Srinagar, March 23
More than 1,000 thousand workers, including office bearers of main opposition party National Conference (NC) joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today. The workers, of central Kashmir district of Budgam, including NC Block President Sukhnag Sheikh Bashir Ahmad, had resigned from the NC.

They announced their decision to join the PDP at the residence of chairman Mufti Mohammad Sayeed here today. Addressing the workers, Sayeed welcomed them in the party. Sheikh said that PDP’s policies for uplift of Kashmiri people have motivated them to join this party.

Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed expressed the hope that the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road would soon become the lifeline of trade for the state and not remain confined as a connecting link between divided families across the border.

Mufti Sayeed said this, while addressing National Conference (NC) workers, including its office-bearers of district Budgam who joined the PDP today.

Former NC minister, Syed Ghulam Hussain Geelani who represented Budgam for four terms and who had recently joined the PDP, was also present on the occasion. Geelani said the PDP’s policies vis-à-vis the uplift of Kashmiri people had motivated them to join the party. He added that it was the healing touch policy of the PDP which had brought a significant change on the ground.

The NC workers and leaders joined hands with the PDP leadership at a time when the opposition NC president, Omar Abdullah, had criticised the ruling partners on backing out of promises made to people over five years ago.

Addressing those who joined the PDP, Mufti Sayeed said the coalition governance in the state had been a success and the state government must assume its full role in revitalising and pushing forward the sagging peace process to rebuild people's confidence in it.

The former Chief minister held that the coalition government led the peace process from the front with a significant impact on the ground. He asserted that the PDP on its part would continue to perform the role that had been assigned to it by the people. He added whether in or outside the government, the party had been advocating peaceful resolution of the state’s problems through a comprehensive dialogue and reconciliation process.

He said the party’s demand for reduction of troops and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was a part of the same process and such measures now assumed urgency in view of the fast-changing scenario where the civil society and democratic institutions had a greater field-play in consolidating the peace initiatives.

Srinagar, March 23
National Conference president Omar Abdullah today called upon the people to participate in big numbers in the impending Assembly elections to give a befitting reply to the PDP-Congress government for its failure in delivering on its promises.

Addressing a rally in Bemina, Abdullah kept his tirade largely on the PDP, which is his party’s principal rival in the valley where Congress does not really have a big base, and said the PDP took the youths in the valley for a ride in the name of giving them a job.

Mufti Syed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti promised a job to every family in the valley before elections in 2002 and they have singularly failed in doing so, he said. He was accompanied by senior NC leaders Abdul Rahim Rather and others.

Abdullah said the so-called “healing touch” policy of the PDP has turned into “killing touch” and he also took potshots at his rivals for making a big fuss about their demand for the withdrawal of troops from the state but failing in doing anything on the ground.

“The number of Army personnel remains the same and the establishment has dismissed the suggestion of the PDP. They said they would withdraw support from the government if their demands were not met, but they continue to cling to chair,” he told the masses.

He also criticised the bus service to Muzaffarabad, which the PDP cites as a big success, saying it was largely a symbolic exercise as the procedure in getting the permit to travel is so cumbersome that few persons have benefited from it.

It was a first big rally by the National Conference in the valley in recent times and marked the beginning of election campaign in the run up to likely election in August-September.

Experts said the NC would have to make a dent in PDP’s vote bank if it has to make a serious bid for power. The NC was the single largest party even during the last elections, but fell far off the halfway marks as PDP claimed a significant chunk of seats.

Jammu, March 23
Legal experts and some political leaders have questioned the state government's plea that the case related to the assassination of former minister of state for education, Dr Ghulam Nabi Lone, will be referred to the CBI for probe only after securing legal opinion.

MLA and a former minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, who was recently expelled from the PDP, today said, “For referring an important case to the CBI for inquiry does not warrant legal opinion from the law department.”

Mir said the case of Dr Lone's killing to the CBI for inquiry was made by none other than Deputy Chief Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, who besides being a prominent lawyer was also holding the portfolio of law and parliamentary affairs minister. Mir said had there been any need for securing legal opinion prior to referring the case to the CBI, Baig would have made this clear on the floor of the Assembly.

U.K. Jalali, a former Advocate General, said, “It is not mandatory for the Government to seek legal opinion prior to referring a case for CBI probe." He said the government is competent to send a case for a CBI inquiry.

Another senior High Court lawyer,who wished to remain unidentified, said, “In the recent past, the murder case of Chopra family in Jammu had been sent to the CBI for inquiry.”

The decision was taken by the state cabinet and no legal opinion was sought for finding whether the case could be referred to the CBI or not.

MLA and son of Dr Ghulam Nabi Lone, Shoaib Lone, had alleged that the government was resorting to procrastination by not sending its request to the CBI for inquiring into his father’s killing. Dr Lone was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on October 18, 2005, at his official residence in Tulsi Bagh area of Srinagar. Since then, Shoaib Lone and Mir besides, the National Conference had been demanding a CBI probe so as to find out whether Dr Lone was killed either because of security lapse or on account of a political conspiracy.

Shoaib Lone had accused the PDP leadership of hatching a “political conspiracy” for silencing his father who headed a dissident group in the PDP. Despite the fact, the home commissioner, S.S.Kapoor, had made it clear that the government was not delaying the process of referring the case to CBI but was actually waiting for legal opinion. Some legal experts said in the past a number of cases had been referred to the CBI without seeking legal opinion.

Shoaib Lone said “I have reports that the PDP leadership has mounted pressure on the Chief Minister for delaying the CBI probe till the next Assembly election was completed because the party leadership does not want to face an embarrassing situation if the CBI findings were made public before the poll campaign.”

Describing Shoaib Lone's allegations as “baseless and politically motivated,” general secretary of the PDP, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat said “The Chief Minister should clear the misgivings and fulfil his commitment on handing over the case related to Dr Lone's killing to the CBI.”

Jammu, March 23
Though the Centre has sanctioned the raising of four more police battalions in the state, the recruitment process for these battalions is yet to start. Those aspiring to join the police force say the state government has been adopting delaying tactics for the past one year.

Gurdeep Singh from Vijaypur, who along with his three friends today submitted their applications for recruitment as constables, said during the past two months they were told that fresh recruitments had been suspended. However, senior police officials said the recruitment had not been suspended. “We want recruitments for the 15th IRP Battalion to be completed first,” said the official.

Gurdeep said they had been told that the recruitment for the 15th IRP Battalion was on and it would take another couple of months for its completion. The official disclosed that the state government had approached the Centre for sanctioning the raising of more Battalions till 19 new Battalions were added to the police department. Official sources said at present, the state authorities was encouraging recruitment of able-bodied youth as special police officers (SPOs). These appointments were on an adhoc basis and the monthly remuneration of each SPO had been raised from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 per month, they added. However, a number of SPOs had been left high and dry because a large number of them had not received their monthly remuneration for the past three to four months.

Poonch, March 23
After the state government held elections for the municipal bodies a few years back, these urban bodies have failed to solve the basic problems of sewerage and drainage. The municipal committee here could not manage the funds to repair the lanes and drains leading to water logging during rainy season.

Health experts fear if the problem of water-logging is not checked it can cause epidemic. They said that diseases like cholera, gastroenteritis, typhoid, dysentry, amoebiosis and hepatitis were common in the water logged conditions, especially during rainy season.

The areas here where the lanes and drains are quite damaged and need immediate repairs include Mohalla Krisenhal, Shanker Nagar, Singh Sabha Mohalla, Mohalla Power House, Allapir Mohalla and Haji Market.

The residents of these areas told The Tribune that the lanes and drains which were damaged in the past two decades had not been repaired till date. After the municipal committee was elected here, we were expecting it will solve the problem of drainage and sewerage in the town. However it has failed to get these lanes and drains repaired and water logging is a huge problem here", complained Anu Sharma, a resident of Mohalla Singh Sabha and a housewife. "During rainy season it's not only the streets where the water logging occurs but some times water enters our homes also,” she added.

However, it is not only the common man who is facing the problem, the business community, especially the shopkeepers, too are suffering due to water logging.

"Since the lanes and drains have not been repaired in our area for the past so many years, water logging is quite common here. Most of the times, especially during monsoon, water enters our shops damaging the shopping articles inside", averred Muhammad Hussain, who runs grocery shop in Haji Market.

Rajinder Singh, chairman, Poonch Municipal Committee, admitted that the lanes and drains were constructed quite a long time back and had never been repaired. "We were awaiting funds for getting the lanes and drains repaired. However, I must tell you that we have received Rs 7 crore for repair”, Chairman, Municipal Committee said.

Jammu, March 23
The state wing of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) today launched an attack on the newly appointed chief of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) and Union minister for water resources, Saif-ud-din-Soz.

In a statement issued by vice-president of the state BJP, Professor Hari Om, criticised the appointment of Saif-ud-din-Soz as the PCC chief. He said Soz had been a strong supporter of autonomy for Kashmir during his association with the National Conference (NC).

“The appointment of the Saif-ud-din-Soz as the JKPCC chief by the Congress high command is a signal that the Congress had made up its mind to strengthen those forces in the state who want the Union government to restrict New Delhi’s jurisdiction over the state to just three things - defence, foreign affairs and communication,” Hari Om said.

Jammu, March 23
The police seized 55 kg charas, worth Rs 20 lakh, concealed in specially fabricated front doors of a Tata Sierra car today. Three drug peddlers have been arrested in this regard.

Police sources said a police party headed by sub-inspector Sanjiv Chib intercepted one Tata Sierra bearing registration No. GJ 0K 8777 with three passengers.

The police stopped the vehicle for routine search, but the occupants left the car and tried to flee. The police chased them and, while searching the car, seized 55 kg charas.

“During the search, 34 packets of charas with a market value of Rs 20 lakh was recovered,” said a police official.

Meanwhile, the arrested drug peddlers were identified as Mohammed Zakir (35), son of Abdul Star of Mirzapur, Ahmedabad; Mohammed Shareif (35), son of Hussain Bhai of Shahpur, Ahmedabad; and Naseer Syed (25), son of Mohammed Mian of Surat, Gujarat.

Srinagar, March 23
Jammu and Kashmir, where an earthquake measuring 7.6 on Richter scale in October 2005 killed thousands and brought widespread damage, could be struck by a tremor of an even larger magnitude, according to a Kashmir University geologist.

The tremor, which struck the region on October 8, 2005 had claimed about 80,000 lives along the Line of Control (LoC), mostly on the other side. Its epicentre was Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The region may now face a larger tremor, according to M.I. Bhat, the head of the department of geology and geo-physics at University of Kashmir.

Several studies have suggested increase in the static stress towards north west and south east of the rupture zone of the October 2005 earthquake, he said.

The earthquake increased static stress of the epicentre, potentially advancing an impending tremor. Even before the October 2005 quake, a magnitude 8 tremor was overdue for the Kashmir part of the Himalayan segment, said Bhat, who worked as senior scientist at the Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun before joining the university.

Bhat, who along with his small team has been collecting and analysing data to study active faultlines, is surprised that no serious work on earthquakes has been conducted in Kashmir even as the valley is known for its history of devastating quakes.

The origin of Kashmir valley itself is attributed to severe tectonic activity leading to the rise of the Pir Panjal range in the south some 25,000 years ago and opening of the gorge in north that drained the water of the vast lake the valley is believed to have been in the Pliocene epoch, he said. — PTI