The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	LC ELECTION Independent candidate may spell trouble for NC Dinesh Manhotra Tribune News Service Jammu, February 21 The decision of Independent candidate Shuban Krishan Dodha not to withdraw his candidature for the Legislative Council elections could spell trouble for the National Conference candidates as some groups of displaced Kashmiri Pandits have decided to approach the BJP high command to seek support for Dodha. Dodha, political adviser of the Peoples Democratic Forum (PDF) which is headed by former Minister Hakim Mohammad Yasin, has filed his papers as an Independent candidate from the quota of four Legislative Council seats for the Kashmir valley. Since a group of PDP MLAs has already sponsored the candidature of Dodha, the party (PDP) is likely to divert its surplus votes in favour of the Independent candidate. As per the strength in the Legislative Assembly, 18 votes are required to win one seat of the Legislative Council from the Kashmir quota. The PDP, which has fielded one candidate, has strength of 21 votes. The Congress, which has 18 members in its kitty, has also fielded one candidate. So, the candidature of Dodha poses challenge to the ruling National Conference, which has 29 members. The party is in need of 36 votes for its two candidates. Sources in the PDP said the surplus votes of the party as well as three votes of the Panthers Party would be diverted to Dodha. In the prevailing situation, the support of four BJP MLAs and seven MLAs expelled from the BJP has become crucial for the victory of either Dodha or one candidate of the National Conference. Although the BJP had announced its decision to boycott the elections, sources said some groups of Kashmiri Pandits had decided to approach the BJP high command to seek support for Dodha. “Supporters of Dodha have been projecting that he is a Kashmiri Pandit contesting from the quota for the Kashmir valley so it is the duty of the BJP to support him to ensure representation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Upper House,” a source said. “Instead of seeking the support of the local BJP leadership, Kashmiri Pandit groups have decided to directly seek the intervention of the high command in the matter.” Although the four BJP legislators are tightlipped about giving support to Dodha, rebels have said that “our options are open”. “We will take a decision at an appropriate time,” said Chaman Lal Gupta, leader of the seven MLAs expelled from the BJP. Furthermore, the behaviour of some MLAs supporting the coalition has added to the worries of the ruling National Conference. PDF chairman and MLA Hakim Mohammad Yasin hinted that he along with CPM MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami would take a decision at an appropriate time. “Dodha is the political adviser of our party. So, we have to take a decision keeping in view the interests of our own party,” said Yasin. Yasin and Tarigami are part of the coalition but they appear to be moving in support of Dodha.
	LC poll: 3 candidates elected unopposed Tribune News Service Jammu, February 21 Three candidates were today elected unopposed for the Legislative Council from the quota of three seats for the Jammu region. Devender Singh Rana of the National Conference, Rani Gargi Baloria of the Congress and Yash Pal Sharma of the PDP were declared elected unopposed by the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, Mohammad Ramzan, who is Returning Officer for these elections. Since only three candidates were in the fray for three seats, all of them were declared elected. One Sardar Kaloo Khan Hamdar had filed his papers but his nomination papers were rejected on February 19 during scrutiny. Rana, provincial president of the National Conference, has been repeated by the party as member of the Upper House. He is a close aide of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Baloria is a senior Congress leader and she was Deputy Mayor of Jammu Municipal Corporation. Yash Pal Sharma, a veteran leader from Poonch, was nominated by the PDP for the Legislative Council to utilise his influence across the Jammu region. Meanwhile, Baloria was felicitated by party workers at Jammu in a special function. The function, presided over by Gurmukh Singh, a former minister and vice-president of the JKPCC, was attended by Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Sharma, GN Monga, Ravinder Sharma, Narinder Singh, Shiv Kumar Sharma and others. Addressing the gathering, Baloria thanked the party high command for giving her a chance to serve the people. She said she would serve the people and the Congress with more devotion and dedication.
	Normal life disrupted in Kashmir valley on second day of strike 4 employees injured by protesters Tribune News Service Srinagar, February 21 Normal life in Kashmir was disrupted for the second consecutive day today due to the strike called by separatists to support the demand for handing over of Afzal Guru’s body to his family. Four persons, including a senior government official, were injured when protesters attacked their vehicle in south Kashmir. Shops and business establishments remained closed in the city today. Private and public transport plied on some city roads normally. Government offices witnessed thin attendance despite directions to employees by the state government to turn up at their offices during the strike days. A stone-throwing incident was reported in the Rawalpora area of Srinagar. Soon after the incident, a police contingent was deployed in the area to ensure peace. A police spokesman in Srinagar said the situation remained peaceful across the Valley today. “Traffic was partially plying in most of the towns, including Srinagar city,” he said. A complete shutdown was observed in all four districts of south Kashmir. While no untoward incident was reported from Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian districts, Kulgam town witnessed sporadic clashes. The police spokesman said some youth threw stones at private vehicles plying in the area. The official vehicle of the District Forest Officer, Social Forestry, was attacked by protesting youth. “Four employees travelling along with the DFO were injured in the incident,” the police spokesman said. “They were taken to a local hospital.” The police spokesman said the miscreants threw stones on private and government vehicles in Kulgam. “Many vehicles were damaged in the incident, including a State Road Transport Corporation bus and a car,” he said. The Kulgam police has registered a case under attempt to murder against unidentified protesters. The impact of the strike was more in north Kashmir. Sources said Afzal Guru’s native town Sopore witnessed a complete shutdown. The other major towns in north Baramulla and Bandipore also witnessed a shutdown. Restrictions imposed The state government has decided to impose strict restrictions on Friday to avert any trouble as separatists have called for protests to demand Afzal’s body, who was hanged and buried in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail on February 9. “In view of the law and order situation and breach of peace and damage to the life and property, the Srinagar District Magistrate has imposed restrictions on the movement of public and transport under Section 144 of the CrPC in the jurisdictions of 14 police stations of Srinagar with affect from midnight February 21,” said a senior official.
	Traders may suspend cross-LoC trade via Chakan da Bagh Slam authorities for blacklisting Poonch-based trader Ravi Krishnan Khajuria Tribune News Service Jammu, February 21 After the Indian authorities for the first time blacklisted a Poonch-based trader ever since cross-LoC trade commenced between Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Jammu and Kashmir in October 2008 via in Poonch district, Indian traders have put the onus of security lapses on the authorities. Peeved over blacklisting of their Poonch-based colleague, the Indian traders may suspend trans-LoC trade next week. After finding some empty AK-47 cartridges in a consignment of almonds sent to Poonch-based Dewan Traders from Rawalakote in PoK, the Indian authorities recently blacklisted the Poonch-based trader, Abdul Gani Dewan. It also asked the Pakistani authorities to ban PoK trader Hamid Raza Hashmi, who had sent the merchandise. “Why would any Indian trader ask for a few empty cartridges from PoK traders. We suspect some rogue elements in the ISI behind such incidents, who either want to test the waters to meet their ulterior motives or sabotage the biggest confidence-building measure between India and Pakistan,” said Pawan Anand, president of the Chakan da Bagh cross-LoC Traders’ Association. The traders also blamed the Indian authorities for not following the standard operating procedure (SOP), leading to such incidents. The Indian authorities themselves are not adhering to the SOP leading to such unpleasant incidents, said Anand, adding that under the SOP guidelines, the Customs Department had to receive the consignment at the LoC, bring it to the Chakan da Bagh trade facilitation centre and then it has to be checked by CID officials. “If any contraband is found during checking, it has to be pushed back and only merchandise listed in the import list has to be released to the trader concerned,” he said. He said the proprietor of the blacklisted firm had been doing business via Chakan da Bagh for the past over four years. “We feel that 10 to 12 such incidents of trying to smuggle few cartridges from PoK in the past, including this one, is either a part of conspiracy to sabotage trans-LoC trade or an attempt of some rogue elements in the ISI to see the scope to meet their ulterior motives,” said Anand. It is amateurish on the part of the Indian authorities to blacklist the Poonch trader. “Why would a trader, who has a clean track-record and has been into the trade for the past four years, ask for three empty cartridges to ruin his business?” he asked. The fault lies in PoK and not with the Indian traders, he said, adding that even their counterparts in PoK feign ignorance over how the cartridges “sneaked” into the India-bound consignments. If any action has to be initiated, it should be against the PoK trader, Hamid Raza Hashmi, he said. Blacklisting of the Dewan Traders has caused a lot of resentment among Indian traders, who might suspend the trade next week, he said. At least 165 Indian traders do business with their PoK counterparts on a barter system via Chakan da Bagh. Repeated calls and messages to custodian of the cross-LoC trade Krishan Lal to elicit a response proved futile.
	Mirwaiz put under house arrest on arrival in Kashmir Tribune News Service Srinagar, February 21 The authorities in Kashmir today put the chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest soon after his arrival in Srinagar in the afternoon. Mirwaiz was in Delhi when Afzal Guru was executed in Tihar Jail on February 9 morning. Since then his movement was barred by the police. The restrictions on his movement in Delhi were lifted yesterday evening. “As soon as Mirwaiz arrived at the Srinagar airport from Delhi this afternoon, a posse of policemen waiting inside the airport took him into custody and drove him towards the Nigeen police station,” said Hurriyat spokesman Shahid-ul-Islam. The spokesman said the police later took Mirwaiz to his Nigeen residence, where he has been kept under house arrest. Mirwaiz was scheduled to chair a joint meeting of the Hurriyat executive and general council members and was later expected to drive to Afzal’s native village in Jageer to show “solidarity” with his family. He had also called a press conference at his residence at 3pm today, which was, however, scuttled by the police. To prevent Mirwaiz’s movement, the authorities deployed dozens of police personnel around his residence and placed concertina wires on the roads leading to the area. Condemning the police action, the Hurriyat spokesman said nobody was being allowed to come out of the house by the police. In the wake of protests against Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s hanging, the authorities in Kashmir have rounded up several separatists leaders and put many under house arrest. Senior leaders of the hardline Hurriyat have already been detained by the police, which include Geelani’s close aides, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai and Ghulam Nabi Sumji. The authorities apprehend trouble in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley on Friday as the separatist have called for protests on the day to press for the return of Afzal’s remains from Tihar Jail.
	‘Afzal’s hanging political’ Tribune News Service Srinagar, February 21 Terming Afzal Guru’s execution as “politically motivated”, separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has called for “coordinated efforts” by the separatist leadership of Kashmir to deal with the situation in the aftermath of his hanging. Mirwaiz issued this statement soon after his arrival in Srinagar, where he has been put under house arrest by the authorities. “Mirwaiz Umar said he will soon announce a joint strategy after meeting the constituents of his Hurriyat faction and other separatist leadership,” a Hurriyat spokesman quoted him in the statement. “He stressed that it was the need of the hour that the pro-resistance leadership should sit together and devise a coordinated effort to take forward the freedom struggle and Afzal’s mission,” the spokesman said. The statement has come at a time when divisions have erupted within Kashmir’s separatist camp on how to react in the wake of Afzal’s hanging. “Mirwaiz has said after setting aside the principles of justice and equity, Afzal was executed just to achieve political ends, which has put a question mark over the judiciary and democracy in India,” the spokesman said, quoting Mirwaiz, adding that the mainstream political parties of the state cannot be absolved of their complicity in Afzal’s execution. Mirwaiz has also denounced the continuous house arrest of Syed Ali Geelani in Delhi since Afzal’s hanging on February 9.
	In uncertain times, Kashmir waits for complete normalcy M Aamir Khan/TNS Srinagar, February 21 As routine life in the Kashmir valley got affected yet again after two days of normalcy earlier this week, locals have been pushed into uncertain times. While the present situation is under control but fragile, people have been kept guessing when the situation will get completely normal in the aftermath of the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Fruit wholesaler Ali Mohammad’s predicament sums up the uncertainty faced by others in general. “After over a week of curfew and hartals, we saw normalcy on Monday and Tuesday. Even though we did routine business during these two days, I only ordered a limited stock of fruits as I did not know what would happen next. The situation is uncertain and I, just like others, am waiting and hoping for things to get completely normal before we can start the usual business,” he said. While some are hoping for the situation to get completely normal, others are sceptical and cannot ignore the “resemblance” to the unfolding of events in the summer unrest of 2010. “The situation may not be as grave as that we witnessed in 2010 but there is a resemblance of sorts. Then we used to wait for the protest calendar of the (hardline) Hurriyat (led by Syed Ali Geelani) and now the situation is similar. The future protest calendars of the Hurriyat will definitely have a bearing on the situation in the coming days,” said a businessman wishing not to be named. The hardline faction of the Hurriyat is expected to release the next protest calendar tomorrow. The separatist group had issued a series of similar programmes during the 2010 unrest. And while people are wondering what lies in store for them, political observer Gul Mohammad, who teaches at Kashmir University, feels the situation would stabilise gradually. “The situation will stabilise but off and on you will find protest mobilisations and agitations from the Hurriyat and other groups… things won’t go beyond that,” he said. Gul also said violence was not the “preferred instrument of action” in the present times. “The options for Kashmiris are quite limited in the present political situation,” he said.
	Scholars seek classical status for Kashmiri Ehsan Fazili Tribune News Service Srinagar, February 21 On the occasion of International Mother Language Day today, people associated with the Kashmiri language and literature made it a point to seek the status of a classical language for it. “This (Kashmiri) is one of the ancient languages and deserves the status of a classical language,” said Majrooh Rashid, head, Postgraduate Department of Kashmiri, University of Kashmir. The department and other literary organisations observe the day every year. The language has a history of over 5,000 years. A plethora of works have been written in the past 1,000 years and there has been a growing demand for classical language status to it. On the occasion of International Mother Language Day, Adbee Markaz Kamraz (AMK), a literary organisation working for the development of the language, has reiterated its commitment toward preservation and promotion of the Kashmiri language and literature. “This would definitely benefit the language and develop it in different genres, translation and research works,” Majrooh Rashid said. He added that the government had constituted a committee in the recent years for a report on the grant of status to Kashmiri language. Nothing, however, is known about the report or the decision of the Central government on the grant of classical language status to Kashmiri, he said. The Postgraduate Department of Kashmiri was started at the university in 1977 and has been churning out postgraduates alongside a series of research programmes and translations of works of history and literature in other languages.
	Governor for awareness on benefits of yoga Tribune News Service Jammu, February 21 Governor NN Vohra has called for enlarging awareness on the relevance of yoga, saying it can make a significant contribution towards the establishment of stable societies which promote brotherhood, harmony and peace. He was inaugurating a three-day World Yoga Conference on “Global Peace and Harmony through Holistic Approach of Yoga and Meditation”, organised by the Yoga Centre, University of Jammu, here today. Vohra observed that yoga inculcates discipline and is a valuable alternative medicine for the effective management of varied physical ailments and neurological disorders. As such, he said all possible measures should be taken to promote yoga in the state and the country. He expressed happiness that a large number of people, particularly children, were learning and practising yoga. He observed that if a yoga practitioner attains the highest levels of concentration and coordination of mind and body, he could aspire to embark in the realm of spirituality. Referring to the global situation and the growing number of countries, which were being devastated by conflicts, violence and terrorism, the Governor observed that there was a need for encouraging all initiatives and approaches which could possibly reduce conflicts and tensions and help in promoting peace and harmony. The Governor appreciated the excellent standard of yoga performances given by a group of seven students, which included two girls. He also lauded the role of their teacher, Sanjay. He said a documentary should be prepared of such demonstrations to encourage children in various institutions to take up yoga. He interacted with the students and their teacher and presented mementos to them. The Governor released a souvenir and a CD on meditation on the occasion.
	Pentavalent vaccine launched in Leh Our Correspondent Leh, February 21 The pentavalent vaccine, which is part of the universal immunisation programme to protect children from five life-threatening diseases, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and HIB (Haemophilus influenza type b), was launched in Leh district at a function today. The vaccine contains five antigens of DPT, hepatitis B and HIB and is available for the people free of cost at the Leh district headquarters. Executive councillor for health, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, Dr Sonam Wangchuk was the chief guest on the occasion. He urged health workers to maintain the standard operating procedure to achieve successful immunisation. Leh Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Yangchan Dolma said the pentavalent vaccine, presently available at the district headquarters, will soon be launched in other blocks of the district.