Journalist Shujaat Bukhari’s killer Naveed Jatt killed

Journalist Shujaat Bukhari’s killer Naveed Jatt killed

Srinagar: Two militants, including Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) Naveed Jatt who was accused of murdering senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari, were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Wednesday, 28^th November 2018  in Kashmir’s Budgam district.


Bukhari, a veteran journalist and editor of Rising Kashmir, was shot dead by terrorists outside his office in the heart of Srinagar in June this year.


The gun battle broke out after security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Budgam Wednesday morning following information about the presence of militants there, a police official said.


The militants opened fire at the security personnel and the forces retaliated, he said. Internet services in Budgam have been snapped as a precautionary measure.


Jatt, an LeT militant of Pakistani origin, had escaped from the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar this February. Jatt was active in south Kashmir, the hotbed of militancy, and involved in multiple attacks between 2013-2014 before he escaped from the hospital .


The son of a truck driver from Multan, Jatt was active in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian districts. According to police records, he was arrested on September 19, 2014, in Sempora Bijbehara in Anantnag and was lodged in Srinagar’s Rainawari jail after being charged with murder and attempt to murder.


Jatt was wanted in several cases of terror attacks in the state. Sources in the police said Jatt, also known as Abu Hanzulla, killed two policemen and an assistant sub-inspector in one of the attacks. A resident of Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province, he was also involved in another attack in which five policemen and two civilians were seriously injured.

Heavy rain blocks Woman’s Journey to Shabarimalai Temple

Heavy rain blocks Woman’s Journey to  Shabarimalai Temple

Shabarimalai: SP Manju, a Dalit woman activist, who was planning to visit the Sabarimala shrine Saturday, 20^th October 2018, told the Kerala police she would retreat shortly after her journey was stalled following heavy rain at the hilltop.

The woman, who is the general secretary of a Kerala-based Dalit outfit, had to halt her historic trek for the day because of heavy rains in the region. It was said that she would resume the pilgrimage on Sunday, 21^st October 2018 under heavy police protection, provided she passes a ‘background check’.

However, later, Police said that woman told them she will not continue her journey towards Temple.


Embarking on the journey, the woman had clarified that she had come to the Lord Ayyappa shrine as a devotee and not as an activist.


Kerala police said that, SP Manju has 14 cases against her and that she told them she is going back.


As reports of yet another woman attempting to make it to the shrine reached devotees at the temple, they again trooped to the entry point. Protesting devotees also lined the trekking path to the hilltop.


Devotees thought she was under 50. She was allowed to proceed when she showed her identity card which proved her age.


Saturday was the fourth day since the temple gates were opened for the monthly puja after the Supreme Court last month lifted a ban on women between 10 and 50 years entering the Lord Ayyappa shrine.