Jammu, December 21
The Centre’s interlocutors today announced five broad principles for a political solution of the Kashmir problem and underlined discrimination in the distribution of funds and inequitable development in the state.

Winding up their five-day visit to the Jammu region, the head of the three-member team, Dileep Padgaonkar, told mediapersons here that wherever they went, they observed discrimination in the distribution of funds and inequitable development. He said they asked parties and civil society groups to back their statements with facts while asking the government to give its viewpoint.

He said the Omar Abdullah Government had sent them a report about development activities in the state. “The report gives the details of the allocation of funds and development schemes. After going through the document, we shall be able to reply on the question of discrimination and inequitable distribution of funds,” he said.

Although he did not reply to a question about governance-deficit being the main reason for the resentment among people, Padgaonkar said wherever they went, there were complains of lack of basic amenities. He stressed the need for empowering people at every level.

“During our visit, we met more than 100 delegations in Jammu, Poonch and Rajouri. Despite the diverse views, most of the delegations broadly agreed on some basic principles that should guide the search for a political solution”, he said.

Listing the five broad principles, Padgaonkar said a solution of the problem should be negotiated through peaceful means and violence from any quarters must not be allowed to thwart it.The solution should be acceptable to all three regions in the state to ensure their harmonious co-existence.Lastly, it should rest on the pillars of democracy, rule of law and respect for the diversity of faiths and cultures in the state. “ The political, economic and administrative powers vested in the state must be equitably shared by the three regions. Furthermore, there should be an effective devolution of such powers at the district, block and panchayat levels”, he said, while elaborating. He further suggested that sustained efforts should be made to facilitate the movement of people and goods across the Line of Control (LoC).

During their meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the interlocutors urged him to expedite the recommendations made by them to the Central Government after their first visit to the state in October. The Chief Minister assured them that action was being taken in this regard.

Jammu, December 21
The security forces foiled an intrusion bid and killed a militant after engaging a group of three armed ultras in an intermittent gunbattle today near the LoC in the Kerni belt of Rajouri.

According to an Army spokesperson, the troops noticed some suspicious movement ahead of the LoC fence in the Kerni sector last night.

He said the security forces spotted three armed ultras who had moved close to the fence and were trying to infiltrate into Indian territory.

“The ultras opened fire at the troops, who engaged them in an intermittent gunbattle for the entire night.

This morning the troops killed one of the militants while two others sustained injuries,” he said.

“We found the body of a militant while blood stains in the area indicated that the remaining two were also injured. We have launched search operations,” he said.

The spokesperson said the Army recovered an AK 56 rifle, its magazines, 250 AK rounds, three to four Chinese hand grenades, Rs 20,000 and one satellite phone from the scene of the encounter.

Meanwhile, a BSF jawan was found dead at a forward post near the LoC in the Balnoi belt of Poonch district this morning. Official sources said head constable Mohmmad Aslam of the 94 BSF Battalion, who was on duty at the forward 430 post along the LoC in the Balnoi belt, was found dead around 5.30 am today.

“He might have committed suicide or died in an accidental fire from his weapon. We are not sure what happened,” they added.

Srinagar, December 21
Separatists and stone throwers beat up five youths at Kanyar in south Kashmir for not taking part in stone throwing and instead wanting to join the police to support their families.

A police spokesman told The Tribune: “The incident happened a few days ago when the five youths were caught by a group of stone throwers after they returned from a police recruitment rally near Khanyar in south Kashmir.”

Their dream to earn for their families, who lived in acute penury, was shattered as the stone throwers tore and burnt their certificates. “We were unable to do anything as they (stone throwers) outnumbered us. They beat us up, snatched our documents and burnt them,” said Nissar Ahmed Bhat, a victim.

Bhat said he and his friends were beaten up and called traitors. The stone throwers wanted them to take part in stone throwing.

“I lost my father 15 years ago. I used to do manual labour and completed my graduation. I went to take part in a police recruitment rally, but was beaten up by the stone throwers and my documents were burnt,” he added.

“We have identified the culprits and will nab them soon”, said Shafqat Wattali, DIG (South Kashmir).

Jammu, December 21
Governor NN Vohra has emphasised the need for evolving well-considered short and long-term plans for strengthening teaching, research and extension activities of agricultural universities in the state and ensuring their future growth as centres of excellence.

He also laid stress on urgently putting in place an effective mechanism for closely monitoring various activities of these varsities to maximise agricultural production in the state.

The Governor was addressing the 5th Council Meeting of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu, here last evening.

The Governor, who is the Chancellor of the university, referred to the dire need for seed replacement of various crops on a time-bound and planned basis. He observed that achieving a high replacement rate was crucial to both improving quality and achieving higher levels of productivity and production.

The Governor said forestry, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry, poultry farming, mushroom cultivation, bee keeping and all other allied sectors had a vast scope for growth in the state. There was no reason, whatsoever, for the farm universities and the state government departments concerned not being able to achieve the much-needed breakthrough for achieving significant surpluses in each of the aforesaid areas, he added.

Referring to the role of Krishi Vigyan Kendras in boosting agriculture production, the Governor observed that these had to function as nerve centres for giving the required boost to the agriculture and allied sectors. Similarly, he laid emphasis on the need for making available the latest technical knowhow and technology to farmers at the doorstep for achieving the desired results.

The Governor advised the vice-chancellors of both agricultural universities to conduct a follow- up census to assess the number of their agriculture graduates and postgraduates, who had found jobs. They should also assess the levels and number of trained human resources required in the next 15 to 20 years so that the universities could grow on a predetermined path at the desired pace.

Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir emphasised the need for attracting large investments in agriculture and allied sectors for creating employment avenues for the youth of the state, generating wealth and boosting agri-production.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr B Mishra, gave details of the academic, research and extension activities of the SKUAST, Jammu. He dwelt on the initiatives taken by the varsity for developing new varieties of seeds of various crops and improvement and multiplication of the existing seed varieties.

The Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST, Kashmir, Dr Tej Partap; Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Dr Manjit Singh Kang; Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production, MI Khandey; Principal Secretary to the Governor RK Goyal; Dr AR Trag and Registrar, SKUAST, Jammu, Dr BB Gupta participated in the meeting.

Nagrota, December 21
In view of the state government’s moves to dilute the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to make it “more humane”, an Army commander today anticipated a mechanism in place to protect troops performing their duties on the ground.

“I think there will be a proper mechanism in place to ensure protection to the troopers performing their duties on the ground,” General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the White Knight Corps (16 Corps), Lt-Gen JP Nehra, told reporters on the sidelines of a function here today.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been consistently pursuing either the revocation or dilution of AFSPA in the state. The Chief Minister has also been strongly endorsing the removal of the Disturbed Areas Act from peaceful areas, which, in turn,will render the AFSPA redundant in those areas while dilution or amendments are being sought in the Act for making it “more humane”.

Echoing his views on the possible amendments to the AFSPA, Major-Gen KAS Bhullar, GOC, Romeo Force, said the Army’s primary job was to defend the country’s borders.

“But if the Army has to do policing, then you have to give it powers of the police. It needs powers to conduct searches, make arrests and interrogate suspects. How can you expect the Army to arrest a militant without a warrant? Till the time we get a warrant, the militant would have crossed two hillocks,” he said. Earlier,General Nehra flagged off an educational tour for children of the far-flung border areas of Poonch.

The tour consisting of 23 schoolchildren and two teachers from Surankote tehsil was flagged off by the Sector Commander of the Rashtriya Rifles on December 10.

Jammu, December 21
The Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar- Bakerwal Joint Forum and the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation yesterday impressed upon the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission, the Service Selection Board and the state police’s recruitment cell to have an impartial approach towards Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates.

The community constituted more than 80 per cent of the total tribal population of the state, they added.

In a statement issued here, state president of the forum Haji Shamsher Ali Bokan said the Gujjars-Bakerwals constituted more than 80 per cent of the tribal population, but were getting less than 20 per cent of jobs in the overall ST quota, which was unjust and discriminatory.

He requested Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to intervene and direct the recruitment agencies to shun the unfair approach toward the Gujjars. He added that the tribals were being ignored by the recruitment agencies in the public sector.

Quoting the example of the list of English lecturers released by the Public Service Commission recently, Haji said under the ST category a total of 14 candidate were selected, including seven belonging to the Shina tribe of Gurez and Kargil. And there were only two candidates belonging to the Gujjar-Bakerwal tribe in this list while the Gujjars deserved 10 out of 14 seats, he added.

He said recently the Public Service Commission had selected seven munsifs under the ST category, but selected only three belonging to the Gujjar community.

Similarly, Haji said during recruitment drives conducted by the police recently only 10 Gujjar candidates were selected as Sub-Inspector against a total of 52 seats.

He added that the recruitment agencies should know that Gujjar-Bakerwals were being marginalised. He appealed to the chairman of the Public Service Commission, the Service Selection Board and the police to maintain a balance between various tribes while selecting the candidates.

Jammu, December 21
Youth Congress activists of Kathua district alleged corruption in the working of the police and toll tax officers deployed at the Lakhanpur barrier and demanded a probe by the state government.

Addressing a press conference here today, Youth Congress activist Sudesh Kumar said, “The officials deployed at the Lakhanpur toll post harassed truck drivers coming from across the country on one pretext or the other and even demand bribes from them”.

He added, “If this practice continued, we will block the Kathua National Highway in the coming days”.