Srinagar, September 3
Before embarking on a journey to cross the Line of Control from the Uri sector to wage Jehad (holy war) against India in Kashmir, militants know full well that they will be killed, but they want the movement to continue.

A Pak militant, Usman, who was among the nine militants killed by the Army on the LoC in a two-day-long encounter had maintained a pocket diary in which apart from the contact numbers of important people he had recorded his day to day activities.

The initial entry in Usman's diary on August 1, 2009, contains a few versus from the Quran, followed by the remarks: "It was painful to leave my family behind."

"Though it was painful to leave the family behind, I know that I am going for a bigger cause and Allah 
supports the people who walk on his path," the first page of the diary written in Urdu reads.

In subsequent pages Usman writes about his training in use of arms and ammunition at a training camp in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and that the camp is frequented by officers of the Pakistan Army and the ISI.

He wrote that in the past few months his group had been trained to wage Jehad against the 'Indian occupation in Kashmir' and to free the 'Muslim Umma from the clutches of the Indian forces'.

In the following pages Usman pens down certain important points, including codes for matrix, map reading etc, gathered during training.

On one page Usman had made the insignia of various ranks of the Indian Army so as to 'identify the enemy'.

The last entry on the notebook a day before the infiltration reads: "Haider Bhai and Rafiq had gone to see the movement of the Indian army across the LoC. They came back to inform us that we would leave in the morning. So, we spend the night on snow. I thank Allah for fulfilling my long-cherished dream to see snow."

Usman's last entry says: "As an ocean is unaffected after one takes away a glass of water from it, in the same way a dead warrior does not means the end of the movement. The movement would continue even if I am dead,"

The Pakistani identity card recovered from Usman's body shows that he was born in 1975. His photograph shows him wearing a coat and a tie.

Jammu, September 3
The Indian Railways, which has been at the receiving end for causing harassment and financial loss to commuters after cancellation of many trains due to the damaging of bridge no. 224 on Balol rivulet, has blamed illegal mining for weakening the structure.

A JCB machine engaged in extracting sand from the Balol rivulet. Photo: Inderjeet Singh

Senior railway engineers said the floor of the 35-year-old bridge first developed cracks and then withered away when water gushed through the rivulet after August 25 rain in its catchment area.

Railway engineers, who are taking up the matter with the state government, said the rivulet bed level decreased by 8 to 12 ft due to illegal sand mining. “It is criminal to remove sand from so close to the bridges. We wonder why there was no action taken against miners or why was it allowed in the first place?”

The engineers explained that the downstream water found itself falling sharply after it crossed under the bridge. “As the rivulet bed was low compared to five years ago, the water fell in a fall, damaging the base or the foundation of the floor of the bridge.”

The floor had withstood the pressure when first gush of water came in mid-August, but on August 25 night, there was a heavy rain in the upper reaches and water came with high velocity,” explained a senior engineer.

The Railways were under fire for alleged inferior material used in the flooring of the bridge pillars. The engineers defended it saying the bridge had a life of 100 years. “If the earth under the floor had not given way, there would not have been any damage.”

Senior railway officials said they were taking up the matter officially with the state government. “We are concerned about the safety of other railway bridges. Even the road bridges are under threat,” they said.

Sources in the Irrigation Department, however, said rapid urbanisation in the region was the main culprit. “We don’t allow illegal sand mining. However, as there were no flash floods in the area for many years, the number of houses and colonies came up on both sides of such rivulets. Invariably, construction workers lift sand from the riverbed. They were warned many a times,” they said.

Srinagar, September 3
Separatists' shutdowns, curfews and restrictions imposed by the authorities here over the past three months have shown their impact over the way people used to make arrangements and purchases during the month of Ramzan.

Though people across the valley are observing fast with all religious rituals and obligations, shutdowns and curfews have affected Iftaar parties organised off and on during this month and purchases made especially for Iftaar time here.

Throughout the month, especially towards its later part, Iftaar parties are organised and people celebrate together with their friends and colleagues feasting on mouth-watering delicacies after the daylong fast.

"We recently had a group who booked restaurant for Iftaar party for the first time during the month of Ramzan this year. Had the situation been normal, there would have been more such orders? Still we are expecting more Iftaar party groups in days to come," said Altaf Ahmad, a front office executive in one of the hotels here.

He added that the number of delicacies used in these parties had reduced as hotels and restaurants don't store much raw material required for the purpose.

It is believed that the number of "Sahar Khan" (a person designated for awakening people for pre-dawn meals in the locality) too might have declined. He moves from house to house in a specific area or locality while beating the drum asking the people to get ready for making preparations for fasting.

Muslims take a pre-fast meal to set them up for the rest of the day, almost 15 hours before they break their fast. In most homes, people use alarm clocks as wake-up call. In some areas, especially in old city, traditional form still continues.

A group of youth in uptown Hyderpora here said they were expecting that no one would turn up for this job this time. "But we were surprised to see that people came forward even under such trying circumstances".

The moment Ramzan moon was sighted, people started greeting each other. Earlier, people used to send greetings through SMS, but with a ban on the service, it didn't happen this time.

"This time, I received less Ramzan greetings as SMS service is banned here. I exchanged telephonic greeting with my friends, but through SMS we reached more people," said a local Tanveer Ahmad.

Markets here used to abuzz with shoppers throughout the month as Iftaar approached. Vendors selling dates and firni (sweet dish) in particular used to witness huge rush. "This is completely missing this time and we didn't make purchases the way we used to," said Shafkat Ahmad, a local resident.

Srinagar, September 3
The holy month of fasting, Ramzan, will conclude by the end of next week with Eid celebrations. For most part of the month, people of the Valley remained indoors due to ongoing general strikes and curfew restrictions.

The situation arising due to the series of killings in clashes, whose number has gone up to 65 since June 11, has adversely affected trade and business in the Valley. It also has its impact on social gatherings.

And it is for the first time in the past about a decade that no official Iftaar parties were held in the summer capital. There is, however, only one invitation for an Iftaar party extended on the occasion of a media interaction by the BSF scheduled for Saturday evening.

This is the first such invitation and no other official, police or security forces agency has thrown any such party in view of the prevailing situation. Hosting of Iftaar parties has been very common in Kashmir by various security agencies, police and civil administration with several ministers hosting these in respect of media interaction with regard to their respective departments.

For the state government, it has been a very difficult scenario throughout the month as it is engaged in handling law and order situation in Kashmir. Besides, the state administration was caught up in relief and rehabilitation work in Leh district of Ladakh region where flash floods caused extensive damage to lives and property last month. The catastrophe diverted the attention of all wings of the state administration, besides the Central government in tackling the situation and coming to the rescue of people affected by the calamity.

There may not be any more invitations for Iftaar parties as the holy month is coming to a close within a week’s time. One can only hope for the return of peaceful atmosphere in the Valley, although there is no immediate end in sight to the ongoing trouble.

Jammu, September 3
Qamardin, an IT literate of remote area like Chajuru, has got a job in the block development office, thanks to the Army’s endeavour that has opened new vistas for youths and womenfolk in the militancy infested areas like Mahore and Chajuru.

In its efforts to win hearts and minds of the people, make womenfolk economically independent and provide opportunity to youths for future employment, the Army through the Operation Sadbhavana had established the Nari Vikas Kendra, a vocational training centre at Mahore town, and a computer training centre at Chajuru in 2006. The Herculean effort put in by the Army in establishing the training centre was very well appreciated by the people.

However, after handing over the projects to the civil administration, the Nari Vikas Kendra became non-functional in 2007 and the computer training centre at Chajuru was also closed down in 2008. Though by then, the kendra had imparted training to 100 women. Peeved over this, the Army in June this year launched an effort to get the projects going. Because of its sincerity of purpose and genuineness of its efforts, both training centres were put back on rails.

Qamardin, who became an IT literate through the Operation Sadbhavana and earned a dignified job in the block development office, has now taken over the responsibility of both training centres.

The kendra is now imparting training in sewing, knitting, bag making, socks making, suits and shawl making to 42 women from the adjoining areas of Mahore. The training is being imparted in two batches daily for a period of three months after which the candidate would be given a diploma certificate of embroidery and sewing by the kendra.

To ensure that the project is self-sustaining, a monthly tuition fee of Rs 100 per student is being charged. The income generated from the fees is also being utilised for making payment to the staff to buy raw material.

The students have also given an opportunity to make their own items and sell them. The opportunity given to students is gaining popularity and several womenfolk are willing to get trained in the institute. Demand for bulk production of school uniform is also being placed by several schools at the training centre.

The computer training centre rejuvenated at Chajuru is also gaining popularity. Presently, there are 15 students being imparted computer education on six computers. A sum of Rs 200 is being charged from each student as admission fee and Rs 200 per student is being charged as tuition fee on a monthly basis to pay for the rental, electricity and salary of the teachers. The Army had provided six computers at the training centre for imparting computer training to the local population.

Srinagar, September 3
The state government is thinking of starting continuous evaluation assessment in educational institutions, here. According to it, students will be continuously evaluated (on basis of unit-wise examinations) and examination held annually will be done away with.

For Nasir Mirza, who teaches Mass Communication and Journalism in the University of Kashmir, continuous evaluation assessment is actually equivalent to no test.

“Most of the time teachers don’t adopt scientific method to assess. Continuous evaluation empowers teachers, but they end up giving good marks. Ultimately, good marks fail to decide actual status of students,” says Mirza, adding job of teachers has been reduced to grading.

“Essentially, grading shouldn’t be like that. It should be a part of job and not the entire job”.

He said the way students were to be given marks would require intervention of third agency to find out who is who. He added: “We fail to develop human capital. We are becoming poorer by not giving proper training to students. Adopting lenient policies make students care free”.

Criticising the university for conducting entrance examinations for admission to various postgraduate courses, senior faculty member says “University conducts examinations at the graduate level, but admission to postgraduate classes isn’t given on that basis by the same university. In a way, it doesn’t trust its own evaluation mechanism. Candidates are made to appear in entrance examinations by the university. So, they are again screened, which is interesting situation, in fact amusing”.

“This is where it is important that students be continuously evaluated,” says noted academician Prof GM Malik. “It will help check over-burdening on students and controlling examination fever. In previous system, students mostly rely on guess work and cover just 30 per cent of their syllabi to pass examination. Conducting examination after a year was its greatest drawback. Now, students will have to cover entire syllabi”.

He said: “Why should school teachers feel like making students serious about studies. It leads to stress that we want to discourage. To pass with certain percentage is not an achievement.”

Malik added that for competitive examinations, there are entrance examinations. “We’ve seen that a candidate with 80 per cent marks at the graduation level fails to make it to university whereas those with lesser percentage succeed”. Quoting the National Policy of Education, 1986, he says “de-link jobs from degrees”.

Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, principal, Canny Mission School, and Srinagar district president for private school education, believes that their policies go against continuous evaluation mechanism.

Wani says: “A few years ago, all private schools were asked by the Board of School Education to prescribe their (Board) books in respective schools. We protested as books were substandard and there were lots of errors and mistakes. We met the then chairman and the then Director, academics, who promised to rectify them, but till date nothing happened. It was more shocking for us to learn that the authorities had received no such complaints from schools run by the government where such books were being taught for the past many years”.

Srinagar, September 3
Minister for Medical Education RS Chib, Minister of State for Health Javed Ahmad Dar, and Brigadier, Rashtriya Rifles, Sector 10 MS Jaswal, jointly inaugurated a mega medical camp at Harinor, Pattan, in Baramulla district yesterday.

The camp, organised by the 29 RR in collaboration with the Health Services Department, Kashmir, evoked a phenomenal response from the people of the area and its adjacent villages with around 5,000 patients getting benefited. A team of specialists from the Army and the Civil Administration drawn from medicines, paediatrics, surgery, orthopaedics, gynaecology and the Eye Department attended the camp under one roof to provide free health check-up and medicines to patients.

Speaking on the occasion, Chib lauded the role of the Army in mitigating the sufferings of the people in the remote and backward areas of the state. He said the service by the Army and other allied organisation was the need of the hour and the government was always ready to cooperate for this noble cause.

Referring to the steps being taken by the state government in providing the best possible medicare to the ailing, Chib said the government was determined to meet the demands of health care in every nook and corner of the state, especially in major hospitals of Srinagar and Jammu.

Interacting with the local students who presented a cultural show on the occasion, the Minister assured of providing sports goods to them so that academic as well as physical education of these students would be encouraged.

Dar in his address assured of constructing a complex for housing medical sub-centre in the village for which he asked the local people to identify land in the area. Describing the event as a welcome step, Dar said such camps provide poor people an opportunity to get an easy access to medicare and the best possible treatment facilities.

Brigadier Jaswal said the Army feels satisfied to help the local people and this quest of extending helping hand to society would continue with the same zeal and spirit. He expressed the hope that this initiative would be well received by public as a positive step in reinforcing ties between security forces and the local population.