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Gujjars bravely defended borders, says Sonia
Her visit puts commuters to inconvenience
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Shutdown in valley over Sonia’s visit to Jammu
Block-R a refuge or deathtrap for migrants?
‘No Army man involved in fake encounters in 20 yrs’
Students clear annual exam without teachers
Workshop on advanced trauma life support
‘Machil case makes other encounters doubtful’
9 vehicles gutted in fire
High-speed winds damage mango crop
Water level in Jhelum recedes
Total bandh in Shopian
15 students, 2 jawans hurt in landslides
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Gujjars bravely defended borders, says Sonia
Jammu, May 29 Addressing a function after inaugurating the Gurjar Centre for Culture and Heritage at the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust here this afternoon, Sonia lavished all praises on Gujjars for valiantly defending the borders of the country as well as fighting militancy in the state. “In 1947, 1965 wars and in other conflicts Gujjars have bravely defended the borders of the country,” she said and appreciated this nomadic community for its sacrifices in fight against militancy in the state. “Although this community is socially, educationally and economically backward, Gujjars never compromised with their principles,” she said and recalled the contribution of Gujjars and Bakerwals in the freedom struggle. Pointing towards their backwardness, she observed that nomadic life was the main reason for their educational backwardness. “At the time when the world is making progress in every field, there is a need to take effective steps for the development of all sections of society,” she said assuring the Gujjars that the Centre and the state government would take all steps for their uplift. Sonia further stressed on providing better health and education facilities to the women of Gujjars and Bakerwal communities. Striking an emotional chord with Gujjars, the UPA chairperson said the Congress had emotional relations with the community. “From Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi all Congress leaders had an emotional attachment with this nomadic community,” she said and added that the Congress had always remained very particular about its betterment. She also appreciated the efforts of Masood Choudhary, chairman of the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust, for spreading education among the nomadic community. Sonia also praised the functioning of Baba Ghulam Shah Badhshah University located at Rajouri. Speaking on the occasion, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad appreciated the contribution of Gujjars and Bakerwals in defending the country. He said these nomadic communities had played a very dominant role in fighting militancy. Azad stressed on the need of taking some effective steps to preserve culture, traditions and languages of the nomadic tribes. Union Minister of New and Renewal Energy Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Saifuddin Soz and chairman of the trust Masood Choudhary were among those who addressed the function. Discusses political issues with Omar
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had a half-an-hour one-to-one meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah here on Saturday. According to an official handout, the two leaders discussed issues pertaining to the development of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and the functioning of the coalition government in the state. |
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Her visit puts commuters to inconvenience
Jammu, May 29 With the beginning of the day, roads leading to the Narwal-Kunjwani bypass were closed for ensuring foolproof security for Sonia Gandhi’s function, which was scheduled to be held at the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust in the Narwal area here. Though security personnel and the traffic police termed it security measures, people suffered a lot due to the roads blocks in the searing heat. The city, which, otherwise, sees a very few VVIP or VIP vehicles, today witnessed a large number of VVIP vehicles as a majority of the state ministers,
MLAs and MLCs had arrived in the city to attend the function to be addressed by Sonia. After reaching the city, Sonia was taken to the venue of the rally in a long cavalcade of VVIP vehicles amid tight security, and traffic was stopped in all parts of the city to ensure the easy movement of
the cavalcade causing huge traffic jams. Till Sonia left the place, all roads leading to the Narwal bypass, including
Satwari, Gandhi Nagar, university road, Gujjar Bridge, Sainik Colony At a number of places, some minor quarrels were also reported between the public and the policemen, as the latter did not allow any traffic on the roads. “We have been ordered to close the roads. We can’t open them without permission from our seniors. But the public is not ready to listen to us,” said a traffic police officer at the Gujjar Nagar Bridge, who was trying to convince commuters to travel by other road. Truckers were the most harried lot, as a big queue of trucks was witnessed in the Narwal transport area. The truckers had no option but to wait for the roads to open. A truck driver, Hardial Singh, who waited for the past one hour at
Narwal, said, “I have to go towards Nagrota but the police has put up barricades and barbed wires on the road to close it. So I had no other option but to wait for the road to clear.” Even vehicles coming from Nagrota were not allowed to go towards the bypass, as the police diverted traffic onto city roads. The condition was similar at Kunjwani where heavy vehicles were diverted to the city. Till evening the condition remained same and the commuters got some respite when Sonia left the city. It was a tough task for the security forces too, as a huge number of police,
CRPF, Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel and paramilitary troops were deployed in all parts of the city to tackle any untoward incident and that too in this scorching heat. SP, Traffic (Jammu), Zahid Manhas said, “The traffic was diverted at a few places only and the roads were opened immediately after Sonia Gandhi’s visit.” |
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Shutdown in valley over Sonia’s visit to Jammu
Srinagar, May 29 Geelani, who had called for the bandh, was taken into preventive custody yesterday. He had said the APHC had no personal animosity with Sonia Gandhi but she was visiting the state as the head of the Congress party, which was responsible for the problems of the people in Kashmir. Geelani has also called for a march to Shopian tomorrow on the occasion of the first death anniversary of the two Shopian women, whose bodies were recovered from a canal on May 30 last year. Chairman of the moderate faction of APHC Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who had extended support to the two-day programme of the Majlis seeking identification of the culprits and justice done in the murder case, was also kept under house arrest at his Nigeen residence today. He had expressed concern over the inordinate delay of one year in fulfilling the government’s promise of exposing the culprits in the twin murder case. Meanwhile, protests were held here this afternoon, resulting in clashes between protesters and police and CRPF personnel at several places. Protests were also held in Handwara town of north Kashmir against the killing of three youths from Nadihal, Baramulla, who had allegedly been killed in a fake encounter in Machil sector of Kupwara district on April 30. |
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Block-R a refuge or deathtrap for migrants?
Jammu, May 29 Block-R, a “self-acquired” refuge of 32 militancy-affected migrant families at the police colony in Channi Himmat, resembles some haunted place which they consider a “deathtrap”, but still they did not abandon it due to monetary reasons. While due to shabby surroundings cases of snakebites are quite common, a few children and old people, claimed inmates, have died after falling off the ‘unsafe’ building that is without railings, doors, windows and even grills, while some injured themselves badly and remained bed-ridden for long. “When fierce winds blow through our rooms, we run down the stairs fearing that the building may collapse anytime,” said Sahil, an inmate whose family lives on the fifth floor. This incomplete concrete structure that has no provision for drainage and sanitation is a refuge to Kashmiri Pandits, Sikh and Muslim migrants who fled Kashmir due to militancy. A few came from Doda and Kishtwar districts as well. “After mass migration, we started living in tents. It was some 15-16 years ago when we camped in this under-construction building,” said migrants. Right behind the building is a toilet complex - a hutment - constructed with tin pieces and spare wood. “We catch sight of snakes and scorpions quite often when they crawl into the building and toilets. In a number of cases, they have bitten inmates,” residents said. Their worries have further compounded as there is no power supply in the building for the past three days. “During nights there is a constant fear of children falling from building or someone getting bitten by serpents,” said Rita Devi, an inmate. While the searing heat is peaking, water supply is erratic. “Once a week we get piped water, besides a tanker comes after a gap of 10 days. Still our demand largely remains unfulfilled,” said Abdul Rehman. His neighbour, Raj Kumar, said: “Migrants like us have got nothing, but promises after promises. Quarters at Jagti are being allotted to those who are already well off. We too want justice.” “Though people from across the country and also from abroad visit us every year and take an account of our miseries, our condition remains the same,” said a boy whose sister, Mehak, escaped miraculously when she accidentally fell from the third floor last year.
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‘No Army man involved in fake encounters in 20 yrs’
Jammu, May 29 “Not even a single instance of an Army jawan or officer found involved in alleged fake encounters surfaced in the past 20 years and when it came to allegations of human rights abuse by our troops, only one to two per cent of them were found to be correct,” Army sources told The Tribune. However, in the past over two decades, the Army, which had maintained the highest standards of professionalism, took strict action against 104 personnel for other violations, they added. Though the police has filed a case of abduction and murder against a few security personnel, including a Major, who allegedly shot dead three youths in a fake encounter on April 30 in the Machil sector, Army officers did not operate in ones and twos, they added. An officer of the rank of Major had at least 120 men under his command and a fake encounter was an alien term to Army officers, the sources said. The police had a system of awarding promotions to its officers and men for killing militants, but the Army had no such mechanism in place and, hence, it left no scope to even think something ‘devilish’ like this, they added. Even getting medallions for gallantry was a very stringent requirement in the Army, the sources said and expressed regrets over the myopic vision of certain elements in the Kashmir valley. “If something wrong is committed by our men, we take immediate action like we did in the Bomai incident in February 2008 when one of our troopers had retaliated to militants’ fire,” they said. “Unfortunately, a civilian was killed in the crossfire in that incident but still the Army took action against them for retaliating to militants’ fire in the presence of civilians,” they added. In the present case, if the Army officer was found involved and proved guilty, he would not only lose his uniform but also get punishment, the sources said, hinting at the Army Tribunal’s prompt action in the Kargil War episode.
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Students clear annual exam without teachers
Jammu, May 29 Narender Kumar and Rajini Devi, who secured 41 per cent and 49 per cent marks, respectively, in the Class X board exam, are now the brightest alumni of the school, which so far has given dismal results in the Class X board exam. Both diligent students hail from nearby Gharat village, 5 km from the school, and would walk 10 km daily to attend the school. However, the rest of the 25 students in the class were not fortunate enough to get through. The most unfortunate were five students from forested Sadda village, who used to walk 30 km everyday to attend the school. Barring a couple of subjects, they could not pass in other subjects. “It is shockingly pathetic state of affairs. Students put their lives to risk to come to the school through militancy infested forest areas. But they do not have teachers here and no body seems to be bothered,” said a school teacher. For a total of 200 students, the school has five teachers and a headmaster only. Out of the five teachers, one teacher has been deputed to BEd College in Jammu, while another has been spared for the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan as a cluster resource person in Tatta Pani. The results also reflect on the plight of the schools where infrastructure has been poor. This school was upgraded in 2007 from a lower high school, but infrastructure and the number of teachers remained the same. During the Class X board exam in 2008, the first batch of the school gave zero per cent result. In 2009, out of the 25 students just two cleared the exam--the precedent that the school followed this year too. Irked villagers staged a protest against the Education Department at the tehsil headquarters yesterday. They dispersed peacefully later after the tehsildar and the Chief Education Officer assured them that staff would be provided in the school. |
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Workshop on advanced trauma life support
Udhampur, May 29 Around 150 delegates are participating in the event. Describing the event as a milestone in caring for the brave soldiers, Lt-Gen Jasbir Singh, in his inaugural address, said the primary aim of the CME was to train young medical officers, nursing officers and paramedics about ATLS. The system was the demand of the day in view of the rapidly changing scenario in the field of medicine. He said the CME would become the cornerstone of developing and sharing new strategies on trauma management in the armed forces. This in turn would go a long way in sharpening the skills of grass-roots level workers, who take care of soldiers. Major Gen SK Nema, MG (Med), said trauma continued to be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among the younger generation, claiming the lives of more people than what cancer, heart disease, and stroke altogether did. Trauma claimed a life every six minutes and was responsible for serious disability every three seconds, yet more people were now surviving critical injuries than ever before. This was due to the training of trauma care providers with advanced and expert trauma skills. Major Gen Harinder Singh, Commandant of the Command Hospital, Udhampur, in his welcome address, highlighted that the non-enemy action injuries to our troops due to accidents, unfortunately, far outweighed the injuries sustained due to enemy action. The CME would be marked by a number of scientific sessions, guest presentations, demonstrations and an interactive session where the participants would get to learn and practise various essential life-saving procedures. A scientific exhibition was also being staged as part of the programme, with a view to making the delegates aware of the contemporary techniques and equipment available at trauma care, including trauma man - the state-of-the-art trauma simulator. |
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‘Machil case makes other encounters doubtful’
Srinagar, May 29 Addressing media persons at his Gupkar residence here today, the PDP patron held that the Machhil fake encounters raised many questions beyond the obvious. “These cast doubt on the entire range of encounters, including that which took the life of beggar Habibullah Khan, who was projected as the oldest militant in the state,” Mufti said. He questioned if the “fake encounters” were staged only for medals and rewards “or to strengthen the argument in support of continuation of the AFSPA which is otherwise repugnant to the ethos, idea and spirit of India”. The PDP patron urged the government to convene a special session of the state legislature where human rights would be the only subject of discussion and a resolution is presented for revocation of the AFSPA. “I expect a political unanimity in passing such a solution,” he said. Referring to the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said it could have been an opportunity to restart the internal dialogue process. “But the new situation could cast cloud on it and something drastic would need to be done to revive some degree of trust between the people and the state,” he said. On the series of incidents of innocent killings, Mufti Sayeed alleged that no action had been taken to stem the rot as the security forces took refuge under the AFSPA. He added that the state government blocked all political action to convince the Government of India of the inevitability to scrap this law that had outlived its utility. |
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9 vehicles gutted in fire
Jammu, May 29 The fire broke out at the CRPF camp of 136 battalion in the Usman Dawar area in the Nagrota belt on the outskirts of the Jammu city late yesterday night, the police said. The blaze soon spread to other parts of the camp due to high-speed winds, destroying seven tents. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Later, the blaze was controlled. Short circuit is said to be the reason behind the fire. However, no loss of life or injury has been reported in the incident, the police said. In another incident, a fire broke out at Traffic Police Lines in Gulshan grounds here yesterday night, the police said, adding that nine vehicles, beddings, uniforms and other items of Army jawans were gutted. Six kiosks were burnt down in the Narwal area of the city early this morning and two in the Gole Gujral area of the city. One shop and a house was also gutted in the fire in RS Pura and Bishnah areas of Jammu and Samba districts today, the police said, adding that the fire erupted due to a short circuit.
— PTI |
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High-speed winds damage mango crop
Jammu, May 29 The ground under mango trees is seen covered with immature fruit. The fruit was expected to ripen next month but fast winds had damaged around 20 per cent of the crop or even more. The department is assessing the losses. “First, drought for two consecutive seasons wreaked havoc on our livelihood and now rough winds are spelling doom for us. Mango is a cash crop and we had pinned great hopes on it,” said a marginal farmer, Ram Lal of Bishnah. He added, “Farming is loss-making venture these days.” The abnormal winds sweeping through mango growing areas of Jammu division, including Akhnoor, Reasi, Chenani, Samba, Bishnah, RS Pura and Vijaypur, reportedly damaged branches and small mango trees also. Director, Horticulture, Jiya Lal Sharma said, “We are collecting field reports and assessing losses. Going by the guesswork, we estimate 15-20 per cent loss to the crop. Strong winds due to low atmospheric
pressure are common in June but it is for the first time that such winds have struck the crop in May.” “Despite losses, we are expecting a good crop this season,” he added. |
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Water level in Jhelum recedes
Srinagar, May 29 Many parts of Srinagar city also remained inundated due to the continued rain, although the authorities claimed to have taken adequate corrective measures. The water level in the Jhelum is receding and the danger of floods has been averted. However, the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control is keeping a close eye on the situation, including that in Asham and Ningili
nullah, also. This was stated by Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Najeeb Ullah during his visit to various areas. He said 11 lakh sandbags had been kept ready to meet any eventuality. Besides, sandbags were also available at the district headquarters. He said flood coordination zonal committees had been constituted in all districts. Two women were killed when their house collapsed due to heavy rain in the Tral area of Pulwama district yesterday. Abdul Rehman Dar, a retired
Patwari, was drowned in the Tongri nullah in Shopian district, and his body was fished out today. A boy, Javed Ahmad Dar, was drowned in the Kaniara nullah in the Tangmarg area of Baramulla district, the police here said. |
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Total bandh in Shopian
Shopian, May 29 The Majlis Mashawarat of Shopian district, constituted after the incident, seeking to get the culprits identified and justice done, which has organised the two-day programme of protests, has vowed to continue the struggle till its demand was not fulfilled. “The people of Shopian and the Kashmir valley are once again vociferously protesting against this gross human rights violation,” said Mohammad Shafi Khan, vice-president and spokesperson for the Majlis Mashawrat, while addressing the congregation on the first day of the protest programme here today. |
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15 students, 2 jawans hurt in landslides
Leh, May 29 |
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All shops and business establishments were closed and traffic was off the roads. Educational institutions and banks were closed and there was thin attendance in government offices. It also coincided with the bandh call given by the Majlis Mashawrat of Shopian on the occasion of the first death anniversary of two women who had been allegedly raped and murdered at the hands of security forces on this day last year.