The Jammu and Kashmir government is searching for the people who visited the Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi in mid-March and returned to the union territory. With most corona cases in Kashmir having history of direct or indirect contact with members from religious gathering, nothing is left to chances. The district Commissioners in Kashmir have appealed to the members who were a part of the gathering to identify themselves for putting them under surveillance isolation and quarantine. “We are taking the matter very seriously and have appealed to all those who attended the Nizamuddin congregation to…
Author: Our Correspondent
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday booked a senior journalist over comments on Twitter claiming that the day Tablighi Jamaat held its event in Delhi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had insisted that a Ram Navami fair will take place as usual. The FIR against The Wire editor Siddharth Varadarajan also mentioned his remark, questioning Adityanath’s participation at a religious ceremony at the Ram janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya during the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. In his statement, Varadarajan called the FIR “politically motivated”. The FIR referred to a tweet by Varadarajan which said, “On the day the…
The number of coronavirus cases linked to the massive Islamic congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month shot up to at least 331 on Wednesday, accounting for the sharpest single-day spike in India since the outbreak of the deadly pandemic. Tamil Nadu has registered the largest share so far at 190, followed by 70 in Andhra Pradesh, 24 in Delhi, 21 in Telangana, 13 in Assam, 10 in Andamans, two in Puduchhery and one in Kashmir. Authorities scoured mosques across India on Wednesday trying to trace people who attended the gathering of the Muslim group in Delhi that has emerged as…
The coronavirus crisis appeared to escalate on Monday as the government reported 227 cases over the last 24 hours, the largest spike in a day. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare late on Monday night said the total number of coronavirus-positive cases in India has risen to 1,251 — this includes 1,117 active cases, 102 cured/discharged/migrated people, and 32 deaths. However, the government maintained it was still in the local transmission stage. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, cautioned that fear and panic are becoming a bigger problem than the coronavirus. The government also said there was no immediate plan to…
Some of the events planned by India and China to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties starting today will be hit by the virus outbreak but the cooperation between the dragon and the elephant will emerge stronger and their relationship can scale new heights after the pandemic, a senior Chinese official said. On April 1, 1950, India became the first non-Communist country in Asia to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). “First of all, Congratulations! Because today marks the 70th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties between China and India,” Chinese Foreign…
The Iraqi force on Wednesday killed four Islamic State (IS) militants during a raid on their hideout in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, a police source said. An intelligence force raided the hideout in Buhruz area in south of the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, sparking a fierce clash with IS militants for half an hour, and killed four militants inside, Ali Jasim from the provincial police told Xinhua. The troops also seized two explosive belts in the site, Jasim said, adding that the IS militants were Iraqi nationals and believed to be involved in attacks…
As a goodwill gesture, residents in Punjab’s Nabha are showering rose petals on sanitation workers to clean the town and reduce the risk of coronavirus. Their benevolence to good cause got Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s attention. “Pleased to see the applause and affection showered by people of Nabha on the sanitation worker,” the Chief Minister tweeted. “It’s heartening to note how adversity is bringing out the intrinsic goodness in all of us. Let’s keep it up and cheer our frontline warriors in this War Against #Covid19,” he added. The Chief Minister, who is personally monitoring and reviewing the COVID-19 and…
Over 400 Russian nationals stranded in India were flown back to their homeland by a special flight on Wednesday, according to the top Russian diplomat in New Delhi. A fourth dedicated flight has departed from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi with stranded Russian tourists on board. “Today, we saw off over 400 Russian nationals on Moscow-bound airplane. This was a fourth dedicated flight to bring our compatriots home. This mission required dedication on behalf of many agencies,” Ambassador of Russia to India Nikolay Kudashev said in a statement. He thanked the Ministry of External Affairs, the Directorate…
Amid the shortage of masks in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, inmates of the correctional homes in West Bengal have taken up the task of making masks for more than 25,000 fellow prisoners in state prisons, an official said. Eight correctional homes across the state have been earmarked where a section of prisoners are working to make masks for more than 25,000 inmates spread across 60 prisons across the state, the official of the state Correctional Services Department said. Presidency, Dum Dum, Midnapore, Jalpaiguri, Burdwan and three other correctional homes have been earmarked for making masks, the official said. “The…
The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday donated 2000 kilograms of rice at the Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramkrishna Mission, in his bid to help the needy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. “Visited Belur Math after 25 years, handed over 2000kgs of rice for the needy,” Ganguly wrote on his Twitter account. Clad in white T-shirt, the former India captain was seen wearing a black mask and taking a tour of the Ramkrishna Mission headquarters with the monks in a golf cart. Ganguly had earlier announced a donation of Rs 50 lakh worth…