Junior Digest

He said the JeM handler, who is in late 20s, was in the tribal area of Pakistan when he communicated about 18 times with the terrorists.

“The law enforcement agencies tried to trace him (in the tribal belt) but there are reports that he managed to escape to Afghanistan,” he said, without disclosing the JeM leader’s identity.

Interestingly, during interrogation JeM chief Masood Azhar claimed that the handler of the Pathankot operation had quit the organisation sometimes ago.

“Azhar disowns the JeM handler (to prove his innocence),” another source privy to the development told PTI.

He said the investigation agencies have been under “immense pressure” from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to thoroughly probe the matter and come up with “true facts” of the Pathankot incident.

Although the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab police had registered an FIR against the alleged attackers of the Pathankot airbase and their abettors, not a single person has been charged in this regard.

The FIR was registered in the CTD police station Gujranwala under sections 302, 324 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and sections 7 and 21-I of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The FIR says Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval informed authorities that the four attackers had come from Pakistan and had “probably crossed the border adjacent to the Pathankot general area”.

The NSA says the terrorists made phone calls to cell phones and belonged to a proscribed organisation.

Five terrorists and seven Indian army personnel were killed in a gun battle at the Pathankot airbase.

The attack occurred just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a ‘surprise’ visit to Sharif on his birthday on December 25 and the occasion of his granddaughter’s wedding – a move that appeared to promise better ties between the two countries in future.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also confirmed that one of the mobile phone numbers linked to those who attacked the airbase had been traced to the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur, some 400-km from Lahore.

JeM chief Azhar, who has been named by India as the mastermind of the airbase attack, had been under protective custody since January 14.

Aziz said that Azhar, along with a few other operatives of JeM, had been kept under protective custody and that some of the JeMs premises had been sealed.

He said action would follow against Azhar and others the moment evidence became available.

However despite the Pathankot visit of five-member JIT team of Pak Punjab government headed by CTD Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tahir Rai, no progress has been made in the investigation so far.

@Agency report.

Now, based on official documents and proposals sent to the Centre by the three states, activists said that no scientific study was done before allowing culling of animals, in contravention of the environment ministry’s own advisory dated December 24, 2014. The ministry’s 2014 advisory, encouraged state governments to seek central assistance in declaring wild animals such as Nilgai and wild boars as vermins. But, it had asked states to also specify the scientific basis for seeking vermin status for animals, in their proposals, which is found to be missing.

“While our fundamental opposition is permission to cull animals for which we will move court, it has also come to light that state proposals were inadequate and lacking in data on crop damage, population studies and specific areas where the problem is acute. In the Uttarakhand proposal, senior officials have admitted themselves that no study or survey has been done,” said Gauri Maulekhi, an animal rights activist. State proposals and related documents reviewed by dna confirmed Maulekhi’s claims.

With the exception of Himachal Pradesh, who have provided some details on compensation paid to farmers, Uttarakhand and Bihar’s proposals find no mention of crop damage and monetary losses incurred. In fact, the Bihar wildlife board helmed by chief minister Nitish Kumar cleared the proposal to kill nilgai’s and boars without any deliberation during the meeting, minutes show.

Maulekhi added that monoculture, encroachment of forest land, unregulated tourism, reduction of buffer zones and consequent fragmentation, mining and blasting are some of the key reasons for the rise in human-animal conflict, and these issues will be raised in court. “When the herbivores and smaller mammals don’t have water to drink and adequate vegetation to feed on, they are bound to stray into human habitations,” Maulekhi said.

@Agency report.

Thousands of people, mostly Kashmiri Pandits, arrived from different parts of the country to take a holy dip and perform the Pind Dhanbesides hold puja at the Holy Shiv Lingum situated underneath the Prayag.

“We used to immerse the ashes of dead at this spot (before the migration). We used to perform Maha Shrad at this spot only. Today too we performed the Shrad of all the martyrs including security force personnel, Kashmiri pandits and other innocents here,” said Raina.

Usually the Maha Kumb happens at four places – Allahabad, Ujjain, Hardiwar and Nashik – where lakhs of people take a holy dip and perform the puja. Since 1931 it is only third time that Maha Kumb has happened in Kashmir. Earlier, the Maha Kumbh had occurred inKashmir after 10 years gap in 1941. The Maha Kumbh happens only where there is a unity of 10 nakashtaras.

“More than 4,000 people arrived here to take a holy dip at the Sangam. It is very unfortunate that administration did not construct the makeshift washrooms knowing that ladies too were participating in the Maha Kumbh,” said Vinod Pandit, chairman of All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee, an apex body of migrant Kashmiri Pandits.

Religious dimensions apart, the Maha Kumbh acted as a platform for Kashmiri pandits and Muslims to reduce the trust deficit. Muslims in large numbers had come to Sangam to help their pandit brethren. Kashmiri Muslims had made available the shikaras for Pandits to hire in order to perform the religious rituals at the Sangam.

“My eyes are flooded with tears to see such a great atmosphere. Flash back of older days played before my eyes. We want these pandits should return at the earliest,” said Mohommad Maqbool Malla, a local resident of Shadipora.

Official figures reveal that around 41,117 migrant families from Kashmir are registered in Jammu and 21,000 others in Delhi and other states. Of the total migrant families living in Jammu, 37,128 are Hindus, 2,246 Muslims, 1,738 Sikhs and five others. The return of the Kashmirimigrants to valley is a part of the Centre’s Rs 1,618-crore package, announced in 2008.

@Agency report.