SRINAGAR
Omar Abdullah has made public that his father Dr Farooq Abdullah wouldn’t be contesting the forthcoming assembly elections. The reason is his health. Dr Abdullah who lost for the first time in his life when Tariq Hameed Karra of PDP defeated him from central Kashmir Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency is not keeping a good health for a long time. But problem in politics is that it is unpredictable. In 2008, the party contested with Dr Abdullah as the chief ministerial candidate but when the moment came, Omar just snatched that opportunity and sent his dad to Delhi. Now it is he again saying something on his father’s behalf. Wait till Abdullah Sr confirms it.
MUMBAI
It has been a perfect plot. Kashmiri businessman Bashir Googlu approached Azad Maidan police with a wish to surrender and accept the crime that he was the man behind the July 10 blast in Pune. He said he was a Hizb ul Mujahideen militant. Police arrested and interrogated him. The sessions were exciting and in some of the sessions he threatened blowing Mumbai. At the end of the interrogation he said he was accompanied by three others. They were brought in and then the real story was out. Googlu was not mad but bad. He had lost in business and then raised loans. As they were seeking their money back, he went to the police, got arrested and wanted to frame the three as well. Police understood the plot, set the trio free and arrested a bankrupt Googlu under IPCs Sections 505 (public mischief) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
HYDERPORA
Police will take its own time to investigate but the locality says the man won the case in the court of law and lost his life in the real world not a universe away from the courtroom. Mohammad Yousuf Bangroo was a mason whose property in Kralpora was allegedly disputed by his neighbours and the local land mafia. After a protracted battle, he won the case. As he visited the place along with his brother, they were attacked. Yusuf died and Abdullah is critical.
PALHALAN
What makes this case different is that they are two brothers, who were arrested for the same offence, from the same place and made to spend eight long years in Tihar, the biggest jail of world’s largest democracy. This could happen only after they completed their detention terms. Samiullah and Ali Mohammad were arrested on November 27, 2006. They were accused of ferrying RDX. After protracted battles in the court, Samiullah was released on Tuesday from Central Jail Srinagar as Ali had moved out in April.
KATHUA
After quitting Congress, Lal Singh Choudhary is considering three options: burying the hatchet and going back to the Congress; getting into PDP in whose government Lal was an important minister or abandon the ideology and get into BJP, the party he is in love with after Congress denied him a mandate in Lok Sabha. Choudhary has seen his life changing completely after Congress’s Azad discovered a leader in him. Lal won 1996 assembly election from Basholi as a Congress (Tiwari) candidate and then joined Congress in 2002 and won his seat again. Mufti made him a minister. Later when he was sent to Lok Sabha, his wife became a lawmaker. However, Congress decided against repeating him for the third time.
TOSAMAIDAN
The government may take its time to make a final decision on this meadow reduced to a weapon cemetery but the shells buried for decades will continue to take their toll. The latest is 28 years old father Bilal Ahmad Parray who was killed in a shell explosion on July 16. Carrying his Iftaar in a box, Parray and two others were on their way to this meadow where their herds were grazing. Around 5.30 pm, his foot hit a coconut sized ball that killed him almost instantly. Both his colleagues were injured. His body parts were restored to the family a day later.
SRINAGAR
Even there in Hinduism is a dichotomy in theory and practice. When more than three lakh pilgrims had paid their obeisance at the cave, Hindu scholar and Swami Agnivesh alleged SASB mints money by exploiting sentiments of Hindus. He sought closure of the yatra once for all because the formation of ice stalagmites was natural and that it was damaging the ecology of the place. He said the yatra is being used as a sentimental issue to exploit Hindu zealots. But Kashmiri have never sought its closure. They have sought its proper monitoring, limitation of duration and reduction in numbers owing to the fragile ecology where it is located.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) detained Farooq Qureshi, a resident of J&K, in Ahmadabad for carrying 15 kg charas, estimated to be worth around Rs 90 lakh.
Hilal Ahmad Wani, a resident of Kashmir was sent to jail for a year by a Delhi court and penalized to the tune of Rs 5000 for possession of 49 Shahtoos shawls.
