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Take people into confidence, says Omar Abdullah
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Rs 108 crore for development of rural areas 3 promoted as Financial Commissioners Seven stores destroyed in a fire Man protests by caging himself
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Take people into confidence, says Omar Abdullah Jammu, January 24 Mr Abdullah, who was talking to mediapersons here on the conclusion of a three-day meeting of the extended working committee of the NC, said the dialogue process would be an utter failure in case the Centre failed to involve the Geelani faction and other groups representing the aspirations of the people in the talks. The people of J&K should feel that they too are a part of the solution to the Kashmir problem and not that a decision was being thrust on them like the previous Tashkent Agreement and the Simla Accord. He said the centre should not insist on any pre-conditions for talks, but should involve all violence-hating groups in the dialogue process. He appreciated the intentions of the Centre and the direction in which it was moving to solve the Kashmir tangle, but stressed that it was not enough to talk only to the Ansari faction and the talks should not become an election gimmick. Mr Abdullah said there was a much bigger hand behind the developments that were taking place in India and Pakistan and if Washington had worked out a solution by talking only to Delhi and Islamabad, it would be a failure. The National Conference would resist such a solution to the Kashmir problem, he added. He said the split in the Hurriyat Conference was engineered, as the centre was unwilling to initiate a dialogue with it until Ali Shah Geelani, Shabir Shah and Yasin Malik were a part of it. They were gradually dubbed as hardliners and eased out. He said any problem has several solutions, but the restoration of the pre-1953 status providing greater autonomy to Kashmir was the most feasible solution in his opinion. Mr Abdullah said the NC was working as a felicitator on the Kashmir issue and one of its MPs had visited Pakistan and PoK twice for a dialogue with various sections there. He released copies of the resolutions adopted in the three-day brain-storming meeting of the NC. One of these resolutions suggested that the involvement of all groups in the talks with the Centre would make the dialogue credible and meaningful. The NC demanded that a ceasefire should be announced within the state also to create conducive atmosphere for the current dialogue process. The party demanded general amnesty for those who had been languishing in jails within and outside the state. It welcomed the steps taken by India and Pakistan to reopen the Srinagar — Muzaffarabad road and demanded that in view of the present thaw in the Indo-Pak relations, all traditional routes across the present borders should be opened so that the divided families could meet. In view of the dissident activities of a section of the NC, the working committee expressed full faith and confidence in the leadership of Mr Omar Abdullah. A resolution expressed grave concern over “increase” in the number of cases of human rights violations and “mis-governance” of the Mufti regime. There was a virtual administrative anarchy at all levels, the resolution alleged. At the decision making level the ministers had become law unto themselves and as a result of this the sufferings of the people had increased manifold. The resolution alleged that corruption was at its peak and unemployment was growing. Power failures were frequent and the electricity tariff has been increased manifold. The industry too has started shifting to the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Uttranchal areas. |
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Security up in Srinagar Srinagar, January 24 The police and security forces claimed to have achieved a major success when they busted a hideout of Jaish-e-Mohammad here today. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was seized from the scene. The consignment, according to a BSF spokesperson, was meant for carrying out attacks in and around Srinagar on the eve of Republic Day. The hideout near JVC Hospital, Bemina, on the outskirts of Srinagar city, was busted by a joint party of the police and the BSF early this morning. The haul included five rockets, three anti-tank rockets, five boosters, a wireless set, four rifle grenades and 198 rounds of AK ammunition. These were concealed in two gunny bags, containing coal in a temporary shelter made of polythene sheets. Elsewhere, at least seven persons, including four militants and a jawan, were killed and eight others injured in separate incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since yesterday. At least five pedestrians were injured when unidentified militants hurled a grenade near Popi Land Hotel at Bus Stand, Doda district, last evening. A police constable and a civilian were injured when unidentified militants fired at a police vehicle in the main market of Kreeri township in Baramula district this afternoon. Two Pakistan militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in an encounter with security forces in Surankote sector of Poonch district yesterday. Two AK rifles, six magazines, 40 rounds, two wireless sets, four hand grenades, an IED and some incriminating documents were seized from the site of the encounter, the police here said. An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with security forces at Banihal in Doda district. An AK rifle, three magazines and some ammunition were seized from the slain militant. One militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba, identified as Bilal Ahmad, was killed in a group clash with Hizb ul Mujahideen in Zainpora area of Anantnag district yesterday, a police spokesperson stated. Unidentified militants shot dead Gulfam Begum, wife of Lal Hussain, when they intruded into her house at Gonthal, Surankote, in Poonch district yesterday. Her son-in-law, Niyaz Ahmad, was injured in the shootout. Unidentified militants shot dead Feroz Ahmad, a student of Class X in Robon Khojipora village of Anantnag district yesterday. Agency adds: Militants shot dead a security jawan from point-blank range in Hyderpora locality on the outskirts of the city, today, police sources said. Constable Bhawani Singh of 98th Battalion of the
BSF was on patrol duty when the militants shot him. Militants also made an abortive attempt to blow up a police station in the heart of the city by lobbing a grenade at it, official sources said. The ultras hurled the grenade at Maisuma police station around 3.45 pm but it missed the target and exploded in a nearby drain. —
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Rs 108 crore for development of rural areas Jammu, January 24 Each panchayat would get Rs 4 lakh, over and above of Rs 1.5 lakh already sanctioned for the construction of schools, dispensaries and foodgrain godowns by the panchayat itself, Mr Sayeed said. He said the government wanted to empower panchayats to make these an effective tool of rural transformation. On the development of infrastructure, the Minister said 2700 panchayat ghars would be ready by August and every effort would be made to provide facilities like telephones, televisions and other amenities to make these as effective administrative units at the village level. For the maintenance of these panchayat ghars, he said gardener-cum-guard posts had been envisaged, who would be paid a consolidated remuneration of Rs 1000 per month. Mr Sayeed said multi-purpose community complexes in the villages were being constructed which could be utilised for rural craft exhibitions, training programmes, panchayat gatherings and other such activities. He said that panchayats had been empowered to monitor every welfare activity of their villages, adding that salaries of primary school teachers and anganwari workers would henceforth be released after the signature of panchayat functionaries. In order to create awareness, training programmes had also been arranged for panches and sarpanches. —
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3 promoted as Financial Commissioners Jammu, January 24 A decision in this regard was taken during a Cabinet meeting here last evening. Ajit Kumar, Amit Kushari and Vijay Bakaya of the 1970 batch have been promoted to the rank of Financial Commissioner while two officers of the 1979 batch — Arun Kumar and Sonali Kumar — have been promoted Principal Secretary. The Cabinet also granted the super-time scale of the IAS to five other officers who have completed 16 years of service. They are S.K. Naik, Arun Kumar Mehta, Khurshid Ahmad Malik, Mumtaz Azal and Najmus Saqib. They will be designated Commissioner/ Secretary in their respective departments. Shant Manu, Mohammad Deen and S. Mahajan will be designated Secretary. The government also promoted 35 officers in the Accounts Service. Mohammad Amin Lala, Director, Accounts and Treasuries, and Abdul Rashid Rather, Director (Budget), have been designated Director-General in their respective positions. Thirtytwo officers of the J and K Accounts Service have also been promoted to the special scale. —
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Seven stores destroyed in a fire Jammu, January 24 The fire broke out in a "dhaba" in the building after a short-circuit at 2 a.m. and soon engulfed adjoining shops, they said. At least half a dozen fire-tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze, sources said. The building housed 23 shops, and seven government offices and guest rooms. —PTI |
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Man protests by caging himself Srinagar, January 24 Mohammad Ahsan Untoo, who claims to champion the cause of human rights, caged himself near KMD bus stand this morning, official sources said. He, however, fled after the police reached the scene and seized the cage, the sources said.—
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Mr Omar Abdullah, president of the National Conference (NC), today said the Centre and the Ansari faction of the Hurriyat Conference should take people into confidence by letting them know about their agenda for solving the Kashmir dispute before holding the second round of talks with the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, in March.
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