Allah gave me strength, says driver Salim who saved 50 Amarnath pilgrims from terrorists

coastaldigest.com web desk
July 11, 2017

The terror attack on the bus of Amarnath yatris in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening would have claimed more innocent lives had it not been for the exemplary courage shown by Salim Sheikh, the driver of the bus, who drove the pilgrims to safety amid indiscriminate firing of bullets by militants.

It was about 8.20 pm. A white-coloured bus (GJ09Z9979) with 56 Amarnath pilgrims on board was travelling from Srinagar to Jammu. The bus was not officially registered with the Amarnath Shrine Board for the pilgrimage and was without police escort.

As soon as the bus reached near Khanabal, 3-5 terrorists opened fire. It was pitch-dark outside and raining bullets. However, driver Salim Sheikh kept his cool. Realising that halting the bus will have dangerous consequences, Salim drove for nearly two kilometres on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway before he reached an army camp. The attack left seven dead and over 30 injured.

‘Allah gave me strength’

“The terrorist first fired from the front with the intention to eliminate the driver. I ducked sideways to escape the bullets and drove ahead. I do not know how I got the strength to go on at that time. Maybe Allah helped me and gave me strength,” Salim told media persons as he stepped out of an IAF plane that brought the deceased as well as those injured in the attack to Surat, Gujarat, Tuesday afternoon.

Salim, who also belongs to Gujarat, said he escaped unharmed in the incident while another passenger seated beside him was injured.

Bravery Award

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today praised bus driver Salim Sheikh for showing immense courage and saving lives of nearly 50 Amarnath pilgrims.

"Want to thank bus driver for saving lives of people. Will nominate his name for bravery award," Rupani told reporters at Surat airport where he received those injured in the terror attack.

“I spoke to the passengers and they were all praise for the driver. He drove despite the firing and took them to safety. It made a lot of difference and many lives were saved. He did not stop. Had he stopped, more lives could have been lost,” said Munir Khan, IG, Kashmir.

Family is proud

Salim’s family in Gujarat is also proud him. His cousin, Javed, said that Salim called him around 9.30 PM informing the family about the firing on the bus. “He couldn’t save seven lives but managed to move 50 people to a safe place. We are proud of him,” Javed added.

Comments

Holy cow
 - 
Thursday, 13 Jul 2017

What else does bjp want other than boycotting peace. It never wants peace between Hindus and Muslims. and also Hindus following their agenda of hindu rashtra which will never happen. Looks like they want more violence to finally get Muslims out of their country. Remember Muslim ruled for 800 years and if they wanted to make India a Muslim rashtra, they could have done it easily. Gandus open your mind

Sahil
 - 
Thursday, 13 Jul 2017

Not clear that RSS did the bombing. But clearly written that CMI bombed RSS and BJP offices and killed 1 bjp person. So terrorist are CPI workers. All cpi workers should be killed.

Mani
 - 
Thursday, 13 Jul 2017

Dont you have shame Nirmala . its only a state ...all over INDIA your ideological fanatics killing innocents in the name of COW Matha .....stop that first ....

Its all because of RSS dirty ideology ...where chanting kill kill kill and kill is nationalism .......

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News Network
July 14,2020

Mangaluru, July 14: In order to detect COVID-19 cases quickly in Dakshina Kannada, the government has commissioned a programme to administer rapid antigen tests.

The coastal district has already received 3,500 rapid antigen test kits, which can give results in 30 minutes, an official said, adding that tests will be conducted shortly and training is being imparted on the use of the kits.

The antigen tests will be conducted for emergency cases like delivery, surgery, persons with severe symptoms of Covid-19, multiple-organ failure and for those whose condition is critical. 

"If a symptomatic patient tests negative for Covid-19, then his throat swab sample would be sent for lab testing," the district health officer (DHO) said.

The rapid antigen tests is expected to help in increasing the number of tests and bring down the load of testing on labs, as antigen kits allow faster diagnosis.

It takes a minimum of eight hours to get the results via real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Antigen tests can provide results within half an hour.

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News Network
January 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 16: It was necessary to revise rates under the ECHS, CGHS and GIPSA schemes for private hospitals to be able to sustain, doctors from private hospitals have opined.

Under the banner of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), doctors from top private hospitals in the city spoke about the dues pending from the union government schemes. They said they could not give a deadline as to when they would stop offering the scheme.

In a press release issued here on Thursday association said, which had previously told the government that they would not treat patients under the scheme owing to dues, mellowed down after the government released Rs 250 crore out of the Rs 1,000 crore dues.

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News Network
January 3,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called on young scientists of India to "Innovate, Patent, Produce and Prosper," and said these four steps would lead our country towards faster development. The Prime Minister also stressed on the need to transform the landscape of Indian science, technology and innovation.

"The growth story of India depends on its success in the science and technology sector. There is a need to transform the landscape of Indian science, technology and innovation," Modi said.

Speaking after inaugurating the 107th Session of Indian Science Congress, he said, "My motto for the young scientists in this country is -Innovate, Patent, Produce and Prosper. These four steps will lead our country towards faster development."

"If we innovate we will patent and that in turn will make our production smoother and when we take these products to the people of our country, I'm sure they will prosper," he said, adding that innovation for the people and by the people is the direction of our new India. The Prime Minister also said he was happy to learn that India's ranking has improved in the Global Innovation Index to 52.

"Our programmes have created more technology business incubators in the last five years than in the previous 50 years. I congratulate our scientists for this achievement," he added.

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