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Jammu, April 7
The National Conference has started pulling its strings in the Muslim dominated border districts of Rajouri and Poonch to take the Congress head-on in the Jammu Lok Sabha seat. Dr Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, addresses an election rally in Rajouri district on Wednesday. The candidate for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat stands beside him.
EC orders suspension of minister’s secy
Top JeM militant among 6 killed
in J&K
Police told to file report in false
case
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Article 370 to blame for state’s problems, says
Gupta
Open Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, says Mufti
30 officials suspended
Heroin worth
1 cr recovered
Cashewnut skin trade
hits ‘katha’ producers
Jammu festival from April 13
2 children perish in fire
One village in each block to be adopted for total literacy
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NC gears up to take on Cong in Rajouri,
Poonch
Jammu, April 7 The NC has a solid base in many parts of these districts, whereas the Congress has a lot of exercise to do to activate its cadres that were lying low during the nearly 27 years’ regime of the NC. The main contest in these two districts, with seven Assembly segments, is expected to be between the NC and the Congress. The BJP has support in the major towns only. Former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, yesterday completed his two days’ whirlwind campaign in a hired helicopter that flew him to remote areas of these districts. Reports indicate that his rallies in support of the NC nominee, Mr Surjeet Singh Salathia, were well attended. His son and NC chief, Mr Omar Abdullah’s road show here did not evoke the response that the party leaders were expecting. However, Mr Salathia has his own areas of influence, as he represented the Vijaypur segment in the last Assembly when he was the Minister of Power. Mr Ajay Sadhotra, provincial president of the NC, also has influence in the border belt and he was the only party candidate in Jammu district, who won the Assembly election this time. Dr Abdullah, in a scathing attack on Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed, said that the people were disillusioned from the PDP-led coalition government. Interestingly, Dr Abdullah targeted only the Mufti, but did not directly criticise the Congress. The election scene has started warming up following the visit of Dr Abdullah and now the Mufti was scheduled to visit Rajouri later this week. He would visit Poonch on April 15 to campaign for the Congress candidate, Mr Madan Lal Sharma, who is the PWD minister. The PCC president, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, would accompany the Mufti in the campaign. While the Mufti has chalked out a detailed campaign programme for Mr Sharma in various other areas of Jammu district, reports indicate that most of the other PDP activists were lying dormant and were not participating in the Congress campaign. Mr Sharma campaigned in the border areas of Ranbirsinghpura and the suburbs of Jammu today. The state BJP chief, Dr Nirmal Singh, who is the party candidate for the Jammu seat, has extensively toured the two districts and was now concentrating on Jammu district, where the BJP has its base. Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, General Secretary of the BJP, addressed a series of election rallies in the district yesterday. Meanwhile, Prof Virender Gupta, president of the Jammu Mukti Morcha, has said that his party would support the BJP in the Jammu and the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituencies. He described the NC and the PDP as Kashmir-centric and alleged that leaders of the two parties not only have anti-Jammu psyche, but were responsible for terrorism in the state. They were dividing people on communal lines, he alleged. Mr Gupta accused the Congress of having betrayed the people of Jammu by not implementing the promises it made during the Assembly elections. However, the campaign was on a low key so far and various political parties have not yet put up their posters and banners in the towns. Enthusiasm was also lacking among the electorate. |
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EC orders suspension of minister’s secy
Jammu, April 7 Chief Electoral Officer B.L. Nimesh told reporters here that the Election Commission had directed the state government to suspend special assistant to Minister for Rural Development Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed for violating of election code of conduct. It also asked the state government to transfer Chief Education Officer, Poonch, Y.K. Kar, Block Development Officer, Ramban T.S. Soharwardy, naib-tehsildar Thathri, Atta Mohammad and senior assistant in block development office Ramban, Banday. Mr Nimesh said the Election Commission would take stringent action against those officials found violating the model code of conduct and provide level playing field to all contestants and ensure free, fair and transparent Lok Sabha poll in the state. —
PTI |
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Top JeM militant among 6 killed in J&K
Srinagar, April 7 A self-styled district commander of the JeM, identified as Nayeem Ahmad of Turlandi Sahghi Sinabi village of Pakistan, was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Mahore area of Udhampur district in Jammu region last night, the spokesman said. He said a jawan was also killed and another was injured in the encounter. An AK assault rifle, four magazines, 18 rounds and a binocular were recovered from the deceased commander, who was responsible for killing of many civilians and security personnel in the Udhampur belt, the spokesman added. Two more militants were killed by security forces in separate encounters in the Kokernag area of Anantnag district and the Choornar forest in Kupwara district today, he said, adding that the operations at both the places were still continuing. Militants barged into the house of Mohammad Ramzan at Parigam village in the Kulgam area of Anantnag and shot dead his young daughter Sweeti on the charge of being an informer of security forces, the spokesman said. He said militants also raided a house at Payar in Pulwama district and killed a counter-insurgent, Mohammad Akram Bhat. In another incident, the spokesman said militants shot at and injured Habibullah Wagay at Badrahama in Pulwama early today. He said security forces busted two militant hideouts, one each at Surankote in Poonch and Dalogra in Rajouri which led to the recovery of six rocket-propelled grenades, one AK rifle, a double-barrel gun, three grenades, a 4-mm mortar. —
PTI |
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Police told to file report in false case
Srinagar, April 7 Taking cognizance of the complaint filed by Jawahara Begum that her son Aftab Ahmad Chandal was being falsely implicated in a case under Section 366 of the RPC at Udhampur, SHRC Chairman Justice A. M. Mir directed the IGP, Udhampur, to file a detail report before it. Justice Mir also directed the police to ensure that the right to life of Aftab, a resident of Shiv Nagar in Udhampur, be not put to any jeopardy. The complaint said though Aftab was released by a court on bail, the Army, intelligence agency wings and the police were harassing him. It further said the police and Army personnel recently made an attempt to kidnap him in a bid to eliminate him. Expressing apprehension of foul play, she sought protection from the commission. It fixed the next date of hearing in the case on April 29, a spokesman for the commission said here today. He further said all cases pertaining to Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur districts, which were scheduled to be heard at the sub-office, Jammu, from April 12 onwards, have been adjourned till further orders. — UNI |
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Article 370 to blame for state’s problems, says
Gupta
Jammu, April 7 Mr Gupta, who is the BJP’s candidate for the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, asked the Congress and its allies to explain in what was the special status of the state had benefited the people and who was responsible for discrimination against the region. He said that it was a strange that a soldier who sacrifices for the security of the state and protects the life and honour of the people, was not allowed to have an inch of land in the state. He lashed out at the Congress that supported the Daughters’ Bill in the Assembly and later backed on it in the Legislative Council. Mr Gupta said that terrorism was due to special status of the state. He alleged that the Jammu region had been discriminated against in all spheres by successive state governments. Although the number of electorate and the geographical area of Jammu was more than that of Kashmir, but the number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the valley was more. |
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Open Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, says Mufti
Srinagar, April 7 Speaking at public meetings in far-flung areas of Kupwara district of north Kashmir yesterday, Mufti Sayeed said, “If you think our policies are good, cast your vote in favour of our candidates”, adding that he did not believe in hollow slogans and rhetorics. He regretted that the previous MPs from the state had not represented people effectively. These were his first public meetings in the valley after the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedules. He maintained that the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road involved the sentiments of the people that could not be bartered with electoral rolls, and added that his party did not want any political dividend out of it. “It is a human issue and we look at it from that angle”, he said. The Chief Minister said sentiments of the people on either side of the LoC were attached with the road and its opening would revive emotional bonds severed more than 55 years ago. Referring to the process of dialogue the Chief Minister said it had brought about a positive change in the situation. He hailed the two rounds of dialogue between the Centre and the Hurriyat Conference, saying that it reflected the political foresight of the two sides. He expressed the hope that those distancing from the dialogue process would soon join and respect the peoples’ aspirations. The PDP president stressed the need for holding dialogue with the Kashmiri youth who had taken up arms in the past 15 years. She said this at various election rallies in Ganderbal area near here while canvassing for the party candidate, Mr Ghulam Nabi Lone. Ms Mufti also urged the Prime Minister to announce a ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. She held that the improving relations between India and Pakistan was a positive development, but added that “for the sustenance of these relations problems of the Kashmiris need to be redressed”. |
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30 officials suspended
Jammu, April 7 “I had received a number of complaints from migrants living in camps that some relief officials, including certain zonal officers, were harassing them and even delaying their relief cases for pecuniary gains,” the Minister said PTI today. “Acting on these complaints, a surprise visit was made by me along with senior officials to the relief organisation yesterday,” he said, adding “out of 51 officials, we found only 21 present in the office”. Thirty officials were suspended on the spot for absence from duty and the records were seized to verify the complaints, Mr Yasin said. —
PTI |
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Heroin worth
1 cr recovered
Baramula, April 7 Official sources said the police, acting on a tip-off, raided a tea shop of Giasuddin, resident of border area of Tangdar in the frontier district of Kupwara last evening. On search of the shop, heroin worth Rs 1 crore was recovered, he added. Later the police arrested the shop owner, Altaf Ahmad, and Mohammad Shafi. —
UNI |
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Cashewnut skin trade
hits ‘katha’ producers
Jammu, April 7 There were reports that a number of “katha”-producing kilns that have come up in the two states were allegedly mixing cashew nut skin in the pulp of “khair” to make a quick buck. Many kilns have come up in these states that border Punjab. The practice has hit genuine “katha” producers, who are not in a position to compete with the unscrupulous elements. Reports of harmful gambier being used in place of “katha” in the “paan” have already been pouring in. The health wing of the municipalities and the Consumer Affairs Department have failed to take action against those engaged in the unscrupulous trade. |
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Jammu festival from April 13
Jammu, April 7 The Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department will organise this grand mela, the Jammu District Development Commissioner, Mr Naveen Chowdhary, told a joint meeting of officers and representatives of different NGOs and sabhas here yesterday. —
PTI |
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2 children perish in fire
Jammu, April 7 Eight-year-old Labran and two-year-old Tabraiz were burnt alive after some unidentified persons, believed to be militants, set afire the house of a Gujjar, identified as Ahmed Din, in Potha village, they said. The fire engulfed the house and adjoining cowshed, they said, adding that while all other family members managed to come out of the house, the two children were trapped inside. Besides, some cattle and entire household goods were also perished in the fire, they said. —
PTI |
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One village in each block to be adopted for total literacy
Jammu, April 7 Dr Bloeria, who was presiding over a meeting here to finalise the arrangements for the celebration of Education-for-All Week, said that one village with the lowest literacy rate in each block of the state would be given focussed attention to achieve the target of 100 per cent literacy within one year. He said that much headway had been made in achieving the objectives of education for all. Efforts were being made to expand the outreach of early childhood care and education with the expansion of the ICDC scheme. As many as 7,000 education guarantee centres were being established in the state. |
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