Day: September 10, 2021

Jammu, September 10, 2021 (PPI-OT):Former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council and National Conference leader, Trilochan Singh Wazir was found murdered in New Delhi.

The partially decomposed body of 67-year-old Wazir with the head wrapped in a plastic bag was found in a washroom of the flat in West Delhi’s Moti Nagar area, which was taken on rent by his acquaintance Harpreet Singh (31), a native of Amritsar, police said.

An official said the body was found to be wrapped with three to four layers of clothes while the head was covered with a plastic bag.

According to police, Wazir arrived in Delhi on September 2 and was staying with Harpreet Singh and his friend Harmeet Singh at their rented flat in the Basai Darapur area.

Both Harpreet and Harmeet are absconding and multiple teams have been formed to trace them. Their Call Detail Records are being analysed and raids are being conducted at their possible hideouts, police said.

A case of murder was registered in this matter. The investigation has been transferred to the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch while the force’s Special Cell will assist them, officials said.

Wazir’s brother has claimed the NC leader, a resident of Jammu, was supposed to take a flight to Canada on September 2 to meet his family there. When there was no news of him for days, his family informed the Jammu Police which in turn approached the Delhi Police, an official said.

On Thursday, the Delhi Police received a PCR call from a neighbour complaining about a foul smell from a flat in Moti Nagar. On reaching the spot, police broke the door and found a partially decomposed body in the washroom, a senior police officer said.

National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah have expressed pain and shock over the killing of Wazir.

“Shocked by the terrible news of the sudden death of my colleague Sardar T. S. Wazir, ex-member of the Legislative Council. It was only a few days ago that we sat together in Jammu not realising it was the last time I would be meeting him. May his soul rest in peace,” he tweeted.

Taking to Twitter, President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and National Spokesperson of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, said, “Shocked and deeply pained with the murder of my dearest friend like mentor S Tarlochan Singh Wazir ji in Delhi.

“He has given valuable services as Chairman of District Gurudwara Parbandak Board, J and K. My deep condolences to his family. May Waheguru grant eternal peace to his soul,” Sirsa said.

Meanwhile, All J and K Transport Welfare Association on Thursday evening said the presidents of All Commercial Transporters Associations described the death of Tarlochan Singh Wazir, who was chairman of the Association, as unfortunate and decided that no passenger/ commercial vehicles will ply today from Lakhanpur to Srinagar and Uri.

The bandh call has been given to express resentment over the killing of Wazir. The transporters have demanded investigation into the killing through a Special Investigating Team (SIT) and stern action against the culprits.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Dehradun, September 10, 2021 (PPI-OT):Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that police have been ordered to take strict action against forced religious conversions and activities of “love jihad” in the state.

Speaking to the media, Mr Dhami said the state government will also make the law against forced religious conversions more stringent.

“Information will be gathered about incidents of forced religious conversions and love jihad in the state. Our police will work with more strictness against “love jihad” and we will also make the law against it stricter,” the Chief Minister said.

In April 2018, the Uttarakhand government passed The Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, under which “forced or fraudulent conversions done through force or allurement” are non-bailable offences and can lead to imprisonment up to five years.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Chhattisgarh, September 10, 2021 (PPI-OT):Eight years after security personnel gunned down eight persons, including four minors, in Edesmetta in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, a judicial inquiry report, submitted to the state cabinet has concluded that none of those killed were Maoists, as was alleged at the time of the incident.

The report by Justice V K Agarwal, a retired judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court who was asked to inquire into the incident, said the security personnel “may have opened fire in panic”.

Calling the incident “a mistake” thrice in the report, Justice Agarwal said the tribals killed were unarmed and died in gunfire of 44 rounds, 18 of which were fired by a single constable of the CoBRA unit of the CRPF.

A separate inquiry into the incident is being conducted by the CBI following a Supreme Court order in May 2019.

The Edesmetta incident took place on the night of May 17-18, 2013 – a week before the Jhiram Ghati incident in Sukma district in which 27 people, including top state Congress leaders, were killed in a Maoist attack.

While police had denied the presence then of Maoists in Edesmetta, the CoBRA claimed busting a Maoist hideout.

Edesmetta, 17 km from the nearest road and more than 40 km from the district headquarters, falls under Gangaloor police station in Bijapur district, one of the worst affected by Left Wing Extremism in the state. There is still no road to the village where, according to the judicial report, 25-30 people had gathered to celebrate Beej Pandum, a tribal festival to worship new life in the form of seeds, on the night of May 17 in 2013 when a 1000-strong security force showed up.

While security forces had said then that they came under fire and had retaliated, the report stated that there was no threat-to-life to security personnel who had not followed the norms of a marching operation.

The report, in Hindi, said the incident of firing seemed to be a result of “galat dhaarna, ghabrahat ki pratikriya” (wrong assumption, nervous reaction).

“If the security forces were given enough gadgets for self-defence, if they had better intelligence from the ground and had they been careful, the incident could have been avoided,” it stated.

Observing that there was no cross-fire, the report said CoBRA Constable Dev Prakash died due to friendly-fire and not because of the Maoists.

The report stated that while two “bharmar” rifles were seized at the spot, they were not responsible for the bullet wound in Prakash’s head. This corroborates with what the villagers had said after the incident. Karam Manglu had said then: “While firing was on, we suddenly heard them shouting, ‘firing roko, humare ek aadmi ko goli lagi hai (stop firing, one of our men has been shot)’.”

The commission found several shortcomings in the work of the security force. Calling the seizure of the two “bharmar” guns “sandigdh” (suspicious) and “avishwasniya” (unbelievable), the report pulled up officers for not having any description of the items in the seizure report. It said no items from the field were sent to forensic labs.

“There was no strong intelligence behind the operation. None of the gathered people had weapons, nor were they members of the Maoist organisation,” the report stated. It encouraged use of drones and unmanned gadgets to avoid such incidents in future. The report was approved by the cabinet, unlike the commission’s earlier report on the Sarkeguda encounter.

As in Edesmetta, people of Sarkeguda had gathered for the Beej Pandum celebrations in June 2012. Security forces had gunned down 17 people, including minors. The Sarkeguda report by Justice Agarwal, which had also indicted the security personnel, is still pending with the state law department.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

New Delhi, September 10, 2021 (PPI-OT):Student leaders from Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Aligarh Muslim University in India have demanded reopening of college and university campuses. The universities have been shut for the past one and a half years due to the Covid pandemic. The students also urged the state new governments to provide concession in fees to students facing financial constraints due to the pandemic and lockdown

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

Islamabad, September 10, 2021 (PPI-OT):Syed Ali Gilani has been an epitome of the Kashmir freedom struggle against Indian occupation and he would long be remembered and honoured for his great sacrifices and leadership vision for the Kashmiri people.

This was the consensus of the speakers at a Special Reference to commemorate the struggle of Syed Ali Gilani organised here by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Mishaal Malick, chairperson, Peace and Culture Organisation, said that Syed Ali Gilani exhibited the same level of resistance from the start of his political life to his last breath. She said that we would take the message of Syed Gilani forward. “Even after his death, the occupational forces were afraid of him and they have deprived the people of bidding him a final farewell,” She added.

Altaf Hussain Wani, director Programme, Kashmiri Institute of International Relations (PIIR), said that Syed Ali Gilani faced all kinds of oppression with courage and bravery. The life of Gilani Saheb will be a great source of inspiration for future generations in standing against the injustices and subjugation of the nations, he observed. Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director, SDPI, said that Syed Ali Gilani lived as a hero and died as a martyr.

He always remained steadfast on his principles and never made any compromises on his stance. Therefore, he faced the wrath of the Indian government throughout his life. “His obsession with Kashmir being part of Pakistan was not just a political manifesto, but it was his faith,” added Dr Suleri.

Director Legal Forum for the oppressed Voices of Kashmir, Nasir Qadri, while paying rich tribute to Syed Ali Gilani, said that his stance on continuous fight against the oppression gave him the name as Resistance Leader.

Rights activist Ahmed Bin Qasim stressed that Syed Ali Gilani was a beloved leader to his people because he invoked the collective will of the Kashmiris to resist occupation. He added further that his fight and worldview were not limited to Kashmir as he was against the oppression prevailing in all parts of the world.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org

LAHORE: Pakistan has reported 83 more deaths due to COVID-19 during last 24 and data shared by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that 3,689 positive cases were reported in the country during the same period.

It showed that as many as 61,128 tests were conducted yesterday and positivity ration remained six point zero three per cent. 5,362 patients are on critical care. On other hands, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has said more than twenty million people have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in the country.

In his tweets today, he said that fifty million people have received at least one dose of anti covid vaccine. The Minister said we had set a daunting target of vaccinating seventy million people by the end of this year. He expressed the confidence to surpass the target.

BAHAWALPUR: As many as seven special students received electric wheelchairs in the second phase of Prime Minister’s Pakistan Electronic Wheelchair Scheme at Islamia University of Bahawalpur.

These electric wheelchairs were distributed at Ghotvi Hall, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur. The chief guest of the event, Member National Assembly Makhdoom Syed Sami ul Hassan Gillani and Vice Chancellor Engr. Prof Dr. Athar Mahboob congratulated the special students who received wheelchairs and paid tribute to their tireless efforts for education. Seeing these children, one can be sure that our country is in strong hands, because if the special children of our country have this passion to move forward, then the rest of the youth of the country will surely play an important role in the development of their country.

On this occasion, Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Naveed Akhtar, Prof Dr Jawad Iqbal, Dean Faculty of Management Sciences, Prof Dr Muhammad Amjad, Dean Faculty of Engineering, Prof Dr Sheikh Shafiq ur Rehman, Dean Faculty of Islamic Learning, Prof Dr Shazia Anjum, Dean Faculty. Of Science, Prof Dr Aftab Hussain Gillani, Dean Faculty of Law, Prof Dr Hussain Tahir, Dean Faculty of Computing, Prof Dr Asif Naveed Ranjha, Chairman Department of Social Work, Prof Dr Moazzam Jamil, Registrar, Prof Dr Sajjad Ahmad Paracha, Controller of Examinations, Prof Dr Abu Bakar, Treasurer and representatives of civil society were also present.