Jammu, January 10
The Enforcement Wing of the Jammu Municipal Corporation along with the police conducted an anti-encroachment drive in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of bus stand police station today.

According to a statement issued here, the team seized about 12 truckloads of various material and goods, besides 32 rehris.

The team also removed about 50 vendors from footpaths in order to clear encroachments. Besides, the enforcement staff also demolished the unauthorised construction of a shop on the Maharaja Gulab Singh Road near the Exhibition Ground.

Jammu, January 10
The Panthers Party has stepped up its campaign for the reorganisation of the state with separate Chief Ministers for the two provinces of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory status for the Ladakh region.

“We have decided to launch a decisive war this time as the patience of the people of the Jammu region is running out,” Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh told The Tribune today.

Bhim Singh claimed that the reorganisation of the state was the only solution for all problems. He pointed out that while the National Conference (NC) was demanding greater autonomy and the PDP advocating self-rule, some groups had demanded the revocation of Article 370. “All these demands will be fulfilled if the state is reorganised on the basis of linguistic, cultural and geographical identities of the three regions. The reorganisation can also help fulfil the wishes of people of the state,” he argued, adding that “this step will help reduce regional tension and conflicts in the state.”

Bhim Singh said only this solution could address the aspirations and wishes of the people of the state. He pointed out that the people of the Jammu region, whose wishes had been ignored by the successive state and central governments, would get their own Assembly and a civil secretariat to resolve their problems once and for all. “The people of Jammu have a genuine complaint of discrimination and step-motherly treatment against them and this problem can be solved only by reorganising the state,” he emphasised.

Bhim Singh said the Working Committee of the Panthers Party had passed a resolution in this regard after a threadbare discussion. “Besides the reorganisation of the state, we also demand an amendment to Article 370 to stop its misuse by the ruling elite of the state,” he added.

“We have discussed all issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, including our demand for separate Chief Ministers for the Jammu and Kashmir provinces. Besides the reorganisation, we are also in favour of an amendment to Article 370,” he said. A signature campaign had been launched in Jammu since Sunday and it would also be carried out in the Kashmir valley to make the people there aware of the Panthers Party’s vision. “The reorganisation of the state will also suit the people of Kashmir who want to get rid of the present breed of politicians,” he said.

Bhim Singh said the party agenda also included the separation of powers for the Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu regions, a separate Assembly, a budget, civil secretariats, recruitment, planning commissions and separate delimitations. “There should be separate financial, political and administrative units in the state,” he argued.

Udhampur, January 10
To ensure smooth flow of traffic in Udhampur, the District Development Commissioner (DDC), Baseer Ahmed Khan, today visited the main locations in the town which needed to be decongested.

He issued instructions to the officers of the departments concerned in this regard. Senior Superintendent of Police Surinder Gupta, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajinder Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police Bhupinder Singh, tehsildar, and executive officer, municipal committee, Udhampur, also accompanied him.

The DDC himself identified some spaces which could be reserved for public parking and issued necessary instructions to the officers of the Traffic Wing of the police to ensure that vehicles were parked at these dedicated places only.

He also instructed the officers of municipal committee to identify the congested areas in the town hampering smooth flow of traffic due to the presence of roadside vendors. He also asked the officers to allot a separate place for them already identified near Matador Stand at Circular Road.

For the purpose, Khan asked the Executive Engineer, PWD, to make the land available by levelling both sides near Matador Stand immediately so that the vendors could be shifted there. Instructions were also issued to the executive officer, municipal committee, to earmark proper parking zone at the Gole Market area only.

Udhampur, January 10
Following the report on the financial plight of the fourth generation descendant of the legendary Dogra warrior, General Zorawar Singh, which appeared in The Tribune today, the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Reasi, PK Pole, has issued instructions to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Reasi, to look into the case.

The ADC was asked to accord status of Below Poverty Line (BPL) to Krishan Devi (70), the widow of Rattan Singh, the fourth generation grandson of General Zorawar Singh, within two days.

The woman did not know that she had been issued a ration card meant for the Above Poverty Line (APL) category. She lives in a damp mud-plastered hut by the side of the ruins of what is still known as the “Mahal” of the late warrior. She had last availed herself of the subsidised 700 gm sugar from the ration depot in 2007.

With the BPL status, Krishna will become eligible for old-age pension. The DC also issued instructions to the District Social Welfare Officer, Reasi, to submit the action-taken report in 15 days in this regard. The ADC was also asked to ensure that her hut was repaired, if the same required to be done. The DC also asked the Chief Medical Officer, Reasi, to provide free treatment to the widow who cannot afford the weekly medical expenses of about Rs 250.

Jammu, January 10
To provide relief to the people living below poverty line (BPL), Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla held an open darbar today and distributed cheques amounting to Rs 20 lakh among 200 homeless beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana and the National Calamity Relief Fund.

While addressing a gathering, Bhalla asked the beneficiaries to use the money for the construction of houses, besides the repair of houses partially damaged due to heavy rain last year. He said the coalition government was fully aware of the problems of the people covered under the BPL category and was making allout efforts to upgrade their socio-economic conditions by providing all basic amenities at the doorstep.

The minister also informed that a comprehensive plan had been prepared for the renovation and upkeep of evacuee properties in urban pockets. He added that the Custodian Department authorities had been asked to charge a nominal fee from tenants who were chronic patients and physically challenged, besides BPL families. Patients belonging to the BPL category and those above 65 years would be provided medical facilities free of cost in the hospitals.

Bhalla said the coalition government was making all efforts to eradicate poverty from the state. He pointed out that several schemes had been launched to upgrade the socio-economic conditions of the rural as well as urban poor by constructing flats under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission and basic services to the urban poor in various localities of the state. He said on the completion of construction works, the urban poor would be accommodated there on minimum rates fixed by the government.

Srinagar, January 10
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has condemned the alleged harassment of people, especially the youth, in the state and outside, saying it was appalling that several governments had issued blanket advisories against Kashmir people.

In a statement, Mehbooba reacted sharply to the reported instructions issued by the Maharashtra Government to its police to keep Kashmiri people in the state under surveillance following an alert sounded by the Jammu and Kashmir police.She called for immediate halt to this kind of harassment and persecution.

Mehbooba said the indiscriminate screening of people from Kashmir was an assault on their dignity and an affront to the sentiments of all residents of the Valley. It was particularly painful that the Maharashtra Government led by the Congress had issued such instructions.

Referring to numerous incidents of harassment in different parts of the country, she said suspecting people from Kashmir had become a paranoia. This, she added, was a direct result of the state government painting the people of Kashmir in black and branding them as terrorists and stone throwers.

The government had often accused peaceful demonstrators of working at the behest of groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, she said. She added that it was painful that the state police had advised the Maharashtra Police to keep all Kashmir people living there under watch for their “potential terrorist activities”.

Mehbooba said the state government had pushed the youths of Kashmir to wall by unleashing state terror against them. “Such persecution will further complicate the problems instead of forcing the people into submission,” she cautioned. 

Srinagar, January 10
The chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, today alleged that New Delhi was forcing the youth in the Kashmir valley to take up the gun and fight “oppressive” measures of the government.

“A large number of youth, who are constantly being harassed and are disappointed with curbs on peaceful protests, are willing to take up the gun. They come to me and ask whether holding peaceful protests was the way forward in view of the curbs. They even say that we will take up the gun. But I tell them not to do so because by doing so, they will play into the hands of India”, Geelani said.

Asked what he would say about those who had already taken up the gun, he said they were moving in the path of righteousness.” I cannot condemn them (militants) as they are fighting for a cause, but pushing the youth to militancy is a different issue,” he said at a press conference here.

Geelani said the Centre’s three interlocutors were “powerless” and “only interested” in drawing salaries. Without naming anybody, he condemned those who had stated that the five-month protests last year were futile.

New Delhi, January 10
Separatist leader Sajjad Lone today threw his weight behind former Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat for his stand that "our own men" killed Mirwaiz Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone", observing that time had come for people to decide whether they were with the "murderers or the murdered."

Sajjad, son of Lone, praised Bhat for speaking the truth on the killings of the two separatist leaders and for showing the way, and said it was never late to speak the “truth.”

Bhat, who once chaired the separatist amalgam All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, recently created a flutter by saying that the two separatist leaders and his own brother were killed by “our own people” and not the security forces.

Bhat had said time had come to speak the truth about the killers of Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, who was killed 21 years ago, Abdul Gani Lone, who was shot dead in 2002, and his own brother, Mohammad Sultan Bhat, who was murdered in 1995.

In a first-person account published in a local daily in Srinagar,Greater Kashmir, Lone recalled the events of the day when his father was killed on May 21, 2002.

He recalled that in the wee hours of May 22, 2002, when he was planning the funeral, his mother called him inside a room. "I found her behaviour strange. Her composure saddened.She asked me to retract a statement, in which I blamed the ISI for my father’s killing,which I made last night.”

Lone recalled that he had refused buckling under pressure. According to him, his mother then said she had lost her husband and did not want to lose him. “In retrospect, I don’t think I should have accused an institution of the killing. But Prof Bhat has shown the way, when he stated that it was our own people who killed Lone Sahib,” he wrote.

"Lone Sahib and Mirwaiz Sahib have left this world. We cannot bring them back. But if we do not learn any lessons from their killings, we will be doing a great disservice to the very nation whose aspirations we claim to espouse. There is nothing like a good murderer and a bad murderer..,” he wrote.

“The culture of unaccountability, impunity cultivated and nourished by a select group of intellectuals and thinkers has only emboldened the killers, who are aiming at disempowering the Kashmiri voice and coercing it into submission. It is time that the select band, decide whose side they are on--the murderer or the murdered,” he said. — PTI 

Jammu, January 10
The Trans-Himalayan Motorcycle Expedition, which is being undertaken by the Corps of Signals as part of its centenary celebrations was flagged off by the Officiating General Officer Commanding, Delta Force, from Dharmund in Doda today.

The motorcyclists had arrived in a procession here yesterday. After a night halt at Dharmund, the expedition proceeded to Srinagar today.

During the course of the expedition, which started on January 6 from Ambala, its 14 members will cover approximately 4000 km of rough Himalayan terrain in Jammu and Kashmir , Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, UP, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The expedition will end at Jabalpur on February 14.

The Corps of Signals will be celebrating its centenary on February 15 this year.

A large number of adventure activities like sky-driving, trekking,white water rafting and motorcycle expeditions in the mountains and deserts are being organised to salute the Signalmen.

Srinagar, January 10
With dry weather conditions prevailing over the past few days in Kashmir, there has been some respite from the freezing cold as the minimum temperature has started coming above the zero level.

The weatherman has forecast mainly a dry weather for the next two days and moderate to heavy snowfall across the region for three days beginning Thursday. The minimum temperature was - 2.2°C, while the maximum temperature was 10°C here today. However, the cold wave continued in the upper reaches, including tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The Met Department said the minimum temperature in Gulmarg was -11°C. The minimum temperature in Pahalgam was -11.7°C and the maximum temperature 5°C.

Following the recent snowfall in the upper reaches, including the Banihal Pass, one-way traffic has been allowed on the 296-km Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. Only one-way traffic was allowed from Jammu to Srinagar today, while traffic would be allowed to move from Srinagar to Jammu tomorrow, Traffic Department officials said. These measures had been taken in view of the slippery conditions around the Jawahar Tunnel and other patches on the highway between Banihal and Patnitop.

Jammu, January 10
The police arrested three persons yesterday for their alleged involvement in a case of stabbing here on January 4.

The police said acting on specific information, raids were conducted at certain places and accused Sanjay Kumar, alias Murli, Munish Dogra alias Munshi, and Raj Kumar, all residents of Dogra Hall, here were arrested in connection with the stabbing of a professor.

The police added that the trio had allegedly stabbed the 42-year-old professor, Tejinder Singh, of Mahant Bhachiter Singh College on the Exchange Road on January 4 and had been absconding since then.

A case has already been registered in this regard.The injured professor was recuperating from injuries at Government Medical College and Hospital.