 |
Saturday,
May 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Sonia
Gandhi visits Reasi today 4 hideouts
destroyed in J&K Vaishno
Devi pilgrim has SARS symptoms Bus strike
hits life in Jammu |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NEWS ANALYSIS NC’s about-turn on Pak, APHC Jammu, May 2 The main opposition leadership in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference, has started appearing in public in new political attire after it lost power to the PDP-Congress combine. Warning
against bottled water
|
|
Sonia Gandhi visits Reasi today Jammu, May 2 Much significance is being attached to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s first public meeting here following the visit of Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, at Srinagar where he offered the hand of friendship to Pakistan. This will be the first public meeting of Mrs Gandhi here after Assembly elections although she visited the state immediately after some major militants strikes. It is learnt that Mrs Gandhi has planned her visit here following reports of growing disenchantment among people against the Congress which has “failed” to fulfil any of its election promise to remove discrimination against the Jammu region. Although Mrs Gandhi during election meetings particularly in the Jammu region had promised that such issues will be addressed by the government, but no step has been taken, so far, by the coalition
government in this direction. With 20 seats in the Assembly the Congress is the largest partner in the coalition in which the ruling PDP of Mufti Sayeed has 16
MLAs. There is general impression here that the performance of the Congress was not up to the mark and even Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma who belongs to the party, hardly has a say in matters pertaining even to the Jammu division. Moreover, Mr Sharma and some of the Ministers belonging to the Congress do not seem to assert on major issues. Mrs Gandhi had before the elections said that she herself oversees the performance of the government in the states ruled by the Congress or where her party was part of a coalition government. A section of the Congress feels that the Mufti was trying to strengthen his PDP in Jammu division at the cost of the Congress. Observers feel that the relations between the PDP and the Congress have started showing strain and an indication to this effect was available during the recent visit of the Prime Minister to Srinagar when the party boycotted the public meeting although it was an official function. No minister from the Congress participated in the rally. Some Senior Congress leaders do not hesitate in criticising the party high command for having let the opportunity to form its government go although it had come after 27 years rule of the National Conference. They claim that the soft approach of the Mufti towards militants will harm the Congress in the Jammu division. Congress is being criticised for the lack of basic civic amenities here following the move of the Secretariat to Srinagar. The Jammu city has suddenly started experiencing shortage of water and power since the secretariat closed here on April 25 for shifting to Srinagar. It is being alleged in Congress circles that the thrust of the PDP was towards the appeasement of militants which was detrimental for the Congress. Agencies add:
Security has been beefed up in Reasi town of Udhampur district here in view of AICC President Sonia Gandhi’s rally tomorrow. The police and security forces have been alerted to make foolproof security arrangements in the town where the AICC chief is likely to address a gathering of 25,000 to 30,000, official sources said here. Security is also being tightened on the 80-km route from Jammu city to Reasi town by deploying additional companies of paramilitary troops, they said. Mrs Gandhi, will be accompanied by Pradesh Congress Chief Ghulam Nabi
Azad, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma and other Congress ministers in the coalition government, Congress sources here said. Party MLAs including the local MLA and Minister of State for Public Health Engineering, Jugal
Kishore, were camping in the town for the success of the rally, they said. Mr Azad will be arriving here from the capital this afternoon to review arrangements for the rally, the sources said. Congress President Sonia Gandhi will pay a visit to Mata Vashino Devi shrine tomorrow. Sources said that the Congress President along with other senior Congress leaders would reach
Sanjichat, 2.5 km from the shrine, in a helicopter. Thereafter Mrs Gandhi would trek to the shrine. Mrs Gandhi was coming to seek the blessings of Mata Vaishno
Devi, said Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma while recalling the visit of late Indra Gandhi, who after her defeat in 1977 elections had come to Mata Vaishno Devi’s shrine and won the parliamentary elections. |
|
4 hideouts destroyed in J&K
Jammu, May 2 On specific information about the presence of militants, troops launched a search operation in the Mendhar forest area of Poonch district and discovered a cave hideout last night. The cave hideout was destroyed and three AK rifles, one pistol, 360 rounds, five anti-tank rockets, 30 remote controls, 11 detonators, one RPG booster, one mortar bomb and three radio sets were seized, the sources said. Six rifle grenades, three hand grenades, two rockets, one gun and 10 IEDs were seized from another hideout in the Budi area of Udhampur district last night, the sources added. SRINAGAR: Security forces busted two militant hideouts and seized some arms, ammunition and explosives from the outskirts of the city on Friday, official sources said. The police, along with troops of 31st battalion of the BSF, unearthed two hideouts in the Darbagh and Zahal localities of Zakoora which led to the seizure of two pistols, two magazines, 16 rounds, a wireless set, 900 gm of plastic explosive, 10 kg of loose explosive, a wireless set, four AK magazines and 339 rounds of ammunition, the sources said. However, no one was arrested during the operations, they added.
PTI |
|
Vaishno Devi pilgrim has SARS symptoms
Jammu, May 2 Ms Malti Singh, hailing from Nagpur, was kept in an isolation room of the disaster ward of the hospital here after being referred by Katra hospital, they said. The hospital authorities have given masks and caps to her husband, Mr Girja Shankar Singh, and her daughter-in-law, who were travelling with her. The family had arrived here on Wednesday by train, the sources said, adding that she had complained of respiratory problems after alighting from the train. Her family members gave her medicines procured from a local chemist and proceeded on their pilgrimage. However, Ms Malti Singh’s condition deteriorated yesterday after returning from the cave shrine and she was taken to Katra hospital from where she was referred to the hospital here last evening. Ms Malti Singh has symptoms of SARS like high temperature, cough, bad cold and other respiratory problems, the Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr Sanjay Bhatt, said, adding that the patient was under continuous observation and medication and all tests were being conducted on her.
PTI |
|
Bus strike hits life in Jammu
Jammu, May 2 Attendance in educational institutions, banks and government offices was thin. Over 135 buses of the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) were pressed into service but that could not cater to the needs of the entire region. Pilgrims going to visit the holy Vaishno Devi shrine and tourists arriving at the railway station had to face problems due to the strike. The general public of Jammu faced hardships as essential commodities like milk and vegetables could not be transported due to the strike. Meanwhile, the Mini Bus Workers Union, in a statement, flayed Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma for the reduction of the minimum fare for a distance of 2 km to Rs 1.50 from the existing Rs 3. Mr Sharma said the SRTC notification was issued to provide succour to the general public. “Since a 10 per cent increase has also been made in favour of transporters, their strike is totally illegal,” he said and appealed to the union to call off its strike immediately. He also made it clear that if transporters continued with their strike, more government vehicles would be pressed into service.
UNI |
|
NEWS ANALYSIS Jammu, May 2 Dr Farooq Abdullah and his son, Mr Omar Abdullah, President of the National Conference, have started supporting Delhi initiating a dialogue with Islamabad. When Dr Abdullah was the Chief Minister and Mr Omar the Union Minister of state for External Affairs they were opposed to the resumption of the Indo-Pakistan talks. Dr Abdullah had even asked Delhi for a war against Pakistan for destroying militants’ training camps. Dr Abdullah, during his six-year tenure as Chief Minister, indulged in Pakistan bashing not only within Jammu and Kashmir and in Delhi but at several seminars and conferences he attended in several countries. Mr Omar Abdullah, at one time trusted man of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, followed in the footsteps of his father whenever he had to fulminate against Pakistan and raise its demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir. Why this change? Knowledgeable circles explain that NC leadership has realised that one of he factors responsible for the defeat of the party in the last Assembly poll was the anti-Pakistan stance and anti-militant approach of the party in the six years it remained in power. And the doubt in the mind of NC leadership about the negative impact of its Pakistan bashing was over when Islamabad refused to welcome an Indian delegation of MPs in case Dr Abdullah came with the delegation. Recently Dr Abdullah and Mr Sharad
Pawar, a friend of the Abdullah family, had met Mr Vajpayee and suggested to him that an Indian delegation of parliamentarians, headed by Dr
Farooq, be given permission to visit Pakistan for paving the way for the bilateral talks. Mr Vajpayee had not yet taken any decision on the suggestion but the Pakistan Government announced that any Indian delegation was a welcome if it did not include Dr Abdullah. Islamabad wanted Dr Abdullah to apologise for the way he had treated the separatists and militants in Kashmir. Another change: Dr Abdullah and Mr Omar Abdullah remained opponents of any dialogue with the leaders of the Hurriyat Conference. They would not spare, when they were in power, the APHC leaders and tried to paint them in bad light despite the fact that close associates of the former Chief Minister would invariably advise Dr Abdullah to avoid indulging in Pakistan bashing. But of late the father-son duo have suggested to the Centre in general and Mr Vohra in particular to hold talks with separatists, including the Hurriyat leaders. Addressing series of public rallies in the Jammu region Mr Omar Abdullah said “Mr Vohra should talk to those who dispute the state’s accession to India and who refuse to accept the sanctity of the Constitution of India and that of the state.” The people were amazed when he said “what is the purpose of talking to me and my partymen when we do not dispute Kashmir’s accession to India and respect and accept the sanctity of the Constitution of India.” These Developments clearly indicate that the National Conference leadership is trying to regain its foothold in the state. No doubt it has not lost its ground in the state as it is the only organisation which has its network of workers and supporters in major pockets of Jammu and Kashmir. It is keen to regain its political hold that kept it enthuse for the past 65 years in the state. And it has come to believe that by stopping Pakistan and Hurriyat Conference bashing it could halt the PDP and the Congress their programme of keeping the National Conference in check. Not only this. NC leadership has also realised that by launching a campaign against Pakistan and against the separatists it had lost scores of party activists, including block Presidents, legislators and ministers. When he was in power Dr Abdullah was advised by many of his ministerial colleagues to avoid inviting wrath of Pakistan agencies, and militants who had started targeting the NC activists. After the
PDP-Congress formed the Government number NC workers and leaders joined either the PDP or the Congress. Dr
Abdullah and his son have reports that the PDP and the Congress leaders were trying to lure even some NC MLAs into their fold. So far the plan has not succeeded and Dr Abdullah does not want to give any opportunity to his partymen to cross over to the ruling coalition. It was in this context that he announced in Jammu, at a Gujjar convention, that the National Conference was to form the Government soon. He said the NC would have formed the Government six months ago but he did not believe in the politics of defections. This announcement is being viewed as Dr Farooq’s sop to the fence sitters in his organisation so that they were forced to think twice before they tried to cross over to the ruling coalition. And inside reports revealed that the NC leadership had not given up its efforts on winning some disgruntled MLAs belonging to the Congress, the PDP and those sitting in the House as independents. |
|
Warning against bottled water Jammu, May 2 The samples of Kinley brand, batch number 45 dated 9.12.2002, manufactured at IFGA Bottling Company Limited, Jammu, and batch number 1138 dated 18.6.2001 manufactured by Hindustan Coca Cola Beverage Private Limited, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, were lifted following a complaint received by the Minister for Consumer Affrairs and Public Distribution and sent to the Regional Research Laboratory for checking the prescribed standards of water. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video: Despites World Health Organisation definition made on
Thursday that India had no SARS patients, authorities in Jammu said they
had admitted a woman patient suspected to be suffering from the virus. (
