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| Tuesday, February 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Mufti favours ceasefire extension J&K House rejects resolutions Lashkar had hand in tower
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Mufti favours ceasefire extension Srinagar, Feb 19 The demand was made at a meeting of prominent workers of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) attended by the Mufti and his daughter Mehbooba, Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and Tariq Hameed Qarra and others. The meeting appealed to militant organisations to respond positively to the ceasefire offer by giving a matching response. “They must understand that no ceasefire is ever a solution to a core issue. But it is a means to solve the issue peacefully and amicably. They must realise that it is just the beginning and not the end of the whole process. All other concerned should equally realise that peace must be given every chance because the alternative is very horrific”, a statement issued at the end of the day-long convention said. The PDP also criticised “hawks in the BJP” who “strongly demand calling off the ceasefire”. While advocating the extension in the period of the ceasefire, the PDP has expressed dissatisfaction about its implementation. It blamed certain vested interests, from the very beginning, that were trying to derail the whole peace process. That was why there was an escalation in the recent past in the killings of innocent civilians in alarming proportions. It also demanded to isolate “certain elements in the military and paramilitary forces as well who do not want peace process to reach its logical conclusion.” Unless these acts were not checked, the PDP leaders held that the whole process of ceasefire would prove to be a farce. It alleged that SOG was bent upon to “frustrate and defeat the ceasefire.” “Ironically, killings as a result of political vandetta and state terrorism are being termed as acts done by unknown gunmen, which the state government has
willfully failed to identify”, the PDP leaders held. “The Government of India should exercise its constitutional powers on the state government to prevent them from directly or indirectly derailing the peace process”, the statement added. It said that the Government of India while “deciding about the issues concerning the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir should not come under pressure of hawks in the BJP and vested interests in the state.” |
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J&K House rejects resolutions Jammu, February 19 This was evident when two resolutions tabled by a Panthers Party member, Mr Harsh Dev, seeking abolition of the Upper House and reduction in the term of the Assembly were rejected by the House here today. Mr Harsh Dev has argued in the resolution that the Lok Sabha term had been reduced from six to five years through the 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India and demanded that the state Constitution too be amended to bring parity in the tenure of its Assembly with other states and with the Lok Sabha. He said that the tenure of the Assembly had been increased from five years to six years through an amendment to the state Constitution in 1977. The Finance Minister, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, informed the House that the tenure of the Assembly had been raised through an amendment to the state Constitution and not under the Central Act of 1976, which had enhanced the tenure of the Lok Sabha to six years, which was later reversed. He said, “We are governed by the state Constitution” and therefore, there was no need for the state to get the Central Act extended to Jammu and Kashmir. Several opposition members, including those belonging to the BJP, Congress and BSP, supported the resolution. They said that the five-year term was sufficient for a ruling party to show results. When the Speaker, Mr Abdul Ahad Vakil, put the resolution to vote, the National Conference, which has a two-thirds majority in the House, rejected it and the resolution was defeated. Mr Harsh Dev’s another resolution seeking abolition of the Upper House met the same fate. He argued that a poor state like Jammu and Kashmir could not afford the luxury of a bicameral system. The Upper House was ‘redundant’ as its members were not elected directly by the people. Even economically advanced states had abolished the Upper House. Several opposition members supported his resolution. The BJP members, however, opposed his plea for making only graduates eligible to contest the Assembly elections. The Finance Minister, opposed the introduction of the resolution on the plea that members of the Upper House had a representative character. The bicameral system allowed checks and balances and the Elders were capable enough to see whether the decisions taken by the Lower House were genuine or not. The resolution was lost when the National Conference members opposed it. As many as 12 members of the opposition staged a walkout when the Government refused to adopt a resolution seeking an end to nomination of women to panchayat committees and panchayat adalats. Mr Harsh Dev Singh, who moved the resolution was fully supported by the opposition members belonging to the BJP, Congress, the Janata Dal and the BSP when he wanted that Panchayat members and not the Government should nominate members to panchayat committees. The members walked out of the House when the resolution was defeated in the absence of support from the National Conference. Earlier, during question hour, the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, intervened to pacify three NC members who were protesting against alleged security excesses in the Kashmir valley. Dr Abdullah said a judicial probe had been ordered and a sitting Judge of the High Court would start the probe once he received assent from the President of India. He said that the Governor, Mr G.C. Saxena, had left for Delhi today and had been requested to expedite the President’s approval. The judicial commission would submit its report within two months, after which action could be initiated against the culprits. Later, he informed the House that one Meenakshi, a teenager, who had been kidnapped from Udhampur on February 8, leading to violence in the district headquarters, had phoned her parents. Police teams had fanned out to several areas of the state outside Jammu and the girl would be restored to her parents. Three suspected kidnapper had already been arrested. The Chief Minister ordered a CBI probe into the incident. During the question hour, Mr Somnath of the BSP and Mr Radhey Sharma staged a walkout, the former over refusal of the Government to grant Backward Classes status to Pahari-speaking people and the latter over recovery of sales tax. In reply to a question, the Finance Minister, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, informed the House that the government’s drive had paid dividends and against the recovery of Rs 182 crores as sales tax, including motor sprit tax, during 1999-2000 over Rs 257.43 crore had been recovered till the end of December, 2,000. He claimed that excise duty to the tune of over Rs 124 crore had been realised from the liquor dealers and the toll tax had gone to Rs 127.35 crore till the end of January, 2001. The drive would continue and the Government had identified 16231 defaulters against whom action had been initiated. |
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Lashkar had hand in tower
blast Jammu, February 19 As all four legs of the tower, which carries the transmission lines to the valley, were totally damaged, the entire Kashmir valley was plunged into darkness. During the past 48 hours, people in the valley have received no power supply. The 50 MW of electricity generated from three power projects in Kashmir are being used for supplying energy to essential services. The tower was the main carrier of electricity to the valley from the Northern Grid. Since the valley has been facing acute fall in river water discharge, the generation from the 400 MW Uri power project has been reduced to 30 MW and two other power projects generate not more than 20 MW. This had not allowed people a chance to have electricity even for a minimum period of three to five hours. The valley continued to bank on the supply from the Northern Grid. According to the Power Minister, Mr Surjit Singh Slthia, since the entire tower had been flattened by the blasts, it may take at least 10 days for temporary repair of the tower. He told the Assembly today that at least 40 to 50 days were required for permanent erection of the tower. He said that between February 11 and 12, the militants had partially damaged legs of transmission lines in the Banihal area. The power development officials had completed the repair of these transmission lines last evening. What has intrigued observers is the way militants sneaked to the transmission tower and carried out the RDX explosion. Police teams have been rushed to the area and investigations have been started. Preliminary reports have revealed that activists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba are involved in the blasting of the 220 KV transmission tower. A senior police officer said that the militants took advantage of the dark night and might have crawled to the tower base for carrying out the blasts. He said that the high-grade explosive material had been planted at the base of the tower on all sides and they might have triggered the explosion through a remote control. All vital installations had been brought under security cover. But the militants might have crawled from a corner to give a slip to the security personnel camping at a far-off site in one direction. However, observers say that the security arrangements should have been strengthened after two transmission lines had been damaged a week ago in the same belt. Mr Slathia told the Assembly that the restoration work on the 132 KV Udhampur-Vanpoh
transmission line and 220 KV transmission line near Sheer Bibi in Banihal,
completely damaged in the blasts, had been taken up. All efforts were being made to restore power supply to the valley by undertaking emergency restoration work, which might take at least eight days. He said the permanent restoration of the system might take 40 to 50 days. |
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