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Tuesday,
October 29, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Mufti firm on talks with ultras
Azad to meet rebel MLAs today Jammu region ‘deprived of chief ministership’ |
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APHC redefining role Farooq loyalists switching camps Troops mistake civilians for ultras, kill 4 3 ultras held with Rs 24 lakh Jammu
bandh: students pelt buses with stones
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Mufti firm on talks with ultras Srinagar, October 28 Addressing a large number of party workers, MLAs, and supporters from different parts of the valley, soon after his arrival at the party headquarters and his residence here, Mufti Sayeed reiterated his stand on negotiations with the militants and those who did not participate in the recent Assembly elections. He said his party’s main agenda included disbanding of the SOG, non-implementation of POTA and other related matters. He said cases of those detained without trial would be reviewed. The Mufti said the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) drawn up with other coalition partners would be implemented in toto. Mrs Gandhi, who had helped bring about the agreement between the two main parties, is also scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony here on Saturday. A meeting of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLAs to elect Mufti Sayeed the Legislature Party leader is being convened here tomorrow. The Congress MLAs have already elected PCC chief Ghulam Nabi Azad the CLP leader. The elected members of the PDP will hold a meeting at the party headquarters and the Mufti’s residence at Nowgam on Tuesday. All MLAs and senior party leaders received Mufti Sayeed at the airport. State Governor Girish Chandra Saxena has been informed of the swearing-in taking place on Saturday. PDP general secretary Tariq Hameed Qarra said that the swearing-in ceremony would be held here in deference to people’s aspirations. The coalition partners, the Congress, the PDP, the Panthers Party, the CPM and Independents will meet the Governor with documentary proof to stake the claim for the formation of the coalition government by Friday. Leaders of the coalition parties will also consult one another to work out details regarding the formation of a non-NC government in the state. Later in the day the Mufti held talks with senior party leaders on steps ahead of the formation of the government. The talks, according to party sources, focused on the Council of Ministers and the posts of Deputy Chief Minister and Speaker. This is in view of some decisions already taken, whereby senior Congress leader, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma is to be the Deputy Chief Minister. The party sources also indicated that the number of ministerial portfolios vis-a-vis different coalition parties would be in proportion to the number of members of each party. Meanwhile, adequate security arrangements have been made near the Nowgam residence of the Mufti. Mufti Sayeed will move to Jammu, the winter capital, after the swearing-in where offices of the Civil Secretariat have already been shifted and will open on November
5. PTI adds: The Mufti said his party would bring in a Bill in the Assembly to “weed out corruption and introduce accountability in the system, “be it the Chief Minister, or any other minister or an MLA,” Mr Sayeed told a large gathering of supporters outside his party headquarter-cum- residence on the outskirts of the city. An inquiry commission and an accountability commission would be set up to look into the alleged killings of innocents by the police and misappropriation of funds by civil officers. However, the commissions would not be used to prosecute political opponents,. PDP vice-president Muzaffar Hussain Beig added. The Mufti added his coalition government would seek a political package from the Centre for Jammu and Kashmir for opening unconditional dialogue with all sections of the people. Describing Kashmir as a national issue, Mr Sayeed said gun is “no solution” and called for giving a “healing touch” to the wounds inflicted on the people of the state. “History has given us a golden opportunity which needs to be exploited in a proper manner to address the Kashmir problem,” he said. All three regions of the state — Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir — would be accorded equal treatment, he said, adding his government would do justice to all three regions and the people of the entire state would be involved in the decision making process. He also reiterated the promise that all innocent persons languishing in jails in the state would be released and also assured help to the dependents of killed militants. “Their (militants) children and wives had done nothing wrong,” he added. The new government would concentrate on generating more employment opportunities and eradicate illiteracy, he assured. |
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Azad to meet rebel MLAs today Srinagar, October 28 Mr Azad along with AICC secretary Satyajit Singh Gaekwad, who is in charge of the party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, is reaching Jammu to placate the annoyed legislators. They will meet the legislators tomorrow afternoon. Mr Sharif Niaz, cousin of Mr Azad, who had won the election from the Bhaderwah constituency, is also among the MLAs unhappy over Mufti being made the CM. Maulvi Rashid, an Independent, has also reached Jammu for meeting these legislators, held a meeting yesterday and criticised the decision of the party high command. Nearly 14 MLAs participated in the meeting after which a charter of four demands was faxed to the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. These MLAs have demanded that not only the Deputy Chief Minister but the Speaker of the Assembly should also be of the Congress party. The portfolio of Home and certain other important departments should be allocated to the ministers of the Congress and the chief of the coordination committee of the Congress-PDP coalition should be also from their party. They have also asked the party high command to reduce the period of rotation of chief ministership from three years. The unhappy legislators misdoubt that the Mufti might try to weaken the Congress in the period of the first three years of chief ministership. The real problem will come in the constituencies where the Congress and Independents have defeated the candidates of the PDP of The Mufti. As Chief Minister, The Mufti, was bound to build up his men in these constituencies at the cost of other members of the coalition. Mr Niaz said that the party high command was not averse to these demands and these would be sorted out before the new ministry was sworn in. Meanwhile, the president of the Jammu State Morcha
(JSM), Mr Virender Gupta, and some other leaders have accused the Congress of “betraying” the people of Jammu by installing the Mufti, who belongs to the Kashmir valley, as Chief Minister. The JSM leaders alleged that the PDP of the Mufti contested the Assembly election as a “proxy” political party of the militants. The agenda of the PDP clearly reflects the party’s links with militant groups and their agenda is anti-national. They claimed that the decision to install the Mufti as Chief Minister clearly vindicated the stand of the JSM that the people of Jammu had no future by remaining tagged with Kashmir. They also accused the Panthers Party of Mr Bhim Singh of betraying the people of Jammu as the mandate to the party was on the issue of statehood for the Jammu region. The common minimum programme of the coalition completely ignored the aspirations of the Jammu region. |
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Jammu region ‘deprived of chief ministership’ Jammu, October 28 He told The Tribune here today that the Common Minimum Programme
(CMP) of the PDP Congress carried “sweets and cakes” which could be relished only by children. He said that instead of committing to forming three regional councils for ending regional discrimination the CMP simply promises to set up a Finance Commission to recommend ways and means for equal distribution of resources among the three regions. Prof Gupta said that if the CMP had announced to strengthen the Leh Hill Development Council by giving it the powers that had been taken away by the previous government why it was silent on the setting up of similar councils for Jammu and the Kashmir regions. The Union Minister expressed surprise over the way the Congress and the PDP leadership had, in the CMP, suggested to the people of Kargil to accept Leh-type autonomous council when such a regional council was needed for the Jammu province. Prof Gupta said that people in the Jammu region had become aware of their rights and mere mention of a promise in the CMP that the Dogri language would be included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution was not going to end regional discrimination when it was for the Government of India to grant constitutional status to a regional language. He said he had already taken up the matter with the Centre and hoped that Dogri would be included in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India and when it materialised the PDP Congress coalition should not take credit for it. The Minister also supported the demand for the full implementation of the Gajendragadkar Commission report so that whatever lapses the successive state Governments had committed in the Jammu region were rectified. |
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APHC redefining role Jammu, October 28 The APHC received support from the Kashmir Committee Chief, Mr Ram Jathmalani, who recently said the Hurriyat Conference was not irrelevant and could not be sidelined. “We are not finished,” said APHC Chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, in reply to a question. He told TNS on Saturday that the APHC was as much relevant to the state’s political scene as it was prior to the Assembly poll, adding that “the election has not altered the basic problem in any manner.” Professor Bhat said: “I am amidst hectic activity.” He did not explain, but simply confirmed that he had visited the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi on Saturday, but in the absence of the Deputy High Commissioner he had returned to the party headquarters without discussing the Kashmir scene in the light of the just-ended elections. Earlier, another senior APHC leader, Molvi Umar Farooq, had visited Delhi where he attended a seminar, besides visiting the Pakistan High Commission. These visits indicate that the Hurriyat leaders are keen on remaining in the limelight. For the present, these leaders are watching with interest the formation of government in Srinagar so that they may accordingly chalk out their future programme. Some of them fear that if the new set-up proves better than the old one, the Hurriyat Conference may be relegated to the background. In this context, the Hurriyat leaders can be bailed out only by Pakistan and the Kashmir Committee. What seems to have complicated their exercise is the diverse stand of its members on several issues. Professor Bhat said, “We have always been in favour of dialogue.” He stated that “we have no objection if the Kashmir Committee picks up the thread of negotiations with Islamabad in case the Hurriyat team is not given permission to visit Pakistan.” Kashmir experts are of the view that the relevance of the APHC can be determined by events that shape themselves after the installation of the new regime. |
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Farooq loyalists switching camps Srinagar, October 28 A large number of senior civil and police officers were seen at the private residence of the Mufti at Noagam when he returned from New Delhi today. Most of these officers were considered to be loyalists of Dr Farooq Abdullah when he was in power. A domestic servant of the Muftis has overnight become a VIP as such officers were seen chatting with him even when the Mufti was in New Delhi. A police officer was been discussing with the servant the security
arrangements being made at the residence of the Mufti. Senior officers initially thronged the residence of the Mufti when the results of the election come in the second week of this month as there were
indications that he would be chosen for the Chief Minister’s post by the coalition. They suddenly “disappeared” when the Congress projected Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad as the Chief Minister. However, they returned to the Mufti’s camp when things started taking shape following his meeting with Ms Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. A new Chief Secretary will first be appointed by the coalition government because the present incumbent, Mr I.S. Malhi, is retiring on October 31. He belongs to Batala town in Punjab. The practice has been that every new government has replaced the Director-General of Police and the axe might fall on Mr A.K. Suri as the Mufti and his daughter, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, have been critical of police “atrocities” on innocent people in Kashmir during the regime of Dr Abdullah. The Mufti and the Congress, returning to power in the state after 27 years, will certainly make sweeping changes in the administration and the police set-up where loyalists of Dr Abdullah were holding important positions. Politicians close to the Mufti are also in demand these days. |
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Troops mistake civilians for ultras, kill 4 Jammu, October 28 Rashtriya Rifles troops opened fire on a group which was coming down a hill “without any signal” leading to the death of four persons at Kakka in Surankote on Saturday night, official sources said here today. They said four persons, including three women, were also injured. Civilians are not allowed to move in these areas after sunset unless they inform the police or the nearest security force picket and they are required to carry “mashals” in their hands while moving, the sources said. People came out on the streets in the Surankote area to protest against the incident, the sources said. The slain civilians have been identified as Badar Din, Khalil Ahmed, Kousar Begum and Haniefa Begum, the sources said. In another incident, a militant was killed and a BSF constable injured in an encounter at the Noushera area in Rajouri district, the sources said.
PTI |
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3 ultras held with Rs 24 lakh Srinagar, October 28 A Defence Ministry spokesman said the troops laid a trap at Habda Mohalla in the city yesterday to nab those involved in financing militant organisations operating in the valley. As soon as two militants approached the area, they were challenged and asked to surrender. Later, both of them — Haji Mohammad Amin Qureshi and his son Showkat Ahmad Qureshi — were arrested along with Rs 22 lakh. In another operation, troops raided a militant hideout at Goshbugh in Baramula district last evening and arrested a militant and seized Rs 2 lakh from him. The militants admitted their involvement in financing militants operating in the valley, he said. Meanwhile, militants gunned down three persons in separate attacks, while an unidentified terrorist was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Kashmir valley since last night, a police spokesman said today. Habibullah Lone and Mohammad Ismail Badana were shot dead by unidentified militants inside their houses at Hari and Hachmarg villages in the border district of Kupwara late last night. Elsewhere, militants kidnapped and later killed Latief Band in Nandmarg village of Anantnag district. An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with security forces during search operations at Sirhama in the Bijbehara area of Anantnag district early today. Some arms and ammunition were seized from him. In the Jammu sector, six militants were killed by Indian troops at two separate places. A Defence Ministry spokesman said four militants were eliminated in an encounter with the troops in the Mahore area of Udhampur district and two infiltrators were gunned down in the Sunderbani area of Rajouri district. Large quantities of arms and ammunition were seized from the slain militants. In another incident, two BSF personnel sub inspector Ram Kumar and constable Boru were killed and a jawan was injured in an IED blast by militants at Udhampur district. |
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Jammu
bandh: students pelt buses with stones Jammu, October 28 For couple of hours passenger transport services remained off the road at three places in the city. Students blocked traffic outside the Government Science College and later took out a procession shouting slogans against continued discrimination against the people of the Jammu region. Nearly 30 passengers had a narrow escape when protesters petted two buses with stones on the Akhnoor road. The protesters demanded statehood for Jammu. However, for half-an-hour shops remained closed in the interior of the city where the federation activists resorted to violence. The student leaders accused the Congress and the Panthers Party of selling the interests of the people of Jammu by forging an alliance with the PDP. The federation president, Mr Rajinder Singh Jamwal, announced that the agitation for securing a statehood status for Jammu would be intensified. The RSS-led State Morcha chief, Mr Shri Kumar, was vociferous while berating the Congress and the Panthers Party role. He said people had given mandate to the Congress in the Jammu region only on the promise that it would elect a Chief Minister from the region. He said the very slogan of the statehood status raised by the Panthers Party chief, Prof Bhim Singh, had helped the party, which is otherwise a political nonentity, to win four seats in the Jammu region. |
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