Kupwara, October 9
The court of District and Sessions judge Kupwara today sentenced two accused to life imprisonment in a case pertaining to murder of a selection grade constable in 2006.

Sessions judge Kupwara Shahzad Azeem found Shabir Ahmad Bhat of Maratgam Handwara and Mushtaq Malla of Shatgund Maratgam guilty of committing murder of policeman Abdul Gaffar Mir in 2006. The local court had, on Wednesday, reserved its judgment till October 9 after hearing the final arguments from the defence counsel and senior public prosecutor Ghulam Mohammad Shah.

The sessions judge also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each accused and directed that out of the imposed fine, Rs 30,000 each be provided to the next of kin of the victim. The accused will have to undergo six- months extended imprisonment if they fail to deposit the amount, the judge said in his 86-page judgment.

Senior public prosecutor with the district and sessions court told The Tribune that the case had been disposed of after six years. “The final arguments were supported by unflinching evidence against the accused. The judge was convinced that the accused were guilty of murdering the policemen and awarded them the lifer,” said Shah.

The accused were shifted to Central jail Srinagar from district jail Kupwara. Emotional scenes were witnessed in the courtroom when the judgment was pronounced. The family members of the victim consoled each other in the court amid sobs. The accused were represented by advocate Bashir Ahmad Dar and Mir Bashir Ahmad. The constable Abdul Gaffar Mir of Badugh Kralgund, 20 km from Handwara, was killed on September 6, 2006. A case under Arms Act was registered in police station Kralgund. During the investigations, police apprehended the accused and a challan was presented in the sessions court on August 22, 2008.

Srinagar, October 9
The Centre’s decision to put a cap on subsidised LPG cylinders triggered street protests for the second consecutive day today, with the National Panthers Party (NPP), the BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir Coordination Committee of Trade Unions (JKCCTU) joining the chorus.

A day after several employees and trade unions staged protests, the NPP members, led by its working chairman Harsh Dev Singh, took out a procession from the Sher-e-Kashmir Park to the Press Enclave, demanding an increase in the number of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 a year.

Singh flayed the state government for not taking cue from other states that had raised the subsidy. He warned that the NPP would stage protests across the tehsils and districts in case the government did not take steps in this regard.

Singh said the government had ignored the demand for increasing the subsidy when the issue had come up for discussion recently in the proceedings of the ongoing Assembly session.

“The government has failed on all fronts. It is only burdening the state exchequer through air trips.... no one is happy with its functioning,” he said.

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too held a three-hour-long sit-in at the Press Enclave. Carrying banners and raising slogans against the government, the protesters demanded an increase in the number of subsidised LPG cylinders per year.

“We want that there should be subsidy for 12 cylinders and the Centre should roll back the hike in refills,” said Altaf Thakur, general secretary, BJP’s Kashmir unit.

The JKCCTU members too staged a demonstration at the Press Enclave against the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders. JKCCTU president Mohammad Maqbool also demanded that the Centre should roll back its decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the insurance sector.

Maqbool, while demanding that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should oppose the pension bill passed by the Union Cabinet, said, “The developed countries, for their monetary gains, are forcing changes in economic policies of Asian countries.”

Meanwhile, Kashmir Centre for Civil and Development Studies, an umbrella organisation of various civil societies of Kashmir, threatened the state government that it would drag it to the court in case it fails to address the problems of the people due to the cap on LPG cylinders.

In a press conference in Srinagar, Shakeel Qalander, former president, Federation Chamber of Industries, Kashmir, said the civil societies are giving the government a one-week deadline for coming clean on the LPG issue or it would face public protests that would spill on to the streets. (With inputs from Bismah Malik)

Srinagar, October 9
Rush of people to the official residences of ministers, MLAs and the civil secretariat has increased manifold in view of the impending shifting of darbar. The visitors seeking redressal of their problems include a good chunk of people from remote areas of the Valley.

Most visitors have expressed dissatisfaction over “inordinate delays” in access to ministers and legislators. They complained that only those visitors having a rapport with the ministers were able to meet the people in power.

“A man on the street faces great difficulties in getting himself heard before those in power. I have been waiting to meet the minister since 4 pm. The sentry guarding the minister’s residence has told me to wait till 6 pm,” said Shabir Ahmad of Handwara. He was seen waiting among many others outside junior health minister’s residence in Tulsi Bagh.

The scene outside the residences of MLAs is no different. A beeline of people including women were seen waiting for their turn to meet the legislators of their respective constituencies. “I am afraid that I may not be able to meet the MLA this evening. There are many people ahead of me in the long queue. After 5.30 pm, I may not be able to get a vehicle for Kupwara,” said an apparently fatigued Saida begum of Drugmulla Kupwara.

Lack of basic amenities and unemployment dominate the problems of people visiting the ministers and legislators. Many others said they received assurances but had not found redressal to their woes. “The health centre in our area is even devoid of first aid, not to speak of health-care facilities. A pharmacist and ANM posted at the centre seldom attend to their duties and people continue to suffer,” said a group of elderly people from Maidanpora, Lolab in Kupwara.

The rush to the civil secretariat has also multiplied. Many people were seen lined up in long queues outside the main gate. Widow Asha Begum’s only son Zahoor Ahmad is differently abled. She has two daughters. “Somehow, my elder daughter Maymoona passed the matric examination in 2007, but I could not educate her further due to poverty. Job for Syeda is a must for our sustenance,” said Asha in a choked voice.

Unaware of the ongoing Assembly session, Asha, along with her daughter, had been waiting to enter the secretariat since 11 am. “Policemen told us that we would be allowed to enter the secretariat after 2 pm,” she added.

Srinagar, October 9
Electricity employees of Power Development Department today decided to extend their strike by another two days, threatening to intensify their stir after October 11 if their demands were not met.

Meanwhile, the electricity supply has been severely hit across Kashmir, particularly in north Kashmir, where, owing to the strike, the supply in many areas remains cut off from dawn to dusk.

The strike by non-gazetted electricity employees of the PDD today entered its ninth day, with around 20,000 employees abstaining from work.

The Kashmir Electrical Employees Union (EEU), one of the biggest representative bodies of electricity employees in the region, has been demanding health insurance, proper distribution of employees welfare fund, designation for the employees in keeping with the work and fixing of duty hours for electrical employees of the PDD.

“We never wanted to strike, but we have been forced to resort to these tactics because the government and PDD authorities have not kept their promises,” said Abdul Salaam Rajpouri, president of EEU.

Claiming that EEU did not want to trouble the public by completely abstaining from work, Salaam said if their demands were not met by October 11, they would be forced to intensify their stir.

“Though we are on strike, our employees come out in some areas for maintenance work, so that the public is not put through inconvenience. We have decided to intensify our strike after October 11,” he said, adding that if the government still considers some of the demands put forth by them, they may call off the strike.

“First the government and the PDD authorities will have to bridge the trust deficit. Even if some of our demands are met, we could think of calling off the stir,” Salaam said.

On October 6, representatives of the striking Power Development Department employees had, in a meeting with Principal Secretary Power, Sudhanshu Panday, presented their charter of demands, which included health insurance for electricity workers.

Srinagar, October 9
The proposed mega flyover Jehangir Chowk-Rambagh project, after having failed to catch up with several deadlines, is now facing public outcry in the form of an online petition addressed to Ashok K Lahri, Executive Director, Asian Development Bank, the funding agency, to re-evaluate the project.

It has been stated that the project does not meet the ADB funding criteria and further, it will not even meet its primary objective of decongesting Srinagar and dealing with traffic jams.

The proposal for fund sanctioning estimated at Rs 256 crore is yet to be submitted by Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) to the ADB for final approval due to delay in working out the technical evaluation of the project.

The project has already evoked criticism from various public quarters before even kicking off, primarily due its adverse environmental impact in terms of increased noise, vibrations and air pollution, potential seismic catastrophic damage, expected permanent damage to the 1,000 housing units and the adverse conditions and congestion in the area during the construction period, which is expected to be about four years.

The online petition says the only benefit of the project seems to be a net reduction of travel time from Airport Road to Lal Chowk by 14 minutes, which does little justice to the mammoth funding — $485 million, being asked for to make this project possible.

The petition takes a dig at the non–availability of basic municipal services in th city like safe drinking water and waste management which has made Srinagar the second dirtiest city in India, with problems not being looked into and hardly any upgradation being initiated.

The petition says despite huge basic infrastructure lapses in the city, there are no funds to deal with them whereas funds are being diverted for the construction of this two-and-a-half-kilometre-long flyover which will serve very limited objectives.

The petition further says that the flyover project does not meet the primary objective of the ADB funding criteria, namely the expansion of basic services in the urban areas.

It holds that the feasible alternative routes which could be constructed at lesser budget and also relieve the city of traffic congestion have been submitted to the ERA, but it hasn’t taken any concrete step in that direction.

Srinagar, October 9
Around 18 road accidents takes place in Jammu and Kashmir on an average day in which nearly 3,000 people have lost their lives and another 25,000 have been injured in last 32 months, said the state government.

The data released by the Jammu and Kashmir government in the state Legislative assembly on Tuesday provides a glimpse of the region's dangerous road infrastructure where 17,276 accidents have taken place in the last two and half years. The average count of the accidents - which have taken place on the state roads - is a staggering 18 per day and on an average around 26 people have been injured on daily basis over this period.

In 2010, 1,042 people died and 8,709 were injured in 6,136 road accidents across the state. The number of dead persons in 2011 touched 1,120 and the injured toll reached 10,108 in 6,644 road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir. In the first eight months of this year - up to August - 765 people died and 6,792 were injured in 4,496 road accidents, the government said. The worst hit district of the state is Jammu where 192 died and 1,994 were injured in 1,682 road accidents in 2010, another 190 died and 2,024 were injured in 1,627 road accidents in 2011 and 131 died and 1,278 people were injured in 1,085 road accidents this year up to August.

In the summer capital here, 55 were killed and 393 were injured in 379 road accidents in 2010, 75 were killed and 510 were injured in 489 road accidents in 2011 and 41 have died and 373 have been injured till August this year.

Samba, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Udhampur, Kathua and Anantnag are among the other worst hit district in the state . The districts of Pulwama, Shopian, Bandipora, Kupwara, Kargil and Handwara on the comparatively lower end of the road accident chart with a far fewer death and injuries during the last nearly three years.

Srinagar, October 9
The state government has decided to take the issue of Transworld Islamic University Bill with the Chairman of the Upper House.

The Bill for the Jamiat-e-Ahlihadith’s University was sent to the Upper House by the state Assembly in the autumn session of 2010, which had forwarded it to the Joint select committee.

The speaker of the assembly, Mohammad Akber Lone, while replying to a question of People’s Democratic Party MLA, Javeed Mustafa Mir, who wanted to know the status of the Bill, said that the Bill was missing after it was sent to the upper house.

“The Bill was sent to legislative council and it was later sent to a the Joint Select Committee. The Joint Select Committee had requested for 10 members from the assembly, but that meeting was never held,” he said. J&K law Minister Ali Mohmmad Sagar intervened and informed the House that he would take the issue of Transworld Islamic University Bill on Wednesday with the chairman of the Upper House.

Srinagar, October 9
Jammu and Kashmir Tourist Development Corporation (JKTDC) has earned Rs 5.64 lakh as revenue from 40 huts at Cheshma Shahi garden from November 2011 to ending January 2012.

The Minister of State for Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, said this in a reply to a question at the legislative council.

The Cheshma Shahi garden is located on the foothills of the Zabarwan range, close to the bank of the Dal Lake.

He said with the improvement in the security situation it is expected that the corporation would generate considerable revenue.

Srinagar, October 9
The chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, is back to Kashmir after spending three weeks at Geneva and New York in the United States.

Mirwaiz, who arrived in Srinagar on Monday evening had left for the United states on September 16, attended the 21st International Human Rights conference at Geneva and also attended the contact group meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) besides meeting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

“Mirwaiz Umar was received at the Srinagar International Airport by his supporters and the office bearers of the Awami action committee,” said a Hurriyat spokesperson.

Giving details of his three-week visit to the United States, the spokesperson said Mirwaiz participated in several conferences and seminars and also attended the meeting of the OIC.

“Mirwaiz raised the issue of unmarked graves, human rights violations and participation of the Kashmiris’ in dialogue process in different forums, including the OIC,” said the spokesperson.

Mirwaiz also met Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, chairman, Kashmir American Council (KAC), in a prison in the United States.

Mirwaiz travelled from New York to Cumberland to meet Dr Fai, where he is currently serving his jail term in a Federal prison.

The US Court had sentenced Fai to two-year imprisonment on the charges of tax evasion and financial irregularities earlier this year after being arrested by the FBI in 2011.

Mirwaiz also met Pakistani officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Session, during which Zardari invited Mirwaiz and his other Hurriyat colleagues for a visit to Pakistan.

Srinagar, October 9
Governor NN Vohra, today stressed on the importance of increasing awareness among the students of Jammu and Kashmir about the Special Scholarship Scheme launched by the Central Government to enable them to pursue higher studies and various professional courses outside the state so that a maximum number of them could benefit from this valuable scheme.

The Governor, as Chief Guest, was addressing a group of 700 students from Jammu and Kashmir who have been selected for pursuing various professional courses in different institutions in the country under the Special Scholarship Scheme of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development at a function organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Peace Foundation, at SKICC.

Referring to the unfortunate phase through which the state had passed in the past few years, the Governor said that this had caused a serious set back to the education sector.

He said that consequent to the visit of Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, to J&K in 2010, an expert group had been set up to formulate a scheme to help the students of the state in pursuing education in various educational institutions in the country. He said that this scholarship scheme was launched after acceptance of the expert group's recommendations to the Prime Minister. Giving details of the scholarship scheme, he expressed satisfaction that with the enlargement of the awareness of this scheme among the students a good number of them are availing the scholarship this year. The Governor said that it would be useful to set up an Overview Committee, to meet twice a year for reviewing and monitoring the implementation of the Scheme. He stressed that it is the responsibility of all the stakeholders to draw the maximum possible advantage of this scheme. 

Srinagar, October 9
The Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conference (JKGEC) today demanded a probe by a sitting High Court judge into the alleged corruption in the Valley’s premiere healthcare centre, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

“There is rampant corruption in SKIMS for the past one year. We demand that a sitting High Court judge should probe about the issue,” said Ishtiaq Baigh, president, JKGEC.

“The premiere healthcare institute is going from bad to worse. Even the appointment of SKIMS Director Dr Showkat Ali Zargar is questionable as he had served as a doctor outside the country for several years,” he said.

Baigh also questioned the agreement between the government and the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), an amalgam of various government employees' bodies. He said the problems faced by the employees were still unresolved due to the corrupt employees’ leaders.

As per the JCC-government agreement, the employees were assured that a decision on their demands would be announced by September 30 last month.

However, the JCC then announced a fresh protest programme that will begin with demonstrations tomorrow as the amalgam said they had been betrayed by the government. 

Srinagar, October 9
The Department of Posts (DoP), Jammu and Kashmir Circle, today launched a website on the World Post Day.

Minister for Rural Development, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar inaugurated the ‘Postal Week Celebration’ at the Srinagar General Post Office (GPO) complex.

The DoP also launched a website, jkpost.gov.in, on the occasion.

Chief Post Master General J&K Circle John Samuel was present at the inaugural function of the Postal Week Celebration.

A DoP official said the website would assist customers in availing services offered by the post office.

He said the DoP had planned a series of events for celebrations that would encourage people to avail postal services.

“The exhibitions will be held in Jammu and Srinagar and a customers’ meet is also planned so that customers come to know about various services offered by the department,” said the DoP official. 

Srinagar, October 9
Minister for Medical Education and Sports RS Chib inaugurated the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Synergy Cup T-20 Cricket Tournament-2012 today.

The tournament is being organised by the 35 Battalion of CRPF at Budgam Sports Stadium in central Kashmir.

The final match of the tournament would be played on October 13.

Chib appreciated the efforts of the CRPF in bridging the gap between forces and people of Kashmir.

During the inauguration ceremony, Sudhir Pratap Singh, IGP, CRPF, Srinagar sector; SS Sandhu, IGP/CRPF operation sector; other senior officers of CRPF and senior functionaries of state Air force were present.

The inauguration match was played between SSP Budgam-XI and Star Club Ompora. The Star Club Ompora won the match by 50 runs.

The CRPF spokesperson, Sudhir Kumar, said a total of eight teams are participating in the tournament.

“The tournament will be played on knock-out basis. The participating teams are Humhama Cricket Club, Star Club Ompora, Burn Hall School, Budgam Blues, SSP Budgam-XI, CRPF-XI, Airlines XI, Media XI,” he said.

Srinagar, October 9
The PDP patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed said Turtuk and other areas of Nubra in Ladakh deserve priority treatment in view of special circumstances. He said humanitarian aspect of Turtuk was more acute than other divided families in the state while interacting with a civil society group from Nubra valley in Ladakh.

“Nobra Valley is facing a development deficit and a special package for the area is required for uplift of socio-economic status of people in the Valley. The educational facilities, which were upgraded during his tenure as chief Minister needed further fillip and consolidation so that the students of the area are able to compete in the job market,” said PDP spokesperson.

Nubra valley is about 150 km north of Leh, the capital of Ladakh The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachan River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and the Karakoram Ranges The average altitude of the valley is about 10,000 ft. above the sea level The common way to access this valley is to travel over the Khardung La from Leh

Srinagar, October 9
A delegation of the Saveline Trust, Batakote, Pahalgam, met the Governor, NN Vohra today.

The delegation discussed with the Governor and Navin K Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, the efforts made by the trust for the past few years to provide medicare services to the Amarnath pilgrims at various places on Pahalgam-holy cave route. The delegation, comprising Malik Afzal, chairman of the Saveline Trust, and Gulzar Ahmad, organiser, said the trust plans to further enlarge the efforts to improve the facilities for the visiting pilgrims. “The Governor thanked the trust for their services, over the years,” said an official spokesperson.

Srinagar, October 9
The state government today said that they would fast track selection process to fill up about 70,000 posts lying vacant in different departments as soon as the court stay on the new employment policy gets vacated.

Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs Abdul Rahim Rather said the government had formulated new employment policy, which was challenged in High Court wings of both Kashmir and Jammu.

"The stay order has only been vacated from Srinagar High Court wing so far. The recruitment process would get accelerated as soon as the stay order is vacated from the Jammu wing," said the minister.