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Saturday,
November 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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J&K ASSEMBLY Akram Lone set to become
Dy Speaker
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I will quit if charge proved : NC MLA Pak agencies’ last-ditch bid at infiltration 
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J&K ASSEMBLY Jammu, November 22 The 21-day-old coalition government came under attack of the National Conference and the BJP during the discussion on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address which was initiated by Mr Madan Lal Sharma of the Congress. Mr Mehboob Beg of the National Conference said after coming to power the Mufti had somersaulted on his party’s promise of disbanding the SOG and had now decided to merge the group with the regular police. Both organisations had committed excesses on the innocent persons residing in the Kashmir valley, he alleged. He said an impartial committee should be set up to heal the wounds of the victims of militancy and added that the Kashmir issue should be settled by India and Pakistan through a dialogue. Mr Beg wondered as to how the Mufti was claiming that the PDP had won the mandate of the people of the Kashmir when his party had only bagged 16 seats against the 19 of the National Conference. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Mohiuddin Shah of the National Conference, accused the PDP of trying to mislead the people by having made such promises in its manifesto which could never be fulfilled. He accused the PDP of having indulged in pre-poll rigging which led to the pre-determined outcome of the election results which was contested by many militants. Mr Shah claimed that militancy was controlled to a large extent during the NC regime, but cautioned that Pakistan could try to create trouble again because it had not yet reconciled with the idea that the Partition was complete. He said the situation within the state had tremendously improved during the NC regime and the PDP-led government was not facing the stress which the NC did. He demanded that the autonomy should be restored by making required amendments in the Constitution. Mr Ajay Sadhotra (NC) claimed that the draconian laws including the Public Safety Act (PSA), were introduced in the state when the Congress supported government of Mr G.M. Shah was in power in 1985 and the Mufti himself was the PCC chief. Mr Muzaffar Beg, Finance Minister, was the Advocate-General at that time, he pointed out. He accused the Congress of betraying the people of Jammu by not sticking to its stand of the Chief Minister from this region after winning the Assembly elections. The Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, who belongs to Jammu, had not been given adequate powers. Mr Sadhotra said the decision of the Mufti government to withdraw POTA was just eyewash because more stringent laws like the PSA and the Armed Forces Special Act were being enforced. Mr Jugal Kishore (BJP) accused the
Mufti government of trying to negate the efforts of the BJP-led government at the Centre to restore normalcy in the state. He said the intentions of the state government were doubtful as it was indiscriminately releasing the terrorists who were involved in the massacre of innocent men, women and children. The BJP member also took exception to the Mufti government treating the martyrs of the security forces and the terrorists at par while providing compensation to their kins. Mr Taj Mohiuddin and Mr Shaffi Bhat (both Cong) accused the previous NC government for patronising corruption and nepotism. They alleged that innocent persons were arrested under POTA and were harassed by the SOG and other task force. |
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Accountability Bill sent to expert Jammu, November 22 The Bill is expected to be tabled in the Assembly in current session. It provides for bringing former and serving bureaucrats, Chief Ministers, Ministers, MLAs and other public men under the jurisdiction of the Commission. Setting up of the commission was one of the main clauses of the PDP poll manifesto and it was incorporated in the Common Minimum Programme. The Mufti had promised transparency and an Accountability Commission to probe acts of omission and commission of former bureaucrats, ministers and legislators and look into complaints against the serving bureaucrats, ministers and legislators including the Chief Minister. A section of National Conference leaders describe this step as witch hunt. However, one NC MLA and a former Minister, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, said “I will be the first person to support the formation of the Commission provided all ranks in Government services, right from clerks to the Chief Secretary are brought under the purview of the Bill on accountability commission.” Informed sources said that the Law Minister, on the advice of the Chief Minister, has sent the Bill to Mr R.P. Sethi for opinion. He has also been requested to examine the feasibility of investing the proposed Commission with Judicial powers for trying and convicting the accused or should the Commission be empowered to give its recommendations on initiating legal action against the accused. The sources said that whenever the state Legislature adopted the Bill Mr R.P. Sethi was likely to head the commission. Several legal, financial and administrative experts, of known integrity, will be members of the commission. According to sources the office of the Governor would not be brought under the purview of the Commission. |
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Akram Lone set to become
Dy Speaker Jammu, November 22 Earlier, there were indications that the post might go to the PDP because the Speaker, Mr Tara Chand, belongs to the Congress. However, the coalition partners later decided to let the post of Deputy Speaker go to the NC, which is the single largest party in the Assembly. Meanwhile, the NC has urged the Speaker to provide all facilities, including an office chamber in the Assembly, to Mr Mohiuddin Shah, who is the Leader of the Opposition. |
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2 take oath
as MLCs Jammu, November 22 Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muzaffar Hussain Beig, Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council Chunilal Khajuria, Leader of National Conference in the House Abdul Qayoom and legislators — M. Y. Taing, Mohammad Aslam, Brij Mohan Sharma, Ikhlaq Khan, were present on the occasion. Sofi Ghulam Mohammad is a working journalist and Chief Editor of Srinagar Times. Farida Miris a well-known social worker and a member of the state Commission for Women.
PTI |
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I will quit if charge proved : NC MLA Jammu, November 22 Mr Shah, reacting to the accusations levelled by Mr Mohammad Shafi Bhat (Congress) in the Assembly, said: “I will resign as MLA if any evidence is produced that I allotted residential plots to my sons”. Earlier, during his speech on motion of thanks after the Governor’s address, Mr Bhat levelled charges against Mr Shah, a former Housing and Urban Development Minister, saying that the only action he took during ministership was to allot two residential plots to his sons during the fag-end of the NC government’s tenure. Mr Bhat, who resigned from the NC after being denied party mandate and joined the Congress, also accused the previous government of “talking much and doing nothing”. Another former NC leader, now an independent MLA, Moulvi Abdul Rasheed, during his speech on the motion, termed NC as the source of all ills faced by the state.
PTI |
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Pak agencies’ last-ditch bid at infiltration Jammu, November 22 Although during the past three weeks more than 35 infiltrators have been killed in various sectors on the LoC, more than 150 have crossed into the state during the period. Official reports said in two operations, more than 15 infiltrators, six in Mendhar, five in Machal in Kupwara district and four in Poonch district, had been killed on the LoC during the past seven days indicating that the ingress from across the border had not stopped. The reports said earlier militants used to take advantage of maize crops in the Poonch and Rajouri sectors for establishing hideouts. Of late, they have attempted at crossing into the state under the cover of morning fog. With the change in guard in the Civil Secretariat and after the Mufti-led government announced a liberal policy for detained militants and those keen on eschewing violence, a large number of local youths are looking for an opportunity to join the mainstream. This has seemingly prevented militants, including foreign mercenaries, operating in different areas in the state, from regrouping their activists to launch armed strikes against security forces and leaders. Hence the agencies across the border have again started seeking assistance from the Pakistani troops for pushing in groups of militants under cover of fire. Official sources confirmed that during the past 15 days the level of small arms, mortar and artillery firing has increased to provide fire cover to the infiltrators. The sources said besides Kupwara, Uri (in Kashmir), Poonch Rajouri and Akhnoor sectors were being used by the militants for infiltration on. Another trend witnessed is the change in tactics adopted by the ultras while sending suicide squads. Knowing that members of such squads invariably get killed, they have been provided with fake identify cards so that nobody could point an accusing finger against Pakistan and its agencies encouraging cross-border terrorism. The change in strategy was confirmed when Sarfraz and Akram, two ultras were killed in an encounter today with the security forces in the Pamposh Hotel building in Srinagar, housing paramilitary forces. Identity cards recovered from the two had revealed that the two were painters and belonged to the Bijnapore area of Uttar Pradesh. A senior BSF officer said the two were definitely from Pakistan. The examination of their bodies bore no resemblance with youths belonging to UP and Bijnapore was not a hotbed of militancy. He said on several occasions the ultras had carried fake identity cards. According to the officer, when several militants were killed and the identity cards recovered from them bore testimony to Pakistan’s involvement, Islamabad changed its strategy by giving them fake identity cards. He said it might not be surprising that the Pak-aided militants would be carrying identity cards showing they belonged to Bangladesh or any other country. |
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Governor’s assent
to three Bills Jammu, November 22 |
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