'Ashwini Saini is a contributor to a Facebook page that publishes news on the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. Saini, who also works as a freelancer for the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, filed a video report for the page, called ‘Mandi Live’, on April 8. The report highlighted the failure of the district administration in supplying rations to migrant workers stranded in the district’s Sundernagar sub-division.
'The National Investigation Agency on Thursday arrested a former village head from Shopian in South Kashmir in connection with a case registered in January, after suspended Jammu and Kashmir Police Deputy Superintendent Davinder Singh was caught with Hizbul Mujahideen militants, The Tribune reported. Tariq Ahmad Mir had unsuccessfully contested the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, according to The Times of India. Mir was involved in providing logistical support to the militants and was in touch with Singh...'
'Amidst the nationwide lockdown to contain the COVID-19, Kashmiris stranded in Jaipur, Rajasthan, were allegedly beaten up and harassed by the police when they were out “to buy basic essentials”. Speaking to The Kashmir Walla, Altaf Dar, a resident of Bandipora, north Kashmir, who has been working as a caterer in Hassanpora, Jaipur, claims that he was beaten up by the police when he had gone out in search of ration in the evening of 29 April. Dar, 23, added that his group of twenty-five people was short of money and had run out of essentials.
'Yesterday, police in Srinagar summoned and questioned Ashiq, a correspondent with daily newspaper The Hindu, over a story he published that day on tensions between Kashmiris and the police, according to a statement by the Kashmir Press Club, an elected, representative body of journalists in Kashmir. The same day, he was asked to travel to a police station in South Kashmir, where he was further questioned about the article, according to that statement. He was released after each interrogation, he told CPJ in a phone interview.
'"There is no denying that there has been a lot of paranoia about Himachalis getting COVID-19 due to those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meet. It's all over TV, WhatsApp forwards and Facebook. But these workers who were living here, they've been working here since November. So what got into these men to go and beat them up, I do not understand," sarpanch of Barot village Ranjana Devi spoke to The Quint days after Nine Gujjar Bakarwal migrant workers from Jammu and Kashmir were beaten up in Himachal Pradesh's Barot on 11 April...'
'SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir—When Indian-administered Kashmir confirmed its first coronavirus case on March 18, Iqbal Saleem, a professor of surgery at Government Medical College in the capital, Srinagar, sensed the days ahead would be challenging. He sent a WhatsApp message to his friend, a surgeon in the United Kingdom, asking about the country’s response to the pandemic. His friend sent back a detailed protocol adopted by hospitals in Kent. For Saleem, just downloading the document was a herculean task.
'As doctors in Kashmir complain of not having enough personal protection gear and N95 masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, the government on Wednesday issued an order, saying that "strict action will be initiated against such elements who resort to such uncalled for reporting to media.” A senior official said some of the doctors are disobeying the rules and instead of doing actual work during this pandemic, they are airing their views liberally about minor issues, which is creating confusion...'
'A 65-year-old man infected with the coronavirus died at a hospital in Srinagar on Thursday morning, recording Kashmir’s first recorded death due to the deadly disease. "Despite our best efforts, the COVID-19 positive patient at Chest Disease Hospital passed away due to cardiac arrest. The patient had a medical history of prolonged illness with Sugar, hypertension, obesity," a doctor said...'
'On 15 March, the union ministry of home affairs sanctioned the appointment of Baseer Ahmed Khan, Kashmir’s divisional commissioner, as an advisor to Girish Chandra Murmu, the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Baseer is accused of being involved in a multi-crore land scam in 2009. A case against him regarding the matter remains pending with a special anti-corruption court in Baramulla. His elevation brings into question the Narendra Modi government’s promise of corruption-free governance in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution...'
'Health workers on duty in villages and district hospitals across rural Kashmir lack personal protection equipment (PPE), making them vulnerable to infection and crippling their ability to work normally amidst the coronavirus outbreak. PPE consists of gloves, masks, eye protection device, and the hazmat cover-all suits worn to protect health care workers from getting infected. These workers pleaded that rural hospitals be supplied with better protective gear to enable doctors and paramedical staff work smoothly.
