Srinagar, April 23
Normal life was affected across the Kashmir valley today in response to the strike called by separatists in protest against the death sentence awarded by a Delhi court to three convicts, including two Kashmiris, in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case. The bandh call was given by both factions of the Hurriyat Conference, while several other organisations extended support to the call.

Protests were held at different places after Friday prayers against the death sentence to three members of the Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) -- Mohammad Naushad from Delhi and Mohammad Ali Bhat and Mirza Nissar Hussain from Srinagar. Several persons were injured in clashes between the police and the protesting youths after Friday prayers in Baramulla and Sopore towns and many localities in the city. One person suffered a bullet injury when the police fired in the Nowshera area of the city. The injured was admitted to the hospital where his condition was stated to be critical.

All shops and business establishments were closed here and traffic was off the roads. Educational institutions, banks and government offices remained closed.

While Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was kept under house arrest, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik was arrested by the police, along with some of his close associates, when he took out a protest march in the Lal Chowk area after Friday prayers.

The Mirwaiz, in a statement from his house, said the APHC would be working on diplomatic channels at the international level against the verdict and also think over the legal means. He condemned the verdict for being against justice and international principles and expressed concern over the restrictions on his movement, preventing him from offering Friday prayers. There was an overwhelming response to the bandh call, he said, adding that several other APHC leaders, including Mukhtar Ahmad Waza and Zaffar Akbar Bhat, were arrested.

Yasin Malik had announced to observe a day-long fast here on Wednesday, while a protest demonstration to invite the attention of the government and the international community had been planned in New Delhi.

The Pakistan-based chief of the United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella organisation of different militant outfits, Syed Salahuddin, condemning the death sentence has described it as “murder of justice” in a false, framed and unrealistic case against the Kashmiris. In a statement from Pakistan, Salahuddin said it showed a “partial approach of the judiciary towards the people of Kashmir,” while they suffered due to the laws like the Public Safety Act (PSA) and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Jammu, April 23
Scattered garbage, potholed road, stagnant water, blocked drains and passengers sitting on platform: This is the common scene in the general bus stand here everyday.

The biggest north zone interstate bus stand, which is spread over around 52 kanals, has turned into a garbage dump and breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies.

Its unhygienic condition tells the tale of the indifferent attitude of the authorities towards it. The bus stand has become a pain for not only passengers, but also for local shopkeepers. The shopkeepers are forced to operate in such unhealthy condition.

Madhu Sharma, president of the Bus Stand Shopkeepers Association, said despite repeated pleadings to the authorities of the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) for maintaining hygiene, nothing had been done so far. Sharma said the JDA only gave verbal assurances to modernise the bus stand, but nothing had been done so far.

Shopkeepers alleged that when the bus stand was under the control of the Road Transport Corporation (RTC), the condition of sanitation was far better, but as and when the JDA takes over the charge of the bus stand the condition of sanitation deteriorated.

Sources said the JDA had given the contract of maintaining sanitation to Sulab Sauchaliya, but the shopkeepers alleged that it failed to maintain hygiene in the bus stand.

Meanwhile, passengers have to face a lot of difficulties due to the absence of proper seating arrangements.

However, JDA vice-chairman GA Qureshi said the JDA had installed benches for the convenience of the passengers, but the fact was that the JDA had put up cemented slabs around pillars, which are being used for the seating purpose by the passengers.

Qureshi said the JDA would soon macadamise the road in the bus stand and would construct proper platforms for the smooth movement of passengers.

Srinagar, April 23
With blistering heat sweeping across the country, Kashmir provides an ideal destination for holidaying with rain coupled with gentle breeze soothing the mind and body of the people, who are on a visit to the “paradise on earth”.

“The heat wave is taking a toll on the people in our state, but here we are using woollen garments. This is a great experience and we are enjoying every bit of our outing here,” Ramesh Chand, a tourist from Gujarat, said.

While the temperature was abnormally high in March, during the past five days the day temperature had been between 13°C and 17°C in Kashmir. “We have been hearing in the news and reading in newspapers that global warming is taking its toll across the globe. I wish Kashmir remains cool always so that the flow of tourists get increased,” says Ali Mohammad, a taxi operator.

Usually, the rush to the valley increases once educational institutions are closed in other parts of the country on account of summer vacation. “Although there is no vacation in our place, I just took off from my office and came to this place along with my family. We will revisit Kashmir and go to places like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other health resorts,” said Vishnu Prakash, a resident of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Mohammad Subhan, a hotelier, said: “For a successful tourist season it is important that the situation in the valley remains normal. Weather is favourable here and the temperature does not exceed 35°C during daytime in summer. This is bearable for outsiders and they are more concerned about their safety.”

Mushtaq Ahmad, a local, said: “Tourists are coming in good numbers to Kashmir. It is expected that more and more tourists would come to this place.”

Srinagar, April 23
Even as other parts of the country are reeling under summer heat, Kashmir continues to experience cold conditions as incessant rain and heavy snowfall in the upper reaches of the valley have brought the temperature down.

Five members of a family have died due to severe cold conditions and snowfall in the upper reaches of Zogimarg in the Damhal Hanjipora area of Kulgam district, while 150 livestock also perished. However, the police has rescued 17 families and their livestock. The dead have been identified as Geenoo Jan (60), his wife Maiwa Begum (58), Kali Begum (38), Najma (6) and Sakeema (2).

The victims were nomadic Gujjars and residents of Choki Chori in Reasi. They had come to Zogimarg in search of greener pastures for their cattle. “After getting information about the death of five members of a family due to severe cold and snowfall, a police team rushed to the area and rescued 17 families, which were also trapped in heavy snowfall there,” a senior police officer told The Tribune.

He said the police also saved 350 livestock. However, it could not retrieve bodies due to continuous snowfall in the area. “Snowfall in the area is hampering the operation, but efforts are on to retrieve the bodies,” the officer said.

For the past few days the weather conditions in the Kashmir valley have not been pleasant and it is being lashed by heavy rain while the upper reaches are experiencing fresh snowfall.

The MeT Department had already warned people living in the upper reaches of the Kashmir valley of snowstorms and landslides due to rain and snowfall. Due to landslides triggered by heavy rain many roads have been closed, cutting off various areas from the rest of the valley.

The Srinagar-Kargil road, which was recently opened for vehicular traffic after remaining closed for six months, has once again been closed due to heavy rain. Meanwhile, three students of a middle school at Parnoo in Kokernag were injured and the school building was partially damaged when lightning struck the school yesterday.

“Three students were injured and the school building was partially damaged when lighting stuck the school. The injured students have been identified as Shabir Ahmad Bimla, Asgar Hussain Chopan and Jameela Akhtar. They have been hospitalised,” said a police officer.

Rangpur (RS Pura), April 23
Notwithstanding claims of the authorities of devolving decision-making power at the grass-roots level, villagers are fed up with the oft-repeated statements of the authorities to conduct panchayat elections to strengthen the panchayati raj institutions.

Most of the rural areas of the state are witnessing unequal development due to the non-existence of panchayati raj institutions, as the local MLAs and MPs always keep their vote bank in mind while allocating funds from their Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“We did not vote for the present MLA so our area has been ignored in development activities,” pointed out Devraj of Korotana, who argued that the constitution of panchayats was must to ensure balanced development in the area.

After a gap of 20 years, the panchayat elections were held in 2001 when Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister of the state. According to official documents of the Rural Development Department, out of total 2,701 panchayats, elections were held in about 1,900 panchayats in 2001. Panchayats in border districts of Kupwara and Baramulla of the Kashmir province did not go to polls due to militancy.

Although the elections were held after a gap of 20 years, all elected panchayats were disbanded premature in April 2005 due to some “political” reasons.

“Five years have passed but the authorities seem to be in no mood to conduct the elections again,” Jasbir Singh, a former Sarpanch of Rangpur, said, who was of the opinion that MLAs and MPs did not want to decentralise power so they had been deliberately creating hurdles in strengthening panchayati raj institutions.

Echoing similar views, Baldev Singh Billowaria, a former sarpanch and state president of the All-India Panchayat Vikas Sangathan, observed that successive state governments never wanted to decentralise power to the grass-roots level.

“Earlier, the panchayat elections were held in 2001 after a gap of 20 years, but the elected panchayats were not given adequate powers,” he said, adding that without implementing the 73rd amendment of the Indian Constitution in the state there was no scope of strengthening the panchayats.

Parliament’s landmark amendment of the early 1990s - the 73rd Amendment for the rural bodies - could not be implemented in the state as it had a separate constitution and special status under Article 370 of the Constitution. By making panchayats a peoples’ body in a real sense the 73rd amendment entrusted them with the responsibility of looking after almost all affairs of rural areas.

The amendment made panchayats a crucial link between the community and the state.

Jammu, April 23
The BJP yesterday demanded the extension of 73rd and 74th amendments of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen the panchayati raj institutions.

In a statement issued here, BJP Legislature Party leader Chaman Lal Gupta regretted that these amendments had not been extended to the state despite being adopted by the country two decades ago for the empowerment of panchayats.

“These amendments have not been extended to this part of the country even after the recommendations by the  Economic Reforms Expert Committee, headed by economist Dr Madhav Godbole,” he said.

Jammu, April 23
After vociferous protests by students organisations against Jammu University’s move to set up a police post on its campus to keep troublemakers at bay, the presence of policemen has eventually silenced ‘politically motivated’ student leaders.

Policemen were deployed at the university for the past two months, Prof JS Tara, Dean Students’ Welfare, said. Students seemed happy with the decision of the university authorities to set up a police post on the campus. Neeraj Kumar, a PhD student, said: “It is a good step to deploy police here. We are feeling secure as no outsider can come easily to the campus and vitiate the peaceful atmosphere.”

Rajni Sharma, another student, said: “Only student leaders were opposing it, as they had no other agenda. I am happy with such security arrangements. We now feel more secure and can pursue our studies peacefully.”

The student leaders had launched a movement against the university authorities to set up a police post on its premises, which in the recent past had witnessed a bloody clash involving a son of a former MLC, who was shot dead by the son of a prominent businessman outside his Shastri Nagar residence.

The issue had snowballed into a major controversy with student leaders disrupting the normal functioning of the university. However, not even a single protest had taken place ever since the police was deployed on the campus.

A transit accommodation has been provided to the cops.

Jammu, April 23
Demanding immediate administrative reforms in the state Board of School Education, the Jammu Private Schools and ETT Institutes Association (Progressive) has demanded separate boards for Jammu and Kashmir.

In a statement, the association demanded streamlining of the functioning of the education board and said to make it more efficient, it should be bifurcated.

It also expressed concern over the “casual approach” of the Education Ministry and appealed to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and legislators to take fresh initiatives for improving the education sector. The association wants reforms as per the suggestions made by MLA MY Tarigami during the Assembly session.

Jammu, April 23
With the detection of one polio case from a slum area of Jammu, District Development Commissioner, Jammu, MK Dwivedi has issued directions to the authorities concerned to seriously take up the pulse polio campaign beginning April 25.

A meeting of the District Task Force for additional immunisation activity was held and it was impressed upon the programme officer, ICDS, the state coordinator of the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme, the District Coordinator, NRHM, and others to ensure 100 per cent coverage of children up to five years of age by active participation by anganwari workers, multipurpose female health workers, ASHA workers of the Health Department and other staff. Focus areas will be slum areas, migratory population and labour force working at construction sites (building roads, railways etc).

In order to cover these sidelined habitants, mobile teams have been constituted to visit these areas in the early morning hours and late evening hours, besides booths shall be set up for full coverage and gaps will be filled by a door-to-door campaign. The team has been directed to organise IEC activity and generate awareness through print and electronic media. Grass-roots level workers shall also ensure awareness generation among the masses.

Dwivedi conveyed that with a missionary zeal and coordinated efforts of different departments, the disease shall be eradicated soon.

Jammu, April 23
Jammuites got a rare peep into the history of the state, besides a look at various rare books, manuscripts and photographs of historical value on the occasion of World Book Day at Kala Kendra here today. The event was organised by the Department of State Archives, Archaeology and Museums in collaboration with the Libraries and Research Department.

A chronicle of kings of Kashmir — Kalahan’s Rajatarangani (written in the 12th century), biography of first Maharaja of the Dogra dynasty and the founder of J&K state Maharaja Ghulab Singh, Ghulab Nama and rare English-Sanskrit dictionary by a scholar from Oxford University Monier Williams are the speciality of the exhibition.

“I came to know here that since the 17th century up to the first quarter of the 20th century, Jammu was a beautiful walled city. Though now the wall and a gate have been demolished, through rare photographs I can imagine the glorious past of the city,” Manisha Kakar, a student, said.

“Photographs put on display were a visual treat for me because of their rarity. But the organisers should have displayed their copies instead of the original prints,” Susheel Gupta, a varsity scholar, said. He said: “The department should make microfilms of each manuscript.”

“Though it was a day-long event, in view of the public response we have decided to extend the exhibition till Sunday evening,” Khalid Bashir Ahmed, director, Libraries and Research, said.

“In all, 138 old and rare books in English, Hindi and Urdu languages, 30 manuscripts in Devnagri, Persian, Sharda, Arabic, Gurmukhi and Bodhi languages and six atypical photo albums are on display,” he said.

Other books of significance put on display included Adi Granth (1887), Shah Nama Firdousi (1874), Aayeen-e-Akbari (1274 H), Gulab Nama (1932), Bustan-e-Hikmat (1874), Makhzanul Advia (1882), Tareekh-e- Rajgaan-e-Jammu-wa-Kashmir (1886), Naya Purana Ehad Nama (New and Old Testament) (1824), Wall Street to Cashmere ( (1859), Columbus & Columbia (1892), The Gems of the East (1904), Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (18920, India in 1880 (1881),World Famous Paintings (1938), India in 1928-29 (1930), First Gazette in J&K State ( 1889), Ram Charitmanas (1909), Shree Bhavishath Mahapuran, Kalhana’s Rajatarangini in Sanskrit (1892), Indrajaal (1880), Birjbilas (1880), Mahabaharat (1916), English and Sanskrit Dictionary (1851), and Rasool, Lahore and Iqbal Numbers of Naqoosh, Lahore.

Manuscripts included Shahnama Firdousi’s Ramayana in Persian (1162 H), Punjganj Nizami having 25 rare paintings decorated with gold and precious stone colours, Shri Mahabhagwat Gita (Devnagri), Sukanda Puran (16th century AD), Gur Mahima in Gurmukhi, Silsalat ul Al Azhab, famous Mathnavi of Maulana Jaami (1270 H), Mahabharta in Sharda script, Sikander Nama, illustrated with 25 paintings (16th century) and Budhist religious scriptures.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Tourism and Culture Minister Nawang Rigzin and Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Nasir Aslam Wani.

Srinagar, April 23
A number of events were organised in connection with World Book Day here today, with Kashmir University organising a three-day event that began yesterday.

A function was organised at the state Board of School Education headquarters here today that was presided over by Education Minister Peerzada Mohammad Syed, while Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir was the guest of honour.

Speaking on the occasion, Peerzada said the importance of books could not be ignored in any period as these have guided people as well as nations. He added that book reading helped create a sound nation, which also provided an opportunity to get fresh and important revelations with regard to culture, history, language etc.

Mir described books as the best friends of the educated class and said they served as food for knowledge seekers. He impressed upon the teachers to inculcate book reading interest among the students.

As part of the World Book Day celebrations, the Department of Libraries and Research organised a day-long exhibition of manuscripts and rare books at SPS Library here. The exhibition was inaugurated by the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Naseem Lankar.

The main attraction of the exhibition was a copy of the Koran calligraphed in 1554 AD. Manuscripts from the department’s rich collection of over 5,000 were on display and generated visitors’ interest. It also included rare titles on different subjects like literature, medicine, religion and culture.

On the occasion, Lankar emphasised the need to promote the culture of book reading and said public libraries could play an important role in this direction. 

Kashmir University has organised a three-day programme on the occasion at the main Allama Iqbal Library, which began yesterday. The inaugural function was marked by the inauguration of the exhibition of books and rare photographs on Jammu and Kashmir at the Central Asian Museum of the library yesterday. 

Jammu, April 23
While the security forces today launched a search and combing operation in the upper reaches of the Billawar area in Kathua district to hunt down two heavily armed Pakistan militants, troops gunned down one Lashkar-e-Toiba militant in the Gandoh area of Doda district this evening.

“Our troops have gunned down one LeT militant in the Chilli area of Gandoh

in Doda district, while another has been engaged in a gunfight,” Brigadier General Staff of the 16 Corps, Brig Gurdeep Singh told The Tribune.

Though the identity of the slain ultra had not been ascertained so far, initial reports identified him as Gama of the LeT, he added. The encounter started around 5.45 pm and the gunfight was still on,  he said.

However, Brig Gurdeep Singh claimed that the two militants in Gandoh were not the one who escaped from the Rajbagh area in Kathua after firing upon a police party.

The slain militants and the one engaged in the gun-battle in Gandoh were already operating in Doda and they were being hunted by the  troops, he said.

Meanwhile, SSP, Kathua district, Gareeb Dass said the security forces today launched a search and combing operation in the upper reaches of Billawar tehsil in Kathua district.

It may be stated here that militants, who intrude from Samba and Kathua districts, usually adopt the route of the Ujh river to reach the upper reaches of Udhampur and  Doda districts. “Today, we focused the upper reaches of Ghati and Billawar areas, 40

km above on the right side of the Jammu-Pathankot highway, scanning the area right from the Ujh river,” said the SSP. The quick reaction teams had been scanning the upper reaches, he added.

The SSP said the police today got vital clues about the fleeing ultras. “We have inputs that the two ultras with someone’s assistance have crossed over to the upper reaches of Billawar and before doing so they had on April 20 taken food from a house in Maichak village, opposite Chabechak village, he added. However, the officer refused to divulge the identity of the person  who arranged food for the militants.

To a query, Gareeb Dass said certainly with the help of an expert guide the fleeing militants could reach Doda. The two militants, after successfully intruding into Kathua district, had fired upon a police party on April 19 before hiding in a forest nursery near

Chabechak village. However, the next morning the security forces had found a rucksack from the nursery that contained wire  cutters, some eatables and documents.