News Kashmir Magazine

Farzana Mumtaz

With the closure of strategic Jammu- Srinagar National Highway it has been a trend that airfares escalate and currently also due to closed highway due to snow fall and landslides we are  witnessing huge increase in airfare giving much trouble to commuters. A few years back, with the ease of airfare the travel to and from Kashmir for travelers had become affordable. But now since sometime, especially during the tourist season, closed road connectivity  the airfare skyrockets and as a result the different sectors of Kashmir especially tourism are hit hard

Kashmir is known globally as an acclaimed tourist destination. People from all over the world crave to have a glimpse of the natural beauty of Kashmir. The connectivity of Kashmir on account of tough geographical terrain gets in winters marred by the often road disruptions on account of bad weather which causes landslides and road blocks.   With train connectivity to Kashmir from Jammu still incomplete, air travel assumes that extra importance with reference to the tourists visiting Kashmir and also for travelers from Kashmir wishing to visit outside Kashmir for varied reasons.

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Bilal Bashir Bhat, Journalist states – “To boost the tourism where we see many significant decisions by the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism department like conducting of winter festival at summer destination Pahalgam, the state seems unaware of the fact that the air ticket prizes are becoming a major cause for the tourists to choose another place for outing.

The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism department which is conducting several road shows, symposiums and seminars in different states of India aimed to boost the tourism sector in Kashmir which lost its sheen particularly after 2014 devastating floods following by the 2016 public uprising has yet failed to address the major issue of the unprecedented airfares particularly at a time of long intervals of road closing due to snowing which is considered main attraction of the tourists.”

Pertinently, all the voices are outraged at abnormal spike in airfare that takes place when highway gets closed. Junaid Azam Mattu, youth leader of National Conference tweeted to Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha – “Fare from Delhi to Srinagar more expensive than round-trip tickets to Dubai from Delhi. I thought @jayantsinha said it’s cheaper to fly than to take an auto rickshaw? Airlines can’t fleece people because we had two inches of snow in the Valley. Highway robbery as usual.”

Without doubt the pulse is that the huge spike in airfare every time national highway gets closed is throttling Kashmir and it needs to be checked .

 

News Kashmir

 

The attacks on the students of Jammu and Kashmir outside the state are continuing unabated without any headway seen in this regard. Even the year 2018 has started with attacks on students from the state especially the Kashmir valley in different parts of India .

 

Just few days back a student hailing from North  Kashmir’s Sopore area was allegedly beaten up by some fellow students near the campus of a private university in Haryana’s Ambala district, police stated . The latest unfortunate incident came close on the heels of a similar incident in which two university students, residents of Jammu and Kashmir, were allegedly beaten up by some people in Haryana’s Mahendragarh.

During the current Assembly session the issue of beating up of Kashmiri students has taken centerstage in the discussions.

Raising the issue in a strong tone,  Senior National Conference leader and MLA Khanyar Ali Mohammad Sagar has expressed deep concern over the continuous attacks on Kashmiris especially  students at places outside the state.

Ali Mohammad Sagar stated – “We have made it clear to the government that continuous attacks on Kashmiri students the recent example being attack at Ambala is having negative impacts on the overall situation and further vitiating the atmosphere and alienating the youth. Despite repeated assurances by the government that we are taking up the matter of security of Kashmiri students with home ministry and concerned Chief Ministers nothing concrete has happened as attacks are continuing”

Ali Mohammad Sagar also made it clear that a statement by Parliament member of BJP asking Muslims to go to Pakistan is of serious concern and we wanted debate on it but speaker disallowed so we walked out.

Syed Tajamul Imran, founder AJKSU and a youth activist stated – “ The series of constant attacks on the Kashmiri students outside the state has been a burning issue since many years now with students from Kashmir always at the receiving end. It is high time for the state and central governments to match their lofty words with some concrete actions in this regard. Assurances have been given every time without any follow up on them. Time has come to devise a concrete strategy to solve this serious issue hampering our youth . “

The saner pulse on the ground is that hooligan elements harming the Kashmiri students should be curbed and a clear cut vision displayed by the respective governments to solve this issue once for all.

News Kashmir Exclusive

 

 

The  lack of hope is all time high in the state of Jammu and Kashmir especially in the valley of Kashmir .Worsening situation with reference to escalating killings, very less growth in private sector , declining agriculture sector , downslide in tourism sector are defining the life of Kashmir these days and with these factors weighing heavily the youth are worst hit.

Reflecting on this lack of hope of people in Kashmir both expert voices as well as the common masses are  expressing deep anguish and calling upon all the stakeholders, leadership, authorities to engage in brainstorming sessions so as to develop effective policy that can bring back hope in the pain hit valley of Kashmir.

Young Journalist Bilal Bashir Bhat states –‘’ There is an absolute lack  of hope in our society. Recently When whole of the world was busy in  making certain resolutions on the arrival of New Year 2018, the downtrodden people of Kashmir are focusing, praying for long lasting peace and prosperity. The annual gory statistics based on annihilation, pain, tragedies, anger, suffocation and fear psychosis has become a routine which needs to be ended, dreams every Kashmir cutting across the political ideologies. With PDP BJP government taking the reins of power the hope has been dashed to large extent further as situation with every week is going from bad to worse . It was unfortunate to note that like last several years, the images emanating from Kashmir in 2017 were not of its picturesque resorts but wailing Kashmiris mourning the death of around 400 precious human lives, including those of over 200 militants. One hopes this current atmosphere of absolute hopelessness is put to end .”

Even in the year 2018 when the entire world is thinking of making new discoveries or undertaking some more leaps towards the scientific and technological advancements the Kashmir is  mourning and drenched in tears of blood .South Kashmir has emerged as synonym of pain and grief ,with relentless protests and bearing the worst brunt of atrocities perpetrated by all the sides .

The pulse on the ground zero is that there are not many lucrative opportunities for the youth to engage themselves  meaningfully “ We believe that this and all the former governments have not been able to create good number of employments opportunities and the worst impacted are we the unemployed youth of Kashmir. Uncertain , violent situation of Kashmir  and chronic unemployment is killing the hope of youth,” stated Manzoor Ahmad, a youth.

Realities are calling upon the state government to speed up the efforts to ensure hope is restored in Kashmir and smile is returned back to sad faces.

 

 

News Kashmir Desk

In a move that is drawing widespread condemnation and outrage, The JK government recently has added a sub-rule in the Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conduct rules which states that no government employee shall engage in any criminal, dishonest, immoral or notoriously disgraceful conduct on social media which may be prejudicial to the government.

 

“They shall also not use their personal social media accounts for any political activity or endorse the posts or tweets or blogs of any political figure,” the rule states. The employees shall also not use their accounts in a manner that could reasonably be construed to imply that the government endorses or sanctions their personal activities in any manner whatsoever, it said. The order said that the employees shall also not post inflammatory, extraneous messages in an online community with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response.

Kashmir and restrictions on social media are nothing new as internet services being snapped on several occasions to curb unrest has been a common feature . During the month of May the state government directed internet service providers to block 22 social networking platforms to clamp down on tensions spurring clashes between security forces and civilians.

Both on online and real world outrage against the order was witnessed. Shafat Farooq, a journalist wrote ”

Dear Netizens, in view of this recent government gag order for its employees, please brace up for more Angel Priya, Charming princess accounts. Remember: any Dady’s princess account could be Gafoor Bhai in real. Thanks”

Shah Faesal , the famed IAS officer in a comic tone criticized the order in comic tone on facebook articulating his feelings in critical  language  -”

“Heard that government employees will be subjected to foot whipping for operating Facebook (account). From now on I will use coded language to update,” Faesal, the first Kashmiri to top the civil services examination in 2009, wrote on his Facebook page, hours after the government issued the gag order

An employee pleading anonymity stated – ”The order of the government curbing our freedom of speech is an onslaught on democracy. It is  a bizarre 16-page order titled “Social Media Usage Policy for Government Employees” issued by the state’s general administration department on Tuesday, which invokes new ‘guidelines’ having been made into law by Governor NN Vohra, specifying how over we the more than 4.8 lakh government employees in the state must behave on social media. This is clear violation of democracy and killing freedom of speech.”

The  move to regulate Social Media activity of the government employees is drawing flak from every quarter.