J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

Panun opposes Vajpayee-Pervez meeting
Jammu, September 8
Panun Kashmir, a premier organisation of displaced Hindus, has opposed the proposed meeting between Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and Gen Pervez Musharraf in New York on the plea that there should be dialogue with Islamabad unless Pakistan stopped “genocide” of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir.

Army personnel displaying before mediapersons arms and ammunition recovered from a group of seven infiltrators, who were killed near Gurez, about 120 km north of Srinagar, on Friday. — Photo Amin War.

Bhat critical of dress code
Jammu, September 8
Both moderates and the hardliners in the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) are critical of the way the Al-Jabar outfit has started using force to impose dress code and other codes of ethics on the people in Jammu and Kashmir. 

J&K poll will be free and fair: minister
Jammu, September 8
The Union Minister for Food Processing, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, today declared that the next assembly poll in Jammu and Kashmir would be free and fair. He told newspersons here that there was no reason for the National Conference (NC) to feel peeved over the Central Government’s commitment to have free and fair elections.

Panun opposes Vajpayee-Pervez meeting
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 8
Panun Kashmir, a premier oransition of displaced Hindus, has opposed the proposed meeting between Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and Gen Pervez Musharraf in New York on the plea that there should be dialogue with Islamabad unless Pakistan stopped “genocide” of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior Panun Kashmir leaders, including Dr Ajay Chrungoo and Mr Shailendra Aima, told newsmen here today that the Agra summit had resulted in a major set-up in militancy-related violence. They said that the Pakistan-aided militants had started carrying out ethnic cleansing in various parts of the Jammu region to throw out Hindus from these areas in a bid to lay the basis for the implementation of the Dixon plan which had envisaged the division of the state on communal lines.

Dr Chrungoo said that the internal security scenario had assumed alarming dimensions and it was no time for India to hold talks with Pakistan when Islamabad had arranged entry of several lakh Afghan refugees in Pakistan occupied Kashmir who were to be later pushed into Jammu and Kashmir to give fillip to the subversive violence.

Panun Kashmir welcomed Union Home Minister L.K. Advani’s plan of providing legal protection to security forces engaged in fighting terrorism. It demanded a clean-cut policy on the survival of the minorities in Jammu and Kashmir, a policy aimed at deweeding subversives from the state administration and a fresh census of the Kashmiri Pandits, scattered all over the country.

It said it would help the community in participating in the next Assembly poll.

Bhat critical of dress code
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 8
Both moderates and the hardliners in the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) are critical of the way the Al-Jabar outfit has started using force to impose dress code and other codes of ethics on the people in Jammu and Kashmir. Reacting to the latest moral code issued by Al-Jabar warning women to travel along with men in the same seats in buses and urging transporters to keep 50 per cent seats in buses and matadors reserved for women, the APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, said “it is detestable.”

He said that “we in the APHC are against forcing people to wear burqa or any other dress. People should be given freedom to act upon one’s faith and religion.” Prof Gani told Tribune News Service “It sounds all fishy. I do not think that those engaged in jehad would rake up extraneous and trivial issues. I think some agencies are behind it as the government wants the issue to the debated in the autumn session of the Assembly.” The Hurriyat Chief said “when people get killed in scores issuing dress code or other diktats do not fit in the ongoing jehad.” He said those who have been doing it deserve to be criticised.

J&K poll will be free and fair: minister
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 8
The Union Minister for Food Processing, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, today declared that the next assembly poll in Jammu and Kashmir would be free and fair.

He told newspersons here that there was no reason for the National Conference (NC) to feel peeved over the Central Government’s commitment to have free and fair elections. He said it was for the NC to decide whether it wanted to remain in the NDA or not because the state unit of the BJP had to play the role of effective opposition party in Jammu and Kashmir.

In reply to another question Prof Gupta said he would suggest to the All-Party Hurriyat Conference to join the national mainstream and contest the next assembly elections.