on reducing

conflict in Jammu and Kashmir? Little, or none. And, that’s the problem.

A so-called surgical strike in retaliation will reclaim for India—and its Bharatiya Jana-ta Party (BJP)-led coalition government—some face. Strikes alone won’t stop future terror attacks. Take the surgical strike of September 2016 in retaliation against the terrorist attack on the Indian Army’s brigade headquarters at Uri earlier that month.

As security analyst and Kashmir watcher Manoj Joshi pointedly observed, terrorists struck “two months later on Nagrota, the HQ of 16 Corps".

In the mind of the government, or the BJP, and the so-called Sangh Parivar at any rate, it has long ceased to be about Jammu and Kashmir per se. The state has remained under President’s Rule since 19 December, following six months of Governor’s Rule from June 2018, which in turn followed the dissolution of a rocky three-year coalition of the BJP and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The slide in security affairs that started with the storm after the killing of Burhan Wani, a militant commander, in mid-2016, and the political and human rights—or the “pellets incident"—fallout from the crowd reaction and government counter-reaction hasn’t stopped. Militant recruitment is up. So are terrorist in-cidents, as the government admitted in Parlia-ment. It has all happened on the BJP’s watch, as a muscular response against civilians in Kashmir went disastrously wrong and never recovered. Pulwama has offered the BJP an op-portunity to discount that troubling reality.

So, it’s clearly not about the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which lost at least 40 troopers in the attack on its convoy. CRPF is India’s paramilitary prophylactic and cannon fodder rolled into one, a halfway house between the Army and police that has less cushioning than the Army and more rootless-ness than any local police force. CPRF troopers could be in Chhattisgarh one month, “sanitiz-ing" assembly or parliamentary elections, somewhere else the following month, and off to Kashmir the month after.

While the incident will be rehashed and leveraged, the CRPF itself will be off media headlines in another week, and is already absent from political speeches that have begun to diminish CRPF for the bigger public rela-tions score of leveraging its deaths with an eye on impending elections to the Lok Sabha. An Indian Army major and four of his colleagues were killed in Pulwama earlier this week, fighting Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), including one believed to have controlled the suicide at-tack. They’re already off the news.

And it’s not even about Masood Azhar, whose JeM claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. Pakistan’s establishment pro-tects and encourages JeM and its chief Azhar. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan asks for “actionable intelligence" against Azhar, even as ironclad proof about previous actions by JeM—including the one at Uri—and other organizations have gone unacknowledged.

China prevents Azhar’s blacklisting through United Nations agencies to protect its regional interests. Besides keeping India insecure, such interests include the China-Pak-istan economic Corridor, which begins at the Balochistan port of Gwadar. The northern end of that corridor is the Karakoram highway, which runs through Gilgit-Baltistan (which India claims along with Pakistan-controlled Kashmir) over the Khunjerab Pass to Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang province.

During a visit to Pakistan on 17-18 Febru-ary, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Moham-med bin Salman signed a $20 billion aid and investment deal with that country. Pulwama naturally escaped a mention. India needs Saudi oil, Saudi gas, Saudi employment of its citizens and Saudi investment. Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi embraced the prince when he arrived in India the next day.

Beyond grand geopolitical constructs and byplays, it’s really about Kashmir and those of its people who feel systematically, and deeply, alienated. How will India deal with that, elec-tions or not?

--Live Mint

No model perfectly fits a

different situation, be it in business organizations or on the geo-political stage. Also, unfortunately for South Asia, there is no mediator that can play the trusted role that the United States played in bringing about the Good Friday Accords between two countries with which America shares deep bonds of kinship, language, and trade. But models can be adapted before being adopted if there is political will and the grease of inducements to go along

Sunday| 24-02-2019Think!Opinion, Analysis, Essays

B o o k s & A u t h o r s

Adil RAshid

Mirza Waheed has a worn out writer's face. But, he also maintains an air of af-fable charm. His first book, The Collabo-rator, was a success and was shortlisted

for the Guardian First Book award. His second book, Book Of Gold Leaves, was longlisted for the 2015 Fo-lio Prize and the 2016 DSC Prize for South asian Lit-erature. Both were based in Kashmir and were about love, loyalty, war, and of course, the Valley.

Now, his third book Tell Her Everything deals with subjects of filial love, morality, paternal bond and a migrant’s pursuit of happiness and the price he pays for it.

Speaking to Outlook after the launch of the book at a hotel in Delhi, Waheed talks about his life as a writer, Kashmir and much more.

a downtown guy from Srinagar, a fact he often refers to, Waheed started his career in Delhi as a journalist with short stints at different places. "i changed a job every year. i worked in publishing with McGrawHill, it was a good training ground," he says. He even worked with a tech magazine and a multimedia startup venture which ran eight issues before shutting shop.

"Then i went to London to work with BBC. all this time, i was reading and writing little things, parking it somewhere but never showing it to any-one. i wasn't confident. So thinking that i could write, it took me another ten years to write."

asked how exactly he began to write novels, Waheed recalls a particular incident. "i remember one winter night in my little apartment in London… i have a Kashmiri corner, walnut desk and papier mache screen.....i sat and started writing about this boy walking among this long line of dead corpses. it was a long section… i wrote late into the night."

and for his second novel, after his wife told him to "get the novel out before the child”, for once he says, "i stuck to a deadline".

He doesn't remember any specific reason on why he must write a different book, but Waheed says "there are premises, stories, that get in your head, some take hold some don't, and this one goes back many years."

after talking to a friend, who is a medical pro-fessional, about the challenges of their job, Waheed started to think "of a man who actually plays by the book, follows rule but wants to be a successful prac-titioner". That, in turn, became the outline of the protagonist's character in Tell Her Everything.

and since the protagonist is a doctor in a foreign country, a migrant in search of a better life, "how far will he go, how much will he compromise," in pursuit of a better life, is the question that Waheed started to explore. Hence, the story is also about a migrant, "a small-town man gone abroad," explains Waheed.

Set in the late 1980s, the protagonist arrives in England as a young doctor and dreams of being suc-cessful. But when he doesn't see himself progressing, he begins to feel inadequate. Frustrated, he looks for better prospects and lands a well-paying job at a hos-pital. But the catch is that the hospital is also a part of the state and is involved in penal and justice system, that leads him to do "unethical" things.

The book is narrated when the protagonist is re-tired, in his 60s, and has a very comfortable life but has a realisation of the price he has paid in the pur-suit of happiness. Waiting for his daughter to come back, the protagonist, Dr K, makes up his mind to tell her everything, which is from where the novel gets its name.

it's while writing the novel that Waheed got ex-cited about the form it was acquiring. "The rehearsal of the conversation that he wants to have. Within the fictional world, there is also the fictional conversa-tion he has with his daughter". But the protagonist also anticipates her answers or the questions she may ask, prompting endless mind-rehearsals. "None of it is real, it’s all in his head, but how can he get it right?". This ultimately captures the essence of the novel.

asked how he developed the protagonist's char-acter, "Fours years of my life," he says with a cau-tious laugh. and immediately interjects, "i am a bit of a method writer, but you have to inhabit the char-acter's mind".

The ambiguity of characters interests Waheed,

as he admits that the book was not easy to write. He completed it in little over a year, then did a thor-ough second draft, and then a third one. "This book is as old as my daughter".

When asked if the third novel, unlike his previ-ous ones, was not based on Kashmir due to fear of being typecast and breaking out of a certain mould, he gives the expression of a man at pain to contain his words, and then carefully says, "the question is also problematic as it suggests that Kashmir cannot contain the entire story of humanity."

retaining a calm posture, he refers to his boy-hood years in downtown Srinagar, "all those things form my sensibility as a writer but that's not all."

On the argument that people often make on so-cial media, of charging commentators like Waheed of being armchair "propagandists" who live com-fortable lives in other continents but write about the trouble in Kashmir hence lacking an authentic perspective, the author makes a measured but a forceful argument.

He asserts that the argument is problematic as it is based on the assumption that anyone not living in Kashmir does not have a correct vantage point to write about it. "Somebody who has left Kashmir doesn't have to right to write about Kashmir? That's silly," he stops, composes himself, looks for a better word and says, "No that’s not the right word, its problematic". "if that was the guide book, we would have no writers," says Waheed, resting his case on the issue.

He says that he had to explain to a friend that when he writes about india, there is a distinction be-tween the state and the people. "i felt sad that i have to explain this because it is screamingly obvious."

Talking about his feelings on the situation in Kashmir, he argues that just because a thing is hap-pening in a loop, it doesn't reduce its brutality or pain, and cautions about developing fatigue over it even as one may become inured to the suffering. He believes that the indian state has not learnt any lesson.

Describing Kashmir as a perfect catalogue of war, Waheed lists the tragedies of the Valley, in-cluding but not limited to: state brutality, killings by militants, the exodus of Hindu minority, rapes, and a general deprivation of humanity.

"The Kashmiri sentiment and aspiration for self-determination is still the same," he says while thumping the table, with increasing intensity. "You are trying to crush it by military means by all kinds of brutality, oppression, subjugation. None of it has worked. That means there is a simpler way out," which he suggests is to talk. But talk to whom? "Talk to everyone", he says, "You have to talk to Pakistan," because there is a part of Kashmir under it, "but the primary party remains Kashmiri people."

"india is a party too, of course," he says. The message for india, according to Waheed, is

very clear: "the military solution hasn't worked".However, Waheed is not convinced that islamist

tendencies of the youth might be taking roots in the Valley, "i like to believe that the fundamental DNa of Kashmir is a moderate soft-core", he says.

He argues that radicalisation is not discon-nected from the conflict and can't exist in a vacuum. "You remove the conflict, brutality, the oppression, you remove the reasons for youth finding solace or comfort or sense of identity or belonging in forms of religion whether extreme moderate, it will go," he says confidently, like many Kashmiris who pin hope on a better, multicultural future.

after a short pause, with a straight face, he says, "i am not denying it, but it is not the most vital as-pect of Kashmiri situation right now."

rather, he says, he is concerned about young children being targeted in their homes. "i don't like it at all. it upsets me," he says. "it doesn't suit a de-mocracy to shoot little girls in their eyes who are in their homes," he maintains.

Waheed also talks about his next project, a per-sonal history of Srinagar, a place he says he loves "too much" and misses a lot. He believes it sounds cliched and says he doesn't see himself as a non-fiction writer but seems adamant and enamoured at the prospect of writing such a book.

He also likes to cook and claims to have his own variation of the Kashmiri dish rogan Josh. "My son loves my food, the rest doesn't matter."

Outlook India

'I Am A Bit Of A Method Writer'Mirza Waheed Talks About His New Book, Writing And Kashmir

Having A Sense Of Meaning In Life Is Good For You – So How Do You Get One?

THE pursuit of happiness and health is a popular endeavour, as the preponderance of self-help books would attest.

Yet it is also fraught. Despite ample ad-vice from experts, individuals regularly engage in activities that may only have short-term benefit for well-being, or even backfire.

The search for the heart of well-being – that is, a nucleus from which other aspects of well-being and health might flow – has been the focus of decades of re-search. New findings recently reported in Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences point towards an answer commonly overlooked: meaning in life.

Meaning in life: part of the well-being puzzle?University College London’s psychology profes-

sor andrew Steptoe and senior research associate Daisy Fancourt analysed a sample of 7,304 UK resi-dents aged 50+ drawn from the English Longitudi-nal Study of ageing.

Survey respondents answered a range of ques-tions assessing social, economic, health, and physi-cal activity characteristics, including:

…to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

Follow-up surveys two and four years later as-sessed those same characteristics again.

One key question addressed in this research is: what advantage might having a strong sense of meaning in life afford a few years down the road?

The data revealed that individuals reporting a higher meaning in life had:

• lower risk of divorce• lower risk of living alone• increased connections with friends and en-

gagement in social and cultural activities• lower incidence of new chronic disease and on-

set of depression• lower obesity and increased physical activity• increased adoption of positive health behav-

iours (exercising, eating fruit and veg).

On the whole, individuals with a higher sense of meaning in life a few years earlier were later liv-ing lives characterised by health and well-being.

You might wonder if these findings are attribut-able to other factors, or to factors already in play by

the time participants joined the study. The authors undertook stringent analyses to account for this, which revealed largely similar patterns of findings.

The findings join a body of prior research docu-menting longitudinal relationships between mean-ing in life and social functioning, net wealth and reduced mortality, especially among older adults.

What is meaning in life?The historical arc of consideration of the mean-

ing in life (not to be confused with the meaning of life) starts as far back as ancient Greece. it tracks through the popular works of people such as austri-an neurologist and psychiatrist Victor Frankl, and continues today in the field of psychology.

One definition, offered by well-being researcher Laura King and colleagues, says

…lives may be experienced as meaningful when they are felt to have a significance beyond the trivial or momentary, to have purpose, or to have a coher-ence that transcends chaos.

This definition is useful because it highlights three central components of meaning:

1. purpose: having goals and direction in life2. significance: the degree to which a person believes his

or her life has value, worth, and importance3. coherence: the sense that one’s life is characterised by

predictability and routine.

Curious about your own sense of meaning in life? You can take an interactive version of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, developed by Ste-ger and colleagues, yourself here.

This measure captures not just the presence of meaning in life (whether a person feels that their life has purpose, significance, and coherence), but also the desire to search for meaning in life.

Routes for cultivating meaning in lifeGiven the documented benefits, you may won-

der: how might one go about cultivating a sense of meaning in life?

We know a few things about participants in Steptoe and Fancourt’s study who reported rela-tively higher meaning in life during the first sur-vey. For instance, they contacted their friends frequently, belonged to social groups, engaged in

volunteering, and maintained a suite of healthy habits relating to sleep, diet and exercise.

Backing up the idea that seeking out these qual-ities might be a good place to start in the quest for meaning, several studies have causally linked these indicators to meaning in life.

For instance, spending money on others and volunteering, eating fruit and vegetables, and being in a well-connected social network have all been prospectively linked to acquiring a sense of mean-ing in life.

For a temporary boost, some activities have documented benefits for meaning in the short term: envisioning a happier future, writing a note of grat-itude to another person, engaging in nostalgic rev-erie, and bringing to mind one’s close relationships.

Happiness and meaning: is it one or the other?There’s a high degree of overlap between expe-

riencing happiness and meaning - most people who report one also report the other. Days when people report feeling happy are often also days that people report meaning.

Yet there’s a tricky relationship between the two. Moment-to-moment, happiness and meaning are often decoupled.

research by social psychologist roy Bau-meister and colleagues suggests that satisfying basic needs promotes happiness, but not mean-ing. in contrast, linking a sense of self across one’s past, present, and future promotes mean-ing, but not happiness.

Connecting socially with others is important for both happiness and meaning, but doing so in a way that promotes meaning (such as via parent-ing) can happen at the cost of personal happiness, at least temporarily.

Given the now-documented long-term social, mental, and physical benefits of having a sense of meaning in life, the recommendation here is clear. rather than pursuing happiness as an end-state, en-suring one’s activities provide a sense of meaning might be a better route to living well and flourish-ing throughout life.

By arrangements with The Conversation

lisA A WilliAms

You might wonder if these findings are

attributable to other factors, or to factors already in play by the time participants joined the study. The authors undertook stringent analyses to account for this, which revealed largely similar patterns of findings. The findings join a body of prior research documenting longitudinal relationships between meaning in life and social functioning, net wealth and reduced mortality, especially among older adults.

Life TIMESSunday | 24-02-2019 08

HIDDEN BRAINNew Ways To Peer Much

Deeper Into Neural ActivitiesBOSTON: MIT scientists have devised a new way to image calcium activity that is based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and allows them to image activity deep within the brain.

Using this technique, they can track sig-nalling processes inside the neurons of liv-ing animals, enabling them to link neural activity with specific behaviours.

"This paper describes the first MRI-based detection of intracellular calcium signaling, which is directly analogous to powerful optical approaches used widely in neuroscience but now enables such measurements to be performed in vivo in deep tissue," said Alan Jasanoff, a profes-sor at Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy (MIT) in the US.

In their resting state, neurons have very low calcium levels. However, when they fire an electrical impulse, calcium floods into the cell, according to the study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Over the past several decades, scientists have devised ways to image this activity by labelling calcium with fluorescent mol-ecules. This can be done in cells grown in a lab dish, or in the brains of living animals, but this kind of microscopy imaging can only penetrate a few tenths of a millimetre into the tissue, limiting most studies to the surface of the brain.

"There are amazing things being done with these tools, but we wanted some-thing that would allow ourselves and oth-ers to look deeper at cellular-level signal-ling," Jasanoff said.

To achieve that, the MIT team turned to MRI, a noninvasive technique that works by detecting magnetic interactions be-

tween an injected contrast agent and wa-ter molecules inside cells.

Many scientists have been working on MRI-based calcium sensors, but the major obstacle has been developing a contrast agent that can get inside brain cells.

Last year, Jasanoff's lab developed an MRI sensor that can measure extracellular calcium concentrations, but these were based on nanoparticles that are too large to enter cells. To create their new intracel-

lular calcium sensors, the researchers used building blocks that can pass through the cell membrane.

The contrast agent contains manga-nese, a metal that interacts weakly with magnetic fields, bound to an organic com-pound that can penetrate cell membranes. This complex also contains a calcium-binding arm called a chelator.

Once inside the cell, if calcium levels are low, the calcium chelator binds weakly to

the manganese atom, shielding the man-ganese from MRI detection.

When calcium flows into the cell, the chelator binds to the calcium and releases the manganese, which makes the contrast agent appear brighter in an MRI image.

"When neurons, or other brain cells called glia, become stimulated, they often experience more than tenfold increases in calcium concentration. Our sensor can de-tect those changes," Jasanoff says. (PTI)

Exercise Can Counter Bad Work SchedulesWashington: Exercising can help counter the ef-fects of jet lag, shift work and other disruptions to the body's internal clock and help people cope with erratic schedules. The researchers from University of California, San Diego and Arizona State University in the US examined body clocks following exercise in 101 participants for up to five and a half days.

The circadian body clock is the 24-hour cy-cle that regulates many physiological process-es including sleeping and eating. Many factors affect this internal body clock including light and time cues.

Exercise has been known to cause shifts in the circadian clock, however very little is known about this effect. The study, published in The Journal of Physiology, showed that ex-ercising at 7 am or between 1 and 4 pm ad-vanced the body clock to an earlier time and exercising between 7 and 10 pm delayed the body clock to a later time.

Exercising between 1 and 4 am and at 10 am, however, had little effect on the body clock, and the phase-shifting effects of exercise did not dif-fer based on age nor gender. "Exercise has been known to cause changes to our body clock. We were able to clearly show in this study when exercise delays the body clock and when it ad-vances it," said Shawn Youngstedt, from Arizona State University.

"This is the first study to compare exercise's effects on the body clock and could open up the possibility of using exercise to help counter the negative effects of jet lag and shift work," Young-stedt said in a statement.

The baseline timing of each participant's body clock was determined from urine samples col-lected every 90 minutes to measure the time of the evening rise in melatonin and the peak of melatonin several hours later.

Given that the subjects tested were more physically active than average, the results might not translate to the average person. Further re-search will look at combining exercise with bright lights and melatonin to see what impact this has on body clocks, as well as examining the effect of changes in exercise duration and inten-sity on the body clock. (PTI)

Scholarships This WeekKashmir Observer in association with Buddy4Study presents scholarships available for the meritorious students of Jammu & Kashmir.

Ist ScholarshipCategory: Talent BasedScholarship: Project Oriented Chemistry Education (POCE) 2019Description: Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Re-search is inviting applications from the 1st-year students of B.Sc. pro-gram from any science stream to participate in the 6-8 weeks summer program for three consecutive years. Upon the successful completion, the candidate will be awarded with Diploma in Chemistry.Eligibility: Students presently studying in the 1st year B.Sc pro-gramme only, preferably with Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics com-bination, are eligible to applyPrizes & Rewards: INR 10,000 p.m. will be given as fellowship amount. Applicants who complete POCE programme with outstanding performance will be eligible for admission to the MS-PhD programme in the Centre subject to satisfactory performance in the interview.Last Date to apply: March 08, 2019Application: Applications can be made offline only via post.Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/observer/POC1-----2nd ScholarshipCategory: Mean cum Merit BasedScholarship: HP Udaan Scholarship Program 2018-19Description: HP Inc. India is giving this scholarship to students of economically weaker section, pursuing their higher studies in post-matric courses, under-graduation and diploma programs from any ac-credited institute. A total of 750 scholars will be selected, where 50% seats are reserved for the female candidates.Eligibility: Students who have cleared class 10 in 2018 and currently enrolled for 1-year diploma/ITI or 2- year HSC/Diploma/ITI programs. Students who have cleared class 12 in 2018 and currently enrolled for 3-year diploma or 3-year UG programs. Candidates with minimum 60% marks in last qualifying examination & having family income less than INR 4L p.a. are eligible.Prizes & Rewards: For class 11-12/ITI/Diploma, INR 20K p.a.; for 3-years degree/diploma, INR 30K p.a.; one-time INR 20K for 1 Year ITI/Diploma. Last Date to apply: February 26, 2019Application: Online applications only.Short URL http://www.b4s.in/observer/HUS2 ------3rd ScholarshipCategory: Talent basedScholarship: Atal Bihari Vajpayee Fellowship on Prime Ministers of India 2019Description: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) invites re-search enthusiasts to conduct exclusive research on the Prime Ministers of India and the Prime Minister’s Office and avail the fellowship stipend along with contingency benefits for the research program of two years.Eligibility: Talented and experienced research scholars who wish to pursue research on the Prime Minister’s Office are welcome to ap-ply for this fellowshipPrizes & Rewards: 2 selected fellows will be compensated with monthly remunerations equivalent to that of a Professor’s position in Central Universities of India. The fellowship also covers a yearly con-tingency expense of ₹30000 per annum.Last Date to Apply: February 27, 2019Application: Online application via Email acceptedShort Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/observer/ABV1Courtesy: www.buddy4study.com

Saffron Beneficial In Treating ADHD

WASHINGTON: According to a new pilot study, saffron may work as a promising herbal medi-cine for treating children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The results of the study were published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.

ADHD is one of the most common neuropsy-chiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. It can cause problems like weak social skills, poor academic achievement and low self-esteem in children.

The recent study, conducted in children and teens with ADHD, has shown that saffron, which has antidepressant and memory-enhancing properties, can be as effective at controlling symptoms as methylphenidate, the commonly prescribed drug Ritalin for treating the disease.

Saffron, a spice and nutritional supplement in traditional medicine, can prove to be particularly effective for patients similar to the 30 per cent patients who do not respond to or cannot toler-ate stimulants like methylphenidate.

Methylphenidate causes side effects like nau-sea, stomach ache, decreased appetite, insomnia and headache. It is a stimulant medication used to treat disorders like ADHD and narcolepsy.

The study was carried out between January-October 2018 at the Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospi-tal, affiliated with the Tehran University of Medi-cal Sciences. For the study, the researchers tested 54 ADHD patients aged between 6-17 years and compared the effects of saffron derived from the Crocus sativus flower to methylphenidate over period of six weeks. (Agencies)

Homeschooling Your Child? Think AgainWASHINGTON: Parents who home-school their children may think that admitting them to organised sports and physical activities may keep them fit. However, a new study by Rice Uni-versity researchers says that the need of youngsters exceeds far greater than just a routine one-hour sport class.

This is what the faculty at Rice De-partment of Kinesiology, who gathered data from the homes of 100 home-schooled children to back the assump-tion, discovered. The results of the re-search are available in an open-access paper in the Journal of Functional Mor-phology and Kinesiology. Laura Kabiri, a sports medicine lecturer at Rice, said

the problem lies in how much activity is part of organised regimens. According to the World Health Organisation, children should get about an hour of primar-ily aerobic activity a day, but other studies have now noted that children involved in

non-elite sports actually get only 20-30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise.

The Rice researchers decided to quantify it through statistics Kabiri gathered about home-schooled chil-dren and adolescents as a graduate

student and postdoctoral researcher at Texas Woman's University.

Speaking about it, Kabiri said, "We as-sumed and I think a lot of parents gener-ally do as well, that children enrolled in an organised sport or physical activity are get-ting the activity they need to maintain good body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular development," adding, "But we found that is not the case. Just checking the box and enrolling them in an activity doesn't necessarily mean they're meeting the requirements they need to stay healthy."

According to Kabiri, researchers sus-pect the same is true for public school students in general physical education classes, where much of the time is spent

getting the class organised. "When you only have 50 minutes, it's very easy for half that time or more to go to getting them in, out and on-task," she said.

While public school data is easier to gather, homeschooling presents a different problem for researchers. "There's a lot that's not known about this population and the population is expanding," Kabiri said. "Home-schooling is becoming very popular in the United States. It's grown steadily.”

The authors recommended that parents who homeschool their chil-dren should ideally give their children more time for unstructured physical activity every day. (Agencies)

Sufficient Sleep Cuts Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Getting enough sleep can help protect against cardiovascu-lar disease by preventing the

buildup of plaques in the arteries, a study has found.

The research. published in the journal Nature, describes the mecha-nism by which insufficient sleep in-creases production of inflammatory white blood cells known to be major contributors to atherosclerosis.

“We have discovered that sleep helps to regulate the production in the bone marrow of inflammatory cells and the health of blood vessels and that, conversely, sleep disruption breaks down control of inflammatory cell production, leading to more in-flammation and more heart disease,” said Filip Swirski, from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the US.

“We also have identified how a

hormone in the brain known to con-trol wakefulness controls processes in the bone marrow and protects against cardiovascular disease,” said Swirski.

To investigate how insufficient sleep increases atherosclerosis, Swirski’s team subjected mice ge-netically programmed to develop atheroslcerosis to repeated inter-ruptions of their sleep, similar to the experience of someone con-stantly waking up because of noise or discomfort.

While there were no changes in weight, cholesterol levels or glucose tolerance in the sleep-deprived mice, compared to animals from the same strain allowed to sleep normally, those subjected to sleep fragmenta-tion developed larger arterial plaques and had higher levels of monocytes and neutrophils -- inflammatory

cells that contribute to atherosclero-sis -- in their blood vessels.

Further experiments revealed that the sleep-deprived mice had a nearly two-fold increase in the production in their bone marrow of stem cells that give rise to white blood cells.

A hormone called hypocre-tin, produced in the brain struc-ture called the hypothalamus and known to have a role in the regu-lation of sleep, was found to play an unexpected role in controlling white blood cell production.

While normally produced at high levels when animals -- including humans -- are awake, hypocretin levels were significantly reduced in the sleep-deprived mice.

The team found that hypocretin regulates production of white blood cells through interaction with neutro-

phil progenitors in the bone marrow.Neutrophils, they discovered, induce

monocyte production through release of a factor called CSF-1, and experi-ments with mice lacking the gene for hypocretin revealed that the hormone controls CSF-1 expression, monocyte production and the development of arterial plaques. In sleep-deprived animals, the drop in hypocretin led to increased CSF-1 production by neutro-phils, elevated monocyte production and accelerated atherosclerosis.

“This is a direct demonstration that hypocretin is also an important inflammatory mediator,” said Swirski.

“We now need to study this path-way in humans, explore additional mechanisms by which proper sleep maintains vascular health and fur-ther explore this newly identified neuro-immune axis,” he said. (PTI)

WE ALSO HAVE IDENTIFIED how a hormone in the brain known to control wakefulness controls processes in the bone marrow and protects against cardiovascular disease,”

09 | Sunday | 24-02-2019

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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday will launch the Rs 75,000-crore Prad-han Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme in Gorakh-pur, Uttar Pradesh, by transfer-ring the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each to over one crore farmers, a senior agriculture ministry official said. Another one crore farmers will be cov-ered in the next 2-3 days, the of-ficial said. In the interim Budget 2019-20, the central government had announced the PM-KISAN scheme under which Rs 6,000 per year will be given in three instalments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers holding culti-vable land up to two hectares.

The scheme has been made ef-fective from this fiscal itself and as a result, farmers would get one instalment before March-end. This programme is part of the government's effort to address farm sector distress, caused by lower sales realisation on bum-per production of foodgrains, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton and horticulture crops.

"To provide an assured income support to the small and mar-ginal farmers, the government is launching the Pradhan Man-tri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)," the Union agriculture ministry said in an official state-ment on Saturday. The ministry in its statement did not mention the number of farmers who will get their first instalment of Rs 2,000 on Sunday. However, the senior official said over one crore farmers from 14 states, including UP and Karnataka, will get their first instalment on Sunday and one crore more beneficiaries, spread over 28 states and one UT, would get their instalment in the next 2-3 days. Explaining the modalities of cash dole, the min-istry said this income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instal-ments of Rs 2,000 each.

"The Centre will transfer the amount to the bank account of the beneficiaries through State Notional Account. For transfer of benefit, district-wise beneficia-ries' list has to be certified and uploaded by the states/UTs on

the PM-KISAN portal of the cen-tral government," it added.

The funds would be electroni-cally transferred to the beneficia-ry's bank account by the Centre through State Notional Account on a pattern similar to MGNREGS.

"PM-KISAN would not only provide assured supplemental income to the most vulnerable farmer families, but would also meet their emergent needs espe-cially before the harvest season. PM-KISAN would pave the way for the farmers to earn and live a respectable living," the state-ment said. A small and marginal landholder farmer family for the purpose of the calculation of the benefit has been defined as "a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children (up to 18 years of age) who collectively own cultivable land up to 2 hect-are as per land records of the concerned State/UT".

The existing land-ownership system in the concerned states/UTs will be used for identifi-cation of beneficiaries. Those whose names appear in land re-cords as on February 1, 2019, are eligible for benefit.

PM-KISAN scheme to be rolled out todayOver 1 cr farmers to get Rs 2,000 each in 1st tranche

Advisor to Governor, K Skandan Saturday reviewed the ar-rangements being made for the launch of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme at State level. The launch function shall be held here at Convention Centre,

Canal Road Jammu on Sunday, February 24. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will formally launch the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme from Gorakhpur. Under PM-KISAN, farmer families having cultivable land holding of 2 hectares and less will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year. This income support will be transferred directly into their bank accounts in three equal installments of Rs. 2,000 each. While reviewing the arrangements for the function, the Advisor asked the concerned functionaries to work in close coordination and make fool proof arrangements for the event. The Advisor had a detailed briefing on activity wise arrange-ments being made by various departments. He stressed upon the executing agencies to ensure other necessary arrangements to be put in place well in time for smooth and successful conduct of the event.

Skandan reviews arrangements for State Level launch of PM-KISAN scheme

"THE CENTRE WILL TRANSFER THE AMOUNT to the bank account of the beneficiaries through State Notional Account. For transfer of benefit, district-wise beneficiaries' list has to be certified and uploaded by the states/UTs

on the PM-KISAN portal of the central government," it added.


New Delhi - The government Sat-urday released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a legal and technologi-cal framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and stor-ing it abroad. The draft policy said the framework would be created to provide the basis for impos-ing restrictions on cross-border data flow from specified sources including data collected by IoT de-vices installed in public space, and data generated by users in India by various sources, including e-commerce platforms, social media, search engines. The 42-page draft addresses six broad issues of the e-commerce ecosystem -- data, in-frastructure development, e-com-merce marketplaces, regulatory is-sues, stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce.

"It is almost a cliche today that data is the new oil. Unlike in the case of oil, data flows freely across borders. It can be stored or pro-cessed abroad and the proces-sor can appropriate all the value. Therefore, India's data should be used for the country's develop-ment and Indian citizens and com-panies should get the economic benefits from the monetisation of data," the draft 'National e-Com-merce Policy - India's Data for In-dia's Development' said.

A business entity that collects or processes any sensitive data in India and stores it abroad, shall be required to adhere to the certain conditions, according to the policy draft. The conditions state that all such data stored abroad shall not be made available to other busi-ness entities outside India, for any purpose, even with the customer consent. Further, the data shall also not be made available to a third party for any purpose and it would also not be shared with a foreign government, without the prior permission of Indian authori-ties, the draft said.

"Suitable framework will be developed for sharing of commu-nity data that serves larger pub-lic interest (subject to addressing privacy-related issues) with start-ups and firms. The larger public interest or public good is an evolv-ing concept. The implementation of this shall be undertaken by a 'data authority' to be established for this purpose," it added. The policy laid out strategies to protect misuse of data while maintaining the spirit of existing regulations, it said adding that e-commerce warrants a framework which ex-tends across segments, due to the cross-cutting nature of issues. On e-commerce marketplace busi-nesses, it said the policy aims to invite and encourage foreign di-rect investment (FDI) in the mar-ketplace model "alone", which is being carried out by companies like Flpkart and Amazon.

"An e-commerce platform, in

which foreign investment has been made, therefore, cannot ex-ercise ownership or control over the inventory sold on its platform. In this manner, foreign investment is not seen as a threat by small of-fline retailers of multi-branded products," it said.

Online marketplaces should not adopt business models or strate-gies which are discriminatory and which favour one or few sellers/traders operating on their plat-forms over others, the draft clari-fies. It enlists certain steps which has to be followed by all e-com-merce websites/applications.

Besides, all e-commerce sites/apps available for download in India must have a registered business entity in India as the importer on record or as the entity through which all sales in India are transacted. "This is important for ensuring compli-ance with extant laws and regu-lations for preventing deceptive and fraudulent practices, pro-tection of privacy, safety and security," the draft, which has been floated for seeking public views, said. It has also suggest-ed measure to contain sale of counterfeit products, prohibited items and pirated content.

This is the second draft being prepared by the department for promotion of industry and internal (DPIIT) as several concerns were raised over the first draft of the de-partment of commerce.

On the regulatory regime of the sector, it said the governments

are finding existing regulations and structures inadequate to deal with issues thrown up by the digi-tal economy. Existing statutes and laws, the draft said, need to evolve to take into account the changing ways of doing business and chang-ing business models.

On taxation related issues in the sector, the draft policy said the current practice of not impos-ing custom duties on electronic transmissions must be reviewed in the light of the changing digi-tal economy and the increased role that additive manufacturing is expected to take. On export promotion through e-commerce, it said there is a need to incen-tivise and reduce administra-tive requirements for outbound shipments through this medium. "The existing limit of Rs 25,000 shall be increased to make Indian e-commerce exports attractive even for high-value shipments through courier mode," the draft said. It also stressed on develop-ing physical infrastructure for a robust digital economy and sug-gested steps for developing ca-pacity for data storage in India.

An assessment needs to be done regarding how data-storage-ready the available infrastructure in the country. Creation of infrastruc-ture for storage would take some time. A time-frame would be put in place for the transition to data storage within the country. A pe-riod of three years would be given to allow industry to adjust to the data storage requirement," it said.


New Delhi: The CBIC has set up three working groups to sug-gest ways to facilitate exports, especially through e-commerce, and improve compliance by way of curbing tax evasion. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Cus-toms (CBIC) has constituted three Working Groups to study and recommend measures to facili-tate trade, promote exports and improve compliance,” the board said in a statement. The work-ing groups will focus on export promotion and facilitation with

emphasis on boosting exports through e-commerce, address-ing the trade facilitation barriers faced in India's export market and improving the quality of lo-gistics services for exporters.

It will focus on enhancing com-pliance, plugging loopholes to im-

prove customs revenue collections and curb Integrated GST (IGST) re-fund frauds, CBIC said. The groups will also work towards improving the legislative structure of cus-toms tariff and update it to suit the emerging and future needs of the economy and industry, it added.

"Special focus would be given to create a comprehensive export tariff structure to enhance In-dia's export competitiveness," the CBIC said. The groups will consult stakeholders, including export promotion councils, and submit report within two months.

CBIC Chairman Pranab Kumar

Das said the recommendations of the groups would further en-hance the ease of doing business and export competitiveness.

"CBIC will be using advanced data analytics tools for augment-ing revenue and curbing frauds," Das said.

CBIC sets up 3 working groups to facilitate exports, curb tax evasion

Govt releases draft e-commerce policyObserver News Service

Srinagar In order to provide platform to the budding inno-vators, the Micro Small and Me-dium Enterprises Development organisation is holding 3-day MSME Conference District Udy-am Samaagam at Srinagar next month. During the event, semi-

nars will be held at SKICC while as the exhibition of the innova-tions in industrial sector will be held at Kashmir Haat Srinagar

In this regard, Director In-dustries and Commerce Mah-mood A Shah who took over the charge of the department on February 22, 2019 presided over the meeting at Directorate Office on Saturday. Officers of JKEDI, KVIB, KVIC, SIDCO, SICOP, Technical Education, NIT Sri-

nagar and University of Kashmir also attended the meeting.

Giving the details, Mahmood Shah said the event will promote local industrial and service sec-tor and provide opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to exhibit their new innovations. During the event, the entrepreneurs will also be made aware about Intellec-

tual property rights and export license and how to obtain and retain ownership of their patents, copyrights or trademarks.

“This will be an awareness cum exhibition event for the budding the innovators. They will be made aware about differ-ent aspects of entrepreneurship and how to obtain intellectual property licensing agreement and also procedures of obtain-ing export license. They will

also showcase their innovations and interact with the industry experts,” said Mahmood Shah

The other allied departments will also participate in the event actively to make this event a grand success and the leading entrepreneurs of the State are ex-pected to participate in the event.

During the meeting, Assistant

Director MSME Saheel Alaqband also briefed the Director Indus-tries about preparations being undertaken for the successful conduct of the event.

Consultant PPDC Extension Mir Altaf Ahmad who was also present in the meeting apprised the Director about the training and entrepreneurship cum skill development courses, which are underway at extension cen-ters.

3-day MSME conference for budding entrepreneurs next month


HANDWARA- Department of Handicrafts organized an aware-ness camp at town hall Hand-wara here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Additional Dep-uty Commissioner Handwara Gulzar Ahmad Bhat.

The camp was attended by teh-sil level Handicraft officers, offi-cials of Information department and other concerned artisans of different areas from Handwara and Langate constituencies.

People attending the camp

were informed that registered cards were provided to 50 ar-tisans for availing various ben-efits from different schemes of the departments. On the occa-sion Additional Deputy Com-missioner Handwara said that the people of the area should avail the benefits provided by the department, so the eco-nomic sector of the area will get boosted.

Other speakers on the occasion also highlighted various benefits, schemes and achievements of the department.


New Delhi - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday stoutly de-fended the government raising demands, such as increasing li-quidity, with the Reserve Bank of India, saying the country is more important than institutions.

He also made a vehement pitch for a government being elected with a clear majority in the coming general elections so as to provide stability to the economy and not force a change of guard within six months.

Speaking at the Global Busi-ness Summit here, he said the announcements made in three to four months ahead of elections or after the elections are aberra-tions and focus must be in long term direction of policies.

Quizzed about the unprece-dented move by the government to get RBI to discuss issues of its concern by citing a never-used-provision, Jaitley reeled out in-stances of central bank governors being forced to resign during Con-gress regimes and his predecessor P Chidambaram not being on talk-ing terms with two Governors.

"Raising an issue of interest to the economy which everybody concedes is in the larger interest

is tinkering with the institution? The country is more important than any institution, be it the government... "We can't starve the market. We can't squeeze credit, we can't squeeze liquid-ity because that will hurt the growth, hurt the economy," he said. Stating that the country has seen the advantages of fiscal

discipline, he said policy mak-ers have a choice between sound policies and populism.

The last thing India need at this stage is political instability, the last thing that India needs at this stage is lack of policy deci-sion. And certainly we don't need a chaotic sort of combination and more importantly India needs a five-year government not a six-month government.

I'm quite certain that aspira-tional societies don't suffer from a Lemmings complex and com-mit a suicide, they resist from doing that, Jaitley said.

Stating that last five years were a significant turning point for In-dia, the minister said India has moved towards formalisation and expansion of tax base.

I don't think India is the place based on what's happened in last 3-4 months or going to happen in next 3-4 months because an-nouncements made by several people during this period appear to be policy aberrations, he said.

He said once the heat and dust of politics settles down and elec-tions going to background, the economic decisions will take the centre stage.

Jaitley defends Govt raising issues with RBI, says country more important than institutions


New Delhi - Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi Saturday laid out his vision for making India a USD 10-trillion economy, and the third-largest in the world, saying he wants the na-tion to have countless startups, and be a global leader in electric vehicles.

Speaking at the Global Business Summit here, he said his govern-ment inherited an economy in complete policy paralysis, plagued

by runaway inflation and rising current account deficit .Reforms in the last four and half years have changed the picture. "Change is clearly visible today," he said. BJP-led NDA rule witnessed highest post-liberalisation growth rate of 7.4 per cent, and lowest inflation of less than 4.5 per cent, he said adding that reforms like goods and services tax (GST) have laid solid foundation for higher gross domes-tic product (GDP) growth.

PM sees India as USD 10-trillion economy with countless startups

Handicrafts Awareness camp at Handwara


NEW DELHI -The minutes of the last monetary policy committee meeting suggest that the RBI going dovish under the new governor Shaktikanta Das, and increases the possibilities of more rate cuts, says analysts. The RBI had Thursday re-leased the minutes of the MPC, the first under the governorship of the career bureaucrat- turned-central banker Das, which showed a tilt to accommodate growth concerns as inflation cools off. "Das remains sympathetic to growth concerns, stating that the RBI needs to "seize the initiative" to address growth concerns and ensure that it re-vives to "a sustained trajectory"," Japanese brokerage Nomura said Friday. "The policy body language, in our view, seems to suggest that he doesn't see this as a one-and-done rate cut, but instead sees it as the start to a cycle," it added.

Its American peer Bank of America Merrill Lynch said there will be a cut at the April 4 policy review, as it expects the headline inflation number--a key determi-nant in the rate setting--to come at a comfortable 2.5 percent for February. Terming the minutes as

"dovish", it said the RBI will look to roll back the balance 0.25 per-cent of its 0.50 percent rate hike of 2018 at the next review, after hav-ing done one rate cut earlier this month. Domestic brokerage Kotak Securities also said the 'dovish' MPC minutes suggest to another cut in the April review as inflation is expected to trend down. The six-member MPC had voted 4:2 in favour of a 25 bps rate cut, with deputy governor Viral Acharya and external member Chetan Ghate voting for the status quo, giving the first rate cut in 18 months. In-terestingly, Acharya drew an anal-ogy from cricket to state that while it is fair for the batsman to take off the helmet, read the change in the policy stance, it is important not to leave the crease of holding the rates as inflation may turn up once more. Nomura said the surprise of the minutes was "perennial hawk" RBI executive director Michael Pa-tra's stance in favour of a rate cut, and seemed to suggest that Acha-rya may also switch camp once in-flation abates but Ghate is unlikely to. On transmission, BofAML said domestic lenders will cut rates by 0.50 percent, without giving a timeline.

Monetary Policy Committee minutes hint at further RBI rate cuts

Sunday | 24.02.2019 10From the Front PageFear, Anxiety...up on rations caused tension in Kashmir.

The government of India had rushed in 100 ad-ditional companies of paramilitary forces, roughly 10,000 troops, to the Valley on an ‘urgent’ basis, and simultaneously started a crackdown on re-sistance leaders, beginning with the arrest of JKLF chief Yasin Malik in a late night raid.

“We have to urgently deploy CAPFs in Jammu & Kashmir. It is requested to provide 100 coys of CAPFs (CRPF – 45,BSF-35,SSB-10 & ITBP 10) to Govt of J&K with immediate effect and till further or-ders. IG (ops), CRPF is requested to ensure imme-diate movement of forces in coordination with IG (ops) of all forces,” read a Home Ministry letter to the state government, copies of which have been also sent to IG(Ops) to CRPF, BSF, ITBP and SSB.

Over 150 people, mainly from the Jamaat-e-Isl-ami Jammu and Kashmir, including its chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, were arrested on Saturday, leading to violent protests.

In a statement, a JeI spokesman said the police and other forces launched a “mass arrest drive” during the intervening night of February 22 and 23 and arrested dozens of its central and district-level leaders.

“Those detained include Ameer Jama’at Dr Ab-dul Hamid Fayaz, Advocate Zahid Ali (Spokesper-son), Ghulam Qadir Lone (Former Secretary Gen-eral), Abdur Rouf (Ameer Zila Islamabad), Mudasir Ahmad (Ameer Tehsil Pahalgam), Abdul Salam (Dialgam), Bakhtawar Ahmad (Dialgam), Moham-mad Amin Wani (Tral), Bilal Ahmad (Chadoora), Ghulam Mohammad Dar (Chak Sangran) and doz-ens more,” said the spokesman.

Condemning the detentions, he said the move seems a “well designed ploy and that there was something fishy when the state’s special position is listed in Supreme Court.

This comes ahead of a hearing in the Supreme Court on validity of Article 35-A of the Constitu-tion that provides special rights and privileges to natives of Jammu and Kashmir.

Heightened tension was palpable and people were seen in groups on streets even as security was tightened. Orders issued by some government departments added to the fears of the people. Long queues were seen outside petrol stations and people were thronging provision shops and buying essential supplies.

The Government Medical College in Srinagar cancelled winter vacation of its faculty members and directed them to positively report for work on Monday.

Directorate of Health Service issued a letter “impressing upon all the Chief Medical Officers to collect the available supplies of drugs, medicine, surgical disposal item, and other allied items.”

The letter addressed to the health officials, also mentioned the name of hospitals including, “Dis-trict Hospitals from the JKMSCL Regional Drug War, GMC Bemina, Srinagar,” and added that it should be done by “just tomorrow”. On the ending note of “Matter most urgent.”

The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, which provides ration to people through its outlets, has directed its staff members in south Srinagar to ensure completing sale of food grains in their respective areas by Saturday eve-ning. They were also directed to keep the ration depots and sale outlets open on Sunday as well.

IAS officer Shah Faesal, who quit bureaucracy last month to join politics, summed up the feeling of panic in a tweet as he implored the government to give clarity on why these orders have been is-sued.

“Prime Minister @narendramodi, we haven't slept last night and we don't know whether we are going to wake up alive tomorrow. People are avoid-ing movement and hoarding essential items; it is a doomsday feeling. Can someone tell us what’s happening here? Kashmir wants peace,” he wrote.

Former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, in a tweet, also said that government orders were creating tension. He said that people have started hoarding food and fuel.

“People in the valley, especially the cities and towns, are taking everything said or done as a sign that some big trouble is just around the corner. The administration needs to take steps to reduce this sense of panic. Let’s hope someone in the govern-ment is listening,” he said.

“People are wound tight with worry and the speculation on some TV news channels is contrib-uting to this as well,” he added.

The Jammu and Kashmir Socio-Economic Co-ordination Committee (JKSECC), an amalgam of 27 trade, industry, tourism, transport, horticulture and other civil society formations, also urged the Modi government to “refrain from any misadven-ture in Kashmir that may further vitiate the al-ready volatile situation beyond control.”

“The members discussed regretted that the gov-ernment instead of instilling faith and confidence in people was indulging in acts that cause disquiet and horror in them,” said JKSECC in a statement.

On Friday night, choppers were also reported to be hovering over Kashmir Valley. The sound of frequent flying of fighter jets till 1.30 am added to the worries of the residents due to simmering Indo-Pak tension following the Pulwama suicide car bomb attack. However, IAF officials described it as a routine exercise.

While no official reason has been given for the additional deployment, police sources say it is for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state and the request for the immediate movement has been made due to the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar Highway.

Fuel Rationing, Valley, underlining that the rationing of fuel or-

dered by it was because of shortage of stocks from persistent closure of highway.

The administration has said that efforts are un-derway to replenish the stocks at the earliest and that the rationing order will be withdrawn as soon as the stocks are received.

“It has asked the general public not to heed the rumours suggesting other motives and sought their cooperation.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Food, Civil Sup-plies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) on Saturday evening clarified that the order to lift ration from its stores was a routine monthly exercise to make way for dumping next supplies.

“This is a routine monthly exercise and people are advised not to panic, the spokesman said.

Moreover, the spokesman said, the said order also has been withdrawn to clear any confusion.”

The order (NO. FCS&CA/sgr-south/19/108) re-quired all the TSO’S of Srinagar south to ensure

complete sale of food grains by Saturday evening “positively”.

It had also sought information about sale of food grains up to 22/02/2019 which was to be submit-ted to the directorate’s office by or before 01:30 pm Saturday “by any means of communication.”

“It shall be the personal responsibility of con-cerned TSO to inform all the storekeepers/in-charge storekeepers/FP shop dealers to remain available at their respective sale centers,” the order had said.

Furthermore, the director had ordered that all the sale centers/FP shops of Srinagar south shall remain open on Sunday for sale of food grains in the interest of the general public, besides receiving of trucks loaded with food grains.

Additional Paramilitary...

Kashmir is a routine pre-election exercise ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Home Ministry sources said Saturday.

There has been intense speculation in the wake of the Centre sending 100 additional companies (100 personnel in each company) of paramilitary forces to the Kashmir Valley on an urgent basis and a simultaneous crackdown on separatists in which 150 people have been arrested .

"The deployment of additional forces is a rou-tine exercise related to pre-election induction," a source said.

Among the 100 companies of paramilitary forc-es, 45 were from the CRPF, 35 were from the BSF and 10 each from the SSB and the ITBP.

These additional forces will be deployed for law and order duties, sources said.

Security forces have already detained over 150 people, mainly from the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, including its chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, ahead of a hearing in the Supreme Court on Article 35-A of the Constitution.

Though police termed the action as routine say-ing that leaders and potential stone pelters have been picked up in the past, officials privy to the de-velopment said this was the first major crackdown on the Jamaat-e-Islami.

The hearing on Article 35A, which provides spe-cial rights and privileges to natives of Jammu and Kashmir, is likely to take place in the apex court on Monday.

The Jamaat-e-Islami has in the past been touted to be the parent political party of the Hizbul Mu-jahdeen, but the organisation has always main-tained that it is a socio-religious group.

Heightened tension was palpable in the Valley even as security was tightened.

Orders issued by some government depart-ments added to the fears of the people. The Gov-ernment Medical College in Srinagar cancelled winter vacation of its faculty members and direct-ed them to positively report for work on Monday.

Something Has...said something has happened in Tihar jail

where her husband is imprisoned, saying nobody confirmed anything to her. Dr. Bilquees Shah said following disturbing rumours rife all through the day, she went to Tihar Jail to see her husband but wasn’t allowed to meet him, saying that the offi-cials there told her that it is Saturday that’s holiday in the jail, therefore she can’t meet her husband.

“I contacted my lawyer to get any information but he said that something has happened but doesn't have any confirmation,” Dr Bilquees was quoted as saying by local news agencies.

Dr Bilquees said when she personally went to DG Prisons office and tried to get permission to see her husband but she returned disappointed as there was negative response too.

Dr. Bilquees further said she was asked to meet PRO in this regard but he also expressed helpless-ness citing weekly off.

Shah's Bail Plea...money-laundering case, till April 2. Shah’s bail

plea came up for hearing before Additional Ses-sions Judge Satish Kumar Arora.

The court had on February 18 sought response from the Enforcement Directorate on Shah’s bail plea.

The application was moved before the court on the ground of parity after the Delhi High Court re-cently granted bail to co-accused and alleged ha-wala dealer Mohammad Aslam Wani in the case.

The application submitted that the accused was wrongly and falsely implicated in the case, which was registered in 2007 for the alleged offence com-mitted in 2005.

Shah was arrested on July 25, 2017, in the case in which the Special Cell of Delhi Police had also arrested Wani. It claimed that Rs 63 lakh was re-covered from Wani, out of which Rs 52 lakh was allegedly to be delivered to Shah.

Shah is in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Central Jail. PTI

WhatsApp! 3 Kashmiri...a probe, following which the fellowship and

scholarship of two students were blocked while the name of the third, who had enrolled for mas-ters degree and was absent since December, 2018, was struck off.

Senior Superintendent of Police Muniraj said on the complaint of the VHP's mahanagar unit vice president Amit Sharma, a case was filed against the three students at the Izzatnagar police station on Friday evening.

Police's intelligence unit is looking for the per-son who had originally posted the controversial comment which was forwarded on WhatsApp by the three girls along with their own comments, the police officer said, adding further action will be taken after investigation.

More than Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured last week in one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Seven Kashmiri students were earlier this week suspended by Roorkee-based Quantum Global University for their alleged “anti-national posts on social media”.

India, Pak SituationKashmir, it's very dangerous".The President referred to the possibility of a strong

response from India in the wake of the attack."India is looking at something very strong. And I

mean, India just lost almost 50 people with an attack. So, I could understand that also," he said when asked

about India's right to self-defence.Responding to questions on the tense situation be-

tween the two South Asian neighbours, Trump said the US is talking about it so does some other nations, without mentioning them.

"We are talking and a lot of people are talking. But, it is a very, very delicate balance going on right now. There's a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened," said the US Presi-dent.

"We're very much involved in that, if that's what you're referring to," he said.

Trump described the current situation between India and Pakistan as very dangerous.

"It's a terrible thing going on right now between Pakistan and India... it is a very, very bad situation and it's a very dangerous situation between the two coun-tries. We would like to see it stopped. A lot of people were just killed and we want to see it stopped," he said.

Trump claimed that his administration has devel-oped a much better relationship with Pakistan, even after he stopped USD 1.3 billion in financial aid to Is-lamabad.

"I stopped Pakistan, the USD 1.3 billion that we were paying them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan.

"Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents and we were paying Pakistan 1.3 billion a year. I ended that pay-ment to Pakistan because they weren't helping us in a way that they should have. And honestly, we've developed a much better relationship with Paki-stan over the last short period of time than we had," Trump said.

JRL Calls For Strikein nocturnal raids across the valley looks to be

not only part of the continued policy of “suppres-sion of pro self-determination leadership and nar-rative, but in the case of hearing of 35A in Indian Su-preme Court most likely on Monday, an indication of what may be expected.”

“JRL strongly condemns this dictatorial policy of cracking the whip and arbitrary arrests against Kashmiri’s by those calling the shots in J&K,” the spokesman said.

They said that deployment of additional “12000” paramilitary forces on an urgent basis also indicates that “something is cooking in this regard.”

The Leadership said that challenge to Heredity state subject law was an extremely important issue for the people as it is akin to “our very existence as a people and directly linked to the Kashmir dispute.”

The leadership said the spontaneous shut down and protests across the valley against even the thought of tempering with the law should leave no doubt in the minds of those who have left no stone unturned to choke and muzzle the voice of Kashmir and are breaking records in “repression” that the people of Kashmir will never allow it. The JRL said entire people and pro people leadership of J&K are one on this.

They said that arbitrarily arrest-ing and jailing leadership activists and youth across the valley for their political beliefs has been an ongoing process for the last thirty years.

“Under one pretext or other, govern-ment has been following this as a state policy against those associated with the people’s movement to suppress the movement,” they said, adding, “Thou-sands of Kashmiri political prisoners are languishing in jails in India, punished for their ideology, an ideology that finds echo in the heart and mind of each Kashmiri.”

The Leadership said that the last 30 years have shown that jailing and in-timidating activists and leadership will not deter them from their path nor will it stop people from demanding the reso-lution of the “Kashmir dispute through self-determination.”

“In protest of these arbitrary mass ar-rests, nocturnal raids, insecurity among people due to state repression, killings and censorship and any tampering with 35A a protest strike will be observed to-morrow Feb 24 ,2019,” they said.

The JRL also denounced the “pres-sure tactics being used by the authori-ties on certain media houses reporting in Kashmir,” the JRL said in an apparent reference to stopping advertisement to Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Reader newspapers. “JRL said the standard of factual reporting maintained by our journalist is highly commendable.”

Restrictions In Srinagar

as a precautionary measure.A government official said, there shall

be complete restrictions within the ter-ritorial jurisdictions of Khanyar, Rain-awari, Nowhatta, Safakadal, MR Gunj police stations of the district on Feb 24 (tomorrow).

The restrictions have been imposed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident.

The decision was taken this evening in view of the strike call given by sepa-ratists on Feb 24. "There are credible in-puts that the miscreants may resort to various activities which will be prejudi-cial to the public tranquility, peace and order," reads an order by District Magis-trate Srinagar.

Therefore, to maintain peace, order and public tranquility and to ensure the safety of life and property, the imposi-tion of restrictions on Feb 24, in terms of section 144 CrPc has become impera-tive, the order said.

Article 35A: KHCBA

team are M. A. Qayoom (President KHCBA); Mohammad Ashraf Bhat (General Secretary); Bilal Ahmad Wani (Treasurer); Z. A. Shah (Senior Advo-cate); Z. A. Qureshi (Senior Advocate); Altaf Haqani (Advocate); Shabir Ahmad Budoo (Advocate); Nasir Ahmad Shalla (Advocate) and Syed Musaib (Advocate).

“In a meeting of the Executive Com-

mittee members held here today, it was stated that though the case is shown in the weekly list com-mencing from 26.02.2019 upto 28.02.2019 but as it has not been shown in the daily list issued for 26th of February, 2019, therefore, it is expected to come up for hearing on 27th and/or 28th of February,” reads a statement by lawyers’ body.

The members of the team have accordingly been asked to remain present before the Supreme Court on these two days, it said.

The Executive members also expressed their se-rious concern over the arrest and detention of Mo-hammad Yasin Malik, Chairman, JKLF and more than 200 activists of Jama’at-i-Islami including its Ameer Dr. Hamid Fayaz and Zahid Ali, Spokesman, ahead of the hearing of the case by the Supreme Court.

The lawyers’ body demanded that all those who have been “arbitrarily and illegally” arrested and detained in police stations, interrogation centres and jails should be set free forthwith as it is against the very basic fundamentals of freedom to arrest in-nocent people and lodge them in jails and or police stations in violation of their right to life and liberty.

“It was also decided that the shutdown call given by the pro-freedom leadership for 24 of February, 2019, should be supported and every one should be asked to make it successful so that a clear message goes to all those who regard and respects the hu-man rights of the people.

Induct IFS Though5 of the Indian Forest Service (Appointment By

Promotion) Regulations, 1966,” a bench of Justice Rashid Ali Dar said and asked government to con-sider the petitioners as members of Forest Service.

“Furthermore, respondents are directed to pre-pare a list of suitable officers for induction into Indi-an Forest Service by promotion in accordance with Indian Forest Service Regulations, 1966 after notifi-cation of ‘State Forest Service’. Exercise to be com-pleted preferably within a period of eight weeks from the date copy of this order is served upon the respondents.” The petitioners had said that post of Assistant Wildlife Warden was a single cadre post having no promotional avenues, therefore, the State was legally obliged to create promotional avenues for them having regard to its constitutional obliga-tions expressed under Article 14 and 16 of the Con-stitution of India.

They further pleaded that the promotion be-ing a condition of service and having regard to the requirement thereof, there have to be rules of re-cruitment governing their service conditions which must provide avenues for promotion.

However, in the case of the petitioners, as plead-ed by them, the J&K Wildlife(Gazetted) Service Re-cruitment Rules, 1994 puts a complete embargo on their future promotion and the fate of their is sealed for all time to come.

They therefore, prayed that the Rules framed in terms of SRO 158 of 1994 to the extent same does not

provide for promotion to the petitioners are required to be declared as ultravires to the Constitution.

They also pleaded in the petition that in terms of the J&K Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1978, a Forest Of-ficer means and includes the Forest Officer defined in Clause(f) of Section 2 of the J&K Forest Act, 1987.

Gilani Postedissued by the General Administration Depart-

ment (vigilance), Jammu vide its order No. 07 - GAD (Vig) of 2019 Dated 23.02.2019. The order reveals that a committee was constituted in this regard un-der the Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance Com-mission Act, 2011. The committee had recommend-ed Gilani’s repatriation to the Home Department.

Pertinently, SJM Gilani, a 1994 batch officer of Indian Police Service (IPS), was placed IGP, Kashmir, on March 15, 2015. He was removed as IGP, Kash-mir, on May 13, 2017 in controversial circumstance as violence during his period had escalated.

Farooq Shah’s Benefits) Rules 1958, read with proviso second

below this sub-rule, sanction is accorded to the vol-untary retirement of Mr Farooq Ahmad Shah (IAS) (jk:2004) from the Indian Administrative Service with effect from 19-2-2019,” reads an order issued by the government.

Farooq Ahmad Shah is likely to join politics but so far he has kept cards close to his chest.

Modi: Our FightKashmiri Muslim people had lined up for donat-

ing blood and to protect lives," he said."If we want to win the fight, we should not

make mistakes. A terrorist is a terrorist and Kash-miri people are also facing trouble due to terror-ism. Previous governments sowed such seeds but this government of India will fulfil the dreams of Kashmiris," he said.

"Stern action against those who live in India and push separatism has been taken and will be taken. This is a changed India, this pain will not be tolerated. We will not sit quiet after suffering this pain. We know how to crush terrorism. This is an India of new policies," he said.

Modi also took a dig at Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying "it is the time he stands true to his words".

He referred to his congratulatory phone call to Imran Khan, when he assumed office after the gen-eral elections in Pakistan last year.

Modi said, “As per protocol, I telephoned Paki-stan’s new prime minister. I told him we have fought for long. Let India and Pakistan together fight poverty and illiteracy.”“Pakistan’s prime min-ister told me, ‘I am the son of a Pathan. I do what I say.’ It is time to test his words,” PM Modi said at his rally.

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Arrows to host sensational Real Kashmir in final home game

Agencies

Bhubaneswar, February 23, 2019: AIFF’s developmental side Indian Arrows are all set to face Real Kashmir FC who are vying to win the title in their debut season itself at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar tomorrow (Febru-ary 24, 2019). While the visitors are placed third on the points table 5 points shy of the toppers Chennai City FC, a win would only bring them closer to realis-ing their title dream. The match is slated for a 2 PM kick-off.

In the first leg, Real Kashmir churned out a comfortable 2-0 win over the youngsters but since then Floyd Pinto has worked hard on his team and that has resulted in some great results for the youngsters against some formidable opponents. Their last draw against Gokulam FC along with a stellar defence line will only add to the confidence level of the young Indian Arrows. The Arrows are now placed 8th with

17 points from 18 games, thanks to 5 wins and two draws. What also adds to their favour is the fact that they have had five clean sheets this season. Indian Arrows coach Floyd Pinto said, “It’s not going to be an easy game for sure. They are one of the teams who are in contention to win the I-League this season and this game is a must-win game for them. We must keep ourselves organised and stick to the basics to win the three points.” “We hope to grab another three points and finish as high as possible in this season”, he added further.

Debutants Real Kashmir FC, on the other hand, are having a dream run in their opening sea-son and if they win on Sunday, they would leapfrog Quess East Bengal to the second spot with 35 points from 17 games.

Real Kashmir coach David Robertson said, “Our prepara-tion has been going good. We haven’t played for almost three weeks and now we are look-

ing forward to another difficult game.” “Thankfully we have no injury scares. They are a tough team and we experienced it when we played last time at the TRC ground in Srinagar. Al-though we won, it was a very tough match for us”, Robertson analysed his opponents.

“We are moving forward and it will be a very very difficult team to break down and score against. I think if we defend well we can get the three points. We have got an aspiration to not break our un-beaten run from the last 12 games, and if we can continue this result, you never know, what’s in store for us”, gaffer sounded optimistic.

While on one hand, the stellar

defence line of the Indian Arrows aptly backed by Prabhsukhan Gill under the woodwork has been one of the toughest deadlocks to crack this season, Real Kashmir FC have been known for a stu-pendous run on the road.

The Snow Leopards have so far remained unbeaten away from their home and that would boost their confidence by a huge mar-gin. With likes of Krizo, Loveday, Katebe and Mason Roberston in the ranks for Real Kashmir FC, it would be interesting to watch how the I-League debutants would stop the young Indian Ar-rows from playing the attacking football that the youngsters have been playing for a while.

“WE ARE MOVING FORWARD AND it will be a very very difficult team to break down and score against. I think if we defend well we can get the three points. We have

got an aspiration to not break our unbeaten run from the last 12 games, and if we can continue this result, you never know, what’s in store for us”, gaffer sounded optimistic.

Smiling Sri Lanka stun South Africa to seal historic series win

AFP

Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne hailed his happy, united team after they completed an histor-

ic series triumph against South Africa at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis propelled Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win on the third day of the second Test, playing exactly the sort of cricket that Karunaratne wanted.

"We told them, 'play your nor-mal game, if you can hit over the

fielder go for it'," said Karunara-tne after the unheralded Sri Lankans became the first team from Asia to win a Test series in South Africa. Fernando (75 not out) and Mendis (84 not out) at-tacked the South African bowlers from the start of play on Satur-day, taking Sri Lanka from an overnight 60 for two to the vic-tory target of 197 in just over two hours of uninhibited stroke play.

"When you play like that, South Africa are on the back foot," said Karunaratne.

Appointed only as an "interim" captain, Karunaratne said he had a simple message for his players when he took over at a time of apparent turmoil in Sri Lankan cricket. "When I started, I said to my boys, 'whatever happens you have to keep smiling, keep en-joying. If you’re not enjoying you don’t get to a hundred percent'."

Remarkably, the Lankans con-sistently played positive cricket despite having been away from home for the better part of three months. They arrived after two heavy Test defeats in Australia, which led to Dinesh Chandimal being fired as captain, coach Chandika Hathurusingha having his powers curtailed and ma-jor changes in personnel, some caused by injuries.

The tourists' attitude clearly flummoxed the South Africans, especially on Saturday morning when the uninhibited batting of Fernando, playing in his second

Test, and man of the match Men-dis turned what had been ex-pected to be a tense struggle to a romp for the tourists, with South African captain Faf du Plessis having to change his fields and frequently rotate bowlers who were unable to break through or stop the flow of runs.

- 'My biggest low' -Karunaratne praised the con-

tribution of his bowlers, notably the inexperienced Vishwa Fer-nando and Kasun Rajitha, who took 12 and nine wickets respec-tively over the two matches.

"Our bowling line-up did a really good job, especially the youngsters," he said.

Du Plessis described the series loss as "my biggest low as a play-er in the Proteas team".

He said he was particularly disappointed with South Afri-ca’s batting, which sank to new

depths when they were bowled out for 138 in the second in-nings, despite Sri Lanka being without injured left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya.

Du Plessis said he was at a loss to explain how 31 wickets fell on the first two days.

"When I was batting in both innings I felt it was a really good batting pitch," he said. "Mentally we were a bit soft in giving wick-ets away pretty easily."

Sri Lanka made it four wins in a row against South Africa after winning two matches at home last year. "They have been bet-

ter than us home and away," admitted Du Plessis. "We were outplayed in their back yard but there’s no excuse when Sri Lanka come here." Kusal Perera, whose 153 not out took Sri Lanka to a dramatic, unexpected one-wick-et win in the first Test in Durban, was named man of the series.

Sri Lanka’s series win was one of the biggest upsets in recent cricket history. South Africa had won their previous seven series at home and had won 16 out of 19 home Tests, with only two de-feats, before losing in Durban.

Sri Lanka, by contrast, had lost six and drawn one of their pre-vious seven Tests before arriv-ing in South Africa. South Africa had won 19 of 21 previous home series against Asian opponents, with the only exceptions being when India and Pakistan shared one series each.

Oshada Fernando helps propel Sri Lanka to historic win

Solari questions Barcelona's extra day off ahead of cup Clasico

AFP

Real Madrid coach Santiago So-lari has described as "curious" Barcelona having an extra day's rest before next week's Copa del Rey clash between the two sides, the first of two El Clasico derbies in four days. Barca face Sevilla on Saturday while Madrid are away to Levante on Sunday before the two rivals meet in the second leg of their cup semi-final at the San-tiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, with the historic rivals level at 1-1 after the first match at the Camp Nou. "We find it funny," Solari said at a press conference on Saturday. "It's curious. But playing in differ-ent conditions, it entertains us a lot and we see it as a challenge." Madrid were also given one day fewer before the first leg earlier this month but had an extra day ahead of the La Liga match at the Camp Nou in October, when Barca ran out 5-1 winners.

Solari also dismissed the pos-sibility of Sergio Ramos earning a longer Champions League ban after the defender suggested he deliberately earned a yellow card against Ajax to use up his sus-

pension in the second leg. Ramos subsequently insisted that was not the case but UEFA could ex-tend his punishment if they feel the booking was pre-meditated.

“The issue has been cleared up," Solari said. "You can see (it was not deliberate) in the action itself and Sergio cleared it up afterwards. We have no doubts about it.” Ramos will miss the game against Levante on Sunday through a separate suspension after being sent off during Ma-

drid's defeat to Girona last week-end. But Isco is available again after recovering from a back problem. The loss to Girona left Madrid third in the league, nine points behind Barcelona, with a La Liga Clasico coming at the Santiago Bernabeu next week-end, four days after the meeting in the Copa del Rey. “Last week we dropped points and the gap grew but we have to reduce it again," Solari said. "We must fight until the end."

Kane scores on return but Spurs fall at Burnley

AFP

Harry Kane scored on his return from injury for Tot-tenham but his side fell to a surprise 2-1 defeat at Burn-ley, which severely dented their Premier League title hopes on Saturday.

Ashley Barnes’ 83rd minute winner for Burnley extended their unbeaten run to eight games and moved them up to 13th place in the league.

But for third-placed Spurs, who trail leaders Manchester City and Liv-erpool by five points, this may prove to be a loss that leaves them with too much ground to make up.

Burnley took the lead in the 57th minute with a glancing header by striker Chris Wood from a Dwight McNeil corner.

But eight minutes later Kane, playing his first game since he suffered an ankle injury on Jan. 13, ran on to a quick throw-in from Danny Rose and slipped the ball past Tom Heaton.

The Clarets, who have been in or around the rel-egation zone for most of the season, grabbed the winner though when sub-stitute Johann Berg Gud-mundsson found Barnes at the back post and the strik-er fired in his fourth goal in as many games.

Allegri insists Juve have 'real chance' of Champions League quarters

AFP

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri insisted Saturday that his side can still qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals despite being 2-0 down after the first leg of their last 16 clash with Atletico Madrid.

Atletico have been one of Euro-pean football's toughest sides in the last nine years, during which they have won three Europa Leagues and -- like Allegri's Juve -- reached and lost two Champi-ons League finals. Wednesday's defeat at the Wanda Metropoli-tano stadium made a big dent in Juve's European ambitions as they chase their first Champions League since 1996.

"One thing is certain, we will be ready on March 12 and we have a real chance of qualifying," Allegri told a press conference ahead of Serie A

leaders' league game against Bologna on Sunday.

"I don't know if we'll qualify, but we must do everything to make it happen. "We need time to prepare everything a little at a time, step by step, like a bottle of water slowly filling up."

Allegri defended star striker Cristiano Ronaldo amid criti-cism of his below-par perfor-mance in Madrid and his reac-tion to goading from Atleti fans following the defeat.

The Portuguese superstar, who moved to Juventus from Real Madrid in a mega money summer deal, waved five fingers at reporters and said "I've won five Champions Leagues and these guys zero" after Wednes-day's loss. "Cristiano is the best player in the world and he brings calmness in the dressing room. He played well in Ma-drid," said Allegri.

"Expectations are higher this year, so there is a little disap-pointment and frustration, but it shouldn't be, because there is still a game to be played.

"Football is like life, it has its ups and downs. We have to transform this defeat into an opportunity to achieve some-thing special."

"MAKE IT HAPPEN:" MASSIMILIANO Allegri believes Juventus can still qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals.

PSG hoping to send fans asleepAFP

Paris Saint Germain ad-mitted Friday they would be happy to send fans asleep after their

dominance of the French Ligue 1 title chase was reflected in a new multi-million euro spon-sorship deal with a hotel giant.

The French champions, who enjoy a 14-point lead at the top of the table and are well placed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, agreed a new shirt sponsorship deal with the French multinational Accor. PSG presi-dent Nasser Al-Khelaïfi admitted that the deal could even see fans get the opportunity to stay over-night at the club's Parc des Princ-es ground in the French capital.

"We can imagine that," Al-Khelaifi told AFP when asked if he could see the agreement stretching to hotel breaks at the stadium. "Accor can exploit the lounge spaces at the stadium, create temporary hotels on the pitch or behind the goals.

"When there are no matches, people want to sleep at Parc des

Princes! There are lots of things that can be done."

PSG had announced on Thurs-day that from next season they will carry on their shirts the logo of ALL, the loyalty pro-gramme of Accor, which has its headquarters just outside Paris.

However, PSG did not say how long the new deal was for, or how much money they stand to earn from it. The deal brings to an end a 13-year association with Dubai-based airline Emir-ates, who also sponsor the likes of Real Madrid, Arsenal, Benfi-ca and Hamburg. PSG had an-nounced last August that they would not renew their partner-ship with Emirates -- report-edly worth up to 25 million eu-ros ($28.4m) a year -- beyond this season. A source close to the club indicated that the new deal could put them in the "top four for the best con-tracts in Europe", which could mean a sum in excess of 50 million euros a year.

Real Madrid's shirt sponsor-ship deal with Emirates -- the most lucrative in Europe -- is

worth 70 million euros a year.Accor's CEO is Sebastien Ba-

zin, who was the president of PSG for a spell in 2009.

PSG were listed as the sixth-richest football club in the world

in the latest Deloitte Football Money League with revenue of 541.7 million euros in 2018, with Real Madrid top of the list with 750.9 million euros.

The French champions have been under scrutiny from Eu-

ropean football's governing body UEFA after splashing more than 400 million euros in 2017 to sign Brazil star Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. A UEFA inves-tigation into their finances was

shelved in June last year before being reopened last September.

PSG reacted by appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), claiming they had met UEFA's Financial Fair Play demands.

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CM

YK

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Documents

Fear, Anxiety Modi: Our Fight for Kashmir Not …...Sheikh and others at Jabdi Bandi on Kamalkote Nallah under FMP 11.93 23860 CEE/DEE50-days 4711-FMP 1200.00 2019_IFC_71435_1 2 Construction