Srinagar, January 16
The Cabinet reshuffle by the Omar Abdullah government is attracting a sea of jokes on various social networking websites, especially Facebook.

Soon after the new ministerial portfolios were made public yesterday, there has been no let up in local residents posting funny and sarcastic comments on social media.

‘Kaeshir Joke’— a Facebook page liked by over 16,000 Kashmiris for its funny posts— shared a comment on the Cabinet reshuffle and it was liked and commented upon by hundreds.

“I can't stop laughing at the portfolios. Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed gets Haj Ministry for his past Islamic deeds…Taj Mohiddun given Sports Ministry for being a lead player in giving government run (sic) in the forests, Sham Lal gets Flood Ministry after flood of controversies, Akbar Lone Education Minister (sic) for being soft spoken and having decent language, Ghulam Ahmad Mir gets apt ministry Tourism for his past escapades,” the post read.

Other local residents were also seen posting funny comments on their Facebook pages, which were mostly directed at former speaker of the Legislative Assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone and Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir.

“Ghulam Ahmad Mir is our new Tourism minister.....now onwards we will see lots of late night dance parties.....to promote tourism (in the state),” wrote one Umar Meraj.

Another user commented: “Akbar Lone's induction as (Higher) Education Minister will certainly improve the vocabulary and add to the dictionary of Kashmiri children.”

Mir’s name had surfaced in the infamous sex scandal of 2006 but was acquitted last year. Lone had hit headlines for using unparliamentarily language in the Assembly in 2011 for which he had apologised later.

Apart from attracting funny comments, the reshuffle did not seem to impress many Kashmiris in general.

“Who cares who gets what in his/ her portfolio, the pathetic state of affairs vis-à-vis power, roads, employment, public harassment, corruption etc is going to be the same or even worse. Old wine in new bottles,” posted Tasaduk Khan.

One Owais Ahmed said: “…These portfolios and transfers are obnoxiously boring stuff given full coverage in newspapers of the doomed Valley. Crap stuff, who cares when the result is right in front of us for past several decades. Utter nonsense.”

Sarcastic response “I can't stop laughing at the portfolios. Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed gets Haj Ministry for his past Islamic deeds…Taj Mohiddun given Sports Ministry for being a lead player in giving government run (sic) in the forests, Sham Lal gets Flood Ministry after flood of controversies, Akbar Lone Education Minister (sic) for being soft spoken and having decent language, Ghulam Ahmad Mir gets apt ministry Tourism for his past escapades,” a post on Facebook page ‘Kaeshir Joke’ said Lone had hit headlines for using unparliamentarily language in the Assembly in 2011 for which he had apologised later. There was a comment on Ghulam Ahmad Mir becoming Tourism Minister. “Ghulam Ahmad Mir is our new Tourism minister.....now onwards we will see lots of late night dance parties.....to promote tourism,” wrote one Umar Meraj. Mir’s name had surfaced in the infamous sex scandal of 2006 but was acquitted last year. Another user commented: “Akbar Lone's induction as (Higher) Education Minister will certainly improve the vocabulary and add to the dictionary (sic) of Kashmiri kids.”

Srinagar, January 16
The All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) today said it would start a campaign against the government if the latter continued to ignore the issue of the representation of the community in the Cabinet.

“They have Sikh leaders in their party circles but none of them are given a Cabinet berth so the community could benefit as a minority in the state. In the last four years, they have made only hollow promises and nothing else,” APSCC convener Jagmohan Singh Raina said in a statement issued here.

“The APSCC will soon start a tour of villages and towns of the state to educate the minorities, especially Sikhs, on discrimination they face from the government and how they have been kept out from power and governance,” he added.

Despite getting assurances from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and many of his Cabinet colleagues in past, he said they would ask the minorities not to vote for the ruling coalition in the coming General Elections since they do not care about Sikhs. He added that it was the only state in the country where they had no representation in the Cabinet despite the Act favouring the community representation. He claimed that genuine problems of the local Sikh community remained unresolved as they had no say in the governance.

Srinagar, January 16
The Valley may get a fresh spell of snowfall. The weather department has predicted a heavy snowfall in south Kashmir where the critical national highway that connects the Valley with rest of the country is located.

The snowfall is expected to begin from Wednesday evening and may continue till Friday, an official of the state Meteorological Department said.

“Light to moderate rain and snow will occur at many places across the state,” the official said. He added that moderate to heavy snow and rain would occur between January 17 and 18 over southern parts of the region.

The snow forecast has forced the state administration to take precautionary measures, including limiting the traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway to only half on Thursday, a state government spokesman said.

The highway will be permanently closed for all vehicular traffic on Friday when the precipitation is likely to intensify.

The weatherman said the day temperature is likely to dip to a maximum of four degree Celsius tomorrow around the city, where the maximum temperature was recorded at 12 degree Celsius today, six notches higher than the normal.

The mercury in Srinagar city overnight fell to a low of 0.1 degree Celsius, two degrees above normal.

Minimum temperature at other places across the region fell below the freezing point.

Kargil town in the remote Ladakh region recorded a low of minus 12 degrees Celsius while the day temperature there rose to a maximum of one degree Celsius.

In the adjoining Leh town in Ladakh, the maximum temperature was recorded at 3 degree Celsius while the night temperature fell to minus 9.5 degrees Celsius, the official said.

In Qazigund, the southern gateway town to Kashmir valley, the minimum temperature was minus 1.0 degrees Celsius while in the frontier Kupwara town in north Kashmir the minimum temperature was recorded at minus 0.9 degree Celsius.

The skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir, which is enveloped in several feet of snow, was the coldest place in the Valley with night temperature there falling to minus 6.7 degree Celsius, the official said.

At Pahalgam in south Kashmir, the mercury fell to minus 3.8 degree Celsius overnight while the day temperature there was recorded at a maximum of 9.6 degree Celsius, the official said.

Srinagar, January 16
Even more than nine months after the magisterial inquiry had held the jail authorities responsible for the death of a youth in police custody, the state government is yet to file its response to the Jammu & Kashmir High Court explaining the steps taken on the report.

Sajjad (22), a resident of Sangrampora in Sopore, had died at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar, on March 22 last year while serving detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) at Kupwara district jail.

The magisterial inquiry report, which was ordered by the Kupwara District Magistrate on March 23, had held the district jail authorities and the jail medical staff guilty of negligence. The magisterial probe had concluded that the victim was physically unfit- having acute problem and a head injury.

“The High Court had asked the government to file an affidavit wherein it had to explain the action taken on the magisterial report which had indicted the jail officials in Sajjad’s death. But despite the passage of so many months, the authorities are yet to file the action taken report,” said Mian Tufail, the counsel representing the victim’s family.

The victim’s family, Tufail added, has also been seeking an FIR into the death of Sajjad, who died in custody while serving detention under Public safety act at Kupwara jail.

A High Court single bench had on October 11 asked the state government to file an affidavit in this regard.

The report was forwarded by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Asghar Samoon, to the Chief Secretary for necessary action in April last year.

Following the custodial death of Sajjad, the DGP (Prisons) had ordered to withhold the annual increment and promotion of the then in charge of the Kupwara jail Ghulam Qadir Padroo (jail superintendent) for one year for callousness.

The Case Sajjad (22), lodged in Kupwara jail under the Public Safety Act (PSA), dies at SKIMS, Srinagar, while being treated on March 22 last year Magisterial probe into the case concluded that the victim was physically unfit and had a head injury Director General of Police (Prisons) penalised the jail superintendent for negligence in the case

Srinagar, January 16
The annual Urs of Sufi saint Khawaja Bahawudin Naqshbandi was today celebrated in Kashmir valley with great religious fervour and gaiety.

A function in this regard was held today at the Khankha-e-Naqshbandi (mosque housing relics of the Sufi saint) in old Srinagar city, where thousands of devotees took part in the Khoja-Digar (evening prayers).

Religious leaders addressed the gathering and threw light on the life and the teachings of Khawaja Bahawudin, who was the founder of Naqshbandi school of thought.

Khawaja Bahawudin was born in 15th Century in Qasr-i-Arifan village in Bukhara in Central Asia.

“Hazrat Bahawudin is the founder of one of the important schools of thought in the Islamic Sufism. The humanity has benefited tremendously from this Sufi,” a religious leader told the gathering at Khankah.

Hundreds of devotees drawing from all walks of the life, thronged the Kahnkah-e-Naqshbandi to seek blessings and offered 'Fatiha' (prayers). — TNS

Srinagar, January 16
In a bid to bring transparency in the centrally sponsored flagship schemes, the J&K government has constituted 30 official committees to conduct physical verification of works that were done last year under the flagship programme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).

J&K government has been under flak for poor implementation of the two schemes.

“The committees have been asked to conduct random checks in different blocks and they been have asked to submit the report by the end of this month, Director Rural development Mir Altaf Ahmed said, “These official committees will conduct physical verification of the works and also check records under MGNREGA and IAY in respective blocks.”

Mir said the prime objective of constituting such teams was to bring more transparency at the grass root and ensure the benefits of the scheme reach to the concerned people.

Recently an evaluation of MGNREGA in the various districts of the valley had shown that lack of planning for execution of the projects and poor coordination among various departments was badly affecting the centrally sponsored MGNREGA in the valley. In J&K the NREGA was introduced in the three districts in the first phase Kupwara, Doda and Poonch on a trial basis in February 2006 and it was later extended to all districts. The MGNREGA aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Government claims that till ending December 2012, they have spent Rs 223 crores under the MGNREGA in valley.

In the IAY, a national housing scheme, J&K has been also facing criticism from the Union government for its failure to utilize the money meant for the constructing houses for the poor people.

Srinagar, January 16
One person died while eight others were injured in road accidents across Kashmir Valley, police said.

Sameer Ahmad Parna, a resident of Banihal township in south Kashmir, succumbed to his injuries which he suffered in a road accident on January 5.

Parna, who was being treated at a hospital in the city here, was injured when a truck hit a passenger can near Barsoo on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, a police spokesman said.

In Kupwara district of north Kashmir, seven passengers were injured when a cab turned turtle.

“All the injured have been shifted to Kupwara hospital for treatment. One of them was later referred to the SKIMS, Srinagar, for further treatment,” the police said.

In Baramulla district, 25-year-old Shahzad Ahmad, a resident of Deewanbagh area, was injured when he was hit by a vehicle near Degree College, the police added. — TNS

Srinagar, January 16
A 23-year-old man ended his life at a village in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, the police said.

Nasir Ahmed Dar (23), a resident of Zalpora village of Bandipora, consumed some poisonous substance at his house, the police added.

Dar was shifted to the Sub-District Hospital, Sumbal, for treatment where from he was referred to a hospital in Srinagar where doctors declared him brought dead.

The police has registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC and are investigating the matter. — TNS

Kulgam, January 16
The residents of Frisal area of Kulgam district rue that their area has been completely neglected by the authorities on the development front.

People of the area said they had been kept devoid of the basic amenities like proper roads, drinking water, electricity and other essential services.

The locals said despite being the biggest village in the district in terms of population, it had been neglected in the on-going development process in this newly formed district of South Kashmir.

“The power supply in our village in very dismal, not only in winters but during the summers too,” said Nazir Ahmad, a local.

The other locals said same was the case with the water supply in their area. “The women folk had to tread miles to fetch drinking water from the fresh water springs, however, during winters even that seized to be an option,” the locals added.

People said they had been pleading the authorities to take cognisance of the woes of the general public but to no avail.

“There is a municipal committee in our area but it exists only on papers. We only get to see the employees of the department if they venture out to collect the fee from the locals,” said Amir, another local.

The residents said the roads were so dilapidated that the local transporters had started charging more while plying through the village.

“We recently took to the streets and protested against the transporters charging arbitrarily in our area, but in vain. Nobody listens to the common people,” said a group of local boys.

Moreover the locals alleged that the Health Care facilities remained very grim in the district, with the lone Primary Health Centre (PHC) catering to the whole area.

“We were promised by the ministers that the PHC will be upgraded to a Sub-district Hospital, but years have gone by and the promises remain unfulfilled,” said Nazir Ahmad.

Srinagar, January 16
Expressing his concern over the mounting Indo-Pak tension along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, urged the international community to prevail upon the two neighbours to diffuse the situation.

Mirwaiz made these comments while addressing a religious gathering during the annual Urs celebrations of the 15th Century Sufi Saint Khawaja Bahawudin Naqshbandi in Srinagar.

“Both the countries are armed with nuclear weapons. The mounting tension between the two countries is a matter of grave concern”, Mirwaiz said, adding that the turn of events had once aging proved that the bilateral confidence building measures undertaken by the two countries were ‘futile’ without the resolution of Kashmir issue.

The situation along the LoC is tense since January 6 and has resulted in eruption of major skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani armies.

“Though the killing of army personnel is regretful, and whole of India is upset about it but when a kashmiri civilian is killed, the civil society media and the people in government and opposition keep mum, he said.

He added that the Hurriyat Conference was opposed to war and believed in resolution of issues through dialogue.

Urging the International community to prevail upon the two countries and help in clearing the mounting clouds of war in the region, Mirwaiz appealed to both the countries to exhibit patience.

Following the reported killing of a Pakistani army man on January 6 in the Uri sector, the Pakistan soldiers had killed two Indian soldiers in the Poonch sector. A total of five soldiers have been killed on both the sides since the skirmishes began.

Srinagar, January 16
Hoteliers in the Valley have welcomed the induction of Ghulam Ahmad Mir as the new Minister for Tourism and Sajad Ahmad Kichloo as the Minister of State for Tourism.

A joint statement of the Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHARA) and Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Federation (KHAROF) issued here hailed the induction of Mir and Kichloo in the tourism ministry.

The two associations expressed hope that the new team of ministers would take the task of their predecessors forward by promoting tourism in the state.

“It is also hoped that under their stewardship the tourism sector will get recognition as an important sector of the state’s economy for which the Government would get support of the hotel industry,” the statement said.

Both KHARA and KHAROF appreciated the role of the outgoing Minister of Tourism Nawang Rigzin Jora and the Minister of State for Tourism Nasir Aslam Wani for the promotion of tourism in the state.

KHARA appealed the new tourism minister for giving industrial benefits to the tourism sector in the state.

“Tourism sector has been accorded an industry status but this sector has not been given the industrial benefits. We are hopeful that the new minister would take this issue seriously so that tourism sector is promoted here,” said Chowdhary.

Srinagar, January 16
Asgar Hassan Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, today chaired a Divisional Level Committee (DLC) meeting, convened to discuss land acquisition cases and rehabilitation plan of the Jehangir Chowk-Natipora Express Corridor. The project was planned in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank funding under Project-2 of Jammu and Kashmir Urban Sector Development Infrastructure Programme (JKUSDIP).

The meeting discussed various issues pertaining to land acquisition and compensation to be provided for land and structures coming within the alignment of the proposed flyover, an official spokesman said. It also reviewed the works under execution and rehabilitation process taken in hand for relocation of affected shopkeepers with the construction of the Express Corridor flyover.

Samoon directed the officers to speed up the completion of the projects related to the shopping complexes so that the area could get a face lift and the affected business community was properly accommodated in a time-bound manner besides the early construction of the flyover. — TNS