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Tuesday,
September 17, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Shelling by Pak in Poonch NC candidate’s house fired
at Sarpanch’s son dies in blast Panthers candidate killed in accident |
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2 Punjab officials die of heart attack Lashkare-e-Jabbar
claims responsibility 3 centurians among first voters Women queue up...for water, not
voting
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Shelling by Pak in Poonch Poonch, September 16 At least eight shells were fired here by the Pakistani troops. A mortar shell damaged the house of a retired police officer while another one, believed to have been fired on a helicopter carrying mediapersons, did not hit the target and landed outside the helipad. However, people turned out in strength to cast their votes. Jarnail Singh, commando of the 5 Battalion of the police, died when the terrorists attacked a picket at Garsaj, near Mendhar, close to PoK. Amrik Singh Gill, junior assistant in the Cooperative Department, who was in Rajouri on Election duty from Amritsar, died of heart failure. Dr Kamal Saini, SSP, Poonch, said five terrorists, who had come to attack the hyper sensitive booth at Hilkaka, were shot dead by the security forces. While long queues could be seen at other places, terrorist threat had scared voters at Mehrot, Kasbalari, Khenatar and Kalso areas where no one came to cast vote. An IED planted by the terrorists exploded in the election booth at Gonthal when an encounter was going on between the security forces and the ultras. Bafliaz and Fagla also witnessed IED explosions. Five IEDs exploded in the Betary nullah area and Mehrot in the terrorist dominated Surankot area. Exchange of fire has been going on between the Army and the militants since 9.15 a.m., soon after the polling started. The Pakistani troops started firing shells in this town and some other areas since 8 a.m. A shell landed near a cremation ground and the other near Sheesh Mahal in the heart of the town. Mr Ashok Gupta, DIG, said an attack by the terrorists on a polling station in the interior area of the district had been repulsed. Reports indicated that polling was poor in the areas across the river in Surankot. People were not allowed to cast their vote in this area even during the 1996 elections. Mr Satish Sasan, BJP activist, alleged that National Conference supporters captured two polling booths near Mendhar. He said the terrorists had evacuated about 15 hamlets to prevent people from exercising their franchise. The terrorists also fired at a polling booth at Kanial and a security camp at Darhal. The streets of Poonch, Surankot and Mendhar were deserted and shops closed since yesterday. Punjab Government officials have been deployed in the polling booths of the three Assembly constituencies of this district and were wearing bullet-proof jackets. There was a long queue of voters outside the polling booth at Banwat village, near Poonch, which is the direct target of Pakistan. Polling was poor in the morning but started picking up later. Only 12 per cent votes were cast in the Poonch constituency, 8 per cent in Mendhar and 6 per cent in Surankot in the early hours. Complaints of electronic voting machines having developed snags at some places were also received. The polling went on smoothly after the snags were rectified. More than 47 per cent of the voters exercised their franchise in Rajouri and Poonch, as per a UNI report. According to preliminary reports from the two districts, an estimated 55 per cent polling was recorded in the Nowshera and Poonch-Haveli constituencies. Kalakote recorded 50 per cent polling, Mendhar 52 per cent, Surankote 35 per cent, Rajouri 35 per cent and Darhal 30 per cent. In Delhi, Deputy Election Commissioner Sayan Chatterjee told reporters that Poonch recorded 48 per cent and Rajouri 47 per cent polling. As per a UNI report, fisticuffs were exchanged between rival party workers. According to sources, National Conference workers and supporters of Independent candidate Mumtaz Ahmed Khan clashed at a polling booth in Sakhi Maidan of Poonch. An electronic voting machine was damaged at the booth. The NC and Congress supporters exchanged blows at the Teylote polling booth in the Kalakote constituency of Rajouri. Polling was held up for 20 minutes at Kalsian when the two parties clashed. |
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NC candidate’s house fired at Srinagar, September 16 A group of unidentified militants opened fire on the house of Javid Hussain Shah, Member of the Legislative Council at Bandipora in Baramula district. Mr Shah was in his house, but escaped unhurt. His security guards fired back and the shootout lasted for a brief while. Militants also set off a grenade explosion at Sangrama in Baramula, but no one was hurt. Militants threw a grenade towards a police camp at Pakherpora in Badgam district last night, but the device missed the target and exploded near the fencing of the camp without causing any harm. Meanwhile, security personnel foiled three infiltration bids in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 17 militants, 12 of them in the Karnah assembly area of Kupwara district. While nine militants were shot dead at Tangdhar, three were killed by Army personnel in Keran, the DGP, Mr A.K. Suri, told reporters. Five militants were shot dead in the Surankote area of Poonch district in a joint operation by the special operations group of the police and the security forces last night.
PTI |
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Sarpanch’s son dies in blast Jammu, September 16 The militants lobbed a grenade at the house of Tirath Ram in Hasoti village at around 5.30 a.m., the police said.
PTI |
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Panthers candidate killed in accident Srinagar, September 16 An official spokesman said Mr Vinod, his Personal Security Officer, driver and another Panthers Party worker were killed in the accident. Mr Kumar was on his way to Jammu from Pahalgam, the spokesman said.
UNI |
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2 Punjab officials die of heart attack Rajouri, September 16 The police said Prakash, a presiding officer at the booth, was returning to this town after election duty when he suffered heart attack. As many as 800 Punjab Government employees had been deputed in the district for election work during the first phase of the Assembly poll today.
UNI |
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Lashkare-e-Jabbar
claims responsibility Srinagar, September 16 “We are responsible for the blast outside the polling station as we do not believe in these elections”, a person identifying himself to be the spokesman of the outfit, Sheikh Jabbar, said.
PTI Jammu, September 16 |
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3 centurians among first voters Kupwara, September 16 Two centurians with identical names — Mohammed Ayub Khan — were among the first voters at Tangdhar-9 polling booth of the Kupwara constituency. In sharp contrast, polling officials were still waiting for the first voters at several other polling stations in the constituency. Wali Mohammed was another centurian who came out to vote undaunted by terror. He was the first to vote at a booth in the Sangrama constituency in Baramula district.
UNI |
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EVM mistaken for musical instrument Baramula, September 16 Inder Singh of Kandwal said he asked a poll official to direct him to the ballot box at Kanthbagh polling booth in this constituency. “To my surprise I was told that an EVM had been installed and I had to push a button in front of the party symbol,” a visibly surprised Inder Singh said. “I was not given any training to use the EVM...It is so simple and I am told that it is transparent too.” A woman at a polling booth in the Pattan segment of the district was amused to see the EVM. “I was not able to handle it...a poll official helped me,” said 58-year-old Maimuna. Twenty-five-year-old Zahid Ahmed knew how to handle it but said the EVM had been kept in the open. “There is nothing to cover the EVM...I cast my vote in front of so many people,” he said.
UNI |
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Tailor’s shop made booth Baramula, September 16 “We were put in this tailor shop and asked to function. There is no water and the bathroom is also missing,” said a poll official from outside the state. The official said it was an unusual sight for him as the polling booths in his state were spacious with proper facilities. The tailor was asked to shift his belongings last night only.
UNI |
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Women queue up...for water, not voting Baramula, September 16 While no women voters were seen in Delina, Mahpora, Banglabagh, Mir Sahib, Batapora, Arampora, Khwaja Bagh, Lalad, Shahabad, Chinkipora, Potkha Sangrama and Pattan, a few of them had cast their ballots in Kanlibagh, Kanthbagh, Tapar, Waripora, Payeen and Chura till 2 p.m. “We still await the first women voters,” said a poll official at the Khwaja Bagh polling booth in the Baramula constituency. “But, thankfully, we have a few men voters so far,” he added. A poll official from Uttar Pradesh in one of the stations was amused to see few voters coming out to cast their votes. “In our state, people, particularly women, take an active part in this democratic process....This is an opportunity for all of us to elect our representatives who can highlight our problems and try to solve them.” Women voters in Khwaja Bagh were seen more bothered about the water shortage plaguing the area for the past many days than going to a polling station to cast their ballots. “We have been in queue from early morning to collect water....This is more important for us than to exercise our franchise which hardly can resolve our miseries,” said Mehbooba. At Pattan, Khadija had a different story to tell. Her two sons have allegedly been arrested by the security forces after an attack on them by militants near the town. “Both my sons are innocent.... I have run from pillar to post to secure their release. All my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Why and for whom should I vote?” Women in Sopore, considered to be the stronghold of jailed Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, were even more reluctant to come out and vote. “We do not even know the local sitting MLA and Assembly Speaker Abdul Ahad Vakil was totally invisible,” they said. However, at Kanthbagh and Kanlibagh in Baramula, a few women cast their votes.
UNI |
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Foreign envoys
visit booths Srinagar, September 16 An official spokesman said diplomats from the USA, Canada, France, Switzerland and Sweden were in the valley to observe the poll in their individual capacity. The spokesman said a group of 12 diplomats today visited several segments in these districts by helicopter while two went by road.
UNI |
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Hurriyat for tripartite talks, not poll Srinagar, September 16 “India should now realise that election is no solution to Kashmir dispute. We demand that India should initiate tripartite talks with Pakistan and the Hurriyat Conference for final settlement notwithstanding the elections, HC chairman Abdul Gani Bhat told reporters here. Asserting that turnout of voters was low in first phase of elections today. Bhat said the response showed that people were not interested in the elections and also that if the “Army was not sent in the fields, the voter turnout would have been zero.” “We also have reports that after diplomats, observers and journalists left the poll sites, the Army entered the homes in the villages and forced people to cast votes,” he said, adding the Hurriyat would provide the list of such villagers.
PTI |
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Hurriyat observes bandh Srinagar, September 16 The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front activists led by their acting chairman Javid Ahmad Mir staged a demonstration outside their party headquarters at Maisuma here raising slogans like “no election, no selection, we want freedom”, official sources said. The protesters, who were dispersed by police and paramilitary forces, did not put up any resistance, they said.
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