How do you feel that now Indian Air Force has destroyed 3 terrorist camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir?

Signboard of the Madrasa Taleem al-Quran, run by Maulana Masood Azhar. Credit: Twitter

Nirmalya Kajuri (নির্মাল্য কাজুরী), Following and studying Kashmir conflict for 10+ years

Updated 13h ago

Edit: I have found some new information which suggests my original conclusion may not be correct.

Original answer below, new information in the end.

Original answer:

I don’t believe IAF destroyed any terrorist camps.

I would be very happy if I am wrong about this and the mission has been a success. But the evidence I have seen so far says otherwise.

When it comes to India-Pakistan news, my experience is that you can’t blindly believe either side without independent confirmation. When it comes to a national level conflict, both Indian and Pakistani media just parrot whatever the government tells them.

But by now we have had three independent reports from reputed international media sources - a New York Times Report, a Reuters report and this report in BBC Hindi. Both the Reuters and BBc report are based on interviews with villagers who live near the strike zone. The reports agree with each other but disagree with the official versions of India and Pakistan.

The Saint called  Prof.Dr Sheikh Jalal

Let me summarize the main takeaways from the reports (but do read them):

1.     Villagers confirmed that Jaish-e-Mohammad had been operating in the Balakot area for a long time. Jaish used to have a training camp which they later turned into a Madrasa.

2.    This Jaish-run Madrasa stood on a hilltop and villagers said that they were not allowed close to it. According to the BBC report Jaish no longer ran training camps in that area.

3.    The IAF mission was clearly to bomb this Jaish-run Madrasa.

4.    Villagers heard four loud bangs in succession at around 3 AM. This confirms that four bombs had been dropped.

5.    But none of the bombs hit the Madrasa. Villagers claimed that they exploded about a kilometer away from the Madrasa. They saw four craters where the bombs had hit.

6.    Villagers did not find any dead or injured people around. The only casualty was a man sleeping in his house where sharpnel broke the windows.

7.     New York Times reports:

The view that little had been damaged was supported by military analysts and two Western security officials, who said that any militant training areas at the site, in the Pakistani province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwha, had long since packed up or dispersed.

To summarize, India targeted a Jaish-run Madrasa and dropped four bombs, but missed by a small margin. Given the information I have received so far, I believe this is what happened.

Why do I believe this is the true version of events?

Firstly, these are from reputed and independent sources. Moreover these independent sources agree with each other. If India can produce some evidence of the strike or some other independent organization evidence to the contrary, I will change my mind.

So far, all I am seeing from the India side are statements and self-congratulation (and fake videos on Whatsapp).

As an aside let me note that even if it were a successful mission, tactically it would be much wiser to keep quiet about it. The fanfare is for political gains, not tactical ones.

Secondly, the Reuters report in particular is unlikely to be a fake news planted by Pakistan, because it clearly shows that Jaish-e-Mohammad was running a training camp in their soil. They would not plant a story which admits this.

Thirdly, a missed airstrike is the most plausible scenario. It is extremely unlikely that an air strike would not be anticipated by Pakistan. The terrorists have been moved to a location which would be close enough to Pakistani airbase so that Indian jets would not be able to get to them in time. If IAF bombs really missed them by a mere kilometer, it shows that the IAF had come within mere seconds of hitting the target.

That’s really impressive given that Pakistan was obviously prepared for this and as Waqas Maqsood pointed out in the comments, IAF fighters would be under orders not to engage PAF jets as that would be an act of war. Indeed, the whole incursion lasted only three minutes. It seems to me that the IAF knew it was up against near-impossible odds, took a chance and almost pulled it off. That is very impressive. I wish they had managed to blow up some terrorist camps but I don’t think they did.

The key point is evidence. I need to see some evidence before I believe either side. Till then I will believe the only evidence that has come from neutral sources and is also entirely consistent with facts and logic.

I would love to be proved wrong. I would love to know that India has made a strong response and showed that we won’t take this anymore.

But if the government is feeding us false information and misleading us about this for political gains, then that is very sad.

New info:

This tweet from a Pakistani student in UK. He is saying his friend told him that the madrasa was hit but not many died.

Syed@gypsy_heart6

Indian Air Force,Pakistan Air Force,Pulwama Attack,Surgical Strike,Adil Ahmad Dar,

Jaish-e-Mohammed , Fake News,Indian Media Channels,Balakot Attack,Imran Khan

So a friend from the area has confirmed that madressa Taleem-ul-Quran (it’s board says run by Hazrat Maulana Masood Azhar) at Mansehra (Balakot) was hit, & there are ~10 ambulances around. But the area is now sealed. 

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2:15 PM - Feb 26, 2019

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Supreme Court to hear challenge to Article 35A from Feb 26-27

Article 370 ?

Article 370 cannot be practically revoked. Jammu and Kashmir’s treaty of accession is linked to that, and legally, revoking 370 means revoking that treaty and making Jammu and Kashmir an independent nation.

In October 2015, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir has ruled that the Article 370 cannot be "abrogated, repealed or even amended." ... On 3 April 2018, the Supreme Court of India gave a similar opinion declaring that the Article 370 has acquired a permanent status.

Pulwama attack-2019

73 Years Later, the "A-Bomb" Ginkgo Trees Still Grow in Hiroshima

73 Years Later, the "A-Bomb" Ginkgo Trees Still Grow in Hiroshima

"There’s a huge paradox at the heart of this

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Ginkgo trees

On August 6, 1945, an Allied plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, creating a fireball 1,200 feet in diameter. Disaster rained down upon the city, killing an estimated 150,000 people and leveling both the biological and man-made landscape. Little was left standing, but somehow the ginkgo trees were able to weather one of the most destructive moments in human history.

Those trees, now dubbed “A-bombed trees,” or hibakujumoku, are still in Hiroshima today, monuments to both humanity’s capacity for destruction and nature’s ability to withstand us at our worst. But while these roughly 170 ginkgo trees are now famous for surviving the Hiroshima blast, ginkgos as a species have persisted through a 200-million-year history of close calls that laid the foundation for its ability to withstand the A-bomb attack, explains Sir Peter Crane, Ph.D., director of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

“A lot of trees are resilient, but ginkgo seems particularly so,” Crane tells Inverse. “But the thing you have to remember is that there’s a huge paradox at the heart of this ginkgo story, and that is it very nearly went extinct.”

The Ginkgo Survival Paradox

Plants with seeds can be broken down into two categories: angiosperms, also known as flowering plants, and gymnosperms, or “naked seed plants.” Ginkgo trees fall loosely in the category of gymnosperms but make up a subclass called Ginkgoidae. The ginkgos we know today are the only remaining member of that subclass.

In the Jurassic period, Crane explains, ginkgos had diversified and flourished across Laurasia, the precursor to the continent of Asia. But the fossil record shows the ginkgos’ golden days weren’t destined to last. Over the course of several million years, ginkgos begin to slowly disappear from the fossil record. By the Pleistocene, which began roughly 2.5 million years ago, glaciation had killed off nearly all the different ginkgo lineages, leaving only a handful behind in the forests of central China.

“At the end of the last ice age, it was down to a few restricted populations in China, from which all the living ginkgos that we see today are descended, whether they’re in Manhattan or Tokyo or San Francisco or Seoul,” says Crane.

Having survived the mass extinction, this tiny enclave of tough Chinese ginkgos was quiet for a few million years. But eventually, they began to spread once again with a little help from humans. Crane estimates that between 1300 and 1400, the trees made their way to Japan. Once they got there, the evolutionary toughness of these “living fossils” was tested a second time by destructive forces that strangely set the stage for their eventual survival at Hiroshima.

The Great Kanto Earthquake

In 1923, a catastrophic earthquake struck just south of Tokyo with a magnitude of 7.9, setting the city ablaze. Only about 10,000 of the ginkgos that had made their way to Japan 500 years earlier were left standing in the city. But within months, people started to notice something odd. While all the other trees died, the ginkgos had slowly begun to grow again. The bark and outer rings of the trees were scorched, but the living cells within had clung to life.

“The Japanese noted that the ginkgos survived disproportionately from other trees,” Crane says. “The living tissues of the trees were not completely damaged by the fire; the same way they weren’t damaged by the Hiroshima bomb. After the great Kanto fire when they started to replant, they focused on the gingko because they knew it was particularly resistant to fire.”

A replanting effort began, wholly focused on the strange persistence of the ginkgo. Roughly 16,000 new gingko trees were planted across the country by the Japanese government, and a handful of them made their way to Hiroshima, where their will to live was tested once again just over 20 years later.

A “Cylinder of Living Cells”

In August 1945, Hiroshima’s ginkgo trees were in full leaf. When the bomb hit, the heat immediately burned those leaves into nonexistence. The branches were instantaneously stripped away, leaving the outer bark completely scorched.

But, as Crane explains, the tree was still alive on the inside. Somewhere underneath all of the destruction, a tiny cylinder of “living cells” had to have survived. Fortunately for the ginkgo tree, the extreme organization of its cell tissues created a compartment that was immune to destruction. On its very outside is the bark, a shell of hard, dead cells. Inside is the softer phloem, which carries sugars that feed the other cells. Then comes the xylem, a wood-producing layer of the tree. Closest to the core is the cambium, which Crane calls a “cylinder of living cells.”

The A-bomb almost certainly destroyed the dead outer layers, but Crane hypothesizes that the ginkgo bark was just strong enough to protect the life within.

“So now you’ve got a bare tree with no leaves, but come spring, there’s still enough energy there where buds can be developed and new leaves can start to form,” he says.

“It’s those living tissues that would supply the nutrients coming out from the roots that would differentiate into leaves the next season.”

The Process of Rebirth

In the autumn of 1945, the trees would still have been recovering from the enormous shock of the A-bomb. But by then the roots of the ginkgo, deep in the earth, were steadily collecting essential nutrients despite the lasting radiation from the bomb. This durability is another part of the ginkgo’s survival toolkit says Deanna Curtis, curator of Woody Plants and landscape manager at the New York Botanical Garden.

“I would think that the location of the tree and exactly where the tree’s roots were going would have to have played a role in this tree’s survival,” Curtis tells Inverse. “Ginkgo are considered tolerant of a variety of stressful soil conditions, which lead to their use as a common street tree.”

The ginkgo trees that are currently marked at Hiroshima all stand within 2,200 meters of the center of the blast. They would have been exposed to massive amounts of radiation — even strange black rain, dark with ash and other particulates that fell in the days following the explosion. But even after being exposed to what were perhaps the most stressful soil conditions in the history of the planet, the trees survived.

In the spring, the ginkgos bloomed again and continued to do so every spring after that. Today, each tree has a name and is marked by a plaque. They’re now natural memorials, reminders that evolution has equipped life to survive even the greatest catastrophes wrought by humans.

“That’s what caught people’s imaginations,” Crane concludes. “You have this incredible scene of devastation, and it would take months for people to come to grips with it. Just as they had gone through the winter, out pop these new leaves from trees that everyone thought were dead. That’s the power of the ginkgo story.”

More details: https://www.inverse.com/article/47833-hiroshima-gingko-trees-atomic-bomb

Kashmir terror attack Live : 42 CRPF jawans killed,44 injured....

Adil Ahamad Dar

A CRPF official on the Awantipora attack says there were 70 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. ANI reports that the Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the IED attack, in a text message to Kashmiri News Agency GNS.

At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, officials said.

Latest Updates: http://writerasia.blogspot.com/2017/05/pampore.html

Police identified the militant as Adil Ahmad Dar from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, they said. The casualties are likely to go up. Several people were injured in the attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron.

Body parts could be strewn around the area. The vehicle was blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said.

2,500 personnel were in the convoy and some shots were also fired at the convoy, DG, CRPF, RR Bhatnagar, said.

Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Adil Ahmad Dar, the suicide bomber who carried out the attack on a CRPF convoy on Thursday. (Screengrab: Twitter)

Army Questions 3 Jawans Over Killing Of Soldier Aurangzeb In Kashmir

SRINAGAR: 

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Probe revealed 3 soldiers might've leaked info about Aurangzeb: sources
2. Aurangzeb was kidnapped and shot dead in Pulwama in June 2018
3. Nirmala Sitharaman and Armychief had visited his family after his death

The army is questioning three soldiers for their alleged role in the murder of a soldier - who was killed by terrorists - in Jammu and Kashmir in June last year. Sources said the men, all belonging to the 44 Rashtriya Rifles, are reportedly under detention after investigations revealed that they might have leaked the information about the movements of Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb, a rifleman with 44 Rashtriya Rifles - was kidnapped and shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama when he was travelling in a private vehicle, on his way home in Poonch to celebrate Eid with his family. 

His bullet-riddled body was found in Pulwama by a team of police and Army. He was shot in the head and neck.

Aurangzeb was part of an officer's team which killed Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Sameer Tiger.

He was awarded Shaurya Chakra posthumously. After his death, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Army chief General Bipin Rawat had separately visited the family to express their condolences.

Aurangzeb's father Mohammad Hanief joined the BJP in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba on Sunday. Mr Hanief was a sepoy of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry.

The soldier's killing had led to an outpouring of grief in his village in Mendhar, 250 km from Sirnagar. About fifty men claimed that they left their lucrative jobs in Saudi Arabia to return permanently to Salani village, to join the police force and the army to avenge  the death of their friend and fellow villager.

Soldier Aurangzeb was shot dead in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in June 2018.

Aurangzeb's murder was followed by the killing of two policemen and a CRPF jawan when they were home on leave.

Sources: https://www.ndtv.com

Ginkgo tree: Jurassic tree in space age

To the untrained eye, the Ginkgo biloba tree in the industrial area here looks like any other green

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To experts, however, it is a relic. The earliest leaf fossil of a Ginkgo biloba has its roots in a once-thriving and dominant race of vegetation. The tree is often referred to as a precious link between the present and a little-known past.

The family tree of the Ginkgo biloba — there are only two specimens in this region — can be traced back to 270 million years, before the Jurassic age, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The tree here is more than a century old and as botanists say, it is still “going strong”.

“This tree is the only living representative of the order Ginkgoales, a group of gymnosperms composed of the family Ginkgoaceae of the Triassic period, the era that preceded the Jurassic period. So we can safely say that the tree already existed when dinosaurs walked the planet,” reader of botany of Kalimpong College Ram B. Bhujel said.

“During the Triassic period, the tree was flourishing all over the globe but in the Jurassic age the Ginkgoales order and its family of Ginkgoaceae plants started declining to the extent that it almost became extinct,” he added. “There are very few Ginkgo biloba trees left in the world today and most of the live specimens are found in Japan and China. As far as I know, there are only two such trees in the region. One in Darjeeling and the one in the industrial area where a park is being built.”

The botanist said no one knew how the tree arrived in the region or who planted it. A good guess, however, he said, would be that the British might have planted it when they ruled the country.

“What is sad, however, is that the tree cannot reproduce naturally because the climatic conditions are not suitable for its regeneration,” said Bhujel.

But there is some good news. Nurseries here, trying to grow saplings from cuttings of the parent tree, have met with reasonable success and the prehistoric tree has also been grown on the college campus.

“This species of tree is considered a living fossil and is also highly valued as an ornamental plant. Collectors of plants are ready to pay large amounts of money to procure saplings,” said Bhujel. “Leaves of this species of tree is used by Chinese as a herbal medicine in treating respiratory problems.” 

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Speaking of the value of the Ginkgo biloba as an ornamental plant, Chandra Rumba, a nursery proprietor from Kalimpong, said: “We have succeeded in culturing saplings from cuttings of branches of the tree at the industrial area. We cannot exactly say what the age of the tree is but it is more than 100 years old and in very healthy condition. Sadly, the saplings grown in the nursery are not as healthy as the parent plant, and only 25 per cent of the plants survive.”(Telegraphindia.com)

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Ginkgo is easily raised from seeds, which retain their vitality for some months. Female plants may be obtained by grafting. It is easily transplanted, even when of a large size. 

Trees of over 40 feet high have been successfully moved. It thrives in deep, well-drained, rich soil. It is useful for planting in towns, as it is free from the attacks of insects and fungi; and the hard leathery leaves resist the smoke of cities. It may also be freely pruned. 

It is of course best propagated by seed; but layers and cuttings may be employed in certain
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Ginkgo biloba has been proven to improve short-term memory, alleviate allergies, relieve
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Nettle tea benefits

Stinging nettle root/leaf is also used for joint ailments, as a diuretic, and as an astringent.  In manufacturing, stinging nettle extract is used as an ingredient in hair and skin products. Stinging nettle leaf has a long history of use. It was used primarily as a diuretic and laxative in ancient Greek times.

Nettle tea has long been touted as great for weight loss and good health. Nettle tea is efficient for the removal of unnecessary toxins from the body. It is also known to feed the cells of the body which results in decreases in cravings.

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Stinging nettle root is also used for joint ailments, as a diuretic, and as an astringent. Stinging nettle above ground parts are used along with large amounts of fluids in so-called “irrigation therapy” for urinary tract infections (UTI), urinary tract inflammation, and kidney stones (nephrolithiasis).

In addition to its anti-inflammatory properties,
stinging nettle is a diuretic, and both of these characteristics make it a good candidate for prostate issues, including prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which share some of the same urinary tract symptoms.

Stinging Nettle, DHT, SHBG and Free Testosterone. ... Yet again though, the studies on humans do not show any increase in free testosterone levels so any effect stinging nettle has on SHBG is too small to see a benefit as far as testosterone goes.

Using stinging nettle is one of the oldest treatments for combating hair loss. Stinging nettle capsules and tea can be consumed to treat hair loss internally while a good scalp massage using nettle oil combats hair loss effectively.

In a scientific study of patients with acute arthritis, stewed stinging nettle leaves enhanced the anti-inflammatory effect of diclofenac, an NSAID. Although this effect can reduce pain, talk to your doctor before taking or using stinging nettle if you also take NSAIDs.

Low blood pressure: Stinging nettle above ground parts might lower blood pressure. In theory, stinging nettle might increase the risk of blood pressure dropping too low in people prone to low blood pressure. If you have low blood pressure, discuss stinging nettle with your healthcare provider before starting it.

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The Jammu and Kashmir Medicinal Plants Introduction Centre's  Herb Garden playsa central role in the education of our students. Botanical medicine students study and cultivate a variety of medicinal plants throughout their life cycle. Many of these plants are harvested at their seasonal peak for creating medicinal tinctures and salves. Nutrition classes use the cultivated culinary herbs and organic vegetables in the instition's whole-food kitchen lab. The garden is designed, cultivated and managed by students and volunteers under the guidance of the garden manager and assistant garden manager with a combined total over 21 years of experience.

Availability: Herbs, Crude Drugs, Herbal Seeds, Herbal Roots,Forest Tree seeds, Temperate fruit plants,Medicinal herbs, Flower seeds and much more..... 

Centre for High Altitude Biology

POB 667 GPO Srinagar SGR J&K 190001

Ph: 09858986794/09419966983/01933-223705

e-mail: jkmpic@gmaiil.com