Srinagar: Upper reaches of Kashmir on Sunday received a fresh snowfall while plains were lashed by torrential rains disrupting normal life.

Meanwhile, Srinagar-Ladakh National highway and historical Mughal road in south Kashmir connecting Shopian with Rajouri in Jammu division were closed for vlehiculr traffic as a precautionary measure following snowfall. However, Srinagar-Jammu national highway was through despite of rains.

Reports reaching here said that tourist resort of Sonamarg, Capitain More, Kargil and Drass were experienced with mild snowfall since late Saturday resulting in closure of Srinagar-Ladakh highway. It was still snowing at these places the reports last reaching here said.

Ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir also experienced a fresh snowfall, reports reaching here said and added about two inches of snow has accumulated sofar. It was also snowing at Affarwath in Gulmarg, the reports said.

The Pir Panjal range of Jammu and Kashmir including holy Amarnath cave route were also experience a fresh snowfall resulted in intense cold conditions. It was still snowing Pahalgam, Sheshnag, Alipathri and near the cave site the reports said.

Srinagar-Jammu Ntional highway was through for vehicular traffic despite of raining at most places, a traffic official said.

He said, traffic was suspended on the highway early in the morning following a huge avalance and, shooting of stones occurred at Ramban. However, men from the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) responsible for the maintenance of the road pressed into service and cleared the debries to make the road traffic worthy.

A traffic official said that Mughal road connecting Shopian in south Kashmir to Rajouri district in Jammu region was closed for vehiuclar traffic following a fresh snowfall at Baflizz and peer ki gali. It was still snowing on the road the traffic official said.

Razdan top and Gurez roads in Bandipora district of north Kashmir were also closed as a precautionary measure follwing a fresh snowfall there. Besides Keran and Karnah roads in frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara were also closed for the vehicular traffic following fresh snowfall in the region.

Reports of rainfall was also received from all major districts of the valley since early morning disrpting normal life with increase in the cold conditions prevailing all across.

Torrential rains lash Srinagar and its adjoining areas since early morning disrupting normal life. Most of the roads were water logged due to the rain waters making movement of traffic difficult. It was still raining till this report was filed.

A MET office in Srinagar said, light rain and snow is most likely to continue till next 12 to 18 hours in the Kashmir valley and Ladakh regions. There is no major forecast of any major snowfall, the MET office said and added overall improvement in the weather would most likely from Monday onwards.

Gulmarg: Famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir is abuzz with tourists who  have come here from various parts of India are cherishing the site of snowfall.

Children, young women and men were seen playing with snow, throwing it on each other to express their joy.

About two to three inches of snow had accumulated on the slopes of Gulmarg and it continued to snow throughout the day, the tourists were thrilled at the site of snowfall at this picturesque place and enjoyed themselves in the outdoors.

Pinky Misdhar, a tourist from Delhi was so excited after witnessing the snowfall that she described Gulmarg as an “unmatched place on earth”. “My first Kashmir trip has paid me back with such lovely weather and to watch live snowfall”, she said.

A large number of tourist vehicles were stuck in traffic jams on the Tangmarg-Gulmarg road due to snowfall and slippery road conditions prevailing there. Many of the tourists were leaving their vehicles on the road side and preferred to walk amid the snowfall.

Jasmeet Singh also from New Delhi said “I am thankful to God and the people of Kashmir who brought me here to show the sprawling scene of the snowfall in Gulmarg”. “it is really a heaven on earth and I am lucky to be in it”, Singh said and was all praise for the local Kashmiri people for their hospitality.

He said “it is entirely a different experience here in Gulmarg to sip a cup of tea in a small Dhaba with mathi while watching snowfall”. He requested every citizen of India to come to Gulmarg and experience their life in “heaven on earth”.

Amid heavy traffic jams on the road, the tourists were seen walking on foot crossing the slippery road amid snowing in the valley of meadows, Gulmarg.

Ashotosh from Maharashtra was delighted to get a picture of himself in Gulmarg amid snowing, said “It is a very special moment of my life to see myself in Gulmarg that too amid snowfall”

Jigar who had come all along from Mumbai was all praise for the wonderful atmosphere of nature and said that he had never seen such a lovely place till now in his life. “I am thankful to God for showing me such a lovely place and in such beautiful weather conditions”, Jigar said.

He said there are so many places in India worth seeing, but advised everyone to  come to Gulmarg at least once during winter “to spend precious moments of life here amid snowing”.

Beena from Mumbai had cancelled her flight for the day when she saw snowfall. “ I never thought that I would be able to see such beautiful weather”.

She was all praise for local people who never misguided any tourist. “I suggest tourists to be in touch with the local people here during their adventure trip so that they do not have any difficulity”, she advised.

“What we had heard about this place is very little, it is a wonderful place that appeals to people around the country to come and experience their stay in Gulmarg”, Beena said.

Srinagar: Major General Abhijit S. Pendharkar took over the reins as General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the elite Vajr Division from Major General V.M.B. Krishnan, who moved to the prestigious appointment of Commandant, Counter Insurgency Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte, the army said on Sunday.

Pendharkar was commissioned on Jun 9, 1990 from IMA, Dehradun into 6th Battalion, the Assam Regiment. An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, the General Officer has attended all important career courses including Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Higher Command Course and National Defence College.

He has an MSc in Strategic Studies and Master of Philosophy to his credit. The General Officer has vast operational experience having served in intense counter insurgency/counter terrorist operations in the northeast and Jammu & Kashmir.

For his distinguished service, he has been awarded GOC-in-C Central Command Commendation Card in 2002, COAS Commendation Card in 2007 and Yudh Seva Medal in 2018 while commanding a challenging brigade on the Line of Control.

“The General officer brings with him a rich experience of various Commands, Staff and Instructional appointments including the prestigious command of an Infantry Brigade on the Line of Control, Chief of Staff of an Infantry Brigade Group in MONUSCO, Congo and an extremely important appointment in Directorate of Military Operations at IHQ of MoD (Army) prior to assuming the command of the prestigious Vajr Division,” army said.

JAMMU: Chief Justice of High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Justice Pankaj Mithal, today said that India has a distinction of being called as the ‘Spiritual Capital’ of the world.

“India’s cultural milieu is the cosmos of pure spirituality which discourages distinguishing humans on the basis of religion”, Chief Justice maintained.

The Chief Justice remarked this during an event themed ‘Dharma and The Constitution of India’ organized by a Delhi based organization Adhivakta Parishad, J&K and Ladakh chapter to commemorate the 72nd Constitution Day.

The function was also attended by Advocate General, DC Raina and Additional Solicitor General of J&K High Court and dozens of other advocates and legal luminaries.

In his keynote address, Justice Mithal maintained that our endeavor should be to exercise the fundamental duties instead for asking the rights only. He said that religion is synonymous to righteousness and every religion leads to the moral conduct in life. He further defined that religious scriptures acted as a guiding principle in discerning the right from wrong and codal law also enshrines same in it. He asked for formulating laws as per the needs of the society and not after looking up to the west.

Justice Mithal mentioned that Vedas constitute the law of nature and it is morality and good conduct that makes one religious. Elaborating, he said that both the Mahabharta and ‘Ahimsa’ of Gautam Buddha convinces people to adopt highest articles of faith and virtue. He said that since times immemorial under every rule Indian people have upheld the sacred beliefs of spirituality without interfering in personal articles of faith of other individuals. He said that this secularism has continuously been carried to this day by our nation in its true spirit although the words were added to our Constitution later through an amendment.

Advocate General said that religion has not been sidelined by our constitution instead it has preserved its exercise by people from every sect. He said that Articles 14, 19, 21, 25-29 gives us insights about religious guarantees in our Constitution.

He said that India has the most flexible Constitution that has preserved sensitivities of all peoples of this nation. He said that it is for this fact that it has been ammended more than 100 times till now despite being the most voluminous and elaborate one. He said that the Ayodhta verdict, Shah Bano Case, Triple Talaq, Vaishno Devi Temple issue are some of the striking examples where Constitution guided us towards respectable solutions.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Additional Solicitor General of India (ASGI), Srinagar, Tahir Shamsi; ASGI, Jammu, Vikas Sharma and other office bearers of the AdhivaktaParishad.

‘India will develop indigenous anti-drone technology soon’

Jaisalmer: India is developing indigenous anti-drone technology, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday, as he stressed on the importance of the Border Security Force(BSF) in national security.

Speaking on the occasion of the 57th Raising Day of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Jaisalmer, the Home Minister said that for the first time since the establishment of BSF in 1965, it has been decided to celebrate the foundation day of BSF in the border district of the country, as he attended the raising day event here.

“The Border Security Force, NSG and DRDO are making efforts to deal with the threat of drones and create drone resistance systems. Soon we will be able to create a resistance system to control drones,” Shah said.

He also mentioned the surgical strikes, and the Balakot airstrike.

“Under the Modi govt we have taken security of our borders seriously, wherever there have been attempts to encroach along the border, we have retaliated immediately. When there were attacks in Uri and Pulawama, govt immediately took a decision and the air strike and surgical strike were appreciated by the whole world,” Shah said.

Shah said more than 35,000 personnel of Border Security Force, Police Forces and CAPFs have made the supreme sacrifice across the country and the BSF is at the forefront.

He said the BSF guards the most difficult borders of India – the Bangladesh border of 4,165 kms and the 3,323 km long Pakistan border.

“The security of these two borders is the most difficult, but this force of more than 193 battalions and 2,65,000 personnel has protected these borders very well,” he said.

The Home Minister also recalled the battle of Longewala and said Army and the BSF together displayed indomitable courage in 1971 in Longewala, driving out an entire tank battalion.

“Even though the enemy was greater in number and had modern weaponry, yet the victor is the one who faces the enemy with courage and valour inspired by the spirit of patriotism,” he said.

He also highlighted that the budget for road construction for good infrastructure for border security was about Rs. 23,000 crores between 2008 to 2014, but after Narendra Modi government came to power, between 2014 to 2020, it has been increased from Rs. 23,000 crores to Rs. 44,600 crores.

He also said recruitment of 50,000 jawans has been completed in BSF, and efforts are being made to increase recruitment further.

Srinagar: A newly married man allegedly commit suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Pampore township of south Kashmir.

Official sources said, Gawhar Majeed Dar a resident of Dhobi Mohalla Kadlabal in Pampore township allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence in Saffron Town Pampore area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on late Saturday evening.

The deceased had got married a month ago, sources said.

Police have taken away the body for autopsy and a case under relevant sections of law has been registered in Police station Pampore. The further investigations were taken up, the sources.

The body was handed over to the relatives for conducting last rites, sources added.

Srinagar: National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed supplementary chargesheet against an operative of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) Mohd Nakeem Khan alias Nakeem in an arms, ammunition, explosive substances and heroin case.

Nakeen a resident of Sandote in district Poonch was booked in RC 02/2021/NIA/JMU pertaining to recovery of arms and ammunition, explosive substances, heroin belonging to terrorist organisation TuM and its off-shoot Jammu Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) in Poonch district of Jammu region.

Nakeem Ali S/o Mohammad Mushtaq  R/o Sandote, District Poonch in RC-02/2021/NIA/JMU pertaining to recovery of arms and ammunition, explosive substances, heroin belonging to terrorist organisation Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM) and its off-shoot Jammu Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) in Poonch, J&K.

NIA spokesman said, the case had arisen out of PS Mendhar case No. 292 /2020, dated 27.12.2020 and NIA re-registered the same as RC-02/2021/NIA/JMU on 16.03.2021.

Investigation by NIA has unearthed the conspiracy hatched by accused Mohd Nakeem along with other charge-sheeted accused and handlers of TuM and  JKGF who were operating from across the border and had facilitated transportation of arms & ammunition, explosives and narcotics from Line of Control (LoC), Balakot to interior areas of  Poonch.

Earlier NIA had filed chargesheet against 07 accused persons on 24.06.2021 and against two others on 04.10.2021.

Further investigation in the case continues, the NIA statement said.

Srinagar: The authorities have shifted human rights activist to Delhi’s Tihar jail under 3-week judicial custody after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from his residence in Srinagar on November 22, sources said here.

Sources told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that Parvez who is associated with JKCCS has been sent to 3-week judicial custody and has been shifted to Tihar jail.

Parvez was arrested on November 22 by the NIA from his residence in Srinagar under case FIR No. 30/2021/NIA/DLI dated 06/11/2021 us 120B/121A 17, 18, 18B, 38,40/ UAP.

The NIA had also conducted a raid at the office of JKCCS in Srinagar and had also seized mobile phones, laptop and some books from Parvez’s house. (KNS)