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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April 18,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 18: The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved 16 laboratories, comprising 11 government and five private laboratories in Karnataka, for testing the samples of COVID-19 suspected cases, the state government said on Saturday.

Meetings and negotiations were held with some private laboratories for conducting COVID-19 sample testing, additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Jawaid Akhtar said in a circular.

"Based on the negotiations, the cost per test has been fixed at Rs 2,250," the circular read.

These private labs have to abide by the conditions laid down by the state and union governments, it added.

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News Network
February 12,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 12: Mohammed Nalapad, son of Karnataka Congress MLA NA Harris, who allegedly rammed his sports car into vehicles and a kiosk, injuring 4, on Bellary road in Bengaluru on February 9, said that he was not in the car which met with the accident.

Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Ravikante Gowda told media, "Mohammed Nalapad appeared before the investigating officer today. He was arrested following interrogation. We are collecting evidence and will file a charge sheet shortly."

Nalapad is out on bail, in connection with the matter where he had assaulted a man in a pub in Bengaluru in 2018.

"I was not in the car which met with accident. I was travelling in a Lamborghini car which was moving ahead of the car. However, I called people to rescue the victims. We took them to the hospital and paid their hospital bill," said Mohammed Nalapad.

Further, details are awaited

Also Read: MLA N A Harris’ son Nalapad, out on bail, now crashes his luxury Bentley car, injures 4

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News Network
February 1,2020

Mysuru, Feb 1: The local police have arrested a man stabbed his irresponsible wife after she apparently hurt him with her naughty TikTok videos in Periyapatna of Mysuru district.

According to police, Srinivas stabbed his wife Savitha for TikTok videos where the latter featured with a different man.

The couple was not in good terms and was staying separately since few years. Savitha was residing in Mysuru and she used to send TikTok videos posing with another man to Srinivas.

The couple had two children, who reside with Srinivas, who was upset with the videos and invited Savitha to the birthday party of one of their children at Periyapatna.

He attacked her with a knife soon after she reached the function venue, Police said.

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