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Wednesday,
April 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Vohra appeals to all for dialogue Pak response to PM’s offer hailed Omar pooh-poohs ‘healing touch Lashkar, Jaish ultras step up offensive |
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Leh project to be
commissioned in Oct Mehbooba PDP caretaker chief
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Vohra appeals to all for dialogue Srinagar, April 29 Talking to mediapersons at the end of his week-long visit to Kashmir, Mr Vohra expressed the hope that those who did not meet him this time would come forward in the days ahead, making an obvious reference to the separatist Hurriyat Conference. Describing his first visit to Kashmir as a good beginning, Mr Vohra said the problem in Kashmir had both internal and external dimensions. “It is political indeed, but there are other issues which are equally important”. These included unemployment of educated youth, rehabilitation of families of militancy victims and several other related problems, he added. “I have great hopes about the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali”, Mr Vohra said in reply to a question. He added that the message of peace initiated by Mr Vajpayee from the Kashmir soil and from Parliament was significant. The latest beginning was a significant development having a good impact on relations between the neighbouring countries. Mr Vohra said there was no fixed time-frame for the dialogue process that would continue, adding that efforts would continue to meet everybody. The dialogue process would remain incomplete without meeting all sections, he pointed out with an obvious reference to meeting the separatist leadership, particularly the 23-member conglomerate of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC). He also made an appeal to “all with whatever belief” to come forward and participate in the dialogue process. He said that his Kashmir visit was a follow-up of his earlier visit to Jammu in March when he met senior state government functionaries. During his visit, he met Governor G.C. Saxena, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, leader of the Opposition Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, apart from the Speaker of Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council. He expressed the hope that he would also be meeting a cross section of people in Jammu, Leh and Kargil during the forthcoming visits. “Its objective was to gather a broad perception of the parliamentary structure in the state”, Mr Vohra commented on his Jammu visit. Mr Vohra said that he had met over 30 organisations represented by over 170 persons during his eight-day stay in Srinagar. He held that the elected members were the voice of the people and not a single party could claim to be the sole representative of the people. He added that in such a dialogue process, it was necessary to know the views of all political parties. Mr Vohra held that it was for the people of the state to determine who actually voiced their views, those elected or those not elected. He said that he had meetings with elected members, a large number of organisations representing Hindus, Sikhs, trade unions, editors, journalists, eminent citizens and NGOs working in different areas of the valley. |
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Pak response to PM’s offer hailed Srinagar, April 29 According to an official spokesman, the Chief Minister said the telephonic talk between Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali to break the ice between the two countries would help create a thaw in the situation in keeping with the people’s yearning for peace in the country, and Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti Sayeed said that it was heartening that this time peace initiative started from the soil of Kashmir and the PM’s offer of friendship to Pakistan on one hand and dialogue to militants within the state on the other would be taken to logical as conclusion with the cooperation of everybody. He also expressed optimism that those who had some reservations on joining the process of dialogue as part of the peace initiative, would also understand the urgency of resolving issues through talks and not violence. The Chief Minister said that India had always demonstrated a desire to live in peace with its neighbours and the PM’s latest initiative during two-day visit to the valley was indeed a historic one and reflective of this desire. He prayed for the success of this initiative that would have direct bearing on the situation in the State. |
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Omar pooh-poohs ‘healing touch Jammu, April 29 Addressing a public meeting in the border town of Mendhar in Poonch, he said the PDP government with its “wrong” policies had compromised the “dignity, safety and security” of the people of the state. While the state government was soft on militants, the common man was suffering. The much-publicised withdrawal of POTA was a hoax and the government was using a more draconian Act — Prevention of Sabotage and Security Act (PSSA) — to harass the innocent, particularly those who did not toe its political line. Mr Omar was taken in a procession led by more than a hundred horse riders amid beating of drums and dancing by local residents. He said the Mufti government needed to put its own house in order and address the contradictions within. He said due to “misgovernance” in the state, all development works had come to a standstill. The National Conference chief reminded the Mufti that during the elections he had promised that each family would have at least two persons on government jobs but in the past six months, the government had made no effort to create new employment avenues. He said the unemployed were being misled by “hollow slogans and false promises”. Later, a deputation of border migrants met Mr Omar Abdullah. He assured them that he would take up their problems in Parliament. |
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Lashkar, Jaish ultras step up offensive Jammu, April 29 With large groups of activists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba having sneaked into the upper reaches of Shopian, Kulgam, Kokernag, Kupwara (all in the Kashmir valley) and Poonch, Rajuri and Doda districts in the Jammu region from across the border in recent weeks, security and intelligence agencies fear further rise in the level of violence in the state. Jaish-e-Mohammad field commanders sought cooperation from activists of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Recent wireless messages intercepted by the security agencies revealed that Jaish and Hizb activists had agreed to carry out coordinated operations against security forces. One message said, “Hum ikatthey kaam karengay aur Vohra ke mission ko nakaam karengay” (we will defeat Vohra’s mission). This is part of the conversation between the field commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen. Hitherto, there has been no such coordination between the activists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. Field reports said cooperation from the Hizbul Mujahideen had helped Jaish-e-Mohammad activists to secure logistic support from Hizbul’s local militants. The suicide attack on the AIR station in Srinagar and another on a BSF picket in Kupwara, besides other acts of sabotage and subversion, had been carried out by Al-Madina, which is a part of the Jaish-e-Mohammad. Harkat-ul-Ansar and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, after being banned by the USA and India, have been operating under varied names, including Tehrik Dawatwal Irshad, Al-Eurqan, Al-Almin and Al-Madina, Operation under new names is part of the strategy to escape the possible imposition of a ban on the known outfits after Pakistan Home Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat announced in Islamabad that the government planned to ban Lashkar, Jaish and other outfits. Reports from across the border reveal that the Pakistan Government may deal firmly with some rebel outfits to convince the US Government and its allies that Islamabad has no hand in aiding cross-border terrorism. This strategy has become imperative for Islamabad after it has come under pressure from the US leadership on the need for reciprocating the Indian Prime Minister’s offer for friendship and talks by halting infiltration. But so far, groups of jehadis seem to be in no mood to oblige Gen Pervez Musharraf or Pakistan President Mir Zaffarullah Khan Jamali. It is in this context that the security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir have found evidence of rebels, especially foreign mercenaries, having established their bases and hideouts in urban areas. The agencies referred to today’s encounter between
militants and the security forces at Bharat Nallal in Doda, saying that the spot where the militants were hiding was at a short distance from the residence of Mr Abdul Majid Wani, Minister of State for Urban Development. These agencies said the next step of the militants, particularly those belonging to Jaish and Lashkar, would be to move to the towns and the summer capital of Srinagar for carrying out a series of attacks. |
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Leh project to be
commissioned in Oct Jammu, April 29 The project, which is almost 90 per cent complete and built at a cost of Rs 34 crore, will be commissioned at Leh for the electrification of rural areas in the Ladakh region, Mr Rigzin said. The minister, along with the Chief Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Mr Thupstan Chhewang, reviewed the progress of work on different power projects in Ladakh. Mr Rigzin said the Ladakh region had a huge potential to generate hydroelectric power. A total of 14.2 MW of power is being generated at Leh through hydel as well as diesel generators and the off-take in winters is only 7.2 MW, Mr Rigzin said. The total power requirement in Leh district is 60 MW, he said, adding that 6 MW of power would be added in another two years with the commissioning of the Igoo Martsclang project in October and the 1 MW Domkhar project later. Four other hydel power projects are in the pipeline in the district and will be funded by the Rural Electric Corporation, the minister said. PTI |
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Mehbooba PDP caretaker chief Srinagar, April 29 Mr Beig, who is the Finance, Law, Planning and Parliamentary Minister in the coalition government, resigned today and nominated Ms Mehbooba, vice-president of the PDP, as caretaker chief of the party, PDP sources said.
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Srinagar, April 29
