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Omar wants US to facilitate
India-Pak dialogue process
Says no regrets about accession remarks
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Separatists hail Obama’s remarks on Kashmir
Workers of the Jammu and Kashmir BJP after their arrest raise slogans against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Jammu on Monday. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma
DRDO to study climatic changes in Ladakh
Transport off the
road due to bandh
Package for Kashmiri Migrants
NSF activists observe strike in varsity
Mishap Due to Stone throwing
Life hit in Valley
Pilots hurt as IAF chopper crash-lands
in Siachen
Hizbul ultra surrenders before Army
Migrants’ group meets Governor
M.Ed exam held
Governor’s Sectt reopens in Jammu
‘Abducted’ girl rescued from airport
Pilots hurt as IAF chopper crash-lands
in Siachen
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Omar wants US to facilitate
India-Pak dialogue process
Jammu, November 8 Talking to mediapersons here today,Omar said he would certainly like Obama or the US administration to facilitate talks between India and Pakistan. “We are very sensitive to anything that appears even close to mediation and which is obviously not acceptable, but the US Administration, from time to time, had come forward and facilitated a dialogue whenever required”, he said. Omar recalled how the then US President Bill Clinton had summoned Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Washington at the time of Kargil intrusion. “The US can facilitate the process, but we expect that they do not look at India through the prism of Af-Pak policy”, said Omar. When it came to mediation on Kashmir, the stand was loud and clear. On his meeting with the US President at the Prime Minister’s private dinner last night, Omar said: “I did have the opportunity to share a few words with Obama and his wife and was able to tell them a little bit about Jammu and Kashmir and ask them to visit the state in the future”. Asked about the US President’s evasiveness on Pakistan and its sponsored terrorism in the state, Omar said the media in particular was hasty in judging the visit. “The first day was about business, the second day was more about culture and India’s youth and the third day is the operative day. Today is the substantial day of the visit. He will address Parliament and hold other meetings,” Omar said. The Chief Minister said there was a lot that the two countries could say in the joint statement, particularly about terrorism and the source of terrorism and what could be done to wipe it out.Jammu and Kashmir had been a victim of terrorism for the past 20 years and clearly there were common interests between India and the USA to see the reduction and ultimately the elimination of terrorism, he said. |
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Says no regrets about accession remarks
Jammu, November 8 “The floor of the Legislative Assembly was the right forum to put on record the factual position. If an elected representative does not have the courage to speak what he believes in then, he has no business saying it outside,” Omar responded to media queries after inspecting the guard of honour on the reopening of Durbar offices here this morning. However, if clarifications or changes need to be made, he would go back to the same forum, added Omar.
— TNS |
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Separatists hail Obama’s remarks on Kashmir Srinagar, November 8 Reacting to the statement, the hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said the US President had admitted the fact that Kashmir was a long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan, which needed to be resolved. Referring to the current unrest in the Valley, Geelani said Obama’s admission of Kashmir as a dispute was the result of the ongoing turmoil that had highlighted the issue at the international level. He asked India to accept the fact instead of adhering to its stand of describing Kashmir as an “integral part” of the country. JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, while welcoming Obama’s statement, said he had rightly described it as a long-pending dispute. The resolution of Kashmir would lead to everlasting peace, progress and stability in the entire region, he said during public meetings in Palhalan village of Baramulla district today. Malik said the people of Kashmir had launched a peaceful struggle, particularly during the past three years, thus highlighting the Kashmir issue at the international level. Now, it was the turn of the international community to play its role in resolving the issue. “The US and other major powers of the world are friendly with both India and Pakistan and it is the responsibility of the US and other countries to impress upon the two neighbours to resolve the issue,” he said. The Anjuman-e-Sharie-Shian leader, Aga Syed Hassan Al-Mousvi Alsafvi, has also welcomed Obama’s statement on the restoration of the India-Pakistan talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. He lamented Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s conditional response to the restoration of talks with Pakistan. The Shia leader also referred to Obama’s assurances on the Kashmir issue during his election campaign. He added that the change in the US approach was embedded in the economic and business interests of that country.
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Shutdown in Jammu over Omar’s accession remarks
Jammu, November 8 In the recently-concluded session of the state Legislature, Omar had said Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India under unique circumstances and it had not merged, inviting sharp criticism from the BJP and other pro-Jammu parties. All shops, business establishments and private educational institutions remained closed while government offices witnessed a thin attendance and traffic largely remained off the road in the capital city where the Durbar offices reopened today. Enforced by the BJP and other pro-Jammu parties, the bandh by and large remained peaceful. “An overwhelming response to the bandh call shows that the people are angry over the unwarranted remarks of the Chief Minister. He should be removed immediately,” state BJP president Shamsher Singh Manhas said. He added his party would intensify the stir. Manhas said today’s bandh was called not only to protest against Omar’s accession remarks but also to protest continuing discrimination against the Jammu region and its people by the “Kashmir-centric” government. Omar had also described as indispensable the involvement of Pakistan in resolving the Kashmir issue. Though private vehicles plied on the roads, the routine hustle and bustle in the temple city was missing and the normal life was affected due to the shutdown. The Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bar Association of Jammu, the Jammu State Morcha, the Panthers Party and various other political and social organisations supported the bandh call. BJP activists led by party leaders Shamsher Singh Manhas, Chaman Lal Gupta, Nirmal Singh, Ashok Khajuria, Sukhnandan Choudhary and Jugal Kishore Sharma took out a protest march from Dogra Chowk. The party activists were stopped from proceeding towards the Civil Secretariat by a heavy contingent of police. The agitated activists, carrying black flags, then staged a sit-in and were addressed by the party leaders there. Later, to prevent the BJP activists from marching towards the Civil Secretariat, a heavy contingent of police arrested more that 100 of them. Earlier, while addressing the activists, Manhas said transporters, traders, businessmen, tourism operators and shopkeepers had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore during the Amarnath land agitation in 2008 but unfortunately nothing had been paid to them as compensation. On the other hand crores of rupees had been pumped into the Kashmir valley under the garb of one package or the other. Reports said there was a partial bandh in towns of Udhampur, RS Pura, Kathua and Samba.
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DRDO to study climatic changes in Ladakh
Chandigarh, November 8 The task is being carried out by the Chandigarh-based Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE), which has already forwarded two preliminary reports on the subject to the DRDO headquarters.The project is expected to take about a year. The SASE is analysing the climatic data of Ladakh and the surrounding areas in the past 50 years to determine the probable cause of the cloudburst and some recent freaky weather conditions in the area. This was for the first time that a cloudburst was reported in that region that otherwise experiences very low rainfall in the summer. This had baffled scientists. The cloudburst claimed almost 200 lives and left hundreds of locals homeless, besides causing extensive damage to property, infrastructure and communication network in the region. The Himalayas are experiencing a gradual climatic change that is also affecting the snow cover, with the snowline and glaciers receding in some areas. Over the years, the winter period at lower altitudes has shrunk, with a noticeable increase in the average temperatures in the mountains. According to DRDO scientists, since cloudburst is a highly localised affair limited to a miniscule geographical area, it cannot be predicted well in advance, though some indications about its occurrence can be determined just about 3-4 hours ahead. The need for a thorough study on the climate of the region was felt after a consistent increase was observed in the occurrence of freaky weather conditions in the high-altitude areas. According to some scientists, global warming has led to high temperatures at lower altitudes, which is at wide variation with temperatures over snow-clad peaks. This results in unusual evaporation, wind currents, humidity, cloud formation and upper atmosphere climatic developments, thereby producing irregular weather phenomenon. |
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Transport off the
road due to bandh
Jammu, November 8
However, the bandh affected the functioning of the schools as most of these recorded a thin attendance today. Either the students could not reach the schools or the parents avoided sending their wards to the schools. The first terminal examination of Class XI is being conducted by the State Board of School Education in all schools affiliated to it. Sunita Devi, a Class XI student, said, “I live in a remote area of Aknoor and I faced a lot of hardships reaching my school in the morning. I walked around 5 km to reach the school as no transport facility was available.” She added, “Though I reached the school about 15 minutes late, I was not allowed to sit in the exam.” Sunny Sharma, another Class XI student, said, “The ongoing examination is important for me. Earlier I expected that the education board might postpone the examination because of the bandh. The unavailability of transport further increased my worries.” Principal of Government Higher Secondary School, Domana, Balbir Singh said both students and staff faced difficulties reaching the school because of the unavailability of conveyance. “A number of students of Class XI were worried as they expected the education board to postpone the examination and had been enquiring about it since yesterday.” JK Sooden, Principal of Government Ranbir Higher Secondary School, said, “Activists of some political parties tried to disturb the examination in the school but we called the police. The police reached the school immediately and controlled the situation.” “Though some students reached for the examination late, we accommodated them considering the difficulties confronted by them on account of the unavailability of transport,” said Sooden. Joint Secretary, Examination, of the education board, said, “The exam was conducted smoothly in the schools.” He added, “I have received a lot of enquiries from the principals of various schools about the postponement of the examination since the morning.”
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SC seeks action taken report from Centre
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, November 8 “You may not have spent the whole amount. We want a detailed affidavit…Our understanding is that the scheme lapses after one year and the funds are treated as surrendered and then recycled,” the Bench, which included Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, told Indira Jaisingh. The ASG said the government did not want to grant the displaced people the status of migrants on a permanent basis. “They are encouraged to go back. The financial package is for those who want to go back,” she said. Appearing for the migrants, senior counsel TK Ganju and Rajiv Talwar said the migrants were in no position to return as the Jammu and Kashmir government had failed to take action against even a “single person” responsible for the killing of 2,000 persons. If the cases were pending in the state, these should be transferred to some other state, they added. Also, the state government passed a law in the Assembly for declaring the “distress sale” of properties by migrants as null and void. However, it backed out from implementing the law, stating it would be against constitutional provisions. Indira Jaisingh said the ATR would cover the disbursement of compensation, housing scheme, upgrading of facilities at the migrant camps in Delhi and a provision for employment. The migrants pleaded for the setting up of a committee headed by a retired Judge to monitor the implementation of the package in order to lend “credibility to the whole exercise.” Chief Justice Kapadia, however, remarked that constituting a committee “is not that simple. First, let us deal with the economic package. We want to go step-by-step.”
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NSF activists observe strike in varsity
Jammu, November 8 The protesters carried out a rally on the campus and forced students in various departments of the university to boycott classes. The protest was held under the leadership of state president of the NSF Vikas Sharma. As a mark of protest, the students wore black badges and raised slogans against the Director of Distance Education. While addressing the protesting students outside the Vice-Chancellor’s chamber, Sharma alleged that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Varun Sahni, was ignoring the issues and demands of the students. He alleged that the Director Distance Education was pursuing anti-Jammu policies on the directions of Kashmir leaders. Ravi Choudhary, chairman of the university unit of the front, and Rahul Sharma, working president of varsity unit, alleged that the Directorate of Distance Education management was not engaging faculty members for the Personal Contact Programme (PCP) and had given the job to outsiders to swindle the funds of the university. Surjit Choudhary, Jammu district president of the NSF, alleged that the department was misusing student funds by holding classes for MA (Sociology) and MA (English) in the auditorium hall by paying a huge sum of money.
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Victims’ kin get Rs 5 lakh ex gratia
Srinagar, November 8 Malik and Bhat died when the load carrier they were travelling in overturned due to intense stone-throwing by protesters in Shopian district, 55 km from here, on Saturday. The spokesman said some 9,000 mourners had gathered at the homes of the deceased when the ministers visited the bereaved families to express condolences. Ittoo said society would never forget the colossal losses caused by such “urchins”. — PTI
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Life hit in Valley
Srinagar, November 8 With a considerable decline in clashes between stone-throwing youth and the police over the past one month, the authorities did not impose any curfew restrictions in any part of the Valley today. These restrictions are usually imposed in certain areas, particularly on Fridays, to prevent any trouble on a call of protests given by the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference after prayers. Stray incidents of violence were reported from some areas during the past three days of strike. Two persons died and three others were injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling met with an accident after it was targeted by stone-throwers in Shopian district on Saturday. With today’s bandh, the ongoing unrest which started with the killing of a student on June 11 in downtown, has crossed 150 days. All shops and business establishments were closed and there was thin attendance in government offices due to the lack of passenger transport.
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Pilots hurt as IAF chopper crash-lands
in Siachen
Srinagar, November 8 The reason for the accident was not known and the IAF had ordered a court of inquiry. The Cheetah helicopter was on a routine air maintenance sortie when its crash- landed around 6.10 pm, IAF sources said in New Delhi. Defence Ministry sources said the two pilots on board the helicopter were injured and were evacuated to Leh for treatment. The chopper had taken off from the Siachen Glacier’s Base Camp, but soon it landed in a nearby location on the icy heights, they added. “One IAF Cheetah helicopter crash-landed in the Siachen Glacier region today around 6.10 pm. The helicopter took off from the Base Camp for a routine air maintenance sortie in the Siachen Glacier region. Both pilots survived,” an IAF press release from
the Western Air Command headquarters in New Delhi said. “A court of inquiry has been ordered to go into
the causes of the accident,” it added. The IAF said it was withholding the names of the pilots for the moment.
— PTI |
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Hizbul ultra surrenders before Army
Jammu, November 8 Official sources told The Tribune that 19-year-old Mohammed Iqbal Naik, a.k.a. Majid, today surrendered before the Counter Insurgency Force (Delta) at Banihal. Naik, who owed allegiance to the Qari Zubair group, also handed over a Chinese pistol and few rounds to Army officers of the 23 RR. Sources said he had been extorting money to
fund the activities of the HM in Banihal and other adjoining areas. Naik
joined the Hizbul in May 2009. |
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Migrants’ group meets Governor
Jammu, November 8 The demands projected by the 11-member delegation led by the President of the front, Mohammad Aslam Kohli, included a provision for relief to Jammu migrants on the same scale as was applicable to the Kashmiri migrants and a provision for reservation of seats for their children in Army schools. The Governor gave a patient hearing to the deputation and observed that he would take up their demands with the Chief Minister. The deputation comprised VP of the front Lal Mann Singh, general secretary Sher Singh, secretary Somi Raj and adviser Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din. Principal Secretary to the Governor RK Goyal was also present on the occasion. |
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Jammu, November 8 While talking to the Tribune, Director DDE Meenakshi Kilam said despite the band call given by a political party, students managed to appear in the examination centres well in time. She said by conducting this examination, the DDE had been able to clear the backlog of previous three years of the M.Ed course. — TNS
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Governor’s Sectt reopens in Jammu
Jammu, November 8 Governor NN Vohra went around various wings of the Raj Bhavan Secretariat and issued instructions to the engineering wing for providing improved working conditions for the staff. He directed that time-bound action should be taken for the disposal of all unserviceable articles and proper stocking of the old office records. The Governor inspected all wings on the Raj Bhavan complex, including the CRPF and J&K Police camps. |
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‘Abducted’ girl rescued from airport
Jammu, November 8 Official sources said 26-year-old Mohammed Aslam was trying to board a Delhi-bound flight along with the girl, a student of Government College for Women, Parade Ground, when a police party nabbed him and rescued the girl. Later, the 19-year-old girl, who lives in Rehari Colony, was taken to Government Medical College for a medical examination. The girl belongs to minority community. “Family members of the girl had lodged an FIR with the Rehari police post under Section 366 RPC and subsequently we acted upon the clues and arrested the kidnapper from the airport while he was trying to board a Delhi-bound flight along with the girl,” said a police officer. — TNS
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Pilots hurt as IAF chopper crash-lands in Siachen Srinagar, November 8 The Cheetah helicopter was on a routine air maintenance sortie when its crash- landed around 6.10 pm, IAF sources said in New Delhi. Defence Ministry sources said the two pilots on board the helicopter were injured and were evacuated to Leh for treatment. The chopper had taken off from the Siachen Glacier’s Base Camp, but soon it landed in a nearby location on the icy heights, they added. “One IAF Cheetah helicopter crash-landed in the Siachen Glacier region today around 6.10 pm. The helicopter took off from the Base Camp for a routine air maintenance sortie in the Siachen Glacier region. Both pilots survived,” an IAF press release from the Western Air Command headquarters in New Delhi said. “A court of inquiry has been ordered to go into the causes of the accident,” it added. The IAF said it was withholding the names of the pilots for now. — PTI
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