 |
|
Centre-Hurriyat
talks
Former Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
commander Zafar Abdul Fateh at a press conference in Srinagar on Friday. He
welcomed the first round of talks between the Centre and the Hurriyat
Conference. —
PTI photo |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
NC to contest all
six seats Five killed, 50
kg RDX seized Rs 4 lakh for each panchayat, says minister
|
|
Centre-Hurriyat
talks Srinagar, January 23 This, according to political observers, is a long drawn process that may possibly lead to the restoration of peace in Jammu and Kashmir. “If the APHC leaders have initiated the dialogue process on broader lines, it is going to take time”, according to a political science teacher. He holds that it had taken 15 years for the Hurriyat Conference to initiate dialogue at the level of the Deputy Prime Minister, it may take another half a decade to move the process ahead. Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Syeed looks at the talks as a step towards normalisation and has sought internal ceasefire in the state. He said ceasefire along the borders had yielded good results and if implemented within the state it would further strengthen the peace process. Attaching greater significance to the ongoing meetings, Mufti opines that dialogue was the only way out to resolve all issues. Former Union Minister and National Conference president, Omar Abdullah, while welcoming the talks, sought the involvement of both the sections of Hurriyat Conference in the dialogue process. He stressed the need for making the dialogue process “purposeful and meaningful”. He said the announcement of ceasefire by both militants and the government would further strengthen the peace process started in the state. Referring to APHC demand to visit Pakistan, Omar held that NC had already advocated this view point and added that it would not harm India’s case in any way. A former Divisional Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Zaffar Abdul Fateh, has also hailed the dialogue process and favoured ceasefire to create a conducive atmosphere for the final settlement of the Kashmir imbroglio. Mohammad Akbar Bhat, alias Zafar Abdul Fateh, today announced his
decision to join Salvation Movement, a political platform of former militants, which had become a constituent of the Abbas faction of the APHC. Fateh, one of the commanders who had participated in negotiations with the Union Home Secretary in 2000, sought unity among separatist leaders and groups. He said the present situation was different from that of the earlier talks by the Hizbul Mujahideen as this time Kashmir leaders had gone to Delhi for the talks. Under such circumstances, a ceasefire had become necessary. A section of the separatist camp, including the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) of Shabir Shah and JKLF led by Yaseen Malik have been adopting a cautious approach regarding the ongoing talks. They apprehend that talks held under such circumstances without taking the like minded parties and leaders into consideration would not yield any result. Shabir Shah, who met the APHC leaders prior to the talks, had been advocating unity before going ahead with the dialogue process. Malik, an APHC executive member has been staying away from both factions of the APHC after its split last year. Contrary to this the hardliners like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the breakaway faction of APHC holds that the dialogue was only a hoax to mislead the Kashmiri leaders. He looks at it as a conspiracy to exclude Pakistan as a party to the Kashmir dispute. However, keen political observers here believe that the process set into motion is enveloped in skepticism as well as hope. Firstly, it is apprehended that the dialogue process may culminate, like in some earlier instances, into the electoral process ahead. In that case there is no hope. And secondly, there is a hope, only when talks move ahead, of taking into consideration a broader aspect of the issues. Thus, skepticism as well as hope revolve around the initiative taken by Hurriyat leadership. It has already overshadowed the separatist camp where unity has become the first casualty with several prominent and hardliners staying away from the dialogue process initiated by Abbas faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. |
|
Former Hizb commander joins Hurriyat Srinagar, January 23 “Every way ends on the negotiating table ... We welcome and fully support the talks between the Government of India and the Hurriyat Conference,” former divisional commander of Hizb, Mohammad Akbar Bhat, alias Zaffar Abdul Fateh, told reporters here. Fateh said he was hopeful that the dialogue process initiated in New Delhi yesterday would yield positive results. He, however, said unity among the separatist ranks at this crucial juncture was a necessity as what could be achieved as a unit could not be achieved individually.
— PTI |
|
NC to contest all six seats Jammu, January 23 This decision was taken at a three-day meeting of the working committee of the party which ended here today. The National Conference president, Mr Omar Abdullah, presided over the meeting. In the previous Lok Sabha poll the National Conference had won four of the six seats. Two years later it had won the Jammu seat in a by election warranted by the demise of the BJP member, Vaid Vishnu Dutt. The party leaders, basing their information on the field reports, informed Mr Omar Abdullah that since the anti incumbency factor had started weakening the pockets of influence among the people as far as the ruling Congress, the PDP and the Panthers Party were concerned, it was the right time for the National Conference to field its candidates in the six constituencies. By another decision the working committee deferred the idea of forging an alliance or electoral understanding with any secular organisation on the plea that the parties with whom the National Conference had a tie up had ditched it. The committee also decided to set up a panel of party leaders for each of the three regions for formulating the pre-poll strategy. It also urged senior party functionaries besides the sitting and former legislators to step up interaction with the electorate in their constituencies as part of the plan to regain the six seats. A majority of the committee members wanted Dr Farooq Abdullah to lead the party’s pre-poll campaign so that his absence was not misconstrued as a rift in the organisation as had happened during the 2002 Assembly election. |
|
Srinagar, January 23 An official spokesman said unidentified gunmen shot dead retired police Inspector Ali Mohmmad Bhat near Jamia Masjid in Baramulla district last night. Two others were injured in the firing. Militants shot dead Mohammad Maqbool Jan, a contractor, near Roads and Buildings office at Bandipora in Baramulla district today, he added. The body of an unidentified man was recovered from Ranbir Nullah at Zanipora. Two more dead bodies were found in Wachi and Awantipora in Pulwama district. The Border Security Force (BSF) foiled a militant plan to cause large-scale disturbance on or before Republic Day when they seized 45 kg of explosives and other arms and ammunition from a hospital in Srinagar today. Following an information, troops of 98 battalion conducted a search in the Lal Ded Hospital, near the Bakshi Stadium, venue for the main Republic Day function, and seized explosives. These were kept packed in three plastic bags. Meanwhile, security in and around the Bakshi Stadium has been further beefed up following seizure of explosives.
— UNI |
|
Rs 4 lakh for each panchayat, says minister Jammu, January 23 Announcing this while inaugurating a panchayat ghar at Mandi Kehli in Jammu district, the minister said each panchayat would get Rs 4 lakh, apart from the already sanctioned Rs 1.5 lakh, for construction of schools, dispensaries and foodgrains godowns. He added that 2,700 panchayat ghars would be made ready by August this
year. The minister announced Rs 10 lakh for the construction of a multipurpose community complex for the area. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
