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July 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Yatra generates
‘title business’
A TRIBUNE SPECIAL
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20 monitoring stations set up in Dal Lake Census of militancy victims
likely Pak plan to upgrade air
defence Excesses: J&K Sikh leaders
meet minister Jails to be reformative
centres in J&K
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Yatra generates
‘title business’ Chandanwari, July 6 The two persons, Gulzar Ahmad and Nazir Ahmad Yattoo from the Tral area in the neighbouring Pulwama district, have been queueing up at Pahalgam for the past two weeks to get permission from the authorities for setting up fruit stalls during the month-long
yatra. Carrying tiffins these poor men, like many others, have been spending money on trips to Pahalgam from their meagre income hoping to do brisk business during the
yatra. “There are 185 applications for 18 spots”, said Gulzar Ahmad and the selection is to be made by the draw of lots. Scores of labourers await police verification at the Aishmuqam police station, 20 km short of Pahalgam on the Anantnag-Pahalgam road, for getting permission to earn their living during the
yatra. Ghulam Hassan Rathar (50) from Krishangam village awaits police verification while many of his associates have already got permission to visit the area and work as
labourers. The Jammu and Kashmir police has established a checkpost at
Sarbal, about 5 km short of Pahalgam, where the bus passengers alight and are allowed to proceed after frisking. These changes have been made in view of the last year’s incident of firing at Pahalgam in which at least 34 persons, both locals and pilgrims, were killed. The base camp, which has now been shifted to
Nunwan, has a parking lot spread over 25 km. No vehicles carrying the pilgrims are allowed to move ahead towards the town except for registered yatris in the mornings for their onward yatra to the holy
cave. Kamlesh Kamila, associated with a travel journal from Kolkata and accompanying a group of five of his colleagues, made it to
Chandanwari, after getting a registration for three of them from Srinagar on Thursday morning. The six-member team is scheduled to have ‘darshan’ of the holy ice lingam three days later, during which they will have to trek on the 32-km route to the holy cave shrine at a height of 3,952
metres. Mr G.A. Peer, Deputy Commissioner of Anantnag, and the Yatra Officer denied that the businessmen in the township had suffered. “Some of the pilgrims belonging to the
ffluent class want to see
Pahalgam... almost half of them, which comes to about 2,000 stay in various hotels in the area”, he commented. The experience during the past three days has given positive signals, according to the Yatra Officer. He said since the touring spot had been
cleared of
angars’ and heavy rush which used to create lot or pollution, particularly the along the banks of the
Liddar, many pilgrims have been enjoying trips to Pahalgam. PAHALGAM: It is a different scene during the Amarnath yatra at this tourist spot, 97 km south of Srinagar, as the base, camp has been shifted to Nunwan 2 km short of township. The Lidder stream that cuts through the world-famous scenic spot, and the blooming gardens here are free from dirt, filth and pollution. Nunwan had been the base camp for the Amarnath pilgrimage prior to 1996 as well. “The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board SASB decided to shift the langars to
Nunwan, which falls within the limits of NAC (Notified Area Committee),
Pahalgam,” Mr G.A. Peer, Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, said. Some of the langers had been established on the river bank, which according to the Yatra Officer, created various problems like that of water pollution. With the shifting of the base camp, the Yatra pattern has changed. The pilgrims coming from Jammu have to halt at Nunwan overnight for an early morning expedition to Chandanwari and the cave. The 16-km stretch to Chandanwari if
motorable, wherefrom trekking expedition to the holy shrine of
Amarnath, 32 km away in the high mountains, starts. As the yatris start the pilgrimage from the Nunwan base camp, there are hardly any of them seen in the marketplace at
Pahalgam. At Chandanwari, the yatris are faced with the final frisking and checking of the registration cards and their baggage. During the past three days, the number of yatris has already exceeded the specified number of 3,500 per day from
Chandanwari. As per the official records, 7,207 pilgrims proceeded from Chandanwari on the first day, that was Tuesday, followed by 4,436 on Wednesday while more than 4,000 had already crossed the checkpost at Chandanwari in the afternoon on Thursday. The civil administration officers claim that the number has not exceeded 5,000. |
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A TRIBUNE SPECIAL Srinagar, July 6 The curiosity leads us further into the story, which unwraps in a more surprising fashion. Farooq Abdullah Raza, the owner of the agency, owes a lot of his fortune to The Tribune and vice versa. He happens to be the sole custodian of a platform from where the first copy of The Tribune’s Lahore edition flowed into the valley. The story dates back to pre-partition days when Mulk Raj Saraf (who later floated his own newspaper by the name of Ranbir) was covering the region of Jammu and Kashmir for The Tribune. As Farooq Abdullah Raza began to unravel the sequence of events, his memory got stuck at a day in March 1940, when his father, Mohammad Abdullah Raza, was approached by Mulk Raj Saraf with the suggestion of procuring and selling The Tribune’s Lahore edition. Informs Farooq, “My father was a traditional artisan of Srinagar. He used to weave carpets. We had a small business of patchwork on Pashmina shawls also.” In the name of property all that Abdullah Raza then had was a small makeshift stall in one corner of Lal Chowk. Remembering his father, who passed away in 1988, Farooq said, “If today we own a news agency on the same corner of Lal Chowk, it is because my father struggled his way to fortune. And I will not mince words in saying that it was The Tribune which brought him all the good luck.”Abdullah News Agency is now the best known news agency in the entire valley. They are also the pioneers in introducing the students of Kashmir to the world of information technology through the medium of competitive magazines and books. The foundation of this flourishing business was laid way back in the forties when Abdullah Raza began his new life by selling the first 10
copies of The Tribune, Lahore edition. During those days, the paper used to reach the valley via Uri and Baramula and it used to come loaded on a tonga. Remembers Farooq, “There were no means of communication then. It was a very tedious task to collect the paper and bring it to the valley for further distribution to the readers. But I used to accompany abbu to far off places just to collect The Tribune copies. This was the only paper selling in the valley during those days.” The first 10 copies sold like hot cakes, said Farooq, “That was when abbu realised that the valley, which had not developed reading habits till now, could actually be fed on The Tribune. He tied up with Mulk Raj Saraf who helped him in procuring more copies. From 10 to 20 the number reached well beyond 200. As informed by Farooq, the people of Srinagar had become absolute The Tribune addicts by the year 1965 when the Indo-Pakistan war broke out. Such was the craze that Abdullah was asked by the ardent The Tribune readers to procure copies of the paper in some manner or the other. Recalled Farooq, “Due to war the entire public transport had been suspended. The Tribune used to be transported by private taxis. By then we could afford the cost. We did not want to let down the readers who had the first taste of newspaper reading, courtesy The Tribune.” Now Abdullah is no more, but his son is guarding the fort. For Farooq, the news agency is more of an emotional engagement than a commercial venture. That is why despite being kidnapped by militants (for selling Punjab Kesri despite a ban by militants in 1993) he kept the shop open and functioning. As for The Tribune, it is still dotting the valley’s reading scene, thanks to Farooq, who is religiously pursuing his father’s ambition. This Tribune correspondent also got in touch with Mr Prem Saraf in Jammu. Mr Prem Saraf, son of Mulk Raj Saraf, who was The Tribune’s first correspondent for Jammu and Kashmir, remembers Abdullah by name and respects him for his commitment to the profession. He told us, “But for the association of my father and Abdullah, The Tribune would not have made a niche in the valley the way it did.” |
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20 monitoring stations set up in Dal Lake Srinagar, July 6 A bio-filteration plant is also being installed at Hazratbal and a settling basin near Fishermen Colony is under execution at a cost of Rs 11 lakh, an official spokesman said here today. He said about Rs 50 lakh were being spent on the Nishat pipeline plant for desiltation. Deweeding and desiltation work had also been started in the adjoining Nagin Lake, he added. The spokesman said Rs 83 crore had so far been spent on the Dal development programme against a total outlay of Rs 297.7 crore. Under the rehabilitation programme Rs 16.36 crore had been spent by the end of March, 2000, against a total outlay of Rs 135 crore. Meanwhile, acting Chief Minister Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah has said conservation and restoration of water bodies is very essential for ensuring healthy environment. Jammu and Kashmir has been endowed with a large number of water bodies but these have been neglected and there is an urgent need to take concrete steps to restore them, Mr Shah said, presiding over a meeting of officers of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LWDA) here yesterday. He said modern scientific methods should be adopted for the conservation of water bodies in the state and added that the various engineering agencies involved in this process should work together in a systematic way so that the targets were achieved in time.
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Census of militancy victims likely Srinagar, July 6 The council has decided that a complete census of militancy victims will be conducted in the state shortly. It will raise more corpus with the assistance of the state government and the Centre, NGOs, philanthropists and the corporate sector,which is essential for further intensifying its welfare activities. This was stated at a meeting of the executive members of the council here today chaired by chief secretary Ashok Jaitly. The council has so far spent Rs 2.48 crore on various welfare activities taken up for militancy victims. Of this, Rs 84 lakh have been utilised last year. It has provided financial assistance to 1728 schoolgoing orphans, 1867 widows and aged persons so far. Besides, assistance has also been given in 43 cases for remarriage of widows or their daughters, and in 46 exceptional cases. The council conducted a survey during May this year for identifying disabled persons in migrant camps at Udhampur, Jammu and Kathua. At least 246 persons have been identified with different disabilities and the matter has been taken up with the composite rehabilitation centre, Bemina, Srinagar, for holding camps. Mr Jaitly stressed that transparency should be ensured while implementing welfare schemes of the council so that the people gained full knowledge about its work. He directed the Deputy Commissioners to make public the list of widows and other beneficiaries getting financial assistance. He also directed that a data-base on militancy victims be set up for better implementation of the programmes of the council. The meeting also discussed the action plan of the council for the current financial year. The executive director of the council, Mr G.M. Untoo, said the council was coordinating the implementation of a scheme funded by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry under which assistance would be provided to the disabled youth in the age group of 18 and 26 for undergoing training in various disciplines for diploma courses and informal training courses of three to six months for persons with 40 per cent disability.
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Pak plan to upgrade air
defence Jammu, July 6 This radar system has been partially manufactured at Kamra Pakistan Aeronautical complex with the help of Italian technology. Reports from across the border said the GRIFO radar system was being installed to make Chinese F-7 P fighter planes, besides Mirages, effective in their strike power. Once the radar system is installed, it will enable Pakistan airforce experts to track and scan enemy fighter planes. Pakistan already has a fleet of Mirages and Chinese fighter planes. It has decided to purchase 50 Mirages from Australia at a cost of over $30 million. In addition to this, it plans to purchase more F-7 P fighter planes from China. The idea behind the exercise is to make Pakistan fighter aircraft “outmatch” India’s best fighter bombers. The GRIFO radar system will replace UK-made GEC-Marconi radars which Pakistan airforce experts consider to be “obsolete”. The airforce will also be getting a super Mushshak jet trainer. It has been manufactured by scientists at the aeronautical complex and is a modified version of MIF-7 Mushshak aircraft. Because of its easy take off and landing system, several African and Middle East nations have evinced interest in purchasing these jets. Pakistan has also decided to improve its ground defence by increasing the number of tanks. Already its army has received a large number of Chinese tanks. With help from China the Pakistan engineers have succeeded in manufacturing Al Khalid tanks which will be handed over to the army next week. These tanks are to be deployed along the border belt across Rajasthan and the international border in the Jammu sector. |
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Excesses: J&K Sikh leaders
meet minister Jammu, July 6 The delegation members urged the Home Minister that departmental action should be initiated against those police officials who “tortured” constable Sukhvinder Singh in the Gandhi Nagar police station which forced him to commit suicide. They alleged that Sukhvinder Singh had written a letter in which he had named the police officials who had treated him “brutally” which left him with no other alternative but to commit suicide. Mr Lone was apprised of several other incidents of excesses on some Sikhs and referred to the beating up of a driver, Harnam Singh of Nanak Nagar, without any fault of his. They said the police failed to prepare cases against the culprits effectively as a result they go scot-free. Mr Wazir, who was accompanied by Mr Paramjit Singh, President, AISSF, Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser of the Bhai Kanahya Nishkaam Sewa, and other senior Akali leaders, suggested to the Home Minister to convene a meeting of senior police officers and instruct them to stop harassing and torturing Sikh youths on flimsy grounds. Mr Lone assured them that he would get all cases examined. |
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Jails to be reformative
centres in J&K Srinagar, July 6 The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by acting Chief Minister Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah yesterday, he said. The change in the nomenclature of IG, Prisons, had been necessitated to bring it in tune with the new concept of prisons as enunciated in the new jail manual issued by the state government last year, he said. Jammu and Kashmir manual for the superintendence and management of jails was formulated keeping in view the changing concept of prisons as correctional and reformative centres rather than punitive ones, he said, adding the manual envisages creation of better atmosphere in prisons providing improved facilities to jail inmates to reform them. The redesignation of the post of IG, Prisons, went well with the government policy to broadbase the functions of the Prison Department to bring into its ambit the reforms which were introduced in the past and being proposed to bring further improvement in the treatment and rehabilitation of prisoners, the spokesman said.
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