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India, Pak differ over design of Baglihar
dam
Court of inquiry into porters’ killing
Azad’s takeover as next CM certain
Vigilance raid on residences of two officers
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Navratra festival lacks fervour
3 militants killed
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India, Pak differ over design of Baglihar
dam
Jammu, October 4 Mr Lafitte and two members of his team along with the representatives of India and Pakistan returned to Delhi this afternoon following the stalemate in talks. Mr Lafitte, when contacted by mediapersons here, was hopeful of finding a solution to the dispute between the two countries. He refused to answer further questions and said that “we will try to solve the dispute”. Sources said the Indian side turned down the demand of Pakistan for a change in the design of the dam of the project. The suggestion of the Pakistani team that all the eight sluice gates of the dam should be dismantled to allow unrestricted flow of the river water to Pakistan was also not acceptable to the Indian side. There were indications that there was some scope of a minor shift on the issue as was done in the case of the Salal hydroelectric project that has also been constructed on the Chenab. However, the worry of the Indian side was that the threat of damage to the turbines would always loom incase the sluice gates were blocked. If the demand of Pakistan was accepted; the threat of silt entering the turbines would always be there. Pakistan has not only been demanding some changes in the design of the dam, but has also raised questions on the capacity of pondage and in the presence of Mr Lafitte said that the Indus Water Treaty has been violated on this point. However, the Indian team maintained that the pondage was as per the provisions of the treaty. The Pakistani team led by Syed Jamait Ali Shah submitted a memorandum to Mr Lafitte, while the Indian side gave a rejoinder on the issues raised by Pakistan. India has reportedly made it clear that there will always be the threat of the prestigious project failing due to technical problems in case the sluice gates were blocked. |
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Court of inquiry into porters’ killing
Srinagar, October 4 About the FIR registered against 12 Army personnel, including two senior officers, by the Jammu and Kashmir Police yesterday, Defence spokesman Col R. Juneja told UNI that the court of inquiry summoned these soldiers from Jammu. “Later the local police told us that they too want to question these Army personnel, so we handed them over. There is nothing new in it,” he added. “We are conducting our own inquiry,” he added. The Lalpora police station registered a case of “kidnapping and murder of civilians” against 12 personnel, including a Colonel and a Major, of the 18th battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) for their alleged involvement in the killing of four labourers in Kupwara district last year. Colonel Rahul Pandey is still posted with 18 BN RR in the Kupwara district, while Major Vijay Chehar has been transferred outside Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year. The four labourers were allegedly killed by the troops at Devar Lolab in Kashmir valley on April 20 last year and later branded “foreign militants”. The FIR said the labourers were hired by the Army as porters. The matter came to light after the family of slain labourer Ram Lal received a letter from an anonymous person in Delhi claiming the four porters were killed by Army personnel for getting rewards. The letter named the Army officers and jawans and this became the basis of the FIR against them, the police added. The police said the family members of the victims, who were here as part of the inquiry into the killings, identified the dead as their kin after seeing their photographs at the local police station. — UNI
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Azad’s takeover as next CM certain
Srinagar, October 4 It was Mr Azad himself who sought to put at rest speculations about the transition of power in Jammu and Kashmir. Talking to reporters at Hyderabad yesterday, he dismissed as “kite flying’’ media reports suggesting that Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi wanted Mr Sayeed to continue as Chief Minister for the remaining term as well. This is for the first time that Mr Azad has spoken about the scheduled change of guard in Jammu and Kashmir. He had dropped hints in Jammu a few weeks ago, saying that the Congress would take over the reins of administration in November this year. He made it clear that there was no change in the agreement between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress on power-sharing in the state. “The agreement between the two coalition partners at the time of government formation stood and there was no change in that. And as per the arrangement, the PDP will head the coalition government for the first three years of the term and the Congress for the remaining period,’’ he said.
— UNI |
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Vigilance raid on residences of two officers
Jammu, October 4 Headed by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, Mr Nisar Ahmed, a team of sleuths conducted raids on the residence of former Director of Local Bodies, Jammu, Mohinder Singh and the then administrator of the Notified Area Committee, Lakhanpur, Sat Pal Saini in Channi Himat and Sanjay Nagar areas of Jammu city today, VB sources said. During the raids, some incriminating documents and bank passbooks were also seized, they said, adding that the details of payments in the passbooks were being checked. The FIR was registered against Mohinder Singh and Saini following a complaint filed by the Private Secretary to Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development Majid Wani alleging that the two made illegal appointments in 2002. The inquiries disclosed that Mohinder Singh allegedly abused his official position and in conspiracy with Saini prepared appointment and regularisation orders in respect of 10 persons during 2002. Mohinder Singh is at present posted as the Managing Director, SC, ST and other Backward Classes Corporation, and Saini is working with the office of the Director, Local Bodies. The appointment orders were issued without advertising the posts, inviting applications or conducting interviews, and the appointments were made against non-available posts. The beneficiaries, who got the appointment orders, have also been booked. Efforts are on to ascertain how these beneficiaries were contacted and who was the middleman. — PTI
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Navratra festival lacks fervour
Jammu, October 4 Mr Jugal Kishore, Minister of State for Tourism, inaugurated the nine-day festival. As compared to last year, the participation of the public was lesser. The number of pilgrims was also not as high as the previous years although there was no threat from any terrorist group. The organisers hope that the rush of pilgrims would gradually increase. Cultural troops from within the state and various other parts of the country presented colourful programmes on the opening of the festival. The pilgrims faced problems right on the first Navratra as the pony owners and porters observed a strike in support of their demand for a hike in fare and labour charges. The minister said the matter would be resolved soon. However, most of the pilgrims had to carry their luggage themselves as porters were not available.
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Srinagar, October 4 Acting on a tipoff about the presence of a top militant, troops launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Thuru-Arnas area of Udhampur district today, a police spokesman said. In an encounter that followed, self-styled area commander of HM Abu Usman was killed. An AK rifle, three magazines, 94 rounds, two grenades, two transmitters, four electronic detonators, 3 kg of explosives, a wireless set, a programmed timed device and three UBGL grenades were seized from the killed militant, the spokesman said. He said security forces killed another militant, Qari Umar Inqulabi, alias Mast Gul, of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) outfit in an encounter at Shoe Nallah Morah in the Manjhari area of Gursai in Poonch district last night. An AK rifle, two magazines, a hand grenade and two wireless sets were seized from him. — PTI
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