Jammu, October 17
A city-based NGO that adopted 27 cloudburst-hit children from Leh last week and one child yesterday for providing them education and shelter, is in a controversy with the Leh Administration airing apprehensions of ‘exploitation’ of children and whether they were “illegally” taken away.

It has asked the Jammu District Magistrate to find out if the NGO was taking good care of the children and had followed the legal procedure to adopt them.

An NGO, Youth Movement for Peace (YMP), which was registered in May, claims that these allegations were baseless. It claims to have a consent paper of the parents of only five children while those of others were delayed due to Leh elections.

Complicating the matters, Shiv Sena activists stormed the YMP office and the children’s home, “Sunaihra Kal”, in Dogra Hall near Janana Park last evening, accusing the NGO of “conversion” of the children.

Police security has now been provided to the NGO. Vice-Chairman of the NGO Ranjana Sharma said they had gone to Leh to distribute relief,but had no plans to adopt children. “But, we could not resist helping them as their parents insisted,” Sharma added.

A three-member committee, formed by Jammu District Magistrate Manoj Dwivedi, has started an inquiry into the allegations aired by the Leh Administration.

Dwivedi told The Tribune that the panel headed by ADC Rehana Batool, who belongs to Leh, had visited the NGO on Friday and the preliminary report said the organisation did not have proper infrastructure and systems in place to take care of the 28 children.

The Tribune team visited the NGO office-cum- Children’s Home that is being run from a rented accommodation (Rs 15,000 per month). The two rooms on the first floor have five bunker beds for 24 children while four girls aged between 8 and 14 have a separate room on the ground floor.

General secretary of the NGO Gagan Deep Singh said: “The child adopted yesterday is from Leh but was studying in Dehradun. His parents came to drop him as they could not afford costly education in Dehradun.”

Gagan’s wife Meenakshi, who manages the NGO, said the children were fed well and were being admitted to local schools. She said the Shiv Sainiks’ attack had scared the children as she, too, was slapped.

When asked about the allegation of the “conversion” of the children, she said the NGO had a Christian member, too, but it had nothing to do with conversion as members from all communities and religions were part of the NGO.

Dwivedi said the Leh Deputy Commissioner was not satisfied with the way in which the children were brought here. “Certain persons have approached the administration saying that they mind their children being taken out. They said the children could be exploited as domestic help or otherwise.”

However, NGO chairman Vikas Sharma said: “YMP is a transparent and self-financed organisation. We have maintained the records of all the activities and accounts and no organisation, missionary or political party, is donating us any funds.”

Jammu, October 17
For the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, the anniversary of the Instrument of Accession on October 26 will be celebrated as a festival and sweets distributed on that day.

A resolution in this regard was passed by the Panun Kashmir, an organisation of Kashmiri Pandits, at the conclusion of a seminar,”Undermining of the Accession”, here today.

The organisation hoped others would also celebrate the day to underline the state’s accession to India as full, final and irrevocable.

The seminar was organised to respond to a controversy on the Instrument of Accession triggered by the Chief Minister’s speech in the Assembly that the “accession of the state to India took place, but merger did not”.

Speakers terming Jammu as the “Kurukshetra of Kashmir where a fight for a solution is being fought”, said history could not be changed to suit one’s needs and strongly criticised the Chief Minister and the External Affairs Minister who supported Omar’s statement.

Speakers believed that “the very talk of terming J&K as a unique state with a unique problem and a unique solution undermines the Accession, which was legal and no one can question it”.

Dr M.K Teng in his keynote address said:” The Instrument of Accession was executed by the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir State on terms specified by the Dominion of India. Neither the then ruler of the State, Maharaja Hari Singh, nor National Conference leaders played any role in the determination of its terms. As such, it was irreversible and irreducible, irrespective of the circumstances and events in which it was accomplished”.

Prof Hari Om said:” The recent statement of the Foreign Minister of India virtually endorsed the speech of Omar Abdullah. The comparison which he made of Jammu and Kashmir with Mysore is grossly misplaced. Mysore formed the part of the smaller princely states which joined together and as such had to sign the Instrument of Attachment which some also call as Instrument of Merger. The bigger princely states had to accede by signing the Instrument of Accession”.

Omkar Nath Trisal , freedom fighter and a political veteran from Kashmir, said at that time, people of the state accepted accession unconditionally and fought the aggression of Pakistan as one. The conditionality of accession was raked up later by the National Conference.

Dr Ajay Chrungoo, in his presidential address, said:”The idea of porous borders undermines accession because it is a commitment not to defend the borders. Defending accession has now become a sacrosanct responsibility of all Indians because the undermining of it is essentially regressive in content because it furthers the cause of various imperialisms active in Jammu and Kashmir”.

Jammu, October 17
Justice Sunil Hali of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court at Jammu, while allowing a writ petition filed by Rajan Warikoo and others, directed the state government to consider the case of petitioners for the regularisation of their services against the post of Subject Matter Specialists in relaxation of the J&K Agriculture (Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 1988, retrospectively with effect from April 20, 1988.

“The rule making power of the state cannot be questioned but its operation has always to be prospective. Rules can be relaxed if its application works harshly on the person aggrieved,and as such, it was a fit case where relaxation could have been ordered, which has not been done,” asserted Justice Hali.

The sanction was accorded to the implementation of the National Agriculture Extension Production (T&V) Scheme financed by the World Bank vide the government order of October 10, 1984, wherein, 40 posts of Subject Matter Specialists (sub-divisional level) were created. Postgraduation in the subject was the eligibility for appointment to the said posts. The writ petitioners, who were working as village extension workers in the Agriculture Production Department, also came to be adjusted against the posts of Subject Matter Specialists on the basis of their postgraduation qualification vide order of July 26, 1985, with the sanctioning of charge allowance in their favour, for a period of six months or till the posts were filled on the permanent basis subject to clearance by the Departmental Promotion Committee/ Public Service Commission. The arrangement continued till 1988 when the government included Subject Matter Specialists in the J&K Agriculture (Gazetted) Service Recruitment Rules, 1988, which rules were notified on June 2, 1988.

The petitioners, when not promoted substantively on the said posts, were impelled to file a writ petition, which was dismissed on August 21, 1998. The Division Bench, on an appeal, set aside the judgment of the single Judge directing the appropriate government to consider the relaxation of rules of 1988.

The High Court, while allowing the petition, observed that “It be seen that on the date of appointment as Subject Matter Specialists, the petitioners were eligible but the rigour of rules promulgated in 1988 disentitled them to hold such posts.”

Jammu, October 17
Special Police Officers (SPOs) engaged by the state in 1997 have played a significant role in containing militancy. The recent remarks of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar that their wages would not be raised has caused resentment among 2,000 SPOs in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

“We used to get Rs 1,500 per month, but in 2007 the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had enhanced our wages to Rs 3,000 a month. With such a small sum of money, it is hard to make both ends meet. Moreover, our families are a target for militants,” said Mohammad Sultan (name changed), an SPO posted in the militancy-plagued Rajouri district.

Following the Chief Minister’s remarks, at least 20 SPOs had recently gone on a strike in Bandipora in Srinagar. With the current wage structure and insecurity, many SPOs are now planning to quit jobs.

The SPOs remain at the forefront during anti-terrorism operations. Though the state police has regularised the services of a few of them, most of them still have no job security. “Since our postings are fixed throughout the year, our families become an easy target for the militants,” said another SPO. Explaining the problems being faced by them, he expressed how difficult the process of taking leave was. He said in case of the killings of SPOs in encounters, their families were neither entitled to any compensation nor any government jobs. Around 450 SPOs had been killed so far,he informed.

“In case SPOs are killed in encounters, their families are only given Rs 10,000 , which is all that they get to kill gun-wielding ultras. Only hollow promises have been made to us in the past and the current remarks of the Chief Minister have come as a big blow,” he added.

Jammu, October 17
Setting up a new record, Sangharsh - a right-to- information movement - filed 100 RTI applications to spread awareness about the Act here today. The organisation has a number of noted activists.

The applications pertained to status of polythene ban in the city, illegal speed-breakers, state of PoK refugees, information regarding visits and air travel of the Chief Minister, the Chief Minister’s relief fund, Leh relief distribution and issues regarding BSNL services.

Notable was an application that sought physical inspection of the ongoing restoration work of the Mubarak Mandi complex.

“For the first time in the state, someone is using the provision of physical inspection of a work. We can take samples and film the inspection,” an RTI activist and co-founder of the organisation said. The organisation also held an interaction meet on the RTI Act at the Press Club here today with the theme “J&K RTI Act: Status and Role of Society and Media”. 

Srinagar, October 17
The weekly Sunday market which reopened here after a month, drew large crowds. The Sunday market, one of the major attractions in the city, had a number of buyers, who were seen haggling with the sellers for woollens and other clothes.

Scores of daily bread earners spread their merchandise at the Lal Chowk and Residency Road areas on Sunday, selling old books, auctioned crockery, woollens, imported jackets, electronic goods, shoes, toys and quilts.

The market opens once a week.Therefore, the sellers have to earn enough to sustain their families for seven days. They have been affected the most due to the unrest.

“I have suffered the most during the last four months. It is difficult to describe what I have done to save my family from starvation,” said Farooq Ahmad, a pavement seller.

“I have to engage a load carrier for carrying goods from my house in old Srinagar city to Lal Chowk every Sunday. Though I didn't always engage the carrier due to either the shutdown or the curfew, I have not earned enough even to pay the owner during the last month,” said Ahmad.

Meanwhile, with no report of any untoward incident from any part of Kashmir, life continued to be normal across the Valley for the second consecutive day today.

A police spokesman here said the situation in the Valley remained under control since yesterday.There was no curfew in any part of Kashmir today.However,restrictions remained in force in the Palhalan and Delina areas of Baramulla district in north Kashmir as a precautionary measure,he said.

Shops and business establishments were open and traffic continued to ply normally, leading to a heavy rush in markets.Government offices, educational institutions and banks were,however, closed.

The hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani, which has been spearheading the agitation for the past few months, had issued a 10-day protest calendar on Friday. As part of the fresh programme, the Hurriyat faction has given a call for a march to Palhalan tomorrow to pay tributes to eight persons allegedly killed in police firing recently. The village, about 30 km from here in Baramulla district, continues to reel under restrictions to prevent trouble because of the killings. The authorities have been imposing the curfew here and elsewhere in the Valley to prevent any proposed march and avoid any loss of life and property.

Jammu, October 17
Mani Madhukar’s highly symbolic and intellectually stimulating Hindi play- ‘Chhote Bade’, directed by Balwant Thakur, was staged here toady in the Natrang’s Sunday Theatre series.

According to a statement issued here, the play depicts the story of two unemployed youth, their aspirations and frustrations in life.

Rejected by the system, both confront mental turmoil in switching over to illegal ways of survival. The play depicts lawlessness, sense of insecurity, crime, scams and deteriorating quality of life present in today’s society and attributes it to the failure of the democratic institutions in the country.

It also exposes the system in which there is no alternative left for today’s youth to channelise their creative abilities in an environment where mediocrity is promoted at the cost of excellence.

The role of Bade was played by Rohit Verma and Mohammad Yaseen portrayed the role of Chhote. Both were able to evoke emotional response of the audience as they successfully portrayed the inner turmoil of the youth in today’s world.

The sets were designed by Pankush Verma and sound and light effects were executed by Rahul Singh and Suraj Ganjoo, respectively. Vikram Sharma did the presentations and Sumeet Sharma coordinated the show.