The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, September 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India

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J A M M U & K A S H M I R

Ruckus in House over fasting employees
Sacked staff will be reappointed, assures CM

Srinagar, September 29
The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was adjourned here today for over 15 minutes when Opposition members squatted in the well of the House over the alleged death of a Class IV employee on fast in Jammu. The proceedings later continued smoothly with the intervention of the Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who assured employees in the Education Department sacked early last year would be reappointed within one month.

The opposition members raised slogans against the government over the sacking of 450 Class IV employees in the Education Department in the Jammu region. The BJP member, Choudhary Piara Singh, claimed that one of the employees, who had been on fast in Jammu for the past one week, passed away.

However, the Chief Minister told the House that five employees on fast unto death had been shifted to a hospital where their condition was stated to be OK. “None of them was dead”, he stated in the House.

The members blamed the government for the killing of the employee. The mayhem continued for about 15 minutes when the Speaker, Mr A.A. Vakil, announced the adjournment till 10 a.m.

EARLIER STORIES

	Cong, BSP members stage walkouts September 29, 2001
	7 ultras killed in encounter September 28, 2001
	400 ultras wait to sneak into valley September 27, 2001
	9 militants among 15 killed in J&K September 26, 2001
	Be discreet with USA: Farooq September 25, 2001
	PoK camps to be made arms stores September 24, 2001
	Infighting in Cong, BJP breather for NC September 23, 2001
	Guerrillas told to return to Afghanistan September 22, 2001
	APHC annoys ‘jehadis’ in J&K September 21, 2001
	Five infiltrators killed September 20, 2001

Meanwhile, stressing the need for communal harmony over the issue of ban on SIMI, Dr Abdullah said that things were being “given a wrong turn”.

“It is not fight against Islam... Muslims are not in danger”, the Chief Minister said in Assembly. Reaction to the speech made by the Congress leader and former minister, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, over the ban on SIMI.

Moulvi Ansari expressed concern over the plight of Muslims in India who were allegedly being targeted. He said that Muslims in India were passing through a phase of unrest and cautioned against divisive forces in the country. He cautioned against unavoidable consequences if the same treatment continued to be given to the Muslims in the country.

Meanwhile, the former chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference and senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, here today described the ban imposed by the Central government on SIMI as unjustified and unwarranted which amounted to a direct attack on Islam.

Addressing a press conference at the APHC headquarters here this morning, he demanded the withdrawal of the ban and release of all the representatives of the organisation held during the past few days throughout the country.