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Friday,
April 18, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Pak shells Kargil, one killed PM’s visit: Nadimarg survivors ‘disappointed’ Night lodges planned for Pandits
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BSNL mobile services
in J&K by month end Centre ‘biased’
against industry Pensioners told to get orders verified
Jawan stumbles on mine,
dies Parents’ body: stop youth
‘disappearance’ in J&K
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Pak shells Kargil, one killed
Srinagar, April 17 The injured included four schoolchildren. Three residential houses were also damaged. Reports of heavy shelling were also received from the Karnah sector in north Kashmir. Official sources said the Pakistani troops opened heavy artillery and mortar shelling in the Kargil sector, targeting civilian areas and security forces installations. Mohammad Abdullah died during the shelling, sources added. The first shell landed at around 10 a.m. near Pioneer Public School in Kargil town, injuring an employee and four children. Ghulam Mohammad, a Kargil resident, said on the phone that more than 25 shells fell in and around the town. He said Saru Valley Public school, Jaffery Academic Modern Public School and Muthari Public School were also hit by the shelling. Ghulam Nabi Zia, another resident, said the entire town wore a deserted look for about two hours as Pakistani shells rained. ‘’We could see only smoke, he said adding that vehicles went off the roads and shopkeepers went underground,’’ he added. He said three houses were also damaged in the shelling. However, the occupants had a narrow escape as they shifted to the bunkers minutes before the shells landed. This is the second time within a week that the town was hit by the Pakistani shelling. A report from Baramula said the Pakistani troops shelled Indian positions in the Karnah sector today, disrupting life. People took shelter in underground bunkers as heavy shelling was still going on. However, there were no reports of any loss of life or damage to property in the shelling, officials added.
UNI |
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PM’s visit: Nadimarg survivors ‘disappointed’
Jammu, April 17 “We expected nothing from the Prime Minister. We only thought he would visit us and share our grief. Instead, he has avoided us,” said Jyoti
Pandita, a survivor of the Nadimarg carnage where 24 Kashmiri Pandits were shot dead by militants. “We have nothing to do with his visit as he has disappointed us by not visiting us, who have seen the deaths of our near and dear ones a month back,” Jyoti told PTI. She had lost her five family members in Nadimarg carnage. “What do we expect from the Prime Minister? Neither we are registered as migrants nor given any job or relief even after one month of the carnage,” Bushan Lal Pandit, another survivor, said. Chaman Lal, another survivor, said the Pandits in the valley were facing the wrath of the militants after the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley. All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference general secretary
H.L. Chatta said “the Prime Minister’s visit is a non-issue for us. His coming here meant to heal the wounds of Kashmir valley and not Pandits.” “The promises made by the Prime Minister during his last visit, including enhancement of relief and employment drive for Pandits, have remained unfulfilled,” he alleged. “We don’t demand anything from him. He is visiting a different constituency.” SRINAGAR: The visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has raised a hope among the people of Jammu and Kashmir who look forward to a financial package from the Centre.
PTI |
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Night lodges planned for Pandits Jammu, April 17 “The coalition government is working on a foolproof security plan for lodging more than 8,000 remaining Kashmiri Pandits in 270 secured places across the Kashmir valley at night”, official sources said today. The step is part of the confidence-building measures to prevent Hindus from leaving the valley, they said. Earlier the state government had planned to put up Pandits of different villages at one tehsil headquarters which was rejected by Hindus due to economic considerations. Kashmiri Pandit Conference general secretary Hira Lal Chatta said Pandits should be allowed to move out of the valley to Jammu. Meanwhile, Various Sikh organisations here have urged the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, to direct the J&K Government to provide tight security in the villages where members of the Sikh community and other minorities are living despite terrorism. An emergency meeting of the organisations was held here under the chairmanship of Mr Mohinder Singh, chief organiser of the Bhai Kanhaiyyaji Nishkam Seva Society, on the eve of the two-day visit of Mr Vajpayee to the Kashmir valley. They hailed the decision of the Prime Minister to address two public meetings in the valley. They claimed that the government had not so far given jobs to some Sikh victims of terrorism, while others were being adjusted in the services. Thirtyfive Sikh were massacred at Chattisinghpura in Kashmir some time ago. These leaders urged the Hurriyat Conference to withdraw the call for a bandh in the valley during the visit of the Prime Minister and come forward for a dialogue so that a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem was found. |
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BSNL mobile services
in J&K by month end
Srinagar, April 17 “Though the army has refused to allow us to erect a communication tower at Indira Nagar, which falls in the cantonment area, we will go ahead with the launch of mobile telephone services in Srinagar and Jammu simultaneously by the end of April, General Manager, BSNL, G. S. Marshall told PTI. Marshall said seven of the 10 towers have already been erected and work on other two towers was going on in full swing and if everything goes as planned, these towers should be ready by the launch date. He said all the equipment were being tested and so far the results were very encouraging. He, however, said the Badami Bagh cantonment area of the city would not be covered by the mobile phone services due to the refusal of Army to allow BSNL to erect a tower. He said the BSNL staff had worked round the clock for the launch of the services and we will be just a fortnight late from the original launch date, he added. The equipment had reached nearly 40 days late to BSNL, Srinagar, due to closure of national highway because of landslides and some misunderstanding over the payment of sales tax on the
equipment at
Lakhanpur, he said. PTI |
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Centre ‘biased’
against industry Jammu, April 17 Mr Kuldeep Dogra, chairman of the newly formed FJI, told mediapersons here today that the representatives of the industry had virtually been kept out of the proposed meeting by certain “vested interests” in the bureaucracy and the Chamber of Commerce, a body of traders, had been invited to discuss the problems of the industry. He alleged that about 70 per cent industrial units in the state had gone sick because of bureaucratic wrangling. He said the “nexus” between the bureaucracy and the traders had resulted in a sluggish growth of the industry and “misuse” of central and state funds. Mr Dogra said the Centre was also discriminating against the industry in the state as it had only offered a package to Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. He said the Chief Minister, Mr Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was trying to attract the industry from Mumbai and Hyderabad without taking into consideration with the units already set up here were in the red. He said the package for the revival of the industry was a half-hearted attempt. He demanded that the Prime Minister should fulfil his commitment of debt relief for the revival of sick units and tax holiday should be extended to Jammu and Kashmir on the pattern of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. Mr Dogra said industrial and labour policies should be formulated by the state government without further delay. |
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Pensioners told to get orders verified
Jammu, April 17 This has been necessitated by the provisions of the state’s treasury code. Failure to do so would lead to cancellation of the unverified pension payment orders and “initiation of appropriate action”, the Financial Commissioner J and K Government, Mohammad Shafi Pandit, said. He said instructions had been issued to treasury officers and the bank branches concerned for adopting a speedy verification procedure. For migrant pensioners from the valley who draw their pension from various treasuries or bank branches of Jammu division or in New Delhi, he said they should present their forms to the nearest treasury in Jammu or New Delhi rather than to the treasury in the valley from where the pension was drawn by them earlier.
PTI |
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Two die in stampede
at Sufi shrine
Srinagar, April 17 Official sources said the incident took place as the devotees were trying to enter the main compound of the shrine. Thousands of devotees, including women and children, from all over the valley had gathered at Aishmuqam on the Anantnag- Pahalgam road last evening to take part in the Urs, they added. When the devotees holding torches were entering the shrine there was a stampede resulting in death of a child, Ishaq Ali Nanda and an unidentified woman. Five others were injured.
UNI |
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Jawan stumbles on mine, dies Jammu, April 17 Naik Ramappa Teli, who was wounded critically when he stumbled on to the mine in Avtaal village in Ramgarh sector of the district, succumbed to injuries in hospital yesterday, the sources said. About 40 per cent mines are yet to be cleared in forward villages, causing casualties, they said adding de-mining had been completed along IB in Kathua and Jammu districts. Anti-tank and anti-personnel mines were planted during “Operation Parakaram” along Jammu border in December 2001. PTI |
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Parents’ body: stop youth
‘disappearance’ in J&K Srinagar, April 17 In a letter to the APDP, Amnesty’s Director of the Asia-Pacific programme, Demelza Stubbings, said the international human rights watchdog supported the call by the APDP “for an end to disappearances across Jammu and Kashmir and for an official inquiry into the disappearances”, a spokesman of the APDP said here today. The spokesman said relatives of “disappeared” persons had begun a week-long fast to highlight their plight and press the government to “stop disappearances” in the state and demand punishment for the officials responsible for these. According to official figures, 3,744 persons went missing from 1990 to 2002. However, local observers claim a much higher figure.
PTI |
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