Srinagar, April 06: Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today appealed to country’s political leadership, cutting across party lines, to listen to the voices of pain from Jammu & Kashmir and sup-port the people of the state in dealing with it.

Interacting with a large number of youth from vari-ous parts of the state here today, the Chief Minister said that the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as the most powerful political executive of the country can lead this peace project by responding to the need of putting a stop to the bloodshed in the state going on for almost three decades now.

Mehbooba Mufti said peace, reconciliation and dialogue form the core of Agenda of Alliance reached

between the two ruling par-ties. Our State and the whole region, she added, expect the Prime Minister to revive the spirit of former Prime Min-ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s initiative and also expect the other shades of politi-cal opinion in the country

to avoid falling into the trap of old partisan politics and instead support such an ini-tiative which, she hoped, would lead the state out of the uncertainties and herald an era of progress and devel-opment.

Published from Srinagar | Jammu RNI No: 48956/88 Vol: 31 No. 97 Pages: 16 Rs. 5.00 epaper.GreaterKashmir.comGreaterKashmir.com, GreaterKashmir.net, GreaterKashmir.news

Saturday, April 07, 2018 20, Rajab, 1439 31st Year of publication

UN chief reiterates call for protecting civilians in Kashmir U n i t e d Nations, Apr 6: UN Secre-tary-General A n t o n i o Guterres has reiterated his concern over the situation in Kashmir and his call for protecting civilians.

"The Secretary General has expressed and will continue to express his concern at the situation," his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday in answer to a question about Kashmir at his daily briefing.

"I think we spoke about the situation earlier in the week reminding all parties of the need to protect civilians."

Civilian killings can push Kashmir to precipice: Farooq New Delhi, Apr 6: Seeking a serious political initia-tive to resolve the Kashmir issue, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Friday told home min-ister Rajnath Singh that "unabated civilian killings" risked pushing Jammu and Kashmir to a "dangerous precipice of turmoil and instability".

Abdullah, who met Singh here and apprised him about the "grim situa-tion" in the Valley, said the government should reach out to the youths and take the spurt among local boys joining militant ranks very seriously.

"The spate of civilian kill-ings was unacceptable and it risked pushing the Valley to a dangerous precipice of turmoil and further insta-bility. I urged the central government to take decisive

m e a s u r e s to prevent loss of inno-cent, pre-cious lives in Kashmir and to ini-tiate a sus-t a i n a b l e , e f f e c t i v e and seri-

ous political initiative to stop widespread alienation and disenchantment in the Valley," he said after the meeting.

Expressing concern over civilian killings and dete-riorating situation in the Valley, the Srinagar MP said the number of local boys joining militant ranks is unprecedented after the early 1990s and this is an ongoing trend which is only increasing with each pass-ing day.

Scrap all FIRs filed during Amarnath land row agitation: BJPJammu, Apr 6: The BJP has demanded that all FIRs registered during the Shri Amarnath land-row agita-tion in Jammu be with-drawn, a day after Gover-nor N N Vohra set April 24 as the deadline for imple-mentation of the agree-ment reached between different parties to end the 2008 protest that had left at least 14 dead and hundreds injured.

KHALID GUL

Shopian, April 6: Paddar-pora, a small village nestled in hilly orchards of Shopian is mourning three young men, all cousins killed last Sunday not far from their homes in two gun battles with government forces.

A narrow alley leads to a row of houses belonging to Thokroo’s, homes of the three slain cousins - Ishfaq Ahmad, 24, Gayas-ul Islam, 19 and Rayees Ahmad, 18.

The village is a picture of mourning wails, heartbreak and stoicism.

People here are slowly coming to terms with their loss after receiving three

bodies of the cousins, one after another within a few

hours on the day when 13 militants and four civilians from the area were killed.

“On Sunday afternoon we received body of Rayees first and buried him. Late in the evening we were handed over the body of his cousin Gayas, charred beyond rec-ognition. A few hours later

Mourning, heartbreak mix with stoicism in south Kashmir

IrfAn AmIn mALIK

Pulwama, Apr 6: Hizbul Mujahi-deen militant Musavir Hassan Wani was killed in a gunfight with gov-ernment forces at Kangan area of Pulwama district on Friday.

Probably after having been tipped off about the presence of three to four militants in an orchard, sol-diers of Rashtriya Rifles cordoned off several orchards in Kangan.

“Soldiers in civvies fired at the militants. One militant was instant-ly killed while his three associates managed to escape,” a police official said on the condition of anonymity.

Pulwama superintendent of police Muhammad Aslam told Greater Kashmir that an AK 47, one SLR gun and other “incriminating material” were recovered from the site.

The police, however, did not hand over the body of the slain mil-itant to his family till late Friday evening, as they apprehended mas-sive protests.

But tens of hundreds of people thronged Musavir’s home in Dali-pora to take part in his last rites. They were shouting pro-freedom and pro-Pakistani slogans.

Major injured in LoC firingIndia-Pak armies trade fire in Tangdhar

GKnn/ SHAbIr Ibn YUSUf

Jammu/ Srinagar, Apr 6: An army major was injured in cross Line of Control (LoC) firing in Rajouri district on Friday, even as India and Pakistani armies traded fire in Tangdhar area of Kupwara district.

“The officer deployed at Nowhsera near LoC received splinter injury in his feet during cross border firing. He was removed to a hospital where he is under treatment,” a source said.

Time for country to listen to voices of pain from J&K: CM

PM can win trust, hearts and minds of KashmirisCongratulating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on its foundation day, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “can truly exhibit the moral leader-ship of the region by winning the trust, hearts & minds of the people of J&K”.

AbID bASHIr

Srinagar, April 6: A series of protests were held across Kashmir on Friday against the recent killings in South Kashmir and Ganderbal dis-trict even as Valley observed shutdown as a mark of protest.

A senior police officer was seriously wounded in stone pelting near Foreshore road.

Government didn’t allow Friday congregational prayers

at the historic Jamia Masjid Srinagar as majority of down-town areas remained under strict curbs. Hurriyat Confer-ence (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani was again barred from offering Friday prayers while Hurriyat Conference (M) Mir-waiz Umar Farooq, who deliv-ers Friday sermon at the Jamia Masjid, was not allowed to pro-ceed towards the grand mosque. JKLF Chief Muhammad Yasin Malik continues to remain

lodged in Central Jail Srinagar.JKLF, Hurriyat (M) protest:

Police foiled a protest march of Jammu and Kashmir Libera-tion Front (JKLF) at Abi Guzar here against the recent killings in Kashmir. A spokesperson of the JKLF said that JKLF zonal president Noor Muhammad Kalwal, zonal vice president Muhammad Yasin Bhatt along with activists, Muhammad Haneef Dar, Imtiyaz Ahmad

Protests, shutdown across Kashmir

Hizb militant killed in Pulwama shootout

Posters with pictures of militants exhibited on the wall of the home of one of the three militants from Padderpora village in Shopian who were killed in a gunfight on April 1.

Mir Wasim/GK

Most schools, colleges closed todayAuthorities announced on Friday that all schools up to high school level will remain open and all higher second-ary schools and colleges will remain closed on Saturday. Kashmir Univer-sity has suspended class work and suspended all exams scheduled on Saturday. However, all schools in Pul-wama and Shopian districts would remain closed. A few schools in Gan-derbal would also remain shut.

Geelani barred from offering Friday prayersSrinagar Apr 6: A week after being allowed to attend his first Friday prayers in five years, state government once again barred Hurriyat (G) chair-man Syed Ali Geelani from visiting a mosque at Lal Chowk to offer congregational prayers.

When the ailing leader tried to leave his resi-dence, a large contingent of the government forces stationed outside his Rehmatabad resi-dence stopped him.

4 cleared as High Court judges

D A rASHID

Srinagar, Apr 6: The Supreme Court Collegium on Friday recommended four names to be appoint-ed as judges in Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

The Collegium has rec-ommended three advo-cates, Wasim Sadiq Nargal, Nazir Ahmed Beig and Sindhu Sharma, and judi-cial officer Rashid Ali Dar for appointment as judges.

The Collegium com-prised Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice J Chelameswar and Jastice Ranjan Gogoi.

Nazir Ahmad Beigh has served as the state’s Senior Advocate General in the at Srinagar Wing of the High Court and has represented several key departments

BEACON has its way on Leh road openingIt’s traffic, district admin's job: Div Com

IrfAn rAInA

Ganderbal, Apr 06: Beacon authorities on Friday reopened the Srinagar-Leh highway in a road opening ceremony held at Zojila without getting the permis-sion of district administra-tion. The road was closed in December last year due to heavy snowfall.

As per officials the dis-trict administration Gan-derbal was not informed by the Beacon authorities about the road opening. Offi-cials said even the division-al commissioner Kashmir, who normally issues order of road reopening, has not issued any orders of reopen-ing the highway yet.

Kashmir Solidarity Day observed across Pakistan Islamabad: Kashmir Solidarity Day was observed on Friday across the country including Pakistan administered Kashmir “to condemn the ongo-ing state terrorism and violence by the India in Kashmir.”

A resolution to this effect was adopted in a spe-cial meeting of the federal cabinet in Islamabad on April 2 with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the chair.

Justice Magrey nominated NALSA member

GK newS networK

Srinagar, Apr 6: The G o v e r n -ment of India has nominated Justice Ali M u h a m -

mad Magrey as member of the National Legal Ser-vices Authority of India (NLSA), the first time a judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court was chosen for the coveted position at the national level.

Naseer AhmadManzoor Ahmad

Two deaths in three days tip Hajin into turmoil

SAJAD GUL

Hajin (Bandipora), Apr 6: The lights were out. It was near midnight and the family was deep in sleep. Since they weren’t expecting anyone, it was with alarm therefore that Farooq Ahmad Parray listened to the constant knocks on his door that had awakened him. The knocks grew stronger and the alarm turned into panic. Before he could figure out a way how to respond, three men with arms broke down the door and came up to him.

In the darkness Farooq couldn’t see the faces of the intruders who hadn’t

allowed the family to turn the lights on. They asked for Naseer Ahmad Sheikh, the son-in-law of the family, who had come on a visit to his in-laws and had stayed for the night. The armed intrud-ers insisted on Naseer accompanying them. But the Parrays wouldn’t let

Manzoor Ahmad

Naseer Ahmad Sheikh See Hizb militant...on Pg-10 See Geelani...on Pg-10

See Protests...on Pg-10

See Kashmir...on Pg-10 See Two...on Pg-10

See Time for...on Pg-10

See Civilian...on Pg-10

See BEACON...on Pg-10 See 4 cleared...on Pg-10 See Justice...on Pg-10

See Mourning,...on Pg-10

See Major...on Pg-10

See Scrap all...on Pg-10

See UN chief...on Pg-10

See PM can...on Pg-10

CMYK