New Delhi, August 3: At least 30 Afghan Sikhs including children and infants, fleeing from the Taliban are scheduled to arrive in Delhi on Wednesday as religious persecution escalates in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
A non-scheduled commercial flight from Kabul, operated by Kam Air is set to arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. After their arrival, the entire group will leave for Gurdwara Sri Guru Arjan Dev in Tilak Nagar of the national capital, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) said.
Religious minorities in Afghanistan, including the Sikh community, have been repeated targets of violence in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country.
SGPC in coordination with the Indian World Forum and the Government of India are evacuationg distressed Afghan minorities – Hindus and Sikhs.
On July 14, a total of 21 Afghan Sikhs, including an infant, were evacuated from Kabul to New Delhi on Kam Air, the largest private Afghan airline.
Over the past month, 32 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs have been evacuated from Afghanistan.
There were about 700 Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan in 2020, but a large number of them left the country following the Taliban’s takeover on August 15, 2021.
It is pertinent to mention that 110 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs are still remaining in Afghanistan and there are 61 e-visa applications pending with Government of India for issuance.
SGPC provides humanitarian assistance to Afghan minorities by paying for their airfare.
SGPC will also provide aid to legitimate persons seeking rehabilitation in India. They are likely to be rehabilitated by World Punjabi Organisation , Sobti Foundation and other social organisations.
There were a spate of attack on Sikhs in Afghanistan recently.
On June 18 this year, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) attacked Karte Parwan Gurdwara in Kabul which claimed the lives of about 50 people.
In October, last year 15 to 20 terrorists entered a Gurdwara in the Kart-e-Parwan District of Kabul and tied up the guards.
In March 2020, a deadly attack took place at Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Gurudwara in Kabul’s Short Bazaar area in which 27 Sikhs were killed and several were injured. Islamic State terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack.
30 more Afghan Sikhs set to arrive in India today
LG Sinha urges Amarnath pilgrims to visit shrine before Aug 5 due to bad weather prediction
The Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor and Chairman of Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board (SASB) Manoj Sinha on Tuesday urged all devotees to visit the holy cave shrine before August 5, citing inclement weather forecast.
“There has been heavy rainfall in many areas. I would like to urge all devotees to visit the Amarnath Shrine before August 5, as more rain is predicted after that,” Sinha said.
According to the prediction by the Meteorological department, the weather will turn more rough afterwards.
Sinha said that the Meteorological department has predicted a heavy spell of rain from August 5 and that may create inconvenience for pilgrims. Earlier in July, a cloudburst struck the holy cave area Amarnath, resulting in a heavy discharge of water into the ‘Nallah’, adjoining the holy cave, following which the route to Amarnath was damaged, and the yatra was halted for some time.
Joint team of NIA, SIA raids several locations in J&K in terror-funding case
Aug 3: A joint team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the State Investigating Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir Police was conducting raids in several areas of the union territory in connection with a terror funding case.
The raids were being held in Dewan Bagh area of Kashmir’s Baramulla district, and Rajouri and Poonch areas in Jammu.
Sources claimed that a shopkeeper is on the radar, who was allegedly involved in providing logistics support to terror outfits.
The search operation began on Wednesday morning. Sources also claimed that they have recovered some incriminating documents.
“Rajouri, Poonch and a few other areas were also raided. Our team is being assisted by SIA in case we face any untoward incident,” the source said.
The NIA has not given any official statement so far.
J&K Govt orders minor reshuffle of Police officers, orders transfer of 9 officers
In a minor reshuffle Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday ordered the transfer of nine police officers in the interest of administration with immediate effect.
In an order issued by the Home department of Jammu and Kashmir government Ms. Tanushre, IPS, SP East Srinagar, has been transferred and posted as SP Shopian, while Ms. Sheema Nabi Qasba, IPS, SP (Tech) CID Hqrs, has been transferred and posted as SP Handwara.
As per the order, Imtiaz Ismail Parray, IPS, SSP Crime Kashmir, has been transferred and posted as Commandant IRP8th Battalion. Amritpal Singh, IPS, SP Shopian, has been transferred and posted as SSP Crime Kashmir.
“Sandeep Gupta, IPS SP Handwara, has been transferred and posted as SP (Tech) CID Hqrs. Sudhanshu Verma, IPS, SP Sopore, has been transferred and posted as Addi. SP Crime, Jammu against an available vacancy”, reads the order.
The order further reads that Imtiyaz Hussain Mir, Commandant IRP-8th Bn, has been transferred and posted as SSP CID Hqrs, against an available vacancy.
“Shabir Nawab, Commandant IRP-21 st Battalion, has been transferred and posted as SP Sopore. Amit Verma, Addl. SP Nowshera, has been transferred and posted as Addl. SP Anantnag, against an available vacancy”, reads the order.
Militancy Funding Case: SIA carries raids at Baramulla Kupwara, Poonch
JAMMU, Aug 3: State Investigation Agency of Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday carried out raids at multiple places in Baramulla, Kupwara and Poonch districts in connection with a militancy funding case.
Official sources said that SIA personnel with the assistance of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel carried out raids at Baramulla, Tragpora Rafiabad in Baramulla district, three places in Kupwara district and one place in Poonch.
The raids pertain to militancy funding in the J&K. It was not immediately known if the SIA has made any arrests or recovery of any “incriminate” material during the raids carried out today.
ED attaches assets worth Rs 113.32cr in bank loan fraud case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached 75 immovable properties including 67 windmills valued at Rs 113.32 crore belonging to the Chennai-based Surana Group of Companies in connection with three cases of Rs 3,986 crore bank fraud.
The ED had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of three FIRs filed by the CBI, Bengaluru against Surana Industries Limited, Surana Power Limited, Surana Corporation Limited and others.
The ED learnt during the investigation that these three companies of Surana Group had defrauded the banks by floating a web of shell companies wherein they appointed its employees, relatives as directors and proprietors, partners and indulged in paper transactions with them without actual movement of goods.
The ED also found in the investigation that Surana Group have companies in Cayman Islands as well as British Virgin Islands in the name of dummy directors and siphoned off money to park in those companies.
For this purpose, they established four companies in Singapore and exported goods to them and the money receivable from them were written off in the book of accounts in India.
Further, some of the diverted funds were used to purchase movable, immovable properties in the names of various benami companies.
These actions of the promoters of the Surana Group led to the accounts becoming irregular which ultimately led to accounts becoming NPA and leading to an amount of Rs 3,986 crore as the principal outstanding amount to the banks.
Based on the investigations conducted, Dinesh Chand Surana, MD of Surana Industries Limited and Surana Power Ltd, Vijay Raj Surana, MD of Surana Corporation Limited and two dummy directors of shell companies viz. P Anand and I Prabhakaran, were arrested on July 12.
During the course of Investigations, it was revealed that 67 windmills of Surana Group which were being auctioned by banks to recover their dues were again purchased in the name of one benami company.
Monkeypox: Delhi govt ready with all preventive measures
Soon after Delhi reported the third case of Monkeypox, a total of seventy isolation rooms have been set up across six hospitals in the national capital to tackle the situation, officials from Delhi government health department informed on Tuesday.
The Delhi government has set up twenty isolation rooms at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, while ten isolation rooms have been set up in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (GTB) hospital and ten at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital. Delhi government has also directed three private hospitals to create atleast ten isolation rooms for Monkeypox cases.
These three private hospitals are Kailash Deepak Hospital, East Delhi; M D City Hospital, North Delhi and Batra Hospital & Research Centre, Tughlakabad South Delhi, the official statement said.
Delhi reported three cases of Monkeypox so far, out of these three positive cases one patient has been cured and discharged while two are still under treatment and admitted at the hospital.
Speaking to a news agency, the Medical Director of LNJP hospital Dr Suresh Kumar said, “We have successfully discharged the patient who was Delhi’s first case of monkeypox. The man recovered in 25 days as all symptoms waned away. He went back being very healthy and happy.”
Responding to the third case that was reported today evening, Kumar said, “The patient has maculopapular and vesiculopustular rashes over the thighs, face, etc. Right now, he has a low-grade fever and skin lesions. We have kept him in an isolation facility.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government is ready with all preventive measures.
“Not many cases of Monkeypox have been reported in India, yet we are ready with all the preventive measures in place. The Delhi Government is taking several important steps to prevent monkeypox infection from spreading across the capital,” Sisodia said in a statement.
“Delhi Government is keeping an eye on the complete situation of monkeypox infection and has done all the preparations to fight back. Looking at the current situation, isolation rooms have been set up in government and private hospitals,” Sisodia said.
The number of rooms will be increased in the future as per the requirement, as per the statement.
All the arrangements have been made as per the global standards to fight the infectious monkeypox virus, he added.
Meanwhile, one more Nigerian man living in the national capital tested positive for Monkeypox, taking the tally of the viral disease in Delhi to three, said official sources on Tuesday.
On Monday, a 35-year-old Nigerian man living in Delhi, with no recent international travel history, tested positive for monkeypox.
On July 30, the first death of Monkeypox was reported in the country. A 22-year-old man who had tested positive for Monkeypox in UAE arrived in India on July 22 and was admitted to a hospital on July 27 after again testing positive for Monkeypox.
India records 17,135 fresh COVID-19 cases, 47 fatalities
New Delhi, Aug 3: With 17,135 new coronavirus infections reported in a day, India’s infection tally rose to 4,40,67,144, while the active cases have declined to 1,37,057, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The COVID-19 death toll has climbed to 5,26,477 with 47 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.49 per cent, the ministry said.
A decrease of 2,735 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
While the daily positivity rate was recorded at 3.69 per cent, the weekly positivity rate stood at 4.67 per cent, according to the health ministry.
The total number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,34,03,610, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.
According to the ministry, 204.84 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.
It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4, 3 crore on June 23 last year and 4 crore on January 25 this year.
The 47 new fatalities include five from Maharashtra and Rajasthan, four from West Bengal, three each from Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Uttarakhand, two each from Himachal Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab, one each from Chandigarh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Pondicherry and Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, 12 deaths have been reconciled by Kerala.
Dry, partly cloudy weather likely in J&K: MeT deptt
The Meteorological (MeT) department on Wednesday forecast dry and partly cloudy weather in Jammu and Kashmir during the next 24 hours.
“Weather is likely to remain dry and partly cloudy in J&K during the next 24 hours”, an official of the MeT department said.
Meanwhile, Srinagar registered 17.6 degrees Celsius, Pahalgam 10.8 and Gulmarg 9.6 degrees as the minimum temperature this morning.
Drass town in Ladakh region clocked 7.2 degrees, Leh 9.4 and Kargil 16.8 as the minimum temperature.
Minimum temperature in Jammu was pegged at 26 degrees, Katra 23.4, Batote 17.6, Banihal 15.8 and Bhaderwah 16.
Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav:CRPF starts institutional plantation drive from Bhadarwah schools
Bhadarwah : To promote institutional plantation and to inculcate the importance of growing trees among youth, 33rd battalion CRPF organised plantation drive as a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ at Bhadarwah.
The plantation drive in which beside officers of CRPF, students and faculty members participated was conducted at sports ground of Govt Boys Higher secondary school Bhadarwah under the supervision of 2IC Kasam Khan and principal Dr Anis Ahmed.
The plantation drive in government establishments was organized on the directions of higher authorities to encourage institutional plantation, which was inaugurated by 2IC 33 Battalion CRPF Kasam Khan along with Dr Anis. During the drive 120 saplings of Cedar, Jamun and other coniferous trees were planted.
Kasam Khan 2IC 33 Battalion CRPF said that the drive is primarily aimed at to spread awareness for environment and importance of trees especially among youth for the survival of humans.
“As part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, We are working to make every area green under JK green Drive. It is our resolve to plant saplings in Bhadarwah and it’s peripheral areas in coming days. This is part of our commitment to enhance the country’s green cover,” officer added.