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J & K Govt for dissolving
civic bodies
HC moved to reclaim state subject status
Militants kill 2, abduct 1 in Kashmir
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Peace process must go on: Mufti
Srinagar, May 18 Inaugurating a Regional Passport Office here this morning, he said the Central Government was clear on the resolution of the issue with the involvement of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “We will be represented….and the peace process has to go on”, the Mufti said. The passport office had been razed to the ground in a suicide attack by militants on January 15. He questioned the role of the enemies of peace. “Why do they have double standards”, he asked, referring to the killings of innocent people. The Chief Minister said the government would consider the constitution of a body for sending abroad skilled youth for job opportunities. He expressed hope that a liberal approach was adopted by the agencies concerned for issuing passports to such youths from the state. The Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, was scheduled to inaugurate the office but could not make it. The Chief Passport Officer, Dr Ashok Amrohi, said all 34 passport offices in the country were computerised which had been issuing around 34 lakh passports every year. “The demand is increasing and so are the expectations…we have to fulfil the requirements”, he said. |
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J & K Govt for dissolving
civic bodies
Jammu, May 18 The commission has also recommended that the elected bodies may be made functional. The state government recently introduced a Bill seeking, among other things, dissolution of the elected panchayats. The Bill after it was passed by the legislature has been waiting for the assent of the Governor who has sought experts opinion on it. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh recently asked the state government to incorporate the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Indian Constitution in the Constitution of J&K for the benefit of the panchayati raj system. However, the PDP-led government which is in power with the support of the Congress appears to keep powers to dissolve the elected panchayats. Observations by the Chairman of the Finance Commission, Mr A.M. Lanker, point out that the absence of non-official members in the commission has a peculiar disadvantage as there was none to represent views of the citizens and give an objective appraisal of the working of urban and rural civic bodies. Functioning of local bodies was not satisfactory and important functions including water supply, streetlighting, maintenance and construction of roads and drains were being done by the departments of the government. This rendered the civic bodies “anaemic and soulless”. After studying the system in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, the commission made some suggestions which could help J&K to avoid pitfalls faced by the former. Discussing resource mobilisation, the commission has emphasised that the standard of civic service be improved so that introduction of new levies appear palatable to the citizens. In Jammu and Kashmir there are no municipal taxes and user charges. The commission has observed that the government has been fiddling with tax on trade and professions. The tax was introduced in 1982 but it was repealed in 1983. Reintroduction of the tax was announced in 1997-98 but was not actually implemented. |
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HC moved to reclaim state subject status
Jammu, May 18 The writ petition was filed by Mr Zulfikar Ali and six members of his family. Mr Ali had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election a year ago. On a complaint sent to the Revenue Minister, Mr Hakim Mohd Yasin, a probe was ordered following which the permanent resident certificate of Mr Ali and others was cancelled by the Minister vide order of April 18, 2005. In the order, the Minister had stated that since Zulfikar and his family members had crossed to Pakistan occupied Kashmir they had lost the state subject status. However, Mr Zulfikar Ali in his writ petition, had stated that he and family members had not crossed over to the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. He stated that during the 1965 Pak aggression his village was temporarily occupied by the enemy forces and he and his family members ran for safety in the area under Pakistan’s control. He said in his petition that he and his family members returned via the Wagah border and resettled in their ancestral village in Mendhar. He said that he continued to be a citizen of India and a permanent resident of Jammu and Kashmir. In the writ petition, Mr Ali has argued that since the territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan was treated as part of the Indian territory temporary stay in Pakistan occupied Kashmir did not warrant cancellation of the state subject certificate when he had long back returned to his ancestral place. His claim, made earlier, that he be treated as a state subject under the Resettlement Act, providing for grant of citizenship rights to those from Jammu and Kashmir who had gone to Pak occupied Kashmir or Pakistan between 1947 and 1954 in case they returned to this state, was rejected by the Revenue Minister on the ground that the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the Resettlement Act. After filing the writ petition, Mr Zulfikar Ali told
mediamen, “I am an Indian citizen. I am a permanent citizen of Jammu and Kashmir and I want to die as an Indian.” He said, “those keen to grab my immovable assets in the village had misled the state government when I had not sought any Pakistani passport during my stay in Pak occupied Kashmir.” He said, “I do not know whether my father, Mr Faker Din, had procured a Pakistani passport.” |
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Militants kill 2, abduct 1 in Kashmir
Srinagar, May 18 He said militants killed Mohammad Hanief at Tangdhar Nar forest last night. Militants attacked a joint search party of the police and security personnel at Galine Panera in the wee hours today, resulting in an on-the-spot death of police constable Bushan Kumar. Militants
abducted Reyaz Ahmad Shah at Awantipora in Pulwama district last night. Security personnel arrested a militant along with an AK rifle and 30 rounds at Chadoora in central Kashmir district of Badgam. Meanwhile, the security forces and the police have been put on high alert to trace two cars taken by unidentified persons in Baramula and Srinagar during the past 24 hours. Unidentified persons took away a car from the Gulshah Nagar bypass while another car was taken away at Kunzar Baramula.
Fidayeen Official sources said militants are using stolen vehicles for carrying out
fidayeen attacks on security camps and other vital installations. Militants had also used a stolen car for causing a blast at Jawahar Nagar that left two persons dead and more than 50 injured last week.
— UNI |
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