New Delhi, June 11: India and China are maintaining their military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the border issues in the Eastern Ladakh areas at the earliest as also to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday.
“This is essential for the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations,” Srivastava said.

On Wednesday, a Major General-level talk between two neighbouring nations was held at Chusul BPM point in Eastern Ladakh to end the impasse.

This was the fourth round of talks between the two-star generals to break the stalemate that began with a violent confrontation between rival patrols near Pangong Tso on the night of May 5-6.

Last week, India and China discussed the border issues at Corps Commander-level. After meeting, Chinese and Indian troops retreated in some areas of Galwan valley and Hot Springs.

“As you are aware, a meeting was held between the Corps Commanders of India and China on 6th June 2020 in the Chushul-Moldo region. This meeting was in continuation of the diplomatic and military engagements which both sides have maintained to address the situation in areas along the India-China border,” the spokesperson added.

“It was agreed that an early resolution of the situation would be in keeping with the guidance of the leaders,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China and India have conducted effective communication and reached agreement on “properly handling” the situation in the west section of the China-India boundary.

“At present, the two sides are taking actions in line with the agreement to ameliorate the border situation,” she said.

India and China share 3488 kms long de-facto boundary which is divided by the Himalayan Range of mountains.

Precious Kashmir News
Kupwara, June 11: Jammu and  Kashmir Police on Thursday claimed to have busted a militant module by arresting three associates of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) with 21 kg heroin and Rs 1.34 crore cash at Handwara in the frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara.
“On reliable information, police busted militant module by arresting three associates of LeT. Incriminating materials — including 21 kg of heroin worth Rs 100 crore in international market, cash worth Rs1.34 crores and a cash counting machine — were recovered from them,” a senior officer told a news conference in Handwara.

Giving details, he said police had been receiving specific inputs from last two weeks about a major drug trafficking racket operating in Handwara. “Various police teams were developing these inputs, technically and investigatively,” he said.
The officer said all those arrested were in constant contact with their Pakistani handlers. “The module was responsible for giving financial support to LeT militants in J&K though funds generated by drugs trafficking,” he said.
He said, “It is a very big Hawala racket where money is transferred without money movement to finance militant activities,” he said.
The SP Handwara said the accused have been identified as Syed Iftikhar Indrabi, a resident of Laribal Rajwar Handwara, his son-in-law Moomin Peer and Iqbal-ul-Islam, both residents of Waskura in Handwara. “More arrests would happen in the coming days,” he added.
The official stated that Indrabi is the main accused, already has two cases of drug trafficking registered against him.

Chandigarh, June 11: Punjab Police on Thursday claimed it foiled a major attempt to smuggle weapons into Kashmir for carrying out attacks, with the arrest of two Jammu and Kashmir-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives.

Ten hand grenades, along with one AK-47 rifle with two magazines and 60 live cartridges were seized from the suspected militants, identified as Aamir Hussain Wani (26) of Hafsarmal, Shopian and Wasim Hassan Wani (27) of Sharmal, Shopian.

The duo, who were actively involved in transporting automatic weapons and hand grenades from Punjab to Kashmir, were nabbed by Pathankot police at a Naka on Amritsar-Jammu Highway in Sadar area police station.

Giving details, Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta said the search of the truck, bearing JK registration number, led to the recovery of weapons and ammunition.

The accused revealed during preliminary investigation that they had been directed to collect the weapon consignment from Punjab by former J&K constable Ishfaq Ahmed Dar alias Bashir Ahmed Khan. Currently an active militant of LeT in the Valley, Dar had absconded in 2017.

The duo also disclosed that they had collected the consignment from two unknown persons early this morning at a pre-arranged location on Maqboolpura-Vallah road near the vegetable market in Amritsar.

They had then concealed the consignment in the truck, which they had brought ostensibly for the purpose of loading vegetables and fruits from the mandi in Amritsar, according to the DGP.

United News of India
Srinagar, June 11: A suspected militant was on Thursday arrested with arms and ammunition in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, hours after a brief exchange of fire took place between militants and security forces.
Official sources said following specific information about presence of militants at village Pathanpora Nassulahpora, about three kms from Budgam, troops of Rashtriya Rifles (RR), CRPF and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police launched a joint operation at 0200 hrs.
However, when the security forces were moving towards a particular area in the village, militants hiding there, opened fire, they said.
“Security force retaliated ensuing in a brief exchange of fire. Additional security forces were deployed in the nearby area,” they said, adding no fresh contact was established with the militants, who had managed to escape under the cover of darkness.
An Army official said a search operation was launched in the area to nab the militants. “During the search operation, one suspected militant was arrested,” he said, adding arms and ammunition — including one Chinese pistol, one grenade, six AK magazines and 147 rounds — were recovered from him.

Srinagar, June 11: Police on Thursday recovered a body of 25-year-old near a school in Dangerpora area in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

A Police officer identified the deceased youth as Adil Yousf Zargar, a resident of New Colony Pulwama.  He added that in this regard a case has been registered and further investigation has been initiated. (KINS)

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, June 11:  In a major achievement University of Kashmir has been listed, by MHRD, among top 50 Universities in the country, improving its rank from 53 to 48 this time.
In the all India Ranking for 2020, assessment by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, (MHRD), the University of Kashmir (KU) got the 48th rank with a score of 46.99 points among the Indian Universities. This means KU which stood at 53rd rank last year has improved five positions this time despite all the odds.
The ranking of Indian Universities and other educational institutions in 2020 under Institutional Ranking Framework was released by the Minster for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday.
While terming it as a very positive development Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof Talat Ahmad said that this is another good news after the NAAC re-accredited KU as A+ University last year. “Being ranked among 50 best Universities of the country is a great achievement and the credit for this goes to joint efforts of all the teachers, scholars, students and administrative/technical staff of the University”, added VC.
Prof Talat Ahmad congratulated the teaching and non-teaching staff, students, scholars of the university and also appreciated the efforts of Team DIQA for this achievement. In his message to all the stake holders he said, that “since we aspire to get recognized as an institution of excellence both at National and International level, we do not have to be complacent. We need to work harder to score higher rankings and make this institution one of the best”.
Registrar University of Kashmir Dr Nisar Ahmad Mir, while congratulating the University fraternity for achieving this milestone, expressed hope that the University community works harder to make KU an Institution of excellence in near future.
Prof Anwar Hassan, Director, Directorate of Internal Quality Assurance has also congratulated the University community and team DIQA for this great achievement. He thanked all the teaching and non-teaching fraternity of the university for their excellent cooperation during the assessment period.
Pertinent to mention that the National Institutional Ranking Framework was instituted by MHRD in 2015 and the first rankings were announced in 2016.  This was the 5th Edition of NIRF rankings and the number of participating institutions in the ranking competition increased by 20%.
NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The methodology is based on a well-defined set of metrics and parameters for ranking of academic institutions, approved by Core Committee of MHRD. The parameters broadly cover `Teaching, Learning and Resources”, “Research and Professional Practices”, “Graduation Outcome”, “Outreach & Inclusivity” and “Perception”.
The KU has scored percentile points of 60.25, 18.51,79.47.49.47 and 28.82 in the parameters respectively.

Family alleges negligence by doctors at Budgam Hospital

Budgam, June 11: A 35-year old woman died after giving birth to a healthy baby in District Hospital Budgam on late Wednesday night.
The family of the woman alleged that the death of the lady took place due the negligence of doctors and staged a protest in the hospital premises late Wednesday night.
Family of the deceased lady according to CNS termed the death of the lady mere negligence and injustice and demanded strict action against the doctors.
Meanwhile Chief Medical Officer Budgam Dr. Tajjamul, said,” The caesarean of the patient had gone well, but after some time she probably may have developed  massive Pulmonary Thimbo Imbalance, which may have caused her death and  in no way is the result of any lack in medical attention”. (CNS)

Srinagar, June 11: Weather warning for isolated thunderstorm, lightning and 30 km to 40 km gusty winds will continue in Jammu and Kashmir during the next 60 hours, a Met department spokesman said on Thursday evening.
Winds coupled with rain has resulted in drop in the maximum temperature while the minimum temperature was slightly below or above normal in the union territory, he said.
He said there could be scattered light rain, thundershowers and 30km to 40 km gusty winds in Kashmir and Jammu and isolated rain in Ladakh region during the next 60 hours. Gusty winds and heavy thundershowers coupled with hailstorm has already badly damaged orchards and houses in the Kashmir valley.
Srinagar witnessed winds coupled with this evening bringing down the temperature. However, people remained indoors following lockdown imposed by the authorities due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Srinagar is among eight other districts out of total 10 declared Red Zone by the administration.

The Met spokesman said Srinagar recorded 26.7 degree Celsius maximum temperature, 1.3 notches below normal, while the minimum temperature was 14.6 degree Celsius slightly above normal.

The sky would be partly cloudy to light rain and thunderstorm while the maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 29 degree Celsius and 14 degree Celsius respectively during the next 24 hours in the city.

World famous ski resort of Gulmarg, 55 km from here in north Kashmir recorded 19 degree Celsius maximum temperature, lowest in the valley. The minimum temperature thee was 7.8 degree Celsius , a notch below normal.

The famed health resort of Pahalgam, about 100 km from here in south Kashmir, recorded 20.4 degree Celsius maximum temperature, 3.5 degree below normal while the minimum temperature was 8.8 degree Celsius , half a notch above normal.

Srinagar, Jun 11: An Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer Saqib Yousuf hailing from central Kashmir district of Budgam has assumed charge as Chief Area Manager, Srinagar.

He is the first local to hold such post in the Railways, a Press Information Bureau (PIB) official said on Thursday afternoon.

After completing primary schooling in his native village of Nagam, Chadoora, Yousuf did his senior secondary from Nowgam. He secured admission in National Institute of Technology, Srinagar in Electronics and Communication stream after qualifying the AIEEE examination in 2010.

On successful completion of his engineering degree, Yousuf chose to prepare for the UPSC Civil Services examination despite having secured campus placement. He was fully supported by his family in this endeavour and was allotted IRTS after qualifying the coveted exam in his second attempt securing 472nd rank.

Yousuf then joined the Indian Railways Institute of Transportation Management, Lucknow for his training which lasted a total of 18 months. The training also included various related modules/courses at other related institutions such as National Academy of Indian Railways, Baroda, National Academy of Audit and Accounts, Shimla, Zonal Railway Training Institute, Udaipur and Centre for Railway Information Systems, New Delhi among others.

During the course of this training, Yousuf got an opportunity to travel over 75,000 kms across the length and breadth of the country from the Sunderbans in West Bengal to Kutch in Gujarat and from Srinagar in J&K to Kanyakumari in Kerala.

Yousuf believes the training for IRTS has made him realise the vast diversity of the country, the challenges faced by the country the potential that can be unlocked to face those challenges. He believes that the railways have a role to play not only in driving the economy but also in cutting across social and linguistic barriers to unify the nation.

This is the first posting for Yousuf and he intends to use his position to provide the best possible transportation services to the citizens.

Suhail Khan
Srinagar, June 11: After facing severe criticism for not repairing dilapidated roads, authorities at Roads and Buildings (R&B) department Thursday claimed that one thousand kilometers road length will be macadamized this summer in Kashmir.
Much to the dismay and discomfort of commuters as well as residents, the majority of the roads in Kashmir including important road links in Srinagar city are in shambles.
Chief engineer R&B, Kashmir Sami Aarif said that work to macadamize roads has already begun.
“We have target to macadamize one thousand KM road length across Kashmir this summer,” Aarif told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS)
He said major roads are on priority list for macadamization. “Roads leading to hospitals, colleges and other vital public institutions are on priority list,” he said.
He added that the macadamization work has already started around ten days ago. “We have macadamized Boulevard and Nishat road. All major vital roads will be covered on a first priority basis,” he said.
He said that there would be a “great change” on ground in next ten to fifteen days as the process to repair dilapidated roads have been expedited.
Presently, vital roads in Kashmir are dilapidated causing a lot of hardships and delays in reaching the desired destination, said commuters.
While the roads in rural areas are in mess, the situation in Srinagar is even worse. The roads in the capital city are in shabby condition, and travelling is proving to be back breaking experience in the city. Further, road links to tourist destinations are too in dilapidated state giving a bad name to Kashmir.
The R&B Chief Engineer said that sufficient funds are available for the execution of the plan and one thousand kilometers will be covered by the end of current summer.
Macadamization of roads in Kashmir is being carried mostly from May to September — when temperature is high and favorable for the process. No such activity can be carried in winters.
R&B department have so far remained under severe criticism by commuters and residents for failing repair dilapidated roads across Kashmir.(KINS)