Srinagar, June 11
A youth today died due to stone throwing in the downtown locality of Srinagar, the police said. However, the claim was refuted by locals as they said the boy died after being hit by a bullet.

Identified as Toufail Ahmed (18), a Class XII student and resident of Saida Kadal locality of the downtown, he, according to the police, died in the Rajouri Kadal area after being hit by a stone, which was thrown by an agitated youth, when he came out of the mosque after offering Friday prayers.

But the locals said the youth died after being hit by a bullet that was fired by the police to quell a stone-throwing mob.

Tension gripped the entire city after the news about the death of the youth spread and people in large number came on streets at various localities across the city and resorted to stone throwing.

“The police had to resort to a mild cane-charge and fire tear-gas shells to restore law and order in the city,” said a senior police officer.

Sources said several persons were injured in stone throwing and the retaliatory action by the police. A policeman was seriously wounded when the protestors snatched his service rifle in the area and beat him up ruthlessly.

On January 31 this year, a 16-year-old boy, Wamiq Farooq Shah, was killed in the same locality after he was hit on the head by a tear-gas canister which was fired by the police to control a stone-throwing mob. The valley had witnessed complete shutdown and violent protest demonstrations for several days following the death of Wamiq Farooq.

Meanwhile, the police sources said Toufail was hit on the head by some hard substance and visibly there was no bullet injury that would definitely have left a burn mark, besides an entry and exit wound. The police also said this could be a case of murder as some people taking advantage of the stone throwing might have killed the youth.

“As per the medical examination of the victim, the case appears to be of a deliberate murder,” a senior police officer said.

Jammu, June 11
Micky Mouse, Donald Duck, Spider Man, Phantom, Tom and Jerry — all Disney characters have landed in the paediatric ward of the Government Hospital in Gandhi Nagar here. No, they have not fallen sick. They are here to comfort children who are badly scared of injections, syringes, medicines and even seeing doctors and nurses.

It was a novel idea by the hospital management helped by the Department of Psychology, Jammu University, that has brought these favourite characters of children to the hospital. Their posters and stickers adorn the walls and children, otherwise lying in discomfort, keep talking to them or about them. No wonder there are less cries heard in the ward now.

“The motive behind this step was to introduce a friendly aura in the wards so that children do not fear entering hospitals, as they usually do,” said the Deputy Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Arun Sharma, a postgraduate alumnus from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

“The concept got materialised with the cooperation of the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Subash Bhagat,” said Dr Sharma, who has recently been posted in the hospital from the district hospital, Udhampur, which won the excellence award from Department of Health and Family Planning last month.

“The practice of introducing play way atmosphere in paediatric wards of the hospitals is prevalent in western countries but is new to India. The motive behind it is to create an environment wherein children feel at home,” said the Head of the Psychology Department of Jammu University, Prof Arti Bakshi, who provided consultancy to the hospital.

“Children correlate themselves with cartoons and toys. Secondly, colours we have chosen are refreshingly soothing. We hope the changes will help in fast recovery,” she said. She added that the department would conduct a research by comparing the rate of recovery in patients at the paediatric ward of the Gandhi Nagar hospital with other hospitals.

Nevertheless, there is more in store for them. Within a few days children at the paediatric ward will be relishing soft music, besides dotting soft toys. The hospital administration is going to start music therapy in the Ward No. 9 and 10 of the paediatrics ward.

As one enters the department, spick and span walls painted in soothing colours greet you. The rooms have been well furbished with immaculate curtains as suggested by Prof Bakshi. The walls have been painted in orange, light pink and sky blue colours, besides lively cartoons and school rhymes for toddlers. The paramedical staff of the hospital also seems upbeat over the change.

Jammu, June 11
To strengthen communal harmony and brotherhood in this militancy-plagued state, the Seva Dal, the frontal organisation of the Congress, has decided to organise national integration camps in the state to facilitate people-to-people contact.

The first such camp will be organised in Srinagar next month and Seva Dal activists from all parts of the state will participate in it. This was disclosed by senior Congress leader and former Union minister Jagdish Tytler, who was recently appointed all-India in charge of the Seva Dal.

Tytler today visited the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi after his acquittal in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. “I visited the holy shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi for thanksgiving, as I have been acquitted in all riots cases,” Tytler told The Tribune. He, however, refused to speak much on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

After paying obeisance at the shrine, Tytler convened a meeting of the office-bearers of the Seva Dal to review the functioning of the organisation in Jammu. “The services of Seva Dal activists will be utilised to strengthen communal harmony and brotherhood in this sensitive border state,” Tytler said. He expressed satisfaction that the Seva Dal had been organising such programmes in different parts of the state.

“Keeping in view the prevailing situation in the state, strengthening brotherhood and spreading the message of peace should be the foremost task in this region,” he observed. He hastened to add that the Seva Dal “being the frontal organisation of the Congress would shoulder the responsibility to frustrate the evil designs of divisive forces”. Tytler said he had directed the local unit to organise camps in different areas of the state to facilitate people-to-people contact.

Tytler, however, expressed ignorance about the progress in the Talent Contest organised by the party in Jammu and Srinagar in October 2009 to select the Pradesh Youth Congress (PYC) president. “I remained busy in the affairs of the Bihar Congress so I am not aware of the progress in the contest,” he said.

Tytler along with four other senior Congress leaders had interviewed more than 700 youths of the state who participated in the Talent Contest. Even after more than seven months nothing had been done so far in this regard.

Earlier, while addressing the meeting of the office-bearers of the Seva Dal, Tytler exhorted the party workers to spread the message of the Congress to every corner of the state.

Jammu, June 11
Working chairman of Panthers Party and MLA, Ramnagar, Harsh Dev Singh has strongly flayed the state government for the delay in the finalisation of the annual plan with uncertainty prevailing over the plan size even after the lapse of two and a half months from the start of current financial year.

In a statement issued here today, Harsh regretted that while all other states of the country had finalised their respective plans with plan ceiling duly conveyed to them by the Planning Commission of India, it was only the state of Jammu and Kashmir which was trailing behind. He said as per the prevalent practice the plan size of the state used to be finalised on priority and much before that of other states in view of its limited working season. He said it was height of negligence and causal approach on the part of coalition government which had failed to complete this mandatory exercise in a time-bound manner.

He further said the unprecedented delay in completing the exercise revealed utter bankruptcy on the part of those managing the affairs of the state. Singh said the developmental activity was bound to be prejudicially affected due to in-ordinate delay in the plan finalisation. He said no meeting of the District Development Boards (DDBs) could be held in any of the 22 districts of the state and no developmental plans at the district level could be formulated for any of the districts. He regretted that the worst aspect was non-finalisation of the dates for holding the meetings of various DDBs.

He said in view of the limited working season in majority of the districts of the state, it was not possible to execute the developmental works after November. He regretted that the main causality of the government’s apathy would, thus, be the people inhabiting the rural and remote areas of the state who would be deprived of the benefits of developmental schemes.

Srinagar, June 11
The state government is ‘seriously planning ’ a policy to rehabilitate militancy victims in the state and heal the wounds of orphans, widows and other innocent victims of militancy, including the family members of the militants.

“We are aware of their sufferings and feel their pain. We have pledged to take steps for their dignified rehabilitation,” Minister for Social Welfare Sakina Itoo said.

Sakina chaired a high-level meeting of officers from police and civil administration convened to discuss the modalities of a survey of militancy victims in the state so that an authenticated and fully verified figure comes out. The meeting was attended by the Secretary Social Welfare; Director Social Welfare, Kashmir; Executive Director, Rehabilitation Council; DIG, Kashmir, HK Lohia; and DIG (north) Muneer Khan.

The minister said the Department of Social Welfare after identifying 4,662 widows of civilians and 1,918 widows of militants had been able to cover 3,256 of them so far. Similarly, out of 20,413 orphans, including 4,749 of militants, 5,480 children had been covered under various welfare schemes. She added that all intended beneficiaries had not been covered as many victims did not come.

Sakina sought the cooperation of the police in the survey, identification and verification of militancy-related victims.

The DIG, Kashmir, ensured full cooperation of his department in this regard. He said all information and help would be provided to the Social Welfare Department.

Srinagar, June 11
The chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, today said that Kashmir continued to be a major hurdle in improving relations between India and Pakistan and urged that issue should top the agenda of any talks between the two countries.

Addressing a Friday congregation at the Jamia Masjid here, Mirwaiz said: “ The biggest hurdle in the relations between India and Pakistan is the Kashmir issue. Confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan are dependent on the issue.Hence, it should top the agenda of the talks.”

The Mirwaiz strongly condemned the recent killing of the three youths in an alleged fake encounter in Machil.He said the Hurriyat Conference had no problem with the resumption of talks between the two countries, but the talks should have some direction and should be carried forward seriously.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent two-day visit to Kashmir had expressed willingness to talk to ‘all shades of people who were opposed to violence,”.He had also asked Pakistan to stop its soil from being used against India for terrorist activities and had urged the neighbouring country to join hands to bring peace and stability to the subcontinent.

“We have been waiting for the past 63 years.We are ready to wait for some more time.Let India and Pakistan talk first on the Kashmir issue. We will join later”, he said.

Though the party has been demanding that talks on Kashmir should be trilateral in which people of Kashmir should be part of the dialogue process, Mirwaiz said he was ready to wait.

Expressing unhappiness over not being invited by the Prime Minister during his Srinagar visit, Mirwaiz said: “What we feel is that there is no change in their policy and attitude towards Kashmir.”

Srinagar, June 11
Arrangements for the first Mughal Road car rally to be held from June 24 to 27 were discussed at a meeting here today.

The rally is being organised by the Himalayan Motor Sports and sponsored by the Tourism Department in which 40 top national rallyists will participate.

Minister for Tourism and Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora presided over the meeting convened for making the event a success.

Speaking on the occasion, Jora stressed upon the officers to ensure proper coordination to make the event a success and added that the event would boost tourism, trade and commerce in the state.

He asked the security agencies to provide a secure passage for the organisers as well as the rallyists on specific routes. Besides, no traffic should be allowed during the event.

Meanwhile, the government also plans to operate an inter-state air safari service to various tourist destinations in the state. In the first instance, the service would be for pilgrims to the Shiv Khori and Mata Vashno Devi shrines in Jammu.

Modalities were being worked out for starting the service. It was decided that bids would be invited for entering into contract with Helitaxi operators for two years in the first instance.

Srinagar, June 11
A delegation from Jammu led by Minister for Revenue and Relief Raman Bhalla called on Governor N N Vohra at Raj Bhavan here today and discussed several development projects with him.

The Governor gave a patient hearing to the delegation’s complaints about their land having been acquired and said their grievances would be examined for appropriate action.

The delegation also thanked the Governor for taking initiatives to bring improvement in the Amarnath yatra arrangements. It also welcomed the decision of the shrine board to allot special quotas of helicopter bookings for tour and travel associations of Kashmir and Jammu divisions in an equitable manner with a view to supporting their efforts to provide maximum possible facilities to the pilgrims and added all these steps would give a fillip to pilgrim tourism, boost economy and generate employment avenues in the state.

Satisfaction was also expressed at the meeting over the state government’s decision to give concession in entry tax to vehicles carrying pilgrims for Amarnath yatra and to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. According to an order issued by the state government, vehicles carrying pilgrims to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine shall be charged Rs 2,000 at the entry point for a period of three days and after three days, Rs 2,000 shall be charged per day. Similarly, vehicles carrying pilgrims for the Amarnath yatra shall be charged Rs 2,000 at the entry point for a period of seven days and after seven days, Rs 2,000 shall be charged per day.

Jammu, June 11
State agriculture universities of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand presented the achievements made during the past two years on the second day of the 21st regional committee meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) held at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu.

Agricultural Production Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir accompanied by Minister for Rural Development, Panchyat, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohd Sagar, Minister for Horticulture and Floriculture Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Animal and Sheep Husbandry Aga Syed Rahullah and Minister of State for Agriculture Javed Ahmed Dar inaugurated the meet yesterday.

Dr Ayyappan, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Government of India, and the Director-General of the ICAR, Vice-Chancellor of SKUAST-Jammu Dr B Mishra, Vice-Chancellor of SKUAST-Kashmir Dr Anwar Alam, Vice-Chancellor Dr YS Parmar, University of Horticulture and Forestry Himachal Pardesh, Dr KR Dhiman, Deputy-Director Generals, Directors and scientists from the ICAR and state agricultural universities have converged on SKUAST-Jammu to deliberate on the agricultural research, extension and education scenario in the hill states to draw a road map for future. The Principal Secretary to Government Agricultural Production Department, J&K, Iqbal Khandey, along with Secretary and the Directors of agriculture and allied departments from the state and outside were also present at the inaugural function.

Today, the scope of rabbit meat production and consumption in Kashmir was discussed for reducing the shortage of meat production in the valley. However, it did not find favour with the government as there is no demand for rabbit meat in the valley. The response to the different state-wise problems regarding research and development issues also came up for discussion.

The Government of India was also represented in the deliberations by the authorities from the National Rainfed Area Authority. The Director General, ICAR, strongly advocated for formulation of programmes based on substance and decided for holding a mid-term review of the recommendations at Solan (HP) in March 2011, for making course corrections and measuring the progress made on the recommendations of this Regional Committee Meeting. Mushroom, olive, kiwi, strawberry and other underutilised horticultural crops in the Jammu region came up for discussion.

Dr KD Kokate, DDG (Agriculture Extension) ICAR and Zonal Coordinators of Zone I and Zone IV provided roadmap for making the farming centres effective for serving the farmers.

Jammu, June 11
The Jammu State Morcha (JSM) today observed that the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the valley was aimed at appeasing Kashmir leaders.

A meeting of the JSM was held today under the chairmanship of Varinder Gupta in which speakers observed that efforts of the Central government to appease Kashmir leaders by announcing one after another package would be proved futile.

“The speeches of Prime Minister, announcements for sanctioning huge and disproportionate grants fail to move the separatists,” meeting observed, adding, “Earlier experience of 60 years since accession of the state with India with regard to the valley has been the same.”

“It is a sad story that people of the Jammu province and that of the Ladakh region are altogether neglected. The Prime Minister and other ministers of the Indian Union and the committees appointed by the Centre generally consider the valley as whole of Jammu and Kashmir and therefore, all the favours are showered on the valley people,” the JSM observed.

People of Jammu and Ladakh regions, who made tremendous and exemplary sacrifices for the integrity of the country and always remained loyal to the nation, failed to draw the attention of the dignitaries visiting the state. They got merely about 10 per cent of the development grants sanctioned for the state since the accession. They are being neglected as they do not raise thier voice,” speakers said.

They further pointed out that the Prime Minister did not refer to any of the issue that was affecting people of the Jammu region. Whether it pertains to development, PoK and West Pakistan displaced persons, Chhamb displaced persons, militancy-affected people. The visit of the Prime Minister was primarily Kashmir-centric. Besides Varinder Gupta, others who addressed the meeting included HB Khajuria, Anil Gour, Chandra Uday Sharma, Divender Singh Jamwal, Surjeet Singh and Vijay Kumar.