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Monday,
May 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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GEELANI’S REPLACEMENT Ajat Shatru’s exit from NC ‘non-event’ Congress CMs’ conclave on May 30
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Govt to retrench
inefficient staff Srinagar-Leh highway opens for traffic Pandits to be relocated
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GEELANI’S REPLACEMENT Jammu, May 25 About two years ago the APHC leadership had written a letter to the chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Mr G.M. Bhat, requesting him to nominate some other person to represent the party in the APHC. At that stage the Jamaat leadership had not agreed with the demand of the APHC chairman. In fact the APHC had been provoked to seek the recall of Syed Ali Shah Geelani following a heated exchange between him and late Abdul Gani Lone. Mr Geelani had not relished Mr Lone’s plainspeaking against Islamabad and foreign mercenaries when he was on a visit to Pakistan in connection with the wedding of his son, Mr Sajjad Lone, who now heads the People’s Conference and represents the party in the APHC executive committee. Though Mr G.M. Bhat has, in his letter to the APHC chairman, mentioned ill health of Mr Geelani as the reason for his replacement by Mr Ali Mohammad, two factors are said to have contributed to his recall from the Hurriyat executive. First, his recent outburst against Pakistan for having imposed restrictions on the activities of the Hizbul Mujahideen. Secondly, the moderates in Jamaat-e-Islami had mounted pressure on Mr G.M. Bhat Amir for sidelining Mr Geelani who had been following a policy which ran counter to the working committee of the organisation. Mr Geelani’s close proximity with militants, especially the activities of the Hizbul Mujahideen, had been one of the factors that widened the distance between the moderates and the hardliners in Jamaat-e-Islami. Syed Ali Shah Geelani has refuted the claims of the Jamaat chief that he was being recalled as he was not physically fit. Mr Geelani had undergone a major surgery in Mumbai recently. He said, I am physically fit but I have opted out of the APHC till a clarification was sought from the Lone brothers, Sajjad and Bilal, whether they were following the Hurriyat agenda or not.” Mr Geelani had earlier also complained to the APHC leadership that the Peoples’ Conference, headed by Mr Sajjad Lone, had indirectly participated in the September 2002 assembly poll, which was a violation of the APHC decision to boycott the election. As such he had demanded the expulsion of the Peoples’ Conference representative from the executive committee of the APHC. Soon after returning to Srinagar after the surgery and the release from detention, Mr Geelani had revived his demand for a clarification from the Peoples’ Conference leadership so that it was ascertained that the party was not violating the APHC agenda. The APHC chairman, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, whose love for Mr Geelani had waned during the last one year thought it better to ignore Mr Geelani’s complaint and the demand. Prof Bhat is said to have preferred the Peoples’ Conference, which has pockets of influence in Kashmir to an individual like Mr Geelani whose hawkish attitude had created several porblems. And Mr Geelani stands more isolated than he was earlier. |
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Ajat Shatru’s exit from NC ‘non-event’ Jammu, May 25 His joining the Congress at Delhi yesterday and his subsequent meeting with Ms Sonia Gandhi just passed off as a non-event among the Congress circles here. The National Conference ridiculed Mr Ajat Shatru and said that the changing of colours by such persons would not have any effect on the party. A senior Congress leader told the TNS that there was nothing to rejoice over the entry of Mr Shatru in the party “as such entrants were expected to stick here only till the Congress was sharing power in the state and might roll their bag and baggage in case there was any change in the political scenario”. The leader, who did not want to be identified, alleged that Mr Ajat Shatru was following in the footsteps of his father, Dr Karan Singh, who in a bid to remain glued to the chair, changed loyalties at the Centre. Mr Ajat Shatru began his ministerial career from the National Conference, in which he was a Cabinet minister. However, he lost the assembly election from Nagrota this time and ever since the formation of the Congress-supported government in the state there was talk of his joining the Congress. However, he had been vehemently denying such reports. It is learnt that he was supposed to join the Congress at a recent public meeting of Ms Sonia Gandhi at Reasi, but he did not do so because she had to cancel her visit because of bad weather. Dr Karan Singh has now mended fences with the Congress leadership at Delhi and it is being said in political circles that he accepted to become a “sacrificial goat” by contesting the Lok Sabha election against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from Lucknow only to come closer to the coterie of Ms Sonia Gandhi. While Mr Ajat Shatru was a minister in the Cabinet of Dr Farooq Abdullah, his father, Dr Karan Singh, accepted to become chairman of the controversial autonomy committee which was appointed by the National Conference government to prepare the case for the restoration of autonomy to the state by reverting to the pre-1953 position. He was given the status of Cabinet minister, but he resigned the post after some time. Meanwhile, Mr Ajay Sadhotra, provincial president of the National Conference, has said that Mr Ajat Shatru had first deserted the Congress to enjoy the fruits of power for six years as a minister in the National Conference government, but he started feeling uncomfortable when Dr Abdullah decided the party to play the role of opposition. |
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Congress CMs’ conclave on May 30 Jammu, May 25 Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi, will preside over the meeting and also monitor the progress report of the Congress-ruled states on May 30 and May 31. Much significance is being attached to this fifth meeting of Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states due to coming elections which are crucial and the offensive postures that opposition BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have adopted particularly in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. After the last meeting the number of the Congress Chief Ministers has increased to 15 from the earlier 14 with the party defeating the BJP in Himachal. Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister in the PDP led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir also belongs to the Congress and is a special invitee to the meeting. It is being said that Srinagar has been chosen as the venue for the meeting, which is held twice a year, because the Congress being an alliance partner in the state was interested in sending signals that the situation in the militancy-hit into state was normalising after the coalition came to power. However, PCC chief, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is the host of the conclave, on telephone at Srinagar, said that there was no such reason for holding the meeting at Srinagar. The conclave is being held in the valley as there could be no better place than Kashmir for the meeting in summer. He said that the meeting will focus on issues pertaining to the security and development in the Congress-ruled states. Various national issues concerning common people will also be deliberated. It is learnt that Ms Gandhi was expected to take account of implementation of the party’s election manifesto by the Congress Chief Ministers. Meanwhile, Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed, yesterday met Ms Gandhi and discussed implementation of the Common Minimum Programme of the coalition government in the state. An official spokesman said that among other things the Mufti also discussed the arrangements for the Srinagar conclave. The Chief Minister urged Ms Gandhi to ask the Congress Chief Ministers to explore the possibility of promoting tourism in Jammu and Kashmir from their states. The Mufti also met Dr Manmohan Singh and Ms Ambika Soni. The Chief Ministers will start reaching Srinagar on May 29 and will be lodged in Broadway Hotel. The deliberations are also expected to be held in the hotel where security has been tightened. The party is likely to bear the expenditure of the conclave. The Chief Ministers have been asked not to bring their families or guests with them and skeleton staff of three or four persons should accompany them. |
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Govt to retrench inefficient staff
Srinagar, May 25 Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has issued orders to all departments to identify dead wood which will be discarded to create vacancies for younger blood, sources close to the coalition government told PTI here today. The sources said the government, through premature retirement scheme, had decided to do away with employees whose annual performance reports (APR) did not meet the expectations. The employees who were above 48 years of age and had completed 22 years in service and their APRs did not meet the expectations of the government would be retrenched through the voluntary retirement scheme, the sources said. The cases of employees identified by the department heads, under the scheme, would be sent to the Governor for retrenchment under Article 26 of the state Constitution, they said. The move was aimed at removing the inefficient employees and creating opportunities for the younger blood to improve the working of the government offices, the sources said. Several senior officials of the state government admitted that the workforce in several departments was too oversized and many employees show their face only in the beginning of a month to collect salary cheques. PTI |
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Srinagar-Leh highway opens for traffic Srinagar, May 25 The highway, lifeline to the frontier cold desert region of Ladakh, remains open to traffic in summers while the high mountain Zojilla Pass between Sonmarg-Gumri remains snowbound during the winter months. The road to the Ladakh region will be opened for civil vehicles within a couple of days. The re-opening of the road starts with the supplies of truckloads of essential commodities and other items for the region and continues throughout to last the next winter. The snow clearance work was started on March 20 by the Beacon project of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The officer Commanding 56 RCC Major Issac at the head of snow clearance team comprising GREF Operators and local labourers of Nilgrah and Gagangir had done the job of locating and orientation of road axis buried under 50 feet to 60 feet deep snow at some places. On the occasion of reopening, Brig A. Mahadevan, Chief Engineer, Beacon and Mr A.P. Sinha, Officiating Commander, 32 BRTF, said this year, there had been a record snow accumulation. Initially, the snow clearance work started on a fast pace and the road was cleared upto Baltal on April 5. On the zig zag path of Zojilla, the pace was substantially reduced because of avalanches and repeated snowfalls spells during the clearance. The team comprising 60 labourers and assisted by four dozers and three snow cutters finally cleared the road by May 15. |
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Pandits to be relocated
Srinagar, May 25 The government has decided that Pandits who are feeling unsafe at their native places be accommodated at the special clusters, Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen said today. Yaseen said the government had asked Pandit leaders to provide a list of the members of their community who intended to move to the housing clusters. “We had a two-hour-long meeting with the representatives of Pandits and we discussed all problems threadbare. They are keen on resettling the Pandits living in far-flung areas,” the minister said. Meanwhile, in view of the assurances by the government, the Hindu Welfare Society (HWS), an apex body of Kashmiri Pandits living in the valley, today announced suspension of the fast, which was scheduled to commence today, for 15 days.
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Jammu, May 25
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