J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

J&K ASSEMBLY
Centre, not Jaitley, will talk to us: CM
Jammu, November 28
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said that his government would strive to check people’s alienation through transparent and good governance with a healing touch that would steer the people away from the mess and herald peace and dignity.

Ultras torture man before killing
Jammu, November 28
In one of the most brutal killings reported so far, Pakistan-sponsored terrorists carved their names with a knife on the body of a civilian before killing him in the border town of Mendhar in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir today.

A badge of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit calling for God's help and jehad lie among the loose ammunition. The recovery made by the BSF on display at its camp in Srinagar on Thursday.
— PTI

J&K ASSEMBLY
Centre, not Jaitley, will talk to us: CM
Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 28
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today said that his government would strive to check people’s alienation through transparent and good governance with a healing touch that would steer the people away from the mess and herald peace and dignity.

Winding up the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address in the legislative council today, the Chief Minister said delivery of justice was the pledge the coalition government had made to the people.

Mufti Sayeed said the pledge of the government could be translated into reality by an effective mechanism of transparent and accountable administration which was pro-active and responsive to the needs of the people. Being one of the major challenges, it had to be tackled with proper balance and determination, he added.

Mufti Sayeed emphasised the need for reforms in the police force and said a police commission would be set up. He said his endeavour would be to make the force people-friendly. Since a policeman came in daily contact with the people and became a deciding factor about the image of the entire force, people with higher qualification and merit needed to be inducted at the policeman’s level so that they could appreciate a situation better and deal with people with greater responsibility. Accordingly he had asked for earmarking a specific quota for the youth of higher merit in recruitment to lower ranks like constables.

On reorientation of the Special Operations Group (SOG), the Chief Minister said it was being felt that by assisting in arresting one militant, it was in fact, creating 10 terrorists. While he wanted militancy to be tackled firmly, unnecessary harassment of civilians would not be accepted — human rights violations the least. He did not find any justification in killing of innocents and political workers by militants and said the security forces, on the other hand, had to act with firmness. He lauded the role of the Army in defending the frontiers but felt that it was quite different and difficult for them to face the internal situations. He said reorientation of the SOG, which was a conscious decision of the coalition government, would enable surrenders, better perks and service conditions that was vital for making the SOG disciplined and responsible.

The Chief Minister said the people had voted for change to see a difference in the administrative set-up that should address their problems and dispense justice to meet the aspirations of all three regions. Referring to some good work done by Mr G.M. Shah’s government, he said the people remembered the performance of the then Law Minister, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, and his remaining by their side at a critical time and returned him to the Assembly with a huge margin of about 20,000 votes. “People are not ungrateful, they do remember good and honest work”, he observed.

The Chief Minister regretted the malicious disinformation campaign on issuing appointment letters to militancy victims recently in Kashmir and clarified that the beneficiaries were those whose kin were killed by the militants. He said such victims of Udhampur district would be provided jobs at a special function at Udhampur. However, welfare of the families of militants in the shape of free education, too, is provided in the common minimum programme. “Did militants take permission from their children before taking up arms”, he asked, adding that the hapless members of their families should not suffer.

During his hour-long maiden speech in the Upper House, Mufti Sayeed called upon the Centre to immediately start an unconditional dialogue for the resolution of the Kashmir problem, adding that there could not be any demarcation line.

The dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir had to be on a broader plank and not on a party-nominee level, he emphasised and urged for an early start to it with the representatives elected to the Assembly in a transparent manner. “The Government of India and not Mr Arun Jaitley will talk to us”, he maintained.

Mufti Sayeed said going back to the pre-1953 position was neither the plank of the Farooq government in the 80s nor had it found any mention in the Indira-Sheikh accord. Though Dr Abdullah insisted on autonomy during the parliamentary elections in 1996, his party made the issue an agenda, which created much hype, and the Centre summarily rejected the resolution passed by the state legislature in this regard. He said while the development needs of the three regions were not the issue, the main hurdle was the discrimination at the political level that had to be addressed with sincerity of purpose.

He rejected the demand for trifurcation saying it was against the very basis of the Instrument of Accession. He said the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) would be empowered adequately and a similar set-up evolved at Kargil which had been refused earlier.

On granting relief on the pattern of Kashmiri migrants to the displaced people of Jammu region, the Chief Minister endorsed the decision of the previous government that it would work at providing a sort of incentive for encouraging migration from various places in the region.

He, however, described the return of Kashmiri migrants in a phased manner to their homes in the valley as a pledge of his government and assured guaranteed security and jobs to those desirous of returning. He said he would not go the Centre with a demand for a whopping grant of Rs 3,000 crore for this, adding that money should not be a consideration for a cause. However, he said, the government would make a small beginning in this regard and mobilisation and motivation of migrants had been taken up at various levels.

Favouring friendly relations between India and Pakistan, that he termed a necessity of the compulsions as had happened in the Far East and Europe, Mufti Sayeed said in an era of globalisation, the two nations could not afford mutual hostility any longer.

About releasing political prisoners, he said his government had the mandate of the people to deliver and they were not irresponsible. This, he said, was not done to appease any section of the people but he firmly believed in battle of ideas in a democratic set-up. He said after his release, Yasin Malik addressed public meetings at several places. He said a political process, even by the Hurriyat Conference, would make “our job easy” in restoring peace.

Ultras torture man before killing

Jammu, November 28
In one of the most brutal killings reported so far, Pakistan-sponsored terrorists carved their names with a knife on the body of a civilian before killing him in the border town of Mendhar in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir today.

Official sources said here two Pakistani terrorists, Abu Juniad and Abu Usma of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, kidnapped Basharat Hussain from his house at Kasblandi village late last night, the sources said.

They took him to a dense forest area and tortured him severely, before carving out their names, on his body, the sources said. After that Hussain was shot dead and the body was thrown near his village, the sources said. Residents of Mendhar staged a bandh in the town today in protest. PTI