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Mirwaiz’s recipe to resolve
Amarnath Yatra from June 21
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79 passengers of fourth “Karvaan-e-Aman” cross sides
5 militants killed, 10 kg RDX recovered
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Mirwaiz’s recipe to resolve Kashmir issue
Srinagar, May 19 The Mirwaiz or chief priest of Kashmir was participating in a seminar “Kashmir Issue and Dialogue Process” at the APHC headquarters at Rajbagh today as part of the week-long programmes to observe the death anniversaries of its leaders, Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone. Several separatist leaders and religious heads participated in the seminar. Umar’s father, Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq fell to the bullets of unidentified gunmen at his Nageen residence here on May 21 1990, while Abdul Ghani Lone, was killed at Idgah on the occasion of Mirwaiz’ death anniversary on May 21 2002. In his address Mirwaiz Umar also stressed on the need of reuniting of the factions of the Hurriyat Conference and other groups, which have been at loggerheads quite for some time. The APHC split two years back over the alleged support of the moderate faction to some of the contesting candidates in Assembly elections in Kashmir held in 2002. The stepped up unifying efforts recently also failed with hardliner, Syed Ali Shah Geelani sticking to his stand. The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq organised week-long programme to observe the 15th death anniversary of late Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq, and third death anniversary of Abdul Ghani Lone. These would conclude at Idgah on Saturday, where both leaders lay buried. Lone’s elder son, Bilal Lone, Chief of the Peoples Conference, is an executive committee member of the moderate faction of the APHC. The third death anniversary of Abdul Ghani Lone is also being observed separately by his younger son, Sajjad Lone, chief of his faction of the Peoples Conference, who parted ways with his brother after the split of the APHC two years back. Sajjad has planned to hold a youth rally at the SK Cricket stadium here on May 22, like the previous years. He expects to draw over 10,000 youth from different parts of the valley to constitute a youth wing of the Peoples Conference. Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party’s chief spokesperson Syed Basharat Bukhari paid tributes to late Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone. Mr Bukhari said that the demise of the two leaders created a big void, which is difficult to be filled. He said the Mirwaiz besides being a respected religious leader, all his life played an important role in shaping political movement in Kashmir. “It was his keen interest that the Anjuman Nusratul Islam, which runs a chain of schools, where besides modern education, religious education was also imparted to the students. Mirwaiz Farooq was also in the forefront of the movement against social and other evils, he said. The PDP’s Chief spokesperson also said that the death of Mirwaiz came as a severe blow to the Kashmir polity as he always maintained highest standards in political and social lives. “His absence from the Kashmir scene becomes more painful as in the changing circumstances, Maulana would have played an important role in fulfilling the task of bringing peace and stability in Kashmir,” Bukhari added. The PDP spokesperson said that Abdul Ghani Lone had the qualities of a great leader who enjoyed a mass following. His courage and dedication was distinguished and he always stood for the right cause and sided with the oppressed and the suppressed, Mr Bukhari said. |
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Amarnath Yatra from June 21
Jammu, May 19 Introduction of facilities on the lines of the Vaishno Devi shrine are also on the anvil for pilgrims wending their way to Amarnath. “We anticipate the number of the pilgrims visiting the cave shrine of Lord Shiva to touch five lakh and the yatra will go on for two months...if the weather behaves well,” Sinha told reporters at Raj Bhavan here last evening. Four lakh people had visited the shrine to pay obeisance to the ‘ice lingum’ in 2004, he said. The board was also introducing facilities en route to the Amarnath shrine on the lines of the Vaishno Devi shrine, he said. As chairman of the board and as per court directives, he was competent to decide the yatra’s duration, the Governor said. There was no friction on this account with the state government, he said, adding cryptically: “Our government in the state and those who are opposing are also part of us...” When he visited the shrine for the first time in 2003, he ensured enough security arrangements and the yatra went on “without any violent incident”, Sinha said.
— PTI |
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79 passengers of fourth
Srinagar, May 19 The bus left from the General Bus Stand at Batamaloo near here at around 0700 hrs this morning for Muzaffarabad, DIG Police, Kashmir Range, H.K. Lohia said. Senior civil and police officers besides a large number of people, including relatives, friends and well-wishers, were present as the bus rolled out from the Batamaloo General Bus Stand. The two specially-designed 19-seater Ashok Leyland Stag buses of the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) carried 34 passengers — both fresh and returnee, an official spokesman said. The passengers who had come on the previous three vehicles went back to Muzaffarabad after visiting their relatives in Kashmir, Poonch and Rajouri districts, he added. The peace vehicle reached the Kaman Post, the last Indian military border outpost along the Line of Control (LoC), at around 1200 hrs, sources said. From the PoK side, three buses carrying 45 passengers also arrived at the Kaman bridge, now known as “Aman Setu (peace bridge)”, this afternoon. They were given a warm welcome by the people at Salamabad. The passengers were seen off at Muzaffarabad by Muzaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Liaquat Ali early this morning. They had to cover a distance of 50 km from Muzaffarabad to Chakothi, the last military post from the Pakistani side. The venue of the bus is being continuously changed for security reasons. While today it started from the Batamaloo General Bus Stand, the third “Karvaan-e-Aman” rolled out from the state police control Room on May 5. The authorities had deliberately kept the names and addresses of the passengers, their place of stay in Srinagar and the starting point of the bus as top secret on security grounds in view of the escalation of violence since the launch of the cross border service on April 7. The bus service between the divided Kashmir was established after nearly 58 years following agreement between India and Pakistan to allow families separated since 1947 to meet each other.
— UNI |
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5 militants killed, 10 kg RDX recovered
Srinagar, May 19 Meanwhile, Mohammad Shafi Barah, who was among the six persons kidnapped by militants from the Harwan area, escaped and reached home. However, Parveena was still missing. Bodies without heads of four other persons were recovered from the nearby forest on May 17. The spokesman said bodies of two LeT militants Mushtaq Ahmad alias Kumar and Rashid Sheikh alias Numan were recovered at Haareghthan forest while another militant of the same outfit was killed at Tiller Nawapachi. He said a LeT militant Mohmmad Khaliq alias Saifullah was killed by security forces during a search at Sallar forest in south Kashmir district of Anantnag today. An AK rifle, three magazines, 58 cartridges of ammunition, two hand grenades, one RPG launcher with three rounds and Rs 6,707 were recovered from the slain militant. Militants shot dead Gulzar Ahmad Bhat at Amirabad Tral in Pulwama district of South Kashmir early this morning while one Nissar Ahmad was abducted from Marwah. Security forces busted a hideout and recovered 10 kg RDX, four circuit boards and 30 kg ration from a hideout at Jandhar last night. However, no one was arrested. In another raid security forces recovered 27 UBGL grenades, 29 hand grenades, 136 electric detonators, one revolver with two cartridges, three anti-tank rifle grenades, four smoke grenades and eight timer detonators at Kanwari nullah.
— UNI |
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