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Saturday,
June 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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DELEGATIONS MEET VOHRA
J&K ASSEMBLY Blows averted in Assembly |
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Blast kills 2 soldiers; RDX seized Job quota for poor women sought High-level probe into land scams ordered Screen tourists for HIV: minister Stress
on welfare measures for ex-servicemen Jammu powerless against cuts
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DELEGATIONS MEET VOHRA Jammu, June 13 This was demanded in a memorandum which a delegation of senior RSS leaders presented to Mr N.N. Vohra, Centre’s interlocutor, during its interaction with him here this morning. The delegation consisted of Mr Om Prakash Mengi, Prant Sangh Chalak, Mr Satya Pal, Prant Karyawaha, Prof Kishori Lal, Prant Prachar Parmukh, and Mr Rakesh Kumar, Prant Parcharak. They pointed out that the RSS, in a resolution adopted at its meeting at Kurukshetra in June last year, had offered to support the demand of statehood for the Jammu region. The memorandum stressed that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and the RSS perceives that it became a matter of controversy on account of contrived facts of modern history starting from 1931 when the Islamic movement in the shape of Muslim Conference started its activities against the Hindu ruler of the state. The historical blunders committed between 1947 and 1949, including the suggestion of plebiscite, further aggravated the situation. Many wrong decisions were taken which include unilateral ceasefire, imposition of Article 370, providing a special status to J&K, granting separate constitution and flag to the state and taking the Kashmir issue to the UNO. These factors have contributed to separatist, secessionist and terrorist tendencies in the state, it was mentioned. The memorandum alleged that Hindus had been discriminated against during the past 55 years and many temples in the valley were destroyed in 1980s. It alleged that the demographic character of the Jammu region was being changed with the cooperation of the state administration and it had become a common theme with the Muslims to abduct Hindu girls and convert them forcibly into Islam. The memorandum of the RSS claimed that the representation of Hindus in the state Secretariat had been reduced to 5-8 per cent and admissions to technical and professional institutions were given to a section of a particular community at the cost of meritorious students belonging to the Jammu region. The Ladakh region had been isolated in all spheres — social, economic, educational and development, the memorandum alleged. The Jammu Mukti Morcha (JMM), led by Prof Virender Gupta, also met Mr Vohra and demanded statehood for the Jammu region. The memorandum submitted by the JMM to Mr Vohra demanded the trifurcation of the state with Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh as separate states. While finding a solution to the Kashmir problem, it should be kept in mind that the valley is just 16 per cent of the area of Jammu and Kashmir. The people of Jammu were suffering extreme neglect at the hands of the Kashmiri rulers. It demanded a free and fresh census and the delimitation of the Assembly and parliamentary constituencies. PTI adds: Expressing apprehensions that the Centre’s interlocutor on Jammu and Kashmir N.N. Vohra might face the same fate as K.C. Pant and Ram Jethmalani, the Shiv Sena today advocated a final war with Pakistan and handing over of the state to the Army. “Jammu and Kashmir is a law and order problem and Pakistan is thrusting a proxy war on the state. The answer to this is a 4th and final war with Pakistan in order to bring permanent peace in J and K,” state Shiv Sena president, Rajesh Gupta, who led a seven-member delegation to have talks with Mr Vohra, told reporters later. Mr Gupta said Mr Vohra’s appointment would serve no purpose as Jammu and Kashmir is a law and order problem, not a political one. The entire state should be handed over to the Army, who will deal with terrorists and separatists with an iron hand, Mr Gupta said. “Basically, the Centre has created this Vohra Commission to fulfil its political gameplan and hoodwink voters on the Kashmir card in four different states, which are going to the polls”, the Shiv Sena chief said. The Shiv Sena, he said, condemned the formation of any commission to negotiate with those who were anti-India and who had adopted violent techniques to press their demands and were seeking support from enemy countries, he said. The J&K VHP delegation, led by its president Ramkant Dubey, said J and K should be integrated with the Indian Union and Terrorism sponsored by Pakistan should be crushed with an iron hand. Meanwhile, former J and K Bhajan Samaj Party chief Sheikh Abdul Rehaman, who led a nine-member delegation of the Chinab hill autonomous development council (CHADC) to Mr Vohra, demanded setting up of a separate hill council for the Doda-Gool belt along Chenab river in Jammu division for better development and more political powers to the remote mountainous terrain. The hill council should be set up on the basis of Ladakh autonomous hill development council (LAHDC), he said, adding that “This will solve our problems within a united J and K”. The demand for a separate Jammu state was also raised by the Jammu Statehood Front, which said that the separation of Jammu from the valley was the only answer to the discrimination against the region. |
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J&K ASSEMBLY Srinagar, June 13 “Jammu and Kashmir will remain one and any effort to break it will be foiled by the people of all three regions of the state,” Mr Sharma said during a debate on granting more powers to the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC). The House witnessed noisy scenes with the ruling and Opposition members levelling charges against each other when National Conference (NC) member Ali Mohammad Sagar asked why the Opposition members were not consulted when the government gave more powers to the LAHDC. When Ladakh Affairs Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said the empowerment of the LAHDC was purely an administrative decision and there was no question of consulting the Opposition, Mr Sagar and a number of other NC members were on their feet expressing dissatisfaction. On the question of whether the LAHDC had stopped raising the issue of Union Territory after more powers were granted to it, Mr Sharma said: “During the Rajiv Gandhi regime, the NC and the Congress had agreed to give the LAHDC status to Ladakh.” After the LAHDC came into being following elections, the NC government failed to give proper powers to it because of their vested interests which resulted in the demand of Union Territory status by people of Leh, he added. He said there was no demand for Union Territory after the powers were given to the LAHDC. The Jamaat-e-Islami is demanding separation that does not mean the entire populace of Kashmir are in favour of this demand, Mr Sharma told the House. When the NC members, particularly Abdul Rahim Rather, Mir Saifullah, Dr Mehboob Baig, Ali Mohammad Sagar and Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, wanted a categoric statement from the minister about the demand for a Union Territory, Mr Sharma said there was no such demand now. He said no amendment was made in the LAHDC Bill as was being alleged by the NC members. “We just implemented what was promised to the people of Leh,” he said. Mr Sharma, who was interrupted by the NC members a number of times, said “We just change the designation and gave salary to the members of the LAHDC which is within the provision of the law”. MLAs from Jammu were on their feet after Mr Sharma said that members from Doda, Poonch and Rajouri were demanding the formation of a hill council. UNI |
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Blows averted in Assembly Srinagar, June 13 The trouble arose at the end of question hour when Ansari rose to seek information about the appointment of teachers which Mr Harsh Dev Singh had promised to provide within two days when the original question came up for discussion on Tuesday. Ansari had yesterday sought a ruling of the Chair on his plea, seeking permission for moving privilege motion against the minister for misleading the House. The Speaker tried to convince Ansari that the question had been deferred to June 18 and hence no information in this regard could be sought before that but the NC MLA continued with his charge that the minister had misled the House. An agitated Harsh Dev Singh rose to counter Ansari, saying that he would bring a privilege motion against the NC leader for making a false statement on the floor of the House. The duo engaged in a heated verbal exchange and the Speaker had to expunge some words used by them. While it was on, Mr Balwant Singh of the Singh’s National Panthers Party walked across to the Opposition benches but was restrained by some MLAs and the House staff. Ignoring the Speaker’s appeal for order, the minister and Ansari continued the tirade of accusations against each other. At one stage, Ansari tried to make his way towards the minister who, however, was helped out of the House as he felt giddiness as a result of his angry exchanges with Ansari. When the House re-assembled, Ansari apologised for his emotional outburst.
PTI |
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Blast kills 2 soldiers; RDX seized Srinagar, June 13 An official spokesman said terrorists had entered the house of Ali Mohammad Mir, a surrendered militant, and fired upon his family with automatic weapons. Mir was critically wounded, while his mother Shabi Jan and wife Gulshan Banoo, besides one Manzoor Ahmad Khan, were killed. In another incident, a Laskar-e-Toiba militant, Abu Adil, was killed in an encounter at Lolab in Kupwara district during a search operation late yesterday. A militant was also killed at Kandi Kupwara by the security forces during a search operation. Some arms and ammunition were also seized from his hideout. A security force vehicle was blown up when militants triggered an IED on the main road of Wandivelgam in the Kokernag area of south Kashmir late yesterday. Two soldiers died on the spot, while five others were wounded. The injured were admitted to hospital, where the condition of two of them is said to be critical. The security forces have launched a massive hunt for the militants responsible for the blast. Militants also killed two persons — Abdul Gani and Mohammad Shafi — at Bajmasta in Doda district of the Jammu region today. The spokesman said the security forces and police, in two joint operations, had busted hideouts of militants at Shalabugh and Sheeri Baramulla late yesterday. The arms and ammunition seized included 10 kg explosive, nine detonators, 1 kg RDX, six UBGLs, 11 grenades, two anti-personnel mines and one wireless set. The police and security forces busted a hideout at Lamber-Patheri and seized 33 kg
RDX, one IED and 5 UBGLs today. The explosive seized in these operations was enough to make more than 20 bombs, which could have caused a
colossal damage. JAMMU: Troops gunned down two armed Pakistani infiltrators near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch Sector late yesterday, according to defence sources. “The slain men were Mohammad Imran ‘Umed’ and Abu Harez, both of the Jamiat-ul-Dawa, who lived in Lahore,” sources said. Two AK assault rifles and some ammunition were seized from them.
UNI |
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Job quota for poor women sought Srinagar, June 13 Such youth should be given priority in government jobs and bank loans for self-employment ventures. She also sought relaxations in the existing criteria for appointments and abolishing of the viva system in interview to eliminate favouritism and corruption in recruitments. Ms Mufti stressed the need for upholding the dignity of the labour class and sought recruitment cells at Srinagar and Jammu, so that, local youth may not have to go to Chandigarh for interviews for various Central Government jobs. She said virtually no recruitment in the Central Government departments had taken place in the state since 1990 and the Centre should clear the backlog and fill 1 lakh vacancies as promised by the Prime Minister during his recent visit to the state. A former Finance Minister and MLA Chrar-i-Sharief, Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, said human resource development and perspective manpower utilisation planning could tackle this problem. The employment market outside the state would have to be explored. |
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High-level probe into land scams ordered Srinagar, June 13 “I have ordered a high-level probe by the Settlement Commissioner to probe into the several land scams that have taken place in the past,” Revenue Minister Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen said in the legislative Assembly during question hour. Mr Yaseen said the committee — formed on June 5, 2003 — has been asked to submit a comprehensive report on the scandals, which include the 22.5 hectare Rawalpora land scam worth Rs 100 crore, within two months. He said the government was not satisfied with the interim reports submitted by various inquiry committees. Later talking to PTI, Mr Yaseen said that he “fails to understand why those officials who were suspended and arrested for their involvement in the scams were reinstated by the previous government.” “And you cannot make just few low-ranking officials of the Revenue Department as scapegoat for scams worth 11 crores,” he said, justifying the setting up of a fresh probe. “We will ensure that the guilty are brought to book. Suspensions and transfers are not punishment enough for the quantum of malpractices they have indulged in,” he added.
PTI |
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Screen tourists for HIV: minister Srinagar, June 13 The Health Minister, Choudhary Lal Singh, told the Assembly that 24,000 HIV-positive individuals had been detected in the state. “We are happy with the arrival of tourists, but we must not get carried away by the numbers. We will have to take necessary steps to prevent the increase of AIDS cases in the state,” he said, “for which, the government intends to bring a legislation for conducting HIV tests on tourists.” In his reply during the debate on the demands for grants for his ministry, Mr Singh said Jammu and Kashmir had been rated third best in the country in terms of healthcare, as per a recent survey.
PTI |
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Stress
on welfare measures for ex-servicemen Jammu, June 13 Inaugurating the 25th meeting of the Kendriya Sainik Board yesterday, he sought the active participation of states, Union Territories and the service chiefs in introducing new rehabilitation measures and also making the existing ones more effective. Referring to the recently introduced ex-servicemen contributory health scheme, he said this would be beneficial to pensioners and ex-servicemen. The minister regretted that although the Centre shared the establishment expenditure of the Department of the Sainik Welfare Board with each state and UT, the Department was not functioning satisfactorily in some states. The minister said that some Sainik Boards were being headed by civilian officers of the state government, while the Ministry of Defence, had recommended that all Rajya and Zila Sainik Boards should be headed by ex-defence officers of appropriate rank. Later the minister presented trophies for the year 2000 to various states and UTs for their role in collecting contributions for the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund. Tamil
Nadu and Delhi received the trophies for the highest collection. The
trophies for the highest per capita collection went to Arunachal and
Pondicherry. |
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Jammu powerless against cuts Jammu, June 13 Today, several posh areas saw disruptions after every half an hour. The plight of the 12 lakh persons of the city has been further compounded after the load shedding period has been increased by one hour in late evening. The coalition government had directed the Power Development Department not to resort to load shedding after 6.30 p.m., but over the past one month of heatwave, Jammuites have been forced to face the
rigorous of “powerless nights”. Mr Rajnesh Kumar, of Shakti Nagar said: “We have not been receiving any power supply at night for the past 10 days”. Persons living in Janipur, Bantalab, Channi, Bakshi Nagar, Subash Nagar and the old city have the same complaint. Senior functionaries of the Public Health Engineering said the supply of drinking water to various areas in the city got disrupted because of an “erratic supply of electricity and low voltage affecting the pump sets and feeders.” Official sources said, against a demand for 1,600 mw, the electricity available from the state’s power projects and royalty from the Uri and Salal projects was about 975 MW. The gap was being bridged through power purchased from the Northern Grid. The cash-starved state has not been in a position to invest in power-generation projects. The Centrally backed 480 MW Uri project has failed to generate electricity to its optimum capacity because of the meagre discharge from the river. The National Conference government had launched the 900 MW Bhagliar project, but a paucity of resources has slowed down its progress. The Dhulhasti project in Kishtwar is yet to be commissioned, 20 years after the work began. The 600 MW Sawlakot project continues to be in the pipeline. On the suggestion of the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the state government has prepared a blueprint of 64 mini and micro power projects — 27 in Leh, 15 in Jammu, 14 in Kargil and eight in the Kashmir Valley, with a total capacity of 232 MW. Electricity engineers said: “In each sub-station and subdivision, we have a shortage of technicians and lineman. We do not have sufficient gadgets and equipment to repair the snapped transmission lines.” |
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Badal,
Tohra unity hailed
Jammu, June 13 An emergency meeting of various Sikh
organisations of the J&K was held here today under the
chairmanship of Mr Sudershan Singh Wazir, President, J&K Gurdwara
Parbandhak Board. TNS |
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