NEW DELHI: India has conveyed its serious concern to Saudi Arabia over “gross misrepresentation” of its external territorial boundaries in a banknote issued by the Gulf nation last week, and asked it to take “urgent corrective steps”, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
The global map printed on the new 20 Riyal banknote, released to mark Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the G20 grouping, does not feature Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as part of India.
MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said India has asked Saudi Arabia to take “urgent corrective steps” in the matter, and asserted that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of the country. (AGENCIES)
India conveys serious concern to Saudi over ‘gross misrepresentation’ of its external boundaries
663 Army aviation squadron in J-K wins annual flight safety trophy
NEW DELHI: Army Chief General M M Naravane on Thursday awarded the annual flight safety trophy for the year 2019-20 to the 663 Army aviation squadron deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, an official press statement said.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) flight safety trophy has been instituted to promote the efforts towards flight safety among Indian Army aviation units, said the statement.
“For the year 2019-20, 663 Army aviation squadron deployed in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been adjudged first,” the Indian Army’s statement said. (AGENCIES)
British Indian author’s Jallianwala Bagh story shortlisted for history prize
LONDON: British Indian journalist and author Anita Anand’s book that tells the story of a young man caught up in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar has been shortlisted for a prestigious history-literary prize in the UK.
‘The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj’ will compete with six others for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History 2020, awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content.
Entries are required to be works of high literary merit – that is, not primarily written for the academic market – and can cover all historical periods.
“Modern history is well-represented with Anita Anand’s ‘The Patient Assassin’ showing us how empire continues to haunt us,” said Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford, who is the chair of this year’s judging panel.
In the shortlisted book, Anand tells the dramatic story of an orphan Udham Singh’s 21-year quest for revenge, taking him around the world in search of those he held responsible for the Raj-era Amritsar massacre of April 1919, executed by British troops during a Baisakhi gathering in the city’s Jallianwala Bagh grounds. (AGENCIES)
J&K records 551 fresh cases, 11 more deaths
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir recorded 551 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday which took its virus count to 93,764, while 11 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,466, officials said.
Of the fresh cases, 197 are from Jammu and 354 from the Kashmir valley, they said.
Srinagar district reported the highest number of new cases at 127, followed by 109 in Jammu district, according to the officials.
There are 6,928 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVD-19), while 85,370 patients have recovered so far in Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said.
The union territory recorded 11 more deaths, four in Jammu and seven in Kashmir. With these, its death toll stands at 1,466, they said. (AGENCIES)
Other states, UTs have laws to protect their land, why not J&K: Omar
SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday said many states especially in the northeast have special laws relating to land ownership whereby people from other parts of the country cannot buy land there, and questioned why the Jammu and Kashmir could not have similar laws.
“There are many states like Himachal Pardesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and union territories where no Indian can go and buy land even today,” the former chief minister said.
“Why is it only us who become anti-national when we talk of these laws? Why are there no media debates when similar voices (for special provisions) are raised from other states?” he asked, addressing a function at the National Conference headquarters here. (AGENCIES)
Whole world knows Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorism: India
NEW DELHI: The whole world knows about Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorism and no amount of denial can hide this truth, India said on Thursday in sharp reaction to Islamabad’s objection to references to it and cross-border terrorism in the Indo-US joint statement after their 2+2 dialogue.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the country that provides shelter to “maximum number of UN-proscribed terrorists” should not even attempt to play the victim card. (AGENCIES)
Indian Army develops App for secure messaging within service
NEW DELHI: Aiming to taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, the Indian Army has developed a simple and secure messaging application named the “Secure Application for Internet (SAI)” to be utilised pan Army to facilitate secure messaging within the service.
The application supports end to end secure voice, text and video calling services for Android platform over internet.
The model is similar to commercially available messaging applications like Whatsapp, Telegram, SAMVAD and GIMS and utilises end to end encryption messaging protocol. (AGENCIES)
Fare limits to remain in place for another three months: Puri
NEW DELHI: The upper and lower limits on domestic airfares will remain in place for another three months post November 24, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday.
The Ministry had on May 21 placed these limits through seven bands, classified on the basis of flight duration, till August 24. Later, it was extended till November 24.
Puri said if the scheduled domestic flights reach pre-COVID levels by the end of the year, he will have no hesitation in removing the fare limits at that time. (AGENCIES)
Attempt to implicate me in some terror or riot case: Zafarul-Islam Khan on NIA raids
NEW DELHI: Former Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan on Thursday said he had no contact or relationship with Kashmiri militants and that he feared he could be “framed” in some terror or riot case.
His remarks come on a day when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at his house and office in connection with a terror funding case.
In a series of tweets, Khan claimed that the order for the raids against him came from “top” and the NIA officials jumped the wall to enter his house showing their “impatience”. (AGENCIES)
TRF militant arrested with 2 grenades in Pulwama
SRINAGAR:A militant of The Resistance Front (TRF) was on Thursday arrested with two hand grenades in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, a police spokesman said this evening.
He said during a joint naka established by Army, SOG of Jammu and Kashmir police and CRPF a militant identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Dar, son of Ali Mohammad Dar, resident of Khanka Bagh Pampore was arrested in Awantipora and recovered two hand grenades from him. A case has been registered and further investigation taken up, he said. (AGENCIES)